Great Wei Imperial Palace.
Inside the Hall of Nourishing Heart.
The empress sits on the dragon chair, while in front of her, sits an old man.
Zhao Wan’er is not here.
This old man has snow-white hair and wears black plain clothes, but his eyes are not cloudy, but clear.
He was the empress’s teacher, once Tai Fu, Li Guangxiao, but now he had left his post and was travelling in the clouds, and today the empress had summoned him here to discuss some matters.
“Teacher, King Huai Ning has already sent the Qilin military talisman, but this is all going too smoothly, and I, for one, always feel that something is not right.”
The Empress’ voice rang out as she looked at the old man before her and said so.
Li Guangxiao was slightly silent, and after a while, he slowly spoke.
“I originally thought that it would take a certain amount of money for Your Majesty to obtain the Qilin Talisman, but I never expected that Prince Huaining would be so quick to do so.”
“In this matter, in the eyes of the world, Prince Huaining may seem to be doing it for his own son, but he is definitely not this kind of person who values affection.”
“A single Qilin military talisman is better to him than ten of his sons, and now that va*sal kings from all over the world have come to play, it is obvious that it is related to Prince Huaining.”
“If there are no surprises, they will be moving in a few years.”
Li Guangxiao replied calmly, and this moving meant something profound.
The empress’ complexion changed slightly as she looked at her teacher and could not help but speak.
“Can King Huaining still move when he hands over the military power to me?”
She asked this.
“The Qilin amulet is in His Majesty’s hands, as is the Green Dragon amulet, but the three amulets of the White Tiger, Xuanwu and Vermilion Bird are still out there.”
“The va*sal kings from all over the world also have their own armies, so he can move them, but I guess that Prince Huai Ning dares to give the Qilin military amulet to His Majesty, he must have a bigger plan.”
“Otherwise, he would not dare to hand over the military amulet.”
Li Guangxiao said thus.
“Then how soon, teacher, do you think he will move?”
The empress asked.
Li Guangxiao was silent and after pondering for a long time, he slowly spoke.
“Over the years, I have travelled in all directions and found that the clan kings everywhere are becoming more and more powerful, especially after His Majesty ascended the throne, and while the clan kings are cutting down their troops on the surface, they are secretly constantly recruiting troops.”
“That is why I believe that it will take three years soon and five years slowly.”
“And if there is a heavenly opportunity, I am only afraid that it will move at any time.”
Li Guangxiao made a judgement that within three to five years, if anything went wrong with Great Wei, it was estimated that it would move immediately.
“Three years?”
The empress frowned.
Three years was not a long time, not a short time, and perhaps in the blink of an eye, it would already be here.
“Then please ask the teacher, what should I, what should I do?”
The empress continued to ask.
The latter shook her head and let out a long sigh, saying.
“Today, the situation in Great Wei is the most difficult since the founding of the state, the late emperor’s seven northern expeditions have emptied the treasury of Great Wei, and those va*sal kings have taken advantage of the opportunity to ama*s countless fortunes, and now the treasury is close to empty.”
“And with all the waste waiting to be raised, the imperial court is shouting to continue the Northern Expedition, but once the Northern Expedition is underway, civil unrest will be evident.”
“At that time, the world will again be plagued with people, and all the people will suffer from the rise and fall. I have been thinking about this over the years, but I am too old to think of a solution, but I can point out three clear paths to Your Majesty.”
Li Guangxiao looked very serious.
He had travelled in the four directions, not just in the clouds, but to see how the current mountains and rivers of Great Wei really were.
No matter how good a book scroll was, it was not as good as seeing it for yourself.
No matter how miserable the scrolls were, it was better to see for yourself.
He saw it, and even more so, he could not think of a solution, but he could point out three clear paths for the Empress to follow, so that she could understand where the current plight of Great Wei lay.
“Please enlighten me, teacher, I, for one, am all ears.”
The Empress said seriously.
“The roots of Wei’s woes today are three.”
“One, the people’s livelihood, the former emperor’s seven northern expeditions, the treasury is empty, the people do not eat without food, but at least there are still many people still do not have enough to eat, the Great Wei is a hundred wastes waiting to be raised, this is the foundation of the Great Wei, the most important, need to be resolved as soon as possible, when the people can eat, even if there is a rebellion, will not lead to public discontent and anger, even the people will also rebel, do not want to live in war again, also They don’t want to live in war again, nor do they want to go without food again.”
Li Guangxiao pointed out the first and extremely crucial point, which was the most important thing.
There are people who rebel, and this is difficult to prevent, but as long as public opinion remains unchanged and the hearts of the people are not in turmoil, these people who rebel will find it difficult to succeed, and even if the people lead a good life, they themselves will try to stop it, because they no longer want to live in war or go hungry.
This is a very simple truth, but for Great Wei today it is an extremely difficult thing to do.
The empress listened carefully.
“Secondly, the rebellion of the va*sal kings. The reason why the va*sal kings are now so eager to move is because the late emperor did not ascend to the throne properly, and because they do not agree with His Majesty’s righteousness in private.
