"Due to the drought, some areas of Yaozhou, the fief of King Qinnan, have also been affected." Gao Taibao told Sima Jiao the news he had received, and after thinking for a while, he said, "There is one more thing. King Qinnan recently found a son-in-law for his only daughter. He was born a commoner and is an ordinary person."
"Oh?" Sima Jiao thought for a moment and said, "King Qinnan dotes on his only daughter very much. It is probably because his daughter insisted on getting married. Otherwise, with King Qinnan's pride, he would not be willing to accept such a son-in-law."
Gao Taibao nodded and said, "Your Majesty, you are right. The daughter of King Qinnan ran away from home before, and when she came back, she clamored to marry that man. King Qinnan could not change her temper, so he agreed to it. Now that man has jumped from a commoner to the son-in-law of King Qinnan, he has really risen to heaven in one step. Everyone in Yaozhou envies his good luck."
Sima Jiao smiled strangely, "Good luck? I don't think so. King Qinnan is very shrewd. He let a commoner marry his precious daughter so easily. I'm afraid that person must be admired by him. How can someone who can be admired by that old man be a simple person?"
"Your Majesty, now that you mention this, I also think this man is not a simple person." Gao Taibao smiled slightly and said, "The man's name is Chen Yun. It is said that he is an ordinary hunter in Hexia. It doesn't sound strange."
Snapped-
There was a sound of a teacup falling to the ground in the inner hall. Sima Jiao was about to speak, but when he heard the sound, he stood up and walked into the inner hall, and looked into the eyes of Liao Tingyan.
Liao Tingyan pulled the quilt and glanced at the broken cup on the ground. She was woken up by Sima Jiao just now and heard him and Gao Taibao chatting about King Qin Nan and his female partner Qin Wuxia. She sat up and leaned over to listen out of curiosity, wanting to hear more clearly.
As a result, when she heard the familiar name Chen Yun, she was so shocked that she moved so much that she accidentally dropped a cup beside the couch.
Liao Tingyan hadn't thought about Chen Yun, the male protagonist of the original novel, for a long time. She thought that since she had deviated from the path of the original heroine, Chen Yun's fate would change accordingly. However, she didn't expect that he is now on a path similar to that in the original novel.
In the original novel, the hero and heroine had lived together for a long time, and secretly prayed to heaven and earth to become husband and wife. Then Chen Yun wanted to give his sweetheart a better and richer life, so he found a way to transport leather to Yaozhou to sell in winter. On the way, he accidentally saved Qin Wuxia, the only daughter of King Qinnan. From then on, the story began to be heartbreaking. The main plot is that Qin Wuxia is obsessed with Chen Yun and won't give up; the hero has a special liking for the heroine, but fate plays tricks on her; the heroine keeps misunderstanding the hero because of the obstruction of the female supporting role and various supporting roles, and the two misunderstand each other... It's a torture, torture to death.
But Liao Tingyan remembered that at this point in time, Chen Yun in the original novel still had not accepted Qin Wuxia. It was after the plague broke out and everyone revolted that in order to protect others, he had no choice but to marry Qin Wuxia in order to get the support and help of the Qin family.
When Chen Yun and the heroine worshiped heaven and earth, because the heroine's identity as a runaway needed to be kept secret, there was no witness except the two of them. The hero and Qin Wuxia's marriage was legitimate in everyone's eyes. The heroine was heartbroken because her lover wanted to marry another woman, and it was at this time that she was met by Sima Jiao, the male supporting role in the original novel, and brought back to the palace.
As a result, now, without the appearance of the heroine, Chen Yun married Qin Wuxia in advance. Liao Tingyan thought that this was also good. Since these two were together, there would not be the bloody love story of the three people in the original novel. I wish them to love each other forever.
Liao Tingyan coughed twice while covering his face with the quilt.
Sima Jiao walked up to her, lifted her head and looked at her slightly red face.
"You heard us?"
"Um."
Sima Jiao suddenly asked: "Do you know that Chen Yun?"
