Joy of Life

All of his positions had been stripped. All of his powers had been taken back. All the people he cared about had been turned into hostages. He became a commoner, a wealthy fan of leisure who could only listen to music in Jingdou and hang around Baoyue Brothel.

No one protested his injustice. No one begged mercy for him from the Emperor. All the officials and people only calmly watched everything happen. They seemed undisturbed.

To give a favor without expectations of return, did Fan Xian had such a spirit? No one knew. In the people"s eyes, Sir Fan junior… No, the Duke had played the role of a wealthy man of leisure perfectly since the autumn. Each day, he wandered the streets of Jingdou and hung around Baoyue Brothel. In the manor, he played with the children, chatted with the women, and read the new books published by Danbo Bookstore.

The Danbo medical shop across from the bookstore was still open. The doctors of the Imperial Academy of Medicine treated the people in Fan Ruoruo"s place. Perhaps this was a request the icy woman in the Palace made of the Emperor. In any case, the young lady of the Fan family stayed deep in the Palace. Fan Xian had no way to enter the Palace to visit her. He could only turn around his initial thought and ask his wife to enter the Palace many times to visit her.

A month quietly pa.s.sed by. The Fan manor was so quiet it was almost forgotten by the Jingdou people. Fan Xian was so silently he almost disappeared from people"s discussions.

There was one place that could not forget Fan Xian, which was the Imperial College. Even though the Emperor"s edict had taken all of Fan Xian"s positions, it had thrown him a casual post as a teacher at the Imperial College. After 20 days, perhaps because life as a wealthy man of leisure had become too boring, Fan Xian finally pulled himself together from his tender home and began to teach cla.s.ses at the Imperial College.

The Imperial College, lined by ancient trees, was as quiet as usual. The news of Fan Xian coming to teach energized the students. Hundreds of people could often be seen gathered on the empty piece of ground in front of Qingxin Pond, intently listening to his lectures.

Fan Xian"s habit was to teach from the stone steps in front of the pond. Since too many students came to listen to his lectures, the Imperial College could not make suitable arrangements. They could only listen to his nonsense suggestion and situate his cla.s.sroom between heaven and earth. Some people involuntarily thought that perhaps Fan Xian wanted to use the misty autumn rain to save himself some talking.

The contents of the lectures were actually simple. They were mostly the volumes of history that were life"s work of the great Northern Qi scholar Zhuang Mohan. After many years, the Qing Kingdom Imperial College had, with great support from Danbo Bookstore, organized the one carriage of books. Fan Xian was relatively familiar with these volumes. There was no need to worry about stage fright when talking about the parables in them.

Fan Xian"s teaching was unique. Almost every time, he arranged for a few teachers to speak frankly in front of Qingxin Pond. At the end, he would he take the stage personally and debate with the students below the steps. As for the contents of the debates, as they were somewhat disrespectful, they did not spread outside of the Imperial College.

Although Fan Xian wasn"t anybody anymore, at least in the Imperial College and in the hearts of these young students, he remained an incredible figure with at least some special privileges.

It was a clear and refreshing autumn day, right in the midst of autumn. Fan Xian lazily ended a day of cla.s.ses and was too lazy to acknowledge the verbal attacks of the red-faced, bull-necked students who refused to give up. Clapping his hands, he walked off the stone steps and said, "I told you all earlier, when it comes to the cla.s.sics, I can only memorize them. if you want me to say something in-depth about it, I can"t make anything of it. Although I understand the logic of there needing to be a good reason for war, how can there be such a thing as a righteous battle in the world? It is nothing but an excuse."

"The Qing Kingdom"s powerful leaders point their swords at the world to save the people from dire straits…" the student said, unconvinced. With a dozen of his cla.s.smates, they chased after Fan Xian.

The day"s topic was about the establishment of the Wei Kingdom. In rather simple language, the two sides were a.n.a.lyzing the problem of the righteousness of battle. This just happened to be a problem Fan Xian could not explain clearly and one that he didn"t think many people in the world could explain clearly.

