Gan Lin had absolutely no difficulty in winning the throne.
First of all, the entire capital city of Nanzhao is now in complete chaos, with numerous clans fighting each other, and the royal family suppressing the incompetent King Kang Guang.
The once highly competitive King of Jingxi has now completely disappeared without a trace.
Therefore, when Gan Lin was escorted back to the capital by the Northwest Army under the banner of the return of the true dragon, he had no obstacles. Along the way, the city gates of every town he visited were opened to allow him and his entourage to pass.
The people outside the imperial city, unaware that the emperor was a puppet, and having heard the stories fabricated and spread by Gan Lin and his associates about Gan Lin's approachability and his personal rescue of disaster victims, greatly admired and respected Gan Lin.
Driven by a desire to catch a glimpse of the current emperor, they thronged the streets to see him. If it weren't for the town's officials maintaining order, Gan Lin would have been unable to move an inch into the city.
Before Gan Lin could reach Yindu in Nanzhao, the Crown Prince of Jinchuan personally led a large army to the border, under the pretext of celebrating the return of the Nanzhao emperor to the throne, just as Li Hua had said before.
As a result, no one in the court, whether civil or military officials, or members of the royal family who had any opinions about Gan Lin, dared to speak out.
With the mighty army of Jinchuan pressing down on the border and the King of Jingxi missing, there was simply no one to resist them.
Once the Jinchuan army breaches the border of Jingxi, they can directly march on the capital. At that point, war will rage and the land will be shattered; no one can bear the consequences.
Therefore, everyone in the court was of one mind, waiting for the true emperor to return to power.
Gan Lin's journey was incredibly smooth, but Kang Guangwang still tried to sabotage it by spreading rumors to ruin Gan Lin's reputation, saying that Gan Lin was just a puppet that the regent had manipulated at will and was not worthy of being emperor.
But before Gan Lin's men could make a move to arrest the person, a group of people suddenly appeared, grabbed the person, and brought them to Gan Lin.
After questioning them, Gan Lin learned that these people were Li Hua's men, and that they had been protecting them on the way.
He had been making arrangements for Gan Lin's army in the town before they reached the next town, which is why Gan Lin and his men were able to proceed so smoothly.
When Chen Wa and the others who were with Gan Lin entered the city and inquired about the situation, they were all deeply saddened.
Because all those who held opposing views were approached by Li Hua's people, and were basically all appeased by Li Hua's wealth and influence.
Although Gan Lin was once an emperor, he never possessed the wealth of the entire country, and even the thought of spending silver made him tremble with fear.
Chen Wa's expression was incredibly complex. He sighed and said to Gan Lin, "If Your Majesty has the support of a consort in the future, at least you won't have to worry about the clans uniting to hinder Your Majesty when you confront them, leading to an empty treasury..."
Gan Lin's expression was also complicated. That evening, he picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Gan Qiongying.
The letter naturally asked her elder sister to dissuade the prince consort, arguing that even if money was needed, it shouldn't be spent like throwing stones carelessly...
When Gan Qiongying received this letter, she and Li Hua had completely reconciled and were inseparable, like a young couple in love.
After seeing the lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Hua, in order to make up for her previous regret, bought all the lanterns on the entire street and had them arranged into a river of lanterns, which ran all the way from the mountain to the small wooden house halfway up the mountain.
Every step they took revealed a different lantern. Gan Qiongying and Li Hua walked hand in hand past these lanterns, and then spent three or four days soaking in the hot spring halfway up the mountain, without ever returning...
With her children being looked after, her husband looking like a god, and an endless supply of money under her pillow, Gan Qiongying lived a life like that of an angel.
Now all I need to worry about is what to eat every day, how to spend my money, and what new gadgets to get my hands on.
Gan Qiongying read Gan Lin's letter several times after receiving it. Gan Lin reported that everything was going well in the letter. At the very end of the letter, he advised Li Hua to hold back a little when he was throwing money around.
Gan Qiongying looked at the letter and deduced from the original plot. In the original plot, Li Hua also used this method to distribute money to the people in the city when he attacked the city.
In the original story, the Li Hua army marched straight in, and because of the ever-advantageous money paving the way, they were invincible.
Now, Li Hua isn't vying for the throne, and she's sending Gan Lin back to the throne in the same way. In a way, this overlaps with the original timeline.
Gan Qiongying did not try to dissuade Li Hua from spending money less. She never interfered with how Li Hua did business or how he spent money extravagantly.
Because Gan Qiongying knew that Li Hua didn't just have a bucket of fish, but a whole warehouse full of fishhooks.
