Did All the Ones Before Him Die?

Shen Anxin: As long as it can be prevented, that's enough. When the time comes, I'll find a way to get the message out.

Chacha: What are you planning to do, host?

Shen Anxin: Hehe, when the time comes, I'll exchange for eight or ten Dream-Entering Pills and make Emperor Hongyao dream every day that he's caught in an earthquake, just to scare him. He's an ancient emperor, after all. If he has dreams like that day after day, he'll definitely think heaven is warning him and do something about it.

Chacha: Host, how clever you are!

Everyone: She really is clever and quick-witted.

Emperor Hongyao's face darkened. Once was enough. Who wanted nightmares every day?

Shen Anxin: All right, I understand the natural disasters now, but destroying an iron-blooded empire with formidable military might through natural disasters alone...

Chacha: There are man-made calamities too.

Because natural disasters kept striking, rumors spread that Great Qi had destroyed nine kingdoms and incurred too much karmic debt through slaughter. The Heavenly Dao had come to loathe it, so it sent down heavenly punishment and would not allow Great Qi to exist.

At first, no one believed it, but as the disasters multiplied, the people grew weary and lost heart.

Everyone's faces grew grim. Indeed, if major disasters struck frequently, even they would start to have doubts, never mind the common people.

Public opinion might even force the emperor to issue an edict confessing his own faults and offer sacrifices to heaven to steady the people's hearts.

Even if the emperor had truly done nothing wrong, he would still have to admit his guilt. If things were serious enough, he might even have to abdicate.

Shen Anxin: What the hell? Isn't it just the Little Ice Age? As long as they look through history for earlier years when major disasters struck frequently, they'll find a pattern proving that the future Great Qi really was stuck in a special period of frequent natural disasters.

Even with a different emperor or a different country, anyone on this land would still have to endure those years.

With a good emperor, the common people could have a slightly easier time. If they got a terrible emperor and dynasty instead, or if it became a chaotic age of nine kingdoms again, I can hardly imagine what kind of lives the common people would lead.

After all, the best way to deal with disasters is to mobilize the entire nation's resources to distribute relief supplies and rescue personnel.

Everyone's hearts stirred. Was there a pattern to this too? Was it not the fault of an emperor who had lost his virtue and a dynasty that had lost the people's trust?

Some officials who knew more about weather, local records, history, and the like had already begun silently counting. After roughly finishing their count, they nodded solemnly to the officials watching beside them.

They had indeed found something of a pattern.

The great stone weighing on Emperor Hongyao's heart seemed to shift a little. In truth, even he had doubted himself, wondering whether heaven refused to acknowledge him as emperor.

But after hearing Shen Anxin's words, Emperor Hongyao felt much better.

Xiao Yanchen let out a soft breath, but he was also deeply surprised. Why did Shen Anxin know so much? What kind of world was the one she came from?

Chacha: You're absolutely right, host, but even if you told people these things, no one would believe you. After all, the foundations of their education are different. Hardly any of the common people here can read, and people whose minds haven't been opened are the easiest to mislead with rumors.

And major disasters are especially likely to breed corruption. The first few years weren't so bad, with the higher-ups keeping it under control, but later they gradually struggled to maintain oversight. Every major disaster became a chance for certain officials to make a fortune.

A chill ran through the ministers' hearts, and their faces nearly turned green. They could even faintly feel the emperor's icy dragon might pressing down on them from his lofty seat.

The ministers: It's certain officials. We're absolutely not among those "certain officials."

Chacha: A tiny handful even colluded with the enemy, betrayed the country, and resold disaster relief supplies.

Emperor Hongyao's face turned completely black as the bottom of a pot, and killing intent poured out of him.

Everyone: We're doomed.

Who was that tiny handful? Just who were they?!

This was truly a grave crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations!

Chacha: And whenever Great Qi was weak, remnants of the former nine kingdoms' nobility would seize the chance to stir up trouble within its borders, hoping to split it apart again and restore their kingdoms.

