Zhu Qilan remained silent for a long time, and it was unclear whether he was feeling sorry for himself or for the country and people of Wu Zhou.
Maybe both.
"Cousin, please tell me quickly, what is the status of this cousin in the West Palace family, and how much can she be sold for?" Lu Bei urged.
"Are you serious?"
Zhu Qilan did not answer directly, but instead reminded: "Imprisoning or kidnapping royal relatives is a serious crime. Cousin, you'd better think twice before you act."
"It's okay. As the leader of the Huangji Sect, it's my job to go against the royal family."
"… "
At this time, you don’t talk about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.
Zhu Qilan sighed, looking at the severely injured Zhu Qiming, and felt pity for him. His tone softened, "Lu Bei, my cousin has been kind to me. If you just want money, leave the person here, and I'll pay for it."
"Grand Commander, this beast assassinated the Purple Guard of the Xuanyin Division with the intention of treason. The whole clan should be executed for the crime. As a personal soldier of the emperor, I am willing to go through fire and water for your majesty. I have no right and no possibility to hand her over to the Huangji Sect."
"… "
Are you loyal to the emperor and patriotic again
Zhu Qilan was speechless for a while, and glared at Lu Bei fiercely: "Leave him here, or you will stay!"
"Cousin, you turned against me because of a woman?"
Lu Bei raised his hands to cover his face, his eyes full of grievance: "What's so good about her? Isn't it just that she has some flesh on her chest? Open your eyes and see clearly, other than that she has no advantages at all."
Generally speaking, when encountering this kind of unruly guy, Zhu Qilan would just pick up his knife and chop him down without saying a word.
But obviously, Lu Bei is not ordinary.
She suppressed her trembling eyebrows, took a deep breath, and warned herself not to treat the dead as an equal. She said, "Your Majesty's previous reduction of the feudal lords has already touched the bottom line of many powerful people. If you cause trouble again, they may not dare to do anything to Your Majesty, but they will not have so many concerns about you."
It's so funny. By the time they showed up, Mr. Lu had already merged together!
Lu Bei curled his lips slightly and nodded to indicate that what Zhu Qilan said was right. He patted his chest and said that he only wanted an explanation and asked for a billion yuan in mental damages, and would never make a big scene.
Zhu Qilan did not believe a word of this assurance, but seeing that Lu Bei was firm in his attitude and there was no possibility of compromise, he had to tell him the situation in the West Palace.
The Xiwang Zhu family was granted Xiwang County in Xianzhou. It has been governed diligently for 800 years. The clansmen practiced hard and were not corrupted by wealth and fame. This was in stark contrast to the Dongwang Zhu family who only cared about making money.
This alone makes one wonder whether there was a generation of princesses in the East Palace who got pregnant with the wrong child.
There are several mountain gate families practicing Buddhism under the jurisdiction of Xiwang County. Some of them are supported by Xiwang Mansion, while others are related by marriage. They have a huge network of relationships and radiate to the surrounding areas. They control a very impressive force in Xianzhou.
For example, this generation's Western King Zhu Qi Ke, when he was young, joined the Tianjian Sect to practice.
Because of his secular status, Zhu Qike failed to become an inner sect disciple, but as a young master from a wealthy family, he never lacked friends wherever he went. With his lavish spending, he not only had good relationships with many of his senior brothers and sisters, but also won the favor of a senior sister and married her a beautiful bride.
Later, Zhu Qike became the King of the West, and this senior sister was naturally promoted to the Queen of the West.
Hearing this, Lu Bei felt something was wrong and interrupted, "The Western Palace has been building up its power for many years. It's so cheerful. Aren't you afraid that the capital will have some small opinions?"
"That was the intention of the capital, and the Western Palace was just following orders."
Zhu Qilan explained that when Wu Zhou was first established, Emperor Huangjizong was far from being as powerful as he is now, the royal family lacked influence, and it was difficult for government orders to leave the capital.
The late emperor had great faith in his brothers and granted them a great deal of power, allowing them to exercise their powers freely and form their own forces to defend the capital.
At that time, there was nothing wrong with this policy, and it greatly consolidated the stability of imperial power.
With the rapid rise of the Huangji Sect, the royal influence expanded and conflicted with the power in the hands of the princes, and the reduction of the power of the princes became an inevitable issue.
The one in charge of confiscating the property at that time was the Huangji Sect, who had plenty of money and worked very hard to make it.
After several rounds of reducing the power of the vassal states, the Northern Palace fell into decline, the Eastern Palace lay flat and made money, and only the Western Palace relied on its connections to survive wave after wave of suppression.
At the same time, the Huangji Sect's butt gradually tilted to the side. The royal family set up the Xuanyinsi to check and balance the Huangji Sect with overlapping power. They changed their policy and once again supported powerful princes from all over the country.
For example, they would win over the immortal cultivation families, reduce taxes on the cultivation mountain gates, and allow cultivators to join the army with their skills...
Later, the Xuanyinsi and the Huangji Sect became inseparable, the imperial power was consolidated again, and the reduction of the power of the princes followed.
In short, politics is about compromise, and policies change with the times.
The current situation of the Western Prince's Palace is due to the influence of the times. Faced with the royal family's latest means of reducing the power of the vassal states, it tries every means to strengthen itself.
Just like this time sending people to assassinate Fox Three and Fox Four, in essence, it was just a way to express dissatisfaction and make one's own voice heard.
Commonly known as protest.
Speaking of which, the West Prince's Mansion was extremely respectful to the royal family, at least it did a good job on the surface.
For example, the old emperor did not rule for long. When he passed the throne to the crown prince Zhu Qiyou, the old Western King was in his prime with a white beard. In order to prevent himself from being out-of-generation in the royal family, he decisively gave up his greed for power and passed the throne to the next generation.
