Ning Chen came out of the room and gave orders for Kong Yongchun to be watched.
He went up on deck and stood facing into the wind, turning it over. Could the evidence in his hands now bring down the Left Chancellor?
He assists the Son of Heaven and handles the ten thousand affairs of state.
That was the Left Chancellor, the man who helped the emperor manage every military and state matter there was. He stood high and he held power!
Stealing a gold mine in secret, selling out to the enemy and betraying the country — every one of those was a crime that took the entire household to the sword.
And yet everything in his hands was supporting evidence.
Ning Chen knotted his brows. Get back to the capital first, get hold of the secret letters Kong Yongchun had named, and then wait for the moment.
Several days later, and several prefectures behind them, they were not far from the capital!
The whole way back, the great boat had put in only once, at Lingzhou, for a day.
Zhang Yuancang and the others were brought aboard.
That day, at the morning audience.
The Xuan Emperor’s face was not a pleasant one.
First, two months had gone by and no report had come from the border.
That boy Ning Chen. He couldn’t send this emperor so much as a word. And how is he faring now?
Second, the Nanyue Kingdom in the south and the Great Xuan had been rubbing against each other constantly over territory.
Some time back a report had come in.
Lately Nanyue had been moving more and more often… and on the Great Xuan side there had been one reverse after another, falling back step by step through several engagements.
After some days of discussion it was decided to make terms.
And word had come yesterday that Nanyue’s embassy was already on the road.
The Xuan Emperor rubbed the space between his brows, swallowing his temper.
The Nanyue Kingdom had begun as a dependency of the Great Xuan, and had grown fast with the Great Xuan’s help.
Who would have thought the little brother of the old days would be riding on the big brother’s head now?
The Xuan Emperor looked coldly along the ranks of his civil and military officials.
Old General Chen had it right. For years now a slack habit had spread through the Great Xuan. The sons of the great houses flew their hawks and ran their dogs and chased their pleasures, and every one of them had turned out worthless.
And it was not only the civil officials. Even the generals had no blood in them any more.
Out of the whole court, the men for war came to a bare handful. Most of them were for terms.
The truth was the Xuan Emperor was no lover of war himself and had no wish to raise armies.
Only Old General Chen, when he learned they meant to make terms, had been angry enough that he could not eat for days, and had thinned down all over.
The Xuan Emperor’s brows drew together. Watching them still attacking one another over trifles made him unhappier still.
He glanced at Eunuch Quan.
Eunuch Quan was about to call the audience closed when a guard reported from outside: “Reporting to Your Majesty. Lord Geng of the Inspectorate and Old General Chen beg an audience!”
The Xuan Emperor sighed. “Let them in!”
Geng Jing came into the hall with Old General Chen on his arm, both of them flushed, with a gladness on their faces that they could not hide.
“Your subject greets Your Majesty!”
“This old subject greets Your Majesty!”
Geng Jing went down on the floor.
Old General Chen bent from the waist. With one leg he could not kneel!
“Rise!”
The Xuan Emperor looked at the two of them, worked up as they were, and could hardly contain his curiosity.
One was a purple coat of the Inspectorate.
One was an old general who had spent his life in the saddle.
What could put these two into a state like this?
“Have my beloved ministers something to lay before this emperor?”
Old General Chen shouted it out in his excitement: “Reporting to Your Majesty. This old subject has just had a victory report from Beilin Pass!”
The Xuan Emperor’s eyes lit up. If it was a victory report, it had to be good news!
The officials turned to look, expressions of every kind on them.
Some were glad and some were troubled.
The Left Chancellor heard victory report from Beilin Pass, and his eyes went dark and vicious… Don’t tell me Ning Chen isn’t dead, and has won himself merit instead?
The Xuan Emperor said quickly, “Speak, quickly. Has Ning Chen won a battle?”
“Hahaha…”
Old General Chen suddenly laughed out loud.
That counted as forgetting himself before the throne, which is gross disrespect… but Old General Chen was too worked up just then, too happy, and he simply could not hold it in.
Geng Jing saw it and said quickly, “Reporting to Your Majesty. A great victory at Beilin Pass!”
“Ning Chen led an army clean through the North Royal Court and took the King of the Left Court alive.”
That sentence went off like a thunderclap beside the ears of every official there, and left a humming in their heads. On the spot they lost the power to think at all, and their minds went blank!
