She mistakenly got into the bridal sedan chair and married a sickly but powerful minister, becoming

Chapter 528 Rebellion

The terrifying aspect of the Imperial Tutor lies not in his ability to strategize and control the overall situation, but in his skill in calculating people's hearts and manipulating them at will.

Based on a person's personality, psychology, behavior style, and interpersonal relationships, he can accurately predict a person's weaknesses, decision-making after encountering a situation, and the trajectory of their fate.

It is precisely because of this that the Imperial Tutor can turn everyone into a pawn on his chessboard, allowing him to manipulate them at will.

Shen Qingtan understood the key point and couldn't help but worry about Gu Changsheng's safety: "The Imperial Tutor is a person who has no distinction between good and evil. In order to achieve his goals, anyone can be sacrificed, even himself."

"With relations between the two countries tense now, I worry that if the situation changes, the Imperial Tutor will not only fail to protect Brother Changsheng, but will abandon him at the critical moment."

Her expression was grave: "Husband, shall we send someone to protect Brother Changsheng in secret?"

Zhao Yi gently comforted her: "Your cousin is not only your family, but he was also caught up in this mess because of us. You must protect him no matter what."

Shen Qingtan believed that she was Gu Changsheng's calamity.

When Gu Changsheng lost her, he couldn't explain it to his family, and he felt ashamed to face them. Unable to go home, he searched for her alone, suffering endless hardships.

The teenager was thus burdened with heavy shackles and lived in constant torment of guilt.

Now, Gu Changsheng has finally settled into a peaceful life, taking care of his children, treating patients, and tending to herbal medicines every day, but because of her, he is once again in danger.

She gently pushed Zhao Yi aside, came to the desk, and spread out a sheet of plain paper.

Seeing this, Zhao Yi came to Shen Qingtan's side and personally ground ink for her.

Shen Qingtan picked up her pen and wrote a letter. After the ink dried, she put it in an envelope, sealed it, and handed it to Zhao Yi: "Take this letter to the forces my brother left behind in the capital."

After saying this, she took out a token from her sleeve and handed it to Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi understood Shen Qingtan's intention: to mobilize all the forces that the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion had placed in the capital of Northern Qi to protect Gu Changsheng's safety. "Alright, I'll have Jiang Mu handle it personally."

Knowing the importance of Gu Changsheng to Shen Qingtan, he dared not be negligent or careless in the slightest, and immediately wrote a letter as well.

Then, Zhao Yi called Jiang Mu, who was guarding the door, in and handed him the two letters and tokens in his hand: "You shall set off early tomorrow morning and deliver these two letters to the capital as soon as possible."

Jiang Mu discerned the importance of the matter from Zhao Yi's serious expression: "Your subordinate will certainly not fail in your mission."

Zhao Yi said, "You have to set off early tomorrow morning, so you don't need to stay with me tonight. Go and get some rest."

"Yes." Jiang Mu responded and withdrew.

Shen Qingtan breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that Zhao Yi had arranged everything: "You must be tired after a busy day. Let's go back to the courtyard and rest early."

Zhao Yi nodded slightly, and was about to return to the main courtyard with Shen Qingtan when a subordinate rushed over in a hurry, took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to him: "Master, there is a letter delivered by express courier."

The fact that it was delivered by express courier over an 800-li (approximately 400 km) indicates that it was an extremely important matter.

Zhao Yi immediately opened the letter, took out a plain piece of paper, glanced at it quickly, and his face turned cold and stern.

Shen Qingtan noticed the change in Zhao Yi's expression and quickly asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Zhao Yi handed the letter to Shen Qingtan: "Recruiting soldiers has begun in various places."

The conscription was within their expectations, and it shouldn't have caused Zhao Yi to show such a solemn expression.

Shen Qingtan was puzzled. She took the letter and read only a few lines before her expression changed. She said incredulously, "Except for blacksmiths and carpenters who have a skill, all males in every household who are between the ages of fifteen and fifty-six will be taken away."

She couldn't help but look at Zhao Yi: "Throughout history, families with only one son and elderly parents could apply for exemption from military service, in order to ensure that each family had a son to support the family, care for the parents, and continue the family line."

"If a family has many children, one son will be conscripted for every three sons, and two sons for every five sons, so that each family has enough labor to maintain farming and support their families."

"The large-scale conscription of men will lead to a labor shortage. Without able-bodied men to cultivate the land, the fields will be abandoned and no food will be produced. As a result, famine will occur in various places, directly affecting tax revenue and the supply of military rations."

"Let's not even talk about how the people's livelihoods have been lost and how there are so many starving people everywhere. Just consider the fact that there are too many soldiers in the military camps and not enough food. The soldiers will not have enough to eat, and even if they don't die on the battlefield, they will starve to death in the military camps."

This utterly foolish approach was solely for the purpose of rapidly increasing the military strength of Northern Qi.

Even in the chaotic times when farming and warfare were combined, each family would still be allowed to have male offspring.

Moreover, there was no imperial examination system at that time; there was only a merit-based system of military titles.

This is the only way to become an official.

They owned land and held noble titles.

The people are fighting for their own interests.

Zhao Yi felt a headache upon hearing this. The Emperor of Northern Qi must have known these principles, yet he still did it. There must be more to the story.

He rubbed his temples and said, "It turns out that increasing taxes has already made it impossible for people in various places to survive. They are extremely dissatisfied with the court, but they have only maintained a superficial peace because the court has sent a large number of troops to suppress them."

"Now that the conscription order has been issued, people in several places have already refused to obey the conscription order and have gathered to fight against the government troops, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides."

"When the local officials saw that the people were risking their lives to resist the government, and were unwilling to pay taxes or obey conscription, they realized the seriousness of the situation and submitted a memorial to their superiors, requesting that more troops be sent to suppress the rebellion."

At this point, he sneered, "Wanting to reinforce troops? It's not that easy. By the time the reports are submitted layer by layer, the reinforcements won't even arrive, and the government offices will probably be overrun by the rebellious people."

The actions of the Northern Qi will lead to its downfall.

Why should the Great Zhou take action?

-

Meanwhile, the Northern Qi emperor, far away in the capital, received the memorial overnight and immediately panicked.