Restart the Disaster of Another World

Going to Beijing, the first morning court after starting writing.

The court officials lined up neatly on both sides of the court. The officials on the left kneeled on the ground, while the officials on the right stood straight. The whole court was silent, without any sound. Emperor Zhengde sat on the dragon throne, gently supporting his chin with his right hand, and casually placing his left hand on the armrest of the dragon throne. He asked casually, "How do you think this matter should be handled?"

The crown on the emperor's head swayed slightly with his movements, and the jade beads on the crown collided with each other, making a crisp sound, but this sound was completely covered by the deathly silence in the court. The sharp and old eyes of Emperor Zhengde looked at the ministers below through the gaps in the crown, revealing an elusive emotion.

In the sight of Emperor Zhengde, the thick red column in the center of the court hall was particularly eye-catching. At this moment, a stream of bright red liquid was slowly flowing out from the bottom of the column, spreading along the ground, forming a shocking picture.

Assassinating the emperor is such a heinous crime. If an ordinary person is found guilty, the entire clan will be executed! However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this matter is very strange, and everyone knows that this matter is definitely not done by the prince. From the emperor's punishment, it can be seen that the emperor actually knows the matter very well. But for some reason, the emperor is still furious, and the civil and military officials in the court are trembling with fear. No one dares to say a word, let alone plead for the prince.

Emperor Qingde became more and more impatient, and was too lazy to ask about this matter. So, he waved his hand indifferently and said calmly: "Lock him up first!" As if this was just a trivial matter. However, everyone in the court understood that this matter was far from as simple as it seemed...

At this moment, the courtiers on the left who were kneeling on the ground suddenly shouted loudly: "Your Majesty is wise! Your Majesty is wise!" Their voices echoed in the court like thunder. Then, the courtiers standing on the right took the lead and knelt down one after another. For a moment, the ministers in the court wearing bright red court robes knelt down one after another. Although their movements were a little slow, they all knelt on the ground in the end.

Xuanyuan Ting stood quietly in the center of the hall, his posture upright and his expression solemn, as motionless as a sculpture, without even uttering a word.

The man who was sitting high up on the platform just caught a glimpse of this scene from the corner of his eye, raised his hand and pointed lightly, and asked calmly: "Prince, do you have anything to say?"

However, facing the emperor's questioning, the prince just knelt silently in the center of the hall, lowered his head, and replied in a low voice: "I have nothing to say."

At this moment, the entire hall fell into a strange silence, as if time had frozen. No one dared to make a sound, and only a tense atmosphere filled the air.

For an elderly emperor, aging is undoubtedly one of their greatest fears. Emperor Qingde ascended the throne when he was a teenager, and he knew the entire Yu Realm like the back of his hand. He always considered himself a wise ruler who brought welfare to the people of the world, and would never allow anyone to question his authority, especially the young and promising prince.

Of course, he knew that the prince had not poisoned him, and that someone else was actually trying to assassinate him, and that the poison was not lethal, but he was unwilling to brush it off so easily. He wanted to announce to the world that he was still the high-spirited emperor of the past, that the world still belonged to him, and that no one could shake his supreme position.

"Evil creature!" Seeing the prince so stubborn and unrepentant, veins popped up on Emperor Guangde's forehead. The next second, he closed the memorial in his hand and threw it out forcefully, "The prince is disobedient and unfilial. From now on, he must reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors and is not allowed to step out of the East Palace!"

"Long live!" Seeing this scene, all the civil and military officials in the court were terrified and buried their heads even deeper.

Emperor Qingde did not stay any longer, but turned and left with a flick of his sleeves. It was not until his figure disappeared from the court for a long time that the ministers slowly stood up, walked to the side of the crown prince, and said in unison: "Your Highness, please follow us back to the East Palace."

Without paying attention to other things, Emperor Qingde slowly picked up the teacup after finishing his breakfast, gently blew away the foam on it, and began to drink tea leisurely.

