When she came to see Xi Heng just now, she was still dignified, generous and calm.
But after just a few words, he became nervous again when he left the room.
Xi Heng followed behind the other person, walking in the elegant and unique corridor of the restaurant, casually scanning the swaying lanterns with dim lights around, and saw the VIP room behind two screens with green mountains painted on them in the distance, getting closer and closer.
The wooden planks of the corridor made clear sounds as the two people stepped on them.
Walking around the slightly folded screen, one can clearly hear the sound of the flute and the strings of the piano on the stage not far away.
Dancers in brightly colored clothes were dancing, and in the hall below, among the tables and chairs, there was only one person sitting.
She was wearing a light purple dress with only a few gold threads hanging here and there on the surface, and no complicated patterns painted on it. Her hair was half tied up, and she did not wear any noble decorations.
But even so, looking at his subconscious habitual movements and the temperament he exudes, one can still feel his aura of nobility.
As for this person's face, it is similar to Xi Heng.
The other party heard the footsteps but did not turn around. He just held his tea and quietly enjoyed the music and dancing on the stage.
Yan Hongji quickened his pace and approached him, whispering something beside him.
Then, the other party put the tea in his hand on the table, turned around, and his eyes fell on the person who was approaching.
"Hello." Xi Heng raised his hand and looked friendly.
Although Chu Xiao didn't quite understand what was said, she could sense that Xi Heng was greeting her, and she just nodded after her eyes flickered.
"Long time no see, sister." She acted calmly.
"Yeah." Xi Heng calmly pulled out a chair and sat at the same table with Chu Xiao.
On the surface, it seemed to be just a meeting of familiar relatives.
But in fact, Xi Heng had already sensed the aura of a powerful Hua Jin master appearing in the blind spot on the side of his vision.
"How long has it been? Ten years? Twelve years... Ever since you disappeared, we haven't seen each other again until today." Chu Xiao first began to reminisce:
"I vaguely remember that my sister was the most favored princess back then."
"Is that true? I forgot."
Xi Heng yawned and waved slightly to the maid serving beside him, asking her to bring him some tea.
"Of course, you have been gifted since you were young. It is said that when you were born, your grandmother dreamed that the gods gave you a scarlet jade, and the scarlet jade turned into a baby falling from the sky. She thought you were made of a fairy jade from heaven, so she doted on you."
"Oh?" Xi Heng had never heard of this before.
"On the contrary, I have been treated coldly." Chu Xiao pinched the tea in one hand and said with a wry smile, "My mother was a maid who washed clothes in the palace. She was chosen as a concubine by the late emperor. After I was born, she was neglected. My mother and I lived together in a small courtyard in the corner of the palace for many years. We had simple clothes and food. We only had the title of imperial princess but no substance. It was not until I was ten years old and matched the couplet proposed by my father that things finally got better."
"I'm afraid no one back then would have thought that I could sit in such a high position, right?"
"Great." Xi Heng did not hesitate to applaud.
The maid brought her some tea and she took a sip.
Chu Xiao brought up another topic: "In recent years, my sister has become famous because she killed Fang Tiande, a major threat to the Great Zhao. But there has been no news for nearly a year. It is said that she went across the sea to look for immortals. Has she found them?"
Xi Heng pretended to relax and answered casually, "I did find some traces of immortals, but there are no more immortal cultivators in this world, and the so-called immortal mountains and islands have sunk to the bottom of the sea."
"What a pity." The girl who looked similar to Xi Heng closed her eyes and sighed.
I don't know whether I feel sorry that Xi Heng didn't die in the shipwreck, or I feel sorry that she didn't go away to practice Taoism and ignore worldly affairs.
"yes……"
Not sure if it was an illusion, but Yan Hongji, who was standing by, always felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
Although she also knew that the strangest thing was that the atmosphere was not strange when these two royal sisters met.
But this kind of atmosphere, which seems calm on the surface but secretly contains murderous intent and seems like it will explode at any moment, is the most unsettling.
"Sister Xi Heng, why are you here today?" Chu Xiao asked calmly, "Are you here to kill me?"
