Chapter 718: The Curtain Falls, the Spoils Are Divided; the New Sovereign's Magnanimity

Great Yan's Chancellor... was dead.

Killed in a manner not much different from slaughtering a chicken.

One cut across the throat.

Then his head was forcibly bent away from his body to keep the neck wound stretched open.

The only thing missing... was a bowl placed beneath him to catch the blood for later use.

You say living another two years would be better for Great Yan.

I believe you.

You say that after two years, you will enter Litian City dressed in white, walk into Marquis Jingnan Residence, and kill yourself before the spirit hall.

I believe you.

You say Tian Wujing did not kill you because you remained useful to the state.

I believe that too.

I believe you.

I believe all of it.

But... what the hell does any of that have to do with me?

If I don't kill you today...

I'll feel sick.

If I do kill you today...

I'll feel comfortable.

Comfortable.

That's enough.

Who the fuck cares about your grand plans for the realm and state altars?

Do you know how I felt when I first entered the rear residence of Marquis Jingnan Residence in Litian City and saw Old Tian sitting on the threshold of the spirit hall with a head full of white hair?

Over these past few years, every time I return home and see Tian Tian able to play only by himself inside the house, only with Demon Child, only with those few demon beasts... living out a childhood like a prisoner... do you know how I feel then?

Righteousness beneath Heaven.

Devotion to country.

Sacrificing oneself for justice.

If you people want to do those things... then go do them.

In the past, I was a grandson.

Whether I was pretending or not, I still had to act like one.

Now...

I've risen.

I finally possess enough ability to make a trade and kill you.

And you still expect me to wait?

Sorry.

I truly cannot.

"Lord Chancellor, open your eyes one more time and look. Look. Today's sun is really beautiful."

Marquis Zheng released his hand.

Zhao Jiulang's corpse collapsed onto the roof tiles.

"I thought you would actually give him another two years," the Sword Saint said. "That Chancellor nearly persuaded even me just now."

Zheng Fan smiled.

He bent down, wiped the blood from his hand on Zhao Jiulang's white underclothes, and said:

"What would I wait for?"

The Sword Saint nodded.

"When you drew your saber just now... I actually felt rather pleased too."

"Right? Heh-heh."

Marquis Zheng stretched.

"What are you planning to do with Li Liangshen? Take him back with you?"

"Do you know what he did back then? Did the Blind Man ever tell you?"

"He did."

"Mm. Truthfully, that madwoman was actually rather good to me. I never had any direct grievance with her. The only thing that might count is that back when I was still a laborer and she summoned me, she failed to recognize my extraordinary talent and peerless future at a glance... and failed to offer me her pillow."

If all Seven Demon Kings had followed Zheng Fan into the Li family... then Li Qian truly could have begun preparing herself to become Mother of the Realm.

"Heh-heh. To praise yourself, you've completely abandoned shame."

"Exactly. With me, the only real grievance she had involved Sha Tuo Queshi. But with Ji Chengjue... with the new sovereign... that was genuine hatred. On Ji Old Sixth's wedding night, she actually dared order Li Liangshen and Seventh Uncle to assassinate him. Sigh. On his wedding night, Ji Old Sixth had his life hanging by a thread for the entire night."

"Rather like tonight."

The Sword Saint meant tonight's killing of Zhao Jiulang.

Because back then, Ji Chengjue had never imagined that woman would go mad enough to send assassins after him on that exact night.

When a person truly went mad... logic stopped mattering.

Zhao Jiulang had been the same.

He had never expected Marquis Pingxi of Great Yan to personally take the field and assassinate him in the street on the very night after the new sovereign ascended.

No matter how many calculations you made... they were still calculations based on a certain set of rules.

The moment someone completely stopped following those rules... there was simply no way to calculate him.

Ji Chengjue and Zhao Jiulang were both men of terrifying intelligence and meticulous thought.

Yet the smarter a person was... the easier it was to suffer catastrophic losses in precisely this kind of seemingly absurd situation.

