Chapter 79 Scholars Enter the Capital

Chapter 79: Scholars Arrive in the Capital

Baili Hong tilted his head and asked Chu Jiubian, "Sir, what is the Decree of Grace?"

Qin Xiao echoed, "Yes, sir, what is the Decree of Grace?"

Chu Jiubian: "..."

He shot a glance at Qin Xiao.

They had indeed become quite familiar lately; Qin Xiao’s tone with him had grown increasingly casual.

A few days earlier, they had discussed how to handle the vassal princes before bed. Chu Jiubian had brought up the Decree of Grace and explained its implementation.

He still remembered the look Qin Xiao had given him—intense, profound, enough to make one’s skin crawl.

He looked away and turned back to Baili Hong. "Your Majesty, why do you think the vassal princes have grown so powerful?"

Baili Hong replied, "Because they have armies, and their territories have people and grain."

"Exactly. These are the results of their absolute authority over their domains," Chu Jiubian said gently. "So, what should we do to weaken their power?"

"Naturally, we must strip them of these powers," Baili Hong answered in his childish voice, though his tone was surprisingly steady. "But sir, how do we weaken their rights? What if they decide to outright rebel?"

Chu Jiubian nodded. "Your Majesty is right to be concerned. Therefore, we must first strengthen ourselves, build up our own power and influence, before we can issue decrees to strip power from the vassal princes. Moreover, these decrees must be convincing to everyone in the realm, and we must take the moral high ground."

Baili Hong’s eyes lit up. "Sir, you’ve said this is called an overt strategy."

"Exactly," Chu Jiubian said with a smile.

As he had explained, the plan to strip power from the vassal princes consisted of two steps.

The first step was to replace the powerful nobles within the court, ensuring Baili Hong held an absolute dominant position—in other words, "make imperial authority absolute."

This way, they would have a voice in the court and control over the armies, allowing them to act decisively. No one would dare obstruct their decrees.

The second step was to issue the decrees.

Now, after droughts and floods, with Chu Jiubian’s divine appearance giving people hope, and the imperial examinations offering commoners a chance to change their social status, their faction, representing imperial authority, gained high prestige and standing among the people.

Under these circumstances, it was even more crucial to protect their reputation, as it would benefit their rule.

Therefore, the decrees had to be issued under the guise of "being for the benefit of the vassal princes."

"Sir, I still can’t figure it out," Baili Hong said, wrinkling his small face. "What kind of overt strategy could make these vassal princes unable to complain while the people praise us?"

Chu Jiubian smiled. "Your Majesty, are you aware of the family situations of these vassal princes?"

"Yes, I am," Baili Hong said, counting on his chubby little fingers. "Prince Anhuai Baili Ming is not yet married and has no children. The Southern Frontier King has one primary wife and no concubines, so he only has two legitimate heirs and a daughter..."

The Southern Frontier King, as you know, was a loyal husband, quite different from the powerful men of this era.

Prince Anhuai Baili Ming was young but had reached the age to marry. However, he had been in mourning for the old prince, which delayed him to the point of not even having a concubine.

Aside from these two vassal princes, the other princely households each had one primary wife, two secondary wives, and several concubines.

Their offspring were even more numerous.

For instance, Prince Pingxi Baili Zheng, who was friends with the Southern Frontier King, had a fairly simple household: aside from three principal and secondary consorts, he had only two concubines.

Yet he had many children: two sons and a daughter from the principal consort, four daughters and three sons from the two secondary consorts, and three sons and two daughters from the two concubines—adding up to eight sons and seven daughters.

The other vassal princes had no fewer than five concubines each. Even the youngest, Prince Dingbei, had six concubines aside from his three principal and secondary consorts.

However, he had fewer children than Prince Pingxi, with only three sons and a daughter, each from different consorts or concubines.

This might be because three of his six concubines were men.

As for the most complex households, like those of Prince Dongjiang, Prince Huguang, and Prince Zuiliang, some had dozens of concubines, others at least over ten, and their children numbered no fewer than twenty.