These hooks can catch countless fish in a continuous stream, and releasing a few will have no impact whatsoever.
Gan Qiongying wrote back to Gan Lin to reassure him, and most of the time she reminded him that safety was the most important thing.
No matter what happens to him when he returns to the capital, he must not let these things trouble his mind and body.
Gan Qiongying knew that Gan Lin had always held a grudge about Li Quan's matter, and had never forgotten the harm that the Regent and Empress Dowager Kou Ning'an had done to him.
Gan Qiongying had already made the two of them pay the price, and she would no longer hold a grudge against them. But it was different for Gan Lin. Gan Qiongying let Gan Lin go back so that he could take revenge himself.
Only in this way can the ever-growing mountain of hatred in his heart be completely destroyed.
It took Gan Lin about a month and a half to lead his army back to Yindu. Officials, dressed in their official robes, came out for ten miles to welcome him back to court.
The member of the imperial clan who was placed on the throne by the Grand Princess Huian was already overwhelmed and his health was deteriorating.
But ever since he learned that Gan Lin had returned to the capital, he has been eating and sleeping well, and his health has almost fully recovered.
He had been emperor for a period of time, so he had to join his officials in welcoming Gan Lin back and abdicating the throne to him once again.
Gan Lin's journey back to the palace was also very smooth, as all the guards were people that Chen Wa had brought from the northwest border.
Gan Lin directly appointed Chen Wa as the head of the Imperial Guard, giving him command of the entire palace and even the entire imperial city's army.
After Gan Lin returned to the palace, he transferred all the people he had trained when Li Quan was in power to his side. These people had originally been suppressed to the margins, and some had even been tortured to death, but now, with the return of the true dragon, they had all turned their lives around.
Gan Lin became a true emperor with real power, the head of both civil and military officials in the court. He was originally worried that the former puppet emperor would not be able to adapt to being a real emperor.
After demonstrating his unwavering loyalty in court, he went to Gan Lin's Bixi Palace after court to suggest several ministers skilled in handling court affairs.
As a result, the two of them spent most of the day in the Bixi Palace, and from then on, they never mentioned recommending anyone to the emperor to assist him in handling state affairs.
Because whether Gan Lin was reviewing memorials or discussing the situation in the entire Nanzhao region, the whole world was in his heart.
Even after leaving the palace, Gan Lin had a clear understanding of the policies in remote towns and villages, the real needs of the people along the way, and which town's officials were incompetent and which were honest and poor.
After suddenly ascending to the throne, he did not rush to deal with anyone, but instead took advantage of the spring to immediately hold a special imperial examination to select talents from all directions.
Only by selecting and cultivating capable individuals can he, as he envisions, make the first decisive move in the turbulent officialdom of Nanzhao.
Gan Lin, who was once a puppet with his hands and feet bound, was only able to reveal his true abilities after suddenly losing the control of others.
At first, the court officials were forced to choose him due to the situation, but gradually they began to observe and wait, and only a small number of people truly stood on his side.
However, as Gan Lin soon revealed his true abilities as an emperor, and showed that he would not deliberately suppress the talents of any clan for his own selfish reasons, the sentiments of the court officials gradually changed.
The imperial court began to resemble a pool of living water, where all the fish began to swim.
The entire country is like a large, interconnected machine, and Gan Lin, as the one who controls the direction, always makes the right decisions and never tries to be clever by interfering with the decisions of those below him.
He was good at recognizing and employing people, and was kind and compassionate. He would not yell at his court officials, but he would never allow them to restrict what he truly wanted to do using various so-called etiquette rules or what a ruler could not do.
With a balanced approach and clear bottom line, Gan Lin garnered support from most of the court officials within just a few months. Among these officials were even former subordinates of the regent.
Regent Sima Rui had already been sent back by Li Hua. As soon as Gan Lin became emperor again, he sent people to take control of Regent Sima Rui's residence.
Just as Gan Qiongying had predicted, Regent Sima Rui received the punishment he deserved.
He was initially secretly sent to a brothel, where he was forced to take drugs that made him weak and unable to speak.
Then that group of people trained him and changed him.
Even at this point, Sima Rui still harbored the hope of escaping, feigning submission and meekness while secretly plotting his next move.
However, his plan was destined to fail, and he was soon sent to Kou Ningyu's residence.
After the Regent emerged from Kou Ningyu's residence overnight, he was neither human nor ghost.
Sima Rui had always known that Kou Ningyu was not clean; he not only controlled the salt and iron industries in Zhangzhou, but also secretly mined several mines.
