The Tiger's Prime Minister

"Zhao Mingjiang, you will be my minister, won't you?" In the quiet turmoil of the powerful Zhu empire, Zhao Mingjiang carefully leads a nondescript life in the emperor's palace as a high scholar, reading old archives of war documented by generals and writing battle strategy theorems for his childhood friend, General Wen Huimo, who is away at the war front. But his peace is neither permanent nor steady. The king is growing elderly and frail, and the fight for the throne has become increasingly intense. Zhu Xiyan, crowned prince in name only, has taken much interest in Mingjiang's intelligence and the general that comes with Mingjiang's support. On the flip side, General Wen Huimo toils at war, rarely returning home and worrying about the situation in the capital. He has the men and the means, but even by the scarcely informative letters that Mingjiang sends him with increasing caution, he can tell that the pressure to perform the innocent subordinate for the royal family, especially the crowned prince, is becoming heavier in more ways than one. Beyond the palace walls too, the country is suffering under the gold plating, thousands of people toiling through droughts, and merchants becoming weary of the bandit-invested roads, problems that Mingjiang is only aware of because of Ouyang Qixing, a performer who travels easily in and out of the palace, who happens to be close friends to both Zhao Mingjiang and Wen Huimo. She's the only real connection to the outside, bringing news from informants nationwide. What the elderly emperor doesn't know, is that General Wen Huimo is gathering troops to overturn the current empire. The country is changing, and Mingjiang would be Wen Huimo's anchor inside the complex power struggle of the palace. —————————— · romance threads will happen (bl, 1v2, ? ending), but doesn't overtake the main plot · depictions of blood, violence, etc in later chapters · slow building story!