Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
Advance chapters available for patrons on Patreon. And a chapter can be sponsored by buying me a ko-fi.
“At that time, I didn’t know that you were reborn.” Shen Lou coughed softly, thinking he was a child, so he treated him like a child, but didn’t want to make a joke.
Lin Xin didn’t intend to let him go, “If I was not reborn, what were you going to do? You would keep me by your side all the time, and after I had tied my hair, I would be a prisoner. I will practice with you during the day, and I will bear your pain at night…”
Before he could finish speaking, Shen Lou covered his mouth, and said angrily, “How could I do such a nasty thing!”
Lin Xin blinked, stuck out his tongue, and licked the warm palm. The other party immediately shrank back as if being licked by a tongue of fire. Burying his head into Shen Lou’s chest, he couldn’t help laughing out loud, this reason was enough for him to laugh at Shen Lou for the rest of his life.
Shen Lou looked at the guy trembling with laughter in his arms, and suddenly remembered that when Lin Xin got into bed, he had said, “Your Majesty, it’s already very hot”, it must be on purpose. But at this time, it was obviously inappropriate to say it, Lin Xin was not afraid of this. Gritting his teeth, he covered himself with a quilt and went to sleep!
The next day, the draft on the law of Xunlu was brought to the court meeting.
The annual tribute of the princes was 10% added for Luli and 10% reduced form gold. Weighing and inspection would be done on the spot, if there was a lack of catty or fineness, the land would be cut according to the situation.
There was an uproar in the hall.
The civil servants who heard the law of Xunlu for the first time were shocked.
“This is the idea of reducing the title. The princes will definitely resist fiercely.”
“This is a good thing. The territory of the princes is too wide, and there are only thousand households in the domain of the princes. But the land in the Central Plains is constantly being divided, and now the land in the Central Plains is smaller than that in the Northern Region.”
Emperor Yuanshuo sat in the dragon seat, letting the people below discuss. The crown prince stood on his left with the same calm expression. Feng Zhong walked as the Secretary of the Central Committee and was allowed to enter the court to listen to the government. As a prince, he stood at the forefront of civil officials.
“Okay!” Feng Zhuoyi said, stopping the buzzing of the crowd, “This is a draft, not a decree. If you have any opinions, please feel free to raise them.”
Once he let the civil servants who spoke in full swing just now speak alone, they all shut up. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this law of Xunlu was aimed at the princes. Most of the civil servants in the court were minor nobles, and this decree did not hinder them. How to say it, you have to think again.
At the end of the civilian line, someone suddenly came out, strode to the center of the hall, knelt on the ground and shouted.
“Cutting off one county in one year can wipe out one prince within three generations. This is a hundred-year plan. Fortunately, it is even possible!” Everyone looked at the person who shouted, and they all felt uncomfortable. However, Feng Zhong recognized it. This person was the mortal scholar whom he and Lin Xin saw in the teahouse that day, and they noticed him because he shouted, “Close the boundaries and return power to the Son of Heaven”.
“Who is this person?” Du Huang, who was standing beside Feng Zhong, asked in a low voice.
“I heard it’s a retainer of Marquis Wangting.” Feng Zhong said with his head turned. He was good at remembering faces. The other day Shen Lou said that this person was recommended by Marquis Wangting, so he remembered it.
Du Huang understood, nodded slightly towards Feng Zhong, thanked His Royal Highness the King for the point, and frowned at the mortal who boasted so much.
How could it be said casually that one of the princes would be destroyed within three generations? The royal family and princes had lived in peace for more than a hundred years, maintaining a delicate balance with each other. Even if the purpose of the emperor’s law of Xunlu was clear, it could not be said so bluntly.
The crown prince sealed the chapter and said angrily: “It’s a bunch of nonsense. When did we say we’re going to cut down the princes? This is just a year-old tribute proposal.”
“Luo Shijun, who allowed you to roar in the court!” Unexpectedly, this person was so eager for quick success, “Drag him out!”
Two Golden guards stepped forward, dragged him out without saying a word, and gave him a good beating.
The court fell into silence, and the emperor rubbed his eyebrows, “Yingwang[1], what do you think?” Feng Zhong had read this draft.
“Adding 10% Luli and reducing 10% gold may cause the price of Luli to rise. And it is late autumn now, it is too late for the princes to prepare Luli, and the implementation will have to wait until next year.” Feng Zhong said carefully, avoiding direct evaluation of the pros and cons of this bill, he only pointed out this one practical problem.
The king’s words were very pertinent and reasonable, and many people nodded in agreement.
But the crown prince said: “If we keep pushing it to tomorrow and tomorrow, it will never be implemented. This son thinks that this year we can allow them to not pay tribute, and send someone to check the Luli, and implement one first.”
Or if the Luli was less than gold, it could not be done, the national treasury was short of Luli, which was why the extreme practice of “use Luli for all annual tributes” was proposed a few days ago. The royal family was eager to solve the problem of Luli, and the law of Xunlu was the most suitable for this now.
The court fell into silence again, and Zhongshu order Du Huang came out to speak, “Since we want to implement it, we need a person who would inspect the Luli. This person must be impartial and not partake in favoritism, and he must have a very high background, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the public.”
Du Huang was born in a noble family, which was rare among civil servants, and the Du family was a noble family. As the order of Zhongshu, he was best at trying to figure out the emperor’s mind, so he couldn’t speak out against it at the moment, but it was still possible to make the implementation of the law more difficult.
Impartiality was to ensure that this person would not be bought by the princes, so that he would not secretly fill his own pockets; the high family background was because this position had to face all the big aristocratic families, mortals or ministers, it was impossible for someone with a low background to do it. This was why the emperor did not choose Zhou Kang for Xunlu.
