Chapter 217 I Don’t Want to Be a Loyal Servant!
The emperor who pushed Cao Jing out to block the arrow was stunned: "..."
Cao Jing, who was already in despair, was also stunned: "..."
Why did Lin Shu, the leader of the rebel army who broke into the imperial city, ask Cao Jiarong the first question? What could they have in common?
After Cao Jing came to his senses, he seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and said quickly: "Cao Jiarong is my adopted son, I will order someone to bring him here immediately!"
Now he wished that Lin Shu would focus all his attention on Cao Jiarong, and even better, forget about him, let him go, and save his life.
After hearing what Cao Jing said, Lin Shu finally turned his attention to Cao Jing, his adoptive father who was plotted against by Cao Jiarong without realizing it. For some reason, Lin Shu felt very unhappy when he saw Cao Jing, who was known as the Nine Thousand Year Old, being ruthlessly abandoned by the emperor.
From Cao Jing's perspective, it feels like he is very indignant about the emperor's behavior of abandoning the donkey after it has served its purpose.
Lin Shu himself was a little puzzled as to why he felt sympathy for Cao Jing. He had nothing to do with Cao Jing, let alone any interactions. Moreover, he rebelled under the banner of "clearing the emperor's side and eliminating treacherous officials". Cao Jing, the "treacherous official" must be eliminated, otherwise wouldn't his slogan of rebellion be in vain?
Even though everyone with a discerning eye knows that this is a rebellion, this banner is just a fig leaf for the rebellion.
But when it comes to political statements, a fig leaf is still needed. With this fig leaf, it can be written in history books that Lin Shu rose up in rebellion in order to make the tyrant emperor who was deceived by the treacherous villains feel lucky. After getting rid of the treacherous villains, the tyrant emperor suddenly came to his senses, and in order to express his gratitude for Lin Shu's help, he decided to voluntarily abdicate the throne to him.
Doesn't this make everyone save face?
As for what the truth actually is, who cares? It is enough to have a nice-sounding excuse on the surface; there is no need to worry about the political struggles and conspiracies behind the scenes.
Therefore, Lin Shu ordered his men to suppress Cao Jing and bring him to public trial.
Cao Jing has indeed committed many crimes over the years. Whether it was the emperor who ordered him to do so or he himself eliminated dissidents, he has committed many sins and he cannot be considered innocent even if he dies a thousand times.
After getting rid of the strange feeling in his heart, Lin Shu gave the order to deal with Cao Jing without any pressure, and everyone applauded.
Even the master behind Cao Jing - the emperor, said with a happy face that Cao Jing deserved to die. He was just an innocent monarch who was deceived by Cao Jing. He pushed all the responsibilities onto Cao Jing, and he himself was like a white lotus that was untainted by the mud.
Lin Shu only heard one meaning from the emperor's explanation - after you kill Cao Jing, you can't kill me!
Haha, what a self-righteous and naive emperor.
Which king who lost his country could die peacefully? Even if Lin Shu was indeed broad-minded and didn't care about him as a king who lost his country, in order to prevent the loyal ministers of the previous dynasty from using his name to cause trouble and bring trouble to themselves, the last emperor of the previous dynasty should still be killed.
Of course, this matter of killing the emperor also needs a fig leaf, and it cannot be openly said that it was Lin Shu who killed the emperor.
So Lin Shu smiled and walked forward to help the emperor, who had fallen to the ground with weak legs, up with his own hands. His tone was joking but the content was very respectful: "Your Majesty, please get up quickly. I was not able to help you up in time. I am really guilty. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
The emperor was helped up with his legs trembling. He could smell the blood coming from Lin Shu and dared not look up at the expression on Lin Shu's face, who was half a head taller than him. He could only say tremblingly, "I'm fine. My dear minister, you came to save me and help me. I am too grateful to reward you so how could I blame you?"
The emperor is also a political figure who is very good at acting, and he can accept Lin Shu's not very heartfelt play.
The emperor was sure that if he failed to catch up with the situation and did not say what Lin Shu wanted, he might commit suicide accidentally with his body torn apart in the next second.
Lin Shu's tone became much more satisfied, and he loosened his hand that was supporting the emperor. He even wiped his hand on the clothes of a prince who was kneeling and trembling slightly beside him, and said in a neutral tone: "Then thank you very much, Your Majesty. I wonder how Your Majesty will reward me?"
The emperor mustered up the courage to look up at Lin Shu, and saw that the expression on his face was somewhat grim and cruel. He wanted to make Lin Shu a marquis, but he hesitated for a long time and changed his mind to making Lin Shu a duke.
Under the premise that people of other surnames cannot be granted the title of king, being granted the title of duke is already the highest level of nobility.
The emperor felt that he was very sincere, but to the ambitious Lin Shu, the emperor was trying to trick him.
Lin Shu said with a grin, "I thank your majesty for the reward."
The emperor's face suddenly looked uglier than a fly that had eaten shit. He conferred the title of duke on Lin Shu, but Lin Shu immediately referred to himself as "this king". Wasn't this an attempt to force him to confer the title of king on Lin Shu?
