Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 608: Flowers bloom in the north of the city, and trees grow in the south; both are outstanding.

For Emperor Jingtai, his dream before becoming emperor was to be emperor, but after becoming emperor, he found that being emperor was not as free as he had imagined.

He dreamed of traveling all over the mountains and rivers as emperor, without any restraint. But when he actually sat on that throne, he finally understood why it had been so difficult for his father to even visit Jiangnan, and why he only got to enjoy it properly in the last few years of his life.

As the saying goes, there are sorrows on both sides of the mountain, and no one is free whether there is wind or not.

The vast palace had him firmly imprisoned here. The laws of the Great Wei clearly stated that killing one's wife or husband for adultery was not a crime. However, as the emperor of a country, when he discovered that his empress was having an affair, he could only go through the tedious process of sending her away to fulfill the desires of his mother's adulterous husband and wife.

Being an emperor is not easy, and he was getting tired of it. But while he was tired of this kind of life, he couldn't let go of the supreme power, which always put this young emperor in an indescribable dilemma.

Of course, this is because he has never experienced the life of an ordinary person. After all, if Xia Lin hadn't opened more than a dozen coal mines in the north and south, even now, the common people would still find it a luxury to have a sip of hot water. If he were subjected to such torment, he would have to obediently return to be the emperor in three days, while muttering, "Being the emperor is good, being the emperor is good."

But why is it said that a skilled warrior has no glorious military achievements? People only know that Xia Lin made more money through various coal mines than others could earn in dozens of lifetimes, but they ignore the past when people, especially northerners, had to sell their children to keep warm in winter before these mines appeared, before the new processing technology transformed them into honeycomb briquettes, and before they were popularized in every household.

The common people won't be grateful for this, because they don't even know why this situation has arisen. They'll just complain that today's coal price is a coin more expensive per pound than yesterday, and then curse. Similarly, the emperor won't know how far all this has changed the world; he'll just think the weather is a bit colder this year and order the imperial household to burn the stoves brighter tomorrow.

Emperor Jingtai, upon learning once again of the great trouble Xia Lin had caused in the southwest, was already filled with longing. He had missed the Jingguan in the northwest and the rebellion in the southeast, but this time he could no longer resist.

That very evening, he pleaded with the prince for a long time, even resorting to tantrums and shamelessness, before the prince reluctantly agreed to temporarily oversee the country. He was then given a long and earnest lecture.

However, Emperor Jingtai was not a well-behaved person even when he was still the crown prince. When he went to the southwest, he would go there and write a letter to his younger sister at home. She was the daughter of Prince Teng, the wife of Xia Lin, and now the eldest princess with the highest rank among the princesses...

The letter was very simple: “Wait for me in Jiangnan, I will take you down to Lingnan.”

Back then, he and his sister wandered around quite a bit. Don't forget where Xia Lin met this simple-minded princess. It was in a gambling den in Yangzhou. She was the only one in the world who could disguise herself as a man so poorly that she was worse than a bean sprout.

For a letter like this, they used the 800-li express courier service. It's really a wonder that he's the emperor. Even Xia Lin wouldn't be willing to go through such trouble. But to be honest, it's not bad. After all, when an emperor goes on an inspection tour, the ceremonial guard alone requires three to five thousand people. But this old guy is something else. He brought along several top palace guards and Jinlian. The group of eight of them escaped by scaling the palace walls overnight.

The Tuoba family's unreliability might indeed have a genetic component. The emperor, in his thirties, fled with his concubine by scaling the wall in the middle of the night. For this, the imperial scribe angrily filed a complaint with the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs.

The Minister of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, who was also the head of the Tuoba family in this generation, was so angry that he rolled his eyes on the spot. If Prince Teng hadn't rushed over to comfort his elder brother, he probably wouldn't have survived until the emperor returned.

"Impeach! They must be impeached!"

"Impeachment will have to wait until he returns," Prince Teng sighed...

Impeaching the emperor sounds absurd, but it is actually legally feasible. If an emperor like Emperor Jingtai were to run away without a care in the world, the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs could order the Ministry of Rites and the Three Departments to impeach him. If successful, the emperor would be the direct heir apparent if he had a designated heir, and the emperor would be succeeded in order of seniority if he did not have a designated heir.

Your emperor was just running around recklessly, wasn't he? When you come back, I'll make you the retired emperor.

It's legally feasible, but generally difficult to implement. Unless the emperor is too absurd or too incompetent, the impeachment process won't get past the three provinces, let alone the six ministries for review. The process is extremely complicated, and most ministers wouldn't agree to it. After all, a new emperor brings a new court, and if they finally manage to get to this level in front of the current emperor, most of them will have to go down with him.

This impeachment will probably end with Emperor Jingtai being made to kneel in the Imperial Ancestral Temple for two days, but it shows that the head of the Imperial Clan Court was really furious at this moment.

Emperor Jingtai, who had fled, adopted the alias Tian Jing and lived a carefree life. He dressed like a wealthy young master with a few guards, boarded a boat, and traveled all the way to Jiangnan.

When Her Highness received the message, it was already three days later; Xia Lin had received the message a day earlier.

