Chapter 135 - 116: Exterminate a Clan to Test the Waters
An Emperor had many troubles.
The Emperor had been on the throne for several years, and things were much better than when he first ascended. However, many of the old court officials had also served the late Emperor, and they were inclined to compare father and son. As a result, not every imperial edict could be carried out smoothly.
"They never refute my orders to my face. Sometimes they even humor me, telling me how brilliant my ideas are. But when it comes to implementation, they either put on a hollow performance or take things to such an extreme that it stirs up a storm of resentment from below. If I then rescind my order, they lose even more faith in my word."
The Emperor didn’t expect Jiang Xian, a young woman who had never even managed a household, to understand any of this.
All she had to manage were the palace maids and eunuchs in Yizhu Pavilion, which was far too simple by comparison.
In the past, these were words he could only share with the Empress and the Noble Consort.
But he never got the reaction he wanted from either of them.
Whenever he spoke of state affairs, the Empress would wear a weary yet polite smile. ’The Emperor is vexed, and so am I. You expect me to comfort you and be your confidante? Just blow out the candles and let’s get some rest.’
The Noble Princess Consort Rong disliked showing her tougher side to the man she admired. She would hook her arms around his neck as he vented his frustrations, and she usually had only three answers:
"Just have them all dragged out and beaten to death."
"Autumn is coming. Behead a couple of troublemakers, and the rest will fall in line."
"Why not test the waters by exterminating a clan first?"
Other people would say, "It’s getting cold, time for the Wang Family to go bankrupt."
But for the Noble Princess Consort Rong, it was, "It’s getting cold, time to drag the Wang Family out and behead them."
This was thanks to her upbringing in an aristocratic family of generals. In the army, to disobey a commander’s order was a death sentence. Her father and brothers had taught her this, so she naturally believed it to be the world’s only truth. And she wasn’t entirely wrong. After all, history had the example of Zhu Yuanzhang, who executed so many of his officials that he killed over 70,000 people in thirteen years—an average of fifteen a day.
But the Emperor couldn’t bring himself to kill meritorious, innocent officials over trivial matters, leaving him feeling somewhat helpless.
To his surprise, however, he heard Gu Pin say, "The Emperor says it’s getting cold and people should wear more clothes. So they wrap someone in thick, padded coats, hold him over a fire, and roast him until he can’t survive. Then they throw up their hands and claim it was the Emperor’s command. The person who was roasted to misery says he’d rather go back to the days of freezing in the cold wind, because at least then his skin wasn’t flayed open by the heat. But clearly, all the Emperor wanted was for them to not be cold in the winter."
"Ultimately, it’s because the Emperor has no one of his own in the court. They have a hundred ways to twist the Emperor’s words."
"They pay lip service to their loyalty, but in their hearts, their allegiance lies elsewhere."
’When a corporation gets big, you have to put in the effort to visit the branch offices.’
’A salary of a million a year doesn’t make you a major figure in a large corporation. Jiang Xian had never personally experienced an emperor’s troubles, but when she was younger, she had engaged in this exact kind of malicious compliance at a branch office.’
’Jiang Xian had never been a trust-fund kid, so she didn’t understand emperors.’
’But she certainly understood the psychology of a subordinate!’
’The parachuted-in Crown Prince is determined to implement reforms. The old department head praises him to his face, saying the Crown Prince is brilliant for having studied abroad. But behind his back, he leads the employees to sabotage everything, using the Crown Prince’s "directives" to create a huge mess, making the Crown Prince look completely incompetent.’
’The Crown Prince senses something is off and pulls an employee aside after work for a heart-to-heart. He assumes his status and position will have the employee star-struck in minutes. But the employee, unsure how long the Crown Prince will be around or how much power he really has, immediately sells him out to the old department head. Right up until he returns to headquarters, the Crown Prince thinks the old department head was completely devoted to him, and that the reforms were just too difficult to implement because he himself had been too naive.’
’The old department head’s comment: "Comes back from abroad spouting foreign bullshit. Holy shit."’
