funbook-pk Chapter 224 To Abdicate or Not
Chapter 224 To Abdicate or Not
"My lord, please heal my wounds." Yan He fawned over Meng Fuqing, presenting his wounds to him.
"You don't know, after I gained Wu Xin's trust, I kept telling them that all your 'goddess' tricks were things I'd already done, and that they shouldn't believe me."
"Maybe because I was around you, they believed me after I said it so much. If I had known you could take someone's head from a distance, I should have gone to the battlefield to see..."
Meng Fuqing hadn't expected Yan He to be so good at bluffing; no wonder Wu Xin and his men weren't afraid at all.
He glanced at the frostbite cracks on her hands and, thinking that this journey north would indeed be very difficult, reached out and helped her heal her wounds.
Xie Jin watched this scene unfold, and seeing Yan He's surprised but not astonished expression, his gaze towards Yan He became quite unfriendly.
He actually knew less than Yan He.
Yan He shrank back, looked at Xie Jin with a puzzled expression, and then turned to Meng Fuqing to complain, "He threatened me with his eyes!"
Meng Fuqing understood why Xie Jin was acting this way, and felt helpless. The two had been busy since the battle and hadn't had a chance to exchange more than a few words.
"You may step back and rest well. General Xie, please stay for now."
After Yan He left, Meng Fuqing said to Xie Jin, "You know my two remaining secrets."
Xie Jin frowned as he looked at Meng Fuqing, and after a long while asked, "Are you really a goddess from heaven?"
Meng Fuqing: ...
She shook her head. "I'm just someone with special abilities, but because some of my circumstances are different from those of ordinary people."
Xie Jin lowered his eyes and pondered. Given Meng Linlang's experiences, he had no doubt about Meng Fuqing's words.
He simply said, "You can't tell others about your ability to heal."
Meng Fuqing understood what he meant; in the harem, there was still an emperor lying paralyzed on his dragon bed and an empress suffering from depression.
“Even if we don’t say anything, people will bring it up. Before, they might have thought I used some kind of trick, but now…”
Xie Jin understood Meng Fuqing's unspoken words. With her current extraordinary abilities, she could naturally cure the emperor.
What are your plans?
Only the two of them were in the Imperial Study. If anyone came, Dou Xi'er, who was guarding outside, would report it. Meng Fuqing no longer hid anything: "Do you know why Jing'an Prefecture was safe and sound? And why the cold wave in Shengjing receded?"
Xie Jin continued thinking along the lines of her words, "Because of you?"
Meng Fuqing held real power in both of these places.
“That’s right,” Meng Fuqing said. “The reason you asked me before why I was in such a hurry is because of this.”
You know what a sand table is, right? If we compare the Great Yan Dynasty to a large sand table, and natural disasters to enemies, then whenever I conquer a territory, the enemies in that territory will be driven out.
The example she gave was indeed simple and easy to understand. Xie Jin, with his hands on the desk in front of Meng Fuqing, asked with rare curiosity, "Did the space tell you this?"
Meng Fuqing smiled and praised, "Brilliant. Space is not a living thing. I used those meteorites to make it advance to the next level, and that's how I discovered this secret."
Xie Jin suddenly realized, and ambition flashed in his eyes. "Now that Wu Xin has been captured, once our people arrive in the capital, we can help you rightfully occupy the imperial city."
The two of them had the same idea.
Meng Fuqing originally thought that an army of 100,000 would not be so easy to deal with, but she did not expect that Yan He had fooled Wu Xin's men into thinking that she was just a clever swindler. Therefore, after she revealed that skill, these people could not explain it and were so shocked that they lost their minds.
As the two were talking, Douxi'er's voice suddenly came from the doorway, "My lord, Princess Duanning has come to see you with several other officials."
Princess Duanning? Meng Fuqing knew that this was the emperor's most beloved younger sister.
She and Xie Jin exchanged a glance, both knowing that these people were probably up to no good.
"Please wait outside for a moment, Princess Duanning," Meng Fuqing said loudly, then lowered her voice, "Why don't you leave first?"
Thinking that there were few capable generals in the capital and a host of post-war matters to handle, Meng Fuqing said this, as she could manage these people herself.
Xie Jin straightened up, crossed his arms, and walked to the side behind Meng Fuqing's chair. "Do you know why they never shut up? They're just taking advantage of the fact that you don't have anyone around you."
Meng Fuqing remained silent for a moment. Had someone bullied her?
Putting everything else aside, it felt good to have someone backing you up, so she called out to Douxier to invite the person in.