Fan Xian entered the carriage and left the Imperial College, no longer bothering with the still angry students behind him. The carriage traveled through the streets of Jingdou. It then escaped the liveliness within the Imperial College"s quietness and returned to the peaceful autumn scenery. He unconsciously pulled open the curtains and looked at the scene outside with a smile. But, he could not suppress the glimmer of worry between his brows.

He had been a wealthy man of leisure, but this was just a superficial show he was putting on for the court and Palace to see. Fan Xian"s heart was filled with a fire completely at odds with his calm and happy exterior. However, he suppressed this fire well.

It was a forced suppression because he still did not see any opportunity to take advantage of. After he returned to Jingdou, Fan Xian had returned to the Overwatch Council again. Particularly after he sent the members of the Qinian Unit out of Jingdou, it had even become difficult to make contact with the First Bureau. This did not mean Fan Xian had no other sources of intelligence. He knew very well that in just a month, the Emperor had already, with Yan Bingyun"s valiant a.s.sistance, successfully suppressed most of the restless forces within the Overwatch Council. The work of changing out people was also proceeding methodically. It was just a matter of time before they cleaned everything out.

The news from Jiangnan was also not very good. The signs of all of this were the source of Fan Xian"s worries. He found that he had still underestimated the might and control of imperial authority in a feudalistic society. Even the Overwatch Council, which Chen Pingping and he had worked hard to run for decades, was leaning toward surrender under the force of Imperial authority.

Fan Xian furrowed his brows. When it came to the problem between him and the Emperor, it seemed to be about the Overwatch Council, palace treasury, and Jingdou. In reality, it was about the world. Not one of the Qing court officials or wise common folk, including Scholar Hu or Yan Bingyun, knew this. So, they did not understand why the Emperor would deal with Fan Xian in this way, removing all of his official positions and power yet allowing him to live without a care in Jingdou and still keep the power he held in secret.

Fan Xian"s condition was neither life nor death. Only he and the Emperor knew the reasons for this condition.

If he was just dealing with Fan Xian alone, the Emperor was far more powerful than him. Without any effort, he would be able to throw Fan Xian into the dust and then step on him and stop him from ever rising again. Outside Jingdou, and even outside the borders of the Qing Kingdom, Fan Xian"s secret influence was terrifyingly powerful to the point that even the Emperor"s self-confidence and pride could not underestimate it.

Thus, the Emperor had Fan Xian stay in limbo in Jingdou. Then, he slowly and steadily chiseled away at Fan Xian"s influence outside of Jingdou. At the same time, he had to sever the unseen hands Fan Xian stretched outside of the country"s borders.

This was a process of using quant.i.tative change to effect qualitative change. Without first reducing Fan Xian"s influence to a level of risk the Qing court could endure, the Emperor would not actually kill him. Even if Fan Xian died, Dongyi and Xiliang falling into chaos was not something the Emperor wanted to see.

But, if the Emperor could perfectly control these problems, then what did Fan Xian"s life and death matter?

…

…

The carriage came with familiarity to Baoyue Brothel. Fan Xian got down from the carriage and entered the building with his hands behind his back. He headed straight for the courtyard beside the lake. He didn"t even glance at the human shadow behind him on the street.

The person watching Fan Xian was an Ascetic Monk. No one knew how many Ascetic Monks were watching him in secret. The problem was, Ascetic Monks could not go near women. Fan Xian had entered Baoyue Brothel, so they could not follow him in.

Walking through the slightly cool breeze coming off the surface of the lake, Fan Xian entered the little courtyard left just for him. Looking at the increasingly charming and beautiful owner of the brothel, he smiled and said, "What news songs are there today?"

Shi Qing"er covered her mouth and smiled. "You"re not writing poetry anymore. How could there be good songs for you to listen to?"

