With the dawn of the new day, the whole capital city was talking about a single thing. A rumor had spread throughout the whole city that sothing happened inside the Royal Estate.
"Did you hear about what they are saying?"
"I heard soone decided to infiltrate the royal capital in broad daylight without the knowledge of the royal guards."
"Not just that, they even say that the man was able to defeat all the captains of the royal guard, and the security of the royal palace had been questioned."
Seated on the benches beside the stands of a dumpling cart, a few people shared their own version of the rumor.
"I think it's all fake." Suddenly, a small boy working at the stall as a waiter interrupted them. "There is no way soone has the balls to do sothing like that in the presence of our emperor."
He spoke up with a prideful look on his face as if he was the emperor himself. Hearing his words, the adults seated at the table laughed out loud.
"What a crude mouth you have, boy!" A burly man with a bushy beard slamd his hands on the table, laughing at the boy for the way he spoke. Living on the streets, it was natural for the kids to pick up a curse word or two from the adults.
"Hmph! I am already ten, I am not a boy! I will crush your balls one day if you don't treat like an adult!" The small boy harrumphed before he walked away from the table to the stall, which was being managed by an old man.
"Did you hear that, Old Li? That kid will crush your balls!" The others seated at the man's table started laughing at the bearded man while he ignored them and started shoving the dumplings one after another down his mouth in anger.
***
"Your Majesty, everyone is talking about yesterday's events." Standing in the middle of the throne room, the pri minister bowed to Wuhan while reporting to him about everything.
The whole room was filled with the officials who worked for the emperor. After they all heard what happened yesterday, they all wanted to punish the culprit in public.
But Shi Tzu sohow managed to get them to back off. It did not take him much thinking to realize that the emperor thought highly of that boy and after hearing the boy's words, he would rather have him as an ally than as an enemy.
"Hmm…" Seated on the top of the throne, Wuhan was leaning back in the chair with his eyes closed. "Get the head captain to see after this eting. I will ask him to spread the word that what happened yesterday was a drill exercise to see how the guards would handle things if they were to face such situations in real life."
"Your Majesty!" One of the officials ca forward and bowed to Wuhan before continuing, "Can you tell us if that was really what happened? We were curious if this was really what you told us or just an enemy attack as we did not know anything about it."
Seeing the crafty look on the man's face, Wuhan imdiately understood what he was trying to do, but his calm expression did not change at all. Stay updated with empire
"Do I have to tell you about everything I do?" Wuhan calmly asked back. Even though his voice was not cold, it contained a hint of pressure that caused the official before him to turn pale. "If it was really an enemy attack, would we have all our loyal guards and soldiers safe and sound?"
His words did not allow anyone to refute them. If it had been a real enemy attack, the enemy would never leave a person alive.
"His Majesty consulted with on this matter. I was the one who suggested that he should not tell any of you about it because you have reason to be partial and we needed impartial results." Shi Tzu ca forward and addressed all the officials himself. If there were any complaints left in their minds, they were no longer there.
Shi Tzu had been in the Royal Court from the ti of the previous ruler. He was known for his loyalty to the throne and the empire.
"If I had told any of you about it, what would have been the point of it being a surprise?" Wuhan waved his hands, signaling the man to go back.
"The reason I chose to have this exercise was also the reason I called this eting today." Wuhan shifted the air of the room as he said those words.
"Ever since I have taken over my position as the emperor, I have made a lot of changes in many departnts.
All of these changes have yielded great results. We have co a long way from the empire of the past, but it cos to my attention that I have not been focusing on one of the most important things of any empire…
Our Army!" As soon as Wuhan started talking, everyone in the room forgot about the incident. They never thought that Wuhan would suddenly say sothing like that.
Standing in the corner of the hall, Noah, who was in his disguise, smiled hearing Wuhan's words. No one in the room had even realized that soone was standing there in that place.
"We need new hot blood in our army ranks. I know that we get new recruits every year joining us, but how long has it been since we had soone with good talent join our ranks?"
"Your Majesty, the generals have the right to get talented disciples to train," one of the officials asked.
"They do, but do you think that four talented disciples are enough? What if they decide to leave the army? What if they die on the battlefield?"
Seeing that no one had any answers for him, Wuhan continued, "All the talented youngsters decide to join the major sect instead of us. Why is that?"
Hearing about the major sects, all the officials sighed in unison.
"Your Majesty, joining the sects gives them the security of advancing without taking the risk of joining a battlefield and risking their lives." Shi Tzu ca forward and answered. While speaking about the major sect, there was a hint of contempt in his voice.
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