In the winter of the 10th year of the Qing calendar, General Li Hongcheng had won a great victory in Qingzhou. He had been summoned back to the capital. At the age of 30, he became the Deputy of the Bureau of Military Affairs with incomparable glory. However, the people who sang praises of the great Qing Kingdom in Jingdou could clearly see that the position of the Deputy of the Bureau of Military Affairs was actually just an idle position. Under Ye Zhong's suppression, it was impossible for the heir, Li Hongcheng, to be like he was in Dingzhou and have completely his own martial power. No one forgot that the previous person to ascend to the lofty position of the Deputy of the Bureau of Military Affairs at such a young age was Qin Heng. That person's fate was not very glorious.
After Li Hongcheng returned to the capital, he immediately entered the Royal Palace to see the Emperor. In the royal study, the Emperor did not vent a glimmer of anger toward him. Instead, he only calmly talked about the scenery of Xiliang. However, the Crown Prince looked at Fan Ruoruo beside the Emperor. His mood sank to the bottom. Leaving the Royal Palace, Li Hongcheng went to the Bureau of Military Affairs to hand over his mission and set a date for his return. Li Hongcheng returned to the manor and saw King Jing, who had just been released after being under house arrest in the Royal Palace, as well as his weak and pitiful sister. The family of three sat together in silence. The old prince sighed repeatedly and patted Li Hongcheng's shoulder. "Fortunately, nothing went wrong. You were able to last until today before returning to Jingdou. This can be considered giving the other side an explanation."
Although he said this, Li Hongcheng still personally went to the Fan manor that night. He knew how high Fan Xian's hopes for him were. Although he had stubbornly resisted the Emperor's edict and Gong Dian's pressure in Dingzhou and managed to drag it out for a few more days, in the end, he was still summoned back wretchedly. He had to personally give Fan Xian an explanation.
No one knew the conversation between this pair of friends in the study in the back garden of the Fan manor. Presumably, they were just expressing their apologies to each other. The Palace did not seem to be very interested in this conversation because no one stopped Li Hongcheng from entering the manor.
"I also didn't think things would develop like this." Fan Xian laughed bitterly. Standing, he hugged him and gently patted his back before seeing him out of the study.
Before Li Hongcheng left the study, he turned around and glanced at him worriedly. "Deng Zi Yue should have escaped, but I'm afraid quite a few of your Qinian Unit died on Xiliang Road. After all, this is a matter of your Institute. I don't know the inside story. I hope you can control your emotions."
"I don't know who the traitor is. Perhaps it was just one of the three meetings, and the people in the Council found out. After all … this time, Yan Bingyun is personally holding the fort. Facing this person, I don't have much confidence." Fan Xian's expression was a bit gloomy. "But, relax. I've never been too interested in things like revenge. I just feel a bit panicked."
"If even you feel flustered, then I advise you to behave yourself for the time being." Li Hongcheng shook his head and refused Fan Xian's intention to see him out of the manor. Like a father comforting him, he patted his shoulder forcefully, lifted his clothes, and walked out of the manor.
…
…
Watching Li Hongcheng's slightly lonely figure disappear from the Winter Garden, Fan Xian was silent for a long time before he turned his head and sat back down in the grand wooden chair in the study. Earlier, Hongcheng had relayed Gong Dian's evaluation of him. That evaluation made Fan Xian involuntarily feel a touch of bitterness in his mouth. If one truly looked into it, Fan Xian's arrangements in Dongyi and Xiliang did indeed have this intention. Without a doubt, this intention could not stand on a moral level.
A man should be happy with gratitude and enmity. How could he use the blood and lives of soldiers as a bargaining chip? No one could truly understand what Fan Xian was thinking. He did not want too many innocent people in the world to lose their lives because of his battle with the Emperor. That was why he had chosen this arrangement.
The Qingzhou victory was a perfect manifestation of the Emperor's deep planning and foresight. Regardless of whether it was Hu Ge's feint attack or the Chief's reaction, all of this was a foundation that the Overwatch Council, or rather, Fan Xian, had spent a great deal of energy to lay down. This foundation had been ruthlessly and calmly used by the Emperor.
Fan Xian did not feel any closeness to the Hu people on the grasslands. The corpses on the fields in Xiliang Road and the burned houses would only make him clap his hands in praise of the Qingzhou victory. The problem was, this victory had easily destroyed all of Fan Xian's arrangements in Xiliang Road. If Li Hongcheng still wanted to delay and not return to the capital under these circumstances, it was the same as seeking death.
Fan Xian felt a deep chill and admiration for the Emperor's methods and abilities. A cowardly thought that was difficult to resist grew in his heart.
"You heard it all. This matter has nothing to do with me." Fan Xian pressed his hands against the desk and closed his eyes tiredly.
