Chapter 1546: Each Harboring Ulterior Motives

Because of this matter, Chief Envoy Liang and King Yao almost had a falling out. Chief Envoy Liang's face revealed deep contemplation.

King Yao had put forward compensation demands to him; should he accept or not?

Regarding the construction of the new city, why did all the officials want to participate? The answer was nothing more than the four words: "distribution of benefits."

The so-called "assisting in the management of the Xilin Temple construction," to put it bluntly, was just stuffing this huge piece of fat meat into the hands of Liang Xiaohao.

To put it further, it meant yielding all this massive profit to Chief Envoy Liang.

The construction of the temple, the donations from believers—just how abundant would that gravy be? Chief Envoy Liang pondered, and Chief Attendant Xiao did not dare to make a sound.

Inside the Imperial Study, the atmosphere was heavy.

Facing the earthly walker of the Goddess, King Yao naturally had to summon rare patience.

After a good while, Chief Envoy Liang slowly raised his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Fine, let He Xiao finish the new city temple."

In any case, he had seen clearly that King Yao did not intend to hand over He Xiao for the time being. Continuing to tangle over this point was meaningless.

King Yao smiled so broadly that the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes unfolded: "Chief Envoy Liang has always been far-sighted!"

This hurdle was considered passed, and he secretly let out a long sigh of relief.

"During this period, it would be best if he does not have any more offensive actions." Having said this, Chief Envoy Liang turned and left, with Chief Attendant Xiao following closely behind.

Walking past the Yuquan Palace, Chief Attendant Xiao also saw the two men, You and He, under the veranda.

Surrounded by temple followers, both divine officials were expressionless, eyes fixed straight ahead. Just as Chief Envoy Liang approached, You Rongzhi had already stood up and lowered his hands, while only He Lingchuan sat steadily like a golden mountain, even smiling and waving: "You two, take your time!"

You Rongzhi gave him a look, but He Lingchuan ignored it.

He was a foreign merchant; he had no sense of awe for the Goddess worshipped by the locals.

Chief Envoy Liang glanced at He Lingchuan indifferently.

This brat was not only nonchalant, but his eyes were even filled with provocative meaning. It was evident he was very certain that King Yao would not sell him out.

Good, very good.

Chief Attendant Xiao said to He Lingchuan: "Build the temple well, and do not let down the monarch's favoritism toward you."

He Lingchuan revealed a mouthful of bright white teeth, smiling very brilliantly: "Certainly, certainly."

The two divine officials walked away immediately, without looking back.

Seeing this scene, You Rongzhi was too lazy to say anything more. In fact, He Xiao's fate was already sealed; whether he had offended the temple or not would not change that.

What a pity, what a pity for such astonishing talent.

Leaving the palace and boarding the carriage, Chief Attendant Xiao said resentfully: "The monarch shields that brat surnamed He; there probably won't be any punishment."

He Xiao was the number one favorite in front of King Yao; who in Tianshui City didn't know that?

But Chief Attendant Xiao had not expected that He Xiao, relying on King Yao's backing, would dare to provoke the temple.

"Do you think that after the temple is built, the monarch will really hand He Xiao over to us?"

Chief Envoy Liang did not make a sound.

He Xiao was the core figure of the new city construction, and this super-large project would take at least two years. Therefore, within the next two years, King Yao would not replace him; otherwise, it would be looking for trouble for himself and for Tianshui City.

After the temple was built, King Yao would mostly find excuses to stall again. If their side couldn't take He Xiao away now, would they be able to then?

But even though Chief Envoy Liang was insightful, he couldn't say it explicitly, because he had just agreed to King Yao's conditions.

This old thing was too cunning; he and He Xiao offended Miaozhantian, yet the compensation went to Chief Envoy Liang.

If one wanted to compensate the Goddess, how much effort would that take? And the Goddess might not even be satisfied.

In the end, only human greed was the most concrete and easiest to satisfy.

"Chief Envoy, looking at tonight's situation, they had long been eyeing the Panjin Stone of the Xilin Temple!" Thinking of his own temple, Chief Attendant Xiao felt his heart dripping blood. "He Xiao cannot escape responsibility for the collapse of the Xilin Temple!"

To build the new city, they actually set their sights on the temple! Using "insane" to describe it was still too mild! Chief Envoy Liang, however, felt something was not quite right: "How dare they be so disrespectful to the main deity?"

Was King Yao crazy? No matter how obsessed he was with building the new city, how could he dare to anger the Goddess?

Chief Attendant Xiao said with a dark face: "From the moment He Xiao started building the Youhu Villa, everything they did was disrespectful. No, no, even earlier, they started stalling and neglecting the Goddess!"

Like today's on-the-spot confrontation, Qingyang was actually an old hand at this. Chief Envoy Liang had already thought of her, but Qingyang had previously made a proposal to Miaozhantian, and the Goddess was still considering it.

Under these circumstances, Chief Envoy Liang could not rashly ask her to come forward.

Subsequently, King Yao called the two men, You and He, back in and scolded them severely.

He Lingchuan knew this was an essential step, so he did not talk back, only asking at the end: "Then, should the Huan Biao be dismantled?"

"Dismantle what?" King Yao glared, "Keep it!"

Chief Envoy Liang did not bring it up again, and he was naturally happy not to say anything.

Since neither side mentioned it, that meant it was tacitly agreed that the Huan Biao did not need to be dismantled.

"The King is wise!" He offered flattery that cost nothing.

He Lingchuan knew that tonight he had won a complete victory.

After scolding them and venting his anger, King Yao pointed to the door of the study and said irritably: "Get out!"

