Reborn Before My Husband Ascends the Throne

All eyes turned towards her.

Somehow, all the maidservants in the hall had already slipped away without anyone noticing, and the only ones left standing were the armed guards of the Ye family.

The county magistrates of Neixiang County and Rong County kept their heads lowered, pretending to drink.

Fourth Uncle Ye glanced at them sideways and said, "Of course I know. Does Master Ma know what I'm talking about?"

No matter who Ma Jinhui planned to collaborate with, he had no intention of letting either side gain the upper hand over him.

On the contrary, he always believed that he should be the one in charge, not these bandits or commoners in white.

After all, he was an official.

"With the new dynasty established, imperial power rules the realm!" Ma Jinhui stood up with a solemn expression. "As overseers of this borderland, how can we not serve the kingdom!"

In just a moment, he had made up his mind. The Ye Family Fortress harbored the wild ambition of wolves, and if they wanted to ride on his head, they might as well marry their daughter to Du Jingzhong's son. Although Du Jingzhong was a short-sighted fool, fools were easier to control.

He self-righteously declared, "The vacancy in Dengzhou is only temporary. Once His Majesty is free to act, he will naturally appoint new administrators and officials at all levels. The provincial and prefectural system can be restored in a matter of days. Even rebuilding the Xuanhua Army is not difficult. I advise you, the Ye Family Fortress, not to be muddle-headed. Even if you swallow it down today, when the court is free to act, you will still have to spit it back out!"

He spoke haughtily, his voice cold.

However, it was clear that Fourth Uncle Ye and the others were not buying his story at all. Their expressions even held a hint of ridicule.

After Ma Jinhui tried to intimidate them with his official authority to no avail, he became incensed with shame and anger.

He flung his sleeve and stood up abruptly, clasping his hands behind his back and arrogantly proclaiming, "I will not deceive you all, I have recently contacted the former members of the Xuanhua Army and plan to petition the court to rebuild the Xuanhua Army."

When he mentioned "the court", he also bowed in the direction of the capital, showing respect.

"The Ye Family Fortress consists of good citizens who assisted in suppressing the rebellion in the past. I advise you all to abandon any improper thoughts. In my petition, I will request merits on your behalf, and it's not impossible for you to gain an official post. If you insist on your foolish notions, when the court..."

Before he could finish speaking, a woman's cold, crisp voice rang out, "The one he contacted was this man, wasn't it?"

A ball flew in from outside, rolling and bouncing on the floor.

Since Ma Jinhui was standing, he was the first to see clearly that this "ball" was actually a severed head.

He cried out in alarm and stumbled back, nearly falling over backwards into his chair.

Fortunately, the Ye family guards behind him were agile. One of them swiftly braced the tilting chair with his foot, pushing it back upright with a bent knee.

Thus Ma Jinhui avoided making a fool of himself in front of everyone.

The county magistrates of Neixiang and Rong also sucked in a breath, gripping the arms of their chairs.

Because that "ball" was none other than a man's severed head.

The head was covered in thick beard, its eyes wide open, clearly the head of a man who had died with unclosed eyes. It was none other than Ma Jinhui's relative by marriage in Fangcheng, Du Jingzhong, whom he had met and secretly plotted with before!

Fourth Uncle Ye's expression lightened, and he stood up and asked, "Why so late in returning?"

Following his words, a tall woman strode into the hall, her gaze sweeping around. Her face was coated in powder yet contained a dignified air.

Wherever her gaze landed, people stood up one after another.

"Fort Master."

"Mistress."

The county magistrates of Neixiang and Rong also stood up and bowed, "Master Ye."

Ye Suijin nodded almost imperceptibly to one person, and said helplessly to Fourth Uncle Ye, "Too many trivial matters."

She had taken Fangcheng in one battle, completely as planned. Clearing up the remnants afterwards would take one or two days, also as planned.

What was unplanned was the common people who finally realized that this new army did not indiscriminately kill civilians, did not pillage wealth, and did not rape women, yet showed no mercy in beheading Du Jingzhong's remnants. They swarmed out to block the roads and cry injustice.

