Chapter 65 Forming Cliques and Pursuing Personal Gain
King Xuan was still wailing and lamenting, tears streaming down his face.
"Cousin!"
"I'm the only son in our Li family!"
"If I'm killed by those barbarians, who will carry on our family line?"
"I can accept it, but my poor newborn children haven't even seen their father a few times yet!"
That's what I meant.
It is a sight that would break the heart of anyone who hears it and bring tears to their eyes if they see it.
If you didn't know better, you'd really think he was a very family-oriented and good man.
But just then...
A sudden gasp came from the dragon throne.
[hiss--]
[Holy crap!]
Yu Zhaoning covered her mouth with her small hands, her eyes wide open like copper bells.
The voice was so loud it almost lifted the top floor of the main hall.
[System! System! Look!]
[This uncle of King Xuan is utterly shameless!]
[He was just yelling that he couldn't let his lineage die out.]
[But in reality...]
[He was wounded in the battlefield years ago; that thing is broken now!]
[He simply can't have children!]
A bolt of lightning struck.
The entire court of civil and military officials froze.
While stroking his beard, the old tutor Wang An's hand trembled, and he accidentally tore off several strands of his beard.
He winced in pain and instinctively opened his mouth wide.
What is that?
Is it not working?
Everyone's gazes were involuntarily drawn to King Xuan's groin.
His eyes became extremely strange.
This is...
That's all?
Empress Dowager Yuan Hua, behind the beaded curtain, twitched her lips violently.
She rubbed her forehead, feeling a bit of a headache.
Looking at his cousin who was still crying downstairs about "carrying on the family line," his expression became incredibly complicated.
She only remembered that her cousin had indeed been injured back then.
I never expected it to be there!
besides...
Zhao Ning is only four years old!
How can you just eat this kind of melon that's not suitable for children?
Yuan Hua sighed silently to himself.
It seems we need to strengthen education in Zhaoning in the future.
We should still jump over this dirty stuff next time; we can't let it pollute the child's eyes.
But Yu Zhaoning had no idea about her grandmother's dilemma.
Her inner voice was buzzing with excitement, as if she had discovered a new continent.
[Wait a minute, system!]
[Since my great-uncle's thing is broken, he's a eunuch now.]
[That little one remembers, the Prince Xuan's mansion was incredibly lively!]
[I've heard that King Xuan has a group of beautiful concubines, each one as lovely as a flower.]
That's all.
[The key point is that in recent years, good news has been constantly coming from Prince Xuan's residence.]
[There must have been at least twenty or thirty children born, right?]
[Following the words my grandmother casually mentioned that day...]
[This is enough to form two football teams to play a match!]
These words were spoken.
The main hall fell silent once more.
Even the most serious officials couldn't help but have a picture flash through their minds at this moment.
A group of children who looked nothing like King Xuan were running around in the palace.
King Xuan sat to the side, watching with a smile.
This scene...
Why is it so green?
Yu Zhaoning's brows furrowed into a deep frown, as if she couldn't figure it out at all.
[etc!]
[Since my great-uncle knew he wasn't up to it.]
[Then why is he raising so many children?]
[Isn't this blatantly raising someone else's son?]
[If they didn't know, that's one thing; but they were kept in the dark.]
[But he knew!]
[So, King Xuan knew the children weren't his own, yet he still raised two football teams' worth of children?]
Wow!
[What a magnanimous heart!]
[I'm ashamed of myself!]
[This green hat is so overdone... it could practically turn into a green meadow on your head!]
"Pfft! Cough cough cough!"
I don't know who couldn't hold back first.
Immediately afterwards.
A series of suppressed coughs echoed through the hall.
The civil and military officials were all so frustrated that their faces turned red and their necks bulged.
Some pinched their thighs hard, while others bit their tongues.
I was afraid I would burst out laughing in this serious setting.
That's terrible.
This is so tragic!
The mighty King Xuan was actually a green-haired turtle?
And it's the kind of thing that you wear voluntarily?
Is this some kind of unusual fetish?
King Xuan kneels on the ground.
She was crying her heart out.
Suddenly, I heard a series of coughs coming from all around me.
He was puzzled.
What's wrong?
Could it be that my tragic fate moved the heavens?
What made these adults feel so deeply that they choked up and couldn't speak?
King Xuan secretly glanced up.
The ministers all had their heads down and their shoulders were shrugging, and they certainly looked like they were enduring a lot of hardship.
He was overjoyed.
There's hope!
It seems everyone sympathizes with me!
So he crawled two more steps toward the dragon throne with even greater effort.
"Your Majesty!"
"You are the emperor of our Great Yu, and you are the most benevolent of all."
"You must have pity on your great-uncle's old bones!"
"My great-uncle asks for nothing but to protect that whole family!"
Yu Zhaoning sat on the high dragon throne.
Look down at that great-uncle with an invisible green glow on his head.
He nodded his head subconsciously.
But the voice in her heart never stopped.
And his tone was even more shocked.
Something's not right!
[Nine out of ten things are wrong!]
[System, please check this for me, what exactly happened?]
[Who in this world is so foolish as to raise someone else's child?]
[There's definitely some big news coming!]
The system's voice immediately followed excitedly.
[Here it comes!]
[Host is awesome! You even guessed that!]
[Holy crap!]
[So this great-uncle is such a scoundrel!]
[He endured being cuckolded multiple times, and even publicly proclaimed his many children and good fortune.]
[In reality, these "sons" are being used as tools!]
[He appeared peaceful and content on the surface within his fiefdom.]
[In reality, he secretly gave all those young and beautiful concubines to high-ranking officials and nobles in the vicinity!]
Those children are the offspring of those officials!
[He was raising other people's children so he could gain leverage over those officials!]
[They want to form cliques for personal gain!]
[King Xuan has now used such underhanded methods to win over more than 70% of the officials in his fiefdom!]
[That's why they're trying to seize military power now!]
[Once military power is secured, coupled with the support of those officials...]
[He's really going to rebel!]
[Luckily, I have a system, and I saw through his plot!]
These heartfelt words finally came to an end.
The ministers who were just trying hard to suppress their laughter.
The smile froze on his face.