He secretly ordered the northern officers and soldiers to be at odds with the Jin people.

Not to mention that the discord between the officers and soldiers and the Jin people provoked disputes and caused instability on the border, the secret order was a private act that violated the holy name and was disrespectful to the emperor.

These are all serious crimes that are subject to impeachment.

Duke Cheng actually admitted it?

There is no need to produce the evidence of the Royal Guards.

Lu Yunqi, who was standing aside, had a blank expression on his face. He showed no disappointment or anger, and seemed to have heard nothing.

But the other ministers could not pretend that they heard nothing. After a moment of silence in the hall, it burst into noise.

"Duke Cheng is so brave!"

"Rebellious heart!"

Not only that historian, but many other ministers stood up and shouted angrily.

The emperor seemed frightened by the scene, and seemed shocked, disappointed and unbelievable at Duke Cheng's words.

"Shut up," he shouted, and then looked at Duke Cheng. "Duke Cheng, is there some misunderstanding?"

This made the few quiet Yu Shi very dissatisfied.

"Your Majesty, you dote on Zhu Shan too much."

"It is because of you that Zhu Shan becomes more arrogant."

"Your Majesty, you believe him and not us. You are really too deeply deceived by him."

Especially some old ministers were heartbroken.

The hall fell into noise again.

The eunuchs had to keep the ministers quiet on behalf of the emperor.

"I have let you say what you need to say. Now I want to hear what Duke Cheng has to say." The emperor said, looking at Duke Cheng, "I ask you again, did you really do this?"

Duke Cheng nodded.

"I did so," he said, "Your Majesty does not need these historians to question me."

He looked at Lu Yunqi again.

"No need for the Royal Guards to spy."

He looked at the emperor again.

"Because I have always done this," he said, "I have always told the officers and soldiers in the north to always be on guard against the Jin people."

His posture was straight, his voice was mellow and his tone was slow, but strangely, the officials in the hall suddenly felt a little nervous and depressed.

Duke Cheng's voice continued, and he looked at the ministers on both sides.

"…You're welcome."

"Be fierce."

"To make much ado about nothing."

"We must seize every opportunity to suppress it."

"Even if there are no opportunities, we must create them."

The officials in the hall were stunned.

Are you crazy? What are you saying?

Ning Yunzhao stood aside with his head lowered.

Look, this is the real Duke Cheng. He is not as gentle and kind as he appears. He is indeed warlike, brave, and ruthless.

"Why should I do this? Because I have been dealing with them all my life, and I know their character very well." Duke Cheng said, "It is absolutely impossible to make them surrender by actively making friends with them, and if they take the initiative to make friends with them, they must have ulterior motives."

He turned his gaze back to the emperor.

"So, Your Majesty, I command my officers and soldiers in this way when I am in the north, and I will command them in this way even when I am not in the north. I will command them in this way in wartime and in peacetime."

The emperor looked a little at a loss.

"So, what do you mean?" he asked.

Duke Cheng looked at him.

"We cannot give up any piece of our Great Zhou territory, especially the land close to the heartland. As long as the Jin army is on our side, the Central Plains will not be stable. If we lose three counties today, we will surely lose several more tomorrow. It is easy to negotiate peace today, but it will be more brutal to fight tomorrow." He said with a serious expression, raised his tablet and bowed, "So the situation now is more dangerous than before, and we cannot negotiate peace. I ask Your Majesty to pay more attention to military affairs, strictly guard against the Jin army, and do not treat them leniently."

After saying that, he lifted his robe and knelt down.

"Let's find an opportunity to fight again." He leaned forward and kowtowed.

He actually asked for a fight!

"Zhu Shan! You are so brave!"

Before the other officials could react, someone shouted angrily.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Huang Cheng walking out with a sneer.

"I request that Duke Cheng Zhu Shan be punished for his high treason and his crimes of disrupting the government." He bowed to the emperor and said, "Zhu Shan, since you led the army to the north, the Jin army has been defeated without any loss. Now that they have launched a large-scale invasion, our officers and soldiers in the north have been defeated repeatedly and the city has been lost. This is the Northern Army under your rule. How dare you speak so shamelessly here?"

"The Jin people conserved their energy, built up their army and horses, made use of brave generals, and spared no effort in manpower and property, which is why they have such strong soldiers and horses today." Duke Cheng knelt on the ground, turned his head and looked at Huang Cheng, and said without hesitation.

Huang Cheng sneered.

"You mean that our dynasty did not have many troops, strong horses, or brave generals, and was thrifty with manpower and money, which led to the previous failures?" he said.

"Lord Huang knows this very well. In recent years, the money and food rewards from the Northern Region have never been paid in full and on time." Duke Cheng said, "It's been ripped off at every level."

Huang Cheng pouted.

