[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-just-maxed-out-and-you-want-me-to-be-a-puppet-":3,"chapter-i-just-maxed-out-and-you-want-me-to-be-a-puppet--i-just-maxed-out-and-you-want-me-to-be-a-puppet--chapter-12":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I Just Maxed Out, and You Want Me to Be a Puppet Emperor?",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2336451,4569,"Chapter 12: Who Said It, Let Them Handle It! (Please Collect, Please Monthly Tickets)","i-just-maxed-out-and-you-want-me-to-be-a-puppet--chapter-12",12,"\u003Cp>Chancellor Zhao Wenyuan was deeply calculating, not because he sought to usurp the throne, but because he wished only to secure his position within the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who had reached this level—not just him, but also Grand General Guo Po and the Empress Dowager, even other Imperial Princes—had all offended too many people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind them all stood so-called allies and closest kin, bound tightly to their fates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Should they ever fall, their kin and allies, even their ancestral clans, would be uprooted by their enemies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be stripped of rank and reduced to commoner status would be a favorable outcome; more often, they were exiled to the frontier or executed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the Tian Ce Dynasty, official positions and cultivation resources were finite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only by removing those who held them could others gain access to these resources.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s how it is when the wall collapses and everyone pushes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, when the Empress Dowager pushed Li Chen to become emperor, Zhao Wenyuan also supported it, because Li Chen had no faction and would not promote his own subordinates upon ascending.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This posed no threat to Zhao Wenyuan; in fact, he could use the opportunity to expand his own influence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, that was merely his original thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon learning Li Chen was a Saint Realm cultivator, Zhao Wenyuan now only wished to be a loyal minister.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had no direct conflict with Li Chen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To speak plainly, even if Li Chen didn’t become emperor, it wouldn’t be his turn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who had a direct conflict with Li Chen?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Naturally, the Empress Dowager and the other Imperial Princes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other Imperial Princes needed no explanation—they had endured for years, hoarding their ambition to become emperor, and would never give up so easily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Wenyuan believed the Empress Dowager’s ambitions were no smaller; he still remembered her words from yesterday, which were clearly testing the court ministers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her goal, most likely, was to rise above the emperor—or wait for the right moment to depose him and become Empress Regnant herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such events were not uncommon in the continent’s history; some neighboring dynasties had also been ruled by female emperors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over the years of maneuvering against the Empress Dowager, Zhao Wenyuan had continuously investigated her origins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Officially, she was descended from noble meritocrats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That is, her ancestors had rendered great service to the founding emperor of the Tian Ce Dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If true, her background would indeed be clean.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Zhao Wenyuan pretended to be a poor scholar before Li Chen, his survival to this day meant he had his own network.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since the Empress Dowager entered the capital, he had been investigating her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though she hid her tracks deeply, he had received word that her noble clan had recently maintained contact with remnants of the previous dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only he knew this, and without any evidence, he could not report it to the late emperor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Otherwise, the Empress Dowager would turn on him—he’d only be inviting trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Wenyuan now wished to be a loyal minister precisely because he realized Li Chen had no intention of moving against him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, all he needed to do was demonstrate his usefulness to Li Chen and his loyalty—his position as chancellor was assured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A young emperor with terrifying strength and no faction whatsoever offered far more benefits than risks to his ministers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Wenyuan was even willing to become Li Chen’s own ally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Similarly, Guo Po had come to understand this—but perhaps he had miscalculated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this court, neither he nor Zhao Wenyuan had direct conflict with Li Chen; how could they not protect him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Wenyuan had already “judged” that Li Chen knew this too, which was why he summoned them both to the imperial study yesterday—to gauge their loyalty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was already aware of the Third Prince’s rebellion, but according to his estimation, the Third Prince would likely retreat upon learning Li Chen was a Saint Realm cultivator.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If events unfolded this way, Li Chen could easily turn a blind eye; there was no need to escalate matters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, killing his own brother right after ascending the throne would not look good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, the Minister of War had directly presented the Third Prince’s rebellion before Li Chen—Li Chen could no longer pretend ignorance. Since he now knew, he must act; failure to act would damage imperial authority, and if the court saw the Third Prince’s rebellion go unpunished, more would follow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Third Prince learned Li Chen intended to punish him, he would certainly not yield quietly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was clearly forcing Li Chen into a deadly duel with the Third Prince—it was an open strategy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Zhao Wenyuan, with decades of official experience, had no idea how to resolve it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing the Minister of War’s report, Li Chen yawned and said, “Oh, if the Third Prince wants to rebel, then you go and bring him back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This left the Minister of War utterly stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What do you mean, “you go bring him back”? That sounds easy, but Your Majesty, do you think I’m a Saint Realm cultivator too?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the Minister of War opened his mouth to protest, Zhao Wenyuan said coldly, “What? Are you refusing the imperial decree?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Minister of War panicked completely—good Lord, Zhao Wenyuan was quick to slap on a charge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was my problem to raise, yet you’re making me solve it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the Minister of War’s miserable expression, Zhao Wenyuan rejoiced inwardly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seems our emperor still has some skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, this was a conflict between the emperor and the Third Prince; now, by sending the Minister of War, it became a conflict between the Empress Dowager and the Third Prince.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Minister of War refuses to go, they can simply accuse him of two crimes and strip his official cap—thus weakening the Empress Dowager’s faction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this unsolvable situation, Li Chen had still found a way—Zhao Wenyuan was almost impressed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, he overthought it; Li Chen didn’t care about the Third Prince at all and didn’t know how to handle it, so he simply followed the principle: “Who brought it up, let them handle it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you raised it, then you must have a solution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you can’t solve it, what use are you to me—just to bring me trouble?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the combined pressure of Li Chen and Zhao Wenyuan, the Minister of War reluctantly said he would return to think of a solution and send his subordinates to ask the Empress Dowager for guidance after court dismissed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, a rebellion by the frontier troops would have shaken the entire empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the ministers were not panicked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were all thinking: Could this be the sense of security a Saint Realm emperor brings?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder the Second Prince had said yesterday, “Without formidable cultivation as support, how can our dynasty endure for ten thousand generations”?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seems he was right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it wasn’t the Second Prince—it was Li Chen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some even looked forward to seeing how the Third Prince would end up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was nearly noon before Li Chen finally ended the morning court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The imperial palace, the Empress Dowager’s sleeping quarters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately after court ended, her maidservants delivered the news, along with the message the Minister of War wished to convey to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Empress Dowager stretched, her chest nearly bursting free of her robes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as it seemed about to escape its constraints, she lowered her arms, avoiding an accident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am already aware of the matter. Go tell Zou Chong to obey the emperor’s decree and leave the capital; take the chance to provoke the Third Prince slightly, avoid major conflict, and meanwhile, check on the Second Prince’s preparations.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the maidservant left, the Empress Dowager’s face revealed a sly smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emperor, I truly underestimated you—you’ve surprised me two days in a row.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wasn’t in the least anxious; she held too many trump cards, each one enough to make Li Chen choke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, she would give Li Chen a little surprise—to remind him who truly ruled this palace!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1344,"2026-06-20T21:59:17.413Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","60a297fbe35220dbb7d6eb2fc2de491a99a7a99f1cc184e90c9163999e23d8b3","i-just-maxed-out-and-you-want-me-to-be-a-puppet--chapter-13","i-just-maxed-out-and-you-want-me-to-be-a-puppet--chapter-11",766,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-just-maxed-out-and-you-want-me-to-be-a-puppet--cover.jpg"]