The color of iron was in the Xuan Emperor’s face.

Ning Chen had been preparing to attack Nanyue all along. To say he was in league with the Fourth Prince of Nanyue was simply laughable.

Ning Chen had taken the King of the Left Court alive, taken Mangzhou, won back the frontier, and brought about the peace with the Wu Kingdom.

He had invented the musket and the cannon and worked to raise the Great Xuan’s strength in arms.

What could a barbarian kingdom like Nanyue give Ning Chen?

Office?

Ning Chen already held a marquisate, and was a General of the Second Rank and the future consort of a princess.

Money?

Could Nanyue be richer than the Great Xuan? Could the sovereign of Nanyue give Ning Chen more than he himself had?

Unless there was something wrong with Ning Chen’s head, he would not go off and league with Nanyue and destroy his own future doing it.

These pig-like creatures could not see even that much, and believed Ning Chen had leagued with Nanyue?

The Xuan Emperor knew perfectly well that most of the men attacking Ning Chen were paying off a private grudge.

Because Ning Chen had taken their silver.

Yet Ning Chen had not pocketed that silver. It was in the emperor’s own hands, held as war funds for the attack on Nanyue.

The trouble now was those few secret letters… and the fact that Ning Chen had held back stores on his own authority and filled his own purse, which was now beyond question.

The scoundrel. Is the silver this emperor gives him not enough to spend?

Under the law of the Great Xuan that was a capital crime.

And Ning Chen had let himself be caught with the evidence.

But the Xuan Emperor was no fool. Of all the officials in this court, which of them had never taken anything?

Dynasty after dynasty had worked at clearing out corrupt officials… but when a man had power in his hands, could he really hold to his own heart and keep his hands to himself?

So as long as it did not go too far, the Xuan Emperor generally chose to keep one eye shut.

If a man insisted on pressing the question of graft, he could kill every second official in this court and never wrong one of them, and there would still be fish through the net.

But the trouble now was that Ning Chen’s business had been laid out in the open.

The Xuan Emperor said coldly, “Beloved Minister Fan. To say Ning Chen deals with the enemy and betrays his country on the strength of a few letters is far too summary.”

“Ning Chen took what he should not have, and he has admitted it himself. But in view of the great merit he has won in the field for the Great Xuan, this emperor holds that the crime does not merit death. Let him be punished and let that be enough.”

“As for the charge of dealing with the enemy, this emperor will send men to investigate it to the bottom. If he has truly dealt with the enemy, this emperor will have him beheaded without pardon.”

“The matter is a heavy one and cannot be cleared up in an hour or two. Let it rest there for today… The court is dismissed.”

Fan Taihe called out, “Your Majesty… this cannot be put off.”

The Xuan Emperor was furious. “What is this? You will have Ning Chen dead and nothing else will do?”

Fan Taihe called out, “Your Majesty, your subject eats his sovereign’s salary and ought to carry a share of Your Majesty’s burden… Your subject is Censor-in-Chief and has the duty of watching every official and guarding the law of the Great Xuan.”

“Ning Chen’s guilt is past forgiving. Your subject cannot treat it as though nothing had happened simply because the marquis is nobly placed and Your Majesty favors him.”

“Your Majesty, your subject is not acting against the marquis… only for Your Majesty, for the Great Xuan, and to guard the law of the Great Xuan that the Founding Emperor handed down.”

“Your subject begs Your Majesty. Grant Ning Chen death, to uphold the law of the realm.”

The Xuan Emperor was shaking with cold rage, past all containing. “Fan Taihe. You bring out the Founding Emperor. Are you threatening this emperor?”

Fan Taihe held his head up, with the look of a man going to his death as if going home. “Your subject would not dare. Your subject is only doing a subject’s duty. Guarding the law of the Great Xuan is the charge Your Majesty laid on him.”

“Today, even if Your Majesty takes your subject’s cap from him, your subject will do his duty to the end and uphold the law of the Great Xuan.”

The Xuan Emperor’s chest rose and fell violently with anger.

“Very well. You do not want your cap. This emperor will oblige you.”

“Someone come. Take his cap off him and strip him of his robe.”

The color went out of the ministers’ faces.

