Chapter 149 A Friendship With the Emperor

Afterward,

Zheng Fan and Ji Chengjue were both sitting on the steps beneath the dragon throne in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Zheng Fan, do you know, the old geezer is gone, and I've become the emperor, and this feeling in my heart…"

Ji Chengjue reached out and patted his chest,

saying:

"In my heart, the way I see people, the way I see things, the way I see Lu Bing, the way I see Wei Zhonghe, the way I see the Old Dowager, the way I see my brothers, the way I see the palace, the way I see those palace maids and eunuchs;

And then, after that, I still have to look at the officials;

All of a sudden,

really,

it was that "whoosh" all of a sudden,

it changed,

completely changed."

"I can understand. When I ran an inn in Tiger Head City, I was also very, very different from who I am now. We're completely different people."

"But I was all at once, all at once…"

"You're the emperor now. From a perpetually suppressed and unloved prince, you suddenly become the supreme ruler. It's like a dog getting promoted to heaven. The process of change is naturally going to be fast."

"That's right, that's the reason, so…"

Ji Chengjue turned to look at Zheng Fan,

"When you rode the Pixiu to knock on the window of my carriage, I was constantly praying in my heart for one sentence, and that was, if there is one person who won't change, it can only be you, Zheng Fan."

"So, were you very touched when I called you a 'beast'?"

"Hahahaha." Ji Chengjue laughed and nodded. "I was so touched I wanted to cry, really."

"Hehehe." Zheng Fan also laughed.

"The loneliness of being alone, I've experienced it. The loneliness of not being able to trust anyone, it washed over me like a tide. The moment the old geezer died, I felt like a small boat on the sea…"

"Isn't that like a storm petrel flying on the sea before the storm comes?"

"That's a really apt metaphor."

"Right?"

Zheng Fan shrugged.

"I'm very lonely, very tired. When I think that I'm going to live a lifetime like my father, I feel very hopeless, very hopeless, but I'm even more aware that no matter how much I refuse, I will change."

"Yes."

"But I want to try not to change towards you."

"I know what you mean, but you can change your way of saying it, don't be so disgusting."

Ji Chengjue reached out and put his hand on Zheng Fan's shoulder.

"Pa!"

Zheng Fan knocked his hand away.

"Let me lean on you for a while, we both know that we're not into that kind of thing."

"Prevention is better than cure. How many emperors have had a fondness for male favorites?"

"Why would outsiders think that the emperor of Great Yan and the Marquis of Pingxi of Great Yan would be in that kind of relationship?"

"Why do I feel like the common people in teahouses and taverns would be more interested in that kind of relationship?"

"Heh." Ji Chengjue sneered at Zheng Fan. "Zheng, I don't want to be a completely lonely person, so I want to assure you that as long as you and I are alive, I will not be detrimental to you.

Even if you, Zheng, come to my bedroom at night with a knife and thousands of troops, to my bedside;

I would only think,

you're here to find me for a midnight snack."

"I understand what you mean, but it's very difficult to maintain, very, very difficult. This kind of pure trust can't tolerate the slightest selfishness. It's not like your father and Old Tian, who are desperately enduring for the sake of Great Yan."

Zheng Fan turned his head and looked at Ji Laoliu very seriously,

"So, I didn't think you were testing me when you asked me to sit on the dragon throne just now. I wanted to sit and try it out, so I sat. I'm not even afraid to tell you that I have several dragon robes made in my marquis's residence.

The style and design concept may be even better than the one you're going to wear later. If you get tired of wearing dragon robes in the future and want to change them, send me a letter, and I'll have someone send them to you."

"........." Ji Chengjue.

Zheng Fan continued, "I lack friends, really, the kind who get along well, who have friendship, I lack them very much. You can't understand my loneliness in this world, my alienation and unfamiliarity with this world. This feeling is only stronger, not weaker, than when you were suppressed by your father.

The problem is, with my current status and position, it's difficult to make friends.

I'm different from Old Tian. Old Tian can swallow a lot of bitterness, but I can't."

"Little Sixth…"

"Keep talking, I'm listening."

"Sigh, let's do it this way. Someday, if you feel like you have to take action against me, I mean if, if, you may feel very confident and sunny now, but what if you get sick? What if you're terminally ill? What if you're too talented for your own good?"

"........." Ji Chengjue.

