Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 185 The Mad Dance of Traitors

October of the third year of the Tianyou calendar. In the past six months, four mid-level sects have already been swallowed up. In addition, the sect leaders of six other sects have also foreseen their inevitable demise and are making preparations to relocate their lineages.

The old sect leaders began to select promising disciples, allowing them to leave with the sect's scriptures, while they themselves remained at the mountain gate to guard it in its final moments.

For example, when the disciples of the Wangheng Sect cried and begged their master to leave with them, the sect leader and elders of the Wangheng Sect used their whisks to send these disciples down the mountain. And a leisurely voice whispered in the ears of these disciples: "Go into the world, for in the great calamity, the only chance of survival lies in the mortal world."

This sect leader knew that he and his followers were the last remaining objects of the sect's destiny; if they harbored any intention to leave, the mountains and rivers surrounding the sect would immediately break apart and fly away! Only by being determined to die and vowing to stay in the mountains could they delay the sect's fate of being devoured by the evil demons from beyond the heavens!

As the pillars of the immortal sects, they might regard the common people as worthless, but they still retain a last shred of affection for their own lineage. They are loyal to their masters, care for their disciples, and help each other among their fellow disciples. In this great calamity, they revealed their last true feelings to the people they trusted most on the path of immortality.

Thus, the sects of Wangheng Sect and others were destroyed, and their disciples were forced to enter the mortal world to find a wise ruler to assist them. Obviously, due to the entanglement of "immortal feelings", the military leader of the Wu family was clearly not within the scope of a wise ruler.

…System: A humane troublemaker…

The Great Yao, the Divine Capital. Only three years have passed since the beginning of the Heavenly Blessing Calendar, and natural and man-made disasters have been relentless, all reflecting one thing: "The ruler has lost his virtue, hence the interaction between Heaven and man."

Many factions within the court began to express their dissatisfaction with Emperor Ling's neglect of state affairs. On October 4th, Emperor Ling was forced to attend court, and immediately the Director of Astronomy submitted a memorial requesting, "Your Majesty, you should perform the Fengshan ceremony for the mountains and rivers to stabilize the land!" The Director of Astronomy was not a powerful official position, but in this time of unpredictable fortune, the court officials responded in unison.

Note: This operation allows the Great Emperor to anchor the land and its people with his "mandate of heaven".

Clearly, the Immortal Sect has been exposed, causing headaches for the powerful families with intricate connections to it. These families and clans across the land need His Majesty the Great Yao to protect their homelands and the deities they worship.

The current devastation is irreversible, but with the sacred mountain in my hometown now protected, I can rest easy. (The idea is to only reinforce the dikes in my own area after the flood peak has passed.)

As for Emperor Ling's own declining fortune and shortened lifespan? Nobody cares. In fact, the powerful families now hope that Emperor Ling will just die and that a new successor will take the throne.

Emperor Ling was in a panic when he was forced to abdicate. Just as he was frantically summoning Su Wang, Consort Li gave him some advice.

Emperor Ling dispatched a eunuch to inform the officials who requested the Fengshan ceremony: the Fengshan ceremony for the mountains and rivers should be performed in an orderly manner, and the officials are requested to compile a list.

As soon as the imperial decree was issued, the once united ministers began to quarrel among themselves.

After the courtiers had left, Suwang rushed over to apologize, saying, "Your Majesty, I am late in coming to your aid."

Emperor Ling looked at him and said, "If you're late again next time, you don't need to come."

After Suwang left, a hint of ruthlessness appeared in his eyes. As a close and important minister who had fallen out of favor with Emperor Ling, the thought of changing the throne began to stir within him.

Suwang: Let me help Your Majesty accomplish a few more things.

A butterfly fluttered past the top of the wall...

The Yao Du, Su Wang blocked the head of the Heavenly Minister of the world, Mo Yan.

Looking at the black-clad assassins swarming around him, Mo Yan turned to Su Wang and said, "It seems the rumors are true. You have deceived His Majesty, intending to—"

Suwang didn't give him a chance to continue; his wooden puppet pierced through the air, breaking through the four spirit attendants summoned by the Astrologer, and then pierced his opponent with a short spear. At the same time, he said to him in a tone of "what a pity," "You asked His Majesty to perform the Fengshan ceremony, so be it. Why did you have to bewitch the court officials?"

