Forced to Ascend the Throne after Transmigrating

How could such a coincidence happen in the world? And he managed to do it.

In this situation, either Beiting is stupid, or the locust is stupid, or I am stupid, or… someone is pretending to be stupid.

Prince Ding knew whether Beiting was stupid or not, and Prince Ding also knew whether he was stupid or not. Since Locust could make such a big name here on the border, it was obvious that he was not a fool. So, there was only the last possibility left.

I wasted my time, only to find out now. Or maybe he hid it too deeply.

I was so worried about him!

The more I thought about it, the more aggrieved I felt, the angrier I felt. If it weren’t for the last bit of rationality that stopped me, Prince Ding’s resentment would have almost burst out of his chest: “Your Majesty, you deceived me so badly…”

“This… I didn’t mean it.” Unexpectedly, he would suddenly react at this time, and Ye Shuo coughed lightly.

“You also know that I was forced by circumstances before, and I had no choice, right?”

Bullshit!

Prince Ding was so excited that he almost cursed.

Trying his best to suppress the impulse, Prince Ding said dimly: “Then why doesn’t Your Majesty continue to lie now?” He would feel better if he continued to lie, but he left too many clues, and even if Prince Ding wanted to lie to himself, he couldn’t.

What else could it be? There was definitely no need to continue lying. He was already the emperor now, who could make things difficult for him because of his private army?

Ye Shuo looked back quietly, hesitant to speak: “…I think, big brother should be able to guess it.”

Speaking of which, anyone who is sensible would not ask this question, but the cheap brother actually asked it, and Ye Shuo found it very magical.

Looking at his brother whose face almost had the word “perfunctory” engraved on it, Prince Ding felt at that moment that all the blood in his body rushed into his brain.

So he used such a lame excuse and didn’t allow himself to speak, right?

Prince Ding really risked everything today. He decided to ask about the locusts!

“Your Majesty, could you please have mercy on me and tell me, for your mercy, when did the locust incident start?” Prince Ding made up his mind to know the truth no matter what.

“…”

As if seeing his persistence, Ye Shuo felt helpless, but he did not lie to him: “More than ten years ago, right? Counting the days, it’s almost twenty years.” ŔäÓᛒƐ§

“Twenty years???” How old is he this year? How old was he twenty years ago?

At this moment, Prince Ding was really shocked.

Ye Shuo put his fist on his lips and said slowly: “Brother, you also know the situation of me, my mother, and the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion at that time. I had to be on guard at that time.”

Hearing him say this, Prince Ding suddenly recalled the precarious situation of the Duke Zhen’s Mansion back then. At that time, anyone with a discerning eye could see the murderous intent behind the Royal Concubine’s favour.

Prince Ding had always believed that the Imperial Noble Consort and the Duke of Zhen were able to survive because of his father’s kindness, but now it seems that is not the case.

“I originally thought that if a disaster were to happen one day, I would unite with my grandfather and uncles, as well as the family generals and old subordinates of the Duke of Zhen Mansion to fight my way out of the siege. After leaving Shangjing, I would go all the way west and never come back.”

At first, Ye Shuo raised private soldiers just for support purposes, but he didn’t expect that it would be like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger, and he raised more and more private soldiers, from dozens or hundreds at the beginning to thousands or tens of thousands now.

“And as you can see, it became what it is now.”

Seeing his brother’s innocent face, Prince Ding almost cursed, what does it mean to be ungrateful after getting an advantage? This is what it means to be ungrateful after getting an advantage.

It was indeed not easy for someone to remain in favour forever. How come I didn’t notice anything unusual at the beginning? I really thought he was a fool. Today I realised that I was the fool who couldn’t be any more stupid.

“…I never imagined that the means you used to save your life could even deceive my father.” Not only my father, but none of them knew about this. How could Prince Ding not feel frustrated?

“Especially the Sixth Prince, he has lived in Qiuwu Palace for so many years.” The Sixth Prince prided himself on being extremely smart, but he probably didn’t expect that he would be tricked by their Ninth Prince right from the start, as well as the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, the Fourth Prince…

Thinking of this, Prince Ding suddenly felt much more balanced.

However, it would have been better if Prince Ding hadn’t said this. Once he said this, Ye Shuo became furious: “How dare you say that? If there was one person among you who was willing to do his best, I wouldn’t have done this!”

Ye Shuo initially thought that the crown prince would be a good choice, but the crown prince fell from power not long after. Later, he thought Xiao Ming was not bad either, but Xiao Ming also passed away within two years, leaving behind his only son. After a lot of effort, Jin’er got better, which gave him some hope. However, Jin’er was killed by Xun’er, forcing him to take this position.

If he still had some hope when it came to Jin’er, now he really has no hope at all.

“You guys fought fiercely, but in the end, it was all just fancy moves and internal friction.”

In the past, Prince Ding only knew that his younger brother was lazy and didn’t like to take charge of things. Now he clearly realised how lazy he was.

Honestly speaking, if he had such a team, he would definitely take the path of forcing the emperor to abdicate, but if it were him, he would only want to protect himself.  

