Kyoto, Great Wei.
After the holy decree of the empress was announced, Xu Qingnian walked out of the Shouren Academy.
The response from the foreigners was the first thing Xu Qingnian knew.
It was completely expected.
These foreigners wanted to make themselves the fuse, thus forcing Great Wei to send troops to war.
Because they knew that it was impossible for Great Wei to remove themselves.
What surprised Xu Qingnian was that the other side had a*sembled one hundred and twenty-one countries to impeach themselves.
If they dared to impeach themselves, they were prepared to disengage.
Before, Xu Qingnian was still not sure if there was the shadow of the Sudden Evil Dynasty and the Primordial Yuan Dynasty behind this, but now Xu Qingnian was completely certain that there was their shadow behind this.
Indeed.
It was normal for these va*sal states to look down on Great Wei now that the country was in decline, but despite this, Great Wei was not as weak as it was thought to be.
The fact that they dare to take such a big risk, and even threaten the empress with secession, is really drastic.
If there was no one behind this, Xu Qingnian would rather believe that Peng Ru was a good man.
But this kind of response made Xu Qingnian understand one thing deeply: Chen Zhengru was right.
Great Wei was faced with an unavoidable problem.
To fight or not to fight.
This issue is not caused by anyone, but is an inevitable process of history.
The seven Northern Expeditions of Great Wei had emptied the treasury to the point where the people were living in poverty.
Naturally, it was to the Tusi Dynasty and the First Yuan Dynasty.
Originally, Great Wei could be considered a giant, and the Tusi and Primordial Yuan Dynasties needed to join forces in order to get even with the Great Wei Dynasty.
But unfortunately, during the heyday of the Great Wei, a group of warlike barbarians emerged from the north, as if they were born to suppress the Great Wei.
From the north to the south, they pushed their way across the country, burning, killing and looting, committing all kinds of evil.
They lost the dignity of Wei’s upper kingdom and all its glory.
Later on, Emperor Wu ushered in seven northern invasions, with unparalleled success, recovering the lost territories and rewashing the dignity of Wei with the sword.
But because of Emperor Wu’s radicalism, which led to the failure of the Northern Expeditions, and his three forced attempts to change the fate of the country by gambling on the fortunes of the state, Great Wei fell into unprecedented difficulties.
As a result, Emperor Wu issued an edict of sin to secure peace in the world.
But for the Tusi Dynasty and the First Yuan Dynasty, this was not enough.
Because Great Wei’s heritage had not yet completely disappeared, they wanted it to fall into an abyss of ten thousand fathoms, deep in the mire, forever unable to extricate itself.
It was just that they did not dare to raise an army, for they were all afraid of each other, and neither wanted to be the mantis to each other; they all wanted to be the yellow bird.
So they did not raise an army, but instead developed their national strength in an attempt to one day sweep the world in one fell swoop and complete an unprecedented unification.
Therefore, from the perspective of the Sudden Evil Dynasty and the First Yuan Dynasty.
They do not want the Great Wei Dynasty to revive once again, and they hope that it will drag on like this until it dies.
Nor do they want the barbarians in the north to regain their war power, hoping that the barbarians will just be slowly dragged to their death as well.
That way, they would simply have to defeat the other side and complete the unprecedented great unification.
But the problem was that the Great Wei was beginning to resurface, flourishing because of its own presence, or at least seeing hope for the future.
And that was the last thing the two dynasties wanted to see.
Even if there was just a little hope, they could not tolerate it and had to strike to suppress it, to do everything they could to suppress the Great Wei Dynasty, to strike at the fortunes of the Great Wei Kingdom.
Therefore, as long as there is the slightest sign of a resurgence of the Great Wei Dynasty, they will not hesitate to strike out against it.
This was the ‘historical inevitability’ factor.
This was something Xu Qingnian understood.
It could not be said that the Sudden Evil Dynasty and the Primordial Yuan Dynasty were too ruthless, from their point of view, there was nothing wrong with doing so.
It was just that they should not have used themselves as a fuse.
While Xu Qingnian was thinking about it.
Unknowingly, Xu Qingnian had already walked into the palace.
He arrived outside the Hall of the Nurtured Heart.
“Lord Xu, His Majesty has asked you to wait for a moment.”
Li Xian’s voice rang out, informing Xu Qingnian to wait outside.
“Good.”
Xu Qingnian nodded, he did not have the heart to say anything to Li Xian, but was thinking about something else.
About a quarter of an hour later.
Zhao Wan’er’s figure appeared.
“Lord Xu, His Majesty has asked you to enter.”
Zhao Wan’er walked out of the Hall of Nurtured Heart and said so towards Xu Qingnian.
“En.”
Xu Qingnian rarely looked serious, how could he still be relaxed after such a thing had happened to Great Wei.
