After a few lighthearted banter, they got down to business.
Although the events that happened in Liangzhou were all sent to Jingzhou by carrier pigeon and Emperor An knew everything, he was not clear about the specific details, so he asked Jing Zhe to tell him again.
Jing Zhe explained in great detail, starting with how he obtained the title of Martial Arts Alliance Leader in Jinxi and his plans.
After he finished speaking, Emperor An clapped his hands repeatedly.
"Okay, that's good!"
In fact, after hearing that Jing Zhe had become the leader of the martial arts alliance, Emperor An was excited but also somewhat worried.
He was just a minor official of the fifth rank in the imperial court. Although he was directly under my command, his power was still too small. But once he became the leader of the martial arts alliance, he could completely extricate himself from the imperial court and directly join a sect, thus transcending the court!
However, upon hearing this, it became clear that Jing Zhe had no ulterior motives. After becoming the leader of the martial arts alliance, he was thinking about how to unite other sects for the use of the imperial court, something Emperor An had never dared to consider before.
In his excitement, he immediately promised: "Just go ahead and do it! I will issue an order that in any city where you wish to open a newspaper, winery, or 'Fragrance Pavilion,' the local prefect and officials must fully cooperate with your work. Moreover, as long as you have my edict, the location of the newspaper, winery, and 'Fragrance Pavilion' will be provided by the court, and all the profits will be at your disposal!"
Previously, when Zhang Family Distillery was in the business of selling spirits, Emperor An granted it a gold medal, making it a royal business. This led to all the restaurants in Jingzhou City, big and small, starting to value the spirits from Zhang Family Distillery. Later, Jing Zhe and Zhang Xiaoyu discussed that a portion of the distillery's monthly profits would be turned over to the government.
Now that Emperor An has given him the green light, his business ventures in various places have become extremely profitable, so he is naturally embarrassed to take all the profits.
"Your Majesty, this is not good..."
"I don't need your little bit of silver!"
Emperor An waved his hand and said seriously, "What you have done has solved a problem that I had never thought of before. Moreover, if the newspaper can eventually achieve the quality education you mentioned, it will be a great thing that will benefit Anguo for generations to come. I will not care about this money!"
In ancient times, there was a saying that one could buy a horse's bones with a thousand pieces of gold. Now, Emperor An is using this silver only to keep Jing Zhe by his side.
Seeing this, Jing Zhe didn't say anything more.
He then recounted in detail his negotiations with the Western Frontier Heavy Cavalry Regiment. When he heard that the Western Frontier Heavy Cavalry Regiment had come to Liangzhou because of the Prince of Jin's orders, Emperor An's face darkened.
"Your Majesty, I have reached an agreement with the new King of the Western Frontier, Kadan, to have him pretend to be..."
After Jing Zhe revealed his plan in detail, Emperor An's expression finally softened considerably, and he asked, "Can this Kadan be trusted?"
Jing Zhe shook his head: "Those who are not of our kind are bound to have different hearts, and we certainly cannot trust them. So before I left, I gave him a pill. If there is no antidote, he will be in great pain. Therefore, he has no choice but to follow the agreement I made with him."
"Okay, okay, okay!"
Emperor An patted Jing Zhe on the shoulder, saying "Good" three times. Then he muttered to himself, "I thought that now that you've become the leader of the martial arts alliance, and Prince Jin has lost the support of his sect, he should calm down and wouldn't think of rebelling again anytime soon. I even specially released Su Xinping back, but I didn't expect him to still be so treacherous..."
"Su Xin...the Prince of Jin's heir has returned?"
Upon hearing this news, Jing Zhe was stunned.
Emperor An nodded: "Just the day before yesterday, I released him back."
Why?
Jing Zhe was very puzzled. He had finally come up with a plan to keep Su Xinping detained in Jingzhou. Even if the Prince of Jin rebelled, they would still have a trump card. Although it didn't matter to Jing Zhe whether he had him or not, letting him go would be too easy for him.
Emperor An immediately explained, "Ever since Su Xinping was detained in Jingzhou, Prince Jin has been constantly remonstrating with me, causing me immense distress..."
It turns out that ever since Su Xinping got into trouble, Prince Jin had been writing letters to plead for leniency, but Emperor An had rejected them all. Some time ago, Prince Jin wrote again, saying that he was getting old and that the end of the year was approaching, so he wanted to see his son.
This time, Prince Jin not only pleaded for leniency, but also sent over five thousand taels of silver notes—saying that the money was obtained by selling various antiques and jewelry in his mansion.
At this point, Emperor An seemed to have no reason to refuse, and Prince Jin even hinted that if he was worried, Su Xiaoxiao had already arrived in Jingzhou and could stay in place of Su Xinping.
Therefore, Emperor An released Su Xinping two days ago.
After listening, Jing Zhe secretly clicked his tongue in amazement.
It seems that Prince Jin favors sons over daughters. In order to save Su Xinping, he was willing to sacrifice his own daughter. What intrigues him is whether they have figured out the effects of the "self-destructing pill" and are therefore no longer afraid.
"Let him go! Knowing his character, if he really wanted to rebel, not even Su Xiaoxiao, let alone Su Xinping in Jingzhou, would have made him change his mind. Since he's colluding with the barbarians of the Western Frontier, and you have the evidence—"
Emperor An looked at the letter Jing Zhe handed him and said coldly, "Then he brought this upon himself!"
It seems that Emperor An greatly approved of Jing Zhe's suggestion. After speaking, he continued, "Jing Zhe, when do you think would be a good time to make a move? After the New Year?
Jing Zhe smiled and shook his head: "Your Majesty, although this letter can serve as evidence, it only proves that the Prince of Jin bribed the Western Frontier to kill me, not that he intended to rebel. Your Majesty can punish him, but his crime does not warrant death. Therefore, we should wait until Kadan has dealt with the domestic affairs in the Western Frontier before pretending to attack Anguo. At that time, if the Prince of Jin dares to make a move, we can teach him a lesson!"
After listening, Emperor An nodded in agreement.
So Jing Zhe recounted how much spoils he had obtained after defeating the Western Frontier Heavy Cavalry Regiment and how he had disposed of them. After listening, Emperor An laughed and said, "You can handle these matters yourself; there's no need to report to me."
Then he smiled and said, "You have performed two great deeds this time, and I will reward you handsomely. Do you have any thoughts on this?"
Jing Zhe lowered his head: "It is up to Your Majesty to decide!"
Emperor An thought for a moment and said, "I have decided to promote you to the same rank as your fifth sister. What do you think?"
On par with Liu Jinghong?
That means he's now a second-rank official!
Jing Zhe was somewhat taken aback. He knew that Emperor An would bestow a generous reward, but he never expected that he would be promoted three ranks so directly! From a fifth-rank official to a second-rank official, the actual leap was six ranks!
When he went out before, people often looked down on him when they heard that he was only a fifth-rank official. Even the prefect of Jinxi dared to speak rudely to him. One can imagine how powerful he would be when he became a second-rank official!
Even if he argues with Bai Qingyuan again in the future, he will have the confidence to back him up!
But he still asked, "Your Majesty, isn't this promotion a bit too rapid? I fear some people will criticize it..."
"..."
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