"How could that be? I'm here to help you." Xi Heng took a sip of tea, completely ignoring the might of the Hua Jin follower not far away.
"Help?" Chu Xiao put his finger on his chin, looking puzzled.
"I have come all the way from the northern border to help you with state affairs. No matter what, you must not hand over this world to others."
"How long can the Northern Frontier hold out?" Chu Xiao asked.
"The enemy has already breached the Black Dragon Pool. As long as we have enough naval forces, we can move our troops south to plunder. Once they have reorganized, we can launch a general attack. The big cities in the northern part of the Great Zhao will have no choice but to retreat and defend themselves."
Chu Xiao withdrew his gaze from Xi Heng, looked back at the tea placed steadily on the table, and said, "The west and south are all like this. The Western Barbarians have now conquered three cities, and the Dark Sky Cult has occupied Hengzhou, Yongzhou, Daozhou, and Jinzhou. The southern garrison is completely powerless, and only the Beijing army can fight, but it is also restrained by the bandits."
"The Merciful Saint of the Dark Heaven Sect is my friend who crossed the sea with me. I can write a letter to ask them to temporarily delay their advance northward." Xi Heng said, "As for the big bandits in the capital, just assign half of the capital's troops to me and I can defeat them within ten days... The Western Barbarians' siege methods are crude and they can only capture a few cities in a year. Let the Western city generals hold on."
"What should we do in the face of a shortage of money and food?" Chu Xiao's eyes flickered. She discovered that this princess who had been living away from home for more than a decade somehow understood some state affairs.
Xi Heng only mentioned six names:
"Former Prime Minister Cai Yuan, current Prime Minister Li Shimei, Chief Censor Wang Xiangfu, Director of the Privy Council Zhu Xun, Inspector of the Imperial Tutor Liang Cegong, and Counselor Li Yuan... all were killed and their property confiscated."
“Huh?” Chu Xiao was stunned.
……
Chapter 113: Affection
When Chu Xiao heard the names one by one, she could vaguely sense the murderous intent in her sister's words.
The six people Xi Heng mentioned were all treacherous and cunning people who had aroused the indignation of capable officials in the court and had been advised to be demoted and punished.
People say that there are jackals and wolves in the imperial court, and most of the time they are referring to them.
However, the status of these six people are not low, and many of their disciples are officials in the court. It is obvious that they have become the foundation of the court. If they are to be eliminated, the court will inevitably suffer a great loss of vitality.
The country is in chaos now. If the court is unable to do anything due to internal turmoil, the country may be on the verge of collapse.
——At least, that’s what Chu Xiao thought before.
In recent years, she has supported new candidates in the imperial examinations to become officials and establish their own factions, and has demoted the status of scholars in the Imperial Academy in order to contain the official factions under these old ministers and use the new faction to oppose these old people left over from the previous emperor's era.
Now that certain results have been achieved, when the influence of these treacherous officials in the court gradually weakens, they can be convicted one by one.
This is the prudent approach that Chu Xiao follows.
But now she also understands that it is difficult to continue to take things step by step according to the current domestic situation.
The Great Zhao was surrounded by enemies in the east, south, west and north, and bandits were everywhere. The heavy taxation made it difficult for the people to live and work in peace. However, even with such heavy taxes, the country still found it difficult to provide enough money and food to the military departments in various places.
The best way is indeed as Xi Heng said, which is to plunder all the gold, silver and treasures that these treacherous ministers have hidden deep in their houses and not circulated to the outside, and add the silver and land to the national treasury.
These high-ranking corrupt officials have been corrupt for decades and have embezzled countless treasures.
Even now, they are still staring at gold and silver like evil beasts. Even though their warehouses are already full of gold ingots, they still want to suck the blood and sweat of the people to satisfy their greed.
Although, beheading them would destabilize the foundation of the court anyway.
But if no action is taken, the entire Great Zhao may no longer exist, so why bother about the foundation?
"..."
As he thought about it, Chu Xiao gradually felt that although what Xi Heng said was extreme, it was not empty talk.
