I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 170 A Ten-Year Plan, Achievement of a Hundred Corpses

Among those executed in autumn were spies who had infiltrated from the northern border, Yaozhou, or the southwestern frontier. What these people said may not be true, but the situation in the northern border, thousands of miles away, was far more chaotic than rumored.

From the time Emperor Longping ascended the throne, the northern border troops began to be beyond the control of the imperial court and did not obey the Yongzheng Emperor's orders, which eventually led to a situation of regional warlordism.

At the beginning of his reign, Emperor Jingxing intended to rectify the chaos in the northern border, but before he could take action, his desk was filled with troublesome matters such as the Yaozhou uprising and the southwestern rebellion.

As the saying goes, "Many lice don't bite, many debts don't worry." Faced with this situation, Emperor Jingxing remained calm and composed. He sent people to Yaozhou to appease the people, and the southwest was gradually being reorganized. The matter of selecting concubines in the north was of utmost urgency, though the matter was not yet mentioned.

Emperor Jingxing had only been on the throne for less than half a year, and hadn't even had a chance to fully enjoy the benefits of being emperor. He couldn't resist taking advantage of his 'youth' to enjoy all the privileges he was entitled to.

Thousands of miles away in the northern border, Zhu Huai'an, who once looked more like a beggar than a beggar himself, has now transformed into the behind-the-scenes force of a regional warlord.

Although the King of Changting has passed away, his prestige in the North has not diminished; on the contrary, it has become even more irreplaceable due to the renewed chaos in the North.

Most of the generals who had followed Zhu Sheng through thick and thin would compare the past with the present, wondering what the northern border would look like now if the general were still alive.
Now, the sudden visit of Prince Zhu has made him a substitute in the minds of some generals.

These former subordinates were undoubtedly the most precious legacy left to Zhu Huai'an by the Prince of Changting. As long as he could grasp them, he would have a foundation for his future.

At this time, in Fangyi City, one of the seven towns in the northern border, inside the governor's mansion.

"Your Highness."

Just as Gongsun Jin was about to speak, Zhu Huai'an raised his hand to interrupt him.

"From now on, wherever you are, even in private, do not address me as Your Highness."

After months of hard work, Zhu Huai'an's face was no longer fair, and he had even lost weight.

"From now on, there will only be Zhu Yong, not Zhu Shizi."

To conceal his identity, Zhu Huai'an changed his name. Only a few close confidants knew this, while the rest believed he was the nephew of Zhu Hong, the commander of the military governor's office.

Zhu Hong was once a personal guard of Zhu Sheng, the Prince of Changting.

Gongsun Jin found himself increasingly unable to understand Zhu Huai'an's temperament. According to his original prediction, after the heir took command of the prince's old troops, he would be eager to train the army and avenge his father.

But once they arrived at the northern border, Prince Zhu remained humble and unassuming, concealing his identity and starting his career as a junior officer in the army.
"Young master is much more composed than I imagined."

Zhu Huai'an toyed with the brocade pouch in his hand, his eyes flickering as he said, "It's not that I'm calm, but I had no other choice."

“Right now, I am a thorn in the side of the dog emperor, a speck of sand in his eye. If I were to conduct large-scale military training, he would surely point his spear at the northern border first.”

"Now, there is a rebellion in Yaozhou, a mutiny in the southwest, and unrest in Nancuo, Shu. As long as we remain calm and wait for the tides to turn, the Yong Dynasty's foundation will be damaged in ten years at most, or three to five years at least. That will be the best time to declare ourselves king and look south."

"A general should be calm and composed, and upright and disciplined. Your plan is well thought out before you act, and you already have the demeanor of a great general."

Zhu Huai'an shook his head and said, "I am just a minor officer now, not yet fit for important responsibilities, and I have no general's demeanor. However, if given enough time, I am confident that I can retrace the path my father walked."

It's just not the path of a subject.
When Gongsun Jin left, Zhu Huai'an opened the brocade pouch again. Inside was a note with only a few words on it.

"Build high walls, store up plenty of grain, and delay declaring yourself king."

Well Street. Inside the coroner's shop, over a hundred corpses are on display; and this is only the number from the first day of the autumn executions.

Xuan Yu was already used to this. Apart from finding it a little dirty, it wasn't afraid. However, it needed to be more careful than before when landing, and it couldn't let any of its demonic energy leak out, otherwise these corpses would jump up on the spot like maggots.

By evening, there was no room left in the entire mortuary; the courtyard and the shop were filled with decapitated corpses.

Xu Qing took out the mother-and-child needles and her fingers flew across the needles. Under the cover of night, the candlelight in the coroner's shop illuminated the headless corpses being stitched back together on the dim yellow window paper.

"Adulterous couple! How can I, a dignified seven-foot man, suffer such humiliation!" On the shop window, it seemed that three figures were arguing incessantly. Then one of them suddenly sprang up, his hand raised and his knife fell, and black blood splattered like ink on the window paper.

Inside the shop, the corpses of a man and a woman were casually tossed aside by Xu Qing.

"I am the local official, and you are all my subjects. You are all obliged to be filial and support me! You must hand over to me all the money for slaughtering pigs, the well tax, the rat and sparrow tax, the shoe tax, and the barefoot tax!"

On the window paper, the dim candlelight illuminated the shadow of a fat, big-eared official dressed in official robes and hat, making a fortune.

Those who wear shoes into town to do business have to donate money for their shoes; those who go barefoot into town have to pay money for their bare feet; and if you relieve yourself today, you have to pay money for relieving yourself.
In the small coroner's shop, people took turns performing, and a series of silent shadow puppet shows were being staged.

"The rice jar at home has been empty for three days, and the child is crying from hunger. What should we do?"

"Don't worry about things at home, I'll go borrow grain first thing tomorrow morning."

"That ruffian kept by Master Wang came again the other day to collect the debt. If we can't come up with ten taels of silver, he'll take our ancestral home to pay off the debt."

“Zhang family man, today is the day you pay your debt. If you have no money, it doesn’t matter. I will sell your wife to pay off the debt, and send the child to be a beggar. Maybe I will even patronize their business.”

"That scoundrel has gone too far!"

On the window paper, a lean man was wildly hacking and slashing with a wood axe. After a moment of silence in the room, officials came to arrest him. He was later sentenced to be executed in the autumn for murder.

"Ruan Xing, you stole relief grain, a crime deserving of death. Do you plead guilty?"

"My lord, although I stole the relief grain, I distributed it all to the refugees and did not eat a single grain myself. What crime have I committed?"

"Well said! The madman Ruan Xing stole government grain and has now confessed in court. The evidence is conclusive, and he should be executed according to the law!"

Inside the coroner's shop, over a hundred corpses tell the story of the world's corruption and the good and evil of humanity.

Among these people were thieves and villains who indulged in drinking, gambling, whoring, and exploiting the local people, as well as virtuous and generous individuals who accumulated good deeds and were righteous.

Xu Qing remained oblivious to everything else, observing detachedly and refusing to get involved, thus avoiding any influence.

There are countless things in the world, and even if he wanted to manage them all, he couldn't. People in the world are all so chaotic and their thoughts are harder to fathom than ghosts. Perhaps only the dead can truly understand him.

After the rituals for the hundred corpses were completed, Xu Qing tallied up his rewards.

"The method of separating skin and flesh, the barefoot knife walking technique, the naked fire bathing technique, the art of keeping the people ignorant, the art of official power, the bone-softening powder, the strength pill, and the five-fold arithmetic."

Although these awards are merely evaluations of human nature, they are an ultimate microcosm of the myriad aspects of human life.

(End of this chapter)