"Xian’er, you’re right. For the past year, I’ve been reflecting on whether I wasn’t being detailed enough in my thinking. But now I see that even if I consider every single aspect, they still find a way to implement my edicts to the extreme and then tell me it can’t be done."
The Emperor sat on the edge of the couch, his head slightly lowered.
Moonlight from the window fell upon his hair, like a layer of silver frost.
If you added up their ages from both lifetimes, the Emperor was actually a bit younger than Jiang Xian. Combined with his pampered upbringing, he really did have the air of a "male university student." When he spoke of his displeasure, he looked just like a dejected tiger... An Emperor, after all, had nothing in common with a loyal dog; he was more like a great tiger that needed its fur stroked the right way. "Sometimes, I feel like listening to the Noble Consort, killing them all, and replacing them with a batch of people who will listen to me. But if I did that, what would the history books write about me? I still want to be an enlightened ruler. In this year’s imperial examinations, I must select a group of my own people... What I said before about looking forward to the young men of your family was no joke. If it were Xian’er’s father and brothers, I’m sure they would be of one mind with me."
The human heart distinguishes between the close and the distant.
Take General Yun Hui, for instance. His accomplishments were so great they threatened the throne, and his words and actions were arrogant. But when the Emperor thought of Noble Princess Consort Rong, who loved him with all her heart in the harem, he would then think of the good qualities of her father and brothers, trying his best not to consider the possibility of them plotting treason. And now, seeing the delightful Gu Pin, he wished for a male version of her who could serve him just as loyally in the court.
He was only speaking casually, but Jiang Xian took it to heart.
’While I’m busy in the harem, the family back home shouldn’t be sitting idle.’
’If Dad isn’t up to it, he should hurry up and make a new character with my stepmom. 600-day sprint to the imperial exams!’
"If you want to promote trusted aides, you don’t have to wait for the imperial examinations. Why not establish a new council? You could promote young men who have been thoroughly investigated and have clean backgrounds, then find opportunities to move them into useful positions."
The Young Emperor didn’t want to act according to the whims of the old officials. If he wanted to get things done, the only two ways were to kill people or to bring in new blood.
The former seemed more efficient.
Kill someone, and the vacant position could naturally be filled by new blood.
The Emperor being more benevolent was good news for Jiang Xian. After all, if the person sleeping next to you was too ruthless and decisive, you’d constantly feel a chill on the back of your neck.
System: [Detected that the host is engaging in harem interference in politics. Although this is not explicitly forbidden in this dynasty, based on the behavioral modules of past palace-intrigue hosts and AI algorithms, I must remind the host to speak and act with caution.]
Jiang Xian: [My boss is really stressed out! I can’t just say nothing!]
Jiang Xian: [I’m a total amateur at palace intrigue, but I’m a professional at easing my boss’s worries. He’s saying all this to me because he just wants me to agree with him and comfort him, and I did that! I’m the number one confidante in the harem!]
Besides, Jiang Xian didn’t feel she was interfering in politics that much.
After all, she came from the tech industry. She couldn’t very well say to the Emperor—’Your Majesty, this "imperial examination" activity of yours for attracting new users needs to focus on subsequent user conversion. Don’t spend all this money only for all the users you’ve cultivated to end up on other teams within the same company. How about we invite three KOLs for an exchange event, decentralize the content, and increase the retention rate...’
If she said any of that, it would be hard for the Emperor to not have her executed after the autumn assizes.
Even with the Blame Template active, when Jiang Xian was giving the Emperor advice, she lacked the gentle charm of a traditional woman from Yan Chi.
And yet, after listening to her suggestion, the Emperor actually found it extremely agreeable!
He didn’t want to kill more people, and neither did Jiang Xian.
He was too idealistic, only thinking of waiting for the imperial examinations to find people to promote. He hadn’t thought of searching for overlooked talent among the current officials to form his own team. Gu Pin had not only pointed this out but had also awakened him to the possibility.