Chapter 794 Good Job

Yanjing City;

The Imperial Palace;

Empress He sat alone before her dressing table, her face propped in her hand, her eyes red-rimmed.

At this moment,

the Emperor, adorned in his dragon robe, quietly approached from behind, gesturing for the palace maids in the room to leave silently.

The Emperor's reflection was already visible in the bronze mirror, but Empress He remained oblivious, her mind elsewhere.

The Emperor stepped forward,

embracing the Empress from behind.

"Oh!"

The Empress was startled and, turning her head, lightly tapped the Emperor's chest.

"Empress, are you missing our son?"

"How could I not, Your Majesty?"

"I miss him too."

After all, he was their first child;

and he had once fought alongside his father.

Although subsequent events indicated that the late Emperor had planned everything in advance;

the heart of an emperor is unpredictable. Who could say for sure if the late Emperor had prepared a backup plan?

The phrase "good Holy Grandson" had undoubtedly been the crucial added weight at the most critical moment.

In comparison, the Emperor was lonely. Ji Chengjue was preoccupied with daily affairs, leaving him little time to discipline the two younger ones. The elder one, now grown, could speak and communicate, and was kept by his side to alleviate boredom under the guise of "teaching" the crown prince.

"Your Majesty need not comfort me. I understand the importance of things."

"Well, I have good news for you."

"What good news?"

"The latest war report from the front lines: the Zheng fellow won. He killed another Pillar of State from Chu and captured a Chu general."

"Really? That's wonderful! It's good to win, good to win."

In the past, when the Empress was still a butcher's daughter, she would rejoice at victories for Great Yan. Now, she was naturally even more pleased, as national affairs had become family matters.

Moreover, with this victory, her son would not face such risks after going to J Eastern.

Unless…

"Your Majesty, I shouldn't ask this, but I am worried about my son. If it is convenient, could Your Majesty tell me…"

"There won't be a full-scale war. I estimate it will end here."

The Emperor was an intelligent man; how could he not guess what the Empress wanted to ask?

The Empress covered her chest with her hand,

and said,

"Thank heavens, thank heavens."

Although there had always been a rule against the inner palace interfering with state affairs, because He Si Si came from a common background without powerful relatives, the Emperor, as the head of state, did not hesitate to let her know about some state affairs, and sometimes he would take the initiative to chat with her.

"You should have seen the faces of those ministers in the imperial study earlier. Heh, it was quite a sight."

"Your Majesty, did they not expect that Marquis Pingxi would win?"

The Emperor shook his head and said, "It's not that. They know about the Zheng fellow's ability to fight. However, in their eyes, this battle might have been ordered by me."

"Could it be…"

Empress He almost blurted out.

But after being in the royal residence for many years and now being the Empress, she had become experienced in certain aspects.

The Emperor was willing to tell her certain things simply to have someone to listen;

she couldn't offer opinions, let alone speak ill of others.

Especially regarding Marquis Zheng.

The Emperor's expression did not change as he said, "I did discuss a general plan with him, minor skirmishes, let him handle it. This time, the results were surprisingly great, but the court didn't have any burden."

Empress He nodded, not daring to say anything more.

"Although there was the previous victory against the barbarian royal court to establish authority, that was due to the legacy left by my father. This time, everyone outside believes it was my doing, that I knew in advance. Otherwise, why would I have sent the Crown Prince to J Eastern so decisively upon hearing the news of the war?

I trusted that Zheng fellow and was willing to gamble with him;

now, I've won the bet.

My father once told me that the way of a ruler, using checks and balances, is a small path;

a ruler should embody the will of heaven, wield the emperor's authority, and forcefully drive thunder as reins for a wild gallop.

The Zheng fellow fought well, fought beautifully.

The entire court should now understand that my father may be gone, but in reality, he is still here."

This involved the impact of the Emperor's personal prestige on his actual power. An Emperor with absolute prestige does not need to play any games of checks and balances in the court, nor does he need to install his own confidants, because he can be unrestrained.

Those rules and regulations that ministers are used to using to restrain normal Emperors have no effect on a true ruler who has already matured.

"The weather is good today, and I am in a good mood. I have already instructed Wei Zhonghe to prepare the carriage. Let's go outside the palace for a stroll."

"Your Majesty... aren't you busy today?"

Since the war report from the front lines had just arrived, and with such a great victory, the Emperor should be very busy.

"This is not urgent. Let them cool off for a while. Come, Empress, accompany me for a walk."

"As you command."

The carriage left the palace, but this time it didn't go to any place ordinary people couldn't approach.

The Emperor, in plain clothes, held the Empress's hand and began to stroll on the streets.

All around, experts from the Secret Intelligence Division were secretly protecting them, and Eunuch Wei followed behind the Emperor and Empress, disguised as an old family servant.

The streets were bustling, and most importantly, this feeling of walking among the common people made Empress He feel as if she had returned to the leisurely days she had spent with her husband in South Peace County.

Back then, her husband was not a Prince, let alone an Emperor, but rather Yan Xiao Liu, a constable in South Peace County.

At present, the two most distinguished people in Great Yan were shopping and eating snacks along the way, enjoying themselves. While the imperial palace and various government offices were in an uproar over the military situation, the two of them seemed like true outsiders.

Waves of ministers went to the imperial study to request an audience, but they were all stopped by Eunuch Zhang, who said that His Majesty was resting and could not be disturbed.

Most of the ministers had previously impeached Marquis Pingxi together. Now that Marquis Pingxi had won a victory with abundant results, they wouldn't think they were wrong, because in their view, the essence of the matter was not just about a war in J Eastern and Chu.

