The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 105 Censuring Motives

Wei Baoheng sat on the couch and looked coldly at Wei Jiangnan who was standing in front of him. Two rare pearls spinning around in his hands broke into powder among his fingers, falling down.

Wei Baoheng hadn’t been so angry for a long time. He was a powerful minister, so few people could catch up with him in Chang’an City in terms of self-cultivation and cultivation. But now, his face was very gloomy and his precious pearls were crushed by him. He lost control of his temper.

“One cultivator of Level 8 Qi-refining, one cultivator of Level 7 Qi-refining and more than twenty practitioners of Qi techniques set a trap in the Wei River in advance in order to catch a junior who has entered the Qi-refining Stage for less than a year. But you failed finally?”

Cold words came out from Wei Baoheng’s mouth and his gaze made Wei Jiangnan feel like thorns on his back. “Not only did you fail, but many of your men were also caught by him. Even Chen Jianghe’s body is now lying in the Chang’an Office! In addition, he made the ruling Prime Minister’s brother flee back from the Huangli County in panic like a stray dog!”

Wei Baoheng sat there, making the atmosphere around him chill. He was like a ferocious ghost that would suddenly rise up at any moment and bite at any man. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, there were killing intents in his eyes. “You disgrace me! And you also make me fall into a dangerous situation that I never have! You’re so incompetent that you are useless to me. What can you do?!”

When seeing Wei Baoheng’s eyes without any temperature, Wei Jiangnan kept quiet out of fear and ducked his head low immediately. Wei Baoheng’s eyes were like two whirlpools, unfathomable, as if they contained great horror and they could devour people’s soul like an abyss.

Wei Jiangnan knew that Wei Baoheng was very angry and his anger was like never before. He dared not to explain himself, because the explanation would only deepen Wei Baoheng’s anger. Even if the other side was his brother, Wei Jiangnan couldn’t help but kneel on the ground with his knees weakened.

Wei Jiangnan knew that he had made a big mistake. The fact that Li Ye had caught Chen Jianghe’s men would be a big blow to him. He was extremely frightened and he was afraid that Wei Baoheng would be defeated in this way. In that case, he would be ruined too... But who would have thought beforehand that Li Ye would be so powerful?

Wei Jiangnan wouldn’t have thought of it, but would Wei Baoheng have thought of it?

Wei Jiangnan lay prone on the ground and pleaded guilty with his head low. “Elder, elder brother, I have made a mistake. I’m incompetent. Please punish me!”

Wei Baoheng stared at Wei Jiangnan. The rare pearls broken into powder in his hands turned into thin smoke at this moment and they were burned down by the Spiritual Qi.

Wei Baoheng was already very angry, but there was another news that made him angrier.

One of his trusted stewards came forward with his head low. The steward bent down and reported to him, “Duke Wei, there is news of Li Keyong.”

Wei Baoheng stared at the steward with his cold eyes. “I hope it’s good news.”

When hearing of Wei Jiangnan’s failure, Wei Baoheng also learned that Li Keyong disappeared in Chang’an City for no reason at the same time!

Why would Li Keyong come to Chang’an? It was because Wei Baoheng invited him. What was the purpose of inviting him here? He came to ally himself with Wei Baoheng on behalf of the Zhenwu Army. What was the necessary process to achieve the goal? It was to propose to Duchess of Li.

But after Li Keyong was defeated by Li Ye in public, he disappeared in Chang’an! There was no omen in advance and even no notification to Wei Baoheng!

He couldn’t bear the humiliation and he went away angrily, regardless of the overall situation.

What kind of behavior was it? Rash, reckless, and ignorant!

And more importantly, Li Keyong left without saying a word. How much weight of Wei Baoheng in his mind? How much weight of the dignity of the ruling Prime Minister in his mind? And how much weight of the alliance between the two sides in his mind?

Wei Baoheng was furious because he hadn’t been slighted like this since he became the ruling Prime Minister! All people were respectful to him, including the civil and military ministers in the court, the officials all over the country and all the ordinary people. Li Keyong’s behavior was not a slight but an insult. It was an insult to the authority of a ruling Prime Minister!

The steward could feel Wei Baoheng’s anger. Wei Baoheng’s unconcealed anger made him feel more frightened when he reported the news. He said in a low voice, “Li Keyong has already left the capital and crossed the river to the north!”

“What are you talking about? How dare he?!”

“Duke Wei, Li Keyong was forced to do that.”

“Who forced him?”

“He, he was beaten away by Li Ye...”

“What?!”

“The day before yesterday, Li Keyong couldn’t bear the humiliation in Emperor’s son-in-law’s Manor, so he followed Li Ye to the Huangli County when he knew that Li Ye was out of the city. They, they should have a fierce fight. After, afterward, Li Keyong was injured and taken away by Huiming. But his two attendants turned up in Li Ye’s team and went to Prince An’s Manor! They seemed, seemed...”

“They seemed what?”

“They seemed to follow Li Ye and turn to Li Ye’s side!”

The house suddenly became quiet and no one spoke again, as if the sound of a needle falling on the ground could be heard.

The quietness was extremely weird.

Wei Jiangnan was lying on his stomach and the steward was bending over. Both of them dared not to make a sound.

Only Wei Baoheng was like a beast about to run wild. The muscles on his face were twitching, his eyes turned red, and his breath became heavy.

Suddenly, Wei Baoheng let out a roar from his throat. He raised his hand and then he pressed it down heavily.

“Bang.” Wei Jiangnan and the steward were shaken backward by the waves of Qi. Wei Jiangnan smashed the door and fell in the courtyard, vomiting blood. The steward knocked over the tables and chairs, inserted into the wall and passed out with his eyes rolling!

