(Last night, the heaviest rainstorm the city has seen in ten years hit. It looks spectacular, but I hope it won't be affected. Today, this chapter is easy but important. The next volume will invite everyone to come back and read this chapter. PS: Today is the day of the College Entrance Examination. I wish the children participating in the exam all the best.)
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Birds chirped by the seaside, the water splashed gently under the pier, and the waves at the bottom of the cliff in the distance made loud noises. Fan Xian stood on the wooden board and was not confused by the Emperor's hot-blooded words. Seriously, he said, "As the ruler of ten thousand years, he will not enter an unpredictable place. I ask that you return to the capital."
"The capital is guarded by the Empress Dowager, Chen Pingping, and the two scholars. Who dares to make a move?" The Emperor gazed at the ocean and impatiently waved his hand. "If they want to take over the world, they have to take over that chair. First, they have to kill me, who is sitting on the chair. If they can't kill me, let them do as they please. Trash rebelling won't succeed in 10 years."
Fan Xian was silent and speechless. He thought to himself that this Emperor was truly a strange person. His incomparably powerful self-confidence and intense paranoia mixed together created this person's extremely narcissistic personality. The Emperor wanted to draw the snake out of its hole. Perhaps one day he would die from his narcissism. The problem was that Fan Xian did not want to be buried with him.
"An Zhi, you have to know that it's very difficult to see through a person's heart."
The Emperor suddenly sighed emotionally. No one knew if he was talking about his son or his sister. After this rare sigh, a layer of tiredness suddenly covered his expression. The wrinkles on his brows were filled with an indescribable tiredness.
This tiredness was not the kind of tiredness he deliberately put on for his officials to see when he sat on the dragon throne in the royal court. It was true tiredness, a kind of weariness that arose from the depths of his heart.
Fan Xian stood to the side and calmly studied the Emperor's expression. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. This was the first time he had seen such a real and intimate expression on the Emperor's face.
However, this true display of emotion was like the clouds above the Danzhou seaport. It only occasionally bloomed and blocked the blinding sunlight. It immediately drifted away and transformed into the porcelain blue sky. After a moment, there was no longer any trace of it on the Emperor's face.
What was left was only the radiant confidence and perseverance. Occasionally revealing his mortal heart, that person immediately returned to the role of a king.
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Looking at this scene, Fan Xian could not help but feel a little emotional. He sighed and said, "It is said that it is difficult to draw the bones of a tiger when drawing a person. One may know a person for a long time, but one does not know their heart. Usually, they are gentle to each other, but who knows if there will be a day when they will take two straight knives and stab each other in the chest."
It was clear that the Emperor did not care who Fan Xian was sighing at. He was just thinking about the past while surrounded by these emotions. He stared blankly at the sea and said, "The world may think that I am a heartless person, but they are all wrong."
Fan Xian quietly watched the Emperor from the side and did not reply.
The Emperor slowly said, "I have given them too many chances, hoping that they would suddenly repent. Even now, I am still giving them chances. If it were not for love, why would I need to rush about like this?"
Fan Xian thought to himself, seducing and forcing people to make mistakes to test their hearts. Looking closely at the Crown Prince and Second Prince's suffering these years, was the Emperor's actions like this out of love or out of his mind?
"Just like your mother …" The Emperor's eyes narrowed slightly as if he felt that the sun floating through the clouds was too piercing.
Fan Xian's heart tightened slightly as he carefully listened to every word the Emperor said.
The Emperor glanced at him and then turned his face away. Faintly, he said, "She has done a great service to the Qing Kingdom. For me, it can be said that my kindness is greater than the heavens. However, with a sudden change, she and her Ye family became a thing of the past and suffered a tragic death. Yet, I remained hidden and did not do anything. Although I later made up for it a little, compared to her kindness, I did very little."
Fan Xian understood what he meant. After his mother passed away, the Emperor had endured for four years before he caught all the nobles in Jingdou involved in the matter in one fell swoop. However, he had left a few important people unkilled. If this was revenge, this revenge was not complete.