At this point... the Sword Saint finally understood somewhat why Zheng Fan ensured his personal safety no matter the circumstances.

There had been far too many cautionary examples.

"The new sovereign wanted to borrow my hand to kill him."

Because the Emperor knew Zheng Fan had a Sword Saint beside him.

"You dare use him?" the Sword Saint asked.

"I kept the Sword Maid. Why would I fear one Li Liangshen? In truth, I understand him. He and I are both soldiers. At a time like this, every soldier in Great Yan wants a chance to establish achievements. He's the same. He isn't afraid to die. He is afraid of dying uselessly. Besides... right now, I'm genuinely the only person who can keep him alive. Otherwise, if we let him walk away now, or simply split from him here, Wei Zhonghe and the experts under Lu Bing will definitely pounce on him immediately and smother him to death inside Yanjing."

"Would that count as cutting off your own arm?" the Sword Saint asked.

A Third Grade swordsman who also served as a Garrison Commander... dying like that at the hands of his own people... looked wasteful no matter how one considered it.

Zheng Fan shook his head.

"First, Li Liangshen doesn't count as an arm. An arm... at minimum, it has to be as thick as mine is now. Second... a good gardener has to know how to prune branches. A good Emperor also has to know how to kill people. The late Emperor left behind an enormous garden. Right now Great Yan may be in the dead of winter, but its branches are luxuriant. The new sovereign can prune them however he likes. Once spring comes next year... it'll inevitably be green and flourishing again. All right. Let's go into the palace. We killed the Emperor's Chancellor. At least give the Emperor a little face. Reporting back is only proper."

Zheng Fan and the Sword Saint climbed down from the roof.

After they left...

A'Ming, who had been waiting below, climbed back up.

He took out a waterskin.

And collected some blood beside Zhao Jiulang's corpse.

When he came down again, he ran into Xue San.

"You drink ordinary people's blood too?"

Xue San knew A'Ming preferred the blood of powerful experts.

"Wine comes in two kinds. One is genuine fine wine, where the quality is in the wine itself. The other is wine whose fame exceeds its actual quality."

"I know. Ordinary people usually prefer the second."

"Exactly. Sometimes being ordinary once in a while... is pleasant too, isn't it?"

A'Ming put the waterskin away.

"Besides... I just advanced. I want to enjoy myself."

"..." Xue San.

"All right. I'm going into the palace once. You all return first."

Zheng Fan spoke to the Demon Kings.

"Master, what about this place?" A'Ming asked, gesturing around them.

The wreckage of the carriage.

The corpses.

Zheng Fan waved carelessly.

"Leave it for the crows to clean up."

...

"Your Majesty. Your Majesty."

Ji Chengjue had been sleeping soundly.

Then Eunuch Wei woke him.

Becoming Emperor had not made him especially delighted.

On the first night of his reign, he had not dreamed some nightmare about Imperial Father either.

He had slept solidly.

Comfortably.

He had not slept this well in years.

Ji Chengjue sat up and stretched.

Looking at the morning light filtering through the window, he said:

"Oh, right. Last night..."

"Your Majesty. Lord Chancellor... is dead."

"Sigh."

Ji Chengjue sighed.

He raised one hand and lightly pinched his forehead.

Zhao Jiulang... had still died.

The instability Zhao Jiulang's death would create inside the court was secondary.

The critical point was that Ji Chengjue understood perfectly well: the implementation of the new laws... the continuation of the new policies... needed Zhao Jiulang.

A man who could sit as Chancellor throughout his father's reign... if Zhao Jiulang had lacked great talent, that would have been an insult to the late Emperor.

Dead.

He really was dead.

You bastard surnamed Zheng.

If We age before Our time... you are responsible.

"Fine. Wash and dress Us."

Eunuch Wei ordered two eunuchs and palace maids inside to help His Majesty wash and change clothes.

While the Emperor was dressing, Wei Zhonghe reported:

"Your Majesty. Li Liangshen... did not die."

