Ji Mingchen and Li Zhixing watched Yuan Long and the others being led away.

The two of them exchanged a look.

Ji Mingchen hesitated, then lowered his voice and asked, "Do you see what's going on?"

Li Zhixing was silent for a moment, then gave a slight nod.

He spoke slowly. "This Majesty of ours carries herself more like a sovereign every day... But this time she's gone too far, and she's in far too much of a hurry."

Ji Mingchen nodded slightly. "Yuan Long and his kind are tiger generals. It's no good having the Ning'an Army and the modao army in their hands.

While the prince was alive, none of it was a problem.

But now the prince has died suddenly, and there's no one who can keep them in check. With military command in their hands, they could hold troops and trade on them, and there's no telling what might happen.

So Her Majesty is right to worry, and she's not wrong to take their command away.

It's just that she's in too much of a hurry. What Yuan Long and the others did is hardly worth mentioning. If Her Majesty uses it as her pretext, I'm afraid it will give people something to say against her."

Li Zhixing sighed. "Yuan Long and the others followed the prince north and south, east and west, and won great merit in the field.

Now, over a little thing like this, they've been punished this heavily, and once they're in the Inspectorate, they may very well lose their lives... It will give Her Majesty a name for being harsh and ungrateful, and she'll lose the hearts of the people.

Her Majesty is right to want military command back, but for the realm's sake and for her own, Yuan Long and the others must not die."

Ji Mingchen nodded. "Her Majesty has just ascended the throne, and she's still young, after all. She doesn't handle things with a seasoned hand yet. She needs more tempering.

Let's go. We'll find the Left Chancellor and the Minister of Rites, Lord Feng, and go…