Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 585 - 585 0387 Not a Small Number_2

Chapter 585: Chapter 0387: Not a Small Number_2 Chapter 585: Chapter 0387: Not a Small Number_2 The Crown Prince, holding righteousness, has obtained the support of the princes, ministers, civil and military officials, while the military forces of the court are all led by generals loyal to the court. Moreover, the National Master Manor and the Guardian National Master Manor amongst the three large National Master Manors are ardent supporters of the Crown Prince, and there is no dissatisfaction with the court among local officials. In contrast, apart from Qi Tian openly saying he would help him, there are no other supporters, apart from the possible addition of the Imperial Master Mansion. But how many people are there in the Imperial Master Mansion? It does not even amount to five thousand men.

With such limited manpower, trying to overthrow the Crown Prince was a joke. Any sane person would not believe that Qi Tian could succeed.

However, for Prince Zhao, whether it is a joke or not is not important anymore. This has become the only chance for him to save his son’s life and to restore his mother’s honor.

“Good, Prince Zhao, since you are willing to obey my arrangements, I will surely give you back the throne in the future. Now, you must immediately write a denunciation of the Crown Prince, as we aim to purge the palace and eliminate the corrupt,” Qi Tian said. Since he was going to use Prince Zhao as his banner, he needed to have legitimacy and seize the moral high ground at least, otherwise, how could Prince Zhao be recommended as emperor in the future.

The crowd looked at each other in confusion, wondering what is this write of accusation? They all had no idea how to write it.

Qi Tian also couldn’t write it. Although he had read a number of writes of accusation in his previous life when he was reading about the Three Kingdoms, this information was no longer easily accessible to him. To get around it, he decided to summon the county official of Lubei County.

The county official, Huang Shuxian, was a genuine scholar who had passed the imperial examination. However, he was not a brilliant scholar and was just a small fringe character. Because he was not good at playing politics and didn’t have the money to bribe his superiors, he has only become a small country official up until now. Upon hearing that Qi Tian summoned him, he hurried over without any delay.

Qi Tian didn’t feel like deceiving a petty official whom he could crush easily. He directly proposed his requirement for writing a denunciation against the Crown Prince in the name of Prince Zhao.

The eyes of the county official lit up immediately, he was a very ambitious and extraordinary man. He realized that this was a golden opportunity, and if handled well, he could become a heroic official. In the future, serving as a County Master or even the Master of a whole County would be a small matter. This prospect was much better than his current position of a neglected official. Moreover, he knew better than anyone about Qi Tian’s capabilities. If he dared to refuse Qi Tian, who knew whether Qi Tian would allow him to walk out of the door of the County Master Mansion.

True to his scholar background, the official was knowledgeable. Preparing the ink and spreading out the paper, he picked up his brush and began to write the denunciation. After about half an hour, a denunciation against the Crown Prince was written in the name of Prince Zhao according to Qi Tian’s requirements.

Despite his low position, as a grassroots official, he was deeply aware of the sufferings of the lower class and the greed of the superior officials. In his eyes, Great Zhao was far from the flourishing scene it presented; there were many areas that needed governance and reform. And the cause of these problems could not be detached from Emperor Tian Rui and the Crown Prince.

After finishing the denunciation, the county official first handed it to Qi Tian to review. After reading it, Qi Tian praised him continually, “Just for this write of accusation, Huang Shuxian, serving as a country official is a waste of your talent. Don’t do it anymore, go and assist Prince Zhao right now. Help Prince Zhao understand the hardships of the common people, master the operational rules of the official circle, and avoid him being completely ignorant after he ascends the throne one day.”

The county official was overjoyed. With Qi Tian’s words of this arrangement, the day of his rapid advancement was within reach.

Qi Tian asked the county official to organize people, copy the denouncement a few more times, and then spread it to the world. He also instructed Prince Zhao to stay in the county office and not to step out of it without his permission. It was not that Qi Tian wanted to detain Prince Zhao, but to protect him. After all, once the denouncement was released, it would inevitably cause turmoil in the court. There would undoubtedly be a steady stream of people looking for trouble. Without protecting Prince Zhao, how could they proceed with the plan? In addition, Qi Tian arranged for Guan Xun to take some people to Lunan County and bring all other members of Prince Zhao’s family to the Master Mansion.