"Oh? He didn't die?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you say the Sword Saint should be stronger than Li Liangshen?"

"To reply to Your Majesty, that is indeed so. Last night, this slave observed the sword qi between them from atop the palace hall. Li Liangshen is strong. But the Sword Saint... is stronger."

The emphasis Eunuch Wei placed on the word "stronger" carried considerably more weight than ordinary speech.

"Tch. He survived."

Ji Chengjue sounded helpless.

He truly disliked Li Liangshen.

Because Li Liangshen did not merely look down on that bastard surnamed Zheng.

In truth... he looked down on Ji Chengjue too.

Talented men were often proud of their talent.

But was that bastard surnamed Zheng any less arrogant in his bones than anyone else?

At least the man knew how to behave.

What the hell kind of behavior was Li Liangshen's?

At that moment... a young eunuch entered and whispered a report to Wei Zhonghe.

Wei Zhonghe turned and said:

"Your Majesty, Marquis Pingxi requests audience. He has brought Li Liangshen with him."

"Oh? That bastard surnamed Zheng is giving Us face. Fine. Tell the imperial kitchen to add one more serving to Our breakfast. We will eat with that bastard surnamed Zheng."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Breakfast... was taken inside the Imperial Study.

Ji Chengjue had never moved from there overnight.

There was none of the elaborate ritual normally observed between sovereign and minister when they shared a meal.

Only a small table.

On the table were porridge, pickled vegetables, eggs, fried dough sticks, and meat pies.

Ji Chengjue sat at one end.

Zheng Fan sat at the other.

Li Liangshen knelt outside the Imperial Study.

Eunuch Wei stood before him.

At the same time, many shadows moved outside the Imperial Study as well, ensuring there would be no sudden eruption of fury from a man driven beyond restraint.

Compared with the tension outside... the minister and Emperor sitting as equals inside and eating breakfast together instead appeared utterly ordinary.

Eunuch Wei had long grown accustomed to it.

After all... the Emperor had already invited this man to sit on the Dragon Throne.

What was one breakfast beside that?

"Comfortable now?"

Ji Chengjue personally peeled an egg and placed it into Zheng Fan's bowl of porridge.

"Mm. Comfortable now."

Marquis Zheng nodded.

"We... are going to have a headache next."

"You're the Emperor. If your life were too comfortable, wouldn't you feel guilty yourself?"

"Don't act smug after taking all the benefits. You got to kill the man, yes? We shoved Li Liangshen over there too. And you damned bastard actually brought him back alive?"

"..." Li Liangshen outside the door.

Eunuch Wei shifted his stance.

From the side... he moved directly in front of Li Liangshen.

"Heh-heh. Your Majesty, I treasure talent. A useful fighter like this... even if I only use him as the first man over the wall during some future siege... that is still better than letting him get smothered to death here in the capital."

"Shameless. You bastard Zheng. This is truly shameless."

Zheng Fan picked up the egg the Emperor had peeled for him.

"This egg... doesn't cost twenty-some taels of silver, does it?"

"Heh-heh. Hahahahaha!"

Ji Chengjue pointed at Zheng Fan and laughed.

"Enough. We once ate so much cornmeal bread that the sight of it made Us sick. We are not some deep-palace Emperor who knows nothing of suffering outside. They wouldn't dare treat Us like an idiot and cheat Us that way."

"True. No one knows how to calculate accounts better than you."

"Fine. Since you've put it that way... let's take this opportunity and calculate some accounts."

Ji Chengjue used his chopsticks to draw one line through the porridge.

"Ran Min, the Garrison Commander of Yupan City, was already transferred by Imperial Father to South Gate Pass. Next, We intend to use this man to expand our influence into the small states south of South Gate Pass. We don't intend to mobilize some enormous army. At minimum, though, we need to exert more influence and smooth the fur of those fence-sitters. As for Yupan City... we'll give it to Marquis Pingxi Residence. You choose one civil official and one general and place them there."

