Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside Chapter 1302: The Foolish Duke Xing Family

As for provisions and weapons, most of the tax has already been collected; once the Ministry of Revenue allocates some Silver, food and arms will no longer be a problem.

As for troops and horses, if they scrape them together, they can still assemble a very large army; the real difficulty lies in choosing a commander to lead the troops.

The ministers were at each other’s throats in court over this one appointment.

In the end, Elder Shangguan actually risked angering the Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, in this humble servant’s view, now is not the best time to attack Da Rong. Da Rong’s forces are strong and vigorous, and the Rong people are by nature brutal and violent, like ferocious beasts and evil spirits on the battlefield. By contrast, Great Chu has very few elite soldiers available. The plan for now should be to preserve our strength and nurture generals capable of breaking the enemy’s camps, and only seek to attack Rong ten years from now."

He didn’t even mention the years of disasters in Great Chu and the hikes in tax that had stirred up the people’s resentment to a boiling point; he was already putting it very mildly.

But Emperor Jingyuan’s face still darkened; with a bang, he slammed his palm heavily on the armrest of the Dragon Throne and angrily rebuked Elder Shangguan: "Shangguan Cong, I asked you to recommend a commander to lead the army against Da Rong, not to undermine me! Talking like this—praising the enemy’s morale and crushing our own—is it that you are dissatisfied with me? Dissatisfied with Great Chu? Or do you intend to defect to Da Rong?!"

Elder Shangguan was startled; he hadn’t expected the Emperor to say such a thing. He dropped to his knees with a thud and cried, "Please quell your anger, Your Majesty. This humble servant eats the ruler’s salary and in this life wishes only to lay down his life for Great Chu; I harbor absolutely no divided loyalties!"

Emperor Jingyuan gave a cold snort. "I trust you don’t dare."

With that, he ignored Elder Shangguan and looked toward the gathered ministers. "What candidates do you all have to recommend as the main general for this Fa Rong campaign?"

Er, over half of the ministers in the hall wished they could burrow into the ground so the Emperor wouldn’t see them.

Emperor Jingyuan’s face was dark and heavy; inwardly he cursed them as a bunch of useless parasites who drew their salary for nothing. Once he destroyed Da Rong, his next step would be to rectify the court and replace all these good-for-nothing seat-warmers!

Emperor Jingyuan shifted his gaze to the Minister of War.

The Minister of War’s surname was Dai. He had only taken office six years ago and was far inferior to his predecessor. Seeing the Emperor enraged, he feared his own post would not be secure, and could only brace himself and say, "Your Majesty, in this humble servant’s opinion, for the position of main general in this Fa Rong campaign, none is more suitable than Duke Xing."

He added, "Duke Xing is one of the six founding dukes. His battle merits are illustrious. Five years ago, he led the army to quell the various Prefecture Soldiers’ rebellions and stabilized the Northwest Army. He can certainly fulfill the duties of main general for this Fa Rong campaign."

Once these words were spoken, the great hall fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.

"What did you say?!" Emperor Jingyuan’s eyes flashed with murderous intent as he glared at the Minister of War. Was this Dai fellow an idiot? How old was Duke Xing now? He’d taken ill just last year; never mind sending him to war—just putting him into heavy armor might be enough to make him drop dead halfway. And this Dai still dared to recommend him?

Five years ago, he had allowed Duke Xing to take command and suppress the rebellion because Duke Xing and Duke Wei had been old friends of several decades. Both were among the six founding dukes, who had followed the Imperial Grandfather in winning the realm, and the Northwest Army was Duke Wei’s old troops; they would give Duke Xing face.

But this Fa Rong campaign was utterly different from quelling the Northwest Army’s mutiny.

Useless fool!

Emperor Jingyuan cursed him in his heart and turned to Elder Ying. "Lord Ying, you are a Country Pillar Minister of Great Chu. What wise opinion do you have? Speak freely."

Ming Shaoqing, seeing his own wife’s grandfather named, didn’t even twitch an eyebrow. With Lord Ying’s abilities, handling such a matter was child’s play.

