Chapter 26: True Dragon's Transformation into a Python (Three)
Li Cunxu was almost moved by Zhou Wenbo's words, Ma Shaohong knew he had to stand up, if he didn't stand up now, His Majesty would no longer pursue Zhou Deyan, and once the golden mouth opened, it would be too difficult for him to turn the tables later.
Ma Shouhong, although he was the Proclamation Herald and Deputy Director of the Palace Secretariat, was essentially a eunuch before becoming an official. He naturally knew that if he distanced himself from the Emperor, even the greatest power in his hands would be nothing. Usually almost every day surrounded by His Majesty's side, at this time also among the crowd watching the play.
"Your Majesty, Zhou De-yuan has fought many battles and made some achievements. Although he is now dead, this defeat has resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of soldiers and failed to pacify Dongchuan for our great Tang Dynasty. Someone must be held accountable!"
With a sissy tone and a ghostly voice, Ma Shaohong walked out from the back row, knelt down on the ground and kowtowed.
"Your Majesty, I have received a secret report from Li Congsi here, which says that since Zhou Dejian entered Shu, he has been arrogant and reckless. Every time he arrives at a place, he must occupy the most noble position, spending his days drinking and having fun with surrendered generals and officials of Shu, without putting the Prince of Wei in his eyes."
"This time's great defeat was precisely due to Zhōu Déyàn's arrogance and underestimation of the enemy, which led to the tragic defeat of several tens of thousands of Shu soldiers. Fortunately, thanks to the wise and martial leadership of King Wèi, he led the remaining troops in a direct rush to Chengdu, forcing the surrender of Shu king Wáng Yǎn and pacifying Xīchuān."
"Zhou De-yuan was wrongly made the commander of one army, and his incompetence affected three armies. This led to our great Tang army's first major defeat in ten years! I hope Your Majesty will reconsider, severely punish Zhao Guo Gong, and bring justice back to the world!"
As soon as Ma Shaohong's voice fell, many eunuchs rushed forward and spoke bluntly about Zhao Guogong's mistakes. They begged Li Cunxu to punish Zhou Deyan's crimes and severely punish the Zhao Guogong Mansion.
Li Conggui was a eunuch beside the King of Wei, Li Jitao. He was extremely greedy. In history, it was because Guo Chongtao offended him that he obtained an edict from Empress Liu to execute Guo Chongtao. Unexpectedly, now before Zhou Dewei had pacified Shu, he offended this sinister little man.
Ma Shouhong's words were indeed framing and slandering, but the emperor had always trusted the eunuchs. Moreover, those in power would inevitably have some flaws and shortcomings when doing big things, and holding military power would also make them suspicious of the emperor.
A large group of trusted eunuchs of the Tianzi knelt before him, begging for punishment for Zhou De and the Zhao State Duke's mansion. At the same time, Li Cunxu's mood suddenly turned bad, but he didn't know what to do.
At this time, whether it was the Zhao Guo Gong Fu or the eunuchs, they had already gone all out, and both sides had torn their faces apart. At this point, Zhou Wenbo could only pin his hopes on his long-planned secret supporter - Empress Liu to come out and support him.
However, the corner of his eye suddenly caught that Matai, who was kneeling beside him, also cast an expectant glance at Empress Liu, and this sudden change made his originally relaxed mood suddenly cloud over.
Indeed, Empress Liu stood up, but what she said was not what he had expected: "Your Majesty, the words of Ma Taijian are actually a memorial from the eunuchs by the side of the Prince of Wei. As for how Zhao Guogong is in Shu, it would be better to wait until the Crown Prince returns to the court and tells Your Majesty himself. The body of Zhao Guogong is now far away in Shu and not even buried properly, so why not order our army to escort his remains back to the capital? Now that it's the middle of winter, there's no need to worry about the body decaying. Once the Crown Prince returns to the capital, we can bury Zhao Guogong and make a decision then. What does Your Majesty think?"
Empress Liu was surprisingly impartial!
This was far beyond Zhou Wenbo's expectations.
