Eunuch Fu desperately signaled Lu Yuan with his eyes: Stop talking, the Supre Emperor can’t take it anymore! Are you trying to protect the Supre Emperor, or send him off to the afterlife? Or do you intend to go die so the father leaves behind a son?!
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Eunuch Fu’s body trembled, staring at Lu Yuan in utter dread.
Good heavens, could it be... is Grand Commander Lu really planning such a thing?
Lu Yuan glanced at Eunuch Fu speechlessly: "Manager Fu, you’re overthinking it."
Eunuch Fu awkwardly cleared his throat. How could he have been seen through so easily?
Lu Yuan: "That’s all."
"That’s all?"
The Supre Emperor didn’t believe him.
Lu Yuan replied solemnly, "The evidence I hold ends here."
The Supre Emperor fixed Lu Yuan with a penetrating gaze: "Are you insinuating that others might have more?"
Lu Yuan said nothing.
The Supre Emperor’s face darkened: "You can playact in the Pri Minister’s Mansion, but not in front of . Speak plainly!"
Lu Yuan spoke bluntly: "Chen Long has evidence in his hands."
The Supre Emperor’s brows furrowed into a sharp crease: "Him? Once one of Chu Grand Marshal’s Twelve Guards, who then betrayed his commander to beco the Pri Minister’s adopted son? He worked tirelessly for the Pri Minister, escaped prison first, abducted you later, and now the entire Ministry of Justice is hunting him down. If the evidence falls into his hands..."
Lu Yuan replied, "Supre Emperor, Chen Long is one of us. What I’m about to present pertains to resolving the Pri Minister’s rebellion."
The Supre Emperor’s eyes narrowed as he glared at him: "If you had a solution, why didn’t you say so earlier? You’ve kept going in circles!"
If there wasn’t so setup, how could he prove his worth as the mastermind?
Lu Yuan said earnestly: "To bring down the Pri Minister completely, there are two key approaches: first, to cause him to lose public trust entirely; second, to dismantle his ard forces. As for the first, all we need to do is strike while the iron is hot and make good use of the evidence we already have."
The Supre Emperor nodded thoughtfully: "Continue."
Lu Yuan continued: "As for dismantling his troops, though challenging, it’s not impossible. If we manage to secure the support of the top ten families in the Western Regions, we’ll have a 30% chance of success. If we further rally the frontier army of West City, we can raise that to 70%."
The Supre Emperor smiled bitterly: "You make it sound so simple. The top ten families of the Western Regions, now reduced to ten lords’ territories, have long disdained the court’s authority. Gaining their support is far easier said than done. As for the army in West City, the Pri Minister has been training them for the past seven years. How could the court possibly rein them in?"
Lu Yuan explained, "The ten families of the Western Regions are led by Loulan. If we secure Loulan, we can win the Western Regions. Your Majesty, Chen Long is the Princely Heir of Loulan."
The Supre Emperor was shocked: "The Loulan heir—wasn’t he already..."
Lu Yuan replied steadily, "General Shang didn’t kill him but adopted him as a foster son and renad him Shang Xu. After the Shang Family was annihilated due to vengeance from Loulan and the Thousand chanism Pavilion, Shang Xu escaped. Many years later, he beca one of Chu Grand Marshal’s Twelve Guards."
"When the Loulan King sought revenge on the Shang Family, he spared no one, not even him. He holds an irreconcilable hatred for the Loulan King, so Your Majesty needn’t worry that he’d harm the court."
Lu Yuan had, undoubtedly, hit the Supre Emperor’s sore spot.
Monts ago, the Emperor had indeed been worried about this.
The Supre Emperor paused briefly, then shook his head helplessly: "Even if he’s the Loulan heir, it doesn’t guarantee he can reclaim Loulan."
Lu Yuan replied, "That’s why we need to borrow troops."
The Supre Emperor asked, "From where?"
Lu Yuan: "The Western Border Army. They once served under General Shang. If the Shang Family bloodline calls for them, they will surely return."
The Supre Emperor sighed regretfully: "The Shang Family has already been wiped out."
The fate of the Shang Family was even more tragic than that of the Chu Family: over a hundred lives lost, with the youngest only seven years old...
