Castle of Black Iron

'Although Huaiyuan Palace looks vigorous in Youzhou Province, it's actually treading as if on thin ice. It might be at stake at any time?'

When Zhang Tie heard these words from Zhang Taixuan the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, he almost wanted to touch Count Long Wind's forehead to check whether he had fever or not.

'Are you kidding me? Huaiyuan Palace is growing pretty well now. How could Zhang Taixuan be so passive?'

It seemed that Zhang Taixuan had known what Zhang Tie was thinking about; he then called a clerk to bring a document here.

After the clerk left, a document appeared in front of Zhang Tie. Count Long Wind then implied Zhang Tie to read it by throwing a glance at Zhang Tie. Out of curiosity, Zhang Tie took up the document.

"This is a document that Commander Cheng sent to the Xuanyuan Hill. Commander Cheng copied one over here. You can take a look at its contents."

Out of curiosity, Zhang Tie opened it. Only after reading a few lines, he had been shocked. The upper part of the document was the imperial to the throne of an impeachment; the lower part of it was the reply and denouncement of the Northeast Military Region.

Zhang Tie could never imagine that he would become the main character in the memorial to the throne.

——"Su Qianling, the official in charge of the discipline of the public functionaries impeaches Zhang Mushen the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province for dereliction of duties"

At the sight of the title of the memorial to the throne, Zhang Tie had widely opened his mouth.

After composing himself, Zhang Tie read the contents carefully while growing increasingly furious...

The contents contained two events: first, Zhang Tie rarely handled the public affairs in the court temple after taking the office for over 2 months. He didn't even know whether the gate of the court temple was facing south or north; those officials in the court temple didn't even know the look of the new dean of the provincial court in Youzhou Province at all.

Second, Zhang Tie was taking liberties with his beautiful wives and concubines, traveling leisurely, drinking and amusing himself with them every day in Golden Light City; besides, he even bought land and stored wealth and goods in Youzhou Province excessively.

The expressions in the memorial were very delicate. After deleting the other relevant reasons and linking the two affairs with each other, the impeacher precisely depicted an image of a newly rich who was fickle, rude, horny, avaricious and lazy. Anyone who caught sight of this person might spit towards him.

Closely after that, he started to criticize Zhang Tie viciously.

"If it were in peaceful time, it's good to see the dean of the provincial court being leisure; however, it's the wartime. Given the situation outside Taixia Country, our vast country is constantly being disrupted by demons. War flames could be seen almost everywhere; hundreds of millions of commissioned officers and soldiers are awaiting eagerly the order for battle or fighting forcefully with demons on the battlefields. Given the situation inside the country, the Heavens Reaching Church is making troubles everywhere; crafty and evil forces were surging, afflicting commoners severely...however, in such a chaotic period, the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province is only indulged in beauties, drinks, wealth and goods. What a misfortune it is for the commoners..."

"I, Su Qianling now propose to impeach Zhang Mushen the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province for the sake of the commoners in Youzhou Province. Please punish him with the crime of dereliction of duties..."

If the names of Youzhou and Zhang Tie were changed in the memorial, Zhang Tie would smite the table and rise to his feet for sure. Besides, he would swear that dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province for holding down his job without doing a stroke of his work. Given the memorial, the commoners in that province under the governance of that dean of the provincial court were definitely living a miserable life. However, when that main character became Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie was driven extremely furious as his chest rose and fell.

After composing himself gradually, a question occurred to Zhang Tie's mind, 'Who's that motherf*cking Su Qianling? I've just been to Taixia Country for a few months but I don't know him at all. What does this guy bite me for?'

'I've not offended anyone surnamed Su, not to mention Su Qingling. What's the reason then?' Although Zhang Tie was longing for the Xuanyuan Hill, before he caught sight of its look had someone in the Xuanyuan Hill started to attack him.

This memorial was directly presented to the dasikong, one of the top three chancellors of Taixia Country from the Central Censorate of Xuanyuan Hill. After reading it, the dasikong left no comment; instead, he directly sent it to the Northeast Military Region for further response. However, the reply from Northeast Military Region was of one word, "F*rt!" What an aggressive reply! At the sight of the reply "F*rt!", Zhang Tie instantly recalled the cold, black face of Commander Cheng. He then immediately felt warm inside.

