Qin Jingzhou raised his cup and downed it in one go. When he stood up, he handed the cup, now left with only some goji berries and slices of ginseng, to a servant.
The System spoke up at this moment. “Yan Duan made up his mind a long time ago. In his previous life, he really shouldn’t have been brought down by his own son. Still, the fact that he could come to regret things to this extent… well, it’s not so bad.”
“The World Will doesn’t always have the best taste. The Fate’s Son it picks at least has some merit,” Qin Jingzhou replied. “Xiao Ling is right, we should give the World Will some face. When we help others, it’s easier for us too. The restrictions I’m under are getting lighter, and I suppose it’s the same for Xiao Ling.”
Qin Jingzhou’s cultivation level and strength far exceeded what this world could contain, so naturally, his combat power was greatly suppressed when he entered this world. If the World Will appreciated his performance, it would intentionally let up on this suppression. Although to Qin Jingzhou, the difference wasn’t huge, it made things much more comfortable for Ling Jing.
The System agreed. “Exactly.”
Qin Jingzhou instructed the Deputy General to leave twenty thousand troops outside the city, and to have the rest follow him inside.
He was originally a native of Hua Country before accidentally heading off to the Spiritual Realm. During his year at West Gate Pass, he had dramatically improved the treatment of his soldiers and had repeatedly enforced discipline during training. Because of this, as they advanced east, his hundred-thousand-strong army was so well-disciplined and law-abiding that their march would go down in history.
Qin Jingzhou rode at a steady pace down the wide avenue. Banners fluttered around him as gallant Prince’s Personal Guards surrounded him.
Because the original host and he both had excellent reputations, shops and residents along the roadside didn’t even bother closing their doors. The common folk stood on their thresholds, watching him and his great army with excitement and even anticipation.
“It’s not like the people are offering food and drink along the roads,” Qin Jingzhou remarked to the System, waving at the grinning children by the roadside. “I’m more than satisfied though. My reforms haven’t even reached the Capital’s citizens yet.”
The System responded, “The people here are doing pretty well, all things considered.”
“Maybe Guo Sida at least has a final bottom line, or maybe he just didn’t have time to torment the people. Either way, I’ll grant Guo Sida a whole corpse.”
The System simulated the sound of applause. “Good.”
As they pressed on, Qin Jingzhou soon arrived at the palace gates and looked up to see Guo Sida hanging above the entrance—since Guo Sida’s long hair covered his face, it wasn’t all that frightening.
After such a chaotic battle, the palace was surprisingly orderly. The Deputy General of the Vanguard Army led his subordinates on patrol through the inner palace, and when they spotted Qin Jingzhou, their excitement was unmistakable.
Qin Jingzhou gave a few instructions, then headed straight for Qianqing Palace.
At this moment, Yan Duan was in Qianqing Palace, troubled and bewildered: He had killed Guo Sida with ease and even stopped most of the Guo family from escaping. Now, with one of his sworn enemies gone, he unexpectedly felt a jumble of emotions.
He knew perfectly well that the only reason his victory had been so easy was entirely thanks to the foundation built up by his father. What struck him most was how everyone—both Noble Families and commoners—wholeheartedly welcomed his father’s sweeping out of Guo Sida. The commoners’ support was sincere; the Noble Families, even if not truly loyal, had no choice but to act so in the face of his family's hundred-thousand-strong iron cavalry.
In his previous life, Yan Duan had been persuaded by advisors with Guo family backgrounds: He was told to heed the advice of officials and Noble Families and always seek a balance among all sides. Now he cursed himself inwardly, I have troops in my hand, shouldn’t I be the one calling the shots? I was a complete idiot! No wonder Father couldn’t be bothered with me. He probably looked down on me from the start!
Even so, he did not lose touch with reality. As the commotion outside the doors grew louder, Yan Duan knew his father had arrived.
He vigorously rubbed his face, got to his feet, and knelt down facing the main doors.
