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The imperial palace in the capital city had its vermilion gates wide open, but the interior had long been reduced to ruins by artillery bombardment.

The glory of past emperors and the scenes of beautiful women dancing together have long been torn to shreds.

The corpses were piled up like a small mountain, and the air was filled with a strange smell of blood mixed with musk.

Flames rose from the overturned brazier beside the corpse, and several times it tried to reach out and grab the curtain, but a gust of wind blew the curtain open, revealing a dense array of bullet holes behind it.

The "bandit army," their eyes bloodshot with fanaticism, looked up at the figure sitting on the dragon throne. A silent stillness enveloped the entire hall, so that everyone could only hear their own breathing and heartbeat.

The quieter it is, the more noisy and chaotic it feels.

My heart was pounding in my throat.

They really started from scratch and stormed into the palace in less than a year.

The person who accomplished all of this is currently sitting on the dragon throne.

Tan Wenjie shifted his position on the dragon throne.

The last time he was king for a day was in the Golden Wheel Kingdom in "The Eagle Shooting Heroes," but the Golden Wheel Kingdom was a small country, and the entire country could be easily controlled by Ouyang Feng. Compared with the countries in this world, it was far inferior.

"I didn't feel anything."

Having grown accustomed to being gods who can command the wind and rain, who would be interested in a mere mortal emperor?

[Rating: -102]

Tan Wenjie looked down and said, "I will never break my promise to you. I will reward you with land, promotions, and titles."

A scholar stepped forward and kowtowed, saying, "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

With him taking the lead, the others suddenly realized what was happening and knelt on the ground, shouting "Long live the Emperor!"

Tan Wenjie listened to the chaotic shouts.

"I think I'm starting to feel it."

……

Because Tan Wenjie moved too fast, and because the previous emperor was incompetent, many people did not even have time to realize what was happening before the country had already changed hands.

The ministers in this country are very quick-witted.

Faced with Tan Wenjie's guns and cannons, almost all of them chose to submit, which was also related to the fact that Tan Wenjie did not strip them of their official robes.

As long as I keep my position, I don't care who the emperor is.

Moreover, everyone understands that Tan Wenjie's foundation is too shallow, and he has very few talented civil and military officials around him. Those old ministers from the previous dynasty will not be given important positions. The vacant top positions are equivalent to everyone being able to move up a bit.

It is an auspicious day.

Tan Wenjie was dressed in Yuanfu (traditional Chinese robes), with Taichang (a high-ranking official) standing beside him.

Below him were civil and military officials, as well as imperial guards in light armor, carrying long spears and swords at their waists.

Wang Taichang: "Your Majesty."

Tan Wenjie nodded slightly: "Let's begin."

The wedding ceremony should be kept simple.

Even the worship of gods was cancelled by Tan Wenjie.

The Wind Master, Rain Master, Spirit Star, and the Five Sacred Mountains and Four Seas are all considered equals. If you think about it carefully, Tan Wenjie should be someone who "descended to earth to undergo trials," someone you would see every day.

After Wang Taichang reminded him several times and received Tan Wenjie's affirmation, he had no choice but to do as he was told.

However, none of the anticipated disasters or weather changes occurred, and the weather was sunny today.

Everything went smoothly. Wang Taichang was amazed and became even more certain that the emperor might truly be the reincarnation of Ziwei, destined by heaven.

The new emperor ascended the throne, changed the country's name to Qian, adopted the reign title Tianyuan, and granted a general amnesty.

Only after the news was announced to the world did the people realize that the country had undergone a complete transformation.

Then he immediately felt it didn't matter, after all, in this dog-eat-dog world, what difference did it make who was the emperor?

The only ones who are truly disheartened are probably the scholars who passed the imperial examinations this year; the country is gone, and the emperor has changed.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Tan Wenjie is busy every day as soon as he wakes up. Recently, he has finally sorted things out, but he misses the days when he was a rich man more and more.

Back then, he made a fortune every day, had someone to take care of everything, and had a beautiful wife and concubines at home. He spent his days playing mahjong and catching ghosts, living a leisurely and carefree life.

The only benefit he gets from being emperor now is the ability to select concubines from across the country and open a vast harem.

Unfortunately, I'm not a womanizer, and I'm too busy working every day to keep up.

Speaking of the imperial harem, Tan Wenjie was reminded of the harem of the previous dynasty's emperor. Those concubines and princesses were all confined to their quarters, and he still hadn't had time to take a look at them.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Gao has arrived."

"Enter."

The study door was pushed open.

