The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 402 Four-tenths
After killing the last person, Li Miao withdrew his arm and put his hand into his sleeve.

That's all for today.

Li Miao's side, along with Yingzhou, the Eastern Depot, and the civil officials, are currently caught in a dilemma, each testing the other's bottom line and timeframe.

Li Miao has now determined that An Qisheng is in an abnormal state and cannot act rashly. The civil official group has been frightened by his actions today and has temporarily forgotten to resist, which is why he was able to go on a killing spree.

After today, the matter will be settled, and even if the civil service wants to overturn the verdict on these people, it will be too late.

However, An Qisheng clearly could not allow Li Miao to kill all the civil officials. His intervention to stop the Xuan Tian Finger attack earlier was a clear indication of his stance—if Li Miao continued to attack, he would also intervene.

The opportunity to openly and legitimately kill people under the guise of the celestial being's first action in court and the emperor's first court appearance in over a decade has come to an end.

Li Miao took a step back.

An Qisheng, standing in the crowd, lowered his head again.

The coup d'état, instigated by Yan Song and his officials, ended with dozens of corpses lying on the ground.

Seeing Li Miao stop, Zhu Zai swallowed back the next name he was about to utter.

The emperor understood and said in a deep voice.

"The three things I am announcing today have been resolved, and the perpetrators have been brought to justice. My beloved ministers, if you have any objections, please feel free to speak up—I will certainly encourage open discussion."

The officials kneeling in the square remained silent.

Open up channels for expression?
Anyone who believed in it would never be able to kneel here!
Li Miao only took a step back, but he didn't leave; he was still standing in front of the officials. Someone secretly looked up at him, and he turned his head as if he knew what was going on, and they met eyes.

Li Miao smiled at the person who was peeping, and the person shuddered and hurriedly kowtowed back to the ground, but happened to hit the blood flowing from the corpse next to him, making his face wet.

In this situation, who dares to "open up channels for free speech"?
As for whether Da Shuo has any honest officials or loyal ministers who are selfless, willing to risk their own lives, and dare to speak out for justice... all I can say is that Da Shuo's rottenness is not without reason.

After years of turmoil caused by the emperor, eunuchs, and Yan Song, these good officials were either excluded from important positions and were not qualified to kneel here, or they were directly squeezed out of the capital. The few remaining ones would not participate in Yan Song's coup attempt.

Therefore, Li Miao and Zhu Zai were not afraid of killing the wrong person.

If anyone dares to speak up because they're not clear-headed, Li Miao wouldn't mind killing another fool, and he doubts An Qisheng would risk turning against Li Miao on the spot to protect a fool.

And so, an awkward silence fell over the square.

After a long pause, the emperor spoke calmly.

"Since none of you ministers have any objections, let's settle these three matters here."

The officials relaxed their shoulders, and several of them even began to gasp for breath.

"My dear ministers, do you have anything else to say?"

No one answered.

"Since that's the case, I'm tired for today, so let's adjourn the court."

The emperor stepped down from the dragon throne and onto the dragon carriage.

"If any of you ministers have something to report, you can go back today and think it over carefully and write it down... and report it to me at the court meeting tomorrow."

"By the way, since Minister Li has taken over as commander, and Minister Zhu has made great contributions over the years, let's fill the vacant position in the cabinet and appoint him as Minister of Rites."

"As for who will fill the other positions, my esteemed ministers may submit their memorials, and I will take a look."

The eunuch at the entrance of the Fengtian Hall called out, "The memorial has been presented!"

As the imperial carriage was raised, he continued to shout.

"Imperial procession—"

Yan Song bowed his head and shouted.

"Respectfully bidding farewell to His Majesty—Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

The officials behind them then realized what was happening and quickly echoed in unison.

"Respectfully bidding farewell to His Majesty—Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

No one dared to raise their head.

After about half an hour, someone finally stood up tremblingly.

Li Miao, Zhu Zai, and the emperor are no longer around.

All that remained before him was Yan Song, still kneeling on the ground, silent; the towering and majestic Fengtian Hall; the scarlet ravine; and the dozens of familiar corpses lying around him.

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Inside the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Zai stroked his long beard, leisurely sipping his tea.

"Putting aside your brazen display of power today, just the fact that so many positions have been vacated should be enough to make many people leave Yan Song's side and stand aside."

"With three Grand Secretaries in the Cabinet and more than a dozen important positions, the power of civil officials can be reduced by 40%!"

Li Miao waved his hand.

"It's just a temporary measure to rob Peter to pay Paul. Bringing the Celestials to the forefront today will only make the martial arts world harder to manage in the future. In the end, it's just a stopgap measure."

"However, the fact that we were able to kill so many people means we've figured out An Qisheng's background."

Li Miao raised his hand and held up one finger.

“He’s really not in the right state, otherwise he should have stopped me from the beginning, instead of only attacking when I got carried away with killing. With his protective inner energy, it would be difficult for me to kill him or Yan Song, but it would also be difficult for him to do anything in front of me and His Majesty.”

Zhu Zai stroked his beard and pondered for a moment.

"So, we can relax a bit."

"Before, we were afraid that if you went out, he would storm into the palace, which made us feel constrained. But now it seems that there is much we can do."

Li Miao nodded and said with a smile.

"Yes."

"Bring all the members of the imperial family to the palace, where His Majesty and the courtiers will look after them. I'm going out to kill people!"

"Aren't they plotting and waiting for the right moment? Let them wait! Whatever their plans or schemes, I'll just wipe out their people. Then they'll be left with only a few bare hands. Let's see what they can do then!"

"If the other side wants to stop us, they should either bring out An Qisheng when he's not in good condition, or bring out Ji Tianrui who's been hiding! It'll be a good opportunity to fight to the death!"

Zhu Zai nodded to the emperor.

The three of them then finalized their plan. Zhu Zai took out a stack of documents from his pocket, spread them on the table, and, together with Li Miao, decided on the people they would kill that night.

Just then, an excited shout came from outside the door.

"Is this where the emperor lives? It's huge! It's really huge! How tall must the emperor be to live in such a big place!"

"Brother Cao, look, it's gold!"

Another helpless voice whispered a word of dissuasion.

"Brother Gao, be quiet, do not make a sound."

"No...you can't break it, it's gold, but you can't break it, you really can't break it...you can't even bite it!"

As they were talking, three people walked in.

It was Gao Anyu, Cao Hanyan, and the old Taoist priest from the Wudang Sect.

The old Taoist priest, who had been hanging behind Gao Anyu outside the hall, opened his eyes and lowered his hands after entering the hall. He was no longer in a rambling, mystical manner, and walked in with a solemn expression.

Upon entering the hall, he first bowed to the emperor four times.

"Your Majesty the Emperor is virtuous and wise, his virtue is as bright as the sun and moon."

Then he stood up and bowed to Zhu Zai.

"A man from beyond the mundane world greets Your Excellency."

Finally, he bowed respectfully to Li Miao, who was looking at him with a smile.

"Lord Li, it's been a long time."

Li Miao smiled as he looked at the old Taoist priest, and after a long while, he slowly spoke.

"When I last met the Taoist priest at Mount Song, I thought he was just a charlatan who didn't understand worldly affairs. But now it seems he's quite clear-headed."

The old Taoist priest remained silent for a long time before slowly shaking his head.

"Please forgive me, sir."

Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu, who were standing to the side, were stunned. Their eyes widened, and even their joy at seeing the emperor and Li Miao was overshadowed.

After a long pause, Gao Anyu finally spoke in surprise.

"Master, you don't stutter!"

(End of this chapter)