{"id":7422,"date":"2025-08-26T09:02:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T07:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/?p=7422"},"modified":"2025-08-26T09:02:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T07:02:06","slug":"your-majesty-you-mustnt-chapter-83-1-the-desperate-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/2025\/08\/26\/your-majesty-you-mustnt-chapter-83-1-the-desperate-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Majesty, you mustn&#8217;t! &#8211; Chapter 83.1 The Desperate Road"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Xiao Rong&#8217;s strike only lasted for one afternoon, and because he took a nap at dusk, he became even more energetic after nightfall. This made things hard for the Buddhist disciple\u2014on the night before a campaign, being unable to sleep was an exception; most of the time, his routine had been very regular. This was a habit he had formed back when he was still a novice monk.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stifling a small yawn, Mijing forced his eyes open and continued to accompany the gentleman, risking his own well-being.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time rewound to midday of the same day.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a civilian residence in Xiakou, Chen Jiancheng finally stopped dodging the issue. He chatted and laughed with Zhou Liang, even promoted the ideals of their Qingfeng Sect to him: purging those who carried impure energy to restore clarity and peace to the world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zhou Liang listened with a polite smile, nodding from time to time. In truth, he thought, \u2018We&#8217;re both old foxes\u2014what\u2019s the point of telling ghost stories? If there really were such a thing as pure and impure energy in this world, your Qingfeng Sect should be the first to be eradicated.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2026<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Just like Chen Jiancheng didn\u2019t think much of Zhou Liang, Zhou Liang didn\u2019t think much of Chen Jiancheng, the leader of the Qingfeng Sect, either.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In official history, after Zhou Liang left Huang Yanjiong, he quickly joined He Tingzhi\u2019s camp. He Tingzhi had three thousand retainers and accepted all who came to him. Zhou Liang admired this trait greatly. Whether or not He Tingzhi himself was truly that open-minded, he at least showed such an attitude, and that was what the world cared about.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So when Zhou Liang fled this time, his first instinct was also to look for He Tingzhi. If it worked out, he would stay, if not, he would leave again.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, he was rather unlucky. First of all, his defection this time hadn\u2019t been as smooth as in the official history. He had killed one of Huang Yanjiong\u2019s men before fleeing. For some reason, the Northern King\u2014who had nothing to do with him\u2014had someone draw his portrait and post it all around Chenliu and nearby towns, forcing him to run and hide for quite a while before the situation cooled down.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Later, when he finally returned to Southern Yong, he had originally planned to head to Dongyang immediately. However, before he even reached Dongyang\u2014only getting as far as Xuancheng\u2014he heard that the King of Dongyang had already left, personally leading troops to respond to the call of the Northern King.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zhou Liang: \u201c&#8230;\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bootlicker!<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anyone with sense could see that this trip by the King of Dongyang would take at least six months. If Zhou Liang went to Dongyang to wait for him, he\u2019d have to prepare for a long-term battle and hope that the King didn\u2019t die in battle against the Xianbei.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In such volatile times, even two months could change the entire political landscape, and Zhou Liang didn\u2019t know He Tingzhi was his destined wise ruler. To him at that moment, his time was the most valuable.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since Dongyang was no longer an option, he decided to look for someone else. As a scholar\u2014even though Zhou Liang was petty\u2014he still had some connections. Besides, &#8220;fish find fish, shrimp find shrimp, and turtles find their own kind.\u201d The friends who truly got along with Zhou Liang were no saints either.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on a friend\u2019s recommendation, Zhou Liang learned that the leader of the Qingfeng Sect was also recruiting advisers, so after some deliberation, he decided to check it out.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Qingfeng Sect had vast wealth and intricate networks, making them hard to deal with for the average person. They also had clear weaknesses. First, they weren\u2019t favored by most factions, second, they lacked a professional army, and third, their greatest strength and weakness was their ideology. They rose through the zeal of fanatical followers, but such followers weren\u2019t entirely obedient. Once they sensed selfish intent from the leader, the backlash could be more terrifying than an invading army.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, that was Zhou Liang\u2019s thinking before he met Chen Jiancheng. After meeting him, Zhou Liang added a fourth weakness in his mind: the leader was selfish and clueless. How the Qingfeng Sect hadn\u2019t collapsed under such a person\u2019s leadership was truly baffling.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chen Jiancheng was testing Zhou Liang, and Zhou Liang was testing Chen Jiancheng. To be honest, the two were about equal, but if one had to win, Zhou Liang had the edge.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because no matter how much Chen Jiancheng tried to glorify himself, at the end of the day, he was just a conman. He desperately wanted to be a ruler, but unfortunately, he wasn\u2019t even as capable as Huang Yanjiong in that regard.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, Zhou Liang was a born politician. For all his character flaws, his capability was undeniable.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After several days of conversation with Chen Jiancheng, Zhou Liang even had a strange idea\u2014that he could replace Chen Jiancheng or make him a puppet, turning all of the Qingfeng Sect\u2019s assets into his own.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, the two of them got along better and better, each thinking they could use the other. On this day, Chen Jiancheng finally laid his cards on the table. He smiled mysteriously at Zhou Liang and said he knew what had happened to him in Chenliu City. He also knew about Zhou Liang\u2019s hatred for Xiao Rong, and he was willing to help eliminate him. If Zhou Liang could successfully get rid of Xiao Rong with his help, it would be considered a contribution to the world\u2019s clarity, and also his military pledge to the Qingfeng Sect. He wouldn\u2019t have to start from the bottom, but would directly become one of the sect\u2019s guardians.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The number of guardians around Chen Jiancheng varied\u2014sometimes a few, sometimes more than ten\u2014it all depended on his mood.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He thought his olive branch was generous enough, but after Zhou Liang heard him out, he mentally added another mark to his grudge list.