Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 743 - 614: Great Increase in Military Power_1

News of Prince Xiang’s detainment in the Zhao Prison of Xiuyiwei had arrived here half a moment ago. Yet, the Master of the Palace’s mood did not improve; instead, it turned even more resentful and enraged.

"Yu Qiyu!" Empress Sun spat out through clenched teeth and her breath seemed to frost the corners of the room.

"How dare he! How dare he? This is utterly arbitrary and lawless! How could Yu Qiyu make a distant relative, a half-blood grandchild, the crown prince? Even a posthumous son at that. Qi Zhen, aren’t all of your children more qualified than this bastard whose origins are unknown?"

"Don’t these Ritual Officers and Literature Officers, and those scholars know this is against the rituals? To let a distant half-blood become the grand Imperial Grandson, did they swallow all their books?"

To her astonishment, Yu Qiyu would even prefer to pass on the throne to an outsider, rather than selecting a successor from the sons of the True Emperor Zhengtong.

Where does that leave the mother and son?

The Primordial Spirit of the True Emperor Zhengtong manifested in front of Empress Sun, his face equally dark: "As I mentioned, Yu Qiyu harbors wild ambitions and bears resentment toward both of you. He would never allow the throne to fall into our lineage’s hands again.

"As for the officials, you don’t need to be too hard on them. Now that Prince Xiang has fallen and the Golden Knife Case is suppressing many of the virtuous people in the outer dynasty, Yu Qiyu faces no opposition, inside or outside. With Minister of War Yu Jie and Li Xuan of the Dudu’s mansion backing him, it is clear that his power is already established and unstoppable. As he said, one word from him can determine the decisive matter of the attempt."

Empress Sun’s face turned a ghastly pale. She asked her brother-in-law, Sun Jizong, "That little bastard called Yu Youlong, is he being raised by Lady Hang?"

However, Sun Jizong shook his head with a troubled look, "I have no idea what is going through Jingtai Emperor’s mind, but that little beast is placed by his daughter, Yu Hongchang. I’ve tried to infiltrate her ’Fubi Palace’ in recent months, but to no avail.

Yu Hongchang chooses palace maids directly from outside, without going through the normal ’Shangyi’ channel. When I tried to approach their families, we found no trace of them despite an investigation going on for a month."

’Shangyi’ is one of the twelve bureaus in the palace, and it is also the ceremonial name for the women’s officials, who are responsible for etiquette.

Theoretically, all palace maids in the Forbidden City should be properly instructed by the ’Shangyi’ before being sent to various palaces.

"Furthermore, her Princess Mansion is gradually taking shape. Jingtai Emperor gifted her several imperial manors which give an annual revenue of millions of teal of silver. She herself is at a heavenly level and has attracted many talents from Jianghu."

Empress Sun clenched her hands around the armrest, her face livid, "This is against the rules! Does he dare to be so bold?"

Sun Jizong didn’t reply, but with an indifferent look bowed.

Of course, this was against the rules, but today’s emperor is Yu Qiyu, who is omnipotent, and there is no space for other people to voice their opinions.

In the absence of the Golden Knife Case, Empress Sun could still restrain a bit with her status as a birth mother.

But now she is trapped in the Renshou Palace and cannot move, and the Jingtai Emperor is even more unabashedly audacious.

Empress Sun then turned her cold gaze on Sun Chuyun in the distance.

If her niece took action, that little beast might not survive the night.

However, Sun Chuyun paid no attention. She turned her head away to look outside the palace.

"Ungrateful!"

Empress Sun was infuriated, her eyes wide and she let out a grunt of anger.

Empress Sun really wanted to blow up and harshly scold this clueless girl. But thinking about how she still needed Sun Chuyun to contact the outside forces, she managed to hold back her temper.

"Useless mother." Zhengtong Emperor guessed what his mother wanted to do and shook his head slightly, "That little beast is ultimately inconsequential. Even if this son dies prematurely, Yu Qiyu can simply adopt another at most. What harm would befall him?

With so many royal families such as the Great Ancestor’s twenty-six sons, Emperor Taizong’s four sons, and Ren Emperor’s nine sons, can’t he find a suitable child? If he has made up his mind not to let me regain the throne, he will surely find a way. So, doing this wouldn’t help at all. On the contrary, it would make our situation even more dangerous. Once any hint is revealed, the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Qi Zhen, you are right, we can’t wait for a few years. Now that Prince Xiang has been removed, the situation for us, mother and son, is even more desperate."

Empress Sun first closed her eyes and deeply breathed in. When she opened her eyes again, they were filled with murderous intent: "How are the Mongols doing on their side?"

Zhengtong Emperor replied with a cold expression: "Everything has been prepared, and the Shiwei are waiting for my oath of Primordial Spirit. But once this oath is made, it’s like an arrow on a taut bow ready to be released."

"You go liaise with them." As Empress Sun spoke, she fell into deep thought, "Also, there should be some movement in the outer court. We cannot let Yu Qiyu make the crown prince smoothly.