Sure enough, Lord Ying said, "Your Majesty, this old minister does indeed have three candidates."

Three candidates?

Emperor Jingyuan was overjoyed. "Out with it, my dear subject!"

Lord Ying said, "Your Majesty, Duke Yuan’s family is also among the six founding dukes, skilled in battle. Duke Yuan grew up in the army from childhood and in his youth also established outstanding military achievements. You could have Duke Yuan take command and lead the army to attack Rong."

The smile on Emperor Jingyuan’s face instantly sank.

Duke Yuan’s family was indeed fine, but Duke Yuan’s family was the Empress’s natal clan. If he handed nearly a million troops over to an external relative to command, would he still be able to sleep at night?

Lord Ying knew perfectly well that Emperor Jingyuan would never choose Duke Yuan’s family, and so continued, "The second candidate is Duke Ying. Duke Ying’s family is also among the six founding dukes. Duke Ying and his sons and grandsons are all adept at martial arts and likewise can take command and go on campaign."

But Duke Ying’s family and Duke Wei had once been related by marriage and were on very good terms. This Fa Rong campaign would be stationed in the Northwest, and Duke Wei’s family had garrisoned the Northwest for three generations. Who could say whether, once so many troops were placed under Duke Ying’s command, he wouldn’t turn around and avenge Duke Wei’s family?!

Emperor Jingyuan was suspicious by nature; ever since returning from Da Rong’s Ordeal he had become even more sensitive and distrustful. There was no way he would let such a thing happen, so he said nothing.

Lord Ying understood and went on, "There is also General Xu. Five years ago, General Xu accompanied Duke Xing to suppress the rebellion. His abilities are excellent, and his battle achievements are many... Although he is not old and his seniority is still shallow, there is no reason he cannot be given overall command and sent on campaign."

Ming Shaoqing, hearing this, laughed inwardly. Lord Ying was indeed formidable; of these three candidates, the Emperor could only choose General Xu.

But when General Xu was young, he had once received praise from Duke Wei while serving in the Jingxi Camp, and the Emperor was also uneasy about letting General Xu take overall command. The most likely outcome was still that Duke Xing would be given the banner, with General Xu as the main general.

And for this Fa Rong campaign, unless the Divine Weapon descended from the heavens, they were doomed to lose. General Xu was no fool; he was very shrewd. When the time came, he would certainly follow Duke Xing’s lead entirely... Duke Xing was so old he was half in the grave already; for this expedition he would definitely bring his two sons along, and it was highly likely that his two sons would be the ones calling the shots.

Both his eldest and second sons were incompetents and would surely make errors in military judgment. As long as General Xu obeyed orders, after they lost the war he could simply say he had "acted on orders" and shift the blame onto Duke Xing, washing his own hands of it.

So in the end, the only ones to be sacrificed to heaven would be Duke Xing’s family.

And Lord Ying would not be at fault; the one he had recommended was General Xu, not Duke Xing.

It had to be said, Ming Shaoqing had already taken the measure of Emperor Jingyuan’s temperament. After a brief silence, Emperor Jingyuan finally said, "Xu You is indeed not bad, but he has never before served as overall commander. This Fa Rong campaign concerns the very foundation of Great Chu Kingdom and cannot be treated lightly... I decree that Duke Xing shall be main commander for the Fa Rong campaign, and Xu You shall be main general for Fa Rong. They will attack Rong together!"

The choice of commander thus settled, Lord Ying personally went to Duke Xing Mansion to announce the imperial decree.

When Duke Xing received the decree, tears streamed down his aged face. "This old servant will certainly not betray Your Majesty’s trust. I will definitely make those Da Rong bandits pay the price for breaking through Longshan Prefecture!"

Duke Xing’s two foolish sons also happily accepted the decree and gave their thanks, each of them so eager that they could hardly wait to march out right now and wipe Da Rong from existence.

Lord Ying smiled outwardly while inwardly smiling as well: Heh, each of the six founding dukes’ families is worse off than the last. I had thought Duke Xing’s family might manage a good end, but now it seems they too are to be wiped out to the last. Pitiful indeed.