Chapter 236: Traitor to the Country

"I heard about it. What does this have to do with His Majesty's order?" Jiang Tu asked.

Qiu Defu stepped forward, and Jiang Tu followed. Behind the two, a string of inner attendants and palace maids followed, at least ten steps away.

Qiu Defu said softly, "Does Vice Minister Jiang know that the cult rebels' base camp is in Dongzhou? Over the years, the Dongzhou cult rebels have been causing trouble extremely fiercely. His Majesty's order to you has deep meaning."

Jiang Tu's face changed suddenly.

Both were smart people; he had already heard the thick killing intent from Qiu Defu's words.

Qiu Defu looked at him, understanding in his heart. "Since Vice Minister Jiang understands, go and do it; handle the matter well, this time you can act recklessly. Even if someone impeaches you, His Majesty will protect you."

However, Jiang Tu's face was extremely gloomy. "Eunuch Qiu, you are making me the villain."

Qiu Defu smiled slightly, looking at the skyline, and said coldly, "It is His Majesty who wants you to be the villain. If you have the ability to incite a civil uprising in Dongzhou, His Majesty will definitely remember a merit for you in his heart. Over the years, you, Vice Minister Jiang, have done no less evil things that have caused people to curse. How come, you are starting to cherish your reputation now? Too late!"

Jiang Tu sighed. "I am ultimately burdened by reputation. His Majesty wants me to scrape in Dongzhou; I will definitely handle the matter with heart. However, I still have to ask, is there a deadline?"

Qiu Defu folded his hands in his sleeves; the weather was freezing, and the wind scraping on his face was like a knife. He said without joy or sorrow, "The season when the green is not connected to the yellow is the easiest time for things to happen. Therefore, your time is not much, only a few months left. The things that happened in the Imperial Prison last night made His Majesty very angry; the Dongzhou cult rebels must be completely eradicated. The Embroidered Uniform Guard will cooperate with your actions; you can let go and act. Some cult rebels are hidden too deeply; Dongzhou must have a civil uprising so that all cult rebels can surface, only then can they be caught in one net."

"Not afraid of implicating the innocent?"

"To make His Majesty stop being angry, the sacrifice of the innocent becomes valuable." Qiu Defu spat out the most cruel and heartless words, turned and left, leaving Jiang Tu standing in the corridor continuing to blow in the wind.

Jiang Tu sighed repeatedly.

He knew very well how the court officials cursed him, saying he was a sycophant, saying he sold his butt, calling him 'Imperial Concubine Jiang'. But, for so many years, no one had ever cursed him as a traitor to the country. He was a thief; he stole the old Emperor's money, which could only be considered an internal thief, not a traitor to the country. Yet he didn't expect that one day, he would be the knife in the Emperor's hand, swinging towards the commoners of Dongzhou.

Doing this, without accident, he would bear the curse of a traitor to the country. In this life, there was absolutely no hope of turning over.

The mouths of scholars were like being smeared with arsenic.

Jiang Tu gritted his teeth; what could he do? His Majesty personally ordered the matter, so he could only bite the bullet and do it. Not only must he do it, but he must do it well, do it beautifully. In the season when the green is not connected to the yellow, Dongzhou must have a civil uprising.

This meant that from this moment on, he had to let the dirtiest and most poisonous claws under his command start to scrape Dongzhou recklessly, making the people have no livelihood, making families broken and homes destroyed, wealthy families becoming small families, small families becoming poor families, poor families becoming bandits, and bandits coming out of the mountains to kill officials and rebel.

With this set of things, there were only a few months left, and Jiang Tu was worried to death for a moment.

It seemed that not only did he have to scrape recklessly, but he also had to plant his own people among the bandits. Otherwise, if the civil uprising didn't happen on time next year and he didn't complete His Majesty's task, His Majesty would definitely not be happy.

He had served by His Majesty's side for so many years, and this was the first time he had seen His Majesty's such great anger. The more His Majesty was calm and composed, the more it meant the killing intent was so thick that no one could persuade him. Conversely, if His Majesty were to curse loudly, there would still be room for relaxation, and begging for mercy might let it pass.

