Chapter 103
“Oh? Who is it?” King Ye asked.
“Chief of the Ministry of Justice, Gong Xiaohua,” she said.
At this, an uproar swept the great hall.
“Young Prime Minister, are you joking? This is a real battlefield, not child’s play,” the Sixth Prince said.
“That’s right. Since the founding of Daye, which woman has ever led troops into battle? This is preposterous!” the other ministers said.
“Young Prime Minister, not to mention Gong Chief has never led troops on the battlefield before, when the two armies clashed, she released the most important hostage. How can someone who acts like this bear great responsibility?” Lord Lin said.
“Lord Lin, based solely on Marshal Gao’s one-sided account, without investigating, you have decisively judged another person’s faults. Is this how you usually select capable and excellent generals?” Qin Chuyuan stared at Lord Lin with his sharp and astute eyes, and said gently.
Lord Lin felt inexplicably uneasy under the other's gaze that seemed to see through everything, so he forced himself to stay calm: “You! You’re beating around the bush.”
Qin Chuyuan gave a soft scoff when he saw the other was flustered.
He turned to the other ministers: “Everyone, just because there were no women before doesn’t mean there won’t be any in the future. The Daye court has no rules saying women cannot lead troops. In extraordinary times, let the capable ones take over.”
“Young Prime Minister, even if Chief Gong made no mistakes, she’s a young woman with no battlefield experience. How can she lead troops? What's more, it’s against Dawei, the strongest of the Five Kingdoms. Are you trying to disregard the lives of Daye’s tens of thousands of soldiers?” Lord Hu, the prefect below general rank, said in the hall.
“Lord Hu, you’re mistaken. Although Chief Gong is still young, with her abilities, she has risen from a petty prison guard to Chief in a short period of time. I believe everyone here can attest to that,” Lord Li from the Ministry of Justice said.
“Alright.” King Ye, annoyed by the noisy ministers, gently rubbed his forehead: “Quiet down.”
The great hall gradually became silent.
King Ye looked at Qin Chuyuan below: “The battlefield is different from her usual Ministry of Justice. They cannot be compared.” “Your Majesty, if I pledge a military order here that if Chief Gong cannot repel the enemy, you may punish me however you wish,” Qin Chuyuan said.
At this, the great hall fell completely silent. Everyone looked at Qin Chuyuan standing in the middle of the hall. Has the Young Prime Minister gone mad?
“Bastard! How dare you spout nonsense in the great hall!” Minister Qin yelled angrily at Qin Chuyuan.
He turned and bowed to King Ye above, pleading forgiveness: “Your Majesty, the Young Prime Minister was just momentarily confused. Please do not take it seriously.”
But King Ye did not respond to Minister Qin. Instead, following Qin Chuyuan’s words, he asked: “Young Prime Minister, why did you recommend Chief Gong as Grand General?”
“Because she’s daring, smart, and stays calm in the face of danger. More importantly, I saw unknown potential in her that the Nanlong Prefecture plague incident proved,” Qin Chuyuan said.
“Also, Your Majesty, this was Chief Gong's wish, which was why I dared to recommend her boldly.”
Qin Chuyuan handed the secret letter written by Gong Xiaohua to Eunuch Huang next to him to pass on to King Ye.
“Your Majesty, Chief Gong and Prime Minister Qin daring to pledge military orders shows their determination to repel the Dawei troops and revive Daye’s prestige. I support Chief Gong temporarily taking on the role of Acting General,” Lord Lin said to King Ye.
He was secretly and extremely delighted that now he didn’t need to make a move himself to avenge his daughter. He could get rid of Gong Xiaohua and break one of the Qin family’s arms without getting his hands dirty. What was there not to be happy about?
Led by Lord Lin, the other ministers echoed in agreement. At this moment in the hall, apart from Minister Qin, rare unanimous consent was reached.
King Ye paced back and forth in front of his seat, Gong Xiaohua’s letter in hand.
He thought about the little girl who had defeated his best fighter in the palace and resolved the Nanlong Prefecture crisis.
Facing decades of harassment from Dawei, enduring repeatedly in silence, why not take another gamble?
“Servants, convey My order, regarding the Xu Mountain Border Pass battle, everything is to follow Chief Gong’s command. Repel the Dawei troops. If victorious, confer the title of General. If defeated, execute the Gong family clan and remove Qin Chuyuan from his position of Young Prime Minister, never to be reinstated.”
“Your Majesty?” Minister Qin said anxiously.
“The Prime Minister need not say more. My will is decided,” King Ye declared without giving Minister Qin any chance to speak. “Dismissed.”
“Respectfully sending off Your Majesty.”
Soon, everyone filed out of the great hall one by one. The Sixth Prince and Lord Lin led their faction to Minister Qin, offering congratulations.
“Minister Qin, congratulations. The Qin family will have a general in the future. For generations, civil and military power will be passed down. Maybe in a hundred years, the Qin family will be the most powerful household in Daye that even the royal family must be wary of,” the Sixth Prince said loudly, deliberately provoking discord before the Crown Prince. “If that Chief Gong accidentally meets with some mishap on the battlefield, wouldn’t that count as defeat? Then won’t this Young Prime Minister have to give up his wife and ruin his own future?” Lord Lin asked in high spirits.
“What a pity that would be,” the Sixth Prince said, feigning regret.
His tone changed as he said to Minister Qin: “Minister Qin, I say, as a wise and strategically astute person handling ten thousand affairs daily, you should still make time to manage your descendants, instead of always plotting against others.”
He had already discovered that the heir was crippled by people Minister Qin had secretly sent.
It was all because of that cheap Gong girl that he designed to retaliate against the Wang family’s only heir.
He had almost lost the support of such a powerful Wang family ally, how could he swallow this anger?
Luckily they overreached today, seeking their own doom. He would be letting himself down if he didn’t give them a push.
“This old minister thanks the Sixth Prince for his teaching,” Minister Qin responded expressionlessly, but his tightly clenched fists beneath his sleeves had betrayed him.
"Ha, ha, let's get together happily at Yipin Pavilion today. We haven't been this carefree for a long time," the Sixth Prince said to his entourage.
Watching the Sixth Prince's group walk away, Minister Qin stood in place, hands behind his back, waiting.
Qin Chuyuan walked over with the Crown Prince. Seeing his grandfather standing motionless, Qin Chuyuan knew he was waiting for him.
“Grandfather.”
Minister Qin did not respond. Instead, he bowed to the Crown Prince at the side: “Crown Prince, this old minister has important matters to discuss with my unfilial grandson. Please excuse us.”
“Minister Qin, go ahead,” the Crown Prince permitted.
“Thank you, Crown Prince.” Then to Qin Chuyuan: “You, come with me.”
After speaking, he strode off ahead.
Qin Chuyuan followed silently. The two walked wordlessly all the way until they returned to the Qin manor, heading straight for the ancestral hall.
The Qin servants saw Minister Qin returning from outside, his face extremely ominous. They were all terrified into silence.
The household servants especially, knelt on the ground crawling, only daring to get up after their masters had walked far away.
Among them were spies from the Qin family’s three branch families, who immediately ran to report the matter to their masters.
By the time Madam Qin of the third household rushed over with her servants, what she heard from outside the ancestral hall was the nonstop sound of whips hitting flesh.