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The disputes in Jiangnan began around a year ago when Wang Ye entered the Capital City, already causing an uproar...

A year prior, Minister Wang returned from Jiangnan to the Capital, bringing with him shocking news that shocked the Imperial Court: Princess Chang Siao Mingyue colluded with demons to rebel.

Three hundred thousand Golden Dragon Guards were all turned into demon zombies, Duke of Qin was caught between two fires, his army severely damaged.

In Jiangnan, Chen Qing organized the militia to resist, barely confronting Princess Chang in Jiangnan. Now... a year has passed!

Now, as the Great Jin Dynasty Court is about to convene, the nine highest-ranking civil officials have already gathered outside Vermilion Bird Gate, waiting to be summoned.

A group of top Magician officials and the patriarchs of the great families all wore grim expressions, occasionally discussing something.

In fact, ever since the news from Jiangnan arrived a year ago, the faces of the civil and military officials have not looked good for this entire year!

This year, for the Great Jin Dynasty Court, was truly a terrible one!

In the north, the Duke of Wei’s influence was so enormous, and by some unknown means, he managed to get four Dukes who guarded key border towns to join his camp.

In just three months, three hundred thousand descendants of prominent lineages defected en masse, and in less than six months, they took over the entire northern border region!

Several Dukes sent by the Imperial Court, due to insufficient military strength, could only rely on scorched earth tactics to barely hold Liaobei, repeatedly requesting reinforcements from the Imperial Court over half a year.

But where could the Imperial Court get more soldiers now?

The matter in Jiangnan, initially, when recommending Princess to lead the troops, didn’t lack endorsements from top ministers. Now when it comes to accountability, everyone falls silent.

Three hundred thousand Golden Dragon Guards, nearly the largest force the Capital City could deploy, along with the forces of the Duke of Qin’s family, even though the Great Jin was at its peak as an emerging dynasty, the nation was greatly weakened!

Jiangnan suffered heavy losses while Yundu also deliberately stirred up significant unrest in the past few months.

This made the guarding Duke Chu and the fiercest Flying Dragon Guard dare not make any rash moves.

The Imperial Court, currently defending the Capital City, had less than one hundred thousand soldiers—where could it find additional military strength to support the north?

"Minister Lin!" Speaking nearby was Minister Yang from the Ministry of Rites: "We can’t drag out the Jiangnan matter any longer, eh!"

All the civil officials’ expressions turned grave at these words.

A year ago, when the Judicial Court’s Minister Wang returned to report, he brought news that shocked both the Court and the country.

Yet, because Princess Chang had not made any further moves, and due to the persistent fog that made intelligence gathering from Jiangnan difficult, combined with entanglements of major families’ interests in Jiangnan, the matter remained unresolved until today.

But now it’s becoming harder to delay.

Half a year ago, sea merchants began appearing in Jiangnan, supposedly mostly under Chen Qing from Lyuzhou. Initially, the Imperial Court somewhat intentionally turned a blind eye to encourage intelligence collection.

But once this door was opened, it was a bit hard to close!

Because the goods produced in Jiangnan were too well-received!

Firstly, Jiangnan’s silk, whether in quality, patterns, colors, or texture, far surpassed silk from other regions.

Previously, the silk produced in Yunzhou suppressed Jiangnan’s for many years, but now, Yunzhou’s silk in the entire Capital City was nearly pressured to the point where it could hardly be sold.

Not to mention the top-notch products like tea and liquor from Jiangnan!

Those had become highly sought after commodities every major restaurant and teahouse scrambled for. Nowadays in the Capital City, any restaurant without a steady supply of Jiangnan spirits and tea faced the predicament of being unable to continue business!

Jiangnan’s fruit wines and sauce wines directly dominated the market once they hit the shelves.

Anyone who tasted Jiangnan’s spirits once chased after them fervently.

Especially among the wealthy, there emerged those willing to spend a fortune on the liquor.

In the premier restaurants, hosting high-class banquets without some Jiangnan spirits was utterly unacceptable!

The same situation applied to tea. Since the introduction of Jiangnan tea to the Capital City, it overwhelmed all other sources.

Now, the market price for a tael of Jiangnan tea has been driven up to thirty gold and above—truly more valuable than gold and has become the preferred gift for all occasions!

Not to mention the ingeniously crafted pocket watches that could also tell time and were exquisitely made. Nowadays, if a wealthy family’s master didn’t own one of these things, they would be embarrassed to go out!

Who wouldn’t be envious of such top-notch business opportunities?

In search of stable sources, any merchant emerging from Jiangnan had become a hot commodity. Numerous heads of premier families tried to court and connect with them, inquiring for information, preparing to move massively into Jiangnan’s major industries.

However, the more they investigated, the news they uncovered only made many wealthy families tremble with fear!

Mountain gods allocating land?

Eagerly promoting engineering knowledge?

Land not allowed to be traded?

Gentry and officials unified in the grain tax?

This is simply outrageous!!

Thus, the Imperial Court was instantly flooded with voices condemning Chen Qing, the momentum even greater than the denouncement of the rebels in the north!

One must know that up north there was outright rebellion, whereas Chen Qing, while privately employing mercenaries, was at least ostensibly loyal to the Imperial Court and was defending against the Princess Chang, who was leading the rebellion.

