99: Chapter 99 General Amnesty

"The pear blossoms in the courtyard have withered... another year has passed, standing in the clear sky, the moonlight... scatters on the empty steps."

Another year had passed, and Main Body sat upon the throne, listening to the ministers below shouting 'Long live the Emperor' in unison.

In truth, he couldn't see their faces clearly because Cheng Yu had long since donned a crown with twelve hanging beads; he couldn't exactly perform the act of lifting a curtain every time he wanted to look at someone.

"Submit your reports if you have matters to discuss; otherwise, the court is adjourned~"

"This subject has a report to submit."

"Speak."

The Cabinet Councilor, von Gottfried, stepped out of the ranks and bowed.

This kid had risen quickly over the past year, and his boldness had grown as well.

"Your Majesty's holy decree states that without a proper name, words lack authority, and without authority, affairs will fail; this subject requests that we compile the national history."

"What you say is very true, my loyal minister. I wonder which talented and outstanding pillar of the state is willing to volunteer for this task?"

Every major event that occurred in the Cheng Yu Empire was actually archived, but these matters had previously been handled by Cheng Yu's clones, similar to a diary written by himself, which Cheng Yu called the "Imperial Archives."

However, writing about oneself inevitably led to some embellishment. As the empire's history grew longer, the credibility of the history books would be questioned, and it was possible that various unofficial histories would emerge.

Therefore, although this matter was brought up by von Gottfried, it was something Cheng Yu had hinted at to him beforehand.

The court officials looked at each other in dismay; those capable of taking on this job lacked the time, and those with the time might not have the courage to accept it.

This was the national history, after all; if one compiled it poorly, it would be 'extermination of the nine clans' time, and the Slaanesh Court would welcome you.

"Alright, I know you are in a difficult position, and so am I. If I were to choose someone close to me to handle this, it would inevitably lead to gossip, accusing me of deliberately beautifying myself. Is Cassius still around?"

"Replying to Your Majesty, the disgraced official Cassius is still in the celestial prison repenting," Second Attendant Cheng Yu replied.

"Then have him work while wearing the cangue. Order him to select a group of literary officials to assist. I not only want to compile the national history but also to compile a monumental work based on the Four Classics, History, Philosophers, and Literature, so that the barbarians in the galaxy may know the distinction between the civilized and the barbaric."

"As you command."

After that, there were no pressing matters in the court session. Cheng Yu had already separated military affairs from the Cabinet, establishing the Military Council, the Five Chief Military Commissions, and Warp Transport Command.

These three institutions were respectively responsible for the conquest of the galaxy, the internal defense of the empire, and the advancement of matters within Warp.

From then on, the empire's civil and military officials were separated. Except for the planetary governors who retained a portion of the Security Forces, civil officials no longer interfered with military power.

After the court was dismissed, the ministers did not leave the palace immediately.

His Majesty the Emperor was benevolent, considering that since the court session started early, a large portion of the ministers had arrived without eating breakfast.

Therefore, after every court dismissal, he would have the Court of Imperial Entertainments prepare a simple meal for everyone; this was known as the "Feast under the Corridor."

It also incidentally allowed them to test the food for poison.

"Working while wearing the cangue; Cassius is to be reinstated. This is truly being favored by the Emperor."

Ivankov whispered to the others.

"Doubting a man while using him, and using a man while doubting him; His Majesty is a ruler of great suspicion, but whether it is thunder or dew, it is all the Emperor's grace."

Someone echoed in a low voice.

Some of the Attendant Cheng Yu's were serving dishes and pouring tea for these officials, some were supervising their dining etiquette, and others were secretly noting down what they said in small notebooks.

By evening, the ministers working in their various offices heard another piece of news: Imperial Noble Consort Vera had been confined to her sleeping quarters for contradicting His Majesty.

Some officials recommended by Imperial Noble Consort Vera were also taken away from their respective offices, with no news of them and their fates unknown.

If their fates were unknown, it meant they were dead; for a time, the capital was in a state of panic.

Upon hearing this news, Archer Cheng Yu paced back and forth in his bedroom, anxious.

He was at times fearful and at times suspicious, and in the end, he lost his composure, taking out a pile of tortoise shells and preparing to burn them to divine good or bad fortune.

He actually had no connection with Imperial Noble Consort Vera—mainly because he couldn't reach that level—but a few days ago, he had offered 40 million in currency to Imperial Consort Veronica as a dowry fee, hoping she would occasionally put in a good word for him before His Majesty.

"What are you doing here?!"

Archer Cheng Yu's wife, Cassandra, slapped the pile of tortoise shells over. "The lives of hundreds of thousands of family members hang on you. What is the use of asking these tortoises? If they could predict good or bad fortune, why would they only be left with shells?!"

"Please, wife, instruct me."

"Tell me everything that has happened in the imperial court over these past few days, in every detail."

After listening to Archer Cheng Yu's account, Cassandra pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "This is a joyous event. The Imperial Noble Consort must be pregnant. Perhaps within half a month, there will be a general amnesty."

...

Deep within the inner palace, a secret underground palace was being constructed.

Main Body attached great importance to his first child; after all, the Warhammer Universe was extremely mysterious, with all sorts of sinister schemes emerging one after another.

First, he built a giant secret chamber made entirely of psychic-dampening alloy, where energy from Warp would be greatly suppressed.

Second, he secretly summoned Vera's former subordinates from the previous dynasty, having them perform a "masking" operation with Vera in Warp.

This was the latest achievement of the Imperial Institute of Technology; every individual had a unique energy signature in Warp.

Relying on the energy signature could determine a person's identity, but it was not enough to determine the person's location in the real universe.

To precisely locate a specific person, in addition to the energy signature, one also needed to know the person's soul energy intensity at a specific time.

What if, within a specific time, there were many, many creatures with roughly the same soul energy intensity near this person?

The vision of Warp creatures looking at this person would be shrouded by a cloud of mist.

The institute speculated that this was also the principle behind the Geller Field.

Warp creatures were not unable to see ships wrapped in a Geller Field; they just couldn't see them clearly, and after grabbing randomly a few times and failing to catch anything, they would give up.

Cheng Yu didn't care whether it was a son or a daughter, as long as the mother and child were safe.

Regarding the issue of the child's generation name, he decided to copy Zhu Yuanzhang. Old Zhu was truly brilliant; by setting rules for generation names and the Five Elements for each child, it allowed people to know the child's status just by hearing the name, avoiding the awkward scenario of his own descendants not remembering their origins.