“But for now there is no need to worry, after all these va*sal kings are also in internal conflict, only sooner or later a result will be discussed.”
Li Guangxiao continued.
This was the second root of the trouble, there were too many va*sal kings in the world, the cause of which was not caused by Emperor Wu, but by two emperors, Emperor Wenzhi chose Emperor Wu as his emperor, but feared that his other sons would disobey him and eventually forced him to take up va*salage, while Emperor Wu, after taking office, did not choose to suppress these va*sal kings, because he wanted the Northern Expedition and the kingdom had to be secure, so instead these va*sal kings became stronger and had more power.
If the Northern Expedition had been successful, these kings would not have dared to do anything, and would have even handed over their military amulets honestly, but the more the Northern Expedition went on, the less it worked.
When Emperor Wu returned to the court and killed many of his ministers, he did not care about the va*sal kings, which led to the rapid rise of their power and indeed the power to rebel.
Now that the female emperor has ascended to the throne, they are even more unconvinced. They were once unconvinced as to why Emperor Wu had ascended to the throne, and if not for the shame of Jingcheng, they would have revolted long ago.
On the surface, they were convinced, but behind the scenes, what about them? But behind their backs, they wanted to take their place.
But there was a struggle among the va*sal kings, so they also had to balance themselves. They had to struggle for several years just to decide who would be the emperor, and then they would finally decide on a candidate before sending troops to rebel.
Otherwise, it is only possible that as soon as Emperor Wu died, these va*sal kings would have started to rebel.
The Empress knew about the rebellion of the va*sal kings, but it was difficult to eradicate it or to suppress it.
So the empress did not say anything, but continued to listen to her teacher’s third question.
“The third issue is the dispute over the Northern Expedition. The impact of the Northern Expedition is too great, once Your Majesty speaks, whether to confirm the Northern Expedition or to reject it, it is extremely dangerous for the Great Wei, if the Northern Expedition is confirmed, once the troops are sent, the va*sal kings are bound to rebel. Everyone is at risk, these va*sal kings will only be the first to conspire, pull in the military officials in the dynasty, straight to take the capital are possible.”
This is Li Guangxiao’s third problem.
“Moreover, I think that the Northern Expedition battle might be the opportunity that the clan kings are waiting for, so Your Majesty, no matter what, don’t touch this matter first, but it is impossible to not touch it at all, mention it at times, avoid talking about it at times, and stabilize the clan kings everywhere.”
Li Guangxiao offered an idea.
In fact, his three questions converge in one sentence that there are people who want to rebel.
The reason for this group of people to rebel is one thing: a woman cannot become the emperor, your father is also somewhat unworthy of the name, and this throne is supposed to be theirs, so they want to rebel.
But the va*sals were faced with three questions: who would be the emperor? The second was when to rebel? The third was how best to rebel.
So once the va*sal kings solved these three problems, they would not hesitate to rebel.
The point of who will be the emperor will be decided sooner or later, and the question of when to rebel will depend on when one makes a mistake.
If you agree to the Northern Expedition, then you should just go ahead and do it. The people are now starving for food and you still want to fight? You don’t deserve to be emperor at all, I’ll do it.
If you don’t agree to the Northern Expedition, then conspire against these military officials. If the emperor doesn’t even go on the Northern Expedition, you military officials will definitely be out of luck, so why not join me, and then I will be the emperor and use you heavily?
The former is more harmful, but the latter cannot be ignored either.
And how can we best rebel, it is also very simple, when more and more people in Great Wei do not have enough to eat, then this is the best time.
At the moment, Wei seems to be stable.
It seems to be stable, but there are endless internal problems.
Once an army is raised, there will be countless deaths and injuries, and there is no telling how many innocent people will be implicated.
It would not be too much to say that the people would be killed.
If it is a foreign war, for the sake of profit, all is well, but what is internal fighting? It is killing each other.
“I, understand, thanks to my teacher for pointing it out.”
The empress nodded, she understood the situation now, the battle for the North, something that the va*sal kings everywhere looked at, she could not choose herself, and once she did, no matter how she chose, it was wrong.
But it cannot be left unmentioned, it has to be brought up from time to time to delay the va*sal kings and make them think that the Northern Expedition battle will be decided soon.
In this way they would be willing to wait, for the state to withdraw, or for the military officials to complain; whatever the outcome, it would be to their advantage to come.
It was also at this point that Li Guangxiao’s voice continued to ring out.
“Your Majesty, I just came to the capital today, and I heard that there is a great talent in the court called Xu Qingnian, Xu Shouren, this person, what does Your Majesty think?”
Li Guangxiao slowly asked.
When Xu Qingnian was mentioned, the empress’ eyes showed a touch of approval, facing her teacher, she would not hide too much emotion.
“This person, great talent.”
“If you take literary talent, for all the ages.”
The empress spoke slowly, using two words to describe Xu Qingnian.
Above literary talent, Xu Qingnian was a great talent for the ages.
“A great talent of the ages?”
