Chapter 214 I Don’t Want to Be a Loyal Servant!
The princes of the current emperor have grown up and left the palace to set up their own households and recruit followers, which naturally gave rise to ambitions.
Without anyone's instigation, they could still maintain their brotherly friendship and respect for each other. But after Cao Jiarong's deliberate instigation, these princes could not help but fight with each other.
After all, just because you consider the overall situation and don't fight, it doesn't mean that your opponent will also consider the overall situation and not fight. Falling behind by one step means falling behind step by step. No one wants to end up being bullied by others because of considering the overall situation.
Gradually, the princes began to fight secretly, and as the fights increased, the hatred grew stronger.
At first it was a fight for dignity, then it was a fight for interests, and finally it became a life-and-death political struggle.
At this point, there is no right or wrong, only who wins and who loses, who lives and who dies.
At first, the emperor focused his attention on the rebels in various places and did not pay attention to his sons' secret struggles. By the time they fought openly and he discovered it, it was already impossible to control the situation.
The emperor was immediately shocked. These were truly his good sons, but when the country was in crisis, they were still fighting among themselves!
The emperor began to shift his attention from the rebels in various places to his own sons who were fighting among themselves.
With the princes fighting for the throne taking up the emperor's attention, Lin Shu had more time to develop.
In the past few years, Lin Shu has indeed been trying to keep a low profile and digest the territory he has conquered. He has settled down for the time being, and his reputation is far from being as great and eye-catching as when he first started the uprising.
The imperial court naturally relaxed its vigilance against Lin Shu.
As for other rebel forces, some have been destroyed by Lin Shu, some are content with their current territory and indulge in pleasure, and have no intention of fighting, some have been suppressed by the court, and some are dormant like Lin Shu...
For a while, it seemed that there were not as many disputes as in previous years, and the situation in the world was temporarily stabilized.
But everyone knows that this is just the calm before the storm.
The emperor took this opportunity to deal with his sons' internal strife and dealt with all the court officials who formed cliques and sided with his sons to support their fight for the throne. After all, the emperor did not think that there was anything wrong with his sons, but only that it was the people around his sons who led his sons astray.
In fact, it was Cao Jiarong who arranged for the people around the princes to instigate them to fight for the throne. It can be said that these princes were led astray by the people around them, but they themselves had no intention of fighting for the throne, so how could this instigation succeed?
The emperor dealt ruthlessly with those courtiers who interfered in the fight for the throne, and there was another wave of property confiscations. This made all the civil and military officials in the capital feel sad and increasingly alienated from the emperor.
Local officials far away from the capital, relying on the fact that the emperor was far away, felt that the emperor's frequent house searches and confiscations made them feel too insecure. It felt like being an official was engaging in a battle royale every day.
So these local officials began to think about which wise leader they should join who offered the greatest hope.
Lin Shu, a wise leader who had never been defeated and was feared by the imperial court, appeared in the eyes of these opportunists, and they all extended olive branches to Lin Shu.
Lin Shu didn't like these fence-sitters at all. He felt that they had little loyalty to the emperor. If they could betray the emperor now, they could betray him in the future.
Moreover, most of these officials are corrupt officials who embezzle public resources for their own benefit, which makes Lin Shu very unhappy.
But conquering the world is different from ruling the world. Lin Shu is very clear that the most important thing for him at the moment is to conquer the world. Once the world is conquered, there will be a time to deal with those corrupt officials whom he dislikes.
Lin Shu also remembered clearly the principle of "making the best use of talents" that Si Yuan taught him.
Even corrupt officials have their uses. Now is a time when we are short of talent, so there is no need to be too fussy about it.
As for those who come to him for surrender, as long as they can show a token of allegiance that satisfies Lin Shu, he will not refuse any of them.
Although he did not trust these people, it did not stop him from pretending to trust them very much. It was like buying a horse with a lot of money. After creating this illusion, more officials secretly defected to him.
Lin Shu's sphere of influence also expanded a lot. Although he did not personally lead his troops to capture several cities, the officials of those cities took the initiative to surrender to him. When the time comes, he only needs to march to the gates of the cities, and someone will take the initiative to open the gates and invite the royal army into the city.
However, in order to avoid attracting the attention of the court for the time being, Lin Shu did not rule these cities openly, but secretly governed these cities through the officials who defected to him.
How could the wealthy and powerful families in these cities not notice something unusual? These local tyrants are the real managers of these cities.
But after they realized something was wrong and knew that all the officials in the city had joined Lin Shu, they all took the initiative to offer gold, silver and food to show their loyalty: We are all heroes who know how to adapt to the times, and we are willing to support our lord's cause with our small hearts. When our lord's army enters the city in the future, we will definitely welcome you with open arms.
From then on, these cities fell completely into Lin Shu's control.