"What if you feel that my Pingxi Marquis's residence is becoming too powerful to control, what if I have children?

Let's open the skylight and speak plainly.

If you want to take action against me, if you want to weaken the vassals, if you feel that your Great Yan's foundation may be going astray in my hands, Zheng,

Give me a heads-up in advance,

We can discuss it.

Do you think my suggestion is very naive?"

Ji Chengjue nodded, then shook his head,

said:

"It's very naive, but I can understand."

"Yeah, that's right, it's best if we give each other a heads-up first. I probably won't take action against you first. Most likely, you'll be the one taking action against me. If we can't come to an agreement, then let's just fight."

"I don't like hearing that. I'm an emperor, at least. I still have a broad mind. There's no reason why my mind would become narrower and narrower after becoming emperor, right?

I used to tolerate you, and now, I will only tolerate you even more. After I became emperor, I realized how adorable you, Zheng Fan, were in my father's eyes.

Great Yan really needs someone like you."

"Let me finish what I have to say, picking up from what I said earlier."

"Okay, you say." Ji Chengjue nodded.

"Let's do it openly. If we can't discuss it, then let's fight openly. But if you don't even give me a heads-up and want to strike directly, then I suggest that you bury me and my people all in one go, otherwise…"

Ji Chengjue asked with a smile, "Otherwise, what will happen?"

Zheng Fan looked at Ji Chengjue,

a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth,

and he said softly:

"Otherwise, I will exterminate your Ji clan."

The Hall of Mental Cultivation,

suddenly became quiet, so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping.

Outside the hall,

Wei Zhonghe's eyes narrowed, his sleeve trembled slightly, but then slowly retracted.

The conversation between the two inside wasn't deliberately hushed, and Eunuch Wei didn't deliberately eavesdrop, but his hearing was indeed better than ordinary people, so he could hear clearly.

Little Sixth had once told Zheng Fan that the word "friend" was made up of two strings of coins.

If Zheng Fan wasn't the Marquis of Pingxi now, holding the stability of Great Yan's eastern border, and his whole body was tied to the situation in the Snow Plains and the Chu Kingdom;

If Zheng Fan didn't have a talent for fighting, having received the true inheritance of the Prince of Jingnan, and he was already the model of Great Yan's new generation of military gods;

If he was just good at talking and saying golden sentences,

He himself might chat and laugh with him, but he would never allow him to be presumptuous.

And Zheng Fan also knew very well that

Making friends with the old Little Sixth was nothing;

But to make friends with the emperor, you must first guarantee one thing: either you can kill the emperor himself, or you can mess up his country and society;

For wise emperors, the latter is actually a bigger threat than the former.

Without this confidence,

Without this ability,

Without this capital,

Lord Zheng would not have sat on the dragon throne earlier.

What distinguished Lord Zheng from those "virtuous men" who thought they could be above imperial power and be friends with the emperor was that Lord Zheng did not have the concept of family inheritance in his mind.

Because he doesn't have children yet, although he firmly believes he will, the reality is that it will probably be very difficult in the future unless there is a miracle;

And therefore,

Willing to risk his life to drag the emperor off his horse,

These words were very fitting for Lord Zheng.

It's hard for people to believe that a person who went from a commoner to a marquis and a prime minister would actually have such a free and easy attitude of returning to the wilderness.

The smile on Ji Chengjue's face finally faded, but he wasn't angry. Instead, he nodded

and said:

"Good."

Then,

Ji Chengjue pointed to the vastness in front of him, beneath the steps,

and said:

"This world is very big and can accommodate you and me.

Before long,

the Prince of Jingnan and the Prince of Zhenbei will send troops to raid the royal court of the desert barbarians. As long as this battle goes smoothly, the threat to Great Yan's west will almost disappear within a hundred years;

Next,

the Snow Plains can continue to implement the policy of loose rein control. Anyway, there is a Xuehai Pass blocking them.

Then,

there are the Qian and Chu Kingdoms, these two great powers. Zheng Fan, tell me, is it enough for the two of us to gnaw on for the rest of our lives?"

Zheng Fan opened his mouth and said:

"I only know that if you do something for a lifetime, it will be very boring."

"Do you think it's too long?"

"Yes."

"Then tell me, how long will it take?"

