Chapter 12 The Suffocating Emperor

  Luoyang, the Tianqian Hall of the Imperial Palace. The young Emperor Chu Tianqi was furious, throwing the memorial on the ground and slamming his hand on the table, shouting: "Is this the pillar of my great Chu? Is this the loyal minister of my great Chu? Do they think I'm a fool or an idiot? It's clearly a disastrous defeat, a complete rout, a loss of our army and a humiliation to our country. How can they write it off as a victory? Is this what they call a victory?"

  The memorial fell on the face of an old white-haired minister who was kneeling in front of him. The old white-haired minister's expression did not change, picked up the memorial, took a few steps on his knees, put it on the table, and then hung down a white-haired head, letting Emperor Tianqi vent his anger.

  The Heaven-startling Thunder vented a lot of the pent-up air in his chest, sat down with a thud, and looked at the white-haired old minister kneeling before him. He couldn't help but feel apologetic, "Prime Minister, I'm not feeling well, I've wronged you, come, take a seat!" Meanwhile, the eunuch who was trembling with fear quickly brought over a brocade stool and placed it in front of the white-haired old minister.

  This white-haired old minister is the prime minister of the current Chu Dynasty, Chen Xiyin. He was also the teacher of the current Emperor Qi when he was still a prince, holding the position of Taizi Taibao and ranking first among the imperial courtiers, and is the confidant of the current emperor.

  "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Chen Xiyin struggled to get up from the ground, smoothed his robes, and sat down on a velvet couch. For ten years since the Tianqi era, he had also served as the chief assistant for six years. These six years could be described as arduous, with the imperial court of Great Chu no longer having its former prestige. Externally, there were barbarian tribes that harassed them every year, and internally, various powerful families controlled the government, restricting the emperor's power to a great extent. Many decrees issued from Luoyang would evaporate into thin air, failing to be implemented. Chen Xiyin was anxious and struggled to maintain the dignity of the imperial court with his reputation among scholars, but he was powerless to restrict the powerful families' tyranny. Seeing Great Chu decline year by year, he was worried and helpless, and after exhausting himself with worries, his body was weakening day by day.

  "Your Majesty, please calm down. This memorial is jointly submitted by Qi Guo Gong Xiao Haoran, An Guo Gong Li Huaiyuan, and the next minister Fang Zhonglian. If Your Majesty withholds it without issuing a decree, it will not be feasible." Chen Xiyin said helplessly, the forces represented by these three people are clearly visible, Your Majesty is not unaware of them, but just extremely angry. If you withhold it without issuing a decree, tomorrow I'm afraid more memorials will fly in like snowflakes.

  "Should I become a puppet emperor, allowing them to manipulate me at will? Such a great defeat and yet they still dare to ask for rewards, are they not afraid of public opinion?" Tianqi Emperor said slowly, enunciating each word.

  Chen Xiyu sighed, "Your Majesty, be careful with your words. In this situation, the three major families have formed an alliance, and even if it's a court discussion, nothing can change that. If Your Majesty doesn't agree, I'm afraid it will lead to other problems. For now, we can only go along with their wishes and wait for an opportunity to act later."

  The Emperor Tianqi sneered: "Waiting for an opportunity to take action? I'm afraid they've tasted the sweetness and can't stop once they start."

  "Your Majesty, although the three families have formed an alliance today, there are still many contradictions between them. Now it seems that the Xiao and Fang families are the main parties involved and will naturally want to protect their power in Dingzhou. The Li family has intervened because one of their sons has made a meritorious achievement in this battle, so they can plant a nail in Dingzhou. I reckon that after this matter is over, the Xiao and Fang families will inevitably have internal conflicts with the Li family in Dingzhou, and then there will be opportunities to take advantage of."

  The Emperor Tianqi silently picked up the memorial, looked at it for a while, and said: "Li Qing? When did the Li family have this person, why haven't I heard of him before?"

  Chen Xiyin smiled slightly, "After I read the memorial, I ordered the official department to investigate this person. It turns out that this matter is still a scandal of the Li family. This Li Qing is a younger son of the Marquis of Weiyuan, and his mother was a maid in the study of the Marquis of Weiyuan."

  The Tianqi Emperor understood at once, "I suppose it's another case of drunken lust and lechery."