A somewhat shrewish-looking old man entered the room and immediately kowtowed.

"Greetings, Your Majesty! Long live the Emperor!"

He looked even more humble than the eunuchs serving Tan Wenjie; who could imagine that he was the prime minister?

Similarly, the other party was also the minister who chose to pledge allegiance immediately, providing considerable assistance to Tan Wenjie in taking over the situation promptly, and can be considered a meritorious official.

"Prime Minister Gao, please rise. Guards, please offer him a seat."

"Thank you Lord for your grace."

Prime Minister Gao, with a beaming smile, rose and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Your Majesty is wise!"

"Oh?" Tan Wenjie asked, puzzled. "What good news is it now?"

"May the winds be favorable and the harvests plentiful, and may the nation be prosperous and the people at peace..."

Tan Wenjie raised his hand to stop the other party from continuing to flatter him.

It wasn't that he didn't like to hear it, but the ever-decreasing ratings constantly reminded him that he hadn't done enough, so Prime Minister Gao's words sounded more like he was scolding himself.

"I heard that a martial arts champion who is the bravest in the army has been selected this year." Tan Wenjie flipped through the memorials at hand, and he was just about to ask someone about it.

He is in dire need of talent.

"This...this is..." Prime Minister Gao lowered his head and wiped his sweat with his sleeve.

"I've heard that this man is skilled with a bow and arrow, and can hit a willow leaf from a hundred paces away?"

What Tan Wenjie lacks is not civil officials, but military generals.

Only with guns and soldiers can his regime be stable.

Aggressive tactics, first secure military control.

“Uh, this is…” Prime Minister Gao stammered, “Reporting to Your Majesty, the martial arts champion was born with eyes that are… different from ordinary people.”

"What I want is someone different from ordinary people. Does he have double pupils, or heterochromia? He can't have a third eye between his eyebrows, can he?" Tan Wenjie became more and more excited as he thought about it. "Bring him here so I can see him."

This is Liaozhai, so it's perfectly normal to have some extraordinary people here.

"Yes." Someone below acknowledged the order and quickly left.

In the imperial study room.

Prime Minister Gao kept wiping his sweat.

"Prime Minister Gao, are you hot?"

"Today I ate a wild ginseng," Prime Minister Gao replied, wiping his sweat. "I'm a little too weak to handle the nourishment."

"You need to take good care of yourself." Tan Wenjie nodded. "This martial arts champion also seems to have the surname Gao."

Prime Minister Gao immediately replied, "Distant relatives, not close."

The martial arts champion was quickly brought before Tan Wenjie.

He was thin and knelt down with his head down as soon as he entered the room.

Tan Wenjie didn't judge a book by its cover. After all, there was Li Yuanba who was even thinner than him. Maybe he really was born with superhuman strength. This was a world of demons and ghosts, after all.

He glanced at Prime Minister Gao and noticed that he was constantly wiping away sweat and trembling.

Tan Wenjie: "Raise your head."

"Yes."

The martial arts champion raised his head.

"I thought it was because guns and cannons had no eyes that I was allowed to break in." Tan Wenjie looked at the martial arts champion and couldn't help but laugh. "It turns out the credit belongs to you. You are the founding heroes."

Only then did he realize why Prime Minister Gao was sweating profusely.

This top archer had one eye looking forward and the other looking inward; he was clearly cross-eyed.

"Your eyes are indeed extraordinary." Tan Wenjie nodded. "I heard you can hit a target from a hundred paces away. Someone, bring me a bow and arrow."

One person set up the target, another person handed the bow and arrow to the martial arts champion, and the rest of the people guarded Tan Wenjie.

The martial arts champion asked, "Your Majesty, there are two targets, and I only have one arrow. Which one should I shoot?"

The eunuch beside him said, "He's playing a trick on you, Your Majesty."

Prime Minister Gao felt like he had thorns in his back, silently chanting in his heart, "You can't see me, you can't see me."

Tan Wenjie waved his hand, feeling it was pointless.

"Go back."

The martial arts champion, puzzled, returned the bow and arrows and said to the young eunuch who had led the way, "Thank you both, gentlemen."

Little eunuch: "?"

Prime Minister Gao cursed, "Get out of here! You're making a fool of yourself!"

"Hahahaha." Only Tan Wenjie's laughter could be heard in the Imperial Study.

"Hahaha." Prime Minister Gao laughed along with him.

Tan Wenjie suddenly stopped laughing, and Prime Minister Gao laughed twice before awkwardly stopping.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Prime Minister Gao knelt on the ground.