Mo Yan coughed up blood and cursed, "Those who do many evil deeds will surely perish! What you have done today will surely bring retribution in the future!" (The blood choked his throat, and he could no longer shout.)
Suwang watched the Astrologer die, and after a long while, he suddenly flew into a rage: "What I did? Who was I doing this for? Hahahaha!"

Suwang's alliance with Consort Li to support Prince Ji ultimately benefited others; yet he too bore the brunt of it all, manipulated like a puppet. Just like the many puppets within the "Missing One" technique he acquired, it was truly a retribution of fate.

…The shadows on the wall began to dance wildly…

The death of Si Tiancheng Mo Yan caused a great uproar in the court.

Mo Yan was not a loyal minister. His so-called advice to Emperor Ling to perform the Fengshan ceremony was a terrible idea. However, his words were meant to protect the interests of powerful clans, so he was now being hailed as a loyal minister.

In the capital, respectable officials would bring swords to court and have their servants wear armor outside their homes; this presumptuous manner was a form of protest against Suwang and Emperor Ling.

All the officials in charge of astronomy now understand that Emperor Ling is not fully integrated with the Mandate of Heaven. By having Emperor Ling perform the Fengshan ceremony, using the Mandate of Heaven to guarantee the fame of those mountains and rivers "where immortals dwell," they are actually protecting the powerful clans of Da Yao who are backed by these sacred mountains. With these famous mountains guaranteed by the Mandate of Heaven, the feng shui and fortune of these powerful clans are also stabilized. As for the Mandate of Heaven being shaken as a result?
These powerful families are now secretly mobilizing their clan resources to cultivate local militias, preparing for survival in the chaotic times. This is similar to the collapse of the imperial army after the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when local militias were established across the country.

The hearts of the powerful families have already flown beyond the court; how could they possibly be loyal to the court?

The ministers said: "Although Mo Yan is a scoundrel, he cannot die. Mo Yan's existence guarantees the last remaining obedience of the local powerful families to the Great Yao Royal Court."

What is power? It is when others ask something of you. Power is linked to responsibility, but power does not mean that responsibility must be fully fulfilled; those who abuse power often only fulfill a portion of their responsibilities, ensuring that those who ask for their help do not give up, thereby securing their power.

Emperor Ling's mandate of heaven is currently insufficient to perform the Fengshan ceremony at dozens of famous mountains. However, by maintaining the desire to perform the Fengshan ceremony, he can ensure that local powerful families continue to center their influence around the imperial court, thus consolidating the court's already limited authority.

It is worth mentioning that, since Emperor Ling has been living in the inner palace for a long time, the matter of "conquest" is no longer discussed in the Great Court. Local powerful families have been secretly discussing cooperation plans with the governors of their respective regions to protect their territories and ensure the safety of their people.

The imperial court has lost its military power to control the world; the only power the Great Court now has left is the right to offer sacrifices to Heaven and bestow famous artifacts upon various regions.

Mo Yan was the agent for various aristocratic families to demand famous artifacts from the imperial court.

And now, the representative who spoke for the powerful families has died in the capital? This is a very serious matter. This is the eunuchs of the inner palace declaring war on the powerful families.

The powerful families, who were originally arguing about how to divide up the last bit of prestige in the Yaoshi Palace, now simply stopped talking when faced with the table being overturned.

...chaotic times...

On October 10th of the 3rd year of the Tianyou calendar, when the various states of Heluo were trampled by armies from all sides, the spiritual veins of the immortal mountains in various places were about to be cut off; a large number of sect disciples, who were already of mixed quality, began to spread rumors and mislead the public, and a large number of refugees fled into the mountains to become bandits, and the world was about to descend into chaos.

Taxes began to decrease in various regions, and the conflicts converged at the top. Court officials began to be dissatisfied with the eunuchs who served Emperor Ling, and thus a more intense court struggle began.

On October 15, ten ministers in the court attempted to send assassins to kill Suwang, but Suwang discovered their plot. The ten ministers were executed by being cut in half at the waist and their bodies displayed in the marketplace. However, when Suwang was about to exterminate their entire families, the ministers' relatives had already fled.