Having finished giving instructions, Qi Tian took a newly copied denouncement and asked Deng Chuanliang to accompany him before leaving the Master Mansion.

Qi Tian brought out the Immortal Crane Bronze Statue, and placed the top-grade spirit stones onto it. The statue instantaneously grew to the size of a yard, and Qi Tian, along with Deng Chuanliang, sat on the statue’s back. Then, piloting the Immortal Crane Bronze Statue, they set forth for Prince Duan Manor.

Prince Duan was one of Emperor Tian Rui’s most loved sons. He was the second legitimate son of Emperor Tian Rui and the Empress. Besides the Crown Prince, he was the only prince who enjoyed the privileges of a Prince. Other princes, at best, enjoyed the princely respect, while princes like Prince Zhao only enjoyed the status of Viscounts, reaping a level of respect that could not be further diminished.

Given Prince Duan’s relationship with the Crown Prince and Prince Duan’s solid support of the Crown Prince, the latter still chose to shelter Prince Duan and his family even after their manor was responsible for destroying villages, abducting common folk as miners, and rendering countless families homeless. Petitions from places like the Imperial Master Mansion and King Zhangbei Zhao Donghao to punish Prince Duan Manor were simply dismissed by the Crown Prince.

This was far from a unique situation, as a multitude of others who supported him, including Princes, high-ranking ministers, civil and military officials, had been manipulated by the Crown Prince into supporting his rule. In return for their compliance, they escaped punishment and retained their power.

Speaking of which, Prince Duan Manor was definitely one of instigators of the conflict that now existed between Qi Tian and the Crown Prince. If it weren’t for Prince Duan Manor’s actions, the relationship between Qi Tian and the Crown Prince wouldn’t be at this you-or-me stage.

The Immortal Crane Bronze Statue was extremely fast. After leaving the County Master Mansion, Qi Tian and his company reached the airspace above Prince Duan Manor in just over an hour.

Qi Tian blatantly flew the Immortal Crane Bronze Statue over Prince Duan Manor.

There were many guards at the Prince Duan Manor – the Guard Army granted by Emperor Tian Rui and the Crown Prince, the security force established by Prince Duan Manor itself, and manpower sent by local government officials trying to curry favor. Most of them were ordinary people from the secular world, but like other prince’s manors, there were cultivators present.

Seeing Qi Tian’s action as a fitting challenge, several cultivators serving Prince Duan Manor rushed out to confront him. However, they lacked the ability to fly and had no flying swords; they were grounded.

Observing them, not a hint of emotion showed in Qi Tian’s eyes. He said to Deng Chuanliang, “Those who willingly serve a noble like Prince Duan, who regards common people’s lives as worthless, are criminals. Deng, eliminate them.”

Deng Chuanliang nodded, swept his hand downwards, and a gust of wind flew from his sleeve towards those cultivators below. Before they could react, they were carried up into the air by whirlwind, then as the wind dissipated, they plummeted to the ground. All of them died from internal injuries and bleeding caused by the fall.

The cruel death of the cultivators terrified all the guards at the Prince Duan Manor. Those from the Guard Army who had planned to shoot arrows were now silent. If they dared to attack, their fate wouldn’t be much better than that of the cultivators.

Prince Duan, frightened, was already hiding. He did not dare to show himself. Instead, he sent an eunuch to negotiate with Qi Tian.

“Why did the Immortal provoke my Prince Duan Manor for no reason? Is there a misunderstanding here? Please, Immortal, enlighten us so that my master can respond. If the Immortal needs money, you can also speak up. My master has some wealth, and is willing to fund some of the Immortal’s cultivation resources.”

As the eunuch was speaking, he held out a tray. It had several dozen low-grade spirit stones on it – the amount was not negligible.