Fei Pin Ying Qiang

Chapter 34- The Situations at Hand

The emperor read the entirety of the memorial censuring Prince Chun and set it aside indifferently. Then he picked up another one. Somewhat exhausted, he rubbed at his forehead and asked, “Have there been any news from the northwest region?”

Grand Secretary Yuan Rong said, “Reporting to Your Majesty, there has been none.”
The emperor nodded. He continued to read over the memorials. A while later, an interior supervision eunuch rushed to his side and whispered something to his ears. The emperor’s hand paused, a slight frown on his face.

After a long time, he grunted his acknowledgment.

Yuan Rong asked, “Your Majesty, this official will send away these proposals first.”

“Alright.”

Yuan Rong bowed and carried the already-checked memorials away. A young eunuch came to report that the Minister of War, Ji Hansong, was asking for an audience. The emperor waved his hand and the eunuch moved all the way to the side, before leaving the hall to invite Ji Hansong in.

Ji Hansong’s motive for coming here was to talk about the situation at the northwest region. In these past few days, the emperor did not make any movements. It was uncertain whether he truly did not care or if he was showing others what to do yet not following the same standard himself. Ji Hansong was someone trapped in the same boat as Prince Chun. To plan his next step, he needed to uncover the emperor’s intention.

Ji Hansong spoke of the military situation. “Yushu Pass is easy to invade but hard to defend. His Highness, Prince Chun, slayed three Western Owl Yakshas, causing the Qiang people not to dare make trouble for many days. Truly a difficult task to achieve. Today, this official read the military reports of years ago. Whichever battle the Twelve Western Owl Yakshas participated in, our Great State of Kang would suffer many casualties. The first time His Highness had gone to battle brought such a great result. This official asks Your Majesty to reward Prince Chun in order to boost morale.”

As soon as the emperor had heard these words, he said, “Beloved minister has a point.”

Ji Hansong was overjoyed.

But the emperor continued to say, “However, if it’s only a defensive victory, and if we reward them just like that, one would fear it would bring those generals who guarded the border for many years discontent. And We don’t want Prince Chun to easily give birth to arrogance. In Our opinion, We promise that beloved official can personally announce Our imperial edict once Prince Chun returns in triumph. How about that?”

Body already drenched with cold sweat, Ji Hansong quickly said, “This official is slow witted, this official is slow witted. May Your Majesty bestow punishment.”

The emperor gently said, “For what reason must We punish you? You are dismissed. Wait until Prince Chun’s triumphant return. We still need you to send Our imperial edict at that time.”

Ji Hansong kowtowed with much force. Then he retreated. However, others saw his sorry appearance and inevitably formed conjectures for why that was. The next day, others criticized Prince Chun for not leading troops to battle again. And there were even more memorials censuring Prince Chun that suspected that his military merit was fraudulent.

But those memorials would happen later. Back in the present, the emperor waited until Ji Hansong left, before asking a nearby eunuch, “Princess Consort Chun went to the Palace of Bright Sun?”

“Her Highness, Princess Consort Chun, has been here for almost one hour,” said the eunuch.

The emperor laughed, the meaning behind it unknown. A while later, he said, “We hear that Princess Consort Qing always visits the palace.”