Frost for a Thousand Years

Chapter 272 The Cursed Dream Revealed
After giving his report and stating the date, Song Gan left.

"Is the Duke of Li looking for me?"

Song Shi'an was still somewhat puzzled. After all, he was the head of the nobility, a respected elder, and it was clearly not in accordance with the rules for him to seek out a young man like himself.

There is an old saying that one should not insult the other party's children when the head of the household is not at home.

This indicates that the person lacks vision, disregards rules, and bullies others by abusing their power.

In other words, if the Duke of Li had any official business, he should consult with the head of the Song family.

If the Duke of Li has private matters and is in a bad mood, and wants to argue, even if it is directed at Song Shi'an, he should go to Song Jing.

It is always despicable for adults to bully children.

Therefore, if you see adults arguing and bickering with children, try to stay away from such people.

"I'm afraid they're up to no good." Song Ce's face immediately darkened, and he said very seriously, "Brother, you have made too great a contribution this time, which is indeed a threat to the nobles. There are many rumors in the city about this expedition, saying that if it fails, it won't be fought, and it's just meant to serve as a deterrent."

"How could such rumors, which are meant to demoralize the army, have spread?" Song Shi'an truly felt the decline of the dynasty at its end.

If this happened in the early days of the dynasty, when the imperial court was on a campaign, and someone said something like, "Oh dear, this battle is definitely not going to happen," they would absolutely be punished by military law and beaten to death.

It wasn't about classified information; it was purely about undermining morale and making soldiers unwilling to fight.

Although Yang Xiu's "chicken rib" incident was essentially related to the struggle for the throne and paving the way for Cao Pi, even without this incident, spreading rumors in the military camp that the army was about to withdraw without informing the commander-in-chief could still be a capital offense.

Therefore, it's really not accurate to say that Yang Xiu was particularly intelligent.

Without political acumen, all petty wisdom is nothing but castles in the air, empty and illusory.

An official without political acumen will not even know how he died.

“But the Duke of Li has always been a man of principle.” Song Jing was somewhat skeptical. “When Zhao Xiang suffered a defeat, he did not plead for him. He also never opposed the land reclamation project.”

It is true that nobles are all selfish and self-serving.

However, not everyone lacks a sense of national identity or has a narrow perspective.

At least the Duke of Li hoped that the Great Yu Dynasty could last a long time, and that at crucial moments, he could make choices and sacrifice some of the interests of the nobles.

Thinking of this, Song Jing suddenly realized something.

He saw Song Shi'an and seemed to have figured things out as well. So he asked, "What do you think?"

"The people behind him put pressure on him."

Song Shi'an said calmly.

Seeing that his elder brother and father understood, Song Ce knew that he was still young.

“Brother, let me teach you something,” Song Shi’an said to Song Ce. “There are no truly loyal ministers in the world. You can’t get anything done if you’re a loyal minister. Once you have followers, you won’t be able to control your own destiny.”

"Brother, are you a loyal subject?" Song Ce asked.

“I am a lone minister, but I can attract other lone ministers. Once we are together, there will be no more lone ministers.”

This is a fairly simple principle.

Song Shi'an's military colonization was a rebellion against the aristocratic families, but someone had to carry out the colonization. He would definitely need to find some "lone ministers" like himself to join him, which made it seem like he was not alone.

Similarly, once this is done, there is no turning back.

During the period of land reclamation, Song Shi'an was indeed the 'culprit'.

However, in practice, it is still the lower-ranking officials below the fifth rank who are actually responsible for implementing it.

They are the ones who commit all sorts of evil deeds, offend people, implement 'tyranny,' and act as cruel and inhumane officials.

Song Shi'an was about to retreat; before his opponents could kill him, his men would tear him apart alive.

They wouldn't dare to be disrespectful to the Duke of Li, but if they all put pressure on him to uphold justice, this noble leader would have no choice but to do something.

Apart from tyrants, no one can have absolute authority and do whatever they want.

But the price of being a tyrant is the fall of a nation.

Choose for yourself.

“Brother, I understand,” Song Ce said.

"Now that you understand, do you know what to do?" Song Jing asked Song Ce, as if testing him.

"Neither humble nor arrogant, never back down."

Song Ce gave these eight words.

This made Song Jing very gratified.

This shows that he fully understood the meaning of Song Shi'an's words.

Just as the Duke of Li had people pushing him along, Song Shi'an also had people pushing him along.

Now that he has taken on this huge project that no one else dares to do, Song Shi'an has no other way out but to get it done.

“I’ll go,” Song Jing said. “You’re too blunt in your speech and a bit extreme in your actions. If I’m there, he’ll at least give Duke Li some face.”

Even though the two people are still quite different in status.

Among the newly rich, Song Jing was not the most expensive.

But after all, he was a minister, and also considered a middle-aged or elderly man.

“They invited me, Father, what are you going to do?” Song Shi’an joked. “And maybe they want me to be their son-in-law.”

He paused for a moment after saying that.

Because I thought of Xinyue.

See the Duke of Li...

"Stop talking nonsense here. When will your wedding be held? Do you have any definite news?" Song Jing said unhappily.