Having returned to the Central Plain, Haitang Duoduo, who had once again put on the flowery jacket, appeared behind him. After the battle at the entrance of Hong Mountain, she had moved out at about the same time as the group in Dingzhou. Li Hongcheng had returned to the capital quickly, but he was still a day later than her. Presently, the Palace's surveillance of the Fan manor had relaxed a great deal. How could they stop the Northern Qi sage girl from quietly entering the manor?
It had already been a year since they had seen each other. Haitang looked silently at the young man in the grand wooden armchair, thinking to herself, Actually, the other person's age isn't that old, but why does he look so old and heavy now? There's a trace of exhaustion on his face that can't be brushed away. Thinking of what had happened in the Qing Kingdom these days and the dead Director of the Overwatch Council, Haitang suddenly understood why Fan Xian appeared so tired.
"Because of the words you had Hong Yiqing bring to me, many people died on the grasslands," Haitang said.
Fan Xian opened his eyes and laughed coldly. "I only had the court agree to Hu Ge sending out troops. I had not thought that the Chief would take advantage of the opportunity."
Haitang did not explain to him that she had once tried to suppress Su Bida's ambitions. Lightly, she said, "In the end, it was still the Qing Kingdom who took advantage."
Fan Xian was silent. A moment later, he said, "You don't need to worry about how the news got out. I sent two people to Xiliang Road. Hong Yiqing has still not been able to gather the people from the Fourth Bureau. It is clear that Zi Yue was being watched by the Council during the handover …"
Speaking of this, he took a deep breath and suddenly thought of the young general of the Ye family mentioned in the intelligence reports. It was said that the young general had led 4,000 light riders into the grasslands to chase after the remnants of the Chief's court. Fan Xian couldn't help but admire this person's courage. Thinking of the cold of winter and the fact that they were deep in the grasslands, he was afraid that these 4,000 riders would never come back alive.
"Those barbarians who moved from the north to the grasslands … Do they still listen to your orders?" He raised his head to glance at Haitang. "You are, after all, the princess of the snowy plains. You are also respected by the Chief on the grasslands and have a high status. Presumably, you have some power."
Haitang furrowed her brows slightly. A glimmer of anger flashed through her eyes as bright as the North Sea. Coldly, she said, "At this time, you are still worried about the life and death of the 4,000 light riders? No wonder you are a powerful official of the Qing Kingdom. Why don't you think of the tribes on the grasslands that have lost all of their young men and have no power to resist? "
"I am a Qing person, then a Central Plain person, and finally a human," Fan Xian replied with his head lowered. "Just as you say, Su Bida's ambitions were too great this time. He took away large numbers of young men from the various tribes. The grasslands are already empty of power. After the Qingzhou battle, the 4,000 light riders killed their way into the grasslands. As long as the snowy plains Man riders left in the west of the grasslands maintain their distance, they may actually come back."
"Xi Hu is finished. If the time is right, the tribes you moved from the North to the grasslands may be able to take advantage of the situation and rise," Fan Xian lightly tempted Haitang. Fan Xian lightly tempted her. "You must accept this reality and then make use of it."
"I am not like you. There are many things that I know are beneficial but do not conform to the principles in my heart, so I am unable to do them." Haitang lowered her eyelids slightly and replied in a quiet voice. "However, your words right now truly surprise me. You are clearly a ruthless person who holds yourself in high regard and does not prioritize the interests of the Qing Kingdom. Why do you have such a request?"
"If I truly did not consider the interests of the Qing Kingdom or even the entire world, why would I still be suffering in this manor? Regardless of whether it was to throw away hot blood or to hide from the world, I would have done it a long time ago. "
"When did you become a saint?"
"I am not a saint. It is just that at a certain stage in life, when the highest level of desire for power has been satisfied, I will place more emphasis on spiritual considerations. Furthermore, I do not like to be seen by others as a cold-blooded and heartless scum who only knows how to use the blood of soldiers."
"In the end, you are still a hypocritical and selfish person," Haitang said as she looked at him. She then placed the little knife in front of him.
Fan Xian replied expressionlessly, "If this counts as hypocrisy and selfishness, I think all the people in the world would thank me for being a vain person. I know your Emperor is a woman, so consider it as me blackmailing you."
Haitang's body shook slightly. She looked at him and didn't speak for a long time.
The entire study was immersed in an oppressive atmosphere. After a long time, he opened his mouth and said with some difficulty, "Actually, there are many times when I need someone to help and give advice. Originally, it was Yan Bingyun and Wang Qinian who played this role. Now, Yan Bingyun has become his pure official. I have arranged for Lao Wang to leave. I have no one to ask. I am not an immortal. Facing him, I have no confidence at all. With no one to help me, I am truly helpless."