Giving Yupan City to Marquis Pingxi Residence meant that everything east of the Wang River would now belong entirely to Marquis Pingxi Residence.

Both legally and in practice...

Zheng Fan would completely control half the former territory of Great Cheng.

"Xu Wenzu is close to you. We know that. Let him continue serving in Yingdu. But We cannot give Yingdu to you."

"Stingy."

"Hmph. Next time we campaign against Chu, whatever territory we conquer... we can split some of it fifty-fifty. Choose one part to enter your fief directly. Choose another part to be administered through commanderies and counties under the central government. In short... We won't let you suffer a loss."

"Pfft... Heh-heh..."

Marquis Zheng nearly sprayed the porridge in his mouth across the table from laughing.

He reached out, accepted the towel Ji Chengjue handed him, wiped his mouth, and only then stopped.

"Fucking fifty-fifty. Do you have to make this sound that ridiculous?"

"Business is business. Both sides agree. Everyone makes money. Then Great Yan makes money too."

"Enough. Tell me what you want."

Marquis Zheng understood perfectly well.

First came the benefits.

Promises for the future.

Then the transfer of Yupan City.

Which meant what the Emperor wanted... was coming next.

"The various Garrison Commanders of the Jingnan Army... We will bestow favor and rewards upon them. Promotions. Wealth. Titles. Honors for wives and children. We can give all of that openly and generously."

"You want to divide the Jingnan Army."

What Zhao Jiulang had said before his death... was already becoming reality.

No one knew how to do business better than His Majesty.

"Tch. Don't make it sound so ugly. Those you can contact... you contact. After all, the Prince of Jingnan's Heir is living in your residence. Oh, right. Once the fighting in the desert begins and the army returns victorious... We will enfeoff Tian Tian directly as a Commandery Prince. Commandery Prince Bao. What do you think?"

"So when I go home, I have to salute and kowtow to my own godson?"

"You are a military-service Marquis. You know perfectly well which title carries more weight in actual standing. And besides... how long have you even been a Marquis? Zheng. If you really want to become a Prince, then wait two years. Go to the snowfields and kill a few chickens. Or go to Chu and chop down a few ducks. Then We can naturally enfeoff you as Prince Pingxi. Happy? What We mean is this. No matter who sits on the Dragon Throne, even if the Emperor were a complete idiot... the natural operation of the court would still inevitably move to reclaim military authority over the Jingnan Army. We... are afraid that if We do it directly, you'll become unhappy. That is why We are discussing it with you first. Giving you notice. There will definitely still be people among them who lean toward you. That is your business. We don't care. What We mean is simply that what the court should win over... the court will win over. What should be divided... will be divided. All right?"

Marquis Zheng lowered his head.

He drank two mouthfuls of porridge.

"We are not in a hurry to establish Chuanye as Crown Prince. After spring next year... around summer... We plan to send Chuanye to Marquis Pingxi Residence. Let him keep Tian Tian company. Tian Tian is still his elder brother, after all."

Zheng Fan said:

"They're a generation apart. Tian Tian is Chuanye's uncle. Tian Tian and you are of the same generation."

"Fine, fine. Uncle. Happy?"

"I'm Tian Tian's godfather."

"Animal!"

"Heh-heh."

Zheng Fan nodded.

"Fine. I agree."

The Emperor had already gone this far.

He was even willing to send Ji Chuanye... the late Emperor's personally praised "fine imperial grandson," his own eldest legitimate son and still-unestablished Crown Prince... to Marquis Pingxi Residence almost like a hostage.

After that... when the imperial court began winning over the former Jingnan Army Garrison Commanders in Jin...

Marquis Zheng truly had little ground left to complain.

This was business.

Business conducted openly.

And still the same old point.

Unless Zheng Fan intended to rebel right now... there truly was no reason to stop it.

