Chapter 538: Witchcraft
Luo Yi walked out of the brightly lit palace, thinking back to his conversation with the emperor. Looking at the dark night sky, he clenched his fists slightly, "Am I doing this now in accordance with the will of heaven or against it?
Will the heaven punish me?"
…
In the Prime Minister's Mansion, countless clerks were hurrying past. In the room where Luo Yi was, more officials were constantly handing in memorials.
“Grand Prime Minister, these are the powerful people who were eliminated in the first half of the year, the lands that were cleared, and the clans that were relocated.
There were a total of fourteen powerful families who had committed heinous crimes, including seven in Guanzhong and seven in Guandong. During the investigation, a large amount of fertile land in various counties was seized, which was enough to accommodate 100,000 poor people.
The seven families in Guanzhong, including tenant farmers, totaling 100,000 people, were relocated to Hexi and the Western Regions to cultivate land and raise horses.
The population of the powerful people in Guandong is larger. According to your plan, some of them were relocated to Liaodong, and a large part of them were relocated to Jiangdong. The population of Jiangdong is still insufficient, but the land is very fertile.
The migration plan will probably be completed within three years.”
Luo Yi nodded slightly when he heard this. Now that the administration was almost in order, he finally started the real reform, releasing land and alleviating population pressure.
However, he did not directly announce the measurement of land in the edict, because he did not want to cause large-scale resistance in the early stage. Therefore, he chose the Han Dynasty's traditional method of attacking the powerful as the entry point, and attacked selectively, which made him encounter much less resistance.
Just as he was thinking about what to do next, a clerk suddenly hurried in and headed straight for Luo Yi. "May the great prime minister be safe. His Majesty has ordered you to enter the palace."
The official's face was full of a mysterious expression, and there was a trace of fear in the depths of his pupils, which made Luo Yi's pupils shrink. He asked in a deep voice: "What happened?"
"Your Excellency, I dare not tell you. Please come to the palace and let His Majesty tell you."
The clerk had a look of fear on his face, and now even everyone in the hall felt that something was wrong. Luo Yi stood up and said loudly: "You guys go ahead and do your work, I'll be back soon."
Luo Yi hurried into the palace, with endless doubts in his heart. Then, as soon as he entered the palace, he saw the imperial physician hurried out, and his heart sank.
As soon as I walked into the hall, I saw that the emperor looked anxious and haggard. The attendants lowered their heads and dared not utter a sound. The atmosphere was extremely depressing.
Long Qing was lying on the sickbed, his beautiful face was pale, like fragile glass, which made people feel pity for him.
Long Qing!
Luo Yi's heart sank even more, this was the only person who could influence the emperor.
"His Majesty."
Luo Yi stepped forward and bowed. When Liu Yang saw Luo Yi coming, he said anxiously, "Grand Prime Minister, alas, Long Er is seriously ill. It is my fault that he was harmed."
Luo Yi said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, don't worry. What happened?"
Emperor Liu Yang's face flushed red, and he roared in anger, "Some time ago, witchcraft suddenly appeared in my palace. I killed a group of people, but I couldn't find any clues behind it.
I know it must be those who suffered losses in the reform, and they want to use evil magic to harm me!
But I am not worried, I am not afraid of evil magic. But who knew that they would not even let Long'er go, and he was directly robbed and suddenly fell ill and fainted. This must be the result of witchcraft.
I will kill all those people, exile is too kind to them."
When Luo Yi heard this, he was startled and his head started to hurt instantly.
Witchcraft!
He never expected it to be this thing.
In ancient times, witchcraft was very formal, used to offer sacrifices to heaven, worship ancestors, and even to cure diseases and save lives.
King Su promoted humanity, and witchcraft gradually became a way of cursing people, and it was only popular in the State of Chu. The magnificent myths of the State of Chu mostly came from the mysterious witchcraft.
Luo Yi was not sure whether witchcraft was effective or not.
After all, his family has countless myths, and there is also a mysterious destiny. There is Xizi, the ancestor Lingjun, and a magical person like his mother who is eternally beautiful. If you say that there is really no other magic in this world, Luo Yi himself doesn't believe it.
