Bringing the farm to another world

Chapter 16250 Response
Zhao Hai's answer surprised both Wu Daban and Gongliang Juewen. Gongliang Juewen felt a surge of satisfaction. He looked at Zhao Hai and said, "The aristocratic alliance wiped out the Gao family and the other two families to show the others in the alliance that there is no good end for those who submit to me. Of course, I will not let their conspiracy succeed. Don't they want those aristocratic families to submit to me? I will let them know that they will also have no good end if they do not obey my orders. This time, I will give them my orders openly and honestly. I want to see if they will obey my orders."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "In a little while, I will issue an order to the Wan family to remove the city lords of the five cities they control. I want to see if the Wan family will comply. If they do, they will have to obediently relinquish their positions as city lords of those five cities. Then I will have the sects send people to take over the positions. If they dare to disobey my orders, I will simply annihilate the Wan family, and then no one will dare to say anything."

Zhao Hai and Wu Daban both responded. Gongliang Juewen then spoke up, "This incident is also a test for many sects. If the people from those sects take over the positions of city lords in those cities, it means that they will stand on our side. If they do not take over the positions of city lords, it means that they still want to remain neutral or stand on the side of the aristocratic families. At that time, we must be careful."

Zhao Hai and Wu Daban responded once again. Gongliang Juewen turned to Zhao Hai and said, "Zhao Hai, I will definitely avenge the feud between the aristocratic families and your Wanfa Divine Sect. However, you must obey my orders now. Is that alright?" Gongliang Juewen looked at Zhao Hai after he finished speaking.

Zhao Hai quickly clasped his hands in a fist salute to Gongliang Juewen and said, "Please give your orders, Your Majesty. We, the people of the Myriad Laws Divine Sect, will certainly obey Your Majesty's commands."

Gongliang Juewen nodded and then said, "Good, with your words, I am relieved. You may leave now and await my orders." Zhao Hai responded, then bowed to Gongliang Juewen and left the study.

After he left, Gongliang Juewen turned to Wu Daban and said, "Wu Daban, do you think there was anything wrong with what I did?"

Wu Daban shook his head and said, "No, His Majesty did a good job. As the emperor, His Majesty should use such fair and aboveboard methods. No one can find fault with that."

Gongliang Juewen nodded, then said, "Wu Daban, go and rest as well, and await my orders." Wu Daban responded, then bowed to Gongliang Juewen and left Gongliang Juewen's study.

After Wu Daban left, Gongliang Juewen breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in a chair. He then said, "Someone, go and draft an imperial edict to remove the Wan family from their positions as city lords of those five cities. At the same time, send a letter to Qingxuan, asking those sects to send people to take over the positions of city lords of those five cities, and see how they react."

An attendant immediately responded and went to make the arrangements. At this time, the heads of various families were all gathered at the Wan family's place, and their faces were extremely grim.

They never expected the Xie family to be wiped out. The Xie family had also participated in the attack on the three families yesterday. Apart from the people they sent to attack those three families, all the rest of their family members were dead, not a single one was left. That was why Wan Hai and the others looked so grim. Today, the representative of the Xie family was the leader of the team sent by the Xie family to deal with those three families. He was an elder of the Xie family, and this elder of the Xie family now looked extremely grim. Their family had been wiped out, and it seemed that the Xie family was truly doomed. They could not support the Xie family on their own.

Wan Hai said, "I didn't expect His Majesty to destroy the Xie family. It seems that His Majesty is really not going to let us go. Just watch, His Majesty will definitely have other methods. We must be careful."

Everyone nodded, and Wan Hai then turned to the Xie family representative and said, "Fellow Daoist Xie, rest assured, we will fully support you in rebuilding the Xie family. You know your situation now. Your most important task now is not to seek revenge against His Majesty, but to rebuild the Xie family and prevent the Xie family bloodline from being cut off. Therefore, we will fully support you in rebuilding the Xie family. However, if you want to seek revenge against His Majesty, then we really cannot help you. Please forgive us."

Upon hearing this, the Xie family representative was taken aback at first, then nodded and said, "Please rest assured, I know what is most important to us right now. After this meeting, we will no longer participate in meetings. Just as Patriarch Wan said, rebuilding the Xie family is our most important task right now, and we must focus all our energy on this matter." No one spoke. In fact, the Xie family had already lost the right to sit in this meeting. They were only allowed to participate because of their attack on those three families. Next time, the Xie family would truly not even be qualified to participate.

