Chapter 67: The medical fairy's father's martial arts are invincible in the world!
Si Yuan originally planned to appease Master Li and other members of the Demon Cult first, and then get rid of them without mercy if they made any small moves. After all, these people have done a lot of evil, and recruiting them is just for the sake of the overall situation. If they are restless, it will be a merit to eliminate them after solving the trouble of the Demon Cult.
If they behave themselves, it would not be a bad idea to let them make up for their mistakes.
Si Yuan is not the kind of person who likes to make a one-size-fits-all decision.
However, what Si Yuan did not expect was that not only did Master Li and his men not do anything reluctantly after surrendering, but they were very active in fishing for meritorious service.
Those rebels who were lured out by Master Li and others were all strong and smart, otherwise they would not have been able to escape the pursuit of the imperial court.
Since Master Li and his men were almost all captured in one fell swoop, the resistance forces instantly became powerless.
Although Si Yuan felt that the fishing operation of Master Li and others was quite tricky, he still let Master Li and others continue fishing. Si Yuan also continued to keep the so-called "Revival Sect". From time to time, with the tip-off from Master Li, he would wipe out its backbone members in one fell swoop, but he did not completely eradicate them. He also pretended that Master Li and others could not be caught, giving the "Revival Sect" opportunities to revive again and again, and also allowing the hidden rebels to be harvested one after another like leeks.
On the one hand, he used the imperial army to sweep across the country, and on the other hand, he used the "Renaissance Church" to lure out the few stubborn resistance elements. With this two-pronged approach, Si Yuan finally brought the entire martial arts world under his control.
Nowadays, there is no such thing as the imperial court and the underworld coexisting. The underworld is already under the control of the imperial court.
Si Yuan still allowed those sects that surrendered voluntarily to continue operating, but they needed to register with the government and obtain a business license from the court. Every disciple who joined the sect had to be recorded in the government, and the sect's income had to be transparent to a certain extent, and taxes had to be paid on time.
However, these sects still maintain a certain degree of independence, just like those self-employed individuals who open their own stores on third-party platforms.
Those sects that did not surrender voluntarily and were defeated by Si Yuan and his men did not receive such good treatment. They were directly recruited by Si Yuan as workers and their sects were nationalized. The sect can continue to operate, but in name only it belongs to the imperial court.
This school of thought is like a self-operated store opened by a third-party platform, and the original store owners and employees have become the platform's own employees.
The worst off were those sects that refused to surrender when Si Yuan and his men came to attack them. Those who were unlucky were beaten to death on the spot, while those who were lucky enough to escape were wanted by the imperial court. Then they either hid their identities and dared not show up, pretending to be ordinary people and living an honest and law-abiding life; or they unwillingly joined other wanted people and joined the "Fuxing Sect", and were arrested by the imperial court for sting enforcement. In the end, the heritage of their entire sect became the collection of the imperial court's library.
After sweeping and tidying up the entire underworld, Si Yuan successfully completed his campaign to eliminate crime and evil and returned to Beijing.
Because he was bringing tens of thousands of troops back to the capital, Si Yuan couldn't teleport directly with his men, but had to march all the way back.
Emperor Cheng Qian received the news early, and just like the day when he welcomed Si Yuan into the capital, he led civil and military officials and royal relatives to welcome Si Yuan and the army at the gate of the capital.
After all, Si Yuan's rectification of the martial arts world is helping the imperial court and truly bringing the country's fortunes to a higher level.
Emperor Cheng Qian was in the palace and had no idea of the specific battle situation on Si Yuan's side, but every time he opened his third eye for a cup of tea every day, he could see that the golden auspicious clouds on the huge golden dragon hovering over the capital were getting bigger and bigger, and the size of the golden dragon of luck was also getting bigger and bigger.
This shows that with Si Yuan's sweeping operations on the martial arts world, the country's fortunes have been improving.
So what does Emperor Cheng Qian have to worry about?
When Si Yuan is rectifying the underworld, he will also clean up those green forest bandits, or deal with the local powerful families who exploit the people.
This indiscriminate shooting has stirred up quite a few hornet's nests. Driven by interests, many people in the capital have suffered losses because of this power. No matter how powerful and mysterious Si Yuan appears, there will always be people who are eager to report him.
