Chapter 102: B*stard

Chiliarch Liu Duxiu arrived with 300 royal guards, and they surrounded Guest-Prosper Dwell from afar.

Liu Duxiu didn’t know what was happening in Guest-Prosper Dwell, but he knew that there were at least 100 experienced border soldiers. These border soldiers were all elites!

In his mind, if Hou Wenji was trying to deal with these border soldiers, these 300 royal guards weren’t enough. If these border soldiers started to cause trouble, it would be a huge headache. Although the royal guards were cultivation masters, they weren’t as good at killing people as these border soldiers.

Ordinary civilians weren’t familiar with border soldiers. In their eyes, the most elite soldiers were battle soldiers in the 16 Guards. However, everyone in the government knew that battle soldiers hadn’t experienced war in close to 15 years, but border soldiers fought small skirmishes every year.

While Liu Duxiu was worrying, he suddenly felt like the pressure was alleviated.

A horse-drawn carriage with the symbol of the Royal Guard suddenly stopped at one end of the street, and the person in it didn’t get off. Instead, the groom waved at Liu Duxiu.

Liu Duxiu was familiar with this horse-drawn carriage, so he instantly ran over, got into the compartment, and said, “Greetings, Mr. Zhuo.”

Zhuo Buyi nodded and said, “If anything happens in Guest-Prosper Dwell, don’t let the guards charge in. Tell them that if anything happens, lock down the street first and don’t let anyone get away. Without my order, don’t let anyone inside as well. I will watch over here, and you can go and issue the order.”

Liu Duxiu was waiting to throw this hot potato to someone else, so he got off the horse-drawn carriage and ordered the royal guards to hide well.

Inside the horse-drawn carriage, Zhuo Buyi slowly closed his eyes as if he fell asleep.

-In Smooth Spring Garden-

The Emperor got off the heatable brick bed and performed a set of movements. Those movements were shown by Fang Jie a few days earlier, and Su Buwei made some modifications before teaching them to the Emperor.

However, it looked a bit strange for the Emperor who was in the royal robe to do the radio calisthenics.

Luo Weiran wanted to laugh, but he held it back.

“Yu Donglai’s memorial to the throne is already here; he is resigning, and I permitted it. Even if Yu Donglai didn’t instruct the assassination, he couldn’t shift all the blame away. There must be someone who manages the Ministry of War. I already asked Huai Qiugong and others to create a name list, but none of the people they recommended can handle this task in my eyes. If we are in a peaceful time, these people could be the head and deputy of the Ministry of War. However, this isn’t the time. None of these people could handle big wars that last several years.”

The Emperor felt more relaxed after doing the radio calisthenics, and he asked Luo Weiran while shaking his arms, “Although you are from the martial arts circle, you have been working in the government for about ten years. You manage the Royal Guard, so your understanding of all the officials should be sharper than mine. Who do you think can handle this task and manage the Ministry of War?”

Luo Weiran bowed and said, “I heard that several big officials jointly nominated Royal King Yi…”

The Emperor cut him off with a wave of his hand and said, “Huai Qiugong and others made it sound simple. If I really promote Royal King Yi, another group of people would stand out and say that I’m favoring nepotism. Great Sui is vast with many talents. There is no need to drag Royal King Yi into this.”

Hearing this, Luo Weiran knew that the Emperor still didn’t want to use Royal King Yi.

The mistake that Royal King Yi made about ten years ago wasn’t big, but he would regret it for life. If Royal King Zhong was here, the Emperor wouldn’t have this headache.

“The person in my mind doesn’t seem to fit this task,” Luo Weiran said respectfully, “There hasn’t been a big war in close to 15 years. Once the war starts, the task would be heavy. Your Majesty just said that you don’t want to favor nepotism, so the person in my mind isn’t suitable.”

“Who?”

“The King of Xu State, Yang Kai.” After a pause, Luo Weiran said, “However, there isn’t the precedent where royal kings and kings of states were used as the head of the Ministry of War.”