When he stepped inside the hall, Zhao Wan’er closed the door directly.
Squeak~
The door closed with a loud thud, and the door to the Hall of the Nurturing Heart closed.
The golden sun shone through the windows, refracting and spilling down into the hall.
The empress did not sit on the dragon chair, but placed two futons, one for herself and the other two feet away in front of her.
To the left and right there was sandalwood incense for tranquillity, while quite a few folders were piled up in front of her.
“I, Xu Qingnian, pay my respects to Your Majesty, may my emperor live long and prosper.”
Seeing the empress, Xu Qingnian could not help but bow towards the other side.
“Xu Aiqing, sit down.”
The empress opened her mouth and allowed Xu Qingnian to sit down.
“Many thanks, Your Majesty.”
Xu Qingnian was not too polite and sat directly in front of the Empress.
It was impossible to say that she did not feel anything when she was looking at the empress’ face so closely, but Xu Qingnian was very serious and came here today to deal with business.
“Let’s take a look at these fliers first.”
The empress spoke out, she didn’t say much, she just told Xu Qingnian to take a look at the zhengqi in front of her.
“In accordance with the order.”
Xu Qingnian picked up the folders and began to open and read them, somewhat curious, but soon all this curiosity was gone, replaced by seriousness.
One book.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
Thirty books.
Fifty books.
Xu Qingnian read through all of the one hundred and seven folders, not missing a single word, nor was he afraid of missing a single word.
When these 107 books were finished, Xu Qingnian was frozen in place.
The one hundred and seven copies of the zhengzhi were about the collusion of va*sal kings with foreign enemies, the collusion of va*sal states with foreign enemies, including some of the unseen matters of the Great Wei Palace.
To name a few.
On the 25th day of the 3rd month of the 49th year of the Wu Yuan dynasty, the Western King of the Great Wei Dynasty received 200,000 war horses, 50 million taels of silver, 50,000 sets of ancient iron war armour and 100,000 war swords.
On the 17th day of the 4th lunar month, in the 49th year of the Wu Yuan dynasty, the ruler of the state of Chen, who had close dealings with the Chuyuan dynasty, obtained 57 million stones of grain, 250,000 cattle and sheep, and 30 million taels of silver.
On the 9th of May, in the 50th year of the Wu Yuan dynasty, the Great Wei Palace of Literature and Confucianism appeared in Linguo to give a lecture.
A message, a zheng, tells of this one thing.
All these things happened before the Empress ascended the throne.
They were messages left behind by the previous generation of Martial Emperors.
At this moment, Xu Qingnian finally understood the reason why she felt that there were so many things.
It turned out that they had started to deploy everything a long time ago, not because the Empress had ascended to the throne, that so many things had happened.
Rather, it was because they had already made many plans when Emperor Wu was in decline.
The rebellion of the feudal kings was not a one-day decision.
Nor was the breakaway of the foreigners thought of today.
Nor was it because of themselves that the hearts of the civil palace began.
Everything was already predetermined, but it was only my presence that hindered them and delayed their plans.
If he had not appeared, Wei might have encountered this trouble some time earlier.
Or rather, it would have encountered these troubles a little later.
What he did did not affect any of the big picture, but was just a variable.
Oh, if I had to say it, it was to help Great Wei make a fortune and speed up Great Wei’s exposure to these troubles.
“Va*sal kings! The foreigners! Great Wei’s Wen Gong!”
The first two Xu Qingnian did not think so, but this third one was really something that Xu Qingnian could not expect.
According to these reports, it seemed that the Great Wei Palace had been secretly liaising with the Sudden Evil Dynasty and the First Yuan Dynasty.
As for what was being contacted, it was not written.
And why these two dynasties were being approached, it was not stated either, but vaguely Xu Qingnian guessed something.
“Aiqing Xu, what are your thoughts?”
The Empress’ voice rang out, filled with calmness as she asked Xu Qingnian what she felt.
Faced with the Empress’ enquiry, Xu Qingnian did not answer at first, but pondered for a moment before giving her answer.
“Unexpected, reasonable.”
Xu Qingnian’s answer was these eight words.
Whether it was the clan kings or the foreigners, or the Great Wei Wen Gong, they were in fact all unexpected, but they were also all reasonable.
But in the next moment, Xu Qingnian did not let the empress take the lead in asking herself, but took the initiative to ask the empress.
“Your Majesty.”
“The late emperor knew long ago that va*sal kings everywhere intended to rebel, so why didn’t he leave a backhand?”
“Including these foreign clans colluding with foreign enemies, although the late emperor failed in his northern expedition, but with the Great Wei at that time, it was perfectly possible to solve these troubles.”
“There is also the Great Wei Palace of Literature, it feels like it is all being allowed to grow, this is something that I, do not understand, and I hope Your Majesty will solve the problem.”
