Chapter 393: Potential Major Events

If Liu Yao had the ability to become a prefect, Lin Dong would be deeply troubled by it. After all, changing the mind of a prince was no easy task and came with significant costs.
But if it were a worthless prince, Ma Chun’s eloquence alone would suffice. The greatest advantage of being a prince for Lin Dong was that he didn’t want to attract the attention of the imperial court too early. A worthless person in a prince’s guise remained worthless—just bypassing those around him with some ability would do.
Moreover, Lin Dong knew of another prince who could rival Liu Yao—Liu Xiu, the prefect of Southwest City.
Liu Xiu was just as eloquent as Ma Chun and, with his status as a prince, his efforts to make Liu Yao change his mind were almost certain to succeed. Plus, finding an excuse like checking a portrait of a lady would suffice, and given Liu Xiu’s age and status, there was no need to worry that Liu Yao’s entourage would notice anything.
Over the past year, although Lin Dong had been busy in Lingnan City, he had devoted considerable effort to keeping an eye on Liu Xiu, this prince lurking right under his nose. There was no choice—though young and once deeply connected to Lin’s Inn, Liu Xiu was too clever. Once he realized the potential of Lin’s Inn, it could bring unknown threats.
During this time, Liu Xiu remained highly hidden, a world apart from Liu Yao.
On the surface, Qiufeng Mansion remained calm. The arrival of this prince-prefect hadn’t had much impact on the entire mansion. Policies remained those from Fu Tongshan’s era, with little change. People’s lives stayed as they were—there were still unjust cases, families forced to sell their children, and dissolute youths running amok in the streets…
As the initial excitement over the prince’s arrival faded over the past year, discussions about Liu Xiu in the streets and alleys of Qiufeng Mansion grew fewer and fewer. This prince-prefect seemed to be gradually forgotten by rumors.
Among the many new prefects and governors appointed in ten pilot counties including Lingnan City, Liu Xiu was the youngest and least well-known.
Yet Lin Dong knew that Qiufeng Mansion was about to witness a series of earth-shattering events.
A political earthquake, a business earthquake, a sect-related earthquake…
These events would affect every faction in Qiufeng Mansion.
Lin Dong wasn’t sure what the real situation was—everything was just his guess.

There is only one aspect to it. That is, Liu Xiu wanted to have the capital to compete for the throne while Emperor Qianwei had only a few years left to live, so he had to make a stunning impression. Moreover, this impression had to be one that would catch the attention and amaze everyone in the Han Dynasty.

Improving the living standards of Qiu Feng Mansion within one or two years, arresting and punishing a large number of corrupt officials within the same timeframe, and dealing with a group of unscrupulous merchants and landlords who colluded with officials and oppressed local communities within a year—all of these were far from enough.

The Han Dynasty was vast and populous. Although corruption was rampant in the government, with such a large scale, all kinds of people existed. It was common for an able official to emerge one year, a truly incorruptible official the next, or even an audacious official who dared to bring down nobles and execute them the year after. To the local people, these stories could be talked about for years, but in the imperial court, they were not unusual at all.

Take Zhou Zhengye, the former magistrate of Southwest County—this man was largely promoted by Lin Dong. During his more than one year in office, he had a significant impact. Especially since Fu Chunjian and Emperor Qianwei had been good friends for years, and Emperor Qianwei felt guilty toward Fu Chunjian, he always exaggerated Zhou Zhengye’s controversial style in Southwest City.

At first, Zhou Zhengye’s personality—treating superiors like bandits and subordinates like gods—did cause a sensation, and Emperor Qianwei took advantage of this to bring him to the capital.

But after more than half a year, as Zhou Zhengye was transferred to a minor office with no major responsibilities, his past achievements were rarely mentioned anymore. His influence was limited to Southwest County, where many people, even in Qiu Feng Mansion, had already forgotten about him.

Moreover, even in Southwest County, policies had begun to change in recent months. The new magistrate no longer cared much about Zhou Zhengye’s remaining influence there. Making money was more important than the potential trouble caused by Zhou Zhengye’s return and his fierce anger.

All of this only shows that Zhou Zhengye still wanted to climb higher. Putting aside Emperor Qianwei’s intention to keep him on the sidelines for a year or two to let him deal with attempts to recruit or suppress him from various factions and strengthen his position, he needed new achievements as well. The achievements in Southwest County might give him some reputation, but even if Emperor Qianwei wanted to promote him, he would need to create more achievements. Zhou Zhengye’s past deeds in Southwest County no longer had much influence.

