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Using them as scapegoats is naturally the best option.

After more than a month of operation.

Zhiyi's plan is almost complete. The slow-acting poison from Zhidong has been delivered to his master. With his health deteriorating, he will begin selecting a successor in a few days. At that time, with Zhiyi's current advantages, the position of Tian Shu Star will be almost a sure thing.

As for the traces of his own actions, he had almost completely erased them.

Next, all you need to do is eliminate the Fool's ambassador who cooperated with you, and present all the evidence against him, then you can clear yourself of all suspicion.

I feel a little sorry for my teacher.

Zhiyi also felt guilty.

He knew very well that if he could just be patient and wait until his teacher retired, he would still have a good chance of winning the position of Tian Shu Star.

But he couldn't wait any longer.

True.

Liyue does not have a hereditary system like Inazuma.

While a family's status and influence can greatly help in the elections for the Liyue Seven Stars and other powerful departments, Liyue's open selection system still fairly provides commoners with a certain number of opportunities to strive for success.

Otherwise, the miracle of Ningguang, a barefoot commoner, becoming the star of Tianquan in Liyue would not have occurred.

It is clear that Yi lacks the confidence to back it up.

[I'll heal my teacher's poison after I become the Celestial Pisces Star.]

With this in mind, Zhiyi showed no mercy in his actions.

However, just as he was preparing to compete for Tian Shu Star, the General Affairs Department came to his door first.

Completely bewildered, Zhiyi was escorted to Liyue's prison with doubts and confusion. Not only did he lose his eligibility to compete for Tian Shu Star, but he would also have to spend the rest of his life in prison for the crime of poisoning Tian Shu Star.

"How come the General Affairs Department acted so quickly? How are they so sure I was the one who poisoned him?"

Zhiyi couldn't understand it no matter what.

Where exactly did I go wrong?

How did the General Affairs Department's spies get wind of it? And how did that idiot Yusupov manage to get them the evidence?

Zhiyi would never have imagined this.

His failure.

It wasn't that the General Affairs Department found evidence, or that there was a flaw in his plan.

Rather, it was because before returning home to report on his duties, the Winter Solstice's executor handed over evidence to the Liyue authorities of his collusion with his own ambassador to plot the poisoning of Tian Shu Star.

At the same time as Zhiyi was arrested.

Similar events are constantly unfolding throughout Liyue Harbor.

Among them were young people in high positions like Zhiyi, as well as elite scions of powerful families and elites from major merchant guilds. In this wave of turmoil, which the people of Liyue called the Great Purge, they were all arrested and imprisoned in Liyue prisons.

As the mastermind behind this incident.

After Yelan delivered the news of the successful operation, Ningguang was finally able to put down the secret report in her hand and let out a long sigh of relief.

Just yesterday.

The Fatui Commander has left Liyue.

before going.

She took away Ambassador Yusupov and Deputy Ambassador Theofan, as well as many people involved in the Winter's End case, and sent them evidence of Yusupov's collusion with many powerful figures in Liyue as a bargaining chip in exchange for the lives of her subordinates.

And in these pieces of evidence...

The most serious one was that Zhiyi poisoned his master, Tian Shuxing.

Before Ningguang could even investigate why the lady was doing this, she handed the evidence to Yelan, instructing her to verify its authenticity and then take immediate action to apprehend all those who were currently or were planning to disrupt the order of Liyue.

Tianquan in Liyue is one of the people closest to the Geo Archon.

What exactly does the Emperor intend to do?

Ningguang knew better than anyone else.

This is what everyone has been speculating about – the release of power.

And it wasn't a test as those conservatives imagined; it was genuinely a delegation of imperial authority to the mortal class of Liyue.

To others.

It is a good thing for the emperor to delegate power.

For condensation.

This is a test.

The Emperor's sudden decentralization of power signifies that Liyue is about to face an unprecedented political storm, and the changes in Liyue's power structure will inevitably attract the covetousness and interference of other countries.

No matter how good the relationship is between the gods and the lower classes.

There is always intrigue and backstabbing between countries.

People are capable of anything for their own benefit.

