Chapter 327 The Abilities of the Great Traitor

Zhu Song and his companions were deeply depressed because the nation's future seemed bleak and devoid of light.

In Luoyang, Gao Long and Gao Hu were also deeply depressed due to this failure.

Gao Wu looked at his two dejected sons and felt his anger rising.

"Fight, I let you fight, but what was the result? Not only did you lose troops and generals, but you also lost Zhao Prefecture. Look at yourselves, how can you shoulder the foundation of Northern Liang?"

"In my opinion, you don't need to fight anymore. I will just send someone to bring Gao Yuan here and give all this foundation to him. That way, we can avoid ending up without a burial place in the future."

Gao Wu was speaking out of anger, but he also wanted to stimulate his two sons to recognize the situation clearly. If they wanted to fight, they had to choose the right place; undermining each other on national affairs was simply digging their own graves.

The two brothers looked at each other, seeing defiance in each other's eyes. Simultaneously, they both snorted and turned their heads away.

Gao Wu saw this and felt anxious. Among his three sons, the two he valued most were bickering regardless of the situation or occasion, while the most promising one treated him like an enemy and was single-mindedly assisting a woman to rise to power.

In the quiet of the night, Gao Wu had once doubted his own decisions.

"Could it really be that I acted too ruthlessly, leading to divine punishment, which is why things are like this?"

However, he quickly cast aside this self-doubt. He firmly believed that he had done nothing wrong; it was Emperor who first disregarded loyalty and tried to make a move against the Gao Family, and he was forced to do so.

The Zhao family themselves were incompetent, causing public resentment to boil over and flames of war to rise everywhere. He was merely cleaning up the mess; how could he be considered a treacherous subject?

After sending his two sons away, Gao Wu returned to the Imperial Study and began to look through the memorials. Soon, one memorial caught his attention.

The memorial was submitted by Cai Jing, the Magistrate of Xuchang. The memorial not only had beautiful handwriting but the content was even more eye-catching.

The several suggestions Cai Jing proposed were substantial. Most importantly, Gao Wu was very clear that these methods could improve the current financial distress caused by years of continuous warfare.

After a moment of silence, Gao Wu called for a Eunuch and threw the memorial in his hand to him.

"Go, send someone to summon this Cai Jing."

"Understood!"

On the other side, Lu Heng, who had returned to the court after a great victory, received immense glory. Many officials came to visit and offer congratulations, and Lu Kuan was quite satisfied with this son of his.

Amidst this scene of flourishing prosperity and intense activity, a memorial with a different voice suddenly appeared on Lu Kuan's desk.

After reading this memorial over and over several times, Lu Kuan's mood grew increasingly serious.

Perhaps it was a common ailment for those who reached high positions, but Lu Kuan also began to worry about his eldest legitimate son, who was becoming increasingly capable and whose prestige was rivaling his own.

One sentence in the memorial touched his heart: "Can the Crown Prince definitely ascend to the throne?"

Coming from the Fanyang Lu clan, Lu Kuan was well-read and knowledgeable about the past and present; he was naturally well-aware of the fates of those crown princes and heirs in history.

When Lu Heng's achievements, prestige, and power surpassed his own in the future, would he develop ambitions he shouldn't have? How would he treat his own brothers?

Since ascending the throne, Lu Kuan had also taken several beautiful women as concubines. Through his efforts over these years, they had indeed given birth to two younger brothers and one younger sister for Lu Heng.

These two sons were well-behaved, cute, and clever, and were very much doted on by Lu Kuan.

As a father, he had to consider the future of his two young sons, as well as any other children who might appear in the future.

As the saying goes, the royal family is heartless. In the future, to secure the position beneath his own backside, would Lu Heng ruthlessly kill his own brothers?

Just when Lu Kuan was hesitating, bad news arrived: his favorite youngest son had suddenly fallen into the water. Although he was rescued in time, he suffered from a high fever that would not subside due to the shock.

