“His Majesty is here!”
Ning Chen was getting ready to go on mocking Fan Taihe when Eunuch Quan’s reedy voice rang out.
The Xuan Emperor had arrived.
“Your subjects greet Your Majesty. May Your Majesty’s health be strong!”
The officials knelt.
“Rise, beloved ministers!”
The Xuan Emperor lifted a hand.
When they were on their feet, the Xuan Emperor let his eye pass over Ning Chen, the corner of his mouth lifted, and he came straight to the point.
“The Wu Kingdom has broken off the peace talks. The Nanyue Kingdom raids us again and again. The Tuoluo Kingdom already means to tear up its treaty of submission. Xiliang is eyeing us like a tiger.”
“Beloved ministers, does anybody have a good plan to meet it?”
There was not a sound in the hall.
These matters had been gone over many times in the last few months, and no fitting answer had ever come out of it.
And now Old General Chen had been murdered, and the will of the army was coming apart.
The Great Xuan is having a bad year.
Li Hanru stepped out of the ranks and bowed with his hands together. “Your Majesty. Your subject begs that Ning Chen be taken back into service.”
“What the enemy states are afraid of is the edge of our Great Xuan soldiers’ blades — not certain persons’ womanish tongues.”
Fan Taihe’s face changed. It took enormous trouble to drive Ning Chen out of the court. He absolutely must not be allowed back into power.
He stepped out of the ranks in a hurry. “Your Majesty. Your subject thinks this would be a mistake.”
“The matter of Ning Chen’s collusion with the Nanyue Kingdom has still not been cleared up. He absolutely cannot be taken back into service now.”
A censor stepped out and bowed. “Your Majesty. Ning Chen was stripped of office only a few months ago. If he is taken back now, the subjects and the people of the realm may well conclude that Your Majesty wronged Ning Chen at the time. It would damage Your Majesty’s authority. It absolutely must not be done.”
“Your Majesty. For the dignity of the imperial house, and so that the common people find no fault in it, this cannot be allowed under any circumstances.”
“Your subject seconds it. Your Majesty, think three times!”
“Your Majesty, think three times!”
The censors jumped out one after another.
The Xuan Emperor watched them, his face showing nothing.
Ji Mingchen, the Minister of War, stepped out and bowed. “Your Majesty. Old General Chen has been murdered and the will of the army is coming apart. Nothing but taking Ning Chen back into service will steady it. Your Majesty’s judgment is wise!”
Shen Min came forward and looked at Fan Taihe. “Lord Fan. I’d like to ask you something. You went as envoy to the Wu Kingdom. How did it turn out?”
The blood rose in Fan Taihe’s weathered face.
Shen Min gave a cold snort. “Ning Chen had already reached a preliminary peace with the Wu Kingdom. It was because of you, and you alone, that the talks fell apart.”
“You went as envoy to the Wu Kingdom and not only accomplished nothing — you gave offense with words you had no business speaking, affronted the Wu Kingdom, and brought a hundred and fifty thousand Wu troops down on our border… You are the Great Xuan’s criminal for all time.”
Shen Min clapped a hat on him the size of a house.
Fan Taihe’s face went black. “Lord Shen. It was the Wu Kingdom that looked down on everyone in the room, arrogant and overbearing, and would not so much as see me, the envoy of the Great Xuan. That was a provocation aimed at the Great Xuan.”
Shen Min smiled coldly. “Then when Ning Chen went as envoy to the Wu Kingdom, why did the Wu Kingdom receive him with every courtesy? Why is it that when you went, they would not even look you in the face?”
“Two envoys of the same Great Xuan — why should the gap between how the Wu Kingdom treated the two of you be heaven and earth?”
Fan Taihe answered before he could stop himself. “Because Ning Chen —”
He did not finish.
He had come within a word of saying because Ning Chen has been carrying on with the woman emperor of Wu, and only quick wits stopped him in time.
Say a thing like that with no proof behind it and it becomes slander.
Shen Min smiled coldly. “Because Ning Chen what?”
“Does Lord Fan admit it too, then? That what the Wu Kingdom is afraid of is Ning Chen, who is master of arms and of strategy, and the keen blades of the soldiers on the frontier… and not your womanish tongue?”
Called a fishwife twice in a row, Fan Taihe was so angry that smoke was coming off the top of his head.
Shen Min looked to the Xuan Emperor and bowed. “Your Majesty. Your subject begs that Ning Chen be taken back into service, to steady the will of the army.”
“Your Majesty, it cannot be done!”
“Your Majesty, think three times. Ning Chen must not be taken back into service.”
