Genius Martial Arts Trainer

Those who understood the meaning behind Prince Ying’s words quickly began calculating.

He had already provided them with justification, so what ultimately mattered was weighing the practical benefits.

'Even if we follow the emperor’s will, the emperor will die.'

The emperor had already been taken hostage, and that fact would not change.

Then what would happen if they followed the emperor’s orders?

The emperor had promised to hand over the Imperial Seal to whoever killed Prince Ying, but it would merely be the promise of a dead emperor.

In the end, even if someone killed Prince Ying as the emperor intended, the real problem would come afterward.

The imperial bloodline would be extinguished, and whoever obtained the Imperial Seal would become emperor.

Rumors like that would spread, warlords would carve up territories throughout the Central Plains, and there was a high chance that an age of warring states would begin.

It was not that they disliked war.

The problem was determining which of those who rose up throughout the land would be able to seize the greatest territory.

If they chose the wrong side, there was every possibility they would die a meaningless death.

On the other hand, what if they accepted Prince Ying’s proposal?

'Vice Minister(rank three of the senior grade). No, rising even higher than that is not merely a dream!'

Most of the vicious old men who had occupied the highest positions were dead, so the situation was certainly worth gambling on.

And if it was not in a fractured Central Plains but as Vice Minister in one vast empire, the authority would truly be immense.

Although their promotions had been blocked by the entrenched men above them, they were still people who had survived more than a decade in the imperial court, where human lives were worth less than insects. Just as they finished their calculations.

Someone stepped forward and asked a question.

“We understand Your Highness’s compassion for the people of the Central Plains, but we cannot help worrying whether there will still be a place for us among those who share Your Highness’s great purpose.”

It sounded vague and abstract, but everyone present understood what he meant.

The ones who had made Prince Ying’s rebellion succeed were the martial artists. Chief among them was the man called the Leader of the Zhengmu League, who currently held the emperor hostage.

In other words, he was asking whether there would be any scraps left for them if the martial artists were given priority when rewards and offices were distributed.

Before Prince Ying could answer, Mujin spoke first.

“There is no need to worry. Most martial artists are only interested in things like, ‘Who is the strongest?’ If someone ordered them to govern the empire, most would either run away complaining that their heads hurt or ruin the empire entirely.”

“Ahem. If that is the sort of people they are, would it not be even more dangerous to place them in high positions?”

At Mujin’s blunt expression, the old man who had asked the question cleared his throat and spoke again.

“I have no intention of placing them there. I would rather not have the country turn into a complete mess.”

Mujin was a man who would be perfectly content simply lifting iron in moderation and living happily with his foxlike wife and rabbitlike children.

That did not mean he sought a poor but peaceful life. His foxlike wife was extraordinarily wealthy, so his current life was already more than happy enough.

And in the middle of that, martial artists who thought of nothing but fighting were supposed to govern the nation?

For Mujin, whose head already hurt from nothing more than serving as Leader of the Zhengmu League, merely imagining it made his temples throb.

Even what he was doing now was only something he had been forced to do to survive because Emperor Taiping had targeted them. Mujin had no interest whatsoever in the imperial throne.

When Mujin cut the matter off so sharply, an awkward silence briefly settled over the area.

And the one who cleared the atmosphere was none other than Prince Ying.

“As the Leader of the Zhengmu League said, they are people interested in who is strongest, so why would we need to involve ourselves in their competition? As before, it will be enough to punish only those who break the law or harm ordinary people. However.”

Everyone’s attention focused on the single word Prince Ying added at the end. They had realized that what he was about to say was the most important part.

“If there are any among them interested in official positions, I intend to admit them into the Embroidered Uniform Guard through examinations. The Leader of the Zhengmu League will also assist me for a time as Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

The moment Prince Ying finished speaking, silence descended.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard had traditionally served the emperor loyally and, together with the Eastern Depot, captured traitors.

To fill that organization with martial artists and place the Leader of the Zhengmu League at its head?

It was no different from declaring that anyone who defied Prince Ying would be framed for treason and killed.

