The Villain Runs Wild

Ch 72 - Ruthless Crown Prince x Foolish Prince: Doggo[1] Sets Out To Attack


On the last days of February, a major incident which shocked both those inside and outside of the court and the public took place.

About a dozen officials, including the Governor of the Yan Province, had been assassinated in their homes. In addition, a few local gentry and rich merchants had also unfortunately met their end, and the perpetrators had arrogantly left their names on a wall.

Since all the victims had been so far away from each other, the perpetrator couldn’t have been just one person or one group of people, but rather several groups. It was a crime committed by several large gangs in the Yan Province joining together.

This group of criminals had really been too savage, so the Emperor ordered for them to be killed without lenience during morning court, and sent troops lead by Xue Dingchun and accompanied by Zhong Zhuo to rush to the Yan Province and deal with the gangs.

However, before Xue Dingchun had even left, several news came from the Yan Province again.

A large amount of silver was found in the homes of every official, as well as evidence of collusion with rich gentry to defraud the people, and proof of smuggled iron weapons were even found in the homes of the gentry!

This wasn’t simply a case of officials being murdered. The Emperor flew into a rage and sent more supervisors and imperial guards to the Yan Province, and ordered Xue Dingchun to investigate thoroughly.

Xue Dingchun established a military order, he wouldn’t return to the capital until the Yan Province had been purged. He was naturally an upright person, so how could he tolerate this madness?

In court, storm clouds were approaching. On the matter at the Yan Province, however, some people were in high positions, and those with guilty consciences sought connections everywhere, hoping they could extricate themselves from this matter.

This was not only the Governor of State Affair’s people, but also people from the other factions.

Lin Sui had already informed the Governor of State Affairs that they absolutely could not defend them.

Once a chess piece had been replaced, naturally a new one would take its place. It made no sense for them to keep these bad pieces.

The Governor of State Affairs understood, he couldn’t let this matter become an excuse to denounce the Crown Prince’s faction, so he had spread the news that no help would be provided.

“I don’t know who did this, their execution was so fierce yet meticulous. When I heard the officials had been killed, I thought it had to be a personal grudge, but then realised it had to be more than that. After investigating the matter, it feels like the person behind this is a bit like Xue Dingchun, tearing the Yan Province’s sky apart with their own power.”

The Governor of State Affairs stroked his beard and sighed, anyone with a bit of political sensitivity would know that those gangs were not really the ones behind this.

That crowd of bandits would not be so arrogant as to dare kill even the Provincial Governor, and to be precise enough to murder every single person who had a key role in the smuggling and corruption.

This had absolutely been a plan to kill three birds with one stone, it cleared out all the rotten apples in the Yan Province without killing the local magistrates, and the common people in the Yan Province spread the news with joy.

Plus, relying on the power of the court to deal with the bandits and hit the rich gentry further shocked those other officials who contributed to the region’s chaos, so, regardless of the political angle, this move greatly benefitted the people.

It was just that this method was really terrifying, after all, he was also an official, and he didn’t want there to be a day where he was decapitated in his sleep and they couldn’t even find the culprit.

Lin Sui had a smile on his face: “Has grandfather thought of who to appoint as replacement, or which people would be suitable recommendations?”

The real mastermind didn’t need to let others know who had pushed everything behind the scenes, and even all those who did the work didn’t know the one behind them was actually the faraway capital’s Crown Prince.

Lin Sui was also not planning on telling his grandfather the truth, if he was smart enough, he would know who this matter had something to do with without him having to say anything, and if he didn’t sense anything then there was even less of a need for him to say something.

The Governor of State Affairs looked at the completely unperturbed fake Crown Prince, and suddenly paused.

He came back to his senses, and took up his brush to write down a list of names.

Satisfied, Lin Sui looked down at the writing on the list of names. Smart people only reacted, they didn’t make choices.

After discussing the deployment of people for a while, Lin Sui returned to the Eastern Palace and ordered someone to summon Zhou Yunfang.

“They’re sending forces to suppress bandits at the Yan Province, do you want to go?”

Zhou Yunfang hesitated, not quite grasping it: “This humble servant is willing, but this humble servant is stupid and doesn’t understand the reason behind this.”

Zhou Yunfang had a very good impression of his boss, his aunt had said the Crown Prince was scary, but the Crown Prince had never randomly punished him, and he’d even thought especially highly of him and trained him.