Prince Ding didn’t know whether to say he had no ambition or to blame God for playing tricks on people. He was allowed to sit on the throne under such circumstances. How could they feel about this group of people?

“Yes, if we hadn’t fought so hard in the beginning, we wouldn’t have ended up like this…” Prince Ding suddenly felt a little guilty, and the next moment, he reacted suddenly.

Wait, why should I feel guilty?

I didn’t make a fortune and my leg was broken, but I actually felt sorry for my brother who had become the emperor. It was like a beggar feeling sorry for a rich businessman. Prince Ding thought he might be crazy.

“Besides this, is there anything else?” It has come to this point, Prince Ding no longer cares and just asks all the questions in one go.

Seeing that there was no one around except him, Ye Shuo thought for a moment and counted on his fingers: “Of course there are. Lucheng is mine now, and the distilled liquor that Beiting relies on is also mine. Commander Li is my man, Zeng Mohuai is a teacher I hired, and I also contributed to the flood that year. Zou Wu is my student, and the students of He Xiang and others are also my people, as well as the current salt transport envoy. By the way, brother, do you still remember the group of prefects and county magistrates that I asked Yan’er and others to execute on the spot? After they died, most of the people who took office were my people.”

Ye Shuo realised belatedly that he actually had such a strong team without him knowing it.

Prince Ding, who was standing by, felt his scalp tingling after hearing this.

Again, if he wanted to, he probably wouldn’t be able to wait that long, he would have already sat in this position.

Prince Ding couldn’t help but utter, “Fortunately, Lao Liu didn’t attack you.”

But after thinking about it carefully, Prince Ding felt regretful. Old Six forced all his brothers into a corner, but he let him go. If Old Six was more jealous and petty, Prince Ding would like to see what kind of scene that would be.

Ye Shuo seemed to see what he was thinking, and couldn’t help rolling his eyes: “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I can’t beat Sixth Brother, I won’t fight with Sixth Brother.”

Prince Ding thought, what a loser…

When Prince Ding looked up again, he looked at the young man in front of him and suddenly couldn’t tell whether what had happened in the past was true or false.

Another question is how real and fake he is.

Everyone was deceived by him, even the one that his father missed the most before his death was him, but what about him? Was he acting or was it real?

Prince Ding suddenly saw one thing clearly. No matter whether he was real or fake, at least this seemingly most dissolute brother was the most sober one when dealing with his father. Those who were not sober would either die or become disabled, and they would not have a good ending anyway.

Now that Ye Shuo had said everything he needed to say, he thought for a moment and said, “Oh, big brother, remember to keep this a secret for me and don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to end up like my father and my sixth brother.”

Being too capable as an emperor is sometimes not a good thing. For example, if a good person has been in office for a long time, people will habitually think that he is a good person, so they should be this and that. But if he makes any mistake, others will not tolerate it.

But if a person is not that good in himself, but he does something good, he will be remembered by others, and the catchphrase will become “Although he is not good here and there, he is not completely without merits”. In comparison, the difference is not too obvious.

People will hold a good person to the standards of a saint, but will not hold a bad person to normal standards, because in their view bad people are bad, but they have never considered whether this is fair to good people.

Prince Ding opened his mouth and said, “How long do you plan to keep this a secret from Prime Minister He and the others?”

Ye Shuo did not hesitate: “We’ll keep it a secret for as long as we can, otherwise there will be no one to help me with my work.”

This was probably the first time that Prince Ding heard of someone being an emperor in this way, but when he thought about it carefully, he suddenly felt that it seemed to make sense.

My brother’s words are really scary.

Some people had previously speculated that it was the group of locusts that rescued him when he was seriously injured and unconscious, but Prince Ding did not quite believe it. Now that he suddenly learned that the locusts were his people, everything could be explained.

It turned out that he really saved his life a few years ago.

And the hole that the prince had made back then was probably filled by him.

Perhaps it was really as he said, he was worried sick about them, the brothers, and it was true that they were too disappointing.

“I have behaved badly, please forgive me, Your Majesty.” After calming down completely, Prince Ding was convinced.

However, Prince Ding forgot one thing. He forgot that no matter how Ye Shuo changed, his character of taking advantage of others would never change.

Since the cheap big brother has come to his door, Ye Shuo would rather take it than refuse it.

So Ye Shuo thought for a moment, then said solemnly: “I want to be honest with you, brother. I wonder if you can promise me one thing?”

Prince Ding was stunned for a moment, and suddenly had a bad feeling: “May I ask your Majesty, what is the matter?”

Ye Shuo spoke slowly: “The world has been in turmoil for a long time, and now the people are living in misery. I want to end this chaotic world, but I also know that this road is difficult. I wonder if Big Brother is willing to accompany me and create a prosperous world with me?”

Prince Ding froze for a moment, then realised that he might have been on a pirate ship.

If I had known that listening to my brother’s secret would come at such a heavy price, I should not have listened to it in the first place.

Also, this happened so many years ago, how the hell has he not forgotten it!