Chapter 754: You’ve Been Enchanted by Witchcraft (IV)

“What… what happened just now?”

Wuma Shang’s heart thumped. He had an ominous premonition when he made a mental association with the “trickery of a petty and nasty person” that Jiang Pengji had just mentioned.

“Just now, County Chief Wuma brought a woman to the court assembly to expose my identity as a woman. She was determined to punish my crime of lying to the ruler.”

Wuma Shang was dumbfounded. His look of astonishment couldn’t be faked.

Wait… How could he now understand every word that Liu Xi was saying, but when they’d been connected, he hadn’t been able to make heads or tails of it?

More importantly…

The witch was aggressive. “You… you’re a woman?”

He felt that this was as absurd! A tall, burly man was saying that he was a woman!

Jiang Pengji nodded. “Yes, County Chief Wuma, you were very insistent on this topic and wanted to rule this as my crime. Later, I discovered that your expression and that of the old woman looked abnormal, so I realized you were under a spell.”

Wuma Shang’s brain was spinning in his skull.

Indeed, he was unhappy with Jiang Pengji, but there was nothing wrong with his mind. Just look at the little emperor! What use was the crime of lying to their ruler going to be to him?

He cursed inwardly, repeatedly yelling that he’d been wrongly accused, insisting that someone had used witchcraft on him to confuse him and control his actions.

In any case, Wuma Shang was the Chief of Shanghai County. He had been an old fox in the realm of officialdom for many years now.

As long as he stuck to his claim that he’d been wronged, that he’d been a victim of witchcraft, what had happened today could be mitigated until it was nothing. No matter what, he was one of the allied princes. He had tens of thousands of elite soldiers under his command. The imperial court would not be able to kill him.

Many officials were close to Wuma Shang. One after another, they stepped forward to speak up for him.

In a short while, it was the Empress Dowager who found herself in a situation that she wouldn’t be able to extricate herself from.

With the help of the officials, Wuma Shang’s flustered little heart settled down a lot. He began to calm down and think about who had conspired against him.

After turning the matter over in his mind, he was most suspicious of the empress.

Why was he suspicious?

First of all, his memories from when he’d been clear-headed were of him having sexual intercourse with Empress Dowager. He’d been feeling so much joy with her that his entire body became hot and sweaty.

After his release, his guard was at its lowest. The Empress Dowager would have had the highest chance of success if she made her move then. She could have backstabbed him without anyone knowing.

Second, before the little emperor ascended the throne, he’d been the biggest rival of the little emperor. Was the Empress Dowager willing to let the potential danger he represented remain?

After thinking about it, the Empress Dowager was the one most likely to conspire against him.

If the plan was successful, not only would she take his head, his power, and his wealth, she could also deliver a blow to the Liu family’s father and daughter…. Pah! That Liu father and daughter!

It was a pity. With the current prestige of the emperor, one could even get away with carrying weapons into the palace, much less the crime of lying to one’s ruler.

Which idiot would think that the “crime of lying to one’s ruler” could bring down the Liu family’s father and daughter?

Which idiot!?

Wuma Shang was so angry that he nearly vomited blood when he thought about this.

He was suffering from this disaster even though he hadn’t done anything.

It would have been fine if she used this opportunity to bring down the Liu family’s father and daughter. But the attempt had been ineffective and made no positive results. Plus, he’d been dragged into this mess.

The most important thing now was to save himself from the quagmire. He would think about the future later.

After he had saved himself, he would find the Empress Dowager, that viper of a woman, and settle this score.

Wuma Shang struggled to break free from the restraints of the palace guards. He straightened his messy clothes and bowed in apology to Jiang Pengji.

“I wrongly accused the Commander of the Palace Guards because I was incautious and fell for that vile trickery just now. Please forgive me.” Wuma Shang had a strong ability to speak using superficial words suitable for any occasion. He said in a righteous and forceful tone, “Commander, you are a match for any man. Whether male or female, you are a good minister of the country. You did not commit the crime of lying to your ruler, that was false. The villain behind this is vile. I will not spare her!”

Jiang Pengji smiled and said, “County Chief Wuma has praised me, how can I return the favor?”

