Chapter 296: So Handsome (I)

The rumors that the emperor of Heaven Dragon was controlled by the empress and that s.h.i.+ family wanted to rebel had been known to everyone in the entire imperial city.

But was that true?

Most of the common people actually didn’t believe it.

General s.h.i.+ Qingshan would rebel? They’d never believe that just as they’d never believe a pig could climb up the tree!

s.h.i.+ Qingshan had a very good reputation among the people.

Therefore, no one believed that he would rebel! That was totally impossible!

However, something serious happened in the imperial city that day…

Some people united and went to the imperial palace to “ask” whether the emperor was real!

And whether s.h.i.+ family would rebel!

The gate of the palace was blocked by five hundred people.

The news quickly reached Long’s ears.

At this time, the morning meeting wasn’t over yet.

In other words, all the ministers were still at the court!

Those five hundred people really went there so early!

Hearing the news, every minister became very frightened.

They looked at each other, but no one stood out to say anything.

Long waved back the guard who reported the news and then looked at everyone with a smile.

“All right, stop pretending to be dumb. Now five hundred people have gathered outside the palace, wanting to know whether I’m the real emperor or not. What do you think we should do?”

Long looked very worried, making all the ministers below more terrified.

“Still keep silent? So you’re all waiting for me to solve it?” Long asked in a cold voice.

A minister stepped up. “Your Majesty, the people outside must have been blinded by traitors.”

“Your Majesty, they must have been incited by some evil men! I’m willing to go and find out the culprits!”

“Your Majesty, some evil guys deluded the people and disturbed the order of the imperial city. They must be punished! I’m willing to perform the task.”

“Your Majesty…”

The ministers stepped up one after another, all expressing their willingness to go to catch the culprits.

Long believed that some people were indeed incited.

However, since five hundred people dared to go to block the imperial palace this day, there might be five thousand people next time!

Therefore, Long didn’t intend to let those people go easily!

Coldness flickered in his eyes, and soon, a smile appeared on Long’s face. However, that smile was very terrifying.

“Is the minister of Punishments here?”

The present minister of Punishments was the a.s.sistant minister in the past, the man invited by Long and s.h.i.+ from a remote county.

The original minister Zhong Ming had officially stepped down.

That man had been performing well since the bloodsucking demon case, so he was promoted to minister a few days ago.

“Your Majesty, I’m here!”

Long looked at him calmly. “Go and check how many people had been easily incited and how many people are initiators… No matter what, the latter must be punished severely and the former… they don’t have brains and should be taught a lesson. Don’t think that the law can’t be enforced when everyone is an offender. If more people come to disturb me in the imperial palace in the future, should I still forgive them? Do I even need to reward them?”

All the ministers trembled with fear. No one dared to speak.

Only the minister of Punishments said, “Yes, Your Majesty! I won’t let you down!”

Later, Long dismissed all the ministers.

After that, he went to Qiankun Palace.

s.h.i.+ had already known what happened at the court and what was going on at the gate of the palace.

Seeing Long coming back, s.h.i.+ immediately went over. “You’re back.”

Long nodded. “Well, have you heard about the matter?”

s.h.i.+ nodded. “Yes. What do you plan to do?”

Long smiled faintly. “Those people are courting death. Killing all of them is unrealistic, but they must be punished. The inciters shall be killed on the spot. As for the others… they shall be banished.”

After a pause, s.h.i.+ said softly, “That’s appropriate to give others adequate warning. The common people will not be easily incited in the future.”

Long nodded. “Yes.”

s.h.i.+ said slowly, “But… you may lose popular support.”

Long shook his head lightly. “The people who are easily influenced can’t be trusted. I plan to go to the gate of the palace when the dust settles.”

s.h.i.+ was surprised.

Long said with a smile, “I need to show my att.i.tude towards the people.”

s.h.i.+ took a deep breath and nodded. “I understand. I will be with you.”

Long nodded. “Of course you should. You are my empress, so you should be with me.”

The current minister of Punishments was very efficient.

Among five hundred people, all the inciters were found out in less than an hour.

There were thirty people in total and they were all bribed by a mysterious person.

The ident.i.ty of the mysterious person was still unknown.

As for the remaining more than four hundred people, two hundred were young people who were filled with indignation, and the other over two hundred took bribes from those thirty inciters.

At this time, there had been tens of thousands onlookers, and of course they were all kept out.

The ministers were standing on the side facing the palace.

All those people were arrested, waiting for the emperor to punish them. “The emperor and the empress have arrived!” With these words, everybody knelt down.

Long took s.h.i.+’s hand and walked to the top of the city wall.

Emperors would only climb up the frozen walls when they needed to send soldiers to the battlefields.

This time, it was an exception.

“Long live the emperor. Long live the empress.”

All people saluted the emperor and the empress. How magnificent it was.

Long didn’t allow them to get up. Standing on the city wall, he used his internal strength to make his voice louder. He said calmly, “I’m very angry about what happened today.”

If the emperor got angry, hundreds of people might lose their lives…

Everyone down there trembled with fear.

Long continued, “But I’m also very happy about what happened today.”

Happy? Everyone was puzzled, wondering why the emperor felt happy.

“I’m angry because my subjects don’t believe me. What are you trying to do? Force me to step down?”

Everyone s.h.i.+vered again after hearing Long’s words.

Kneeling there, they felt more terrified at this moment.

Especially the tens of thousands of common people who were watching the scene, they began to regret going there.

Would the emperor be so angry that he’d kill innocent people?

“I’m also very happy, because I have more than tens of thousands subjects, but only five hundred people came to make trouble today. Besides, more than thirty people were bribed by a mysterious man, and more than two hundred people were incited by them later. The rest of them just followed the herd.”

“The inciters who gathered a crowd to make disturbances… shall be killed!”