Chapter 101 Chapter 101 Jinjiang First Release
Chapter 101
When Chen Liqing saw Cui Jue's cold face as he bowed and approached, he felt as if he saw a devil from hell!
His eyes were fixed, a bone-chilling chill spread throughout his limbs, and the blood in his body froze in an instant.
Chen Liqing looked past Cui Jue to see the Cui family's troops outside the palace, who were like dark clouds looming over the city. He knew that he could not escape even if he had wings. Now that Chen Heng had turned against them, he would become a sinner of the Chen family and would definitely be slaughtered as a sacrifice.
Chen Liqing was so frightened and shocked that his teeth were chattering for a moment.
Chen Liqing was completely baffled. "How did you know my plan?! I believe my plan is flawless and thorough, and you shouldn't have figured it out..."
There had to be some mistake! It had to be! How could he lose? How could he be defeated by Cui Jue?!
Cui Jue stared at Chen Liqing calmly, with a hint of contempt in his eyes. He obviously did not expect that at the moment of life and death, Chen Liqing would show fear. It was really a disgrace to the elders of the aristocratic family.
Cui Jue said calmly, "Master Chen, your cleverness has backfired. You haven't revealed a single flaw, which only makes me suspicious. More than once, the military strategies and battle formations I've discussed with my confidants have been discovered by the enemy beforehand. I thought I was being tight-lipped, so how could I have been careless..."
He stopped there and didn't say much.
It was that mistake that made Cui Jue suspicious.
Cui Jue never trusted others wholeheartedly and would always leave some room for maneuver in everything. However, because of Chen Heng, he was not very wary of the Chen family of Langshan.
From then on, this also gave Chen Liqing an opportunity to take advantage of.
Cui Jue deliberately leaked some secret orders and checked his confidants one by one, but after the secret orders were repeatedly revealed to the Chen family, the enemy troops responded accordingly.
After several times, Cui Jue naturally guessed that the Chen family of Langshan had changed their minds.
However, Chen Heng had great faith in the character of his father and would never be easily persuaded by Cui Jue. Fortunately, Chen Heng valued friendship and loyalty. If the elders in his family really became traitors who betrayed the clan, he would not sit idly by and would kill his own relatives for the sake of justice.
Since this is the case, Cui Jue decided to intervene himself and use his own death to lure Chen Liqing into usurping the throne.
Fortunately, Chen Liqing lived up to everyone's expectations and finally forced Cui Weng to abdicate, trying to take control of the Wu regime.
Thanks to Chen Liqing's eagerness to get promoted, he helped Cui Jue sweep away a group of aristocratic families who wanted to fight for power.
As a result, the Langshan Chen family and the big clans in the northwest were fighting each other, both sides suffered losses, and their fighting power was reduced. It was then Cui Jue's turn to reap the benefits.
The Cui family army was strong and powerful enough to sweep across the Wu Kingdom.
The armies of the aristocratic families had begun to show signs of decline under the attack of the Chen family of Langshan.
Furthermore, Xie Xiuming had defected to the traitors, and his family's reputation for poetry and etiquette had been ruined, leaving him unable to stir up trouble in the literary world...
The right time, place and people are all favorable, which is enough for Cui Jue to kill three birds with one stone and wipe out everyone at once!
Chen Liqing came to his senses now, and his hair stood on end.
He thought deeply and even felt that today's plan to force the emperor to abdicate was all under Cui Jue's control...
Today, Chen Liqing led his army to rebel, but failed on the verge of success. The Chen family of Langshan will definitely be severely punished by Cui Jue.
But Chen Heng was loyal to Cui Jue and was able to protect the Chen family from being exterminated by Cui Jue.
Then, Cui Jue is very likely to pretend to be righteous and spare the lives of the entire Chen family, and then ambitiously confiscate some of the Chen family's troops... The aristocratic families do not need to shed blood, and will only be grateful to Cui Jue, so how could they go against him?
