Professionals of the Starry Skies - Chapter 664

Chapter 664: A Good Fighter

“Your Highness, your servants Su Chengsheng and Ma Chengen request to see you…”

Being able to be a slave of the emperor and calling oneself a “slave” is actually something that many people in Daqian cannot even ask for.

After all, this is an ancient feudal society where cannibalism is everywhere.

“Come in.”

Fang Xing nodded.

Then he saw Su Chengsheng, the chief eunuch of the late emperor, and his companion Ma Chengen come in, and he immediately knew that something was wrong.

“Tell me about it…”

He held the teacup in one hand and scraped the surface of the tea with the lid in the other. He spoke casually, but with an unquestionable aura of majesty.

“I am serving as the acting commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guards under the order of the late emperor. The list is here, please have a look at it, Your Highness the Crown Prince…”

Su Chengsheng knelt down and held a booklet high above his head.

The Xiuyiwei was actually the Jinyiwei, who were responsible only to the emperor and had the power to detect and arrest criminals. They had always been hostile to the nobles and civil officials.

If the new emperor does not accept it, the outcome will probably be disastrous.

“Eunuch Ma, what about you?”

Fang Xing looked at his chief eunuch and sighed.

“My other job is the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard… Please forgive me, Your Highness.”

Ma Chengen kowtowed repeatedly.

“Father…”

Fang Xing sighed: “They really have a long-term plan. Even the companion who grew up with me is a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard…”

“I would rather die than surrender, but the late emperor only wanted to protect Your Highness, and Your Highness is a filial son. I am in vain for being a villain…”

Ma Chengen burst into tears.

As the person who was monitoring the prince, he certainly knew most of the prince’s privacy and had no intention of rebelling.

And this time, the emperor’s death had nothing to do with the prince.

I can only say that he has a bad fate. I originally thought that the emperor was in his prime and he would definitely die before the late emperor and the prince, but I didn’t expect that the will of heaven is unpredictable…

“You two can be spared the death penalty, but you cannot be forgiven for your crimes…send them all to guard the late emperor’s body.”

Fang Xing waved his hands, raised them high, and then put them down gently.

“Your Highness…”

Eunuch Ma was in tears. He thought he was dead this time, but unexpectedly he still had a glimmer of hope.

Little did he know that he was the best witness to prove the prince’s innocence, so Fang Xing had to keep him in case someone was interested and checked.

…

The twenty-sixth year of Jingde.

Today’s morning meeting is particularly different.

The princes who had left the palace early to set up their own residences, such as King of Thailand Li Ruzhang and Prince of Kang Li Ruijin, have all arrived. Although they are covered up, they still look haggard.

All officials stood in line, with nobles and civil officials arranged in order, civil officials on the left and military officials on the right.

“Ascension to the throne!”

At this time, accompanied by the eunuch’s light shout, a phoenix chair was carried to the side of the throne, which immediately startled the ministers.

“Greetings to the Queen Mother!”

All the ministers bowed hastily, and saw the Queen Mother slowly approaching, supported by the Crown Prince. They all knew that something big had happened.

“Last night… the emperor suffered a sudden heart attack and unfortunately passed away…”

The Queen Mother spoke slowly.

“Father?!”

Li Ruzhang immediately burst into tears: “I want to see my father! I want to see my father!”

“Okay, King Kang, King Tai… after you leave the court, you should go… Now let’s talk about state affairs. The country cannot be without a leader for a day. What do you think?”

At this time, when the ministers saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince standing next to the Emperor’s throne, who didn’t know that the outcome was already decided?

Yuan Zhao was the first to step forward and said, “Your Highness the Crown Prince is a man of noble character and the appearance of a dragon and a phoenix. You are justified and should be the emperor.”

“Your Highness, please take over the throne.”

All the ministers knelt down like they were cutting wheat. King Kang and King Tai seemed a little awkward, but they quickly suppressed their resentment and knelt down to kowtow: “Please let my brother, the crown prince, take the throne…”

Fang Xing declined three times as usual, then smiled bitterly: “Alas… you have caused me so much trouble.”

He came to the throne but did not sit down. He stood aside and said, “Among all the affairs of the court today, the most important thing is the affairs after my father’s death… There is an old saying that goes, if you do not change your father’s way for three years, you can be said to be filial. I want to follow it… From now on, I will take charge of the government. The appointment and dismissal of officials above the third rank will be temporarily frozen… I will talk about it after I am familiar with the situation.”

Friends who often serve as emperors know that the most taboo for an emperor is to make big moves as soon as he comes to power.

Especially someone like Fang Xing, who does not have the prestige of a founding emperor, and whose only legitimacy is that he is the son of the previous emperor.

This is actually very fragile. If you are not yet an adult, you can be taught by the Queen Mother or the Grand Empress Dowager…

Even if one comes of age and takes power, and immediately shouts, “I want to implement new policies,” “I want to seize power,” “I want to smash the pot,” “I want to smash the pots of many, many people…” he will still be beaten like a pig’s head.

Now that the new emperor has just taken office, it would be a pipe dream for him to seize military and financial power.

Military power and financial power ultimately need someone to grasp them, and the most important thing is actually personnel power!
Fang Xing’s wings are weak now, and there are not many people in the smuggling!
It would be good if he could figure out the palace guards and the imperial army within three years.

Therefore, before becoming emperor, he had to break the impasse by any means necessary.

After becoming the emperor, he wanted to sit back and relax.

