sovbooks Chapter 49, The Jin Kingdom is in Chaos
Chapter 49, The Jin Kingdom is in Chaos
Qin Hui knew, of course, that the prince was seething with anger. He didn't care about the little brawl. Young people are bound to have tempers; what kind of young man doesn't have a temper? What he hated most right now was that ignorant brat, Minister Ding.
He's already reached this level in his official career, yet he's still so stupid. We shouldn't have promoted him to the position of Minister in the first place; he's utterly useless.
Is this something you're capable of doing? It's fortunate that Prince Rui came; what if he hadn't? What if he had taken the person away?
Oh, the Jin kids are still locked up here, while the Song kids have been taken away. What? Only you Song kids have parents and elders? Are the others all orphans with no one to care for them?
When the elders find out, won't that cause a huge uproar in Lin'an? You idiot! A complete idiot!
Qin Hui was too lazy to pay any attention to Minister Ding, but in his heart he had already marked the man's career path with a red cross. He would decide at the court meeting in a few days whether to send him to Quanzhou to manage the canal transport or to Zhangzhou to manage procurement...
"Prime Minister." Si Hou stepped forward and bowed to Qin Hui, then glanced at Minister Ding beside him: "It's fortunate you came."
"Sigh..." Qin Hui sighed, "Tell me in detail what exactly happened and how it turned out like this."
Si Hou recounted everything he had uncovered to Qin Hui, emphasizing that Lin Zhou had struck first. Although the details were true, the implication was that Lin Zhou bore full responsibility.
Upon hearing this, and then hearing Lin Zhou's name, Qin Hui raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sihou Xu Ping with a smile, but remained silent.
Who is this old scoundrel? He's a powerful minister who defeated Yue Fei and practically controlled the court. How could he not understand the meaning behind Xu Ping's words? His clearly biased description is a typical example of settling a personal score.
But thinking about it, it makes sense. After all, the credit for healing the sick and providing disaster relief, as well as the credit for planting grain, should have been attributed to him. Now, because of Lin Zhou's betrayal, he inexplicably lost two great merits. Anyone would hold a grudge in that situation. It's fortunate that Lin Zhou was someone that Prince Rui protected; otherwise, who knows what kind of mess he would have made of him.
"I see." Qin Hui shook his head: "These young men are too ignorant. How could they engage in a group fight in that kind of situation? As for the two ringleaders, just give them ten strokes of the cane as a token punishment."
At this point, Qin Hui paused, his brows furrowing as he looked at Xu Ping: "You mustn't hurt that Lin fellow. You saw it yourself just now; he's someone protected by Prince Rui. If you hurt him, you'll likely suffer the consequences."
Xu Ping couldn't help but frown, a look that Qin Hui caught perfectly. The old thief didn't say much, just patted Xu Ping's shoulder with a smile, laughed heartily, and then turned and left.
Seeing them leave, Xu Ping's expression finally relaxed. He let out a long breath, turned around, and went into the small dark room.
Once inside, he saw Lin Zhou sitting there chatting with Xu Cheng. Xu Cheng said, "I don't know much about brothels. The empress at home is very fierce, and we were betrothed as children, so we've known each other since we were little. When the opportunity came, we were still children and didn't have the desire. By the time the desire came, the opportunity was gone..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Si Hou walked in, and he quickly stood up: "Father."
Lin Zhou nodded and said, "Lord Si."
"Hmm." Si Hou pulled up a chair and sat down. "Lin Zhou, your information was really useful. I want to ask you for something."
"Please speak."
"The higher-ups want to trade a thousand catties of gold for your medicine, as much as you can get your hands on. And can you procure ironware?"
"Ironware is difficult to handle; it's too heavy. Medicine is easier," Lin Zhou nodded. "I'll go back and discuss it as soon as possible, but a thousand catties of gold... You're changing the medicine? You need that much?"
After saying that, Lin Zhou raised an eyebrow: "You want to support the grasslands?"
Si Hou remained silent, but inwardly he was amazed by the young man's growth. Not long ago, he was still a clueless fellow, but in just a few days he had matured and could even understand the meaning behind a few words.
"That's true. Helping the grasslands now is like giving ourselves a chance to catch our breath. But..."
Lin Zhou knew some history. If they did this, wouldn't it be equivalent to weakening the Jin Dynasty and strengthening the Mongols in disguise? If the Jin Dynasty were to fall, wouldn't the Mongols still eventually have to attack?
But then I thought, if we don't do this, after Wanyan Zongbi's 80,000 elite troops take over the grasslands, won't we directly face a war where the Jin people unilaterally break the treaty?
Whether we fight sooner or later, it's all the same. Fighting now offers almost no hope, but if we slow down, we might still have a chance.
"Okay, I'll bring the medicine over then."
Si Hou nodded slightly, then glanced at Xu Cheng: "Cheng'er, go and guard the door."
Once only Lin Zhou and Si Hou remained in the room, he lowered his voice and said to Lin Zhou, "Qin Hui has clearly taken notice of you. You must be extremely careful. This man is very cautious; he will eliminate you completely if anything seems amiss. The orphans outside the city are already leaving one by one, so you don't need to worry about them."
As he spoke, he took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Lin Zhou: "This is from General Yue's daughter, who asked me to give it to you."
Lin Zhou picked up Xiao'e's letter and began to read it. In the letter, Xiao'e said that she was now leading her younger brothers toward Quzhou, and that the warehouse that Lin Zhou had placed there had been cleared out and was being taken along. She told Lin Zhou not to worry about their safety.
But these words were mostly meant to comfort them. How could they not be worried? It's just that there wasn't a better solution at the moment. Only after he had truly established himself could they be given a stable environment.
"Alright, that's all we can do for now."
Lin Zhou was about to put the letter away, but Si Hou shook his head, took the letter from his hand, and threw it into the furnace next to him. Watching the letter, which carried Xiao E's countless thoughts, slowly curl and turn black, Lin Zhou felt a strong sense of loss.
"Don't panic. Just get along well with the Jin people, and Qin Hui will naturally give you an important position."
"Big brother..." Lin Zhou sat there with a troubled expression, "People are all made of flesh and blood, and feelings can develop over time. If I really led them into this deadly situation step by step, how can I face anyone in this life?"
Si Hou didn't answer him immediately, but smiled and looked Lin Zhou up and down before finally speaking: "When I was young, I also thought everything was black and white, but now I've come to understand one thing: if you can have both, then you should. You just want Qin Hui to use you, but no one said you couldn't go and save them. Besides, even without you, their good days probably won't last long. The Jin Kingdom isn't peaceful either. Wanyan Liang and Wanyan Zongbi are now subtly showing signs of resistance. That man is no ordinary person. Wanyan Zongbi is old, and once he passes away, his family will definitely be purged. He doesn't have many years left."
Xu Ping patted Lin Zhou on the shoulder: "You climbed up by stepping on their family. When that day comes, you'll still have the strength to fight. If you still achieve nothing, on that day, your good brothers will be dismembered in the streets, and the best outcome for your lover will be to enter the palace as a concubine. Now they are sowing the seeds of their own karma."
After saying that, he suddenly added, "Wanyan Liang is about your age, twenty-three. Although he is very capable, he is also licentious and lustful. If he really takes over the Wanyan family's throne, your round-faced little princess will probably be betrothed to one of his men who helped him rise to power, or... well, let's keep the good stuff in the family."
"Hey, are you trying to scare me?"
"If you don't believe me, go back and check the historical records yourself. Do you think I can hide this from you?"