So, what did Cui Jue have to lose? This dead end situation had been turned around by Cui Jue, winning the hearts of the people and stabilizing the government. He even liquidated the Chen family, whose achievements surpassed his own. No longer fearing a power grab by the aristocracy, Cui Jue was finally able to secure his throne over Wu...
It is really a good solution that can solve the problem once and for all.
This guy, this guy is so smart he's almost a demon! Is this guy still a mortal with mortal eyes?!
Chen Liqing couldn't help but tremble with fear. He couldn't guess how accurate Cui Jue's calculations were. He only knew that his years of planning had actually served Cui Jue well!
Who knows how long this guy has been planning this!
Chen Liqing was so angry that he vomited blood.
His fingers trembled, tears streaming down his face, as he pointed directly at Chen Heng: "Foolish, stupid! You've been fooled around by Cui Jue, yet you're still calling him your brother. You're truly incredibly stupid!"
Chen Liqing's crying and questioning came at him, but Chen Heng was not stupid. Instead, he gritted his teeth in hatred.
It was also recently that Chen Heng learned that although his parents seemed to be a loving couple, in fact, Chen Liqing had an affair with his half-sister, and even raised the child outside the family home, waiting for the child to return to his ancestral home in the future and take away a part of the Chen family's troops and territory.
Chen Heng laughed, his eyes bloodshot as he angrily shouted, "I'm not the fool, it's you! You were the one who taught me to be loyal to the Cui family since childhood, and you were the one who advised me to be filial, respectful, and faithful! I've always followed your teachings and fulfilled my duties as a loyal servant! But you've put me in an unjust position! If you want to betray your master, why bother fooling me with words like 'loyalty to the emperor and serving the country'? Do you really treat me as your own son? Where do you put me?!"
What Chen Heng hated most was that Chen Liqing had never believed him from the beginning to the end. How could a father be so cruel as to use his own son as a bargaining chip for rebellion, sending him to the Wudong Cui family as a pawn...
Moreover, Chen Liqing never imagined what would happen to the Langshan Chen family if his plan failed.
Chen Liqing wants his power and influence, and he also wants his entire family to be buried with him!
Cui Jue finally got tired of this father-son farce.
Cui Jue said meaningfully: "Chen Heng, you know me well. I don't like to leave hidden dangers..."
As soon as these words came out, the cold blade in Chen Heng's hand froze instantly.
Chen Heng understood that Cui Jue's words were very convincing and he was forcing Chen Heng to kill his father.
Cui Jue wants Chen Heng to show his loyalty with the blood on his sword!
If Chen Heng was loyal to Cui Jue, he would have killed his father as a sacrifice to comfort the souls of the Cui family martyrs who died unjustly.
But no matter how much Chen Heng hated and despised Chen Liqing, he was still his father.
Chen Heng's hands were shaking and he couldn't make a move.
Chen Liqing didn't get his revenge, instead he burst into laughter: "Look at you, such a coward! If you're not ruthless, how can you possibly win over Cui Jue?! Kill me, kill me, and there will be a blood feud between you and Cui Jue for killing my relatives! You will always hold a grudge against me, and you will always have a traitorous father who died at Cui Jue's hands. You will never be valued by him!"
Chen Heng roared angrily: "Shut up! Shut up!"
But no matter how he cursed, Chen Liqing still provoked Chen Heng in a harsh voice, intending to drive his son crazy.
Chen Heng was filled with hatred, but in the end, he lowered his shoulders and loosened the hilt of the sword.
Chen Heng closed his eyes: "Lan Ju, I... can't do it."
Cui Jue narrowed his eyes slightly, and for some reason, he suddenly chuckled.
The man extended his slender finger bones and gently pushed Chen Heng away, pressing against Chen's father's sword.
Cui Jue: "If you can do this, I really should kill you."
If Chen Heng dared to kill even his own father, then he was not the sincere man he was inside and out.
By then, even if Chen Heng did not make any unusual moves, Cui Jue would just think that he was hiding his strength and would not necessarily spare his life.