  Chen Xiyuan said, "That's right. When Li Qing was born, the first wife of the Weiyuan Marquis, Qiu Shi, had not yet given birth to a son and only had a daughter. Qiu Shi was extremely jealous, so Li Qing and his mother suffered greatly in the Weiyuan Marquis' mansion. It wasn't until five years later that Qiu Shi gave birth to a son, who would become the Weiyuan Marquis' heir, Li Feng. Only then did Li Qing and his mother's situation improve slightly, but they were still treated like slaves at home. As for Li Qing, his mother was even more miserable. At the age of 15, Li Qing ran away from home in anger and joined the army in Dingzhou, accumulating merit to become a Yunmiao captain. This time, he was promoted to Yingyang captain for his contributions in protecting the flag. However, the Weiyuan Marquis is a narrow-minded person, which is why Li Qing has not yet been included in the ancestral records. Perhaps it's also because of this incident that the Duke of Anguo only now knows about this grandson."

  The Tianqi Emperor couldn't help but laugh, "I didn't expect that even the prestigious Anguo Gongfu would have such a thing happen. That Qiu woman is the daughter of the Lan Ting Hou, how can she be so reckless?"

  Chen Xiyansmiled and said, "Lan Tinghou has no children, only this daughter, naturally spoiled a bit, alas, every family has its own messy thoughts!"

  The Emperor Tianqi was indignant in his heart, and the Li family also participated in this coup. When he heard the ugly rumors from the An Guo Gong Mansion, he couldn't help but feel great joy in his dragon heart. "I suppose Weiyuan Hou was scolded to be a dog blood head this time, but this Li Qing is indeed a proud and arrogant person."

  "This time Li Qing can be said to have met with good fortune, a 20-year-old general, unprecedented in our dynasty!" Chen Xiyin shook his head and said.

  Tian Qi said: "As long as the three families can fight each other, hehe, let alone a deputy general, even if it's a vice general, what do I have to lose?" Chen Xiyin heard and said: "Your Majesty agrees with this memorial?"

  Tianqi sighed and said, "What can I do if I don't agree? Didn't the first assistant say so before? Go ahead and criticize, First Assistant, give them what they want." With a flick of his hand, he walked towards the back of the hall. Seeing Tianqi's young but somewhat hunched back, Chen Xiyin couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart.

  No mention of the capital city Luoyang's intrigue and struggle, a piece of chicken flying dog jumping, at this time Dingzhou finally restored calm, after the barbarian tribes looted the counties under Dingzhou, did not strongly attack the heavily guarded Dingzhou City, tens of thousands of cavalrymen showed off their military might in front of Dingzhou City and left, on October 5th of Tianqi's tenth year, under the gaze of the soldiers who didn't collect their pay at night, they set fire to and burned down the four fortresses of Dingyuan, Weiyuan, Zhenyuan and Fuyuan, and left the pass.

  The war clouds that had been hanging over Dingzhou finally dispersed, and the tens of thousands of refugees who had gathered in Dingzhou began to return home under the arrangement of the prefecture. Ordinary people saw that they could avoid the war and were overjoyed, and the empty streets became bustling again. Various shops opened for business, and Dingzhou City gradually regained some vitality.

  But the provincial government and military government became increasingly busy, without mentioning that the entire Dingzhou was looted, countless refugees needed to be resettled, food needed to be distributed for winter, otherwise starving people or triggering a refugee crisis would not be trivial. The Dingzhou army had lost two-thirds of its troops and reorganizing was also an urgent task. Fortunately, many young men were forced to enlist in the military just to get a meal, so there was no shortage of soldiers, but weapons and warhorses were extremely difficult to procure. These people wanted to form combat effectiveness, which was not something that could be accomplished overnight. Thinking about these heart-wrenching things made Xiao Yuanshan hate Ma Mingfeng even more.

  But now Dingzhou had an even more urgent matter, the imperial edict from the court would finally come down. The result was unexpected by Shen Mingshen, but the person who came to read the imperial edict and supervise the military affairs of Dingzhou was unexpectedly Li Tui, the current Shouning Marquis and Vice Censor-in-Chief.

  Xiao Yuanshan was stunned when he first received the news, Shen Mingshen thought for a moment and smiled: "General, it seems that the aftermath of this matter has arrived. Not only does Li want to come to Dingzhou to get involved, but even the Emperor is somewhat impatient. Let Shou Dinghou come to announce the edict, it's clear that he's backing up Li, letting Li openly make a move in Dingzhou."

  Xiao Yuanshan smiled and said, "Didn't you already expect this from the beginning? It's nothing, Li Tui will always leave eventually, he can't stay in Dingzhou forever."

  Shen Mingchen nodded and said: "That's right, Li Qingren has been confirmed as the commander of the Changsheng Camp. Next, we need to choose a good place for him." The two exchanged a smile.