Episode 4
Chapter 1 Ascend the throne
A pall of gloom and doom hangs over the empire where the sun never sets. Although it is still far away, the empire’s defeat has caused panic among the common people and nobles in the capital, and many are preparing to move away from here.
Lian Xue Gong
“My lady, we haven’t fully investigated Yang Cheng’s background, but there are many clues that make us suspect that he is a spy for the Chu Huai Kingdom,” said Wang Chengwei, a second-class minister.
“I don’t want doubts, I want evidence, yes or no,“ the Snow Empress poured out her anger at Wang Chengwei.
”Your servant guarantees that it will be clarified in the near future,“ Wang Chengwei said, wiping the cold sweat from his head.
”Do you know where he is now,“ the Empress asked.
”It is judged that he may be in the Chu Huai army.“
”Once you have found out, immediately send out the people from the military intelligence department and capture him at any cost,” the Snow Empress said.
“My Lady, the 100,000 slave army has been assembled and is waiting for your order to march to Wallan City.“ Long Liduochi said what the Minister of War should have said.
”How many defenders does Wallan have?“
”Wallan currently has only 30,000 defenders, but there are 240,000 troops in front of them under the command of General Lin Yiquan, and 120,000 troops rushing to their aid from behind.“
”Then we will march to Wallan in two days,” the Snow Queen said.
“Can it hold?“ the Empress asked.
There was a moment of silence, and no one answered the question.
”Your Majesty, I have an important matter to discuss with you,” said Long Lidoqi.
“Please go on, Minister Long,“ said the Snow Queen.
”As the saying goes, a country cannot do without a ruler for a single day. Without an emperor, the soldiers at the front will not know who they are fighting for, and how can they win? A country without a ruler will deal a severe blow to the morale of the soldiers, so I request that an emperor be elected as soon as possible.“
”Minister Long is right, and you must not ignore his words, Your Majesty,“ said Huang Xun, the Assistant Minister of War.
”So, who do you all think should be this emperor?” asked the Snow Queen.
“I think that at this time of crisis, we should elect a new emperor as soon as possible in order to unite everyone.” The Minister of Rites, Guliki, strangely emphasized the word ‘as soon as possible’: ”The second prince is far away in Tundra City, and the third prince is also far away in Binzhou City. Among the princes in the capital, Ye Niang’s fourth prince is the oldest, and the fourth prince is smart and clever, and has the appearance of a wise ruler. With the support of Lord Long, he will surely be a wise ruler in the future.”
Everyone looked as if they thought so, too. The Minister of Rites, Guliki, was Long Lidoqi’s man.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. At a time like this, we should choose a capable ruler. The Second Prince is usually simple and tolerant with people, and he is invincible in battle. And now that the Second Prince is in charge, he should be chosen,” said Wei Wu Hou Lu Xinmin.
“The Second Prince is the commander-in-chief of the Frozen Soil City, so he can’t just leave,” said Long Lidoqi, shaking his head.
“News has just come from the Frozen Soil City that the demons are stirring and constantly provoking us, and the third prince in the Bingcheng cannot be lightly removed from the defense line either. Now we simply cannot split our forces to fight on two fronts,“ said Liu Cunbai, Minister of War.
”After all, the emperor is only twelve years old, and he is usually playful and doesn’t learn much,” said the queen.
“The fourth prince’s love of play is a childish trait. As long as he is taught more often, he will definitely become a capable ruler in the future,“ said Long Lidoqi, but in his heart, he thought, Nonsense, if he weren’t so young, if he weren’t so playful, if he weren’t so stupid, would I choose him?
”My son is too young to handle state affairs,” the queen mother still shook her head.
“If Your Majesty will appoint me as regent, I will assist the prince in handling everything.“ That was his main purpose.
”Lung-ling has a point,” said Empress Xue after a long pause. ”But Zuo Zai is already over eighty years old, and his strength is bound to be declining. How can he work so hard? How about appointing Zuo Zai and You Chen as joint life ministers to assist the emperor together?”
The smile on Long Likeduoqi’s face stiffened, but before anyone could react, Right Minister Feng Juye said, “Although the old minister and Lord Zuozai will assist together, first, both of us are already quite old, and second, the military situation is currently tense, with many important and trivial matters. I am afraid that the two of us really won’t be able to keep up. I hope that the two ladies can understand the hearts of the people and temporarily take charge of the country’s affairs.”
Long Lik Duoqi frowned a little and was about to say something when Xie Yuan, one of the six generals of the empire, who was standing next to him, said, “But the founding emperor once said, ‘The concubines in the backyard must not appear in the palace. ’” Long Lik Duoqi was taken aback, as he had just wanted to say that.