It had been many years since Fan Xian had met this woman, yet Shi Qing"er did not seem to have aged at all. Fan Xian looked at her with narrowed eyes, smiled, and did not say anything.

There was actually no need for spies of the internal court to watch him. All of Jingdou knew Sir Fan junior had already become half a useless man of leisure. Usually, his greatest joy was coming to find the girls in Baoyue Brothel.

Fan Xian could actually live up to the t.i.tle of being a wealthy man of leisure. Although he had no positions and power, he still had money. No one knew just how much gold and silver was hidden in the Fan manor. On the surface, the Baoyue Brothel of the Fan manor had long swallowed up most of the superior brothels under heaven following the growth of the Qing Kingdom"s power and Overwatch Council"s protection and guidance. Under the rules and regulations Fan Xian set up single-handedly, Baoyue Brothel was already operating all under heaven. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he had unified the brothel business.

The owner of Baoyue Brothel in name, Shi Chanli and Sang Wen, were presently expanding into Dongyi. They had already stretched their hands into Northern Qi"s Shangjing. Everything was going smoothly. They were well-known people everywhere. Of course, everyone knew Fan Xian stood behind them.

Fan Xian laid on a soft couch and accepted a ma.s.sage from two girls. His eyes were closed, but his mind spun quickly. Baoyue Brothel was a business. The court could not do too much to it. The Palace also did not want to make Fan Xian completely lose face. Thus, they left one corner of joy for Fan Xian. What comforted him the most was the people in this time still underestimated the effectiveness of brothels in intelligence work. A business Fan Sizhe and the Third Prince had lawlessly and carelessly created had now become one of Fan Xian"s trump cards.

"What excuse did the court use to remove Su Wenmao from his position?" Fan Xian asked with slightly shuttered eyes after the courtyard had fallen silent. As Fan Xian"s direct subordinate and an official of the court, Su Wenmao could not be absent from his post without leave and could only watch and wait for the court to act. Not long ago, an edict was sent directly to the three large workshops in North Min. Su Wenmao was captured to be brought back to the capital. This had been a secretive matter. Because of Baoyue Brothel"s existence, Fan Xian knew much earlier than most of the people in Jingdou.

He had long been mentally prepared, Fan Xian was not shocked or angry, He just wondered worriedly if the person the Qinian Unit had sent to North Min had explained everything clearly to Su Wenmao. He trusted in Su Wenmao, an open-natured second sidekick would not stupidly oppose the court directly. He was worried that time had been too tight and he hadn"t been able to place enough people in the palace treasury.

The palace treasury was Fan Xian"s second root. The palace treasury transport company had already been fully taken back by the Emperor. Fan Xian would not allow this root to be completely severed by the Palace. If it had to be severed, it would be done by Fan Xian. This strike would hurt the Qing court to the marrow.

Thinking of this, he thought of the heavily guarded Ten Family Village to the north of Dongyi and the palace treasury crafting process that the three large workshops and Palace each had a copy of, as well as the one in his brain. A smile rose to the corners of his lips. The hand in his sleeve slowly squeezed into a fist.

Over in Xiliang Road, Deng Zi Yue had successfully escaped the court"s net. No one knew where he was hiding. Since there hadn"t been news of Deng Zi Yue"s death in the intelligence reports, Fan Xian felt comforted. However, the members of the Fourth Bureau there were now in the situation of being a dragon without a head. No one knew if they could stand against the pressure from the Jingdou Overwatch Council. Hong Yiqing"s orders had been to go to the gra.s.slands to find that person and then return to contact their allies in Dingzhou and Qingzhou. Fan Xian hoped that everything would happen in time.

"Gong Dian has already arrived in Dingzhou," Shi Qing"er said with her eyes lowered.

Fan Xian was silent. He had truly not expected the Emperor"s reaction to be so quick. He had even sent the Commander of the Imperial Army directly to Dingzhou to hold the fort. Although Li Hongcheng had led the army in Dingzhou for a number of years, his foundations were still shallow. Furthermore, Gong Dian was a veteran of the Dingzhou Army and had both experience and achievements. Hongcheng might not be able to hold his own and could only be forced back to Jingdou.