Given the current situation of the country, perhaps what is needed is this kind of straightforward approach, rather than any careful considerations.
but……
She said:
"Although these people are treacherous ministers, except for Prime Minister Li Shimei, they are not people who do nothing. They also have many disciples serving as officials in various places in the court. If they are moved, there will be complaints, causing the court to come to a standstill... If we kill them, we can't do it in the name of the court."
"You don't have to do it."
Xi Heng has long been an expert in assassination, and it is easy for him to deal with those ministers' families whose family guards only have hidden power at most.
She said, "You just need to draw up a list of the names of the ministers living in the capital and give me their addresses. I will know within three days."
When she came, she had already thought about how to act. All the court and the Northern Frontier Army needed was the windfall hidden in the house.
All that matters is that these people die and their property is taken over by the court.
There was no need to use the imperial guards to drag these people to the court and behead them as she did when she was emperor.
"…Is this feasible?"
Although Chu Xiao knew that Xi Heng was already a martial artist at the level of Hua Jin, he still didn't think that she could do such a thing alone.
"That will work." Xi Heng said:
"When I'm done, you can send the Imperial Guards or the Imperial Guards to search for treasures, silks, food, land deeds, and other things in the name of investigating the murderer."
Chu Xiao chose to believe it, nodded and continued:
"Cai Yuan, Wang Xiangfu, and Li Shimei are all people who are only in power but are harming the country. They can be killed immediately. However, the other three have done real work and their families are not in the capital. They can be executed later."
"No."
Xi Heng still remembered the joking attitude of those people in the court.
It was these three people who hired the Black Spirit Blade Master, so they naturally cannot be let go.
When I come to the capital, I naturally have to kill everyone I see.
Even if I can't see him, I will go and kill him.
"..."
Chu Xiao pressed his temples, hiding the distress in his eyes.
He met Xi Heng's eyes for a moment and then let out a sigh.
This powerful royal sister who was a Hua Jin warrior suddenly came, and she was really unsure how to face her.
However, there have been too many developments beyond her expectations, so just one more is enough...
As time passed, the friendly visit of the two princesses soon ended.
The communication was pleasant.
……
At the beginning of night, Xi Heng was fully prepared and left Yan family's Huamanlou.
She was wearing a simple black warrior outfit that did not restrict her movements. She held a longbow in her left hand and carried a bunch of arrows on her back. There were seals of books stuffed in the brocade bag at her waist.
Concealing his voice and breath, he leaped onto the eaves with light skills and headed towards the locations of the residences of every official in the capital, which he had spent time memorizing.
When he arrived at the door, he raised his longbow, took out an arrow from behind, then took out a letter from his waist and pierced it with the arrow.
Aim at the door or beam, loosen your fingertips slightly, and the arrow will immediately fly out and pierce the target with a thud.
The tail of the arrow trembled slightly, and the book sticker swayed slightly.
If someone takes down this book seal and removes the paper inside, they can clearly see eight characters:
"Those who obey the people live, and those who disobey the people perish."
There is another note below:
"The Merciful Saint of the Dark Sky Sect."
With the arrow and the book stuck on the door, Xi Heng went to the next official's residence without hesitation according to the route planned for today.
Most of these capital officials lived in the inner city and were concentrated in several areas around the imperial palace. They did not need to travel back and forth constantly, but only needed to follow the planned routes.
"Wang Xiangfu's Wang family, Beijing's Cai family...these mansions are quite large." At night, Xi Hengyu walked through one area after another, constantly drawing his bow and shooting arrows, nailing the assassination notice on the other party's door.
As for whether some of them would regard it as a warning of assassination and whether they would take it seriously, it had nothing to do with her.
She put out nearly seventy book stickers to confuse people.
If we go up and destroy a few families at once, it might cause many officials to flee, leading to political chaos in the court.
These arrogant court officials would not flee in panic just because of this simple letter.
Send out a warning document today, and make up a rumor to spread in the capital tomorrow, stating the date of action, and that no further killing of officials will take place after the action... Then the other surviving court officials will not be too panic-stricken, but will be grateful for having managed to save their lives.
Maybe he would even use this as a threat and pretend to be a good official for a short period of time.
boom
Another arrow hit the door.
