A rebellious minister forced me to be a foolish king

Chapter 643: Lord of the Star Mansion
According to the imperial edict, the Lord of Suxing Mansion appointed by the Zhou Kingdom to Yuan Wuyou is still directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor, and from now on, the old site of Suxing Mansion on Chang'an Street in the capital, where her mother and stepfather had served, will be rebuilt. At the same time, people will be sent to Tongzhou to build Fengling Palace.

While everything went according to what the two had discussed before, there were also a few new orders that Yuan Wuyou was caught off guard for.

She looked at the emperor and his ministers who were handing over imperial edicts and jade orders to her, and was reluctant to take over.

The girl in black's pupils dilated, and even her thick, long eyelashes revealed surprise.

"Let me become the Lord of Suxing Mansion, recruit talents for you, and help you consolidate your rule? Are you really not afraid of inviting a wolf into your house, or are you deliberately recruiting? Is the person who came up with this idea okay?"

"It's not us, it's you and me."

Looking at the Xianbei emperor's deep phoenix eyes beneath his jade face and his solemn tone, Yuan Wuyou knew that he was participating in government decisions.

"Heh, you're pretty amazing. The regent didn't even interfere and let you take charge of Suxing Mansion?"

"In order to silence the world, he must give me some power."

As he spoke, the Xianbei man placed the imperial edict in his hand on the tray held high by Prince Consort Yu and waved his hand for him to take it away.

Then he said to the girl beside him:

"Follow me to the back hall for a detailed discussion."

Yuan Wuyou followed her instructions and walked towards the back hall, and the man behind her quickly followed, walking side by side with her at a moderate pace.

"Although the Suxing Mansion is not among the hundreds of officials and nominally does not obey his orders, I will never refuse his orders. In fact, he can still control you. Moreover, in the future, if he orders you and the Suxing Mansion to do something, he can still distance himself from it."

"Wait, wait, wait, who promised you to take up the post in Suxing Mansion?"

Yuwen Huaibi seemed to be guiding her subtly, to walk the path she had come from. Yuan Wuyou would fall into his trap if she wasn't careful, but fortunately she could always find out early and dodge it nimbly.

But this time he did not persuade her gently, but suddenly spoke in a gloomy tone, with a dignified tone:

"To tell you the truth, even if you don't want to, I will let Li Mingjian go back and take the opportunity to raise the Longxi Li family."

Hearing this, Yuan Wuyou, who was almost out of the back hall and near the door, suddenly stopped and turned to look at him.

"You actually want to welcome Li Mingjian back? Is it because he is a man that you want him to replace me, isolate me, and force me to either leave completely and lose my identity, or go back and be under your control?"

"No, it was actually Uncle Li who suggested that King Fengling be invited back to the court. He didn't know whether you were a man or a woman before today."

"Who is Uncle Li?"

"The King of Heyin. So he should be your cousin."

Yuan Wuyou suddenly remembered.

"Isn't he at odds with you guys?"

Yuwen Huaibi said in a deep voice——

"But he has different political views from the Prime Minister, and he leads the pillars of the Yuan Qin Emperor and the old family soldiers, and leads the old faction to confront the Prime Minister in the court, so he can be regarded as my secret ally." Strictly speaking, the soldiers led by this uncle Li should be Yuan Wuyou's old family. Although he is not a direct blood relative to her and the Western Wei Empress, he is also the most capable of commanding troops and governing among Tuoba Hong's children and Yuan Hong's brothers.

This Li Guojiu was originally named Yuan Zizhu, with the courtesy name of Ranxi. He was the last son of Yuan Xie and his wife Li Yuanhua. Yuan Xie was the chief minister of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the late years. After the death of Emperor Xiaoming Yuanxu, his son Yuan Ziyou was chosen by Erzhu Rong to become Emperor Xiaozhuang of the Northern Wei Dynasty through divination with a golden statue.