"What I say is useless. In the end, fighting still depends on national strength. We've taught Qian and Chu lessons by raiding them thousands of miles with our iron cavalry. It's too disrespectful to them to want to use the same trick twice.

Future battles will probably be like slowly pulling out one military village and fortress after another in the early stages of the campaign against Chu."

"Ten years, give me ten years, and I will let Great Yan and Jin restore their vitality. At that time, gathering the people and resources of Yan and Jin, we will start a war to unify Zhuxia from north to south."

Zheng Fan shook his head and said, "Fighting is not about comparing account books. You still don't understand military affairs."

"I don't understand. You can teach me. If that doesn't work, you can just say it directly, and I can just believe it directly. You and I will save time."

"Ten years, hehe, look at Li Liangshen's Zhenbei Army in this town. How many years have they been stationed in the capital? The smell of blood has almost dissipated. Compared with the two towns that have been fighting in Jin and the three towns that remain in the desert to deal with the barbarians, the difference is really very, very big.

Let's not talk about anything else,

Just now,

When I led the Jingnan Army outside the palace gate, look at the people your fourth brother was leading. They didn't collapse, but their courage was so intimidated that they directly admitted defeat in their hearts.

Old Sixth,

Why is the Yan Kingdom's iron cavalry unparalleled?

Because for hundreds of years, my Yan people have had to face threats from the desert barbarians. If the knife is not sharp, the armor is not strong, and the people are not ruthless, this country and this family cannot be protected.

If this battle goes smoothly, the barbarians will completely collapse.

If the biggest threat in the west is gone, and ten years of peaceful days pass, it doesn't mean that you can win steadily just because you have a lot of people and food on your accounts.

If that's really the case, then Great Qian would have been invincible long ago.

Besides, the late emperor and the two princes beat up the surrounding areas. The Jin Kingdom is dead, but the Qian and Chu Kingdoms are still largely preserved. They will also rise up and will not continue to wait to die and wait for us to restore our vitality before calling them out one by one.

While we are restoring our vitality, they will not be idle.

Two years,

Give you at most two more years to restore the national strength to a certain level.

Then,

It's not a national war, but a local war.

Two years later, choose the Chu Kingdom or the Qian Kingdom, depending on the specific situation at the time, but we still have to fight. We can't not fight. While bleeding them, we also warm up for ourselves so we don't freeze.

We can take the initiative and control the scale of the war. We can fight and talk at the same time. If we see an opportunity, we can take a big bite. Moreover, we don't have to rush to fight the kind of battle where we have to occupy and govern a piece of land after we take it. That cost is too great.

Fight more grass valley wars…"

"Is fighting grass valley wars the same as robbing?"

"Yes, try to do it so that we don't lose money after calculating the accounts after a battle."

"But they are all my Zhuxia people."

"The Chu people once colluded with savages, and the Qian people cooperated with the barbarians to attack the Yan Kingdom hundreds of years ago. They betrayed their ancestors, and we are cleaning up the house."

"Yes, what you said makes a lot of sense."

"Then that's the plan. Two years later, we'll decide where to fight, or maybe we don't need to decide. His Majesty is gone, but the two kings of the north and south…"

"Zheng Fan." Ji Chengjue took a deep breath. "I have a premonition."

"Say it."

"My father is gone, maybe he won't be gone… too lonely."

Zheng Fan was silent.

"Actually, I hope more than anyone else that this is not the case."

"I don't believe Old Tian will die in the desert. Just barbarians, just a royal court. Yingdu couldn't bury Old Tian, a royal court is not worthy."

"I also hope so. You must know that for Great Yan, it would be a great fortune if either of the two kings of the north and south could continue to stand here.

Especially… the Prince of Jingnan."

Tian Wujing is young, and Tian Wujing is a military god.

"Okay, let's not talk about these things. After all, today is your happy day."

"My father died."

"A joyous funeral." (a euphemism for a long life)

"Do you believe that I will issue the third imperial decree now,

And let Wei Zhonghe come in and slap you in the face?"

Outside the hall,

Eunuch Wei raised his palm, eager to try.

"I just said that I can't stand being wronged. If you dare to let Wei Zhonghe slap me, I dare to put your pants on your head and beat you with a stick."

"You dare?"

"Go and count now. Are there more of my people in the palace or more of yours?"

"Zheng, I just killed my own father and haven't ascended the throne yet. The first decree was for you to lead the Jingnan Army, which will listen to you, into the city to protect me.