Li Cunxu highly valued Zhou Wenbo, and his feelings for Zhou Deyan were also very deep. However, he was extremely wary of the matter in Li Congzhou's memorial where Zhou Deyan had slighted Li Jicheng. At the same time, his feelings towards the eunuchs were also very deep. Just as he was finding it difficult to mediate, Empress Liu intervened and smoothed things over, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief and naturally agree.
The war between the Zhao State Duke's Mansion and the eunuchs temporarily subsided, and the real decisive battle was postponed until after Wei Wang Li Jiyong and Zhou Deyan returned to the capital with their corpses.
Just as Zhou Wenbo was about to leave with Lü Shi, Li Cunxu suddenly asked Zhou Wenbo:
"We intend to appoint you as a Shaojian of the Imperial Academy, are you willing?"
Li Cunxu did not comment on Zhou Dewei's death, but still expressed his appreciation for Zhou Wenbo. At this time, Zhou Wenbo could only thank the emperor for his kindness, seemingly unaware of the emperor's other occupation as a gay man.
Shi Du Zhi Xue Shi, nominally accompanying the emperor to read books, expound classics and history, also serving as half of the emperor's secretary and advisor. Although it is only a seventh-grade official, it was a noble position in the Tang Dynasty and was also known as "Nei Xiang".
However, since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court has reused eunuchs, and these functions have long been undertaken by eunuchs. With the great chaos for thirty years, the status of scholars is far inferior to that of military men, so this scholar is not a particularly important official position.
But just being able to attend the emperor was enough to invite countless people's jealousy.
Zhou Wenbo and Lü Shi followed Zhao Taijian's guidance out of the palace walls and boarded their carriage to head home.
On the way back, Zhou Wenbo was still thinking about the audience just now.
It was originally expected that today's battle would decide the fate of the Zhao State Duke Mansion, but unexpectedly, the first half went well and gained the favor of the Emperor, while the trump card prepared for the second half suddenly remained neutral. The twists and turns of Empress Liu have once again made the situation confusing, and the fate of the Zhao State Duke Mansion may not be truly decided until Li Ji returns to Beijing.
I myself graduated from university with a bachelor's degree back then. Who would have thought that I'd become a bachelor again today? What a coincidence of fate!
This time, when he just faced Emperor Li Cunxu and saw the illusion of Jiutian Zhenlong and the inexplicable pressure, Zhou Wenbo was very puzzled. It wasn't until then that he remembered to open the system interface.
As soon as the system interface was opened, a large number of reminders floated by, startling Zhou Wenbo. Normally, it's hard to trigger tasks and achievements, but this time all sorts of system settings were activated at once.
Zhou Wenbo first looked at this inexplicably acquired Jiaolong bloodline, he dared to guarantee that he was 100% human, but didn't know how this Jiaolong bloodline came about. Was this what they meant by the descendant of a dragon?
Jiaolong Bloodline: In a chaotic world like a copper furnace, the clear water Jiaolong emerges. You have activated the hidden Jiaolong bloodline.
Bloodline effect: Commander +10, Martial +5, Intelligence +5, Politics +5, Charm +10, comes with Junior Leadership and Dragon Body.
Basic Leadership: Morale of troops under command +1.
Dragon Body: Your vitality has greatly increased, your body's recovery speed has greatly increased, and your lifespan +5.
Just this one dragon bloodline was enough to increase his overall attributes by 35 points, giving Zhou Wenbo a sudden feeling as if he had won the jackpot.
The primary leadership technique is derived from the skills of Heroes of Might and Magic, which can increase the morale of troops under one's command. High morale may lead to a burst of morale, allowing for multiple actions, while low morale may render troops unable to act or even defect. It remains to be seen what effect it will have in actual application.
And Long Jiao not only increased his own vitality and physical recovery speed, but also gave himself an additional five years of life!
What a pleasant surprise! Although Zhou Wenbo couldn't see his lifespan on the panel, being able to live an extra five years for free made him extremely satisfied.
