Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 57 The Chu Family Beset by Internal and External Troubles

The story of Mu Changtian being assassinated during his exile and using the Blood Burning Technique to take three Grandmasters down with him before his death quickly spread throughout the Great Xia Dynasty.

With Mu Changtian's death, the Xia Emperor completely seized control of the Xia military and now commands millions of soldiers.

Moreover, all the generals of these armies were promoted by Emperor Xia himself, and the vast majority of these generals were extremely loyal to Emperor Xia.

With so many soldiers suddenly at his command, what does the Xia Emperor intend to do? What will he do? The major families within the Great Xia territory are not fools.

In a short time, the number of caravans in the Great Xia territory surged, especially in the territories of the various vassal kings, where the number of caravans doubled.

Of course, except for North County.

The caravans were merely a front for the aristocratic families; their real purpose was to use them to travel around and collude with various forces.

Emperor Xia has already sharpened his sword; it's impossible that those powerful families haven't made a move at all.

The major clans all shared the same idea: since the Xia Emperor was disobedient and disobedient, they should replace him with a different emperor.

Throughout history, there have been emperors who attempted to eliminate powerful clans.

Some emperors used the imperial examination system to weaken the foundation of powerful families, some emperors restricted these families in terms of land, and some emperors suppressed them in terms of commerce.

However, the effectiveness of those methods is still limited.

The Xia Emperor eliminated the two Heavenly Kings and completely seized control of the Xia military, clearly showing that he had lost patience with the aristocratic families and wanted to use physical methods to directly eliminate the existing powerful clans.

The Xia Emperor acted too quickly and with too much purpose, which naturally attracted the attention of the major families, especially the powerful families in Jiangnan.

Since Chu Yue's death for unknown reasons, Chu Xiong has been on guard against the capital for years, sending many spies there so that he knows about any disturbances in the capital.

Upon learning of Mu Changtian's death and that military power had fallen into the hands of Emperor Xia, Chu Xiong had been unable to sleep well for days, feeling that the Chu family was facing imminent disaster.

The Chu family's courtyard.

Chu Xiong sat in the pavilion, looking at the intelligence reports coming from the capital, his face showing a worried expression.

At this moment, two white-haired old men arrived at the pavilion. One of them said, "Brother, you've seen Emperor Xia's actions. Shouldn't our Chu family also make some preparations?"

Upon hearing his second brother Chu Liang's words, Chu Xiong remained silent for a moment before saying, "I have already sent someone to contact Prince Qi, and I believe we will have results soon."

Hearing this, Chu Liang said with dissatisfaction, "Brother, what use is Prince Qi? He's just a good-for-nothing. Do you really expect him to start a rebellion?"

Chu Xiong's idea was to use the vassal kings to restrict the Xia Emperor, forcing him to give up on dealing with the aristocratic families, or to incite the vassal kings to rebel, so that the Xia Emperor would have no energy to deal with the aristocratic families. Of course, it would be even better if a vassal king could defeat the Xia Emperor.

King Qi was the vassal king who was most dissatisfied with Emperor Xia. Since Emperor Xia ascended the throne, he had targeted King Qi many times. Therefore, the first target that Chu Xiong chose to incite rebellion was King Qi.

However, it was clear that the second brother, Chu Liang, had his own ideas. At this moment, Chu Liang said, "If you ask me, we should just find someone to assassinate Emperor Xia. Once he's dead, all the problems will be solved."

The third brother, Chu Song, then asked, "If the Xia Emperor dies, who should we support to ascend the throne?"

Chu Liang said matter-of-factly, "Is there even a question? Of course we support the Eighth Prince! If we don't support the Eighth Prince, do you think we'd support that good-for-nothing from Beijun who spends all his time indulging in pleasure?"

"Besides, the Eighth Prince's mother comes from the Wang family, a prominent family in Jiangnan. He can't possibly be as delusional as his father and want to take action against us prominent families, can he? Moreover, our Chu family happens to have a good relationship with the Wang family."

