I have Immortality In The Cultivation World

Chapter 603: Chapter 442: Storm Is Coming
 

Yongxing Square, Tang Residence.

The estate spanned more than ten acres, featuring small bridges over flowing water, pavilions, towers, and attics, its regulation on par with a prince’s mansion.

Tang Mingyuan returned from the execution ground, anxious and troubled.

Sitting in the study, he drank cup after cup of tea, reflecting on his sudden arrival in this world, originally intending only to live off a woman, to be a wealthy idler, leisurely passing his days.

However, he never expected that neither man nor event would allow things to go as he wished, inevitably pushing him to where he stood today.

“Giggle, giggle, giggle…”

A crisp laugh rang out like bells, pulling Tang Mingyuan’s thoughts back. He looked up towards the window to see his daughter peering in from the windowsill.

“Tongtong, have you finished your homework?”

“I finished it long ago!”

His daughter pouted, then immediately asked with concern, “Why is Daddy unhappy? Tell me, Mother says it will make you feel better.”

“It’s nothing.”

Tang Mingyuan stroked his daughter’s hairpin, his resolve wavering slightly.

The Eastern Depot’s director was so unpredictable and dangerous, that allying with him meant one false move could lead to the grave crime of executing the Nine Clans. People from the Five Ministries didn’t care about their relatives, but Tang Mingyuan couldn’t bear to jeopardize his wife and daughter.

“I am ultimately not made for great undertakings.”

Tang Mingyuan sent his daughter away and contemplated how to plug the leaks to increase his chances of winning.

A moment later.

His wife, Su Yun’er, entered, bringing him fresh tea and then stood behind him to gently massage his head, “Tongtong said my lord has something on his mind?”

Tang Mingyuan briefly recounted his encounter with the director and grasped his wife’s hand, sighing deeply.

“Now when I close my eyes, I see the severed heads of the Lu Family rolling, the cries of Magistrate Lu’s grandson echoing in my ears, forcing me to do some things I must do, that I cannot avoid!”

Su Yun’er said in support, “My lord is the head of the household. Whatever you wish to do, your concubine will support.”

Tang Mingyuan voiced his concerns, “There’s no certainty of success in this world. If anything goes wrong, it could endanger both of your lives. It might be better to leave the capital and return to Jiangning to visit relatives.”

“When such a storm is about to break, if the Grand Secretary were to send away his wife and child, what would His Majesty think?”

Su Yun’er argued, “On the contrary, it might be safer to stay in the capital under the Emperor’s watch, which could also increase our chances of success.”

Tang Mingyuan exclaimed, “Yun’er’s intelligence is exceptional. It’s a pity you were not born at the right time. If it were hundreds or thousands of years later, perhaps you could leave the boudoir to become a high official.”

Su Yun’er chuckled, “Where in the world would a woman be a prime minister? Wouldn’t that turn everything upside down?”

Tang Mingyuan declared, “Not only could a woman be prime minister, she could even ascend to the throne as emperor!”

“My lord is surely jesting.”

Su Yun’er, aware of her husband’s nature and his tendency to make shocking remarks, yet found them reasonable upon his explanation, solemnly cautioned him.

“My lord, that director of the Eastern Depot is insidious and cunning. Remember to be wary when allying with him. If he truly succeeds, his control over the palace would be akin to that of the Regent Prince plotting to depose and set up rulers!”

Tang Mingyuan shook his head, “I can’t beat the director of the Eastern Depot.”

Not that he was inferior in wit or awareness, but when it came to ruthlessness, Tang Mingyuan didn’t see himself as much less. Yet, he simply couldn’t outlive him.

Zhou Yi didn’t need to fight to the death with Tang Mingyuan; he could simply outlast him and win.

Su Yun’er’s elegant brows furrowed slightly, “Then we must take precautions early. Perhaps we could have the Capital Garrison guard the four city gates, holding a position against the Eastern Depot, maintaining a stalemate.”

“Yun’er, there’s no need to worry.”

Tang Mingyuan calculated the time, the eunuch Lu Gonggong who had connections with martial experts all over the world, would return in at most another year.

“Director Zhou won’t stay long in the capital!”

…

Following the Lu Family’s rebellion case, the Nine Regular Attendants held great power.

Tang Mingyuan, not wanting his colleagues to suffer a massacre, intentionally showed weakness to the Nine Regular Attendants, frequently yielding and allowing these eunuchs to obstruct and alter the new policies.

For instance, the late Emperor had already abolished the poll tax, but Lu Gonggong from the Household Department was greatly dissatisfied, insisting that new-borns must be taxed.

“The late Emperor exempted the poll tax during the Orthodox era, people born in the Tianshun era don’t count!”

With the decree issued, government officers followed the law and collected the poll tax from children under four years old.

The landlords and gentry were fine, not lacking those few taels of tax money, but many impoverished households had no extra cash. To avoid the tax, they were forced to kill their children by smashing or drowning them.