It was almost impossible to meet these two conditions at the same time. If you are born high, you must be a great nobleman. How could a great nobleman help the emperor weaken himself? Unless this person was from the royal family.
Thinking of this, many eyes turned to Yingwang Feng Zhong, both openly and secretly.
“Du Qing is right, but I have already found this person, pass it on to Marquis of Xunlu!” The emperor smiled slightly.
Marquis of Xunlu? This title was unheard of, everyone raised their ears and looked outside the hall.
A person entered, wearing an azure blue silk gown, wind-climbing boots, and walking lightly, with cold eyes, like a lone wolf on a snow-capped mountain. The ancient knife at his waist was bent like a crescent moon, and when he stepped into the hall with one foot, thousands of blood and evil spirits spread instantly, and everyone couldn’t help holding their breath.
“Minister Lin Xin has seen the emperor!” Lin Xin knelt down on one knee and saluted. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at the civil servants who were whispering, and they immediately stopped talking, and didn’t dare to say anything more.
It was just now that they were confused by the aura of thousands of troops, and it was only at this moment that everyone realized that this was just a young man who had just reached adulthood!
“Pingshen!” Emperor Yuanshuo was very satisfied with Lin Xin’s performance, “This is the orphan of Lin Zhenghan, the Marquis of Lu. I just found him back recently. He is young and promising, and even the champion of martial arts was defeated by him. Marquess of Lu, inheriting his father’s fief, and implementing the law of Xunlu for me.”
“I’m willing to die for my emperor!” Lin Xin knelt down again and said loudly.
Feng Zhong looked at Lin Xin, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper. Master promised well yesterday that he would talk to Lin Xin and prevent the emperor from making him Marquis of the Xunlu. Was this the result of the talk? He tried his best to wink at Lin Xin, but the other party didn’t even give him a glance from the corner of the eye, as if he didn’t know him.
The Marquis of Xunlu had been decided, and the rest would be easy to handle.
Du Huang was sitting in the office of Zhongshu Province, his beard falling out of worry, “Is there any memorial against the law of Xunlu?”
The officials of Zhongshu Province searched through the memorials, “Yes!”
“Bring it here!” Du Huang said. As soon as it was brought, he took it over to take a closer look, but was disappointed. This just meant that the law of Xunlu sounded too fierce and obviously had bad intentions. It is suggested to change it to the order of Luli discretion.
“Xunlu is much better.” Feng Zhong smiled wryly.
“Hey, no, I have to write a memorial!” Du Huang picked up his pen, thought twice, and wrote a thousand-character remonstrance.
The courtiers and workers were all petty nobles and mortals, all wishing to cut off the fiefdoms of the princes, and they had all become blind at this moment. The Xunlu decree was a good thing for the royal family, but if it was implemented too quickly, or if it was not done properly, some small princes’ families would be ruined, and the big princes would rise up.
As the order of Zhongshu, Du Huang was equivalent to Prime Minister Zuo, and had a high prestige in the court. A few days later, he read out this remonstrance in court, and many people immediately echoed it. The Xunlu order could be postponed, but it needed to be amended, and the big princes should be given some immunity.
If the great princes were given immunity, Xunlu would lose its meaning. Emperor Yuanshuo was furious when he heard this and left in a huff.
It was night, while Du Huang was studying at home, he suddenly felt a cold and murderous aura covering his hood. Grabbing the Spirit Sword, he turned over and rolled behind the desk, with a sound of “Boom -” the bamboo mat he was sitting on was cut in half, the pen and ink on the desk were blown up, and the ink spilled all over the floor.
“Who?” Du Huang drew his sword, and the sword energy swept towards the beams, but found nothing. A scimitar appeared behind him silently, his pupils shrank, Du Huang used his spiritual power, turned over in mid-air, and faced the ancient Mojian.
Spurred by the master’s killing intent, bursts of bloody aura snaked out along the blade of Mojian. Lin Xin raised his eyebrows and smiled, “Master Du is very skilful, no wonder he can accompany the Golden Guards to the Southern Region.”
“Marquis of Xunlu has praised me too much,” Du Huang said with a fake smile, “I don’t know why the so-called Hou Ye visited late at night?”
“Of course I didn’t come to see you for a drink.” Lin Xin suddenly pushed Du Huang out with force. Before he could attack again, he grabbed something from the shadow of the beam, and held it firmly in his hand.
The sword that Du Huang was going to use to attack again seemed to be frozen, he stood up for an instant, and said in a broken voice: “Yulang!” Lin Xin grabbed his youngest son, Du Yulang, who was less than five years old.
“The order of Xunlu is the country’s great policy. It will be very difficult for the emperor if Du Xiang continues to obstruct it.” Lin Xin’s tone was filled with faint sighs, as if he was chatting with an acquaintance, and he did not seem to be threatening anyone at all.
“How did he treat me?” Du Huang gritted his teeth. It must have been the emperor’s order for the Marquis to treat him like this, so it was useless to say more.
“I just like Master Du being so forthright. Between Xunlu and Du Yulang, choose one.” Lin Xin showed a surly smile, which was very scary in the moonlit night.
Coming out of Du’s house, Lin Xin met Shen Lou who was waiting for him at the corner of the street.
The author has something to say:
Small Theater:
Xinxin: Why are you here?
Loulou: Guess
Xinxin: It must be a sleepless night, waiting for me to go back with you
Loulou: …
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
You can buy me a ko-fi and sponsor a chapter on: https://ko-fi.com/midnightrambles
Or become a Patron on: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=45665005
If you support me, I would be able to provide more chapters….
Previous • Table of Contents • Next
[1] Feng Zhong’s official title.
2 thoughts on “ZL Ch. 42”