"Is it too early?" A civil official sneered, "The situation is now in front of us. If we don't respond and put our hopes on the nonsense of a little girl, it will be too late!"
If these civil and military officials all believed the "seventy-three days" of the Chang family girl, it would be really absurd, and the day of the country's destruction would not be far away! "Mr. Qu is wrong, it's not a nameless little girl--" Wei Shuyi ignored the other party's ugly face and corrected: "It's General Ningyuan."
As he spoke, he bowed slightly to the Holy Ce Emperor above him and said, "It is General Ning Yuan, who has made many military achievements and was personally appointed by the Saint."
The civil official named Qu showed a hint of disdain in his eyes when he heard this: "Just because she was brave enough to kill the enemy before, should we blindly praise her and conclude that everything she does is right? If we can confuse right and wrong in everything, then we are not able to distinguish between the important and the secondary!"
Wei Shuyi's face was calm: "Luoyang is in danger, and there is no plan to deal with it. Instead, you gentlemen are eager to use a legitimate manifesto to punish rebels to accuse a general who is chasing rebels. I'm afraid you really don't know the priorities."
The civil official who was more than a generation older than him blushed and said, "May I ask Minister Wei, whose fault is it that Xu Zhengye went to Luoyang?"
Wei Shuyi looked at him, silently put away his indifferent expression, and said firmly: "It is the fault of the traitors and Xu Zhengye."
He added: "If we fail to respond effectively and come up with a good strategy to defeat the enemy in time, which results in the loss of Luoyang, it is the fault of Wei, Lord Qu, and all the officials in the court."
There was a slight silence all around.
Then the young man said, "The battle situation is not clear yet, why are you so anxious to judge others? If General Chang and General Ningyuan really caused the loss of Luoyang and committed an irreparable mistake, there will be saints to judge them later, and no one can cover up. However, the battle situation is not clear now, and you want to convict people based on a piece of paper. Wouldn't this move discourage the 170,000 soldiers who are still fighting hard to pursue the rebels? Will we fight this battle or not? Will we pursue the rebels or not?"
Qu Pingsheng's expression changed several times.
The Cui officials behind him did not speak for a while.
The empress took everyone's reactions into consideration.
It is not a bad thing that there are many different voices in the court, but unfortunately, these voices often have ulterior motives. They all have their own ulterior motives, which are far from being as simple, shallow and high-sounding as they sound on the surface.
At such times, she needs Wei Shuyi and others to suppress those voices with ulterior motives.
"Minister Wei's words make sense. It is too early to judge people's faults at this time, and it is not good for morale." The Emperor of Shengce said at the right time: "Although General Ningyuan is young, he still has General Chang by his side. My dear ministers and I are far away in the capital, and we are not familiar with the situation in Jiangdu. Perhaps General Chang has another way to win by taking advantage of the situation."
These words were spoken to the ministers, and the rebuttals and doubts were also expected.
Did she really not have any doubts at all? Of course not.
After listening to those analyses, the empress was not optimistic that Chang Kuo and others could successfully pursue and intercept Xu's army.
But what she thought was more than what the officials thought.
What she said just now was her true thought - only those who were there before the war could truly understand the situation in Jiangdu.
Especially Ashang.
Ashang has extremely rich combat experience and a keen sense of predicting the direction of war.
Her daughter, she knew her very well.
Every step Ah Shang takes is like playing chess. She would never act impulsively. She must have thought about every possible impact that her manifesto might bring in advance.
So…it was normal for others not to expect Xu Zhengye to change his route to Luoyang, but Ah Shang couldn’t have expected it, right? In addition, all the troops had been used to deploy defenses before, so Xu Zhengye was forced to “know the difficulty and think of another way”…
But they only defended and did not attack, and then allowed Xu Zhengye to gather his troops...
Afterwards, a manifesto appeared, causing Xu Zhengye to fall into a vortex of self-proof...
All these things settled in the empress's mind, like chess pieces, gradually connecting into a chess game.
She could almost conclude that A Shang had been planning his move since the moment he pacified Li Yi and joined the army.
Therefore, Xu Zhengye's decision to change his route to Luoyang seemed unexpected, but in fact it was the result of Ashang's step-by-step planning! The empress's fingers slightly clenched the edge of the wide robe sleeves embroidered with python patterns in gold thread.
Xu Zhengye has already joined the game, but is this chess game really aimed at Xu Zhengye?
Or...
Ah Shang wanted Xu Zhengye to rule the Central Plains, occupy Luoyang, and confront her as the emperor? Was he going to use Xu Zhengye to... deal with her, to take revenge on her?
That's her daughter.
