Chapter 746: Going Alone

At the court audience, the Great King could see that the Minister of Revenue still had something to say; this time Minister of Revenue Zhang came to see the Great King and got straight to the point: "Two hundred thousand isn't enough for circulation? My lunch has been cut from twelve dishes to six, and that's for two people!"

Wei Shen: ……Could it be that you just wanted to eat these few today?

But Minister of Revenue Zhang felt ashamed.

"I deserve ten thousand deaths; I am ashamed before Your Majesty."

The Great King sighed, "Enough, speak. I don't want to see you three times."

"... It was reported by Xu Zhong County in Langya that a hurricane struck, flooding the county's farmlands; please allocate grain from the court."

Typhoons making landfall by the sea are normal, but this place managed to make the Great King sit up straight: "Langya? You didn't list this matter first at the court audience—then… it probably isn't serious, right? Langya still has the Prince of Langya and the Wang clan; why would they memorialize the court for rescue?"

Not mentioning the Prince of Langya is fine, but once brought up, the Great King recalled old grudges. The Prince of Langya's title is not like a typical princely title—he merely follows the Wang clan's lead; back then he even pretended to be blind, letting Bai Li Jin hack at him in Langya.

"Your Majesty, the rain brought by the hurricane is not small, and the flooding of farmland is true. But according to my knowledge, most of the fields in Xu Zhong belong to the Wang clan. After thinking it over, I still ought to mention it to Your Majesty."

Oh, the Great King understood—this land is not clean. I don't know whether it belongs to the commoners or the Wang clan.

"That's perfect—issue my decree ordering the Wang clan… to save themselves."

Minister of Revenue Zhang: ……

The Great King didn't care whether the Wang clan was deliberately probing or whatever; anyway, his grain supply is tighter than his silver.

Although the Wang clan survived the purge at Zhu Ti and the downfall of Bai Li Jin, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse—no… the Wang clan is at most a slimmed-down elephant, far fatter and more tender than a camel.

"And that Prince of Langya—if he can't handle that position, he can't even settle his own few subjects; he'd better roll back here, I'll reserve a spot for him at the Honglu Lodge in Youzhou."

The Great King's reply could be called firm, but at least there was a definite answer; Minister of Revenue Zhang immediately went back to make arrangements not to mention it.

The Great King himself had already foreseen the future conflict with these great clans.

"Is the Fang manor still surrounded? When will the compensation be paid?"

Wei Shen, keeping up with the progress, spread his hands: "Investigating the past of the Fang surname takes time; they're the sort who won't shed tears until they see the coffin. Right now they don't seem eager to spend money to avert disaster—maybe… they're waiting for the family head or the Yuan clan to back them."

"That would be best; I fear they'll cut off their tails to survive, ignoring this petty official. No money, no life— that's the tricky part."

"Maybe the hurricane was the Wang clan's peace offering of jade and silk, after all Bai Li Jin is dead. You've just offended the Fang and Yuan clans, and now you're treating the Wang clan this way—now all the great clans except the Xie and Lu are arrayed against us." Thinking of the massive Wang clan of Langya, Wei Shen worried for the Great King, unsure whether to advise him to first ease off on making enemies.

"It's fine that the eldest is here; he's got a good head."

"Evening… no one's any use."

"The Great King has many debts, but he's not worried."

When he resolved to institute the imperial examinations and overthrow the recommendation system, he had already thoroughly offended all the clans under heaven.

The Great King patted the little gold that had come bouncing back from the garden: "Cattle and horses travel in herds, fierce beasts go alone. I and Master Xiao Jin are destined to be fierce beasts!"

Xiao Jin, hearing the words, felt it was probably praise, immediately held his head high and chest out, disdainfully snorting at Wei Shen: "Just follow Master Xiao Jin!"

Wei Shen: ……

The Golden Crow sank westward, the daylight was about to fade.

The Great King, Wei Shen, and Ling Yin stepped ahead of the main force. No matter how the court officials failed to understand, the Great King still set out for Yingtai Isle on the set date.

This summer retreat brought along the womenfolk; the troop's marching speed was unprecedentedly slow. The Great King had only gone half a day when he broke away and ran, leaving only an empty shell of the imperial carriage creeping slowly toward Yingtai Isle.

