Chapter 1572: Questioning An Emperor

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was praised as the greatest Hall in Chu. It was where the emperor of Chu and his ministers held court. It was tall and massive, luxurious and splendid. That was why the people also called it the Hall of Golden Chimes.

Right now, Emperor Jing Run was sitting on his throne and listening to his ministers reporting on the military and national affairs in various places.

On the surface, it looked like Emperor Jing Run was listening attentively. In reality, he did not care. Well, that wasn’t quite right. It was more like he had grown numb after listening to the same melody for the umpteenth time.

He didn’t even need to listen to know the gist of it. It was either a terrible Stranger had appeared at a certain city, or a terrible storm of fire had broken out at a certain town, or the foreign armies were growing restless at the borders, or a rebellion had broken out in certain places. This was the kind of matter he heard and handled the most ever since the Heavens’ Eye was stolen.

Worse, there was nothing he could do about it. More accurately, he had already done absolutely everything he could do to remedy the situation. He had mobilized the troops, allocated food and wealth to the appropriate places, punished the evildoers and eliminated the evils, provided disaster relief to the people and more. He had done everything, but the incidents continued to sprout endlessly like weeds. Not only did the situation not improve, it became more chaotic and serious than ever before.

Although he was the one who singlehandedly brought his empire to his knees, he did not think he was in the wrong. After all, he was the ruler of this nation and the master of the world. How could he be wrong? In fact, everything he did was to fulfill the grand dream that Chu had not been able to fulfill despite countless years of trying, to make the empire wealthy and strong, and to foster prosperity and good health among the people.

What crime had he committed, pray tell? The real crime was the incompetency of his ministers. They wore tall hats, received ample payments, lived in large residences, slept with beautiful wives and concubines, and spawned enough grandchildren to fill up entire houses, but not a single one of them was good enough to shoulder his burden. They so often claimed that their civil talent could singlehandedly bring peace to the realm, and their martial might could pacify all dissidents and evils, but a boast was just that, a boast. If they were even a-tenth of who they claimed to be, they would have wiped out Nanjiang, taken the Earthly Sovereign Bell, or repaired the Heavens’ Eye already. They would not be in this situation right now.

Now, the situation had just gotten a little bad, and these people were already panicking and growing afraid. Not only did they reflect on their own incompetence, they even pushed all the blame on him. They dared to accuse him and blame him for this state of things. They thought themselves wise and educated, but they were really no different from the commonfolk, foolish and traitorous.

To be honest, he was becoming more and more annoyed with these people as of late.

He was so annoyed he only wished he could kill them all.

For now though, he still needed them to maintain the stability of the court and ensure that his orders were carried out properly. So, he couldn’t kill them yet. He could only pretend to listen and feign civility with them.

Of course, this was only temporary. Once his plan succeeded, then all of his problems and troubles would be resolved. He would fulfill a grand ambition that would be remembered for a thousand autumns and become an emperor of the ages. The people would sing his praises, and history would remember his name for eternity.

When the time came, he would be able to do whatever he wanted; kill whoever he felt like killing. No one would dare to disrespect him then.

An unconscious smile spread across Emperor Jing Run’s lips then. If not for the fact that he was in the presence of an audience, he might even be laughing right now.

“Your Holiness...” Suddenly, the Eunuch Supervisor-in-chief standing next to him called out to him.

“What is it?” A hint of displeasure flickered in his dark eyes as Emperor Jing Run snapped back to reality. Was this old bastard blind or something? Couldn’t he see that he was having a moment right now? He should kill him.

He would leave him with an intact corpse though. He did serve him well for many years.

The Eunuch Supervisor-in-chief felt a sudden chill, though he did not understand the reason behind it. When Emperor Jing Run responded, he hurriedly answered, “Director Zhou just reported that the Chief Libationist has entered the palace. He’s coming to the Hall of Supreme Harmony right now.”