Xu Qingnian spoke up and asked.
He knew the situation of the empress, Great Wei was in a stormy situation, like a lonely boat in the middle of the sea, the empress had taken over Great Wei, there was no military power if she wanted it, there was no silver if she wanted it, if not for some family money left behind by the previous emperor.
I am afraid that she would have abdicated long ago.
The first thing you need to do is to take care of the problem.
But the empress could not do it, so why didn’t the late emperor take action?
The Northern Expedition was a failure, but since the late emperor knew about these things, shouldn’t he have eliminated the dissidents for the empress before he died?
Why did he leave so much trouble behind?
Since he knew that the va*sal kings were colluding with foreign enemies, he should have dealt with them in time.
These are the things that Xu Qingnian cannot understand.
In Great Wei, isn’t there a First Grade Martial Artist?
Although there were rules drawn up between the three kingdoms that the First Grade could not conquer a war unless it was a matter of destroying the country.
But why couldn’t civil unrest be suppressed? Why can’t the Palace of Literature be suppressed?
These two scourges can be completely suppressed, and as for the foreigners, to put it bluntly, they are also considered internal affairs.
If a first-rate martial artist was invited to fight, how dare these foreigners be arrogant?
Seemingly sensing Xu Qingnian’s doubts, and seeming to understand what Xu Qingnian was thinking, the empress’ voice rang out.
“Are you curious as to whether or not the late Emperor did not send out a First Cla*s to sweep away the civil unrest?”
The Empress opened her mouth and looked at Xu Qingnian and said so.
“Yes, I still hope Your Majesty will solve the confusion.”
Xu Qingnian nodded her head.
Martial Artist First Grade, Xu Qingnian did not know how strong it was, but arriving at First Grade, it at least possessed the ability to destroy the heavens and the earth, right?
It was not too much to say that it was a human-shaped nuclear bomb, raising one’s hand could destroy a county, and the combat power was as terrifying as this.
There are restrictions on this kind of thing externally, but are there any restrictions internally?
However, the empress’s voice inexplicably seemed serious.
“The First Grade may not be fought.”
The Empress spoke slowly, answering Xu Qingnian’s doubts.
“Why can’t you fight?”
Xu Qingnian was still curious, but inwardly she was relieved, to be honest Xu Qingnian was really afraid that the Empress would suddenly tell herself that there was no more First Grade in Great Wei.
If that was the case, then there was no need to fight, Great Wei could just machine away, and he could find a good next home.
The first rank is not just a symbol, but mainly a bottom card that makes enemies not dare to be too rampant.
The Sudden Evil Dynasty and the Primordial Yuan Dynasty a*sisted these small foreign countries, but did not dare to be blatant, for what?
If they were too obvious or too direct, the Great Wei Dynasty would be justified in sending First Grade martial artists to fight.
When the First Grade joins, what with the thousands of armies and the strength of the country, one person will be a million divisions, pushing through everything and destroying the Yellow Dragon.
The empress was somewhat silent.
For the time being, she did not reply, but after a while, she spoke.
“Aiqing Xu, do you know why the Great Wei is forcing its way to the north?”
The Empress did not answer, but used a kind of rhetorical question to ask Xu Qingnian.
As this question was thrown out, Xu Qingnian faintly froze.
Anyone who had read the history books knew that the seven Northern Expeditions of Great Wei were, on the whole, wrong; the first three were perfectly fine; after all, the barbarians from the north had killed Jingcheng, and there was no telling how many of the people of Great Wei had died.
Great Wei’s national prestige was tarnished and the people were not living in peace. If the northern expeditions were not carried out, they would only attract more enemies, so there was no problem with the previous ones.
All the problems were in the fourth, including the aftermath.
The barbarians had already been taught a lesson and could have stopped in time, there was no need to go on like this, not to mention the fact that the price paid for each of the later ones was far greater than the previous ones, and the gains made were minimal.
If they had fought one less time, Wei would not be as poor as it is now.
“Please explain, Your Majesty!”
Xu Qingnian took a deep breath as he looked at the empress, full of curiosity, and asked.
He really could not think of anything.
“Zhen Xian.”
The empress replied slowly, informing of a shocking secret.
“Immortal?”
Hearing this, Xu Qingnian’s eyes revealed a stunned look.
Xu Qingnian knew that the world she was in was an immortal world, but with the current situation, although there was an immortal dao, it did not feel like the kind of immortal one imagined.
On the contrary, it was a kind of ‘ancient qi practitioner’ feeling. There were many legends of immortals and gods, but such were only legends, and the limit of life span of a strong immortal daoist was one thousand years, while the limit of martial dao was five hundred years.
Moreover, Xu Qingnian also somehow felt that the strength of the system was related to the lifespan.