Wuma Shang waved his hand and laughed amiably. “Don’t be humble. In my view, it’s envious that Official Liu has the good fortune to have such a daughter. If I remember correctly, it seems that I should address you as ‘Governor of Wanzhou’ rather than ‘Commander of the Palace Guards.’ You’re young, yet you’re already an outstanding heroine.”

Jiang Pengji said, “No, not yet. I wanted to thank you just now, but you interrupted me. But I can’t blame you for this, County Chief. I should blame the vile person causing mischief from behind the scenes, who brought you to the court assembly using crooked practices. Fortunately, the villain did not cause any great losses.”

“I am ashamed.”

Wuma Shang followed along and grabbed the olive branch that she’d offered. He took advantage of this opportunity to cleanse himself. Jiang Pengji had her wish fulfilled as she accepted the position of Governor of Wanzhou.

The livestream viewers were a little disappointed. They’d thought that Jiang Pengji would take this opportunity to easily kill Wuma Shang.

But Jiang Pengji responded with this”

Host V: It’s not urgent yet, Wuma Shang has now aimed his hatred at the Emperor and the Dowager. The Empress Dowager is someone who tries to gain an advantage but ends up worse off. In any case, Wuma Shang is the Chief of Shanghai County. With tens of thousands of troops under him, he could secretly torment that mother and son to death.

Jiang Pengji let Wuma Shang remain only because she wanted to use him to impede the young emperor and the empress dowager.

Wuma Shang had not joined the allies when she was marketing the flashed bricks to everyone. She could take advantage of this opportunity to sell them at a high price. She could rip them all off!

At this time, a viewer suddenly remembered something.

Diligent Lazy Lady: Oh-oh, I suddenly remembered something! Now that the little emperor is so weak, does the host want to try the strategy of coercing the emperor to gain command of his princes and vassals? Like Boss Cao Cao? And when your power has expanded to a certain level, you can gift yourself the nine imperial tokens given to a vassal, then establish the country and call yourself the emperor!

Coerce the emperor to gain command of his princes and vassals?

The livestream viewers were very enthusiastic and excited. They all egged Jiang Pengji on to give it a try.

Of course, besides those who supported it, many viewers expressed dissatisfaction with the policy of coercing the emperor to gain command of his princes and vassals.

Musician Zhuge, Devil Pianist: Boss Cao Cao could coerce the emperor to gain command of his princes and vassals, but suitable conditions are required to implement this policy. The Han royal family was indeed in its decline, but there were still many loyal subjects in the country that were not completely disappointed with the Han royal family. For example, Lord Xun, who was beneath Boss Cao Cao. Lord Xun’s family were officials for the Han royal family for generations and he took up an official post for thirty years for the royal family. In the end, Lord Xun and Cao Cao fell out because Boss Cao Cao wanted to fly solo, away from the royal family. With such a loyal subject, it indirectly showed that the Han royal family still presented a certain deterrence to their vassals. That’s why it was effective when Boss Cao Cao coerced the emperor and gave him orders. With the pathetic nature of the Dongqing royal family, it would not be good to use this strategy of coercing the emperor to gain command of his princes and vassals.

What did “coercing the emperor to gain command of his princes and vassals” mean?

In layman’s terms, it would mean falsely using the name of the emperor to boss people around, gather power, and go on punitive expeditions.

Today, the world was divided into five parts. The Dongqing emperor was not the only emperor. He did not have enough centralized power to rule more than Dongqing. In addition, the Dongqing dynasty had only been established for a short time. Successive emperors had sapped away the sentiment and affection that talented men had for the Dongqing royal family. Thus, the loyalty of its officials for the emperor was severely lacking.

In this situation, how many talents would be unswerving in their loyalty to the Dongqing royal family?

Nobody could say that no such thing existed, but even if there were such people, there would only be a handful.

Who would take the orders of such a young emperor seriously?

As for the advantage of going on punitive expeditions, it barely counted as an advantage.

With the host’s violent temper, she would fight anyone that she wanted. She could say anything casually and that would be a good enough reason to launch a punitive expedition.

Who cared? She would fight first and then talk about reasons later.

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