The red walls and yellow tiles complement each other, and the whole palace looks majestic and solemn. At this moment, a eunuch holding a whisk and bowing his head walked into the hall cautiously and said softly: "Your Majesty, Concubine Han and Concubine Li come to ask for an audience, and are waiting outside the palace now."

Emperor Qingde, who was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, slowly put down the teacup in his hand and said, "Let them in."

The snowflakes in Lin'an County gradually became sparse. The heavy snow flying all over the sky has disappeared in the past few days. The occasional snowflakes that fell were only fine snow particles, falling gently. The temperature gradually stabilized and stopped dropping further.

After more than a month, local people gradually adapted to the weather and no longer stayed at home all day. They began to go out slowly, and the streets returned to their former bustle and prosperity.

Looking at the bustling county town again, Li Guoan felt relieved, but also sad. He sighed deeply, "Our Lin'an County is beautiful and remote, so we haven't felt the turmoil in the outside world. But the people outside are probably having a hard time."

"There are powerful enemies eyeing us covetously from outside, natural disasters raging from within, and the emperor...ah!" He sighed heavily, his face full of worry.

"The place I went to this time was indeed a little remote, but that was also why I heard a lot of news that I couldn't hear in the capital. I heard that the current emperor is increasingly... Alas! After those areas hit by the snowstorm reported the situation, the lower-level officials were so scared that they dared not continue to report it, so that the victims did not get any relief, and many of them were frozen to death or starved to death!" The people around Jiang Shang said with a sad face: "And those officials who dared to report the disaster truthfully were all demoted; as for the remaining officials, they are all cowards!"

Hearing this, someone nearby lowered his voice and asked in surprise, "What about the prince? Doesn't he care?"

Jiang Shang closed his eyes and shook his head slowly: "The Crown Prince is actually a wise monarch, but unfortunately the Emperor thinks he is still healthy and is unwilling to give up power to the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince acts too ostentatiously and causes the Emperor's dissatisfaction, I am afraid that the power he has carefully cultivated will be suppressed."

"Before, the emperor's thoughts were more obscure and not so obvious. But in the past few years, he has become less and less concealed. Even ordinary people like us can see it."

"When the snowstorm hit Changping Prefecture, the prince personally reported the matter to the emperor in the court, but the result was..." At this point, Jiang Shang shook his head helplessly, the deep meaning of which needed no words.

Jiang Shang leaned forward and whispered, "It is said that the prince encountered five assassination attempts during this trip! The third one was extremely dangerous, and he almost lost his life! Fortunately, the two generals who accompanied him were both highly skilled in martial arts, and they tried their best to protect His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and bring him back to the capital safely."

This news was like a bolt from the blue, causing the three people's scalps to tingle and their faces to be filled with disbelief.

Li Guoan's face changed drastically, and he waved his hands quickly, saying, "Stop talking! This matter has nothing to do with us. Let's pray that the heavy snow stops quickly so that the people can cultivate the fields and plant food for the new year."

The situation in the court was unpredictable and could easily lead to trouble. Now that they were far away, they could only discuss this in private. Seeing Guoan stop them, the others also stopped talking about this sensitive topic and instead talked about things related to people's livelihood.

"The snow has stopped!"

Early in the morning, Wen Qun told Jing Yao the good news with a happy face. Jing Yao also smiled and said, "That's great."

The snow stopped very suddenly at the Wen family's place. The night before, there was still wind and snow, and the sky was full of flying snow. However, on the next morning, it stopped abruptly without any warning, and there was not even a transition.

The only drawback was that, although the snow had stopped, the sky was still grey and looked as if it was covered by a thick layer of water, completely blocking the sun, with only a few rays of light shining through the gaps in the clouds.

After clearing the snow off the roof, Jing Yao was sweating profusely, and his blocked nose was much clearer. After taking a hot shower, he felt refreshed. When he walked out of the bathroom, he suddenly heard Wen Qun talking: "Okay, I got it."

"Who is it?" Jing Yao looked at the door in confusion, and asked when he saw Wen Qun coming back.