Everything in the house was turned over. Treasures shattered on the floor, the beam shook violently, and dust kept falling down. The entire house seemed to collapse. A three-decimeter-depth hole appeared in front of Wei Baoheng, which was extraordinary terrifying.

“How can this be? Piss me off!”

“Li Ye, you bastard! You always sabotage my plan. You are my mortal enemy!”

On this day, the entire Prime Minister’s Manor was covered with a chilly atmosphere like the end of the world.

In this oppressive atmosphere, no one dared to speak loudly. All the officials and servants walked hurriedly with their heads low, not daring to make a sound. They feared that they would piss off the Prime Minister so that they would be punished.

On this day, a lot of livestock died in the quiet Prime Minister’s Manor because they made noise...

...

After Wei Baoheng had vented his anger, he gradually calmed down. The reality forced him to master his temper, hold back his anger, and find a solution to the problem.

“Li Ye is crowned this year, and he is wet behind the ears. I didn’t take him seriously before. After he has defeated Li Keyong, I began to pay a little attention to him. But I didn’t expect that this insignificant insect would cause me so much trouble!”

Wei Baoheng sat on a chair, picked up the tea bowl, and tasted the tea. He said to Wei Jiangnan who was bending over in front of him. The house that they now stayed in wasn’t the one that they had been in. Although that house didn’t collapse, it was almost ruined, so they couldn’t stay there any longer.

After drinking tea and putting down the tea bowl, Wei Baoheng felt calmer. He continued, “I looked down on him before, but now I shall take him seriously. Whether he intended to do that or not, he was able to force Li Keyong to leave Chang’an, so he shouldn’t be underestimated. Currently, it’s in troubled times, therefore, there is no room for any mistakes.”

Speaking of this, Wei Baoheng snorted. His tone was strange. “He deserves to be Li Xian’s son. Both of them bothered me a lot!”

Wei Jiangnan felt relieved as Wei Baoheng had already calmed down. He knew very well that when his elder brother got angry, his anger was frightening and the person, who dared to offend, was looking for death. But once he calmed down, he was wise enough to master the situation and plan the strategy.

Wei Jiangnan said, “In the past, although Li Xian was very powerful, he was defeated by our plan. And now his son just has a little cultivation. He could succeed just because we didn’t pay attention to him. If we concentrate on dealing with him, it will be an easy task.”

“That’s for sure.” Wei Baoheng thought for a moment, and then he continued, “It was impossible for Li Ye to kill Chen Jianghe with his own cultivation, so he was very likely to have masters help him... Didn’t you recognize the person who stopped you and injured you?”

Wei Jiangnan shook his head, guilty and ashamed. “I didn’t recognize him. Both appearance and temperament were very strange to me.”

Wei Baoheng responded and suddenly revealed a profound smile. “Wang Duo and Lu Yan want to bring me down by Chen Jianghe and the others who were caught by Li Ye in the Huangli County, which is indeed a big trouble. I can hardly fight back, but now the thing has a turnaround.”

Wei Jiangnan stunned for a while and asked doubtfully, “What’s the turnaround?”

Wei Baoheng’s smile became weirder. “Li Ye has masters on his side, which is our chance... If you want to kill a person in Jianghu, you kill him directly with a knife, while if you want to kill a person in the court, you only need to censure his motives, which is the best policy.”

Wei Jiangnan looked puzzled.

“I’m going to enter the Imperial Palace to meet the emperor.”

...

The Imperial Palace was divided into two parts, the Imperial City and the Imperial Palace. The offices of three ministries and six departments were located in the Imperial City, while the emperor lived in the Imperial Palace which was located in the north of the Imperial City and the most north of the Chang’an City. To the east of the Imperial Palace, there was a mansion called the East Palace, the residence of the Heir Prince. Of course, Wei Baoheng was going to enter the Imperial Palace.

Wei Baoheng entered the Palace by the Changle Gate and then he crossed the entire Taiji Palace to enter the West Garden, passing through the Xuanwu Gate.

Li Cui, the emperor, was in his forties, and he was a practitioner in Qi-refining Stage, but now his figure was completely out of shape. In terms of appearance, he was a fat middle-aged man. He didn’t deal with political affairs in the palace but played in the West Garden.

As an emperor who believed in the principle of a “the lower-class people labor and the upper-class people govern”, Li Cui’s creed was that he was only responsible for appointing ministers while the ministers should be responsible for handling the political affairs. If he needed to worry about everything, what was the use of his ministers?

Li Cui was an emperor who enjoyed pleasure.

When Wei Baoheng saw Li Cui, Li Cui was feeding fishes in the lake, leaning against the armchair in the pavilion. He was surrounded by his concubines. All the women were beautiful with different shapes and they wore colorful clothes. They giggled one after another.

“Duke Wei, you’re here? What new things have you brought to please me today?”

Li Cui yawned, leaning against the armchair.

“I have something important to report to you.”

Wei Baoheng would play with Li Cui for a while with a bright smile in usual days. Most of the time of his seeing Li Cui, he would come up with some ideas for pleasure and he would have fun with Li Cui.

He was the Prime Minister who led all the officials and took charge of the imperial affairs. But he was the Prime Minister because of the grace of the emperor, therefore, nothing would be more important than catering to Li Cui’s pleasure and making him happy.

The emperor’s grace was the foundation of Wei Baoheng’s authority.

But not today.

“Look at your serious look. My Tang Empire is now in peace. What matters more than I am happy?” Li Cui didn’t care and lacked interest.

Wei Baoheng said only two words. Li Cui became serious and beckoned all of his concubines to leave.

“Li Xian.”