Liao Tingyan: “… !” Wait, how did you know that without me saying a word
Seeing her expression, Sima Jiao's face darkened, "As expected, I know her. Judging from your big reaction, I'm afraid it's more than just an ordinary acquaintance."
If Liao Tingyan hadn't deliberately cursed him in her heart countless times and he didn't react, she would have really thought that this guy could read minds.
Liao Tingyan confessed and immediately took Sima Jiao's hand to explain: "I do know him. I remember telling you that I was rescued by someone when I encountered bandits before. The person who saved me was Chen Yun."
Sima Jiao sat on the edge of the bed and sneered.
Liao Tingyan pretended not to hear and told the truth: "Besides that time, we met twice more. One time I met him when I was taking my servants to burn incense and taking shelter in the mountains. Another time I met him by chance when I was boating on the lake with my slave girl. I only said one sentence to him in total!"
Sima Jiao waved his hand and said, "Why explain it so clearly? Could it be that I would misunderstand you?"
Liao Tingyan: You said you were alone, so why are you still pretending? You look so horrified that you found out your girlfriend has an ex-boyfriend. If you don’t explain it clearly, people will die!
Circling Liao Tingyan's hair, Sima Jiao asked her casually, "What do you think of Chen Yun? What kind of person is he?"
Is it going to end? You and him have no connection. Is this inexplicable interest in him destined? Liao Tingyan complained in his heart, and after a moment gave Sima Jiao an answer: "He is a good person."
Judging from the few times they spent time together, he is indeed a good person. The hero in the original novel was a good person in the early stage, otherwise how could he save the girl again and again.
Sima Jiao: "And what do you think of his appearance and personality?"
Liao Tingyan was in a trance and felt like a boyfriend whose girlfriend was nitpicking about his ex-girlfriend. She must be too sick. After coughing again, Liao Tingyan answered wittily, "I don't remember what she looks like. After all, I have only seen her a few times. As for her personality, I can't judge her because we are not close friends."
After she finished speaking, she saw Sima Jiao raise his hand and touch her neck.
He caressed her for a while, then pulled her over and kissed her.
Liao Tingyan: “…” Wait, I’m about to pass the disease to you!
"You rest first." Sima Jiao wiped the corner of his lips, let her go, stood up and walked out. He looked normal and it was impossible to tell what his mood was.
Liao Tingyan fell back onto the bed.
…
I don't know when rumors started spreading in Luojing.
"Do you know? It is said that the severe drought this time is because your Majesty is cruel and favors the evil concubine, killing people for fun in the palace every day, so God will punish your Majesty for his atrocities!" Similar rumors spread like wildfire, but the source could not be found.
Rumors are always the hardest to stop. In the end, almost all of them condemned the emperor for his cruelty and the imperial concubine for her beauty.
This matter soon reached Sima Jiao's ears. He summoned the cavalry general who was guarding the palace and sneered, "Whoever spreads the rumor will be killed."
The cavalry general's forehead was sweating, and he said with difficulty: "But Your Majesty, there are too many rumors, and there are too many people who have said them. As the saying goes, the law cannot punish the masses..."
Sima Jiao leaned back in his chair and said in a cold tone, "Then immediately send people to guard every intersection in the city. If they hear someone gathering to spread rumors, they will execute the loudest person on the spot. I will erect a hundred flagpoles on the main streets and hang the bodies of these people on them, so that people will know the consequences of criticizing the emperor."
The general was so shocked that he dared not speak. This matter was really too big. Previously, there were people in Luojing who secretly spread rumors that His Majesty was a tyrant, but it was not as rampant as it is now, which made His Majesty furious. He knew that there would be a bloody storm in Luojing this time, so he retreated honestly and immediately gathered his soldiers and patrolled everywhere.
This behavior initially made many people angry and cursed, confirming the rumors. However, as the flags with corpses hanging on them were raised, fewer and fewer people dared to speak out. Even some people who wanted to spread rumors no longer dared to openly incite people.