The wailing shook Fangcheng, all blood and tears. They gnashed their teeth, wishing they could devour Du Jingzhong raw.

Fortunately Ye Suijin had made arrangements in advance. As soon as Fangcheng was settled, she sent people racing on fast horses to bring Teacher Yang over.

Thus, although she had not yet returned, the Ye Family Fortress already knew about the situation in Fangcheng, and Ma Jinhui's performances seemed especially hypocritical and boastful in their eyes.

After greeting Fourth Uncle Ye, Ye Suijin turned to look at Ma Jinhui, "Master Ma, this is the bandit Du Jingzhong of Fangcheng. Do you recognize this villain?"

Ma Jinhui had completely lost his earlier majestic air. He practically collapsed into the chair, gripping the arms tightly.

By now, not only him, even the county magistrates of Neixiang and Rong finally understood why Ye Suijin was absent from the Ye Family Fortress today — she had gone to Fangcheng to weed out evil at its root!

Ma Jinhui's cheeks twitched a few times, and he suddenly stood up.

The county magistrates of Neixiang and Rong shuddered, thinking Ma Jinhui was about to erupt in anger and start cursing loudly. For an instant, both wondered if they should step forward to stop him or not.

After all, they were colleagues who had persisted together in Dengzhou for many years. It would weigh on their conscience not to stop him. But if they did, they feared the Ye Family Fortress would show no mercy and jeopardize their own lives.

Truly a perplexing dilemma!

Yet unexpectedly, Ma Jinhui stood up and loudly acclaimed, "Fort Master Ye's noble deed—!"

Pointing at his relative's freshly severed head, he angrily denounced, "In my visits to the former members of the Xuanhua Army these past days, all I heard were accounts of this villain's evil deeds in wreaking havoc in Fangcheng. Fort Master Ye eliminated this harm to the people, and is truly carrying out justice on Heaven's behalf! Dengzhou, Fangcheng... No, Dengzhou, Tangzhou need someone as virtuous and majestic as Fort Master Ye to lead the common people!"

"This insignificant official boldly requests Fort Master Ye to oversee Dengzhou and Tangzhou, rescuing the people from fire and water!"

As he spoke, he bowed deeply, his sleeves brushing the floor, his head nearly touching his knees.

The county magistrates of Neixiang and Rong wore numb expressions.

He's already saying "this insignificant official".

Shameless.

He had stolen the words right out of their mouths.

Utterly shameless.

Ye Suijin curled her lips in a faint smile and strode forward to sit in the master seat, "Let's all sit and talk."

The people of the Ye Family Fortress promptly took their seats.

The county magistrates of Neixiang and Rong quietly sat down.

Ma Jinhui did not dare sit. His waist remained bent.

Ye Suijin asked, "Master Ma, do you think I can do it?"

Finally Ma Jinhui raised his head and solemnly declared, "Of course you can! This is what the people of Dengzhou and Tangzhou have desired day and night, the aspirational place their hearts are set on. Fort Master must not decline! Otherwise, I will be the first to object!"

"Very well. Servants, bring writing utensils!"

Ye Suijin clapped her hands, and people swiftly cleared away Ma Jinhui's table of food and drink, wiped the table clean, and neatly arranged brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

The servants bustled efficiently, making a cacophony.

"Then I will trouble Master Ma to draft a petition on my behalf, to be submitted to the court." Ye Suijin gestured with her chin.

As long as he got to keep his dog life, she did not care what he did. Ma Jinhui obediently returned to his seat, dipped his brush in ink, and asked Ye Suijin for instructions: "What matters shall be reported to the court? Please instruct this humble one, Fort Master."

"First, of course, is to congratulate the new emperor on his ascension to the throne on my behalf, celebrating the establishment of the new dynasty." Ye Suijin said without hesitation.

She had pondered this matter for many days already.

Right now, the Ye Family Fortress simply did not have the ability to oppose the new dynasty. But being so close, if she made too much of a fuss and attracted attention, she feared that just as Ma Jinhui said, once the new dynasty was free to act, they would come for her.