"Are you acting pitiful in front of me?" Haitang said sarcastically but was slightly startled. She sighed and said, "What do you want to ask?"
He then drank a mouthful of cold tea to moisten his throat. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips. With a serious expression, he said, "My sister is in the Royal Palace, my entire family is in Jingdou, and the loyal subordinates who rely on me and believe in me are in the shadow of this country. I have power, but it is difficult to shake the foundation of this court. I also don't want to shake this foundation and let the moss, ants, and rabbits basking in the sun fall to their deaths. My opponent has great power, cold rationality, and extraordinary planning ability. He has the loyalty of the vast majority of people in this land. Most importantly, although I know from the news that came out of the Palace after the rain in early autumn that he gradually came down from the altar and began to become like a mortal, leaving behind some emotional emptiness, I still believe that his blood is cold enough and his heart is strong enough. Once I truly act, the people I want to protect will truly no longer exist."
"In the past, I was very afraid of death. Now, I am not so afraid of death." Fan Xian said a long speech and then continued to seriously conclude. "But, I am very afraid that the people I love and protect will die. Can you help me resolve this problem?"
Haitang was not silent for long. Very straightforwardly, she said, "I cannot."
Fan Xian spread out his hands and let out a long sigh. "Look, there is no one in this world who can help me resolve this problem."
"What do you mean by him coming down from the altar?" Haitang was clearly very interested in this matter. She didn't know where Fan Xian's judgment of the Qing Emperor came from.
Fan Xian gently placed his right hand on the position of his heart and said with a not-quite-there smile, "After all, the heart of a father and son is connected. You can't sense some small changes, but I can. He had me stay in the manor to do these things and then break them one by one for me to see. Although he demonstrated the power of an Emperor, don't you think this is actually very troublesome? He had too many ways to make all of this disappear without a trace. However, he didn't do this. He was angry with me, angry with Chen Pingping, and angry with my mother. "
"A person who originally had no meridians or meridians and was heartless has now learned to be angry. Don't you think he is becoming more and more like a normal person?" Fan Xian shook his head and smiled bitterly. "Presumably, this is also the result the old cripple wanted to cause when he went to die."
"But, you still have no way to change this trend." Haitang sat in the chair and lowered her head slightly. "You've been sitting in Jingdou for a few months but have thrown the cause of chaos everywhere under heaven. Your thinking is actually very simple."
She raised her head and stared at Fan Xian's bloodshot eyes with her bright eyes. Heavily, she said, "Presumably, this is also part of Chen Pingping's plan for revenge. First, he shakes the world, takes advantage of the chaos to force the Emperor to abdicate, and then strikes like lightning. However, you have not obtained the Qing Emperor's trust as he imagined. This is your pitiful vanity causing mischief. At the same time, you also have no way to act viciously against the world. This is your pitiful hypocrisy causing mischief."
"You should understand that although your personality appears sinister, in reality, in the end, you are not an ambitious and ruthless person. There are many things you cannot do." Haitang blinked slightly and put away the frightening cold light in her eyes. Calmly, she said, "Since it is so, there is no other word that can describe what you are doing now other than naive and childish. In the end, you still do not have the confidence to face him head on."
Fan Xian was silent for a moment and said, "Who would have this confidence? During these few months, I was only backing him and trying to warn him. Thus, I maintained a situation that could collapse at any moment and did my best to protect the people by my side. If it wasn't for the Emperor remembering that I didn't give up and throw half of the Qing Kingdom into chaos, do you think Yang Wanli, Cheng Jialin, and the people in the First Bureau would have survived? "
He raised his head and stared at Haitang. "I had to prove my strength to be able to protect these people's lives. Correct, at the final juncture, I still had to compete with the Emperor face to face. I did not have that confidence, so I have been waiting for someone to come back."
"The blind great master." Haitang did not ask. Instead, she straightforwardly said this name that seemed to have a magical power.
"You cannot always place your hopes on the elders who once supported you as you grew up. Regardless of whether it is your mother, Chen Pingping, or Minister Fan, they have already done too much for you." Haitang looked at Fan Xian. A glimmer of pity suddenly rose in her heart. "Have you ever thought that if the blind great master never comes back, what is the point of you tormenting yourself in Jingdou?"
Haitang advised Fan Xian with a serious expression. "There are many things you have to do yourself. Regardless of whether you have this confidence or not, the situation has already forced you to this step. Since you cannot be indifferent to your mother and Chen Pingping's deaths, then you will never be able to play his good official and son again."
Fan Xian suddenly felt these words were very piercing to the ear. He furrowed his brows and raised his hand to stop Haitang from speaking. In a low voice, he said, "You have never personally experienced his power, so you can easily say the word 'confidence.'"
