My chat group is full of female losers

Chapter 326 The Beginning of the Crisis

Prime Minister Shen Shi'an practically stumbled into the imperial study, his old face ashen, his lips trembling. Upon seeing Chu Lu, he knelt down with a thud, his voice shaking uncontrollably: "Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"

Chu Lu was leisurely flipping through a border battle report when he heard this. He didn't even look up, his expression as calm as if the other person was just saying that the weather was bad today.

"What is it now?" he asked.

Shen Shi'an raised his head in horror and cried out, "The Guardian of the Nation... the Guardian of the Nation has been completely wiped out!"

Chu Lu paused slightly as he turned the pages of the book, finally shifting his gaze from the battle report to Shen Shi'an.

His face remained expressionless, as if he had expected this all along: "How were we destroyed?"

"It's a rumor!" the prime minister replied, his voice trembling with despair. "A rumor came from who-knows-where, saying that the fairies of the Protectorate of the Nation are all wanton women who sleep with anyone, and who, for power and status, have all sorts of affairs with powerful officials and chivalrous heroes. They couldn't bear such slander, and feeling ashamed and indignant, they disbanded!"

Chu Lu's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.

As if he had found an outlet, Shen Shi'an continued to cry out, tears streaming down his face, "The Captain and the Seven Envoys of Cihang have committed suicide to prove their innocence! The remaining ordinary disciples have all lost heart, changed their appearances, and disappeared without a trace... Even if we wanted to find them, we couldn't!"

It's really hard to ignore an elderly person crying their eyes out in front of you.

Chu Lu frowned slightly, and said with a hint of helplessness, "Alright, alright. I understand. Don't cry. What kind of state is this for a prime minister?"

Shen Shi'an's sobs gradually subsided. He raised his tear-filled old face and asked blankly, "Your Majesty, now that the entire Guardian Cihang Army has been wiped out, what should we do?"

Chu Lu tossed the battle report back onto the table and said indifferently, "Since they've already disbanded and can't be found again, then don't worry about it. Just continue with your own business."

The prime minister was stunned, wondering if he had misheard: "Abandon it? Your Majesty, that is the Guardian of the Nation! Without the Guardian of the Nation, how are we supposed to fight against the million-strong coalition army of the Great River Kingdom?"

"Do your best and leave the rest to fate." Chu Lu's voice was completely flat. "What else do you want to do? Can you even bring them back?"

Shen Shi'an stared blankly at Chu Lu's nonchalant face, his mind went blank for a moment, and he instantly remembered what happened to Huo Qi a few days ago, and a vague guess came to mind.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and said, "Your Majesty is absolutely right. We should naturally do our best to deal with it, but..."

He changed the subject, his tone becoming earnest, "However, unrest is breaking out in the capital, and people are restless. This is a time when manpower is urgently needed. I have heard that Your Majesty has spent a great deal of manpower investigating the source of the Empress Dowager's rumors. As the saying goes, there are priorities. Why not send manpower to deal with the chaos in the capital first and appease the people? What does Your Majesty think?"

Chu Lu was taken aback and asked in confusion, "Why are you saying that too?"

He then waved his hand, not pursuing the matter further, and said, "Forget it, never mind. In short, it won't work. My plan is the top priority. I'm already being lenient by not increasing manpower; how could I possibly let you transfer more people?"

This crisp and decisive answer was like an invisible hammer, slamming hard into Shen Shi'an's tense nerves.

In an instant, the bad news of the past few days erupted in his mind like a volcano—the repeated pleas for help at the border, the news of the complete annihilation of the Guardian Corps, and the rumors spreading one after another in the capital...

Each and every one of these events was a massive wave capable of overthrowing a dynasty, yet in this emperor's eyes, they seemed less important than his inexplicable ghost-catching game!
A surge of hot blood rushed to Shen Shi'an's heart. His eyes, which were always half-closed and full of calculations, were now bloodshot. His face, which was used to smiling and saying polite words, turned a deep purplish-red.

Tormented by the deteriorating situation over the past few days, this prime minister, who was known for his cunning, was finally completely overwhelmed and surprisingly became tough for once.

He stared directly at Chu Lu and loudly questioned, "Your Majesty! I don't understand why, at such a critical juncture, you insist on meddling in such trivial matters?! Are you insane?"

"I don't need to explain to you how I want to act." Chu Lu's eyes turned cold, his voice filled with anger. "Shen Shi'an, know your place!"

The courage that a cunning person can muster is ultimately just a momentary impulse.

Hearing Chu Lu's obvious anger was like being doused with a bucket of ice water.

Shen Shi'an shuddered and instantly came to his senses, realizing how dangerous it was to confront the emperor directly.

He immediately suppressed his anger, feigning fear, and slammed his head heavily against the cold floor tiles, pleading in a trembling voice, "It was I who overstepped my bounds... I forgot my duty and presumptuously made pronouncements on Your Majesty's decisions. I deserve to die! I deserve to die! I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and allow me to get out."

