Li Chengfeng and the rest could finally relax and recuperate. However, the rest of the people in Taiyang City did not even have the chance to take a breather. Even the heavily injured Crown Prince had no choice but to sit on his sickbed and deal with the mess of government affairs.
After the great battle, Taiyang City was almost completely destroyed. A large number of houses were destroyed, and the city walls were in tatters. If the city walls had not been very sturdy during the early stages of its construction, the city walls would have been destroyed when the last wave of the flood came.
More than half of Taiyang City's civilians and refugees were killed or injured. Nearly fifty thousand people died in this disaster. Among them, less than ten thousand died from the plague, and less than a thousand died from old monster Thundercloud's lightning strikes. However, most of them died from the horrendous corpse tide at the end of the battle.
From this point of view, Jue Wuji's lethality and destructive power towards the secular world could be said to be the best of all the cultivators in the world.
Zhao Hanqing leaned against his sturdy pear wood bed. The floodwaters had yet to recede so the officials had no choice but to put on their high-soled boots and walk to the Crown Prince's bed. They carefully reported the current state of affairs in Taiyang City to him.
Zhao Hanqing flipped through the rough report of the losses. His eyes were filled with sorrow and pain. He sighed deeply and said, "The calamity of cultivators is so fierce!"
One of the officials broke out in cold sweat. My dear Crown Prince, this disaster was solved by cultivators. It's not a good idea to kill the donkey after it's no longer useful!
The officials lowered their heads and dared not reply. Only Ji Chen mustered his courage and said, "It's all thanks to Li Chengfeng for killing two demons and getting rid of evil for the people!"
Zhao Hanqing was not a mean person. He nodded and said, "Reward him, reward him handsomely!" Zhao Hanqing tried to sit up but the moment he moved, he felt a sharp pain from his wound.
Ji Chen was about to help him up when a shout came from outside. "Reporting!
Your Highness, the Left Assistant Minister Ning Tongyi requests an audience! "
Zhao Hanqing was overjoyed, his face flushed from the blood loss. He hurriedly said, "Minister Ning is finally here?
Quick, send him in! "
Ji Chen saw that the wound on Zhao Hanqing's neck was bleeding again due to his agitation. Blood immediately seeped through the gauze. He quickly advised, "Your Highness, please calm down and take care of yourself!"
As he spoke, someone strode in from outside. This person's footsteps were extremely heavy, and his footsteps were sonorous and forceful, showing his extremely domineering personality.
Ji Chen knew that the Crown Prince, Zhao Hanqing, had a core group of five people. They were the most important officials of the Crown Prince's faction. Among them, the Crown Prince's tutor and scholar leader, Zhang Datong, was known as the Crown Prince's Courage, while the Left Assistant Minister of War, Ning Tongyi, was known as the Crown Prince's Brain. These two were the Crown Prince's left and right arms. Ning Tongyi was responsible for making various policy suggestions for the Crown Prince or acting as a policy consultant. Zhang Datong, on the other hand, was in charge of checking for loopholes, or in other words, influencing the Crown Prince's final decisions. All Daqi officials knew that during the Crown Prince's reign, almost all important decisions were made by the five of them.
Almost all the important decisions were made by Ning Tongyi! Ji Chen anxiously looked at Ning Tongyi as he strode in. As expected, he found that this person had an extremely dignified appearance. He was a standard scholar. Although he was a scholar, he had followed the diplomatic mission to the Dijon Kingdom for negotiations. When the negotiations broke down and the Dijon Kingdom wanted to kill the diplomatic mission, Ning Tongyi, as the deputy envoy, decisively led 13 of his subordinates to fight their way out of the encirclement. In the end, they successfully escaped from the encirclement and were hunted down and returned to the Daqi Kingdom. As a result, he became famous after that battle and began to "cross borders", becoming another representative of scholars joining the military.
Although Ning Tongyi was a scholar, he was very burly. He had a beard, a leopard's eyes, a lion's nose, and an eagle's gaze. When his gaze swept over, Ji Chen's heart thumped wildly and he subconsciously lowered his head.
Ning Tongyi glanced at Jichen and noticed that he was dressed like an advisor. His brows furrowed and his eyes revealed an intense look of disgust. His voice was as loud as a bell, and the moment he opened his mouth, the dust on the roof rustled down.
What right do you have to stand here? "
As soon as he said this, Ji Chen lowered his head in shame and resentment. His heart was filled with hatred.
Zhao Hanqing forced a smile at Ji Chen and said gently, "Thank you for your hard work. You should go and have a good rest."
Ji Chen knew that his role was to help the crown prince deal with the chaotic government affairs and act as a lubricant between the crown prince and the officials in Taiyang City. However, after the battle, Ning Tongyi had rushed over. It was obvious that the crown prince no longer needed him. It was already rare for him to speak to the crown prince in such a gentle manner.
Ji Chen excused himself and left under Ning Tongyi's disgusted gaze. As soon as he stepped out of the door, he heard Ning Tongyi's disdainful voice from inside the room. "An advisor is a troublemaker!
Your Highness, please don't associate with such people. They are scum and vile. They can't handle government affairs, but they are good at corruption and power!
In particular, this person has a wretched appearance and looks like a rat. He's definitely not a good person! "
Jichen could no longer hear what the crown prince said. His mind was buzzing, and all the officials waiting outside for the crown prince to see him looked at him with all sorts of expressions. It made him feel like he was standing naked in front of everyone and was being humiliated by being stripped naked.
Ji Chen was extremely embarrassed and resentful. He covered his face with his sleeves and quickly left. When he was out of the governor's residence, he put down his sleeves and looked at the crown prince and the others in the governor's residence with incomparable resentment. His body trembled and he clenched his fists tightly. The anger and resentment in his heart were like boiling water in a cauldron.
When Zhao Hanqing courteously used him, when Zhao Hanqing calmly faced thousands of lightning bolts, when Zhao Hanqing did not hesitate to sacrifice himself to protect the common people, Jichen was deeply moved. He really saw the appearance of an unworldly and wise lord, the appearance of a saint of this generation.
At that moment, he really wanted to dedicate his hot-bloodedness and life to the crown prince. He didn't care if his body was smashed into pieces!
After all, they were all people who grew up reading the books of sages. Who didn't have a bit of hot-bloodedness and justice in their hearts?
But... in the end, Jichen realized that he and the crown prince, or rather, the crown prince couldn't tolerate someone like him because he looked like the villain, so he was destined to be the villain!
Heaven arranged it this way, and the people thought so. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't escape this fate.