Most crucially, the Eunuch and palace maid responsible for accompanying the young prince felt their guilt was inescapable and committed suicide that very day, which made Lu Kuan vaguely suspect whether someone was trying to make a move against his youngest son.

How could Lu Heng know that an inexplicable pot of filth had already been dumped on his head? He was currently hosting a grand banquet, entertaining some important officials and generals.

When happy from drinking, it is natural to lose composure. Hearing someone mention his two younger brothers, Lu Heng dismissed it with disdain.

"I am the eldest legitimate son, and I hold military power in my hands. Why would I care about a mere two brats?"

Lu Heng meant that he was legitimate and held great power, so he wouldn't care about the threat from two little brats at all.

However, after this sentence was passed on by someone with ulterior motives and reached Lu Kuan's ears, the meaning completely changed, turning into Lu Heng feeling that because he had military power, he could kill his two brothers at any time.

Furthermore, after his younger brother fell into the water and became ill, Lu Heng completely ignored the situation and didn't even come to visit, which caused Lu Kuan to start harboring resentment.

Once the seed of such a thought was buried, it was easy to grow into a towering tree. Lu Kuan felt it was very necessary to restrict this son of his, and he immediately thought of the person who first submitted a memorial mentioning this matter.

Originally, he had been prepared to deal with this tactless Imperial Secretary, but at this moment, he changed his decision. Such a clear-headed talent was rare!

Lu Heng was in high spirits; how could he possibly notice the promotion of a small Imperial Secretary?

Qin Hui's promotion from a rank 5b Imperial Secretary to a rank 4b Deputy Director of the Imperial Secretariat could be called a meteoric rise. What made people even more envious was that Lu Kuan seemed to trust and like him very much, often having Qin Hui accompany him by his side.

Later on, many of Lu Kuan's edicts were written by Qin Hui, and some minor matters were even directly thrown to him to decide.

Qin Hui was indeed very capable, and he handled many matters in an orderly fashion, which forced everyone to pay attention to this favorite official.

After the war, Northern Yan began to enter a recovery period. The economy developed rapidly, and with favorable weather, national strength recovered quickly.

On the other side, Cai Jing also gained Gao Wu's appreciation because of his calm and composed answers before Gao Wu, leaping to become the Right Vice Minister of the Secretariat, leading various reforms.

Cai Jing did not disappoint; he quickly proposed a series of reform plans that rapidly improved Northern Liang's tax situation. This made him a favorite in front of Gao Wu, receiving favor beyond that of ordinary people.

The two major enemies were advancing triumphantly under the operations of the traitors he had sent, which made Gao Yuan doubt life itself.

"Did these two guys change their character after being summoned? Are they not preparing to be great traitors, but instead preparing to compete for the title of famous prime minister?"

This made Yang Xin, who knew the reason, burst into laughter again.

"If those two didn't have ability, how could they have reached such high positions in history? Don't be afraid; once they really reach that position, they will be exactly as they should be."

Gao Yuan thought of the famous corrupt official Heshen. It seemed that this greatest corrupt official in history was also an capable official who governed the world well at the beginning; it was just that he became more and more greedy later on.

This put Gao Yuan's mind at ease, and he began to concentrate on his own affairs.

Since occupying Chencang and opening the passage to the Guanzhong, the Yue State and some forces in the Northwest began to have some secret contacts.

Shu brocade, silk, jade, southern pearls, white sugar, refined salt, and fur were all hot commodities in the Northwest, and the warhorses from the Northwest were also something Gao Yuan loved.

In just one year, Gao Yuan had purchased a large number of warhorses from the Northwest, and the scale of the Xiaoguo Army had expanded from 3,000 to 4,500 people, with its strength greatly increasing.

Another piece of good news was that, thanks to Princess Consort Huang Yueying's efforts, a bronze cannon had already been built.

Although there was still some distance to go before casting iron cannons, the dawn of hope had already been seen, which made Gao Yuan increasingly expectant.