You're Strong But Now You're Mine-Chapter 140 - 139: Radiant Four Guards

Since the day of crossing over, Le Yu has been in this nation of Glorious Radiance for quite some time.

During these days, Le Yu has vaguely sensed a very strange reality—

In this nation, it seems like everyone wants to rebel.

There’s no need to mention White Night, Governor Ding Yi of Star Engraving County, and Lua Zhong, the Regulator of Chenfeng District—their open and covert struggle isn’t just about the ownership of Star Engraving County, on a deeper level, they are striving for a seat at the table in the fight for dominance over the realm.

Skyrim is worth mentioning, civil war, rebellion, warlords rising; Glorious Radiance is in such a corrupted state mainly because all internal military power has been used to suppress the Skyrim rebellion.

If the intentions of the former two were potentially to change the nation, then Dongyang is even worse—they have already completed the collusion between the realms of politics, military, and commerce and do not require changing the nation; they only want autonomy in Dongyang.

They need to do business nationwide, so stability is required; but if the nation truly stabilizes, their wealth would be coveted by the upper echelons, so they need the nation to remain somewhat unstable.

The rapid outbreak of chaos in Skyrim and the ability of rebels to annihilate stationed forces is not something Le Yu can believe happened without any assistance from the neighboring Dongyang District—Jing Zhengwei does not believe it either; during that time, he investigated the movements of the Ting Family’s military factories and discovered large quantities of arms secretly shipped via sea to Skyrim District.

The Silver Blood Association’s triangular maritime trade remains stable even in times of war, not because Skyrim People are hospitable and dislike robbery, but due to Silver Blood Association’s accumulated regional reputation through successive trades, opening up the trade system.

Although Le Yu hasn’t visited other regions, his experiences so far are enough for him to conclude:

This country is doomed.

At the ground level, the White Night Organization wants to rebel;

In the middle tier, Silver Blood Association merchants desire autonomy;

At the top tier, governors and regulators plan to vie for the realm.

Not to mention the former emperor died from assassination, there might still be palace intrigues.

It’s truly a situation where everyone from bottom to top is eager and waiting for Glorious Radiance to split and perish, seeking to compete for the realm, redefine rich and poor, noble and vile.

It can truly be said that all of society belongs to the doomed faction.

But naturally, Le Yu wonders: Is everyone in Glorious Radiance really calling for a fight? Are there no loyal patriots wishing to continue the legacy of the Imperial Court of Glorious Radiance?

Until now, Le Yu finally understood where these loyal patriots are—

They’ve also hidden themselves.

"Glorious Radiance’s Four Guards, Loyal Guards, Righteous Guards, Ritual Guards, Intelligent Guards, spread across various districts, secretly act to defend territorial integrity and the interests of the Imperial Court."

Qin Leyi, while shuffling cards, said, "Since the passing of the late emperor, the Holy Sword of Glorious Radiance has fallen silent, various changes indeed occurred in districts; the governor and regulator of Chenfeng District are fighting, and Dongyang is attempting to guide the war using financial power—whether the Skyrim rebels capture Yanjing or Glorious Radiance troops suppress Skyrim rebels doesn’t align with their fundamental interests—under heaven, this entire land remains under royal domain; to the very edges of the dominion..."

"...anywhere except those who betray."

Pa!

Qin Leyi placed the stack of cards to the right, took out a gold coin: "Is the emperor still Glorious Radiance?"

"The emperor." Le Yu answered.

Qin Leyi flipped the gold coin, covered it with his hand, and then uncovered it.

The side of the gold coin showed the emblem of Glorious Radiance.

"Then I won’t be polite and go first." Qin Leyi drew three cards, then placed one card face down: "We, the Four Guards of Glorious Radiance, are loyal not to the former emperor, nor to the future emperor, but to—Glorious Radiance."

"Weishao, do you know how many years this country of Glorious Radiance has existed since it was founded?"

"Over two thousand years."

"To be precise, it’s 2038 years." Qin Leyi continued, "Glorious Radiance’s founding Grand Ancestor established the name of Glorious Radiance, continuing till now. Despite countless natural calamities, human disasters, coups, rebellions along the way...Glorious Radiance continues to this day, all people on this land know themselves as Glorious Radiance. Numerous countries overseas also know there is a great powerful nation across the sea, Glorious Radiance."

"2038 winters and summers, 2038 springs and autumns...Weishao, can you imagine what kind of concept this is?"

"The founding edict of Grand Ancestor, we can still understand it now. The magnificent articles written by countless literary figures over these two thousand years remain in our books. In this river called history, we are backed by historical currents composed of countless benevolent patriots, resplendent and dazzling, historical currents will engulf us and then carry us forward into the future."

"This, is Glorious Radiance."

"This, is the object of loyalty for us, the Four Guards of Glorious Radiance—this nation."

Le Yu’s face was clouded and uncertain as he played a direct attack card, asking, "Why did you tell me all this?"

Qin Leyin revealed a counter card: "Because I once sent the Yitian Gang to assassinate you, and you are known for holding grudges. To dispel your doubts, I need to reveal my identity first."

"How do I know you’re not lying?"

"You can ask Jing Qingfu or Ting Gu. These veterans have at least heard rumors of the Radiant Four Guards," Qin Leyin smiled. "Of course, you can only confirm the existence of the Radiant Four Guards but can’t verify if I am part of them. Although the Four Guards’ motto I just mentioned proves my identity, you are not one of the Four Guards and cannot understand its significance."