The longer the lifespan, the higher its limit. A thousand years for the Immortal Dao, five hundred years for the Martial Dao, two hundred years for the Confucian Dao, and as for such as the Demon Dao and Devil Dao, they were actually just alternative Immortal Dao or Martial Dao.
The immortal, on the other hand, represents long life.
Why did the Great Wei suppress the immortals?
“The great ancestor of Great Wei was once blessed by an immortal, so he established the Great Wei dynasty, and this immortal is a corpse, and I have only heard the late emperor say that very early before the founding of Great Wei, there was a glowing and confusing falling star, and three meteorites fell, and one fell into the border of Great Wei.”
“And on top of this one meteorite, there was a person encrusted in it, this person possessed immortal Qi and was immortal, yet this immortal corpse, could absorb blood Qi, thus breeding a cultivation treasure, the Immortal Pill of Breaking the Realm, which helped one break through the realm directly, without encountering any obstacles and without any side effects.”
“It was because of this that Emperor Taizu was able to sing all the way to the top and kill his way out of the world, but when the blood flowed into rivers and the bones were like mountains, the monstrous blood qi turned the border into a demonic realm, when Taizu understood that this immortal corpse had become a demon through absorbing blood qi.”
“Once resurrected, it would wreak havoc on the world, so Emperor Tai Ancestor set an ancestral injunction not to allow anyone to feed this creature with blood, and also to prevent the world from coveting it, every three years he sent a martial artist of the first rank to suppress the demonic domain, gathering all the evil-suppressing objects of the various paths to suppress the demonic nature.”
“The northern barbarians invaded Great Wei for this immortal corpse, and the Sudden Evil Dynasty and the First Yuan Dynasty sent a First Grade to interfere with the First Grade of Great Wei, allowing the northern barbarians to obtain the Realm-Breaking Immortal Pill.”
“And Great Wei paid all the price, the first three times for revenge, and the next four times, to snatch back the realm-breaking immortal pellet, which was the price of the northern invasion.”
“So.”
As the empress said this, she looked at Xu Qingnian and said.
“Great Wei now only has two First Grade, and every three years, they will travel to the Devil’s Domain to suppress evil, and after returning from the Devil’s Domain, they need to recuperate for three years, and they also need the Great Wei Palace of Literature to swirl away the evil Qi, otherwise, under the accumulation of days and months, there is no guarantee that they will not become demons.”
This moment.
The empress told the truth about everything.
The truth of the barbarian invasion!
The truth of the seven Northern Expeditions!
The truth about the First Grade martial artists of Great Wei.
This information, like a meteorite, exploded in Xu Qingnian’s mind.
Even to his death, Xu Qingnian had never thought that there was still a story like this in Great Wei.
“Not true.”
“Your Majesty, where is Zhu Sheng? Five hundred years ago, a saint came out of Great Wei, can’t it be that a true saint couldn’t suppress such an evil spirit?”
Xu Qingnian immediately realised the problem.
Couldn’t Zhu Sheng suppress this Heavenly Immortal corpse?
Listening to Xu Qingnian’s doubts, the Empress shook her head and said, “This matter is also unclear to me, and I am also filled with doubts, but the Palace of Literature knows the reason.”
The Empress was also unclear about the reason, after all, it was difficult to pa*s down what had happened more than five hundred years apart.
“But Zhu Sheng’s early death may have something to do with it.”
The Empress uttered another weighty piece of news, causing Xu Qingnian to smack her lips.
Yes, Zhu Sheng was considered to have died early, he had become a saint at the age of seventy-three and could reasonably have lived for more than a hundred years, but the problem was that at the age of ninety-seven, Zhu Sheng had died immortally.
There are rumours among the people that Zhu Sheng became a saint against the odds, and there are also rumours that Zhu Sheng died while his soul was still alive because he had learnt the Way of the Saints.
But whatever the case may be, it does not change the fact that Zhu Sheng died prematurely.
It was a mystery as to why.
But now there were some clues that it was related to the immortal corpse.
Xu Qingnian pondered for a while.
He put down the topic of the immortal corpse for the time being, as it did not have much to do with the present moment.
“In other words, does that mean that Great Wei has no one product to fight?”
Xu Qingnian voiced his doubts.
“For the time being, but if it really comes to a time of necessity, First Grade martial artists can conquer, but definitely not now, but at the time of a real battle.”
The empress gave her answer.
It was not that the First Grade could not fight, but that the First Grade could not fight, and until the most critical moment, the First Grade could not come out, not only because of the agreement of the three great kingdoms, but also because of the Great Wei Dynasty itself.
Hearing this news, Xu Qingnian was inexplicably a bit lost. If the First Grade did not come out, many plans would indeed be difficult to implement, even if a First Grade martial artist was allowed to come out and scare people.