“It is also excellent that the new dynasty of Great Wei has welcomed such a great talent.”
Li Guangxiao smiled, but soon he continued to speak.
“The king of the county was killed in anger, Xu Qingnian really has the blood of a soldier, but he was too impulsive, but the good thing is that he did not affect the overall situation.
Li Guangxiao continued to ask.
“Xu Qingnian’s talent can be reused.”
“However, I want to sharpen him up a bit, he has taken on a great responsibility for the people of the world and for redressing the grievances of the millions of innocent people in Pingqiu Prefecture, only he does not know what Great Wei is facing today.”
“Or, in the eyes of the people, I, some ruthless, to get the military power, ignoring the life and death of millions of innocent people, but I, will not forget this, but what I need to know even more is, to fight for the people of the world.”
“Xu Qingnian was furious and beheaded the county king, I don’t blame him, but I hope he can understand some sense, first lock him up for a few days, so that he can reflect on it.”
The empress opened her mouth and spoke her mind.
Xu Qingnian was indeed quick to kill the County King in anger, and she also wanted to kill the Huai Ping County King to do justice to the people, but sometimes it could be resolved in a different way.
If the Kirin Talisman had not arrived, the danger to Great Wei would have been a little greater. Once Prince Huai Ning tore his face off and rebelled outright, how many more people would have to die by then?
Those who have died are already dead and can be remembered and never forgotten; justice will come sooner or later.
But the living people are even more important, just like in the Northern Expedition, when the barbarians from the north came to Jingcheng, millions of people were turned into blood and mud, how many women were humiliated? How many people died?
Did they hate it? The whole nation hated it.
But if we really want to take revenge regardless of the cost, in the end, all the people will rise and fall.
The empress is not asking Xu Qingnian to stop here, she is not not helping Xu Qingnian, rather she is helping Xu Qingnian so that Xu Qingnian can stop here, otherwise if she did not help, Xu Qingnian would have died that day.
Withholding the heavenly prison, is the bright side of things, he made a mistake, must be punished, or else others make mistakes can not, he made a mistake can be, simply not past.
After hearing these words of the empress, Li Guangxiao immediately understood the empress’ thoughts, she valued Xu Qingnian, otherwise she would not have praised him so much, nor would she have been so patient.
“The va*sal kings’ memorials are piling up like snowflakes, what does Your Majesty intend to do with them?”
Li Guangxiao asked.
“Suppress it for now, I, for one, will have a decision to make in due course.”
The empress gave her answer, she had already thought of what to do.
Killing Xu Qingnian? No way.
And Li Guangxiao instantly understood that Her Majesty was going to punish him with a small punishment.
For a moment, Li Guangxiao could not help but smile faintly.
“The first thing I want to do is to find out more about this Xu Qingnian, who is so praised by Your Majesty and needs to be seen.”
Li Guangxiao said so, as he took a huge interest in Xu Qingnian.
“Teacher can meet him, but Xu Qingnian is a great talent, it is just a pity that he was born at the wrong time.”
“Nowadays, the Great Wei is shaky, if it were in its prime, such a great talent could have left a name in a thousand histories and made the country more prosperous.”
“What I want more than anything is for a great talent to be born to help me out of this predicament.”
The empress opened her mouth, she appreciated Xu Qingnian, a great talent, literary talent is the great talent of the ages, but in terms of the court and governance, Xu Qingnian can only be a great talent, not talk about the ages.
“Your Majesty is overly concerned, the new dynasty will be established, sooner or later there will be truly great talents coming out, I feel that this Xu Qingnian, if cultivated properly, may really be able to save the day and make the Great Wei prosperous, even far beyond all dynasties.”
Li Guangxin smiled, half of his words were serious, hoping that His Majesty would cultivate him, while the other half were just a kind of pleasing words.
“I haven’t seen you for a year, and your teacher also knows some pleasing words, but it is difficult to have such great talents.”
“Xu Qingnian, no matter how much he is trained, can’t make Great Wei produce ten thousand jins per mu, feed and drink the people, make Great Wei prosperous and pacify the scourge of Great Wei, right?”
The empress shook her head, if Xu Qingnian had such skills, she would be willing to directly put Xu Qingnian in the palace, not to mention Prince Huai Ping, even if Prince Huai Ning cursed Xu Qingnian, she would still do her best to kill Prince Huai Ning to appease Xu Qingnian’s anger.
But is this possible?
It was impossible.
Even if it is the An Guo policy, the more one looks at its content, the more there is something wrong with it. It is suitable for a prosperous time, not for now, it is a superb article, but suitable for when the country is prosperous, not now when the country is in decline.
“There is no hurry, the heavens have their own arrangements.”
Li Guangxiao smiled faintly, he understood what the empress meant, and approved of it, 10,000 catties per mu, the people fed and watered, and the scourge of the Great Wei pacified? If Xu Qingnian could do this, there would honestly be no problem to crown a king. If Xu Qingnian had an imperial bloodline, this throne Xu Qingnian would sit on and the empress would actively abdicate.
