What right does a vassal king have to move the capital? Besides, to be honest, His Majesty has already stripped him of his title, and now he's not even a vassal king anymore, just a commoner.
But people still call him the King of Qin.
Even this group of people, for convenience and to avoid giving themselves away by calling him the King of Qin, did not change their address and addressed him as such, just like everyone else.
The young man scoffed and fell silent.
...
The following night, a force of several thousand men suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked the Jingyuan Army, which was encamped on a flat plain.
The arrival of the army was imposing, and the sound of their horses' hooves shook the ground. The families following behind the Jingyuan Army were thrown into chaos, with cries and screams filling the air.
While Guo Sheng was on night patrol, he directed the Jingyuan Army to meet the enemy, and at the same time had them all brought closer and protected within the reach of the Jingyuan Army.
The heads of the families, along with their families and servants, thanked them profusely and jogged over, bowing low. Many of the servants even carried weapons and stood guard beside their masters.
The attacking troops were numerous and locked in a stalemate with the Jingyuan Army, making it impossible to distinguish one side from the other.
As they fought fiercely, the "commoners" who had been taken to the vicinity of Wei Hong's carriage by the Jingyuan Army suddenly rose up and charged at the carriage with screams.
As the heads of the families had said before, they had several hundred men. As long as they separated the carriage from the Jingyuan Army, and another force outside helped to contain the Jingyuan Army, killing the people inside the carriage would be a piece of cake.
Things went as smoothly as they had expected, even more smoothly than they had imagined.
To protect them, the Jingyuan Army practically placed them next to Wei Hong's carriage. There weren't many guards around the carriage, and they quickly collapsed under their attack.
Normally, this situation would have immediately alerted people, but now everyone was on edge. In addition, it was dark and nothing could be seen. This not-so-large area contained thousands of people, and apart from the shouts of killing and the clash of weapons, nothing could be heard. So they were all focused on the few people in the carriage and ignored the obviously abnormal situation.
Some people stabbed swords and knives haphazardly through the carriage curtain, while others climbed onto the carriage, opened the door, and started hacking wildly inside.
"Dead! Dead! The King of Qin is dead! The Queen of Qin is dead! They're all dead!"
Those behind saw their own men rushing forward and felt certain that the matter was settled. Before they even saw the Qin King's corpse, they were already shouting excitedly.
But the people who got into the car were dumbfounded.
The carriage was completely empty. The King of Qin, the Queen Consort, the young prince—none of them were here! There were nothing on the chairs except for a few cushions!
"We've been scammed...we've been scammed!"
Upon hearing this, the previously excited crowd suddenly felt as if they had been thrown into an ice cave in the dead of winter, their bodies chilled to the bone.
They came to their senses and looked behind them, only to find that the people who had been fighting had gradually stopped what they were doing and were watching them as if they were watching a show.
Guo Sheng stepped forward from the crowd and said, "Did you all think that the one who attacked just now was the Duke of Anguo's nephew who was serving in the army? Did you think that he had brought his troops to cooperate with you from the inside as planned?"
He chuckled softly, a mocking look on his face: "To be honest, we killed him three days ago, and his head is on its way to the capital. As for his soldiers..."
Guo Sheng clicked his tongue twice: "They're like clay figures, utterly vulnerable. They even gave us quite a few horses and weapons, thank you in advance!"
The hundreds of people who had been following them under the pretense of a chance encounter were completely dumbfounded. The young man who had expressed strong dissent towards Wei Hong said, "The Prince of Qin is neither the crown prince appointed by Emperor Gaozong nor a descendant of the late emperor. What right does he have to ascend the throne? Our actions are merely to uphold the legitimacy of the imperial family! For..."
Before he could finish speaking, a spear that Guo Sheng had casually thrown pierced his chest, and the rest of his words were stuck in his throat.
Guo Sheng frowned and said impatiently, "I don't care about bloodlines, I only recognize the prince!"
