The new emperor and Zong Sibo were in the Hall of Cultivated Heart.

Li Hanru, Li Zhixing, Ji Mingchen and the others were kneeling outside the hall.

"Your Majesty, the Tuoluo Kingdom keeps harrying Beilin Pass, and Nanyue is eyeing us like a tiger. Now is the time to concentrate our forces against them, not to campaign against the Gaoli Kingdom and Xiliang. I beg Your Majesty to think again!"

Li Hanru was calling out on his knees outside the hall.

They had been kneeling for two hours.

Inside the hall, the new emperor's face was livid.

Li Hanru was a minister of the regency too, and a great scholar with pupils all over the empire. Had it been anyone else, the new emperor would long ago have had the man's official robes stripped off.

"These shabby, pedantic old scholars can't see past the ends of their noses... Send troops to crush the Gaoli Kingdom and Xiliang, and as long as we win, this emperor can make them send troops against the Tuoluo Kingdom and Nanyue. Then it's their men who die, and the Great Xuan's soldiers are spared. Why can't they understand that?"

The new emperor's face was dark.

Zong Sibo said, "Li Hanru is a rigid old pedant. How could he understand Your Majesty's grand vision?"

The new emperor sighed. "The Right Chancellor is still the one who understands what this emperor has in mind."

As he spoke, he looked at a eunuch of about forty standing to one side. "Zhao Da, go and get rid of them!"

Since Liu Kuan's death, Zhao Da had become the new emperor's personal eunuch.

"This servant obeys!"

Zhao Da bowed and went outside the hall.

"Director Li, His Majesty says you should all go home for now!"

Li Hanru said, "Eunuch Zhao, please take in a message for me. This old man must see His Majesty today. If His Majesty refuses..."

Before Li Hanru could finish, he noticed Zhao Da staring past him, terrified... He turned to look without thinking.

The Xuan Emperor was coming, a whip in his hand, with…