But this is not possible, so Li Guangxiao also just smiled.
“En, I am tired, so I will go back to rest first, teacher, I have made a courtyard for you outside the palace, according to the former residence of Pingyang, also to avoid teacher rustiness.”
The empress got up, she was going to attend to official business, so she said.
“Thank you, Your Majesty, I will retire.”
Li Guangxiao rose and bowed slightly, then left the place.
And at the same time.
In the capital of Wei.
In a secret room.
There were still three figures facing each other.
“Huai Ning, you handed over the military talisman to His Majesty, but you didn’t expect Huai Ping to die anyway, should we start preparing and use this as a title to start the plan?”
A calm voice rang out, asking Prince Huai Ning.
Yes, one of these three figures was Prince Huaining.
“Prince Huaining, this time counts as an opportunity, do we need to make a move?”
A second young voice rang out and followed suit, asking.
However the third voice, that of the Prince of Huaining, gave a response.
“No!”
“The plan cannot be activated yet.”
“It is true that the death of Huai Ping did not occur to the king, but as long as he is dead, so be it, the king is grieving in his heart, but the king knows one thing even more, the more this time, the less we can act recklessly.”
“If we are to truly rebel, we absolutely must occupy the time, the place and the people, and now my son’s death is considered to be the power of the people and the place, but the time and the place have not yet appeared.”
Prince Huaining refused outright, not allowing the plan to start.
“Your Majesty, how long do we have to wait for this heavenly time and place? And what is this heavenly time and place?”
A slightly younger voice asked.
“The so-called heavenly time is the battle for the Northern Expedition, and even though the empress wants to delay it, she must make a conclusion within three years, otherwise the military officials in the court will not be able to wait.”
“And the geographical location is the Qilin military talisman!”
“When Huai Ping made a fuss about the Ministry of Punishment, I spoke out to stop it because I didn’t want him to offend the Ministry of Punishment, which will still have to work for us in the future, and over the years, my king has asked Huai Ping to make good relations in the six ministries, even honoring Zhu Sheng as the world’s first saint.”
“But what I didn’t expect was that Huai Ping cultivated the Yellow Dragon Great True Qi and became more and more violent in nature, this was something that my king overlooked, after all, he is my king’s own flesh and blood, also my king spoils him excessively, but at critical moments, my king would stop him.”
“And the Pingqiu House disaster relief case, the fact that my king has not shown up and allowed Huai Ping to make trouble and even disregard the king’s law, is actually deliberate on my king’s part.”
“This king has long wanted to give away the Qilin amulet, and the empress also wanted the Qilin amulet; she designed this trap, but did not know that she had already fallen into this king’s trap.”
“When Huai Ping caused trouble, His Majesty wanted to exchange the Ping Qiu House disaster relief case for the King’s amulet, and the King returned the amulet to her in the process.”
“According to my king’s plan, the empress will exchange all the deployments of the Qilin army at the first opportunity, and let the military department place its own people in it.
“At the same time, the empress will definitely find a way to obtain the other three military talismans. As long as she has a plan, then the clan kings everywhere will become more and more afraid and panic.”
“This is the location, and we can also quickly pull in a group of hesitant va*sal kings.”
“It’s just that I didn’t expect that this variable, Xu Qingnian, would appear, causing my son’s tragic death.”
Prince Huai Ning spoke.
He put it all out.
Yes, he had appeared to stop Prince Huai Ping when he was making a scene at the Ministry of Punishment.
And when the Huai Ping County King was arrested, he hadn’t appeared until the last moment.
Everything was because it was a game.
The reason for not offending the Ministry of Penalty was because the Ministry of Penalty would have to work for him in the future, and even the six ministries of the Great Wei would have to work for him, so that the County King of Huai Ping would go and draw the six ministries closer to the Great Confucian.
It is just a pity that the Huai Ping County King is brutal and paranoid by nature, which is an uncontrollable factor.
But this is not a big problem and can more or less be controlled by himself.
And in the case of the Pingqiu Prefecture disaster relief, he did not step in and let his own son act recklessly, which was his aim, to include his own son in the calculation.
The bigger the fuss, then the less people would think there was a problem if he handed over the military amulet himself.
Yes, the death of a million innocent people is a heinous crime, and even a prince would have to die, but a qilin amulet would indeed spare him.
Because the empress of Great Wei needed this talisman, with which she could secure her imperial power, defend the country and do many things.
So if she handed over the talisman at this time, everyone would recognise it, everyone would accept it, and everyone would not suspect it.
But what he did not expect was that Xu Qingnian invited the holy will to put his son to death.
This was something that he had never expected.
Did he hate it?
Hated!
But he did not utter a word, nor did he impeach Xu Qingnian for half a sentence.
Because he knew that revenge was not to be taken with the mouth, but with actual action. When he ascended the throne as emperor one day, what revenge could he not take?
It would be useless to invite the holy will again, even if the saint were to be resurrected.
As they listened, the two men fell into silence.