The twelve censorate offices in the capital, along with six secret gates, sent out ninety-three carrier pigeons. Forty-one of them arrived, each carrying the same message: "The Emperor is traveling south incognito and will arrive in Lingnan soon."

It's clear that his trip has really given the Beijing intelligence agencies a run for their money. The internal power struggles within the Beijing sects are now reaching a fever pitch, and they could be on the verge of collapse at any moment. Meanwhile, the BYD Emperor has run away on his own.

Xia Lin stared at the pile of notes on the table, reeking of pigeon droppings, scratching his head in frustration. He said nothing, silently walking to the window to gaze at the misty drizzle and the hazy Li River. After a long while, he suddenly turned to the girl in red sleeves who had delivered the notes and said, "Is he fucking crazy?!"

What could Hongxiu possibly say? She thought she had seen countless bizarre and wonderful things in her life, but this was the first time she had ever seen an emperor climb over the wall to go out and find a frontier minister.

Is this considered a clandestine visit or an elopement?

If that news was already explosive enough, then even more explosive news came as Xia Lin was busy investigating potential risks to Emperor Jingtai in various parts of Lingnan.

That was when Li Shimin, the Prince of Shu of the Tang Dynasty, and the third princess of the Prince of Qin traveled down the Jialing River as envoys to the Great Wei and pay a visit to Xia Lin.

"Fuck your mother..."

Xia Lin felt his blood pressure soar when he saw the letter. What a coincidence! Li Shimin's departure from Sichuan was a major event, how could Li Yuan allow it? After he took over the Bashu region, Li Yuan sealed off Jianmen Pass, forbidding anyone from leaving Sichuan without a valid reason.

Now look what's happened, he's come with his sister?
They're probably trying to get Xia Lin involved in something. The problem is, it's one thing for them to come secretly and have a chat, but who knows when Emperor Jingtai will arrive at this critical juncture? This is a disaster! With Emperor Jingtai's petty nature, if he finds out that Xia Lin is secretly meeting with the Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty, won't he hate all of them? He might even have to go back and cry.

"Don't they know the rules? Don't they know them at all?!"

Xia Lin finally broke down, throwing the letter on the ground: "The Tang dynasty sent envoys to Jinling, to see the emperor, to see the Court of State Ceremonial, what do they mean by coming to me?"

At this moment, Wei Changsheng said quietly from the side, "That would require the emperor to be in Jinling. How could two unruly vassal kings be more powerful than an unruly emperor?"

"Hey... fucking."

Xia Lin picked up the letter again, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the river: "Damn it, Tuoba Jing, the legitimate emperor, holding the damn imperial seal, he dared to climb over the wall and go on a private visit. What kind of nonsense is this? How old is his son? I think he shouldn't go back. He should stay here and work as a laborer for three years to experience the hardships of ordinary people."

"Lord Xia, calm down..."

Wei Changsheng's heart pounded. Xia Lin dared to curse him, and he didn't even dare to listen. Calling the emperor by his name was already incredibly audacious, but he even added an interjection before it. This would be a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family on anyone else's behalf. Anyone who heard it would be dragged out and beheaded. This was truly worthy of being called Xia Daosheng...

However, Wei Changsheng now felt that Emperor Jingtai was not unjustly criticized. Throughout history, there have been tyrannical, absurd, incompetent, and foolish emperors. But truly laughable ones are few and far between. Our Emperor Jingtai perfectly filled this gap, bestowing upon us the title of the most laughable emperor.

He couldn't even imagine how the historians would record this for him. You have to understand that when Li Yuan became emperor, it was just a separatist regime. The official history would record that Li Yuan committed treason. But Emperor Jingtai was the rightful ruler of a unified dynasty. How could he do such a thing?
Alright, Wei is basically finished. Just watch, Wei will fall when Xia Lin dies.

No wonder Xia Daosheng was so furious. He had been busy patching up this broken Great Wei for years, while the emperor was doing well in the capital. As long as he didn't cause trouble, he could have easily extended the life of Great Wei for another fifty years. But now that this door has been opened, just wait and see.

"Lord Xia, what do you intend to do now?"

Wei Changsheng asked curiously, and Xia Lin laughed instead: "Aren't they good at picking their time? Okay, let's all get together and meet."

"Huh? This...this isn't appropriate, is it?"

“Okay, what’s wrong with it?” Xia Lin pointed to the east: “He dares to play with the nation’s fate like this, I’m not afraid of anything.”

Now there are two routes along the Yangtze River: one goes down the Jialing River and heades straight for Lingnan, and the other goes up the Yangtze River and heades straight for Lingnan.

The arrival speed of both sides should be about the same, provided that Emperor Jingtai is not overturned and drowned by the waves in Poyang Lake. As for what kind of sparks they will create, Xia Lin doesn't know. But from Xia Lin's perspective, Emperor Jingtai and Emperor Zhenguan are really evenly matched in terms of creating mischief. Their ability to create mischief far surpasses Xia Lin's.

Who said ancient people had a peaceful life? Not a single one of them was easy to deal with!
(End of this chapter)