In the whole hall there was not a sound.
Every man in it had been shocked into stone and wood by the news.
It was a long while before the officials came back to themselves, and then the noise broke out!
Clean through the North Royal Court, and the King of the Left Court taken alive?
Was that possible?
The Xuan Emperor was so worked up that he stood straight up out of the dragon throne.
“Geng Jing. Is what you say true?”
Geng Jing said quickly, “Every word your subject speaks is fact. Ning Chen did not only take the King of the Left Court alive, he also seized five thousand warhorses, tens of thousands of head of cattle and sheep, and three thousand prisoners.”
“And General Liang led an army that broke Tuoluo’s forty thousand and kept the border quiet… This is the victory report your subject has just received. Your Majesty may see it.”
Old General Chen said in his excitement, “This old subject received a victory report as well!”
The Xuan Emperor, excitement all over his face, urged him on: “Quan Sheng, bring this emperor the victory reports, quickly.”
“Yes!”
Quan Sheng came down in his short quick steps and presented the two victory reports to the Xuan Emperor.
The Xuan Emperor opened them without waiting a moment.
His face flushed, his breath came short, and all at once he said loudly, “Good. He is what this emperor took him for, a genius of a boy, and he has not disappointed this emperor after all.”
With that he opened the other report. The two said the same thing.
“Hahaha…”
The Xuan Emperor could not help laughing out loud, and the gloom of many days was swept clean out of him.
“That boy can always surprise this emperor… First the gold mine, and now he has taken the King of the Left Court alive. How is this emperor to reward him?”
The Xuan Emperor said, “Quan Sheng, give these two victory reports to my beloved ministers. Let them read them and pass them along, and share in the good news!”
“Yes!”
Quan Sheng took the two victory reports, one to the Left Chancellor and one to the Right Chancellor.
The Left Chancellor read what was in the report, and for all his excellent self-command he could not keep his face from going bad, his eyes cold, a twisting in his chest.
Clean through the North Royal Court, the King of the Left Court taken alive.
That was merit past all measuring.
How had that little mongrel done it?
He did not doubt what the report said, because nobody would be fool enough to deceive His Majesty about a thing like this.
The Left Chancellor was shaken and furious at once.
This King of the Left Court really is worthless. How could he let that little mongrel Ning Chen take him alive?
Luckily he did not yet know about Kong Yongchun. Ning Chen had not put it in the report, or he would very likely have died of rage on the spot.
“Left Chancellor. News to set the whole world cheering… and you don’t seem very happy about it?”
The Right Chancellor had finished the report, noticed by chance that the Left Chancellor’s face had gone livid, and put in a snide remark.
The Xuan Emperor’s gaze moved across and settled on the Left Chancellor.
The Left Chancellor went cold inside. He looked up at the Xuan Emperor, squeezed a smile onto his fat face and said quickly, “Your Majesty’s pardon. Your subject is not unhappy, only too astonished!”
The Xuan Emperor made a sound of assent and said, laughing, “Understandable. When this emperor saw what was in the report, this emperor was astonished past adding to as well.”
“Clean through the North Royal Court, the King of the Left Court taken alive… In several hundred years since the founding of the Great Xuan, no man has ever done the like.”
The Left Chancellor stepped out and said loudly, “Congratulations to Your Majesty. Felicitations to Your Majesty. To have gained such a general is Your Majesty’s good fortune, and the good fortune of the Great Xuan.”
The officials went down on the floor and said together, “Congratulations to Your Majesty. Felicitations to Your Majesty!”
The Xuan Emperor was greatly pleased, and let out a clear, open laugh.
An emperor ought not to lose himself like that… but just then he could not be troubled about it.
Still, there was something rankling in him.
That boy Ning Chen. What does he mean by it? A victory report like this ought to have come straight to this emperor’s dragon desk.
Is there something he’s wary of?
But the Xuan Emperor did not think it through any further. He looked at his officials and said, smiling:
“Ning Chen has performed a service of this size, and he has a free and easy nature. This emperor intends to raise him to Idle Marquis. What do my beloved ministers say to it?”
The whole hall was stunned!
A marquisate?
Not once since the Xuan Emperor took the throne had he raised any man to marquis.
A marquisate is inherited in perpetuity and never reduced.
The few marquisates the Great Xuan had now had all been granted by the late emperor, and by the time they came down to the descendants who held them today there was nothing left but the name of marquis, without a scrap of power.
