Chapter 1538: Each Harbors Its Own Scheme

This matter almost caused a falling out between Chief Minister Liang and King Yao.

Chief Minister Liang looked thoughtful.

King Yao had offered him compensation. Should he accept or not?

Why did all the officials want to be involved in the new city's construction? The answer was simply "profit distribution."

The so-called "assisting in the construction of Xilin Temple" was, to put it plainly, giving this huge, lucrative project directly to Chief Minister Liang.

To elaborate, it meant yielding a massive portion of the profits to Chief Minister Liang.

How substantial would the profits be from temple construction and devotee donations?

Chief Minister Liang pondered, while Chief Attendant Xiao dared not utter a sound.

Inside the imperial study, the atmosphere was heavy.

Facing the goddess's earthly representative, King Yao naturally had to show rare patience.

After a good while, Chief Minister Liang slowly raised his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Very well, let He Xia finish building the new city's temple."

He understood that King Yao had no intention of handing over He Xia for now. It was pointless to press the matter further.

King Yao's eyes crinkled with a smile. "Chief Minister Liang is truly farsighted!"

This hurdle was cleared, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"During this period, he had best not offend again." With that, Chief Minister Liang turned and left, with Chief Attendant Xiao following closely behind.

Passing by Yuquan Palace, Chief Attendant Xiao saw You Rongzhi and He Xia beneath the veranda.

The two divine officials, surrounded by temple devotees, were expressionless and looked straight ahead. As Chief Minister Liang approached, You Rongzhi immediately stood with his hands at his sides. Only He Lingchuan remained seated, unmoving as a mountain, even smiling and waving, "Farewell, gentlemen!"

You Rongzhi shot him a warning glance, but He Lingchuan ignored it.

As an foreign merchant, he had no reverence for the goddess worshipped by the locals.

Chief Minister Liang cast a faint glance at He Lingchuan.

The young man was not only casual, but his gaze was also full of provocation. It was clear he was confident that King Yao would not abandon him.

Good. Very well.

Chief Attendant Xiao then said to He Lingchuan, "Build the temple well, and do not betray the King's favor towards you."

He Lingchuan flashed a wide, bright smile, "Certainly, certainly."

The two divine officials immediately walked away without looking back.

Seeing this, You Rongzhi didn't bother to say more. In truth, He Xia's fate was already sealed, regardless of whether he had offended the temple or not.

What a pity, what a shame to lose such astonishing talent.

After leaving the palace and getting into the carriage, Chief Attendant Xiao said resentfully, "The King is protecting that He fellow, so there likely won't be any punishment."

Everyone in Tianshui City knew that He Xia was King Yao's most favored person.

But Chief Attendant Xiao hadn't expected He Xia to dare provoke the temple, relying on King Yao's backing.

"Do you think, once the temple is built, the King will truly hand He Xia over to us?"

Chief Minister Liang remained silent.

He Xia was the linchpin of the new city's construction. This massive project would take at least two years, so King Yao wouldn't replace him within the next two years; otherwise, he would only be causing trouble for himself and for Tianshui City.

Once the temple was built, King Yao would most likely find another excuse to put them off. If they couldn't take He Xia now, would they be able to then?

Even though Chief Minister Liang understood this perfectly, he couldn't say it outright, because he had just agreed to King Yao's terms.

That old fox was truly cunning. He and He Xia had offended the revered Miaozhantian, yet the compensation was offered to Chief Minister Liang.

If they were to compensate the goddess, how much effort would that require? And the goddess might not even be satisfied.

Ultimately, only human greed was the most tangible and easiest to satisfy.

"Chief Minister, from what happened tonight, it seems they had long set their sights on Xilin Temple's valuable resources!" Recalling his own temple, Chief Attendant Xiao's heart bled. "He Xia is undeniably involved in the collapse of Xilin Temple!"

To build a new city, they actually set their sights on the temple! "Utterly depraved" was too mild a word to describe it!

Chief Minister Liang, however, felt something was amiss. "How could they be so disrespectful to the main deity?"

Was King Yao insane? No matter how eager he was to build the new city, how dared he anger the goddess?

Chief Attendant Xiao's face darkened. "From the moment He Xia began building the Youhu Villa, everything they did was disrespectful. No, even earlier, they started to prevaricate and neglect the goddess!"

When it came to direct confrontation like today's, Qing Yang was actually an old hand. Chief Minister Liang had thought of her earlier, but Qing Yang had previously made a proposal to Miaozhantian, which the goddess was still considering.

Under such circumstances, Chief Minister Liang found it difficult to hastily ask her to intervene.

Afterward, King Yao summoned You Rongzhi and He Xia and severely reprimanded them.

He Lingchuan knew this was an indispensable step, so he took the scolding without a word, only asking at the end, "So, should the monumental pillar be dismantled?"

"Dismantle what?" King Yao glared. "Leave it!"

Chief Minister Liang no longer brought it up, and King Yao was, of course, happy not to mention it.

If neither side mentioned it, then the default was that the monumental pillar didn't need to be dismantled.

"Your Majesty is truly wise!" He offered a profusion of unprompted flattery.

He Lingchuan knew he had won a resounding victory tonight.

Having vented his anger with the scolding, King Yao pointed towards the study door and said irritably, "Get out!"

He Xia walked out unhurriedly, while You Rongzhi remained.

