DLWAV CH106

Ao Ruize said, “Since he thinks you are not worthy of being the Crown Prince of Great Qian, then you will be the Crown Prince of Great Yang!”

Hearing these words, it wasn’t just Zhou Hongyi—everyone present was completely dumbfounded.

The first to snap back to reality were Old Master Li and the others.

Their brows instantly furrowed tightly.

After all, their original decision to follow Ao Ruize and overthrow Great Qian was to earn the merit of assisting a new emperor’s ascension. From then on, they could elevate their family’s status and bless their descendants for generations to come.

But now Ao Ruize decided to make the biological son of the previous dynasty’s final emperor his Crown Prince?!

What if Zhou Hongyi settled scores with them in the future?

Zhou Hongyi was even more bewildered: “Are… are you joking?”

Ao Ruize smiled: “I never joke.”

He had originally been pondering whether, after pulling Emperor Zhangwu off his high horse, he should ascend the throne as emperor or take the route of a democratic republic.

At the time, he was more inclined to directly take the democratic republic route.

After all, he still wanted to continue being a hands-off boss in the future.

But ultimately, he still chose the path of ascending the throne as emperor.

After all, his predecessor probably also hoped to leave his name in history as an emperor.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have resolutely taken over the throne when Great Qian was tottering in the storm back then.

There was only one point: if he ascended the throne, he had to have an heir.

He thought about it over and over, and he thought of Zhou Hongyi.

Open and aboveboard, extremely broad-minded, possessing both benevolence and righteousness.

There was no candidate more suitable than Zhou Hongyi.

Ao Ruize said, “The best proof is that at this time last year, if you hadn’t let me go and left me with so many horses, I’m afraid I would have died at your Imperial Father’s hands long ago. Where would I have had the chance to make a comeback?”

These words were naturally false.

After all, if Zhou Hongyi had dared to make a move against him back then, he probably wouldn’t have the chance to stand here right now.

So Ao Ruize saying this was merely to help him win over the hearts of the Yang Army.

Sure enough.

Hearing these words, the tightly furrowed brows of Old Master Li and the others instantly relaxed a lot.

Putting it that way, Zhou Hongyi was indeed a reasonable person.

After all, back then, in order to ensure his own bloodline would be emperors forever, Zhou Ruize had abolished Zhou Hongyi’s position as Crown Prince.

Yet as a result, not only did Zhou Hongyi not resent Zhou Ruize, he repaid grievances with virtue and spared Zhou Ruize’s life.

Most importantly, looking at it this way, he could also be considered their master’s benefactor.

Therefore, he shouldn’t do anything that bites the hand that feeds him in the future.

But Emperor Zhangwu and his lot obviously didn’t think this way.

If Zhou Hongyi hadn’t let Zhou Ruize go, wouldn’t Great Qian not have fallen?

Wouldn’t they not have ended up in such a state?

“Animal—!”

The Empress Dowager cursed angrily: “How could the Zhou family birth an animal like you?”

“To think that Great Qian didn’t fall by the hands of those remnants of the previous dynasty, nor did it fall by the hands of rebellious traitors, but rather fell by your hands!”

“We, your Imperial Father, your brothers and sisters—we are all going to be killed by you!”

Emperor Zhangwu was even more hysterical: “If I had known today would happen, when the Chen woman gave birth to you, I should have strangled you to death!”

Zhou Hongyi’s face instantly paled, and his body began to totter.

Who knew that the next second, Ao Ruize’s voice would ring out again: “Don’t listen to them.”

“Because of you, this foolish ruler of an Imperial Father has no chance to continue bringing disaster to the world. For this point alone, your actions cannot be considered a sin.”

“As for the ancestors of the Zhou family, I will go explain it to them.”

The premise being that they dared to come knocking on his door to complain.

“Furthermore, although Great Qian has fallen, Great Yang has been established. This world is still the world of the old Zhou family. One family, two founding emperors… The ancestors of the Zhou family would be too busy rejoicing. How could they possibly blame us?”

“As for this ‘good’ Imperial Father and ‘good’ Imperial Grandmother of yours, they completely disregarded your life and wanted to exile your entire family to Yunnan. When the father is not benevolent, why must the son be filial? So what do you have to feel guilty about?”

