Chapter 486: Mantis

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Qi Haoran looked at the kneeling Adjutant Yuan coldly and did not say a word.

Deputy General Zhong led his men and surrounded Adjutant Yuan, waiting for Qi Haoran’s order. In the depression, 3,000 soldiers held torches as they looked over silently. The situation was about to erupt.

Officer Lin, who was standing behind Qi Haoran, hesitated for a moment. In the end, he couldn’t help but lean close to Qi Haoran’s ear and persuade him, “Assistant Commander Qi, Adjutant Yuan was just acting under orders. Please be lenient with him.”

Deputy General Zhong, who was standing not far away from Qi Haoran, raised his eyebrows when he heard this, a little surprised. Were the rebels who attacked the official residence really led by the Imperial Court?

However, Qi Haoran was furious when he heard that. He glared at him with wide eyes and roared in a low voice, “Be lenient with him? There are 130,000 rebels in Jinghu. Do you dare to kill all of them? We only have 3,000 people. Are you planning to let us be crushed into meat paste, or do you want to gather the troops in the southwest and central region here? Idiot!!!”

Adjutant Lin’s face flushed red, but he could not say anything to refute. They were also following orders, but he did not know if Qi Haoran knew that he was scolding the Emperor.

Qi Haoran lowered his head to look at Adjutant Yuan. A stern expression flashed across his face as he said, “I won’t pursue this matter for the time being, but if you continue to disobey orders and act on your own, I’ll use you as sacrifices.”

Adjutant Yuan and Adjutant Lin looked at each other and lowered their heads in agreement.

Qi Haoran snorted and asked, “Where’s Adjutant Ye who came with you?”

The Emperor had sent the three adjutants to monitor him. Qi Haoran also knew that they had their own missions. As the three of them were not generals, he had never thought of deploying them. Who knew that such a big thing would happen just because he let them be?

“Adjutant Ye has returned to the capital to report.”

A cold glint flashed across Qi Haoran’s eyes upon hearing that Adjutant Ye actually didn’t inform him when he returned to the capital. It seemed like he had been too magnanimous to them previously, so much so that they had forgotten that he was now their direct superior.

Deputy General Zhong’s eyes flashed slightly and he looked at Qi Haoran with a hint of sympathy. Qi Haoran pretended not to see it and waved his hand to get Deputy General Zhong to inform everyone to bury the pot and cook. They would rest here for the night before setting off for Yongzhou tomorrow.

Qi Haoran returned to the tent and sat at the table for a while. In the end, he picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Mu Yangling. He wrote down everything he knew and asked her to quickly discuss a solution with Fan Zijin. This was because after thinking hard for a few days, he still could not find a good way to clear his name.

If someone else had done this, he would definitely pull them down without thinking. Who asked him to dare to scheme against him?

However, the Emperor was behind this matter. If it was really exposed, all the officials in the world would be in a state of panic.

A king could kill corrupt officials with reason and evidence. It was also somewhat acceptable for an unreasonable emperor to kill someone without any reason in a fit of anger. However, it was unacceptable for a ruler to lead the rebels to kill people with such a devious scheme. Wouldn’t the officials in the world be in a constant state of panic should they find out that their Emperor had such an unprincipled and dark heart?

Therefore, either those rebels would take the blame, or Qi Haoran would.

Qi Haoran wasn’t a fool, so he naturally wouldn’t take the initiative to take responsibility for this crime. Hence, he could only try his best to push the blame to the rebels.

However, these idiotic adjutants had accidentally left traces behind. How to explain things now and how to eliminate this evidence had become his greatest headache.

As Qi Haoran wrote, he despised himself in his heart. He wanted to rebel, but in the end, before he rebelled, he had to stand firmly with the Emperor and work hard to help the Emperor shirk the blame.

At the moment, Emperor Jingyan was having a jolly good time in the harem, fooling around with a few concubines in the pool. The eunuch came over with his head lowered to report that there was an urgent document. The Emperor was hugging one of his concubines and fondling her with interest. Hearing this, he said nonchalantly, “Place it in the imperial study first. I will go there soon.”

Familiar with the Emperor’s personality, the eunuch knew that if he continued speaking now, the Emperor would definitely be angered, so he retreated respectfully.

With the concubine in his embrace, the Emperor planted a big kiss on her. He laughed and said, “You’re indeed delectable, Gorgeous.”

After the Emperor’s “soon”, the sky was already dark. After dinner, he slowly strolled towards the imperial study. When he saw that Adjutant Ye was still kneeling in the imperial study, he frowned slightly and waved his hand. “Get up.”

Adjutant Ye reported the situation in Jinghu and finally asked, “Your Majesty, those rebels are filled with righteous indignation and are heading down Yongzhou. The county officials and magistrates at the back will probably be affected too. Assistant Commander Qi is planning to bring people to protect those government offices and county cities.”

“Qi Haoran only has 3,000 men. Can he resist 130,000 rebels?”

“There are garrisons in all government offices and county cities…”

The Emperor snorted and said, “If they are at all capable, the rebellion in Jinghu wouldn’t have lasted for three years without stopping. Instead, the situation only worsened. Now, the number of rebels has reached 130,000.”

The Emperor said angrily, “Let them make a fuss. When those bandits clean up the corrupt officials in Jinghu, will my army surround them too?”

“Then,” Adjutant Ye asked hesitantly, “what about Assistant Commander Qi?”

The Emperor smiled and said, “Don’t worry. Without concrete evidence, no one can do anything to him. This kind of thing has ended without consequences many times. When the time comes, everyone will be busy quelling the rebellion. Who will pay attention to this? If the court officials are unconvinced, I can just lower Qi Haoran’s official position slightly. I will compensate him later. You don’t have to say anything when you go back this time. Just secretly pay attention to his actions.”

Adjutant Ye lowered his head and agreed.

After Adjutant Ye left, Eunuch Bai made tea for the Emperor and asked in confusion, “Your Majesty, there have been more and more memorials impeaching Assistant Commander Qi recently. Can this matter really be suppressed?”

The Emperor snorted and said, “Most of those memorials were instigated by Minister Qin. As long as I tell Minister Qin, would he dare to disobey my orders? Let Qi Haoran attract everyone’s attention for now. We’ll talk about it when the army from the southwest and central regions arrives at Jinghu.” However, Eunuch Bai was a little worried. He was afraid that things would go beyond the Emperor’s expectations. Speaking of which, it was easy for the Emperor to make mistakes when he made decisions alone.

Not knowing what Eunuch Bai was worried about, the Emperor was looking at the list of newly-accredited officials and had roughly decided on the new list of officials in his heart. This time, there would be a huge change in the officialdom in Jinghu. He had to replace all of them with his own people.

At this moment, Minister Qin was also making arrangements. “Get someone to take the account book back and destroy it. Find some poor Hanlin Bachelors® who have just joined this year and secretly interacted with them. Try your best to help them. Don’t mention my name. Just let them think that you appreciate them and win them over.”

“Minister Qin, didn’t we like to choose those with influential family backgrounds previously? Why this time…?”

“That’s because it was easier for children with family backgrounds to stand out in the past. But now that the Emperor suspects me, he wants to replace me with his own people. Naturally, those poor children with no foundation are more useful.” Minister Qin sneered. “Let him think that those people are his people.” ‘I don’t mind lying to him for another ten years’, Minister Qin thought to himself.