“Yang Kai?” The Emperor thought for a moment and said, “When my father waged war against the Shang Empire, Yang Kai led an army even though he was young, and he conquered Su State, Hui State, and Qin State. With only 20,000 soldiers, he wiped out 90,000 elite soldiers of Shang. After that big war, Yang Kai led soldiers and fought several rebel forces. In the last battle with Shang, my father gave Yang Kai the task of managing all the logistics, and he did everything well. However, he hasn’t managed anything in close to 15 years. I’m afraid that he might not be able to…”

The Emperor turned around and ordered, “Sui Buwei, invite the King of Xu State to Smooth Spring Garden for a meeting.”

Su Buwei nodded and quickly asked someone to do it.

Seeing that the Emperor didn’t reject his proposal, Luo Weiran heaved a sigh of relief in secret before saying with hesitation, “I thought of two more people, but I didn’t tell you since I was afraid of being reprimanded. Now, I’m feeling guilty. I shouldn’t be so hesitant when recommending talents.”

“Speak!”

“Your Majesty, do you still remember the Two Liangs?”

“Mou Liangbi, Zong Lianghu… How can I forget them?” the Emperor heaved a long sigh and asked after sitting back onto the heatable brick bed, “Are the two of them still locked up?”

“Yes.”

“After being locked up for more than a dozen years, they should be more reserved, right?” the Emperor said after thinking for a bit, “Take them out and bring them over alongside the King of Xu State.”

“Your Majesty, I have something else to report.”

“What is it?”

“Before I came in, Zhuo Buyi sent me an urgent report. He said that a few gongzi from big families have conflicts with border soldiers who are having a gathering in Guest-Prosper Dwell. There might be shady stuff happening.”

“Border soldiers’ gathering?” The Emperor froze for a second before asking, “Three years ago, those border soldiers gathered in Guest-Prosper Dwell, and you were worried that they might be up to something. You monitored them yourself. Is it Zhou Buyi’s turn this time? You don’t need to monitor these people; I trust these elite border soldiers.”

“Your Majesty trusts them, but some people look down on them.”

…

-In Guest-Prosper Dwell-

Zhang Kuang refilled Fang Jie’s liquor cup and said with a smile, “We are used to these kinds of things. Those with big backgrounds usually aren’t this arrogant. A few days ago, we met Royal King Yi and Huai Qiugong, the Head of the Ministry of Rites, who were fishing by a river. Seeing us, Royal King Yi even got up and asked caring questions before giving each of us 50 silver taels.”

Zhang Kuang continued, “However, those big families on the verge of collapse can’t do anything to reverse the situation, so they would always be arrogant to show their status, not wanting others to see the truth.”

He pointed at the second floor and said, “Who doesn’t know that Yangtze-South Wang Family is on the decline?”

“These declining families still have many henchmen,” Fang Jie said while looking in one direction, and Mo Xidao and Zhang Kuang both sneered.

Lieutenant Wang Wei of White-Water City walked down. After a bit of hesitation, he continued walking this way. Clearly, his expression turned ugly after seeing so many peers.

He heard everything that Wang Ding said when they came in, but he still chose to stand behind Wang Ding and not gather with his peers.

“Brother Mo.” Wang Wei walked over and said with a troubled expression, “I wasn’t trying to decline your invitation yesterday on purpose. I accepted Gongzi Wang’s invitation first, so it isn’t good to go back on my words. Please accept my apology.”

“Since others invited you first, we can’t blame you for it.” Zhang Kuang didn’t want to create animosity, so he stood up and said, “We only want to connect and talk with each other; there isn’t anything important.”

“After I got upstairs, I got into an argument with Wang Ding.” Wang Wei sighed and said, “This guy’s words are harsh, but he isn’t a bad person. After I almost flipped out, he realized what he said was too harsh, so he is planning to apologize to you all. He is inviting you three upstairs, and he said that he will chug three cups of liquor to apologize. He planned to come down to invite you three personally, but he is afraid of causing more misunderstanding. Therefore, he asked me to invite you instead.”

