Jiuxi

Chapter 801 799 [Drifting Away]

"Why?"

Li Zongben did not get furious because of Lu Chen's flat refusal. At least he was able to maintain some rationality.

However, from his cold tone, one could tell that the young emperor was not in a good mood.

"Although I still hold the title of Minister of Military Affairs, it is only an honorary title. Logically, it is not my turn to interfere in the military affairs of the court."

Lu Chen gave a brief explanation, and then said, "If I remember correctly, it has been less than half a year since Han Zhongjie was demoted and dismissed from office, and he has not made amends for his crimes during this period. If Your Majesty forcibly reinstates him, I am afraid it will attract criticism from both the court and the public."

How could Li Zongben not understand the logic behind this, so he placed his hopes on Lu Chen to come forward.

As the commander-in-chief of the border army, as long as Lu Chen can understand what Han Zhongjie did, and Li Zongben lets some trusted officials to help, there will definitely not be too much disturbance in the court.

Li Zongben did not give up and continued to explain: "I know this may not be appropriate, but Han Zhongjie is the eldest son of the Prince of Dongyang and the face of the Han family in the army. I must consider this."

Seeing that he was still using Han Lingfu as a shield, Lu Chen did not expose him, but said calmly: "Your Majesty, why should you be so anxious? Time will always erase all traces. Except for a very few people, no one will remember Han Zhongjie's mistakes. After another two or three years, when most people have forgotten the defeat in Kaocheng, Your Majesty can find a reason to reinstate him."

Li Zongben frowned slowly.

Yes, Lu Chen was right. As long as he had enough patience, he could allow Han Zhongjie to re-enter the Military Academy in the future.

The problem is that the court of the Great Qi Dynasty has never been a one-man show by the emperor.

There is no quota for the number of military ministers. Except for Xiao Wangzhi who is in charge of government affairs, the status of others seems equal on the surface, but in fact there are differences in rank. The key lies in whether they can control military power.

Li Zongben could have reappointed Han Zhongjie as Minister of Military Affairs a few years later, but the position of commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp would not remain vacant for that long.

Currently Yuan Xingqin is temporarily taking over the position of commander-in-chief of the Brave Camp. Li Zongben has not made him a regular commander, intending to keep him for Han Zhongjie.

If Han Zhongjie is unable to be reinstated, either Yuan Xingqin will be promoted to the position of chief commander, or other military heroes who are eyeing the position will take it, such as Pingning Hou Tang Yong, who has recently been appreciated by Li Zongben.

This is another reason why Li Zongben wants Lu Chen to come forward. Nowadays, the military heroes with high status in the court don’t want to see Han Zhongjie make a comeback. This does not mean that they are not loyal to Li Zongben, but it is related to everyone’s personal interests.

But Li Zongben had no way of expressing these considerations.

After a while, Li Zongben decided to make a final attempt and said sincerely: "My dear, as the saying goes, no one is perfect. I think we should give those who make mistakes a chance."

Hearing these words, Lu Chen's resolute brows finally frowned.

He looked directly into the emperor's eyes and said calmly, "Your Majesty is right. No one is perfect. No one can guarantee victory every time they lead troops into battle. I cannot do that either. But mistakes can be big or small. If they are minor mistakes that do not cause any harm, Your Majesty can punish them slightly. I believe no one will complain."

What this meant was that Han Zhongjie's mistake was only to be demoted and dismissed from office. In fact, this was a concession made by everyone in view of Han Lingfu's lifelong hard work. Otherwise, it would not be an exaggeration to execute him.

But this was not the answer Li Zongben wanted, so he asked coldly: "So you don't agree with my proposal?"

Lu Chen nodded without any hesitation and said, "Yes."

Li Zongben looked at him steadily, his breathing gradually becoming heavier.

"His Majesty."

Lu Chen stood up and said slowly, "It has been less than a year since the Battle of Kaocheng, and the souls of 30,000 soldiers on the border have not yet rested in peace. The culprit is just idle at home, still living a life of luxury, while 30,000 souls are sleeping in the wilderness! I don't know why Your Majesty did this. I only know that if I help Han Zhongjie recover, those souls who died in the battle will definitely come to me in the middle of the night and ask me why I did this!"

"enough!"

Li Zongben slowly raised his head, his stern eyes imprinted on Lu Chen's face, and asked coldly: "Are you teaching me a lesson?"

"How dare I teach Your Majesty a lesson?"

Lu Chen showed no fear and said word by word: "I didn't want to say this at first, but Your Majesty kept forcing me, so I had to tell the truth."

"Then just explain it clearly."

Li Zongben's chest rose and fell slightly, and he said indifferently: "I would like to hear what you think."

"As early as when Your Majesty decided to launch the Northern Expedition, I submitted a memorial to Your Majesty to advise him, but Your Majesty did not accept my advice. However, this is not a fatal problem. After all, as long as we are not defeated on the battlefield, there is room for everything to turn around."

Lu Chen had obviously been suppressing his emotions for a long time, and his speech speed gradually increased. "In the early days of the Northern Expedition, the Western Army won victory after victory, and Han Zhongjie suddenly became arrogant. However, he never thought that Wu Yanshu could succeed Qing Yugong. How could he be a mediocre person without any adaptability? After the Western Army captured Taikang, I sent someone to send a letter to Han Zhongjie, advising him to suspend the offensive and wait and see. There is a military report as evidence of this. Han Zhongjie ignored my advice and even told Liu Shouguang that I was jealous of his talent and wanted to steal his military merits!"

