Chapter 71 Liquidation Part Two
Although the King of Zhen felt a dull ache in his chest, he couldn't bear to scold him the moment he met the bright golden eyes of the True Monk, and was filled with a satisfied pleasure.
"Running in such a hurry?" he teased.
Shinju felt the King of Venom's hand land on his waist, the force of the embrace instantly dispelling the pent-up frustration in his heart. Hearing the King of Venom's teasing remark, he abruptly turned his face, which had been buried in the other's shoulder, to the other side, hiding his burning, flushed cheeks.
Turning his head, he saw a coachman he didn't recognize. He immediately realized this wasn't the palace carriage and wondered why the King of Zhen was traveling in an outside carriage. Starting the imperial carriage was a complicated process; since the palace gates weren't yet open, starting it suddenly would be quite time-consuming. Therefore… could it be that the King of Zhen had chosen to travel incognito in an outside carriage to pick him up as soon as possible?
Thinking of this, Zhen Su suddenly felt an urge to reveal his true identity to the King of Poison. If it was the King of Poison, surely he could understand? He wanted to tell him everything that had happened along the way, the good and the bad. They had known each other for quite some time now, and unknowingly, they had become each other's support, yet they had never clarified their ambiguous relationship. Since they couldn't leave this world, why not stay? If they decided to stay, then they should give each other a proper status; continuing in this ambiguity would be irresponsible to both him and the King of Poison.
While Shinju was deep in thought, the King of the Poisonous Beast was kneeling at the front of the carriage, leaning slightly outwards, while Shinju stood on the ground, raising his hand to embrace the King of the Poisonous Beast's neck.
Meanwhile, the coachman on the side of the carriage was caught in a dilemma, holding onto the footrest. He had intended to lower the footrest to make it easier for the distinguished guest to get on and off, but this sudden turn of events left him frozen in place, not daring to move or even glance away.
Fortunately, after regaining his senses, Shinju remembered that the King of Poison was still injured, and quickly released his embrace.
The driver, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, hurriedly put down the pedals.
After Majutsu boarded the carriage, the abandoned generals looked at each other in bewilderment. In the end, they all pretended not to have seen anything and continued on their miserable journey to the next place to be sealed off.
The King of Poison pulled the person to sit beside him, asking, "Are you tired?"
Even if Zhen Su could cultivate all night, without sleep for ten days or half a month, he might not feel tired, let alone just leading troops to search all night. But now, with his shoulders and knees touching and his feet colliding with Zhen Wang's, he truly felt relaxed and comfortable. He rested his forehead on Zhen Wang's shoulder and replied in a muffled voice, "Tired."
"Three gambling dens that lend money at exorbitant interest rates were raided, along with two brothels operating under the guise of prostitution—the largest being the Phoenix Pavilion and the Fish and Water Money Shop. Over 150 shi of contraband stone powder were seized..." As soon as the inventory was completed, he summoned officials from the Ministry of Justice to record everything, and then immediately began to perform the poison-absorbing technique. Now, Zhen Su internally observed the massive amount of black ink stored in his body, almost bursting his root chakra. It was so full that even his internal organs were stained bluish-black by the overflowing ink, which was extremely eerie. For the first time, he had the real feeling of practicing unorthodox methods.
"Are you alright?" Although King Zhen was fully aware of the battle that night from Silver Scorpion's secret report, and knew how many villains Shinju had beaten up that night, especially in the latter half of the night when he caught those extremely abusive people and beat them half to death as if venting his anger, he still couldn't help but worry that Shinju had injured or hurt his hand.
He held Shinjuku's hand in his palm and examined it closely. He found that there was no wound, not even a red mark. It was still a smooth, white skin, with only the knuckles and nails showing a faint peach pink color. It was even more flawless and translucent than the best porcelain fired in the town kiln.
"You're not hurt." Shinju let him look, his hand warmed by the touch, and he couldn't help but feel sleepy. He found a better spot to rest his head on the shoulder and slowly closed his eyes.
As Zhenwang listened to Zhenju's increasingly drawn-out breaths, he remained silent, only gently massaging the soft warmth in his palm with a smile on his lips.
.