Truly didn't know which hornet's nest the jailbreaking cult rebels poked, actually making His Majesty so angry, angry to the point of wanting to cancel Dongzhou from the map.

Too terrifying!

Too late to lament his future, Jiang Tu rushed out of the palace, grabbing time to arrange.

Everything in the capital was as usual, while the commoners of Dongzhou would encounter the most tragic and darkest moment in a hundred years; the eighteenth level of hell was nothing more than this.

Memorials of impeachment flew into the imperial palace like snowflakes, all of which were left by the old Emperor without being issued. When they accumulated too much, he ordered Qiu Defu to burn all the court officials' impeachment memorials.

Qiu Defu didn't even dare to say a word of persuasion. He personally carried the basket and poured the impeachment memorials into the furnace, just in time to add a handful of fire to the alchemy furnace.

Recently, the old Emperor looked very calm, and some court officials even felt that the wise and martial Emperor of his early years seemed to have returned. However, only those who served close by, such as Qiu Defu, understood that the old Emperor had entered the stage of wanton killing. Palace attendants who served, as long as they made a little movement, the old Emperor would give an order to execute them.

Rather than saying the old Emperor looked very calm, it was better to say he was gloomy. The darkest side of his inner heart was completely exposed, and there was no humanity left.

Qiu Defu, as an old man, was cautious and trembling every day when serving. In the past, he still had the courage to persuade one or two, but now, he couldn't say a few words. If the old Emperor didn't ask, he absolutely wouldn't open his mouth.

The palace attendants serving by his side were all clever people, and the dull ones were all dead. Everyone didn't need language; they could communicate normally just by using their eyes. The Taiji Palace was quiet to the point of being able to hear a needle drop.

Until the old Emperor executed several Daoists, the slow-witted court officials realized belatedly that the old Emperor hadn't recovered to being wise and martial, but had started to go crazy instead.

Was it good or bad?

There were not many court officials left who had personally experienced the late years of the late Emperor.

The Right Prime Minister could barely count as one.

He sent someone to remind Prince Jin not to approach the old Emperor recently, to stay as far away as possible, and it was best to have nothing to do.

Prince Jin didn't understand and wanted to pursue the question. The Right Prime Minister only told him, "Listen to me and you won't be wrong."

Similar words happened in every corner of the capital.

On the Marquis's Mansion side, the Master suddenly ordered the whole family to be grounded. Cancel all banquets, decline all banquets outside. The whole family should cultivate their character. Business outside could be done if it could be done, and if it couldn't be done, withdraw it temporarily and talk about it next year.

The whole Marquis's Mansion, no one could understand the Master's order.

The second branch made a scene in front of the Old Madam, seeing that it was almost the end of the year, which was the busiest time of the year, with banquets everywhere, and the Marquis's Mansion had also prepared several banquets, and even the invitations were sent out. Now all were canceled; what was this?

If something big happened in the imperial court, doing so would be justifiable.

Clearly, the imperial court was very peaceful, so why ground the family?

The Old Madam also thought the Master's order was very unreasonable, so she ordered someone to invite the Master over and asked, "This old woman doesn't ask for your specific reason, just ask you one sentence, is it really that serious? The court is very peaceful, so what kind of madness are you having?"

"Does the Old Madam really think I'm having madness?" the Master asked back.

The Old Madam originally wanted to say yes, but facing the other's gaze, she suddenly hesitated and changed her question: "Did something really happen?"

The Master gave a hum.

The Old Madam's heart jumped immediately. "More serious than the Jinzhou rebels?"

The Master gave another hum. "Ten times more serious!"

Jinzhou rebels, making trouble, arguing, several factions fighting each other, almost fighting out dog brains, but did anyone see the old Emperor execute anyone?

This time, if one accidentally falls into the old Emperor's hands, it's nine deaths and one life. ===== CHAPTER 237 =====