Chapter 569: Reconquer
Editor: Atlas Studios
Minister Qin had melted gold and silver into plates and forged them into limestone slabs to lay on the back garden. This topic instantly overshadowed the topic of Qi Xiuyuan’s ascension to the throne and became the newest topic in Lin’an City, and even the entire Jiangnan.
Minister Qin was, without a doubt, the best at hiding money.
Quite a lot of gold and silver had been found, but it was still far inferior to the amount that Minister Qin had embezzled. Coupled with the missing money in the national treasury, it was even less.
However, even after knocking all the stone slabs in Minister Qin’s residence, they could not find more. If they continued searching, the entire Minister Qin’s residence would have to be demolished and rebuilt. That would cost a lot of money.
Qi Xiuyuan only thought about it for a moment before dismissing his subordinates. This time, he took the initiative to ask someone to split out the few small courtyards on the west side of Minister Qin’s residence. The rest would be Qi Haoran’s royal residence. That would be in line with the rules.
The Imperial Astronomer had already calculated the date. Qi Xiuyuan would officially ascend the throne on the 18th of June, which meant there were still four months left.
Although Qi Xiuyuan had not officially ascended the throne, he had gradually gotten used to handling state affairs.
Just as Qi Xiuyuan was preparing for the coronation, news had also spread to the border that a large amount of gold and silver had been discovered and that the treasury had been emptied.
The Second Prince laughed loudly when he heard this news. Then, he threw down the paper in his hand and stood up. “Let’s go and see Minister Qin.”
Seeing the Second Prince’s smile, the emissary felt a chill in his heart and hurriedly followed.
The camp was a little chaotic. From time to time, some papers would drift down from the sky. A team of guards searched for those emotion-stirring papers everywhere. Although many who hid the papers had been publicly executed, many people still hid them privately. In the beginning, there were still people who ratted on others who did that. Now, everyone was starting to hide the matter from each other.
When the soldiers saw the Second Prince coming out, they quickly hid to the side. The Second Prince walked past them without looking sideways.
Minister Qin crushed a ball of paper and threw it into the fire expressionlessly to burn it. When the Second Prince lifted the curtain and entered, he saw Minister Qin staring at the brazier with a sunken face.
The Second Prince’s lips twitched as he sat opposite Minister Qin. He raised his head and said, “Prime Minister, you were the one who took the missing money from the national treasury.”
The Second Prince wasn’t asking a question, but making a statement.
Minister Qin lowered his eyes and took a sip of tea. “Your Majesty, we should work together to resist the Qi family’s rebellion…”
“Prime Minister, do you think we still have a chance to win?” The Second Prince interrupted him and said, “The West Xia army has already retreated. Their troops have been restrained by the Jin Kingdom.”
The Second Prince mocked, “When you led West Xia’s troops into the capital and tempted me to rebel, you probably didn’t expect the Qi brothers to benefit from the Jin Kingdom’s attack on West Xia, right?”
Minister Qin’s expression was slightly ugly.
“But that’s not important anymore. I’m just curious to ask where you hid the money. The information I received was that the amount of gold and silver Qi Xiuyuan dug out from the residence doesn’t match up.”
Minister Qin did not speak.
After waiting for a while, the Second Prince sneered and said, “Forget it. I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity. I won’t be able to spend that money anyway. However…” The Second Prince’s face darkened. “Although I can’t spend it, it doesn’t mean that I’ll allow others to deceive me or even steal from the wealth of my Great Zhou.”
The Second Prince looked at the emissary. The emissary stepped forward in fear and took out a small medicine bottle from his sleeve and placed it on the table with trembling hands.
The Second Prince said with a smile, “This is what Father used back then. It’s good stuff. I’ve also prepared a share for myself, but I want to see Minister Qin leave before I do.”
Minister Qin’s face darkened as he looked at the Second Prince gloomily. The Second Prince said frankly, “Since the camp is already in chaos, it’s impossible for me to really bring the soldiers of Great Zhou to West Xia to be second-class citizens. Therefore, it’s better to end my own life. However, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to explain myself if I see Father on the way, so I can only trouble Minister Qin to make a trip with me.”
Minister Qin raised his head and looked outside while the Second Prince sat still. After a while, a general stepped in and knelt down to report, “Your Majesty, the rebellion in the camp has been quelled.”
The Second Prince waved him off and turned to look at Minister Qin.
Minister Qin tightened his grip on the teacup. After taking a deep breath, he sighed. “Your Majesty, there’s actually no need to do this now that you’re the only bloodline of the Guo family. Qi Xiuyuan planned to usurp the throne from the beginning. As long as we reveal the truth to the world, the generals will definitely come to protect the king. If Your Majesty is worried, you can let me persuade them…”
The Second Prince thought that Minister Qin was joking. Without Emperor Jingyan’s warning before he died, he might have been happy to go to West Xia with Minister Qin and wait for a comeback.
However, he knew that all of this was just Minister Qin’s ploy.
If he went to West Xia, he would probably die without a burial place.
The Second Prince was afraid of death, but he was even more afraid of dying in a foreign country without dignity. Since that was the case, it was better to let him end his own life on his own terms.
After coming out of Minister Qin’s tent, the Second Prince looked at the chaotic camp and sighed at the sky. He didn’t know if the rebellion was premeditated by the Qi brothers or if they had been forced by him. He only knew that the Guo family’s bloodline had been severed by his own hands.
Just as the Second Prince was about to die, Qi Haoran was squatting on the ground. He pulled out a potato from the fire, peeled off the skin, and stuffed it into his mouth. As he exhaled, he asked, “How much grain do we have left?”
“Enough to last three days. General, I suggest we attack. We can’t very well keep surrounding them. Our rations are about to run out. I heard that the treasury doesn’t have any money now.”
Qi Haoran rolled his eyes and said, “Did we have a treasury when we fought in the war previously? Didn’t we still manage to take it down?” He stuffed two potatoes into his stomach before feeling a little better. He said, “Wait a little longer. Didn’t you see that the other side is in chaos? If we can reduce the casualties, I’m willing to wait for two more days. Get them to write on more papers and spread them over there. Take in all the soldiers who escape here and make arrangements for them separately.”
The adjutant muttered, “I haven’t seen anyone coming to seek refuge these few days.”
Later that day, a section commander ran over at night. He put down his weapon at the entrance of the camp and raised his hands in surrender.
The Qi Family’s soldiers brought him back and made arrangements for him separately. That was just the start. In total, six batches of people came to surrender in one night. They thought that the other party would definitely cause trouble the next day, but who knew that it was still as chaotic as before? However, nothing major happened.
At night, they received many more troops from the other side who had fled over. Qi Haoran questioned them one by one, but he felt that something was wrong. However, he couldn’t figure out just what was wrong even after sleeping for the entire night.
The next day, when they went out for breakfast, they remembered that the soldiers who had come to seek refuge had said that the Second Prince and Prime Minister Qin had not left their tent for a day and a night, and no one had brought food in. Those soldiers had only fled here because they felt that there was not much rations left.
Qi Haoran also stuffed a black steamed bun into his mouth and said, “Call the assistant commanders over. Hurry!”
At noon that day, the Qi family army, which had been silent for more than half a month, brazenly launched an attack on the Second Prince’s army. In just one hour’s time, they successfully attacked the camp and captured 48,658 people. The Second Prince and Prime Minister Qin had already been dead in the tent for two days.