For example, the newly appointed Empress Dowager is so old that she can outlast the other party if she waits for her to die.

“Thinking that you are the emperor and everyone has to listen to you is actually the most stupid idea… It’s just like all the civil servants will definitely form a party and then work together, just like the Zerg, which is funny.”

‘In fact, all the people below have their own little thoughts. Even if you promote a group of people and overthrow the original ones, after many years, they will become the vested interests and become the people you hate the most…’

‘Among the civil officials, there are loyal and treacherous ones, and some can even change at any time… Some are simply loyal if the emperor wants them to be loyal, and treacherous if the emperor wants them to be treacherous.’

Fang Xing looked at the people kneeling below, first a few princes.

This is not a big problem. The overall situation has been decided and the status has been determined. If the other party rebels again, they will be real traitors and the whole world will fight against them.

Now that people are content, there will be no unrest.

Then came the nobles.

Thinking of the nobles, Fang Xing sighed. The battlefields in ancient times were extremely tragic. Those who came back alive, no matter they were soldiers or generals, might have some post-traumatic stress disorder. To put it bluntly, they were mentally ill and could not adapt to the environment of peacetime at all.

Especially these nobles, they have chopped off countless heads of rebel kings and false emperors, so they naturally have no respect for imperial power. Once they have military power in their hands, they immediately become an unstable factor.

It is no wonder that the founding heroes of every dynasty rarely have a good ending.

“Fortunately, the first generation is a dragon, the second generation is a bug… not to mention the third and fourth generations, they will just slowly die.”

“Among the civil officials, there are also those who plotted against the king during the turbulent times, but they have no power… As long as we cut off their heads, the problem will be less serious. A snake cannot survive without a head…”

“The so-called snakehead is naturally someone who holds the power to speak. It is normal to form a party, but there cannot be only one party. There needs to be a balance… And if someone has been praised for decades and is praised by the people and scholars, and is called a ‘saint’, then you should be careful. This is an attempt to seize the power to speak… It would be perfect to kill him or something like that.”

“Keeping the nobles here will prevent them from being accused of being mean and ungrateful, and will also oppress the civil officials… There needs to be a balance between civil and military officials.”

“If the Qing Dynasty didn’t have the Eight Banners to suppress the civil officials, how could the emperor be so happy?”

‘The so-called emperor’s world, before the development of civilization such as papermaking, half was given to the aristocratic families, and after education was passed down to the poor, half was given to the civil servants… The real peasants had no chance at all.’

‘Because only civil officials and military commanders are the cornerstone of rule.’

“If you want to enlighten the people, that’s fine. If everyone can read and write, then the emperor’s crown will fall off, and maybe even his head will fall off with it.”

“The so-called emperor and the scholars and officials jointly rule the world. At least they only want half. As for enlightening the people and educating all the people, the cost is like a mountain and a sea. I don’t know if ten national treasuries can afford it. Even if they can afford it, the emperor will definitely be beheaded…”

“As a creature like an emperor, unless he wants to commit suicide, it is impossible for him to promote universal education…”

‘In ancient feudal dynasties, education was elite. Of course, if a farmer’s son studied and took the imperial examination, he would be accepted as a member of the elite. In order to maintain his rule, the ruling class would also focus on absorbing new blood and updating the generation…’

Fang Xing looked down, and made up his mind: “The most important thing about being an emperor is to be the referee yourself. If you never leave the court, you will definitely not lose!”

“Moreover, I am more relaxed than any emperor in history, because I have all the power in my own hands, so I can use people with confidence…”

“As long as they have the ability, use them freely. Don’t worry about their achievements becoming too great for their master, or about the cunning rabbit dying and the running dog being cooked…”

After a flash of thought, Fang Xing spoke calmly:
“Gentlemen, please stand up…”

…

Just as Fang Xing was accepting the worship of many ministers in the court.

In the palace.

“Please spare my life, sir, please spare my life…”

Several eunuchs were dragged out and beaten to death.

Zhao Hu didn’t even frown: “This palace needs to be cleaned up. How dare they spread the news… It’s outrageous!”

“Report, ‘Qinghe Palace’ has been razed…”

A guard of the Crown Prince’s Palace came over quickly: “Duke Ying has received the order to go to the Imperial Guard camp…”

“Good, we are the guards of the Crown Prince’s Palace. Now we must at least take control of the palace defense…”

Zhao Hu felt a little hot in his heart.

He was originally just a captain in the Prince’s Mansion, a ninth-rank officer.

Now it seems that even a general of the third rank can do it. This means that if one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit.

“A good warrior does not have great achievements. The old Duke of England has a great influence in the army. Although the late emperor has tried to purge him several times, it has been difficult to completely eradicate him. Now we invite the new Duke of England to rely on the power of the nobles to at least ensure that the army is not in chaos…”

If the army is not in chaos, there will be no major chaos.

As for the palace coup and Xuanwu Gate, they were all secretly arranged, contacted, and eliminated in advance by Fang Xing…

In a word, the opponent was not given any chance and all dangers were nipped in the bud.

Now, cleaning up the insiders in the palace also means cutting off the connection between the inside and the outside.

No matter how many tricks the concubine had, now that she has lost power over the palace, most of them are useless. If she is separated from the King of Thailand, she will be of no use at all.

To outsiders, the coup was quite boring as there was no military fighting.

But in fact, if war really breaks out, it will damage the vitality of Daqian and bring disaster to all the people in the world.

(End of this chapter)