Haitang sighed and said, "But, how much longer can you wait? He did not even think about the commotion you and the Emperor made in Cangzhou. Instead, he directly led his troops to the West and easily wiped out all of the hidden dangers there. Next would be Jiangnan and then Dongyi. No, perhaps he wouldn't even care about Dongyi and would directly head North. Once the situation develops to that point, all of your power will have been completely uprooted. Other than holed up in Jingdou like an idle person, watching him walk step by step toward the peak, and watching him laugh coldly at the souls of your elders, what else can you do? "
"He can't touch Jiangnan. If he touches that place, I will have to move. Once I move, the entire Qing Kingdom, including him, will feel pain."
"I don't know what you did in the palace treasury, but I believe that a figure like the Qing Emperor would not care about any losses for the sake of the obsession in his heart," Haitang said.
At this moment, a voice rang out from the shadows of the study. It was icy to the extreme. "The Emperor, that bastard, was never human. How could he know the feeling of pain?"
The person who spoke was the Shadow, the Shadow that had floated in Jingdou like a shadow these few months. Immediately after, another direct and steady voice rang out as if it also wanted to convince Fan Xian. "I don't understand much about things like self-confidence. If I really have to draw my sword, I will tell myself that I have to be confident."
The person who spoke was Thirteenth Wang, this staunch last disciple of the Sword Hut. Even when faced with the unfathomable Great Grandmaster, the Qing Emperor, he remained calm and stubborn.
Just as Fan Xian had analyzed before, the Emperor's, or rather, the Qing Kingdom's, greatest weakness was the lack of top-notch individual martial power. Those once powerful figures had all died one by one in the Qing Kingdom's internal strife. More than half of the ninth-level aces stood in Fan Xian's camp. Even the Qing Emperor did not dare to underestimate such power.
If Eunuch Hong, the Qin father and son, Yan Xiaoyi, and other aces were still alive, then the Qing Kingdom could truly be said to be a military camp forged from iron.
Fan Xian was silent for a long time. He didn't directly reply to the persuasion of the three top aces in the study. Instead, he furrowed his brows and said, "I don't want you all to die to his hands. Furthermore, this is, in the end, my business."
…
…
In the deep winter of the 10th year of the Qing calendar, Fan Xian was like a wild beast trapped in a snowstorm. He was anxious, gloomy, and uneasy. He watched helplessly as the powerful Emperor used schemes and foresight that far surpassed his own to slice off his left and right arms one by one. He watched helplessly as the Qing court methodically marched toward the achievement of unifying the land, yet he was unable to do anything.
In front of the Qing Emperor, Fan Xian, who had always been good at hiding himself, finally lost his confidence for the first time. He didn't know how to defeat such a powerful figure. Thus, he was waiting. He didn't know if the person he was waiting for would return. In order to ensure the safety of himself and those beside him while he waited, he was doing his best to do something.
Jingdou was unexpectedly calm. According to the intelligence Baoyue Brothel had painstakingly obtained, Fan Wujiu of Scholar He's manor, once the Second Prince's strategist, had been injured in a surprise attack and had since disappeared. However, He Zongwei had not been implicated in this matter. Fan Xian felt slightly disappointed. He finally understood that Hu the Scholar, that old fox, was not so easy to use.
What made Fan Xian feel even more defeated was that news finally came from Jiangnan. It was not good news.
The transmission of information in this era was always slow, so slow that it made one angry. The news Fan Xian received in December was, in reality, something from a month ago.
The palace treasury transport company had received a secret edict from the Palace. According to the plan, they had begun the preparations for the opening of the treasury bidding next spring. However, this year, the bidding process of the palace treasury had undergone a shocking change. It had changed the bidding of preparing silver to the bidding of the court's evaluation report. This change directly changed the palace treasury's authority to invite merchants from the court and the merchants to completely become the court's arrangement. In other words, when the palace treasury bidding opened next year, whoever the court wanted to win the bid would win.
Thus, even if the Ming family led by Xia Qifei had the secret support of Zhaoshang money house and Taiping money house, they might not be able to continue their past glory. This was, without question, a heavy blow to Fan Xian's power.
The rules of the palace treasury bidding had been fixed ever since the three large workshops were built. Regardless of whether it was the old Ye family or the later palace treasury, no one dared to lightly change this rule. The change this winter was, without question, a humiliating setback. Everyone knew that the Emperor's edict would have an inestimable adverse effect on all of Jiangnan's commercial activities.
Unexpectedly, the Jiangnan merchants did not band together to resist this muddle-headed edict. On the contrary, the Lingnan Xiong family and Quanzhou Sun family maintained their silence. A few salt merchants began to itch to try. As everyone knew, a number of the disciples of those salt merchants had died to Sir Fan junior's hands during the spring examinations.
…
…
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
