Do you have the strength to force me to join the Liangshan bandits?

Chapter 331 Fang Tianding: Don't let the good stuff go to outsiders! [2 chapters, please vote!]

brothers!

Fang Tianding held Fang Jie's hands tightly. He had been genuinely afraid that Fang Jie would compete with him for the throne!
Now he truly wants Fang Jie to inherit the throne. Fang Jie is loyal and righteous, and has the courage of ten thousand men!

If Fang Jie were to become the Holy Duke, he would surely be able to protect the country, and he could also become a king who indulges in eating, drinking, and having fun.

But Fang Jie shook his head firmly. What kind of saintly figure was he? He might as well go out and have fun with Cai Fu!
Furthermore, Fang Jie was self-aware enough to know that he wasn't suited to be a saint, but rather a fierce general.

Fang Tianding looked helplessly at Cai Fu:
Comrade, what do you suggest we do about this?
"This matter is of great importance, and it is not appropriate for me, as a prince consort, to participate in the discussion. You can inform me when you have reached a conclusion."

Cai Fu decisively got up and left to avoid giving others grounds for accusations of interference in politics by relatives of the emperor.

After coming out, Cai Fu strolled around the Imperial Garden. As he strolled, he saw the bald Taoist priest walking towards him.

Cai Fu stared intently at the bald Taoist priest, whose eyes were sunken, cheeks were sunken, and he had a large hooked nose!

It looks like a vulture that has come to life!

The bald Taoist priest and Gongsun Sheng looked very different. Gongsun Sheng looked like a sage, while the bald Taoist priest exuded a faint aura of bloodlust.
He rushed over and bumped right into Cai Fu.

Cai Fu didn't recognize him, but for some reason he felt that this guy wasn't a good person, so he couldn't help but take another look at him.

The bald Taoist priest didn't recognize Cai Fu either. He glanced at Cai Fu with his hawk-like eyes and walked past him.

Cai Fu didn't stop and strode over. The bald Taoist priest took a few steps and suddenly exclaimed.

He knew his own cultivation level; an ordinary person would either shiver or faint at the slightest glance from him.

Cai Fu simply walked past, as if he had merely glanced at him and encountered a passerby.

The bald Taoist priest frowned, did some calculations with his fingers, and then spat out a mouthful of blood.

"puff--"

Cai Fu had walked about fifty paces when he suddenly heard a commotion behind him, and a eunuch was shouting in a shrill voice:

"Something terrible has happened—the Celestial Master Lingying has vomited blood!"

The Celestial Master of Spiritual Response?

Cai Fu had already guessed the identity of this bald Taoist priest. Wasn't this Bao Daoyi, the Spiritual Response Celestial Master of the Southern Kingdom?

The Southern Kingdom is quite unique; the national advisors of the other three kingdoms all possess magical abilities, but the national advisor of the Southern Kingdom is the only one who does not.

The one who knows magic is this Spiritual Master Bao Daoyi.

Cai Fu now knew why he disliked this guy; it was this guy who had severed Wu Song's arm with a flying sword!
Moreover, Gongsun Sheng, Qiao Daoqing, Fan Rui, and Ma Ling all adhered to the unspoken rule of not using magic to kill mortals.

Bao Daoyi, however, would always use his sorcery to harm people whenever they clashed!
The consequence of not following the unspoken rules was that, in the original story, Bao Daoyi was killed by Ling Zhen's "Thunderbolt" cannon.

Gongsun Sheng, Qiao Daoqing, Fan Rui, and Ma Ling, who abided by the unspoken rules, all managed to escape unscathed in the end.

That said, I wonder what's wrong with Bao Daoyi. Why did he suddenly start vomiting blood?

Luckily, I wasn't next to Bao Daoyi, otherwise I would have been a victim of a staged accident!
Cai Fu went out for a stroll and happened to run into a group of young palace maids chasing butterflies in the Imperial Garden.

A group of young palace maids, exhausted and panting heavily, failed to catch a single butterfly.

How difficult is this?

With a clang, Cai Fu drew his sword and swiftly slashed twice before catching the butterfly.

The butterfly's two beautiful wings fluttered down, and Cai Fu caught only the bare stem in his hand.

