Castle of Black Iron

When the golden sun set in the west, the night fell. Only 1/3 of turbid wine was left in the bottle unconsciously under the old peach tree in the Sincerity Garden, emperor’s imperial city…

Xuanyuan Hill was very large. The wild swans had not reached Gold and Power Market yet; therefore, Han Yuanhong had not heard the noise drifting from outside the auction house.

Meng Shidao and Han Zhengfang were having a drink on both sides of the stony table while talking with each other.

The so-called stony table was actually a time-honored stone mill composed of two parts.

The edge of the stone mill was already worn. The hole in the middle of the mill had been blocked by sundries. The lower mill was close to the ground. Therefore, its feet had been covered with mosses. Such a worn stone mill would be abandoned by well-off families. However, in Sincerity Garden, it was treated as the stony table for receiving guests. Very few people across the emperor’s imperial city could have a seat on the side of this stone mill.

The master of royal prince might take over the position of prime minister, one of the top three chancellors of Taixia Country in the future.

When Han Zhengfang talked and drank with the master of the royal prince, he gradually felt that master of the royal prince was most interested in the economy of Taixia Country that he was responsible for.

Prime minister was responsible for the political affairs across Taixia Country. This position could help the royal prince pretty much; prime minister could assist the royal prince to control the overall situation of Taixia Country. Compare to the general inspector who was responsible for supervision, education, etiquette and sacrifice and defense secretary, the prime minister was more influential to all aspects across Taixia Country. Of course, the royal prince hoped that he could be assisted by his master in the most important position. Meanwhile, it would meet the interests of the Gobbling Party.

If the master of royal prince took over the position of prime minister, the Finance Minister’s Mansion would become the immediate subordinate of the master of the royal prince. The master of royal prince might want to pass this signal to Han Zhengfang through this meeting.

‘I wonder what condition could that guy in the east imperial palace provide so as to have Di Longtu, who was the current prime minister, abdicate voluntarily? Di Longtu is bad-tempered. He would not consider modestly decline as a virtue on this point. Whether could I grasp an opportunity during this process? If I could have Di Clan fight the master of the royal prince, it would interesting.’

When Han Zhengfang was thinking about something evil, he looked and said sincerely. Han Zhengfang treated well-known master of the royal prince who was going to be the immediate superior of Finance Minister’s Mansion pretty politely; at the same time, he maintained his dignity and moral courage as the finance minister of Taixia Country.

“According to the statistics about the consumption of edible salt among all the provinces that the Finance Minister Mansion made 3 years ago, there were over 0.1536 trillion people in Taixia Country. Over 80% of these people are in the 9 immortal provinces, 36 upper provinces and 72 major provinces in Taixia Country. One of such provinces would have about 10 billion people. Although the medium and lower provinces have large land areas, they have fewer people; additionally, most people settled in nearby cities. There’s still a great development potential in the field. Fanzhou Province has the least population. Fanzhou Province is a barren and cold land. It contains less than 100 million people. Besides those uncivilized barbarians, each wild province would usually have millions of Hua people and descendants, at most 10 million people. However, many criminals usually escape to wild provinces so as to avoid the arrest of the Supreme Court.”

Han Zhengfang put his drink down. After hearing the master of royal prince’s question about population statistics in Taixia Country, he immediately uttered a lot of figures. Actually, these figures were classified in Taixia Country. Low-rank officials could not touch these figures at all.

“Migrating criminals to open up wasteland in wild provinces is a national policy of Taixia Country. The ruling party actually forgive those criminals in this way. Most of the people who violate rules by force are cunning and evil. Although they are toxic in Taixia Country, as long as they are not heinous, the Supreme Court would just drive them into the wild provinces so as to survive themselves; meanwhile, they could contribute to the wasteland reclamation in Taixia Country. Additionally, these guys could also deal with those barbarians in those wild provinces. After 100 years, when some descendants of these criminals could be something, they would build cities and seek for paying allegiance to the imperial court so as to make their ancestors illustrious. By then, Taixia Country could update those wild provinces to establish provinces and assign one provincial governor and some able men over there to have them under control!” The master of royal prince really had special discernment about national policies.

“Master of the royal prince, what a unique analysis!” Han Zhengfang replied with a smile as he nodded, “It also benefits from the grant morality of His Majesty!”

The two people raised their glasses once again. As Zhang Tie had imagined, when their glasses touched, the master of royal prince received the emergency remote-sensing message from the royal prince, which was about what was happening outside the emperor’s imperial city.

Although being earth-shaking, this news didn’t influence the mood of the master of the royal prince at all. Even his hand which was holding the glass remained unchanged. Meng Shidao was still drinking and chatting with Han Zhengfang as if nothing had happened.

