447: Chapter 447 Does he dare?

This wasn't just throwing a boulder into the water; it was like dropping an entire mountain into it!

"Whoa!" An uproar erupted, soaring into the sky and echoing throughout Xinghua Village!

"The Prime Minister is here too!?"

"Isn't that the head of the civil officials, the leader of the clean-stream faction!?"

"A veteran of three dynasties!! I heard the decree of bestowing favors was proposed by him!!"

"He came here, could it be the Emperor's decree?"

"That's impossible. If it were really the palace's intention, sending an imperial envoy would suffice. Why would the Chief Grand Secretary need to come in person?"

"Chancellor Yang is going to publicly support the Prince of Zhenbei and overthrow the dynasty!?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down... just keep it to ourselves!"

"Heh heh, this is clearly a defection. As expected of a three-dynasty veteran, his foresight is sharp..."

"It was worth coming today; we can count ourselves as witnesses to history!"

The chatter at the scene felt like sharp knives piercing into Emperor Hong's ears.

Zheng Yangwei clearly felt the murderous aura rising from his master.

"Master, surely Old Yang is acting out of desperation and has some hidden reason..."

"Hidden reason?" Emperor Hong snorted coldly. "He shouldn't have been alive to walk onto that stage."

If he were truly loyal to the imperial family, he should have committed suicide!

For the Prime Minister, the head of all officials, to "defect" to the Prince of Zhenbei—if this spread, what a massive wave it would cause!?

Prime Minister Yang Gengzhong is a man of real power. His "support" for Lin Xiao carries far more weight than that of nobles like the Marquis of Linyuan!

Many officials who were originally wavering and didn't dare to curry favor with the Prince of Zhenbei might now lean completely toward Lin Xiao because of this incident!

After all, if the Prime Minister himself is sucking up to the Prince of Zhenbei, what burden do they have?

And indeed, that was the case...

"Chancellor Yang, long time no see."

Zhu Ming hurriedly stood up to offer his greetings; he knew best what kind of ruthless character Prime Minister Yang Gengzhong was.

Winning over Prime Minister Yang Gengzhong meant that practically half the imperial court would lean toward Lin Xiao.

This young Prince of Zhenbei truly kept surprising him.

"Junior Preceptor Zhu, I trust you have been well."

Prime Minister Yang Gengzhong also bowed in return. Back when Zhu Ming was the Junior Preceptor to the Crown Prince, the two of them had already known each other.

Just like Zhu Ming, Master Li Jingyi, Master Xu Huaian, and the others from the academy in the VIP seats were also shocked.

The Prince of Zhenbei had actually established contact with Prime Minister Yang Gengzhong long ago? Then how many other officials had secretly defected to the Prince of Zhenbei?

Master Li Jingyi and Master Xu Huaian felt a chill down their spines. Their understanding of this Prince was still too shallow!

It was possible that many people in the academy were already supporters of the Prince of Zhenbei!

"Hahahaha, Chancellor Yang, I didn't expect you to be a lover of fine wine too!"

Marquis Xie Shang was in an excellent mood and teased, "With you, the Chief Grand Secretary, coming to drink, won't the imperial court go on strike?"

"Marquis, you worry too much. With your clansman, Minister Xie, in charge, the court won't fall into chaos."

Prime Minister Yang Gengzhong replied with a polite compliment.

Although both sides served different masters, fundamentally, as long as Lin Xiao sat on the dragon throne, they would all benefit, so they were naturally willing to cooperate.

"This subordinate, Prefect of Qinshui, pays respects to Grand Secretary Yang!"

Prefect Sun Zhao was trembling all over at this moment. Had he known the VIP seats were of such high caliber, he wouldn't have dared to come today!

"Prefect Sun, you are a hero who suppressed Prince Bai. Today we are all judges, not in the imperial court, so there is no need for such grand formalities."

Prime Minister Yang Gengzhong said, then exchanged pleasantries with Taoist Master Cangshuzi before sitting down.

He appeared calm and composed, but his heart was pounding. However, since things had reached this point, he could only follow Lin Xiao's lead.

