The Human Emperor

The events of the past rushed through Li Heng’s mind. He still recalled back in Kunwu Training Camp, when he still had a timid personality, how Wang Chong had rebuked Li Jingzhong for him and how Wang Chong had reformed his blood.

He remembered how he had been deceived by Du Zhiqi and almost fallen into the First Prince’s trap before Wang Chong tactfully exposed it all.

He remembered when he was just beginning to learn martial arts and was exposed by the First Prince, Second Prince, and Third Prince to the Sage Emperor, accused of deceiving the sovereign. In the end, Wang Chong stepped in, helping avoid this disaster while he was still in a state of panic.

He also remembered in the Rebellion of the Three Princes how Wang Chong calmly dealt with the crisis and led troops to rescue him.

Time and time again, in these numerous dangerous struggles for power, if not for Wang Chong, he would have died. He would have never survived to this day, much less obtained the seat of the Crown Prince to become the heir apparent of the Great Tang!

Li Heng felt deep gratitude toward Wang Chong.

“Haha, there is no need for Your Highness to credit me with everything. Wang Chong only offered assistance from the sides. Your Highness was able to reach this day and obtain His Majesty’s favor to become Crown Prince solely through your own efforts.

“A tree can grow straight without support because it is in its nature to be straight, not due to any external force. I helped Your Highness back then because I saw that your loyal and honest nature destined you to become the heir apparent,” Wang Chong said with a smile.

Li Heng smiled at these words and didn’t try to argue. “Li Heng will brand on his heart how you helped me. In the future, no matter what changes, I will forever be your friend!

“Just like His Majesty and Duke Jiu, I will always believe in you and trust in you, and I hope that you will be able to be like Duke Jiu and forge a resplendent and legendary age for the Great Tang!”

Wang Chong was deeply moved by these words. He could sense that Li Heng’s words came from the innermost depths of his heart.

“Your Highness’s desires are my desires!”

Wang Chong looked at Li Heng and lightly chuckled as he spoke.

At that moment, silence said far more than words.

Amidst noisy celebration, Li Heng’s investiture ceremony came to an end.

There was victory in the northwest, a Crown Prince had been appointed, the Sage Emperor personally presided over the court, and the militarist-Confucian conflict was already over. For the common people, this was a period of grand prosperity, and peace and glory were bound to follow.

Through the discussions of the Six Bureaus and the proposal of Wang Chong, at least one billion taels of the gold and silver obtained from the war with Arabia was to be distributed by household to the common people of the Central Plains.

So that the profits of the war would benefit all the people of the Central Plains, the Bureau of Revenue had allocated an additional five hundred million taels of gold for fixing bridges, roads, and irrigation channels. These funds were also to be used on large-scale laying of cement roads to invigorate the empire’s economy.

But behind all this splendor, danger lurked.

Three days later, a figure silently entered the main hall of Wang Chong’s estate.

“How was it?”

Wang Chong’s eyes were half-closed, and he spoke without raising his head.

He had been waiting for some time for this man to appear. In fact, the guards of the estate had left a path open specifically for this man.

“Your Highness.”

The man, shrouded in a black robe, got down on one knee and took out a letter from his sleeve which he raised up with both hands.

A moment later, the letter flew through the air like a sharp arrow and into Wang Chong’s hands. As he opened the letter and glanced through it, a flash of worry appeared on his brow.

“Understood; you’re dismissed. Remember, tell of this matter to no one,” Wang Chong sternly said, folding up the letter.

“This lowly one understands,” the man cautiously said, apparently understanding the importance of the matter. He soon silently withdrew from the hall.

With a flick of his finger, Wang Chong obliterated the letter, leaving behind no trace.

Wang Chong looked up at the ceiling, his mind fraught with concern and a bad feeling in his heart.

“Haaa, I hope it’s not what I think!”

The hall once more fell silent.

Things continued as normal in the capital, but there was a subtle shift in the air.

Three days, the officials were all left startled by a piece of news. Without any notification, the Sage Emperor skipped a court session. Though the inner court quickly issued a notice and things continued as normal on the following day, the court historian still recorded the matter.

It seemed like this was only the beginning.

News soon came out of the palace that the Sage Emperor was restoring the palace theatrical troupe that had been banned since the third year of the Shengde era. Moreover, one night, he even summoned a theatrical troupe, and though Eunuch Gao appeared after an hour to dismiss them and things proceeded as normal the next day, all the officials were befuddled by the incident.