If he wanted to have Hongcheng stay in Dingzhou and control the military power that belonged to him, they had to make Xiliang riot before anything else happened.

Fan Xian pulled his brows together tightly and realized that everything had long left this control. He could only hope the first group of people sent to the gra.s.slands would be able to quickly contact Hu Ge and have the Hu people on the gra.s.slands act against heaven"s natural order and send an attack at the beginning of winter.

Everything was too chaotic and messy. When could Fan Xian actually be at leisure? He glanced at Shi Qing"er helplessly and asked, "How is the investigation into the Ministry of Work"s corruption case going?"

"Sir Yang…" Shi Qing"er glanced at him worriedly. "They settled the case yesterday. Today at noon, the Supreme Court will give an official sentence in writing."

Although she had been the Second Prince"s person in the past, under Fan Xian"s intimidation these years, she no longer had other loyalties. Furthermore, as a woman born into a brothel, she knew that this young man in front of her was somewhat different to all the other n.o.bles in Jingdou. She wanted to become a second Sang Wen but did not want to become a second Yuan Meng. Thus, as she watched Sir Fan junior"s people be bloodily torn out one by one, she could not help but feel horror and fear.

Fan Xian glanced at the light on the surface of the lake and was silent for a moment. He then said, "So, it"s after midday. I"ll go pick him up."

…

…

The corruption case of Yang Wanli, the vice director of the Ministry of Work"s river company had only needed 10 days from accusation to the case being handed from the Ministry of Justice to the Supreme Court. Such efficiency was startling in Qing history. Those who didn"t know any better might have thought that the Emperor"s edict to clean out the government had suddenly become serious in the 10th year of the Qing calendar.

Those of the officialdom watching this show could not help but sigh and feel chilled. They all knew what kind of person Yang Wanli was. He was a capable and honest official who had endured on the riverbanks of the Great River for two years.

Yang Wanli was one of Fan Xian"s four students. When Sir Fan junior had secretly pulled together silver that year, it had poured like water through the river transport yamen"s hands to the riverbanks. It all went through his hands. If he really was corrupt, then it would not be the few thousand liang silver that was writing on the charges of the crime. Why would he let go of such a fat piece of meat and instead take the brines from the Ministry of Works?

Furthermore, every official knew that the Fan family was very strict in front of the Emperor but treated their people generously. Putting aside the salary of the Overwatch Council, which was many times that of other court officials and speaking just of the three men who had positions around the Qing Kingdom, each year they received support from the Fan manor. A mere few thousand liang was nothing. Everyone knew Fan manor was the foremost G.o.d of wealth in the world. How could Yang Wanli be corrupt?

It was precisely because they knew this that the officials also knew Yang Wanli"s questioning was only because the Palace ordered it. Arranged single-handedly by Scholar He of the Hall of Governmental Affairs, the process of investigation went quickly. Now, the Supreme Court was giving its sentence. According to some inside information, if Scholar He had not forcefully interfered because he truly thought Yang Wanli was an innocent talent, Sir Yang"s future would probably be even bleaker.

Fan Xian stood alone in front of the yamen of the Supreme Court, completely alone. He waited for the results of the judgment inside. The bailiffs outside the Supreme Court recognized him and were severely frightened. They had already sent a message inside, so they could only stand, terrified, in front of Fan Xian.

Fortunately, Fan Xian did not act out. He just waited silently for Yang Wanli to come out. The yamen closest to the Supreme Court was the First Bureau of the Overwatch Council. The little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds of the First Bureau realized the Director was present. They couldn"t help but stand at the door of the yamen and watch everything with forcefully suppressed excitement.