"Na!"

Cai Fu placed the butterfly in the hand of a young palace maid, then left without a trace, concealing his merit and fame.

Komiya’s daughter: Σ(｀д′*ノ)ノ

……

When Cai Fu was invited back to Fang Tianding's palace, Fang Tianding had already made a decision that went against his ancestors' wishes.

Fang Jie spoke on his behalf: "Brother-in-law, the Crown Prince has decided to abdicate in favor of the Princess."

"what?"

Cai Fu looked at Fang Jinzhi with a bewildered expression, then at Fang Tianding:
"Has it been decided?"

Fang Tianding nodded with tears in his eyes.

This is a compromise; he only has one sister, so it's best to keep the benefits within the family.

Moreover, he and his sister had agreed that when he had a son in the future, Fang Jinzhi would pass the position to his son.

Since muteness isn't hereditary, he only needs to wait a dozen years for the throne to return.

"...That's fine."

Cai Fu thought about it and agreed.

Fang Tianding is mute and can't take the job, and Fang Jie has reservations and doesn't want to take it, so only Fang Jinzhi can take it.

Surely it can't be me, the prince consort, who takes the position?
However, his own status and position also rose accordingly. If Fang Jinzhi became the Empress of the Southern Kingdom, what would he be?
"The Duke of Zhenguo!"

Fang Jie is once again endorsing Fang Tianding:

“Brother-in-law, you will be the Duke of Zhenguo, on par with me, the Duke of Anguo.”

Cai Fu had no objection to this, and was even completely unmoved, as it was just a nominal position.

"It's not a nominal position."

Seemingly knowing what Cai Fu was thinking, Fang Jie added:
"The eight prefectures of the South include Muzhou, where Qingxi Bangyuan Cave is located, Hangzhou, the capital of the Prince of Nan'an, and my Shezhou."

"You may choose any one of the other five prefectures—Suzhou, Changzhou, Huzhou, Xuanzhou, and Runzhou—as your fief."

Cai Fu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Let's go with Runzhou then."

Runzhou?

Fang Tianding secretly breathed a sigh of relief; he was really afraid that Cai Fu would choose Suzhou.

Because Suzhou was the most prosperous city in the southern region besides Hangzhou, otherwise Fang La would not have granted Suzhou to Fang Mao. Moreover, the five generals Liu Yun, Zhang Wei, Xu Fang, Gou Zheng, and Wu Fu were originally stationed in Suzhou.

If Cai Fu had chosen Suzhou, he could have inherited Fang Mao's legacy in its entirety.

This was clearly something Fang Tianding didn't want to see, since he still planned to take back the throne in the next generation.

Fang Jinzhi, who had remained silent all along, couldn't help but suggest something to Cai Fu:

"Suzhou is currently undefended; why doesn't the prince consort choose Suzhou?"

What does it mean to say that a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl?
What does it mean to turn your elbow against someone else?
Fang Tianding was annoyed. She wasn't even married yet, and she was already siding with her husband?
Cai Fu smiled and glanced at Fang Jinzhi, then said:
"Runzhou is the closest to Liangshanbo, making it convenient to travel to and from."

"Besides, I can also defend you against the government troops in Runzhou."

Well……

Fang Jinzhi felt a warm glow in her heart. She never expected that Cai Fu chose Runzhou to protect her!

As for the claim that Runzhou was closest to Liangshan Marsh, those were just excuses, and Fang Jinzhi didn't take them to heart at all.

My beloved son-in-law...

Fang Jinzhi stole a glance at Cai Fu, her beautiful face adorned with sparkling eyes!
Fang Tianding and Fang Jie felt for a moment as if their mouths were stuffed with something only a dog would eat...

"By the way, I just ran into a bald Taoist priest."

Cai Fu asked casually, "Who is he?"

"Oh, he is the Celestial Master Bao Daoyi!"

Fang Jie is still the spokesperson for Fang Tianding:

"Master Bao was in seclusion for cultivation before, and he only came out of seclusion today."

"Upon learning of the passing of the Holy Duke, Master Bao hurriedly entered the palace to ask us for clarification."