Several inner court officials sent memorials asking if the Sage Emperor wished to reopen the pleasure gardens in the harem. Even if this was true, enjoying pleasure gardens was no terrible sin. But the Sage Emperor flatly rejected the proposal.

All the ministers were somewhat at a loss.

Another incident came hot on the heels of the previous.

When he was in the harem, the Sage Emperor suddenly wanted to eat lychee fruit from Lingnan. He issued a decree ordering the local office in Lingnan to send a box of lychee by emergency courier to the capital. Although the Sage Emperor had not asked for much, the Lingnan office was still thrown into a panic. After several days and running two horses to death, it managed to deliver a box of fresh Lingnan lychees to the palace.

The Sage Emperor seemed to be acting on impulse, only asking for one box of lychees and not for Lingnan to make a tribute offering, and he did not issue any similar decrees afterward. But the incident alone left the imperial censors greatly displeased. Several of them wrote memorials criticizing the Sage Emperor for damaging the welfare of the people and placing unnecessary burdens on them.

The Sage Emperor was very frank in admitting his wrongs, even taking silver taels from the palace to compensate the people and soldiers who had been inconvenienced by the transport of the lychees!

These were all minor matters, but all of them made the court officials uneasy.

The Sage Emperor had reigned for several decades as an upright and benevolent sovereign. Incidents like these had never happened before.

No one knew what was happening, but the veteran officials of the court could all tell that the Sage Emperor was different.

However, the Sage Emperor continued to be diligent in his work, and government affairs continued as normal. Thus, the officials had no excuse to investigate too deeply.

But while the Imperial Court had put the matter aside, outside the walls of the palace, all of this information was being collected and sent to Wang Chong.

“Your Highness, your subordinate does not dare to speak lightly about matters of the palace, but His Majesty’s actions are far too abnormal, truly leaving one perplexed!” a kneeling Zhang Que respectfully said, his brow creased.

All of the information had to pass through Zhang Que before it was sent on to Wang Chong. The Sage Emperor was a sovereign for the ages, both wise and strong, but recently, even Zhang Que had found his behavior rather absurd.

“Shut your mouth! Matters of the palace are not something either you or I can recklessly discuss!” Wang Chong sternly said.

What Wang Chong was doing and all the information Zhang Que had gathered were major taboos. A subject was not allowed to reproach the sovereign, and if Zhang Que’s words found their way into the ears of others, they would cause a great stir. At the minimum, Zhang Que could be seized and imprisoned.

“Yes!”

Zhang Que knew that he had been out of line, and hastily lowered his head, knowing that Wang Chong meant well.

Wang Chong quickly dismissed Zhang Que, and the hall grew quiet.

Wang Chong gripped the reports and slowly frowned, hints of concern in his eyes.

The court seemed calm on the surface, but the Sage Emperor’s recent incidents had already begun to draw private reproach from the major officials, and some of them had even come to find Wang Chong.

The moment the militarist-Confucian conflict concluded, Wang Chong stepped down from his position as Minister of War. Moreover, with the world at peace, the Bureau of Military Personnel had almost nothing but free time on its hands. Wang Chong’s presence in court sessions became almost superfluous.

Even so, as a meritorious official of the Great Tang and the first in this reign to be enshrined in Lingyan Pavilion, Wang Chong had enormous status amongst the major officials.

The Sage Emperor’s problem was no minor affair. These major officials had come to find Wang Chong in the hopes that he could offer some assistance, perhaps investigate matters to confirm that the Sage Emperor was fine so that the court’s worries could be allayed.

Wang Chong frowned as he muttered, “I already fed the Sage Emperor the Origin Immortal Elixir during the Rebellion of the Three Princes. Has the Sage Emperor’s condition still not improved?”

During the Rebellion of the Three Princes, Wang Chong had infiltrated the inner palace and fed the Sage Emperor the most precious and almost divine ‘Origin Immortal Elixir’. This was a miraculous pill that the Origin Immortal Lord had gone through immense effort to refine. There were only three of them, and they could heal all injuries.

Wang Chong had believed that he had cured the Sage Emperor on that day, or at least allowed the Sage Emperor to unleash that sword that could make the world pale, bringing an end to the rebellion. This heaven-shaking attack seemed to be proof that he was better, but it didn’t seem like things were that simple.

Wang Chong’s brow creased more and more.

The reports from the palace of the Sage Emperor’s condition could no longer be explained through a simple waning of cultivation.

“Old Eagle!”

Wang Chong’s eyes flashed as he called out.

“Your subordinate is here!”

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