That's just how it is. Although they are an alliance, when your strength is completely disproportionate to your status, you are not qualified to sit here.

Wan Hai continued, "His Majesty will certainly not let the destruction of the three families go unpunished. We don't know what he will do next, but we must prepare for their attack. No matter which family His Majesty targets this time, we must unite and fight together." Everyone nodded again. They were well aware that this was the most crucial moment. They absolutely could not back down. If they did, everything they had done before would be in vain, and their families would be finished. Therefore, they had to be even more united.

Just then, a servant walked in from outside. He came to Wan Hai's side, whispered a few words to him, and then stepped aside. Wan Hai's face immediately turned very ugly. He turned to look at everyone and then said, "His Majesty has given the order. All the city lords of our Wan family's five cities have been dismissed, and the sect leader will send someone to take over the positions. His Majesty has made his move."

When the other family heads heard Wan Hai say this, they were first taken aback, but then they immediately understood Gongliang Juewen's meaning. This was an open conspiracy. No matter what the Wan family did, it would be wrong. If the Wan family accepted the order and made those city lords step down, would the sect really let them control those cities if they really became city lords? Those cities were all large cities with huge profits. The sect would probably not give up those profits.

If they don't obey the order, that would be disobeying orders, and then Gongliang Juewen could directly order the Wan family to be dealt with. He's on the side of righteousness, which is a real headache.

If the Wan family officially accepted the decree and then killed the person who became the city lord, but they were to sideline the city lord, it would be tantamount to offending those sects. Those sects would be even less likely to stand on their side, and it would seem that whatever they did was wrong.

However, Wan Hai then spoke up, "I will send a letter to Qingxuan to ask him what he means. If he really sends someone to take over these five cities, then he is going against us. If he doesn't send someone to take over these five cities, then he is still our friend."

Everyone nodded. This was indeed a solution, and it seemed to be the only solution at present. You, Gongliang Juewen, could dismiss those five city lords, but you couldn't force someone else to become the city lord, could you? As long as those sect members didn't become the city lords, Gongliang Juewen's plan couldn't proceed.

At this moment, Wan Hai also took out a jade slip and sent a letter directly to Qing Xuan. He wanted Qing Xuan to make a statement about whether the sect alliance would stand on their side or on the side of the royal family.

When Qingxuan received Wan Hai's letter, he was discussing the matter with the sect leaders of other sects. He picked up Wan Hai's letter, glanced at it, and then handed the jade slip to a sect leader next to him. He then said, "Wan Hai has written. He said that if we send people to take over those five cities, we will be going against them. If we don't send people to take over those five cities, then we will be their friends. What are everyone's thoughts on this matter?"

None of the sect leaders spoke. They weren't fools; they knew that Gongliang Juewen was using them and forcing them to choose sides. However, they didn't want to choose sides yet, so this matter was somewhat difficult to handle.

Qingxuan glanced at everyone, but he didn't have a good solution for the moment. Just then, a sect leader suddenly spoke up: "We can stall for time."

Upon hearing this, Qingxuan immediately turned to look at him and said, "Sect Leader Ma, please explain in detail."

Sect Master Ma responded and then said, "Our sect alliance can actually remain neutral right now. Although this will displease His Majesty, we can't be considered to have done anything wrong. Moreover, our strength can ensure that we can indeed remain neutral. To remain neutral, we can't allow either side to find too much fault. So we can stall. Sect Master Qingxuan can reply to His Majesty, saying that we don't have any candidates yet and need to carefully select someone, so we need time. Ten days later, we will send someone to take over those five cities. This is actually giving them ten days to resolve this matter. In these ten days, both sides should have already decided the victor, right?"

Upon hearing what Sect Leader Ma said, Qingxuan and the others all nodded. This method was not bad. They did not favor either side, but gave them ten days to resolve the matter. If the aristocratic families won, then of course they would not need to send people to take over those five cities. If the emperor won, then after ten days, when they sent people to take over those five cities, no one would be able to say anything.

In Qingxuan and his group's view, resolving the matter was nothing more than dealing with the people involved. Either Gongliang Juewen would back down and stop letting the sect take over the five cities, or the Wan family would be wiped out. In that case, if their sect sent people to take over the five cities, no one would be able to say anything. After all, the Wan family had been wiped out, and what they took over would be equivalent to five unclaimed cities. The aristocratic families wouldn't be able to say anything either. Therefore, delaying for ten days was indeed the best solution at present.