But Ning Chen was another matter. He had war merit on him, and His Majesty was raising him — and the power in it would very likely put him on level footing with the Left Chancellor and the Right Chancellor.
It has to be understood that a marquis in grade stands far above the first rank. He is genuinely above the ranks altogether.
A marquis without power is nothing much.
But Ning Chen had war merit on him, and it was His Majesty who was raising him, and the power in that would be very great indeed.
Most important of all, Ning Chen was only fifteen.
Made a marquis at fifteen — when he performed some further service later, how was he to be rewarded then?
“Your Majesty is wise. With merit like Ning Chen’s he is entirely equal to the name of Idle Marquis!”
Old General Chen said it loudly, smiling all over his face.
Geng Jing followed right behind him. “Your Majesty is wise!”
The Left Chancellor turned his head and looked at one of the censors.
The man took the meaning at once, stepped straight out and said loudly, “Your Majesty. Your subject thinks it improper!”
The Xuan Emperor’s face darkened slightly. He looked at the man and asked, “Improper how?”
“Ning Chen has won one battle, no more. If he is raised to marquis, how will those great generals of our Great Xuan with famous war records take it?”
At that another censor stepped out. “Reporting to Your Majesty. Your subject also thinks it improper… Ning Chen is only fifteen. If he is raised to marquis now, how is he to be rewarded if he performs some service later?”
“Your subject seconds it!”
“Your subject also seconds it!”
More and more censors stepped out, blocking the Xuan Emperor from raising Ning Chen to marquis.
Old General Chen went livid with rage and pointed at the censors, cursing them: “You sour scholars. Your upper lip touches your lower lip and you think you can wipe out Ning Chen’s merit. What are you playing at?”
“One battle, no more. Easy to say. Ning Chen took the King of the Left Court alive, and that one battle is worth a hundred of any other man’s… And never mind a thousand men. I’ll give you a hundred thousand men. Go and bring me back Tuoluo’s King of the Right Court.”
One of the civil officials could not help saying, “Old General Chen’s words are one-sided. Civil and military are different, and each has his own office… This official is a civil officer. How could I take the field?”
Old General Chen said furiously, “You are not a civil officer. You are worthless.”
“You— Old General Chen, this is the court, and we are before His Majesty. Must you be so coarse? This is forgetting yourself before the throne. It is gross disrespect!”
Old General Chen said furiously, “Have I said anything untrue? For letters, Ning Chen’s poems stand above everything under heaven. For arms, Ning Chen went a thousand miles at a run, cut clean through the North Royal Court and took the King of the Left Court alive.”
“In what particular do you match Ning Chen? Nothing in letters and nothing in arms, and you still dare to hide behind being a civil officer. Was I wrong to call you worthless?”
“For letters, you can’t. For arms, you can’t. For character and backbone, you can’t do that either… You are one great worthless thing that can do nothing but move its lips.”
Old General Chen had been holding a bellyful of anger these last few days… Nanyue had come bullying right up to their heads, and these worthless creatures were advocating terms.
The more he said the hotter he got, and in the end he could not hold it in. He swung his walking stick up and brought it down at the man’s head.
The man screamed in fright, staggered backward and went sprawling on the floor.
Geng Jing saw it and grabbed hold of Old General Chen in a hurry. They were in the court.
“Old General Chen, you forget yourself… Before His Majesty, and you dare swing weapons around? What sort of conduct is that? Have you any regard for His Majesty at all?”
The Left Chancellor could hold back no longer, and stepped out.
Whatever else happened, he could not stand by and watch Ning Chen made a marquis.
Old General Chen looked toward the Xuan Emperor and bent from the waist. “Your Majesty’s pardon. This old subject knows he did wrong. Beat me or punish me, this old subject accepts it… but Ning Chen’s merit is equal to the name of Idle Marquis.”
The Left Chancellor said quickly, “Your Majesty, Ning Chen’s merit is indeed very great, but your old subject feels it is still not enough for a marquisate.”
“Not enough for a marquisate? Lord Left Chancellor, you tell me. Where is it not enough?”
The Left Chancellor was about to open his mouth when the Right Chancellor stepped out and said, “Your Majesty, your subject also feels the matter needs further discussion!”
The Left Chancellor’s face was all astonishment. Plainly he had not expected the Right Chancellor to speak up on his side.
(End of Chapter 169)