Regardless of how furious the person in Xingqing Palace was when they found out that the flower they had carefully cultivated was completely plucked, the scene in the Imperial Study was quite peaceful.
Liang Ye sat calmly behind the desk, watching Wang Dian skillfully assign tasks to Yu Ying and Yun Fu. Yun Fu and Yu Ying left with their tasks, and outside the Imperial Study, a line of palace maids and eunuchs quietly listened to their orders. The memorials that Wang Dian needed to read had been sorted and placed on the large desk. Only a small eunuch who served the ink and brush stood quietly there, a stark contrast to the bustling scene when Liang Ye had come last time.
In response to this, Wang Dian explained, “It’s definitely different once you get the hang of it. If you have to do everything, what’s the use of keeping all these people?”
Liang Ye, following his example, rolled up his sleeves and watched the group of palace maids and eunuchs disperse outside, “Have you already figured out the harem?”
“Almost,” Wang Dian said, “But with the Imperial Study and the sleeping quarters as the division, we already have control over a dozen palaces around us. The people in the Imperial Kitchen have also been replaced once. The southeast and northwest are Bian Yunxin and Cui Yuxian’s territories. At present, we can at most insert some spies there. You have the imperial guards in your hands after the journey to Shizai Mountain. Cui Yuxian is already having trouble sleeping. If she immediately targets the Black Armored Guards who guard the palace, she is likely to tear her face. You are highly skilled in martial arts and ordinary people can’t get close to you. You are not afraid of poison, and you have Chong Heng to protect you. There is no need to touch this moldy head now.”
Liang Ye listened with great interest, staring at him and said, “You have done quite a lot quietly.”
“Eating well and sleeping well gives you the energy to fight for power,” Wang Dian laughed, “Besides, to ward off the outside, you must first secure the inside. Now our ‘inside’ is just this small area of the Imperial Study and the sleeping quarters. Let’s establish a base first.”
Liang Ye really liked his carefree and calm style, and that “we” greatly pleased His Majesty, “What about the previous dynasty?”
“The situation of the previous dynasty is much more complicated,” Wang Dian took out a piece of Xuan paper and spread it on the desk where no memorials were placed, and took out a charcoal pen, “Not to mention the chaotic and unclear official system and factional struggles of the Liang State, just the inner court that Cui Yuxian has operated for decades is a big problem, let alone her complex family background behind her and the people infiltrated in the outer court. If it weren’t for people like Imperial Preceptor Wen who are struggling to support, we wouldn’t even be able to afford to go to court now.”
He drew two circles on the paper, “In terms of military power and money, most of the soldiers and money are in Cui Yuxian’s hands.”
He drew two simple and clear pie charts, “Seventy percent of the army and eighty percent of the money are controlled by the inner court. Our Ministry of War and Ministry of Households are like decorations. Even so, she still cautiously inserted Yan Ze, who kept a close eye on the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households. Even Imperial Preceptor Wen was restrained and could hardly move.”
Wang Dian drew a triangle on the paper again, “What we want to deal with is nothing more than military power, money, and authority. The military power of the previous dynasty’s generals was scattered among the court. The most important were the Northern and Southern armies. The Southern Army was led by Jiao Wenbo, a veteran of three dynasties. This old man didn’t care about politics, he only cared about defending the border. His prestige was quite high, and Cui Yuxian hasn’t dared to move him to this day. It was also because of him that Southern Zhao and Eastern Chen didn’t come over. The current commander of the Northern Border is Cui Jin, Cui Yuxian’s own nephew. He just replaced Wei Wanlin last year. This man is a good-for-nothing. If Wei Wanlin is not brought back, it will only be a year and a half before the Loufans come over.”
Liang Ye looked down at the sharp lines he had drawn, silent.
“The matter of money is not easy for us to seize. I wanted to use Xu Xiude to probe Cui Yuxian’s bottom, but she was very patient. To seize the money of the inner court is not only laborious but also time-consuming. Moreover, with the gold and silver in your cave as a foundation, making money is not a difficult thing.” Wang Dian said this confidently. After all, he was dealing with money, and he was not afraid of this with a head full of money-making ideas.
Liang Ye watched him put the slender charcoal pen on the third corner.