The First Bureau was Fan Xian"s old home. Back then, his actions had formed a group of loyal subordinates. Otherwise, the day he crashed the execution field, there wouldn"t have been a large group of First Bureau officials who escorted him out of the city. Although Mu Tie"er had been kicked out of the Overwatch Council, these officials still regarded Fan Xian as the Director and refused to accept Yan Bingyun. However, Qing law and council regulations were both strict. These officials could only watch the lonely Fan Xian from a distance and give him their mental support.

Fan Xian did not turn his head to look at those fellows. He continued to watch the yamen of the Supreme Court. A comforted smile rose to his face.

A wave of "Wei Wu" rang out inside the yamen. Before long, the former litigation master of the Overwatch Council, the chatterbox of Jingdou, Song Shiren, silently walked out of the Supreme Court"s yamen. There was no joy on his face. There was darkness.

After Fan Xian was stripped of his position as Director of the Overwatch Council, Song Shiren, an outside member, no longer wanted to stay with the Overwatch Council. Instead, he straightforwardly sought out Fan Xian. Fan Xian had not expected this chatterbox to have such a thankful side to him. After his shock had pa.s.sed, he settled him. At that moment, the court began to clear out those a.s.sociated with Fan Xian. For the sake of the court, he could not use the methods of spies. Everything had to respect the Qing laws. Thus Fan Xian had sent him out. He had to at least try to obtain a fair conclusion for his subordinates.

Seeing Song Shiren"s expression, Fan Xian"s eyes narrowed slightly. "I can"t enter the yamen, so I asked you. We"ve both seen the files, so there"s no reason to lose."

"We know the court had arranged for the witness and evidence, but no one can do anything." Song Shiren sighed and looked at Fan Xian. "When you dealt with the Ming family in Jiangnan, did you not also use this trick?"

Fan Xian"s heart trembled. He lowered his voice to an icy thread. "I didn"t expect Wanli to be acquitted. What I consider a victory would at least be seeing him right now!"

"Imprisonment for three years," Song Shiren said with a sorrowful sigh. Working for Sir Fan junior was the same as going against the entire court. This was a lost case no matter what.

"Where does imprisonment come from?" Fan Xian criticized angrily. "It was 3,000 liang of silver at most and he is exiled? It is written clearly in the Qing laws that the silver can be returned to mitigate the crime. How did you fight this case?"

Song Shiren started to talk then stopped. He smiled bitterly and said, "That is how it is written in Qing Law. Originally, returning the silver for a reduced sentence had already been agreed upon yesterday. Today, Scholar He came to question and removed this condition. He also changed exile to imprisonment.

"He Zongwei?" Fan Xian heard this familiar name could only smile instead of getting angry. After a moment of silence, he took out a banknote from his clothes. Restraining his expression, he calmly said, "Go back in and give this banknote to the official of the Supreme Court. Ask him how did he study the Qing laws. Do I need to stand out myself to fight this case with him?"

Song Shire accepted the banknote and looked at the 300,000 liang amount in shock. After a moment of silence, he gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, and turned back into the hall. He knew Fan Xian had done this because he had been forced into a corner by the court. For the sake of Yang Wanli"s life and death, Fan Xian could only stand out and sell out his not-so-old face. It would just depend on what the officials of the Supreme Court were thinking.

No one knew what Song Shiren said after he walked back. Before long, an official gently coughed and walked to the bottom of the stone steps and said some things by Fan Xian"s ear. Fan Xian did not reply. He just shook his head. The official walked back with an expression of helplessness.

Finally, Song Shiren helped Yang Wanli walk out of the yamen of the Supreme Court. Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and saw that Yang Wanli had been tortured in prison. A dark fire surged in his heart, but he took a deep breath and forced it down. He called for a few servants to lift Yang Wanli in the carriage.

Yan Wanli pa.s.sed by him. The teacher and student, who were very close in age, did not say anything. A glimmer of dissatisfaction, grief, and indignation flashed through Yang Wanli"s eyes.