Then he waved to the Jingyuan Army beside him: "Kill, kill, kill! Just leave those few in charge alive, kill the rest. Don't leave so many people around to keep bothering me."
He hates endless, pointless chatter with these people. If you can fight, don't use your mouth! What's the point of going on and on with words?
The Jingyuan Army obeyed the order and raised their swords and spears to crush these people.
Before thousands of battle-hardened Jingyuan soldiers, these few hundred men were like ants, and in no time, most of them were dead.
Guo Sheng looked at the corpses scattered all over the ground, and directed the others to bury them on the spot. He then led the few survivors who had been tied up to the side.
Those who were still alive probably knew they couldn't escape the fate of being tortured, and one of them even struggled and rammed into Guo Sheng.
Such an action was tantamount to throwing an egg against a rock. Guo Sheng found it amusing and calmly moved half a step to the side to avoid it.
But he was unlucky; he tripped over a corpse at his feet, lost his balance, and fell backward.
To make matters worse, he fell onto the weapons scattered on the ground, instantly getting a large gash on his leg from which blood gushed out.
...
Although the battle just now was nothing to the Jingyuan Army, some people were inevitably injured in the ensuing fierce fighting.
Li Douzheng was treating the wounds of several injured soldiers, and Qiongyu was helping him.
As the two were busy, someone rushed over carrying Guo Sheng on his back, saying, "Lord Li, quickly take a look at General Guo, he's bleeding a lot."
Before the new year, Li Dou completely replaced Li Tai's original position and is now addressed as "Sir".
He frowned as he looked at Guo Sheng's leg and asked, "How did you get injured like this?"
Guo Sheng felt ashamed and didn't want him to know, but before he could stop him, the soldier said, "General Guo tripped over the corpse and fell onto the weapons on the ground."
The wounded soldiers around Guo Sheng, who had been looking at him with concern, couldn't help but burst out laughing when they heard this. Qiong Yu also couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Guo Sheng was both ashamed and angry, and shouted, "What are you laughing at! What are you laughing at!"
The first line was shouted at the other wounded soldiers, and the second line was shouted at Qiongyu.
Li Dou frowned, stood in front of Qiong Yu, and began to treat Guo Sheng's wounds, saying to him, "It hurts a little, just bear with it."
Guo Sheng went to the battlefield for the first time at the age of thirteen and suffered countless injuries, both major and minor, some even more serious than this. He nodded and gritted his teeth, and didn't utter a sound while Li Dou was treating him, but his forehead was still sore that the veins bulged and he was covered in sweat.
After finally finishing, Li Dou gently patted his leg and said, "All done."
He then went to treat other patients.
A soldier was shot in the arm by a hidden arrow. Although the arrow was short, it was exquisitely crafted, with barbs on the arrowhead, just like those on a crossbow.
Li Dou was about to remove the arrow from the man's arm. After examining the wound, he first took out a packet of powder from his medicine box, mixed it with water, and handed it to the man, saying, "Drinking this will alleviate some of the pain, so you won't be in so much pain when I remove the arrow from your arm later."
The soldier looked at him gratefully, took the medicine bowl, and drank it all in one gulp.
Guo Sheng, who was resting on the side, forced himself to sit up: "Douzi, why didn't you let me use this?"
Lee Doo said, "Oh, I didn't think of that just now."
Guo Sheng: "..."
Chapter 130 The Scramble [Second Update]
A human head was thrown into the Duke of Anguo's mansion. The servants were so frightened by the sight that they nearly fainted and scrambled to the head of the household to report the situation.
Duke Meng Chang of Anguo was drinking tea at the time. Upon hearing this, he paused, and his cup fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
"We've lost, we've lost..."
He murmured, his hands trembling slightly.
A servant nearby noticed that he was having difficulty breathing and quickly poured out a pill for him, but he pushed it away.
Meng Chang took a few deep breaths to calm himself, stood up shakily, and walked step by step toward the ancestral hall, not letting anyone follow him, and locked himself inside.