Upon arriving at the summer retreat two months ago, the Great King never forgot to bring his two sisters' wet-nurses, and of course he didn't leave behind his two adoptive brothers; this time Bai Li Hu was riding slowly behind the carriage, refusing to follow the Great King's mad dash.

Old Seven Bai Li Zhang sat in Consort Wei's carriage; whenever he remembered, he'd stretch his neck to look ahead, mouth uttering cries of "imperial elder brother," and each time Consort Wei felt greatly relieved.

"The imperial elder brother went ahead, Zhang'er comes this way, from here you can see the fourth imperial elder brother."

Bai Li Zhang, never bothered to go over, glanced at Bai Li Hu from the right carriage window, then quickly shrank back.

Ning Guo climbed up and heard Old Seven bluntly muttering about the fourth: "Fourth elder brother, fierce~"

Ning Guo immediately laughed, whispering to the aunt: "Old Seven is also a simpleton, just like that little bird. The younger brother—likely the first person to leave a deep impression on him after he gained memory—now believes whatever he's told, good or bad. On the other hand, Old Four, who later looked after him with good intentions, he's grown fond of."

Consort Wei wiped Bai Li Zhang's forehead sweat, saying, "This child's mother is just honest; in the future… as long as he doesn't take after your family, he'll surely be fine."

Ning Guo: ……

After Consort Wei finished speaking, she realized the remark was improper; the two exchanged a glance and laughed: "Days are getting better too—we've also started speaking without restraint."

Ning Guo didn't think it improper: "These days there aren't many who can control us; in private, what's there that we can't say?"

Bai Li Zhang looked left and right, flustered and not understanding, then turned back to stare out the window. By then their carriage had already left Youzhou City, with Qinggu Mountain looming ahead; their carriage suddenly jerked to a halt. Ning Guo lunged to grab Bai Li Zhang, who was about to tumble out, about to ask the outer guards what was happening, when he heard the shouts of killing ahead.

Ning Guo's face instantly changed—there were assassins.

The Great King had indeed sent cavalry to Yingtai Isle, but the main force wouldn't endure massive losses to march slowly with their carriage; by now they must be nearly there. At present those escorting the imperial carriage's guard of honor aren't elite—just palace rotation guards—and she only hopes this assassination attempt won't be large-scale.

They clung to Bai Li Zhang, who still didn't know what was happening; the nearby guards quickly returned to report: "A large batch of assassins lies ahead—certainly no fewer than a thousand. Please, Eldest Princess and Consort, stay in the carriage and keep away from the windows."

Upon hearing there were indeed a thousand, Ning Guo narrowed his eyes and calmly said, "Protect the Prince of Jing well."

"Yes!"

Consort Wei grew a little panicked: "Are you sure… it's Jingzhou? The Emperor and Ah Shen aren't here—if the Prince of Jing meets with mishap, what are we to do?!"

"Aunt, don't worry; our guards aren't bad either. We're outside Youzhou City—organizing an assassination of this scale… isn't common. The Emperor has recently offended the clans, but they wouldn't mobilize this fast."

Ning Guo placed his hope of resisting the enemy on the guards surrounding their carriage; he knew these men were no worse than those beside his younger brother. Who knew he'd overestimated them— they were useless…

This outing wasn't for war; Bai Ze and Weini rode low‑profile in a carriage. The restless Xiao Jin and Zhetian had already run off with the Great King, leaving the two of them honestly crouched in a huge carriage.

Weini, this fellow whose mouth never rests, snatched a few carrots from Tongchen and nibbled them along the way; when the carriage braked sharply, the carrot flew out and rolled along the planks to the outside.

That fellow foolishly watched the carrot drift away; Bai Ze, seeing this, made room for him and slowly urged, "Someone comes to your door and makes you lose a mouthful of food—don't you go out and resist?"

Weini clear JPG

It's strange— the Great King usually speaks in half‑understood bits that it doesn't necessarily grasp fully, but whatever Bai Ze says it gets instantly. It understands, it understands… but… are you making things difficult for the bear?