In my previous life, I killed my whole family. In my next life, I killed the royal family.

The Lu family suffered a great loss this time, and they certainly would not let it go. They had been planning to kill all the people in the Qi Mansion.

Not only did they lose face, but so many servants died, and they also lost their dignity.

The Lu family has never suffered such a loss in all these years.

You must know that the ten people sent to kill Miss Qi this time were all young servants of the Lu family with good skills.

Old Master Lu was ill in bed and left the household affairs to his eldest son.

Master Lu began to take charge of the family affairs. He sat in the hall and was puzzled. "There are only two people in the Qi family. How could they defeat ten of our skilled servants in an instant?"

Master Lu speculated gloomily, "Since they are moving the silver, they must have guards in secret. Our people are in the open, while the enemy is in the dark. How can we not suffer? We are still careless!"

"That must be the case." The Lu family agreed with this statement.

The third master of the Lu family gnashed his teeth and said, "No matter what, we must look for experts everywhere and kill the Qi family to avenge this blood feud!"

The second master of the Lu family rolled his eyes and said disdainfully: "It's not that easy to find an expert, and it's too slow. It's better for our Lu family to go directly to the emperor. Now the new emperor hates the Qi family to the core. If we can make the Qi family guilty, then we're doomed, right?"

Upon hearing this, the Lu family looked at each other in bewilderment. Although they thought this was a good idea, the problem was that the previous emperors did not like the Lu family, so it was impossible for them to be reused. How could they then get on board the emperor?

Qi Mansion

Qi Ze returned to the mansion and told his family, "General Cheng came to deliver a letter saying that the three people from the Lu family did not confess and were taken to the palace by the new emperor."

"The new emperor wants to participate in the trial of bandits? That's great." Qi Lu said.

Qi Wan shook his head. "He has the leverage over the Lu family and wants to use them for his own purposes."

The Qi family looked at Qi Wan in surprise. When the Pu Dynasty was established, Emperor Taizu made clear rules for the royal family: In the previous dynasty, our Wang family suffered too much oppression from the Lu family. My descendants are never allowed to use members of the Lu family.

Now that the new emperor has just come to power, he wants to use the Lu family, which goes against the will of Taizu. Will the royal family agree to it?

"Just wait and see, there will be news within five days." Qi Wan said.

She was so sure because she heard her brother Qi Ze say, "There is no silver in the treasury, and it is time to pay the monthly salary. I am afraid we will have to borrow silver from the inner treasury this month."

There is not even a copper coin in the inner treasury. What will the new emperor use to pay out monthly silver?

If she were the new emperor and encountered such a situation, she would definitely ask for money from the Lu family, the richest family in the world.

As for how the new emperor would ask for money, she couldn't guess and could only wait and see.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, he began to hold court every morning.

Eunuch Sheng said sharply, "If you have something to say, please report it. If not, please leave the court."

Prime Minister Pei stepped out first and bowed, "Your Majesty, I have chosen an auspicious day for the Crown Prince to enter the East Palace..."

The new emperor frowned and waved his hand, "Let's not discuss it for now." His expression turned unsightly.

He thought to himself: I just took the throne and already I'm talking about appointing a crown prince. Isn't that annoying?

The Prime Minister was stunned for a moment, then said respectfully, "As you wish."

The new emperor's attitude made Prime Minister Pei understand that the matter of appointing a crown prince would have to be proposed by the emperor himself.

Otherwise, the new emperor will definitely be unhappy.

The civil and military officials were also secretly surprised that the new emperor did not appoint a crown prince.

What if something happens to the new emperor suddenly? Won’t the princes fight each other till they are bloodied?

The purpose of establishing a crown prince is to maintain the stability of the court.

After the crown prince is chosen, a tutor will be sent to teach him how to manage officials and govern the country.

Since the new emperor is unwilling to appoint a crown prince, which official below would dare to propose one?

Wu Shangshu of the Ministry of War stepped forward to report, "Your Majesty, Qi Lu's military power has been taken away. Who will be sent to take charge of that army?"