He’d liked martial arts since he was young, and the Crown Prince found a Master for him. He was an officer who had retired from the battlefield due to injuries, a general who had marched under the late God of War, General Shen Wei.

He really worshiped General Shen Wei!

He could not only learn great martial arts every day, he could also learn all kinds of theory for sending soldiers into war. Zhou Yunfang was so happy he listened to everything the Crown Prince said, but he didn’t understand what happened this time at the Yan Province. What did it have to do with him?

“See for yourself.”

Lin Sui pointed at two booklets arranged on the table, and Zhou Yunfnag stepped forward to pick them up and browse through them, his face changing abruptly.

“Nonsense! This is slander! My uncle has never been disloyal, how could he be looking to… to rebel!” Zhou Yunfang couldn’t speak clearly in his anger, and he continued to urgently say, “Your Highness, my uncle is almost sixty and his great grandchildren have been born, how could he possibly still set out to do this arduous and thankless task?”

Plotting a rebellion was punishable by beheading one’s whole family and confiscating their property, and their extended family would be found guilty by association. The Royal family would have nothing to fear, but what would his aunt do? What would his grandfather’s family do?!

“Don’t worry, this One naturally believes you, which is why this matter was kept under wraps. Imperial Uncle’s conduct is also clear to this One, so I secretly investigated the matter, and it should have something to do with his heir. You can take these things back home to discuss, and this One will provide assistance from the side.”

“The people behind this acted without worries because they firmly believe Imperial Uncle has no one to lean on…” Lin Sui looked at Zhou Yunfang, a meaningful look in his eyes, “The forces sent out this time are bound to be rewarded according to their service, don’t worry, Lord Governor of State Affairs will mediate from within, and the more you achieve, the more you’ll be rewarded.”

“Besides, haven’t you been wanting to go test your skills after listening to your teacher for so long?”

Zhou Yunfang was silent for a while, then knelt down and kowtowed.

“Zhou Yunfang will remember Your Highness’ great kindness until the day I die. I am indebted to You, as long as You order it, Zhou Yunfang will brave any dangers without hesitation!”

Lin Sui nodded. Zhou Yunfang’s “willingness without hesitation” was not the same as Zhong Zhuo’s “offering his life in sacrifice”, Zhong Zhuo was all talk, but Zhou Yunfang would surely abide by his word.

In the original book, Yan Qin had valued his talent and let Zhou Yunfang live, and Zhou Yunfang had spent his life repaying his Lord’s favour in the military.

A gentleman would die for someone who understood him.

The next day at court, Lin Sui discovered Prince Lan looking at him with a grateful expression. Lin Sui didn’t step forward to talk to him, but rather nodded slightly and brushed past him.

This is a fan translation posted to title-in-progress.dreamwidth.org. Support the author if you can.

In the Yan Province, Xue Dingchun began thoroughly investigating and making record of the crimes as soon as he arrived.

When he was looking into the accounts, he broke his brush in a fury when he found a sum of money that had actually come from the reinforcement of the embankment. He went to do an on-site investigation, then wrote a report that very night and had someone expedite its delivery through eight-hundred li[2] back to the capital.

He was not from the Yan Province, but everyone knew that the river in the province was fierce, yet the Provincial Governor had still dared to use shoddy materials to reinforce the embankment. If all happened as usual, flood season would come in less than a month, and who knew how many people would die if something went wrong then.

Fool, what a fool!

Seeing that Xue Dingchun’s report was filled with torrents of curses about people dying, the Emperor dispatched the officer in the Ministry of Works who was in charge of irrigation works to go investigate, and ordered that the embankment had to be reinforced.

The matter of suppressing bandits was advancing smoothly, and both officials and the populace worked day and night without stopping to reinforce the embankment.

This time, flood season arrived a couple of days earlier than usual, and when the water rose, it rained so heavily it was as though the sky itself was falling.

The rain was so fierce it seemed to swallow the entire sky.

Everyone rejoiced that the reinforcing of the embankment had finished by the time the water rose, otherwise the strong water would have surely burst through the previous embankment and caused a great catastrophe.

Everyone cursed in their hearts that it was good those people died, and the few people in the know revered Lin Sui even more.

The sky cleared after the rain, and although a few farmlands were flooded, fortunately it wasn’t fatal.

Xue Dingchun, who’d had a worried frown on his face for several days, finally felt relief.