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That is the most humiliating moment of my life\u2014and you know about it?! You bastard, just die! When I take power, I\u2019ll kill everyone who knows about this!\u2019<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, he didn\u2019t reject the idea. The more he wanted to gain trust, the more he needed to accomplish something big. Killing Xiao Rong would be the perfect demonstration of his ability, and he appreciated the Qingfeng Sect\u2019s low-profile methods. At least this way, the Northern King wouldn\u2019t know who was behind Xiao Rong\u2019s death.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zhou Liang had already begun to carefully plan Xiao Rong\u2019s assassination, even building a framework for the plan, when a Qingfeng Sect follower came in with a letter for Chen Jiancheng.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chen Jiancheng glanced at it, and his expression changed slightly. A moment later, he burned the letter in front of Zhou Liang and smiled again. \u201cYou may not know this, sir, but there has been a change in the situation outside. What we discussed may have to be postponed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At that point, Zhou Liang felt okay with the news. After all, such was the game of power\u2014one had to adjust constantly to the times. What unsettled him was what Chen Jiancheng said next. \u201cIn the grand scheme of things, that Xiao boy is no more than a harmless louse. The true scourge of the land is the Northern King himself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The world has long suffered under the Northern King. I wonder, sir, do you have any plan that might help remove him for the greater good?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zhou Liang stared at him silently, and only after a long while did he realize\u2014Chen Jiancheng wasn\u2019t joking.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c&#8230;\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you actually serious?!<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\uff0a<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back to tonight.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Xiao Rong and the Buddhist disciple were working late into the night in Chenliu, Qu Yunmie also hadn\u2019t fallen asleep yet.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The army had already gathered beneath Yanmen Mountain, and tomorrow they would set off for Shengle.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His lifelong dream was finally about to be realized. Most people at this moment would be too excited to sleep, but Qu Yunmie wasn\u2019t like most people. He wasn\u2019t excited\u2014he was in so much pain he couldn\u2019t sleep.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He had nothing left to write.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He really had nothing more to put on paper\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Staring painfully at the blank letter, everything he could write, he had already written in the past few days. Tonight, he had truly been squeezed dry.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After sitting motionless for half an hour, Qu Yunmie decided to stop torturing himself and went out to seek help.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He had intended to look for Yu Shaoxie, since that man was the only cultured person in the army whom he trusted. However, before finding Yu Shaoxie, he noticed a light still on in Jian Qiao\u2019s room. Curious, he pushed the door open and walked in.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jian Qiao had been writing a secret letter to Xiao Rong, full of criticisms about Yuan Baifu. Qu Yunmie\u2019s sudden entrance startled him. He turned around and glared, \u201cHow dare you enter this General\u2019s room without knocking?!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Qu Yunmie kicked his chair\u2014holding back his strength so that Jian Qiao only wobbled and didn\u2019t fall.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How dare you! Calling yourself a General in front of this King!?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jian Qiao: \u201c&#8230;\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His momentum instantly vanished. He stood up obediently and, while tidying his desk, slipped the secret letter underneath the rest of the paper.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As expected, Qu Yunmie didn\u2019t notice the sleight of hand, but since he saw Jian Qiao writing something when he entered, he asked, \u201cWhat are you writing?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jian Qiao quickly pulled out another letter and said, &#8220;A letter to my wife. I promised her I\u2019d write once every half-month to let her know I\u2019m safe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Qu Yunmie scoffed. \u201cOnly once every half-month?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If someone truly cared about you, they wouldn\u2019t ask for one letter every two weeks\u2014they\u2019d want one every day!<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jian Qiao: \u201c&#8230;\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He understood the hidden meaning, but he wanted to say: Half a month is already very considerate\u2014not everyone is like you, Your Majesty, building post stations with hundreds of people just to send a letter!<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being able to stay by Qu Yunmie\u2019s side for so many years without major conflict wasn\u2019t because of childhood friendship\u2014it was because of Jian Qiao\u2019s admirable habit of never arguing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>Edited by: Antiope<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Support translation:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=25191841\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"217\" height=\"51\" class=\"wp-image-338 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ontimestory.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/become_a_patron_button.png?resize=217%2C51\" alt=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 217px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 217\/51;\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/lajnaa\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ontimestory.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/kofi3-3.png?resize=185%2C47\" alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is kofi3-3.png\" width=\"185\" height=\"47\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 185px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 185\/47;\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\r\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Xiao Rong&#8217;s strike only lasted for one afternoon, and because he took a nap at dusk, he became even more energetic after nightfall. This made things hard for the Buddhist disciple\u2014on the night before a campaign, being unable to sleep was an exception; most of the time, his routine had been very regular. This was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-your-majesty","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ontimestory.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240106180053_200_280-1.jpg?fit=199%2C280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7425,"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions\/7425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontimestory.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}