But it involved the stability of imperial power;

they couldn't change the era when Prince Jingnan and Prince Zhenbei stood side by side, but they tried to work hard to prevent another pair of princes from appearing in the north and south.

It was just that

the Emperor's attitude was too decisive,

and at the same time,

Marquis Pingxi's battle was too fast and too successful!

It wasn't that these ministers didn't want Great Yan to win, but that in this way, they, who had impeached Marquis Pingxi, were handing over the handle.

Of course, the Emperor couldn't punish them all, because more than half of them were acting out of public interests;

but the Emperor could use this as an excuse to more easily remove some of the "radishes" he thought could make room, directly taking the opportunity to carry out a purge, and his side couldn't stop it at all, because they were already in the wrong, and most people were not clean in this matter, and there was no way to help each other.

Now,

the Emperor's avoidance actually had a very clear meaning.

I will wait a little longer,

wait until you are more sober and better prepared, and then I can pull out the radishes.

This seemed contradictory to the Emperor's aforementioned ability to act unrestrained without engaging in checks and balances, but in reality, it was not.

Some ministers, who had committed crimes, were corrupt, violated the law, and engaged in favoritism. The Emperor could decide whether to deal with them or not according to his needs. In short, it was easy to handle;

what the Emperor found truly difficult to handle was

some people who were clean, had a good reputation, or were content with admiring the moon and stars every night, had no higher pursuits or ambitions for their careers, but were incompetent or had political views that were not in line with the Emperor's;

it would be easy to simply replace these people, but it would inevitably cause criticism and be troublesome, but now, it was a good opportunity.

"It's a pity that the Zheng fellow can't return to the capital more than twice a year. Sometimes, I really miss him. Talking, drinking tea, and chatting with him never feels boring."

"Yes, this concubine also feels that every time Marquis Zheng returns to the capital, Your Majesty is very happy. This concubine is even a little jealous of Marquis Zheng."

"Hahaha."

At this time, the two passed by a teahouse, and happened to hear the storyteller inside telling the story of Marquis Pingxi entering the Qian Kingdom Imperial Palace and showing the courage of a Great Yan man before the Qian Kingdom officials without being arrogant or humble;

in the storyteller's story, the Qian Emperor was annoyed by Marquis Pingxi and secretly sent Baili Jian to harm Marquis Pingxi. As a result, Marquis Pingxi fought Baili Jian for three hundred rounds at the Forbidden City on top of Qian Kingdom’s Imperial Palace;

in the end, Baili Jian sighed: Right now, I've only fought you to a draw, but if you didn't focus your mind on leading troops to fight, you would definitely be stronger than me.

In these years, with the rise of Marquis Pingxi's reputation, even the early battles in which Marquis Pingxi was just a passerby had the main glory placed on him. Even during the first attack on Qian, Li Fusheng became Zheng Fan's subordinate in the story, who was only a small defense general at the time, and acted according to Zheng Fan's words.

There was no way, the people just liked to hear the story of Marquis Pingxi, it was down-to-earth and uplifting!

The boys of Yan fought to play Marquis Pingxi when playing with their friends, fighting wild people, fighting Qian people, fighting Jin people, fighting Chu people, and then marrying a princess. How heroic, a real man should be like this.

The Emperor didn't take the Empress into the teahouse, but stood at the door, listening with a group of people who were reluctant to pay for tea but wanted to hear the story.

The peanuts that the Emperor had put in his pocket while shopping were taken out and half were given to the Empress. He also began to peel and listen, occasionally laughing with the people inside.

Suddenly, a knight with colored flags on his back galloped past on the street, shouting:

"Marquis Pingxi has won a great victory! Marquis Pingxi has won a great victory! He killed a Chu Pillar of State and captured a Chu Great General!"

"Marquis Pingxi has won a great victory! Marquis Pingxi has won a great victory! He killed a Chu Pillar of State and captured a Chu Great General!"

The imperial court had received the news long ago, and the officials had also known about it for a long time. After confirming that the news was correct, they made arrangements and created a scene of a messenger delivering the news to the capital at top speed. The common people liked this kind of excitement and were used to the constant stream of victory reports since the late Emperor's reign.

The storyteller in the teahouse was beaming when he heard the shouts of the messenger outside!

These days, some storytellers don't worship their ancestral master, but Marquis Pingxi, after all, Marquis Pingxi's many experiences have given them very good story material to continue their livelihood.

"Pa!"

The storyteller clapped the gavel three times, silencing the noisy and celebratory audience.

Then,

the storyteller raised his hand and struck a pose,

chanting in a sonorous voice:

"Yan has a fierce tiger, whose roar shakes the Central Plains; the eagle of J Eastern, whose eyes are deep as the sea!

Its claws bully the snowy plains, its beak pecks at Southern Chu, its might oppresses the Three Jin, it looks down on all the Xia!

Heaven blesses Great Yan, granting us Marquis Pingxi, Great Yan shall prosper, Great Yan shall prosper!!!"

"Great Yan shall prosper!"

"Great Yan shall prosper!"

Inside and outside the teahouse, people shouted excitedly together, which was enough to see how popular Marquis Pingxi was among the people of Yan.

Especially after the two princes left Great Yan one after another, the people urgently needed a new god of the army to protect them and continue to win one victory after another against foreign countries.

For some reason,

the Empress suddenly looked worriedly at her husband standing beside her,

but saw that her husband was also raising his arms and shouting along with the crowd,

and called out:

"Good job, reward him!"