I Am Truly Not a Treacherous Minister Your Majesty

Chapter 72: Doubt

“Big Sister, I’m sorry.”

Xia Yun said with his head lowered. When he said this, he looked like a little child.

Xia Yuxiao looked at Xia Yun in front of her, and her original anger seemed to have subsided a bit. She held Xia Yun’s shoulders; her younger brother was now taller than her.

“Why did you do this? Tell me.”

“Big Sister, don’t you think there’s something wrong with our Xia Kingdom?”

After a moment of hesitation, Xia Yun suddenly mustered up the courage to speak.

When she heard this, Xia Yuxiao was stunned for a moment. She seemed to be trying to understand Xia Yun’s words, or perhaps she was surprised by them. In any case, she remained silent for a while, then looked at him: “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said, Big Sister.”

He seemed finally able to express everything he had been holding back, and because of this, Xia Yun spoke more fluently in this setting.

“Big Sister, our Great Xia takes pride in its thousand-year reign. The Xia family has ruled this land for a thousand years. But, Big Sister, why? Why have we remained unshaken for a thousand years?”

“Big Sister, I’ve read many books. I know that the Great Xia has endured because it has never had a tyrant. Our emperors, at their worst, were still competent rulers. Yes, I admit this. It is indeed the diligent governance of our ancestors that has allowed the Great Xia to continue. But Big Sister, why are we the only ones so fortunate? Why, among all humanity, are we the oldest, still enduring nation?”

Xia Yun poured out all his doubts in one breath.

He truly didn’t understand.

The Xia Kingdom, this country, has persisted throughout history, while countless dynasties around it have risen and fallen. Only this place has remained firmly in the hands of the emperor, without any anomalies. It sounds unbelievable.

A thousand years without a tyrant—if you told this to other countries, they wouldn’t believe it either.

“Big Sister, don’t you think the current Great Xia is like a stagnant pool?” His voice grew louder. “Yes, it’s calm and unruffled, but it’s eerily calm! There’s no vitality at all! Or rather, the vitality is too overwhelming! We’ve been expanding our territory for a thousand years, but have we fundamentally changed anything? No!”

“When our ancestors expanded the territory, the people couldn’t get enough to eat. And now, in bad years, the people still can’t get enough to eat! Why is a thousand-year reign like this? What have we done in these thousand years? From our history books, I see that we’ve been constantly at war, expanding our territory to ten times that of the first emperor. But this tenfold territory hasn’t brought prosperity to the people.”

“Big Sister, I don’t understand this. Tell me, in these thousand years, we’ve only made progress in ensuring the people can barely get by in good years. So what next? How long will it take to achieve our dream of universal prosperity? Are we going to ‘develop’ like this, as if we’re dead?”

After saying this, Xia Yun panted heavily.

He had been holding these words in his heart for a long time, always wanting to ask, but he knew how rebellious these words sounded.

Although the Xia Kingdom was already much better compared to other countries, Xia Yun still couldn’t understand.

A thousand years of accumulation had only brought about this negligible progress. He couldn’t see what surprises the future of the Xia Kingdom could hold. A thousand years ago, the people of Xia wore those clothes, and a thousand years later, the people of Xia still wore similar clothes. If it weren’t for the openness to foreign exchanges, everything would probably be almost identical to the ancient books!

Is this really a country, or a thousand-year-old, immobile monster?

At this moment, he saw Xia Yuxiao stand up.

Her expression was somewhat shocked, but at the same time, a trace of determination quickly flashed across her face.

“Xia Yun, this is not something you need to worry about. I—the emperor—will consider it. I have my own thoughts.”

However, these words only made Xia Yun even angrier:

“What thoughts do you have?! I watched you ascend the throne, thinking you could break this deadlock. But after you ascended, what did you do? The same old things—suppressing dissent, restraining various factions, encouraging production, appointing so-called virtuous talents…”

“What you did, our ancestors did hundreds of years ago! The wars in the northern border, our ancestors fought them a thousand years ago! Tell me, what future can I see in such a Great Xia?!”

Stalemate.

Yes, this is the situation.

The current Great Xia is still strong, even better than before, but this is also an undeniable fact.

The stalemate of Great Xia has been like this, from the ancestors to the present, in the thousand years of history, no emperor has been willing to break this stalemate.

Are we just waiting for Great Xia to die here?

Xia Yun expressed all his thoughts. He knew he was about to die. Since he was going to die, he might as well say everything before he died. Otherwise, once he entered the grave, no one would care what he wanted to say.

However, what greeted him was not Xia Yuxiao’s rebuttal, but a fierce slap.

This slap was not very strong—Xia Yuxiao herself was not very strong. Although the slap was loud, it was not very painful, only causing his head to tilt slightly.

Xia Yun was stunned.

Xia Yuxiao looked at him with disappointment.

From the time he competed with his sister for the throne until now, he had seen his sister expose many emotions in front of him, but he had never seen such an emotion.

That kind of disappointment as if even the closest person did not understand her.

He could hardly tell whether she was angry or sad. That slap instantly knocked down the momentum he had just built up. He covered his face, feeling a bit of a burning sensation, but it made him feel like it was a dream.

“Come.”

Xia Yuxiao took a deep breath and withdrew her hand.

Two Dragon Guards entered from the door.

“King Rongsheng has been stimulated and is talking nonsense. Call my imperial physician to take a good look at him and then send him back to the mansion.” She no longer looked at her brother and ordered, “Also, I hope you all remember that nothing happened today.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

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The two Dragon Guards would naturally not casually reveal information. Whether they were loyal to the emperor or not, they would not risk their lives to gossip.

King Rongsheng was taken away like this. This time, the two of them couldn’t talk about anything, and his life was about to come to an end.