Martial Arts Crossover: Starting as a member of the Imperial Guard, all the ladies are demons

Xiao Jingyi was extremely impressed with his ability to seduce women.

How about we do a thorough investigation of the harem?

But Xiao Jingyi shook his head immediately. He felt that he was already lucky enough to find Yaoyue and Zinu. Other women, even if they were not simple, should not have such strange identities as the two of them.

He suppressed this thought and felt that it was best to comfort Zi Nu first.

"His Majesty...."

Hearing Xiao Jingyi's words, Zi Nu's previously uneasy heart instantly calmed down, and she looked at him with a face full of surprise: "Your Majesty, do you really not care about my past?"

"Nonsense. Before you entered the palace, I said that I didn't care about your past. As long as you remember for the rest of your life that you are my woman, that's enough."

"His Majesty!"

Zi Nu happily tiptoed and kissed Xiao Jingyi, her cheeks flushed red, like a ripe apple, making one want to take a bite.

She immediately said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I am yours. When they arrive, I will explain the situation to them directly."

"They're coming?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingyi realized that it was Wei Zhuang and the others who wanted to personally invite her, which made Zi Nu restless.

Because they might expose her secrets—oh, not just might, they definitely will, since Wei Zhuang and his group wouldn't cooperate with Yao Yue to conceal her identity like Dongfang Bubai did.

"Yes, they want to come and invite me in person, but Your Majesty, please rest assured, I will not go anywhere."

Zi Nu stared intently at Xiao Jingyi with her purple eyes, then unconsciously stuck out her tongue and licked her lips. She stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear.

"Your Majesty, I wish to have a child."

..

What happened next was that even VIP members couldn't watch it anymore.

After learning about Zi Nu's identity, Xiao Jingyi also worked extra hard.

Just as conquering Yaoyue would excite him, conquering Zinu would also bring him extraordinary pleasure.

For the next two weeks or so, nothing happened in the imperial court.

He only attended when Zhao Yun and Prince Jing went on their expedition; otherwise, he was either dealing with memorials or learning about the living conditions of people in various parts of Liang.

Qingzhou was the wealthiest prefecture in Daliang.

Inside the Qingzhou Prefecture government office.

Emperor Song arrived with a group of Imperial Guards, looking weary from their journey.

"Who goes there? This is the government office. Unauthorized persons are not permitted!"

Upon seeing the guards blocking the way, Emperor Song did not hesitate and immediately took out his token: "The Embroidered Uniform Guard is investigating the case on His Majesty's orders. You are not allowed to obstruct us."

As he spoke, Song Zhong led his men inside.

Seeing this, the guard tried to stop him: "Wait, what is the Embroidered Uniform Guard? And you say you're investigating a case, but where is the imperial decree?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Song frowned. He hadn't expected this lowly guard to be so arrogant.

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Without further ado, he coldly ordered, "Take him down!"

"you...."

"Shh!"

The guard wanted to say something, but when he saw the gleaming knife at his neck, he immediately cowered and looked at Song Zhong, sweating profusely.

"Wang Li, Zheng Ye, you two take men and guard the front and back gates of the government office. Do not let a single person out."

"The rest of the men, even though I, the deputy commander, have entered the government office, have all been brought under control, and not a single one of them has been spared."

"Yes!"

Upon hearing his order, the Imperial Guards immediately began to act.

This marked their first moment of fame in Daliang.

For the next few days, the Imperial Guards' swords never stopped.

Eighteen officials in Qingzhou, regardless of rank, were arrested, from the governor down to the local government officials.

There were those who resisted, but they were all killed.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard killed over a thousand people, including the officials' servants and their henchmen.

All eighteen officials were captured alive, and thirteen million taels of silver, three million taels of gold, rare jewels, and ten cartloads of famous paintings were seized.

At first, the officials in Qingzhou were very angry, saying that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was killing people indiscriminately. But when the evidence of the crimes committed by the eighteen people was made public, they fell silent and were terrified that they would be implicated.

... ...

Fortunately, Song Zhong only received the charges against those eighteen people, and they escaped a terrible fate as a result.

But these officials knew that the Embroidered Uniform Guard's blade was dripping blood and hanging over Qingzhou.

For the first time, they truly felt the fear of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and also the fear of Xiao Jingyi.

Some clever officials, knowing that Xiao Jingyi had something on him and guessing that he needed money, used various pretexts to pay back taxes and make donations to Song Zhong in order to protect themselves.

The Imperial Palace.

"Hehe, these people are really rich. The money that these eighteen officials have embezzled over the years is more than the current national treasury."

"I find it hard to imagine how much money would be if all the officials in Qingzhou were robbed."

Xiao Jingyi held the report in his hand and spoke with a cold face.

Below him, Mao Xiang, Shen Zhui, and Mei Changsu were all standing.

After he finished venting, Mei Changsu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the wealth of Qingzhou is known throughout the Liang Dynasty. As the most prosperous region, the taxes they pay each year are comparable to those of several other prefectures combined."

"Moreover, Qingzhou is full of wealthy merchants, so it's normal for those officials to eat a lot."

