As a result, many court officials have fallen from grace, including the Dali Temple Minister and Dali Temple Vice Minister, who were once the most capable ministers under the regent, and were all exposed for their corrupt practices.
Moreover, the family members of high-ranking officials in the court were being harmed in private. As a result, a great drama unfolded throughout the capital. The Dali Temple was such an important place that all the clans were scrambling to put their people in there. Now that the regent was nowhere to be found, and his subordinates had made mistakes, it was natural for everyone to kick him while he was down.
But few people had time to search for the missing Princess Duanrong and the Emperor. Even the Kou family, who were searching for the Regent, were frequently thwarted by the Jinchuan army.
By this time, the royal family members had held several rounds of discussions and were selecting a candidate capable of shouldering the great responsibility and succeeding as the monarch.
At this time, the Empress Dowager was unable to even get out of bed, so she was naturally unable to take charge of the overall situation. After the new king ascended the throne, the only person who could rule from behind the curtain was Princess Huian.
Just then, the King of Jingxi, who had just heard of the emperor's disappearance and was eager to lead his troops into the capital to seize the throne, received a marriage proposal from Jin Chuan. The proposal was for his beloved daughter, Princess Xue'e, under the pretext of a friendly alliance between the two countries.
The Jin Chuan hostage, currently the most sought-after figure in the capital, has surprisingly extended a crucial olive branch to the King of Jingxi. This news has sparked outrage and vehement opposition not only from all the clans in the capital but also from the imperial family, who have held numerous urgent meetings to devise a plan to prevent the alliance between the King of Jingxi and Jin Chuan.
A new emperor has not yet been elected, and even if one is elected, he will be too young and inexperienced to shoulder any responsibility for the country's future.
The regent, who was capable of governing the country with his literary skills and settling the world with his military prowess, is now missing and his whereabouts are unknown. If the King of Jingxi and Jinchuan join forces, and Jinchuan takes advantage of Jingxi to send troops in, wouldn't that be like striking at the heart of the enemy?
With the support of the Jinchuan army, the Jingxi King will find it too late for the border troops to return to the capital to help him. By then, distant waters will be no match for immediate thirst, the country will fall, and the dynasty will be on the verge of collapse.
Inside and outside the court, countless forces, like ants on a hot pan, who were originally tearing each other apart, have now all gathered together, working together to stop the alliance between the King of Jingxi and Jinchuan, because when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact.
If the King of Jingxi rebelled and became emperor, four or five out of ten of them could still survive. But once Jin Chuan led his troops into Nanzhao, even the King of Jingxi might not be able to become emperor. At that time, all the high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital who were eager to take advantage of the chaos would become prisoners.
At this point, the pair of butterfly wings that Gan Qiongying flapped when she left finally transformed into a hurricane capable of upheaval, thanks to Li Hua's deliberate manipulation.
This hurricane has swept everyone up, and no one can escape unscathed. King Jingxi is no fool either; he fears that Jinchuan will stab him in the back and will not easily agree to join forces with Jinchuan.
The situation was tense, affecting everyone's hearts, but the person holding the spoon and constantly stirring the pot of porridge in this chaotic mess had no time to analyze the current situation.
They are simply trying their best to balance the forces of all parties and to cook this pot of porridge at an even temperature, so that it will all fall apart together or become mushy together, in order to avoid causing turmoil between the two countries and ultimately suffering the common people.
He was extremely busy every day because he had to balance not only the power struggles, but also the fact that the power turmoil, with the imperial power and the clans intertwined like a large ship, was causing the whole ship to shake, so how could the surface of the water remain calm?
The impact on various industries and people's livelihoods could lead to irreversible consequences if left unchecked. In particular, the Kou family's turmoil has continued for some time, and the price of salt and iron in Zhangzhou has increased several times over. Kou Ningyu, unable to participate in the affairs of the capital, is now acting as a henchman, frantically accumulating wealth for the Kou family.
Li Hua must make this person preoccupied with his own problems as quickly as possible. Iron is secondary; the supply of salt is crucial for a country. Although Nanzhao is not only home to Zhangzhou, which produces salt, once the largest salt-producing area in Zhangzhou is cut off, salt merchants from all over the country will react quickly, either raising prices or hoarding salt.
The capital of Yin was once again leaderless. Without an imperial decree to force the sale of government-owned salt, the people would have no salt to eat.
Kou Ningyu's frantic accumulation of wealth at this time is an attempt to undermine the foundation of the nation; his intentions are despicable.
He sent out several groups of people to search for the Regent's whereabouts, because although he knew where the Regent would eventually be sent, he couldn't figure out how Gan Qiongying had managed to send him there.
We can't wait until the regent slowly experiences all of that; it will be too late.
Once the Regent is found, we can use certain methods to bring about the ending that Gan Qiongying had long ago set for him. Then, we can find a way to report his fate to the Empress Dowager in the palace, just as Gan Qiongying had planned, to watch Kou Shi cut off her own arm and fight with both hands.
At the same time, the most important thing he did was to wait wholeheartedly for his wife to return home.
At this point, a month and a half had passed since Gan Qiongying left his side.
He called out Gan Qiongying's name every day, every hour, every moment, hoping that she would return to his side.
As long as Gan Qiongying returns, and as long as Gan Qiongying is willing to take him away, Li Hua will extricate himself from this vortex and accompany her to the ends of the earth, living a carefree life.
The closer it got to the time Gan Qiongying promised, the more excited Li Hua became. He even prepared his luggage several days in advance. With everything ready, he couldn't sleep well these days.
He was afraid that if he went to sleep too early or woke up too late, he would miss the sound of Gan Qiongying returning.
He remained in the princess's residence, in the vast... dark and ghostly princess's residence after nightfall.
We await Gan Qiongying to keep her promise.
Gan Qiongying... was destined to break her promise.
It's been a month and a half, and the snow here is so heavy that they can hardly move an inch. The closer they get to Jishi Temple, the more disaster victims they encounter.
Gan Qiongying had spent all the money she carried, except for what she needed to keep for her and Gan Lin's basic living expenses, on rice and grain.
However, there were many disaster victims, and the imperial city was slow to send anyone to provide relief. Many officials were helpless and even sold all their valuables.
But the snow kept falling, and houses kept collapsing. Even though every village and town organized teams to clear the snow from rooftops and doorways every hour, the snowstorm was too severe to clear it in time. People kept dying, and more people were trapped inside their homes.
Snow disasters are different from other disasters. They don't have the overwhelming force of floods that chill people to the bone, nor do they cause widespread death and starvation like droughts.
Snow disasters are a continuous, stinging, and itchy pain, like having frostbite on your body.
Cold and hunger quickly deplete body heat, and if more than a few hours have passed, even if the group manages to open the house with great difficulty, they may only find a few corpses.
Two of the monks brought from Jishi Temple died while rescuing disaster victims. Gan Qiongying and Gan Lin, along with all the shadow guards brought by Gan Qiongying, joined the rescue efforts, but it was only a drop in the ocean.
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