"Prime Minister Gao, is this year's top scholar also...unique?"

"Your Majesty, I remember the top scholar was exceptionally talented and handsome."

In other words, he must be a normal person. Judging from Gao Zai's confident assertion, he must be someone with genuine talent and ability.

But his next sentence piqued Tan Wenjie's interest: "His name seems to be Qiao Danian."

"Qiao Danian?"

Prime Minister Gao glanced cautiously at Tan Wenjie, his heart pounding. Could it be that this man also had a problem?

Both were top scholars who cheated to become champions. The difference was that the martial arts champion was able to win the championship by using bizarre methods, while Qiao Danian relied on a woman to retake the exam.

Qiao Danian was indeed a man of genuine talent and learning.

"I want to meet this top scholar."

……

"Ugh."

At an inn somewhere, Qiao Danian sighed.

The world outside was in turmoil, and his mood was also in turmoil.

Because Binniang's father admired his talent, Qiao Sheng used connections to retake the exam. However, things changed too quickly afterward; the two Shi families were arrested, and their family fortune was divided up.

Along the way, amidst the chaos of war, Qiao Sheng mistakenly believed several times that the bandit king was following him. He thought that once they entered the capital, under the emperor's nose, there would surely be no more problems.

Who would have thought that the emperor was gone?

He was the top scholar personally selected by the emperor of the previous dynasty.

His current situation is extremely awkward. If the current emperor is willing to acknowledge his status as the top scholar, he still has a chance. If he is denied, he will never be able to enter officialdom again in his lifetime.

What I fear most is the current situation, being left out and ignored by everyone.

Beside Qiao Sheng, two beautiful souls accompanied him.

It was Liancheng and Binniang.

They looked at each other.

"What should I do?"

Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside.

"Scholar Qiao, Scholar Qiao, congratulations!"

"What's there to congratulate you on?" Qiao Sheng asked as he opened the door.

He had long since experienced the fickleness of human nature, and the attitude of the innkeeper was the most obvious example. At first, the innkeeper treated him like a god of literature descended from heaven, but recently he couldn't even be bothered to look at him.

Countless times he's said behind people's backs that his life is ruined.

"The Emperor summons you! Congratulations, Scholar Qiao!"

"What?" Qiao Sheng's head was buzzing.

"What are you still standing there for?" The waiter grabbed Qiao Sheng's arm and shook it a couple of times. "The esteemed guests from the palace are waiting downstairs."

"Yes, I'll go right away."

"Wait, you haven't put on any clothes yet, be careful not to catch a cold."

The waiter entered the room and helped Qiao Sheng put on some clothes. Qiao Sheng, however, had no time to mock the villain and strode out of the inn.

His foot crunched in the snow, but his heart was filled with warmth.

Liancheng and Binniang wanted to enter the palace with Qiaosheng, but they stopped outside the palace because they were afraid of the dragon's aura.

After a long while, Qiao Sheng walked out in a daze, and the two female ghosts floated in front of him.

Liancheng asked, "How is it?"

Qiao Sheng seemed not to have come to his senses yet, and murmured, "That emperor is Brother Tan."

"Huh?" X2
That eccentric scholar who suddenly gave up the imperial examination actually conquered the capital in less than a year.

“Brother Tan… no, the Emperor has shown me great favor, and I will certainly not let him down.”

……

"The disaster relief has been going on for half a month."

Tan Wenjie looked at the ratings.

[Rating: -89]

When he chose to donate to disaster relief, his rating quickly rebounded, proving that his initial idea was correct.

The higher your position, the more people you can influence with the "real things" you do.

An ordinary person could not save many people even if they exhausted all their resources, but as an emperor, every correct decision he made could benefit almost everyone.

When he kept allocating disaster relief funds but didn't see the ratings rise, he knew there were corrupt officials involved. He then arranged for an imperial censor to investigate, which would surely uncover the problem.

The weather cleared up and the ice thawed.

Tan Wenjie stretched his limbs, remembering that he hadn't seen Xin Shisi Niang for a long time.

As his core technical personnel, the entire Xin family fox was assigned to the "Firearms Battalion" in the capital, responsible for the most critical and essential parts.

After the demon entered the palace, its magical power was suppressed to the point that it could hardly be used, so Xin Shisi Niang disliked entering the palace.

Even Lu Daoren was the same; he preferred to draw talismans outside rather than be suppressed in the palace.

Tan Wenjie also has his own way of rewarding them: being officially recognized by the King of Men is valid; otherwise, it is considered an evil deity worship.