“There is no need.” Mo Xidao waved his hand and said, “Rough people like us don’t deserve to drink with Gongzi Wang who is from a big family!”

Zhang Kuang quickly pulled Mo Xidao and said, “Come on. Since Brother Wang is here to apologize, we can’t hold the grudge, right? We border soldiers can’t lose to others in terms of tolerance.”

“Brother Fang, are you going?” Mo Xidao turned around and asked Fang Jie.

Fang Jie wanted to shake his head, but Zhang Kuang pulled his sleeve in secret.

Fang Jie knew that Zhang Kuang was a cautious person and didn’t want to make the relationship between them and the people from big families too hostile.

The border soldiers were all from poor backgrounds. If they offended Wang Ding, the latter could use dirty tricks and ruin the lives of many border soldiers.

“There is no need to drink,” Fang Jie said after thinking for a bit, “Since Gongzi Wang apologized already, we will forgive him. Perhaps we will be peers in the Martial Arts Academy in the future. Brother Wang, you can go back and tell Gongzi Wang that we appreciate his gesture, but there is no need for him to chug cups of liquor.”

Fang Jie didn’t support Zhang Kuang in this situation. He felt like something was wrong. Wang Ding didn’t seem like someone who would give in. On top of that, people like Wang Ding who were from big families on the decline didn’t want to make others think that they were afraid of trouble.

Mo Xidao rubbed the scar on his face habitually, looked at Zhang Kuang’s trouble expression, and then grabbed a jug of liquor. He raised it toward the second floor before chugging it down.

Wang Wei’s expression turned ugly, and he said in a begging tone, “Do you need me to kneel and beg? Ignore that Wang Ding. Aren’t you willing to go up for my sake? If I can’t invite you three to the second floor, in the future…”

Mo Xidao gave in after hearing this.

“Since this is the case, how about we go up and drink with Gongzi Wang?” he asked Fang Jie.

Fang Jie shook his head. “I’m still not willing.”

“That is ok!” Zhang Kuang quickly said, “Since Fang Jie isn’t willing to go, the two of us can go.”

Then, he pulled Mo Xidao toward the staircase. Wang Wei’s expression turned neutral before he took a good look at Fang Jie and walked after the two.

…

Wang Wei led the way. After getting to the second floor, he smiled and said, “It is right ahead. Gongzi Wang has filled the liquor cups and is waiting for you two.”

Then, he got in front of a room and said while pointing inside, “Please.”

Mo Xidao looked at Zhang Kuang and walked in first, and Zhang Kuang followed him. However, the two of them froze and turned around to look at Wang Wei.

There was no one inside the room.

At this moment, Mo Xidao suddenly detected something and looked up at the wall across the room, and his face changed color.

“We got to go!” Mo Xidao pulled Zhang Kuang and wanted to leave, but Wang Wei already closed the door.

“Oh no! Reckless Mo Xidao and Zhang Kuang broke into the room where the First Emperor left his writing! One of them even sat on the chair that the First Emperor sat on before!”

As soon as Wang Wei shouted, Wang Ding and others who were sitting in the private room across the hall charged out and shouted together, “Stop them! Don’t let them come out! These reckless savages dare to look down at the First Emperor! Such disrespect should result in them being executed! Including their families! It is clear that they planned this and want to rebel!”

In a private room not far away, Hou Wenji shook his head and murmured, “Those two idiots shouldn’t break open the door and destroy anything. If they do that, they would fall into the trap for real. They are waiting for you two to destroy things. If you do that, there won’t be a way out.”

At this moment, a noise sounded.

Boom! Mo Xidao punched open the door and walked out with his eyes widened, looking like a demon.

He pointed at Wang Wei and shouted, “You b*stard!”