They had not expected that Prince Huaining would even include his own son in his calculations, so they really did not know what to do.
“Your Majesty, do you have to hand over the military amulet? Without the Qilin military amulet, it actually doesn’t look like we have anything to gain, does it?”
A slightly younger voice rang out, slightly puzzled.
Although the plan sounded good, why did we have to hand in the military amulet, wouldn’t it be better to have the military power in hand?
“Foolish.”
Prince Huaining’s voice rang out.
“Even if this king doesn’t hand over the military amulet this time, do you think the empress will let me go? She will try everything to take away my military power, the Pingqiu House disaster relief case is just a test, she definitely has many things prepared to target my king.”
“Instead of being targeted by her and having to hand over the military amulet in the end, it would be better to go along with it and give her the amulet while my king waits for her to make a mistake, once she does, the world’s clan kings can look at it and it would be more beneficial for my king to come.”
Prince Huaining’s words silenced the two men.
When you think about it, this was a terrible tactic, to turn the tide against you, to turn things against you, but Prince Huaining was able to turn things to his maximum benefit.
Indeed, there was nothing wrong with Prince Huaining’s point.
Even if he didn’t give it, would the empress let him go?
In the end, he would still have to hand over the Kirin Talisman.
Unless the time is ripe for a rebellion.
Instead of that, it would be better to just give it to the empress, who, having got the talisman and mastered the Qilin army, would naturally break up the layout of the Qilin army, putting in her own people and putting others in other barracks for her own people to oversee.
This is an inevitable act, and this act, as it happens, can be used by him to take to tour the county kings around the country. In this way, although he himself loses the Qilin Army, he can pull in those wavering clan kings.
What he loses is the Kirin army.
What he gains is the support of the va*sal kings.
In this way, not only did he not lose anything, but he made a big profit.
So far, everything has gone according to his plan. The only change is that his son is really dead.
This was a revenge that he took to heart.
But he knew better than that, at this time, he must not act recklessly, he must lay out his plans in detail, he must not let this matter cause his whole plan to fail.
In that case, it would be the real loser.
“Then, Your Majesty, this matter of Xu Qingnian, just forget about it?”
“Why don’t I ask these clan kings to add more fire, and punish Xu Qingnian no matter what, otherwise the king’s prestige will be lost.”
The other party said this.
“No, there’s no need.”
Prince Huining shook his head.
“What the va*sal kings everywhere do, let them go on their own, it has nothing to do with this king, and they are only testing the empress’ attitude.”
“Not for this king, nor do they sincerely want to kill Xu Qingnian, on the contrary only some of the clan kings, they also want to draw Xu Qingnian in.”
“The only thing that will happen is that he will be sent to jail for the world to see. If he really wanted to kill Xu Qingnian, his Majesty could have ordered it in the main hall.”
“Xu Qingnian is a great talent.”
“It is a pity that such a great talent cannot be used by me.”
“But such a great talent must not be used by the empress either, although he cannot buck the trend, he is also a hidden danger.”
“We can send someone, to the enemy countries, to spread the message, so that they can draw Xu Qingnian, and also spread public opinion, so that the people can voice their discontent for Xu Qingnian.”
“This king instead hopes that Xu Qingnian will develop paranoid thoughts, it would be best to leave the imperial court and go to the Sudden Evil Dynasty, to the First Yuan Dynasty, the enemy of an enemy is a friend.”
“Find someone to lure Xu Qingnian, come normally, he was beaten to the heavenly prison for the people’s grievances, he must have grievances in his heart, make good use of it, he might be able to create trouble for the empress.”
Prince Huai Ning was very poisonous, he did not go to trouble Xu Qingnian, and he also knew that he did not need to go to trouble Xu Qingnian.
He could see right away that the empress was helping Xu Qingnian, favouring Xu Qingnian, only that as emperor, she had to do things right for the world, considering not just the court officials, but many, many people of all different levels.
But Prince Huaining thought that Xu Qingnian would not be able to consider so much and would certainly be resentful, so he could make good use of it and in this way bring trouble to the empress.
What Prince Huai Ning was doing now was creating trouble for the Empress, and there was only one enemy in his eyes at the moment, and that was the Empress of Great Wei.
“Understood.”
“Your Highness is far-sighted.”
The latter nodded as a clear indication of his intentions.
“Then how long, exactly, before you can actually strike.”
Another voice rang out, he didn’t care about the power schemes or how, he just wanted to know when he could really strike.
“As soon as three years, as slow as five.”
“What we lack now is not only opportunity, but also silver and money, the silver we have collected over the years is not enough at all, we need more, the matter of rebellion is too involved.”
“Once a rebellion is underway, it will be impossible to attack quickly, Wei has two first rankers to suppress it, and we need time to train our troops.
“If three years is not possible, five years will certainly be possible, otherwise, once we strike and cannot attack quickly, we can kill ourselves and die.”
Prince Huining said this.
He needed silver, and an extremely large amount of silver, if he really wanted to rebel, silver was the most important, he needed silver to raise his troops now, and he needed it even more when he fought, and even more after he seized the throne.