"If you ask me, this is the abnormal one. The gap between the rich and the poor is too large. It seems we need to balance the distribution among the states."

Xiao Jingyi wasn't actually that angry, since he had known for a long time that these people were embezzling.

But I never expected to be so greedy.

He immediately picked up the report and handed it to Shen Zhui: "Shen Zhui, now that you have this money, you shouldn't be complaining about being poor in front of me, right?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Zhui was taken aback, a wry smile appearing on his face.

He knew that Xiao Jingyi was making him take the blame again.

Once the news gets out, the version everyone hears will be that Minister of Revenue Shen Zhui cried poverty, and that's why His Majesty thought of killing corrupt officials and confiscating their property.

Those people naturally couldn't hate Xiao Jingyi, so they could only direct their anger at Shen Zhui.

Even though Shen Zhui felt helpless, he couldn't say anything; as a subject, he had to take the blame for His Majesty.

He stood up and said, "Your Majesty, with this money, the education program can be implemented as planned."

"Hmm, I do like hearing those words."

Xiao Jingyi nodded in satisfaction, then said to him, "I have reviewed the budget you prepared earlier. The budget is 900 million taels of silver, and it is expected that the schools will be expanded to the villages, covering the entire Liang Dynasty within three years."

"Let's settle this matter in court tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Shen Zhui respectfully accepted the order.

The next moment, he respectfully withdrew.

Mei Changsu, on the other hand, hesitated, clearly wanting to say something.

Noticing his expression, Xiao Jingyi asked, "Say what you want to say."

Upon hearing this, Mei Changsu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, your actions may provoke discontent among the aristocratic families."

084 Xiao Jingyi: In my eyes, it's a world of ever-changing families! (Please subscribe, please customize, please do anything)

"Your Majesty, before this, the main way for the Great Liang to select officials was through recommendation."

"The retired emperor also wanted to change this situation and implemented the imperial examination system for a few years, but the aristocratic families opposed it, and the retired emperor could not withstand the pressure and had to change it back."

"Your efforts to promote education have enabled those who have studied to apply to become officials after a certain number of years of service."

"This touches on their interests, and in my opinion, they may unite."

Mei Changsu said a lot, but you could also hear his fear of the aristocratic families.

As the saying goes, dynasties come and go, but powerful families remain.

It is also very applicable in the world of martial arts.

Because they controlled nearly half of the literati in the Great Liang, the remaining half were also influenced by them.

Even court officials and powerful figures considered it an honor to marry women from prominent families.

Upon hearing Mei Changsu's words, Xiao Jingyi glanced at him and said, "Of course I know."

"But this Great Liang can only have one master, and that is me. The noble families? What right do they have to pretend to be high and mighty in front of me?"

"But Your Majesty, once they make a move, it will surely bring some turmoil to the Great Liang. Right now, we are fighting against the Northern Yan and the Southern Chu."

Mei Changsu was subtly warning that these powerful families would resort to underhanded tactics.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingyi glanced at him and then smiled, "Changsu, why do you think the emperor of Great Liang is my Xiao family, and not the Zhang family of Qingzhou, the Wang family of the Southern Border, or the Chen family of Langzhou?"

"Your Majesty, I am unaware of '537'."

Mei Changsu was taken aback, wondering why Xiao Jingyi would say such a thing.

Seeing this, Xiao Jingyi smiled and said, "Because they don't have military power, they can only be admired by some literati."

"I bet that if they had military power, they would never be content to be just a noble family."

"So it seems Your Majesty has a way to deal with them?"

"That's about right, it's time to clean up the old guard."

In fact, when he proposed the education plan, Xiao Jingyi had already anticipated that the aristocratic families would take action, so he was not flustered at all and had even made preparations in advance.

"In that case, I was overthinking it."

Mei Changsu suddenly realized what was happening, and then withdrew without saying anything more.

After he left, Xiao Jingyi's face immediately darkened: "Mao Xiang, from today onwards, closely monitor all the famous families within the territory of Daliang."

"Gather your forces, wait for the right opportunity, and then kill!"

Xiao Jingyi is no saint; if any aristocratic family dares to cause trouble, he wouldn't hesitate to wipe them out.

At worst, we can support another family to fill this gap later.

What dynasty comes and goes, but the aristocratic families remain unchanged?

In Daliang, there are families that have changed hands many times!

"Yes!"

Mao Xiang, with a solemn expression, accepted the order and then withdrew.

Xiao Jingyi stood by the window with his hands behind his back, looking at the scenery outside: "Tomorrow will be lively again."

The following day, in the imperial court.

I listened to a group of officials reporting on what had happened all morning—strange phenomena discovered here, or something found there.

In short, there was nothing of substance.

After all, this is normal. No one can have major events every day, and the Liang court doesn't always talk about natural disasters, man-made calamities, or war.

Sitting on the dragon throne, seeing that the ministers had quieted down, Xiao Jingyi rubbed his temples.

He said, "My dear ministers, have you finished speaking?"

Upon hearing him speak, everyone felt a chill and remained silent.

Xiao Jingyi slowly opened his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Now that you have finished speaking, I have a suggestion. What do you think?"

"Please enlighten me, Your Majesty!"

The ministers shouted in unison.