He Xiao walked away leisurely, while You Rongzhi remained behind.

Regarding the punishment for He Xiao, King Yao didn't even mention it.

How should he be punished? Imprisonment? He Xiao was running in and out of the eastern expansion project, busy non-stop; how could King Yao restrict his movements? Besides, the nine hundred guards assigned to him were originally a protective detention for He Xiao.

A fine or a forced donation? He was a foreign merchant; he didn't even have a formal title in the capital's eastern expansion project, just a "Zhi Shi," and he didn't draw a salary. In fact, he was working for King Yao for free.

Good heavens, the man was working voluntarily, hadn't received a single cent here, and they still wanted him to lose money? If King Yao did that, there was no guarantee the man wouldn't be disgruntled.

If he were disgruntled, the projects in his hands would easily go wrong—delays here today, slacking off there tomorrow, and failed material inspections the day after.

With such a large project, there were countless problems and frictions every day. He Xiao didn't even need to find excuses; he just had to let things develop, and the project progress would naturally be significantly affected, and others wouldn't be able to say anything.

This Island Master He also had no family in Yao, no Achilles' heel. At most, King Yao could have people strictly investigate the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce for illegal operations, checking if there was tax evasion or falsified accounts, but that would be painless for He Xiao.

Thinking and thinking, King Yao couldn't come up with a good way to handle He Xiao for the moment.

Since the temple had already been offended, and King Yao had given compensation to Chief Envoy Liang, he just hoped that the capital's eastern expansion project wouldn't have any more twists and turns, and could proceed smoothly so he could get his money back sooner.

King Yao understood even more that people with too much ability often had tempers and their own opinions. Scolding He Xiao and venting his anger verbally was enough; it wasn't good to have any substantive punishment.

When he was tired of scolding, he told He Lingchuan to get lost.

Next, King Yao wanted to find out the ins and outs from You Rongzhi.

You Rongzhi did not dare to hide anything. After all, regarding the dismantling and misappropriation of the Xilin Temple stone materials this time, he really had been kept in the dark from beginning to end.

King Yao was speechless for a long while.

This meant that He Xiao had controlled the capital's eastern expansion project too well.

Dismantling stone materials and building the Huan Biao were not things that could be accomplished by one person alone.

The terrifying part was that the officials and teams who completed these two things accepted He Xiao's instructions without question, without any hesitation, and without any doubt.

If one could say that dismantling objects from the Xilin Temple was authorized by King Yao, then taking the stone pillars of the Xilin Temple to build the Huan Biao didn't even trigger suspicion or hesitation among the officials.

What did this explain? It explained that the "authoritative" image He Xiao had established had already taken root in people's hearts; they had developed a subconscious reaction to executing his orders, without even thinking too much.

You Rongzhi's report was very straightforward; he had always been able to feel the impulse and drive permeating the air in the project.

Apart from the army, he had never experienced this in any other organization.

It had only been a month, and He Xiao had brought a motley crew of people harboring ulterior motives to feel like an army?

This was simply too terrifying.

King Yao indeed hoped to possess a highly efficient and capable team of officials, but the one leading the team shouldn't be an outsider!

His officials shouldn't be obedient to a foreign merchant! His team shouldn't be at the beck and call of an outsider! If this person He Xiao couldn't be handled, he should be gotten rid of as soon as he was used up.

You Rongzhi finally couldn't help but ask: "My King, when Chief Envoy Liang left, his expression wasn't good either."

Was this matter really just brushed over so lightly? It didn't fit Chief Envoy Liang's temperament.

King Yao glanced at him and covered his mouth to yawn: "Retire, I'm sleepy."

Seeing the east turning white, he was almost sixty years old, and he had pulled an all-nighter!

These people, none of them had ever spared him any worry.

"Yes." You Rongzhi understood; Chief Envoy Liang's temper wouldn't change, and the King had mostly made some compromises.

After leaving the palace, He Lingchuan boarded the carriage driven by Wanqifeng and headed toward the East City Gate.

Three hundred guards followed closely behind, the sound of hooves clip-clopping. At this time, the sky was just beginning to brighten, and early-rising passersby turned their heads one after another, seeing the grand display of Island Master He's departure.

Sitting inside his carriage, He Lingchuan stretched his back long and hard, set up a barrier, and suddenly laughed out loud! He had ruined the temple, misappropriated building materials, and enraged the divine officials, yet he had left the palace safe and sound after just being scolded.

It was truly unimaginably smooth! "Absurd, simply absurd!" The mirror was also overjoyed, "This hurdle is passed?"

"Passed." He Lingchuan's laughter did not hide his pride, "I thought the temple would invite Qingyang over, but they didn't. Fortunately, they didn't!"

He was quick-witted, but in all fairness, his eloquence was only average, not even as good as Fu Liushan's.

Qingyang had stood in the Beijia court for 150 or 160 years; what kind of attacks hadn't she seen? If she had come to the Imperial Study to confront him, He Lingchuan wouldn't have been confident he could out-talk her.

That scene wouldn't have been very pretty.

He Lingchuan also knew that the temple and Qingyang had always maintained contact; this time, for some reason, the temple hadn't invited Qingyang to help.

A major mistake. Chief Envoy Liang probably regretted it, right?

The mirror also found it funny: "Those two divine officials' arguing skills were too poor; they were no match for you."

"They are divine attendants, after all. Usually, they chant divine grace; facing those above, they only need to obey, and facing those below, they only need to exert pressure. They don't have that much flexibility." He Lingchuan put his hands behind his head.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1547 =====