Chinese dining table

Chapter 1277 A Vicious Heart
The Queen was a qualified politician. Naturally, she would not put her life and property at the risk of the love between husband and wife, or between mother and child. She knew very well how fragile these things were, especially the feelings of the royal family, which were sometimes not even as valuable as toilet chips.

The husband and wife were sharing life and death one moment, and hanged each other the next. This was a basic operation of the royal family. There were also many cases where the mother and son were loving and filial one moment, and went into battle the next.

Therefore, the power held in your hands is the real power.

The queen's power is in Luoyang, Hebei, and Shandong.

Originally, the deployment of troops and personnel should be done secretly, which is in line with the Queen's consistent position. However, this time, the Queen openly gathered her people to Jiucheng Palace.

The reason why Li Zhi chose to stay in Jiucheng Palace instead of Ziwei Palace in Luoyang was because in Luoyang, he could easily be controlled by the queen. Even if he committed a bloody crime in Luoyang, the result seemed to be no different, and his secretaries still continued to sacrifice themselves for the queen.

It would be fine if it was just one or two, but when his secretaries died one after another for the queen, it was terrifying, to the point that the emperor didn't know who he could trust in the Secretariat.

If there was a choice, the emperor would not even want to use Yun Jin, so the secretary should be his own person. However, as the eldest son of the Yun family, Yun Jin is naturally unable to be loyal to anyone.

Therefore, Yun Jin's beating was not unjust at all. It was a thorough venting of the emperor's years of resentment and disappointment after they reached their peak.

After Shangguan Yi's execution, the Luoyang massacre, and the bombardment of Chang'an, the emperor had fewer and fewer people available. Therefore, more and more eunuchs around him, with various names called Chun, appeared on the political stage of the Tang Dynasty.

The emperor is paying the price for his previous reckless behavior.

Some people were optimistic about the queen, some were optimistic about the prince, but few were optimistic about this emperor, who was on the decline and had unstable emotions.

When the Crown Prince kept out of the matter, Yun Chu kept out of the matter, and all the civil and military officials in the court kept out of the matter and watched the fight between the Emperor and the Empress, there were really too few people around Li Zhi who could be used.

Fortunately, Yun Chu and Xue Rengui can still give the emperor a minimum sense of security, otherwise, God knows what a crazy emperor will do.

The weather in Jiucheng Palace has been bad recently. It is not raining but the sun is not visible, and there is not even wind. There are always dark clouds in the sky, and the sun is steaming the earth through the clouds, which turns the Jiucheng Palace Canyon into a huge steamer.

The world is as unchanged as if it were dead.

Chang'an is not like this. She has changed a lot recently. For example, the dedicated bad guys have discovered that there are a lot of farmers entering Chang'an with weapons. In the past, they didn't dare to fart after being kicked by the bad guys. Now, things have changed. After being kicked by the bad guys, they dare to hold the axe handle behind their waists and pretend to resist.

They not only have axes, but also sharp steel sickles. The more exaggerated guys even carry a short-handled shovel on their backs. This thing is sharpened. The wide oval blade of the shovel is thin and sharp. Although it is inferior to weapons such as swords, but after being equipped with a long handle, it is very powerful whether it is chopping, splitting or chopping. A farmer holding this shovel is not inferior to a man holding a sword in terms of martial arts.

There were also some strong farmers who would bring pickaxes into the city. The pickaxe had a pointed end and a flat blade on the other end. As long as the farmer installed the handle and was willing to use his strength, the pointed end could chisel through the armor. Even if it failed, the heavy impact force was not inferior to that of heavy weapons such as hammers and maces.

This look really looks silly, even stupid, but in the extremely martial environment of Guanzhong, there is no problem at all.

When children in Guanzhong were not even as tall as a broom, they knew how to kill people by swinging a broom. Now that they have steel farm tools, why shouldn't they use them for self-defense?

Once the bad guy started asking, the answers they gave made a lot of sense - it's normal for a farmer to carry farm tools, just like a scholar to carry pens and ink, or a scholar to carry swords.

"This is not normal!"

When Lu Zhaolin talked about the incident of farmers carrying farm tools into the city, his voice was very shrill.

"The shovels in their hands look more like beheading weapons than farm tools, and the pickaxes look more like heavy weapons like armor-piercing spikes. One or two is fine, but is it necessary for farmers to bring these things with them when they go to the city to sell their farm produce?"

Wu Chengsi chuckled and said, "In that case, you go and take care of it."

Lu Zhaolin shook his head and said, "One million steel farm tools are already scattered around Chang'an. How can we stop them? Not to mention that they also have a huge number of bows and arrows. If these farmers are gathered together, it is not an exaggeration to call them an army."

Yang Jiong, who came in with the documents, heard Lu Zhaolin say this, and explained helplessly: "I have told you many times, that is a hunting bow."

Lu Zhaolin sneered, "A hunting bow discarded by the army?"

Yang Jiong placed the document on Yun Chu's desk, opened the part that required Yun Chu's signature, and continued to say to Lu Zhaolin: "Yes, your Lu family is also a noble family, and you did a lot of immoral things in your early years. Now that you see that the farmer has become powerful, it is natural for you to be afraid."

