"You are really capable..." Xi Heng clearly realized that there was a big gap between herself, the legitimate daughter who was parachuted in, and the original princess who was born in the imperial family.
"But." Chu Xiao put forward her own conditions: "I hope that after the emperor sister puts this matter to rest, she will pass the throne to me."
Xi Heng found it funny: "You're making too much money by exchanging the head of a traitor for the entire Zhao State."
"Forgive me for being so rude." The princess bowed and said seriously:
"My sister has offended the civil servant group. Even if she is the emperor, it is difficult for her to preside over the government. The Great Zhao is now in chaos and the people are suffering from numerous disasters. The situation is like fire and water. As long as the palace and government are not stable, the Great Zhao will have no power to turn the tide."
"I know." Xi Heng glanced at him and said, "But it's not as bad as you said. After I killed those three treacherous officials, I didn't vacate their positions. Those officials who were promoted are also working hard with a group of people."
Chu Xiao did not refute, and continued: "But even so, the court's functions are not perfect. An unstable court cannot save the Great Zhao at all. The most direct way is to replace someone sitting on the throne."
"Do you think you can save the Great Zhao by sitting on the throne?" Xi Heng's voice gradually became deeper.
In her opinion, the Great Zhao, which is now surrounded by enemies on all sides and has rampant corruption within, has almost fallen into the abyss and cannot be pulled back by ordinary means.
If you want to save it, you must clean out the entire court full of treacherous ministers and corrupt officials everywhere.
Either establish a new dynasty to change the world and shake up the Great Zhao from beginning to end.
Or, use the most powerful force to sweep across and chop off the heads of corrupt and lawless people one by one.
Those who disobey will be killed; those who oppress the people will be killed; those who are disloyal will be killed; those who bully the good will be killed; those who are rich but unkind will be killed; those who harm the country and the people will be killed - only in this way will there be a chance to save the devastated Zhao State.
However, Princess Chu Xiao, who grew up in the deep palace, obviously did not have such courage.
...............
Chapter 45: Rumors
"Do you think you can save the Great Zhao just by sitting on the throne?"
Xi Heng thought that in order to save Da Zhao, many people needed to be killed.
In her eyes, this pampered Princess Chu Xiao might not even have killed anyone.
Although she has enough courage, she does not have enough power to realize her ideas for the time being, and can only hope to do it in the next few lives.
"I will do my best." Chu Xiao only said, "After I take the throne, I will be close to the wise and stay away from the flatterers, be diligent in government affairs, strive for governance, and use both strength and virtue to measure justice. I will adjust the cabinet, reform the imperial examination and finance, enforce the law and increase the three taxes, develop firearms, train the army, and face the powerful enemies on all sides. I will not be as extravagant and indulge in luxury as my father."
"Many people start well, but few can finish well." Xi Heng said, "Even if you do everything you said, it will be difficult to save Zhao. Now Zhao is facing internal and external troubles and will soon be in ruins. This is a chaotic world, and a ruler needed in a chaotic world is not only a wise ruler, but also a hero."
"Hero?" Chu Xiao frowned slightly after hearing this, pinched his chin and pondered over the two words, then asked:
"According to what the Royal Sister said, how can a person be a hero?"
"A person with great talent and strategy, and a strong ambition." Xi Heng explained: "The most important thing is to be strong enough."
Princess Chu Xiao followed up and said, "In that case, with the resources that my sister has now, it is difficult for her to become a great hero. Why don't you pass the throne to me and let me try."
"Do you want the throne so much?" Xi Heng tilted his head.
"I have been preparing for this for too long, but I never thought that my imperial sister, who had been missing for more than ten years, would suddenly come and say that my father had become an immortal, and then she actually sat on the throne before I could react." Chu Xiao looked quite helpless.
"Well, I'm sorry." Xi Heng yawned and said casually.
"No need to apologize. After my sister ascended the throne, she killed the three treacherous ministers, which also cleared many obstacles for me."
"I haven't agreed yet." Xi Heng chuckled, "The emperor is such a noble man, and his high position is so good, why should I give it to you for nothing?"
Chu Xiao narrowed his eyes and said, "For the sake of Da Zhao, and for the people of Da Zhao and the people of the dawn."
"But I don't think that giving the throne to you will improve the current situation of the people of Great Zhao." Xi Heng replied:
"If someone like you who has great ambitions and wants to do things becomes a king, it is more likely that you will waste money and effort in your efforts and attempts, leading to tragedy and accelerating the demise of Zhao. A foolish and incompetent guy like me may be able to prolong the country's prosperity for a while longer."
"Please don't make up lies, sister." Chu Xiao took a deep breath. "As the emperor, sister, it is enough for you to kill the three treacherous ministers to complete your mission. In the future, you will be known as a chivalrous king in the eyes of the people and your name will go down in history. If you abandon the future of Great Zhao because of your greed for the throne, you will only be called a tyrant and incompetent ruler."
"If I give you the throne, can you really retire peacefully? I'm afraid not."