Yuan Xie and Emperor Xiaowen Yuan Hong were half-brothers, and Yuan Wuyou was actually his uncle. But after Yuan Xie's death, he was taken by his mother to live with his cousin Wang's son Yuwen Tai, and changed his surname to Li. Later, he was raised by his cousin Yuan Baoju, and changed his surname back to Yuan.

Because he and Yuwen Tai were of the same generation, even Yuwen Tai treated him as his brother-in-law. Yuwen Huaibi's queen, Li, was of humble origin, so he acknowledged her as his adoptive father, and was therefore both the emperor's uncle and the emperor's father-in-law.

Seeing the black-shirted girl in front of him lowering her eyes and hesitating, Yuwen Huaibi simply threw the pot into the ground and threatened coldly:
"If you don't go, someone else will take your place. If you don't want King Fengling to change his surname to Li, then don't marry a man from a foreign country just for his beauty. Instead, you should fight for power and return to your hometown to be down-to-earth."

Yuan Wuyou gritted his teeth and said angrily, "I have Xiangyang, why should I surrender to you?"

Yuwen Huaibi said casually, "It's not that the Great Zhou doesn't dare to conquer Bailan and suppress the rebellion in Xiangyang, but it's afraid that if it sends troops to attack the two, the Later Liang and Southern Chen will take advantage of the opportunity to invade. And Xiangyang is the territory of the Great Zhou after all, and we can't bear to see it in ruins."

Yuan Wuyou narrowed her amber eyes slightly, and suddenly looked up sharply at the Xianbei man who was a head taller than her.

"Are you threatening me?"

He avoided answering and only said, "I have written a letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to appoint Prince Fengling as the governor of Jingxiang."

"They dare not make me the King of Xiangyang, but instead put me among the ministers. Are they afraid that I will become equal to the princes and have enough power and reputation to attack Chang'an?"

"According to my considerations, there will be many obstacles in making you the King of Xiang. The Great Zhou has not been defeated, and the court will not allow a King of Xiang who is disloyal to the court to exist. However, making you the General Manager of Jingxiang will have the meaning of recruiting people, which will be easier."

"I have become your subjects. From being equals to ruling the north and south, to recognizing you as my father, can you not include the land of Jingxiang in your territory?"

"Although you are nominally a subject, you have enough freedom. The governor of Xiangyang is still the highest administrative chief of Xiangyang, but you enjoy the power of the king of Xiangyang." He paused and lowered his voice, "Even if you have a rebellious heart, once the gates of Jingxiang are closed, won't you still have the final say?"

Even though Yuwen Huaibi used threats and bribes, and said all sorts of good and bad things to him, Yuan Wuyou still couldn't let go of the stone in his heart.

"Let me think about it."

"You should have taken up the position immediately, but you still have a choice before the Jingxiang governor comes. If you accept the position, you will no longer be able to make private deals with any dignitaries in Qi, and you will not be able to work for them, for fear of being suspected of colluding with foreign countries."

Yuwen Huaibi calmly analyzed the situation with her, his deep blue eyes staring at her, and finally he suddenly said in a heavy tone:
"If you don't accept it, you will be ceded to Qi and betray your homeland. As long as you come back... and sit firmly in the court, I will take care of all the schemes in this world for you."

His last sentence made Yuan Wuyou's heart tremble, but she just pretended not to hear it clearly and didn't care.

Yuan Wuyou nodded, "Although your words are harsh, they are indeed the truth. I will consider it carefully."

After saying that, she turned around and left the Xianbei emperor behind, walking towards the back door not far away.

When Yuan Wuyou went back to the main hall from the back hall, he saw Su Wei talking and laughing with the governor of Xiangyang. Only Jialuo was standing next to the boxes of gold and silver on the ground, guarding the Zheng family inheritance.

Seeing her coming, Su Wei stepped forward and said with a smile:
"Your Highness, don't blame His Majesty for speaking bluntly. Think about it, isn't that right? You can beat a child if he's disobedient, but you should do it behind closed doors. Don't let outsiders make fun of him or kick him."

Yuan Wuyou glanced at Su Wei and said calmly, "I know you can see through my ambitions, but fortunately you didn't stop me."