Did something major occur? Sir, are you really not aware of the situation? You really surprise us… Everyone turned and looked at one another. Last night, the entire Continent Center was extremely chaotic and was filled with fighting. Even until now, the place has an overwhelming smell of blood… Perhaps, you were unaware of the events which took place in the night as you were in Prime Minister Manor…
We will never be able to believe this.
Even though the three of them thought that way, when they saw the way Diwu Qing Rou acted and how calm he seemed, they too began to feel at ease. It was as though even if the matter felt overwhelming, with his help, they would be able to solve it…
It wasn"t till long that the anxiousness that they had entered the room with dissipated without them even being aware of it.
Jing Meng Hun then began to report the events which occurred last night, "There were some huge developments last night. More than twenty thousand Jiang Hu people fought for the Underworld Saber and the Ask the Heavens Sword. This resulted in large-scale fights breaking out in countless places within the citadel. In addition to this, the Ministry of Justice, Revenue, Rites, and Defence were all turned to ruins. This resulted in a countless number of casualties both of officials as well as soldiers. We are still in the process of consolidating and tallying everything."
"Oh… okay is that it?" Diwu Qing Rou nodded in acknowledgment as he spoke in a soft voice."
Just these things? The three officials didn"t know what else to say. Wasn"t this news enough to overwhelm?
Jing Meng Hun was particularly annoyed. During the commotion last night, Diwu Qing Rou had given him strict orders preventing the involvement of the Golden Horse Riders Department. This resulted in the uncontrolled chaos of the Continent Center.
If the Golden Horse Riders Department had been mobilized, it was likely that the damage and losses sustained by Great Zhao would not have been as great as it currently was.
"This scheme of the King of h.e.l.l Chu is really devious!" Han Bu Chu said in a worried voice, "Moreover, it seems that he has succeeded in what he had intended to do. Not only has he caused a great commotion in the Continent Center, he has also turned the citadel into a battlefield. The number of Jiang Hu people seems to steadily increase. It wouldn"t be long before the Continent Center Citadel becomes overly crowded. It is likely that at such a point, it would result in even more casualties and losses. At the time being, there are at least a few hundred people fighting and killing each other every day. Many of these Jiang Hu people are bold enough to even launch attacks on the army…"
"This has resulted in panic among the commoners. If such a situation continues, will things ever get back to what they were?"
"Hmm… Diwu Qing Rou looked up as in deep thought as he asked, "Gao Sheng, how is the Young master Ji?"
"He seems to know the King of h.e.l.l Chu personally. Moreover, they are good friends and have a relations.h.i.+p. He had not bothered to hide these facts." Gao Sheng frowned and continued, "Although he refused to give any information regarding the King of h.e.l.l Chu, he did mention that he would be returning to the Ji clan after people of the clan come to the Continent Center…"
"It seems that he is indeed cautious…" Diwu Qing Rou then sighed as he nodded his head, "He isn"t an ordinary individual. Not only is he a descendant of a great clan but a second young master as well. Regardless, did you make clear our position?"
"Yes, I did. However, it seems that Ji Mo doesn"t seem very concerned about us. His reaction was relatively unbothered by what I mentioned." Gao Sheng said.
"If that is the case, dispatch a martial expert and shadow Ji Mo…" Diwu Qing Rou said earnestly, "What about Rui Bu Tong? Does there seem to be anything suspicious about him as well?"
"Apparently Rui Bu Tong is the disciple of the Thieving Ghost as well as the Stealing G.o.d… His background is not ordinary as well. Both of his master"s cultivation level are ninth grade King level. If we were to provoke him in any way, it is likely that the consequences would be beyond severe. Moreover, he doesn"t seem to abide by the rules of the Nine Heavens…"
"As long as their ident.i.ties are well verified, we do not need to worry about Rui Bu Tong…" Diwu Qing Rou laughed and continued, "We didn"t mobilize the soldiers which were stationed outside of the citadel, correct?"
"No, we did not." Han Bu Chu said softly. "However, Prime Minister, I am suggesting for us to mobilize the soldiers which are currently stationed outside of the citadel. We will probably be unable to control the chaotic situation within the citadel with just the guards that we currently have."
"There is no need." Diwu Qing Rou waved his arm dismissively and said, "We want them to cause trouble. The more that they do, the better. It would be best if they were able to attract all of the Jiang Hu people within a thousand mile radius of Great Zhao."
"Huh?" Han Bu Chu was in disbelief after hearing the words of Diwu Qing Rou.
"I am afraid that if such chaos is able to continue, the Continent Center Citadel would be beyond…" Han Bu Chu took a deep breath as he commented on his opinion of the situation impulsively.
"Bu Chu, you still have an old and traditional mindset. You place too much importance on the value of the citadel." Diwu Qing Rou said in a solemn tone, "It is important for you to look at the future."
"The future?" Han Bu Chu was confused. Although he had been following Diwu Qing Rou for many years, this was the very first time in which he wasn"t able to follow the Prime Minister"s trend of thought.
How could the Continent Center not be considered important? It is the center of the capital of Great Zhao! Could it be that this particular area wasn"t important in his eyes?
"The Continent Center is the capital of Great Zhao. Not only is it the heart of Great Zhao but it is also heavily guarded in almost every direction! In order for our enemies to reach this location, they would have to travel at least six thousand miles in order to get her! To say that it is impenetrable is an understatement!" Diwu Qing Rou smiled and he continued his explanation. "However, from my perspective, this is all a joke!"
"A joke?" Han Bu Chu frowned as he was confused by these words. Even Gao Sheng and Jing Meng Hun couldn"t help but think about what Diwu Qing Rou had said.