The Right Chancellor came out of the ranks at once. “Your Majesty, this must not be done. Your Majesty must take back the order.”

If Fan Taihe’s cap were truly taken from him, it would do nothing but complete Fan Taihe’s name as a loyal minister.

And the Xuan Emperor would be left with the name of a fool on the throne.

So it must not be done.

The Xuan Emperor had been too angry to think clearly a moment before. Hearing the Right Chancellor, he came back to himself.

“All of you stand down.”

He waved a hand and stopped the guards of the imperial presence who had come forward to take Fan Taihe’s cap.

The Xuan Emperor looked at Fan Taihe and spoke gently and reasonably. “Beloved Minister Fan. Ning Chen has done service to the empire itself. To kill him only because he took a little silver — is that not too heavy a punishment?”

Fan Taihe said in a loud voice, “Your Majesty, merit is merit and fault is fault… Marquis Ning must be punished severely, to set the code of law straight.”

“What your subject does here is for Your Majesty’s authority, for the empire of the Great Xuan, and for the law of the Great Xuan that the Founding Emperor handed down. There is nothing in it for himself.”

“If Your Majesty insists today on shielding Marquis Ning… your subject can only prove his sincerity with his death, and hope that after he is gone Your Majesty will keep loyal ministers close and treacherous ones at a distance.”

The words had barely fallen when Fan Taihe stood up and ran at a pillar not far off.

The color went out of the Xuan Emperor’s face.

“Stop him—”

A civil official put out a hand and caught at Fan Taihe, and Fan Taihe tore free of him.

Thud!!!

Fan Taihe went head first into the thick vermilion lacquer of the pillar, then fell over backward with his face covered in blood.

But he was not dead. There was a groan of pain in his throat.

That one pull by the civil official had taken the force off Fan Taihe and saved the old man’s life.

In fact Ning Chen, Geng Jing, Nie Liang and the military men had all seen it.

Even without that one pull, Fan Taihe would not have died.

He had checked, very slightly, as he came to the pillar, and only then gone into it.

The Xuan Emperor was so startled that he came straight up off the dragon throne.

The color went out of the whole court, civil and military.

After today, Fan Taihe’s name as a loyal minister would go through the realm, and his name would carry its fragrance for a hundred generations.

“Your Majesty, punish Ning Chen severely. Your subject too is willing to prove his sincerity with his death!”

“Your Majesty, keep loyal ministers close and treacherous ones at a distance!”

“Your Majesty, forgive your subject that he can carry no more of Your Majesty’s burden. Your subject goes on ahead…”

One censor after another leaped out and ran at the vermilion pillars in the distance.

The Xuan Emperor roared, “Stop them.”

Several guards of the imperial presence rushed over at once and held the censors back.

The Xuan Emperor was in a towering rage, the blood up in his face, shaking all over. He pointed at the censors. “You… very good. You dare to threaten this emperor…”

Ning Chen’s face, on the other hand, was calm.

Matters had come this far. There was no getting past today.

Fan Taihe had come prepared, and had staked his own old life on it… He plainly meant to have Ning Chen dead and would take nothing less.

Not even the Xuan Emperor could hold this down now.

If the Xuan Emperor went on shielding him, he would not only lose his authority, he would carry the name for a thousand years.

Ning Chen walked forward at an even pace, knelt on the floor, and said calmly, “Your Majesty, your subject is willing to take all the responsibility.”

The Xuan Emperor looked at Ning Chen. Inside his sleeves both fists were closed so tight that the knuckles were white.

He was angry past all bearing. An emperor, and he could not save one subject he was fond of.

His gaze went past Ning Chen and rested a long time on Fan Taihe and on the officials who had attacked Ning Chen, and there was murder moving at the back of his eyes.

After a long while the Xuan Emperor’s gaze came back to Ning Chen. He said through his back teeth, “Ning Chen took bribes and bent the law and held the law in contempt. It is contemptible in the extreme.”

“From this day, Ning Chen is stripped of the Idle Marquis, of General of the Second Rank, and of his office as a silver coat of the Inspectorate… He is reduced to commoner. The court is dismissed.”

The last two words the Xuan Emperor very nearly shouted.

(End of Chapter 373)