Fan Xian felt cold. He knew what Yang Wanli felt grief and indignation about. An official solely focused on his job had been forced to suffer injustices because of the stupid things happening in court and in the Royal Palace. Losing his post was nothing. Torture was nothing. Most importantly, his reputation had been stained. As a scholar, who could endure it?

Just as Fan Xian was preparing to leave, Scholar He of the Hall of Governmental Affairs came slowly out of the doors of the Supreme Court"s yamen accompanied by a few officials. He Zongwei looked at Fan Xian in silence for a moment. He then said, "Master Fan is so refined."

Fan Xian couldn"t even be bothered to glance at him, but this att.i.tude angered the officials by He Zongwei"s side. The present situation was not as it was in the past. He Zongwei was at the height of his popularity while Fan Xian was just a commoner. To not reply to the comment of an official was against the rules.

He Zongwei had no emotional reaction and asked, "I am very curious, what did you say to the person earlier that the official of the Supreme Court suddenly changed his mind?"

This was truly something Scholar He was curious about. He often entered the Palace, so he knew about the difficult-to-repair split between the Emperor and Sir Fan junior. Thus, he no longer looked at Fan Xian with the same fear as before. Now, he had come by imperial edict to listen to the investigation. He had meddled in secret to ensure that Yang Wanli, one of Fan Xian"s four disciples, would never be able to rise again. Unexpectedly, everything suddenly changed after it had been going as he wished.

The young man in front of him clearly no longer had royal favor or official positions. Why was the official of the Supreme Court frightened back by just a few words? He Zongwei would not understand no matter how hard he thought. He didn"t know what kind of magic Fan Xian had that could make these officials ignore the Emperor"s secret signal.

Fan Xian turned back his head and glanced at him coldly. "I told him to not force me to act violently. Do you want to force me to act violently?" Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked at He Zongwei"s dark complexion. Suddenly he smiled slightly and said, "Actually, I would like to know what you can do to me if I beat up court officials in the street."

With these words, the officials by He Zongwei"s side finally understood that Fan Xian"s strength did not just come from his positions and authority. They stepped back in fright. He Zongwei remained standing calmly in front of Fan Xian and sighed. He understood the reasoning within and could not help but feel a glimmer of regret. When it came to official positions and authority, perhaps he could suppress Fan Xian. When it came to ruthless and illogical killing, he could never be so arrogant.

"Suzhou Zhizhou Cheng Jialin was accused of consorting with prost.i.tutes and is being brought back to Jingdou to explain himself. In a few days, he"ll probably also come to the Supreme Court," He Zongwei said warmly. "It looks like you, the wealthy man of leisure of Jingdou, cannot actually find any leisure."

Fan Xian"s eyes shuttered slightly. He casually said, "You are the Emperor"s dog, so you have to run around everywhere. I won"t."

When hitting, one should not hit the face. Yet, many years ago, Fan Xian had already slapped He Zongwei"s face. Now, he had coldly called He Zongwei a dog outside the yamen, which was like another slap to the face. He Zongwei was no longer the young Imperial Censor he had been. As the foremost official in court, he had his own face and dignity to consider. Furthermore, there were also many people watching. His slightly dark complexion changed gradually. He coldly said, "As people and officials, we are all dogs of the Emperor. In my opinion, you are also one of the Emperor"s dogs, are you not?"

Scholar He thought that this was an appropriate response. Not only did it protect his dignity, it deflected the question and made it difficult for Fan Xian to answer. Unexpectedly, Fan Xian laughed at hearing this reply.

"If I am a dog, then what is the Emperor?" Fan Xian said with a cold and mocking smile. He then turned and climbed into the carriage.

He Zongwei"s face darkened. He knew he had said the wrong thing. No matter how low he was, he was still the Emperor"s flesh and blood. With just this one point, no one in the world could compare to him. A powerful gloominess rose in He Zongwei"s chest. He felt that life was always unfair.

