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Translator: StarReader
Editor: Elitecoder
“Heaven and Earth Sages? The two of the three strongest Divine Dragons three hundred years ago? You’re not dead?” Zhuge Changfeng gasped, “I see it now, ha-ha-ha…”
The two’s eyes met and sorrow traced their faces.
“With Your Majesty’s boundless wisdom, you should’ve taken care of me by now. I can tell you have my two hundred thousand men surrounded. And there’s the hundred thousand Quanrong cavalry on their way, but they must’ve fallen in your trap. But for that, you need an army, and from what I know, only Dugu Zhantian can do it. But he is out dealing with Regent Estate and Zhuo Fan… “
Zhuge Changfeng moved his gaze from the sages to the emperor, “Your Majesty, do you have some other great force that I don’t know about?”
The emperor shook his head, “Prime Minister Zhuge, we’ve seen each other for years and with your ambition, there’s nothing you couldn’t find out. It’s not so easy for me to hide such a move from your piercing eyes.”
“I am in total agreement as well.” Zhuge Changfeng smiled, “And I am all the more astonished by how you got such a huge force. What did I miss?”
Crown Prince and fatty looked at the emperor with rapt attention.
His move was just too obscure for even the likes of Zhuge Changfeng to see it coming. To top it off, ever since the second prince’s rebellion, the emperor was having a hard time coping with Zhuge Changfeng.
Yet not once did he pull out this ace. The ingenious and cunning put into it made him a rare mind on this earth, so much so that it sent a chill down his son’s back.
The emperor loved watching Zhuge Changfeng squirm, “Ha-ha-ha, you want to know that much? But I do believe ignorance is bliss in this case, sparing you the vexation.”
“What could trouble a dying man? I only wish to part with a clear conscience.” Zhuge Changfeng spoke.
The emperor paused, “You are indeed my great minister helping me all these decades, a pillar of the nation. I admire your calm.”
The emperor clapped, “Men, grab them!”
“Ha-ha-ha, as Your Majesty commands!” A familiar shout came from the clouds. Zhuge Changfeng shuddered and his face fell.
The Quanrong warriors rode in on their roaring spiritual beasts, surrounding the rebels.
The ministers felt faint in front of their might.
[Wasn’t Quanrong on our side? What’s it doing pointing their pets at us?]
The Touba siblings and Imperial Tutor came out of the circle, “Everything went without a hitch, per sir’s decree!”
“Young master Touba…” One goatee old man cried at them.
Zhuge Changfeng gasped, having a self-deprecating smile, “Minister of Rites, it’s no use. They sold us out a long time ago. We are surrounded by their hundred thousand and His Majesty’s fifty thousand guards.”
“It’s three hundred thousand to be exact!” The emperor interjected, “Prime Minister Zhuge, you got a hundred thousand Quanrong cavalry sneaked in, can’t I do the same?”
Zhuge Changfeng sighed, “Young master Touba, would you help me understand something? What did His Majesty give you?”
“Prime Minister sir, to be honest, His Majesty promised us the land north of Suli River.” Tuoba Liufeng explained.
Zhuge Changfeng pondered with a frown, “It is a rich area in ore, a rare site and a tenth of Tianyu. While I promised you half. Is my word worth nothing?”
“Ha-ha-ha, Prime Minister Zhuge, sometimes cooperation isn’t based on interests, rather ability.” Tuoba Liufeng added, “His Majesty knew all about our discussions. You were just dancing to his tune, so how could you succeed?
“And even if you did, that would still leave dealing with unifying the land before you could give us our rightful claim. Would the empire’s three guardian sects even listen to you? It means wasted men and effort over nothing. While with His Majesty, who knows all, sees all, the sects had no way to deny his word.”
Zhuge Changfeng nodded, “You’ve thought long and hard I see. My slight, unfortunately. Humph, a true pity. Although Dugu Zhantian, despite being crude, is loyal to a fault. He’d never agree to it, unless over his dead body.”