When the father is not benevolent, why must the son be filial?

This was completely contrary to the ethical and moral education of the Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues that Zhou Hongyi had received since childhood.

Zhou Hongyi directly fell into a daze.

Ao Ruize simply said, “I am the true Son of Heaven. Are my words really less reasonable than the words of a pedantic petty official (Dong Zhongshu)?”

“For your sake, I can spare the lives of Emperor Zhangwu and these mediocre thieves who have harmed the country and the people.”

“Men.”

Ao Ruize ordered, “Send them all to Zhaoming Pass.”

“Let them spend the rest of their lives paying for the sins they committed back then.”

The middle-aged man replied, “Yes.”

Then, without waiting for Emperor Zhangwu and the others to speak again, a squad of soldiers directly stepped forward, gagged their mouths, and dragged them away.

Including Song Qingying, who wore a face full of utter unwillingness.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Hongyi finally wavered. Because how could he possibly not resent Emperor Zhangwu?

Not to mention Ao Ruize had already put things this explicitly.

But the next second, he reacted again: “Wait, Imperial Uncle. You are in your prime, and your illness has completely healed. Perhaps in a few years, imperial sons will be born in the palace again. Why go as far as making me the Crown Prince?”

Hearing this, Old Master Li and the others immediately snapped to attention.

Indeed! Emperor Taizong of Qian was able to sire the King of Yang when he was sixty years old. The King of Yang was only thirty-five or thirty-six this year. Why on earth would he need to adopt his enemy’s son as his heir?

“King of Yang?”

Ao Ruize raised his hand, cutting them off: “That is because I admire Third Master Liu of the Water Transport Guild. Third Master Liu is willing to remain unmarried for his entire life for my sake; naturally, I should also empty out the imperial harem for him. Otherwise, without him even having to lift a finger, just his sheer jealousy alone would be enough to drown me.”

Even though Ao Ruize’s tone couldn’t have been more relaxed, falling into the ears of Zhou Hongyi and the others, it was no less than a bolt from the blue.

“This… Imperial Uncle, you absolutely cannot…”

The acts of sharing a peach and cutting the sleeve (homosexuality) were already despised by society.

If Ao Ruize further refused to enter the imperial harem and left no heirs all for the sake of a man, he would likely be pointed at and cursed by thousands, leaving a foul reputation for ten thousand years.

Ao Ruize once again interrupted his words: “It’s fine. Once I exile all these pedantic scholars and corrupt officials to Yunnan and Guizhou to open up wastelands, there will be no one left to curse me.”

So his original choice to ascend the throne as emperor was indeed the correct one.

Sure enough, hearing this, four of the important Great Qian court officials kneeling in the back, who hadn’t even dared to breathe loudly, directly fainted on the spot.

Ao Ruize added: “As for leaving a foul reputation for ten thousand years, perhaps after a few decades or centuries, future generations will actually praise me for being affectionate and righteous.”

The middle-aged man and the others: “…”

That was actually true.

After all, in modern times, just the fujoshi (rotten women) community in the Hua Nation alone was powerful enough to forcibly create a top-tier trending celebrity every few days.

So just these few words from Ao Ruize would be enough for them to pump out hundreds of thousands of pieces of fanart.

However, this was definitely him showing off his affection, right?

This was absolutely him flexing his PDA.

“Alright.”

Before Zhou Hongyi could speak again, Ao Ruize directly pushed him toward the middle-aged man: “Go wash up first. You’re going to be very busy from now on.”

What did he mean, he’s going to be very busy from now on?

Zhou Hongyi: “…”

He suddenly felt as if something wasn’t quite right.

…

On the fifth day of the eighth month, in the sixteenth year of the Zhangwu reign of Great Qian, Luoyang City fell and Emperor Zhangwu was captured, declaring the demise of Great Qian, which had been passed down for one hundred and ninety-five years.

Three months later, Ao Ruize declared himself emperor in Yangzhou. He established the state of Great Yang, took the reign title Jianxing, made Third Master Liu his Imperial Consort, and named his adopted heir Zhou Hongyi as the Crown Prince.