Western Rong and Northern Di would join forces to invade, and fighting on the frontier never ceased.

Southern Xia would kick Great Qi while it was down, restricting the trade in supplies and resources it desperately needed for disaster relief and war, manipulating things to drain Great Qi dry. It even went so far as to fund Western Rong and Northern Di.

Shen Anxin: Western Rong and Northern Di stabbed with blades in the open, while Southern Xia and the nine kingdoms' nobles stabbed in the dark! The others had their own reasons for what they did, but I really don't understand Southern Xia. What kind of heaven-defying move was that?!

If they got rid of Great Qi, could they, such a fat sheep, withstand Western Rong and Northern Di?

Shen Anxin was not the only one puzzled. The others were even more so.

Though Great Qi was not so naive as to regard Southern Xia as a brother nation, it understood that when the lips were gone, the teeth would feel the cold.

Thus, they had always hoped to coexist peacefully and develop together. They had no ambition to annex the other country.

They shared the same roots. If Southern Xia were invaded by a foreign enemy and could not hold its own, whether out of sentiment, moral obligation, or the most important consideration of their own country's interests, they would never choose to stand by and watch coldly, much less finish it off.

Was there something wrong with the heads of Southern Xia's imperial family and ministers?

Chacha: It's easy enough to understand. The fiercest hatred often doesn't arise between complete strangers and barbarians, but between people who share the same roots and culture.

Besides, Southern Xia has existed for a long time, and the power of its social classes is deeply entrenched. They're always thinking about protecting their own interests.

The things the two countries can profit from are essentially the same. If Great Qi developed, they would stand to lose more.

So they wouldn't care about Southern Xia's gains or losses as a whole. They'd only look at whether their own interests suffered.

Shen Anxin shuddered all over. They didn't care one bit whether the common people at the bottom lived or died. They cared only about the benefits in front of them. If Great Qi really fell, they wouldn't meet a good end either.

Everyone's faces darkened. For the past five years, they had actively promoted the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides. Though Southern Xia had always fobbed them off, its stance had softened this time, and it had already sent people over.

Now that they knew how ruthlessly Southern Xia would stab them in the back later, it was as though cold water had been poured over their earlier excitement, leaving them chilled to the heart.

Chacha continued revealing more. Amid these troubles at home and threats from abroad, the Great Qi imperial family suffered one misfortune after another.

All of a sudden, everyone's hearts gave a violent jolt, as though a sharp sword hung above their heads, its blade flashing coldly.

Shen Anxin was stunned. Did all the ones before him die, and that was why Seventh Brother succeeded to the throne?

In an instant, no one dared breathe. It was the possibility they least dared contemplate...

Cold sweat covered the ministers' foreheads, and their heads dropped in unison. Some of their legs even began to shake, and Eunuch Chen nearly fell to his knees.

The princes swayed on their feet. They looked at one another and saw fear and unease in each other's eyes.

Chacha: That's right. They all died before the Seventh Prince, and even before Emperor Hongyao.

Emperor Hongyao's eyes widened as though they might split. A foul surge rose in his chest, and the metallic sweetness of blood spread through his mouth.

For a moment, he nearly lost control and shouted in Shen Anxin's direction, "Demonic lies to deceive the people!"

He even wanted to overturn everything that had come before.

Perhaps their ability to hear Shen Anxin's thoughts was nothing more than a deception set up by some monster.

But reason told the emperor otherwise.

The ministers' eyes all turned red. It really was true?!

Six princes. All six princes had died!!!!

The Sixth Prince secretly took his fifth brother's hand, trembling all over, while the other princes waited pale-faced for fate's pronouncement.

How would they die?

Xiao Yanchen closed his eyes for a moment. Man-made calamities could be changed, but heaven's will could not.

If they were all man-made calamities, then he would avoid them all.

If they were all heaven's will, then he would... find a way to change Seventh Brother!!!