Chapter 164: Chaos in Xiaocheng (Part 4) [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

This person's roots are in Xiaocheng.

Without a word, he abandoned the private school...

What kind of crisis would it take for someone to resolutely abandon the foundation they've built over many years and take their wife, children, and assets to a distant land?

Seeing Chu Yao's expression, the male host guessed that he hadn't received the message yet, and judging from the direction he was heading, he was probably still heading towards Xiaocheng. So he kindly offered a word of advice: "Are you going to Xiaocheng on this trip?"

Chu Yao did not give a direct answer.

He only hinted indirectly, "Could it be that you can't go?"

The male head of the household said, "You can't go, you can't go!"

Chu Yao: "Why can't we go?"

The male head of the household didn't hide anything, a hint of gritted teeth and hatred flashing across his face as he said, "It's all because of that damned Geng Kingdom!"

His words only made Chu Yao more confused: "Geng Kingdom? But Sibao County has long been in the hands of Geng Kingdom..."

Why would you attack your own territory for no reason?

The male head of the household said, "There's chaos in Gengguo."

With just a few words, Chu Yao instantly cleared the tangled threads in his mind. He bowed to the male host and said, "Please enlighten me, sir."

The male protagonist was secretly pleased—his biggest regret in life was that he had a wealth of talent but no one appreciated it. Even God treated him unfairly, not giving him the literary talent he deserved, making him just an ordinary person. The fact that Chu Yao, as a literary scholar, sought his guidance also proved his worth.

He did not show any arrogance, but instead returned the greeting.

"No, no, not at all. We hit it off immediately, there's no need for any 'guidance'." The male host, having shaken off the bitterness of being forced to flee, smiled and took Chu Yao's hand, adopting an intimate "brotherly" posture. He was completely open and honest with Chu Yao.

He told almost everything he knew.

The root of this matter lies with the royal family of the Geng Kingdom.

As mentioned before, the internal strife within the Geng Kingdom gave Zheng Qiao the opportunity to turn his fortunes around. The source of the strife was that the old king of Geng Kingdom suddenly suffered a stroke, paralyzing half of his body and gradually weakening. His sons were fighting fiercely among themselves, each with their own faction of supporters.

At first, no one thought of Zheng Qiao.

Who is Zheng Qiao?

A hostage born in another country.

To put it nicely, Zheng Qiao went to another country as a hostage, while his mother went to another country for a "marriage alliance." The mother and son selflessly sacrificed themselves to preserve more than ten years of peace in the Geng Kingdom and contributed to the peace between the Geng and Xin Kingdoms. But to put it bluntly, this was "abandoning a pawn."

The old ruler of Geng Kingdom didn't care about a woman and a son at all. As the ruler, how could he lack women?

With a woman by his side, would he lack a son?

I heard that Zheng Qiao became a favored concubine who served others, and was given the humiliating nickname "Female Darling," and he didn't acknowledge this son from the bottom of his heart.

This is such a disgrace to the Geng Kingdom's royal family!

Because of these reasons, even though the Geng Kingdom has developed well in recent years and the Xin Kingdom's national strength has been declining, and the gap between the two countries has been gradually narrowing, the old ruler of the Geng Kingdom could have easily tried to get Zheng Qiao and her son back, but he didn't do so, and just pretended that he had forgotten about them.

However, he forgot, but some people did not.

For example, his queen.

The queen, whose sons were evenly matched in their rivalry, was deeply worried. None of these illegitimate sons had simple mothers; if they became the new rulers, wouldn't their mothers kill her? So she wept day and night, desperately searching for a solution.

The three princesses comforted their mother upon hearing the news, and in doing so, they came up with a rather awful idea that now seems rather bad.

Let the Queen choose a future ruler who is easy to control.

After thinking it over, the Queen thought it might work.

So she enlisted the help of her family to secretly plot, and her actions were noticed by those with ulterior motives—the court officials who were observing the situation. Not only was the queen worried, but these officials also feared losing their side and being purged by the new king in the future; it was better to strike first!

The two sides quickly reached an agreement to support a puppet ruler!

Which of the old ruler's sons was easy to control?

