frightfiction Chapter 553 Joy of Life 109
Chapter 553 Joy of Life 109
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Since the day they met Li Chengze, Fan Xian and Li Hongcheng have been patiently waiting for his summons.
After all, they are now dependent on Li Chengze, even though Li Chengze did not give them specific instructions at the time, but only told them to live well.
But they can't just be so clueless as to do nothing, can they?
Fan Xian silently began to allocate funds from the Imperial Treasury, preparing to send the money to the Second Prince's residence as soon as Li Chengze asked.
However, to his surprise, Li Chengze said he didn't need money and really didn't ask him for any.
Even when he brought up the matter in a roundabout way, Li Chengze directly told him to use the money to make gunpowder for Emperor Qing.
When Fan Xian first heard this sentence, he almost thought there was something wrong with his ears.
Li Chengze actually asked him to give the money to Emperor Qing?
Isn't this just helping him aid the enemy?
How could he do something so stupid?
If Emperor Qing were to obtain gunpowder, then… um? Gunpowder? What kind of gunpowder?
Fan Xian asked in astonishment, "Where did the Qing Kingdom get its gunpowder? I've never heard anyone mention this before?"
Li Chengze looked at him expressionlessly and said coldly, "Isn't this the masterpiece of your Censorate? When Chen Pingping assassinated His Majesty, didn't he use a weapon made of gunpowder?"
Upon hearing this, Fan Xian was even more confused: "The Censorate? I used to be a director of the Censorate, how come I've never heard of this?"
Li Chengze shook his head slightly, his tone carrying a hint of contempt, and began to manipulate Fan Xian directly: "It seems you're not doing a very good job as the supervisor. His Majesty is currently working on a large-scale, clandestine production of gunpowder, which requires a lot of money. You'd better be sensible and not upset him over money."
Fan Xian looked at Li Chengze as if he were an idiot: "Don't you know the power of gunpowder? If His Majesty had gunpowder, your chances of ascending the throne would be extremely slim."
“I have my own plans, you just need to do as I say.” Li Chengze interrupted him without hesitation, then waved the man away.
He certainly knew the power of gunpowder, and it was precisely because he knew this that he understood that Emperor Qing would never use gunpowder to deal with a Grandmaster.
Chen Pingping attempted to assassinate Emperor Qing at close range using a shotgun personally made by Ye Qingmei, but failed.
How could such gunpowder, which had just been manufactured and had not even been applied to weapons, possibly be effective against Si Gu Jian and Ku He?
Therefore, Emperor Qing would only use this gunpowder for conquering cities and expanding his territory.
Emperor Qing thought he was keeping the gunpowder production a closely guarded secret, but in reality, Li Chengze saw everything from beginning to end.
Moreover, Li Chengze had even secretly planted his own people among them, waiting for the right moment to reap the benefits.
Recently, the power struggle between Li Chengze and Emperor Qing has intensified and reached a fever pitch.
Emperor Qing punished more than a dozen people from Li Chengze's camp, and even publicly reprimanded Li Chengze in court for "immoral conduct" and "incompetence in managing his subordinates."
For a prince, such accusations would undoubtedly be a devastating blow.
Because "misconduct" is not only a denial of personal morality, but also a comprehensive questioning of his qualifications as the crown prince.
These four words were like a sharp blade, piercing Li Chengze's political foundation and causing him to lose face both in and out of the court.
Not to mention, the phrase "incompetent in managing subordinates" followed by the sentence further diminished his prestige in the court.
After all, how can a prince who cannot even control those around him shoulder the heavy responsibility of governing the country?
Li Chengze bowed his head and admitted his mistake in person, but less than two or three days later, news of the chaos in Dingzhou reached the capital.
The Ye family has been operating in Dingzhou for decades and has long since made it their base of operations.
In this land, the Ye family's influence is deeply rooted, making them practically local tyrants.
No matter who came here, they had no choice but to obey the Ye family. Their authority was so great that they were practically irrefutable.
It could even be said that even if Emperor Qing himself came to Dingzhou, he might not have more influence than the Ye family.
In Dingzhou, the Ye family's influence far exceeded the power of the emperor; this was a fact.
Therefore, when news came from Dingzhou that the Ye family harbored rebellious intentions, secretly forging weapons, stockpiling grain, and recruiting soldiers, intending to plot a rebellion, not a single official in the court suspected anything.
The officials submitted memorials one after another, earnestly requesting Emperor Qing to immediately send troops to suppress the rebellion and nip it in the bud.
Emperor Qing had a bitter pill to swallow.
Because all of the Ye family's current actions are on his orders, with the aim of quelling the impending rebellion in Kyoto when he goes to Mount Dadong.
If we obey the officials' request to send troops to attack the Ye family now, then who will be able to quell the unrest in the capital in the future?
But how could his plan be made public? This not only concerned the face of the imperial court, but also the success or failure of the entire situation.
He had been planning this for a long time, and it was about to succeed. How could he give up halfway?
Emperor Qing was caught in a dilemma, and he was furious that Ye Wan had acted carelessly and that someone had discovered such a confidential matter.
At the same time, he gritted his teeth inwardly, hating the meddlesome person who dared to bring the matter to light, completely disrupting his plans.
In an effort to salvage the situation, Emperor Qing acted decisively, ordering his eldest son to send troops to Dingzhou and personally bring Ye Wan back to the capital for trial, while also ordering a thorough investigation into who had leaked the information.
Finally, Emperor Qing followed the clues and found the Qin family.
Emperor Qing: ...
Emperor Qing wished he could immediately draw his sword and rush to Qin Ye to kill him with his own hands.
What a brilliant Qin Ye!
How dare they resort to such tactics in front of him!
Do you really think he's blind?!
Qin Ye had clearly colluded with his second son to plot a rebellion, but now he was turning around and smearing the Ye family, disrupting his entire plan.
Damn it!
Emperor Qing was furious and found a pretext to dismiss Qin Heng from his post as the garrison commander of the capital.
Qin Heng was completely bewildered by his sudden dismissal.
Qin Ye was also stunned when he learned that his son had been dismissed from his post.
Has Emperor Qing lost his mind? The Ye family plotted a rebellion, and yet Emperor Qing dismissed the Qin family from their official positions.
Qin Ye has been feeling very frustrated lately. Ever since he learned about Fan Xian's true identity, he has been living in constant fear, worried that Fan Xian would join forces with Emperor Qing to deal with the Qin family and avenge Ye Qingmei.
Initially, he planned to side with the Crown Prince, since the Crown Prince, as the heir apparent, was the only candidate to become the next emperor.
As a result, when their people arrived in Nanzhao and tried to make contact with the crown prince, the crown prince died.
Left with no other option, Qin Ye had to turn his attention back to the Third Prince.
In his view, the third prince was young and ignorant, making him an ideal candidate to be a puppet.
As a result, while he was racking his brains trying to figure out how to bypass Emperor Qing's spies and contact Li Chengping, Li Chengping also died.
Well, now he has no choice.