Tuoba Liufeng snickered, glancing at the emperor.
His eyes released bloodlust, “Everything has its opposite. It would seem Marshal Dugu has gone too long in years and needs proper, final rest.”
Zhuge Changfeng shuddered, pained with grief, “Your Majesty, he is stubborn but he’s been loyal to you all these years. How can you…”
“There’s no one more loyal than Marshal Dugu, my right and left arms put together. My heart is in pain for going with this strategy, but he wields 70% of the empire’s authority, his army unequaled.”
“A man with virtue sins the moment he stands out, ha-ha-ha…”
Chuckling, Zhuge Changfeng lamented, “All our efforts to make Tianyu prosper all these decades are repaid with a sordid end. I accept my fate, but for that old man… Like they say, great men’s favors are uncertain.”
Zhuge Changfeng struck a lonely figure gazing at the sky.
The emperor waved, “Take him to the Nine Frigid Prison. Make sure he’s under constant watch!”
“Understood!”
Two guards led Zhuge Changfeng away and the emperor turned his sharp eye to his mutinous seditionists.
They shivered to the bone and faltered back. Someone mustered up meager courage to say, “Y-Your Majesty, i-it’s all Zhuge Changfeng’s fault. He twisted words, forcing us on this path. I beg Your Majesty to recall all of our contributions in the court and spare our miserable lives.”
“We implore you, Your Majesty. We will be eternally grateful!” Another shivered out a plea.
The emperor mocked, “In all of Tianyu, only the Prime Minister and Marshal have truly strived for this nation. While you, pack of filthy mongrels, only look after your own ass. And now ask for mercy? Execute them!”
“Understood!”
Bowing, the guards stepped forth to drag those great, now weeping and wailing, figures of court.
As for the rebel army, they were panicking with their leaders gone.
Just like a headless chicken.
The emperor spoke, “You all are their tools, imposing a lesser blame. I, a believer in the good of man, shall give you a chance. Swear your fealty and I shall make you imperial guards, serving me for all your lives!”
Everyone fell to their knees at the emperor’s boundless mercy.
The grand rebellion had collapsed on the spot.
The emperor nodded and Tuoba Liufeng smiled, “Congratulations Your Majesty, in quelling the rebellion.”
“It is by the grace of my Quanrong friends that I’ve succeeded.” The emperor smiled back.
Tuoba Liufeng nodded and pushed his sister forward, “Lian’er, now do you understand why I was so certain at the Beast King Mountain? In all of Tianyu, the one to offer us support is none other than the lord of the nation, the emperor!”
Touba Lian’er was still out of it, wrapping her head around this whole thing proved to be a tough one.
[How am I supposed to know the great leader would use us to clean his backyard?]
Tuoba Liufeng laughed.
Imperial Tutor Han Tiemo nodded, “This matter had a large impact making only our emperor, brother Tieshan, myself and Liufeng privy to it. You can’t fault her for being so lost.”
The others laughed as well.
The emperor turned stern, “Young master Touba, how is it going on the other end?”
“Your Majesty, learning that he would be facing his old rival Marshal Dugu, father was eager to begin.” Tuoba Liufeng spoke with confidence, “Commander Tuoba Liufeng of the Quanrong had faced Dugu Zhantian in twenty battles and a hundred skirmishes, yet all ended in draw. Perhaps this time will be different…”
bla bla bla …!!! that motherf***er is gonna destroy his own army for and that’s too just before fighting ZF🥱🥱 … well it’s good though since zhuo fan could pull martial in his bag and reunite the Father son duo and make a truly happy Luo family… 🤪🤪🤪
bla bla bla …!!! that mother f is gonna destroy his own army for and that’s too just before fighting ZF🥱🥱 … well it’s good though since zhuo fan could pull martial in his bag and reunite the Father son duo and make a truly happy Luo family… 🤪🤪🤪
bruh
bla bla bla …!!! that mother f is gonna destroy his own army and that’s too just before fighting ZF🥱🥱 … well it’s good though since zhuo fan could pull martial in his bag and reunite the Father son duo and make a truly happy Luo family… 🤪🤪🤪
Yeah become loyal isnt always get a good result, the different from ZF ios ZF have total control of his ppl and that make him calm without any problem
If the emperor always had such reliable dragons, why would he need to plot so much and sell his land? He could have simply shown them the face of his true powers to put them in check and exiled or executed the prime minister using whatever mean just like he did to the foreseeing one using his shadow general. As for Quanrongs, they have always been in stalemate and Dugu been doing a great job maintaining balance.
