You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"You still have the nerve to say it!"

Xila was furious: "I know how you negotiated with the revolutionary army... But that's all in the past. Since I'm back alive, you are still my dearest and most beloved father.

As for how I got out? Of course I had to rely on myself! Did I wait for you to save me?

This guy is a subordinate I recruited when I was wandering around the countries, a ronin warrior from an eastern island country - Izo!

Humph, after I was captured, my subordinates either ran away or betrayed me. Only this guy lurked in the dark, disfigured himself and infiltrated the revolutionary army. He waited for more than half a year before rescuing me!

This guy is really skilled, and he saved me this time, so you have to give him a general title, Dad!"

"No, no, no, I don't have such ambitions."

Iori took off his black mask, revealing his face covered in bandages, and then patted the samurai sword on his waist: "Appearance is just a small matter, as long as I can follow Lord Xila and keep finding people to sacrifice blood to this 'Jiang Xue', that's enough.

My whole life exists to sacrifice the sword, and fame, wealth and honor are nothing. "

"A warrior from an eastern island country?"

The minister glanced at the sword on Iori's waist and nodded.

Although he looked potbellied, he was knowledgeable and capable, and had even read through the royal collection of books. Therefore, he knew that the empire had some interactions with the Eastern island country a thousand years ago, and that the warriors there were indeed dressed like this.

In addition, he also received information that a ronin warrior who crossed the sea had committed a massacre in a certain place and caused a lot of trouble. It seemed that it was this masked man.

Being able to recruit such a killer under his command, it seems that this useless son of mine is not completely useless... Never mind, at least he can still give birth to an heir, so I'll just keep him.

"Why don't you go find Mr. Fashion to treat my son? Woohoo, it's really hard for you~"

"..."

Continuing to watch the minister's performance coldly, Iori was full of the desire to complain, but forced himself to hold back.

Could you please stop the exaggerated performance and get down to business sooner?

I specifically got the brainwashing device back from Akame and used the precious transformation drug on Sheila, not to play house with you!

Volume 53: The White Moonlight of the Entire Seireitei: Chapter : I, Iori, am loyal to the Empire!

In the dimly lit audience room, full armors as thick as steel cans were lined up on both sides. The cold marble floor was covered with thick and soft luxurious carpets, and at the end of the carpet was the tall and cold throne.

The young emperor of the empire sat there, wearing noble clothes and a crown that symbolized power, but his face, which should have been majestic and powerful, was childish and naive. He ascended the throne at the age of only thirteen or fourteen, and it seemed that he had no courage to match the status quo.

He has no name, because "Emperor" is a unique title in this world. In order to highlight the emperor's divinity, every person who inherits the throne will abandon his previous name and will not allow anyone to use other bestowed names to address himself. Even parents, brothers, wives, and children can only address him as "Your Majesty the Emperor."

This was a rule set by the first emperor. It meant that he would become a real loner from then on, and it also meant that he would no longer live as "himself", but would exist as the owner of the crown and the ruler of the empire.

Thus, although the first emperor did not achieve immortality, his will lived on and profoundly influenced the empire...

However, as it stands now, no matter how noble the title is, it cannot resist the power of time and will eventually decay and decline.

Anyone who sees the thin body trying hard to hold up the robe on the wide throne would probably feel that the building is about to collapse!

It would be fine if the young emperor had wise ministers to assist him, but unfortunately there is no Zhuge Liang in "Zhan Chi", not even Yi Yin and Huo Guang, and even if there is Cao Cao, what about him? In the end, there is only Ernest who looks like Master Dong...

The most tragic thing is that the young emperor didn’t even know that Ernest was Dong Zhuo, and he really trusted him as if he were Zhuge Liang!

"Your Majesty, please allow me to introduce two people to you."

The red-beheaded Master Dong bowed his head politely and placed his hands on his chest to show his loyalty to the emperor.

It was too simple for the etiquette of an audience with the emperor, but it was natural for Ernest to do it. After all, after the previous emperor was murdered by him... er, died accidentally, it was he who killed other competitors and supported the previous emperor's orphan, the little emperor, to ascend the throne.

In order to reward him for his service to the emperor, the young emperor gave him many privileges, making his status higher than that of other nobles.

To put it in more understandable terms, it means "no name is required for praise or worship, no steps are required for entering the court, and swords and shoes are worn when entering the palace" -

As we all know, apart from Xiao He, those who can enjoy this treatment are all "great loyal ministers", which shows how loyal Ernest is!

At least that's what the young emperor thought, so he looked at his trusted minister with a smile on his face and said, "What kind of person could be specially recommended by you, my minister? He must be a great hero, right?"

"I dare not move or take responsibility. In fact, it was my son Xila and his close friend Yi Zang. These two had been traveling abroad before, gathering intelligence on foreign races and enemy countries. They risked their lives just to protect the empire and Your Majesty. They are truly loyal and brave."

