The Demon Lords

As the saying goes, accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger;

For an emperor, some of his habits and characteristics must be understood by those below him, otherwise, the nation’s policies cannot be smoothly continued, and it is difficult for subordinates to work efficiently.

However, at the same time, an emperor must not be completely understood, for an emperor is merely a person, as the saying goes a solitary ruler, he needs to face the entire outer court alone. Following the rules too rigidly means one is not far from being sidelined.

However,

No one expected that,

when the family feast reached this point,

The Yan Emperor would suddenly raise such a question.

Directly asking the crown prince to speak about his own guilt.

It’s important to understand,

The crown prince is the foundation of the country, and the foundation must be maintained.

Making him confess guilt in front of his brothers, is this forcing the crown prince to destroy his own foundation?

What will the other princes think?

Lord Zheng sat upright and solemnly, knowing it wasn’t his place to speak now because he was an external minister and also a military leader.

No matter if the outside said you were part of the "Chengjue Party" or not, you absolutely cannot reveal it clearly in front of His Majesty.

Didn’t you see the Prime Minister is still sitting still without standing up to plead for the crown prince’s relief?

The benefit of a family feast is demonstrated here; if the full court were present, as His Majesty questioned the crown prince in this way, a group of ministers would inevitably stand up to proclaim the crown prince’s innocence or to excuse him, asking His Majesty to calm his anger and so on.

Because maintaining the country’s foundation is the instinct of ministers and the cornerstone of maintaining the relationship between ruler and subjects, at that time, Zhao Jiulang, the head of the ministers, would have to speak up.

Now,

He silently finished the remaining half cup of wine in his hand, then picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks, put it in his mouth to suppress it, then put down the chopsticks, folded his hands, squinted slightly, as if he was using the vigor of the wine to transcend beyond the situation.

Lord Zheng silently imitated this action,

Slightly clenched his hands,

Placed them in front of his abdomen,

Eyes vacant,

Meditatively transcendental.

The two sat together, almost synchronously, entering a state full of fairy aura.

Those who did not know might have thought that the Yan Prime Minister and the youngest Marquis of Military Honors from Yan were both Qi cultivators.

At the center of the storm, the crown prince,

Seemed not very panicked,

He merely bowed again silently,

And then slowly straightened his body.

The saying goes well, when the king wants the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die.

And between a prince and an emperor, apart from the ruler-subject relationship, there is also a father-son relationship, under the double norms, as a prince, you have absolutely no reason to resist.

"This son is guilty, guilty of three offenses."

The crown prince began to articulate his wrongdoings.

Behind him, the fourth prince, fifth prince, sixth prince, and seventh prince still kneeled there, all bowing their foreheads to the ground, knowing that not bringing the fire upon themselves was the correct path;

Even the usually most eager to please in front of father, Ji Chengsu, dared not to foolishly raise his head and show his cute smile at this moment.

"This son’s first sin, nothing accomplished in state affairs, now although our Yan has devoured Jin land, the national treasury is empty, living hand to mouth, this is this son’s fault."

Upon hearing this offense,

The kneeling fourth and fifth princes both slightly turned their heads to look at the sixth prince, who was also kneeling.

Ji Chengsu didn’t understand why his brothers were all looking at Brother Chengjue, but he still turned his head towards Brother Chengjue.

Everyone knows, the Ministry of Revenue, is currently Ji Chengjue’s domain.

The crown prince bringing up the treasury seems very directed.

But Ji Chengjue remained unmoved,

Because he doesn’t need to explain to others what the exact situation of the treasury is, explaining to others wouldn’t make sense as the world is mostly filled with fools.

He only needs his father to understand the difference between having him, Ji Chengjue, in the treasury and not having him there.

Previously,

The great Yan swallowed the land of the Three Jin; if they had adopted plundering measures, learning from the wild people or Chu people, it wouldn’t have been a burden. The armies could have scraped the land locally for resources, and they could even have continuously drained Jin land for supply to the Yan region.

But what his father wanted was long-term stability for Jin land, to permanently incorporate Jin land into the Yan territory. It seemed merely a change in policy but was in fact a shift from net income to net expenditure.

From a potential blood-sucking leech, it turned into a vein-giving heart, not even mentioning the need to cover the military needs of various stationed forces in Jin land.

Moreover,

Starting with the southern invasion of the Qian, the original business environment deteriorated rapidly; before, the Yan held a position at the crossroads of East and West, earning with every transaction, but now it was no longer that easy.

Meanwhile, the assault on powerful clans by his father, certainly a grand narrative in history books, was executed too rashly; after breaking the powerful clans, starting a war right away, the Yan practically stabbed itself twice, using that frenzy of pain to immediately fight others desperately.

They won the fight, but the powerful clans were an important part of the Yan’s economy, politics, culture, whether beneficial or detrimental to the country, they accounted for over sixty percent of the share.

This extreme style of reform by the knife directly crippled the original economic operation within the Yan.

In short,

The degradation of the trade environment resulted in a sharp decrease in the Yan’s original trade income, the vast land of Jin became a huge burden, compounded by internal deficits and disarray.

If it weren’t for his father knowing continuing in that direction would lead Yan to financial collapse, why would he promote him, this captain of Nan’an, back to manage the treasury?