Without casualties, there was no plague, and there was no catastrophe.

Afterwards, those who should be convicted were convicted, and the people who had to be transferred were transferred.

The huge change in the Yan Province far exceeded that of the Zhou Province. In the Zhou Province, only the main officials were changed, but there were major changes in all areas of the Yan Province, especially in the area of the iron mines, which the Emperor watched even more seriously.

Because of Zhou Yunfang’s bravery when killing bandits, he became a minor commander in the army, which was already a really rare position to be in due to his age and past experience.

When Yan Qin heard this, he just so happened to be training diligently in the mountain.

He’d grown much taller, if one had said that he looked like a pitiful and weak new-born pup before, now he’d grown into a rather heroic puppy.

“Zhou Yunfang really has some skills…”

Yan Qin walked away from underneath a waterfall, muttering thoughtfully.

Drops of water slid down, following the lines of the young man’s abdominal muscles, reflecting the light of the sun.

Remembering the way his big brother the Crown Prince had looked at him admiringly back then, Yan Qin’s heard was full of vigilance.

Yan Qin spoke to himself: “Speaking of, it’s almost National Day, I can find a way to see big brother Crown Prince more.”

Thinking of that person he could only meet in his dreams, Yan Qin sighed lightly.

He’d read many books during this time, and knew what a sense of propriety, justice, integrity and honour was, and he also knew that person he dreamt of was someone he absolutely couldn’t have.

But he couldn’t control himself to not want him and not dream about him, that kind of glee and satisfaction had made him addicted.

The more he forced himself to not think of his big brother, the more he would want him.

So Yan Qin simply didn’t restrict himself anymore, he just wanted to be able to touch his big brother the Crown Prince, to be stepped on by his big brother the Crown Prince, and to sleep by his big brother the Crown Prince’s side.

This is a fan translation posted to title-in-progress.dreamwidth.org. Support the author if you can.

The crisis in the Yan Province had just ended, but the court was still endlessly busy since National Day was just around the corner.

This was the day of the founding of the Great Yan Dynasty, every year on this day, the Emperor had to bring the princes and court councillors along to the large temple to offer incense, to pray for good weather for the crops and peace and prosperity for the country.

This year was not a full year, so they didn’t need to do everything in a lavish way, but what had to be put in place still had to be done, and with that major event that had just occurred staff had been shuffled around, and some new officials were not experienced enough, so everyone was very busy.

On National Day, the Emperor was up front, Lin Sui was next to him as Crown Prince, and the Princes and Princesses were in a row behind them.

That stupid Fifth Prince who needed to recuperate was not there, but no one cared.

Of his concubines, the Emperor had only brought the Imperial Noble Consort and Consort De, and his close ministers were Xue Dingchun, Zhong Zhuo, and the Governor of State Affairs.

According to the rules, these people had to stay the night at the large temple in order to “bathe in the Buddha’s light”[3].

Lin Sui arrived at the room in the temple where he would stay, which had a serene black bamboo forest outside of the window.

His plan had been able to advance one step further with the matter at the Yan Province, so now he only had to calmly wait for the next opportunity.

The Emperor’s health was not as good as it used to be due to his hearty indulgences.

Next, it would be time for Zhong Zhuo to present him with medicine, which would allow him to take another step further along the path of a treacherous court official.

Lin Sui was very pleased with the usefulness of this treacherous official’s piece, the treacherous official would naturally remove dissidents, and these were the people he wanted to kick away, of course.

Thinking about the completely unaware Emperor, the expression on Lin Sui’s face became more and more amused.

At night, Lin Sui opened his eyes in alert, then relaxed once more.

Lin Sui calmly asked: [Mother-in-law, is your son outside?]

The System spoke indignantly: [He’s pretty much your son!]

Lin Sui: [If you want to set it up like that, then that’s not impossible either.]

As everyone knew, being an adoptive father was a high-risk occupation.

 

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[1] Fun fact, have you ever come across the term “dog hook” while reading MTL? It’s very likely that the word was “狗勾 gou3 gou1” which does *iterally mean ‘dog hook’, but is actually just a cute way to say ‘dog’ much like ‘doggo’ or ‘doge’ in english. ⤴

[2] A li is about 500 metres, making the distance around 400 kilometres or 250 miles. ⤴

[3] They’re in a Buddhist temple, so they have to immerse themselves in the buddha’s teachings/the buddha’s aura. ⤴