The Emperor faintly said, "I did not say it, and the two of them did not ask. However, I know that they are all dissatisfied in their hearts and have resentment toward me … "A glimmer of self-mockery suddenly rose to the corners of his lips." But, what could I do in this matter? Without saying a word, taking the Ye family into the national treasury and accusing the Ye family of treason was heartless. But, if I were to reverse the verdict for the Ye family, what would the empress dowager do? Or … do I have to depose and kill the Empress in order to be truly loyal? "
Strangely, even as the Emperor spoke to this point, his tone remained calm without a trace of agitation. It made Fan Xian, who was listening to the side, admire him greatly. Of course, he knew that the so-called "they" with resentment referred to his father, Fan Jian, and Director Chen Pingping.
"As an Emperor, it is impossible to wander the four seas without any hindrances …" the Emperor calmly said. "If I really did that, I would also be a heartless person. Furthermore, what would the entire court become? I think that if she was alive, she would certainly approve of my actions. "
"She wanted a powerful and prosperous Qing Kingdom, and I did it." A determined expression rose to the Emperor's face. "Looking around, the Qing Kingdom is the most powerful country in the world. The people of the Qing Kingdom live happier than any other year in history. I think this is enough to comfort her."
Fan Xian was silent. In the years after his rebirth, he often asked himself what kind of country the Qing Kingdom was and what kind of person the Emperor was. Although he had a deeper understanding of all of this after entering the capital and finally touched the Emperor's self-confidence, narcissism, arrogance, and masochism … he had to admit one thing. Even with the flood the year before and the snowstorm this year, the efficiency of the Qing Kingdom's bureaucracy, the wealth of the people, and the clarity of politics were many times better than the history books he had read in his previous life.
In other words, the Qing Kingdom was, without question, a peaceful and prosperous world. The Emperor by his side was, without question, a wise ruler, even a saint, if the Emperor's goal was to let the people eat their fill.
"She said that the officials of the court needed supervision. When I was still the Crown Prince, I advised father to establish the Overwatch Council."
"She said that eunuchs were pitiful and hateful, so I strictly adhered to the rules since the founding of the country and strictly prohibited eunuchs from interfering in politics. At the same time, I ordered the internal court and Taichang Temple to determine the number of eunuchs and do their best to reduce the number of abnormal people in the palace."
Fan Xian nodded repeatedly. The number of eunuchs in the Qing Royal Palace was much less than in Northern Qi. This was, without question, a virtuous policy.
"She said that a wise ruler should be able to listen to advice. Alright, I granted the Imperial Censorate the right to discuss matters."
The Emperor spoke faster and faster and became more and more lost in thought. Fan Xian couldn't help but bite the tender flesh in his lip, reminding himself not to laugh at the thought of the Imperial Censorates' buttocks being flogged into streaky meat.
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"She said that there was a need for reform and a need for a root cause. Alright, I did as she said. I changed the yuan, changed the system, and carried out new policies …"
Fan Xian finally couldn't resist smiling bitterly.
The yuan was changed in the first year of the Qing calendar. At that time, the change was actually the third new policy. The Ministry of War changed to the Ministry of Military Affairs and then changed to the Bureau of Military Affairs. The Imperial College separated into the Tongwen Pavilion. Later, it was changed to the Ministry of Education and then changed back. Even the names of the six ministries from ancient times until now were almost changed by this Emperor.
The Qing Emperor's achievements throughout his life were brilliant and dazzling. However, the three new policies in a row were absurd things that he could not avoid in his life. Even now, when the people of Jingdou talked about these yamens, they were still confused. Each time they wanted to go somewhere, they often had to report a number of names.
If it weren't for the powerful deterrence of the imperial power and the valiant execution of the Qing officials, which turned the court back to its original appearance and left only those discordant names, the Qing Kingdom would probably have long fallen into chaos.
The Emperor looked at his expression and smiled self-mockingly. "You don't have to hide it. I know that this was one of the rare times in my life that I was muddle-headed. However, at that time, your mother was no longer here. I only knew the gist of it. It was hard to avoid making some mistakes."
Fan Xian's heart jumped slightly. He thought to himself that after his mother died, the Emperor still did as he was told. In terms of this intention, it had to be said that the Emperor could be considered a sentimental person in this matter.
"Before your mother passed, I heard a lot from her. Later, I was unable to do anything for her," the Emperor closed his eyes and faintly said. "After she passed, I remembered all the things she once mentioned to me and wanted to help her realize them. It could be considered some kind of promise or guilt toward her."