"Furthermore, whether I am lying doesn’t matter," Qin Leyin covered his card again. "What matters is whether I, Qin Leyin, can help further your plans and even expedite the arrival of your anticipated future."

Le Yu squinted slightly, "What do you mean?"

"It’s the same old saying: I know you want to overthrow the Silver Blood Association, and our goal, the Radiant Four Guards, aligns with yours," Qin Leyin slightly bowed. "We are like-minded partners."

"Why do you want to overthrow the Silver Blood Association?"

"You’ve probably seen it too; the Silver Blood Association is nothing more than a cancer to the country." Qin Leyin sneered, "As for their political ambitions, they are nothing but a dreamy nightmare."

"Merchants are inherently profit-driven. A governing class composed of merchants is almost incompetent. Apart from exploitation and oppression, what else can they do? Merchants’ role is meant to balance resources, but now they deplete the insufficient to fill the surplus—hoarding, suppressing, monopolizing, defining the market—the whole Xuanzhu County under their rule is like a living purgatory, yet they remain smug!"

Le Yu laughed, "But the Silver Blood Association thinks the people of Xuanzhu County are doing quite well under their management—"

"It’s merely a comparison of bad alternatives. I admit, under the Silver Blood Association’s management, productivity in various sectors has indeed improved significantly and resources are flowing into Dongyang. But there’s a precondition to this." Qin Leyin said, "Resources don’t appear out of thin air, nor do they vanish into thin air. The Silver Blood Association is squeezing hard, yet the populace survives—where do these resources come from? Besides being produced in Xuanzhu County, many are plundered by the Silver Blood Association through trade from other districts!"

"Everywhere having trade with the Silver Blood Association—Scandinavia, Skyrim, Chenfeng District—they are all being drained by the Silver Blood, enabling Dongyang and Xuanzhu County to thrive!"

"That’s why I say the Silver Blood Association is a cancer." Qin Leyin played a direct attack card, "Because the trait of ’merchants pursuing profit’ can’t be elevated to national governance! If Radiance were truly under the control of a group of merchants, it would either wage wars to drain other countries or continuously sacrifice the lowest stratum to feed the upper tier."

"But if that’s the only issue, the Radiant Four Guards might not necessarily target the Silver Blood Association." Qin Leyin changed his tune, "Harvesting the lower stratum, Radiance has done that in the past too, it’s a systemic problem. If, after taking power, the Silver Blood Association could promote social productivity while harvesting the lower classes, not only would the Radiant Four Guards not want to overthrow them, they might even support them."

Le Yu covered a card, "It seems the Silver Blood Association has a flaw you cannot tolerate."

"Exactly!" Qin Leyin also covered a card, "The biggest problem with the Silver Blood Association is—they are borderless due to merchants’ profit-driven nature!"

"Silver Blood merchants have already transferred wealth to Scandinavia. When they find Radiance uninhabitable, they’ll promptly relocate to Scandinavia to continue being major landlords and merchants."

"That’s the point the Radiant Four Guards cannot tolerate."

"Harvesting the lower class, okay; coveting power, okay; but fleeing Radiance with wealth, that’s unacceptable."

"Born a Radiance person, die a Radiance ghost. What belongs to Radiance, not a penny should be taken elsewhere."

"If it were only rebellion against the Imperial Court, the Radiant Four Guards might first observe and judge; but defecting from Radiance, that’s unforgivable!"

"Overall, the Silver Blood Association inherently possesses a trait to defect from Radiance. If everyone acted like these merchants, earning massively then leaving Radiance, transferring wealth to other countries, Radiance would eventually be hollowed out by such parasites."

Qin Leyin uncovered his Critical Strike card, "The power of the Four Guards in Dongyang District is not strong enough to shake the Silver Blood Association. So we’ve been accumulating strength, without any rash moves."

"But your ’Youth Daily’ is different."

"It can become the strongest medicine, awakening the self-awareness of the lower class, pushing the Silver Blood Association into a critical state."

"As the Silver Blood Association becomes more greedy and their desire intensifies, the more factories they build, the more goods they produce, the higher they pile their merchant empire, the more rapidly it will collapse."

"Their decaying bodies will become fertile soil, their leftover wealth will become the strength of Dongyang District, their failed history will become learning material for people."

"But in actuality, the Silver Blood Association hasn’t reached that level yet. As they say, the populace still survives; if there’s still a way to live, the populace won’t rebel—only when there’s no other path but death will anyone risk rebellion."

"And your ’Youth Daily’ is accelerating this process. The contradictions which used to require the Silver Blood Association to expand to its utmost, requiring a complete opposition between the rich and poor, requiring the lower class’s life to gradually deteriorate to explode, are now being gradually ignited under the guidance of ’Youth Daily.’

"The most wonderful part is, even the Silver Blood Association itself hasn’t detected the catalytic effect hidden in the words of ’Youth Daily!’"

"This is the world’s strongest and most flexible weapon, and that’s the real reason I came for you."

Qin Leyin smiled, "You want to overthrow the Silver Blood Association, I also want to overthrow it, doesn’t that make us friends?"

Le Yu was silent for a moment, then played a direct attack card, saying, "I have one question."

"Please go ahead."

"Why should I cooperate with you?"