"Another emperor? Well, that's right. Look at what the empire looks like now. His Majesty the Emperor cannot leave the imperial capital. Even Jinzhong is in chaos. The General Administration of Administration, the General Administration of Military Affairs and the General Administration of Internal Affairs are quarreling with each other every day. During the war, the central government of the empire was unable to control the local situation at all. The General Administration of Military Affairs said that the General Administration of Military Affairs and the General Administration of Internal Affairs did not suppress the situation effectively, and banditry caused disasters. The General Administration of Military Affairs said that the management of the General Administration of Civil Affairs was chaotic, causing people to riot everywhere. As for public security issues, Regarding the powers and responsibilities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the General Administration of Internal Affairs said that the local security agencies are on the verge of paralysis and cannot bear the heavy security affairs at all. It is best for the army to take over security and implement military control. Huh, now even a small Jinzhong cannot be managed. , I think the empire is also terminally ill. No wonder Li Wufeng is so arrogant. Just like this, what can the empire do to restrain Li Wufeng?" Shaking his head, the tall young woman was dressed in a rusty red Yunluo brocade dress, with bulging peaks, a wasp waist and round hips, and slender fingers like onions, speaking. But it is as sharp as a knife and shows no mercy.
"Sister, please be merciful. The Emperor is still in power right now, and my father has been hesitant about this. Don't you just add more worry to him now? What's more, Jinzhong is not something that His Majesty can solve. Yes, how can we stabilize the people's hearts without food? Li Wufeng transported some food to the imperial capital, but firstly, this batch of food was to supply more than five million people in the imperial capital. Secondly, it would have been quite difficult to open a warehouse in Jinzhong to release grain. Refugees from Cangzhou/Heishan/Longquan will flock to Cangzhou/Heishan/Longquan again. At that time, how will the empire respond? This batch of food in Western Xinjiang has already made the empire suffer from emptiness of financial resources." Hua Xin, a young woman who looks slightly younger, is not I don't agree with the tall young woman's opinion.
"Hmph, after all, it's all caused by the food problem. Li Wufeng is the real winner. A big risky speculation at the beginning of the year allowed him to take advantage. Not only did he make a lot of money from the empire, Money, and the people above and below are all grateful to him. It can be said that he has gained both fame and fortune. Everyone was caught off guard by the sudden drought. Only this guy Li Wufeng was so unlucky. Second sister, do you think this Li Wufeng is really real? Are you destined to be the emperor?" Although the young Hongluo woman is naturally Shi Yayin, the daughter of the Shi family, she may seem careless in her words, but in fact she is extremely shrewd, especially at critical moments. Her political sense is even more acute. Even her father Shi Yunyao was in many important situations. She also needs to be consulted on issues. Unfortunately, it was a big mistake to marry into Situ Mingzhi's family. Situ Mingzhi's mistake caused the rapid decline of his family in the imperial capital, causing Shi Yayin's position and weight in the upper class society of the empire to drop a lot. According to his father Shi Yunyao, if Shi Yayin can be allowed to marry into the royal family, she will definitely become a qualified...
The decline of her husband's family deprived Shi Yayin of a stage where she could show off her talents, and she was separated from her already weak and incompetent husband for a long time. After living in her natal family for a long time, she had more opportunities to participate in the affairs of Ting Xuexuan's group. , and the Shi Jia, who had always been the first choice between Situ Lang and Situ Tai, had already turned his back on Situ Tai, who had been trying to recruit the Shi family, after Situ Lang took the throne, and fully devoted himself to Situ Lang, but now the reversed situation has made the Shi family We were immediately in a dangerous situation.
Everyone knows Situ Tai's character, and the Shi family should know the consequences of betraying him. Once he is allowed to win the throne, one can imagine what kind of solution Ting Xuexuan, which is based in the imperial capital, will end up with. For this reason, everyone in Ting Xuexuan They were all worried, but the changes in the situation were beyond the control of martial arts sects like the Shi family. The Shi family, including Shi Yayin, and Ting Xuexuan all knew that as long as the conditions between Situ Lang and Situ Tai were agreed upon, the throne would be lost. People will change soon, and the fate of the Shi family is destined. Shi Yayin shudders when she thinks of this.
The only way to change the current dangerous situation that the Shi family is in is to prevent Situ Tai from ascending to the throne, or to find a backer who is powerful enough to make Situ Tai fearful. Only these two paths can turn the Shi family around. The crisis situation. It is not something that the Shi family can do to prevent Situ Tai from ascending to the throne. The only practical way is to find a reliable backer, and now the only ones who may be able to influence Situ Tai are Situ Biao and Li Wufeng.
Situ Biao now controls the entire Five Lakes, and his strength has expanded rapidly, which has already posed a challenge to Situ Tai's path to the throne. However, Situ Biao's power in the imperial capital is now quite weak. Although he welcomes the Shi family's surrender, he must invest at this time. Under Situ Biao, once Situ Tai and Situ Biao fall out over the throne, Situ Tai, who is likely to enter the imperial capital first, will immediately uproot the Ting Xuexuan faction, and the Shi family will also suffer disaster. But now If the Shi family wants to take precautions and evacuate the imperial capital in advance, not to mention that the whole sect will not agree with it, even Shi Yayin feels that it is a pity that Ting Xuexuan's century-old foundation in the imperial capital is destroyed in this way. And after leaving the imperial capital, Ting Xuexuan will also Having lost the foundation of its existence, how valuable is such an ordinary Jianghu sect to Situ Biao? This is something that the three sisters Shi Yayin and their father Shi Yunyao have been hesitant about.
