Grand Tutor 01

"What are you always laughing at?" Fang Zhiyi asked, somewhat puzzled.

Little Hei waved his hands repeatedly, "Nothing, nothing at all."

Before Fang Zhiyi had time to press the matter, a person walked over from the side.

"Grand Tutor..." Fang Zhiyi looked down to see a half-pint-sized little guy wearing an ill-fitting dragon robe, looking at him timidly. "It's time for the morning court."

Fang Zhiyi froze for a moment. He looked down at his own attire, coughed, and nodded, but the Young Emperor just stared at him without making a move.

"Let's go!" Fang Zhiyi urged.

The Young Emperor shrank his neck back and walked forward with a rather strange expression.

Fang Zhiyi urged Little Hei, "Hurry up with the plot." At the thought that he might be a powerful minister again, Fang Zhiyi was quite pleased, as he had felt rather stifled lately.

The Southern Jin dynasty, having just gone through a rebellion, was in absolute chaos. Various factions had fought each other for the throne, leaving only the Guo and Huang families in the end, while the previous emperor was intercepted and killed while fleeing.

The two rival factions came to a mutual agreement to simply push the Young Emperor, who had not yet come of age, onto the throne. Guo Qianyue of the Guo family took the position of Grand Marshal, while Huang Lihuai of the Huang family became the Prime Minister. Below them were the other noble families, turning the entire imperial court into a theatrical stage for these people.

However, because of this, the chaotic world gradually found peace, and the situation slowly stabilized.

The emperor was still young and naturally needed someone to assist him. Even if it was just for show, it had to be done for the world to see. Thus, the muddle-headed Fang Zhiyi was pushed up by a strange combination of circumstances, rising from a fifth-rank censor to a Grand Tutor.

It sounded like a resounding title, but in reality, it meant absolutely nothing. At best, he was just a mouthpiece for the Guo and Huang families.

He was also tactful. Knowing that the current emperor had no real power, he simply did whatever the Guo and Huang families told him to do. The treatment was decent anyway, and he could go home and boast about it, so why not?

Fang Zhiyi knew full well that the previous emperor was killed precisely because he showed dissatisfaction with the Huang family and conspired with his royal guards to seize power. He did not want to be implicated by the emperor, so Fang Zhiyi kept an exceptionally close eye on the Young Emperor.

In truth, even if he did not watch so closely, the Young Emperor could not do anything anyway. From the eunuchs to the imperial guards in the palace, everyone belonged to the great noble families. It could be said that not a single person was loyal to the emperor. Even some government decrees were written by the Guo and Huang families and handed to him; he would just have the emperor stamp the seal, hastily go over it in court, and that would be it.

"If you don't do as you're told, you'll probably be thrown into the imperial garden to feed the fish tomorrow, and the history books will record that you drowned because you were playing around." A drunk Fang Zhiyi frightened the Young Emperor, whose body trembled as he said, "Grand Tutor, I don't want to be the emperor anymore."

"How could that do? This whole world is yours. If you don't do it, there will be war again, and many people will die." Fang Zhiyi didn't really care about all that. He knew very well that from the day he took office, his fate was tightly bound to this Young Emperor. Given the viciousness of the Guo and Huang families, he feared that the moment the Young Emperor stepped down, he himself would suddenly drop dead at home.

But what else could be done?

However, the Young Emperor was the emperor after all. Once, Fang Zhiyi accidentally bumped into him whispering with a Black Armor Guard, which raised Fang Zhiyi's vigilance. After the guard left, Fang Zhiyi used a mix of coaxing and threats until the Young Emperor revealed the reason.

That Black Armor Guard's ancestor was originally a lieutenant who followed the late emperor in battle. Seeing the royal family fall into the hands of powerful ministers, he was filled with indignation and deliberately approached him to pledge his loyalty, proposing to assassinate Guo and Huang during the morning court.

Fang Zhiyi instantly felt a chill down his spine. He knew that if those people ever found out about this, the consequences would be unimaginable.

He hardly hesitated before turning around to seek an audience with Lord Guo, spilling the whole matter out in detail.

But as he was about to leave, Lord Guo stopped him and specifically instructed that this matter must not be told to a third person. Although it wasn't explicitly stated, Fang Zhiyi knew this meant he shouldn't inform the Huang family. Forced by Lord Guo's intimidation, Fang Zhiyi agreed.

During the morning court, Fang Zhiyi was extremely nervous. He kept glancing at the Black Armor Guards standing outside the hall. When he heard the shouts of killing erupt, Fang Zhiyi's heart leaped into his throat.

Several Black Armor Guards rushed in, shouting slogans to clear the emperor's side of evil ministers. Fang Zhiyi noticed that Lord Guo Qianyue looked completely calm and breezy, while Huang Lihuai was in a state of sheer panic. Just as those Black Armor Guards charged toward Guo Qianyue, who stood at the very front, a sudden change occurred. Guo Qianyue cleared his throat and coughed, and the fully armored warriors ambushed inside the hall all revealed themselves.

At this moment, the Young Emperor, whose face had been full of hope, was left completely stunned.

Fang Zhiyi was also shocked by Guo Qianyue's subsequent actions. He directed those armored soldiers to first subdue the Black Armor Guards, and then he walked toward Huang Lihuai. After a round of mockery, he hacked Huang Lihuai to death right there on the spot. Then he turned around and killed several courtiers belonging to Huang Lihuai's faction before finally looking at the Young Emperor.

"Your Majesty, you were not startled, I presume?"

The Young Emperor was shivering with fear and tried to grab the hem of Fang Zhiyi's clothes, but Fang Zhiyi dodged sideways. He could not afford to follow this unlucky emperor to the underworld.

To Fang Zhiyi's surprise, Guo Qianyue did not lay a hand on the emperor. Instead, he publicly declared that rebels had caused a disturbance and that Lord Huang had been tragically murdered while loyally protecting the emperor. He then made the Young Emperor personally supervise the execution of the rebel Black Armor Guards.

"Your Majesty must watch carefully. These people all died because of you." Guo Qianyue's words were incredibly vicious, making even Fang Zhiyi's back turn cold.

After Huang Lihuai's death, Guo Qianyue took the opportunity to suppress the Huang family. The leaderless Huang family was caught off guard, and several key figures were taken down in succession. This period was also Fang Zhiyi's busiest time. Guo Qianyue sent up memorial after memorial, forcing the emperor to read them aloud in public, which were nothing more than declarations about the Huang family's wild ambitions.

This struggle lasted for about half a year. Guo Qianyue, having seized the initiative, completely exterminated the Huang family. Only Huang Wenlin, who led troops, escaped disaster, but he subsequently took his remnants and hid in the desert.

Even at this point, Fang Zhiyi still did not understand what Guo Qianyue was trying to do. He only worked even harder to serve the Guo family. As long as he could stay alive, anything was acceptable.

However, the Guo family, now holding absolute power, still did not stop. Guo Qianyue grew old, and his son Guo Siwei stepped into the court. Today's imperial court had become a dictatorship of the Guo family. Guo Siwei was even more ruthless than his father. Bringing a sword to court was one thing, but he even frequently trespassed into the inner harem. For his own pleasure, he often forcefully abducted common women under the guise of taking concubines for the emperor.

Fang Zhiyi had seen several women forced to jump into wells or hang themselves.

He could only pretend not to see it, working even harder for the Guo family instead.