““Your Majesty!””

Sheila and Iori said in unison, and simply bowed their heads without any further courtesy.

The young emperor did not take it seriously. In his opinion, the minister's son must be loyal and might even be his right-hand man in the future. It would be good to get close to him in advance.

However, he looked at the two of them strangely: "You two do not look like ordinary people, but why... are you dressed so strangely?"

His words were quite conservative, because Sheila and Iori's appearance was more than strange:

Iori was wearing a loose windbreaker, with bandages wrapped around his face and hands, looking like a newly unearthed mummy or a patient who had just walked out of the intensive care unit.

And Sheila is even more outrageous. Both of her arms and legs are equipped with metal frames similar to exoskeletons, making her look like a non-mainstream modified human.

"These are all sacrifices that must be made for the empire!"

Ernest said sadly, "The rebels attacked my son and tortured him severely, trying to make him betray the empire. But my son's loyalty to Your Majesty is evident to all! He did not surrender even after his limbs were broken!

Later, it was Mr. Izang who took the initiative to disfigure himself and infiltrated the revolutionary army to successfully rescue him! "

"What? There is such a thing! Damn the rebels, they are so arrogant!"

The young emperor was immediately furious: "If I can't even protect my most loyal subjects, how can I protect the empire? I will arrest all these rebel criminals and execute them!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down. Let me handle this matter. It is also a good opportunity to avenge my son. However, the rebels are powerful and there are many experts inside. Many of them are even lurking around the imperial capital. I propose to form an elite force to garrison the imperial capital."

"That makes sense...but would General Bud agree?" The little emperor hesitated.

"General Bud is in charge of guarding the palace. This is a glorious mission passed down from generation to generation in his family. Naturally, I dare not overstep my bounds. However, the troops to be formed will only operate inside and outside the imperial capital and will not interfere with the defenders inside the palace." Ernest explained.

"Oh, that's no problem. This will also help to relieve the Royal Guards' defense pressure. I think General Bud will be happy to see this happen."

The young emperor nodded, and then suddenly an idea came to him, and he said to Sheila and Iori: "Sheila, you are of noble birth and so loyal to me, and although Izo is a commoner, you have the spirit of a knight, and you are also brave and righteous.

Both of you are the future pillars of the empire and must be promoted. I have already decided that this new army will be led by the two of you!"

"As you command, I will not let your majesty down."

"Okay, I'll grant you the rank of 'General' and let you deal with the rebels!"

As the saying goes, a country needs good generals in times of crisis. Seeing such loyal and brave ministers in such a difficult time, the young emperor felt that the situation was very good and the rebellion would be suppressed in the near future!

-

"The overthrow of the empire is just around the corner!"

Nadezhda could never have imagined that just a few days later, Iori had transformed into a general of the empire.

Think about how hard she worked to climb up, and then look at the gorgeous transformation of Iori, a wanted criminal... Even if she had given up on the empire long ago, she couldn't help but say "The Empire is doomed."

Ernest and the young emperor probably could not have imagined that the trusted general who was still being conferred titles in the palace during the day would actually move to a secret base in the wilderness at night and make contact with the rebel cadres.

I can only say that [Shangri-La] is easy to use~

"What are you doing?"

Nadezhda was puzzled: "Enter the army and reform from within? Or go undercover? I don't mean to discourage you, but I'm afraid this won't work."

She herself came from the imperial army and of course knew how difficult internal reforms were and how poor the military discipline was, so she was not optimistic about Iori's choice.

"Who said I want to reform? I just simply want this position." Iori smiled slightly, "After all, it's easier to do things with a title~"

"I don't understand... every time you act, it's so unexpected."

Nadezhda shook her head. Although she didn't understand what Iori's plan was, she was sure that Iori was not a running dog of the empire. The two sides had the same position, and that was enough.

"What do you want to trade this time?"

"Intelligence and heads."

Iori said bluntly: "I want information about powerful landlords and corrupt officials in various places, and the reward is their heads."

"Assassination?" Nadezhda thought for a moment, "There are too many of them. You alone——"

"It's not an assassination, and it's not just one person."

Iori interrupted her and smiled: "As a general of the empire, I am leading the army to fight against potential enemies who are colluding with the rebels!"

"...Are you kidding?" Nadezhda was stunned. "Your position was given by the ministers and the emperor. How could they allow you to do such a thing?"

"Because they are colluding with the Revolutionary Army."

Nadezhda was even more speechless: "It's not like you can collude just because you say so."

"If it's just me saying it, then it definitely won't work, but don't you have an assassin who can transform into any form?"

"……what?"

