Chapter 900 – Northern Overlord (Thirty-Seven)
Wei Ci couldn’t help but chuckle.
Could there be a more swift resolution than this?
This was certainly the usual style of the Lord.
He unintentionally learned that Jiang Pengji had given Cui Yu’s Eldest Legitimate Son a posthumous name, and fell silent for a moment.
“Fushou… what a meaningful name…”
Wei Ci only uttered this sentiment, feeling a bit dreary for quite some time.
However, most of his worries had already been unraveled, and after a moment of discomfort, he cast it aside.
“Mr. Wei, the Lord specifically asked me to deliver a letter to you, which is now placed in your room.”
Wei Ci looked surprised, setting down the bamboo slip in his hand and glancing at the messenger.
A confidential letter from the Lord? Surely, it must be an urgent matter—how could it carelessly be left in his room?
Usually, servants come and go to clean, and if a confidential letter were to go missing, causing any delay to the Lord’s important affairs, what then?
Wei Ci quickly abandoned his work and rushed to his room, finding a letter waiting for him on the tea table.
With a serious expression, he broke the wax seal and pulled out the letter paper, unfolding it for a glance.
Wei Ci froze as if someone had caught him off guard, his expression becoming unnatural, his ears turning red.
There were no urgent secrets written inside, but to Wei Ci, it was far more deadly.
The large sheet of paper simply contained five characters, written in a peculiar style. Each character looked round and familiar to Wei Ci.
Whenever that person was in a particularly good mood, she liked to write in this unique script.
【Zixiao, I miss you.】
Miss—
Wei Ci snapped back to reality from his shock, quickly standing up from his seat, almost tripping over his own sleeve and stumbling slightly.
Feeling guilty, he glanced around to ensure no one was watching before carefully folding the letter and hiding it in an ornate box.
The box contained nothing special, merely private belongings that Wei Ci took with him wherever he went.
Like an old embroidered sachet, paintings he’d doodled out of boredom, a well-preserved rabbit fur cloak… and now, adding a letter.
He had originally planned to place the letter on top of the box, but recalling his troublesome friend beside him, fearing another incident of Fushou sharing a bed with him, Wei Ci stuffed the letter into the inner layer of his folded cloak. He meticulously rearranged everything, as if burning the evidence.
Because of this letter, Wei Ci’s heart was in turmoil; he couldn’t even sleep soundly.
That night, he had a bizarre dream, leaving him waking up with a visual of her forming the seven-character mouth shape.
【You come up with names from now on.】
This wasn’t just about naming; it was a horror story!
Wei Ci questioned himself—dreams stem from the heart; could it be that his subconscious harbored such rebellious thoughts?
This question, he always found himself without an answer.
“Is the Lord in a good mood today? Could it be that those stubborn folks have finally decided to relent?”
Feng Zhen raised his sleeve to stifle a yawn, his eyes nearly slits, with a face that screamed “tired.”
Jiang Pengji chuckled, “I had a good dream yesterday.”
So it was just a dream of good fortune! What a letdown for him.
Feng Zhen exaggeratedly pounded his shoulder, complaining, “If they don’t give in soon, even in this icy weather, a corpse that’s been lying for over a month is likely to be rotten already. Why prolong the inevitable? They’ve already missed their best chance to resist; now, it’s just a death struggle.”
“A centipede still alive doesn’t die easily; we can’t let our guard down. We must remain vigilant,” Jiang Pengji understood the capabilities of the gentry; as long as they hadn’t been thoroughly beaten down or demoralized, their grudges would linger, and one day they would strike back unexpectedly.
If they were sensible, Jiang Pengji might allow them to linger a while longer.
If they were not, she would have no choice but to remove them completely with extraordinary measures.
She needed to stabilize her power in the north, and sacrifices would inevitably be necessary.
“I know the stakes, the Lord can rest assured.”
This winter promised to be anything but peaceful for Dongqing.
