The Human Emperor c1-2382
Page 327
Yao Feng was dumbfounded, unable to speak a single word.
At almost the same time, King Qi and many other great clans reached the same decision.
Just like that, a furious, behind-the-scenes conflict in the capital began. Whether it was the Yao Clan, King Qi, or any other clan, it was only after a long time that they realized what exactly they had done.
……
Old Eagle had finished preparations for the auction far faster than people imagined. On the same night that the news spread, Old Eagle began the auction.
"Now auctioning the first lot of land in the spirit vein. Covering an area with a radius of two zhang, it is sufficient space for five people to cultivate. The starting price is 30,000 taels of gold!"
"60,000!"
"70,000!"
"110,000!"
"180,000!"
"230,000!"
……
A crowd densely packed a remote courtyard in the capital. Almost all the great clans of the capital were present. Old Eagle's voice was like a falling boulder, instantly stirring an uproar in the crowd.
Everyone had seemingly gone insane as they yelled out offers. In just a few short moments, this part of the spirit vein that was only two zhang in radius had shot up from 60,000 taels to 230,000!
At this moment, even the mentally prepared Old Eagle was surprised at the fervor of the crowd!
Chapter 467: The Furious Capital!
Chapter 467: The Furious Capital!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Clack!
Footsteps on the stairs rang out clearly through the gloomy prison. While Old Eagle was auctioning off the spirit vein and causing a great stir, Wang Chong was welcoming a guest.
It was actually an old acquaintance, wearing a snow-white robe, a cold expression, and the emblem of the Chamberlain of Dependencies.
"Wang Chong, what are you up to?" Zheng Chenzhou slowly walked up to the bars, looking through them at the cross-legged Wang Chong.
"Lord Zheng isn't helping the Hu suppress the Han?" Wang Chong flatly said, not even raising his head.
A flash of rage crossed Zheng Chenzhou's face at Wang Chong's dismissive tone.
"Wang Chong! Don't get too smug! Do you still think that you'll be able to leave? The Wang Clan is influential, but it can't touch the Chamberlain of Dependencies!"
"I never said anything about the Wang Clan intervening in this place. Wasn't that you?" Wang Chong indifferently said.
"You!" Zheng Chenzhou angrily bellowed, then fiercely brushed his sleeve. "Wang Chong, this was a chance that you gave us! You actually dared to kill someone in broad daylight. Does your Wang Clan still have any respect for the law?"
Wang Chong's eyes twinkled for a second as, for the first time, he didn't immediately respond.
"…There are some things that have to be done. You don't understand, and I don't blame you for that. In the future, you'll understand what I was talking about."
"Hmph, murder of another is paid with a life. A country has its laws and the clans have their regulations. Even the Son of Heaven will answer to the people when committing a crime. Let me tell you, Wang Chong, no matter how powerful your Wang Clan is, I'll make this prison your home!" Zheng Chenzhou harshly said.
In the entire capital, Wang Chong topped the Chamberlain of Dependencies' black list. If one had to point out a person in the capital that the Chamberlain of Dependencies hated to its bones, who was like a dagger to its back, then this person would undoubtedly be Wang Chong!
But Wang Chong just had to be no ordinary scion, and he also wasn't that rash, so the Chamberlain of Dependencies had been unable to deal with him for a very long time.
If they didn't use this chance, they would find it very hard to take care of him in the future.
Wang Chong was silent. In a rare sight, he didn't reply.
"I actually wish I could fulfill your desires. Alas, you won't be able to keep me imprisoned," Wang Chong finally said, a hint of sorrow in his indifferent voice.
"Hah! Wang Chong, don't think that we don't know what you're up to outside. I'll tell you now, even if you sell your Wang Clan's spirit vein and bring in all that money, it will still be useless," Zheng Chenzhou sneered.
"So, all of it was for the sake of this?"
Wang Chong suddenly raised his head and sneered, his eyes glowing like flames.