Lu Zhaolin looked at Yun Chu who signed with an expressionless face and said, "My Lord, weakening the people is the way to govern."

Yun Chu raised his head and said, "Bullshit!"

Lu Zhaolin sighed and said, "One million steel farm tools falling into the hands of ordinary people is a source of disaster."

Yang Jiong said, "It's strange that you allow the servants of the Lu family to carry knives and guns, but the common people are not allowed to carry farm tools. Didn't you agree with this matter at the beginning?"

Lu Zhaolin smiled bitterly and said, "I thought the farmers would use the farm tools to dig the ground, but I didn't expect that they sharpened the shovels to be as sharp as if they were used to chop people's heads off."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "If we can get another two million pieces of steel farm tools for the people in Guanzhong, there will be no more bandits and robbers in Guanzhong."

Lu Zhaolin said: "Not only the bandits and thugs are afraid, but now the officials who go to the countryside are also afraid."

Yun Chu handed the signed document to Yang Jiong and said, "The new village rules and regulations must be implemented in accordance with the specific items formulated by the county government. No changes are allowed. It is best not to change a single word."

Yang Jiong agreed and went out with the documents.

Yun Chu said to Wu Chengsi, who was sitting opposite him in the office, "The matter has been settled. When will you return to your official residence?"

Wu Chengsi said without even raising his head: "The feng shui here is good, County Master."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "Okay, if you like it here, I'll move somewhere else."

Wu Chengsi looked up at Yun Chu and said, "Sansi is still at the steel city construction site, and his work hasn't been completed yet. Is the county magistrate planning to get rid of him now?"

Yun Chu said: "I just can't bear to see your bitter face."

Wu Chengsi said: "No matter who it is, after having just experienced the disaster of the extermination of their family, there will be no smile on their face."

Yun Chu waved his hand irritably and left the government residence.

Lu Zhaolin followed and said, "County Master, now the situation between His Majesty and the Queen is getting increasingly tense, what should we do?"

Yun Chu said coldly: "What do you want to do?"

Lu Zhaolin said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Just asking casually."

Yun Chu said: "What your majesty wants to do has nothing to do with us, what the queen wants to do has nothing to do with us, and even what the prince wants to do has nothing to do with us. Now is a rare window of opportunity for Chang'an. It's good enough to do our own things well."

After that, he walked away.

Lu Zhaolin looked at Yun Chu's back and said to himself, "Can't we just take advantage of the situation?"

People who have a very smooth life usually have a lot of ambition. Lu Zhaolin is such a person.

Compared with Lu Zhaolin who liked to be brave and diligent, Wenzi was really gentle. But in just a few years, she had turned herself into a puddle of mud with her gentleness.

The ancestor of the Wen family finally did not survive this bitter summer, nor did he enter the shrine of the centenarian auspicious old man.

At the age of ninety-seven, if he could live another half a year, he would be able to enter the ranks of centenarians according to his lunar age. When he reached this level, the emperor would send gifts to his family every year and greet him personally every year.

Wenrou didn't seem to care at all about the death of her ancestor. She slumped in an armchair as if she had no bones.

"Since you are going to attend a funeral, you should not stay in Pingkangfang and not come out." Yun Chu couldn't stand his rogue look and couldn't help but open his mouth to advise him.

Wenrou looked at Yun Chu lazily and said, "You are so fake, as if someone would impeach me for going in and out of a brothel during the mourning period."

Yun Chu said: "Your brothers and sisters won't say anything about you?"

She smiled gently and said, "Now, they all depend on my mood to survive, so who cares?"

Yun Chu laughed, threw himself into an armchair and sat down, leaning his head against the backrest and swinging his feet, saying: "You are living comfortably in Luoyang——"

Wenrou shook her head and said, "We won't be able to rest for long. The Queen's men are advancing rapidly towards Jiucheng Palace. I'm very worried that the couple will completely fall out and start fighting."

Yun Chu said: "Impossible, the Queen just wants to drive the Emperor crazy."

Wenrou asked in confusion, "Are you saying that those people were sent by the Queen to be killed by His Majesty?"

Yun Chu said softly, "Ten days ago, the emperor was furious and beat Yun Jin severely. He told the prince that it was revenge for the prince."

Wenrou frowned and said, "The emperor has begun to doubt everyone?"

Yun Chu continued, "A month and a half ago, the emperor inexplicably chopped the giant bear seven or eight times with the back of his knife because the giant bear knocked over his teacup."

Wenrou frowned even more tightly and whispered, "Is the emperor's state of mind broken?"

Yun Chu continued, “Yun Jin said that the emperor was weak when he beat him, but his expression was very ferocious.”

Wenrou sighed and said, "If you have the will but not the strength, then you're done. Once a man starts to feel this way, he's going to die."

Yun Chu gently knocked the back of the chair with the back of his head and said, "The queen submitted a petition to the emperor, saying that as a woman of the Li family, she had no intention of coveting the artifact and was just fulfilling her duties as a woman of the Li family. Since the emperor began to suspect her, she was going to send all her followers to Jiucheng Palace and leave it to the emperor to decide."

Wenrou gritted her teeth and said, "What a vicious heart."