338: Chapter 136: The Old Affairs of the Former Dynasty and the Current Situation 338: Chapter 136: The Old Affairs of the Former Dynasty and the Current Situation Wang Yunxiao had once heard Old Master He talk about the matters of the Qian King’s Mansion.
Speaking of the Qian King’s Mansion, it was actually the former residence of the Crown Prince.
Prince Qian was the elder uncle of the abdicated young Emperor, the elder brother of the young Emperor’s father, the old Emperor, and hence the Crown Prince during the Tianle Era under the reign of the old Emperor.
The story must start sixty years ago, which is when the foreigners had just invaded.
At that time, it was the second year of the Tianle Era, or 1840 according to the Western Calendar, based on the time before Li Mumu traveled back.
Calculating the current time point is difficult because it has been washed to an unrecognizable state by the tides of space-time.
Those unbearable parts of dark history will be temporarily omitted, and I will discuss only the Imperial Family of the former dynasty.
The surname of the Imperial Clan was Xia.
The old Emperor had lost battles and propped up the corrupt and decaying ancient empire for decades, eventually died of illness, and his death was kept secret.
At that time, he had two sons, both of whom were already adults.
His Highness the Crown Prince had been the heir for many years and had accumulated a profound reputation among the court and the people, so his ascent to the throne was almost without any doubt.
If it weren’t for the foreigners.
The Crown Prince had one major weakness: he was deeply influenced by the traditional Confucian concepts of governance, closely associated with powerful families and the scholar-official class, and he disdained the exotic tricks of the West.
He opposed the introduction of Western knowledge and any kind of Western-oriented reforms.
On the other hand, the second Prince was quite the opposite, with more progressive thoughts.
He actively engaged with Western culture, learning foreign languages and modern science.
He was close to the scholar group of the Qing Society, which advocated for reform and modernization.
In another era or even if it had been a few decades earlier, he would have had no chance at all.
But this time, State Duke Mu, who commanded a powerful army, sided with the second Prince and supported him to ascend to the throne and become the new Emperor, starting the Apocalypse Era.
Upon the new Emperor’s ascension, the Crown Prince was granted the title “Qian King” and was placed under house arrest in the Capital Crown Prince Residence, later known as the Qian King’s Mansion.
Qian King never ceased his efforts to reclaim the throne and had many people willing to support him overtly or covertly in an attempt to overthrow the new Emperor and restore the old ways.
However, due to his limited personal abilities, he was never able to make much of a splash, and his attempts became fodder for gossip among the court and common folks.
Later came the story of the President’s rise in Tianmen, but let’s not dwell on that for now.
To briefly conclude, under the efforts of the new Emperor, the nation’s power had indeed risen during the former dynasty, fighting external wars impressively and making foreigners bow in homage.
Many thought the glorious dream of the Heavenly Empire might continue forever in this way.
Unfortunately, the good days did not last long.
The new Emperor fell gravely ill from overwork, less than twenty years into his reign, and ascended to the heavens.
The Imperial court faced tumultuous changes, and the young Emperor, not even five years old, ascended to the throne, initiating the Longyin Era.
The Qian King, who had given up and been waiting for death for many years, suddenly had his fortune change and was called out of retirement to become the Regent of the Empire, assisting the young Emperor in governing the realm.
The surprise fell from the sky, nearly carrying away the nearly sixty-year-old Prince Qian in one stroke.
Then he rallied his spirit, acted decisively, and spurred his horse forward with such speed that in less than ten years, he had sent the entire Dynasty packing.
It is now the sixth month of the second year in Ming Country.
Including the majority of the Former Dynasty’s remnants and young nobles within the Qian King’s Mansion, most had taken their family wealth and left the Capital to become residents in Tianmen City.
The President did not overly trouble these remnants and young nobles of the Former Dynasty, but the Qian King’s Mansion still did not cease its activities… or rather, the trees wished for calm, but the wind would not cease regardless of whether Qian King himself wished it or not.
Domestic traditional forces still existed in great numbers, hoping to leverage his reputation to stir things up.
As for the Qian King’s Mansion discreetly collecting civilian women to expand Qian King’s harem… such an act, if attributed to another, might be taken for a joke, but when it involved the Qian King’s Mansion, it somehow seemed reasonable, and no one could find any fault with it.
There had been even more ridiculous deeds done by the Qian King’s Mansion, and the jokes accumulated over the years could fill an eighty-chapter bound volume.
But if, as this Su Jianqing said, even the Qian King’s Mansion was just a facade, then what were those hidden behind the scenes plotting?
On one hand, Wang Yunxiao felt he was just a ‘footman,’ and when the sky fell, there would be taller people to bear it; he shouldn’t concern himself with matters of this level.
Yet on the other hand, he was very curious and really wanted to know the limits of human species diversity.
“What about Mr.
Liu over there?”
Mr.
Liu… calling him “Mister,” Wang Yunxiao felt it was an insult to the word itself.
He had seen people like him before, but he had never seen such a person become a so-called educational inspector commissioner.
“There’s nothing much to say about Mr.
Liu himself.”
Su Jianqing gave Wang Yunxiao a meaningful look and chuckled softly, “He himself is just a down-and-out Scholar from the Capital, taking advantage of his location beneath the shadow of the Imperial City to receive timely information, he likes to show off his eloquence by selling gossip and criticizing current affairs privately…”
I understand this type; a keyboard warrior.
“Now, ascending to the position of this so-called educational inspector commissioner is merely the result of someone’s deliberate promotion.
Some see him as cannon fodder, a pawn, sent to Tianmen to test the dark force that the President had left behind there years ago.”
“After all, the President started off by promoting new culture and disseminating news in Tianmen.
At that time, at least ninety percent of the newspapers and magazines in North China were under the control of her ‘Huaqing Society.’ The President, back in the day, flipped and waved her hands like clouds, winning the hearts of the people, the support and instigation of these newspapers was indispensable.”
“But now, with this messy public sentiment, it’s a bit hard to understand… whether it’s because the President is now too busy to care anymore, or she has other plans, sitting aloft and watching the tigers fight…”
“Moreover, since we’re talking about an educational inspector commissioner, of course, we must assess the results of the new education model.
The educational scene in Tianmen City right now can be described as quite chaotic, with different schools employing diverse curriculums and textbooks.
Especially our Qinghe Middle School here…”
As Su Jianqing spoke up to this point, his pace of speech gradually slowed, and he brought the fan close to his lips, whispering, “Lord Zhou abandoned a promising future and wealth to close his doors and focus on education, a move that keeps many senior officials deeply concerned.”
Wang Yunxiao looked at him intently.
This Boss Su was not simple, not only was he well-informed, but he also subtly revealed he was tracking me within his words.
Although these two pieces of news are not very important to me — mainly because the level is too high, and a small shrimp like myself couldn’t reach it — without a doubt, I now owed him a favor.
Wang Yunxiao found it difficult to pursue any further questions, so he had to stop there.
However, he was unclear as to which side Boss Su truly belonged to.