All sects work

Chapter 230: Destroying the Heaven (2)

Emperor Qu has been playing with the wind since he ascended the throne. He holds the rich family wealth accumulated by the previous emperor. When he wants to expand the territory, there is a peerless general like Xiao Mengyu who suddenly appears. When he empties the treasury, there is a capable and capable minister like Chen Jizhi who follows behind to clean up the mess...

He had a hand full of good cards at the beginning, and even if he put a pig on the dragon throne, he wouldn't have known how to lose, but Emperor Qu lost anyway.

In just a few nights, his temples had turned gray, the wrinkles around his eyes and eyebrows had deepened, and he looked more than twenty years older!
"Father." The prince bowed, but there was no response for a long time. He looked up and saw Emperor Qu staring at the map at the end of the couch, so he called out softly, "Father."

Emperor Qu slowly turned his eyes and his gaze fell on the young and handsome prince.

He had difficulty in having children in his early years and only had one son in his middle age. His first son was born to Concubine Liu. He was a very smart and lovely child, but unfortunately he died at a young age.

Even though there was no evidence to prove that the matter was related to the Queen, he still had doubts in his heart. He had always treated them, mother and son, indifferently over the years. When he thought about how weak he was now and had to let the Crown Prince serve as regent, he couldn't help but become more and more irritated.

The prince brought the medicine bowl and planned to attend to the patient himself.

"Leave it there." Emperor Qu frowned and looked at him, "Have you finished with the government affairs?"

The prince obediently handed the medicine bowl to the eunuch beside him and replied, "Not yet. I am concerned about my father's condition..."

"Humph." Emperor Qu snorted unhappily, "If you can handle government affairs well, it will be better than anything else! I don't need you to take care of me here, go back, and focus on state affairs right now."

Emperor Qu suddenly fainted the day before yesterday. Although he woke up later, he still couldn't get up. Now both the left and right prime ministers are recuperating, so they have to bring out the crown prince to supervise the country.

In the eyes of Emperor Qu, the prince has always been very mediocre, but after observing him for the past few days, he has actually withstood the pressure and handled government affairs in an orderly manner!
Emperor Qu had to suspect that his son had been hiding his incompetence.

He was like a wolf at the end of its rope, and any disturbance would cause him to overreact.

The prince endured the scrutinizing gaze and bowed respectfully, "Yes. Father, have a good rest and get well soon."

He walked out of the bedroom and slowly along the corridor, with a hint of bitterness on the back of his tongue.

If he came to serve the medicine, it would be considered as being without regard for the importance of the matter. If he didn't come, he would be considered as being disrespectful to his king and his father. If he didn't do well, he would be considered as a fool and a waste. If he did too well, he would be considered as having wolfish ambitions. He was even born at the wrong time. It seemed as if his whole life was one huge mistake.

But now Daqu is in danger. What else can we do except try our best?

He clasped his hands in front of him, his fingers unconsciously rubbing a spot - although the thing there was invisible and intangible, he could feel that the poison needle given by Chen Xiang was still there.

As long as...as long as...

Countless evil thoughts surged into his mind, but after a long time, he finally let go of his hands and let them hang by his sides.

The next day, the prince summoned all his ministers to the altar to read the "Edict of Confession of Sins", taking all the blame on himself, saying that he had caused the disaster because of his improper conduct as a prince. He was willing to shorten his life by 30 years to atone his sins in exchange for good weather in Daqu, and prayed to heaven for rain to end the plague.

After all, the crown prince was only the heir apparent, so no one in the court or the public was optimistic about this sacrifice. However, within seven days, a heavy rain actually fell in the northwest! Afterwards, the plague in the southwest was also brought under control.

Historically, only the emperor could communicate with heaven. People couldn't help but wonder: Since heaven has fulfilled the prince's oath, does it mean that he has recognized his identity as the emperor?
There were discussions and undercurrents in the court and the public, and some even privately speculated whether Emperor Qu was deliberately pretending to be sick to evade responsibility. In contrast, the prince at least dared to take responsibility, and for a time many people secretly turned against him.

After all, now that the country is surrounded by enemies on all sides, a king who only knows how to be suspicious and evasive will destroy Daqu.

The prince's sacrifice to heaven was not discussed with Emperor Qu, nor was there any preparation process. He just stood in front of the altar, read the edict of repentance, and gambled thirty years of his life. Only afterwards did he come to apologize.

Although Emperor Qu was furious and smashed the medicine bowl, he was relieved in his heart. Until he learned that it was raining heavily that night, he vomited a pool of blood. Then he heard the news that Prime Minister Chen was dead and fainted.

The Chen Mansion was directly crushed into dust by an unknown force. As soon as Emperor Qu regained consciousness, he immediately ordered the capture of Qu Shan. However, after searching the entire Qu capital, no trace of him was found.

