"Your Majesty, I believe this matter should be entirely up to Your Majesty to decide," Huang Huaili said.
The young emperor smiled somewhat shyly. "Then, then as for the remaining vacancies in the various ministries, I will leave it to you, Chancellor Huang, to decide."
Guo Qianyue, who had originally worn a look of impatience, almost had his eyes pop out of his head upon hearing this.
"Your Majesty, this is absolutely inappropriate!"
"Grand Marshal, are you questioning Your Majesty?" Huang Huaili cut in directly.
The few successful imperial candidates did not even dare to lift their heads, but it was obvious that they were somewhat shocked. In ancient times, unlike the future where a single video could reveal everything, in the hearts of these scholars from remote areas, the emperor was a supreme existence, the Son of Heaven. But why did this young emperor seem to have no say at all?
"The Emperor is young! You, surnamed Huang, are clearly bewitching His Majesty!" Guo Qianyue was truly angry. After several clashes, he had suffered quite a few losses. Although the Guo and Huang families were roughly equal in power, the difference lay precisely with the emperor. He did not know what this little thing was thinking. Why did he repeatedly favor Huang Huaili?
Could it be? He only glanced at the young emperor and dismissed his own thought. This was clearly a child, incapable of having any deep schemes. Thus, it was highly likely that this man surnamed Huang was using the emperor to seek personal gain.
Of course, it wasn't that he didn't want to do the same, but primarily that others shouldn't be allowed to do it.
"Ahem, Lord Guo, please speak with caution. We still have candidates here. Do you, Lord Guo, wish to be branded with the crime of monopolizing state affairs and showing great disrespect to His Majesty?" Huang Huaili said slowly. He was delighted right now. Having fought with the man surnamed Guo for over a decade, he never expected the winning edge to lie with this young emperor.
"You..." Guo Qianyue was truly not afraid of criminal charges, but infamy was something to consider. Even if he, Guo Qianyue, was shameless, he had to consider the reputation of the Guo family's descendants. "I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness!"
The young emperor was somewhat panicked. "The Grand Marshal speaks too seriously. It was my lack of forethought..."
"Your Majesty! You do not need to explain yourself to him. As the ruler of a nation, you do not need to explain anything you do to a subject!" Huang Huaili threw out another sentence, striking Guo Qianyue's head directly like a wooden mallet.
Was this man surnamed Huang trying to solidify the pretext that he was bullying the young emperor?
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, but knowing that saying too much now would only lead to mistakes, he could only grit his teeth and endure.
The candidates were clearly somewhat panicked, each with a different expression on their faces. And every single one of their expressions was quietly memorized by Fang Zhiyi.
It wasn't until they returned to the inner palace that an old senior maid, accompanied by two palace maids, suddenly blocked the young emperor's path. "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager invites you to go over."
Hearing the words Empress Dowager, the young emperor inexplicably felt a bit afraid. This Empress Dowager was not his biological mother, but a concubine of the late emperor. She knew nothing but eating, drinking, and seeking pleasure. Moreover, there had been rumors that the Empress Dowager was having an affair with a certain court official... Of course, the palace maid who spread these words threw herself into a well that very day.
"Let's go." The old maid was not polite at all, stepping forward to pull at the young emperor.
Fang Zhiyi's eyes turned cold. This so-called Empress Dowager was Guo Qianyue's person. It seemed he truly harbored murderous intent toward the young emperor.
Just as he hesitated whether to intervene, the old maid cast a warning glare. But seeing Fang Zhiyi standing there with a wooden expression, the old maid nodded in satisfaction.
"Grand Tutor..." The young emperor looked at Fang Zhiyi for help.
Fang Zhiyi smiled. "Speaking of which, it has been several days since you paid your respects to the Empress Dowager. Your Majesty, you should go."
Looking at Fang Zhiyi's eyes, the young emperor was ultimately dragged away, full of reluctance.
Fang Zhiyi stood in place watching, and from the corner of his eye, he noticed that one of the two eunuchs following behind turned around and hurried away.
Let it be chaotic. The more chaotic, the better.
"Yunzhi! You child, you have been getting more and more out of line lately!" Although called the Empress Dowager, she was actually no more than thirty years old. Her heavily made-up face bore a trace of disgust. As a puppet Empress Dowager pushed into power, she knew very well that this young emperor was nothing but a plaything in the palms of those noble families, or even a scapegoat pushed to the front stage, who could be replaced at any time.
"Come here!"
Li Yunzhi shook his head repeatedly. "No."
"Hold him down and bring him here! Your wings have grown hard, haven't they? Is it your turn to speak casually?" The Empress Dowager's face was full of anger. She had already received a message from Guo Qianyue, hinting strongly that she should teach this young emperor a lesson so he would know whose side he should favor.
The old maid mercilessly grabbed the young emperor and dragged him forward, as if he were not the Son of Heaven, but a little beggar.
Li Yunzhi was terrified. He had been beaten by this Empress Dowager before and limped for over a month before recovering.
"No, no!"
"You are just like your mother, both cheap seeds!" The Empress Dowager raised her hand, while the old maid firmly pinned down the struggling Li Yunzhi.
"Protect the Emperor!" A sudden explosive shout stopped the Empress Dowager's raised hand from coming down. She then watched in astonishment as a group of people rushed in clamorously. The first to suffer was the old maid. She was still pinning Li Yunzhi down when the leading guard kicked her sharply in the calf. Her calf immediately let out a crisp snap, and she howled, rolling on the ground. The next moment, a blade was pressed against her neck.
"Audacious maid, how dare you use force against His Majesty! Do you have a death wish?"
The Empress Dowager, recovering her wits, glared and cursed, "Are your dog eyes blind? I am disciplining my child, what does it have to do with you? Get out!"
The leading Black Armor Guard looked at her coldly. "Empress Dowager, the orders we received are to ensure His Majesty's safety. Please do not make things difficult for us."
Even if the Empress Dowager was a fool, she knew clearly that, frankly speaking, she was just a mascot put on display like the young emperor. But thinking of Guo Qianyue's message, she felt somewhat unwilling to concede.
Just at this moment, another group of people rushed in. They were the Imperial City Guards, generally responsible for patrolling the outer perimeter of the imperial city. As soon as they entered, they drew their swords, forming a standoff with the Black Armor Guards.
Even a fool could see that these two groups belonged to different factions. The young emperor also understood. The Grand Tutor had said that the Black Armor Guards were Chancellor Huang's people, while the Imperial City Guards were Marshal Guo's people.
He had now become a tool for the two men's power struggle.
Fortunately, the situation did not remain deadlocked for long. First, a eunuch came in and whispered a few words to the head of the Black Armor Guards. He then led his men to escort the young emperor toward the door. Without receiving any instructions, the Imperial City Guards did not dare to act rashly, and the two groups separated just like that.
Only the old maid with the broken leg was left rolling on the ground, screaming miserably.
The Empress Dowager was somewhat bewildered. The man surnamed Huang was actually protecting the young emperor? Why?
Spending her days in pleasure, she naturally did not know what had happened recently. She just inexplicably felt that the young emperor seemed to have changed a bit, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what had changed.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
