Chapter 333: The Imperial Jade Seal Reappears

"What does Prince Ming mean by this?"

"What do I mean?" Jiang Jinshi stood up abruptly, facing Vice Minister Zhou directly.

The calmness from just a moment ago had vanished without a trace, replaced by an overwhelming fury and the majesty of one who has long held a high position!

The entire front hall fell into a deathly silence in an instant. All the civil and military officials of the Northern Frontier stood up in unison, their gazes cold as they looked at the imperial envoy team.

Jiang Jinshi walked toward Vice Minister Zhou step by step: "The Northern Frontier is bitter and cold. We were born here, grew up here, our parents are buried here, and our wives and children keep watch here! This place is our home!"

"The wealth and prosperity of Da Qian, the learning of the Imperial Academy... no matter how good they are, they belong to Da Qian, not our Northern Frontier!"

He raised his voice sharply: "I, Jiang Jinshi, started from humble beginnings. Thanks to the elders of the Northern Frontier not abandoning me and the soldiers giving their lives, I was able to gain a foothold here and protect the peace of one side!"

"Everything I do is to let the people on this land have enough to eat and wear, to let the children have books to read, and to let the elderly enjoy their old age in peace! It is not to go to Jingcheng to enjoy some bullshit wealth, and even less to let my family leave their homeland to go and be 'hostages' for others!"

He bit the word "hostage" very heavily, and it clearly entered the ears of Vice Minister Zhou and all the imperial envoys.

Vice Minister Zhou's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly said: "Why does Your Highness Prince Ming say this! His Majesty is sympathizing..."

"Sympathizing?" Jiang Jinshi interrupted him sternly: "Moving the parents, wives, and children of our Northern Frontier soldiers away from their homeland and placing them thousands of miles away, calling it graceful nurture, but in reality, it is imprisonment! Our Northern Frontier soldiers cannot accept this kind of 'sympathy'! I, Jiang Jinshi, cannot accept it even more!"

Jiang Jinshi waved his hand and pointed to the boxes full of rewards: "Please take these things back exactly as they are, Vice Minister Zhou! Tell them, when our Northern Frontier was suffering from years of drought and the Xiongnu were coveting it, Da Qian considered the Northern Frontier a burden and ignored it."

"Now that our Northern Frontier has finally stood up from the predicament, Da Qian has taken a fancy to our corner again? One word, get out!"

After speaking, he didn't look at Vice Minister Zhou, who was pale and trembling all over, and turned to all the civil and military officials and people of the Northern Frontier behind him, saying loudly:

"My relatives, my soldiers, and their families will never leave their homeland to be hostages! We will support the sky of the Northern Frontier ourselves! We will guard the land of the Northern Frontier ourselves! Whoever wants to reach a claw in, if one reaches in, I will chop one off! If a pair reaches in, I will cut a pair off!"

"Defend the Northern Frontier! Defend our home!" Han Xiao, Luo Feng, Yan Wu, and others took the lead in raising their arms and shouting.

"Defend the Northern Frontier! Defend our home!!" The roars of thousands of soldiers and countless people rushed into the sky, shaking the imperial envoy team so that everyone's face changed.

Vice Minister Zhou only felt a chill rushing from the soles of his feet to his spirit, and he stared fixedly at the bright red seal on the paper, the seal script "Received from Heaven, may it last forever."

This was indeed the seal script of the Imperial Jade Seal!

He was one of the Six Ministries, and it wasn't his first time seeing this seal, so he would never recognize it wrong!

But the Imperial Jade Seal... how could it be in the Northern Frontier? In the hands of this Jiang Jinshi, whom the Imperial Court regarded as a 'knife'?!

This was not hysteria, not acting... Vice Minister Zhou understood in an instant.

Jiang Jinshi's laughter was not madness, it was mockery!

Mocking the Imperial Court for using a yellow cloth without the Imperial Jade Seal to "enfeoff" him, while he himself held the real Imperial Jade Seal that represented the mandate of heaven!

What did he write just now?