These people did not expect to overthrow a truly powerful immortal figure, but they just kept submitting petitions to Emperor Cheng Qian to prohibit Si Yuan from continuing to bring large armies to sweep across the country.
After all, they were accidentally injured too badly. It didn't matter whether the martial arts world was rectified or not. What mattered was that the national teacher's attack range was too wide.
If the national teacher only attacked those gangsters, they would not bother to care. However, the national teacher also attacked the local powerful gentry. Even if those powerful gentry were inhumane and oppressed the people, there was no need to take it too seriously, right? After all, they were just a bunch of untouchables.
Si Yuan didn't care about that. Since he could do it easily and gain the gratitude and merit of the people, why not do it?
Emperor Cheng Qian looked at the country's growing fortunes and didn't care whether the interests of his ministers were harmed. As long as he, the emperor, could benefit, that was enough.
Therefore, all those memorials impeaching Si Yuan that affected too wide a range of people were kept by Emperor Cheng Qian and not sent out, waiting for Si Yuan to come back so that he could use them to seek credit - hehe, Master Imperial Preceptor, look how much the emperor supports you, and no slander can affect the emperor's obedience to you.
Emperor Cheng Qian smiled heartily every day as he watched the country's growing fortunes. When he heard that the Imperial Master had returned from his expedition, he was so excited that he led all the civil and military officials out of the city to welcome him in person.
Si Yuan didn't care about the honor of the emperor and all the civil and military officials coming out of the city to welcome him, but the soldiers under his command were very excited. It was the first time for them to have received such treatment. As expected, following the national master brought many benefits and honors.
These soldiers had even more respect and admiration for the mysterious and powerful Imperial Master.
Emperor Cheng Qian, who had already made preparations, rewarded the three armies outside the gate of the capital. His generosity was so great that all the civil and military officials were surprised.
After all, although Emperor Cheng Qian was not a tyrant, he was not a wise and powerful ruler either. He was just an ordinary ruler who maintained the status quo.
In previous years, Emperor Cheng Qian was not so generous in rewarding the army. He just followed the rules and did not take it too seriously. He just went through the process to win the hearts of the people.
Today's reward from Emperor Cheng Qian was quite generous. It was said that he even paid part of the money from his own treasury. This was really rare.
Everyone thought that Emperor Cheng Qian attached so much importance to rewarding the three armies this time because of Si Yuan's face. Little did they know that Emperor Cheng Qian was so generous because he was happy when he saw the golden dragon of luck that was growing bigger and bigger hovering over the capital.
After all, most of the victories in the past were foreign invasions, and the army successfully kept the foreign enemies outside the defense line. In the eyes of Emperor Cheng Qian, his territory had not expanded, and it was unclear whether the national strength had increased. There was no surprise at all, so rewarding the army was naturally in accordance with the rules.
Now that Emperor Cheng Qian has had his third eye opened by Si Yuan, he can see the growth of his country's fortune, which is equivalent to materializing the merits of the army. Allowing Emperor Cheng Qian to directly see the merits of the army, he will naturally be much more generous in rewarding the army.
Si Yuan used some means to let Emperor Cheng Qian see the so-called golden dragon of luck, and this was exactly his purpose.
He wanted to let Emperor Cheng Qian know that he, as the imperial teacher, controlled the military power not for any other reason, but only to enhance the country's fortune so that he could use it to avoid disasters, and that his use of the national fortune would not cause any loss to the country.
Words are not enough, of course Emperor Cheng Qian would have to see it with his own eyes before he would believe it.
This made Emperor Cheng Qian extremely firm in supporting Si Yuan's actions.
After the rectification of the martial arts world, the entire martial arts world was under the control of the court. Those martial arts heroes who were allowed to carry swords or other weapons when going out had to register with the government and obtain a special weapon carrying permit before they could openly carry weapons and "walk the world" outside.
The few remaining sects in the martial arts world either pay taxes on time and recruit people in a low-key manner under the supervision of the court, or recruit disciples directly under the control of the court. In any case, they are all under the control of the court.
In addition to these sects, the martial arts families that were once famous in the world would no longer call themselves martial arts families. Instead, they would take the path of military examinations or join the army, using their family martial arts to serve the country and the court.
