Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 146: Conspiracies galore, deification subordinates

Half an hour later.

Liu Xi left with a smile on his face.

Pei Ju watched him disappear before asking, "How much power do you think this new head of the East Factory has?"

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and said, "This person is quite ambitious, and his strength and methods are not bad either. I guess... 20%!"

"Twenty percent? Where's the remaining eighty percent?"

"Of course it's in the hands of a ninth-rank eunuch in the palace!"

Power is concentrated at the top, but comes from the bottom.

Cao Zhengchun controlled the East Factory for many years. On the surface, he was demoted to a low position by the emperor, but in fact, most of the people in the entire East Factory were still loyal to him.

This is probably the reason why the emperor dared to demote Cao Zhengchun but did not dare to kill him.

Because the emperor knew very well that he had not yet let Cao Zhengchun lose the source of his power.

If anyone dared to give the order to kill, those eunuchs from the East Factory would immediately rush into the palace to avenge Cao Zhengchun!
Political struggles are never ended with a single order.

Otherwise, why didn't the emperor, who had been sitting on the throne for several years, directly order the execution of Pei Ju, Zhu Wusi, and Cao Zhengchun?

It was because if he really gave such an order, he would have fallen ill and died before the next day.

"It seems that the palace is going to get lively." Pei Ju said.

"Huh?" Zhou Ming looked at him in surprise.

Pei Ju said, "Cao Zhengchun held great power, but was demoted to a ninth-rank eunuch. Liu Xi was promoted to the head of the East Factory, but he has no power. Most importantly, he still has considerable ambitions.

If these two start fighting...wouldn't the palace be bustling with activity?"

"Well, that's true."

Zhou Ming nodded and thought: So it’s because of Cao Zhengchun and Liu Xi.

He thought that his adoptive father had already noticed another conspiracy.

That is to say, the conspiracy hidden beneath the decisive battle between Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuxue is directly aimed at the young emperor!
The kings of the Ming Dynasty were not allowed to leave their fiefdoms without the emperor's order.

Therefore, many of those princes had never entered the capital in their entire lives.

But a few years ago, the previous emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne. Naturally, all the kings had to go to Beijing to meet the new emperor.

At that time, King Nanping was extremely surprised to find that the new emperor looked exactly like his son and was almost the same age.

After returning, he came up with a bold idea.

Transplanting flowers and trees!
Replace the emperor with his own son!
In this way, the throne will be passed down to his bloodline descendants!

He has been preparing for this matter for several years.

Steward Wang, who was in charge of taking care of the emperor's daily life, had already been bribed by the King of Nanping.

Ye Gucheng, the swordsmanship teacher of the Prince of Nanping, also joined this plan.

The decisive battle between Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuxue was part of the plan from the beginning.

On August 15th, the decisive battle on the top of Purple Gold Mountain was destined to fail.

Ximen Chuxue didn't come last night, so Ye Gucheng showed up.

But if Ximen Chuxue came, the person who disappeared would probably be Ye Gucheng.

All of this is to make the decisive battle ferment and cause a bigger sensation.

Of course, the King of Nanping had been preparing for many years, so he naturally would not rely entirely on the decisive battle between the two. It just happened that this decisive battle became the most suitable opportunity.

Even if the decisive battle cannot be fought, he must have other backup plans in his hands.

"Speaking of which, the Prince of Nanping wanted to use someone else's power to replace the emperor, and the East Factory was definitely a major obstacle. So, Cao Zhengchun was completely dismissed by the emperor at this time. Did they have any hidden hand in this?"

Zhou Ming pondered this and asked, "Foster father, what exactly is going on with Cao Zhengchun being demoted?"

Pei Ju said, "I've also heard a little bit about it."

Then he briefly talked about what happened that day.

After hearing this, Zhou Ming couldn't help but show a speechless expression.

Heard of it a little?

He simply gave a brief account of what happened in the imperial palace to the emperor, Cao Zhengchun, and Zhu Wusi.

What a good one! I have heard of it a little bit!

However, was it Zhu Wusi who actually got Cao Zhengchun taken down?
Although judging from Pei Ju's description, Zhu Wusi's reason for taking action was very appropriate.

Whether it was the Wudang Mountain incident or the Tianlao incident, Cao Zhengchun was the obvious choice to take the blame. As everyone knew, Zhu Wusi and Cao Zhengchun were sworn enemies, so it was perfectly natural for Zhu Wusi to take advantage of this opportunity to target Cao Zhengchun.

But this incident happened just before Prince Nanping's conspiracy was about to be carried out.

Zhou Ming had to think more.

