Chapter 574: An Odor Pervades the Great Xia Palace
Chapter 574: An Odor Pervades the Great Xia Palace
Translator:Atlas Studios
Editor:Atlas Studios
Great Xia.
Since the defeat from six months ago, all of Great Xia was in a state of unceasing turmoil.
Even though they knew that the aboriginals were good fighters and they had prepared several hundreds of thousands of soldiers over a long period of time, their forces were unexpectedly defeated by just 50,000 aboriginals. Great Xia was left with less than 200,000 soldiers, and it was their first major defeat in decades.
Needless to say, the winged cavalry led by Li Qianqiu was going to leave Great Xia. They had looted several cities and caused the people in a big portion of the southern region to be jittery.
After the winged cavalry left, people from all walks of life in Great Xia were unspeakably angry.
In many parts of the nation, public sentiment, especially among the scholars, surged. However, there was no movement in Great Xia for half a year, and this greatly disappointed many people, so they began to vent their frustrations on the imperial court.
It wasn't that the people didn't know the difficult position that the court was in, but many people still focused their resentment on the court. After all, being raided by the aboriginals in the land of Great Xia was something that had never happened before.
First, there was the huge defeat and the inability to prevent the aboriginals from running wild in their territory. To the people of Great Xia, who held their country in high regard, it was like rubbing their faces into the dirt.
"It's never the right time! You can't share my burden and don't have any ideas at all! What's the point of having you?!" The roar of the emperor of Great Xia rang out in the Discussion Hall, and the necks of the guards outside the hall subconsciously shrank.
In the past six months, the emperor of Great Xia was often extremely angry, and it had become a habit. Almost every few days, someone would be beaten to death because they infuriated him.
At the same time, since he vomited blood and fainted twice, his physical health had become worse. Previously, he had few white hairs, but almost half of his hair had turned white now. He looked haggard with sunken eyes.
"Your Majesty, the tax imposed by the court is very heavy! Complaints are coming from many places, and we can't increase it anymore! However, if we don't increase the tax, it will be hard to procure grain and armaments. Furthermore, the recruitment and training of new soldiers will take quite a long time, and it will be at least two years before they can march down south."
"Right now, for the barbarians, their external threats are two nations, the Yun Nation and the Chen Nation. Internally, Tianjing Basin is in turmoil, and peace will not be restored in the short term. This is the best time for us to recuperate. In two years, we can take the opportunity to eliminate them in one fell swoop," an elderly man said calmly. He was used to the emperor exploding into a tantrum every two or three days, so he wasn't afraid.
He felt sad at the sight of the once heroic emperor inevitably deteriorating to such a stage as he aged. Although others didn't know, the changes he had seen during the past half year made him feel that the emperor was getting muddle headed even though it was disrespectful to say so.
Fortunately, the crown prince was a valiant man and could take over when the emperor passed away.
Looking at the emperor's physical condition, it was only a matter of a few years."Wait, wait, and wait—I'm always told to wait. How can I keep on waiting? Do you think I don't know what the citizens are saying about me? And you there, the cowardly Prime Minister!" Xia Bailong snorted loudly. His face was red and his eyes bloodshot. Thinking of the news that reached him almost made him mad with rage.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. Getting angry is bad for your health," another elderly man quickly added. After vomiting blood and fainting twice, Xia Bailong fainted several times during the past six months and no one could afford not to take care of his health. Many issues were hidden from him, but was it possible to keep the lid on them?
In particular, the idea of taking revenge against Dayao was like a thorn in his heart.
"Your Majesty, these are deliberate provocations, and if you get angry, you will be falling into their trap," Qi Mingtang, who was labeled as the cowardly Prime Minister, said calmly.
"Hmph!" Xia Bailong snorted loudly again and said, "We only lost a battle, yet all kinds of disastrous news has spread. Do they really think my Great Xia is doomed? Did you manage to find any clues?"
"Their organization is very well coordinated. Although we caught a few people, they killed themselves by taking poison. However, we recently found some leads and should be able to find the people behind all these rumors soon," a middle-aged man said. He sported a long white beard and looked valiant and dignified.
"I will give you one more month! No matter what, you must find the people who are instigating all this trouble!" Xia Bailong declared. Then, he covered his face due to the splitting headache that his rage had induced.
At this time in the palace, a eunuch was walking around somewhere. Seeing nobody in the vicinity, he quickly entered a forest and found a small cylinder in a secret place with a square box tied to it. After tapping on the box a few times, its screen showed a countdown commencing.
After finishing his task, he put the cylinder and box back into the original location, walked away from the secret place, and headed to the next area.
It took him two months to move these things into the palace in batches and then hide them everywhere. Now was the time to use them.
He didn't know what these strange things were used for, but he knew that in eight hours, a world-shattering event would happen.
His mission was to carry out this event.
His eyes seemed to sparkle when thinking about this.
There were five other people doing the same thing as him. Some of them were eunuchs, whereas others were palace maids.
Four hours later, two of the conspirators changed their clothes, took a prearranged route, and hid under a wagon filled with meat to leave the palace.
An hour later, three other people used a different way to leave the palace.
The only person left was a maid who didn't stand out, but had very bright eyes that were unforgettable after just one look. She sat quietly in the courtyard and waited to see what was going to happen.
"Qing Lian, you will be scolded by the empress if she sees you here," a maid who was passing by reminded her.
Many people didn't want to see this palace maid, who never fought for anything and only minded her own business, get punished in this cruel palace.
"Let her scold as much as she wants!" Qing Lian smiled. She arranged her hair with an exceptionally bright smile.
"You…" The other maid couldn't understand what Qing Lian was doing and asked, "Are you out of your mind? You better move fast and if you aren't feeling well—go back to your room and rest. If they call for you, I will help to excuse you."
"Thank you, Sister Ling Yue." Qing Lian smiled again and said, "I will leave in a while. Please don't get implicated by me, so if someone asks, you can tell them directly."
"Go? Where can you go? Are you thinking of suicide? Are you crazy? The empress doesn't treat you badly, and although there isn't any freedom in the palace, you are well fed, well clothed, and the workload is also not heavy. Is there something causing you to despair?" The other maid was shocked.
Qing Lian's smile suddenly froze.
Did I mention anything about committing suicide? Aren't you being oversensitive?
Nevertheless, she continued smiling and kindly warned her in advance, "Something big may happen in the palace soon. Sister, please protect yourself well."
Subsequently, there were explosions all over the palace as the cylinders that were hidden in those secret places exploded.
Boom!The explosions rang out one after another.
"What's that noise? Go and take a look!"
At the same time, numerous guards and palace maids headed to the spots where the explosions came from.
Before they could take a few steps, they encountered a suffocating smell that hit them like a sledgehammer, causing them to freeze in place and vomit violently.
Some palace maids collapsed to the floor and fainted on the spot.
The emperor of Great Xia, who had just taken some medicine and looked slightly better, was in his bedroom when he heard the uproar. Before he could berate anyone, the stench came in from the window and entered his nose.
The emperor felt spasm after spasm as the suffocating smell hit him and fainted before even taking a breath.