"It turns out that the West Palace is only glamorous on the surface, but in reality it is walking on thin ice, and its situation is even worse than mine."
After listening to Zhu Qilan's analysis, Lu Bei suddenly realized something, and then added: "Cousin, you have a unique vision of the political situation. Have you ever thought about entering the court as an official? With your financial resources, it won't take many years for you to become the next imperial tutor."
Zhu Qilan pretended not to hear the second half of the sentence and consoled him, "Since you know that it's not easy to be in the West Palace, why don't you be a good person and sell your cousin to me. I will help you deal with the West Palace. They don't know the relationship between you and... His Majesty. If you make it clear, no one will embarrass you in the future."
"That makes sense, but I don't want to."
Lu Bei shook his head decisively: "The West Palace is trembling with fear, and is cautious in everything under the suppression of the royal family. This is a typical sucker, and you can't find him even with a lantern. If Lu doesn't come to grab coal in the snow, what's the difference between him and a fool? It's better not to cultivate this immortal!"
The stones in the pit are smelly and hard.
Zhu Qilan said all the nice things, but seeing that Lu Bei didn't give her any face, the princess got angry and said angrily: "Then go and ask for money. I want to see what you can do to my cousin if the West Prince's Mansion doesn't give you money!"
"It's not a big deal. After all, she's my relative. I can't really kill her."
Lu Bei raised his eyebrows and said, "But I am not someone who will be bullied. Next year, use the child to threaten the West Palace. If they don't pay, I will lead the army to seize the throne for him when the child grows up."
"…" x2
Zhu Qilan's face turned pale, and Butler Yu raised his hand to cover his mouth to muffle a scream.
Lu Bei took another sack, stuffed Zhu Qiming into it, lifted him up and carried him on his shoulder, patted his butt and was ready to leave.
Where are you touching
Zhu Qilan was both angry and furious. He slammed the table in anger, waved his hand to stir up a strong wind, and closed the door of the study.
I don’t mean anything else. Since I’m here, I might as well practice dual cultivation before I leave.
Lu Bei nodded instinctively to this suggestion, threw away the sack in his hand, took out the double Xuanbao map, divided it into yin and yang, and covered Zhu Qilan while wrapping up Butler Yu as well.
"We are in a hurry, you two should come together!"
"…" x2
Although this dual cultivation is different from that dual cultivation, it is still a bit absurd for three people to be together. Steward Yu took the initiative to withdraw and did not dare to compete with Zhu Qilan.
Lu Bei did not force it. He opened a room and threw Zhu Qilan in. After half a cup of tea, he injected a large amount of innate Qi into him.
Because the food was so filling, Zhu Qilan was obviously a little full. It took him a lot of time to digest it, so he couldn't end his retreat in a short time.
Lu Bei found the eager butler Yu and sternly rejected the latter's proposal to practice dual cultivation in the swimming pool. After hastily finishing the matter, he left Changming Mansion with a battery.
…
Dongwang County, the temporary government office of Xuanyinsi.
Hu San threw out a large number of documents with a bang, and stroked the blood-stained gauze on his head: "The files of the West Palace are all here, take your time to look through them. If you can't handle it, I still suggest that you let mother come forward."
"My godmother is busy maintaining her youth. If we ask her to handle such trivial matters, it would make us look incompetent."
Lu Bei quickly flipped through the files and pointed at the sack in the corner: "See, Zhu Qiming of the Western Palace, the eldest sister of the current Western King Zhu Qike, is very valuable."
“Great!”
Fox Three clapped his hands and opened the sack to examine it from top to bottom. He said with a smile, "If the West Palace doesn't pay, I will bear the grievances a little. Next year, I will take two hostages, one big and one small, to Xianzhou and make the West Palace lose face."
"How can I bear this grievance, big brother? I will bear the burden for you, little brother."
"Come for me, I am not afraid of hardship."
"Brother, you are not afraid of hardship, but am I the kind of person who would let you suffer? No way!"
"Humble, my dear brother, you still have misunderstandings about yourself. You are really that kind of person."
"Since Big Brother has said so, I won't act anymore. Brothers like you and I share the good and the bad. Let's suffer this hardship together!"
"That makes sense. Brothers like you and I should advance and retreat together."
The two brothers competed to endure hardships first, and said a lot of dirty words. Zhu Qiming's eyelids twitched wildly until the two brothers came over, rubbing their hands. She couldn't pretend anymore. She widened her eyes and scolded them angrily, and shouted at the top of her lungs, hoping that someone would stand up for justice.
If we come too late, someone might die.
"It's so funny, you're calling for help..."
Fox Three laughed, opened the door and called several Golden Guards over, pointed at the door and said, "Stand here, my brother and I are going to torture the prisoner, remember to keep your eyes open... Um, you, go call a few more people over."
"Brother, there are too few people."
Lu Bei shook his head repeatedly, fastened his belt, and suggested: "Why don't we move to the training ground? It's spacious enough. Call everyone over."
"Oh, you little clever boy, why didn't I think of it!" Fox San slapped his head, remembering that he was still seriously injured, and grimaced in pain.
Seeing this scene, Zhu Qiming felt hopeless. He bit his pale lips, closed his eyes and waited for his fate to come.
In the past, she had heard people say that the Black Yamen were ruthless and would take the living in and the dead out. Even if a royal relative fell into their hands, they would be skinned alive.
She didn't believe it at the time. Would a cultivator in the Void Refinement Realm be afraid of being skinned
If she frowns, she loses!
Now she believed that these bastards were not human beings at all.