But after listening to the empress, Xu Qingnian understood that the First Grade could not come out, one to suppress the demonic domain, and the other to cleanse his own demonic energy in the Great Wei Palace.
The First Grade had the duties of the First Grade, and they were also protecting the people.
There was no way out of this.
And just as Xu Qingnian was somewhat lost.
At this moment, the empress slowly took out a few things.
The Qilin Talisman of War.
The Heavenly Son Military Talisman.
The two talismans were laid out in front of Xu Qingnian, these were the talismans of the five great military camps of the Great Wei, and with them, one could command the army of the Qilin and the army of the Son of Heaven.
But two pieces were not enough.
But at that moment, the empress slowly took out the third talisman.
The Xuanwu Talisman.
The third military talisman.
In an instant, Xu Qingnian’s gaze changed.
He looked towards the Empress, his eyes filled with surprise.
Great Wei had five major military camps.
The Heavenly Son Army, the Qilin Army, the Xuanwu Army, the Northern Liang Army, and the Great Desolate Army.
The five great army battalions laid the foundation for Great Wei’s position above the upper kingdom.
The five military amulets are the most powerful, and are in the hands of the Empress, while the Kirin Army was originally in the hands of Prince Huai Ning, but he was forced to hand it over because of the incident with Prince Huai Ping.
As for the Xuanwu army talisman, how did it come to be in the hands of the Empress?
However, what shocked Xu Qingnian even more was that the empress emperor took out another piece of the military talisman.
To be more precise, it was half a soldier talisman.
The Great Desolate Army Talisman.
The three and a half pieces of the military talisman caused a shocked look to appear in Xu Qingnian’s eyes.
All along, it had always been Xu Qingnian who had shocked others.
But today, the empress had actually shocked herself.
The empress had taken out three and a half pieces of the military talisman without making a sound, this was simply a heaven defying card.
If she could gather the remaining half pieces, she would be able to retrieve the fifth piece of the military talisman.
This!
Unbelievable.
Looking at Xu Qingnian’s astonished gaze, the empress’ expression remained calm as she said.
“Since I ascended the throne, I have been circling the Xuanwu Army for the past year… Aiqing Xu, you have come to Great Wei and helped me solve many things.”
“It also gave me the time to free up my hands to deal with the Xuanwu Army and get this military talisman.”
“As for the Great Desolate Army Talisman, I have made a deal with the Great Desolate King, so remember that no matter what, until Great Wei is completely and utterly settled, do not make an enemy of the Great Desolate King’s clan.”
“This half piece of military talisman can temporarily transfer the Great Desolate Army, the time limit is one year, within one year, if you can get the Northern Liang military talisman back, the remaining half piece of the Great Desolate King will take the initiative to present it.”
As she said this, the empress slowly stood up.
“Aiqing Xu.”
“I, as the emperor of Great Wei, deal with matters every day, both national and livelihood matters, the people’s food and clothing are important matters in my eyes, and the country’s safety and security are also important matters in my eyes.”
“In the imperial court, I have to maintain the dignity of the royal family as well as the dignity of all the officials, and on the surface, I appoint the wise and use them, but secretly, I have all the precautions.”
“But I, for one, will not be on guard against you, do you know why?”
The empress rose and said so.
With these words, Xu Qingnian also could not help but get up and looked at the empress with curiosity.
“I don’t know.”
Xu Qingnian indeed did not know, as an emperor, it is reasonable to say that one should not get too close to anyone, nor should one get too far away from anyone, the art of emperors lies in the way of balance.
But the empress said that she had no defences against herself, which should not be the case, and he was puzzled.
“Because you and I, both have a common enemy!”
In the next moment, the empress slowly spoke out, telling the truth.
A common enemy?
Xu Qingnian frowned, but the next moment, he knew who it was.
The Great Wei Palace of Literature.
Xu Qingnian was once again surprised, he knew that the Great Wei Palace of Literature had overstepped its authority somewhat and honoured the saints rather than the emperor.
If the saint was alive, that would be fine and justifiable.
But the saint had been dead for five hundred years and this was not a good thing for the country’s dynasty.
It was just that Xu Qingnian had not thought that the empress regarded the Great Wei Wen Gong as her number one enemy, which was somewhat unbelievable.
“Clan kings! The foreigners! With First Grade martial artists around, they won’t be able to make it after all.”
“Great Wei’s wealth is beyond their imagination, and the strength of a First Grade Martial Artist is beyond their guess.”
“Therefore, the real chaos in Great Wei does not lie in warfare, but in the struggle for national prestige and national luck, and Great Wei does not need one more First Grade martial artist.”
“What is more desirable is to add another new saint, a new saint who does not belong to the Zhu Sheng lineage.”
