Your servant has fulfilled his mission!

North Marquis Chong Houhu was all smiles. No one knew what he was thinking, and Shang Rong could not fathom how his mind worked either.

E Chongyu, the Marquis of the South, was a blunt, straightforward brute with a simple mind. Shang Rong suspected he had yet to realize what had actually happened.

These two were probably incidental.

The key lay with the Marquis of the East and the Marquis of the West.

Eastern Marquis Jiang Huanchu was upright and unyielding, the foremost of the Eight Hundred Vassals under heaven, and Queen Jiang's father to boot. He wielded immense power. Shang Rong saw that he had already stepped out of the ranks, determined to remonstrate with the king.

Shang Rong thought of someone: Huang Feihu.

Huang Feihu had previously been demoted. At the root of it, he was both an imperial in-law and a scion of a military family. Having been granted the title of King of Wucheng, he enjoyed tremendous prestige in the army and wielded immense power, which had made the king wary of him.

And Jiang Huanchu? He was Huang Feihu plus!

Huang Feihu's younger sister was merely a royal consort, while Jiang Huanchu's daughter was the queen. Huang Feihu merely came from a military family, his father only the commander of a single pass, while Jiang Huanchu stood at the head of the Eight Hundred Vassals. Huang Feihu was merely the King of Wucheng Who Guards the Nation, with no fief of his own, while Jiang Huanchu was the Marquis of the East, lord of an entire region!

No previous Marquis of the East had enjoyed Jiang Huanchu's glory. His power and prestige had reached their zenith. How could he not arouse the king's suspicion?

A vassal who could shake Great Shang and destroy its six-hundred-year foundation merely by deciding to rebel was truly terrifying!

Ji Chang, the Marquis of the West, was less powerful than the Marquis of the East, and his fief lay in the vast, sparsely populated lands of Xiqi, but he commanded greater affection among the people.

Shang Rong had met merchants from Xiqi who sold goods, and every last one called the Marquis of the West benevolent and righteous, praising him without end. He had also heard that Xiqi's Land Tax was extremely lenient, and all its people were profoundly grateful. What was the Marquis of the West after, gathering the people's hearts to himself?

King Zhou must have discovered the problems posed by the Feudal Lords and wanted to reduce their power step by step. Yet he could not act too aggressively and force Feudal Lords who had no intention of rebelling into revolt, so he had devised this stratagem.

He used the stain on his own reputation to lure out restless Feudal Lords harboring disloyal intentions. The moment they showed their tails, he would seize them with the force of thunder.

As for Su Hu being charged with a crime, that was most likely a scheme he and King Zhou had agreed upon.

Shang Rong had investigated carefully. Though the streets were full of rumors that King Zhou had forcibly abducted Su Hu's daughter and nearly driven her to her death, no one had actually witnessed the Royal Guards carrying her off. With their fat heads, big ears, and crooked, swaggering strides, they could not possibly have fled the scene quickly after abducting someone. All of it had to be false!

Having thought this through, Shang Rong already had a plan. He only needed to observe the actions of the Marquis of the East and the Marquis of the West closely, analyze them, and report to His Majesty. That would demonstrate his loyalty, and might even earn him some merit.

Jiang Huanchu stepped forward and said, "Your servant has heard that those who wish a tree to grow tall must strengthen its roots; those who wish a stream to flow far must clear its source; those who seek peace for their realm must build up virtue and righteousness. To expect a stream to flow far when its source is shallow, to seek a tall tree when its roots are weak, to hope for an orderly realm when virtue is lacking-even your foolish servant knows these things are impossible. How much more must Your Majesty know?"

This was a skillful remonstrance. He did not expose the sordid affair of a few days ago, but merely used the growth of trees and the flow of spring water as metaphors for a king's governance. A tree without deep enough roots could not flourish, a spring with a blocked source could not flow long, and a king without sufficient virtue could not bring stability to his realm.

He did not point at King Zhou's nose and accuse him of being a witless tyrant, insisting that he must do this or that. Instead, he calmly reasoned with him. Such a remonstrance was, in fact, easier to accept.

Shang Rong considered it. There was nothing suspicious about the Marquis of the East. Even after King Zhou had committed such a heinous act, he had chosen the safest way to remonstrate, without being aggressive. He had both protected King Zhou's reputation and offered counsel. His painstaking care marked him as a loyal minister.

Then Ji Chang, the Marquis of the West, stepped forward as well.