King Yao didn't even mention punishment for He Xia.

How should he be punished?

Imprisonment? He Xia was constantly busy with the eastern expansion project, running in and out. How could King Yao restrict his movements? Besides, the nine hundred guards assigned to him were already a form of protective custody for He Xia.

A fine or forced donation? He was a foreign merchant with no official title in the capital's eastern expansion project, merely a "steward." He didn't even draw a salary; he was essentially working for King Yao for free.

Good heavens, he was working voluntarily, not earning a single penny here, and they wanted him to lose money?

If King Yao were to do that, it would be hard to guarantee He Xia's cooperation.

If he became uncooperative, problems would easily arise with the projects under his control: delays here today, slowdowns there tomorrow, and material inspection failures the day after.

With such a massive project, there were countless issues and frictions daily. He Xia wouldn't even need to find excuses; he could simply let things take their course, and the project's progress would naturally be significantly impacted, with no one being able to say much.

This Island Master He also had no family in Yao, no weaknesses. At most, King Yao could order a strict investigation into Yangshan Chamber of Commerce's illegal operations, checking for tax evasion or false accounting, but that would be a minor inconvenience for He Xia.

After much thought, King Yao couldn't come up with a good way to control He Xia.

Since he had already offended the temple and offered compensation to Chief Minister Liang, King Yao simply hoped the capital's eastern expansion project would proceed smoothly without further complications, allowing him to recoup his investment and collect funds sooner.

King Yao further understood that exceptionally capable people often had strong personalities and their own opinions. Therefore, scolding He Xia verbally to vent his anger was as far as he could go; substantive punishment was not advisable.

Once he was tired of scolding, he would just tell He Lingchuan to leave.

Next, King Yao intended to get the full story from You Rongzhi.

You Rongzhi dared not conceal anything. After all, regarding the dismantling and repurposing of Xilin Temple's stone materials this time, he had truly been kept completely in the dark from start to finish.

King Yao was speechless for a long moment.

This meant that He Xia had controlled the capital's eastern expansion project too effectively.

Dismantling stone materials and constructing the monumental pillar were not tasks that could be accomplished by one person alone.

The terrifying part was that the officials and teams who carried out these two tasks followed He Xia's instructions without question or hesitation.

If removing items from Xilin Temple could be attributed to King Yao's authorization, then taking the stone pillar heads from Xilin Temple to repair the monumental pillar surprisingly did not arouse any suspicion or hesitation from the officials.

What did this indicate?

It indicated that He Xia's established image of "authority" was deeply ingrained. Executing his commands had become a subconscious reaction for them; they didn't even think too much about it.

You Rongzhi's report was straightforward: he had consistently felt an overwhelming sense of drive and enthusiasm permeating the project.

He had never experienced such a feeling in any other organization, except the army.

In just one month, He Xia had transformed a motley crew with ulterior motives into a team that felt like an army?

This was simply terrifying.

King Yao certainly wished for a highly efficient and capable team of officials who could tackle tough challenges, but the leader should not be an outsider!

His officials should not be blindly obedient to a foreign merchant!

His team should not be so easily manipulated by an outsider!

If He Xia couldn't be controlled, he should be eliminated as soon as his usefulness expired.

You Rongzhi finally couldn't help but ask, "My King, Chief Minister Liang's expression was not good when he left."

Would this matter truly be dismissed so lightly? It didn't fit Chief Minister Liang's temperament.

King Yao glanced at him, stifled a yawn, and said, "You may withdraw, I am tired."

With dawn breaking, he was nearly sixty and had stayed up all night!

Not one of them had ever eased his mind.

"Yes." You Rongzhi understood: Chief Minister Liang's temperament wouldn't change, and the King had most likely made some concessions.

After leaving the palace, He Lingchuan boarded the carriage driven by Wan Qifeng and headed towards the East City Gate.

Behind them, three hundred guards immediately followed, their horses' hooves clattering. It was just dawn, and early risers on the road turned to watch Island Master He's grand procession.

Settling into his own carriage, He Lingchuan stretched luxuriously, cast a barrier, and then burst into laughter!

He had ruined a temple, repurposed building materials, and infuriated divine officials, yet he had emerged from the palace completely unscathed after merely receiving a scolding.

It was unbelievably smooth!

"Absurd, utterly absurd!" The mirror was also overcome with mirth. "So this hurdle is cleared?"

"Cleared," He Lingchuan replied, his amusement barely masking his triumph. "I thought the temple would bring in Qing Yang, but they didn't. Fortunately, they didn't!"

He was quick-witted, but frankly, his eloquence was only average, not even comparable to Fu Liushan's.

Qing Yang had stood in the Beijia court for a century and a half; what kind of attacks hadn't she seen? If she had come to the imperial study to confront him, He Lingchuan wasn't confident he could out-argue her.

That scene would not have been pretty.

He Lingchuan also knew that the temple and Qing Yang maintained contact. For some unknown reason this time, the temple hadn't invited Qing Yang to assist.

A major misstep. Chief Minister Liang was probably regretting it, wasn't he?

The mirror also chuckled, "Those two divine officials are terrible at arguing; they're no match for you."

"Divine attendants, you see, usually just recite divine blessings. They only need to obey those above them and exert authority over those below; they don't have much room for flexibility," He Lingchuan said, clasping his hands behind his head.