Chapter 129 Where righteousness lies
"The princess!"
Princess Yong'an stood there in a daze. Her maid followed her and found that her face was ashen and her fists were clenched. She was extremely angry.
"Good good!"
Princess Yong'an said to Jiang Qingzhi, "What a Chang Wei Bo! You humiliated me today. Let's see how you will end up in the future!"
She turned around and said, "Let's go!"
"This woman is sick!" Jiang Qingzhi shook his head.
"Most of the girls who are favored by God are like this, so I advise you not to marry a noble lady in the future." Xia Yan said, and his mouth became much smoother after eating the chocolate.
The two men entered the hall, with a Taoist priest beside them.
"here……"
"No introduction needed." Jiang Qingzhi prefers to look for things he likes.
Seeing the Taoist's unhappy face, Jiang Qingzhi said, "Stone."
"Oh!" Sun Chonglou reluctantly took out a string of copper coins, and the Taoist took it calmly, "The vegetarian food in the temple is quite delicious. If you want to eat, you can come tomorrow."
Jiang Qingzhi smiled faintly.
He remembered the vegetarian meals he had eaten in the Fahai Temple in his previous life. Cabbage, gluten, peanuts... a few simple ingredients, cooked in the simplest way, and seasoned with a little oil and salt... it tasted pretty good.
Xia Yan said: "The vegetarian dishes in several temples in the capital are all good. The dishes they make are almost the same as meat dishes and are extremely delicious."
Jiang Qingzhi smiled and said, "Eating vegetarian food is to purify the mind and body. To rack one's brains to make vegetarian dishes look and taste like meat dishes is no different from eating meat dishes. It is more worldly than eating meat dishes."
"If you can't give up your appetite, how can you escape from the Three Realms!" Xia Yan's eyes lit up. "If those outsiders heard what Qingzhi said, they would probably regard you as a demon."
"You can't talk about what you did?" Jiang Qingzhi smiled carefreely.
"Although Princess Yong'an is arrogant, she said something right." Xia Yan looked at the statue with his hands behind his back, "Your Majesty has been enemies with the scholars and officials since he ascended the throne. The scholars and officials are waiting for Your Majesty to bow his head, but time flies, and Your Majesty still stubbornly sticks to his own way."
Jiang Qingzhi touched the wooden pillar and said, "Your Majesty stays at home and rarely goes out, so as not to give those people any chance to take advantage of you."
If Emperor Jiajing dared to leave the palace frequently, Jiang Qingzhi would bet that many people would take risks to assassinate him.
"When those people can't find opportunities with Your Majesty, they will turn their attention to those who are trusted by Your Majesty." Xia Yan sighed: "When you first arrived in the capital, although you acted a little sharp, it was not enough to make those people afraid. But now it's different."
"What's the difference?" Jiang Qingzhi smiled.
"Zhao Wenhua, a general of the Yan Party, has never suffered such a great loss, and it was Lu Bing who did it himself. Do you know how much shock this news will cause in the capital?"
"Is it that serious?" Jiang Qingzhi said, "If I beat up Lu Bing someday, wouldn't they go crazy?"
"Listen to me carefully." Xia Yan interrupted him, "You are still under the protection of His Majesty, but His Majesty can't protect you for long."
The Taoist couldn't even protect himself... otherwise why would he be hiding in the West Garden, almost like he was imprisoned in a circle.
"Since those people can't touch Your Majesty, they will turn their attention to you. Do you understand?" Xia Yan saw Jiang Qingzhi's calm expression and couldn't help but sighed: "Young people are not afraid of difficulties, which is commendable. But Qingzhi, you don't know the methods of those people..."
……
After the main hall.
Two pilgrims came in quietly.
They listened carefully to the sound ahead, determined their target, nodded to each other, and there was joy in their eyes.
"That man had no guards."
"Just Xia Yan and I."
“Xia Yan…”
"do not kill."
"Then kill Jiang Qingzhi!"
The two nodded.
One of them suddenly had an idea and slowly looked to the right.
At the right corner, a young man stood with a sword.
"Sun Chonglou!"
"Recognize me?" Sun Chonglou grinned.
The two men drew their daggers.
Sun Chonglou pressed the spring, and with a clang, the long sword extended out a little.
The atmosphere suddenly froze.
Jiang Qingzhi's voice was faintly heard from the front.
"...Today's Ming Dynasty is like the setting sun. If nothing unexpected happens, it will slide all the way into the abyss..."
"Get started!" a pilgrim shouted.
Choking!
Sun Chonglou stomped his feet heavily, unsheathed his sword, and rushed forward.
The two pilgrims suddenly separated, and one rushed to the left. By going around, he could rush into the front hall and face Jiang Qingzhi directly.
The other man rushed towards Sun Chonglou with ferocious eyes.
"Die, you little bastard!"
The dagger stabbed towards Sun Chonglou's neck with impeccable speed and angle.
Sun Chonglou's body twisted and the dagger swept across his shoulder.
The pride in the pilgrim's eyes turned into astonishment. He never expected that his fatal blow was easily avoided by the young man.
Sun Chonglou's long sword slashed from below.
The man rushed past the pilgrims.
The pilgrim stood there blankly and slowly lowered his head.
There was a crack in the lower abdomen.
All the internal organs rushed out from the hole...
Another pilgrim turned around upon hearing the noise and shouted, “Stop him!”
But his companion slowly knelt down, his head dropped to the ground with a thud.
Blood gushed out from under his body, quickly forming a pool of blood.
"you!"
The pilgrim's eyes were bloodshot and he turned around and attacked with a knife without hesitation.
Before coming, they learned that Jiang Qingzhi only had a young bodyguard by his side, who was said to be quite skilled.