Taking advantage of the fact that the emperor was far away, his men remained in Zhangzhou without reporting it to the authorities.
The money embezzled and plundered was ultimately transferred to the roots of the behemoth that was the Kou clan, providing the energy for this behemoth to expand and multiply.
The regent, relying on the powerful Kou family, initially turned a blind eye to such matters.
He should not concern himself with politics when he is not in a position of authority; once he truly becomes emperor, he will naturally purge the corrupt elements.
Before he could truly control the world, he still needed the Kou clan as a powerful backer.
However, Sima Rui never imagined that one day he would perish under this big tree, be dismembered and buried under its roots, and used as fertilizer to nourish the tree's roots.
He was tortured beyond recognition and then transported by unknown people to a remote iron mine.
For a while after he hadn't fully recovered, no one forced him to do anything. They let him recover until he was almost fully healthy before they finally showed their true colors to him.
The regent suffered inhuman torment there, with hunger, pain, filth, and disease taking turns attacking him. In just a few days, he was ravaged to the point of near death.
And this was just the beginning. If he didn't work for the union, he would be beaten to death. He had nothing and no money to bribe the foreman, so he could only do the hardest work, take the least food, and live in the mine without even a mat to wrap himself in.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about escaping, but he was beaten half to death several times. Pain and hunger can completely destroy a person's consciousness, especially since the Regent was beaten and injured in the eye after one of his escape attempts.
He had no choice but to grit his teeth and work alongside that group of laborers every day, doing jobs he had never even seen before in his entire life.
He would get up before dawn and only rest when it was completely dark. He had considered telling people who he really was; he had told countless people that he was the current regent.
But those people just laughed and said he'd been tortured to the point of being mentally unstable.
Because among their group, some even claimed to be the current emperor; this was merely a form of self-amusement as they struggled on the brink of pain and death.
The regent initially only lost an eye but was still able to work as usual. Human adaptability is limitless, and after a while, he even began to plan to work hard and rise to become a leader.
Their underlings rotate positions every so often, and some even get the chance to leave.
However, just when the regent had risen to the rank of leader and was about to be rotated out of his post, one night while he was sleeping, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his eyes.
His other, intact eye was blinded!
The regent covered his eyes, and his cries echoed throughout the entire mine that night.
He didn't know who did it, and he had many guesses in his mind, but no one could get justice for him.
After he went blind and could see nothing, he became a complete cripple, and his heart was so tormented that he lost all desire to resist...
But at this very moment, someone took pity on him and began to take care of him.
She even took him with her when they escaped from the mine and fled back to the capital.
However, the regent was unaware that everything he did was part of someone else's plan, and even the person he regarded as his salvation was someone he could never have imagined.
As a blind regent, he was naturally unable to rule, and all his subordinates scattered like monkeys after a tree has fallen.
The few remaining servants in his residence were sent by the Empress Dowager, who was barely clinging to life in the palace.
The regent is now spending all his time in his palace, trying every possible means to find a doctor to cure his eyes so that he can make a comeback.
He had not heard of Gan Lin's return to the court, because the few people who served him, the one who had been his only companion and brought him out of hell, had created a world for him that he wanted to know about.
Gan Lin even visited the Regent twice, both times when the Regent was so exhausted from reviewing memorials that he could barely stand up straight. Seeing the man who had once tormented him now in such a miserable state, Gan Lin felt an immense surge of energy.
Gan Lin was like a patient hunter; he didn't even rush to go and show off to Kou Ning'an.
Having controlled the people in Kou Ning'an's courtyard, and even the entire harem, he treated Kou Ning'an like a cat being teased or a dog being walked, making her life increasingly unbearable.
Kou Ning'an is now barely clinging to life. After Gan Lin easily stripped her of all power, she is now a "reigning empress dowager" who doesn't even need charcoal.
She tried to meet Gan Lin several times, but Gan Lin refused to see her.
Gan Lin tormented her, and he also tormented Regent Sima Rui. Watching the two of them pacing back and forth like ants on a hot pan, he felt extremely pleased.
With just a little force, he could crush those two ants to death.
Being an emperor is not easy, and Gan Lin had many things to do, so he hardly had any time to rest.
His only form of entertainment was to slowly torment these two people.
However, Gan Lin felt very happy, but his body gradually began to lose weight, and even the tonics prescribed by Physician Xiao could not improve his complexion.
After Physician Xiao followed him back to the capital, he immediately became the Chief Physician of the Imperial Medical Academy.
Unfortunately, his medicine could no longer cure the emperor. Gan Lin did not appear to be ill, but his weight loss never stopped.