Lu Daoren was appointed as the Imperial Preceptor, and the fox spirits of the Xin family, led by Xin Shisi Niang, were also able to build temples and erect steles, enjoying incense offerings.

After death, they might even become a county lord or city god.

"Your Majesty, Lord Shi requests an audience."

"Who?"

"Shi Yiming".

He felt like he'd seen that name somewhere before.

The eunuch beside him reminded him, "This year, Princess Mingxia of the previous dynasty will be married off to the Western Regions."

"Oh, I remember now." Tan Wenjie nodded.

Tan Wenjie had seen the harem of the previous emperor once and had no interest in it at all. They were all ordinary women who would only distract him from his efforts to improve his liver function. So he gave the concubines a few options.

She could live out her days alone in the cold palace, but she would have no worries about food and drink, or she could take some money, go out, and remarry.

Apart from the older concubines, almost all of them chose to marry outside the family.

Princess Mingxia chose to marry into the royal family, a decision made long ago by the previous emperor. Tan Wenjie didn't want to cause any more trouble, and since a princess was willing to go, he figured he might as well use her.

As for Shi Yiming, he was an imperial censor chosen by the previous dynasty's emperor.

The eunuch standing next to Tan Wenjie said, "This Lord Shi is no ordinary man."

He knew that Tan Wenjie liked to listen to gossip in his spare time.

If there is something good on the top, it will be great on the bottom.

"How is it not simple?" Tan Wenjie asked.

The eunuch bowed and said, "Lord Shi enjoys brothels, but whether it is a famous courtesan in the capital or the only daughter of a high-ranking official, in his eyes they are nothing more than ordinary beauties. He even considers the concubines in the harem of the former emperor to be extremely vulgar."

“He’s right,” Tan Wenjie nodded.

The concubines in the imperial harem were indeed ordinary and unremarkable.

In the world of demons and immortals, how could an ordinary beauty compare to a fox spirit? Don't use your talent to challenge someone's ability to make a living.

Even if they look similar, their temperament, skin condition, and other characteristics can vary drastically.

Having actually seen fairies and demons, Tan Wenjie knew all too well the difference.

Even a maid in the Heavenly Palace of Fragrant Breeze would be considered a stunning beauty in the mortal world, since one might not appear among mortals for countless years.

Eunuch: "..."

Tan Wenjie nodded: "But daring to comment on the concubines of the previous dynasty, they certainly have a lot of courage."

“He is related to Empress Shi in the palace,” the eunuch said. “Although he does not love beautiful women, he loves the people in paintings.”

Turns out he's a long-time anime/manga fan.

Tan Wenjie: "Let him come over."

"Yes."

A short while later, someone followed the eunuch.

"Shi Yiming greets Your Majesty."

This man was refined and cultured, and seemed to be related to a concubine from a previous dynasty.

Shi Yiming came to pay his respects because Princess Mingxia was going to marry far away to the Western Regions, but Tan Wenjie's attitude toward this matter had been unclear, so he came to inquire.

“Since she is on a mission to the Western Regions, she remains a princess,” Tan Wenjie replied readily.

She was the first princess in the Great Qian Dynasty to be acknowledged by him.

He received the same treatment as the princess, except that this princess was to marry into the Western Regions and would never be able to return.

Shi Yiming knelt down and thanked the emperor, saying, "Thank you for your great kindness."

"I heard you like collecting paintings?" Tan Wenjie suddenly asked.

"Your Majesty, do you also like them?" Shi Yiming suddenly opened his eyes wide. "I have many paintings of beauties in my study. If you like them, I will send someone to fetch them right now. They are all the final works of great calligraphers and painters."

When it comes to paintings of beautiful women, he talks on and on.

"In the capital, there is a Hanlin scholar named Wang Anxu, who is extremely skilled at painting beautiful women..."

The eunuch coughed beside him, reminding him to wake up from his daze, and he quickly knelt down.

"Your humble servant will go back to prepare immediately. I will take my leave now."

Shi Yiming quickly withdrew.

As he was leaving the palace, a gust of wind suddenly woke him up, and he found himself drenched in sweat.

He dared to talk about these things in front of the emperor. After all, since the emperor ascended the throne, he had worked hard to govern the country and had shown no interest in the beautiful women in the harem. Everyone said that he was a wise ruler who did not love women.

That day, the palace was littered with corpses, and thunder roared. Even hearing about the horrific scene from others was enough to give one nightmares, let alone witnessing it firsthand.

I'm really lucky to have escaped with my life. (End of Chapter)