There are still a few people who are fearless and are making a big fuss, "What are you afraid of? The law does not punish the masses. There are a million people in Luojing City. Can Your Majesty really kill so many people?"
Sima Jiao, who was sitting in the highest position in the palace, said the same thing, "There are millions of people in Luojing, and it is impossible to kill them all."
"It's just a few hundred people. If there are still people who make irresponsible remarks about the emperor and spread rumors about the harem, I will raise another hundred or a thousand flags. I want to see whether these flags will be filled with people first or the rumors will stop first."
Facts have proved that under such bloody suppression, the previously rampant rumors quickly died down. Looking at the corpses hanging on the street corners, no one dared to spread those rumors anymore, and Luojing fell into a strange calm.
In contrast to the calmness in Luojing, in other provincial capitals, rumors seemed to have grown wings and spread rapidly in other places, especially in the disaster-stricken areas and affected places, where voices of dissatisfaction gradually arose.
When she first heard about the riots, Liao Tingyan was stunned for a long time. She couldn't figure it out. It was obviously different from the original novel. Compared with the shocking scenes in the original novel, now because the court paid attention to it and Sima Jiao ordered people to deal with it in time, the disasters in various places have been alleviated, why are there still riots? Will there be another uprising
Sima Jiao hugged her and saw that she was in a daze, so he asked, "Why, are you worried about the disaster victims rioting again?"
Liao Tingyan came back to his senses, looked at him, and asked hesitantly: "Why would the victims riot? Didn't Your Majesty have someone properly deal with the disaster?"
Sima Jiao scratched her chin, "Why are you so stupid?"
Liao Tingyan: “…”
"Since ancient times, natural disasters have always resulted in casualties. Whenever there are more deaths, people will panic. And once too many people panic, riots will break out. This is a very normal thing," said Sima Jiao.
It was different, not in her era. For the first time, Liao Tingyan clearly understood how different her past era was from the present era. Different concepts and different political systems created different people.
Even after nine years here, Liao Tingyan still couldn't get used to the world's disregard for human life and the strict hierarchy. Here, everyone took it for granted that superiors executed subordinates, masters executed slaves, and even parents killed their children. Occasionally someone condemned it, but everyone admitted that it was in line with the rules.
"If a riot breaks out, will Your Majesty send troops to suppress it?" Liao Tingyan suddenly asked.
Sima Jiao didn't even think about it. "Of course." He paused, his expression unclear. "You want me not to hurt those rioters?"
Liao Tingyan was silent for a moment and shook his head: "I will not stop Your Majesty from doing anything."
She was now afraid of what she had changed. She was not sure whether the result would be good or bad if she asked Sima Jiao to change his approach. If it was a worse outcome, she would not be able to bear it.
In the end, she didn't understand where the time-traveling protagonists in novels and TV dramas got such courage. They traveled from ordinary people to powerful characters and dared to casually decide the fate and life and death of countless people? Aren't they timid? She was timid!
Seeing her curled up in his arms listlessly, Sima Jiao hugged her and whispered, "Why are you sad? Are you sad for those people you don't know?"
Liao Tingyan hid in his arms without saying a word, Sima Jiao stroked her hair and said quietly: "It has been like this since ancient times. When the weather is good and the crops are good, the people will live in peace. Once a disaster occurs, they will want to be hostile to something to vent their fear. I am the Son of Heaven, and my subjects can submit to me or turn against me in the blink of an eye. I have understood this principle since I was a child. As long as I show weakness, I will be pulled down from heaven to earth. Sitting in this position, there are battlefields all around me. This kind of thing is commonplace and extremely boring."
"Look at this rumor. You are so stupid that you must not know how many people are pushing it behind the scenes and how many people are secretly ready to make a move."
Liao Tingyan: “…I don’t understand.”
Sima Jiao: "I know you don't understand, but with me here, you don't have to worry about anything. Just stay by my side with peace of mind."