"But for some unknown reason, he coughed up blood and collapsed in the Imperial Garden, nearly going into a state of demonic possession."

"He has now been sent back to his Taoist temple..."

Cai Fu subtly sowed discord between Bao Daoyi and Bao Daoyi:
"The timing of Master Bao's seclusion is quite coincidental."

Fang Jie didn't think much of it: "I heard that Master Bao went into seclusion for forty-nine days and just happened to miss this matter."

Perhaps because he was mute and couldn't speak, Fang Tianding had more thoughts:

Right!

Why did Bao Tianshi's seclusion coincide with the fact that it missed both my father's death and Fang Mao's coup?
Is this a distortion of human nature, a decline in morality, or is it just a coincidence that Master Bao was in seclusion?
How could such a coincidence happen?

Cai Fu knew from Bao Daoyi's recent collapse and spitting out blood that he must be a fortune teller.

Moreover, Bao Daoyi's reaction was so strong, his cultivation level must be quite high, and he must have touched upon the laws of transmigration!
The laws of transmigration are above the laws of Heaven; it would be strange if Bao Daoyi didn't cough up blood and faint!

So here's the question: Can Bao Daoyi be considered Cai Fu, but not Fang La? And not Fang Mao?

However, Cai Fu could roughly guess Bao Daoyi's line of thinking:

I just want to be the Heavenly Master, and I don't care who the Holy Master is!
But he was wrong. Bao Daoyi, pale-faced, lay on the stretcher, thinking:
I foresaw the impending chaos in the Southern Kingdom, and thought I had escaped it, but why is it still so shrouded in uncertainty...?

Weird! Weird!

……

The Empress ascended the throne amidst the deafening sound of gongs and drums, the crackling of firecrackers, the fluttering of red flags, and a sea of ​​people!

That scene was quite grand. The last time it was this lively was when Fang Mao beheaded Fang Tianding at the crossroads!

Cai Fu, as the Duke of Zhenguo, and Fang Jie, the Duke of Anguo, stood side by side, chatting as they went through the formalities.

"Brother-in-law, I won't go back to Liangshanbo with you after the Empress ascends the throne."

Fang Jie whispered to Cai Fu, "My sister is, after all, a woman."

“You guard the north gate for her, and I will guard the west gate for her.”

Cai Fu had seen the map; Runzhou was in the northernmost part of the South, and Shezhou was in the westernmost part.

Moreover, Shezhou is right next to Qingxi Bangyuan Cave, so if anything happens, Fang Jie will be the first to come to the rescue.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother Jie."

Cai Fu chuckled: "I'll have your apprentice come find you himself later."

Cai Fu was referring to Lü Fang. Fang Jie nodded and said, "Okay." He then added:
"Brother-in-law, your Runzhou is located on the Yangtze River, which is of utmost importance!"

"Although we have natural defenses, we must still be careful lest the imperial court seize our home!"

Cai Fu: "I understand."

After Fang Jinzhi finished offering sacrifices to Heaven and moved to the Golden Hall, Cai Fu met Deng Yuanjue and chatted with him for a while.

"That beast Fang Mao!"

Deng Yuanjue gets very angry when Fang Mao is mentioned:

"He invited us to dinner, but little did we know it was a trap!"
"He arrested me, General Li, and General Si, and falsely issued an imperial edict ordering the entire Hangzhou army to stand by!"
"It's a pity that this beast has already had his head chopped off by the Duke of Zhenguo, otherwise I would have taught him a lesson by giving him three hundred blows with my staff!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Zhishen exclaimed, "Brother, you're right!"

"He ate three hundred of your staffs, and now he'll eat three hundred of my staffs!"

Cai Fu: "..."

In the Golden Hall of Bangyuan Cave, Fang Jinzhi, supported by two palace maids, stepped onto the steps and sat on the dragon throne.

Apart from Fang Tianding, Fang Jie, and Cai Fu, all the civil and military officials bowed and kowtowed three times to Fang Jinzhi.

Such a large scene made Fang Jinzhi flustered, and she subconsciously looked at Cai Fu...

[Don't worry, there's more to come~ Cai Daowang finally has territory, let's send our monthly tickets and recommendation votes first~]

(End of this chapter)