With such complicated relationships, peaceful coexistence was impossible.

But the reason they could have so many children without worry, aside from the need to build up their clans, was that the vassal princes had so much power.

Even their own children wouldn't dare disobey them.

The hereditary princely titles followed the eldest son inheritance system, so even after the father died, the remaining non-heir children would answer to the rule of the legitimate heir. If the legitimate heir refused to support them, they would be no different from ordinary servants.

Yet among these non-heir children, there were those with talent and ambition surpassing the legitimate heirs. How could such individuals truly be content to become followers, always beneath them?

Chu Jiubian patiently explained all this to Baili Hong. "These non-heir children are suppressed by the system and dare not rebel. But if given a chance to compete with the legitimate heirs, they would grab it firmly."

Baili Hong, being young, understood the reasoning but still found it somewhat vague, unsure of how to proceed.

Yet faintly, he seemed to understand the main point.

Chu Jiubian continued, "What we need to do is grant them the same rights to inherit as the legitimate heirs."

Baili Hong’s eyes brightened. "Sir, I understand!"

"This way, even if the vassal princes and legitimate heirs are unwilling, they’ll have no choice, because the non-heir children will unite to support this decree, causing chaos within their families."

Unless the vassal princes killed all their non-heir children, they would have to accept the decree. And even after accepting it, their households would stay unsettled, as everyone would fight over who gets to inherit, to become the new vassal prince, leaving the current princes dealing with constant problems.

Chu Jiubian nodded with a smile. "Your Majesty is right, but there’s one more thing to prepare in advance."

Qin Xiao’s gaze remained locked on Chu Jiubian, watching him speak gently to the child, seeing the faint light in his eyes.

Those were no longer the empty eyes of the past; now they were full of life and brilliance.

Chu Jiubian habitually glanced at Qin Xiao and met his smiling eyes.

They were gentle, accepting, and held something Chu Jiubian couldn’t quite understand.

He almost instinctively averted his gaze and quickly dismissed certain thoughts, refusing to let his mind wander.

"What else do we need to prepare, sir?" Baili Hong urged.

He thought keeping the vassal princes fighting among themselves was already good enough.

Chu Jiubian collected himself and continued, "Although the non-heir children uniting can cause unrest in the vassal princes’ households, the princes’ long-established authority remains. The non-heir children wouldn’t dare openly challenge it."

Baili Hong nodded.

Indeed, for powerful vassal princes like Prince Dongjiang and Prince Huguang, even their legitimate heirs wouldn’t dare argue with them, let alone the non-heir children.

So, even after the decree is issued, their households might become restless, with frequent infighting and schemes, but the vassal princes’ status and power would not be diminished.

"So, we need to follow up with another decree," Chu Jiubian said with a darkened gaze. "We must compel the vassal princes to distribute their power among all their children, not just their primary heirs."

This way, even if the vassal princes aren't completely eliminated in a decade or so, their influence will be fragmented into many scattered parts.

By the next generation, these powers will be further divided and diluted, eventually becoming insignificant.

And when the emperor issues such a decree, he can frame it as acting in the best interests of the vassal princes' descendants, demonstrating his benevolence and generosity.

This is the Decree of Extended Grace.

"Wow," Baili Hong's eyes sparkled. "That's amazing."

The Decree of Extended Grace truly is a brilliant and difficult-to-counter overt strategy.

Chu Jiubian looked toward Qin Xiao again, their eyes meeting in mutual understanding.

While this decree is good, it requires a long time to take effect, and unforeseen changes could occur in the interim. This isn't what they want.

What they want is to use the "Decree of Extended Grace" to push the vassal princes, letting them know that if they don't rebel, they can only watch their power be divided.

That's right.

They intend to force these vassal princes to rebel.

This way, the court can legitimately deploy troops against them, preventing the young emperor from being labeled a brutal ruler who disregards blood ties.

Baili Hong's young mind seemed overwhelmed by all this information, spaced out as he processed and committed these ideas and strategies to memory.

So that in the future, when faced with similar situations, he could draw inferences and make the most appropriate decisions.