"Call me a subject," she said. "As overseers of this borderland, how can we not serve the kingdom? Now that His Majesty has ascended the throne, the Son of Heaven, I, Ye Suijin, pledge my heart towards royal authority, and will naturally become a subject."

She knew exactly how long this dynasty could last and how it would eventually collapse.

She was no righteous hero who would rather die than capitulate, who would starve to death rather than eat Zhou grain.

Moreover, those scholarly reader types were not necessarily so righteous either.

Just now, Ma Jinhui kept calling it "the court", talking about his official appointment by "the court" over and over, making it seem as if he were truly a loyal, devoted official appointed by the new dynasty.

Judging by ears alone, who could tell he was actually an official of the Great Wei?

Yet even such an examination graduate scholar-official acted this way, so Ye Suijin was even less constrained. Calling herself a subject was no issue at all. She would lose no hair over bowing her head as a subject when she lacked power.

The people of the Ye Family Fortress had absolutely no objection to this point.

In fact, Fourth Uncle Ye even felt a sense of relief, feeling this was the proper path. It would be best if the court recognized their existence.

"Tangzhou is not yet under my control, so let's just say Dengzhou for now," Ye Suijin followed up without pause, "Petition His Majesty requesting that His Majesty appoint me Governor of Dengzhou."

In the mid-Great Wei period, there had been an empress, and female officials had also been in vogue for a time, though mostly limited to the imperial palace and harem. There had yet to be a woman who became a provincial governor like this.

Ye Suijin is really daring!

Fourth Uncle Ye gasped. He looked at Ye Suijin hesitantly, then sighed silently and folded his sleeves up.

When Ma Jinhui heard that Ye Suijin wanted to be the prefect, he was completely irritated! He wanted to grind his teeth into powder!

Ye Suijin is walking the path that he wanted to take! He colluded with Du Jingzhong. He just wanted to take advantage of the court's vulnerability to occupy Dengzhou, and then make the court recognize him. His goal is to become the prefect of Dengzhou!

Ma Jinhui was furious inside but didn't dare to be impolite on the surface. With neat regular script, the style used for memorials to the throne, he gritted his teeth and wrote the memorial for Ye Suijin.

Still biting and bleeding, he wrote on behalf of Ye Suijin.

Ye Suijin wasn't done yet.

"Please allow this one to establish an army in Dengzhou, to protect the safety of the common people."

"Please allow this one to command the Dengzhou army, and feed Dengzhou."

"We won't mention Tangzhou, but let His Majesty know that Fangcheng has already been incorporated into Dengzhou."

To obtain military and political power by proper means, and make those in the central government feel that Ye family and Ye Suijin can't even take over neighboring Tangzhou, just a local despot wanting a title.

Tiny Dengzhou is just three counties, and four counties if you include Fangcheng.

A small matter.

The new court can't spare effort now, but because the new court has just been established, it needs recognition from all sides. Ye Suijin is voluntarily pledging allegiance, just wanting an insignificant Dengzhou.

A small matter.

It will very likely be granted.

In the future, if Ye Suijin still doesn't have the ability to confront the court, when the court can spare effort, it will certainly go after those unwilling pledgers first compared to this Dengzhou which already pledged allegiance.

Who knows, Dengzhou which took initiative may even be used as a model.

As a seasoned official, Ma Jinhui understands all this clearly.

And the clearer he understands, the more hatred he feels.

However, his brush moved like a dragon, and a proper memorial was written. Out of habit, he polished the literary style, so that people in the capital who read it would praise the excellent writing.

After finishing, he blew on it, respectfully carried it over to Ye Suijin.

Ye Suijin quickly read through it once: "Good handwriting, excellent literary style! Very good, all very good."

"Ajin," she looked up with a smile, extremely satisfied, "Execute him."

Duan Jin swung his blade down, and Ma Jinhui's head flew up, blood spattering everywhere.

All his calculations turned to ashes.

In the end, just an insignificant man in troubled times.