The empress turned her gaze towards Xu Qingnian and stated her thoughts.
“Great Wei Dynasty, the real enemy, is not the va*sal kings, nor the foreigners!”
“Rather, it is the holy place revered by the world’s scholars, the Great Wei Palace of Literature.”
“Father’s death from illness and the loss of the Northern Expedition have the shadow of the Great Wei Palace of Literature in them.”
“Even the northern barbarians’ southward march has the shadow of the Great Wei Palace of Literature.”
“They are plotting a heavenly thing.”
When the empress said this, she stopped talking and did not continue.
But this information alone was enough to overturn all of Xu Qingnian’s thoughts.
The northern barbarians had moved south with the shadow of the Great Wei Wen Gong?
The Northern Expedition was defeated, also the shadow of the Great Wei Palace of Literature?
The death of Emperor Wu is still in the shadow of the Great Wei Palace?
What is this Great Wei Palace of Literature trying to do? This is simply a loss of conscience.
Xu Qingnian knew that these people would do anything to achieve their goals, but what she did not expect was that these people would dare to do these things.
For a moment, Xu Qingnian was somewhat unconvinced, but then he somehow believed it.
It was because the Zhu Sheng lineage was indeed sinister and malevolent.
The reason for his disbelief was that they were great Confucians who read sage books; such people could be stubborn, arrogant and arrogant, but they should not be so heartless, right?
Unless they had a goal, a heavenly goal, a goal that they would rather destroy everything to accomplish.
So what were they plotting?
“Please be explicit, Your Majesty.”
Xu Qingnian took a deep breath and asked the Empress.
However, the Empress shook her head and looked at Xu Qingnian and said.
“Xu Aiqing, you have not yet become a saint, so if this matter is told to you, it would be harmful to you instead.”
“When you become a saint, I, for one, will inform you of it.”
The empress did not tell the truth, but needed Xu Qingnian to become a saint.
This made Xu Qingnian feel a little uncomfortable inside.
But Xu Qingnian also understood the empress’ plight, and instead of forcing himself, he nodded his head.
“Aiqing Xu, remember, the Great Wei Palace of Literature is my greatest enemy with you, don’t underestimate them, and don’t trust anyone in the Great Wei Palace of Literature.”
“No matter who it is, don’t trust.”
The empress spoke out as she warned Xu Qingnian not to trust everyone in the Great Wei Wen Gong, no matter who it was.
Even if it was Chen Zhengru, Wang Xinzhi, it would not be wrong to keep some of your cards close to your chest.
“Minister, I understand.”
Xu Qingnian nodded, this was clear in his mind.
And in the next moment, the empress continued to speak.
“Aiqing Xu.”
“You take these four military talismans.”
“And this Great Wei Dragon Talisman.”
“From now on, I appoint you to be the Minister of State of Great Wei, from the first rank, responsible for overseeing the state, from the six ministries to the hundred officials, down to the people, the state affairs, all are under your responsibility.”
“I have secretly ordered the Duke of An to dispatch 500,000 troops from the border to Kyoto to guard the gates of the state.”
“The Heavenly Son Army, the Qilin Army, the Xuanwu Army, the Great Desolate Army, the six divisions of the Great Wei, all military generals, will be a*signed and dispatched by you.”
“This battle, I leave to you.”
“I will use the national fortune of Great Wei to help you prove the Great Confucian of Heaven and Earth, and use the public opinion of Great Wei to exchange it for a new saint of the Cang Sheng.”
The empress spoke, and between her eyebrows, she was full of trust and determination.
At this moment, Xu Qingnian completely understood all of the empress’s plans.
When the impeachment came from the twelve foreign nations, she had already made her decision.
War.
A deadly battle.
The reason she delayed the fifteen days was not because of what Chen Zhengru had said, but because she was mobilising public opinion.
The people were now full of grievances, and there was a fire in the whole of Wei.
There was an endless stream of abuse.
The military officials were called cowards, the civil servants weak.
She was called incompetent as empress.
But she had taken on all the curses in order to make a world of herself.
Everyone knew that now Wei needed someone who could stand up and speak out.
Someone who could lead the whole of Great Wei to raise their eyebrows.
With the four major barracks, plus such a terrifying public opinion, whoever is put in can win this battle.
Because Wei’s current enemies are just a bunch of foreign nations.
Xu Qingnian could win if he went up.
The Duke of An could win.
Zhou Yan could have won, too.
But the fact that the Empress chose herself, for any purpose, only proves one thing.
The Empress would rather take the blame.
She also wanted the stability of Great Wei.
This moment.
Xu Qingnian took the military amulet, he held it tightly, clenched it to death, and then bowed deeply towards the Empress, a great salute from the ruler and his subjects.
“My subject! Xu Qingnian!”