Chu Jiubian then looked at Qin Xiao and asked, "Any news about the Gu worms?"

Previously, Prince Dingbei had secretly brought Gu worms into the palace, and Chu Jiubian, working with Sutu Anli during the banquet, had destroyed them all. But it was unclear whether Prince Dingbei had released other Gu worms on his way into the palace.

So, he ordered the identification of all sedan chair carriers and palace servants who had contact with Prince Dingbei, as well as others who had interacted with them, totaling several hundred people.

Later, Qin Xiao invited Sutu Anli into the palace to examine them one by one. Indeed, they found one Gu worm on a palace servant.

Chu Jiubian remained concerned that others in the palace might already be under the control of Gu worms.

The Gu Master behind these Gu worms produced potent Gu, but there was a drawback: the Gu worms in his possession could not be used a second time once activated.

Once activated, they could only target one person, with all toxins lodged in that individual.

Though this was a drawback, it also made the Gu worms powerful in another sense, as once activated and depleted of toxins, they became extremely difficult to detect.

Previously, when Cheng Shuo was controlled by a Gu worm, the system didn't detect any poison when Chu Jiubian and Qin Xiao went to investigate.

This indicated that the Gu worm had already been activated and bound to Cheng Shuo's body, making it harmless to others.

Thus, the system couldn't detect abnormalities in those already controlled by Gu worms.

So, Chu Jiubian couldn't rely on the system and had to ask Sutu Anli to look instead.

But Sutu Anli also said that the Gu Master used special methods, making activated Gu worms completely concealed within the host—even she couldn't find them.

The reason they were able to extract the Gu worm from Cheng Shuo was that it was a sizeable centipede, whose energy signature was more detectable than that of the transparent little spiders.

But as for the small spiders, even before entering a human body, neither she nor the green snake could detect them.

It was only after Chu Jiubian's hint that she had the green snake taste a special herb on her fingernail, temporarily heightening its detection ability, allowing it to find and consume all the Gu worms.

However, once a spider enters a human body and is activated, even consuming more herbs wouldn't help the green snake locate it.

They were able to find that one straggler on the palace staff because the Gu worm hadn't been activated yet.

Both Chu Jiubian and Qin Xiao suspected there were other Gu worms, already activated, but they didn't know whose body they were in.

They also didn't know what Prince Dingbei might do with other Gu worms that might exist, so they could only increase their vigilance and protect Baili Hong.

They also instructed everyone in the palace to pay attention to any unusual behavior in those around them and report any anomalies immediately.

Meanwhile, Qin Xiao had Qin Chuan send subordinates to investigate and seek out reclusive sects in the martial world, aiming to find the Gu Master and eliminate the source of potential Gu-related mischief.

"Not yet," Qin Xiao slightly furrowed his brow.

The feeling of knowing danger lurked in the shadows but being unable to find a solution was unsettling.

Seeing this, Chu Jiubian didn't seem worried. "It's fine. After all, that Gu worm can no longer harm anyone. Once it acts, we'll definitely detect the abnormality."

Qin Xiao nodded. "I know."

Their eyes met again, and once more, they fell into silence.

"Let's get to work," Chu Jiubian looked away and looked down at the memorials in his hand.

Qin Xiao smiled silently and also lowered his head to review the memorials.

The accumulated memorials from the New Year period had mostly been processed, but now there were many new ones.

The one Chu Jiubian was currently reading was written by Han Yuandao, the current Commandery Deputy of Hexi Commandery.

This was someone Chu Jiubian had personally selected, originally just a low-ranking agricultural official but now resembling a local high-ranking officer.

The deputy likely knew the memorial would pass through several layers before reaching Chu Jiubian, as its content was very subtle.

For example, regarding the sweet potatoes Chu Jiubian had instructed him to plant, he mentioned that last year the timing was late, but he himself had set up warm sheds following Chu Jiubian's method and planted some, achieving high yields.

So this year, he would have all the people of Hexi Commandery set aside a few acres of land to plant sweet potatoes.

