Chinese monarchic system

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  After the wine had gone round three times, Emperor Ling put down his goblet and said to his civil and military officials: "I have not established a crown prince all along because my two sons are still young. However, now that the Eldest Son Liu Bian is already thirteen years old and the Second Son Liu Xie is eight years old, everyone can take a look at the two princes and see who is more suitable to be the heir of the Han Dynasty?"

  In an instant, the originally lively and extraordinary Imperial Garden immediately fell silent. All civil and military officials put down their wine glasses, and their eyes gathered on the two princes on the high platform, revealing a thoughtful expression.

  Establishing a crown prince is not a trivial matter, so every official will be very cautious, even those who have been bribed will not easily express their opinions, because establishing a crown prince means the redistribution of power in the imperial court, and it means a struggle among the ministers.

  As the saying goes, "one day as a king and one day as a minister", after the crown prince was established today, all the ministers who supported him would be reused in the future, while on the contrary, those ministers would definitely be suppressed by the crown prince.

  The eldest prince, Liu Bian, stood quietly there, a faint smile on his face, his eyes cast downward, not looking at the expressions of those officials, because he knew that this matter had started secretly vying for power long ago, and the plotter was not him.

  As the empress, He naturally hoped that her son would become the crown prince. Her two brothers, General-in-Chief He Jin and Colonel He Miao, also shared her thoughts. Only if Liu Bian became the crown prince could their power continue to be maintained and even increased. Therefore, they had secretly won over a group of court officials.

  On the other hand, Wang Meiren was supported by the Ten Eunuchs to counter Empress He's power. They naturally hoped that Wang Meiren's son Liu Bian would become the crown prince, so they could continue to hold onto their power and influence. Therefore, the Ten Eunuchs had already begun buying off some high-ranking officials in the imperial court to support Prince Liu Bian.

  Among the civil and military officials, there were a small number of people who had not been bought by either side. This group of ministers was mainly composed of Confucian scholars, who had always taken loyalty to the country as their duty, so they did not want to lean towards any one side. Their spiritual leader was Cai Yong.

  However, today Cai Yong did not recover his official position and therefore was not qualified to attend this banquet. Those Confucian scholar-officials temporarily kept silent, but in their hearts they already had a good impression of Liu Bian and believed that when the final statement came, they should support Liu Bian.

  So Liu Bian was very calm, he had long understood that temporary tasks were not just a little reward, but played an important role in the entire main task and branch task, let alone the temporary task of Cai Yong occupied such a large proportion in the branch task.

  "Now that His Majesty has allowed everyone to discuss the establishment of a crown prince, this is a major event in the continuation of our great Han dynasty and must be treated with utmost seriousness. As an official who is both a court minister and a member of the imperial family, I shall speak first. The eldest son Liu Bian and the second son Liu Xie are both intelligent and diligent, and possess good character. However, as the eldest son, Liu Bian should be established as the crown prince according to our Han ancestors' tradition of 'establishing the eldest'. He will eventually take over the empire. The second son can be enfeoffed as a king, which is also in line with ancestral tradition."

  The first to speak was Han Zhongzong, the current Zongzhengling Liu Yu, who was still Emperor Ling's uncle in terms of generation, so his words had a great impact on the courtiers, and he supported Liu Bian.

  This is not because he likes Liu Bian, but because he is a Han house relative, everything is mainly based on the tradition of maintaining the Liu family ancestors, and of course, Liu Bian's performance today does not make him dislike it, which is also a factor.

  "Although what Zongzheng said makes some sense, in the hundreds of years of our dynasty's history, there have been instances where the younger son was chosen over the older one. In my humble opinion, I think that the second imperial son Liu Xie has a heart like an innocent child and will definitely make a good emperor in the future. It would be more appropriate to establish him as the crown prince."

  A man in his fifties stood up, cupped his hands and addressed the emperor, Liu Bian's gaze swept over him and found that this person was Taifu Hongnong Deng Sheng, presumably a member of the Ten Eunuchs' faction.

  "Surely, Lord Deng is not joking? The Second Prince is only eight years old and you can already tell that he will make a good emperor in the future? Everyone has seen the First Prince's performance today, and at thirteen or fourteen years old, he is steady and down-to-earth, with an extraordinary demeanor, having the aura of a dragon and tiger. This is what it means to be a good emperor. Moreover, making the First Prince the Crown Prince is only natural and will make the people believe."

  General-in-Chief He Jin looked at General Huangfu Song, who stood up and loudly addressed the officials. Immediately, many nodded in agreement, but some remained seated and unmoving.

  "This old minister remembers that during last year's Spring Festival, Your Majesty had already evaluated the two princes and said that the eldest prince was frivolous and lacked dignity, and could not bear the weight of the country. Since Your Majesty has already made a decision, why must everyone continue to argue here? Making the second prince the crown prince should be the general expectation."

  Grand Minister Zhang Wen stood up and made a bow to Emperor Ling, then turned around and bowed again with his hands clasped together to the officials, and even brought out what Emperor Ling had said in the past.

  "Director Zhang, I don't agree with what you just said. The New Year's event was last year, and at that time the eldest prince was only ten years old and didn't live in the palace, so naturally he lacked some discipline. However, everyone saw the eldest prince's behavior today, and where did his words and actions seem frivolous? Everyone knows that the eldest prince is now studying under Chancellor Cai, and I believe with Chancellor Cai's guidance, the eldest prince will definitely become a qualified heir to the throne. Therefore, making the eldest prince the crown prince is the fundamental way to avoid chaos in the court."

  Guo Gong, Duke of Pei, opposed the views of Zhang Wen, the Grand Minister of Agriculture, and he mentioned Cai Yong, the teacher of the Crown Prince, which caused many Confucian scholars among the officials to respond.

  General-in-Chief He Jin, Colonel of the Cavalry He Miao, and Imperial Attendants Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong were also present, but instead of speaking out, they allowed their bought-off officials to speak on their behalf.

  Liu Bian took notice, and the supporters of Second Prince Liu Xie, apart from those who had spoken earlier, also included Grand Minister Zhang Ji, Colonel of the Imperial Guards River Zhang Yan, Junior Mentor of the Heir Apparent Fan Ling, Colonel of the Archers Who Shoot at a Sound Ma Rong, General of the Rear Yuan Wei, General of Chariots and Cavalry Dong Zhong, and Grand Tutor Xu Xiang.

  Those who supported him included Sītú Chén Tūn, Jiàn Yì Dà Fū Liú Táo, Dà Sī Nóng Cāo Sōng, Sītú Cuī Liè, Shàng Shū Lú Zhí and others. Among them, the Confucian scholars basically all stood on his side.

  "Cough, cough, cough——"

  However, just as the officials were deadlocked in their discussion, Emperor Ling suddenly began to cough violently: "Everyone, the matter of establishing a crown prince is indeed an important one and requires further discussion. Today I am unwell, so let us stop here for now. For the time being, let us make the eldest son Liu Bian the Prince of Hongnong and the second son Liu Xie the Prince of Bohai. The matter of establishing a crown prince can be discussed later."

  The Emperor's words were beyond everyone's expectation, yet he saw that there were more ministers supporting the eldest prince, but in his heart, he was thinking of setting up the second prince Liu Xie, and for a moment, he couldn't make up his mind, so he simply dragged it on.

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