Since Emperor Taizong of this dynasty eliminated all kings of different surnames, he issued an order that people of different surnames would not be allowed to be crowned kings in future generations.
Now Lin Shu actually forced the emperor to confer the title of king on him. This was Lin Shu's ambition, and everyone knew it.
But what can the emperor do? Looking at the soldiers and generals in the hall with a murderous aura, and then looking at the bloodstains on the coldly shining sword that Lin Shu was wiping, if the emperor did not want to die, he could only ignore the ancestral teachings of Emperor Sejong.
The emperor smiled shamelessly and said, "Prince Zhongyi rescued me in time and helped me eliminate the treacherous villain Cao Jing, so that I would not be deceived by Cao Jing again. I am so relieved, so relieved..."
When Lin Shu heard that the emperor had given him the title of King of Loyalty, he raised his eyebrows and stared at the emperor with an unfriendly look.
He rebelled and broke into the emperor's throne room, but the emperor named him the King of Loyalty and Righteousness. Who was he mocking?
Lin Shu felt that the emperor was mocking him and reminding him that he hoped he would be a loyal king of a different surname and not continue to rebel.
However, Lin Shu was angry for a while, but he soon came to his senses. The King of Loyalty is good. The emperor himself named him the King of Loyalty, which means that the emperor thinks that Lin Shu is indeed a loyal and righteous person. Then, the emperor, grateful for his rescue and loyalty, decided to voluntarily abdicate to him. Surely, this would convince the people of the world, right?
Lin Shu said with a half-smile: "Your Majesty is wise, I am indeed a loyal and righteous man, I like this title very much."
The emperor's legs under his dragon robe were shaking like Parkinson's disease. He really wanted to use the title of King of Loyalty to carefully remind Lin Shu not to really rebel and change the dynasty, and to remember to be loyal to him as the monarch.
But he regretted it right after he said it. He was afraid that Lin Shu would be angered by his title and kill him directly.
Although Lin Shu did not show any sign of being very angry, the emperor was still uneasy and added carefully: "If you don't like this title, you can change it. You can change it to whatever you like."
Lin Shu refused: "No need to change it. Even His Majesty thinks that I am a loyal and righteous person, so I believe that everyone in the world should think so. If I offend Your Majesty in any way, I believe that Your Majesty will also be magnanimous to me because of my unparalleled loyalty, right?"
The emperor felt a chill in his heart, and finally understood why Lin Shu did not express dissatisfaction with the title of "Loyal King", because he, the emperor, had openly praised him for his loyalty, so would such a loyal person rebel? That definitely wouldn't happen. It must have been him, the emperor, who voluntarily abdicated.
The emperor's plan was to make Lin Shu give up his plan of rebelling, becoming emperor and changing the dynasty for the sake of his reputation because of this title.
Unexpectedly, Lin Shu took advantage of the fact that the title was given by the emperor to get the emperor to endorse his rebellion and make his rebellion legitimate.
The emperor regretted it so much that he wished he could go back to the time before he said the title and slap himself in the face until he was speechless.
But now that the matter has been settled, the emperor can do nothing about it. He can only secretly be thankful that Lin Shu did not immediately force him to abdicate and give way to someone else. He is still the emperor, even if he is a puppet emperor in name only. There is still a glimmer of hope for him to turn things around.
The emperor has surrendered, and others who stand on the same side as the emperor will not fight to the death with Lin Shu.
The princes slid down to their knees very quickly one by one. The most capable prince, the third prince, took the initiative to praise to Lin Shu how beautiful his sister, Princess Qinghe, was.
The meaning is quite clear.
The other princes despised the Third Prince for selling his sister to beg for mercy, while secretly hating themselves for being slow to react. Those who had no sisters regretted even more why their mothers had not given them a sister.
The prince who has sisters but whose sisters are already married, has an obscene attitude towards Lin Shu that "a wife is better" and strongly recommends his own sisters.
The emperor was furious when he saw this. These are all my daughters, and they are my bargaining chips to please Lin Shu. However, this group of unfilial sons would not give in to me, but instead use my daughters to curry favor with me!
The emperor did not dare to show his anger. He pushed aside these shameless and unfilial sons and took the initiative to say to Lin Shu: "I have more than 20 princesses. Whichever one Prince Zhongyi likes, I can marry you. It's okay if you like all of them."
Lin Shu was so shocked that he was stunned. Are these the emperor and the prince? Isn't this too immoral? Is it so natural to sell sisters and daughters?
The emperor even blatantly said that all the princesses should be given to him. He was not afraid of losing the emperor's face at all.
Lin Shu had always thought that he was humble enough to accept the loss of face under Si Yuan's guidance. But now, compared with these shameless royal father and son, he found that his moral bottom line was too high and his image burden was too heavy.
In terms of shamelessness, he still loses.
The emperor and the princes' vying to send a princess to Lin Shu seemed to have reminded other court officials, and those surrendered officials also began to wonder in their hearts whether there were any good-looking girls among their own families.
After all, Lin Shu has not yet married and had children, and the harem is empty. This is their opportunity.
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