Wen Qun closed the door, then lowered his voice and said to Jing Yao, "My father sent someone to tell us that he and his mother are going to take their brothers and sisters to worship their master. They will probably be away for a month, so let us know."

Hearing this news, Jing Yao couldn't help but frown, wondering why it was so sudden? And they didn't explain it to us in person. He asked in confusion: "Then how did they go? Why were they in such a hurry that they didn't even have time to say goodbye in person?"

Wen Qun quickly explained, "It was the clansmen of my master who came to greet us personally. They were worried that it would snow again during the day and the journey would be inconvenient, so they did not stay for too long and set off directly."

After hearing this, Jing Yao could only nod helplessly, indicating that he could understand the situation.

Jing Yao came into the space and found the dusty barbecue grill. He carefully cleaned it, then brought it back to the yard and placed it on the charcoal basin.

At this moment, the snowflakes in the sky finally stopped falling. Jing Yao thought, it would be wonderful to have a hot barbecue in this snowy place!

At this moment, Wen Qun suddenly poked his head out of the house and shouted, "I want to eat roasted eggplant, remember to add more pickled cowpeas!" Jing Yao smiled and replied, "Okay, got it!"

In addition to eggplants, Jing Yao also specially skewered some lotus root slices, potato slices, and a large amount of chives. These chives originally grew in the yard, but now they were all frozen to a crisp and fragile state by the severe cold, and would break at the slightest touch. In desperation, Jing Yao could only harvest them all and store them in the space for later enjoyment.

Even leeks, a plant with strong cold resistance, have suffered this fate, and the situation of other crops is probably not much better. Jing Yao sighed secretly, and there was probably no hope for the winter wheat harvest this season.

Fortunately, the heavy snow finally stopped. If it continued, when the family's food reserves were exhausted, a serious famine might really break out in the village. Although Jing Yao was full of worries, he did not say it out loud. Because he knew that speaking out would only make more people worried, but it would not change the current situation.

Forget it, why think so much? Since you are still alive, just try to live a good life! No matter what, you have to have enough food. Even if you can't escape death in the end, at least you can die well-fed!

The unique aroma of cumin filled the whole house. The tempting smell told people that the roasted eggplant was cooked. Wen Qun was tempted by the aroma and could no longer concentrate on the needlework in his hands. So he put down the work at hand, strode to the stove, and waited happily for Jing Yao to feed him.

While enjoying the delicious barbecue, Jing Yao skillfully lit the stove. On the stove was a pot of steaming corn porridge, which was just enough to help digest the greasiness.

The snow finally stopped and people could finally breathe a sigh of relief. They no longer had to shovel snow day after day, and the roads were no longer covered in white snow overnight. Everyone was happy and began to visit each other again, hoping that the snow would melt. However, even though the snow had stopped falling, the sun was still behind the clouds and the temperature did not rise. This situation lasted for four or five days until the snow began to melt. By then, it was already mid-February.

In Shangjing, the inns in the city were full of young candidates from all over the country. They were elite talents selected from various counties and prefectures. They could pass layers of examinations and reach Shangjing, which showed their strength. And they had a common purpose this time.

The joint examination is a national examination hosted by the Ministry of Rites, also known as the "Liwei". It is usually held in February of the following year after the provincial examination, so it is also called the Spring Examination. At that time, candidates from all over the country will gather in the capital to participate in this joint examination. If you can successfully pass this examination, you can obtain the title of Jinshi.

Becoming a Jinshi not only means that one is qualified to be an official, but also has the opportunity to participate in the following palace examination. The palace examination is scheduled to be held in the same year as the joint examination. The emperor will personally sit in the examination, review the examination papers, and determine the rankings. Among them, the one with the most outstanding results is named the top scholar; the second is the second place; and the third is the third place. The second place is given the title of Jinshi; the third place is given the title of Tong Jinshi.

Since the palace examination was conducted by the emperor himself, these scholars could be called disciples of the emperor. These four words contained endless glory and expectations, and were the dream of countless scholars.