Inside the Imperial Study of the Imperial Palace in Heaven-Bearing Prefecture, the emperor of Great Yong who now sat there was a man in his prime, his hair and beard still black. His attending eunuch had also been replaced.
Each emperor had his own ministers. Though many of the court's senior officials remained from the old guard, those at the emperor's side still needed changing. There was never any shortage of skilled fighters around the sovereign.
In fact, the new emperor greatly admired Xiao Yuzhi, the renowned constable of Heaven-Bearing Prefecture. Only respect for the Heaven-Bearing Prefect's opinion and Xiao Yuzhi's own wishes held him back; otherwise, he would most likely have promoted him to a saber-bearing personal guard.
"Whew."
After working through a batch of memorials, the current emperor rubbed his forehead.
"Would Your Majesty care for some tea and refreshments?"
"Yes."
The eunuch beside him immediately went to give the order, while the emperor frowned at the many matters still awaiting his attention on the desk.
Before becoming emperor, he had always longed for this position. Only after becoming emperor had he realized how hard this chair was to sit in.
Barely a year into his reign, Xiang Ziji had already realized that he could not match his father.
Yet this prince, whom the Former Emperor had once deemed rather too gentle and weak, had a stubborn drive burning within him. People were not lumps of useless mud, after all. No one willingly settled for being second to another, even when that other was his own father.
The Chengxing era was universally acknowledged as an age of prosperity. Xiang Ziji was not so arrogant as to claim he could surpass it, but choosing Hongxing as his reign title was enough to show that he was an ambitious ruler.