76 Qualitative Change (1/2)
Li Shang smiled wryly, ”Well if His Majesty wasn’t behind what had happened today, the Li Residence would be covered with corpses by now. Not a single one of us would live! That would have been Jun Zhan Tian’s original intention. If there weren’t the case, he wouldn't have gone to the extent of mobilising the army! Somewhere in between, something must have happened to change his mind. As for the person who could cause Jun Zhan Tian to change his mind was none other than the Emperor! Oh, there is another, his grandson, Jun Mo Xie. Earlier, you told me that the debauchee was killed. It seemed that may not be the case. If Jun Mo Xie really died, even His Majesty may not be capable of holding Jun Zhan Tian back. Therefore, I believe that Jun Mo Xie is still alive. In addition, Jun Zhan Tian should have only received this information recently.”
”Hence, Jun Zhan Tian had very little influence over what had happened. Although today it seemed that we have fallen into misfortune for no reason. I believe that there would be others who are far worse off compared to us.” Li Shang laugher, ”His Majesty was provoked by the assassination attempt on the Imperial Princess. Therefore, His Majesty decided to utilise Jun Zhan Tian’s anger to rearrange the power base amongst the three Princes.”
”All the families or officials who had chosen to side with the Princes would receive a ‘warning’ tonight. Some could even be exiled or be harshly dealt with. As for those within the Imperial Palace, the ‘rearrangement’ should be finished by now. A pity that all our preparations…”
”It was unexpected and inevitable that Jun Zhan Tian will go berserk today. If we were to grasped onto Jun Mo Xie back then, this old man would have gone berserk a long time ago! Hence, His Majesty took advantage of Jun Zhan Tian’s act of madness to … Ha Ha… His Majesty took this opportunity to weaken the Jun Family’s military power and suppress the powers of the other big families like ours before suppressing this incident! The mastermind behind Jun Zhan Tian is none other than the Emperor himself! The Emperor has the greatest comprehension of what happened tonight! So then, do you think we could do anything to that Old Jun?”
Li You Ran was shocked. He never imagined that his grandfather had thought so far ahead. He comprehended the thought process of everyone involved, especially the thoughts of the one standing on top within the Tian Xiang Kingdom!
”His Majesty is a man of great talent. It is only normal that he doesn’t want his successor to be an incompetent person. Therefore, His Majesty allowed the three Princes to compere, However, his majesty doesn’t wish to escalate matters to a point of no control. Hence once the three Princes go overboard, His Majesty would clear the board and restart everything again. That is the reason why the great families with true power within the city will never participate in the struggle between the Princes!”
”Remember, forget everything that had happened today. Never take action till the situation had stabilised! Just look there.” Li Shang pointed at the great smoke billowing up into the skies, ”All those who chose to take actions in advance have all been sent on their merry way to Heaven.”
”If that is the case, does that mean that we’ll do nothing with regards to what had happened today?” Li You Ran asked.
”How can we simply do nothing? Even if we wanted to, His Majesty wouldn’t like it.” Li Shang smiled craftily, ”Hence, we must lodge a complaint tomorrow. Only then would His Majesty have a reason to suppress the great families, which was His Majesty’s true intention. We will have trouble in the future If we don’t go along.
Li You Ran was in a state of deep contemplation. He was intelligent, a civil and military affairs genius. Yet, listening to those words, he realised that he lacked in the comprehension of political affairs.
He gently stroked the part of his face which Jun Zhan Tian slapped, his eyes, like a poisonous snake, flashed with a chilling glint
.
”I, Li You Ran, will never forget this slap of yours.”
At the same time, the Meng Residence was in total chaos...
Compared to the Li Family, the Meng Family was in a worse situation. Their homes had been ‘searched’ to the point of being destroyed. However, Jun Zhan Tian was depressed as this was not his intentions nor the outcome he wanted.
The capital will become calm for a long period of time after this incident. At least, this was how it would appear in plain sight.
Since His Majesty said that Mo Xie was still alive, then this senior will become His Majesty’s ‘spear’. Although the ending is somewhat anticlimactic, doing so is quite worthwhile. The original intention was to kill everyone. Although a large number of them were killed, the most important ones must be spared...
Suddenly, a hasty sound rang out, ”Jun Zhan Tian, you… you ignorant old man! Stop it!”
Jun Zhan Tian’s body was in a shock, he could not believe what he heard.
He turned around slowly and his eyes stared straight. His face revealed a mad look of joy.
A skinny and withered looking old man appeared, his arms carried someone to his chest. The old man shot out and appeared in front of Jun Zhan Tian, breathless. However, Jun Zhan Tian paid no attention to him. He quickly dismounted from his horse and rushed to the emaciated old man. Jun Zhan Tian retrieved the person that the old man was carrying and spoke in a trembling voice, ” Mo Xie?”
Coincidentally, these two people returned when everything was just about to be finished...