At this point, Song Ce was eager to interject.

My brother probably doesn't know that Sun Jinhua was beaten by his father...

"I really need to think about it," Song Shi'an murmured.

After all, even the emperor was urging them to get married.

"Let's put this aside for now." Song Jing looked at the box and said with a headache, "What are we going to do with this gold?" "Just hide it in the warehouse at home." Song Shi'an said casually, then put his arm around Song Ce's arm and said with a grin, "It'll all belong to us brothers in the future."

Song Ce smiled but didn't say anything.

But Song Shi'an got excited: "When Dad has another little brother, then it will be one of the three of us brothers."

"Shut up, what nonsense are you spouting?"

Despite his verbal reprimands, Song Jing was quite pleased to see the two brothers so harmonious.

Although there may only be one patriarch in a noble family, the struggle between brothers in ancient times was not limited to the royal family.

The fact that Song Shi'an could be so open and honest in the face of these four daughters shows how generous he is.

Yet he could be so open and honest even when faced with these four daughters…

This kid's ambition is worrying.

.........

After the emperor finished giving his instructions, the eunuch on duty in Xuanyu Hall was replaced by Eunuch Xi.

Chen Bao, on the other hand, returned to the Palace Administration Office, also known as the Imperial Household Department.

As soon as he sat down in his armchair, a young eunuch came over and handed him tea, saying with a grin, "Godfather."

The tea was served at the perfect temperature.

Just like serving the emperor, it had long become a habit, and there would be no mistakes.

He is the emperor here.

As soon as he stepped across the threshold, someone rushed to heat up some tea. The tea was ready just as he sat down and was handed to him.

It can be said that, apart from women, he has everything a man could want.

This is the pinnacle of eunuchhood.

"Father-in-law, is this tea not to your liking?" Suddenly, his godson asked.

"Why do you say that?" Chen Bao asked, puzzled.

"Son sees that Godfather is a little displeased..." the little eunuch said cleverly, "Which blind official has offended you, Father? Son will go and deal with him for you."

"You really care about our family, huh?" Chen Bao patted his head, his smile returning.

But deep down, I couldn't laugh at all.

"What the godfather does is what the son does," the little eunuch said obsequiously. "Those officials just need to be taught a lesson."

"So, if our family asks you to deal with Song Shi'an, are you going?" Chen Bao asked jokingly.

"..." Startled by the name, he paused for a moment, but quickly said, "Whatever my godfather asks me to do, I'll do it even if it costs me my life. It's just Song Shi'an, I'll go!"

"Hahaha, if you really want to mess with Song Shi'an, who do you think you are?"

Chen Bao burst out laughing; he was genuinely amused.

The young eunuch also lowered his head, his cheeks slightly flushed.

"There really are some things," Chen Bao said. "Do you know this Sima Yu?"

“My son knows, he’s the Grand Diviner.”

"Spread the word," Chen Bao said in a low voice. "He went to the palace late at night to interpret His Majesty's dream."

The young eunuch, thinking it was a big deal, paused for a moment before quickly agreeing, "Yes, godfather, I'll do it right away."

"Remember, you are only allowed to pass on this one sentence; don't say anything else," Chen Bao instructed.

"Yes, Godfather." The young eunuch probed slightly, "Then, was this matter ordered by His Majesty?"

"You talk too much." Chen Bao's face darkened.

The young eunuch immediately knelt down, kowtowed, and confessed: "Godfather, I was wrong, I deserve to die."

"Don't talk about dying or not, you're so young and you're already thinking about dying."

After Chen Baogang finished speaking, he thought of the little eunuch who saw the emperor coughing up blood that day, and sighed, "Just do it, don't ask anything, don't worry about anything else, just do it."

"Yes, godfather."

After saying this, the young eunuch withdrew.

Watching his retreating figure, Chen Bao's face showed an unyielding sorrow, and he murmured, "You're still alive because I made you do it. But if His Majesty made you do it, would you even be alive?"

Slowly, he stood up and left the room.

The eunuch outside the door followed him to a side room in the palace, knocked on the door, and said, "Chen Bao has arrived."

Then an old, hoarse voice came from inside, trembling, "Is that Chen Bao?"

Then, Chen Bao asked someone to open the door.

I went in alone.

An old man, who was lying paralyzed in bed, raised his hand when he saw him and said with concern, "What's wrong? You've gotten old again?"

"I'm already in my fifties, how can I not be old?"

Chen Bao smiled, then filled the basin with hot water and poured it into the wooden tub.

She carried the bucket to the old eunuch's bedside, untied his socks, and skillfully placed them in the tub. She then knelt down and began washing his feet: "Godfather, does it still hurt when it rains?"

"Even if someone who's about to be buried dies now, it's still worth it," the old eunuch said nonchalantly.

"You never know, your son might die before you."

Chen Bao gave a bitter smile.

Upon hearing this, the old eunuch placed his trembling hand on his face, his eyes welling up with tears, and asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing much, I just said it casually."

Chen Bao's expression immediately returned to its original benevolent and peaceful state, and he laughed, "If your son doesn't die, he'll still have to build a grave for his godfather."

(End of this chapter)