With more martial arts masters belonging to the imperial court, legislation against those martial arts masters who oppress the people can be implemented smoothly.
A martial arts master who has committed a crime can no longer easily escape from the court's wanted manhunt by relying on his superb martial arts skills, because the masters belonging to the court are more powerful in martial arts.
Under the powerful suppression of law enforcement officers, those criminals naturally cannot cause any waves.
The crime rate is dropping rapidly, and the natural beneficiaries are the people at the bottom of society.
After noticing that their lives were gradually getting better, the people understood why there were fewer lawless people in the martial arts world. It was all thanks to the actions of the State Master in rectifying the martial arts world. So every household spontaneously set up a longevity tablet for the State Master.
When people's lives get better, the country will naturally become prosperous, the people will be strong, and the world will be peaceful.
The national fortune that Emperor Cheng Qian saw would continue to strengthen.
After rectifying the martial arts world, Si Yuan took all the martial arts masters who had surrendered to him into his own Imperial Master Mansion, gave them a lot of guidance to help them improve their martial arts skills, and then sent them out to patrol the country, monitor the martial arts world, and maintain the stable situation he had established.
Si Yuan himself stayed in the Imperial Master's Mansion in the capital, concentrating on raising his cubs and helping them comprehend the laws of heaven and earth, no longer paying attention to what was happening in the outside world.
As Si Yuan calmed down, the court also returned to peace.
However, there are still many dignitaries and nobles who insist on visiting Si Yuan, trying to please him, gain benefits from him, and prolong their lives like Emperor Cheng Qian.
Si Yuan would give some face to them more or less. Even if it was someone he disliked, if they came to visit him frequently and showed sincerity, he would meet them once, give them a warning, encourage them to do more good deeds, and then give them a piece of jujube leaf as a sweetener to urge them to change their way of doing things.
The only person who Si Yuan had never met was someone from Marquis Jing'an's Mansion.
At the beginning, Si Yuan didn't see many families and only saw a few people. The Marquis of Jing'an didn't think there was anything wrong with their family mixing in with the crowd.
But as time passed, the number of families who had not been received by Si Yuan decreased, and the Jing'an Marquis Mansion had been unable to get a meeting, and gradually they became uneasy.
When they were the only family left who had never been received, the entire family of the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion panicked. Could it be that their Jing'an Marquis's Mansion had offended the Imperial Master at some point? How could I be so disliked by the Imperial Master?
Panic spread in the Jing'an Marquis Mansion.
It would be fine if it was just that I couldn't seek benefits from the national teacher, the worst that could happen would be to maintain the status quo.
But now the Imperial Master's Office has tremendous power in the court, and even the emperor has to obey the Imperial Master's words.
If outsiders mistakenly believed that the Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion had offended the Imperial Master, even if the Imperial Master did not take action against the Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion, there would be many people who would take the initiative to deal with the Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion in order to please the Imperial Master.
In order to avoid becoming a target of public criticism, the old Marquis Jing'an, who had already retired, took the initiative to contact his former relatives and connections, and inquired why the imperial teacher was unwilling to meet with people from the Marquis Jing'an's mansion.
But no matter who the old Marquis Jing'an asked, he could not find out anything, because other people didn't know why only the Marquis Jing'an's Mansion was left behind, and they were also trying to find out the news.
At this time in the Imperial Master's Mansion, Si Yuan looked at Divine Doctor Yu and asked, "Haven't you made up your mind yet?"
Doctor Yu held a portion of the medicinal materials he had just prepared in his hands and sighed deeply: "I really don't know what to do. After all, he is my biological father and has never treated me badly. If I have to take revenge on him with my own hands, I..."
Kind people always care more.
The old Marquis of Jing'an gave up his eldest son, Doctor Yu, but he never harmed him like his step-wife did. In his opinion, he would be soft-hearted because she had never treated him unfairly.
Over the years, Doctor Yu has been practicing medicine and saving lives, saving countless lives, and doing good deeds. He has never really used his medical skills to poison or kill anyone, so now when he is asked to take action against the Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion, he still hesitates because of his former blood ties.
Si Yuan was a little annoyed by the miracle doctor's indecisive attitude. He just wanted to take revenge if there was revenge to be taken and to repay favors if there were favors to be paid. What was the point of being so hesitant? And he wasn't asked to do it himself.
