Frost for a Thousand Years

Chapter 249 The Scoundrel Emperor
The study in the Situ residence.

"Child's play, utterly child's play!"

Slamming his fist on the table, Sun Situ immediately flew into a rage: "Are you trying to fool people like three-year-olds? Is there no manners at all?!"

Sun Heng, who was standing timidly to the side, asked in a low voice, "Then is it certain that this matter will be approved?"

“Nonsense,” Sun Situ said. “He himself said he wouldn’t let Song Shi’an come back, so he created this excuse, making the King of Wu and the King of Zhongshan kneel at the palace gate for a night in a pretense, and then hastily changed the matter.”

Sun Situ actually used the highly disrespectful word "he" when referring to the emperor.

Sun Heng didn't dare to listen.

However, since we were at home and the roof beams had been checked and no Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards) had been found, there was no need to be overly nervous.

He still didn't quite understand why his father was so certain.
It must have been the emperor who changed his mind and had the King of Wu put on a show, rather than the King of Wu and the King of Zhongshan strongly recommending him, forcing him to change his mind?
"Don't you understand yet?" Sun Situ glared at him and asked.

"Please, please instruct me, Father." Sun Heng lowered his head and honestly asked for guidance.

Then, Sun Situ explained to him word by word: "Kang Xun's proposal is exactly what he wanted. Because he knows that the King of Wu cannot control Song Shi'an. So, he simply lets Song Shi'an stay in Northern Yan, and then establishes the King of Wu as the crown prince. The father and son have already discussed it. Our initiative to withdraw and implement the military-agricultural system is also a tacit understanding with him. Do you understand? There are no secrets in Great Yu, and there are no secrets in the world!"

Only interests matter.

When looking at history, never assume that ancient imperial power was supreme.

Emperor Chongzhen couldn't even come up with tens of thousands of taels of silver for military pay, but when Beijing fell and Li Zicheng entered the capital to confiscate property, he casually handed over 70 million taels of silver.

Did Emperor Chongzhen not know to confiscate property when he was broke?
If the rebel leader could confiscate property, why couldn't he?
No.

Because the rebel leader didn't plunder the property of his own subjects.

The country was on the verge of collapse, so why didn't the Ming Dynasty officials take the initiative to donate money to resist the enemy? Weren't they just waiting to have their homes ransacked by Li Zicheng?
Because those ministers never thought that if the country fell, they would also suffer.

It was Li Zicheng who broke the rules of the game.

Therefore, Li Zicheng lost because Ming officials preferred to surrender to the Qing rather than to Li Zicheng.

Similarly, the current Emperor of the Great Yu Dynasty is also eroding the valuable public trust he enjoys among the powerful and noble families.

"Then what should we do? Is there any room for maneuver?" Sun Heng asked.

“Two kings pleaded for Song Shi’an. Who would dare to disagree at this time?” Sun Situ retorted. “They could speak up before because the emperor had spoken up, so they could follow suit.”

That's truly shameless.

“Then we have a reason not to cooperate with the land reclamation…” Sun Heng said.

“Of course we won’t cooperate. He doesn’t keep his word, so what right do we have to be trustworthy?” Sun Situ said with disgust. “But the key issue is that the emperor said he wanted to abolish that sword, so we helped him. But now, he’s not going to abolish it. So who will this sword point its blade at? Naturally, it will be us who jump out and say we want to melt it down.”

"Father, he can't touch the Sun family of Yangzhou, can he..."

“Of course,” Sun Situ countered. “But what about the others? They charged ahead to remove Song Shi’an, arguing their case in court. Now that Song Shi’an has returned with a murderous aura, shouldn’t they be made an example of to deter others?”

"Then let's give up those..."

"Even you know we're going to give up." Sun Situ laughed in exasperation. "What will they do?"

"To survive, one must sever the tail..."

Sun Heng understood.

Let's bleed a little, and this will be over.

"Fortunately, Chen Kefu wanted to back down back then, but Song Shi'an didn't give him a friendly face, so those people wouldn't surrender so quickly," Sun Situ said. "Song Shi'an is determined to be a lone minister."

“Then the King of Wu will surely come, and the King of Zhongshan will also gain power. Won’t our lives be difficult?” Sun Heng asked.

“A new emperor brings a new court. The emperor always needs to employ people. Without the Sun family in the court, the Great Yu cannot be considered a complete Great Yu.”

Sun Situ sighed, then said solemnly, "What the world has seen this time is that Song Shi'an is really hard to touch. That's the most crucial thing."

.........

"Father, because the two princes knelt and prayed all night, His Majesty has issued an edict refusing the Prince of Yan's request to become prime minister. Song Shi'an is coming back," reported Wu Qiong, the youngest son of the Duke of Li.

Upon hearing this, the Duke of Li, seated in his grand chair, remained remarkably calm.

After all, he had guessed it after hearing that the King of Wu had knelt down.

Yes, the King of Wu played the good guy in court and said some things.

But that's enough; there's no need to go to such lengths to pretend.

After all, he was the future crown prince. The King of Wu knelt all night, but the emperor didn't give him any face, so there would inevitably be some gossip.

Now that the King of Wu knelt for a whole night and the emperor changed his mind, doesn't that further demonstrate how much face they have?
This can be seen as a prelude to a rescue effort.

