The Future I Want

"Your Highness."

"Your Highness!"

"Your Highness!!"

The moment Li Yucheng picked up the gilded imperial seal, cries of protest rose and fell through the silent hall. Some were calm, some urgent, all carrying admonition that brooked no dispute.

There were actually very few in court still affiliated with the sects. Most of those speaking out belonged to the Imperial Faction and the Prime Minister Faction.

Yes, the Prime Minister Faction as well.

They were desperate to stop the Crown Prince from stamping the imperial seal onto that vermilion letter. When Xu Yuan's gaze swept back toward them, none of them yielded in the slightest.

Betrayal?

Not quite.

From ancient times to the present, there had always been differing voices everywhere, and the Prime Minister's Mansion was naturally no exception. Upon suddenly seeing this memorial that heralded calamity, it was hardly difficult to predict that the moderates within the Prime Minister Faction would bristle like cats with their tails stepped on.

Because this was war.

A war that might reduce all living things beneath heaven to ruin.

But by now, those voices no longer mattered. Since Li Yucheng had picked up the gilded imperial seal, he would not stop because of verbal persuasion. After serving as regent for decades, this man had, after all, cultivated some of the bearing expected of a future ruler of the dynasty.

Holding the imperial seal, Li Yucheng raised his eyes and swept his gaze across the gathered ministers below. His voice was slow, calm, and resolute:

"My lords, when Father was still the King of Qin, he taught me the way of the world: a ruler must be willing to cast aside even his own life to forge an age of prosperity for the myriad people. Father devoted his entire life to this aspiration. Not