He already has a candidate in mind, and he will only recommend one when the new emperor asks.

Wu Shangshu of the Ministry of War used to be the prince's right-hand man. Now that the prince has ascended the throne and become the ruler of a country, Wu Shangshu has naturally gained more respect and trust.

The new emperor made a promise to Minister Wu, saying that after the new year name is determined in the spring of next year, he will allow his daughter to enter the palace and be canonized as a concubine.

When a new emperor ascends the throne, he will often start a new reign title in the new year, and will also enrich his harem after the new year. In this way, it is very likely that Minister Wu will obtain the title by virtue of his daughter's entry into the palace.

Minister Wu is more loyal than before.

When the new emperor came to power, he thought about it and realized that it was too expensive to maintain an army. The food, drink and salaries of a hundred thousand soldiers a year would be a huge expense.

He did not discuss it with people from the Ministry of War, let alone with the civil officials from the Secretariat.

The new emperor made his own decision. He waved his hand and stated, "After the new year, disband that group of soldiers. Those over 30 will resign. Select some young and strong ones to be the imperial guards, and the rest will be the city defense troops."

The reason why he wanted to disband this army after the New Year was because he simply couldn't afford to pay the army salaries now. Now that he couldn't get any salaries and was about to be disbanded, it would be strange if those soldiers didn't make a fuss.

"Ah?!" All the civil and military officials and royal relatives were shocked when they heard the new emperor propose to disband the Qi army after the new year.

Minister Wu never expected that the new emperor would disband a large army as soon as he ascended the throne.

He stared at the emperor with eyes wide open, incredulous, his heart filled with astonishment and confusion. The emperor looked serious, obviously not joking, but had already made a decision.

Wu Shangshu couldn't help but think of the difficult process of establishing this army. It seems simple to form a large army, but to make it an elite army that is invincible and unstoppable is harder than climbing to the sky.

The army led by Qi Lu had become a powerful army that the enemy was terrified of after years of training. However, the new emperor decided to disband them so rashly.

Minister Wu couldn't understand why the new emperor would have such an idea.

"Does the new emperor not understand the value of this army? Or is it because of some other reason?" Shangshu Wu was very confused and at the same time worried about the future situation.

"If we lose this powerful army, how will the court deal with the possible crisis?"

"It would be better if you could replace the general instead." Shangshu Wu could only mutter these words in his heart.

Since the new emperor had spoken, Minister Wu did not dare to refute him in public.

The new emperor asked, "What's wrong?" His tone was very dissatisfied.

"As you wish." Minister Wu had no choice but to bow.

Civil and military officials looked at Minister Wu with contempt.

They were very disappointed with the new emperor, and they placed their disappointment on the flattering Minister Wu.

They all thought, "The new emperor doesn't know the importance of a large army, and you, the Minister of War, don't know it?"

Minister Wu did not even say a word of advice to the new emperor, but simply followed his orders.

The new emperor made several decisions as soon as he came to power: allowing the concubines of the previous emperor to be buried alive with him, inexplicably taking away Qi Lu's military power, and disbanding the most elite army in the court.

This made all the civil and military officials extremely confused, not knowing what the new emperor would do next.

After the court session, all the officials secretly sighed, "Once the foreigners get the news that Qi Lu's army has been disbanded, they will definitely harass the border and start a war!"

"Alas, the world will be in turmoil again. We have only lived in peace for more than ten years!"

The soldiers led by Qi Lu were already in a bad mood when they first learned that their general had been deprived of his military power. They thought that the new emperor was just showing off his power and would return the general's military power after a while, so they did not cause trouble for the time being.

However, what they waited for was the army to be disbanded after the New Year.

This news made the soldiers completely angry: "We are rebelling against the tyrant!"

They discussed it privately and also spoke this to Qi Yuan quietly.

Qi Lu said to his second son Qi Yuan: "Persuade them not to act rashly. The army will be dismantled after the New Year. Maybe the new emperor will change his mind after the New Year."

The soldiers of the Qi army listened to the general's words and remained calm.