This massive crackdown was swift and decisive. Although they had been on guard and taking action since the afternoon when the Poison King and they had broken off relations, they still underestimated the length of time and depth of the Poison King's planning behind the scenes. From the initial contact to the complete sweep, it happened with extreme speed, like a tornado. Wherever it passed, there were ruins and destruction. It targeted the most important dens of iniquity for the aristocratic families, striking at their vital points with a single blow, causing them immense pain.
This time, the aristocratic families were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses. They certainly couldn't swallow this insult, but it would be naive to think they would fade into obscurity. Their centuries-old foundation was not easily shaken, so their counterattack was ruthless and vicious.
That very day, various false rumors began to circulate throughout the city, all implying that the Emperor was extravagant and indulged in favoritism, leading to an empty treasury. They claimed he was resorting to plundering the people to replenish the coffers, and that the valuable assets of all the wealthy merchants in the capital were being arbitrarily seized under various pretexts. This was blatant disregard for imperial law and morality, the behavior of a tyrant!
Some say that the locust plagues currently raging in various places are because the emperor forcibly seized the territory of Feng Kingdom, which was obtained illegitimately and resulted in heavy sins, thus triggering divine punishment and harming many innocent people of Nian Kingdom.
The city was immediately in an uproar. People were playing grievance drums, telling stories, and delivering tabloids, all either making veiled accusations or writing lengthy articles. Countless people were incited and bribed. As a result, within three or four days, rumors unfavorable to the Poison King, and even reactionary opinions, were rampant in the city.
Everyone thought that Prince Zhen would be furious in court, but he did not. Prince Zhen only frowned at the urgent reports of disasters and damage in various places. After leaving the court, he strolled in the imperial garden with his attendants, enjoying the flowers and fishing. Later, he even held a tea banquet, serving honeyed fruits and dried meat with Yongshun's tribute tea. He spent the afternoon with his "favorite" attendant, enjoying a leisurely and affectionate time together.
The powerful families believed that the overwhelming public opinion outside was something the Prince of Zhen couldn't possibly be unaware of; he was merely feigning composure to appease his subjects. However, various memorials and petitions from civil officials continued to pour into the Prince of Zhen's court, making a passive approach impossible.
Little did they expect that the King of Poison was simply too lazy to pretend to be panicked, and was actually waiting for them right there.
Changxian County, Bangzi Village.
In the vast farmland, during the busy farming season, there are few farmers toiling in the fields. Despite the blazing sun, the fields are shrouded in gloom, because without even looking up, one can see swarms of brown locusts, densely clinging to the leaves, gnawing countless holes. Even the newly planted wheat seedlings cannot escape, being eaten bare.
A naked child, lying on the ground and simmering locusts in ashes, suddenly noticed an adult beside him. He stretched out his dusty little hand, holding a blackened worm, and grinned, "Uncle, want some? This is delicious."
The child's father, who was leaning against a haystack, looked at the unfamiliar stranger. Seeing that the man was dressed simply, he immediately lost interest in greeting him and scolded the child, "Eat, eat, eat! The fields are all eaten up, and you, you idiot, are still happy to be out here!"
Hearing this, the mother of a child who was also nearby immediately complained, "I told you to harvest the wheat earlier, but you wouldn't listen. Now it's late, and it's all your fault! Taking it out on me, you're really something! Marrying into your Wang family has been the worst thing that could have happened to me! Look at the neighbors next door..."
During the argument, the man from out of town squatted down and took the insect from the child's hand. He was about to try it, but he couldn't stand it, so he put it back in the child's hand and said with a smile, "Little Bao, eat this. You might not be able to eat it in a couple of days. Eat two more while you can."
The child listened, bewildered, nodding as he stuffed the worms into his mouth. His father, already exasperated, couldn't help but speak up when he heard the child rambling on: "How can we not eat them! They're everywhere, everywhere! I wish these damned worms would all disappear, but no matter how I chase them away or kill them, they just won't come off!! Stop dreaming, this is never going to end!"
The man just smiled and didn't say anything in rebuttal.
At this moment, the child's mother shouted again, "I'm going to the village entrance to exchange for some grain. If we rely on you, a grown man, our family will only starve to death!"
But before the child's mother even reached the edge of the village, she was stopped in her tracks by a series of noisy commotions, and then followed dozens of oxcarts that arrived one after another back to the vicinity of her own farmland.