"Building a capital in an area which is being protected from all sides is the same as building a nest of the fearful!" Diwu Qing Rou continued in a solemn tone, "While the capital shouldn"t be built at the front of the battlefield, it shouldn"t be built in a cradle protected from all sides. The best location to build a capital is in an area with an appropriate distance so that the officials and generals would be able to feel a sense of crisis. This will, in turn, motivate them into putting in more effort to solve issues of national importance as well as to protect the emperor! Moreover, this would make cause them to put in additional effort into expanding Great Zhao and eliminating any form of threats! This is a way to make a nation prosper!"
"The first emperor of Great Zhao was extremely intelligent. Upon taking over the throne, he only desired for pleasure and to safeguard his possessions. Hence he chose the Continent Center as the capital of Great Zhao. The fact that such an emperor could sustain and found a nation is truly a miracle in itself! It is this exact mentality that set Great Zhao back at least by hundreds of years. This resulted in the people having the mentality to try to keep whatever that they have. Not only did this affect the history of the nation but also delayed the domination of Great Zhao over other countries!"
"Even if it is a promising emperor, if he were to stay thousands of miles away from the battlefront, he would only enjoy and focus on the peace that he had… How would he be able to cultivate the ambition necessary to increase Great Zhao"s territories?"
Diwu Qing Rou smiled a little, "There, it wasn"t until I took over power that Great Zhao started to expand! Before this, it wasn"t that they couldn"t expand but rather because they didn"t want to. I am sure that without my leaders.h.i.+p, Great Zhao would eventually collapse due to the complacency of the country itself!"
"The greatest threat to Great Zhao is Iron Cloud Nation!" Diwu Qing Rou briefly made mention as he walked towards the window slowly and looked out. "Not only does Iron Cloud Nation have an extremely cold weather, relative to Great Zhao or more specifically the Continent Center, there is a stark difference in climate! We have it much easier, don"t you see the result of such a difference?"
"What?" Han Bu Chu unconsciously asked.
"Tough experiences result in the birth of determined and stronger people! Regions which have many challenges result in fair more hardy people! Moreover, Iron Cloud is a gra.s.sland which is close to the north. The people of Iron Cloud are connected with the land and have great ambition. If they continue in such a manner, they are likely to turn to the way of the martial arts." Diwu Qing Rou said. "Moreover, if you look at history, the people of the North are usually known to be st.u.r.dy people. Not to mention, chaos usually originates from the north."
"Compared to Iron Cloud, the people of Great Zhao are too weak." Diwu Qing Rou said casually, "This has to change!"
Han Bu Chu kept quiet and contemplated about what Diwu Qing Rou had mentioned. There seemed to be some hidden truth behind everything that he had mentioned…
"Looking at Iron Cloud, you only see a nation suppressed by Great Zhao right now. But you are all wrong. How many years has it been since Iron Cloud was established?" Diwu Qing Rou said lightly, "Three hundred years ago, Iron Cloud was only a big clan. However, after many years of expansion, the clan"s private army grew to the point that they became ambitious. Therefore in a slightly more than two hundred years, Iron Cloud nation had progressed from a small nation with over a dozen cities to a large nation!"
"One hundred thirty years ago, Iron Cloud had a much bigger territory with almost one hundred cities!"
"Eighty years ago, Iron Cloud"s territory expanded with a military which totaled at a million…" Diwu Qing Rou sighed deeply, "Forty years ago, Tie s.h.i.+ Cheng swept the land and turned Iron Cloud into a giant behemoth. Even people of the vast gra.s.sland didn"t dare to invade Iron Cloud."
"However, at that point, Tie s.h.i.+ Cheng remained unsatisfied. He sent a million soldiers to the south and fought with Great Zhao!" Diwu Qing Rou took a deep breath. "Even though Iron Cloud might have fallen into my trap, the new emperor of Iron Cloud seems to be an unexpectedly talented individual!"
"In more than two hundred years, Iron Cloud had gone through seven or eight emperors. Despite this, Iron Cloud"s territory had grown immensely from the time it was founded to now, it has multiplied many folds."
Diwu Qing Rou sighed, "Don"t you people feel immense pressure in the face of such numbers? Don"t you feel fearful?"
"What does this mean? Could you have never considered this?" Diwu Qing Rou"s eyes showed a particular kind of weariness.
"Perhaps… all of these emperors of Iron Cloud were all the founding type of emperors?" Han Bu Chu finally understood. He carefully reflected on everything that Diwu Qing Rou had mentioned before he eventually reached an answer that surprised himself.
"More than ten emperors, and more than ten of them unrivaled in distinction!" Diwu Qing Rou"s gaze lowered, "Moreover, all of them were leaders with great ambitions!"
"You all should think a little about Great Zhao"s empire. During the past some two hundred years, there have been more than twenty emperors!" Diwu Qing Rou sighed, "How did they compare to Iron Cloud"s?"
Han Bu Bu lowered his head shamefully. He was speechless. After the founding emperor pa.s.sed, there were some emperors that took care of national matters and made Great Zhao prosperous. However, there was not much progress other than that. It seemed as though their goals were to make sure to keep whatever their ancestors had left behind.
However, to try to conserve what they had was actually a form of regression.
In the recent years, there were truly not many good emperors. The entire bunch of emperors in the past few centuries were ordinary and did not do anything which could be considered as outstanding.
Compared to the emperors of Iron Cloud, the emperors of Great Zhao didn"t really do much.
"Such emperors are not worthy of being emperors!" Diwu Qing Rou sighed deeply. Such extreme words might have come out of his mouth, but Han Bu Chu and company felt that they were sincere.
They were indeed not worthy!
If Diwu Qing Rou said they were unworthy, then they were definitely not worthy!