After much deliberation, the thought finally came to Zheng Qiao, who had virtually no presence in the country. Zheng Qiao's mother was dead, his own past was unbearable, and he had no foothold in Geng Kingdom. What did a sycophant who only knew how to flatter and sell his body know about governing a country? Wouldn't power ultimately fall into their hands?

This suggestion made the Queen feel uneasy, like a thorn in her side.

Zheng Qiao's mother was once the most beautiful woman in the Geng Kingdom's court, and she was very capable. If she hadn't been careless and been schemed against, she wouldn't have caught the eye of the LSP King of Xin Kingdom, who forcibly took her away.

The Queen viewed Zheng Qiao's mother as a formidable rival and a love rival, and was somewhat displeased that she was now supporting that vixen's son to become king. But despite her displeasure, the Queen, tempted by the prospect of ruling from behind the curtain, still agreed to welcome Zheng Qiao back to the country.

With Geng Kingdom secretly exerting its strength and Zheng Qiao working hard, they successfully returned to Geng Kingdom after many dangerous situations. With the combined efforts of the Queen and her maternal relatives, they reached the top in one fell swoop.

As for the brothers whose peaches were taken by Zheng Qiao?

Hehe, with Zheng Qiao's temperament and the Queen's cunning, what good end can they possibly have?

Those who disobeyed were killed under some pretext, and those who didn't die were driven insane.

How crazy are they?

A man mistook a sow for his wife and piglets for his children. The "family" ate, slept, and went about their daily lives together, and even renowned doctors shook their heads, saying they couldn't save them. Curious onlookers, palace maids and eunuchs would even make him demonstrate how husband and wife consummated their relationship in private, indulging in their amusement.

The other brother was slightly better, but his madness was unique; he was as mentally impaired as an infant and unable to take care of his own urination and defecation.

If the palace maids were slow in cleaning, he would drink his own urine and eat his own excrement with relish. Judging from his expression, anyone who didn't know better would think he was savoring some kind of delicacy. Zheng Qiao naturally suspected that the two were faking their madness and tested them several times.

If anything seems amiss with either of them, kill them.

As a result, whether it was ordering servants to humiliate their own mother in front of them, or setting up a large pot to cook their wet nurse, neither of them showed any unusual reaction. The physician examined them several times and was certain that they were truly mentally impaired. Despite this, Zheng Qiao did not diminish his murderous intent.

In the end, no action was taken. It was the Queen Mother, the former king's queen, who intervened to protect him. Zheng Qiao couldn't afford to turn against her, so he had no choice but to agree.

Why did the Empress Dowager suddenly become so benevolent?

It wasn't out of mercy, but simply because Zheng Qiao and she had almost wiped out the old king's sons! Many curses from the court reached her ears, saying how vicious she was and how she couldn't tolerate the bloodline of the former king, and that her previous tolerance and magnanimity were all an act.

For the sake of his reputation, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and step forward.

They're just two idiots anyway, might as well keep them.

Does the royal family really need two people to eat?

Zheng Qiao snorted coldly, secretly cursing the Empress Dowager for being foolish.

As it turned out, the empress dowager was indeed naive.

Zheng Qiao led his troops to conquer the Xin Kingdom. The Geng Kingdom was managed by a few trusted confidants, which he controlled remotely. At first, there were no major problems.

However, once Zheng Qiao's infamy in Xin Kingdom reached Geng Kingdom, even his trusted confidants were somewhat frightened by his ruthlessness and unpredictable nature. And just then, two "fools" gained leverage over one of his confidants, and if Zheng Qiao found out…

Not to mention the fate of his trusted confidant, his entire clan and relatives were doomed. Left with no other choice, he had to take a desperate gamble and betray Zheng Qiao.

Thus began the internal strife within the Geng family.

The internal strife did not gradually spread and erupt.

Those two "fools" made all the necessary preparations and launched a coup in one night, catching Zheng Qiao's faction completely off guard.

With Sibao County in the hands of Zheng Qiao's confidants, the prefecture naturally became a target for the rebels. The situation was so sudden that many refugees fled overnight without even packing their belongings.

|ω)

The Geng Kingdom's royal family collectively criticized the perverted character portrayal, comparing it to the Liu Song dynasty...

(End of this chapter)