Si Yuan, who was vindictive and petty by nature, did not understand the doctor's concerns, but he expressed his respect: "If you don't know what to do, then just choose to escape and avoid seeing the people from Jing'an Marquis' Mansion."
Doctor Yu fell silent and said nothing more, which was considered as his agreement with Si Yuan's words.
In order to prevent the affairs of the Jing'an Marquis Mansion from continuing to occupy his mind, he chose to stay in the medicine field to tend to the herbs, or to write medical textbooks to escape the random thoughts in his mind.
Si Yuan did not comment on the miracle doctor's evasive behavior. He glanced at the palace maid serving beside him and curled his lips slightly.
The Imperial Master's Mansion was not like the time when he was in the Li family. There was no one to serve him. There were only him, Xiao Fuling and his daughter, plus Doctor Yu and three other people, a total of five people living there.
After the Imperial Master's Mansion was built, Emperor Cheng Qian diligently sent a number of palace maids and eunuchs to serve.
Normally Si Yuan seldom let these palace maids and eunuchs get close to him, but today when he was talking with Doctor Yu, he did not avoid this palace maid.
Sure enough, not long after, Doctor Yu’s life story was quietly spread.
Those powerful and wealthy families who had been asking around for the reason why the Imperial Master's Mansion disliked the Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion finally found out why no matter how much the Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion sent visiting cards, they could not see the Imperial Master.
It turns out that the Divine Doctor Yu who was beside the Imperial Master and the master of the Imperial Master's only daughter was actually the eldest son of the Marquis of Jing'an who died unexpectedly that year.
Doctor Yu was hunted down by the assassins sent by the stepmother. After escaping, he changed his name and surname to hide his identity and dared not return to the capital. The stepmother was worried for a while, but when she saw that Doctor Yu had not returned for many years, she thought he had died outside.
The old Marquis of Jing'an initially sent people to look for him for a few days, but soon gave up and directly announced to the public that his eldest son born to his first wife had died unexpectedly and his funeral had been held.
In other words, if Doctor Yu returned to Marquis Jing'an's Mansion after escaping danger, he might be able to make it in time for his own funeral.
In this kind of situation where neither the person nor the body is found, the person will generally be declared missing rather than determined to be dead. After all, the missing person is a son, not a daughter, so there will be no concern that if a daughter disappears inexplicably and wanders around outside, her innocence will be lost and will affect the family reputation.
Families who love their sons will not easily cancel their son’s household registration. What if the son comes back alive in the future, wouldn’t he be without an identity?
But that's exactly what old Marquis Jing'an did.
Doctor Yu was disillusioned with his family and had no intention of returning. Instead, everyone believed that Doctor Yu had really died early in an accident. No one thought that there was anything wrong with the old Marquis Jing'an holding a funeral for his eldest son.
Now we know that Doctor Yu is not actually dead, but simply escaped from his stepmother's pursuit and did not dare to come back. When we think about the fact that the old Marquis Jing'an held a funeral for his eldest son early and determined that his eldest son, whose life or death was unknown, died in an accident, the implied truth is truly shocking.
Many powerful people directly came up with conspiracy theories, suspecting that the old Marquis of Jing'an was bewitched by his second wife and wanted to pass the title to her second son. However, due to the system of primogeniture, he had to get rid of the eldest son first so that the second son could succeed to the throne legitimately.
Someone with great powers dug up the "accidental death" of the eldest daughter-in-law of the old Marquis of Jing'an. My goodness, both the eldest daughter-in-law and her husband died accidentally. Who would believe this?
In the past, no one cared about other people's family affairs, and with the old Marquis Jing'an's cover-up, no one else in the capital paid attention to what happened in the Marquis Jing'an's mansion.
Now that Doctor Yu has returned in glory by the side of the Imperial Master, those dignitaries who wanted to please the Imperial Master but failed and had to turn to please the people around him, suddenly slapped their thighs, thinking that they had found a good way, and went to great lengths to investigate the privacy of the Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion.
Soon, with their concerted investigation, they discovered how the stepmother had targeted the eldest son left by the original wife, how she had killed the eldest daughter-in-law, and how she had helped her own son seize the title of marquis.
