Chapter 478: Chapter 262 Dog Bites Dog_2
Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu hurriedly refused, "We cannot bear this."
The Emperor threw the apple core in his hand at Prime Minister He and others, who quickly dodged it.
"Your Majesty, now the ministers of the Crown Prince’s faction and Prince Dai’s faction are openly fighting. Are you just going to stand by and watch?" Prime Minister He asked.
Grandmaster Liu said, "The Emperor would love for the Crown Prince’s faction and Prince Dai’s faction to fight more fiercely."
Prime Minister He frowned and said, "Your Majesty, are you not afraid of this getting out of control?"
"If I intervene, will they stop fighting?" The Emperor raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes, "If I intervene, will those ministers stop taking sides?"
The Emperor’s retort left Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu speechless.
"What’s so good about being an emperor that they are all fighting tooth and nail for it?" The Emperor said with disdain, "As for me, I don’t want to be the Emperor. If I could, I’d happily be the Supreme Emperor and go off to enjoy my life."
"Your Majesty, you are still young, don’t think about becoming the Supreme Emperor." Both Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu knew how much the Emperor hated being the Emperor. They really feared that one day the Emperor might get tired and just quit. "The Tenth Highness is not yet of age, you need to continue being the Emperor."
"Your Majesty, you cannot abandon the country and the people."
"If I really wanted to abandon the people, I would have quit long ago." The Emperor said, his face suddenly turning very unpleasant, "Do you think any of those ministers in the court care about the country and the people? They only think about their own wealth and glory, and their family’s honor, without a care for the nation and the people’s wellbeing."
Grandmaster Liu said coldly, "That’s the aristocratic families for you."
"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince cares more about the country and people than Prince Dai does." Prime Minister He stated bluntly, "Prince Dai doesn’t see the people at all."
Grandmaster Liu echoed Prime Minister He’s remark: "Prince Dai has no compassion." It is said that Prince Dai resembles the Emperor, but in reality, he doesn’t resemble him at all. When the Emperor was young, he often went to war and was a heavy slayer, but the Emperor had a compassionate heart. Most importantly, the Emperor always valued the people, whereas Prince Dai never cared about them.
"The Crown Prince is compassionate and cares about the people, but he completely relies on Duke Zhen, and has no ideas of his own. If I hand over the Great Zhou’s throne to him, the throne will immediately change its surname to Xie." At the mention of his eldest and second sons, the Emperor felt a pang in the heart, "When the Crown Prince was young, I personally taught him, how did he become so weak?"
Using "weak" to describe his own son, perhaps only the Emperor would.
"The late Empress was always strict in her teachings to the Crown Prince, how did he end up like this?" On this point, the Emperor truly couldn’t figure it out. "And the second one, I am not a ruthless killer, how did he not inherit a single drop of my compassion?"
"Since the two of them want to compete, let them compete to their fill, I want to see how far they can go."
"Your Majesty, are you not afraid they’ll turn the court into a complete mess?" Prime Minister He worried that if the Crown Prince and Prince Dai fought too fiercely, the ministers would focus solely on power struggles, neglecting the country and the people, setting a bad example for everyone else, and eventually leading to the collapse of Great Zhou.
"Am I dead?" The Emperor said with a grim face, "If they dare to turn the court into a mess, I’ll make them go up in smoke."
Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu didn’t quite understand what the Emperor meant, curiously asking, "What do you mean by making them go up in smoke?"
"Ancestor’s smoke?"
"Yes, to make sure their ancestors never rest in peace." So far, the ministers in court dare not merely engage in power play and authority schemes without doing work. If they do not perform their duties properly, they would at least be demoted, or at worst become commoners.
Prime Minister He didn’t fully trust the Emperor, "Your Majesty, if it gets out of hand, don’t expect me to clean up the mess."
Grandmaster Liu straightforwardly said, "Your Majesty, I will never clean up the mess for you again."
"When have I ever asked you to clean up messes for me?"
Seeing the Emperor’s rogue attitude, Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu couldn’t be bothered to argue with him further.
"Your Majesty, if there is nothing else, I shall take my leave first."
"I have not finished speaking, where are you going?"
Grandmaster Liu impatiently said, "If you have anything else to say, hurry up, I have a ton of work to do..."
Before he could finish his words, his head was almost hit by a memorial to the throne.
"Are you busier than me?" The Emperor slammed the piles of memorials on the imperial desk hard, "I have an endless stream of memorials to review every day..."
Prime Minister He, afraid the Emperor would continue to complain, hurriedly interrupted, "Your Majesty, please just get to the point if you have anything to say."
The Emperor, disinclined to waste words with them, put on a serious face and said, "About lifting the sea embargo."
"Your Majesty, you want to lift the sea embargo?"
Grandmaster Liu said, "The sea embargo should have been lifted long ago."
"All these years, the benefits from Qingzhou, you all know." The Emperor said sternly, "It’s time to lift the sea embargo."
Grandmaster Liu: "If we don’t lift the sea embargo soon, the people along the coast might rebel."
"I do not oppose lifting the sea embargo, but Your Majesty, once it’s lifted, those aristocratic families might become greedy." Prime Minister He reminded the Emperor.
"I know lifting the embargo is like a bone, it will turn the aristocratic families into mad dogs." The Emperor raised the corner of his mouth, giving a meaningful smile, "I want them to fight amongst themselves."
Hearing this, Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu immediately understood the Emperor’s intention.
"Your Majesty, you are as cunning as ever."
Grandmaster Liu said with admiration, "I am far from being your equal, Your Majesty."
The Emperor snorted, "I’ll take that as a compliment."
He continued, "Now, let us discuss how to proceed after lifting the sea embargo."
The monarch and his ministers discussed until noon. The Emperor stayed Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu for lunch. After lunch, the three continued to discuss policies following the lifting of the sea embargo.
A few days later, the Emperor announced the lifting of the sea embargo during the morning court session.
The ministers from the aristocratic families naturally supported it, while some old ministers opposed it. Nevertheless, the Emperor insisted on lifting the sea embargo.
For the people living along the coast, lifting the sea embargo was a great boon.
Fearing unrest after the embargo was lifted, the Emperor sent Shen Hu and others to maintain order.
Zhao Yao, seeing the Emperor actually lift the sea embargo, couldn’t help but wonder if his uncle had some sort of connection with his father, the Emperor.