Three to five years, no hurry, not even for a moment.
The more detailed, the better, the better, the more secure, the better, otherwise if it fails, I don’t know how many heads will have to fall.
“Good, then let’s wait for five years, these five years suck the money of Great Wei dry.”
The three men agreed in their consciousness, then left separately and disappeared through the dark tunnel.
And at the same time.
In the middle of the Great Wei Heavenly Prison.
As before, any cell is bound to be dirty and disorderly, even the Great Wei Heavenly Prison, the only difference is that the cells are large enough and heavily guarded, and the infrastructure is much better.
Xu Qingnian’s cell, on the other hand, looked incomparably clean and even had new bedding, spread out on the floor.
“Lord Xu, this is the meal my mother asked me to bring you.”
“Now the people outside, are writing a petition for you, you are dedicated to the people, the people all know about it and will not forget you, Lord Xu, I reckon that His Majesty will not really punish you for anything.”
The jailer from the Heavenly Prison came over, carrying a tray of dishes for Xu Qingnian to eat.
“Yes, yes, Lord Xu, you work for the people, and the people will definitely not forget your kindness.”
“This Huai Ping County King should also be killed and deserved to die, your Excellency did everything right.”
“Lord Xu, my mother knows that you are locked up in the Heavenly Prison, she went back last night and taught me a lesson that I must never let you suffer, if you are even half aggrieved, she will disown me as her son, Lord Xu, when you go back out, you must tell my mother, lest my mother me.”
“Your mother is fine, my father directly gave me two slaps, I certainly did not take good care of Lord Xu, Lord Xu, ask yourself, when you came, I first got rid of the weeds on the ground, and also deliberately brushed the two sides of the ground, later you must also explain to my father ah.”
In the middle of the heavenly prison, several prison guards stood in front of Xu Qingnian and each said.
Since Xu Qingnian entered the heavenly prison yesterday, they were in a hurry to do something, what sanitation to clean, what smell to clean, afraid that Xu Qingnian live uncomfortable.
The fact that Xu Qingnian spoke out for the people and beheaded the county king in anger won the hearts of the people, and they are the ones who are in charge, but they also have parents and good hearts, so they naturally respect Xu Qingnian.
When they returned, their parents were also the first to warn them that they should never let Xu Qingnian suffer a bit, and even the neighbours ran over, if they dared to let Xu Qingnian suffer a bit.
They were all in favour of severing the father-son relationship, causing them to be very depressed, and a few of them were so miserable that they directly received a few slaps, when the father did not listen to you so much, anyway, first beat up, and then reasoned properly.
“All of you are really polite.”
Xu Qingnian was also a bit teary-eyed, where he looked like he was in jail, it was clearly a holiday, if he was more open, he really was here to experience life.
“The first thing you need to do is to get the best out of it.
“I’ve heard that when the soldiers from the eight gates heard about this, they all said that you are a real man, and many of the men in the military camp even said that you could be a general after hearing about this.”
“Yes, Lord Xu, your prestige now is even greater than that of the prime minister, you are a truly clean official, a good official, and the people see it in their eyes.”
The crowd opened their mouths and praised Xu Qingnian, while Xu Qingnian also thanked them one by one.
But soon, the crowd also dispersed, after all, they were the ones who were on duty, a few extra words would do, and they couldn’t always, they still had to work.
After the people had left, Xu Qingnian sat alone in the cell.
When things are happening, emotions can affect one’s sanity.
And when it was over, sitting alone in the cell, Xu Qingnian had thought about many things this day.
Was it good that the Huai Ping County King was killed?
It must have been good.
But thinking back on it, I think it could actually have been done differently.
This was not done well.
But Xu Qingnian didn’t regret it, so he killed it, it was just that he wasn’t too thorough.
But in life, it is impossible for everything to go as planned, and people, they always have to progress, no one is born perfect.
The same applies to yourself, you have just entered the court, it is normal to have shortcomings, if there are flaws, correct them and just don’t commit them next time.
Xu Qingnian is not very harsh on himself, too harsh to live is too tired.
Xu Qingnian thought long and hard about the matter of the Huiping County King.
It was inconsiderate, but not regrettable, anyway, he killed himself with pleasure.
If given a chance to do it all over again, Xu Qingnian would still kill.
But after a few decades, perhaps he wouldn’t have killed, after all, people would have become more and more mature.
But at least now he is still a teenager and still has some blood in his bones.
And for His Majesty’s attitude.
Xu Qingnian also saw it very clearly.
In the courtroom, some anger, no emotion is impossible.
But after entering the prison, many things have gradually been thought out.
The only thing that was wrong with killing the Sheriff King was that he could have used other methods, and he chose the most direct method, which was not very mature and sophisticated, but there was no major fault.
And from the empress’s point of view, there is nothing wrong either. The exchange of the military talisman for the life of the County King of Huai Ping is a complete blood profit.