After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Taixuan. He knew that Zhang Taixuan must have something to say.

"Do you know what punishment you will face in Taixia Country as a knight with the crime of dereliction of duties?" Zhang Taixuan asked with a gloomy look.

Zhang Tie shook his head. As it was not written in the Laws of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie also wondered about that.

"If a knight commits the crime of dereliction of duties in Taixia Country, he would be chopped off his head in the army; or removed from his post and dispatched to the abyss of the earth-elements realm to fight demons for 6 decades. However, in the abyss of the earth-elements realm, a common knight only has less than 20% of possibilities to survive the battle with demons for 6 decades. As the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, I shall also assume the joint responsibilities because of your deed. I will not promise you any higher post within 6 decades! Additionally, from then on, the key position dean of provincial governor of Youzhou Province will be assumed by other people but Zhang Clan."

After hearing Zhang Taixuan's words, Zhang Tie changed his face, 'What a memorial! My mom has been so worried about me when I'm above the ground; if she knew that I was punished with the crime of dereliction of duties and dispatched to the abyss of earth-elements realm, she might get scared to death.'

'Even if I returned to the ground after 6 decades, what would my family members look like?' Zhang Tie dared not imagine that.

The vicious intention between the impassioned lines really frightened Zhang Tie.

'What a bloodless massacre!'

Zhang Tie finally understood why Zhang Taixuan sighed that Huaiyuan Palace was treading as if on the thin ice.

"Who's Su Qianling? I've not provoked him; I've not even seen him or heard about him before. Why did he frame me?" Zhang Tie asked as he looked straight into Zhang Taixuan's eyes and tamed his anger.

After letting out a sigh, Count Long Wind shrugged, "The 360 censors in the Central Censorate of the Xuanyuan Hill are responsible for supervising all the officials in the territory of Taixia Country. They are called around-the-clock imperial censors. Before reading this memorial, I also didn't know Su Qianling."

"Really?" Zhang Tie replied with an amazed look.

Count Long Wind nodded, "Actually, Su Qianling is not the point as he's just a tool and piece in the hands of others. However, you've missed a point. Su Qianling didn't target at you, but Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. If he could defeat you, he would defeat the entire Huaiyuan Palace too. Because you're the youngest and most hopeful elder in Huaiyuan Palace. They want to humiliate Huaiyuan Palace and further rock the foundation of Huaiyuan Palace by tearing a wound on you!"

"They? Who're they?" Do Huaiyuan Palace have an enemy in Taixia Country?"

"As we're in the secular world, each of us has personal enemies." Zhang Taixuan let out a sigh as he watched Zhang Tie seriously, "Have you considered why our ancestor Lord Huaiyuan would leave Taixia Country and lay a foundation in Waii Sub-continent?"

Zhang Tie was shocked once again as he had not imagined that the enemies of Huaiyuan Palace were left by Lord Huaiyuan.

"They were the opponents of Lord Huaiyuan!"

"Besides being the opponents of Lord Huaiyuan, they are also the enemies of the Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Because of them, Lord Huaiyuan was killed in the earth-elements realm!" Zhang Taixuan revealed a sense of animosity, "Too many people in Taixia were involved in this event. It's the secret of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Only elders and some other figures knew it. I planned to tell you about that after a few years; however, I've not imagined that they couldn't wait to frame you in such a vicious way after knowing that Huaiyuan Palace won the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province. If I still didn't tell you about it, you might suffer a big loss." After a pause, Zhang Taixuan watched Zhang Tie with a serious look and continued, "It's Gobbling Party who framed you and Huaiyuan Palace!"

"Gobbling Party?" It was Zhang Tie's first time to hear such a strange name.

"Lord Huaiyuan offended the Gobbling Party in Taixia Country, the head of which has become the master of the crown prince in the east palace of Xuanyuan Hill. It's a class I position, the most dignified position below the three top chancellors, namely; dasima, dasitu and dasikong. He might probably promote to one of the three top chancellors. He has numerous apprentices, ears, and eyes in Xuanyuan Hill. His family has hundreds of cities in the upper provinces. His clan forces are dozens of times greater than that of Huaiyuan Palace..."

After hearing that, Zhang Tie felt like swearing that b*stard...