“Kowtowing to Your Majesty’s heavenly grace!”
“I, for the sake of Great Wei, shall sweep away all scourges.”
“My Emperor! Hooray! Hail!”
“All hail!”
Xu Qingnian bowed from his heart.
With this obeisance, there was no longer any separation between the ruler and his subjects.
“I, on behalf of the Great Wei pale life, thank you.”
The Empress spoke, and this time she handed over all the power, to Xu Qingnian, and next she would do her own thing.
Sweep away all obstacles on Xu Qingnian’s path to sainthood.
The next moment.
Xu Qingnian left the Hall of the Raising Heart.
The game of chess had been revealed, and he was going to start making his moves.
Soon, after Xu Qingnian had left the palace.
In less than half an hour, two holy decrees were announced.
Xu Qingnian was promoted to the post of Minister of State of the Great Wei, to be in charge of the six ministries and the hundred generals, and to have the power of life and death, and to see him as if he were the Emperor.
This was the first decree.
When the decree appeared, the people of Kyoto were shocked, and they all knew that this was the Empress’s response to Xu Qingnian’s important task and to the kingdoms.
A strong and powerful response.
You want to remove Xu Qingnian from her post?
Fine!
Not only will I not remove her, I will even promote her.
The second decree was even more aggressive.
In the decree, the kingdoms were criticised in a serious and incomparable manner, and the kings of one hundred and twenty-one countries were asked to send their royal families at the level of county kings to come to Great Wei and make a pilgrimage there.
But there was no mention of consequences, but rather an aggravating phrase.
Think! Think! Think again!
To put it bluntly, it means that each country should consider its own strength and that Wei is giving you a chance.
And as the decree was made public.
In less than a day’s time.
They did not expect that the empress would be so strong, and that she would promote Xu Qingnian to oversee the state, something they had not expected.
They had expected that Wei would negotiate in a peacemaking manner and would not remove Xu Qingnian from office.
But the promotion of Xu Qingnian was a bad sign.
At that moment, the hundred and twenty-one countries retreated at once to more than fifty countries, they were not willing to compete with Great Wei, after all, Great Wei was still in a high position in their hearts.
The rest of the countries that wanted to withdraw were so confused by the various interests as well as the situation that they found it difficult to pull out.
This time, the countries did not respond first anymore, and discussed for five days and five nights.
After finally settling on a few more messages, finally the kingdoms gave their response.
“Willing to issue an edict of guilt! Willing to send to the King of the County to collect the crime! However, Xu Qingnian’s position must be removed.”
“If Great Wei is unwilling, it will withdraw from secession from Great Wei.”
Their attitude remained firm, and this time even more so than last time.
Confidence was unparalleled.
But from the previous one hundred and twenty-one nations, they were sharply reduced to seventy-three.
The news came to Great Wei instantly.
At this moment, the whole nation was a little tickled, Great Wei had gone this far and the other side still wanted to be so strong.
It was really a case of slaves bullying their masters.
And on the very day the news was responded to.
Xu Qingnian, with the responsibility of overseeing the state, prepared a holy decree to give a response.
“You are given seven days to issue an edict of guilt, go to the capital to plead guilty, and pacify the grievances of the people of Great Wei, otherwise you will be responsible for the consequences.”
A simple sentence, especially the last four words, the consequences will be self-imposed, seemed ambiguous.
In the eyes of the people of Great Wei, Xu Qingnian’s words seemed overbearing.
But when word spread to the other countries, it became a joke for a while.
The rulers of all the kingdoms were not impressed, but thought that Xu Qingnian was afraid, and they expected to say that they would go to war.
What they didn’t expect was this?
All of a sudden, all sorts of jeers rang out.
But mockery aside, the foreign nations were already preparing, with all of them in a state of war, and large quantities of strategic resources being transported from who knows where.
Armour, swords, horses, siege weapons, oil, provisions, and so on.
And so on, transported to the countries as if for nothing.
War was almost imminent.
The whole world was watching this, people were expecting this.
But the nations did not respond, they were waiting, waiting for what they did not know, but there were no further announcements from the Great Wei Dynasty, and even the Great Wei Dynasty seemed very calm.
No one knew what was going on.
No one knew what kind of things Xu Qingnian was thinking.
And so it was.
Seven days had pa*sed.
There was still no response from the nations, and when the seven days were up, the Great Wei Dynasty once again issued a holy decree.
“If the countries did not respond within seven days, or if they did not act in accordance with the requirements of the Great Wei Dynasty, they would be responsible for the consequences.”
The consequences were still the same.
For a while, it made the foreign countries laugh and smile.
On that day, news even came that the king of the Si Long clan had hosted a banquet at the palace and openly mocked Xu Qingnian for only knowing how to shout.