She didn't want to doubt her own daughter, and no one in this world wanted to doubt their own flesh and blood...
But her only flesh and blood now refused to acknowledge her, tried every possible means to escape from her, and was even unwilling to give her, his mother, a chance to speak.
That’s right, the A’Shang in her memory was the A’Shang before she went to Beidi to marry…
During the three years in Beidi, Ashang suffered humiliation and torture that ordinary people could hardly imagine. Such an experience... might be enough to make Ashang hate his mother.
This thought made the Emperor of the Holy Ceremonial ...
She wanted Ah Shang to come back. She had imagined many possibilities, but she missed this one. Or, in other words, her understanding of Ah Shang had always remained at the time before she went to Beidi.
In the past, apart from the people of Dasheng and her soldiers, Ah Shang only had her mother and Ah Xiao in her eyes.
The Ah Shang who has returned now is probably no longer the same Ah Shang as before.
Was it a momentary anger, or would he hate her for a long time? She had always wanted to sit down and talk with Ah Shang. Even though she failed, she fulfilled her wish to continue to serve in the army. She gave her the position of general... These were all her gestures of goodwill as a mother, but her daughter seemed to turn a blind eye.
A mother should not doubt her daughter, especially a mother who feels guilty.
But she is more than just a mother.
The Emperor of the Holy Ceremonies looked towards all the officials in the hall.
She is also an emperor.
A mother can give her daughter unlimited tolerance and unconditional trust, but an emperor cannot act on his emotions without any consideration.
What's more, her daughter's name is Li Shang, and her surname is also Li, so she is also a member of the Li family.
As an "emperor from a foreign family", she could not afford to be careless or take any chances if she wanted to stabilize this precarious empire.
As an emperor, she was different from the officials. She did not question the ability of the 17-year-old young general. What she questioned was the young general's "intentions".
And her Luoyang cannot have any mistakes.
Therefore, we cannot place all our hopes in the hands of Ashang, who is full of uncertainties.
On that day, the empress sent several urgent edicts to Luoyang, ordering Luoyang and Bianzhou to deploy their full strength to resist Xu's rebellious army.
Another official suggested that troops from states surrounding Luoyang should be dispatched to provide reinforcements.
But this proposal was rejected by the empress.
"Do you remember Chuzhou Governor Wei Jun?"
The hall suddenly became quiet.
At that time, the governor of Chuzhou had secretly defected to Xu Zhengye, but no one noticed it until Chang Kuo and others crossed the border of Chuzhou, when Wei Jun set up a Hongmen Banquet to plot against them...
In the Luoyang area, the various clans were deeply rooted and intertwined. The Changsun clan originated in Luoyang. Even a centipede is still alive after death...
If the states near Luoyang were to see another "Wei Jun" and let them go to Luoyang to help, once they joined forces with the remaining aristocratic forces in Luoyang, it would be equivalent to handing Luoyang over to Xu Zhengye.
With this previous experience as a lesson, the increasingly suspicious empress did not dare to take any risks.
Shortly after the morning court session, the empress summoned other important officials to the Ganlu Palace to discuss matters.
The military forces in Luoyang and Bianzhou alone were not enough to resist Xu's rebellion.
She was also worried about other states near Luoyang.
Therefore, she needed to send additional troops to reinforce Luoyang.
"...Luoyang is different from other places. We must not make any mistakes. If we are going to send troops there, we must select elite troops." Zhongshu Ling Ma Xingzhou said: "Your Majesty, there are still 70,000 elite troops available in the capital."
Everyone knew what the "70,000 elite troops" he referred to were.
That was the most elite army of Da Sheng, founded by the former Crown Prince and named the Xuan Ce Army.
There are now a total of 150,000 Xuan Ce troops under Xuan Ce's command. Previously, Cui Jing rushed to the northern border and took away 80,000 of them. Now the remaining 70,000 are left in Xuan Ce's camp in the capital.
At this moment, an official hesitated and said, "Sir... these 70,000 Xuan Ce troops are responsible for guarding the capital, how can they be easily transferred away?"
Of course, there are more than just these 70,000 Xuan Ce troops guarding the capital, but these 70,000 Xuan Ce troops have erected a solid barrier here, allowing the capital to have real stability.
Under normal circumstances, there would be no need to be so timid, but now there are incidents everywhere...
How could Ma Xingzhou not know this? He just sighed and said, "The most urgent task is to defend Luoyang."
Some officials also sighed.
There is no perfect solution. The pros and cons are all in front of us, so the emperor needs to make the final decision.
The Holy Ce Emperor also fell into hesitation. She summoned officials from the Ministry of War and several military officers to analyze the situation in detail and repeatedly confirmed the situation in the capital.
