The following day, in the imperial court, ministers led by Xu Churen advised the emperor to establish an heir apparent as soon as possible in order to stabilize public sentiment.
Xu Churen directly proposed that, since ancient times, the eldest son has always succeeded to the throne, so the Duke of Chongguo and the eldest son of the emperor, Zhao Chen, should be the crown prince and enter the Eastern Palace.
For a time, most ministers agreed with Xu Churen's suggestion.
However, some people objected. For example, the Imperial Censor He Ye publicly pointed out that the Duke of Chongguo had privately criticized the new law and insisted that a crown prince should not be established, otherwise it would shake the new law and destroy the emperor's hard work.
He Ye, who never shied away from stirring up trouble, shocked the court with his first words.
The eldest prince criticizes the new laws?
This is a huge matter! You shameless person like He can't just spout nonsense without evidence!
Xu Churen and others angrily denounced He Ye for spouting nonsense and disrupting the court, and demanded that they each be removed from their positions as censors and exiled to Lingnan!
In an instant, spittle flew everywhere in the court.
The matter of establishing a crown prince has not been mentioned for the time being.
After the court session, Zhao Huan had just returned to his study when Shao Chengzhang entered and said, "Your Majesty, my eldest son requests an audience."
Zhao Huan was puzzled. Could it be that Zhao Chen had heard rumors about establishing a crown prince and had come to see him at this time?
"Let him in."
After Zhao Chen entered, he bowed and said, "Father, I have a request for your permission."
"Brother, what brings you here?"
"I beg Father to let me go to the southwest. I feel that I have lived in the palace since I was a child and know very little about the outside world. I want to go out and be tempered."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Huan was slightly startled and began to look at Zhao Chen in a new light.
Zhao Chen must have heard rumors, and by doing so at this particular moment, his request to leave was clearly a strategic retreat.
Zhao Huan was not averse to this move. On the contrary, if it was really Zhao Chen's idea, he felt that his son had grown up and knew how to navigate the power dynamics.
But it's also possible that it wasn't his idea, but rather someone else's idea behind the scenes.
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