He likewise did not reproach King Zhou, but throughout his speech he defended Su Hu, the Marquis of Jizhou, repeatedly speaking of how wise and worthy Su Hu was and how much merit he had earned in service to Great Shang.

At first, Shang Rong heard nothing wrong with it. But when he thought again, a problem emerged.

Su Hu was a prospective imperial in-law, renowned for his courage and skilled at leading troops. Speaking up for him over an ordinary charge would have been fine, harmless enough. But now, even if Su Hu were pardoned, he still nominally stood in opposition to King Zhou.

Moreover, on the surface, Su Hu was the first person to oppose King Zhou's decree. This was not merely a disagreement between ruler and minister, but a symbol of a subject defying his king. Supporting Su Hu meant opposing King Zhou.

Although Shang Rong knew that everything was a scheme devised by King Zhou and Su Hu, he also knew that very few people could see through it.

Especially a vassal like the Marquis of the West, caught within the game himself. However shrewd he usually was, he would struggle to see through it. After all, looking back over generations of kings, who had dared sacrifice his own reputation and sully his name to lay a trap for traitors?

Inwardly, Shang Rong pitied the Marquis of the West. What did it matter that he had spent decades building his reputation for benevolence while burying his ambitions in his breast?

Had King Zhou not exposed his innermost thoughts with a single stratagem?

Standing behind Su Hu and speaking up for him was plainly a pledge to all the Feudal Lords: if you have grievances against King Zhou, speak your minds. I, Ji Chang, will back you!

This was a grave taboo!

After speaking on Su Hu's behalf, Ji Chang asked why King Zhou had disrupted his subjects' Laji Festival and delayed the year-end Land Tax by summoning the Feudal Lords to court early. Was he truly lusting after beauties for his consort selection, as the rumors claimed?

Shang Rong shook his head repeatedly. Ji Chang's intentions were becoming ever clearer. He was plainly tossing the blame onto King Zhou and sullying his reputation. The lower King Zhou's prestige sank and the worse his reputation became, the easier it would be for Ji Chang to stir up trouble.

"I am the sovereign. Why should I explain my actions to you?" Hearing Ji Chang challenge him again and again, Zi Shou's heart blossomed with joy.

Ji Chang had certainly not disappointed him.

If anyone under heaven most wanted the king to be incompetent and foolish, it was undoubtedly Ji Chang of Xiqi!

Only the more foolish King Zhou became, the more Ji Chang's benevolence would stand out.

Others might not know, but how could he not? Ji Chang intended to proclaim himself king!

Zi Shou's answer clearly could not satisfy the ministers. How could a king act so willfully? Even an excuse that would not withstand scrutiny would have been better, yet he had insisted on saying, "Why should I explain myself to you?"

How disappointing!

First he had forcibly abducted a vassal's daughter and humiliated the Marquis of Jizhou before the court. Then he had acted with absolute, arbitrary authority and delayed the Land Tax. This was simply-

Wen Zhong sighed inwardly. Was the investiture of the gods truly irreversible? Could Great Shang's fortune truly not be prolonged?

Had King Zhou remained as he was before, like a puppet, achieving no great merits but committing no great mistakes either, today's events would not have been enough to disappoint everyone.

But after the great victory at the North Sea, the ministers had mistakenly believed King Zhou to be an enlightened ruler who had been biding his time, one who would lead Great Shang into another golden age. For a wise king upon whom everyone had pinned such hopes to do these things was simply glory-hungry, absurd, and foolish.

The greater their hopes, the greater their disappointment. Many shook their heads repeatedly, wondering what still more outrageous things might happen in the days to come.

Just then, a small, thin official stepped forward.

Shang Rong recognized him. This was Wan Nian, the court's calendar official. He had always had very little hair.

The calendar official's rank was low, and the post was not particularly useful. He was essentially drawing pay for doing nothing. His calculations were inaccurate anyway; one would be better off consulting the astronomical bureau's observations of the stars to determine the seasons.

After stepping out, Wan Nian immediately prostrated himself and kowtowed three times. With dark circles beneath his eyes, he said sincerely, "Your servant Wan Nian has fulfilled his mission!"

P.S. The book's status has been updated, and it is now on the contracted-books ranking. I'm trying to climb the chart, so I hope everyone can send some tips. For now, I'll set up bonus chapters for tips: during the new-book period, every accumulated ten thousand in tips will earn an extra chapter.

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