"If the minister's son Sheila receives the information, the imperial general Izo finds the evidence, the traitor (Chelsey) confesses it, and the revolutionary army tries to break into the prison, and the men I recruited myself (the island warriors) all keep their mouths shut, and then give half of the stolen money to Ernest -

So, do you think anyone would believe it?"

Nadezhda: “…Ah?”

Volume 54: The White Moonlight of the Entire Seireitei: Chapter : Akame: My Female Boss is So Disgusting!

The residence of a certain governor seemed particularly noisy today. Teams of soldiers with serious expressions and strange hairstyles surrounded the governor's mansion, blocked the four gates and prevented anyone from entering or leaving. They also disarmed all the guards and took control of all the people in the mansion.

The prefect is already considered to be at the top of the ruling class of the empire, and is definitely a high-ranking official in the local area. Yet they dared to surround the prefect's mansion with troops in broad daylight. Such arrogant actions are tantamount to rebellion!

However, what was strange was that, apart from the resistance of the guards of the prefectural government, the troops stationed inside and outside the city remained silent and no one came to support. They all watched helplessly as the highest-ranking local official was captured.

There are two reasons for this:

First, the force that raided the prefectural government was extremely elite. There were only a hundred of them, but all of them were skilled swordsmen, and among them there were more than ten masters who possessed "ministerial tools".

What does this mean? Not to mention the increasingly corrupt local troops, even if they pulled out the most elite guards, they would not be able to defeat them with the same number of people!

It's just a few hundred copper coins a month, why bother to fight with others? Just yell a few words to the sky, just to be worthy of the salary issued by the court.

Secondly, they are not bandits or rebels. On the contrary, they are a regular organization!

They are the official imperial capital garrison!

Just by hearing the name, you can tell that he is much better than us country bumpkins. Since he has been ordered to capture the prefect, it must be that the old guy has offended some big shot and is about to step down.

At a time like this, instead of rushing to distance yourself from the matter, are you trying to get ahead?

Not to mention the soldiers, even the captured governor himself was worried and panic-stricken, as if he had something to hide.

——If there was no ghost, why would Iori find him?

"Hmph, old man, you were secretly colluding with Ge, cough, secretly colluding with the rebels and traitors. Now you are caught red-handed, what else can you say?!"

"Rebel traitor?"

The prefect who was being held was stunned for a moment, and suddenly shouted loudly: "I am innocent! I have never had any secret dealings with the traitor!"

"You really won't cry until you see the coffin. What do you think of these many letters found in your house?!"

"How could this be... It is indeed my handwriting, but I... No, you are accusing me! Why, why did Lord Ernest do this?

We agreed on a 30% to 70% tax split! I only want 30% and I don’t dare to pay back a penny!”

The governor seemed to believe that it was political persecution. After all, he knew that he really had not had any secret dealings with the rebels... Strictly speaking, it was too late.

In fact, the revolutionary army did contact him, but the governor rejected it righteously, because the empire was still strong and the revolutionary army seemed to have no future. If the revolutionary army really gained power one day, it would be completely in time for him to join them.

But if it was political persecution, then the mastermind behind it could only be Ernest - didn't you see that the leader was his son?

But the prefect could not imagine why Ernest wanted to kill him... Although he did some tricks with the taxes, saying that it was a 30% and 70% split, in fact he took more than what he handed over to Ernest.

But if you are dissatisfied, you can tell me. It's just about money. Why do you have to go to this extent?

"I want to see the minister! I want to see His Majesty! I have made contributions to the empire and shed blood for the court. You can't do this - wuwuwu!"

Iori waved his hand impatiently, and the samurai from the island country immediately stepped forward, covered the man's mouth, and dragged him away.

What a hopeless guy... He does so many things like bullying men and women, killing people and setting fires every day, but at the critical moment he still thinks of taxes. This proves that this guy doesn't care about the lives of ordinary people at all, and subconsciously thinks that it is not a big mistake, and is far less important than sharing the spoils with ministers.

The governor was arrested and his family members were also taken into custody. Iori took a quick look and pointed out a few people, including the governor's son and first wife, and put them in special custody. He released the others on the spot and allowed them to come and go freely.

Iori was not afraid of wrongly accusing good people, because he had spent a whole day observing the prefect's mansion in the form of a spirit. Combined with the intelligence he collected on a daily basis, he already had a full understanding of who deserved to die, who were just going with the flow, and who were completely innocent.

As for why he wanted to investigate personally even though he had intelligence about the revolutionary army - it was simple, he didn't want to become anyone's "knife"!

He will only attack the real villains, so that he will have the least psychological burden and avoid leaving himself with mental demons that will affect his future Bankai.

And Iori cannot completely trust the Revolutionary Army. Who knows if they will add a few innocent political enemies to the list?

He can cooperate with others, but he will never let himself be used by others!

After a while, under Iori's order, Sheila summoned all the leading figures in the city to the central square, and more than a dozen prisoners including the governor were also brought here.