"Zheng. We are not worried about you. What worries Us most is that you find it inconvenient to reach your hand in, while We become overcautious too. Then, in the end, this army could directly turn into one regional military stronghold after another in Jin. That would be worse. When future wars come... you, Zheng Fan, will inevitably command the army. They will still be your subordinates. If you regret it later and decide you want to rebel... that still takes only one sentence from you. But right now our affection remains. We haven't split the household. So let's organize the family's property first. Put everything into proper order. Govern it well. That's all We mean. We'll take your answer as agreement."

"Mm."

Zheng Fan nodded.

But then reminded him:

"The Prince of Jingnan will return."

"Truthfully? The man praying hardest for the Prince of Jingnan to return... is Us. Not you. The Prince of Jingnan is steadier than you. Steadier in every possible way. You know that, don't you?"

"Tch."

"Heh-heh-heh."

Ji Chengjue picked up a fried dough stick and handed it over.

"Come. Eat a little more. If you still feel vaguely uncomfortable inside... then there is Prince Jin Residence. You can go visit again. Right now We are Emperor. Imperial Father is gone. As long as you handle things with a little care, who would dare say anything about you?"

"Ji Old Sixth. Can you please keep your mind from being so filthy?"

"Filthy? What do you mean filthy? When the two of us first met, didn't we go visit the red tents together almost immediately? Even that Prince of Jin, whose intentions never died... would probably be delighted to call you 'Uncle-Father' Zheng."

"We're eating breakfast. Don't disgust me."

"Fine, fine. Oh, right. After Chuanye goes to your place next year... you'd better treat him properly."

"You should worry about yourself. Don't suddenly start liking some younger son for no reason and decide later you want to give him the throne. Then I'll have to go through the trouble of raising troops and rebelling just to help Chuanye fight for the imperial seat."

"Fine, fine! Can you not wish Us one good thing? You damned bastard have treated the affairs of the imperial household like a stage play from beginning to end."

"Of course. It's entertaining."

"Eat. Just eat."

Ji Chengjue rose.

Left the table.

And walked to the doorway of the Imperial Study.

Li Liangshen... was still kneeling there.

Wei Zhonghe blocked Ji Chengjue from moving any closer.

Another step... and Eunuch Wei would no longer have time to intercept anything.

The man kneeling there was still a Third Grade swordsman.

Even without the greatsword at his side... the sword qi at his fingertips could still kill a man at close range in an instant.

Ji Chengjue, however... pushed Wei Zhonghe aside.

Then sat directly down in front of Li Liangshen.

"You once tried to kill Us."

Li Liangshen said nothing.

"Last night... We wanted to send you off too. Unfortunately... you survived. And now... you've returned to kneel before Us."

Li Liangshen remained kneeling.

Still silent.

"Ah. We truly cannot claim to possess an especially broad heart."

Ji Chengjue clapped his hands lightly.

"But you tried to kill Us once... and failed. We tried to kill you once... and failed as well. So... we're even now. Right?"

At that moment... a young eunuch came to report.

"Your Majesty, Fourth Highness has obeyed the summons and waits for audience."

Because the formal enthronement ceremony had not yet taken place, new titles had not yet been arranged for the imperial brothers.

Aside from Second Brother's title of Count Min'an... the others remained unsettled.

So inside the palace, Ji Chengfeng was still addressed as Fourth Highness.

"Let him in."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Before long...

Fourth Prince Ji Chengfeng walked over.

He immediately knelt and saluted.

"This minister greets Your Majesty! Long live Our Emperor, long live, long live ten thousand ten thousand years!"

"Fourth Brother is here."

"Yes. This minister does not know what matter Your Majesty summoned me to handle."

"Oh. It's like this. Didn't Fourth Brother tell Us some time ago that your assignment was too heavy and exhausting? So... from today onward... the military responsibilities currently under Fourth Brother's command... will be handed over to Garrison Commander Li. Li Liangshen. We remember the merit you have rendered over these years guarding the capital region. We enfeoff you as Count Dinghai. You will take charge of the Imperial Guards throughout the inner capital and the defensive forces of the various government yamens. Integrate them all. Guard the capital. Guard the imperial city. Guard... Us!"

[End of Chapter 718]