“To gain power is to gain people. This is the only advantage we have now. Even if Cui Yuxian now wants to interfere with the selection of candidates through the imperial examination, and has caused the Xun Yao fraud case, I simply abolished this examination and re-examined it.” Wang Dian looked at him and said, “The matter of Shizai Mountain can be seen. Cui Yuxian doesn’t have the courage to be an emperor herself. She needs a nominal emperor to block the world’s gossip. What you are irreplaceable is your orthodox birth, which is justified and well-founded—”
“The military power is too far away, the only urgent thing is the matter of changing the commander of the Northern Army. Moreover, the battlefield changes rapidly and the controllability is too poor. The first thing we need to do is to twist the people of the outer court together, grab the six departments of officials, households, rites, soldiers, punishments, and workers in our own hands, and then we can divide the court with Cui Yuxian.” Wang Dian sat on the table, pointed at the carbon mark on the paper, and looked up at Liang Ye.
In fact, even if the two of them were a bit intimate now, he was not sure whether Liang Ye would accept him into his seizing power camp.
Admittedly, he could think of ways to solve the Gu worm and fly away, but he admitted that he was just a vulgar person, with ambition and desire. Compared with being a commoner who was at the mercy of others under this harsh social system, he would rather choose to be a superior.
Although Liang Ye had an ambiguous relationship with him, he had no support in ancient times, no power, and no power. He could only cling to Liang Ye. Even if Liang Ye was not a capricious madman, even if he loved him to death, Wang Dian did not want to rely on others to survive.
What he needed was also his own irreplaceability, his real ability as Wang Dian, so that he would not be casually thrown out by Liang Ye to be a pawn or a discarded piece. His current identity meant that he had to become a core member of Liang Ye’s seizing power from the beginning, otherwise the only thing waiting for him in the end was a dead end.
He wanted Liang Ye to listen quietly to this speech, to see the little achievements he had made, just like showing his carefully typeset resume to a picky boss, the first step was to persuade the boss to take the resume.
In matters of emotion, he could be unyielding, but in serious matters, to achieve his goal and rise to power, he first had to learn to bow down to Liang Ye and let him accept his allegiance.
Liang Ye gently rubbed the carbon marks on the paper with his fingertips, hooked the corner of his mouth, and said, “Not bad.”
Wang Dian’s hanging heart instantly fell by more than half.
“But Zhen doesn’t like you talking about these things with Zhen.” Liang Ye frowned, reached out to kiss him, but Wang Dian, sitting at the table with a charcoal pen, blocked his lips.
Liang Ye stared at him discontentedly, his eyebrows pressed very low, his gloomy gaze seemed to go mad at any moment.
“Liang Ye, I am not just a treasure you found, but also Wang Dian himself.” Wang Dian laughed, “And Wang Dian can help you.”
Liang Ye frowned and said, “You don’t have to worry about these.”
“I’m not managing, I’m helping you. It’s mutual benefit.” Wang Dian deliberately made his words ambiguous. He could be a subject, but he was more of a partner. He wanted Liang Ye to not regard him as a simple subject from the beginning. This was also the way he paved for himself.
“If you want to go a long way with me, this is the best choice.” Wang Dian moved the charcoal pen in front of him, leaned down and kissed his nose, and said openly and honestly, “Of course, you can also forcibly make me an empress or imprison me, or let me honestly be a substitute, but you don’t like such a treasure, do you?”
Liang Ye stared at him with an unexpected expression. Even though Wang Dian’s tone was gentle and calm, it made him feel dangerous and oppressive, and instinctively wanted to be on guard and resist, “So you can always be with Zhen?”
“Your Majesty, this is not a transaction.” Wang Dian laughed, “Business is business, and feelings are feelings. I can’t guarantee you, but I can say that it won’t be worse than it is now.”
Liang Ye bit his smiling mouth somewhat irritably.
This person was extremely cunning. He said that business and feelings should not be mixed, but he was clearly using the latter to force him to agree.
Wang Dian leaned his arm against the table, slightly tilted his head and let him go mad. The Xuan paper under him was crumpled, and several memorials on the side of the table fell off and were kicked aside by Liang Ye in irritation.
Wang Dian was slightly panting, reached out and grabbed Liang Ye’s hair. Liang Ye propped his hands on the table and completely trapped him in his arms. His gloomy gaze fell from his swollen lips to Wang Dian’s smiling eyes, and he said in a deep voice, “Zhen agrees.”
“Thank you for your appreciation, Your Majesty.” Wang Dian happily bent his eyes, pushed him away, tidied up his somewhat messy sleeves, picked up the memorials and charcoal pen on the ground, “Now we can start reading the memorials.”
Liang Ye stared at him silently, not speaking.
Wang Dian ruthlessly pointed out, “Your Majesty, you also know that this is the best choice. Since you have made a decision, don’t act like a child.”
From the moment Liang Ye’s first sentence was “Not bad”, Wang Dian knew that as long as he was not really mad, he would definitely agree – compared to an interesting and liked thing and a substitute, a useful talent for a king with no one under him is an irresistible reason.