He wasn't worried the people would refuse, because after the flood, he had re-measured the land, treating all the fields hidden by local magnates and landowners as the people's own land. He issued documents stamped with the official seal and distributed these lands to the people.

They would no longer need to work as laborers or tenants for others; they would have their own land.

Naturally, these magnates and landowners wanted to protest, but Han Yuandao then produced years of tax records.

These people had been happy hiding land to evade taxes, but now they were stunned.

If they wanted the land back, they would have to pay all the back taxes for the many years they had hidden the land, and according to Great Ning law, they would be charged with "tax evasion," fined three times the amount evaded, and receive twenty heavy strokes.

Thus, these people could only quietly accept this hidden loss.

It wouldn't be worth losing so much wealth just for the sake of land.

After all, in the future, they could always find ways to "steal" the land back from the people—something they had done countless times before.

But they didn't know that with Han Yuandao in place, plus the six new scholars entering through the imperial examinations' criminal justice section who would later "revise the laws," it would become much harder for them to scheme like this again.

Han Yuandao described all these matters very subtly, and only because Chu Jiubian knew what tasks he had assigned could he decipher the intended meaning.

"He really has the makings of a good official," Chu Jiubian remarked with admiration.

Next, Han Yuandao mentioned that some scholars had already passed through Hexi Province. He had ordered soldiers to escort them from the province’s border all the way until they were safely out of its territory.

Once past Hexi Province, the capital was not far. In just a few more days, the scholars would begin arriving one after another.

Aside from the scholars, various factions had also sent their people to the capital to join the excitement.

The streets were now even more bustling and crowded than before. An Wuji was run off his feet. All members of the city guard and the royal guard were mobilized to maintain order in the capital.

While the capital itself remained secure, the journey to the capital was another matter.

Various factions were unwilling to let Chu Jiubian and Qin Xiao’s plans proceed smoothly and were determined to cause trouble for them.

If just one or two scholars were killed and the news spread, many more would become too afraid to come to the capital.

The deaths of the scholars would also severely damage the court’s prestige, making people less willing to serve the imperial court.

However, given Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian’s careful planning, they had undoubtedly sent people early on to protect these scholars.

Though these factions had not coordinated with each other, they all chose to send their best assassins for the task.

On this bright sunny day, before even reaching Hexi Province—

Lu Yao sat inside a carriage with his servant, A-Chuan. Outside, the coachman drove the carriage, followed by another carriage carrying luggage and over a dozen Lu family guards. The procession made quite a sight.

Their progress was slow, as Lu Yao’s delicate health couldn't take much bumping around.

But at the moment, Lu Yao wasn’t reading. Instead, he was staring intently at the servant across from him.

“Something wrong?” Qin Chuan asked.

Lu Yao asked curiously, “I never asked—why are you disguised?”

“To avoid being recognized,” Qin Chuan replied.

Lu Yao grew even more curious. “Are you famous?”

Qin Chuan let out a light laugh and said, slowly and clearly, “Extremely famous.”

Satisfied, Lu Yao ignored him and lowered his head to read.

Qin Chuan: “...”

People who were too clever could be really confusing at times.

He crossed his arms, leaned against the carriage wall, and closed his eyes. As the carriage rocked gently, he began to feel drowsy.

But suddenly, his eyes snapped open, sharp and focused, looking at the carriage curtain as if seeing through it to the world outside.

Lu Yao also paused and looked up at him.

The carriage continued rocking as if everything was normal.

“Are there people coming to kill me?” Lu Yao asked.

Qin Chuan raised an eyebrow. “Are you scared?”

“Are you scared?” Lu Yao shot back.

Qin Chuan: “Why would I be scared? They’re not here for me.”

“I’m asking if you’re scared that I might die,” Lu Yao said seriously. “If I die, your mission fails. Even if your superiors don’t blame you, you’d still lose face. You might have to live in disguise forever after this.”

Qin Chuan thought about it seriously and said, “You’re right. So—”

The carriage suddenly stopped.

The sound of attendants drawing their swords echoed around the carriage as they formed a protective circle, vigilantly watching their surroundings.

