"Yuan Fengye, I grant you a mansion, ten thousand taels of silver, and a thousand acres of fertile land..."
After Eunuch Su finished speaking, the person standing next to Zhou Huaiqian was obviously stunned for a moment, then hurriedly took two steps forward and walked to the center of the hall.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the promotion!"
Zhou Huaiqian looked up in disbelief and stared at Yuan Fengye in front of the hall.
My head is buzzing.
How, how could it be him?
Yuan Fengye is his capable deputy general. Although he has outstanding abilities in all aspects, he is still a deputy general after all. He can only make suggestions from the sidelines, and important military affairs are still decided by him.
He thought that as the commander-in-chief of the army, it was a foregone conclusion that he would be promoted to a mighty general. But why, why was it his subordinates who were promoted in the end?
Just when Zhou Huaiqian was at a loss, another minister stood up. This man was none other than General Wang, Zhou Huaiqian's mortal enemy in the army.
"Your Majesty, there is something I am not sure whether I should tell you or not."
Song Wenjing said calmly, "My dear, please feel free to speak."
General Wang glanced at Zhou Huaiqian beside him vaguely. It was this glance that made Zhou Huaiqian's heart skip a beat and his alarm bells immediately rang.
Zhou Huaiqian opened his mouth slightly, but it was too late to stop it. General Wang's rough voice rang out in the hall.
"This is originally General Zhou's family affair, and I shouldn't have interfered. But now the matter has escalated, even rising to the level of Your Majesty's inability to judge people. I believe that once Your Majesty is involved, it will become no small matter!"
Zhou Huaiqian's eyebrows twitched, and he obviously realized what General Wang was referring to.
Zhou Huaiqian hurriedly took two steps forward and bowed, saying, "General Wang, I will handle my family affairs myself, and I will definitely put a stop to these ridiculous remarks. Your Majesty, there's no need to trouble you with this trivial matter, okay?"
General Wang snorted coldly, "A small matter? General Zhou, you allowed your brother to bully the people. Yesterday, he even molested a pregnant woman in the street, nearly killing both mother and child! You call that a small matter?"
"Yesterday, before he was even conferred the title, your brother was already speaking arrogantly, using the prestige of being the mighty general. He even disregarded the laws of the dynasty. If you were really made the mighty general, wouldn't your brother rebel?!"
"Now the people of the Imperial City are saying that your General's Mansion is so powerful that it even overshadows His Majesty. They also say that His Majesty is not good at judging people, allowing such people who oppress the people to become officials' children!"
"General Zhou, we all know you once led the army to victory, but if you can't even manage your own family affairs, how can you possibly rule the army?"
General Wang's harsh rebukes continued, leaving Zhou Huaiqian no chance to quibble.
After hearing the last part, Zhou Huaiqian's face had become extremely gloomy.
He looked at General Wang deeply, then lifted his robe and knelt on the ground.
"Your Majesty, it was because I was away from home for so many years that I neglected to discipline my younger brother, causing him to develop this arrogant disposition. I beg Your Majesty to give me a chance. I will certainly discipline him strictly and prevent such things from happening again!"
The thing he tried so hard to cover up has been exposed to His Majesty. How could he dare to pray for His Majesty to reward him now? It would be a blessing in disguise if he is not punished!
Song Wenjing, who was sitting on a high seat, lowered his eyes and looked at Zhou Huaiqian who was kneeling in the hall.
He already knew what happened yesterday when the Queen Mother sent someone to get incense.
What a great thing that the general’s mansion is the law!
Under the pressure from Pingren, Zhou Huaiqian tensed up and lowered his head to the ground.
After a long time, just when Zhou Huaiqian was about to give up, Song Wenjing spoke.
"It seems that the burden I have placed on you is too heavy, leaving you no time to take care of family affairs. If that is the case, then you should put aside the affairs at hand and take care of family affairs. If you are unable to take care of them, I don't mind personally helping you share the burden."
Zhou Huaiqian's body trembled, and he said in panic, "I can handle my family affairs myself. How dare I trouble Your Majesty!"
"I hereby declare that General Zhou has neglected his family's management, allowing his family to oppress the people, treating human life as worthless, and disregarding the law. This is a grave crime of contempt for imperial authority. However, considering his military achievements, his merits and demerits are offset. He shall be demoted three ranks and fined one year's salary."
…
On the other side, Zhang was directing the servants in the mansion to pack up.
"Be gentle, be gentle! I bought that vase specially from Qiaoxiangfang. It cost dozens of taels of silver. Please don't break it!"
"You two, move that sandalwood table to the right. Don't scratch it!"
"And you guys, hey, why are you running so fast? Be careful! It's okay if you fall, but don't hurt my baby!"
Zhang was very busy in the yard, giving instructions here and nagging there.
Zhou Huaiqian returned to his mansion in a daze. After seeing this scene, his brows were even more furrowed, and he was already unhappy.
"Mom, what are you trying to do?"
When Zhang heard the voice, her face lit up with joy and she hurried over with a smile.
"Qian'er, mother is thinking about you being conferred the title of mighty general today, so she wants them to pack up in advance so we can move to the new mansion today!"
Zhou Huaiqian: “…”
His face was extremely dark.
Seeing that he looked unhappy, Zhang worriedly grabbed his arm and said, "Qian'er, what's wrong with you? Why do you look so bad? Are you feeling unwell? Go back and have a rest. Leave the moving to me!"
Zhou Huaiqian lowered his eyes, anger lingering in them.
"Moving? What moving? Thanks to you and my good brother, I've been demoted three ranks and fined a year's salary! Are you satisfied?!"
Zhang's pupils shrank. "A three-rank demotion? How, how could this happen? Isn't today the conferment ceremony?"
Zhou Huaiqian glanced at her coldly. He didn't want to say anything more to her, and he didn't want to look at Zhang anymore, otherwise he was afraid that he would not be able to control himself and do something extremely treasonous!
Zhou Huaiqian shook off Zhang's hand and strode towards his own yard.
Zhang, who had regained consciousness, hurriedly chased after him: "Qian'er, Qian'er, don't leave yet! An'er is still detained at the government office. Go to the government office and rescue him!"
Zhou Huaiqian stopped walking.
The sinister look in his eyes was no longer concealed, and he looked at Zhang with gritted teeth.
He said word by word, "You still dare to mention him to me? If he hadn't been using my name to commit crimes outside, how could I have been demoted three levels?"
"How could I watch helplessly as the title I had won fell into the hands of others? How could I become the laughing stock of all the officials in the court?"
"He deserves to be imprisoned. Even if the government doesn't arrest him, I will personally send him to prison and let him suffer so that he can learn his lesson!"
Zhou Huaiqian left these words with a grim expression, flicked his sleeves and left Zhang's sight.
Zhang stood there in a daze, looking at Zhou Huaiqian's back in disbelief.
"He's your own brother! How could you bear to watch him suffer in prison?"
"You're not going to save An'er, right? Fine, then I'll go myself!"
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