Zheng Chenzhou felt like the air had been sucked out of him and, for a moment, he couldn't speak.
"Hmph, I don't know what you're saying," Zheng Chenzhou icily said, but his eyes inadvertently looked to the side, afraid to meet Wang Chong's gaze.
"Hah, when did the Chamberlain of Dependencies start caring so much about what's being bought and sold in the capital? Hm, it seems like Old Eagle is selling off the spirit vein at a pretty high price, no? Even the Chamberlain of Dependencies can't sit still and sent someone over to probe me out?"
Wang Chong grinned.
Although he was smirking, Wang Chong's gaze was sharp and profound, as if it could see through the deepest depths of one's soul. Zheng Chenzhou was much older than Wang Chong, but in front of this teenager's gaze, even he felt embarrassed and uncomfortable, like he was naked and all his secrets were being bared.
Old Eagle's auctioning off the spirit vein naturally couldn't be hidden from the Chamberlain of Dependencies, and given how much of a threat and trouble Wang Chong posed to the Chamberlain of Dependencies, it would naturally take the strictest of precautions and keep a close eye on him.
One could say that every strange movement Wang Chong made couldn't be hidden from the Chamberlain of Dependencies!
Given the Chamberlain of Dependencies' status and authority, it was essentially unprecedented for it to act so carefully around a mere teenager.
But when one thought about all the problems Wang Chong had made for the Chamberlain of Dependencies, such as the Regional Commanders incident, the Ü-Tsang First Prince incident, or this current incident…
Every member of the Chamberlain of Dependencies, from top to bottom, including Zheng Chenzhou, felt that this was not an overreaction. If a teenager could cause so many problems, what would they do when he got older?
If they didn't deal with Wang Chong now and imprison him to resolve the 'problem', they couldn't even imagine what sort of beehives he would go riling up next.
"Hmph! Wang Chong, don't get cocky! The Court of Judicial Review and Chamberlain of Dependencies are almost done negotiating. When that time comes, I'll see how you can laugh your way out of this place!"
With a sweep of his sleeve, Zheng Chenzhou strode off in a huff.
"The Court of Judicial Review and Chamberlain of Dependencies…"
Wang Chong stared blankly at Zheng Chenzhou's retreating figure. After a long time, he sighed.
It wasn't important how the Court of Judicial Review and Chamberlain of Dependencies dealt with him, because a massive storm was about to engulf the empire.
Boom!
The news from the southwest arrived faster than Wang Chong had imagined. The day after Zheng Chenzhou left his prison cell, a piece of news stunned the empire.
King Geluofeng of Mengshe Zhao in the southwest had attacked Jiange City on the border. Governor Zhang Qiantuo of Jiange had committed suicide while the entire city had basically been razed to the ground!
And this had happened more than half a month ago. Geluofeng had sealed off this information so that even the nearby Annan Protectorate didn't know.
Only after Mengshe Zhao's army completely withdrew did those trade caravans making their way to the city discover that gruesome scene.
The spread of this news made the empire quake. All the members of the Imperial Court were so stunned that they couldn't speak.
Bang!
A hand smashed against a table, striking so hard that the palm reddened and the table almost cracked into pieces.
"Bastard! Did Geluofeng go crazy? He dared, he dared to attack a city
of the Great Tang!!"
The one who spoke these words was not someone from the Bureau of Military Personnel, but an imperial censor of the court. His beard was prickling up in anger, an expression of his absolute fury.
"Absurd! What is the Annan Protectorate doing? The Imperial Court has been providing them ample grain and silver for so many years so that they could stand around and let this happen? It was such a nearby city, yet they didn't even know that it had been attacked!"
"Geluofeng wants to rebel! The Great Tang has been kind to him, yet he dares to return with hostility and attack it!"
"Immediately send out the army and exterminate Geluofeng!"
"Mengshe Zhao is acting too wantonly!"