Lin Shu was very happy and sent his internal affairs talents to govern those cities. Of course, those cities were still under the rule of the imperial court on paper, but it was only in name only.
The imperial court was not completely ignorant of these matters. After all, almost all of the officials who defected to Lin Shu had families behind them, and some of their families served as officials in the capital, so they would naturally get the news.
However, no one reported it to the emperor, and the matter was kept secret.
The Beichang, which monitored all civil and military officials, should have been aware of the situation. However, with Cao Jiarong as an insider, it was very easy for him to suppress the news and prevent Cao Jing from knowing it. If Cao Jing didn't know it, it would be even more impossible for the emperor to know it.
At this time, Cao Jing also vaguely guessed which force the mastermind behind the scenes came from. After all, it was the mastermind behind the scenes who ordered him to suppress the news.
The mastermind behind the scenes wants him to help suppress the news that is unfavorable to Lin Shu, so isn't it obvious which force is behind the scenes?
However, Cao Jiarong did not dare to guess that the mastermind behind the scenes was Lin Shu himself. He thought it was Lin Shu's advisers or staff members.
After assessing the situation, Cao Jiarong felt that Lin Shu, as the strongest among the rebel princes, was indeed the one with the greatest potential to conquer the world. Secretly joining Lin Shu might be a good way out.
When Cao Jiarong worked for Lin Shu afterwards, he went from being unwilling to be threatened to having the intention of doing his job well in order to gain more appreciation.
As a result, Cao Jiarong became more enthusiastic in instigating internal fighting among the princes for the throne.
However, what Cao Jiarong had not expected was that the emperor actually secretly sent people to monitor the every word and action of his sons who were vying for the throne. The people Cao Jiarong arranged to sow discord among them were exposed right under the emperor's nose.
Although the Beichang was brought out by the emperor to compete with court officials and maintain the balance of the previous dynasty, the emperor could not be so stupid as to only have the Beichang at his disposal. He also had secret guards around him who were specifically responsible for protecting his safety.
The emperor was deeply distressed by the infighting among his sons, so he arranged for his secret guards to monitor his sons.
The reason why the eunuchs from the Northern Factory were not arranged to monitor them was because Cao Jing was fighting fiercely with the court officials. The emperor did not intend to distract Cao Jing, lest he would find it difficult to compete with the court officials and fall into a disadvantageous situation from being evenly matched.
Unexpectedly, the emperor made a sudden change of mind and sent his own secret guards to monitor the princes, and caught the thieves who were sowing discord.
The emperor was furious. It turned out that the infighting among his sons was instigated by someone!
The emperor arrested all the people who were accidentally exposed by Cao Jiarong and sent to instigate the princes. After interrogation, he was shocked to learn that these people were all from the Beichang and were Cao Jing's subordinates!
Cao Jing actually sent people to instigate infighting among the princes. How dare this dog slave do that? !
The emperor was furious and immediately sent people to capture Cao Jing and bring him to see him. He wanted to find out why Cao Jing betrayed him!
Cao Jing, the head of the Beichang Factory, is said to be second only to the emperor in terms of age, but he has no family background and all his power comes from the emperor. He should be the person least likely to betray the emperor.
But the confession obtained by the secret guards during the interrogation could not be false, and the emperor still wanted to hear Cao Jing's explanation.
When Cao Jiarong learned that the pawns he had placed around the princes to sow discord among them had been captured by the emperor, he knew that the matter had been exposed.
However, he was not panicked at all, because he had never shown up. These spies were placed by Cao Jing around the princes long ago. Their purpose was simply to monitor whether the princes had done anything rebellious that might be detrimental to the emperor.
These spies were almost everywhere in the homes of all officials in the court, and Cao Jing only did this with the emperor's instructions.
When these spies are not activated, they are just ordinary slaves. The way to activate them is very simple, which is to secretly pass on secret codes and secret messages. As long as the secret codes match and the encryption method of the secret messages is correct, these spies will obey orders.
Cao Jiarong has been with Cao Jing for so many years and has some suspicions in his mind, so he knows the secret codes and secret letter writing methods that Cao Jing uses to control these spies, which is why he can so smoothly order these spies to do things in Cao Jing's name.
From beginning to end, Cao Jiarong never showed up in front of his informants or revealed his identity, and even deliberately hinted to them that he was Cao Jing himself.
Therefore, Cao Jiarong was sure that among the spies from the Northern Factory around these princes, only Cao Jing would be exposed, and everything would have nothing to do with him.
As soon as Cao Jiarong learned that the spies around the princes had been arrested, he began to plot against Cao Jing, wanting to kick Cao Jing out of his position as the head of the North Factory and replace him with himself.
At this time, the emperor had not yet obtained the confession, which gave Cao Jiarong enough time to operate.
By the time the emperor, in a rage, sent people to arrest Cao Jing, Cao Jiarong had already arranged everything.
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