Do you know why?

Isn't it just to make it easier, easier, and smoother for you to kill the person you want to kill?"

"Oh, you know who I want to kill?"

"Guess?"

"I thought you forgot your promise."

"I, Ji Chengjue, treat promises to others like farts, but not to you."

"But I'm really embarrassed, I didn't actually help much when you were fighting for the throne."

"You didn't take my family to threaten me to help you."

After the succession was successful,

Without meeting, after confirming that things had calmed down, Zheng Fan immediately let Fan Li send the family members of Ji Chengjue, who had been specially brought over to protect and were ready to be taken out of the city before the incident, back safely.

You must know that these are the new emperor's empress, imperial concubines, princes, and princesses.

"It's nothing."

"Then I won't quibble about what I promised you. The Son of Heaven's word is as heavy as nine tripods."

"You just said that you speak like farting."

"Then kill me, quickly, but you have to wait until after I ascend the throne. You have to stand next to me and watch me ascend the throne later. You don't know, you were sent away by my father in advance at the last court meeting. I was so disappointed."

"Hehehe, you clearly lost at the court meeting; also, are you really willing to let me kill that person? If that person dies, if he dies now, the court will be in chaos."

"I'm still young, I'm not afraid of the court being in chaos, I'll just clean it up again. You can just take it as a new emperor has new officials, and I plan to replace them with my own people. You help me clean it up."

"It's not interesting to say it that way. I'm not a simple-minded martial artist, and I don't plan to use troops to kill him.

Jianghu affairs, Jianghu solutions. He used Jianghu methods before, so I will use Jianghu methods to return them."

"What kind of Jianghu?"

"Me."

"When did your Pingxi Marquis's residence become a Jianghu sect?"

"It was just established. It will be very famous in the future, but it doesn't have a reputation yet."

"What is it called?"

"New Dragon Gate Inn."

"An inn is also called a sect?"

"Calling it a sect, calling it a manor, calling it a school, it's too vulgar, I don't like it."

"Okay, are you confident?"

"I've been thinking about it for a long time, it's probably about right."

At this time,

Wei Zhonghe walked in and reported:

"Your Majesty, it's time. It's time to change into the dragon robe."

Zheng Fan nodded and said, "You change your clothes. I'll go to the imperial garden for a walk to get some fresh air. After you change your clothes, I'll have to change my address and call you Your Majesty."

"Then I have to hurry up and change. I really want to hear it."

"Heh."

Lord Zheng walked out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

A little later,

Wei Zhonghe took Ji Chengjue to bathe.

After a simple bath, Eunuch Wei led two eunuchs who had served the emperor to help Ji Chengjue put on the dragon robe.

While putting on the dragon robe,

Lu Bing also came and stood to the side.

Ji Chengjue opened his mouth and said:

"Did you carry out my second imperial decree?"

Wei Zhonghe looked embarrassed;

Lu Bing then knelt down and said:

"Your Majesty, it is too risky to transfer the secret spies and my subordinates who are responsible for protecting that person. That person's safety is of great use to the stability of the current situation.

Moreover, the late emperor also assigned him many things. He needs to cooperate, no less than I and Wei Zhonghe."

"Yes, master." Eunuch Wei echoed.

"Are you teaching me how to do things?"

Eunuch Wei immediately knelt down as well,

And said in unison with Lu Bing:

"Please, Your Majesty, consider carefully for the sake of Great Yan's country and the stability of the world."

"Interesting, interesting, it seems that what I, the new emperor, say is useless. What's going on, let me guess, did the old geezer leave another will before he left, and the two of you, and that person, are the ministers of state that are said in the plays? Hehe."

Ji Chengjue reached out and pushed away the two eunuchs who were still helping him button up his clothes,

And sat down directly on the chair next to him,

said:

"Okay, I'll go to the main hall in front to face the officials and ascend the throne when you obey the decree. Let's just take our time."

"Your Majesty, how can you joke about the foundation of the country?" Lu Bing said in shock.

"Your Majesty, I hope you will focus on the stability of Great Yan's country." Eunuch Wei persuaded.

Ji Chengjue's face turned cold,

said:

"This disobedient country,

I,

Would rather not have it."

————

I'm about to be overtaken from behind, please give me a monthly ticket, hold on tight everyone!