“Hmm? The Chief Libationist is coming?” Emperor Jing Run was surprised. Although he had extended an invitation to the Chief Libationist multiple times, although he had even paid him a personal visit to invite him to the palace, he didn’t actually want the scholar to show up or borrow his strength. The real reason he did it was to keep him in the dark and prevent him from finding out and ruining his conspiracy.

Emperor Jing Run knew the Chief Libationist’s character well. To put it nicely, he was a man with great self-restraint and compassion. To put it bluntly, he was an inflexible old coot with excessive tendency to clemency. If he learned about his plan, he would definitely do everything in his power to stop him. That was why he had no choice but to resort to such an inferior tactic.

It didn’t make sense for the Chief Libationist to show up now though. Knowing the old man, he was feeling incredibly disappointed in him right now. He was also putting on a show and making it all too obvious that he wanted the Chief Libationist to clean up his mess, and there was no one the Chief Libationist loathed more than someone like that.

Logically speaking, the Chief Libationist should be ignoring him right now, much less come to the palace. But at the same time, the old man would also relax his guard thinking that he had repented.

This was what allowed him to carry out his plans without worrying about being discovered.

But today, the Chief Libationist wasn’t just entering the imperial palace, he was coming straight to the Hall of Supreme Harmony. This was not within his predictions at all.

He did not know why the Chief Libationist had shown up. Did something go wrong with his plan, and the Chief Libationist was here to lambast him? Or did he perform too well, and the Chief Libationist had decided to show up and offer him his support?

That was all he managed to think before a tall, formidable figure appeared at the entrance of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was massive, but it was as if the figure standing at the entrance was a giant. He blocked off all of the light shining through the entrance and stole everyone’s attention.

For a time, it was completely silent in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Everyone including Emperor Jing Run was staring at the Chief Libationist.

The Chief Libationist did not pay the ministers any attention. He strode into the hall without waiting to be invited and headed straight for Emperor Jing Run.

The ministers subconsciously opened up a path for him to pass through. They were all confused, but no one was talking or voicing their doubts.

“You’ve come, teacher.”

Since no one was talking, Emperor Jing Run had no choice but to do the talking himself. He quickly walked down the stairs and stood on the floor of the hall. Then, he saluted the Chief Libationist and said, “This student greets his teacher. Why haven’t you notified me about your arrival? I would have liked to welcome you in person, teacher.”

Emperor Jing Run had put himself in a very modest position. He had spoken like a humble student, not an emperor of a realm.

“Because there is no need to.” The Chief Libationist came to a stop about three meters away from Emperor Jing Run before looking at him. “I came today only to ask you a few questions, Your Holiness.”

Emperor Jing Run’s smile remained unchanged. “Tell me, teacher.”

The Chief Libationist asked, “Do you remember the first thing I said to you when you came to the Jixia Academy to study?”

Emperor Jing Run answered without hesitation, “You stood in front of me and told me that a student must be humble before anything.”

“It is because a humble one will meet people of exceptional character and think how they can become their equal. Just the same, when they meet people of poor character, they will look inside and examine themselves. That is how they should govern themselves.”

The Chief Libationist asked another question, “Do you remember what I said to you after you were made the crown prince?”

Again, Emperor Jing Run did not even think to answer, “You had clapped my shoulder and said, ‘a crown prince is the future monarch of a nation, and the future monarch must possess virtue.’”

“A virtuous one is one who lives up to another’s expectations and knows their own vessel clearly. That is how a crown prince should govern others.” The Chief Libationist threw him a third question, “And do you remember what I said to you when you ascended the throne and became emperor?”

Once more, Emperor Jing Run replied without hesitation, “You bent down slightly and said to me: an emperor is the master of the state and the father of all of his people. As such, an emperor should be benevolent.”

“A benevolent one values his people most, his state second, and his throne last. That is how an emperor should govern his nation.” The Chief Libationist watched him for a moment before sighing. “You do remember everything, don’t you[1]?”

1. Poor guy. ☜