From then on, a fierce battle ended and the situation in the court finally became clear.
August, the third year of Yuanchang.
Cui Jue spent a month cleaning up the Jianye battlefield littered with corpses, burning the corpses that might have brought disease, and resting the remaining troops.
He killed a group of people and promoted another group.
Clearly define rewards and punishments, distinguish between benefits and harms, eliminate faults, and commend meritorious deeds.
Cui Jue promoted a group of officials from humble backgrounds to help them report their achievements and ask for rewards. He also ordered the government offices to continue pushing forward the matter of "moving the capital to Liuzhou."
As for the Chen family, Cui Jue spared Chen Liqing's life, but also cut off most of the troops of the Langshan Chen family, and made Chen Heng the Marquis of Yan.
In this way, it can be considered as showing leniency and forgiving the Chen family of Langshan for once.
Cui Jue even showed mercy and pardoned the Chen family of Langshan. The aristocratic families who participated in the rebellion became even more active. They took the initiative to offer troops and supplies, and prayed to Cui Jue to show mercy and not implicate their own clansmen and kill them all.
Cui Jue did not respond, but only wooed these aristocratic families.
In order to have a glimmer of hope, the aristocratic families could only increase their stakes and send more gold, silver, military supplies, soldiers and weapons...
Cui Jue finally agreed to the surrender of these nobles, and placed his trusted generals in military bases in various places to take over and incorporate the enemy troops.
From then on, Cui Jue effortlessly expanded his territory and consolidated his royal power, and was also loved by the people.
In an instant, Cui Jue's reputation grew even higher, and he became a sage and wise ruler rarely seen in the hearts of the people of Wu.
In the court, nearly half of the civil and military officials came from humble backgrounds. They were promoted by Cui Jue and became part of the Cui Party. They had no aristocratic family to rely on, so they could only be loyal to the Cui family of Wudong.
Cui Jue had the final say in state affairs, and no one dared to speak out or disobey the king.
Even on matters of state such as whether Cui Jue should have a harem or take concubines, no one dared to speak out and make suggestions, or to openly talk too much.
The poor civil servants naturally hoped that Cui Jue would have offspring to continue the family line, so that the prosperity of the current dynasty could be passed down from generation to generation.
The noble officials hoped that Cui Jue would have no descendants and no successor. In this way, a hundred years after Cui Jue's death, a new era of "heroes rising up and competing for the throne in the Central Plains" would begin.
As for Mr. Cui, he knew that he had become a part of Changsun's conspiracy.
There is chilling feeling, but also relief.
But in the end, Mr. Cui still took the overall situation into consideration and did not blame Cui Jue.
After all, Cui Jue is the king of a country. If he takes personal relationships into consideration in everything, he will definitely be controlled by others.
Mr. Cui couldn't help but sigh that his eldest grandson was such a cold-hearted person. He wondered which young lady would dare to spend the rest of her life with him.
-
The news that Cui Jue had come back to life like a god spread to every corner of the Wu State.
Even Su Li, who was far away in Jingzhou, heard about this.
The country is peaceful and the people are safe, and Su Li is also happy.
She couldn't help but laugh at herself for being so muddle-headed and overthinking recently... She had thought Cui Jue's crimes were so severe that he'd been reborn as an animal, unable to even transform into a ghost. It turned out Cui Jue had such a tough life that even the gods wouldn't take him away.
Today is a good day, so Su Li went to the street with Qiu Gui, her grandmother, and Mrs. Hu to buy five ribs, a big winter melon, a pig's head, a few chickens and ducks, and a bunch of winter bamboo shoots, radishes, and other ingredients.
In addition, Su Li also invited a chef from Taohua Town who specialized in cooking for weddings and funerals to help with cooking.
Several tables were set up, enough to accommodate all the Cui family's servants to sit down and eat together.
Tonight, everyone got drunk to celebrate Wudong Cui's victory. Fortunately, Zhang Yun was in control, so the drunken young people didn't cause any big trouble.
