kingnovel Chapter 822: Chen Ling'er's Mortal Tribulation
Chapter 822: Chen Ling'er's Mortal Tribulation
The greatest threat to feudal dynasties was the powerful clans and aristocratic families.
When the Great Xia Dynasty was first established, Chen Futu destroyed the old regime and established the new one, reshaping the world and vigorously cracking down on the power of aristocratic families and clans, which allowed the newly established Great Xia Empire to develop smoothly.
Now that Chen Ling'er is in power, the powerful clans and aristocratic families are making a comeback, spreading like wildfire.
They initially only tested the imperial court, but later, realizing that the emperor was far away, they became bolder and began to target state-run salt and iron monopolies, as well as smuggling tea and horses. This truly reflects the saying, "People die for wealth, birds die for food."
They were terrified of Chen Futu to the core, but that didn't stop them from making a fortune.
Chen Futu was like an observer with a god-like perspective, coldly watching everything that happened in Lizhou.
He wasn't afraid of the situation getting out of control because he was the strongest person in the world, bar none.
He can set things right and cleanse all filth whenever he wants.
"That's not enough. Ling'er hasn't figured out where the problem lies yet."
Chen Futu gave Ake a task: to go to a place far from the crowds and simulate a natural disaster to wake up Chen Ling'er.
As expected, with the occurrence of the earthquake, dissatisfaction with Chen Ling'er gradually erupted among the people, who said that she was like a hen crowing at dawn and was not suitable to be the emperor, and that she should return power to Emperor Wen.
Chen Ling'er finally realized the seriousness of the problem: she had no soldiers left.
The Emperor took away the various military legions, leaving her with no choice but to focus on military matters.
This was an extremely exhausting task. Chen Ling'er pondered national policies night after night, growing increasingly thin and even coughing frequently.
Chen Futu saw this and felt as if his heart was being torn apart.
Ling'er unknowingly entered the mortal world and was undergoing a tribulation. She would experience birth, aging, sickness and death.
Furthermore, the moment Chen Ling'er unconsciously transformed into a mortal, her cultivation foundation completely disappeared, and within just a few years, her once black hair turned gray.
Qin Liangyu looked at her daughter, who looked even older than herself, and burst into tears.
Chen Futu hardened his heart and stopped her from interfering. Now is a critical period, and Ling'er must get through it and comprehend the great principles of humanity in order to transcend.
Three more years passed, and a rebellion broke out in Lizhou.
The first to rise up were the various tribes of the Western Regions. They were very bold. Without the suppression of the Western Regions King and the Mohists, they gathered a coalition of 100,000 troops and advanced towards Tongguan.
Chen Ling'er appointed several young generals to defend against the enemy. Many people died in the war, but at least they won.
Fu Shuang asked, "Lizhou is the chessboard, and all living beings are the chess pieces. Your Majesty has such a cruel heart."
"A population increase of several decades or even a hundred years is something the current court cannot handle. Even without war, internal strife will break out."
Chen Futu's statement may be somewhat cruel, but it is the truth.
Regardless of the feudal dynasty, every so often a war must be fought to deplete the excess population, and then the dynasty will enter a downward cycle again. This period is often referred to as a "Change" or "Chaos".
Originally, Chen Changsheng planned to use other methods to increase employment and then promulgate a series of national policies to solve the population problem. Unfortunately, Chen Ling'er did not understand those things and fell into the vicious cycle of the feudal dynasty.
Several years passed in the blink of an eye. Chen Ling'er was exhausted from maintaining her life away from the continent and became increasingly thin.
To alleviate the hardships of the people, she promulgated a series of policies to reduce the dynasty's expenditures, such as the reform of the "fire tax" system and the "Green Sprouts Law".
Those were things Chen Changsheng had told her unintentionally, and they were also historical lessons learned from the end of the Chen Futu sect.
The implementation of the Green Sprouts Act failed to eliminate its drawbacks, leading to widespread public resentment.
