DLWAV CH30

In October, two major events occurred in the court of Great Yang.

First, Prince An, who had returned from disaster relief in Yunzhou, formally entered the court after resting in his mansion for a few days. He joined the Ministry of Works for administrative observation and was appointed as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, a rank of primary third grade.

As soon as this news broke, the way many officials in the court looked at Ao Ruize changed.

Because other princes entering the six ministries for observation usually started as Directors, a rank of primary fifth grade. Only Ao Ruize started directly as a Vice Minister of primary third grade.

They couldn’t help but wonder, what exactly did Emperor Yuanxi mean by this?

Second, Liu Neng, the only son of the former heir to the Duke of Zhenguo, actually hadn’t died; he returned.

And the first thing he did upon returning was to contact the second wife of the former Duke of Zhenguo and the wife of the former heir, who had been forced to become concubines in the backyard of the current Duke of Zhenguo, Liu Chaoying.

With their help, he successfully contacted some of the old subordinates of the former Duke and his heir.

Five days later, Liu Neng colluded with Japanese pirates and, with the help of those old subordinates, fought his way into Fuzhou City.

Before Liu Chaoying could organize an army to resist, he was hacked to death by the Japanese pirates.

That very day, Fuzhou City fell into the hands of the Japanese pirates.

When the news reached the capital, the entire court and public were in an uproar.

Fortunately, the Duke of Wei, Xia Jingyao, happened to be training nearby with a part of the Left Division of the Five Barracks.

So that night, while the Japanese pirates were busy celebrating, Duke of Wei Xia Jingyao led four thousand imperial guards and ten thousand remnants of the Fuzhou Navy back into Fuzhou City, killing all five thousand Japanese pirates inside.

Fuzhou City returned to the jurisdiction of Great Yang.

When this news reached the capital, the court and public were in an uproar again.

After all, everyone knew that Fuzhou had long fallen under Liu Chaoying’s control.

Let alone the imperial army entering Fuzhou for training, even just passing through, Liu Chaoying wouldn’t easily agree. Even if forced to agree, he would send heavy troops to monitor them.

So obviously, the Duke of Wei had ambushed outside Fuzhou City behind Liu Chaoying’s back long ago.

Otherwise, how could it be so coincidental that Fuzhou City fell one moment, and the Duke of Wei led troops to reclaim it the next?

Even more coincidentally, Liu Chaoying’s family of over three hundred had just been slaughtered by Liu Neng.

And Liu Neng later also ‘died’ under the iron hooves of the imperial guards.

—So the truth was already obvious.

That “Liu Neng” wasn’t the only son of the former heir at all; he was an impersonator sent by the court. Anyway, the real Liu Neng’s body was never found, and no one knew if he was dead or alive.

And the first thing he did upon arriving in Fuzhou was to contact the Japanese pirates, making them mistakenly believe he was the real Liu Neng returning for revenge against Liu Chaoying.

The Japanese pirates were already worrying about how to attack Fuzhou City and capture Liu Chaoying alive to avenge past grievances. Hearing that he could contact the old subordinates of the former Duke and his heir to help open the city gates, they decisively agreed to cooperate with him.

The second wife of the former Duke and the wife of the former heir might have recognized that he wasn’t the real “Liu Neng,” but it didn’t matter. They had long wished to swallow Liu Chaoying alive. Now that a knife was handed to them, how could they refuse?

So with their help, “Liu Neng” successfully won over the old subordinates of the former Duke and his heir.

Just like that, “Liu Neng” coordinated with the Japanese pirates from the inside and outside, destroying Liu Chaoying.

Once the Japanese pirates occupied Fuzhou City and lowered their guard, he then coordinated with the Duke of Wei, who had been lying in ambush outside the city, to destroy the Japanese pirates—

Initially, they thought this was the Emperor’s idea, but unexpectedly, the investigation led back to Ao Ruize.

“What did you say? Prince An orchestrated this whole thing?”

“Hiss, how old is he—”

“The Zhao family actually produced a ruthless character!”