He enfeoffed the Head Eunuch Lu Dang as the Marquis of Zhongyi (Loyalty and Righteousness), the middle-aged man as the Marquis of Chengyi (Sincerity and Intent), and Old Master Li as the Count of Shunyi (Obedience and Righteousness)… He also exiled all the civil and military officials of the previous dynasty to Yunnan and Guizhou.

Everything had finally settled into the dust.

However, everyone instead felt a sense of their souls wandering beyond the heavens.

“Back when Emperor Zhangwu was restored, he sacrificed to the Yellow Emperor and to Confucius, creating such a massive spectacle. But in the end, within less than a year, Great Qian perished.”

“When it comes to decisiveness in killing and acting, I’m afraid no one in this world can compare to His Current Majesty. Great Qian betrayed him, so he destroyed Great Qian and established a new dynasty, even if he himself belonged to the Great Qian royal family. The civil and military court officials betrayed him, so he exiled them all to Yunnan and Guizhou.”

…

Hearing these rumors, Lu Dang, who had once again become the Head Eunuch, couldn’t help but heave a long sigh.

Because in his contest with the middle-aged man, he had lost, yet he had also won.

He lost because the reason they were able to destroy Great Qian so quickly was ninety-nine percent due to the contributions of the middle-aged man and his comrades.

On this point, even if he recruited all the local squires and wealthy merchants in the world, he still couldn’t compare.

He won because the middle-aged man wasn’t a eunuch… He was destined to be unable to stay by Ao Ruize’s side to serve him forever.

It was just… an unexpectedly won victory, with absolutely no sense of accomplishment.

And recalling how he had previously tried every possible means to target the middle-aged man, Lu Dang couldn’t help but sigh again.

His gaze fell on the jujube cake in his hands, and he immediately ordered his godson: “Today’s jujube cake is made quite well. Go to the kitchens, get a few portions, and send them to Mr. Gao.”

The middle-aged man, receiving a gift from Lu Dang for the umpteenth time: “…”

He clearly remembered that Lu Dang was extraordinarily hostile towards him before. How did Lu Dang’s attitude suddenly change so drastically?

When in doubt… Lu Dang must have taken a fancy to him.

The middle-aged man: “…”

After all, Ao Ruize was a cut-sleeve. With Lu Dang constantly influenced by what he saw and heard, it seemed quite normal for him to turn bent as well.

Most importantly, his own looks truly weren’t bad at all. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been qualified to be selected for the tri-service honor guard back then. And although he was nearly forty, as a military man, he still maintained a great inverted-triangle physique.

So, it was well-founded and reasonable.

The most important thing was that although Lu Dang had been the Head Eunuch for over a decade, his actual age wasn’t that old—only around thirty-three or thirty-four. And despite Lu Dang usually looking smiling and amiable, he was actually a ruthless person who could raise a blade to kill, not even blinking when blood splattered onto his crimson robes.

Otherwise, how could he possibly have carried the gravely ill Ao Ruize out of the imperial palace back then…

So… it seemed it wasn’t completely unacceptable either.

The middle-aged man thought about it, and thought about it some more. In the end, he still couldn’t resist. He walked over to the bookshelf, opened the safe, took out a brand-new handgun, and handed it to the little eunuch: “This is a new model of handgun just manufactured by the firearms factory. Give it to your Head Eunuch to play with.”

Receiving the return gift from the middle-aged man, Lu Dang nodded in satisfaction.

It seemed the middle-aged man had already forgiven him.

On another side, someone else whose mood was extraordinarily complicated was the butler of the Liu Manor.

He originally thought his Third Master had lost his mind spending over a million taels of silver to visit male prostitutes.

He never expected that in just a short span of three months, the situation had morphed into his Third Master having spent over a million taels of silver to prostitute an Emperor.

And the other party even threw in the position of Imperial Consort as a bonus.

Later, he started worrying that the pedantic scholars and upright officials of the imperial court wouldn’t agree to Ao Ruize mingling with a man.

The result was that Ao Ruize just packed them all up and exiled them, giving them absolutely no opportunity to oppose it.

The butler couldn’t help but touch the wrinkles on his own forehead.

The worldly experiences he had seen were indeed still far too few.

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