Some people in the north started an uprising in the northern border region under the pretext of "purging the court of corrupt officials".
Chen Futu was at a loss for words.
He himself started his rebellion in the northern frontier, and now someone is imitating him to deal with his daughter. This is quite amusing.
Upon hearing of the cholera outbreak in the Northern Frontier, Chen Ling'er was furious. She personally led the expedition and slaughtered countless people in the Battle of Beixing Mountain. Even though she lacked a martial arts foundation, she was still very strong. It was a battle technique engraved in her soul. Not to mention ordinary generals, even Grand Venerables could not defeat her.
The outbreak of the war in the northern frontier was just the beginning. People in various places rose up in rebellion under the banner of "The Blue Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise, the year is Jiazi, and the world will be blessed."
The people who funded the anti-king were mostly newly established aristocratic families.
Chen Ling'er was caught in an endless internal conflict that lasted for seven or eight years.
She has transformed from a young and beautiful girl into an old emperor with a face full of wrinkles and dry skin. She has never married or taken in any lovers.
The daughter of the Human Emperor is proud to the core; no one is worthy of being the most dazzling pearl of Lizhou.
Later, a rebel king offered a reward of one million gold coins for Chen Ling'er, calling on powerful figures in the martial arts world to assassinate or capture her alive.
A group of reckless powerful figures launched a sneak attack, and Chen Ling'er fought a fierce battle in the imperial city, sustaining injuries.
Chen Ling'er single-handedly killed dozens of Great Venerables, leaving mountains of corpses and seas of blood, so that no one dared to cross the line.
Fortunately, there are no saints in this world, and no one can rival her.
Gradually, the rebel kings in various places went into hiding, secretly gathering strength, waiting to deliver a fatal blow to her.
Time flies again, and Chen Ling'er has grown old, her hair now completely white.
That winter, rebel kings from all sides gathered more than 200,000 men and besieged the capital from all sides.
Chen Ling'er mounted a galloping blue-maned horse and led her troops on their journey.
Others couldn't discern the origins of the Green-Maned Horse, but Chen Futu knew it was Xiao Qing. Xiao Qing had only recently awakened from the abyss, and with the bloodline of the Qilin, it entered the divine path, transforming into an ordinary horse to enter the capital and replace Ling'er's mount.
The wind and frost lashed against Chen Ling'er's face. She gazed at the dark sky, her heart filled with desolation and loneliness. "Father, Mother, do you really not want Ling'er anymore?"
Upon hearing these words, Qin Liangyu, who was watching the battle from the void, burst into tears.
Chen Futu glanced at the arrogant and domineering rebel kings, feeling neither joy nor sorrow.
The war was extremely brutal. The plains outside the imperial city were stained red with blood. Chen Ling'er's army was almost completely wiped out, while she, alone with a gun, fought her way through the chaos of the battle with her old body.
Xiaoqing didn't make a move; it simply carried Chen Ling'er, ensuring her safety.
After the battle was over, the area outside the capital was littered with corpses, and the rebels temporarily retreated.
Chen Ling'er was severely injured, her body covered in bloody wounds. Leaning on her spear, she knelt amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, crying her heart out, "Father, Mother, I miss you so much..."
Her life was slipping away, but her ring contained many sacred pills, imperial pills, and even divine pills. Unfortunately, she had lost her cultivation and could not use them.
"Father, Mother, am I going to die?"
The wind blew in, carrying snowflakes, and Chen Ling'er shivered from the cold.
The dark army pressed forward again from afar. She staggered to her feet and picked up her sticky, blood-stained spear.
The passing of life made her eyelids so heavy that she could barely lift them.
"I am the daughter of the Human Emperor. If you wish to destroy the Great Xia, you must first step over my dead body."
"Chen Ling'er, now that things have come to this, aren't you going to surrender?"
"Haha, as long as you kneel down and beg for mercy, we will spare your life out of respect for the Emperor!"