Fan Xian sighed and said, "If my mother was still alive, she would certainly be endlessly grateful for Your Majesty's kindness."
"No, it is not kindness," the Emperor opened his eyes and calmly said. The Emperor opened his eyes and calmly said, "It is only affection. As for admiration, that is even more impossible. I only want to do some things to honor her spirit in Heaven. I do not wish for anything else."
The Emperor suddenly smiled and said, "Back then, she used a regretful tone to speak of the newspaper. She said there was no gossip to read or interesting news to read. So, I had the internal court make a newspaper and draw some flowers on it. Now that I think about it, I was also very mischievous."
Fan Xian was dumbfounded. The internal court newspaper was known as the most useless thing in the Qing Kingdom. It was personally written by the scholar and great calligrapher, Sir Pan Ling, and sent to various provinces and counties. It was only kept by the yamen and nobles. If it was on the market, a page of the internal court newspaper would often sell for a great deal of silver.
When he was in Danzhou, he had once stolen the newspaper from the old manor to exchange for silver to spend, so he was very familiar with the newspaper. At that time, he had been very disdainful of the gossip content in the so-called newspaper and was very confused about the flowers drawn on the sides of the newspaper. The answer to all of this was …
Back then, his mother wanted to read gossipy newspapers and listen to interesting news.
Fan Xian looked at the Emperor with a strange expression and forcefully suppressed the words he was about to blurt out. He had wanted to remind the Emperor that the so-called interesting news did not refer to drawing a few flowers on the sides of the newspaper.
The Emperor did not notice his expression. He spoke more and more happily. "Your mother was most curious about Pingping's story. In the fourth year of the Qing calendar, I took advantage of that old dog's visit to his hometown to have the internal court newspaper write about it. If your mother could see it, presumably, she would be very happy."
Fan Xian laughed loudly. He also remembered this story. In the spring of the fourth year of the Qing calendar, he had traveled from Danzhou to Jingdou. At the time, the two biggest things in Jingdou were the exposure of Prime Minister Lin Ruofu's illegitimate daughter and the marriage alliance with the Fan family. The second was that the internal court editors were not afraid of the power of the Overwatch Council and greatly exposed the youthful story of the Director of the Overwatch Council, Chen Pingping.
The sun gradually rose by the seaside. It moved from in front of him to behind him, casting the Emperor and Fan Xian's shadows on the occasionally rising and falling surface of the sea. The sea water also joined in, making the waves clear and gradually calming. It made the blurry shadows of the two people become clearer and clearer.
Fan Xian smiled and lowered his head. He thought, In the end, the Emperor was a mortal. Just as he could not forget the Qing Temple, the Emperor could not forget Danzhou. Probably in this life, only on the Danzhou dock would the Emperor say so many things.
It was precisely this conversation that was not between ruler and official that made Fan Xian have a slightly more favorable impression of the Emperor and a deeper understanding of him. At the same time, it also added more worries.
He sighed and turned his gaze toward the sea. The worries in his heart were, in the end, a matter for the future. The worries in front of him were already terrifying enough.
"What are you worried about?" The Emperor's mood was relatively relaxed and he casually asked.
Fan Xian thought for a moment and then said, "The admiral of the Jiaozhou Navy … is a disciple of the Qin family."
No one knew how large a guard of honor was needed for the Emperor to officially go on an inspection tour. Even though the Qing Emperor was known for his plain clothes, the court had put a great deal of effort into defense. On land, the provincial soldiers were outside, the Imperial Army was inside, and there was a group of aces and that strange old creature, Eunuch Hong. It could be called a steel fortress.
On the water, a few warships of the Jiaozhou Navy had also received an edict and arrived. They were responsible for guarding against dangers from the sea. As Fan Xian said these words, his eyes were slightly narrowed as he stared at the surface of the sea, at the ships the Jiaozhou Navy had sent to protect the Emperor.
The Emperor's expression was calm. It was as if he did not take Fan Xian's reminder to heart. He said, "There will come a day when I will seek justice for you for the matter of the valley. However, General Qin is the cornerstone of the country, so there is no need to doubt him. Since you have already moved the Black Knights over, there is no need to worry about an attack within a hundred li. Why do you have to be restless all day like a stray dog? "
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