Although they successfully reclaimed Fuzhou in this battle and annihilated the returning Japanese pirates, ensuring peace on the southeast coast for at least five years…

Because of this event, less than forty percent of the fifty-thousand-strong Fuzhou Navy survived, and many of the remaining were disabled.

Many gentry and wealthy families in Fuzhou City were looted clean by Liu Neng and the Japanese pirates, with casualties numbering no less than twenty thousand.

Simply because Liu Neng said, ‘Those lowly commoners in the city won’t yield much loot even if killed; might as well go straight for the rich and powerful,’ and the Japanese pirates all felt he made a lot of sense.

Although the Fuzhou Navy was notorious—abducting women, seizing land, killing civilians to claim credit… their roots were just like Liu Chaoying’s, rotten to the core.

And those gentry and wealthy families were mostly Liu Chaoying’s supporters.

But that was over fifty thousand lives, including countless elderly, weak, women, and children.

However, even though they thought this way, not a single person stood up to impeach Ao Ruize.

Because they knew perfectly well that compared to the peace of Fuzhou and the southeast coast, this loss was nothing.

If they had to choose, they would have done the same.

Otherwise, why did the founding emperors of past dynasties rise in rebellion? Didn’t they know that wars would kill many people?

On Emperor Yuanxi’s side, although he had long anticipated that Ao Ruize’s plan would likely succeed, when the goal was achieved so smoothly, he still couldn’t help but excitedly pace around the main hall.

Finally, remembering that Ao Ruize had converted the manor he previously rewarded into ponds for raising pearl mussels, he waved his hand and rewarded him with the two manors next to it as well.

“Good.”

After court was dismissed, the First Prince could no longer hold back and slapped Ao Ruize heavily on the shoulder.

“Eighth Brother, you’ve really done me proud this time.”

Because the First Prince’s servants had used his name to beat to death a few farmers who refused to sell their fertile land, the First Prince hadn’t been able to hold his head up in court or public for the past few days.

Now he could finally straighten his back again.

Ao Ruize just smiled: “This is all what I should do as a prince.”

The First Prince didn’t suspect anything else: “Come, come, let’s go to Mother Consort’s palace. Mother Consort said that to celebrate your great contribution upon entering the court, she specially prepared a big table of dishes and made your favorite chestnut stewed chicken.”

But Ao Ruize said, “No.”

“I have urgent business in Fuzhou and must leave immediately, so another day.”

“Trouble Big Brother to apologize to Mother Consort for me.”

Hearing this, the First Prince was stunned for a moment.

By the time he reacted, Ao Ruize had already walked far away with his people.

The First Prince could only go to Consort Xian’s place by himself.

Hearing that Ao Ruize didn’t come, Consort Xian was also stunned.

She said, “Since Old Eight came back from Yunzhou, he has changed a lot and doesn’t come here much anymore.”

Hearing this, the First Prince was stunned again.

But he quickly reacted: “Eighth Brother is busy with official duties now, so it’s normal that he doesn’t have time to visit you.”

“As for him changing a lot, I’m actually quite happy. After all, he’s making progress… we can finally set our minds at ease.”

That was true.

Consort Xian’s heart settled down a little.

A smile soon rose on her face again: “If Old Eight can’t come, then forget it. Let’s eat first. I made your favorite silver fungus and lotus seed soup, roasted lamb, and Dongpo pork.”

The First Prince laughed loudly: “Then I’m in for a treat today.”

…………

Actually, the matter of going to Fuzhou wasn’t urgent, because the main forces hadn’t set off yet, so Ao Ruize couldn’t do much even if he went now.

But he couldn’t stand the fact that Xia Jingyao was currently in Fuzhou.

Ao Ruize had endured for over two months and couldn’t hold back anymore.

Just in time, his body had also completely recovered—

So after parting with the First Prince, he took his people and went straight to Fuzhou.

In Fuzhou, Xia Jingyao, having settled the second wife of the former Duke and the wife of the former heir, returned to the post station at noon.

Taking a sip of the bird’s nest soup brought by the butler, as if thinking of something, Xia Jingyao couldn’t help but smile.

He only learned a few days ago that the person who orchestrated this Fuzhou coup was Ao Ruize.

