The news that the Cui family actually hid a private army in Cuiping Mountain west of Beijing spread in the capital for some unknown reason.
The capital city, which had been gradually calming down and everyone was waiting for the final outcome, suddenly seemed to be in turmoil again.
"The Cui family is truly generous, actually raising soldiers in the capital!"
In fact, in this era, private soldiers are not a very rare thing.
It can be said that almost everyone in the entire Qin Dynasty, from wealthy families to powerful county leaders, has private soldiers. There are even many large families with private soldiers numbering no less than 10,000.
Without soldiers, but only with land and property, can you be called a powerful person? Believe it or not, a group of robbers will come and rob you one day.
However, those kinds of people are generally in other states and counties, and usually appear in the form of farmers, tenant farmers, or guards.
The imperial court could not do anything about this. People who owned land had populations, and they formed associations to protect themselves. It was useless if you did not allow it.
There was no other way, the imperial court had to turn a blind eye and just ask them not to rebel.
But this situation usually occurs in rural areas. In the capital, the nature of the situation is different.
Not to mention the capital, it is absolutely not allowed even within the capital cities of various states and counties.
This is the court's bottom line.
But now the Cui family not only has private soldiers, but has also assembled an army.
Although it is not within the capital, Cuiping Mountain is only thirty miles away from the capital, and can be reached in half a day, or two hours if you walk faster.
"Hasn't Prime Minister Cui always said he wanted to go? Could it be fake?"
"Of course it's fake. My Great Qin has been in power for hundreds of years, with dozens of prime ministers. How many of them were able to retire while still alive?"
Someone sneered disdainfully.
After hearing this, everyone thought about it and couldn't help but sigh.
It is really a strange job for the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty. Either he has great power in the court, or he is completely the emperor's scapegoat.
When they were strong, people like Cui Cen could force the emperor to submit.
If the monarch becomes powerful, being a prime minister will be a job that is doomed to fail.
It is said that during the reign of King Sejong, an old minister, upon receiving his appointment as prime minister, wept bitterly and refused to accept the seal and ribbon. King Sejong was furious, and the minister had no choice but to accept the seal and ribbon. He then said to the others, "I am finished. When I am in trouble, I beg you to take care of my wife and children."
As expected, within two years, he was implicated in a major case and died tragically in prison.
Also during the reign of King Sejong, there were more than a dozen prime ministers in his reign, but none of them had a good ending.
It can be said that the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty has only two fates: work hard until death, or be worked to death.
There are some people who can retire while they are still alive and spend their old age in peace, but they are very few.
So when Prime Minister Cui Cen claimed to be ill and asked to resign, no one believed it was true.
But whether it is true or not is no longer important. What is important is that now the news that the Cui family has raised private soldiers has been exposed. It would be a joke for Cui Cen to talk about retreating.
Someone seemed to have thought of something and murmured, "No wonder the Imperial Guards and the Imperial Guards have been deployed in large numbers since morning, taking control of the city's defenses. It seems the Emperor has long known about the Cui family's private army."
"It seems that the Imperial Guards have also been taken over by the Emperor."
"That's not necessarily the case. Perhaps those neutral factions have sided with the emperor."
Everyone was talking about the situation between the emperor and the Cui family.
Someone shook his head and said, "That's not important. Now we just hope that the fighting doesn't reach the city!"
"Ah, yes, weapons are merciless, fire and water are merciless. This Cui family deserves to die, the emperor has been tolerant enough.
The Cui family is truly full of nobles, could it be that they really want to rebel and become emperor?"
Everyone shook their heads and smiled bitterly upon hearing this.
They also felt some resentment towards the Cui family.
The Cui family is extremely powerful and is full of officials and nobles, which means that everyone else has been pushed to the margins of power.
This is a squeeze on everyone, and even ordinary people cannot be unaware of it.
Now that the Cui family is about to be destroyed, people's hearts have naturally undergone subtle changes.
But at this time, news came out that the Cui family actually had private troops outside the city, and everyone was worried.
Naturally, the resentment became even stronger.
I can't help but think, "Why won't the Cui family just die peacefully? Why don't they just accept defeat? Everyone still admires you as a person of character, but you insist on stirring things up and making everyone suffer?"
At the same time, in the Prime Minister's Mansion, the servants felt this subtle change in people's hearts most clearly.
In the past, whenever they went out, everyone they saw had to smile at them.
But now when they walk outside, people either keep their distance from them or sneer at them.
This made everyone in the Prime Minister's Mansion feel like they were being pushed down when the wall fell.
While feeling angry, I couldn't help but feel a little scared.
This was the feeling of the chief steward Cui Qi at the moment. As Cui Cen's most trusted steward, he naturally knew more than others.
He must have known about Cuiping Mountain. He even knew that the two young masters had gone to Cuiping Mountain when they left the city.
But he never expected that this matter, which most people in the prime minister's mansion didn't know about, had spread all over the city.
Even Song Ding, the chef in the Prime Minister's kitchen, came to ask him, "Head Steward, I heard that our Prime Minister has many private soldiers. Is it true that he is rebelling?"
If this doesn't work out, we'll all be beheaded!"
"Nonsense, who told you that?"
Cui Qi's first reaction when he heard the news was surprise, then horror, and he shouted at Song Po Ding without even thinking.
But Song Pao Ding said with a face full of grievance: "I didn't say that. People outside are saying that even Huang Er, the delivery man, stopped delivering food to us because he was afraid of being implicated by us."
"Asshole, what does he know as a delivery guy? If he doesn't deliver, you won't change to another restaurant."
Cui Qi cursed loudly, but he had already stood up. He had to get to the bottom of the matter and then inform the prime minister.
Now the Prime Minister stays in the inner house all day long, and he is one of the few people who can see the Prime Minister at any time.
He must serve as the Prime Minister's eyes and ears.
But Song Pao Ding was muttering beside him, "It's not just Huang Er who delivers the food, there's also Zhang the butcher who sells the meat, and..."
He was still counting who was who, but the housekeeper Cui Qi had already ignored him and walked out of the kitchen.
Song Pao Ding sighed helplessly and wanted to chase after him to find out, but he was afraid to do so because the butler looked angry.
Standing there, he thought: "Why don't I just run away? I'm just a butcher and I didn't do anything bad. I just blackmailed Butcher Zhang for a few dozen coins, and because Huang Er's wife was pretty, I let him sleep with me. And what the hell...
I didn't use my power as the Prime Minister to bully others. They did it voluntarily... No, there aren't many good people like me in the Prime Minister's Mansion anymore. I can't let myself be implicated..."
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