Fragments of Political Intrigue

After his cousin was shot dead by a rival faction, and his father, a second-rank official, mysteriously died in a rebellion that cost not a single soldier's life... The young man spent three years lying low in a monastery. Then an imperial edict summoned him to the palace. After the palace examinations, he claimed the top spot among the civil officials and became Chancellor of the Imperial College. Everyone in the illustrious Daiyuan says he inherited his father's position, while others claim he possesses half a volume of secret political strategies...