"The remnant of the previous dynasty, Wei Xi Yuan, is granted three feet of white silk! The Chancellor of the previous dynasty, Si Gui, is granted death by beating! The Vice Minister of Rites of the previous dynasty, Zhou... is granted death by chariot splitting!"

This was not crazy talk, this was... a manifesto! It was a declaration of war! It was a shocking manifesto that used the Imperial Jade Seal to declare the Da Qian Imperial Court as the "previous dynasty" and the current Emperor as a "remnant"!

"You... you actually dare to hide the Imperial Jade Seal! Forge an imperial decree! You... you are plotting rebellion! You are unforgivable!"

Vice Minister Zhou's voice carried undisguised fear and shock, pointing at Jiang Jinshi.

"Hiding? Forging?" Jiang Jinshi's tone returned to calmness: "This is the treasure of the orthodox inheritance of China, when did it become the property of the remnant of the previous dynasty, Wei Xi Yuan?"

"The mandate of heaven lies in virtue, not in the hands of those who steal the jade seal and hold positions without doing their jobs. The hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the Northern Frontier only recognize the master who can make the people live in peace and protect the territory."

"Wei Xi Yuan has no virtue, Si Gui abuses power, causing chaos in the world, unrest at the borders, rebellion in Western Liang, and the people are living in misery. Such a muddled emperor and treacherous minister, I am punishing them on behalf of heaven, what is wrong with that?"

What Jiang Jinshi said was not a whim, but had been thought out after Tang Xiao Yu sent the secret report.

He bent down, picked up the bright yellow imperial decree that had been thrown on the ground by Vice Minister Zhou, and actually tore it directly.

"Take this piece of 'decree', and your life, and get back to Jingcheng." Jiang Jinshi threw the torn imperial decree at Vice Minister Zhou's feet.

"Tell Wei Xi Yuan and Si Gui, from today on, the Northern Frontier does not recognize him as the Emperor, and does not recognize his Imperial Court! If they want the Northern Frontier, if they want this Jade Seal, let him bring his head to take it! As for you all..."

His gaze swept over the imperial envoy's entourage and finally landed on Vice Minister Zhou's pale face: "I spare your lives so you can go back and pass the message. If you dare to step into the Northern Frontier again, or if there is another boring decree sent over... kill without mercy!"

"Han Xiao, Luo Feng."

"The general is here!" The two stepped out, their voices like bells.

"Send 'Vice Minister Zhou' and his entourage out of Guangwu City immediately. Remember, 'send' them out." Jiang Jinshi specifically emphasized the word "send".

"Obey!"

Han Xiao and Luo Feng grinned, and they carried the limp Vice Minister Zhou from left and right, dragging him out like a dead dog.

Other Northern Frontier soldiers also stepped forward and "invited" the terrified imperial envoy's entourage out.

The hall returned to silence, leaving only the Northern Frontier's own people. The suppressed anger just now turned into hearty laughter and discussion.

"Hahaha! Satisfying! Big Brother is too awesome! Once the Jade Seal was shown, that old boy's face turned green!" Huang Yan pounded his thigh hard.

"The Imperial Jade Seal... it turned out to be in Big Brother's hands all along! No wonder Big Brother is so confident!" Bai Ting said excitedly.

"That bullshit imperial decree, without even a seal, dared to come and bluff people!" Zhang Honghong spat.

Although Feng Chunsheng was also excited, he thought more: "The Commander's move today is equivalent to completely breaking with the Imperial Court and openly raising his banner. Next, the Imperial Court will be furious, the world will look on, and all parties will probably re-evaluate us."

Jiang Jinshi explained: "Didn't Si Gui flip the table and not let us develop steadily? Then I also flipped his table and told the world that the current Imperial Court is just a bunch of thieves, not even orthodox, and doesn't even have the Jade Seal!"

Not returning a favor is not polite. Since Si Gui did the first day, he would do the fifteenth day, and see whose head hurt more!

The discussion about Wei Xi Yuan's accession in the folk was not small, but many Scholar-Gentry joined forces to suppress it, and most people didn't know the secrets.

Jiang Jinshi wanted to see how they would end up when he poked all these dirty things out! ===== CHAPTER 334 =====