Martial Arts Crossover: It All Started with Hijacking Li Canghai

In the blink of an eye, only Emperor Kangxi and Wei Xiaobao remained in the Qianqing Palace.

Kangxi leaned back in his chair, rubbing his throbbing temples. The Ministry of Revenue had very little silver left, and the Beijing garrison had less than 30,000 troops. They had to guard against Hongli outside the Great Wall, keep an eye on Wu Sangui in the southwest, and, crucially, those anti-Qing and pro-Ming rebels were also causing trouble everywhere. Ye Wudao in Shandong had also become a force to be reckoned with, but he couldn't spare the time to deal with him.

"Your servant is here!"

Wei Xiaobao quickly stepped forward and skillfully massaged Kangxi's shoulders.

"Go and fetch two blank imperial edicts that are kept in the Southern Study."

Kangxi narrowed his eyes, a calculating glint in them: "Haven't you been studying lately? My hands are trembling right now, so I'll dictate something and you can write it down for me."

Wei Xiaobao's heart skipped a beat, and he knew something was wrong.

I have been reading lately, but how should I put it, it's been sporadic...

He can't read a single character, and his handwriting is so illegible it's like a ghost's scribbles. Drafting imperial edicts? That's just asking for trouble!

His eyes darted around, and he quickly said with a forced smile, "Your Majesty, this servant went to the Imperial Kitchen to sneak some food these past two days and accidentally burned the back of my right hand with hot oil, so I can't hold the pen steadily now."

"But Your Majesty, rest assured, there is a Hanlin scholar named Zhang Ying in the Southern Study who is very tight-lipped. This servant will keep an eye on him as he writes, and once he's finished, I'll lock him up in the Imperial Wardrobe. I guarantee not even a fly will be able to get out!"

Kangxi was exhausted at the moment and didn't think much of it, so he nodded.

"Do whatever you want, just don't let it get out of the way."

"The first imperial edict was sent to the Prince Rui's residence in Shengjing. It reprimanded Fukang'an for harboring too much military power in Yanzhou and delaying the battle, and ordered Hongli to discipline him strictly and confiscate three years' salary from the Prince Rui's residence as a warning to others!"

Kangxi chuckled coldly as he finished speaking.

He can't completely break ties with Hongli right now; he can only give him a warning and keep him calm.

"As for this second decree..."

Kangxi paused, then tapped his finger heavily on the armrest.

"An urgent message, sent to the Prince of Pingxi's residence in Yunnan! Tell him that the puppet Qin regime in the south has recently been making trouble on the border of Huguang. Order Wu Sangui to immediately muster 50,000 troops and march north to Changde and Yuezhou to set up defenses and contain Li Jing's large army in the south. Do not fail!"

As Wei Xiaobao listened, he couldn't help but wonder. He knew Qin Han's disguise, but was the Great Qin making trouble in Huguang? What a load of rubbish!

My brother is currently in Shandong. What's going on in the south?

Xiao Xuanzi was afraid that Wu Sangui would rebel after hearing about the defeat in Shandong, so he deliberately found an excuse to transfer Wu Sangui's troops out of Yunnan to test the old man's loyalty!

"Your Majesty is wise! This tactic is called 'beating the dog to scare the tiger,' using whatever is available to kill!"

Wei Xiaobao casually offered a flattering remark, only to be corrected by Emperor Kangxi with a smile and a scolding.

"This is a 'warning shot' tactic, a way to use someone else to do your dirty work. You... never mind, go down."

Wei Xiaobao accepted the order with a grin: "This servant will take care of it immediately. Make sure these two imperial edicts are sealed with the Imperial Seal and sent out before nightfall!"

Half an hour later, at the Imperial Wardrobe.

Zhang Ying, the young scholar who had been dragged over by Wei Xiaobao, wrote two imperial edicts with trepidation before being gagged by two eunuchs and locked in the woodshed behind the house.

Wei Xiaobao closed the door tightly, leaned over the table, and stared at the two bright yellow imperial edicts with their ink still wet for a long time.

He couldn't understand the document sent to Shengjing and had no interest in it, but the document sent to Wu Sangui in Yunnan made him increasingly uneasy.

Xiao Xuanzi wants Wu Sangui to send troops to Huguang to cause trouble for his elder brother? How can that be allowed!