Could it be that Zhu Wusi was also a participant in Prince Nanping's conspiracy?
Do not!
The conspiracy of Prince Nanping seemed to have a very high success rate. With the cooperation of Chief Steward Wang who had been taking care of the emperor's daily life, after the substitution of a substitute, the Prince of Nanping could indeed disguise himself as the emperor to a certain extent.

But in a world where the art of disguise is not very common, but not very rare at all, Zhou Ming does not believe that the royal family has no means to guard against this method.

Moreover, although the emperor looks young, he is actually very thoughtful.

There are many secrets that not only Steward Wang but even the Empress Dowager and the Emperor's sister don't know.

In the original novel, the emperor was secretly protected by four hidden swordsmen, and even Steward Wang did not know about it.

If Ye Gucheng had not suddenly appeared and killed the four swordsmen, the plan would have failed at that time.

Therefore, the conspiracy of King Nanping, although reasonable on the surface, actually has huge flaws and is a plan doomed to fail.

It is normal that Prince Nanping did not know the secrets of the royal family as he had been in his fiefdom for a long time. However, Zhu Wusi was the younger brother of the late emperor and had never been granted a fiefdom outside the country. In recent years, he had been in power and was sure to know these secrets.

There was no way he would take the initiative to participate in such a conspiracy that was doomed to fail.

However, if he knew about the conspiracy, it would be reasonable for him to go along with it and make some plans of his own.

If the Prince of Nanping really succeeds in using someone else's trick, the current emperor will surely die.

Afterwards, even if the truth is revealed using the royal family's secret methods, the Prince of Nanping will surely die.

The emperor was young and had no son.

Who will inherit the throne then?
Zhu Wusi, who holds great power, is extremely prestigious, and is also the younger brother of the late emperor, is probably the most qualified person.

If you think this way, then it is completely understandable that Zhu Wusi took action against Cao Zhengchun at this time.

It is to help Prince Nanping remove a roadblock to his plan!

However, although he thought of this, Zhou Ming did not say it out loud.

After all, it was just his guess.

At present, even the King of Nanping’s plan has not yet been implemented, let alone Zhu Wusi’s strategy of taking advantage of the situation.

Once this plan starts, I'll find a chance to remind Pei Ju.

For the moment, what really concerns him is... Emperor Mingming, Zhu Wusi, and Cao Zhengchun all have his marks on them.

But he didn't know the details of this matter!
Returning to his study, Zhou Ming looked at the number of marks he currently had and couldn't help but fall silent.

Because of the viral ability, once the mark spreads, the speed of its spread is simply terrifying.

At present, the number of people with complete marks on their bodies has exceeded 100 million.

Not to mention those who have been infected but whose marks are not yet complete.

Among these more than 100 million marks, Zhou Ming himself knew the identities of only a very small number of them, less than 100,000.

Of those whose identities he knew, there were only a little over a hundred people he paid special attention to. Emperor Ming, Cao Zhengchun, and Zhu Wusi were all important figures of high status, but because the plots surrounding them hadn't yet unfolded, they were only the second tier on Zhou Ming's list of special attention.

Therefore, even though his marking ability is extremely magical, but... I can't see it all, I can't see it all at all!
This made him miss the opportunity to watch the show, so he had to obtain information from Pei Ju.

Zhou Ming already has an idea about the solution to this problem.

He took out the Jade Book of Heaven and opened his Heavenly Eye.

This wordless heavenly book was seen through layer by layer under the Heavenly Eye, and finally fell on the third layer.

The third level corresponds to the third realm of Dharma cultivation, the realm of observing heaven and earth.

This realm is divided into three small realms.

Studying, induction, and shamanic rituals.

Practitioners are required to travel in all directions and sense the power of heaven and earth before they can continue their practice.

Running around like this can easily lead to danger.

So when it reached this level, some spells finally began to be recorded on the Jade Plate Heavenly Book.

These include the use of mental power to confuse others' minds, and further, the use of false appearances to affect others' vision and hearing, and even sleight of hand.

Although I can't fight, I can definitely run.

There is no way. Mental power is too illusory and basically cannot affect reality in the early stage, so the combat effectiveness is extremely limited.

If a cultivator at this level wants to fight the enemy, he can only rely on his subordinates.

But human hearts are complicated. Even if there is a corresponding "soul-imprinting technique" that can leave some marks in other people's souls, it cannot guarantee complete loyalty after all.

Some predecessors took a different approach and trained ferocious beasts such as tigers and wolves to serve as their subordinates to protect them.

But the intelligence of these beasts is indeed a big problem.