Qin Jingzhou found this amusing: Yan Duan managed to go from standing to kneeling in a way that radiated utter defeat, and this pork belly son even forced a smile, though it looked painfully fake.
Feeling a rare pang of compassion, he reached out and grabbed his son. “I’ll give you something to do, so you don’t have time to brood.”
Yan Duan, realizing just how foolish he had been in his past life and moved that his father did not utterly abandon him, lunged forward to hug his father’s waist. “Father, you should have beaten me more! It’s not too late now! You should beat me to death!”
Qin Jingzhou could see the sincerity in Yan Duan’s plea. If he had transmigrated into Yan Duan’s previous life, he really would have smacked this pork belly son so hard his head would’ve been “adorably gone.” But right now... he still raised a hand and gave the boy a smack right on the forehead.
That slap was almost “enlightening”—though it did come with a minor concussion as a side effect.
As expected, the pork belly son rolled his eyes back and fainted. Qin Jingzhou grabbed him by the collar and handed him to his loyal Captain of the Personal Guard. “Let him sleep for a while.”
Qin Jingzhou was now about to proclaim himself Emperor. Having effectively unified the North, he would first reward and recognize his officials, then suitably purge and reform the administration, and ultimately spread the “improving livelihoods, enriching the people, strengthening the nation” policies he and Ling Jing had implemented at West Gate Pass throughout the North.
Xiao Ling would finish correcting the male and female leads, which completed her mission, but Qin Jingzhou’s real mission was to save the world. Toppling Guo Sida was easy, as was dealing with Duke Cheng’en, yet he had to ensure that after he and Ling Jing left this world, peace would endure.
Well, that was more Ling Jing’s specialty anyway.
He would set the general direction and devote more of his energy to educating his children.
Speaking of which, Ling Jing only took Zhao Yun and Yan Yun, along with Guo Wanping, to the Capital after pretending to receive a family letter from the Marquis.
She rushed all the way, refusing every household’s requests to meet her as the Marquis’ Wife. Zhao Yun and Yan Yun had complete faith in her and also made no detours—after all, not even their father met with anyone on his eastward march. If these Noble Families really wanted to visit, they could go to the Capital themselves.
Ling Jing arrived at the Capital, travel-worn, and Qin Jingzhou welcomed her personally, purposely saying, “I’ve really been waiting for you.”
The original host was a typical military genius, masterful at overall strategy but not particularly skilled with administrative details.
In short, even though the country needed to be rebuilt from scratch, Qin Jingzhou largely ignored domestic affairs, giving off an air of “waiting for my Empress to arrive.”
In truth, Ling Jing was more than happy about this—she wanted a high evaluation for her mission, which meant not only correcting the original male and female leads, but also doing as much as possible to improve the world.
Simply put, the more she did and the better she did it, the higher her mission rating, and the bigger her bonus payout.
In the eyes of most people, with the Marquis’ Wife’s arrival, the administration ran much more smoothly.
On another note, while Ling Jing was en route, Qin Jingzhou had sent Yan Duan to confiscate the assets of the Guo family as well as the other families that had been the Guo family’s diehard supporters.
Qin Jingzhou set the rule: eighty percent of the seized property was to be handed over, with twenty percent going to the soldiers involved; Yan Duan was... the supervisor.
Yan Duan did seem somewhat better, if not fully recovered. His current state was hard to describe, except that he had very little desire for material things. With him present at the confiscations, no one dared try any tricks.
Even though Guo Sida had expected this and arranged for his children and family to smuggle out a fortune in advance, after the Guo family and its loyalist allies were raided, the Internal Treasury was soon flush once more.
Now, Ling Jing could put her abilities to full use without any scruples.
As for Yan Yun and her two brothers, at present only Yan Yun and Xue Yi were married. Yet, Qin Jingzhou made no secret of “having only one daughter whom he adored above all,” nor did he try to hide the fact that his daughter had once been a concubine of Emperor Yongning. He publicly announced: “The Empress is busy, so for now, palace affairs will be managed by my daughter.”