Lu Yuan declared with conviction: "There’s still one survivor."
-
"Braised pork! Braised pork!"
Tan’er bounced out of the yard. "Sister, where are you going?"
ng Qianqian replied, "I’m going to buy storybooks for Great-Grandmother."
On the way, she’d visit the Ministry of Justice.
Chen Long had been absent from the house since morning. Presumably, he had gone to negotiate with Pri Minister Xun.
But now that he was a fugitive, if that old fox Xun dragged him down, things could get really ugly.
Tan’er clung to ng Qianqian’s arm. "I want to go too!"
"You follow her everywhere. Are you her tail or sothing?"
Bai Yuwei’s dissatisfied mutter ca from behind the pair.
Tan’er put her hands on her hips: "Yep! I’m my sister’s little tail!"
Bai Yuwei huffed: "Aren’t you ashad, all grown up and still so clingy?"
Tan’er tilted her head: "Ashad? Then why did you sneak into my room last night?"
*Bai Yuwei blinked, masking her embarrassnt.* "I...I had nowhere else to sleep, so I shared with you! You often share with others too, don’t you?"
Tan’er corrected her in a serious tone: "Not others, with Sister! Sister isn’t ’others.’ She’s family!"
Tan’er was a bundle of boundless energy, her little mouth running non-stop.
Bai Yuwei, unable to outtalk her, turned to ng Qianqian: "The house is stuffy, and Brother isn’t around to play with. I’m going wherever you’re going!"
Tan’er shot her a disdainful look: "Oh, and I’m not a ’little tail,’ huh?"
ng Qianqian smiled slightly: "I think the two of you should stay ho and wait for . If you’re idle, you can work on the assignnts I’ve prepared."
"Old Madam! Were you calling ?"
Tan’er ran off.
"Hey! Wait for !"
Bai Yuwei also fled in haste.
ng Qianqian couldn’t help laughing.
Wu Ge’er jogged over. "Miss, the carriage is ready."
ng Qianqian said, "You were up all night. Didn’t I tell you to rest today?"
Wu Ge’er, full of enthusiasm, replied, "I’m not tired!"
ng Qianqian sighed helplessly and smiled as she got into the carriage.
Along the way, she overheard many townsfolk discussing things, almost all related to the Pri Minister.
The Pri Minister had served for many years and had deep roots. It wouldn’t be easy to shake his position in the people’s hearts overnight.
Many still sympathized with him, believing everything to be a misunderstanding, or accusing Lu Yuan of being a treacherous official and thinking the Pri Minister had done a public service by arresting him.
"Why are they still supporting the Pri Minister?"
Wu Ge’er felt indignant on behalf of their "master."
ng Qianqian responded calmly, "No rush—it’s only been one night."
"You guys really don’t get it. Yesterday, I stayed outside the Pri Minister’s Mansion all day, and the Ministry of Justice only took the Pri Minister, not the Grand Commander!"
"The Grand Commander won victories in Beiliang; he’s a hero!"
"Didn’t the Pri Minister also win victories?"
"Even if he won, he can’t go arresting people without cause!"
ng Qianqian comnted, "See? Public sentint is already beginning to turn against him."
Naturally, this had a lot to do with yesterday’s grand spectacle, Liu Qingyun’s lavish spending, and Lu Yuan’s covert maneuvers behind the scenes.
When she arrived at the Ministry of Justice, she ran into Lu Yuan stepping out of a carriage.
ng Qianqian was montarily startled. "Weren’t you attending court? Why have you co to the Ministry of Justice?"
Lu Yuan asked coldly, "Weren’t you resting at ho? Why are you here at the Ministry of Justice?"
ng Qianqian blinked innocently.
Lu Yuan snorted: "It’s Chen Long again, isn’t it?"
ng Qianqian grabbed his hand and said earnestly, "No, no, I’m looking for that mber of the Twelve Guards. Since he gave Chen Long advice, I figured he might secretly follow him to negotiations."
Lu Yuan eyed her suspiciously: "Really?"
ng Qianqian raised her fist solemnly: "Truer than gold!"
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