"Get lost," Chu Lu said, his gaze returning to the battle report.

Shen Shi'an quickly expressed his gratitude: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your boundless grace! Thank you for sparing my life!"

After saying this, he hurriedly left the imperial study. However, as soon as he left the palace and got into the sedan chair to return home, the look of fear on his face quickly faded, replaced by an unyielding gloom.

Upon returning to the Prime Minister's residence, he had barely stepped into his study when several ministers from his faction arrived to visit him, anxiously inquiring about the outcome of his audience with the Emperor.

Shen Shi'an recounted everything that had happened in the Imperial Study.

After hearing this, the ministers looked at each other, their faces filled with astonishment.

Minister of Revenue Jia Ruhui was the first to speak, exclaiming, "This...this is simply unheard of! What is His Majesty thinking? How can he be so indifferent?!"

“Yes! Protecting the nation and saving the world is of utmost importance! How can we just ignore it like this?” Minister of Rites Wen Yutang echoed with disbelief.

For a moment, the study was filled with doubts, and everyone discussed it, but no one could come to a conclusion.

"Quiet down, everyone!" Shen Shi'an rubbed his temples in annoyance, silencing the crowd's chatter.

He was also puzzled, even more so than anyone else present.

But he knew very well that Chu Lu was by no means a fool.

“His Majesty is not a fool,” Shen Shi’an said in a low voice. “There must be some huge secret behind his actions that we don’t know about.”

He stood up and paced back and forth in the study, his old face full of deep thought and struggle: "But what exactly is the hidden story? Why would he rather watch the border crumble and the people's hearts scatter, than let go of the so-called source of the rumors? What kind of game is hidden behind this? I really can't figure it out, I can't figure it out no matter how hard I try!"

Just then, a vice minister who hadn't spoken much suddenly lowered his voice and said cautiously, "Actually, I recently heard a rumor."

Everyone immediately turned their attention to him, their eyes filled with inquiry.

The vice minister swallowed hard, his voice even lower: "Rumor has it... that His Majesty secretly investigated and found the rumors to be false. In reality, he's using this pretext to deploy formations throughout the capital. The blood sacrifice formation accused in the Great Jiang Kingdom's declaration of war is real!"
"It's only because the plan was exposed beforehand that it became unworkable. Therefore, His Majesty has resorted to a less desirable solution: a blood sacrifice in the capital to obtain boundless demonic power, so that... he can go alone and kill the emperors of the Great Jiang Kingdom and the Great Liang Kingdom!"

The more he spoke, the more his voice trembled: "That's why he doesn't care about the life or death of the Guardians of the Nation. He can't wait for the other side to invade so he can sacrifice them all! That's also why he doesn't care about the unrest among the people in the capital. Because in his eyes, we... are all going to die anyway!"

These words are utterly absurd.

Shen Shi'an, who was already irritable, became even angrier after hearing this. He was about to open his mouth and scold him for saying such nonsense that insulted his intelligence.

But the next moment, a cold and eerie torrent surged up from the depths of his consciousness without warning, violently washing over his limbs and bones!

That cold, sticky, and irresistible feeling was exactly the same as when he first heard that the Empress Dowager was a demon!
His reason snapped like a taut string. All his doubts based on common sense, disbelief based on experience, and judgments based on logic crumbled like a paper dam in an instant.

The absurd rumor suddenly no longer seemed ridiculous; instead, it was like a long-missing puzzle piece, fitting perfectly into all the confusion in his heart with a chilling precision!

Why is Your Majesty so indifferent to the war? Why are you so fixated on capturing the elusive source? Why are you so unconcerned about the destruction of the Guardian of the Nation?
—So that's how it is! So that's how it is!
His eyes widened, his face showing a look of sudden realization.

"A tyrannical and incompetent ruler! A heartless and insane ruler!" Shen Shi'an slammed his hand on the table, his old face contorted with extreme anger.

The others in the study reacted in the same way. Like powder kegs that had been lit at the same time, they instantly believed this outrageous rumor, and one by one they were filled with righteous indignation and cursed loudly.

"Prime Minister Shen!" Jia Ruhui exclaimed excitedly, "We cannot sit idly by and wait to die, letting that tyrannical emperor use us as sacrifices! What should we do? Tell me!"

The study fell silent instantly, and everyone's eyes were focused on Shen Shi'an.

A fierce glint flashed in Shen Shi'an's eyes as he said, enunciating each word clearly, "Since he wants my life, then I will take his!"

The ministers were shocked, and Wen Yutang exclaimed, "Prime Minister Shen, are you going to...?"

"Contact Huo Qi!" Shen Shi'an's voice was as cold as iron. "It's time we got a wise ruler!"

"But...would Huo Qi agree? He's always been extremely loyal..."

"It doesn't matter." A sinister smile appeared on Shen Shi'an's face. "Even if he doesn't agree now, if we wait a while and the situation gets worse... unless he wants to die with that tyrant, he'll still have to agree!"

(End of this chapter)