“Thank you, General Xie, for reminding me. I will remember to hang a curtain in front of it so that it will not be seen in the palace,“ the queen mother said.
”I will not participate in the government affairs, so that no one will say that we women want to interfere with the government affairs,” the Snow Maiden said, and then deliberately or unintentionally glanced at Long Liduqi.
Listening to the chorus of the people in front of him, Long Liduochi felt his teeth itch with hatred, but he couldn’t lash out. There are currently 80,000 troops in the city, but he can only control 10,000 city guards and 10,000 imperial troops. The three people in front of him control 30,000 imperial troops, not to mention the 20,000 city guards under Lin Yiquan’s rule. He simply has no power to contend with, which is why he dares not force his way through.
He thought to himself, “Even if that’s the case, can you really stop me?” Long Liduochi said, “It is hard to find two empresses who love their country and its people and are willing to work hard for the country’s affairs. I can only admire you for this. However, I hope that the fourth prince will ascend the throne soon.” Long Liduochi thought to himself, “A long night means many dreams. If those two princes return in time, it will be a problem. Those two are clever people and not masters to be trifled with.”
“Tomorrow at 11 o’clock will be a propitious day,” said the Assistant Minister of Rites.
“In times of trouble, keep it simple. Tomorrow, let the emperor ascend the throne.”
Everything came so easily, like a dream. I gently stroked the dragon throne. What I had longed to do for so long had been achieved without me even noticing. But the price was not small. If it weren’t for the deaths of my father and eldest brother, how could I be sleeping here today? But it’s not bad, right? Otherwise, it would be cruel to confront my father and eldest brother in the future.
“My dear son, don’t play around. You have to attend the morning court tomorrow, so go to bed early.“ I quickly nodded and went to bed.
My mother quietly left the room. Soon after she left, Cathy and Suizi came in.
”My dear, don’t be sad. I’ll keep you company and chat with you.“
”Cathy, you have to call me ‘Your Majesty’ from now on.”
Sister Suizi gave Cathy a reproachful look and said, “Your Majesty, the base and the association are asking you to keep your promise.”
I frowned. “The agreement I made with them was to seize power, not the throne. Do you really think I have power? Just ask them. Even if I order the Songhua Plain to be given to the Orcs and the Winged, will they really get it? Even if I order the country to be opened up, will the country really allow them to freely research and practice necromancy and dark magic?”
“Okay, I’ll pass this message on to them.”
“Cathy, how are your stealth and five element evasion skills?“
”I’ve already mastered them very well, even Suizi says it’s hard to detect me.“
”That’s good, because in the future you’ll have to pass on some information. The day after tomorrow, the palace will select guards for me, so you should notify the people in the gold group to go and take the test.“
”Okay, I’ll go tomorrow, don’t worry.”
“Why don’t you use a transmission stone to notify them?“ Suizi couldn’t help but ask.
”The palace is protected by a powerful defensive enchantment. Not only can’t you use a transmission stone here, you can’t even use a teleportation array. Your mana simply can’t get through the enchantment. Even my spiritual power is too depleted when I pass through the enchantment to get in touch with the robot,“ I said helplessly. Transmission stones can only be used within a thousand li, and beyond that distance, there is no way to get in touch.
”Is there no place in the palace where you can use an array?”
“The barrier encompasses even the ground 40 meters below, unless there is a basement 40 meters below ground, but unfortunately, as far as I know, there isn’t.”
Shaking her head, Suizi continued, ‘Ru Shi has already taken over the business in the capital city. She suggested that the gold from the gold mine not be directly made into gold coins, but rather made into gold jewelry and sold. This way, one can make hundreds of times more money, as long as one can find a buyer.’
Gold jewelry, this is something I hadn’t thought of. ”Let her handle this matter.”
“The people from the 13 villages have spread across the country, but the Demon Sect is so secretive that it is impossible to know all their spies.“
”No news from Konstantin?
“Ya Mei has only sent news that someone from the Hidden Tiger Group has infiltrated the Demon Sect. The news says that the Demon Sect is divided into three factions, and the last operation was carried out by one of them. It is unclear which one it is.”
“I understand. How is my request for her to investigate Yang Cheng?”
“There is no news yet.”
“Younger brother,” Suizi sister gave Cathy another fierce glare, and Cathy reluctantly changed her words: ‘Your Majesty, Xuanmei sister asked us to go over and play, when are we going?’
I smiled bitterly and said, ”I can’t go for the time being. If you want to go, go by yourself, but remember to disguise yourself after you leave the palace, and don’t use your phantom beast, Dark Eagle.”