Yet amusingly enough, everyone present soon nodded as though they understood.

It was only natural.

From the beginning, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot had always been used in precisely that way. They removed the emperor’s political enemies and branded them as traitors.

The power of the Embroidered Uniform Guard would become somewhat greater, but in the end, it would not be much different from before.

And once they seemed to have accepted it to some extent, Prince Ying drove the point home.

“More importantly, where could I possibly find another bodyguard equal to the Leader of the Zhengmu League?”

There would still be people loyal to Emperor Taiping throughout the Central Plains, so Prince Ying needed protection for his own safety. And not merely ordinary protection, but an exceptionally capable guard.

From that perspective, appointing Mujin as Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was, at first glance, a perfectly reasonable personnel decision.

Once their thoughts reached that point, they soon realized something extremely important.

The man who had been called the Leader of the Zhengmu League was now about to obtain virtually absolute authority.

The Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard held the rank of senior second grade, but his duty was to uncover crimes of treason.

In other words, even men of the senior first grade such as the Grand Preceptor or Commander-in-Chief would be risking their lives if they fell into that man’s displeasure.

On top of that, he had been assigned to guard the emperor, which meant he would inevitably remain at the emperor’s side at all times.

It was truly a position below one man and above ten thousand.

But no one there argued over the matter.

He was the man who had single-handedly devastated the imperial city, taken the emperor hostage, and placed Prince Ying upon the throne.

He had gone beyond being the foremost contributor. It would not even be an exaggeration to say that he alone had seated Prince Ying upon the throne, so how could anyone possibly prevent him from rising to such a position?

In the end, everyone gathered there had no choice but to accept the situation.

Of course, that was also possible because anyone who might have objected had already been killed by Mujin long ago.

And once the situation had more or less settled, Prince Ying turned and looked at the dazed Emperor Taiping.

“Your Majesty. So many people have chosen to share my purpose. Therefore, would you not consider stepping down from the imperial throne of your own accord and answering for the crime of starting wars and plunging the people into grief?”

“......Do you truly believe you will remain safe after this? Even if you win these people over.......”

As Emperor Taiping began muttering yet another stream of curses, Prince Ying sighed.

“It appears you are still unable to accept your own crimes. It cannot be helped.”

The moment Prince Ying finished speaking, Mujin moved his hand swiftly and struck Emperor Taiping’s death acupoint.

For an emperor who had won the civil war among the princes, launched the northern expedition, and sought to establish absolute imperial authority by exterminating even the martial artists, his end was absurdly hollow.

While some felt bitterness at the sight, and others felt uneasy that perhaps they had made the wrong decision.

Someone thought of the immediate future and asked Prince Ying a question.

“Your Majesty. There are still those throughout the Central Plains who followed the previous emperor. What do you intend to do with them?”

At the perceptive man’s question, who had begun addressing Prince Ying as ‘Your Majesty’ the moment Emperor Taiping died, Prince Ying looked at Mujin and answered.

“The martial artists were not the only ones who stopped the army the previous emperor sent this time, were they?”

At the emperor’s words, Mujin answered with a dependable expression.

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

***

Half a double-hour later.

Several hundred people formed their own groups and began leaving Beijing one after another, heading toward every region of the Central Plains.

Each carried an imperial edict bearing the emperor’s seal.

Strangely, although those carrying the edicts were centered around men in official robes, there were also some dressed like beggars surrounding them.

They were beggars who had learned martial arts and belonged to the organization commonly called the Beggar Union throughout the Central Plains.

Thanks to the martial beggars and the officials riding horses, the imperial edicts bearing the emperor’s seal were swiftly delivered throughout the Central Plains.

And on the second day.

Before the enthronement ceremony of the newly changed emperor had even been held. No, before news that the emperor had changed had even reached the distant regions. Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Province.

A group dressed in official robes and another group dressed in black, surrounding them as though providing protection, encircled the entrance of the Provincial Administration Commission.

The Provincial Administration Commission was the institution responsible for administering each province, so naturally, there were also numerous constables guarding it.