The dead man, remembered in the heart, every moment, do not forget, when the Great Wei really stabilized, peace, and then after the autumn reckoning, there is absolutely no problem at all, at that time not Huai Ping County King, Huai Ping Prince also have to die.
It is good for an emperor to be ruthless, but it is not a good thing if he is emotionally unstable and does whatever he wants without regard for the country or the world, at least not for the country.
The cynicism can be, but also have to have the strength, like Zhu Taizu, power pinch dead, so corrupt officials, the kill, and then look at Chongzhen emperor, what to do are subject to control, want to investigate corrupt officials, do not let you investigate, really torn face, you can also step down.
Think about it.
Xu Qingnian does not hate His Majesty, but also does not feel that he has done anything wrong.
It was just a difference in position.
And Xu Qingnian understood that His Majesty would not really punish himself for anything, or else he could have received his box of rice in the courtroom and left.
A small punishment is the ultimate outcome.
The more Xu Qingnian understands the struggle in the courtroom, the more he will have to think carefully about what he is doing in the future, and he will have to think carefully about every single thing.
If not, it won’t do to be fooled all the time. Anyway, no matter whether you look at people or things, you have to look carefully and take precautions in the future.
And there was another thing that Xu Qingnian had thought about for a long time this day.
That was why Prince Huai Ping had handed over the military amulet.
Why didn’t he stop the Prince of Huiping from making such a fuss?
In the end, the only thing Xu Qingnian could think of was that Prince Huai Ping had deliberately given away the military talisman.
As for why, it was not that Xu Qingnian could not think of a reason, but he was in a hurry and could not think of one within a short period of time.
But no matter what, the Prince of Huaining was his own worst enemy.
The most frightening thing about this kind of big enemy is that it is the kind that hides very deeply and will never fight with itself head on.
But come and go or a little, the blame lies in the fact that the Great Wei is now in decline and everything is happening, if it were in its prime, it is estimated that Prince Huai Ping could not wait for himself to kill, the empress would have killed him long ago.
No emperor would tolerate the existence of such a county king.
“The rise and fall of all the people, ah.”
Xu Qingnian shook his head, thinking more, its fundamental problem still lies with the people.
“The matter of the water cart, wait for a few more months, there should be some results, just hope that there will be no trouble next, the country is rich and the people are strong is the king’s way ah.”
Xu Qingnian said to himself in his heart.
And so it was.
In the blink of an eye, another three days had pa*sed.
Xu Qingnian was detained in the prison for three days.
The clan kings from all over the world kept shouting and insulting Xu Qingnian with various zhengs, and even threatened to kill Xu Qingnian, otherwise it would be difficult to calm down their anger.
This day.
In the courtroom.
One after another, the civil and military officials presented themselves to the court.
“Your Majesty, I have something to present.”
“In Huainan County, the twelve prefectures, there are ten million people who have petitioned for Xu Qingnian, and twelve volumes of the Book of Ten Thousand People have been sent to Kyoto.”
This was an official from the Ministry of Punishment.
“Your Majesty, I, too, have something to present.”
“Eight million people in the nine prefectures of Henin County have petitioned for Xu Qingnian, and eight scrolls of the Book of Ten Thousand People have been sent to Kyoto.”
This was an official from the Ministry of the Household.
“Your Majesty, I, too, have something to present.”
A voice rang out.
In the courthouse, officials from the six ministries spoke up one after another. In the past three days, the people of Great Wei had been in an uproar over Xu Qingnian’s petition, and one after another volume of the People’s Book had been sent to Kyoto.
They all hope that His Majesty will be merciful and forgive Xu Qingnian.
Some people have counted that there are a total of 145 scrolls of the People’s Petition so far, and some are still on their way.
It is clear that Xu Qingnian has won the love of the people of Wei, otherwise it would not have become public knowledge.
When the ministers had finished their presentation.
Chen Zhengru spoke up.
“Your Majesty, I believe that Xu Qingnian’s crime of seizing power is indeed a major crime, but the King of Huai Ping County injured the Minister of Justice in the first place, Xu Qingnian was also angry for a while, in addition to solving the case.”
The government’s decision to use the “new” method to solve the “new” case is a good one.
Chen Zhengru spoke up and proposed a solution.
“What is the explanation for the clan kings?”
The empress spoke up and asked calmly.
“Send the Book of the People to all the va*sal kings, public opinion is greater than heaven, I believe the va*sal kings will understand.”
Chen Zhengru gave his reply.
It was indeed not easy to handle the impeachment of Xu Qingnian by the va*sal kings.
But the letter of the people could be used for this purpose, and if the clan kings continued to clamour, they would be fighting against the people.
In this world, no one dares to fight against the people, not even His Majesty.
“En.”
The empress nodded her head.
And then spoke.
“In that case, pa*s on my decree.”
“Xu Qingnian cracked the Pingqiu Province disaster relief case, as a great merit, but the crime of seizing power, the merit will be offset, however, Xu Qingnian’s resignation is a matter of youthful impulsiveness, I, can forgive his crime, but not without punishment.”
