Chapter 1297: The Composed Liu Zheng

"Mother, tell me quickly, what do we do, what do we do!"

Xie Ming grew anxious.

Dong Shuyu sighed.

What to do?

What else can be done now?

This son of hers still fails to see the situation clearly.

Does he really think that just because Xie Fang has returned, he can stir up any waves?

Will Liu Zheng give him such an opportunity?

Dong Shuyu was someone who had struggled and climbed her way up in the palace for so long; she was nearly the Empress. She might not have had any outstanding talent, but at the very least, she saw through human nature very clearly.

She turned the prayer beads in her hand and said indifferently, "Do nothing, just continue to eat, drink, and be merry. Xie Ming, you must understand one thing. He, Xie Fang, has only returned under the title of Crown Prince..."

"Don't forget who is in charge of the inner palace now."

Xie Ming was shaken to his core upon hearing this.

Who is in charge?

Everyone knows that the current Dragon Flame Dynasty is no longer the Dragon Flame Dynasty of the past. However, this Imperial Palace cannot simply cease to exist just because one says so. This is also the capital of that Royalist Faction. An Imperial Palace that has continued for thousands of years cannot be demolished just like that.

Constitutional monarchy is meant to limit the power of the Emperor.

But who exactly is doing the limiting?

The Parliament is one.

The second is Zheng Fu.

Yes.

Zheng Fu is now the most supreme existence in the entire Imperial Palace. This woman, who recognized Xie Chan as her adopted daughter after Xie Ling died, now holds more power in the inner palace than Xie Ming. All the eunuchs, palace maids, and various female officials are under Zheng Fu's jurisdiction.

It could also be said that their food, drink, bodily functions, and pleasures all depend on Zheng Fu's mood.

If Zheng Fu says to stop, they probably wouldn't even get to eat dinner.

Furthermore, Zheng Fu is Liu Zheng's mother-in-law.

This means she is Liu Zheng's person, and as the only Empress during Xie Tianyao's reign, she and Xie Chan are the true representatives of the Dragon Flame royal family at this time.

Xie Fang?

A Crown Prince who was nearly deposed—even if he is propped up by those with ulterior motives, so what?

Never underestimate Liu Zheng's methods.

"We, we..."

A wave of sorrow rose in Xie Ming's heart once again.

Dong Shuyu laughed, "Just watch the show, just watch the show..."

"Welcome the Crown Prince!"

"Welcome the Crown Prince back to the country!"

"The Crown Prince shall inherit the throne!"

"Inherit the throne!"

That is what is being said.

In times of national crisis, revolutionary phenomena easily emerge. However, when the people of a country are well-fed, it is also damn easy for people with nothing to do to go looking for trouble. That is the situation in Dragon Flame right now.

Seeing that the country is flourishing, everyone has enough to eat and drink.

They have started to find ways to stir things up for themselves.

Consequently, people in various cities have begun to take to the streets. To put it bluntly, in the period of such massive change for Dragon Flame, an era has not yet passed. Many people still miss the structure of Dragon Flame when Xie Tianyao was in charge.

Therefore, calls for restoration have begun to run rampant.

Many people are anxious.

Those who truly care about the national destiny of the Dragon Flame Nation are all worried, such as Yu Qian.

In the past, he was a loyal member of the Royalist Faction.

But now, when he holds a high position, he feels that the large state machine of Dragon Flame is operating in a healthy way. It is developing through a progressive mechanism; if it returned to the previous state where imperial power was supreme, it is hard to imagine whether Dragon Flame would regress or decline once again.

He was anxious, so he sought out Liu

Zheng several times.

He wanted to suggest that Liu Zheng should strengthen his grasp on military power recently.

Liu Zheng, however, was not anxious.

It was only on Yu Qian's fourth visit that he allowed him to enter.

"My Lord..."

Yu Qian wanted to speak.

Liu Zheng shook his head.

Liu Zheng had been processing official business, keeping his head down without speaking, occasionally picking up a pen to make notes on the dossiers.

Yu Qian tried to speak several times but held back.

A moment later, Liu Zheng put down his pen, let out a breath, and chuckled, "What does Lord Yu wish to say?"

Yu Qian looked solemn: "My Lord, the current trend in the country is somewhat wrong. I am worried, I am worried..."

Liu Zheng knew what he meant.

Yu Qian was worried about the occurrence of bloodshed; such things are naturally not good during the rise of Dragon Flame.

Liu Zheng smiled: "Anything else?"

Yu Qian wanted to speak but hesitated, finally sighing: "This subordinate is worried that the various Feudatory Kings..."

It would be one thing if it were just these Royalist Faction members making a fuss.

But if every Feudatory King also started harboring thoughts of restoration, that would be difficult to handle. Especially those Feudatory Kings who hold heavy military power. Because of the great war against Tsarist Russia this time, the Parliament passed a "Longyan Wartime Expansion Agreement." At that time, especially in the Northwest theater, the troops in the hands of many Feudatory Kings suffered huge losses. Under these circumstances, the Parliament allowed them to conscript soldiers temporarily. Once these Feudatory Kings heard that there was no limit to the number of troops they could conscript, they were delighted.

Consequently, they began large-scale conscription.

Previously, the imperial court's regulations stated that the troops in the hands of each Feudatory King must not exceed 300,000.

But after this time, many Feudatory Kings had over 500,000 troops, including both regular forces and Reserve Force members.

Of course, after the war, disarmament also began.

But these Feudatory Kings had finally found a reason to expand their armies, so how could they easily let you disarm them? Thus, they started dragging their feet and paying lip service while acting in opposition, using all sorts of ways to stall you.

Under these circumstances.

Once the ideology of these Feudatory Kings undergoes any shift, civil war will be imminent.

Liu Zheng laughed heartily: "Lord Yu, take a look at this first before we talk."

He pushed the dossier in his hand over.

Yu Qian looked at it carefully and was immediately shaken to his core.

This dossier was nothing else; these were all letters of guarantee from the various Feudatory Kings who could be considered notable within the country at this time!

Prince of Yong, Prince of Lu, Prince of Jin, Prince of Shu, and so on and so forth...

In these letters of guarantee, they reaffirmed their stance of supporting the Parliament, stating that they would not be influenced by Xie Fang and would certainly rally around the Parliament with Chief Minister Liu at its center, and would not let Longyan turn back the clock of history.

Yu Qian was incomparably shocked and looked up at Liu Zheng in disbelief.

"This..."

He was still somewhat skeptical.

Liu Zheng had already stood up, stretched his limbs, and said indifferently: "Lord Yu, do not think of our Feudatory Kings as lacking such vision. Constitutional monarchy is the Great Trend; under this system, they clearly live better, so why would they want to go back?"

"Ah?"

Yu Qian's eyes lit up as he listened, and he suddenly shuddered: "Your Excellency means, Private Ownership!"

Liu Zheng nodded with a smile: "That's right."

Longyan's Private Ownership was once opposed by many people. But after Private Ownership was forcibly implemented, many people felt it was truly fragrant.

And how great is the impact of Private Ownership on Longyan?

In fact, these Feudatory Kings are the ones who understand it most deeply.