Rebellion was out of the question – after all, a kind ruler reigned! The commoners couldn’t afford the head tax and dared not have children, going to bed fully clothed each night, fearing they couldn’t restrain the fundamental desires between men and women.

The Confucian annihilation of human desires has been chanted as a slogan for a thousand years to no avail, still, to achieve it, one must rely on policies!

Eunuch Lu presented the collected poll tax to Emperor Tianshun, dividing it between them, seven parts for himself and three for His Majesty, also offering up the newly developed potent Yuan Pei soup.

Emperor Tianshun was well aware of what Eunuch Lu had done but instead of dealing harshly with him, he even decreed to bestow upon him a noble title.

Count Angong!

At the same time, Emperor Tianshun was very pleased with Tang Mingyuan’s concessions, issuing several Imperial Edicts to reward various treasures of gold and silver, and also conferred the title of first-rank commanded wife to Su Yun’er.

The daily increase of favor was clearly evident.

When Tang Mingyuan received the Imperial Edict, he was reading a secret register sent from the Eastern Depot which recorded how many citizens in each state and prefecture had personally killed their own children.

“Thank you for Your Majesty’s overwhelming grace, your servant shall work tirelessly until death!”

After speaking, he did two things, firstly promoting the former Minister of Punishments to become Vice Premier.

The age and merits both met the legal standards, so the process went smoothly, of course, there were more than a dozen people who met the criteria, the majority of whom toiled till death without ever entering the cabinet.

Secondly, he wrote a letter to be sent to the Southern Border, addressed to General Xie who was fighting against the barbarian tribes.

The fourth year of Tianshun.

Winter.

General Xie invented new-style cannons, utterly defeating the barbarian king’s stronghold, capturing the barbarian king and hundreds of others alive, achieving the great feat of expanding the territory and annihilating a state.

Emperor Tianshun was overjoyed.

He ordered the barbarian king to be escorted back to the Capital and presented as a captive in the Grand Ancestral Temple!

The following spring.

General Xie led his troops back to the Capital, being conferred the title of Great Marshal of the South.

Emperor Tianshun personally beheaded the barbarian king in the Grand Ancestral Temple, placing his head on the altar alongside the three animal sacrifices, to report and pay tribute to the ancestors of the Zhao clan.

The newly appointed Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Xu, delivered a eulogistic essay of thirty thousand words, praising Emperor Tianshun to the heavens, extolling him to surpass the First Emperor and the Great Ancestor.

Emperor Tianshun, supported by his two adopted sons who were eunuchs, had a sickly pale face flushed with a feverish exuberance.

“I am indeed the Mandate of Heaven!”

…

The fifth year of Tianshun.

It should have been the balmy days of early spring in March, yet unexpectedly, snow fell day and night for several days.

One spring snow, one disaster.

Farmers, whose livelihoods depend on the weather, watched helplessly as their wheat seedlings froze to death in the fields, not daring to cry for fear of being taken away by the officials.

What are you crying about on a day when the National Dynasty is rejoicing? Do you have a complaint against His Majesty?

The joy originated from the palace: Noble Consort Shu, pregnant for ten months, was about to give birth. According to the verdict by the director of the Imperial Medical Bureau and the miracle-working Imperial Physician Liu Yu, there was an eighty to ninety percent chance that she would have a prince!

The foundation of the state would be secured, the realm would prosper forever.

Emperor Tianshun issued an Imperial Edict, naming Noble Consort Shu as Empress and placing her in charge of the Kunning Palace.

He ordered Imperial Physician Liu to check her pulse every day, warning that there must not be a single slip-up, or else his Nine Clans would be exterminated. After Noble Consort Shu, no matter how many women were procured for the harem, none became pregnant.

That day.

Imperial Physician Liu came out of a side gate of the Imperial Palace, boarding the sedan chair to return to the Imperial Medical Bureau.

An old voice suddenly reached his ears, “How many more days until the delivery?”

Imperial Physician Liu said softly, “Using secret medicine, I’ve stabilized the fetus and it will be born around the hour of zi, ten days from now, give or take an hour at most.”

After waiting for a while, no other sound came forth.

Imperial Physician Liu breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, tense with nervousness every time he spoke with the overseer given his notorious ferocity.

Upon returning to the Imperial Medical Bureau.

Every colleague he encountered on the way bowed and paid their respects, showering him with all sorts of open and concealed flattery.

Imperial Physician Liu’s mood immediately lifted, the taste of power was more intoxicating than beauty, gold, and silver. He thought carefully about how to precisely control the fetus’s birth, reporting to the overseer a discrepancy of an hour, when in fact, it was only a quarter of an hour.

This was a tangible merit, bound to be rewarded in the future.

Since joining the overseer’s command in the fourth year of the Orthodox era, Imperial Physician Liu rose to the rank of director, doing many right and wrong, good and bad things for the Eastern Depot, already having an inseparable relationship.

The overseer had survived three dynasties, promoting countless lowly figures, and Imperial Physician Liu was just one of them.