There was chaos in Qudu.

The emperor and the crown prince are not in harmony, the princes have their own thoughts, people below are in turmoil, and the internal struggle in Qu State intensifies, indirectly affecting the southwest battlefield.

After all, the Southwest Army had been through many battles. After suffering several defeats in the initial unfavorable situation, they quickly adjusted their status. Unfortunately, the power struggle in the rear led to errors in the dispatch of food and grass, and the situation that had been stabilized with great difficulty was reversed in an instant. To make matters worse, as the drought in the northwest eased, the Luchang Kingdom and the Dachen Kingdom, which had been eyeing them, took action again.

Nowadays, the northwest of Qu State is thousands of miles of barren land with no people. It can be occupied by just sending troops. It is almost free. How could anyone not be tempted?

As the only country that has not officially participated in the war and has not been affected by the disaster so far, Lu Changguo naturally has more time to pay attention to the northwest. They have long found out that Emperor Qu did not order the Northwest Army to withdraw, and that capable and battle-hardened army may have already become starving corpses.

The powerful enemy they had feared for decades was finally dead. While sighing, they quickly dispatched troops and in just half a month they picked and chose and took over the relatively good land in the northwest.

The cities were all ready-made, with all the furniture and daily necessities needed, and people could move in right away with just their luggage. Some of the mansions even had large amounts of gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings left behind by the original owners when they hastily fled famine. The people of Luchang collected them like crazy along the way, it was truly a windfall!

Unfortunately, the two richest cities were looted first by someone with extremely careful methods for some reason, not a single copper coin was left behind, and even the city walls built with huge stones were demolished.

It's simply amazing!

……

Chen Ji and his party followed the route given by Master Xuanying and headed southwest. When they approached Pingzhou, they successfully changed routes at a small pier.

Although the cabin was small and more than a dozen people could only squeeze into one place, Chen Boan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "After changing the waterway, my father can relax a little."

Chen Jizhi and Qu Shan were seriously injured and the journey was extremely difficult for them, but the water route was at least less bumpy.

"Do you know where that grandmaster has gone?" Chen Jizhi had just woken up and did not see the grandmaster his son mentioned.

"I don't know. She only said she would be gone for two days and told us to just move forward." Chen Bo'an was pulled up in the middle of the night and experienced a life-and-death experience. He was still confused. He had too many questions. Seeing that his father was in good spirits, he asked, "Father, who wanted to kill you? Why did Xuanshou come to save you?"

Chen Jizhi looked at Qu Shan who was pretending to sleep, and said in a bad tone: "Xuan Shou, don't you intend to tell the truth?"

Originally, no matter what the reason was for Qu Shan to come to rescue him, Chen Jizhi would be grateful, and would repay him with his life without hesitation in the future. However, he pulled Chen Boan to block the sword at the critical moment, and directly turned this great kindness into hatred.

"Because I bound him with the 'Same Death Curse' before." A female voice suddenly sounded, "As long as you die, he will die too."

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a girl in blue sleeves pushing the door open. It was the grandmaster they had met before.

Chen Jizhi was slightly surprised. Although he had heard his son say that the grandmaster was very young, he did not expect that he only looked to be sixteen or seventeen years old.

The woman had a fair and delicate face, a clear mind and beautiful bones, and a petite and slender figure. Chen Jizhi guessed at a glance that she was most likely a woman of good family background from the former Xiaochen State.

He was good at identifying the bone structure and skin appearance of people from different places, and he could always guess eight out of ten. However, he was not sure this time, because the other party's demeanor and behavior were definitely not something that could be cultivated in the environment of Xiao Chen Kingdom.

"Why would the Grand Master save my father?" Chen Boan asked.

After a detour to the northwest to "pick up scraps" and returning with a full load, Shi Xuanying was in a good mood, with a smile in her eyes that never faded: "Because Chen Xiang is the third Xuanwei Star of the Seven Stars!"

"Ah!" Chen Bo'an exclaimed, his face full of shock, "But Xuanshou said before that my father is the 'Guardian Star'..."

Master Xuanying didn't know how to observe the stars and calculate, so it was hard for her to tell whether it was true or not, but she didn't care much: "Xuanwei Star may not be unable to be the guardian star, but..."

She smiled and said, "Don't be so messy as to keep Jundu."

This aroused Chen Jizhi's curiosity: "What does the Grand Master think can defend it?"

"What I said may not be to your liking. You will know when you see it." Shi Xuanying took out a spiritual fruit and handed it to Chen Boan, "Feed this to your father."

Qu Shan suddenly moved his nose, turned over with all his strength, grabbed the corner of Master Xuanying's robe, and burst into tears: "Please, senior, give me a spiritual fruit too!"

Take a small step every day and grow a big step, and you will definitely succeed tomorrow! (_)