……
All officials, whether martial or civil, and even the officials from the Bureau of Personnel and Bureau of Revenue, government offices normally not even involved in the military, were enraged by Geluofeng's actions.
A few officials from the Bureau of Military Personnel even submitted petitions to the Imperial Court.
Victory and defeat were commonplace for a soldier. The Great Tang had been established for almost three hundred years and was surrounded by great powers. Such wars had happened repeatedly and were no rare event.
The Andong Protectorate, the Anxi Protectorate, Longxi, and Beiting… this had happened in all these places. But the nature of this incident was completely different.
Although such things had happened in the past, they had never reached this scale. And what had never happened before was someone of Geluofeng's status personally leading the attack on the border!
The southwest border had been peaceful for decades, with the Great Tang and Mengshe Zhao living in complete harmony. Moreover, unlike the other powers surrounding it, the Great Tang had given Mengshe Zhao a great deal of assistance.
The writing, language, culture, and courts of the two countries were identical.
If the Great Tang was the teacher, Mengshe Zhao was the student. But this time, the student had disobeyed the teacher and destroyed a city of the Great Tang, even caused the death of a Great Tang governor.
Everyone felt betrayed!
Chapter 468: The Court Debates!
Chapter 468: The Court Debates!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The true impact of the incident was felt the most among the common people. The southwest bordered Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang, where the Tea Horse Road acted as a source of generous profit. Many merchants in the capital did business there.
When the news from the southwest reached the capital, the gruesome seas of blood and mountains of corpses were not something that the sheet issued by the Imperial Court could fully describe.
Geluofeng had been enraged and so had not shown the smallest mercy. From this point, one could imagine the devastation within the city.
"War! War! Mobilize the army and exterminate Mengshe Zhao!"
"What is the Imperial Court doing? Even Ü-Tsang is attacking our Great Tang! Why hasn't the Imperial Court done anything?"
"Destroy them! Give them a fierce lesson!"
"Blood for blood! The lives of the dead Han must be avenged!"
……
Everyone was furious. The Great Tang had been at peace for several decades. Relying on its hundreds of thousands of soldiers, it had suppressed the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates, Goguryeo, Ü-Tsang, and Mengshe Zhao. Even the Abbasid Caliphate and Charax Spasinu in the far west were cowed by this indisputably enormous strength of the Great Tang.
After so many years, this indisputable power had become the greatest glory for the people of the Great Tang. And the incident in the southwest made these people feel a deep disgrace and affront!
When this disgrace and affront transformed into rage, the first to suffer their fury was the Annan Protectorate of the southwest.
And Zhangchou Jianqiong, as the former Annan Protector-General, felt an even greater pressure.
"Bastard thing! What in the world is Xianyu Zhongtong doing? I gave him the Annan Protectorate, and then he produces this massive blunder!"
In the Bureau of Military Personnel, Zhangchou Jianqiong smashed his palm on a table, his face red from anger.
The southwest was his territory, one that he had overseen for decades, and nothing, big or small, had ever gone wrong during his tenure. Neither Mengshe Zhao nor Ü-Tsang dared to act recklessly. He wasn't known as the 'Tiger of the Empire' for nothing.
But Zhangchou Jianqiong would have never expected that right after he obtained his long-desired position as Minister of War, before he had even gotten used to his seat or gotten familiar with the inner workings of the bureau, such an incident would occur in his territory.
And what Zhangchou Jianqiong found even more difficult to accept was that Xianyu Zhongtong had known nothing about Geluofeng's assault, even though he was so close.
Only after Geluofeng retreated did Xianyu Zhongtong send news and ask him what to do!
At present, everyone in the capital was criticizing the Imperial Court, and the Imperial Court was transferring this pressure to him. Zhangchou Jianqiong currently felt like he had a dagger to his back, like he was sitting on a bed of needles.
In this short period of time, the civil and martial officials paying visits to him had almost trod his threshold into ruins. Although none of them had directly said it, they had implied that they were criticizing the previous Annan Protector-General.