"I will do my best to protect the safety of the royal sister in the future."
"I don't believe it. I want to live a little longer." Xi Heng waved his hand: "So I won't give it to you."
At the very least, she should memorize the martial arts secrets books in her hands, and then read the various Taoist books and scriptures and various legends of immortals collected by Zhao Qianyuan several times, to find some clues for future search for immortals.
After that, there were also martial arts secrets, alchemy books used for alchemy, divination and astrology methods, etc. Xi Heng wanted to find them all and read them.
Now that she is the emperor, she has countless rare books to read that ordinary people cannot buy even with money. It will be much more troublesome to absorb this knowledge after reloading the game.
“……” Chu Xiao opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something more.
But after a long silence, she simply stepped back and said, "Since Your Majesty is so determined, I will not disturb you."
After being rejected, her tone became noticeably more distant.
"Goodbye." Xi Heng waved to the royal princess who looked somewhat similar to himself, and watched her figure disappear from his sight.
She exhaled, stood up and slowly walked back to her bed, then continued to return to her bed to slowly condense her Qi and blood and overall strength.
He patted his face to clear his mind, then crossed his legs on the bed and stopped thinking about anything else.
Xi Heng focused on the circulation of Qi and blood in his body, slowly directing the Qi and blood to the belt meridian around his waist, trying to open it up.
It is difficult to tell the time when practicing. In a blink of an eye, time has gone from early evening to midnight.
There are six acupoints on both sides of the Dai Mai. Xi Heng has been concentrating his Qi and blood for several hours and has already broken through two of them. It is only a matter of time before all of them are opened up.
"Tonight's training has had some obvious effects. The circulation of Qi and blood has become smoother."
Xi Heng casually sensed the changes in his body, ended his practice, lay down on the bed, covered his body with the quilt, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
……
In the following days, Xi Heng repeated the same thing every day.
He got up early every day to attend court, and dealt with memorials after the court meeting. He then returned to his study to recite the secret manual of Hua Jin martial arts and read through various legends of immortals and gods and books on Taoism. At nightfall, he would practice internal energy of Qi and blood.
Whenever he had some free time, he would stroll around the spacious backyard of Fuqing Hall among the lush trees and bamboos, beautiful flowers and rocks, clear water and pavilions, or practice sword skills. Every day was quite fulfilling.
During this period, I don't know whether the guards around Fuqing Palace were extremely vigilant, or the civil officials who were her enemies suddenly came to their senses and gave up the assassination attempt.
In short, Xi Heng never encountered any assassins again, and there was no poison in her daily meals, which made her more relaxed, as if everything had become quite stable.
Until seven days later.
While Xi Heng was attending a court meeting and paying attention to the confrontation between the northern border troops and Yan Mengguo along the river, he heard a loud voice coming from the palace gate.
"Report--" A royal guard came quickly and knelt in the middle of the court, breathing heavily, with an anxious and uneasy look on his face.
"What's the matter?" Xi Heng asked casually.
"Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened! The commander of the imperial guards, Ma Yi, suddenly collapsed to the ground while drinking this morning. His whole body was twitching. Now he is lying on the bed, still covered in cold sweat, with a little black blood coming out of his mouth!"
When Xi Heng listened to this description, he felt that it was similar to the performance when the Imperial Master was poisoned to death. This commander of the imperial guards who had mastered the dark power was obviously also poisoned.
"Tsk, why are they using the same poison?" Xi Heng complained, and immediately said, "Quickly send the imperial physician over! Make sure Commander Ma is cured!"
"The imperial physician was drinking with Commander Ma at the time. When he saw the commander fainted, he said he was just drunk. Then when he saw the poison taking effect, he said he couldn't cure him." The imperial guard who came to pass the message continued, "The deputy commander thought it was the imperial physician who poisoned him, and he was so angry that he knocked the imperial physician unconscious..."
Xi Heng held his forehead with his hand: "Who are these people... Hurry up and call the imperial physician again!"
"Yes!"
The guard who delivered the message hurried away, leaving silence in the court.
"Let's continue the court meeting. After sending out the troops from the capital, have those big bandit gangs in the capital been purged?" Xi Heng asked.
"Your Majesty, although the Beijing army has left the city, they have not yet attacked the bandits. They are still training in the training ground outside the city on mountain attack tactics!"
"What a waste, don't you practice regularly?"
"Before the Beijing army mobilized, their daily salary and rations were scarce..."
After talking with the court officials for a long time, after the court meeting ended, Xi Heng asked the imperial guards to prepare a car to go to the Imperial Guard Palace to visit the poisoned commander of the imperial guards.
Now more than half an hour has passed, and it is unknown whether Commander Ma is dead or alive.
That day, Xi Heng arrived at the bedroom of the Imperial Guard Mansion, surrounded by many guards who were kneeling to pay their respects. The scene inside was already in chaos.
I saw a big man in a single piece of clothing grabbing the collar of a doctor next to him and pulling the thin old doctor up.