Not only the king of the Si Long clan, but also many of the rulers of the country were excited, they had been given too many resources during this period of time.
So much so that they were inflated and they were confident that they had gotten so much before this war had even started, if it did, one could imagine.
The main thing was that Great Wei had wimped out.
Xu Qingnian had wimped out.
They simply did not dare to make a move.
This news made the major kingdoms extremely excited. If they could get a large amount of resources without going to war, wouldn’t that be great?
For a while, a number of kingdoms chose to join in, they wanted to join in and join forces together.
The King of the Dragon was extremely disgusted by these insatiable foreign nations, but thinking that it was not as if he was contributing his own money and efforts, he gritted his teeth and agreed to their entry.
But set the requirement that, having joined, they could not opt out again.
This setting came about and some countries stopped again, but still some chose to join.
In a flash, the crusading nations once again broke the 100 mark.
Of course, although they were called nations, most of them were actually tribes, with only a few tribes, only half the size of a county, being rewarded by the Great Wei with their nation name.
But these tribes, all of whom were soldiers, fought bravely and had great military power, but their agricultural development was average.
Now they had someone to send them food and armour, so why wouldn’t they be happy to do so?
Finally.
Another seven days pa*sed.
In the middle of the Shouren Academy.
A mountain of secret letters was piled up.
These secret letters were all accurate records of the information on the supplies received by the crusading countries.
Xu Qingnian issued another holy decree.
Its meaning was exactly the same as before.
The first time, it gave dominance!
The second time, it gave strength!
The third time, it did somehow make people feel that Great Wei was afraid.
Sure enough, with the third warning, the number of rebellious states skyrocketed, and some tribes that were not worthy of being called states at all, joined in.
Even five of the ten kingdoms had already chosen to join.
On the basis that they only wanted to impeach Xu Qingnian and did not declare war on Great Wei, they wanted to ask for favours.
Three warnings.
In exchange, the enemy army’s confidence increased dramatically.
And for Xu Qingnian.
It was all just a matter of fattening up before killing.
And so it went.
In the blink of an eye, more than six days had pa*sed.
There was less than an hour left until the seventh day.
Ugly hour.
The capital of Great Wei.
Chen Xinghe stood in front of Xu Qingnian, his eyes filled with helplessness.
“Senior brother, now the whole of Great Wei is in an uproar, the military officials are being scolded, and the civil servants are no better.”
“The people everywhere are abusing His Majesty’s incompetence, Great Wei is eager for a battle, it’s useless to send a warning over this time.”
“Do you know what the foreigners are saying about you now?”
“They are calling you cowardly, calling you a wimp, calling you a traitor and greedy for life and death.”
“Even the fortunes of the Great Wei state have vaguely declined somewhat, if this continues, something big is going to happen.”
“To fight or not to fight, senior brother, you must give a clear answer, you can’t be so vague anymore.”
Chen Xinghe was quite helpless.
During this period of time, Xu Qingnian had issued three warnings in a row, bringing instead of the enemy showing weakness, he was showing strength.
So much so that there was a fire nestled up and down Great Wei.
This made Chen Xinghe really feel a bit uncomfortable.
However.
Xu Qingnian did not reply.
Instead, he handed a piece of paper to Chen Xinghe and said.
“Senior brother, I beg you to run over to the Great Wei Wen Newspaper Hall, and tomorrow at dawn, publish this article, in the Great Wei Wen Newspaper.”
Xu Qingnian was very calm and instead handed this to Chen Xinghe.
The latter took the article.
He swept a glance at it, and then his pupils dilated.
He wanted to say something, but Xu Qingnian pushed him and told him to go quickly.
In a flash, Chen Xinghe ran towards the Great Wei Literary Press in excitement and excitement.
Not even a word was said.
The next moment.
Xu Qingnian exhaled a long breath.
He looked at the sky and waited for the last hour to arrive.
These twenty-one days.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the right time.
These twenty-one days.
He was also making plans.
Right now, all the plans have been made.
Now, just waiting for this last hour.
Finally.
One hour later.
Everything seemed incredibly quiet.
No one came to report the news of the response from the nations.
Xu Qingnian continued to wait for another hour.
And at that moment, the news of the nations’ response arrived.
It was an hour late.
The content was the same as before.
This time, there were more people.
And the attitude was even more arrogant.
They asked the empress to remove themselves from their positions and never to be hired again.
This was the response of the kingdoms.
And it was at that moment.
It was two moments past the dawn hour.
Xu Qingnian’s voice rang out.
“I am Xu Qingnian!”
“Great Wei Overseeing Secretary.”
“Hundred generals of the six va*sals hear the order!”
“Declare war on all nations!”
The voices rang out.
It shattered the quiet of Kyoto.
This moment.
The whole of Kyoto.
It was boiling.
