Ripples

Twenty days have passed since that night, and Xu Yuan has gradually returned to his previous leisurely life, living a life that goes back and forth between his bedroom and study every day. His only activity besides cultivation is probably going Prime Minister his father, the prime minister, to gossip about the latest rubbings of memorials in his study.

As the year draws near, lanterns and decorations are being put up all over Di'an City, and the lively atmosphere in the city is not affected at all by that night.

The Tianqing that night, the Prefect of Di'an arranged for his subordinate departments to post the urgently printed proclamations on bulletin boards throughout Di'an City to appease the people.

They said,

The celestial phenomena that night were divine signs, a New Year's blessing bestowed upon the people of Great Yan by the imperial family.

It's very well written.

The classical Chinese text, spanning thousands of characters, directly portrays the extraordinary phenomenon of the sages battling magic as a legitimate divine miracle of the Great Yan Li family, and as evidence of the emperor's love for his people.

Although it seems far-fetched, this is the kind of thing that people in this era buy into.

The lack of information access at the grassroots level of the Great Yan meant that government notices and official reports became the only source of information for the people, and the long-standing propaganda made them deeply believe in the legitimacy of the imperial family.

This is the absolute political correctness of the Great Yan, and also the reason why Xu Yinhe has always been called a thief who stole the country by the people.

In contrast to the tranquility among the common people, things were quite lively in the imperial court. The turmoil that arose from the Prime Minister's Mansion that night eventually stirred up a storm in the outside world.

These nobles were not fools; someone had to take responsibility for the near destruction of Di'an City. That night, all the blame pointed to the high-ranking Prime Minister, but the question was, who would be the one to take the lead?

The morning court session was eerily quiet.

Report if there is something to report; otherwise, leave court.

In the first few days, the morning court sessions would be adjourned immediately after the chief eunuch made those remarks.

Beneath the surface, waves are always brewing.

On the morning of the fifth day, Qing Cheng of the Censorate suddenly stepped forward to accuse the Right Commandant of the City Defense Bureau of dereliction of duty, which put the emperor in danger.

There was no attack on the Prime Minister himself, but the Right Commandant of the City Defense Bureau was a well-known member of the prime minister's Prime Minister Faction.

This fired the first shot.

This was a joint attack by everyone except the Prime Minister's cronies; the quiet of the first few days was because they were still plotting together.

After that, various petitions poured into the Imperial Study like snowflakes, and the flames caused by the aftermath of that night gradually burned towards the Prime Minister himself.

Many people from the City Defense Bureau, the Heavenly Supervision Bureau, and even the Imperial Guards were imprisoned and awaiting trial. The Prefect of Di'an Prefecture almost lost his official position because of this, and without exception, all of these high-ranking officials were people of the Prime Minister.

Even after all that had happened, even after so many high-ranking officials from the Prime Minister Faction were imprisoned, the Prime Minister simply watched silently as everything unfolded in the imperial court.

This attitude left many people unsure of the Prime Minister's intentions.

It included not only members of the Imperial Faction and sects, but also some high-ranking members of the Prime Minister Faction.

We were ready to fight to the death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?

Wang Yuqian, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, privately approached Xu Yuan, representing high-ranking officials of the court 'Prime Minister Faction, hoping to probe the Prime Minister's opinion from him, but the reply he received was to wait.

The prime minister's faction, which had once held immense power, was suddenly thrown into a state of panic. They attempted to organize some counterattacks, but since their leader had not spoken, these counterattacks were scattered and appeared somewhat ridiculous in the face of the overwhelming onslaught.

In an environment where everyone in the Prime Minister Faction lived in fear, twenty decades have passed to this day.

The 29th day of the lunar year, just before the Lunar New Year.

After taking a sip of the spirit wine, Xu Yuan placed the wine vessel on the tea table in front of him, savoring the spicy and sweet taste on his taste buds while admiring the snow-covered night view of Di'an.

Since that night, three snowfalls have occurred in succession, with the last snowfall only stopping yesterday. The bright moonlight reflected on the white snow, and the reflection of the light made the sky appear magnificent.

After staring at the scene for several breaths, Xu Yuan slowly turned his gaze to the young man in the python robe with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes opposite him, gently exhaled, and asked with a light laugh:

"You risked sending someone to lure me, a 'dead man,' just so you'd have me drink and enjoy the scenery with you, wouldn't you?"

Li Yunqing's expression lacked its usual ease and relaxation; his brows and eyes revealed seriousness. He stared at Xu Yuan for several moments before softly asking:

"What happened that night has almost reached its limit."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow, looked directly into the other person's eyes for two seconds, and sighed softly:

"I thought you wanted to talk to me about your mission to Dongying Island, but it turns out you're here to sound out my father's opinion too. When did you start getting involved in politics?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yunqing's face showed no sign of joking; his fingertips gently caressed the slightly rough surface of the bronze wine vessel in front of him.

The Qinglou they came to tonight was built in the style of the Great Zhou Dynasty seven thousand years ago, and all the wine vessels and utensils were cast from refined fire copper.

Li Yunqing raised the bronze wine vessel, took a small sip, and slowly said:

"I originally thought that after what happened that night, my Dongying Island would go much more smoothly, but with Chancellor Xu's current attitude, the court's agenda simply cannot proceed."

As he spoke, Li Yunqing lightly tapped the table with his fingertips:

"Everyone knows that the near destruction of Di'an that night was caused by your Prime Minister's Mansion, but everyone also knows that even if Di'an City were destroyed, it wouldn't be enough to cripple your Prime Minister's Mansion. This court struggle is actually meant to make your Prime Minister's Mansion pay a price within the rules, but Chancellor Xu's attitude makes it seem like we want to use this incident to completely wipe out your Prime Minister's Mansion."

Xu Yuan quieted down for a moment, then a slight smile appeared on his lips:

What are you trying to say by saying all this?

The deep look in Li Yunqing's sword-like eyes seemed to pierce through Xu Yuan opposite him.

"It's impossible for Chancellor Xu not to understand such a simple and easy-to-understand principle. There must be a reason why he is letting the situation continue to escalate."

"So you're stalling for time, aren't you?"

"."

Xu Yuan looked at Li Yunqing without saying a word.

Seeing this, Li Yunqing showed a smile for the first time tonight, but the smile was somewhat awkward:

"Xu Yuan, you found something very important on the body of Saint Xien, didn't you?"

"Slap slap slap"

Xu Yuan smiled and clapped for Li Yunqing, then chuckled softly:

"You truly are worthy of Junqing."

Li Yunqing's eyes seemed thoughtful. He gently shook his head and whispered:

"It's not difficult to bring this up, after all, I was a participant that night, wasn't I?"

Xu Yuan shrugged, not bothering to hide anything, and asked with a smile:

"We did find something on Saint Xien, so you've come here tonight hoping to get a share?"

Li Yunqing shook his head and laughed self-deprecatingly:

"What right do I, a powerless prince, have to share your spoils? However, my father, the emperor, does seem to share this idea."

"How so?"

"He wants me to go to your Prime Minister's Prime Minister's Mansion to demand someone."

"Aurenli?"

"Right."

"Then you come."

"It's about asking for it openly and honestly in front of the whole world."