Yet the collective outrage was such that nearly every court session was filled with numerous officials denouncing Chen Qing.

Especially after some previously concealed information was leaked, not only within the Imperial Court but also among the public did a wave against Chen Qing rise, with the scholars from the major academies leading the charge, representing the voice of the people!

Particularly during the last incident, including the largest Bailu Academy in the Capital City, tens of thousands of students gathered to boycott classes, forcing the situation to a point where the Imperial Court could no longer ignore it.

Upon hearing Minister Yang’s words, several Chief of Staff furrowed their brows deeply!

Minister Yang was not young and, although still serving as a vice minister, his prestige in the world of scholars was extremely high; otherwise, His Majesty would not have included the Yang family in the list for the Crown Prince’s consort.

Minister Yang’s words were practically representative of the scholars’ voice.

The Sorcerer Family held a unique position within the Great Jin, competing with the noble families, but on the factional spectrum, they belonged to the civilian official camp.

Despite Sorcerer officials having far greater positions than ordinary officials behind the scenes, such status was attained after the literary men’s adherence, and aside from the former Sorcerer Dynasty, the Sorcerer Family’s position was the highest in the Great Jin.

Ordinarily, the civil officials looked up to the Chief of Staff as their figurehead because the Sorcerer Family could represent them in disputes with the military generals.

But now, with the scholars almost collectively denouncing Chen Qing, the Chief of Staff was forced to take this voice seriously!

They were well aware that the current political situation at the Imperial Court simply couldn’t spare forces to punish Chen Qing...

"Minister, there’s no need to worry, the Imperial Court will not let Chen Qing get away with this!" the Minister of Rites quickly consoled the other’s emotions.

"But what Chen Qing is doing now, is undermining the foundation of our Great Jin. The Imperial Court’s delayed action is disheartening for us scholars!

" Minister Yang said indignantly, "That Chen Qing, by taking advantage of trade interests, has already enlisted the support of many minor families willing to work for him. If this continues, and if Chen Qing’s power expands further, the nation will no longer be a nation! "

These words were righteous, yet they were somewhat grating to the ears of the Chief of Staff.

The goods from Jiangnan were too valuable, even if they were purchased at high prices, the reruns were enormously profitable.

Naturally, the Sorcerer Family and the first noble families monopolized the first move, whereas many general scholar families couldn’t even get a taste of the leftover soup and were the biggest losers as consumers.

The minor families mentioned by Minister Yang... weren’t they just referring to themselves?

If it were not for the other party’s special status, the Chief of Staff would have been ready to mock him.

"Minister..." the Minister of Rites sighed, "You are all aware of the current situation. The Imperial Court lacks troops, and the northern battles are pressing. How can the Imperial Court spare forces to punish Chen Qing?"

"Minister, you are mistaken!" Minister Yang uncharacteristically bluntly contradicted the other, saying gravely, "Chen Qing harbors wolfish ambitions.

If left unchecked, his threat is no less than the rebels in the north.

We have gathered evidence that Chen Qing is not only greatly propagating the way of demons in Jiangnan, bewitching the populace, but now also supporting the enemy in the north.

If no action is taken, the consequences will be dire! "

"Supporting the enemy?" the Minister of Justice frowned, "Minister, what leads you to such a conclusion?"

Frankly speaking, the things Chen Qing did were indeed irregular, but whether he was rebelling was still not determined by the Imperial Court.

After all, many of his actions were legitimate.

For example, when he was temporarily appointed to Lyuzhou, the temporary conscription authority was given by the Jiangnan Provincial Governor, and at that time, it was reported to the Imperial Court and stamped by the Imperial Court with permission.

Furthermore, with the great disaster in Jiangnan, as the Magistrate of Lyuzhou, Chen Qing had the responsibility to defend his territory. The recruitment of local militias to resist was also plausible.

As for using local militias to counter Princess Chang, that was obviously nonsense, but at least he appeared loyal to the Imperial Court on the surface.

With this excuse, the Imperial Court was able to suppress the lower levels’ voices demanding a campaign against Chen Qing multiple times.

But the accusation of supporting the enemy was somewhat overly severe.

"It’s not that I’m making wild guesses..

." Minister Yang hurriedly showed the memorial, "Officials in the north have collected evidence for days that under Chen Qing’s command, those merchants are gathering a vast amount of yin wood used for shipbuilding and horses from the north.

These are strategic resources, what is Chen Qing planning? "

"This..." the Minister of Justice frowned, "Doesn’t necessarily constitute supporting the enemy, right? Faced with the twin pressures of the West Sea and Princess Chang’s rebellion, Chen Qing’s arming his troops is quite normal, and so is acquiring horses.

Training cavalry, Chen Qing is also serving the Imperial Court. "

"But where did he get those horses?" Minister Yang pressed, "The two largest horse farms in the north are now occupied by Duke Wei.

According to our intelligence, the horses that Chen Qing transported back to Lyuzhou this time exceeded ten thousand, including Dragon Horses and Elephant Horses that only bloodline noble families can breed! "

All: "....."

"According to reports from officials in the north, the rebels were originally short on food, but suddenly many grain merchants from Jiangnan appeared, selling a lot of grain to Duke Wei. It is precisely because of the need for grain from Jiangnan to survive that Duke Wei let go of his monopoly on the horses. Isn’t this supporting the enemy? "

"This..."