…

…

In Jingdou, Fan Xian could not rest. With great difficulty, he received the Emperor"s combination punch and could only block. He had absolutely no way or power to counterattack. But, a shocking drama was being played out on the true battlefield between him and the Emperor. This drama had no audience. It would not enter the history books, yet it was truly being played out. Only in these places did Fan Xian have enough power to carry out the most determined counterattack against the pieces the Emperor had laid out.

Inside Dingzhou in Xiliang Road, no one knew what kind of tangle was happening between Li Hongcheng and Gong Dian, who had come to take over his position. On the Qing Kingdom road toward Dongyi, the armies of the two sides were currently in confrontation. No one was willing to retreat a single step. The 3,000 soldiers of the Yanjing Camp"s winter training were forcefully blocked at the border of the Kingdom, not daring to take a single step in. This stalemate had gone on for three days.

"The Emperor has issued an edict for us to enter Dongyi to support the Great Prince in quelling the rebellion. In the end, the Great Prince had come back with a military order and said that his 10,000 elite troops were enough." The commander of the Yanjing Camp, w.a.n.g Zhikun, looked at his trusted aides in the camp and smiled coldly. "Since that 10,000 elite troops are in the Liang Kingdom quelling a rebellion, who can stop our troops entering Dongyi?"

When he said this, w.a.n.g Zhikun"s anger finally exploded outward. This was originally a test from the court toward Dongyi. At first, everything progressed as planned. If the Great Prince did not send troops to stop them, these 3,000 elite troops would have been the vanguard and 20,000 people prepared by Yanjing Camp would have followed the road in. Who knew that these 3,00 elite troops would be stopped on the border, unable to take even one step in?

He pointed at the generals beneath and scolded them fiercely, "One thousand! One thousand people have broken your courage? They are also soldiers of the Qing Kingdom. Do you think they"ll actually dare to act against troops sent by the court?"

"Those are Black Knights," a general said in a trembling voice. "With Chen Pingping dead and Sir Fan junior under house arrest in Jingdou, who knows if these cold-blooded Black Knights will actually draw their swords."

The corners of w.a.n.g Zhikun"s eyes twitched slightly, but he did not shout in anger. Concerning the secret military action this time, he had nominally accepted the Bureau of Military Affairs" order to lead a winter training exercise. In reality, he had accepted a secret edict the Emperor sent from the Palace.

Just as it was said earlier, this was a test. This was a test by the Emperor on the Throne toward his eldest son far away in Dongyi.

News of what happened in Jingdou had long reached Yanjing. Only now did w.a.n.g Zhikun know that the little Duke had led the Black Knights straight to Jingdou to rescue Director Chen. This Commander of Yanjing did not know why the old Director had suddenly been purged by the Emperor. Although he sighed in his heart, as a military man of the Qing Kingdom, he had to follow the Emperor"s orders.

Not long after the incident in Jingdou, the Great Prince suddenly sent an extra urgent military report saying that the volunteer armies within Dongyi had suddenly risen and battles were widespread. He was unable to leave to return to the capital, completely stopping Jingdou summoning him back to the capital in any way.

w.a.n.g Zhikun knew very well that it was because the Great Prince did not want to return to the capital. It was the so-called general being away and unable to receive his ruler"s orders. It was clear that this Great Prince, who successfully controlled 10,000 elite troops, had grown distanced from the Emperor because of that matter in Jingdou.

Once the Great Prince"s att.i.tude was made clear, the Emperor did not get angry. Instead, he calmly sent an edict toward Dongyi saying that he wanted to send the Yanjing Army into Dongyi to help the Great Prince quell the rebellions. Just as w.a.n.g Zhikun expected, the Great Prince forcefully rejected the request. Furthermore, the troops used to block the Yanjing Army were indeed not that of the Great Princes. The court couldn"t even find an excuse.

"The Black Knights…" w.a.n.g Zhikun furrowed his brows slightly. Thinking of these riders whose numbers were spa.r.s.e but were particularly powerful in battle, he naturally thought of that man of leisure in Jingdou.