Liang Ye squinted his eyes and squeezed in with him.
Wang Dian was wise to stop when he saw it was good, and didn’t drive him away. Instead, he directly divided half of the memorials on the table to him, and said gently and seriously, “Your Majesty, let’s finish more than half before noon, so we can read less in the afternoon, nap longer, and we can also go for a walk in the Imperial Garden in the evening.”
Compared to this big stack of memorials, reading more than half seemed somewhat better. It would be even better to read less in the afternoon, and he could even take a nap with Wang Dian. Not to mention, they could go for a walk together in the evening. Listening to these increasingly appealing conditions, Liang Ye reluctantly picked up a memorial and started reading.
Wang Dian looked at him with relief and turned to look at his own half.
He realized that even if Liang Ye had the intention to govern the country, he probably had been a crazy salted fish for too long. He lacked interest in reading the dry memorials and tried every way to be lazy, simply dumping everything on him. But as a qualified “subordinate”, he certainly couldn’t take another’s job into his own hands for a long time.
A quarter of an hour later.
“Nonsense.” Liang Ye rarely cursed, threw the memorial in his hand, and said, “I’m not reading anymore.”
Wang Dian picked up the memorial and took a look, “Indeed it’s nonsense, just ignore this kind, don’t be angry.”
Liang Ye wanted to get up, but Wang Dian’s arm scooped around his waist and brought the person back. Liang Ye looked at him impatiently, “What are you doing?”
“You promised to accompany me to read for a day.” Wang Dian sighed and let him go, waved his hand in disappointment, “Forget it, I’ll read it myself. It’s just not taking a nap, and reading until midnight. You rest well.”
Liang Ye stared at him silently for a while, then angrily picked up one of the memorials piled up in front of him like a mountain, and said awkwardly, “Zhen will accompany you to read.”
Wang Dian turned his head and gave him a gentle smile, “Don’t force yourself, read as much as you can, I’ll read the rest.”
“Zhen doesn’t read slower than you.” Liang Ye was a little dizzy from his smile, and he was a little confused as to why this person, who looked exactly like him, looked so good when he smiled.
Maybe he learned some witchcraft from that kid in the south and confused his mind.
Liang Ye couldn’t help but turn his head to look at him again, and found that Wang Dian was concentrating on reading the memorial, occasionally picking up a vermilion pen to write small characters. The characters were obviously practiced with effort and were no different from his own handwriting.
“Hmm?” Wang Dian noticed his gaze, turned his head to look at him, and said considerately, “If you’re tired, take a break.”
“Not tired.” Liang Ye gritted his teeth and quickly read the memorial in his hand.
Wang Dian vaguely saw the newly graduated little assistant in the office from before. Every time he said to take a break when tired, the other party would always shake his head in fear, and the work would suddenly become more vigorous.
‘Just started working’ kids are always so…cute.
The incense burning in the censer slowly drifted in the air, the ice cubes in the basin slowly melted, and the room was slightly cool. Wang Dian occasionally saw Liang Ye frown, so he turned his head to take a look, and found that he didn’t understand some newly changed table graphics, so he patiently explained to him. Liang Ye was not impatient.
“…That’s how it is, it’s just a change in form, easy to write, and easy to read.” Wang Dian took a piece of paper and gave him a few examples. He taught carefully and seriously, the charcoal pen in his hand writing quickly. His own handwriting was sharp and bold, and Liang Ye couldn’t help but look at it several times.
After confirming that he understood, Wang Dian asked, “What do you think?”
Liang Ye nodded, didn’t say good or bad, and stared at his profile in a daze, “It looks good.”
“That’s good.” Wang Dian thought he was talking about the handwriting looking good. He looked up and met Liang Ye’s probing gaze, giving him a questioning look.
Liang Ye’s gaze at him had a different meaning, “You just now looked very similar to when Wen Zong taught me.”
Wang Dian laughed, “Imperial Preceptor Wen is much better than me, these are just small skills.”
“Zhen likes it.” Liang Ye seemed to be born without knowing what modesty was.
Wang Dian picked up the tea and took a sip to moisten his throat, looked at the sky outside, “Let’s eat lunch in half an hour.”
“Zhen wants to be with you in the study.” Liang Ye said.
“Okay, we can eat in the study, and take a nap in the bedroom behind.” Wang Dian agreed.
“Do it in the study.” Liang Ye added.
“How to prepare a meal in the study?” Wang Dian drank a sip of tea in confusion, looking at him.
Liang Ye said with a serious face, “Do what we did last night in the study.”
“Pfft—” Wang Dian sprayed a mouthful of cold tea on his handsome face.