The role played by the old Marquis of Jing'an was not a glorious one. After all, the old Marquis of Jing'an did not act like he knew nothing.
After the eldest daughter-in-law, Yu, died, the Yu family still wanted to make trouble and seek justice for their daughter. It was the old Marquis Jing'an who suppressed the Yu family.
Furthermore, after Doctor Yu was chased by his stepmother and escaped, he was unwilling to return to the Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion. Later, he gave up his previous name and changed it to his wife's surname, Yu... This further proves that the cause of Yu's death was not simple. Doctor Yu wanted to seek justice for his wife but was unable to do so due to the suppression of the old Marquis of Jing'an, so he made the move of changing his surname in anger to express his guilt towards his wife, Yu.
To say that the old Marquis Jing'an was a fool who knew nothing about the behavior of his second wife was simply to mock the old Marquis Jing'an who had been in the emperor's favor for many years.
It is obvious that the old Marquis of Jing'an favors his second wife and the second son, which is why he is so indifferent to the death of his eldest son and his eldest wife, just to support his beloved second son to inherit his title.
Everyone directly labeled the old Marquis of Jing'an as biased.
Then, at the court meeting the next day, memorials criticizing the old Marquis of Jing'an filled up Emperor Chengqian's desk.
After reading these memorials, Emperor Cheng Qian was speechless towards the old Marquis of Jing'an. They were all his sons, so why was he so partial to them?
If you let the eldest son inherit the title, and favor the second son by giving him more of the property, both sons can be saved.
In order to favor the second legitimate son and pave the way for him to inherit the title, he actually wanted to kill the eldest legitimate son. What kind of cruel father is he?
Emperor Cheng Qian, the sad emperor who had been wishing for a child for many years, could not understand the behavior of Marquis Jing'an. He did not have a son before and envied others who had sons. But Marquis Jing'an had two sons and he took the initiative to kill one of them. Is there any father like this?
Emperor Cheng Qian thought of the closeness between Doctor Yu and Si Yuan that he had seen at the Li family, and that Doctor Yu was the master of Si Yuan's daughter Xiao Fuling... So he issued an order without hesitation to deprive Marquis Jing'an of his title.
Since you are planning to murder your eldest son for the title, then you might as well give up the title.
In the mansion of Marquis Jing'an, the Hong family members who received the imperial edict to strip them of their title felt as if they were hit by a bolt from the blue.
How could this be? Those are all rumors. There is no evidence. How can His Majesty the Emperor deprive them of their hereditary titles?
The current Marquis of Jing'an fainted from fright, the old Marquis of Jing'an was so angry that he vomited blood, and his step-wife was even more horrified.
She had obliterated all the things she had done in the past, and she was sure that no evidence was left. Otherwise, the old marquis would not have never blamed her after the investigation. It was because he had no evidence or handle on her that he tolerated her for the sake of his son.
After so many years, it is even more impossible to find evidence. The stepmother is unwilling to believe that Emperor Cheng Qian has found evidence of his conspiracy against his eldest son.
But since there was no evidence, on what basis did Emperor Cheng Qian take away her son's title?
The two male heads of the Hong family both fainted, and the scene was in chaos. The stepmother had to take care of her husband who was vomiting blood and her fainted son.
The old Marquis of Jing'an vomited blood and fainted, but he woke up faster than his son. He opened his eyes and glared at his stepmother who was guarding his bedside: "Evil woman! You caused my Hong family to lose the title, I will divorce you!"
Didn’t the old Marquis Jing’an know that his eldest son’s illness and subsequent disappearance were the work of his step-wife? He knew, but he only found out after his stepmother took action, and it was too late.
Could he really reprimand the mother of his healthy second son for the sake of his eldest son who was sick and unable to bear the burden of the family?
Could he divorce the mother of his second son, who was to inherit the family business, just for the sake of his eldest son who was missing and didn't know whether he was alive or dead?
He just made a choice that was beneficial to his family.
What the stepmother was thinking about, whether it was evidence or not, was of no use to the old Marquis of Jing'an. He suspected her and was sure that she was the one who did it, so he didn't need any evidence at all.
The reason why he kept it secret was because his deposed eldest son was not as important in his heart as his second son and step-wife, so he gave up his eldest son and chose to conceal the truth.
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