“Who are you people!!”

The constable guarding the entrance shouted boldly, but the answer he received exceeded anything he could have imagined.

“An imperial command! Arrest the criminal Jin Sangseop and every single person who colluded with him!”

“!?”

Jin Sangseop was the Provincial Administration Commissioner, effectively the head of the Guangxi Provincial Administration Commission.

And yet they had been ordered by imperial command to arrest the Provincial Administration Commissioner.

While those guarding the entrance stood frozen, not knowing what to do, the visitors surged into the Provincial Administration Commission and began sweeping through it indiscriminately.

Before long, Provincial Administration Commissioner Jin Sangseop and the principal officials, who had belatedly received word, rushed out with shocked expressions.

“You bastards!! What do you think you are doing!!”

When Jin Sangseop shouted with his face flushed scarlet, the official who had ordered the search proclaimed solemnly.

“Criminal Jin Sangseop, listen well! You extorted the people, embezzled their taxes at will, and submitted false reports to the imperial court. His Majesty the Emperor has ordered that you be severely punished for the crime of deceiving the ruler and defying your superiors!”

“What nonsense is this! Deceiving the ruler and defying my superiors! This is a false accusation!!”

Jin Sangseop, who had spent several years after being appointed Provincial Administration Commissioner of Guangxi accepting enormous bribes and embezzling taxes, shouted without so much as changing his expression, befitting a seasoned corrupt official.

But even at his false outcry, the man reading the imperial edict answered without the slightest change in expression.

“Can you still say that after seeing this!”

As he said that and pointed to the side, a man dressed in black stepped forward, opened a book, and began turning through its pages one by one.

And in that book was a detailed list of every bribe Jin Sangseop had devoured and every instance of tax money he had diverted over the years.

However, Jin Sangseop could not help being more shocked by the face of the man holding the book than by the records themselves.

“Y-you! How are you here!?”

“You accepted so much money, yet thought you would remain safe?”

The man who sneered at Jin Sangseop was Pai Jinsheng, Master of the Nine Dragons Room.

The reason he, a member of the Southern Heavenly Society and its former leader, was here together with government officials was because of a certain agreement.

The agreement reached the last time the leaders of the righteous, evil, and demonic factions had gathered.

In other words, he was acting according to the intentions of the Leader of the Zhengmu League, who was little different from an enemy.

But for some reason, despite being used according to the Leader of the Zhengmu League’s plan, Pai Jinsheng looked as though he could not have been happier.

It could not be helped.

A perfect opportunity had arrived to release the rage and resentment he had accumulated over decades, so how could he not be delighted?

Why had Dao Yuechen, now Leader of the Southern Heavenly Society, once accepted Pai Jinsheng as his sworn elder brother?

At the time, Pai Jinsheng’s realm had been higher, but that was not the only reason. They had shared the same purpose.

And that shared purpose was to protect the pitiful common people, at least to some extent, in the southern regions where public order had been plunging into ruin.

Then why had the south become a world where ordinary people found it so difficult to survive?

Because it was far from Beijing, where the imperial court was located, and every official appointed there was corrupt.

They devoured bribes as casually as meals and held not even the slightest interest in the lives of ordinary people.

They were garbage officials who would even turn a blind eye to human trafficking and drug distribution as long as they were paid.

The Nine Dragons Room and Southern Heavenly Society had not only been forced to punish the garbage black-path groups that tried to collude with such officials, but also had to survive by feeding money to those corrupt officials themselves.

Because if they merely dealt with the black-path bastards and stopped there, the corrupt officials who had grown accustomed to the taste of bribes would obviously frame them and send the army to attack.

Pai Jinsheng was the man who had endured it all, bribing and flattering the very people responsible for driving ordinary lives into ruin while stubbornly maintaining public order in their place.

“Hehehe. Every bastard who devoured bribes will die here today without a single one making it back alive!!!”

And among all the damned lords in Guangxi Province who had devoured Pai Jinsheng’s bribes, the corrupt official standing at the very top was none other than Jin Sangseop.