Hence, there was the "enlightenment technique", which could enhance the wisdom of animals to a certain extent, and combined with the soul-sealing technique, it could basically guarantee their loyalty.

But what Zhou Ming valued was another great spell - the art of deification!

This spell was not created by those senior practitioners of magic, but was created by the source of the magic bloodline, the gods and demons themselves.

Its function is to confer titles on its subordinate gods.

This method not only ensures loyalty, but also allows one to bestow a portion of one's own divine power on subordinate gods.

For the ancient gods of water, wind, fire, and sky, this so-called divine power may be the power to control water, wind, and fire.

For a practitioner of Dharma, divine power is the ability brought by his powerful spiritual strength and the realm of Dharma practice.

However, among the practitioners of Dharma, there is a group of people with extraordinary talents who will awaken their own unique talents.

This kind of talent can also be bestowed as divine power!
For Zhou Ming, it is that mark, the ability to project.

At present, the number of marks he has spread out is over 100 million, which is too much for him to keep track of. He thought about whether he should learn the art of conferring gods, recruit hundreds of thousands of subordinate gods, give them the ability of marking, and then make them work like cattle and horses for him, and look at the marks every day.

But now there are two problems.

First, his realm is not high enough.

The art of deification is not an ordinary spell and requires one to reach the realm of perception to learn it.

At present, he is still just studying abroad.

But that's not a big deal.

Since he learned the secret of longevity, he practiced it every day, absorbing the power of heaven and earth and increasing his own true energy.

Not only did his martial arts level improve rapidly, but his magic level also increased accordingly.

It can be seen that this secret of longevity is actually a method and a martial art practiced by Wu Tongxiu.

It won’t take long to break through to the realm of sensing.

So what he really needs to solve is the second problem.

manpower!

Hundreds of millions of marks, how many subordinate gods are needed to pay close attention to them.

Even if we really get hundreds or hundreds of thousands of subordinate gods, on average, each subordinate god will have to pay attention to a thousand targets.

What's more, the imprint is still growing explosively.

But at the moment, he couldn't even find a subordinate god.

In addition, being a subordinate god cannot be appointed casually; certain conditions must be met.

The subordinates of the Water God can be small fry or river spirits, but they cannot be fire spirits, because the power of the Water God will extinguish fire.

Similarly, the Fire God's subordinates can be rock flames, but not shrimp soldiers and crab generals, because the powerful flames will directly burn shrimp and crabs.

As for what kind of subordinate god Zhou Ming needs to possess such a complex ability... he will only understand that after he learns the art of deification.

"In short, let's practice first..."

Zhou Ming thought.

Because he had a goal, Zhou Ming was extra patient this time.

For a moment, the entire Pei Mansion became much quieter.

But in the capital, the storm was growing stronger and stronger.

Several days passed quickly after Ye Gucheng released the news that Ximen Chuxue could choose the time for the duel.

During these few days, countless people were waiting for Ximen Chuxue's answer.

But Ximen Chuxue still never showed up.

Fortunately, he still released the news and responded to this matter.

Four words...full moon night!
The meaning is obvious.

The time he chose for the duel was the next full moon night.

That is - September 15th!
Although we still have to wait for nearly a month, it is already very exciting.

To be honest, the procedure of this duel initiated by Ye Gucheng was very wrong.

First of all, time is tight. If it weren't for the help of Jianghu Monthly and Southern Houkan, it would be impossible for the news to spread throughout the world in just half a month, let alone attract so many people.

Secondly, not following the rules was just Ye Gucheng's initiative to challenge, but Ximen Chuxue never gave any response.

Therefore, it was completely reasonable that Ximen Chuxue did not appear at the duel venue on August 15th.

It was just that time, there were too many people waiting in vain in the middle of the night, which led to the current barrage of criticism.

But now Ximen Chuxue has given a response.

The time has been determined.

This means that he agreed to the duel!
"September 15th? Isn't it just a month? I've been waiting!"

In a small restaurant, several people from the martial arts world placed their swords on the table and said.

"Okay, I've been waiting too!"

"I just don't know if the venue for this duel is still in Purple Gold Mountain?

"According to the rules of Jianghu, one duelist should set the time and the other the location. Since Ximen Chuxue set the time, then the location should be decided by Ye Gucheng."

"Ye Gucheng had previously chosen the location of Purple Gold Mountain. This time, I think it should still be in Purple Gold Mountain, right?"

At this moment, a lone swordsman nearby snorted coldly: "A cowardly person who refuses to fight will never be a match for the Lord of Baiyun City even if he waits for a month!"

(End of this chapter)