The North Marquis made everything clear, then left and went to his secondary wife, Consort Qiu. Today, he heard that Consort Qiu was pregnant, but he still hadn't gone to see her. This was a child that had come in his older age; if the child could be born safely, he could show off in front of the Marquis of Dingnan and that group of people. Thinking this, Mu Jin's originally heavy mood suddenly became better.
The North Marchioness sat in her room all night, thinking everything through.
First, Mu Hanzhang was extremely favored by Cheng Wang, and he had also made military contributions. The emperor promised to confer the title of marquis on him.
Secondly, if Mu Hanzhang had a marquis title, he wouldn't inherit the family title even if Mu Lingbao died.
However, with the Countess of Yongchang making such a ruckus, if the emperor didn't confer on Mu Hanzhang a separate title, and in addition heard about the North Marquis's heir being crippled, he might give the title of North Marquis directly to Mu Hanzhang; everything of hers would then be gone.
Thus, the most urgent task was to make sure that Mu Hanzhang had a title so that he wouldn't come to take her grandson's place. That little bastard, he was really cheap!
After making up her mind, the North Marchioness lay down and rested for a few hours. The next morning, she got up and dressed properly, then took her palace pass to enter the palace.
The morning court session was very long today, because the emperor wanted to call the eldest prince back so that he wouldn't disgrace himself in front of the southern barbarians. The officials in Jing Yu's faction all agreed. The Cheng Wang was back, but the eldest prince was still toiling away in the Yunnan-Tibet region; all the efforts he put in had not yet yielded any fruit, nor had he demonstrated any military leadership. If he hurried back, the fourth prince would also have a helping hand.
"The Yunnan-Tibet terrain is complex. The eldest prince has never led an army before. It's normal to need to take more time." Minister of War Sun came forth, and with these words, implied that the eldest prince, who had never fought a war, wouldn't be able to win in half a year. There was probably no one in a hundred years who could defeat two vassals in four months like Cheng Wang. This sounded like an excuse for the eldest prince, but was in fact a compliment to Jing Shao.
"Yes, Your Highness, temporary success will not end the chaos. Giving the prince more time may be effective," Another official echoed.
Jing Shao knew that these were all his brother's people. Their purpose was to prevent the eldest prince from coming back to court. Jing Rong and Jing Yu, these two, would obviously choose to do things with more benefits. If they couldn't accomplish anything, they would just give up and leave it. This wasn't good. If the eldest prince came back to court, the hard work of pacifying the southern barbarians would fall on Jing Shao.
"Jing Shao, what do you think?" Emperor Hong Zheng looked down at the silent Jing Shao and asked him about the war; it had now already become customary for him to ask Jing Shao for his opinion.
"One cannot win a war overnight. The southern barbarians are cunning, and the strategic layout of the Yunnan-Tibet terrain makes it easy to defend. It will take a long time to figure out the correct actions to take," Jing Shao said, bowing. "Erchen feels that Eldest Imperial Brother is doing his best. It currently is too short a period of time to see any effects. It's better to give him some more time."
Emperor Hong Zheng looked at him deeply. "If I have you go, how long will it take you to destroy the southern barbarians?"
Jing Shao pondered his words and said, "Erchen was really lucky when fighting the two vassals this time. Elder Imperial Brother has General Dong on the campaign with him; even if Erchen goes, I still wouldn't be able to do better."