Then she stared in disbelief at the unassuming man who had just been standing there, being bowed to by five or six officials on the lead oxcart. They reported to the man, "Lord Wen, the ducks have all arrived."
The child's father could easily see the other party's high official rank at this moment, and immediately knelt down, but was stopped by the man patting his shoulder.
"It will be alright."
Hundreds of ducks that had been quacking on the oxcart were suddenly released into the field, but they dared not approach the swarms of locusts.
The villagers looked dejected, as if to say, "Just as I expected."
They had tried releasing ducks, but the numbers were far too few. Even with hundreds or thousands now, the ducks still couldn't compare to even a tenth of the locusts' numbers. Not to mention, most of the ducks would be poisoned to death by the locusts after eating them.
Lord Wen remained completely calm. In a short while, a dense swarm of wrens suddenly flew out from the mountain and joined the locust army. With a snap of their pink beaks, the wrens caught two or three locusts that hadn't yet fluttered away and swallowed them whole.
The pink and brown hues clashed, obscuring the sky and blocking out the sun.
The crowd sighed in amazement, for such a scene was both rare and spectacular.
More than half an hour later, the long-awaited sunlight finally broke through the shadows in Bangzi Village, shining on the farmers' faces, which were filled with joy and tears.
After the myna flock finished hunting, they returned to the mountain in an orderly fashion, as if under command. Then it was the ducks' turn to rush into the fields to dig out and eat the immature locusts to prevent further pest infestations.
Before long, the cheerful calls of the ducks echoed from near to far over Bangzi Village.
Lord Wen chuckled. He had witnessed this scene several times before, yet each time he couldn't help but marvel at it. In his previous understanding, wrens were impossible to drive away, let alone control, but the bottle of red water he obtained from His Majesty had a mysterious suppressive effect on them.
When news of the great relief or even complete resolution of disasters in various regions arrived, the court, which was then focused on suppressing the poison king, suddenly fell silent.
This not only brought the disaster under control in many areas, but the official who proposed this strategy also suggested establishing a temporary special post for duck hatching officials, responsible for hatching new ducklings, and providing a suitable number of live ducks to the families most severely affected by the disaster as relief. Alongside this, several other measures, such as regulating grain prices, were implemented, and surprisingly, quite good results were achieved in a short period of time.
"Why are you all silent?" The King of Zhen, resting his chin on his hand with an air of nonchalance, sat on the dragon throne with his legs crossed, taking advantage of his ailing health. His posture was utterly unseemly, and his indifferent expression only added to the utterly mocking tone.
At this moment, the King of Zhen's confidants took the lead in kneeling down, kowtowing and paying their respects, "Your Majesty has the discerning eye to recognize talent and has saved the people from dire straits. This is truly a great fortune for the nation and the will of the people. Long live the Emperor!"
Now that he held the title of Chief of the Palace, Zhen Su no longer needed to wait outside the hall; he was mingling among the officials below, watching the spectacle. He hadn't expected that the bottle of immortal blood he had given to the Falcon Tamer to prevent the unruly gyrfalcons from being extinguished would fall into the hands of the Poison King and have such a wondrous use. Amazed, Zhen Su couldn't help but feel a surge of joy. He followed his confidants, kneeling down and ignoring the hateful glares of some, smiling as he echoed, "Heaven blesses our nation! Fortunately, His Majesty, the True Dragon Son of Heaven, leads his subjects, bestowing blessings upon the people. The rumors circulating will surely crumble. Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!!"
The ministers, who were usually opportunistic, knelt down shortly after seeing this display of power. Those officials with intricate connections to powerful families could only temporarily back down, focusing on maintaining their image before the Prince of Zhen. Whether they would be held accountable by the families later was not something they could consider at the moment. Thus, they too gritted their teeth and kowtowed.
King Zhen didn't even blink at the affected manner of those people, but when his gaze fell on Shinju, who was dressed in a crimson court robe, he couldn't help but twitch his lips. He was quite unaccustomed to being flattered by Shinju, but seeing that the other party was having a good time, he didn't interrupt.
The thunderous shouts of "Long live the Emperor!" echoed throughout the Golden Palace.
However, this was just one brilliant counterattack; the real uprooting was yet to come.
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Author's Note: [Edited] Fixed a bug where ducks could be poisoned by directly eating adult locusts, making it impossible to use ducks to control locust plagues.
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