After Transmigrating, I Saved the Loyal Prime Minister - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I transmigrated.

Right into the novel my younger sister had shoved at me.

The male lead, Fu Ye, came from humble origins. The female lead, Zhao Xuan, was born into poverty. Together, the two of them fought through every obstacle in their path. In the end, the male lead overthrew the tyrant emperor and became a ruler for the ages, while the female lead was made empress and governed the realm by his side.

What a coincidence. I was that tyrant emperor.

In one year, the male lead would be at the gates with his army, and I would be executed by slow slicing.

No. I could not just sit around and wait for death.

I did not understand court politics, but I did understand the second male lead.

Chapter 2

The second male lead, Cui Yuanzhao, did not get much description in the novel, but what little he had was more than enough to make him shine.

He placed first in all three levels of the imperial examinations, a young genius who was appointed chancellor at the age of seventeen.

And the very first thing he did after becoming chancellor was impeach the Imperial Censor-in-Chief at the time-which was to say, the male lead’s father.

Corruption and bribery. Buying and selling official posts.

The late emperor, my father, flew into a rage. The male lead’s entire family was executed.

Only the male lead himself survived because he was still young. From that day on, however, he became the descendant of a convicted official, someone anyone could kick around.

Because of this, the male lead hated the second male lead. So the first thing he did after gaining power was impeach the second male lead in return.

For wielding power over the court and reducing the emperor to a figurehead.

No emperor could tolerate such a minister, and the original body was a tyrant emperor to begin with.

After listening to the male lead, he immediately had the second male lead thrown into prison.

And that was also the beginning of the dynasty’s decline.

Without the second male lead in his way, the original body, egged on by the male lead, did no shortage of vile things. In the end, ruler and ministers turned against one another, and he lost the hearts of the people.

The male lead neatly faded into the background and became the great hero who rescued the common people from misery.

I sighed. This was a high-level match.

Chapter 3

“Your Majesty,” the head eunuch Wang Fu called carefully. My expression must have been truly awful, because he hesitated for quite a while before saying, “Lord Wang has been waiting outside the hall for a long time. It should be about Chancellor Cui-no, about Cui Yuanzhao. Would Your Majesty like to see him?”

Lord Wang, the vice minister of my Court of Judicial Review, was the one presiding over Cui Yuanzhao’s case.

“This subject is guilty.” The moment Lord Wang entered, he admitted fault to me. “Your Majesty previously ordered this subject to investigate Cui Yuanzhao’s case, but this subject has failed to find any evidence. This subject has failed Your Majesty’s grace. Please punish me, Your Majesty.”

I sneered inwardly. He was never guilty in the first place. Where were you supposed to find evidence?

There was a scene like this in the original novel too.

Relying on his position as chancellor, Cui Yuanzhao had kept the original body on a tight leash. The original body had long since been fed up with him, so he went along with the male lead’s wishes, fabricated a few pieces of evidence at random, and had Cui Yuanzhao killed.

“I will investigate it myself.”

The prison.

I followed the jailer to the cell where Cui Yuanzhao was being held.

He was dressed in white, the fabric covered in bloodstains. Every bit of exposed skin was covered in whip marks.

Tsk. How miserable.

Someone had tortured him. I was very angry.

This was my trump card against the male lead. What if they broke him?

“Chancellor Cui.”

At my words, Cui Yuanzhao’s eyelids twitched. He opened his tightly shut eyes, which filled with astonishment.

“This guilty subject, Cui Yuanzhao, greets Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty, long live, long long live.”

He knelt with difficulty, his voice somewhat hoarse.

“Someone, bring Chancellor Cui a cup of water.”

The jailer quickly handed Cui Yuanzhao a cup of water. He clearly had no idea what I was trying to do, but he obediently drank it anyway.

“Now that things have come to this, what do you have to say for yourself?”

I did not know how to investigate a case, so I would let Cui Yuanzhao overturn his own conviction. I was so smart.

“Your Majesty.” Cui Yuanzhao kowtowed to me. “Please listen to this guilty subject’s advice. The New Policy must not be implemented.”

I froze. The New Policy? What New Policy?

Oh. I remembered.

The original body wanted to launch a massive construction project and build a temporary palace, but the national treasury was empty. There was no money.

The male lead had privately approached the original body and proposed the New Policy.

It sounded pleasant enough, but in truth, it was just a tax increase-squeezing money out of the common people to build the temporary palace.

“This subject is of low standing and little influence. If this subject submits a memorial on this matter, I fear many of the senior ministers in court will oppose it. It would be better for Your Majesty to issue the decree personally.”

The male lead was clever. He had the original body bring it up himself in court.

To outsiders, this would only prove that the original body was muddleheaded and cruel. It would have absolutely nothing to do with the male lead.

By now, the original body had already been fooled half to death by the male lead and obeyed his every word.

It was just that the entire court, from top to bottom, opposed the New Policy. That was why, at this moment, the New Policy still had not been implemented.

Although I did not understand taxation, I had studied history. Of all the emperors who blindly raised taxes, which one ever came to a good end?

The New Policy naturally could not be implemented.

But right now, I was asking Cui Yuanzhao to overturn his own case. Who asked him about the New Policy?

“Chancellor Cui,” I said. “I am asking you to talk about your own affairs.”

Cui Yuanzhao gave a bitter laugh, then kowtowed to me again.

“This guilty subject’s crimes are entirely for Your Majesty to decide.”

There is no sorrow greater than a dead heart, and physical death comes second.

Cui Yuanzhao had been wronged by the emperor he had devoted himself to assisting. By now, his heart had already turned to ashes.

That would not do. I was still counting on him to set the court to rights.

Before transmigrating, I had just been a male college student. What did I know?

So I grabbed Cui Yuanzhao by the front of his robe and hauled him up from the ground.

“Get up. Work for me.”