Chapter 1251: Investigate to the End (1)

Qi Xiuyuan looked at Little Bear and asked, “Then why did you enter the palace, Little Bear?”

Little Bear said honestly, “We have something important to tell you.”

Seeing that Qi Xiuyuan didn’t seem to have any other questions, Little Treasure immediately took out Qin Fang’s portrait and told him about what had happened along the way.

Qi Xiuyuan immediately threw those small issues aside and took the portrait from Little Treasure’s hand. The more he listened, the darker his expression became. In the end, he asked, “Where are the assassins and bandits?”

“They’re all detained in Fourth Uncle’s residence.” Little Treasure said, “I originally wanted to hand them over to Fourth Uncle for investigation, but Fourth Uncle wasn’t at home. Since it’s not convenient for me to bring them into the palace, I asked the guards to stay in the King’s Residence to keep an eye on them.”

Qi Xiuyuan nodded slightly and only reacted after a while, slightly pale-faced. “So you went to your Fourth Uncle’s residence as soon as you returned to the capital to let him handle this matter?”

Seeing how angry he was, Little Treasure asked in confusion, “Shouldn’t Fourth Uncle be in charge of this matter?”

‘But why didn’t you return home to see your father first?’

To think that he had been so worried about him.

Qi Xiuyuan looked at his son accusingly and waved his hand. “Alright, you can leave. You don’t have to worry about this matter.”

Little Treasure carefully glanced at his father and asked, “Royal Father, is Qin Fang really a treacherous official?”

Qi Xiuyuan snorted. “Otherwise, do you think he’s a loyal minister?”

“Then why are those people so loyal to him? I think even if they were really brainwashed by Qin Fang, they should know right from wrong. In that case, why would they be bent on killing our Qi family to avenge him?”

“Wait a minute.” Qi Xiuyuan raised his hand and interrupted his son. He widened his eyes and asked, “What did you say Qin Fang did to those bandits just now? Brainwash them? Can their brains be washed? How does one go about doing that? Open them up and wash them?”

Little Treasure and Little Bear: “…”

“Royal Uncle, you’ve never heard of the term ‘brainwash’?” Little Bear’s eyes widened as well. He said, “Brainwashing is to wash away the distracting thoughts and one’s sense of self in a person’s brain like washing off the stains on their clothes. It makes a person only accept the thoughts that they have been instilled with, such as being absolutely loyal to a certain person and believing that what they are doing is for the good of the entire world, the entire human race, and so on.”

Qi Xiuyuan’s eyes lit up. “Then do you know how to brainwash someone?”

The two youths shook their heads at the same time and said, “That kind of person is too terrifying. Other than the thoughts instilled by them, they don’t allow the other party to have the ability to think. Aren’t such people puppets? What’s the use of having them?”

Qi Xiuyuan thought about it and agreed. He was already the Emperor, and there were countless people who wanted to be loyal to him. There was no need for him to take such an unorthodox path.

After chasing the two youths out, Qi Xiuyuan sat on the dragon throne to look at Qin Fang’s portrait.

It could be seen that the painter really respected Qin Fang. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have drawn him like this. If Qin Fang was indeed as benevolent as the man in the portrait looked, Great Qi wouldn’t have come into existence.

Qi Xiuyuan rolled up Qin Fang’s portrait and placed it on the other side. He was not worried about Qin Fang’s power because he was dead. One of his two sons had been executed by Haoran, and the other had been killed in West Xia. As for his grandsons, even if they weren’t poor, their life in West Xia was definitely not easy.

No matter where it was, traitors would never be respected. Since Qin Fang betrayed his country, it would be too difficult for his descendants to make something of themselves. Without the support of Qin Fang’s direct descendants, how long could these people’s rebellion last?

On the other hand, Haoran had already eliminated many of Qin Fang’s forces. This time, they had even found Qin Fang’s private soldiers. As long as one of them spoke, they could completely eliminate Qin Fang’s other forces.

However, just because Qi Xiuyuan was not worried that Qin Fang’s power would grow, it did not mean that he could tolerate their provocation of the Qi family.

If they could cooperate with Great Yuan and West Xia to assassinate Little Treasure and Little Bear this time, they could assassinate him and Haoran next time.

Qi Xiuyuan decisively handed this matter to Qi Haoran and the Court of Judicial Review to investigate.

Hence, Qi Haoran, who had just returned from the West Mountain camp happily, was summoned into the palace before he could return home.

Qi Haoran happily said to Qi Xiuyuan, “Big Brother, this military parade was very successful. I saw that several generals had the intention to purchase more cannons.”

“Alright, that’s enough. If you really push the Ministry of Revenue too far, they might stop your funding altogether.” He also had a share in the cannon factory, so Qi Xiuyuan also hoped that the cannon factory could be profitable. However, because the money for the cannons came from the Ministry of Revenue, in his opinion, he was taking money from the national treasury and putting it in his private vault. Later, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue would still take money from his private vault.

The most important thing was that the profits of the cannon factory that entered his private treasury was not as much as the money the Ministry of Revenue took out from his private treasury. Hence, Qi Xiuyuan was not as excited as his brother about the expansion of the cannon factory. He threw Qin Fang’s portrait to Qi Haoran and said, “You should focus more on him.”

Qi Haoran unfolded it and took a long time to recognize the person in the painting. “Isn’t this Qin Fang? Who painted him so kindly?”

“His godsons.” Qi Xiuyuan sneered. “If those people can be considered his godsons.”

Qi Xiuyuan relayed Little Treasure and Little Bear’s words word for word. In the end, he sneered and said, “I don’t know how many people Qin Fang left behind. Since they didn’t dare to appear in front of us for 13 years, I hope they won’t appear again in the future.”

Qi Haoran’s expression was also a little solemn. “The last thing they should do is cause trouble for the children.”

If they came to assassinate him, he would tolerate it. However, they dared to look for the children. The children were Qi Haoran’s weaknesses, and he wouldn’t allow anyone to lay a finger on them.

Seeing his younger brother’s furious expression, Qi Xiuyuan decisively shut his mouth and stopped provoking him.

Qi Haoran left the palace full of rage and rushed home. The officials who were quietly denouncing King Rong’s shamelessness in the side hall watched in shock as he walked out of the palace with a livid expression…

“Did he hear what we badmouthed about him?”

“It’s not bad-mouthing if it’s the truth, right?” An old imperial censor raised his beard angrily and said, “He dragged us to the military parade and vigorously promoted that cannon. Isn’t that abusing his position for personal gains? Since these are all facts, how is it bad-mouthing?”

‘If you have the ability, don’t whisper to us here. Go to the Imperial Court and say this to everyone!’

The ministers looked at each other. They all knew that although King Rong was petty, he was not a narrow-minded person. Even if he heard them badmouth him, he would just pretend not to hear them. When he was in a good mood, he might even joke with them. Even if he was in a bad mood, he would at most glare at them and not take it to heart.

However, they had just returned from watching the military parade in the West Mountain camp. Because of the success of the military parade, King Rong was grinning from ear to ear. How could he be in a foul mood?

So was it something that happened during his meeting with the Emperor just now?

If it was something that could make King Rong so mad…

All the ministers, including the old imperial censor, knew that something big had probably happened again.

They were not in the mood to talk about the cannons anymore, so they went back to work. At the same time, they checked their work which had to be reported to the Emperor to avoid being implicated.

Qi Haoran ran straight to the dozen or so bandits and assassins. After first sneering at them, he waved his hand and dragged them to the Court of Judicial Review.

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