This was also the main reason why Liu Xiu had to create a major incident; otherwise, even with some modest achievements, he could at most be promoted by one or two ranks after a three-year term, or perhaps, by chance, promoted within less than three years. At this pace, it would take over a decade before Liu Xiu, no matter how resourceful, could gain the influence and capital needed to compete for the throne. Unless Liu Xiu intended to stay quiet and wait until Emperor Qianwei passed away before being granted the title of prince to live out his days in comfort, drastic measures were the only option. In Lin Dong’s view, it was utterly impossible for Liu Xiu to simply wait passively for a prince’s title. Otherwise, he would have already succeeded in gaining the loyalty of all the major families in Qiufeng Mansion as soon as he arrived there, using them to achieve some accomplishments and thus earn the right to be made a prince earlier. To be made a prince wasn’t just about being the emperor’s brother—it required actual ability and no history of standing in the emperor’s way. If Emperor Qianwei passed away unexpectedly, the princes might amass their own armies. According to the rules of the Han Dynasty, even the most accomplished princes had to step down and return to the capital. Without any accomplishments, they could expect nothing but the title of imperial brother. It was almost certain that Liu Xiu would create a major incident that swept through entire Qiufeng Mansion. With his abilities, it was a sure thing for him to find a mediocre brother who was on equal footing and ask for thirty portraits of ladies—whether those portraits were given or borrowed. As for whether Liu Xiu would refuse, Lin Dong hadn’t even considered it. Regardless of whether this would affect Liu Xiu’s plans, he believed Liu Xiu would definitely help. Whether Liu Xiu would target Lin’s Inn, which could threaten his throne, if he ever ascended to the throne, Lin Dong didn’t know. But he was confident that helping with this small favor, even if it had some impact on his own plans, was worth it. It wasn’t until the sun set that the three of them finished their discussion. As a result, Lin Dong heaved a huge sigh of relief and was secretly glad that Liang Gufeng had gone to Lin’s Inn. Otherwise, when these countermeasures were unleashed, Lin’s Inn would face serious trouble. In summary, the first countermeasure left no choice but to prepare a response in advance. The chance of blocking the second countermeasure was about 30-40%, and just that was worth the drama that had taken place today.

With the third and fourth countermeasures, as long as they acted first, they could completely thwart Liang Gufeng’s plans and even force him to suffer a huge loss. After all, buying a plot of land in this expensive city suitable for building a stadium certainly came at a cost far beyond its original price. Even if Liang Gufeng tried to sell it later when he realized things were going wrong, it would be almost impossible to find a wealthy person who needed such a large plot in the city, forcing him to sell it at a significant loss or below its original value.

As for the thirty portraits of ladies, whether obtained through borrowing or purchase, Liang Gufeng would surely pay a hefty price for them. Liu Yao simply demanded to take them back or borrow them for a few months, without mentioning paying any money back. Even with Fenglin Restaurant as his strong backing, Liang Gufeng had no choice but to swallow his losses.

With one side suffering losses and the other reaping benefits, even if Linji Inn had to pay a price for this, it still amounted to a great deal of gain.

The plan of action had already been discussed, and all that remained was to implement it as quickly as possible. Otherwise, Liang Gufeng wasn’t stupid—he would surely try to minimize his losses and ensure that everything necessary was carried out once he realized his countermeasures had been revealed.

Lin Dong made an immediate decision to act swiftly. Ma Chun was tasked with finding a way to buy out all the timber and carpenters in Lingnan City, while Liu An was responsible for figuring out which ingredients Fenglin Restaurant had recently purchased and stored but hadn’t used, and which could be monopolized temporarily for a fee.

After giving instructions to the two, Lin Dong rushed to the backyard right away.

He quickly made his way to the enclosure, ordered the guard in charge to get the fully tamed Hundred-Wing Birds to obey his commands, and then led them straight to the storage room where the transport door was located.

Given the size of the Hundred-Wing Birds, the door of the storage room was naturally too narrow. Without hesitation, Lin Dong slapped it, instantly creating a huge hole in the door.

Similarly, he created ample space for the secret passages and transport doors using the Hundred-Wing Birds.

Upon arriving at Linji Inn in Qiufeng City, Lin Dong repeated the process, leading the Hundred-Wing Birds out of the storage room.

Looking up at the sky, it was gray and drowsy. In the autumn wind that made people’s clothes flutter, Lin Dong could occasionally see a few withered leaves drifting in the air.

He immediately mounted the back of the Hundred-Wing Bird and, with a command, the bird flapped its wings and soared into the sky, heading toward the government mansion he remembered.

He continued upward until he reached above the government office, guessing it must be the rear courtyard. To avoid being seen by unrelated maids and servants, Lin Dong took out a black scarf and tied it over his face. He instructed the Hundred-Wing Bird to circle in the vicinity before descending from a height of sixty or seventy meters.

The howling wind created intense friction with the energy shield, draining Lin Dong’s spiritual energy. Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters… When there was less than ten meters left, Lin Dong twisted his waist, forcefully stopping his downward momentum, then flipped over and landed steadily.

“Who’s there?”

Two angry shouts suddenly rang out. Lin Dong turned his head and was slightly surprised. It indeed was the rear courtyard—at the entrance of an open room, Liu Xiu stood there, dressed casually and staring intently. About five or six meters away, a black shadow rushed toward them at high speed. With Lin Dong’s keen eyes, he could barely make out that the shadow belonged to Xiao Tianchi, the leader of the Gu Huan Clan.