Jiang Pengji had taken control of Chongzhou and Hujun, while Liu Zhi retreated behind the scenes.
The heroes of the realm remained silent.
They could clearly see that Jiang Pengji had undoubtedly become the Northern Overlord. If she could establish a foothold before spring next year and maximize the connections and influence left by Liu Zhi, no one in Dongqing would be able to challenge her openly.
The faux Emperor Changshou Wang wouldn’t stand a chance; the Xu family of Zhejun couldn’t, and the Cangzhou Meng Clan also stood no ground. As for the court barely surviving in Chenzhou, it was even less worthy of mention.
Just thinking of the territory of her opponent was enough to leave all the princes of Dongqing gasping for breath.
She had issued a talent recruitment decree, established the Golden Scales Pavilion, distributed books to the prominent scholars, and was willing to compose works for all scholars of the realm!
Any one of these four actions would stir turbulence among various factions.
Take the talent recruitment decree, for instance; it was not something just anyone could pronounce.
The pioneering figure was a sage from seven hundred years ago, calling for talent and reform, sweeping away the chaos of the world and stabilizing the realm.
The second was the founding emperor of the Da Xia Dynasty, who, under the persistent counsel of Chancellor Huangfu, built a high platform to recruit able talents. This was one of the key factors that allowed him to emerge from the chaos of the Sixteen Kingdoms and unify the land. Without that talent recruitment edict, the chaos would have lasted for over a hundred years.
Now… it was time for the Liu Clan’s lady to emulate the ancients.
Thinking deeply about it gave chills!
And speaking of establishing the Golden Scales Pavilion, allowing common scholar children to borrow books for free was sure to touch the nerves of many aristocrats, eliciting public condemnation.
However, even if they felt deep down that common scholars were unworthy of reading the sage’s books, they could not voice it.
So, they targeted the previous Chancellor Huangfu as a breakthrough point.
That man had been dead for hundreds of years, yet because of Jiang Pengji, he was once again being dragged out to be criticized by many gentry offspring.
Everyone said that Chancellor Huangfu was a calamity to the world, that the chaos for over two hundred years of the Sixteen Kingdoms was caused by him, denouncing him for coercing the young emperor and improperly engaging in warfare, even suggesting he had ambitions to rebel. Had it not been for Xia Gaozong enduring hardship, how could the treacherous minister have been executed? A glance through history shows that treacherous ministers often met with brutal ends; any Liu Xi attempting to emulate Huangfu in building the Golden Scales Pavilion would undoubtedly meet with a similar fate. After such outcries, it was utterly invigorating, and those unaware would think Jiang Pengji had exhumed their ancestors’ graves.
In summary, Jiang Pengji certainly harbored ambitions of rebellion; if not dealt with now, she would inevitably harm the common people in the future—by then, it would be too late.
A scroll of proclamations, impassioned and stirring.
Unfortunately, those deriding her were merely a handful of people.
Why were they so enthusiastic in their tirades? Did the people not have even a scrap of common sense in their hearts?
As for distributing books to the prominent scholars and composing works for all, viewed by outsiders, these two actions were no different from sensationalism.
Only a fool would believe it!
Not long after, many were left with swollen faces.
The eminent scholar Yuan Jing personally traveled to Wanzhou, collaborating with Cheng Cheng to explore introductory textbooks.
The leader of the Feng Clan from the Shangyang Feng family, Feng Ren, donated a vast library of books to the still-to-be-established Golden Scales Pavilion, joining the development team for the educational materials.
These two individuals, one a paragon of scholars and the other a model of gentry, were all esteemed characters!
In an age where news traveled slowly, the celebrity effect was extraordinarily powerful.
With Feng Ren and Yuan Jing serving as advertisements, how could their die-hard fans not comply?
The common scholar students also longed for the Golden Scales Pavilion’s free collection of books, wishing they could sprout a pair of wings and fly to Wanzhou.
