Chapter 226 Why Don’t You Help Your Son?

The once invincible general knelt on one knee before him. Although his posture was still upright, his black hair had long since turned grey.

Although he is the same age as Lu Jinchuan and others, he looks older than them.

The emperor was in a trance for a moment, and scenes from the past suddenly appeared before his eyes.

At that time he was not yet the crown prince, and his father sent him to the northwest to supervise the war.

His father had been jealous of the Zhang family since his time, but at that time the border was surrounded by wolves, and Da Chu could not do without the Zhang family.

All they could do was to keep sending people to the army, trying to separate the military power of the Zhang family and train generals loyal to them.

Looking back now, what they did was not very secretive, but Zhang Yongping and his father never cared.

If they want to place people in the army, then let them in. If they want to use war to raise these people, then give them the opportunity.

It's a pity that these people either have no talent for marching and fighting, or are influenced by the Zhang family and become more convinced of them.

More than 20 years have passed, and apart from the Zhang family, the Northwest Army has not produced a single capable general.

The momentary trance made the emperor's eyes more complicated and gentle. Zhang Yongping's suggestion...

He sighed and said, "It would be great if the Duke could be ten years younger."

Ten years ago, Zhang Yongping did not look as old and frail as he does now.

"Your Majesty, I am still able to fight."

Zhang Yongping knelt on the ground and refused to get up. There was no one in the court who would go to the border. If the person was not him, then his daughter would become him.

The situation at the border must be extremely serious to have caused Qi Yu to be seriously injured and abandon the city.

How could he let the Queen take such a risk? If she failed, she would be cursed for all eternity.

The emperor just continued shaking his head, took a step forward, placed his big hand on Zhang Yongping's arm and helped him up.

Knowing that forcing was futile, Zhang Yongping no longer insisted. He just frowned again, afraid that someone would mention the empress again.

The emperor patted his shoulder soothingly, then turned his gaze to look at other people, his eyes suddenly becoming sharp.

This time, Lu Jinchuan learned his lesson and no longer dared to have any ulterior motives. He simply hid behind several other ministers.

The Minister of Revenue took a step forward and said, "Your Majesty, we are all civil officials and are not very familiar with military generals. We don't know who can recover the lost territory and take back Yuchengguan after going to Hanyuguan."

Having been in charge of the purse strings of the Great Chu for so many years, the Minister of Revenue has worked diligently and always considered everything for the court, and is one of the people most valued by the emperor.

Now that he stood up, even if the emperor was dissatisfied, he could not refuse his face.

Knowing that he would not get the answers he wanted from these people, the emperor glanced at them coldly and left again.

The people who were left hanging in the square looked at each other, not knowing what to do next.

Song Junyan sent Lu Xinran back home, and when he returned to the government office after finishing his official business, he saw this scene.

Song Junhua came up to him with a smile, looked him up and down, and then said something sourly.

"Fourth brother is really free, he can even leave the palace to see his fiancée."

Song Junyan just stood aside with the others without giving any response.

The emperor returned to the Wenhua Palace and looked at the military reports piled on the table, his heart beating with anxiety.

There should be further war reports delivered to the capital tonight. If the situation at the front is extremely grim...

The emperor could no longer sit still when he thought of this. He glanced at the sky outside the window, stood up and headed straight for the Yongshou Palace.

The Queen Mother was preparing to have dinner, and the plain food did not betray her nobility at all.

Just as she picked up the bowl of soup, she heard the message. She quickly put down the bowl and looked towards the door.

"Why are you here so suddenly? Have you had dinner yet?"

The empress dowager spoke as she called out to the palace maids to quickly go to the kitchen and bring over the emperor's dinner.

Before the palace maids left the house, Eunuch Fu came in with his men and brought in the food box.

Only after all the dishes and chopsticks were laid out and all the palace maids had been dismissed, leaving only the mother and son in the room, did the emperor let out a long sigh.

"But the candidate hasn't been decided yet?"

Although the Queen Mother had people suppress the Empress and prevent her from doing anything wrong, she was particularly attentive to the affairs of the previous dynasty.

Hearing the emperor's sigh, one could already guess the helplessness of the court being without any generals available.

"Mother, you said..."

Did he mean to say that he really wanted to place his hopes on the Queen?

But it has been more than 20 years since she returned to Beijing and has been away from the border for too long. She is no longer the unrestrained and carefree female general who galloped on the battlefield.

The Queen Mother had guessed what he had said, but since he did not say it clearly, she pretended not to know and raised her hand to add another bowl of soup for the Emperor.

"Don't worry, there will always be a way out. We can always find a solution."

The emperor took the bowl of soup, somewhat dissatisfied with the empress dowager's avoidance.

"Mother, why don't you help your son?"

"Help? How can an old woman like me, waiting to die in the harem, help? After thinking about it, I think all I can do is to reduce the food supply so that the soldiers at the front can have more food to eat."

The Empress Dowager's words were still evasive, and the Emperor had no choice but to speak up.

"What do you think, would it be okay for my son to let the Queen go to the border?"

"not good."

The Queen Mother almost didn't think twice: "You just refuted the ministers' suggestions in the court today, but the next day you think their ideas are feasible. How can you still be a king if you keep going back on your words like this?"

emperor:"……"

He finally realized that his mother was determined to go against him today.

He put down the bowl with a headache and said, "Mother, I am discussing this with you."

"I'm telling you this, Emperor. Have you ever thought about the Empress?"

Speaking of this, the Empress Dowager felt that the Emperor had been a bit of a scumbag over the years.

When there was no one available at the critical moment, he remembered that the queen had also led troops in the past.

"Let's not talk about how you treated her over the years, how she endured the tormenting days step by step. Let's just say that you sent her to the border. If she is powerless and unable to turn the situation around, who will bear this responsibility?"

Who will bear the blame?

"You also said in the court that she is just a woman."

The emperor felt extremely uncomfortable when he was rebuked by the empress dowager. Of course, he had thought about these things before.

But compared with the current urgency, these seemed nothing to him.

"Alright, I know you really have no other choice, so you only thought of the Queen. It's not a problem to let her fight for you, but you have to give her protection."

It gave her the peace of mind that she would not be blamed even if she lost the war, and the confidence that the truth would not be buried in history books.

The emperor left in silence, and the empress dowager shook her head as she looked at his back.

What has her son been thinking all these years?