After listening to his daughter's heartfelt words, Li Ting fell into deep thought.
The Li family has served the border for generations in Nanchen. They have worked hard, if not meritorious, so why did they end up like this?
Why did Emperor Hui hate the Li family so much? Everyone in the room, except for those who had heard Li Xingran's heartfelt words, felt a sense of sorrow, like the birds being shot down and the good bow being put away, or the cunning rabbit being killed and the hunting dog being cooked.
The Li family has returned all military power to the emperor, and no one of them holds an official position in the court. Li Ting returned to the capital from the frontier three years ago.
For the past three years, he has been tending to flowers and birds, and has hardly interacted with anyone in the court. Why is Emperor Hui still holding onto him?
The collateral branches of the Li family have declined, and now only Li Ting's branch remains prosperous. It is likely that Emperor Hui's methods played a part in the decline of the collateral branches of the Li family.
Otherwise, the four borders of Nanchen Kingdom would have been guarded by the Li family army, but over the course of ten years, they were successively replaced by Emperor Hui's confidants.
[I'm so sleepy, I can never get enough sleep. The Li family is truly tragic. Over the years, almost all of their elders have died at the hands of the Emperor and Empress. My father didn't even notice. Sigh! Was the Emperor too clever, or was my father too loyal?]
Actually, besides being cunning and ruthless, the emperor wasn't particularly intelligent. His empress was the clever one; her methods and schemes were truly astounding.
After listening to his daughter's heartfelt words, Li Ting carefully recalled the hardships the Li family had suffered over the past ten years.
The more I recall, the more horrified I become! What a grand scheme this was! They started plotting against the Li family ten years ago!
Li Ting was lost in memories:
My uncle died on the frontier in the third year of Yongding. At that time, Emperor Hui had only been on the throne for a few years. He was a young emperor, but he quickly stabilized the court.
He knew that the fact that the imperial power was firmly in Xiao Jing's hands was largely due to Empress Zhao Yunshu.
Zhao Yunshu's essay "On Policy" suddenly appeared, earning her the title of the most talented woman in Nanchen. She had insights into governing the country and bringing peace to the world that were different from those of all emperors throughout history.
However, he believed that his uncle's death had nothing to do with Zhao Yunshu.
Before Zhao Yunshu entered the palace, she had traveled to the frontier and discussed with Xu Ningyou how to stabilize the frontier. At that time, he sat next to her and listened.
At that time, Zhao Yunshu showed great affirmation and support for the Li family.
Just by sitting there, you could feel the humility and gentle glow emanating from that little girl.
She was decisive and ruthless, yet also compassionate. She appreciated talent and made good use of it.
Why didn't Ningyou receive a message from Zhao Yunshu about her uncle's death? Unless, Zhao Yunshu was unaware of it.
The Li family has always had its own network of contacts, but he did not receive any correspondence regarding his uncle's cause of death.
My cousin Liping was escorting the coffin back to Beijing when they were ambushed. All of the more than one hundred people in the group perished at Black Wind Village, more than one hundred miles from the capital.
My aunt also passed away not long after, due to excessive worry.
Black Wind Stronghold, after the death of my uncle, was wiped out by the imperial army. The stronghold was destroyed in a single day and disappeared without a trace.
In hindsight, it was all to cover up the evidence!
My cousin, Ma, from Liping's family, was widowed after her marriage. She spent her days in tears and observed three years of mourning for Liping. A year after the mourning period ended, the Ma family arranged for her to marry far away in the south.
My second uncle's death was also shrouded in mystery. He returned to Beijing to report on his work, drank heavily with his colleagues, got extremely drunk, and was found dead in a brothel the next morning.
My second aunt died of an epidemic in the frontier years ago. My second uncle never remarried or took a concubine. He only had two daughters with his first wife, who were already married. Fortunately, my second uncle was farsighted and married both of his daughters off to wealthy places far from the capital. Although they were not extremely rich, they were well-off and had no misfortunes.
His older cousin, Li Lin, wrote to him before the Lunar New Year, saying she wanted to go back to the old house to pay respects to the deceased. He should be on his way now.
His eldest uncle, who had raised him, was stationed in the southwest and was executed on the spot by an imperial edict from Emperor Hui.
The entire family, young and old, perished. Their crime was treason and collusion with the enemy. The charge was numerous letters exchanged with the Southern Yue Empire, letters that no one had ever seen.
It was said that the message was secretly presented directly to Emperor Hui. Enraged, the emperor issued an order, and the entire Li Peng family, who were guarding the southwestern border, were executed.
These events occurred one after another over several years, and no one questioned the connection between them, simply assuming it was a coincidence.
At that time, he was still stationed in the Northwest, and with powerful enemies attacking, he had no time to take care of his uncles and elders.
In retrospect, all of these events were orchestrated by the emperor in order to eliminate the Li family.
His achievements were too great.
He went to the battlefield at the age of fifteen, leading the Li family army to recover 1.5 million square kilometers of lost territory for the Nanchen Kingdom. The recovered territory was once the granary of the Nanchen Kingdom.
That vast land is rich in water and grass, with expansive grasslands for grazing and fertile fields for growing wheat and rice.
Because of the lost territories he reclaimed, Nanchen's agriculture and animal husbandry industry has become the strongest in the Cangxian Continent.
He was stationed in the Northwest. During a patrol, he injured his left leg. Due to the poor medical conditions and lack of good doctors in the border region, his treatment was delayed, leaving him with a lifelong disability.
Emperor Hui used this as an excuse to send him back to the capital to recuperate, and had him hand over the border defense map and the army to Zhao Yunchen, who was going to take over.
The person who took over the defense of the northwest border was the younger brother of Empress Zhao Yunwan, who was also the eldest son of the Zhao family born out of wedlock.
However, Zhao Yunchen has long since shed the label of the eldest son born out of wedlock and has become the rightful eldest son of the Zhao family.
Thinking about this, Li Ting realized that his injury back then was not an accident. Nor was the misfortune that befell the Li family.
Then investigate! He'll definitely get to the bottom of this and make that damned emperor pay the price! In that case, he's determined to become the Crown Prince's tutor.
He was puzzled when Zhao Yunshu entrusted the crown prince to him. The crown prince already had an emperor; why would Zhao Yunshu entrust him with the crown prince's care?
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