Although he didn't know what specific plans the Prince of Zhenbei had, just seeing the look on Emperor Hong's face—which was practically turning black—made him secretly delighted.

Oh well, for an old man, he might as well go crazy one last time!

"Master Hong, I feel that things are not looking good. The Prince of Zhenbei likely already knows you are at the scene. Shall we withdraw?" Zheng Yangwei said worriedly.

"Withdraw? Go where?"

Emperor Hong sneered. "If he dares to touch me, it would be regicide and usurpation. Does he dare?"

Zheng Yangwei thought about it and realized it made sense; it seemed they could only take it one step at a time.

As Lin Xiao sat back in his exclusive VIP seat, Su Wansha walked to the front of the stage. As the Chief Manager of the Northern Trade Alliance, she announced the start of the wine tasting competition.

Under the expectant gazes of everyone, wine restaurants and breweries from all over the country assembled in the waiting area.

What made the audience feel pleased was that every participating establishment was assigned a beautiful woman to serve the wine.

The beautiful women wore various evening gowns, with elegant makeup, and revealed gentle, soft smiles.

"These dresses are so beautiful; they make the figure look exceptionally tall. Why haven't I seen these styles before?"

Yu Yingying, Hu Xinyi, and other young ladies watched with glowing eyes.

"I heard these are new products to be launched by Northern Cottage this spring. These women are all female workers from Northern Spirits."

"Eh? And the shoes these women are wearing are also quite novel?"

"There seems to be a high heel at the back? Is this also a new product from Northern Cottage?"

Seeing the lively discussion at the scene, Su Wansha was very satisfied with the promotional effect.

"Everyone, all the products you see on stage today can be purchased from shops under the Northern Trade Alliance."

"Please remain calm; today's main attraction is still the unique brewed wines from each establishment."

Upon hearing that these were indeed new products from the Northern Trade Alliance, the audience clicked their tongues in wonder. Some began to calculate how to snap them up and how to hype them up at high prices.

However, very quickly, everyone's attention was drawn back to the judging segment of the wine tasting.

After the beautiful women brought five glasses of wine onto the stage, they served them to the five judges for tasting one by one.

However, the owners of the participating establishments were nowhere to be seen.

"Eh? What's going on? Whose wine is this?"

"Why aren't they introducing it?"

Su Wansha stood up at this moment and formally introduced: "Everyone, to ensure fairness, if each judge feels that the wine is worthy of praise, they will trigger the mechanism on their chair."

"Only when three or more judges press the mechanism can the contestant rise to the high platform!"

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly realized. No wonder these five chairs looked so strange; it turned out they were connected to mechanisms underneath!

"This is good! It relies purely on the quality of the wine to speak; there's no human sentiment or social networking involved!"

"But these five people are all experienced and knowledgeable; getting three of them to nod is not easy..."

Sure enough, for three consecutive rounds, at most only two mechanisms were pressed.

On the stage, not a single contestant appeared.

Only by seeing some wine house owners leaving dejectedly did everyone realize which ones had been eliminated.

Until the fourth round, three people finally pressed the mechanisms.

In the center of the stage, a platform actually rose up, and on it stood a chubby middle-aged shopkeeper, holding a sign that read "Shun Prefecture Changlong Restaurant."

"Congratulations to the shopkeeper of Changlong Restaurant for passing the blind selection and entering the next round!"

The chubby shopkeeper was so excited that he bowed repeatedly in gratitude, then walked to the "Selected Seats" on the side with a proud face.

After more than twenty establishments went up, only five restaurants had been selected.

While the audience marveled at how strict the five judges were, they also quite agreed with the ones selected; they were all century-old, famous establishments.

But watching for so long, the novelty wore off, and after standing for a long time, everyone began to lose focus.

Just then, Hua Nongying, along with Xian'er, Yu'er, and a group of women who had left their past lives behind, came onto the stage.

"Everyone, it is now halftime. To express our welcome to all the guests, our female workers from Northern Spirits have prepared a small performance for everyone. Please enjoy!"