Jizong, the Ritual Officers, Literature Officers and royal families we have in our hands should start to act. Don’t skimp on money. Even if we can disrupt Yu Qiyu’s focus this time, it will be worth it.

※※※※

Li Xuan stayed in the palace for over an hour before he exited the Wu Gate.

This was because he was summoned by Wang Chuanhua, the eunuch in charge of the Duzhi Bureau, claiming that the Emperor wanted to see him.

Li Xuan initially thought that the Jingtai Emperor wanted him to continue handling the case regarding Prince Xiang.

Such a major treason case must be thoroughly dealt with. No matter how benevolent the Jingtai Emperor usually was, he would definitely make the tough decision to completely eradicate the accused.

Therefore, imprisoning Prince Xiang was merely the beginning. They still needed to interrogate his accomplices and arrest all related parties.

But to Li Xuan’s surprise, the Jingtai Emperor did not intend to further involve him in the case against Prince Xiang.

The subsequent investigations would be handled by the inner Jishi Institute and Xiuyiwei.

Li Xuan was pleased. He was not particularly keen on remaining involved in the case, as the tasks that followed were notoriously dirty and bloody. It was nothing more than torture, arrest, followed by family execution.

Although Li Xuan had been in this world for over a year, he still wasn’t at the stage where killing was second nature to him, or where he could bring about mass deaths with a mere wave of his hand.

The Jingtai Emperor summoned him with matters regarding military affairs. The Emperor was planning to place the Shenji right camp under his command.

The Shenji right camp has 11,000 soldiers and is stationed in the northeastern suburbs of the Capital City. It originally was the elite force of the Jingying. However, thirteen years prior, due to core members getting poached by Yu Jie to form the ’Ten Battalions’, it was now the bottom-tier force within the Forbidden Army.

The Jingtai Emperor hoped that Li Xuan could take over the Shenji right camp and quickly elevate its combat power to match the left Shenji battalion.

He also promised Li Xuan that he would purchase 12,000 ’Rune Flintlock Rifles’ to allocate to the Shenji right camp and increase the number of soldiers in the Shenji right camp to 19,000.

Li Xuan was utterly stunned. The Emperor’s trust in him was overwhelming, to the point where he felt it was a bit too much.

Did the Jingtai Emperor harbor no suspicions towards him at all?

If the Shenji right and left camp were to be completed following the Jingtai Emperor’s plans, they would become the largest military force in Jingying, second only to the ’Ten Battalions’.

The ’Ten Battalions’ had 160,000 members. They were meticulously built by Shaobao Yu Jie. They had shone during the great battle with the Meng Wu people at the beginning of the thirteenth year of Jingtai and held their own against the Walachexue Army.

However, the future Shenji right and left camp’s equipment would far outclass the ’Ten Battalions’.

The power of the ’Rune Flintlock Rifles’ was equivalent to a medium-grade magical instrument. It was capable of killing the fourth house level Wu cultivators effectively at a range of up to 260 units, which was far beyond the capabilities of the archers trained by the ’Ten Battalions’.

As the rifles use the back-loading flintlock and fixed cartridge design, they are significantly waterproof, which effectively mitigates the firearm’s biggest weakness.

Although many high-ranking veterans in the Dudu’s mansion and the top officials of the Ministry of War were questioning the combat effectiveness of this all-firearm military unit, believing that they were not capable of any significant contributions,

on paper, the military strength of the Shenji right and left camp was formidable.

Nevertheless, the Jingtai Emperor handed over this section of the Forbidden Army to him, not even hindering him slightly by assigning a Jianjun, giving Li Xuan full autonomy, which meant he had complete control over all matters.

Of course, Li Xuan was happy to take on more military power. But he questioned where the funds for this military expansion and purchasing equipment would come from?

The Ministry of War would never allocate more funds to him, not to mention, the Ministry of Revenue.

Just now, after the end of the morning meeting, Xiao Ci, the Minister of Revenue, left angrily because Li Xuan wouldn’t let go of the Golden Knife case.

Yet, the Jingtai Emperor casually waved his hand, claiming that all the expenses for the upcoming expansion will come from the imperial treasury.

Li Xuan had no objections. He knew that the imperial treasury was recently loaded, and the upcoming case against Prince Xiang would bring in a large sum of money.

However, he predicted he’d be busy in the upcoming period. He still hadn’t fully trained the Shenji left camp, and now he had another right camp to take care of. Li Xuan estimated that for the next two months, he will have to stay sincerely within the army.

Additionally, finding qualified officers was not easy. It required proficiency in martial law, knowledge of firearms, and a certain level of management skills. Therefore, he would have to start scouring among his uncles and older generation of relatives.

However, after saying goodbye to the palace and stepping out of Chengtian Gate, he saw Sun Chuyun.

This girl seemed lost in thoughts, looking dazed as she walked.

Upon seeing her, Li Xuan was slightly taken aback and rode his horse over to her.