荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

Wang Chong had the lark land on his palm and quickly took the letter it carried.

The familiar and elegant words written upon the letter elicited a warm smile from Wang Chong. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t gotten in touch with Bai Siling in a very long time.

It’s rare for this girl to think of me. What sort of problem could she have encountered?

With this thought in mind, Wang Chong glanced through the letter, and a moment later, his brow creased and his face grimaced.

Bai Siling had started with a few pleasantries, and then she had gotten to the main topic. Apparently, First Prince Li Ying had recently begun constructing a large Buddhist temple outside the capital. This engineering project had mobilized more than one thousand craftsmen, and Phoebe Zhennan wood and other various precious kinds of wood were being shipped in from across the empire. The project was also proceeding very quickly, and it was predicted that it would only need six more days to be completed.

When the time came, the First Prince planned to personally write the name of the Buddhist temple for its signboard and preside over the opening ceremony, and he had invited the Bai Clan to come.

The Bai Clan was still undecided, but if they did decide to go, they would send Bai Siling as their representative. Given how sensitive the current political climate was, Bai Siling had asked for Wang Chong’s views on the matter.

Bai Siling sought Wang Chong’s advice on whether the Bai Clan would attend or not.

When constructing either a Buddhist temple or Daoist temple, it was custom to invite a few great clans and wealthy local officials to attend the ceremony. While it was called attending the ceremony, in reality, it was a request to donate incense, oil, and money. Constructing a temple was an enormous expense, and the majority of the ceremony attendees were extremely wealthy. When the time came to donate incense, oil, and money, they would donate significant amounts, enough to cover a portion of the expense.

Although Bai Siling had written this letter, it was actually the Bai Clan asking for Wang Chong’s opinion. After all, Wang Chong had an unfriendly relationship with the First Prince, and many people knew just how enraged the First Prince had become after the Public Order Squad incident.

But this was not what Wang Chong was concerned about.

It’s coming so quickly?

As he slowly looked up from the letter, Wang Chong’s brows began to furrow.

The Great Buddhist Temple!

How could Wang Chong possibly forget about that incident? When the First Prince invited almost every great clan in the capital to attend the ceremony, no one had thought much of it. They had all believed that this would be like the Buddhist temple ceremonies of the past, except that it was the First Prince constructing this temple, so they would probably have to donate more incense, oil, and money.

But this matter was far more complicated than they would imagine.

How could someone of the First Prince’s status build a Buddhist temple for no reason? He was even personally writing its signboard and holding the ceremony. It had to be known that the First Prince wasn’t a Buddhist!

For the First Prince, the ceremony was merely an excuse. The construction of the Buddhist temple was to build up good will in the public and also find out just how many great clans in the capital actually supported him.

When the ceremony concluded, all those great clans who had received the First Prince’s invitation but had not attended the ceremony were put on the First Prince’s blacklist.

In the aftermath, the First Prince would make them the focus of his vengeance and suppression.

Through various excuses, the First Prince borrowed the power of the Imperial Court, and many great clans that had gone on for centuries were shattered and broken.

In the Great Tang, these great clans weren’t merely wealthy families. They were powerful factions in their own right, and in their centuries of operations, they had become one with the Great Tang.

For the sake of a factional dispute, the First Prince destroyed these clans who would not submit, and in doing so, he destroyed the strength of the Great Tang.

This foreshadowed the coming disaster.

If one thought back, if there was one incident that proclaimed that the Great Tang had entered internal strife, it was the Great Buddhist Temple incident.

Not even Wang Chong had imagined that this incident would come so quickly, and his expression instantly turned grave.

The Great Buddhist Temple incident seemed simple, but it would cause many people to lose their heads.

No matter what, he had to stop it.

As if in response to Wang Chong’s thoughts, the Stone of Destiny loudly proclaimed, “Special Event: Rebellion of the Three Princes begins! User has three months to stop this event. Starting from now, the loss of each great clan in the capital will result in a deduction of 10,000 Destiny Energy points. If user is able to alter this disaster, then once the Rebellion of the Three Princes is over, user will be rewarded with 20,000 points of Destiny Energy for each great clan saved. The above amounts are not restricted!”

Wang Chong’s vision was covered in crimson light, and then a massive 卍 symbol appeared that began to shrink into a small mark that branded itself onto the Stone of Destiny.

As Wang Chong sensed this change in his mind, he fell into a contemplative mood.

“Reporting!”

A few moments later, a Golden Guard rushed inside.

“Your Highness, the Zhang, Li, Huang, and Lu Clans have all sent messages saying they have something to report. Your Highness, please review them!”

The guard respectfully offered the letters in his hand.

Wang Chong said nothing, frowning as he took the letters and looked them over. Just as expected, the Zhangs, Lis, Huangs, and Lus had all received invitations from the First Prince.