Xiao Qiansong even suspected that there might be some kind of poison in Gan Lin's bedchamber, and personally led the Imperial Medical Academy to conduct a thorough investigation from beginning to end. They even carefully analyzed the incense that Gan Lin usually wore on his clothes.
It was ultimately confirmed that there were no toxins left. Gan Lin actually eats quite a lot every day, but he just can't gain weight. If he continues to lose weight like this, his health will really suffer.
Xiao Qiansong had no choice but to secretly write a letter to Gan Qiongying, explaining Gan Lin's situation to her.
Gan Lin usually only reports good news in his letters, never bad.
Several months have passed in the blink of an eye, and it is now June. The weather has warmed up completely, and Gan Qiongying and Li Hua have already planned to take the children to the south for a trip.
After receiving Xiao Qiansong's letter, Gan Qiongying and her group changed their destination.
When Gan Qiongying wrote to Gan Lin saying she was going back to the capital, Li Hua sat next to her and reached out to massage her shoulders.
"The princess's residence needs some renovations. I'll send people ahead, and it will be just like before when we arrive."
Gan Qiongying held the letter in her hand, her brows slightly furrowed as she read Xiao Qiansong's description of Gan Lin's condition.
This is the fourth time.
Li Hua silently counted in her heart that Gan Qiongying's concern for Gan Lin always made Li Hua feel jealous.
However, because Gan Qiongying had ignored him for a long time because of his schemes against Gan Lin last time, Li Hua did not dare to come up with any more schemes or tricks.
Instead, he presented Gan Qiongying as if she were a treasure, saying, "I know that there are two hundred-year-old ginseng roots in the palace of Jinchuan, which were originally intended to be used to prolong the life of the emperor when he is critically ill today."
"I will have someone fetch it and send it to Gan Lin in a couple of days to see if it can help his health."
Gan Qiongying then turned around and gently bumped her head against Li Hua's.
“You know how to care for him, and he will be very happy. However, this problem of his may not be solved by ginseng, but I know how to solve it.”
Li Hua truly couldn't understand this time. Gan Lin had now achieved his wish and become emperor, and no one in the court or among the people would disobey him.
Moreover, the regent and the empress dowager are both like ants in his grasp; he now truly holds life and death in his hands and can turn the tide at will.
Why is he experiencing unexplained weight loss and becoming depressed all the time?
Gan Qiongying said to Li Hua, "It's very simple. When you hate someone, you are actually wasting your own life."
Gan Qiongying tapped her fingers twice on the letter and said to Li Hua, "These two cancers should not have been left alive. I wanted Gan Lin to take revenge himself, but how did I know that Gan Lin's method of revenge was to drag things out with them... How can one be happy in this situation?"
"Come back to Yindu with me; it will be like a return to familiar territory. We can't let Ganlin recover too quickly."
Gan Qiongying reached out and pinched Li Hua's nose, saying, "The moment I saw you in that princess's mansion, I fell deeply in love with you and could never extricate myself..."
Li Hua loved listening to Gan Qiongying say these sweet words. Every time Gan Qiongying said them, he couldn't help but blush and feel hot, and he would stay in a happy state for the next few days.
Gan Qiongying's sweet words were like an addictive poison, causing Li Hua to lose his mind and waver every now and then.
In fact, Gan Qiongying's words were all embellished. At that time, she was too busy to care for herself and only saw Li Hua's mask. How could she fall deeply in love with him?
Of course, it's because she's deeply in love with the money in his hands.
But Li Hua didn't care at all, and he didn't bother to examine the logic in Gan Qiongying's words. As long as Gan Qiongying said sweet words to him, he would be especially happy to drag her to the mountainside for a wild time.
The two children can walk now and have started talking.
When Li Hua was dealing with the accounts every day, the two little ones would cause trouble and tear up his important letters at the drop of a hat.
Gan Qiongying told Li Hua several times to be more mindful and not to give important things to the children, but Li Hua just smiled and said each time:
"Nothing else is important to me except you all."
Gan Qiongying pouted, thinking to herself, "Try not to whisper in my ear tonight that I dote on the two kids too much and don't even look at you..."
After receiving Xiao Qiansong's letter, they had already set a departure date, and all their servants and maids were brought along.
The group set off in high spirits, treating the trip as both a vacation and a return home.
However, things are different now. They are no longer surrounded by wolves, nor are they weaklings forced to flee.
Gan Lin is a true dragon returning to its rightful place, and Gan Qiongying is a true phoenix returning to its nest.
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