But it is only said that it is not.
So the two of them were full of confidence.
But he didn't expect that after just a confrontation, his companion fell under Sun Chonglou's knife.
The pilgrim swung his sword with all his strength, watching as Sun Chonglou's long sword strangely passed by from an unimaginable angle and flashed from his arm.
My arms felt cold, and then my neck started to ache...
The pilgrim stumbled back, holding his neck, and said with a wry smile: "If we knew that your swordsmanship was so amazing, we brothers... should not have come."
Sun Chonglou asked: "Who sent you to assassinate the young master?"
The pilgrim laughed, "Everyone in the world. Tell your young master that he has offended everyone in the world, and sooner or later he will die without a burial place..."
The long knife passed by.
Heads flew up.
"It stinks so badly." Xia Yan's voice came.
Then Jiang Qingzhi and he turned out.
There were two corpses lying on the ground, blood was flowing everywhere, and there was even a piece of debris...
The young guard stood with a knife in his hand, frowning as he thought about something.
Xia Yan's expression changed, "Here he comes."
"Shi Tou, what are you thinking about?" Jiang Qingzhi knew that this day would come sooner or later.
Sun Chonglou raised his head, "Master, this person said that you have offended everyone in the world."
"Afraid?"
"No, I am very happy."
Jiang Qingzhi smiled bitterly, "What are you happy about?"
Sun Chonglou was really happy, "I can kill a lot of people."
……
"Chang Wei Bo and Xia Yan were touring the temple when an assassin sneaked in disguised as a pilgrim. Fortunately, the guards around Chang Wei Bo were alert and killed the assassin."
Huang Jin glanced at Emperor Jiajing who had his eyes closed.
"Is Qingzhi injured?" Emperor Jiajing asked.
"No."
"That guard is quite good." It was rare for Emperor Jiajing to praise someone.
Huang Jin said: "The guard was brought by Chang Wei Bo from Suzhou Prefecture. He is also a young man."
"Those people are everywhere." Emperor Jiajing said quietly, "Qingzhi refuses to bow to them, so they will definitely regard him as my helper. I am in the Western Garden, and those people have no chance. Qingzhi is outside the palace..."
Huang Jin felt a chill in his heart, "Your Majesty, how about sending out the guards to clear out the enemy?"
"What are you trying to eliminate?" Emperor Jiajing sneered, "In this world, wherever there are people, there are those people. They have the final say in the local area and control countless people and money and grain...
At that time, Emperor Taizu was regarded as a self-proclaimed king by those people, and they were unwilling to work for him. With Emperor Taizu's decisiveness, he could only find another way and could not use that fierce army to wipe them out.
Now their power is even greater, and the Ming army..."
The Jiajing Emperor's voice gradually weakened, "If I mobilize the army, will the army obey my orders? And if I mobilize the army, do you think those people will just sit there and wait to die?"
Huang Jin felt sweat on his back as he listened.
"Let Qingzhi come. Also, let the young guard come as well."
……
"Master, is this the imperial palace?"
Sun Chonglou looked around curiously.
The eunuch who led the way wanted to warn him, but when he turned around, he was met with Jiang Qingzhi's seemingly calm but cold gaze.
Got it!
Let’s just pretend we didn’t hear it.
"It's the West Garden. The real imperial palace is on the right." Jiang Qingzhi pointed to the right, where a group of palaces could be seen.
"Why doesn't Your Majesty live in the palace?" Sun Chonglou was puzzled.
"Your Majesty's enemies are among them."
"Oh!"
When Emperor Jiajing saw Jiang Qing, there was an inexplicable gentleness in his eyes.
"Do you know why he was assassinated?"
"Those people want Your Majesty to become a lonely man." Jiang Qingzhi revealed the motives of those people in one sentence.
"Scared?"
Jiang Qingzhi shook his head.
"I was thinking, since you are still young, you can go to a local government and hone your skills for a few years..."
The Taoist priest wants me to stay out of the limelight, but how can I gain the country's fortune when I get there? Jiang Qingzhi said, "Your Majesty, I don't think this is necessary."
"Aren't you afraid of crises everywhere?" Emperor Jiajing felt that his cousin was a little foolish and bold.
"Your Majesty has been on the throne for decades, isn't there crisis everywhere?"
Huang Jin felt that this was not right when he heard it. How could a minister be compared with an emperor?
But he glanced at Emperor Jiajing and then lowered his eyes.
Emperor Jiajing said gently: "I am the emperor, they dare not act openly. But you are different... and you are outside, which gives them an opportunity to take advantage of you."
Just thinking about that situation, Huang Jin mourned for Jiang Qingzhi for a moment, thinking that this young nobleman was probably scared!
He heard the young nobleman say in a pleasant voice: "There is no difference between the way people live, but people must always have a goal in life. My goal is... Where there is justice, I will go even if there are thousands of people!"
The pleasant voice that spoke these words made one's blood boil.
Especially the last sentence, Where justice lies, I will go even if there are tens of thousands of people against me!
Emperor Jiajing looked at Jiang Qingzhi carefully.
There was a determination in those narrow and dark eyes.
The country's destiny is Jiang Qingzhi's goal.
This is absolutely true.
Emperor Jiajing prided himself on his ability to judge people.
He saw determination in his cousin's eyes.
And contempt.
How dare this kid look down upon those scholars and officials?
Emperor Jiajing felt a long-lost emotion surging in his chest.
He suddenly laughed, a hearty laugh.
"I have fought with them for decades and never surrendered. Now I have an extra helper, isn't it great! Hahahaha!"
……
The fourth update is here.
(End of this chapter)