"My elder brother has great hidden power! How could he be killed by such a small poison! If you keep talking nonsense, don't blame me for chopping off your head!"
"Sir, sir, spare my life, spare my life." The old doctor kept begging, and hurriedly explained: "This is a blood-invading poison. Now the poison has entered the bone marrow. Even the most brilliant medical skills cannot separate the poison in the blood and bone marrow."
"Nonsense! I think you are also a subordinate of that traitor!" The big man angrily threw the man aside with one hand, then leaned over to the bed and tightly grasped the rough left hand of the commander of the imperial guards on the bed.
"Brother, please wake up!"
When Xi Heng entered the room, he saw two imperial doctors in blue brocade robes lying on the ground. He raised his eyes and saw the commander of the imperial guards lying on the bed, his body trembling.
The other party was now covered in cold sweat, his lips were pale, his face was blue, and he looked like he was in danger.
Xi Heng watched from the side, calm and speechless.
When he first ascended the throne as emperor, two of the three people who conspired with him to kill treacherous officials were already poisoned.
Only the old eunuch is still safe, but he may not live long either.
It is obvious that it will be difficult for me to lose these powers for long.
After Xi Heng walked in, one of the adjutants of the imperial guards kept staring at the commander on the bed with an anxious look on his face, as if he didn't notice her coming.
It was not until Xi Hengxing, dressed in imperial robes, came to the bedside that this person finally reacted, knelt down and shouted:
"Your Majesty, please save the commander!"
"Even if you say so..." Xi Heng is not a doctor.
Wait……
She suddenly thought of an idea.
"Let me try." Xi Heng took out the blood spirit stone the size of a teacup that he carried with him from his sleeve, silently drew a line on the back of his hand with the spirit stone, and made a finger gesture.
He chanted a spell and clapped his right hand over the bed.
Suddenly, a red mist appeared in front of his hand and quickly penetrated into the exposed rough skin of the commander of the imperial guards.
Within a few seconds, the commander of the imperial guards' breathing and heartbeat increased a little, from being so weak that they were about to stop, to becoming gradually stronger.
The move Xi Heng used was the same spell that he had used to stop the bleeding on his shoulder in Jinshi City. However, it was not a true healing spell. Its actual effect was only to "stabilize the blood state in the body."
The poison the opponent drank seems to be corroding and contaminating the blood, so this spell may be effective.
Xi Heng was actually not sure either. After all, the Blood Sea Method only mentioned stability, but could not eliminate toxins.
On the hospital bed in front of him, the commander of the imperial guards had a period of rough breathing and intense heartbeat, and then his breathing became stable again.
The cold sweat stopped pouring out of his body, and his tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.
Gradually, the man opened his hazy eyes, opened his mouth, and before he could say anything, he suddenly started coughing and violently spat out a large mouthful of black blood.
"...Huh." The commander of the imperial guards, whose face was still pale, said in a hoarse and trembling voice:
"Thank you, Your Majesty... I have found a moment of peace, and was able to use my blood and energy to force out a small amount of venom... My life is no longer in danger, but I am weak all over. I am afraid that I will not be able to continue to serve Your Majesty in person."
"As long as you're alive, it will be troublesome for me if you die." Xi Heng told the truth, which made the patient on the bed smile bitterly.
"The doctor who drank with you was knocked to the ground by your adjutant. Was it he who poisoned you?"
"No." The commander of the Imperial Guard shook his head clearly: "It's not this person. I hid this wine in the cellar myself. There must be a traitor among the Imperial Guards, but I don't know who it is."
The adjutant next to him was stunned for a few seconds, then quickly ran to the side and helped up the two doctors who had fallen to the ground. He immediately changed from his previous fierce look to one of considerate and tenderness, and began to ask the two doctors about their health.
The old doctor trembled when he woke up and dared not move.
"Catch the traitor yourselves. I'm going back." Xi Heng didn't pay much attention to this matter. He turned around and left the scene.
She has no interest in the intrigues and schemes in the palace now. Even if it happens to her, it doesn't matter. Xi Heng is ready to die.
"The imperial teacher has been poisoned, the commander of the imperial guards has been poisoned... the next one will probably be the eunuch." Xi Heng recalled the old eunuch. He hasn't seen him much recently and wondered what he was busy with.
However, she had no intention of going to chat with the eunuch. After getting on the carriage, she asked the guards riding in front to take her back to Fuqing Palace.
The guard driving the horse was a young man. When he saw Xi Heng, who was wearing an imperial robe and looked very noble, his five fingers trembled slightly involuntarily. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out in the end.
Xi Heng noticed this out of the corner of his eye and asked the other party to speak out.
After hesitating for a few seconds, the driver said, "Your Majesty, I recently left the palace to visit my relatives. Yesterday, I saw a few notices near the city wall of the capital. They are related to Your Majesty..."
Xi Heng narrowed her eyes slightly. She had never issued such an order: "Go on."