No wonder after returning from Yunzhou, Ao Ruize became busy, only occasionally cooking a few dishes for servants to deliver to his military camp.

Xia Jingyao originally thought he was playing hard to get, trying to create a sense of loss in his heart to attract his attention.

Unexpectedly, he had overestimated Ao Ruize’s romantic intent.

But this wasn’t the main point. The main point was that before he even agreed to Ao Ruize, Ao Ruize had already made use of him.

—Otherwise, how to explain that with so many generals in the capital more experienced than him, Emperor Yuanxi specifically chose him to lead troops to Fuzhou?

Sure enough, there was no free lunch in the world.

Xia Jingyao chuckled lightly: “I made a loss!”

Just then, the sound of urgent hooves came from outside the window.

Before long, a servant came to report: “My Lord Duke, Prince An has arrived and wants to see you.”

Xia Jingyao raised an eyebrow.

He immediately got up and went to Prince An’s room.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered, he happened to see Ao Ruize grabbing a teacup handed by an attendant, throwing his head back, and draining it in one go.

By the time Xia Jingyao reacted, his gaze was firmly fixed on Ao Ruize’s sharp jawline and his bobbing Adam’s apple.

A bit tempting!

Xia Jingyao’s Adam’s apple couldn’t help but move up and down as well.

But what moved him was far more than this.

At this moment, Ao Ruize put down the teacup.

Only then did Xia Jingyao discover that Ao Ruize was actually half a head taller than him.

Because Ao Ruize used to be too thin, he had only noticed that clothes hung on Ao Ruize like on a broken bamboo pole, never paying attention to his height.

But now—

The clothes were the same, but now they seemed to cling to Ao Ruize’s body, and the bulging muscles underneath were visible to the naked eye.

In less than two months, a… man could undergo such earth-shaking changes?

Xia Jingyao had to admit.

Current Ao Ruize was a bit of eye candy.

More eye-catching than the First Prince.

More eye-catching than any other man in the military camp.

He seemed to be truly a little moved.

Xia Jingyao’s fingers, hanging by his side, twitched.

He thought, since I made a loss, isn’t it only right and proper for me to make it up from somewhere else?

Thinking this, he bowed to greet: “This general greets Prince An.”

But before he could bend down, Ao Ruize reached out and supported him up: “Duke of Wei, no need for formalities.”

“It’s been hard on the Duke of Wei recently. How is the situation in Fuzhou now?”

Speaking of business, Xia Jingyao’s expression became slightly serious: “Everything is fine in Fuzhou now. The common people settled down after hearing that the court plans to exempt Fuzhou from tax silver for five years. The properties confiscated from Liu Chaoying and others have all been registered…”

“That’s good.”

After discussing business, Ao Ruize paused, his gaze landing on the slight dark circles under Xia Jingyao’s eyes: “Did the Duke of Wei not sleep well again these past few days?”

Almost simultaneously, the milk dumpling’s distressed voice rang out: “Wifey already has nyctophobia and gets homesick. During the two days they ambushed outside Fuzhou City, they didn’t even dare to light torches at night for fear of being discovered by the Fuzhou Navy, so how could he sleep well?”

Xia Jingyao raised an eyebrow slightly: “It was okay.”

So Prince An is finally ready to take a step further?

Ao Ruize couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty. He said, “I heard Fuzhou is famous for hot springs. While there’s nothing much to do these few days, would the Duke like to join me in finding a hot spring villa to soak and relax?”

The milk dumpling immediately said, “That’s a good idea.”

“Let me see… got it. Liu Chaoying had several hot spring villas under his name. One is built halfway up Qingyun Mountain outside Fuzhou City. It also has a lot of sugarcane, winter jujubes, and olives planted inside. You guys can soak in the hot spring, watch the mountain scenery, and eat candied olives at the same time.”

Xia Jingyao was stunned for a moment, as he subconsciously imagined the scene.

Then his breathing became erratic for a split second.

Xia Jingyao said meaningfully, “Since Prince An says so, then Jingyao would be disrespectful to refuse.”

So, am I about to get what I wished for?

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