Then came the rumor that the Yu family, who were guarding the southeast, had sheltered these court officials. The court then sent people to urge the Yu family, but unexpectedly, the Yu family general directly admitted it and then claimed: "This is a treacherous official persecuting loyal people."

As a result, Suwang became enraged and declared the southeastern Yuzhou a rebellion. However, Caizhou happened to be close to the imperial court, and after the governor of Caizhou established good relations with the surrounding prefectures, he immediately marched to the aid of the emperor.

Upon learning of this, Xuan Chong consulted historical records and remarked: From a military strategic perspective, those who directly challenged the old power center under the guise of loyalist rule were often not the most militarily powerful forces at the time, but rather the groups closest to the center of hegemony. Because of their geographical proximity, a backlash was easier to inflict. This was because, while researching, Xuan Chong inexplicably stumbled upon 22nd-century documents that were completely absent from his previous life.

That is, after the confrontation in the Pacific Ocean and the decline of the Bald Eagle, the first thing to kill it was not its opponent across the ocean, but the Latin-speaking people to the south.

After determining the possible historical trajectory, Xuan Chong immediately envisioned the development of the "situation map" of the Great Yao World.

In the chaos of the first wave of the struggle for supremacy, those lords who could reach Yaodu in three days would be passively drawn into this mess.

Once these feudal lords have exhausted their strength, and before the lineage of Emperor Ling of Da Yao is severed by accident, it will be the more powerful warlords from the outer periphery who will take the stage.

"The next ten years, twenty years..." Xuan Chong pondered, his gaze involuntarily fixed on the northeast corner. His elder brother, Wu Hengyu, was over there; wouldn't he lose his temper and launch a preemptive strike?

…giving my good brother a final boost…

At the end of the third year of the Tianyou calendar, heavy snow fell in the north. Wu Hengyu was in Bo County adapting to the local climate. He was suffering from headaches due to being away from home.

Just then, "special products" arrived from their hometown in the south. The deliverymen were members of the Wu family, not members of the Shui faction, which clearly indicated that they did not trust outsiders.

Wu Hengyu was very curious about what Wu Fei had brought. He glanced at Xuan Chong's handwritten letter and suddenly sat up.

Xuan Chong delivered the heir of the Prince of Bo. Upon arrival, the sixteen-year-old boy, after a timid glance, secretly observed the generals of the former Dongshi army—but no one noticed at the moment.

After Emperor Xu pacified Xingzhou, he enfeoffed the son of the Prince of Bo as the "Prince of Xusi" in Lingnan. (Chapter 140)
Emperor Xu believed that the Bo King's lineage might never be able to return.

But Emperor Shu never expected that he would not be able to peacefully hand over power. Of course, he also never expected that Emperor Ling, who could be called a wise king during his reign, would become so tightly bound to a group of sycophantic eunuchs after ascending the throne that he was forced to become incompetent.

Wu Hengyu was well aware of the true value of the gift that "Wu Fei" had sent. If it were exposed to the world, "Wu Fei" would be guilty of treason, a serious crime.

Of course, Wu Hengyu wouldn't be foolish enough to say that "Prince Xu Si" was sent by Wu Fei.

Wu Fei was also afraid that he would "not think things through," so he directly stated in the letter that Prince Xu Si had escaped from his own command.

In Huangyu City, Wu Hengyu leaned against the tiger-skin backrest, looking at the secret letters sent by various feudal lords on the table. These letters invited Wu Hengyu to join them in entering the capital to defend the emperor and punish the rebels.

The owners of these letters even belittled other feudal lords. They also promised Wu Hengyu that once the matter was accomplished, he would share the power in the court with his brothers. Clearly, the power in Wu Hengyu's hands was highly coveted by the various feudal lords. Once they entered the capital, they could manipulate the deposition and installation of emperors and firmly suppress all sides.

Wu Hengyu had this intention before Xuan Chong's gift arrived.

After all, his soldiers, whether from the Yaodu faction or the non-family members he brought with him, were all very opportunistic. If they had the chance to return to the capital, they would not let it go.

Now that he has secured the Bo King's lineage, everything has stabilized. The Bo King's fiefdom is in Bo, and although it has suffered many hardships, it still retains a large number of old subordinates. While these old officials will not be loyal to King Xu Si, they will tend to use the claim of the "Bo King's" lineage to challenge the supreme power of Da Yao.