These great clans were all very close to Wang Chong, and everyone knew that many of those steel modules that had played great roles in the construction of the City of Steel and the Battle of Talas had been forged by these clans.

The First Prince couldn’t possibly have been unaware, but he nonetheless sent them invitations. This was clearly intentional, but it was hard to divine his intentions.

Wang Chong sensed that if he didn’t handle this matter properly, the effects would be far worse than he imagined.

“Come! Pass on my order! Ask all the great clans that we’re working with whether they’ve received an invitation from the First Prince!” Wang Chong suddenly said, his expression incredibly serious.

A few hours later, Wang Chong determined that the number was far greater than imagined.

A single Buddhist temple was forcing all of the great clans of the capital to make a choice: follow the First Prince or become his enemy.

......

At the same time, all of the First Prince’s faction members had gathered in the Eastern Palace.

“Have all the invitations been sent?” the Ghost King suddenly asked, his gaze turning to one of the First Prince’s advisors.

“They’ve all been sent. Any clan with property exceeding ten thousand strings of cash has received an invitation. But although the invitations were sent, the Great Buddhist Temple is not yet complete, so we can’t know how many will attend yet.”

“This is enough,” the Ghost King indifferently said. “What comes next is not anything you need to worry about.”

The Ghost King lowered his head and continued to read the book in his hand. He exuded a reassuring aura, like everything was under his control.

Upon seeing this attitude from the Ghost King, everyone fell silent. Although he was the most recent addition to the First Prince’s retinue, he had already become their leader, attaining a status that none of them could reach.

“Senior, this prince has a question!”

At this moment, the First Prince suddenly spoke.

While he had let the Ghost King handle everything, this did not mean that he couldn’t ask questions, couldn’t intervene.

“In building this Buddhist temple, can we really achieve the effect you speak of? Moreover... while there’s nothing wrong with the other clans, this prince also sees that you’ve invited the Zhangs, Lis, Huangs, Lus, and other clans closely tied to the King of Foreign Lands. Given their relationship with him, will they sincerely support this prince?”

A single Buddhist temple, no matter how resplendent it was, even if the Buddha idol was gilded, cost the equivalent of pocket change to the First Prince. But the Ghost King had said that this Buddhist temple could let him recruit almost all the great clans of the capital to his side, a fact which the First Prince found difficult to believe.

Or perhaps one could call it delusional. One had to realize that they weren’t facing an ordinary foe. If it were that easy to defeat him, they would have never ended up in such a sorry state.

“Heh, Your Highness is already the regent, yet you still have such immature ideas? What does it matter whether it’s sincere? Everything in the realm is the territory of the sovereign, and all of its people his subjects. Do you really think they would dare to defy Your Highness?

“And Your Highness overestimates their relationship to the King of Foreign Lands. In the end, their relationship is a commercial one. Is Your Highness going to tell me that their relationship with the King of Foreign Lands is so good that they would be willing to put the lives of their entire clan at risk?” the Ghost King indifferently said, not raising his head from the tiny characters in his book. It was like the First Prince’s question was so absurd that he could hardly be bothered to answer.

“On one side is the King of Foreign Lands, but on the other side is the successor to the throne. Your Highness, if you were in their position, how would you choose?”

The Ghost King’s last words plunged the Eastern Palace into silence, and everyone’s eyes glowed.

It was true! All of them had been worried about far too much and Wang Chong’s edge had been far too sharp. They had momentarily forgotten that most essential fact.

Just how many people in the world were willing to throw away their lives so that one man could oppose the future Sage Emperor?

“Your Highness, just sit back and prepare to receive the good news!” the Ghost King commented without raising his head.

A smile slowly formed on the First Prince’s lips.

“Kim U-Seok! Did you hear what the Ghost King said before? Starting from now, I need you to keep a close watch on the King of Foreign Lands and all the great clans of the capital. Inform me immediately on any new developments.”

The First Prince suddenly turned to a nearby bowed figure.

The man had two sabers sheathed on his back and a fierce gyrfalcon on his shoulder. He had a rather sinister face, and his bearing was not that of a person from the Central Plains. From his facial features, he was clearly a Goguryeon.

“Your Highness, be at ease. As long as I am here, the slightest activity in the King of Foreign Lands Residence or in the capital will be reported immediately. If there is an error, Your Highness may punish me as you please!”

Kim U-Seok spoke with a heavy Goguryeon accent, and his entire body exuded confidence. It was as if there was nothing in the world that he couldn’t accomplish.

“Good! Be at ease! As long as you loyally serve this prince, this prince will fulfill his promises to you! Not only will you receive immense riches, you will possess authority that you never could have imagined in Goguryeo!” the First Prince said.

“Many thanks, Your Highness!”

Kim U-Seok immediately got to his knees and prostrated.