What if this is really witchcraft?
But allowing the emperor to kill all those powerful families is certainly not an option. At least 20,000 to 30,000 people will be implicated. The right thing to do is to exile these people to the frontier to farm and graze!
Luo Yi pondered and said, "Your Majesty, I suddenly thought, are those few powerful families really capable of sending witchcraft into the palace?
They are just some powerful people entrenched in the counties. A county governor can wipe out their families. How can such people extend their hands to the inner court?"
Luo Yi's words instantly awakened the emperor. The powerful are indeed very strong when they unite, and they will definitely resist the imperial court's land measurement. But to think that they can reach their hands into the inner court is simply a fantasy. They are just a bunch of rotten fish and shrimp.
"Grand Prime Minister, are you saying that there are other people watching me in the dark?!"
"Your Majesty, do you have any suspicions about anyone? Just catch the person who made the witchcraft and destroy it.
Minister Long may not be suffering from witchcraft. I can mobilize doctors from my family to come here."
Luo Yi could only follow this line of thought for now, and the emperor growled in a low voice: "This is what I want you to do.
You are a descendant of King Su, so you will not be afraid of witchcraft. The art of witchcraft is only circulated among the original Chu people.
Only you can help me. If anything happens to Long Er, I really...
Please find those people!"
As he spoke, his voice gradually weakened, and Luo Yi agreed. This was the only way to calm the emperor's mentality.
Luo Yi came and left in a hurry. He looked up at the clear blue sky and couldn't help but wonder, "Is this the will of heaven?
The Emperor's only flaw."
…
The matter of witchcraft suddenly spread from nowhere. No one wanted to be involved in such a strange thing, let alone the emperor. Within a short period of time, everyone in Chang'an was in danger.
"Have you heard about the witchcraft? It is said that a traitor cursed Your Majesty and that man."
"It's horrible. Someone actually dared to curse Your Majesty. Is he really courting death?"
"What's the big deal? It is said that His Majesty killed many people in the palace, but got nothing. The person who used witchcraft is still at large."
"It is said that Long Qing was bewitched by a witchcraft and is in a coma. This is a good thing. It is because such a demon has always been by the emperor's side that there are disasters in the world."
"Alas, the emperor has been deceived by the evildoer and won't listen to the words of his loyal ministers. The prime minister doesn't care about the emperor's private affairs at all, he just promotes reforms. If the witchcraft can kill the evildoer, it would be a good thing."
Especially those who went in and out of the palace were extremely nervous. When the reform had just begun and some results were showing, the incident of witchcraft suddenly broke out. This would definitely have a huge impact on the reform, or even directly fail!
"After all, they are using witchcraft. This is simply stupid. It would be better to spend a lot of money to bribe the emperor's attendants and assassinate him when he goes out hunting."
Luo Yi followed the clues and found that the source was too complicated. A huge flaw of the emperor was revealed: he didn't like women!
The number of people who hated Long Qing was just as many as the emperor. Countless people hoped that Long Qing would die. The emperor's ruthless treatment of the royal family also made the royal family very dissatisfied with him.
"It's just that I occupied some land. This world belongs to my Liu family. What have I done wrong to deserve such a reprimand?"
Especially since he had no son, this led many people to turn to Emperor Xiaocheng's other sons. What was more troublesome was that the emperor was definitely not in the mood to adopt a son now.
Faced with this thorny and complicated situation, Luo Yi, on the one hand, controlled public opinion to allow the reform to continue to advance, and on the other hand, began to unravel the mystery. There could never be a perfect conspiracy in this world, especially one involving the royal family.
"If I find out who is sabotaging the reform, I will send you to hell!"
Luo Yi sat upright in the Prime Minister's Mansion, with a cold light flashing in his eyes.
————
In the eleventh year of Lingyou, the emperor, as the prime minister, carried out reforms, punished the powerful, rectified the administration of officials, and the whole country became full of vitality and prospered.
In September, there was a case of witchcraft in the palace, and the atmosphere became increasingly dark.
(End of this chapter)
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