"It's ridiculous and shameless." He glared at me. "If you win the battle, it's because you have good military management. If you lose the battle, it's the court's fault. You boast of your bravery and good fighting skills, but you ignore the principle of defending the interior while defending the exterior. You are greedy for merit and love war, and you have wasted my treasury and handed over tens of thousands of my elite northern troops to the Jin people, leaving the country empty-handed and soldiers damaged. Fortunately, we have negotiated peace and the people can rest in peace, but you still want to fight. Do you want to hand over my Great Zhou to the Jin people?"

Other officials also came out.

"Your Majesty, we can't fight anymore."

"Your Majesty, militarism leads to the destruction of a country."

They bowed and spoke.

The emperor's eyes swept over all the ministers, and finally looked at Duke Cheng, raising his hand to stop everyone's noise.

"Duke Cheng," he said, "it turns out that even at this moment you still do not agree to negotiate peace."

Duke Cheng had a gentle expression and calm eyes.

"Your Majesty, the Jin people have fought with us, and they have gathered all their troops. The national treasury has been exhausted. Now we should make a concerted effort to crush their momentum and never give them a chance to catch their breath. Although we have already negotiated for peace, the Jin people took the initiative to seek peace. After all, our morale is high, the time, the place and the people are all right, and the opportunity is hard to miss." He bowed, "I ask Your Majesty to make a plan."

The court was noisy again.

"Your Majesty, I have a memorial to the emperor." Huang Cheng said, pointing his hand backwards, "Bring the memorial here."

Memorial?

The emperor frowned slightly and nodded to the eunuchs. The eunuchs took his orders and went out. Not long after, they carried in a box, opened the lid, and the memorials fell to the ground with a bang.

"These are all petitions sent by officials from the Northern Region after Duke Cheng arrived in Beijing, asking him to return to the Northern Region."

"They put pressure on the court and ignored the orders of government officials."

"Qinghe Bo has difficulty moving forward in the north, and the generals and officers are secretly obeying his orders but are actually disobeying them."

Several officials stood up and spoke.

There was a buzz of discussion in the court, with people pointing and talking at the memorial, with expressions of disbelief and shaking their heads in dissatisfaction.

The emperor looked at the scattered memorials and listened to the buzzing discussions, his expression becoming increasingly solemn.

"Your Majesty, as long as Zhu Shan is here, the border conflict will never end." Huang Cheng said, leaning forward and kowtowing, "I request that Duke Chengguo be dismissed from military service, and I request that Duke Chengguo be punished for abusing his power."

More officials knelt down and echoed.

For a moment, the whole hall was filled with voices calling for Duke Cheng to be punished.

There were only four exceptions: Lu Yunqi, and this was certainly not because he disagreed; Ning Yunzhao, and this was because the emperor had not spoken yet. Duke Cheng Guo also did not speak, but he also bowed and kowtowed to plead.

His appeal was certainly different from those of these officials.

"Zhu Shan," the emperor said, "I don't ask you about your incitement to rebellion."

Why didn't the emperor ask about this crime? Is the emperor going to let Duke Cheng go?

The officials raised their heads.

Duke Cheng also raised his head.

"I just ask you, is it possible not to ask for war?" asked the emperor.

Huang Cheng leaned forward and frowned. Your Majesty, isn't this retreat a bit risky? Zhu Shan is very shameless. Maybe he did this just to avoid the emperor saying this. After all, he was the one who was punished today for provoking the border conflict. The emperor let it go at this time, so he just went along with it.

After all, the peace talks have been reached, and whether to fight or not is just empty talk.

Is he going to escape again this time? Then the next step will be a bit troublesome.

Huang Cheng was about to say something when Duke Cheng spoke.

"Your Majesty, I cannot do this." Duke Cheng bowed his head, his voice gentle but firm, "It is not yet time to make peace without fighting."

Huang Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and heard the emperor's voice coming from above.

"Well, please resign."

…

Duke Cheng has resigned!

Duke Cheng has resigned!

The news spread like wildfire in the capital and then spread outward.

"What do you mean by resignation?" An old man outside a tea stall on the main road shook his head. "It was dismissal. But the emperor gave face to Duke Cheng and allowed him to resign. After all, it sounds better than dismissal."

Whether he is dismissed or resigns, the enthusiastic public does not care about the process but only the result.

"Then what? Did Duke Cheng really resign?" they asked anxiously.

The old man nodded.

"Quit," he said.

Hearing this, Zhu Zan threw a handful of money on the table, stood up and walked out, and Miss Jun hurriedly followed him.

"The Duke must have his own reasons for doing this," she said.

Zhu Zan stopped his horse and smiled.

"I didn't think much about it," he said. "I went to Beijing to take a look. Now I understand everything."