In the first phase of the power struggle among ambitious figures, they wouldn't rush to purge the imperial heirs of the dynasty, but rather treat the imperial heirs as "property deeds" to declare legitimacy. The previous unrest under Wu Hengyu's command was due to the long-term warfare in the Bo region, which meant there were basically no maternal relatives closely connected with the emperor's sons.

Therefore, although Bohai had a strong army, it couldn't seize property certificates. It had to cooperate with other regional lords.

Xuan Chong has now delivered the property certificate most suitable for Wu Hengyu's forces; there are legal issues surrounding Emperor Ling's ascension to the throne. The Bowang lineage can be said to have extremely high "legitimacy."

Of course, if this card were revealed prematurely, it would arouse suspicion from all sides. Wu Hengyu only confided this matter to a few of his most trusted confidants.

…The gears of power are turning…

After discussing with the people in the inner group, Wu Hengyu returned to his home in a secret room, grabbed Wu Hong's hand and asked, "He's in the south, and I heard he's fallen out with my sect."

Wu Hong was embarrassed because Wu Hengyu was also from the Qinghua Sect, so he repeatedly explained to Xuan Chong: "My master had no choice but to do this for the sake of all living beings."

Wu Hengyu stared at him, sighed, and said to the Wu family scion, "Go back and tell him to take care of himself."

Wu Hengyu roughly guessed why Wu Fei had sent over such a good card: because Wu Fei couldn't use it.

Wu Hong replied, "General Yu, the Lord of War said that he may never be able to travel north again in his life; you are different from him, you have ambitions for all corners of the world, and you are bound to do great things in this world!"

Wu Hengyu's hand clenched slightly! He clearly understood that Wu Fei was drawing a line between them, ensuring that the Wu family's offense against the sects in the west wouldn't affect Wu Hengyu's business ventures here. However, this separation saddened Wu Hengyu. In just a few short years, his father had died, and his beloved younger brother (Wu Fei) was trapped in the south.

At this time, Wu Hengyu was not angry that Wu Fei had taken the position of the head of the family after returning home.

Yu Li had advised him that if Wu Fei went back to take over Wu Hanluan's affairs, he would inevitably fall out with all the sects in the world.

As expected, within the past six months, they have directly offended all the major sects in the world. In order to protect the Wu family's foundation in Zhendi, they have caused many self-proclaimed righteous sects to suffer such a great loss.

Wu Hengyu looked at Wu Hong, waiting for him to say something else.

After hesitating for a moment, Wu Hong said, "The Lord of War said that you are blessed with divine courage, but fate is unpredictable; if one day you suffer a great calamity in battle, do not charge forward recklessly, but go home and start anew." (Wu Hengyu was too arrogant; the phrase "total annihilation" could not be used.)
Upon hearing this, Wu Hengyu laughed heartily, then patted the trembling Wu Hong and said, "Tell him that if I ever ascend the Golden Terrace and hold a banquet, I will reserve a seat for him."

At the end of the third year of the Tianyou calendar, Zhao Cheng was appointed Grand General of the Hao Kingdom, and was allowed to wear a sword and shoes in the palace. He did two things internally.

First, she betrothed her four-year-old daughter to the eight-year-old new king, thus securing control over the succession to the throne.

Second: He screened the officials who came from the east and selected outstanding individuals from their clansmen to join the army, thus settling the distribution of military merits centered on himself.

If it weren't for Pu'e's sake, he would have gone even further and asked the new ruler of Hao Kingdom to grant him the title of Duke.

Zhao Cheng also left behind forces in the court to guard against Pu E; in his previous life, he died at the hands of a woman with a bamboo weapon, but in this life he has come to understand that he will not underestimate women.

In the bronze hall, after arranging things for his old tax subordinates, Zhao Cheng began to send people to reorganize important tax collection, grain storage, and civil administration.

In the Arctic, Pu'e looked at Zhao Cheng, whose loyalty had dropped to less than 10 percent, and sighed: "That's how the ladder of history works; when a shrewd person in one role starts to take advantage of the trust of others, then a shrewd person in another role will start to take precautions in advance based on the cases of 'dishonesty' of the predecessors."

(End of this chapter)