1 minute later, the master of royal prince received another message from the royal prince; however, he still didn’t make any response to it.

Not until a few minutes later when Han Yuanhong left the auction house after hearing the uproar outside Gold and Power Market did the master of royal prince notice that the hand of Han Zhengfang became stiff suddenly.

The master of royal prince put down the drink as he looked at Han Zhengfang with a smile and that glass of wine in Han Zhengfang’s hand as he asked casually, “Zhengfang, did you receive the same message from your subordinate?”

The thunder-like question caused a faint ripple in Han Zhengfang’s glass.

Han Zhengfang’s face remained unchanged. After bottoming up the glass of wine, he replied with the same smile, “I’ve indeed received a message just now; I wonder about the message that the master of royal prince refers to?”

“I’ve just received the message from the royal prince. As Xuanyuan Hill is holding the Treasures Meeting lately, someone evil guys grasped this opportunity to bewilder the public by using animal controlling skill. They say you’re the master of Heavens Reaching Church!” The master of royal prince said casually as if he just took it as a rumor and didn’t care about it at all.

“I’ve also received the report from my subordinate!” Han Zhengfang let out a sigh, “When one reaches a high place, he would always feel cold. I’m afraid that I’ve offended too many people as a finance minister. Perhaps, the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church want to mess up the overall situation facing Taixia Country. Therefore, they used such an insidious means. It ruined our good moods here!”

“These evil forces are indeed disgusting!” The master of royal prince nodded as if he sympathized Han Zhengfang’s encounter very much.

“These evil forces seize the opportunity to make troubles. After hearing this rumor, I’m afraid that my family members have already become chaotic. In order to reassure my family members and avoid from accidents, Zhengfang has to bid a farewell to you. Thanks for your hospitality, master of the royal prince!” Han Zhengfang stood up in a calm way.

The master of royal prince also stood up as he said with a smile, “Zhengfang, don’t worry about that. Royal prince has already assigned the able staff men of Imperial Affairs Ministry to comfort your family members in the Finance Minister’s Mansion. Therefore, your mansion would never be bothered by those evil forces. Those evil forces want to mess up the overall situation facing Xuanyuan Hill by targeting at the finance minister in such an insidious way. It’s already a bit chaotic outside the emperor’s imperial city. The Zodiac Guards have already blocked the emperor’s imperial city. Considering that those evil forces might have other means, the royal prince is summoning the 9 ministers and me to negotiate about the counter-measures in the imperial palace so as to stabilize the overall situation. As Zheng fang is here, at the order of royal prince, we should enter the imperial palace together!”

‘Enter the imperial palace?’ How could Han Zhengfang be mired in the desperate place at this moment? There are sheer terrors in the emperor’s imperial palace. As long as those secret tricks were triggered in the imperial palace, Han Zhengfang would fall into the hell. Even sage-level knights from top 6 sects could not come out of there completely, not to mention Han Zhengfang. If Han Zhengfang agreed to enter the imperial palace at this moment, he would have no chance to survive himself any longer. If he was really slandered by the evil forces, of course, he dared enter the imperial palace together with the master of the royal prince to meet the royal prince at this moment so as to clarify his innocence while not afraid of being investigated. But the problem was that Han Zhengfang knew that it was not a blasphemy but a truth. As the finance minister of Taixia Country, he knew clearly how many means could Xuanyuan Hill and the emperor’s imperial city use to figure out his event.

‘What a smart royal prince!’

‘I should never enter the imperial palace.’

‘I’ve got no chance to fabricate a lie anymore! Little time left!’

‘How could it suddenly reach this step? Who’s on the back of this event?’ If possible, Han Zhengfang really wanted to take a look at the 12 huge words moving in the sky which sent him into eternal damnation.

‘Are the top 6 sects dealing with me and Taixia Country or is it the inferior means of burning the bridge after crossing it adopted by demons? Who else in Taixia Country could send me into such a poor situation in the blink of an eye besides the two parties?’

As he didn’t know who screwed him on the back, Han Zhengfang felt a chill invading each of his cells from his head to his toe, causing his heart to turn icy gradually.

At this moment, Han Zhengfang suddenly realized that his 2nd son who was still missing might have already been killed.

After finding that Han Zhengfang remained still, the master of royal prince’s eye light turned profound and heart-piercing abruptly.

With a stone table in between, Han Zhengfang and Meng Shidao looked straight into each others’ eyes while their smiles gradually faded away. At this moment, a withered peach leaf fell onto the stone stable while a solemn killing intent filled the entire Sincerity Garden in a split second…