Where exactly had the Northern Ji’s imperial seal been all these years? What person had hidden it away, only to bring it out during Great Zhou’s most turbulent and unstable time—could it be just to slap him in the face?
Great Zhou had only destroyed Northern Ji ten years ago. In these ten years, not all of the former Northern Ji subjects had died out. The reappearance of the imperial seal held tremendous rallying power for those who had originally been Northern Ji’s subjects.
Moreover, the person who had brought out that seal was a prince of the former dynasty!
Regardless of whether this prince was real or fake, regardless of whether the seal was carved from a radish by someone, now that the proclamation was posted publicly, it had already completely shaken the people’s hearts and the ministers’ loyalty.
In the imperial court, there had originally been a three-way balance of power among the great aristocratic families, Northern Ji’s old ministers, and Great Yan’s surrendered officials. His old subordinates and die-hard loyalists only comprised a very small portion. What was even more tragic was that the reason his faction could contend with the other three factions was largely due to Pang Xiao’s support.
Li Qitian was truly somewhat panicked at this moment.
Now Pang Xiao had become a formidable enemy who could bring troops to rebel against him at any time. Who else could help him suppress those old ministers from the Northern Ji court?
Northern Ji had, after all, been a dynasty with over a hundred years of heritage. Those old ministers and great aristocratic families were closely connected, with intricate and complex relationships—like a deeply rooted great tree whose root system was already tangled and intertwined. Once the Northern Ji remnants and aristocratic families were swayed by the appearance of that imperial seal, he simply didn’t know how he could stabilize the current situation.
Li Qitian had many concerns, but this was all just a moment’s time. He couldn’t be bothered to continue quarreling with the Empress Dowager and turned to order Xiong Jinshui to prepare the carriage and horses. “Quickly, I must go see this!”
“Your humble servant obeys!” Xiong Jinshui turned and ran outside. He ran so hastily that he fell flat on his face, nearly knocking out a front tooth, but he didn’t dare cry out in pain or delay—he got up and continued running outside.
A murderous atmosphere permeated the imperial study. Even the Empress Dowager’s fire was frightened away. She understood her son—for ordinary matters, Li Qitian might indulge her, but once it involved the state and the throne, he would absolutely show no mercy.
She had originally come to vent her emotions, and besides, crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide had always been a tried-and-true method that worked perfectly for controlling Li Qitian. But now with the court in chaos and the timing being wrong, the Empress Dowager no longer persisted and quietly left.
Li Qitian had long forgotten all about the Empress Dowager’s affairs, only anxiously waiting for Xiong Jinshui.
The secret agent still knelt on the ground, carefully observing Li Qitian’s expression. Only when he noticed the Son of Heaven’s complexion had softened somewhat did he dare to say, “Your Majesty, that letter—you should quickly order someone to tear it down. The contents within truly spare no effort in slandering.”
“What! If that’s the case, why didn’t you tear down that letter at the time!”
“Your Majesty, please calm your anger! It was truly because there were too many common people present at the time. They surrounded the proclamation three layers deep. Our agent was only one person, truly outnumbered and helpless. When he tried to squeeze close to the proclamation, he was beaten with a stick and was dazed for quite a while before having the strength to return and report.”
“So you’re saying that because of one person’s incompetence, the contents slandering me have been posted there for everyone to see this whole time?”
The secret agent lowered his head, his brows full of worry. He knew Li Qitian’s temperament and was already trying his best to accommodate it, but imperial authority was unpredictable—truly difficult to serve.
“We feared people would think we felt guilty, so we didn’t rush to tear it down. Moreover, with the capital being such a large place, currently only one location has posted that letter. If we tore down this one spot, what would we do if other places started posting them one after another? Such things are truly impossible to prevent, so we left this one spot alone to avoid giving the other party ideas to play tricks and post even more.”
Li Qitian took a deep breath and could only lower his eyes to accept the reality before him. He ordered a young eunuch, “Go urge Xiong Jinshui—are they making the carriage from scratch? How can they be so slow!”
Xiong Jinshui came running back breathlessly and said in a deep voice, “Your Majesty, everything is prepared.”
Li Qitian lifted his leg to walk outside but was stopped by Xiong Jinshui. “Your Majesty, you should at least change your clothes first.”
Li Qitian looked down and realized that today’s casual robes bore dragon patterns displaying imperial majesty. If he went out wearing this, it would be equivalent to pasting strips of paper saying “I am the Son of Heaven” all over his forehead.
Li Qitian had no choice but to rush back and have the palace attendants help him change clothes.
After Li Qitian was properly dressed and had carefully inspected himself to ensure there were no oversights, he led his trusted followers in a grand procession into the city.
Soon, the group arrived at the location where the proclamation was posted. Common people had gathered around it in a circle, curiously reading all the contents.
With just one glance, Li Qitian angrily shoved aside Xiong Jinshui, who was sitting at the front of the carriage, and leaped down from the vehicle. He strode urgently toward the crowd.
He walked so hastily that he forcefully pushed aside the common people blocking his way, causing everyone to complain with dissatisfaction.
“What kind of person is this! Looking for death!”
“Why are you pushing? Are you rushing to see your obituary or something!”
Such treasonous words nearly made Xiong Jinshui kowtow to these people.
But Li Qitian’s gaze was already fixed on that proclamation. He first examined the seal and confirmed it was indeed not fake, then carefully read the contents of the proclamation.
Upon reading this, Li Qitian was nearly driven to fury with smoke coming from all seven orifices.
The letter meticulously listed all the major and minor events since he had ascended the throne—when he had been suspicious of meritorious officials, when he had ordered Pang Xiao to massacre common people, when he had oppressed the people, when he had money but used it to build imperial tombs instead of feeding the people, when he had been jealous of meritorious officials, when he had organized people to fabricate charges against Pang Xiao.
In this account, he was portrayed as a despicable and shameless person, to the extent that even having ministers loyal to him became the greatest insult.
Most hateful of all, besides signing as “Former Dynasty Prince Zhou Lian,” the letter also stated that the realm had no rightful master, and only the virtuous could occupy the throne, while Li Qitian was a tyrant. Especially during last year’s famine, not only did he have no money to subsidize the people, but he also secretly manipulated the people to deal with Prince Zhongshun, who had bankrupted himself to feed the disaster victims.
When the Tatars attacked, Li Qitian fundamentally had not allowed Pang Xiao and other princes’ troops to enter the capital, even making them take detours.
Although they had naturally taken the detours, Li Qitian’s heart was collapsing like never before.
“Ah!” Li Qitian let out a great roar and went up to tear down the proclamation.
Seeing that Li Qitian had indeed lost his temper, Xiong Jinshui, who had followed along, showed an expression of “I knew this would happen” and hurriedly shouted loudly, “Everyone move aside, move aside! Official business!”
The people Li Qitian had brought immediately all began shouting in unison.
Li Qitian tore the paper to shreds. Turning to face the common people’s inquisitive gazes, he felt as if he had been held down and slapped repeatedly.
Xiong Jinshui continued, “Someone must have slandered the Son of Heaven for unspeakable purposes!”