Beyond them, dozens of masked assassins wielding long swords attacked without warning. In an instant, the clashing of weapons could be heard everywhere.

Qin Chuan lifted the carriage curtain and leaned out to look.

He smiled faintly as he said, “So, my reputation’s not so easy to damage.”

In less than half an hour, the carriage was back on the road, rocking along as usual. None of the accompanying guards were hurt.

The nervousness they’d felt throughout the journey eased considerably.

Not because of anything else, but because before they could even engage the assassins, a group of men in black had appeared out of nowhere and quickly took care of all the attackers.

Then, just as quickly, the men in black vanished, leaving behind only fading shadows—a testament to their extraordinary light-footed skills.

Before departing, one of the men in black left a message for Lu Yao inside the carriage: “By His Majesty’s order, we are to ensure the scholars’ safety. Please don't worry, scholar.”

Similar scenes unfolded throughout Great Ning.

Without exception, all the assassins failed in their missions.

The Qiu family, with its deep connections to the jianghu, had even enlisted two sects known for their stealth weapons to assassinate the scholars. To their surprise, before these sects could even leave their headquarters, they were blocked by neighboring sects.

“By the alliance leader’s order, those of the jianghu are not to involve themselves in court affairs,” the leader of the sword sect said coldly.

The master of the Moon Breath Sect, renowned for crafting stealth weapons, narrowed his eyes slightly. “Aren’t you also involving yourselves in court affairs by blocking us?”

“We are blocking you to prevent you from breaking the rules. Do not mistake our intentions, Sect Master.”

After much back-and-forth, the two sects tasked by the Qiu family ultimately failed to take action and had to return the payment they had received.

Thus, the Qiu family did not suspect that the so-called martial alliance leader was actually entangled with the court. They simply assumed it was a jianghu rule and abandoned this approach.

Aside from the Qiu family, other noble families, as well as the vassal princes, sent group after group of assassins.

Someone like Lu Yao, who had top exam scores, naturally received the tightest protection. Moreover, he came from a wealthy family with resources and personal guards, making him a difficult target.

But if such prominent figures were beyond their reach, they still had opportunities with the poor farm boys and scholars with lower scores.

Yet, no matter whom they targeted, none of the scholars were harmed.

In the end, not only did they fail to achieve their goals of killing scholars and tarnishing the court’s reputation, but they inadvertently made the court look good and made people trust the government more.

If the court could protect these scholars, it could surely protect regular people as well.

For the scholars who experienced this protection firsthand, their admiration and loyalty toward the court and figures like Baili Hong grew stronger, solidifying their determination to serve faithfully.

How the various factions reacted upon receiving this news remained unknown, but undoubtedly, they were all unhappy about it.

However, the Lu family handled things differently.

Minister of War Lu Youwei held a thin piece of paper densely filled with information about a certain individual.

This person was none other than the first-ranked candidate of this year’s Metropolitan Examination—Lu Yao, Lu Zicheng.

“This Lu Zicheng actually has some connection to our Lu family,” Lu Youwei said as he handed the paper to his strategist, Lu Tong.

After reading it, Lu Tong smiled and replied, “In that case, when he arrives in the capital, we, as the main family branch, should hold a welcoming banquet for him.”

Though presented as a welcoming banquet, the true intention was to build a good relationship and recruit him to their side.

Lu Youwei truly hadn’t expected Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian to be so careless as to allow a member of the Lu family to take first place and even be accepted into the Imperial College.

It was unclear whether they believed Lu Zicheng had no ties to the Lu family or simply hadn’t discovered his connections.

Regardless, Lu Youwei was determined to bring him into the Lu family's fold.

But their methods had to be discreet. Even when inviting Lu Zicheng to a banquet, they had to take care not to be noticed.

If discovered, they would pretend that they couldn't reach an agreement, reassuring Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian so they would continue to trust and employ Lu Zicheng.

And so, the days passed one after another.

On the second day of the second lunar month, the day of the Dragon Raising its Head, all the scholars had finally arrived in the capital.