I dont see the issue in which he needed to sell out his land just take down his minister especially knowing this plot has taken a place before ZF appeared in the big picture.
Thanks for the chapter!
Yeah, in attempt to show a super convoluted scheming plot author went so far into genius territory that he sailed all the way around and ended up on the stupid side.
I think not. Check out my reply, it might make some sense.
I think that’s because zhuge changfeng is a great person, and the emperor want him to raise tianyu to the max until he show his true color
if you think emperor is too strong to flatten everyone than go through chapter 459 again you will find your answers by sir zhuo’s grand wisdom… 👍😏
well I have an interesting example to explain you 🤭🤭🤭
let me create a scenario, there is you, your sister and your best friend, you found out that your sister has talent in business, now you are both happy and scared… happy (cuz you could use her to gain an helping hand in your business) and scared (that she will join your rivals for her own interests)… that all aside she is not interested to work with you so what could you do ?
solution to this is you prepare some roses asked your best friend to give her 🌹 and propose her without her knowledge that he is your friend, now for sake of the feeling for the roses she has she worked her ass off indirectly under you….
Here your bestfriend is both driven force for her to work and your spy for you, once you get a info that she is involving with your rivals you reveal your relation with your friend …
she will be broken knowing that the roses she worked hard for is always belonged to you since you prepared it for her to began with…. the end …. hope you got what you are looking for
here, you are emperor….
roses is tianwu’s land….
your sister is prime minister….
your best friend is divine dragons….
rivals are qurong….
well this was a weird twist.
All this bullshit just to have an excuse to arrest Prime Minister Zhuge with a justification when you had him in check all this time? Just kill the man and accuse him of treason and no one would question, you are the fucking emperor as you said yourself. sell 1/10 of your empire and kill your most loyal subordinate at the risk of weakening your forces before the final battle with Zhuo Fan for just one justification to be able to arrest the prime minister by catching him in the act, and you could use the chaos to accuse him of treason and kill him cleanly. One thing does not balance the other.
No I don’t think so. This is just the surface. Check my comment, maybe that will make some sense.
Don’t forget about 7 noble families. They are the real threat for emperor. They are growing fast, hence emperor need to slow their growth. Just like what happened 300 years ago. Tiyanyu was in turmoil because emperor did the same, make the 7 families weak.
I think this cleaning ministers is just a byproduct. Emperor pays heavy price to weaken the 7 families, that is 1/10 of Tiyanyu and also maybe this helps the relationship between Tiyanyu and Quanrong. I’m sure that will benifit the Tiyanyu in the future. Making good relationship with neighbors is always good for economics and stability also.
Hmmm 1/10 of the empire… That’s a steep price. So let’s go through the plan and see if it makes sense.
Let’s start this thought experiment by excluding Zhuo Fan from the considerations, since he breaks any plans whatsoever.
So the emperor was supposed to rise the 8th clan to balance the houses. The plan wouldn’t go well because hell valley almost destroyed the 3 clans, but that could just be done in a more overt way with another clan.
Unfortunately, small Huangpu was fated to be unstoppable and to unify the world (or a part of it, I don’t remember) with emperor and Quanrong meaningless. As we know that Emperor “has ears everywhere” as proven when he knew priest wanted to support MC, that info probably got across to Yuwen in some dilluted form, making him fear the Regent Estate the most by far.
Damn this site. Can’t even post a thought because the state of the art comment section bans me for spam…
Go to ranobes for full comments if you want