“Okay.”
One month, a whole month. In this place, which would later go down in imperial history forever, in this tragic and fierce battle to defend the city, 800,000 allied troops from five countries were stuck here in a city with a population of less than 500,000 for a whole month. The entire city was mobilized to defend this city that was neither strong nor tall. 400,000 out of the 500,000 people who lived here died in battle. This city was called Jiading Ancient City, and its defender was Wen Dingjian. Another month later, the city fell, and Wen Dingjian killed himself on the city wall. Only a hundred people out of the half a million managed to escape to Gulou City.
In the palace, two empresses were sitting behind me, separated by a curtain.
“Your Majesty, the Second Army has been reorganized and is ready to march,” said Liu Cunbai, the Minister of War.
After listening to the voice behind the curtain, it took me a long time to say, “Then let them set off immediately, but can the provisions keep up?”
“Your Majesty can rest assured that although we have lost the Varna Plains, last year’s grain harvest, coupled with the accumulated reserves over the years, is enough to support us for a year,” said Long Lidoqi.
I nodded, but my face was expressionless. “Do you ministers have a strategy to repel the enemy?”
“As long as we can hold Wallan City for six months, we can prevent the coalition army from winning a single battle. It has been four months since the war began, and the coalition army is still together only because it has won successive victories. As long as there are no more victories, the internal conflicts within the coalition army will become apparent, and the enemy army will retreat without a fight. We can then take advantage of the situation and recover Jiajing City.“ Xie Yuanling said.
”But can Wallan City hold out for six months? If it can’t, the coalition army will definitely not disperse.”
“As long as Rollling City is not broken, there is no possibility of Varan being broken. That is why the Second Army needs to reinforce Rollling City,“ Xie Yuanling said.
”At present, Jiading Ancient City urgently needs our support, and the Second Army should go there,” Long Lidoqi said.
Even Long Liduqi’s general was shaking his head. If it came to military matters, Long Liduqi was indeed not good at it.
“Jiading Ancient City has no defensible positions, and its city walls are neither thick nor high. In contrast, Roll Ling City is much more important. As long as Roll Ling City is there, the enemy will not dare to attack Wallan boldly. Moreover, the Roll Ling city walls are sturdy and are in no way inferior to those of Wallan. General Xie’s decision to have the Second Army reinforce Roll Ling City is indeed reasonable.” Liu Cunbai, the Minister of War, said.
“Your servant has a plan that may solve the current disaster of war.“ A tall man stepped forward from among the ministers. This was Minister of the Second Rank Li Jianye.
”Minister Li, speak quickly.“ I repeated what the two empresses had said.
”The reason the coalition of five countries was able to go ahead this time is because of Jiang Tuijun alone. If Bixin withdraws its troops, the other four countries will surely withdraw as well, given their mutual distrust and suspicion.”
“Then how could Bixin withdraw its troops so easily?” Right Minister shook his head.
“The current emperor of Bixin is the most suspicious of all emperors. Jiang Tujiun is the person he is most suspicious of. If it weren’t for Jiang Tujiun’s high reputation in Bixin and the mainland countries, I’m afraid the Bixin emperor would have already deposed him. Also, the emperor has a favorite minister, Chuan Gengyi, who is the second most powerful minister in the country and has always been on bad terms with Jiang Tujiun. This time, the country of Bixin has 300,000 troops, and more than half of them are in the hands of Lord Jiang. I’m sure these two are deeply suspicious. If someone could whisper a slander into their ears at this time, saying that Lord Jiang, riding on the momentum of his great victory, is ambitious to seize power upon his triumphant return to the country, then the emperor of Bixin will definitely hurry to summon him back.” Li Jianye spoke generously.
The people in the court were heartened by his words.
“According to the information we have, Jiang Tujun does have the ambition to seize power,“ Wang Chengwei said.
”Why not suggest that the longer Jiang Tujun controls the army, the more likely he is to control the entire 300,000-strong army. By the time he returns to the country, his country may not be able to resist,“ Long Liduochi said, and when it comes to intrigue and cunning, no one in the world is probably better than him.
”Who among the ministers can go?” I still copied the words.
“This plan was proposed by me, and I am willing to go.“ Li Jianye said.
”How long do you think it will take?“
”Waran City will last at least three months.“
”What other items are needed?“
”One hundred thousand gold coins and some items that can be considered rare.”
“Lord Li, you can get it this afternoon. I will put the gold coins in three magic cards. If the money is not enough, you can send a message back and I will immediately add more.“ Long Lidoqi said positively.
”Lord Li, I will give you some information that you will need,” Wang Chengmi said.