Even a few imperial censors from the court had visited and directly criticized him, placing Zhangchou Jianqiong under massive pressure.
He could disregard those other officials, but no one could stop the imperial censors. In the records of the Great Tang, quite a few important ministers in the court had been impeached by imperial censors.
If he handled the matter poorly, he might have to say goodbye to the position of Minister of War before he had even warmed the seat.
But even though he was bursting with anger, there was also a layer of confusion deep within Zhangchou Jianqiong's heart.
"Geluofeng, Geluofeng, what are you thinking? You should know what will happen if you attack the Great Tang. This isn't some simple dispute. Did something happen in the southwest that I don't know about?" Zhangchou Jianqiong muttered to himself as his mind turned.
The most fundamental skill of a Great General was to keep calm. Although Zhangchou Jianqiong was enraged, he would never let his rage control him.
All those years of supervising the southwest had given Zhangchou Jianqiong an understanding of every tree and bush there. Although Geluofeng had been like a lurking tiger, always waiting to strike, he had never been impulsive and rash.
Zhangchou Jianqiong would never believe that Geluofeng had raised such a large army to destroy a single city and then retreated without any other harvest.
This was not Geluofeng's character!
Zhangchou Jianqiong was sure that something had happened that he was unaware of. But the southwest was too far from the capital. One round trip was not something that could be done in ten-some days.
But he could not even wait that long!
……
"It really was as Chong-er said!"
In his massive estate, Wang Gen was seated on an armchair, his hand gripping a sheet of paper while his brow was fraught with concern.
He had probably known of the incident in the southwest earlier than anyone else, but Wang Gen had never been able to bring himself to believe it.
It wasn't that he didn't believe Wang Chong, but that a war between countries could not be decided by a single outsider or scout.
The country could not be handled so recklessly!
A maid suddenly walked in and respectfully reminded him, "Milord, it's time for morning court!"
"I know."
Wang Gen nodded. Putting on a pair of boots, he left his residence.
This was the first morning court session since news of the southwest had arrived. The moment Wang Gen
walked into the Taiji Palace, he froze.
The large hall was packed. In the past, when Wang Gen reached this hall, there would just be a few people present. There would occasionally be more people, but not that many.
But this time, everyone seemed to have arrived earlier than usual. They were whispering into each other's ears, anxiously discussing something that Wang Gen couldn't make out.
The atmosphere was extremely abnormal.
"His Majesty has arrived!"
After a moment, a whip cracked and the officials arrayed themselves. A beaded curtain dropped down as the imposing figure of the Emperor arrived. Today's morning court finally began.
Before the sacred steps, a young-looking eunuch with gray hair took two steps forward and announced in a sharp voice, "The Sage Emperor decrees that those with memorials should state them and those without should leave!"
An old civil official over fifty years old immediately stepped forward. "Your Majesty, this minister has a memorial…"
This was the routine of the court: foodstuffs and taxation, fields and irrigation, the lives of the common folk… Each meeting of the court had far too many things to discuss.
The Bureau of Works, the Bureau of Rites1, the Bureau of Revenue, the Bureau of Personnel… one by one, they stepped forward. Wang Gen closed his eyes. He was far too familiar with this process.
Without notice, it finally became the turn for the Bureau of Military Personnel. Before Zhangchou Jianqiong could say anything, a fifth-ranked general suddenly stepped forward, bowed, and declared his memorial. "Your Majesty, this minister has a memorial. In the southwest, King Geluofeng of Mengshe Zhao has offended the Great Tang and led an army against it, destroying a city and leaving mountains of corpses and seas of blood within it. The people have been left in misery. I beseech Your Majesty to make a decision!"
Buzz!
Zhangchou Jianqiong's expression morphed, his face swelling until it went violet as he looked over at the speaker. The tedious air in the hall suddenly transformed, becoming incomparably slow.
"It's here!"