For example, Ningguang took advantage of the situation in Mondstadt when goods couldn't be shipped out normally, and bought a lot of cheap goods from Dawn Winery. After Dawn Winery resumed production, she sold these goods at prices slightly below market value, making a lot of money. This forced Dawn Winery to lower its prices as well, and its losses continued.

I understand that everyone tends to kick someone when they're down.

Tianquan is the core of Liyue's power.

Ningguang must find a way to ensure that Liyue survives this storm.

to this end.

She hasn't had a good night's sleep in a long time.

"I still don't understand why that executive suddenly abandoned Zhi Dong's plans here?"

Compared to Ningguang, who always had a serious expression, Yelan looked much more relaxed and even had the mind to make herself some tea.

Speaking of the matter she mentioned.

The condenser also looked doubtful: "I don't know either."

She tapped the table lightly with her right hand and continued, "The Fatui's people planted in Liyue are not just subordinates of one executor. These people are basically not under her command. Could it be mutual attacks between political enemies?"

The relationship between the executors of the Fools is not as harmonious as it appears on the surface.

This is no secret.

Any country with a strong intelligence network would have known about this information long ago.

usually.

Most of the people who are active outside during winter are under the command of the fourth executive servant, the fifth executive rooster, and the ninth executive rich man.

The servants' subordinates mostly engage in espionage, making them difficult to track down; the rooster's subordinates are mostly involved in official operations, such as serving as envoys to various countries; the rich man is a special case, as he is an economic strategist who, in addition to his overt economic offensive, secretly supports numerous smuggling routes, relentlessly plundering wealth from various countries for Winter. Furthermore, this man is extremely ambitious and is suspected of attempting to deprive Liyue of its right to mint coins.

The bad news is that the Fools' infiltration is all-encompassing. When you discover even one traitor, it means that they have already infiltrated almost every corner of the organization.

Good news: The executives of the Fools are not of one mind.

They had all been fighting each other for their own interests.

This incident.

In Ningguang's view, it is very likely the product of infighting within the Fools.

The only doubt about this statement.

The question is why it was a lady who delivered the intelligence, instead of one of the more formidable Enforcers from Liyue.

In this regard.

Yelan had a different opinion.

"That may not be the case."

"It's also possible that the Emperor intervened."

Yelan's idea was very simple.

The executors of the Fools are all stubborn as mules; unless the temptation of profit is extremely great, they will not easily betray their colleagues' plans so thoroughly.

"Based on the intelligence we have so far."

"It will be at least 30 to 50 years before the winter people can infiltrate to this extent again."

“If this lady hadn’t received enough benefits, she would never have risked being held accountable by three colleagues and Her Majesty the Queen to do this.”

What Yelan said made sense.

Ningguang pondered this line of thought for a moment, then raised her eyebrows and asked, "Could it be related to that Sumeru envoy?"

"The Sumeru Envoy?"

"You mean Rod?"

Ye Lan stopped what she was doing and said seriously, "It's really hard to say."

She then sat up straight and began to summarize the recent entanglement between Rhodes and the lady: "On the first day the lady arrived in Liyue, she joined the Sumeru expedition team as Rhodes' senior sister. They knew each other a long time ago, not in Liyue."

"Upon reaching the underground mining area, Rhodes separated from the executive officer known as 'Young Master' and proceeded on his own. The two had no further contact during this period."

"After returning to the ground."

"Rhodes had toured the city with the lady and the Great Sage of Demon Extermination, but only for one day. The next day, after the two met again, the lady gave us this information."

"If there's some kind of deal between the two of them, you never know."

At this point, Ye Lan frowned slightly and said, "We can't monitor Rhodes at all. We don't have much information about him right now, so it's hard to say whether he did this for us. The same goes for the lady; we have very little information about her, so we can't determine whether this matter is related to Rhodes."

"if"

"If that's really the case."

"Then why would he help us?"

Ningguang's tone seemed to indicate that this matter might be related to Rhodes. At the same time, she reminded Yelan, "Don't forget, the Emperor personally received him twice, which is extremely rare. Do you think it's possible that the Emperor used him to do this?"

That said.