After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

The direction of this line couldn’t be clearer; the Emperor Star should be on Zhao Hanzhang.

If the matter of Zhao Hanzhang’s ascension wasn’t already settled, he would have suspected this to be Zhao Hanzhang’s doing.

But on the first day of July, she accepted the abdication, who would be so brainless to play the auspicious sign card?

Doing this now is simply counterproductive!

Who needs auspicious signs?

Those who want to force the old emperor to abdicate.

The speech the Little Emperor made at the grand court meeting on July first was the best proof of legality, propriety, and adherence to the heavenly way. Creating an auspicious sign now only seems to flatter Zhao Hanzhang.

Auspicious signs are the kind of thing ordinary folks believe in, but the nobility generally do not.

Because of the Little Emperor’s sincere speech, most of the nobles across the land believed it, thinking he willingly conveyed the throne to Zhao Hanzhang, making this one of the most harmonious and convincing transitions in the three dynastic changes of nearly a century.

And now an auspicious sign emerges.

Zhou Qi was almost driven mad, wishing he could immediately have the stone turtle sunk to the middle of the river and pretend it doesn’t exist.

But the soldiers were quite delighted.

They didn’t know what the stars and characters on it represented, but they could see this uniquely shaped stone was quite valuable.

They shouted joyfully, "General, we’ve struck it rich—"

Oh, and I forgot to mention, they were situated not far from Taihu Lake at this time.

While Taihu Lake’s stones were not yet sought after nationwide, they were quite popular in Jiangnan.

There were already specialized stone collectors, most of whom lived difficult lives, but if someone had good fortune and collected a uniquely shaped stone, they could sell it for a handsome price and become wealthy overnight.

These soldiers who worked hard to drag up the stone turtle felt this piece could make them rich.

They spread the word, and soldiers along the river came to join the fun, along with civilians helping to clear the silt.

Too many people saw it, and since Zhou Qi was not a villain, he couldn’t kill people to silence them. He could only disperse the crowd and swallow this bitter fruit alone.

After pondering overnight, he chose to report the matter to Wang Dao.

Reporting an "auspicious sign" is not a good thing, but concealing it would be worse.

Jiangnan was already a step behind Northern Land, and the spies of the secret division were hidden deeply and spread widely, so it couldn’t be kept a secret. If Zhao Hanzhang misunderstood Jiangnan as having unfaithful intentions, it would be a miscalculation.

Wang Dao didn’t anticipate that dredging the river would unearth a trouble, and he was troubled with Zhou Qi for several days, ultimately deciding to find out the truth before reporting.

But after investigating for a long period, they couldn’t find out who was responsible for this matter, and with the day of Zhao Hanzhang’s ascension approaching, they had no choice but to both investigate and report.

After discussing, Zhou Qi decided to take the blame himself.

"I’d rather the world see me as a toady than tarnish the new emperor’s reputation and esteem." Zhou Qi said through gritted teeth, "If I find out who’s behind this, I will not spare them."

Wang Dao said, "A stone this large can’t leave no traces. We should report first, then investigate thoroughly; we surely will find out."

The stone was too large to transport easily, so they had to temporarily store it in a depot, with Wang Dao rendering it into a painting to send to the Capital City for Zhao Hanzhang to decide what to do with this auspicious sign.

The matter was first reported to Ji Yuan, along with the ceremonial gift list from Jiangnan.

Ji Yuan was all smiles while looking at the gift list from Jiangnan, but when he reached the back, his smile dropped in a flash, and he couldn’t help but curse Wang Dao loudly.

On such a joyous occasion, they created a reverse "auspicious sign," what were he and Zhou Qi thinking?

Ji Yuan could only go to Zhao Hanzhang for advice, gritting his teeth and saying, "Since it’s an auspicious sign, it can’t be allowed to linger outside; it must be transported back to the Capital City, but this matter shouldn’t be publicized. It’s better to have Yangzhou dispatch laborers and soldiers to stealthily escort it, covering the stone with oilcloth to keep it out of sight."

Zhao Hanzhang also finished looking at the painting; this "auspicious sign" is too explicitly directed; it can only be used for her, otherwise, it could be used differently.

"To transport it from Jiangnan to Luoyang, how much manpower and resources would be needed for such a large stone?" Zhao Hanzhang thought with a toothache, "I’ve heard of someone bankrupting themselves to transport a peculiar stone in the previous dynasty."

The well-read Ji Yuan looked a bit dazed, "Really? Whose reign was it during?"

Emperor Wanli.

Zhao Hanzhang waved it off, "It doesn’t matter now; what matters is that shipping this large stone to Luoyang will be costly, I’m a bit pained."

Mainly, this stone serves no real purpose; had it appeared two months earlier, perhaps it would have held some minor use.

No, even if it appeared then, for the sake of stability, I wouldn’t be too pleased.

Zhao Hanzhang was a bit displeased, "Whose flattery is this, directly slapped onto my lap, neither Zhou Qi nor Wang Dao seem like such people."

Zhao Hanzhang frowned, deciding to inquire with the secret division.

The secret division in Jiangnan truly knew who was responsible.