"After the Eighth Prince ascends the throne, we will send some girls from the Chu family to his side. If the girls of the Chu family can have the Eighth Prince's children as soon as possible, it is not impossible for them to compete for the position of Empress."

After listening to Chu Liang's words, Chu Song said, "Second Brother, I feel that the Ninth Prince is better. If he indulges in pleasure in the palace, wouldn't it be easier for us to control him? Moreover, we can make him choose whoever we want to be empress."

Chu Liang snorted and said, "Do you think I haven't thought about this? He's a good-for-nothing who can't be helped. If we really choose him, do you think he can balance the interests of the major families? Moreover, there will be even greater resistance in the court. Those ministers won't agree. Any of the princes are qualified, but he's not."

"Don't forget, he's Chu Yue's child, and his relationship with Xuan Yue Palace is unusual. If he really takes power, will we still have a chance to control him?"

Chu Song said, "Second Brother, what you said makes some sense."

At this moment, Chu Xiong said with a dark face, "Second brother, you've gone too far. No matter what, Chu Yue is my daughter. No matter how you arrange the relationships, she is first and foremost my daughter, and only then the goddess of Xuan Yue Palace. Why doesn't her son deserve to sit in that position?"

"Besides, you don't really think the Xia Emperor is so easy to assassinate, do you? Isn't it a bit premature to start discussing who should ascend the throne now?"

"The Xia Emperor has a Grandmaster by his side, and besides Situ Ce, we don't know if there are other Grandmasters secretly protecting him. To assassinate him would be harder than climbing to heaven."

Chu Liang said sarcastically, "Brother, I think you're getting old and your mind isn't working as well anymore."

"Do you think I said I supported the Eighth Prince just now? The Eighth Prince is in the capital right now, and he can completely assist us in carrying out our plan to assassinate Emperor Xia."

Chu Xiong frowned and immediately said, "No, we absolutely cannot assassinate Emperor Xia now. If the assassination fails, Emperor Xia will definitely use this as an excuse to immediately take action against the aristocratic families."

"We are not adequately prepared and cannot take this risk."

Now everyone in the court knows that Emperor Xia is going to take action against the aristocratic families, and the aristocratic families also know that Emperor Xia will take action against them. But even if Emperor Xia wants to eliminate the aristocratic families, he still needs a seemingly legitimate reason.

Emperor Xia had not yet found a suitable excuse, but now that the aristocratic families had sent people to assassinate him, wouldn't that just give Emperor Xia a reason to do so?

Seeing Chu Xiong's fear of this and that, Chu Liang snorted and said, "Brother, you're getting more and more timid. The Xia Emperor's butcher's knife is about to fall, and you're still worrying about this and that."

"I think you'll only be happy when the Xia Emperor's million-strong army arrives in Sufeng City."

With that, Chu Liang turned and left.

Seeing Chu Liang leave, Chu Song quickly followed, "Second brother, second brother, let's talk this out. Eldest brother was only thinking of the family, don't be angry."

Seeing the two of them singing in unison, Chu Xiong's expression turned ugly.

He's not stupid; how could he not know what Chu Liang and Chu Song are thinking?

Chu Song appeared to be speaking to the Ninth Prince, but in reality, he was trying to engage Chu Liang in conversation.

Chu Song's sons all married women from the Wang family, and even his concubines were from the Wang family, so there's no need to think much about his stance.

As for Chu Liang, it goes without saying that he has been coveting the position of family head for quite some time.

The Chu family is now beset by internal and external troubles. The thought of his son being so useless and thinking about women all day long makes Chu Xiong feel even more exhausted.

Chu Xiong rubbed his forehead, then said to the woman behind him who had been barely noticeable, "Qingli, your sister is in Beijun. You should go to Beijun too. If the Chu family really suffers a catastrophic disaster one day, you don't need to come back."

Upon hearing this, the woman in the green dress behind him said, "Yes, Master."

The woman's voice was icy cold, devoid of any emotion, as if she were a complete killing machine.

(End of this chapter)