She grew up with her older brother and he was the one who cured her of the poison. Now, her mother, Wei Chunhua, is thriving in Yangzhou.

If Wu Sangui were to lead his troops to Huguang, wouldn't it cause my elder brother a lot of trouble?

Thinking back to how Kangxi sent him to deliver gifts to Ao Bai and he almost died, plus the fact that he had severed a grudge with "half a root" (a metaphor for a close grudge), is there even a question of which side to choose?!

Since the young emperor wants to test Wu Sangui, I might as well help him make the fire burn even brighter!

Wei Xiaobao chuckled, pulled out a cinnabar imperial brush from the brush holder, a brush specifically used for marking red edicts, recalled the lyrics he had heard from storytellers, and pulled out the calligraphy practice book he had kept when he asked someone to write gambling debt IOUs. He then carefully added a line of small characters to the blank space at the end of the edict:

If he fails to arrive by the appointed time, he shall immediately go to the capital to report on his duties and be ordered to return the seal of the Prince of Pingxi.

After finishing writing, Wei Xiaobao blew the ink dry and became more and more satisfied with what he wrote.

Although he didn't hold the characters properly, his drawing skills were exceptional, and his imitations were quite good.

Wu Sangui, that old turtle, values ​​military power more than his own life. If he doesn't explode and rebel after seeing this sentence, Wei Xiaobao will write his name backwards!

"Little Xuanzi, Little Xuanzi, it's not that I'm being disloyal, it's that you wronged me first. I am still a Han Chinese."

Wei Xiaobao muttered something to himself, then skillfully took out the privately made seal key from the hidden compartment, opened the box, and stamped it with the official seal.

He sealed the two edicts in copper tubes and summoned his trusted eunuch to deliver them directly to the Ministry of War's post station.

But that's not all.

He tore off another piece of white paper and, using scribbled characters that only he and Qin Han's secret guards could understand, drew out in detail what had happened in the Qianqing Palace that day: Kangxi vomiting blood, the annihilation of 100,000 troops, the fact that there were only 30,000 soldiers in the capital, and the secret of why the old eunuch named Huang Shang dared not leave the palace.

As night falls, palace lanterns are hung in the Forbidden City.

Wei Xiaobao, carrying the secret letter, sneaked into Cining Palace again.

Inside the palace, the fake Empress Dowager Mao Dongzhu was sitting on a soft couch, pretending to be a Buddhist monk while holding prayer beads. In the shadows of the window, a short, fat, thin monk was squatting in a corner, gnawing on a roast chicken.

Upon seeing Wei Xiaobao enter, the two men's expressions changed simultaneously, and they hurriedly stood up and bowed.

Like Wei Xiaobao, they all have Qin Han's Life and Death Talisman implanted in their bodies. Now that Qin Han's power is established and Shenlong Island has been taken over by Su Kui, they are as obedient as can be.

"Lord Wei, is there anything you need to do so late?" Mao Dongzhu asked in a low voice.

Wei Xiaobao sat down on the phoenix couch, grabbed a piece of osmanthus cake from the plate and stuffed it into his mouth. He patted the crumbs off his hands and tossed the note in his bosom to the skinny monk.

"This is the latest news from the palace."

"Quickly send your trained gyrfalcons to Shandong tonight to our eldest brother!"

The skinny monk took the note, knowing its importance, and dared not delay. He stuffed it into his inner pocket, and in a flash, he climbed out of the back window.

Mao Dongzhu poured Wei Xiaobao a cup of hot tea and asked cautiously, "Lord Wei, I heard that news of a major defeat came from Shandong today, and the Emperor flew into a rage in the Qianqing Palace?"

"Heh heh, he didn't just get angry, he vomited two pounds of blood!"

Wei Xiaobao spoke fluently without hesitation, took a sip of tea, and looked smug.

"But don't worry, with me mediating, Xiao Xuanzi doesn't dare utter a single word about Shandong right now. He's busy playing mind games with Wu Sangui and that guy outside the Great Wall!"

He stood up and patted his sapphire blue eunuch robe.

"Alright, I've finished my errand. I need to go to the guardhouse at the back gate to check the records."

"I lost two hundred taels of silver to that bastard Duolong last night. Tonight I'll go sound him out and maybe win it back with interest!"