Jing Shao turned his head and looked at the Count of Yongchang. When he heard the words "severe punishment," killing intent emerged in his eyes. This group of lowly despicable people couldn't find any fault with him, so they would just use Jun Qing to attack him.
Emperor Hong Zheng held back a smile and didn't say a word as he looked at Jing Shao and waited for a response.
"The Wang Fei didn't go with the army for selfish reasons," Jing Shao said. He thought back to what his Wang Fei had cautioned him about last night and suppressed his anger. "The Wang Fei is very intelligent and served as the army's military advisor."
"Is Wang Ye joking?" The Count of Yongchang was confident that he was in the right and sneered. "There are so many people with knowledge and experience in this world. Why did Wang Ye choose his pretty little Wang Fei to be the military advisor, hm?" The malice in his words was very obvious; while implying that Jing Shao just coveted beauty, he thoroughly insulted Mu Hanzhang at the same time.
Jing Shao clenched his fists, and his knuckles cracked audibly. He couldn't hold back anymore at those words, and he threw a punch at the Count of Yongchang's old face. "Clean out your mouth for Benwang!"
The Count of Yongchang was caught off guard and was knocked down by the Cheng Wang.
"Jing Shao!" Seeing this, Jing Chen quickly went up and pulled at him. The Duke of Mao immediately came over to help the Count of Yongchang up and the court was thrown into disorder.
"Everyone shut your mouths for Zhen!" Emperor Hong Zheng kneaded his forehead and shouted coldly.
"Emperor, please forgive us!" The courtiers immediately fell to their knees. Naturally, the two brothers in the center of everything also knelt down. However, Jing Shao was obviously very angry. It seemed that as soon as he was permitted to stand up, he would give the Count of Yongchang another kick.
Emperor Hong Zheng reprimanded everyone with a couple of sentences and had Jing Chen pull Jing Shao back to stand properly in his original position before permitting everyone else to rise. However, his rebuke was all about how raucous the court had gotten, and he didn't mention the Cheng Wang hitting the Count of Yongchang. Everyone knew that the emperor was protecting the Cheng Wang, so they all shut their mouths and didn't dare say more.
Jing Chen gave his little brother a gentle push and a "hurry up and pretend to be pitiful" look.
Jing Shao understood and fell to his knees on the steps to the emperor's throne with a plop. "Imperial father, Er Chen does not want any reward for pacifying the vassals. I only ask imperial father not to punish Er Chen's Wang Fei! In order to protect the 20,000 soldiers in the camp, Wang Fei was severely wounded by the mounted archers of the southeast. He remains in poor health until now and won't be able to withstand punishment!" He even kowtowed three times and his voice sounded choked. He recalled Jun Qing fainting from the pain, which made him feel like a knife was twisted in his heart.
All the courtiers were silent for a moment. Cheng Wang's victory in subduing two vassals this time was a miracle, and as a prince, he couldn't be granted any more status. However, it would truly be too severe to offset such great achievements with such an unwarranted accusation. Thinking about it, Cheng Wang was the legitimate son of Empress Yuan. He had always performed outstandingly in the military, yet had been forced to marry a male wife. He had now resigned himself to such a misfortune, and was even reacting in this way to protect his Wang Fei; even those who stayed neutral would just inevitably feel some sympathy.
Emperor Hong Zheng gradually furrowed his brow and his eyes swept over everyone's faces. Finally, they fell on the lowered head of the fourth prince, who hadn't said anything. The fourth prince felt his father's gaze, but didn't dare look up.