“Remove the responsibility of Xu Qingnian as the head of the Ministry of Penalties, retain the official position of the Ministry of Penalties, and demote him to the Ministry of Penalties as a candidate for the roll official.”
“Punish Xu Qingnian again, and go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to serve as a scroll official, with no rank and no rank.”
“In order to prevent Xu Qingnian from recklessness again, he is given a scroll of heavenly decree, which can be sent directly to heaven for any matter, and if he is impulsive and reckless, I will not forgive him lightly.”
“He shall be banned for one more month to think about his mistakes at home and change his ways, and after that time, he shall work with reserve and shall not use his official position to serve the country in a perfunctory manner.”
The empress spoke and handed down her punishment.
When these words were spoken, the court was somewhat taken aback.
Chen Zhengru was silent.
Everyone knew that Xu Qingnian must have been punished in a minor way, just because Her Majesty wanted to find a step to take.
Both sides had to take care of their faces.
Therefore, the final result was definitely a small punishment and a big punishment, with a clear promotion and a secret demotion.
But what he didn’t expect was that the empress would give Xu Qingnian a scroll of heavenly decrees?
A scroll of twenty-four sheets.
In other words, Xu Qingnian had the qualification to directly reach the heavenly audience from now on.
This was not an explicit promotion, was it?
This is a superb promotion.
Does it matter if the official position is big or not?
If His Majesty values you, even if you are a guard, you can walk across the street.
If His Majesty does not value you, even if you are a prime minister, people will still look down on you.
This is the simplest of truths.
Twenty-four heavenly decrees, and the six ministries combined are probably only so many, right?
That is to say, in future, if anyone offends Xu Qingnian, and Xu Qingnian, in a fit of anger, writes up your issue, and His Majesty finds out about it, whether His Majesty will be angry about it or not, but at the very least, he will be uncomfortable, right?
But Chen Zhengru did not care about this.
Instead, he cares about why His Majesty thinks so highly of Xu Qingnian.
Is it possible that His Majesty really wants to support the Northern Expedition?
This was what Chen Zhengru was thinking.
The military officials, on the other hand, seemed overjoyed.
This decree from the empress was her attitude.
She valued Xu Qingnian, and she valued her very highly, otherwise she would not have rewarded Xu Qingnian with a heavenly decree.
And the fact that she valued Xu Qingnian could also be interpreted to mean that the Empress might really want the Northern Expedition.
After all, Xu Qingnian was the undisputed champion of the ‘military expedition’, so they were naturally delighted.
The officials all had their own ideas.
And as the word ‘retreat’ rang out, the matter was settled.
The dust had also settled.
Not long afterwards, the decree was announced.
The people of the capital were overwhelmed with excitement and joy, after all, their hearts had finally fallen.
The decree was pa*sed to the va*sal kings.
The attitude of the va*sal kings was a little different.
They were furious.
But in front of the Book of Ten Thousand People, they did not dare to be angry.
This move was really a desperate one.
I don’t know who led the way up.
As va*sal kings, they themselves had some problems, and now that they wanted to rebel, it was even more impossible for them to disobey public opinion.
So all sorts of ideas were lost at this moment. They could offend the emperor, but they dared not offend the people of the world.
Some of the va*sal kings, however, had other ideas in mind.
And at this moment.
Eight hundred miles away from the capital of Great Wei.
A carriage sped along.
“Carriage driver, how much longer until we reach the capital.”
Chen Xinghe’s voice rang out, slightly anxious.
“My carriage, it travels eight hundred miles a day, it is fast, it will be there within a day.”
The carriage driver’s voice rang out.
And Chen Xinghe could only be anxious.
Ever since he had learned that Xu Qingnian had been detained in the Heavenly Prison, he had been so anxious that he had come straight from Ping’an County, hoping to help his senior brother.
He had even written a poem on the way to voice out his injustice for his senior brother, thinking that when he arrived at the capital, he would do his best to meet His Majesty and read out his poem in front of the civil and military officials to help his junior brother redress his grievances.
Unfortunately, the carriage was too unforgiving, as it was bound to arrive in two days, but it was already three days later and there were still 800 miles to go.
What F**king bad luck.
Looking into the distance, Chen Xinghe clenched his fist to death, his eyes filled with determination.
“Senior brother! You have to hold on! Senior brother is coming to save you!”
“Senior brother, you don’t have to worry about senior brother, senior brother will save you even if he has to offend all the civil servants and His Majesty.”
Chen Xinghe said firmly in his heart.
He worried along the way, creating a poem for this purpose, full of feelings and words from the bottom of his heart, scolding the king for being faint, but also advising him to be clear, denouncing all officials, but also discouraging them, using the people as the subject, but also using Xu Qingnian to redress his grievances.
He knew that his entry into the capital would certainly set off another storm, but he did not care about the fame and fortune.
He only wanted Xu Qingnian to be well.
As Xu Qingnian’s senior brother, he had an obligation to help Xu Qingnian out of her predicament.
Alas.
It could not be helped, who made him a senior brother.
Senior brother, wait for me!
