That fall, the whole empire was stunned by the case of Governor Shen attempting to assassinate a Prince and a royal inspector. Sitting on the desk of the Emperor is a file with evidence detailing the seemingly fantastical daring attempt of how Governor Shen had secretly hired men to kill Ning Yi and Official Wei Zhi. Ning Yi had also in a very short amount of time gathered a mountain of evidence showing how the Shen and the Chang clan had conspired together in various things from killing government officials to embezzling relief funds sent from the Capital. Furious, the Emperor immediately ordered Governor Shen to be brought in to the Capital but Ning Yi replies that the man has already been killed along with three hundred and thirty six men who were involved in the corruption. In one swipe, over three hundred heads fell!
The whole empire was shocked. Rumor has it that supposedly when the Emperor received word there was a long silence. All the court officials were stunned, how could Prince Chu do such a thing without waiting for a royal order and how could he just calmly describes killing off so many government officials, some of those were even level 2 officials! What was even more shocking was how he managed to find so much evidence in such a short time and immediately killed those involved. Prince Chu’s men had written in their report “Governor Shen brazenly rebelled and harmed His Highness thus it was unavoidable to kill him…” But everyone knows how Governor Shen died. Who knows if Ning Yi had already stained the whole Feng Province with blood before he even wrote the report!
Indeed, the bloodshed in Feng Province only Feng Province would know. There were so many head chopped off that the gaps in the cobblestone roads were stained red. In the end, Ning Yi was in such a hurry to leave and was too impatient to execute people by the hour that he ordered the most popular street be lined with the death roll prisoners, one every hundred meters and once the bell on the highest tower tolls then the heads came off at the same time! This manner of execution was something that the citizens of Feng Province won’t forget easily for years to come. For many days afterward the once most vibrant street was devoid of people when night falls.
Interestingly, Prince Chu was not chastised for his shocking action of killing the Governor without a royal order, instead, the Emperor expressed his silent approval by sending him the best medicine from the palace. This of course made those who were in Ning Yi’s camp let out a sigh of relief after nervously waiting to see the Emperor’s reaction. Zhi Wei was never worried though– Fifth Prince escaped to Minnan, the Chang Clan will rebel for sure. Ning Yi’s journey down south will certainly mean commending the armies there so his fame at Feng Province will only aid him in this regard and helps to intimidate those in the Minnan area. The Tian Sheng Empire right now doesn’t need to be diplomatic with a gentle hand, instead, it needs to be firm with a blood-stained sword in hand.
After a bit of discussion, Ning Yi and Zhi Wei decided to travel together to South Sea for now. Seven days later, just when a very seasick Prince Helian is puking out his guts and declaring that he will die if he had to stay on the boat for another day, a giant sound of the boat colliding with something brought the procession to a stop.
Zhi Wei runs up the deck and sees a huge crowd of at least 10,000 people gathered on the shore just a short distance away from the boat. The shouting and ruckus created by the crowd was overwhelming.
“The bottom of the boat has a hole in it!” A pale faced Yan Huaishi runs up to Zhi Wei. The last bit has been especially difficult for poor Yan Huaishi. (Remember Yan Huaishi? He is from a noble South Sea family and went to the Capital in hopes of forming an alliance with someone powerful so his family could survive. Yan Huaishi became Zhi Wei’s right hand man while she was in the academy and will end up marrying our heroine’s good friend, female general Hua Qiong.
Not sure if you guys will remember Hua Qiong because the drama really didn’t do her character justice but she is a super awesome character in the novel.) He left the Capital happily but soon encountered the attack and lost some of his men. Of course losing some of his guards is a small matter compared to the fact that he lost Zhi Wei and Ning Yi. Yan Huaishi instantly went into panic mode. Thankfully, Zhi Wei and Ning Yi turned up safe and sound, allowing Yan Huaishi who had gone days without eating or sleeping finally let out a sigh of relief– Anything could happen to anybody but not to these two people. If something happens to Zhi Wei, then going by the situations at South Sea, all the nobles’ power will be completely swallowed up by the those who are backed by the Chang Clan…which is why from then on Yan Huaishi has been extremely careful, if he could have gotten away with it he would have slept right outside of Zhi Wei’s door. Poor Yan Huaishi was about to really relax now that they have finally arrived at South Sea but then this happens!
“Looks like you guys’ method of welcoming royal envoys are quite particular at South Sea.” Escorted out by Ning Cheng, Ning Yi listens to the shouting coming from the shore with a slight but chilling smile.
Looking over at the impressive crowd that is over 10,000 strong, Yan Huaishi takes an involuntary breath as his fingers gripped the boat railing– he knew the situation at South Sea was not good, but he has never dreamt it would be this bad.
Laying on the deck, Helian weakly declares “My foes might be ten million strong…”
Just as everyone looks at him, surprised by his uncharacteristic poetic utterance, Helian immediately finishes his sentence after some dry heaving a bit “why not just send an army to kill them all…”
“……”
Narrowing her eyes as she surveyed the official envoy welcoming procession from the local government squeezed behind the sea of people, Zhi Wei takes the binoculars from Yan Huaishi’s hand. Using the binoculars, Zhi Wei could see one particular dark faced burly man sitting in a chair surrounded by a bunch of officials as they gleefully chatted with each other. The burly man is obviously the leader of the bunch since there is even a giant sunshade umbrella over him as he leisurely reads a book.
Zhi Wei’s binoculars slowly moves downward until the man’s belt comes in to view, second level official, South Sea’s finance minister, Zhou Xizhong.
Unlike the poverty-stricken areas they have been before, South Sea, being the earliest to have an open port is quite well to do economically. Zhou Xizhong has been building his network and controlling the nobles in the South Sea area for many years to the point that Yan Huaishi’s clan was forced to go into the Capital to find a way for their family to survive. (As in to find someone either more or equally powerful as Zhou Xizhong to pledge their loyalty to so their family could survive back in South Sea.) The people of South Sea is well known for their vivaciousness…to put it in polite terms or to put it bluntly they are an unruly bunch. However, judging by the crowd gathered here, Zhou Xizhong obviously has them well trained to do his will. As early as back in the Capital when the issue of South Sea had come up, Zhi Wei already guessed that this assignment won’t be an easy one. Someone like Zhou Xizhong who can control his political allies and possesses the will of people, who is gusty and willing to work hard, no one can afford to underestimate someone like this. And now, completely unintimidated by the 336 heads Ning Yi had just chopped off, Zhou Xizhong has orchestrated this “fervent welcome” to show off his power to Ning Yi.
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Thank you very much for this 🙂
Thank again!