“Taking Ning Chen back costs the imperial house its dignity, and the enemy states will laugh that the Great Xuan has no men in it.”
The censors jumped out to sing the other side of it.
The Xuan Emperor’s face went cold. “Beloved ministers, this emperor asks you this… Which matters more — the empire of the Great Xuan itself, or your faces?”
At that moment the Right Chancellor stepped out.
The Right Chancellor rarely spoke in court.
The Xuan Emperor looked at the Right Chancellor. “Does my beloved minister have something to say?”
The Right Chancellor bowed. “Your Majesty. This old subject holds that Ning Chen must not be taken back into service.”
The Xuan Emperor’s face darkened at once.
It was plain he had not expected the Right Chancellor to stand in the way of taking Ning Chen back.
The Right Chancellor went on. “Your Majesty. Wei Feng is on the southern frontier now, and the situation in the south is steady.”
“The Fourth Prince is on the western frontier, and that is enough to hold it.”
“Liang Jingwu is at Beilin Pass… At present the only trouble is the Wu Kingdom, and the Wu army has not crossed the border line, which shows they do not want war. There is still room to turn this around.”
“This old subject begs that an envoy be sent to the Wu Kingdom once more. So long as we show sincerity enough, there is still hope for the talks.”
The Right Chancellor did not usually open his mouth, but when he did, his words carried a weight the censors could not match.
With even the Right Chancellor saying so, the censors seconded it in a rush.
The Xuan Emperor looked at the Right Chancellor, displeasure on his face.
But there was reason in every line of the Right Chancellor’s argument, and no fault to be found in it.
The Xuan Emperor said heavily, “Then by what the Right Chancellor says — whom should we send as envoy to the Wu Kingdom? And what sincerity should we show?”
The Right Chancellor bowed. “This old subject recommends Lord Shen, the Minister of Rites.”
“Lord Shen has been to the Wu Kingdom, and the talks went smoothly before… This old subject is confident that with Lord Shen as envoy to the Wu Kingdom, Your Majesty’s hopes will not be disappointed.”
Ning Chen’s brows drew together a little.
This old fox of a Right Chancellor plays a dirty game. I have to hand it to him — that is a fine move.
So the Right Chancellor knows Shen Min is my man.
Send Shen Min to Wu, and if the talks come off, it takes a burden off His Majesty and the Right Chancellor gets the credit for the recommendation.
And if they fail, that is the opening to impeach him and pull Shen Min out of the Minister’s chair.
Shen Min said quickly, “Your Majesty. The talks went smoothly before because of Ning Chen. Your subject’s part in it was small, and he does not dare claim the credit.”
The Right Chancellor said, smiling, “Lord Shen has no need to be modest. Your ability is there for every eye to see. Do not refuse.”
Shen Min said, “The Right Chancellor flatters me. This official truly is not equal to it.”
The Right Chancellor said heavily, “Lord Shen. A subject’s duty is to take a burden off His Majesty… What is the meaning of refusing again and again?”
“I — I —”
For the moment Shen Min had nothing to answer.
The Xuan Emperor’s face showed nothing, and it was cold.
He looked to Ning Chen, hoping for a word or two in his favor… and one look very nearly finished him. The boy was dozing.
“Ning Chen. Do you have anything to say?”
Ning Chen’s eyes came open in an instant, and he said with a smile, “Reporting to Your Majesty. This humble commoner has nothing worth saying… Everything my lords have said is right.”
The Xuan Emperor’s face went black. What is the matter with the boy?
“Report… an eight-hundred-li express from the frontier!”
Just as the Xuan Emperor was about to give Ning Chen a dressing-down, a piercing voice rang out.
An imperial guard came all the way into the court hall with an express dispatch held high, shouting as he came, and dropped to his knees. “Your Majesty. An eight-hundred-li express from the frontier!”
The faces of the Xuan Emperor and of every civil and military official changed.
An eight-hundred-li express never carried small news.
“Bring it up!”
Eunuch Quan hurried down and handed the dispatch to the Xuan Emperor.
The Xuan Emperor opened it and looked, and his face changed on the instant. He said heavily, “A hundred and fifty thousand Wu troops have crossed the border line and pushed a hundred li toward our Great Xuan frontier.”
The faces of the officials changed, and in a heartbeat the hall boiled over.
Ning Chen alone had the corner of his mouth lifted. That’s my wife.
Peace talks?
Peace talks my ass!
In all this world, the only man who can make the Wu Kingdom pull back is Ning Chen.
(End of Chapter 402)