When the founding emperor of the Great Liang Dynasty established the dynasty, the ancestors of the Duke of Anguo's family had made great contributions and were therefore granted the title of duke, with a promise that their rank would never be lowered.
The Duke of Anguo's mansion has thus stood strong to this day, remaining the most prominent family in the capital.
But the King of Qin abandoned the capital and established Huai City as the new capital, which clearly meant that he wanted to abandon these aristocratic families!
What good are the highest titles of abandoned noble families? They will eventually decline and be forgotten by the world. They may not even be able to preserve their family's foundation, let alone their current glory.
Besides, what aristocratic family like theirs doesn't have a few enemies? When they gradually decline, their former enemies will seize any opportunity to trample them underfoot. How will the clan continue to live then?
The Duke of Anguo's mansion had enjoyed generations of honor and unparalleled power. Meng Chang had been a powerful figure in the court for decades, and he simply could not accept that such a prestigious mansion had fallen into ruin under his control, and that the fall had been so sudden and without any warning.
He struggled his entire life to maintain the prosperity of the Duke of Anguo's mansion, and now, with just a word from the Prince of Qin, all his efforts have been in vain? On what grounds?
So he took a gamble, eliminating the King of Qin and installing the young emperor on the throne, but unfortunately, he failed.
Everything is over. The future and glory of the Duke of Anguo's mansion will be lost from now on.
Meng Chang looked at the ancestral tablets before him and slowly closed his eyes: "I have done my best..."
...
"Did the Duke of Anguo commit suicide?"
"Yes, he hanged himself in the ancestral hall of his own residence."
"That's what Granny Kong said to Princess Chenglan."
Cheng Lan chuckled: "This old man, who was arrogant and disdainful of everyone his whole life, not even putting the royal family in his eyes, I never thought he would end up like this."
"Yes, who could have imagined this in the past?"
Not long ago, she and the princess had discussed what to do with these arrogant aristocratic families after the King of Qin entered the capital. Should they maintain the status quo and keep them in check, or should they ruthlessly eliminate them directly?
If we stabilize the situation, we will inevitably face many troubles in the future; if we eliminate it, we will have to face these troubles now, and we don't even know if it will be successful.
After all, the relationships between these powerful families are intricate and intertwined, and a single move can have far-reaching consequences, making them quite difficult to deal with.
He simply ignored them and moved the capital, leaving these powerful families to fend for themselves.
He not only moved the capital, but also said that he had sworn to Emperor Gaozong that he would never attack the capital.
If he doesn't attack, it means the capital will remain under Wei Chi's control, and will not belong to the court that the King of Qin will eventually establish.
Therefore, all appointments, promotions, hereditary privileges, and even salaries of the new dynasty will no longer be relevant to these aristocratic families in the capital!
"Actually, they are not entirely without a way out."
"That's what Granny Kong said."
"If they did not think about overthrowing the King of Qin, but instead abandoned their ancestral property, left the capital, and joined the new dynasty, even if the King of Qin did not give them the glory they have today, he would still treat them well because they are old ministers of Liang and their ancestors had been kind to Liang."
"But they insisted on opposing the King of Qin. Not only were they disloyal, but they also wanted to get rid of him."
Wei Chi in the palace already knew about the conspiracy of the various noble families to assassinate the King of Qin. Since Cheng Lan had people around Wei Chi, she and Granny Kong also knew about it.
Cheng Lan leaned against the pillow and chuckled softly, "Granny, what you see as a way out is no different from a dead end to them."
“They have enjoyed the emperor’s favor for generations, and their power has grown even stronger during the reign of the late emperor. They can even control a portion of the court. Sometimes, His Majesty has to consider their opinions before making any decisions. How can they allow the new emperor to be so opinionated and not be under their control?”
"Some people... have been sitting in high positions for too long. If you ask them to come down from the clouds, they feel that they would rather be dead."
Granny Kong nodded: "So the Duke of Anguo is dead."
Cheng Lan chuckled: "Yes, that's right, so he died."