Although Shi Yayin lowered her voice, her sister Shi Yafu who was standing aside was still surprised. Fortunately, the two girls deliberately retreated to a deserted corner while talking, although many male guests kept looking at this place. He looked at the two sisters and saw that they were having a secret conversation, but no one came to disturb them.
"Sister, you can't say anything nonsense. Although the battle for the throne has gradually surfaced, after all, it is happening among the Situ family. This is already tacitly understood by everyone inside and outside the imperial capital. Although Li Wufeng said He has some strength, but how can he make the people of the empire obey him because of his title? The Situ lineage has inherited the number of emperors of the Tanghe Empire for hundreds of years, and its orthodox blood lineage ideas have been deeply ingrained among the people of the empire. As the saying goes, those who win the hearts of the people win the world, and even the people's hearts. Even if you don’t agree with me, how can you dare to dream about the Ninth Five-Year Plan? In my opinion, even if Li Wufeng has this intention, he probably won’t have the courage.”
Compared with his eldest sister, Shi Yafu who married into the Miao family was a pawn deliberately arranged by Shi Yunyao among the upper-class nobles and industrial and commercial forces in the imperial capital. The Miao family was not only one of the five major families when the empire was founded, but also gradually changed in the later period. The style has changed to that of an industrial and commercial family, but the aristocratic habits are still much stronger than those of the emerging industrial and commercial forces in the south and east of the Yangtze River. However, relying on the support of the central government of the empire, the Miao family used aristocratic privileges to occupy almost all the iron mines in the north of the empire except for the government-owned iron mines. Mines and copper mines have not only become the leading mining merchants in the empire, but also the leading smelting merchants in the empire. A considerable proportion of the orders for weapons, armor and ordnance from the empire are controlled by the Miao family, making the Miao family the well-deserved number one among the five major families in the empire. family.
However, the power of the Miao family has been greatly weakened since the rise of the Taiping Religion. Most of the Miao family's main mines and smelting bases are in Beiyuan, Heshuo and Yanyun areas, among which Lulong/Qinghe Yunzhong and Hejian Sanfu are both The location of the Miao family's main mines was also the Miao family's mining, metallurgy and foundry base. The Taiping Sect immediately confiscated the Miao family's assets in these three places after acquiring it. Later, after Li Wufeng took over Lulong and Hejian, he also used the so-called Taiping The Rebellion Party Assets Nationalization Act will take over all the public and private mines and smelting plants in Lulong and Hejian that were once controlled by the Taiping Religion to the Western Xinjiang Protectorate, except for a few mines with low reserves and small smelting plants. In addition to being disposed of by the local government through auctions, the Miao family's huge assets in these two places were all wiped out, while the assets of Qinghe Prefecture were appropriated by the Kaman people, and the mines and smelting foundries of Yunzhong Prefecture were also lost. After being looted in turn by the Taiping Cult and the Puer people, only ruins were left. At this time, the Miao family was in great difficulty. All four major bases changed hands or were destroyed. The Miao family lost its mines and smelting and casting bases. Only the finishing workshops in the imperial capital were left, but without the source of raw materials and raw materials, the finishing workshops also had to close down. The Miao family, which had lost its privileges to rely on, seemed to be facing the end of nothing.
There is nothing they can do about the Miao family of Kaman and Puer, but the Miao family of Li Wufeng who implemented the so-called nationalization bill can be said to hate it to the core but cling to a glimmer of hope, because when Xijiang implemented the so-called nationalization bill, they did not He closed the door and only said that if there was definite evidence that the small and medium-sized mines were privately owned, they could be resolved through legal proceedings. Such vague and lingering words gave the Miao family, which was already in dire straits, like a drowning man a glimmer of hope for survival. With hope, the Western Xinjiang Legal Affairs Department and the Tribunal immediately became the Miao family's key targets for research.
Due to the rapid decline of the Miao family's strength, Situ Tai, who had always been on good terms with the Miao family, also lost his relationship with the Miao family. After seeing that he could not extract more economic benefits, Situ Tai also turned his attention away from the Miao family. As they gradually moved away, the Miao family felt the harshness of the world for the first time. As a member of the Miao family, Shi Yafu could naturally appreciate the huge changes.
"Do you have the heart or the courage?" she asked coldly. The tall young woman stared at her sister and shook her head slowly: "I'm not sure about this, but second sister, do you think Situ Tai or Situ Biao is good?" Who will they fight for first if they want to replace His Majesty the current emperor? It’s Li Wufeng! As you said, due to material considerations and public opinion, Li Wufeng may not dare to sit on the throne for the time being, but in fact he has the power in his hands But it determines the fate of the throne. If he supports Situ Tai, there will be no suspense in the battle for the throne. If he supports Situ Biao, Situ Biao will wake up laughing even if he sleeps. Situ Tai will also not have much chance, and if Li Wufeng strongly supports His Majesty the current Emperor, but he is afraid that the throne will still have to be occupied by the current Emperor."