Thus, Yan Yun and Xue Yi stayed together in the palace as well.
Later, Qin Jingzhou declared that he would ascend the throne and change the reign title the following year. Even with all three of Yan Yun’s siblings living in the palace, it still became a place bustling with visitors.
Yan Yun, being the eldest legitimate son and future Crown Prince, naturally attracted a lot of flattery. But very few people actually dared make improper requests. Even the siblings’ remained composed, never wasting favors on trivialities.
Things were different with Yan Yun and Yan Duan: Xue Yi’s parents and Guo Wanping’s cousins were true specimens of Supreme-grade relatives. And these “supremes” weren’t just seeking to survive—they demanded success, grand official titles, and privileges with astonishing boldness. Xue Yi’s father and Guo Wanping’s cousin even claimed: “Without the support of family, your good days won’t last.”
Fortunately, Yan Yun and Yan Duan were now decisive. They both had their own Prince’s Personal Guards teach these troublesome relatives a lesson.
Because of this, when Qin Jingzhou convened his confidants to brief them on the rewards they’d receive next year, he also publicly praised his three children.
Xue Yi’s father didn’t manage to trick his son, got beaten up instead, and returned home, smashing cups and throwing a tantrum in a fit of impotent rage.
He’d managed to survive under Guo Sida’s rule only because he escaped the Capital alongside Emperor Yongning, his iron-willed princess wife having died at Guo Sida’s hands.
When he heard his son was back in the Capital and living in the palace, he found his way back with help from a few families—never imagining that his own unfilial son wouldn’t even recognize him as his father.
After thinking this over, he realized that everyone would soon know about his son’s attitude toward him, so he might as well accept Duke Cheng’en’s invitation and take a posting in the south.
But just as Xue Yi’s father packed up, took two of his twenty-year-old concubines, and prepared to leave for a brighter future, Yan Duan led a force to intercept him.
In his previous life, relying on Xue Yi’s sacrifice, Xue Yi’s father rose in the bureaucracy, even becoming the father-in-law of Yan Duan and Guo Wanping’s son—while in truth, the Xue Yi of that life had only died from wounds protecting Yan Yun. Xue Yi’s father’s incitement was also a factor in Yan Duan and Guo Wanping’s son turning on their own parents.
His motives were laughably clear—he desperately wanted Yan Duan and Guo Wanping to make room for him and his daughter.
Upon learning of Xue Yi’s father’s attempted escape, Yan Duan, now in charge of intelligence and Secret Agents, immediately reported to his own father and rode out with his Prince’s Personal Guards.
Strictly speaking, Yan Duan himself wasn’t much of a fighter, but the Prince’s Personal Guards assigned to his pork belly son were all extremely capable.
As a result, no one was surprised by Xue Yi’s father’s fate.
Yan Duan executed only the chief perpetrator, sparing the two concubines. Each was given several hundred taels of silver as compensation, and both women wept with joy and kowtowed gratefully to Yan Duan in public.
Yan Duan was in a good mood—he had indeed done a good deed.
Soon after, Yan Duan’s Personal Guards found Duke Cheng’en’s invitation letter among Xue Yi’s father’s belongings. After reading it, Yan Duan smiled even wider. “Now I have an absolutely legitimate reason for what I did. I just hope my brother-in-law won’t resent me, but even if he does… there’s nothing I can do.”
After a brief rest, Yan Duan led his men back.
A few days later, when Duke Cheng’en learned of Xue Yi’s father’s death, his expression didn’t change in the slightest.
He was only concerned with the Emperor Yongning, who had suddenly gone mad the day before. “So? Is he still shouting that he’s the Chosen One and destined for great fortune?”
His trusted Inner Attendant answered softly, “His madness is extremely strange. My lord, do you wish to see him?”