"What do you think?" asked the Duke of Li.

Wu Qiong speculated, "Zuo Ziliang, as a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was clearly sent to supervise Song Shi'an. Yet he returned alone, and then the emperor changed his mind. Something must have happened in Yan. Or perhaps, Song Shi'an used some method to change His Majesty's mind."

"What method do you think is best?" Duke Li asked again.

"This..." Wu Qiong pondered for a moment before saying, "Since he was going to supervise Song Shi'an, why did he dare to abandon his post and return from Yan? Could it be that Song Shi'an was really under house arrest? Or... was he bribed by Song Shi'an?"

"How could the Embroidered Uniform Guard be bribed?" Duke Li laughed. "But if people's hearts are won over, then it can be considered a bribe."

“Then I don’t know about my son.” Wu Qiong shook her head.

"To be able to guess it all, you must be a prodigy," the Duke of Li joked. "But your way of thinking is correct."

"What exactly did Zuo Ziliang say..." Wu Qiong frowned.

"Father doesn't know either, but Father can tell you what Zuo Ziliang went to Northern Yan to supervise," said Li Guogong.

"Why is he being supervised?" "Song Shi'an embezzled 20,000 taels of gold from the national treasury to go on a mission to the Yan Kingdom. If he fails, he will commit suicide," said Li Guogong.

"Twenty thousand taels of gold?!" Wu Qiong was dumbfounded. "What does he want to do with so much money?"

"I heard this from His Majesty in the palace." The Duke of Li slowly stood up. "Spread the word that Song Shi'an took 20,000 taels of gold with him on his mission."

"Isn't this top secret? If it's leaked like this..." Wu Qiong said with some worry, "Won't His Majesty be angry?"

"With 20,000 taels of gold out of the treasury, how could the treasury official not know? How could the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat not know? Such a big matter, how could the King of Wu not know? How could the King of Zhongshan not know?"

"But they should all keep it a secret... otherwise they wouldn't have kept it all out."

"That's what I told everyone."

The Duke of Li did not care.

His son, Wu Qiong, also understood: there was a high probability that the Duke would reveal this matter, but why not suspect others?
He wanted to demonstrate against His Majesty.

Song Shi'an has been elevated far too high.

The feelings of the nobles of Qinzhou were hurt.

The officials who had worked together to prevent Song Shi'an from returning to the country also turned into clowns.

"Your Majesty has gone too far," the Duke of Li said gravely. "Although, he is also in a difficult position."

.........

Prince Jin was in a very heavy mood in his palace.

Because he knew that he was getting further and further away from becoming the crown prince.

The kneeling he made the night before, and the emperor's agreement to his and Wei Wusheng's request the next day, meant that he had completely lost.

If he wants to win again, he can only do so by seizing power and staging a coup.

Originally, he was only one step away from victory.

However, he did not think that his strategy was flawed.

That's what he thinks now.

Everything is strange, because of that one 'variable'.

If it weren't for Song Shi'an's appearance, I would have become the crown prince long ago, given my diligence and caution.

Because he understood the emperor very well.

This twisted and perverted man claims he wants his child to be wise and intelligent, but when the child becomes too intelligent, he becomes unhappy.

Fifth brother, he died because he was too clever.

Big brother, wasn't it him who forced the crown prince, who was clearly a qualified prince and respected by all his brothers, to his death?

The King of Jin harbored resentment.

Hatred for the emperor.

After suppressing his feelings for so many years, he finally stopped lying to himself.

If he was a good emperor, why did he fail so badly in choosing his successor?
Just as Prince Jin was sitting solemnly in the pavilion, Wei Yiyuan arrived and excitedly said, "Second Brother, good news!"

However, he did not speak, seemingly unconcerned.

So Wei Yiyuan simply said, "I don't know where this news about Song Shi'an's mission came from. It's said that he spent 20,000 taels of gold!"

Despite such a bombshell statement, the Prince of Jin remained completely unmoved.

This left Wei Yiyuan completely bewildered, and he could only continue, "That's 20,000 gold coins! That means he must have a mission. If he fails to complete this mission, we can use his waste of the national treasury's gold to put him to death! Even if he succeeds, the world will be furious when they know he was sent gold to a small country. His reputation will suffer a great deal."

Having come this far, the Prince of Jin finally spoke.

but,

"He will use this money well, leaving no room for criticism."

"Then...then we should attack him from this angle."

"He is definitely prepared to succeed even if he is attacked on this matter."

"Second brother, what's wrong!"

Wei Yiyuan was dumbfounded. How did his second brother suddenly turn into a defeatist prince?

Is this because they were defeated by Song Shi'an and completely lost their confidence?

They even said that Song Shi'an was invincible?
Is our Prince Jin faction doomed?
"That doesn't matter anymore."

The King of Jin looked at Wei Yiyuan and calmly asked, "Do you think Wei Wusheng and the King of Wu will reconcile and be completely at peace?"

"Of course not."

Wei Yiyuan witnessed his good second brother tricking his fourth brother in the imperial court that day.

Even brothers have to break ties over this kind of thing.

“Furthermore,” the Prince of Jin said, gazing at him, “Wusheng also hates Your Majesty.”

"also?"

Upon noticing this phrase, Wei Yiyuan realized that the Prince of Jin today was truly terrifying.

(End of this chapter)