Finally, she made a decision: "Pass on my order, order 70,000 Xuan Ce troops to go to protect Luoyang, and order the Xuan Ce government to prepare for the dispatch of troops immediately!"
No matter what, she can't give up Luoyang!
If we lose Luoyang to Xu Zhengye today, we will lose our royal authority. Without it, the country will change hands in a matter of seconds! The Emperor of the Holy Ce ordered Yu Zeng to go to Xuan Ce Mansion in person to pass on the order.
Yu Zeng agreed and immediately led his men out of Ganlu Hall.
After leaving the inner palace, Yu Zeng got on a sedan chair, followed by a group of eunuchs, walking quickly.
Yu Zeng sat in the sedan chair, holding the imperial edict in his hand, his narrow and long eyes drooped, hiding the expression within.
Yu Zeng and a group of eunuchs hurriedly passed the Secretariat. When they passed the front street of the six ministries, they saw Taifu Chu leading a group of officials from the Ministry of Rites, accompanied by imperial guards with swords.
The first session of the Spring Examination will begin tomorrow. They will escort the imperial examination papers to the examination hall. The road will be cleared along the way and no one will be allowed to approach.
The atmosphere was solemn and tense, but Master Chu didn't hesitate to express his dissatisfaction. He glanced at Yu Zeng and others who were hurrying away and said, "What a hurry, what a mess..."
"..." The other officials watched with their eyes and noses, not daring to say a word, and even wanted to step forward and cover the mouth of the tutor.
They dare not speak carelessly, in case any of their words are used to make a fuss and they are charged with secretly leaking the test questions, which is a capital crime.
Most of the others walked, but the elderly Master Chu was an exception and sat in the sedan chair. He sighed comfortably, picked up the health-preserving tea prepared in the sedan chair, and took a sip leisurely.
Naturally, he had already known the news that Xu Zhengye had changed his route to Luoyang, but the old tutor was not at all panicked.
He has students here, why are these people worrying about nothing?
Regarding his students, based on his secret observations and analysis these days, he thought that the empress probably knew something...
Even though he knew it, he was so anxious to respond... Did he not trust it? After a while, Master Chu held the teacup and sneered in disagreement.
For some people, the higher they stand, the more afraid they are, and the less they can see clearly.
"Strange." Master Chu whispered, whether it was sarcasm or a sigh, "Strangely sad, very pitiful."
But the most pitiful ones are his unlucky students.
When his student first appeared in front of him, he was just a small chess piece.
At first, the little chess piece was so stupid that he thought he had deceived the man on the dragon throne and that he was the one lying. Little did he know...
Thinking of this, Master Chu placed the teacup on the pearwood table with a bang.
“Neither of them is good.”
That's why he paid special attention to the little chess piece from the very beginning, wanting to see what kind of stupid and unlucky little thing it was.
Later he discovered that, hey, this little chess piece was not stupid.
Later, the small chess piece grew up and became a big chess piece.
Be smarter this time and don't let yourself be used as a pawn again.
Master Chu whispered in his heart.
Otherwise, don't say you are his student anymore, it's embarrassing.
…
After the Emperor of the Holy Ce decided to order the Xuan Ce Army to go to war, he began to discuss the candidates to lead the troops.
The choice of leader is very important. No matter how good a sword is, once it is given to an incompetent person, it will be no different from a broken sword.
Besides...
An official said: "The Xuan Ce Army has always been unique... If the wrong people are selected, it may arouse rebellion."
After he finished speaking, he seemed to realize that he had said something wrong, so he quickly restrained his expression.
Wei Shuyi frowned almost imperceptibly.
Is this statement implying that Xuan Ce's army is easily disobedient?
He opened his mouth and said at the right time: "The Xuan Ce Army inherited the aspirations of the previous prince and is loyal to the Great Sheng Dynasty. The army has always been strict in discipline. It is precisely because of this unique and proud morale that they can meet the enemy without being defeated and their determination to protect the territory remains unchanged."
"If an army is full of people who follow the crowd, once they meet a commander like Li Yi, they will become a knife in the hands of the rebels." Wei Shuyi said: "I dare to say that if Li Yi had led the Xuan Ce Army, the army would never have been deceived by him and would have made a big mistake."
The official said hurriedly, "That's exactly what Minister Wei said."
Wei Shuyi smiled at him and said, "But Lord Fang's concerns are not unreasonable. If you want to make good use of the Xuan Ce Army, you must have a general who is truly worthy of this good sword."
As he spoke, he turned to the Holy Ce Emperor and bowed, saying, "I think that at this critical moment, it is the truly foolproof choice for General Cui to lead the troops."
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