Princess Duanning, who had been waiting impatiently outside, strode up to Meng Fuqing and coldly questioned, "Meng Fuqing, I am a princess of the Great Yan. What makes you think you can keep me waiting?!"
Xie Jin's hand landed on the sword hilt, his aura sharp for a moment, but then it deflated.
Princess Duanning was suspended by invisible ropes. She struggled in terror, and when she was half a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) off the ground, she was thrown back down hard, tears streaming down her face.
"As the Prince of Jing'an who took Wu Xin's head, I would like to remind Your Highness that you have just escaped the calamity of the city's destruction, so don't make trouble for yourself."
The officials brought by Princess Duanning hung their heads lower than ever, not wanting Meng Fuqing to remember their faces.
Among a bunch of cowards, there are always one or two brave men. One of them said, "Since Lord Meng knows that he is only the Prince of Jing'an, shouldn't serving the Great Yan be his duty as a subject?"
The Emperor is currently bedridden; given Prince Jing'an's extraordinary abilities, shouldn't he try to heal His Majesty's wounds?
Meng Fuqing refused outright: "I am not an omniscient or omnipotent person. You have chosen the wrong person."
"Prince Jing'an's words cannot convince the public..."
"Win over the masses?" Meng Fuqing said coldly, "Even if you don't submit to me, what can you do?"
As she spoke, she threw the person who had spoken out of the imperial study.
She stood up and walked to the remaining people, carefully examining each of their faces.
"I remember the faces of the four lords. The great battle has just ended, and instead of busying themselves with many matters, you have come to make things difficult for me. There are many things to do right now, but we will settle the score properly another day."
The Vice Minister of Rites, Lord Kang, quickly stepped forward to mediate, saying, "What kind of talk is this from Prince Jing'an? Facing an army of 100,000, Prince Jing'an took the head of the enemy in front of tens of thousands of soldiers. He is comparable to a god and is the faith of all people under heaven."
However, the Great Yan is ultimately the domain of the Wen family. If Prince Jing'an has a way to cure His Majesty, His Majesty will likely build a temple and erect a stele for Prince Jing'an after he recovers, so that all people may worship him..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xie Jin, his face dark, grabbed the man with one hand and threw him out of the Imperial Study.
"Why build a monument or temple while the person is still alive? Guards, take him to jail and thoroughly investigate whether he is colluding with the rebels!"
As Lord Kang's repeated pleas faded into the distance, no one in the Imperial Study dared to utter another word.
In the end, Meng Fuqing threw Princess Duanning and several others out of the imperial study.
Meng Fuqing's prestige was at its zenith. People spontaneously embroidered umbrellas for him and presented them to him. Some even hung his portrait in their homes and bowed to it three times a day.
When the people of the city heard that His Majesty intended to pass the throne to Meng Fuqing, they were overjoyed and spread the news far and wide. However, their joy was short-lived, as Meng Fuqing refused the offer.
This happened twice, and both times Meng Fuqing politely declined. Some commoners were so anxious that they even considered kneeling at the palace gates to beg Meng Fuqing to ascend the throne, and they couldn't help but complain about the emperor.
It's already paralyzed, yet it's still occupying the toilet without doing its business!
The third time 'His Majesty' proposed abdication of the throne was when Qin Su and Lu Sen led a group of troops to the outskirts of the imperial city to request an audience with Prince Jingnan.
On this day, Wen Du heard his servants recount Meng Fuqing's deeds, and he was on the verge of collapse.
His health showed no signs of improvement. When he asked Consort Chen about her condition, his subordinates simply gave him the runaround. It wasn't until he realized something was wrong that he learned his beloved had already turned to dust.
He could clearly feel the gradual loss of the people around him and the power in his hands, but he was powerless to do anything about it. To make matters worse, there were people using his name to do things he was unaware of.
"Meng Fuqing, Cui Jichu, whichever of them is it, bring them here! Bring them to my dragon bed!" he roared through gritted teeth.
It was Meng Fuqing who arrived. "Your Majesty sought me out?"
"You are Meng Fuqing?" This was the first time Wen Du had seen Meng Fuqing in all this time.
"Yes."
"What exactly do you want?" These days, Wen Du could only lie there and let his mind wander, even wondering if Meng Fuqing was related to his sudden illness.
"Naturally, we want to seek a legitimate reason, Your Majesty," Meng Fuqing said respectfully.
"Today, there is an army of over 100,000 gathered at the city gate. This time, they are not other people's men, but my men. To be precise, they are my men both inside and outside the city."
With just a word from me, Xie Jin, the man you have wanted throughout the land, will lead his troops into the imperial city. He hates you to the bone and will surely want to personally behead you.
So, is Your Majesty willing to abdicate the throne to me?