Su Li let them make as much noise as they wanted. After they had eaten and drunk their fill, she cut off a braised pig's ear and fed it to Taxue. She also went to buy a watermelon to reward Chixia, whose scars had healed.
While stroking the red horse's mane, Su Li thought to herself: Cui Jue returned to Jianye County in early April. I heard that the war was over in July, and now it is early October.
Six months passed, but Cui Jue didn't send her a single letter. Even the news that he had "pacified the state affairs and was safe and sound" was heard by Su Li from Wei Zhiyan.
For some reason, Su Li always felt a little melancholy.
Fortunately, two days later, Wei Zhiyan received a message from Cui Jue, who ordered him to lead a team immediately to escort his wife back to the new capital of Liuzhou.
In addition, Cui Jue also sent more than ten boxes of rewards from Jianye County, which were winter clothes and salaries for the servants, as well as several boxes full of gold, silver, silk and cloth.
Needless to say, these treasures and luxurious jackets and skirts must have been given to Su Li.
Su Li rarely refused Cui Jue's kindness.
While she was rummaging through her clothes, she happened to see a piece of letter sealed with wax.
Su Li thought it was a letter left by Cui Jue. She hesitantly opened the letter and unfolded it carefully.
It turned out that it was not a handwritten letter from Cui Jue, but a "secret letter" handed over by the eunuch Yang Da with great difficulty.
In the letter, Yang Da first offered an impassioned speech to Su Li, expressing his loyalty. He then explained that after the war, with all the busy schedules, His Majesty hadn't even gotten more than three hours of sleep, let alone three meals a day. This could explain why Cui Jue hadn't sent a single letter home to Jingzhou in the six months since they'd been separated.
After saying this, Yang Da continued, "The capital will be moved soon. Madam, you can return to Liuzhou Fort with the army and wait for His Majesty to arrive in Liuzhou. However, there is one thing I still need to report to you..."
"Madam, you should be aware of what the Langshan Chen family did, right? I think that although Your Majesty has forgiven the Marquis of Yan, he still holds a grudge. Recently, I have seen the Chen family's daughter frequently entering and leaving the palace. In a few days, she will accompany the army to Liuzhou..."
"If Your Majesty truly favors the Chen family's daughter, it's likely to be to reconcile with the Langshan Chen family and stabilize the country, not to dislike Madam. I hope Madam will not be disappointed with Your Majesty. Moreover, I swear allegiance to Madam until death. I will help Madam keep an eye on her, so you can rest assured!"
Yang Da risked his life to present this letter of surrender expressing his loyalty in order to please Su Li and truly join the Hou Party's camp.
However, what he didn't know was that although Su Li's attitude towards Cui Jue had softened, she even had some feelings for him.
But she didn't have to be with Cui Jue...
Su Li could actually understand that Cui Jue must know the hardships of ruling a country after escaping death this time. If he did not have trusted ministers, he would probably be in a situation where he could not make any move alone if there was any turmoil in the government in the future.
In the past, Cui Jue was arrogant and unwilling to take concubines. Now, it is understandable that he has changed his willful temper and is willing to expand his harem, use his in-laws to win over the gentry, and resolve his past grievances with court officials.
Su Li would not blame him.
But she is different from before.
In the past, Su Li only wanted freedom and happiness. She did not covet the love of men, so she could do whatever she wanted and treated Cui Jue like a worn-out shoe.
But today, Su Li seems to no longer be so generous.
When she saw the words "Chen's girl", her nose would feel a little sour, her back teeth would feel like she had bitten a sour plum, and even her tongue would taste astringent and bitter.
Su Li knew that she had changed too much. She couldn't just watch Cui Jue surrounded by girls and turn a blind eye.
If Cui Jue really wanted to be the monarch of his country, and have three wives and four concubines outside, enjoying the happiness of having many wives, then Su Li might have no choice but to abdicate and leave on his own initiative.
It turns out that one day, she too could feel jealous...
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