Li Zongben's face turned ugly.

In fact, Han Zhongjie was not the only one who had such an idea. At the beginning, the emperor took the opportunity of Lu Chen's memorial to advise him to exclude Lu Chen from the ranks of the Northern Expedition commanders. Wasn't it because he was afraid that the other party would seize more military merits?
But he couldn't be sure now whether Lu Chen's words were a momentary indignation or a veiled accusation.

Seeing that the emperor remained silent, Lu Chen continued, "Your Majesty, do you think that I am holding a grudge against you for this? Although I cannot swallow my pride, I will not keep pestering you like a villain. If Han Zhongjie can defeat Wu Yanshu, I will also be happy for him, because internal conflicts can be put aside and we have a common enemy. Even if Han Zhongjie cannot win, as long as he does not let his soldiers make unnecessary sacrifices, I can praise him for his good command, but what did he do?"

"30,000 border troops, 20,000 Beijing troops, a total of 50,000 people died meaninglessly outside Kaocheng! Your Majesty, have you ever thought that these 50,000 Daqi men did not come out of cracks in the rocks, they also have parents, wives and children, and they also have people to worry about! Every household is in mourning, every door is hung with white, the cries of countless men, women, old and young are heartbreaking, can your majesty really not hear it?" "If Han Zhongjie was not selfless and just incompetent, if he had not personally covered the retreat of other soldiers, I would never have allowed him to leave the Jingzhou defense line alive!"

As Lu Chen's last sentence fell decisively, Li Zongben suddenly raised his head, his expression was extremely unfriendly, and he said word by word: "You are too presumptuous!"

"presumptuous?"

Lu Chen's face was as cold as ice, and he said slowly: "If Your Majesty thinks that what I said today is presumptuous, then is Han Zhongjie shameless? I don't believe that what Your Majesty said to me today did not include Han Zhongjie's own wishes. This defeated general killed tens of thousands of elite soldiers and escaped the death penalty by luck with the merits of his father. Instead of reflecting on himself behind closed doors, he instigated Your Majesty to try to regain his high position. How shameless!"

From the beginning to the end, his firepower was directed at Han Zhongjie himself, but these words were really harsh to Li Zongben's ears.

"boom!"

The young emperor raised his hand and slapped the stone table, then stood up suddenly. He looked gloomily across the table at the young minister who dared to confront him face to face.

As the sound spread, there was suddenly movement in the Imperial Garden.

Suddenly, countless agile figures appeared outside the periphery, and Yuan Yuji, the Junior Supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, also flashed to the outside of the pavilion, with his back slightly hunched, standing in a position where he could be close to the emperor at any time.

Lu Chen looked around, there was no fear in his eyes, but there was a deep disappointment in his heart.

Although he was somewhat annoyed by Li Zongben's plan to use Han Zhongjie, it was not until this moment that he felt completely disappointed.

Li Zongben's face turned pale. He turned to look at Yuan Yuji and asked coldly, "What are you doing?"

"Your Majesty, calm down."

Yuan Yuji lowered his head, not knowing how to answer for a moment. He had been paying close attention to the movements in the pavilion. He was very nervous when the emperor and his minister had an argument before.

Others may not know this, but Yuan Yuji has seen Lu Chen's skills with his own eyes in the imperial mausoleum. This young duke is not only good at leading troops in battle, he is also one of the best masters in the world.

just in case……

But this certainly cannot be said openly. No matter how brave Yuan Yuji is, he dare not say openly that Lu Chen has the intention to assassinate the emperor.

Li Zongben glanced around and said angrily, "Do you think Lu Qing's family will hurt me?"

"The slaves dare not."

Yuan Yuji was shocked and immediately knelt down to apologize.

"A bunch of idiots."

Li Zongben was filled with hatred and gritted his teeth, "Get lost!"

"The slaves obey the orders!"

Yuan Yuji was sweating profusely and immediately took his leave tremblingly, and those agile figures that appeared on the periphery also retreated in embarrassment.

The Imperial Garden returned to its tranquility, but it could never return to its previous tranquility.

Li Zongben tried his best to calm down and looked at Lu Chen again. What he saw was an expressionless face.

He said somewhat unnaturally: "Don't worry, Lu Qingjia, these guards have not been trained yet, and they didn't do it on purpose."

The contradiction between the monarch and his subjects already existed. If Lu Chen misunderstood the situation just now, that would obviously be the result that Li Zongben least wanted to see.

It is true that he wanted to suppress Lu Chen, but he never thought of forcing this powerful young minister into a desperate situation. Moreover, if Lu Chen really had an accident in the capital, who could suppress the hundreds of thousands of fierce border troops in Jiangbei?

"I won't let my imagination run wild."

Lu Chen got straight to the point and then said in a serious tone: "Your Majesty, Han Zhongjie killed tens of thousands of soldiers, so he should be punished accordingly. This has nothing to do with my opinion of him. No matter when, where, or under what circumstances, even if Your Majesty asks me ten thousand times, I will give the same answer. Of course, Your Majesty can use Han Zhongjie arbitrarily without my consent, because Your Majesty is the emperor of Da Qi and the common ruler of hundreds of millions of people."

These words left Li Zongben speechless.

Han Zhongjie was his man, so weren't those men who were killed on the battlefield by Han Zhongjie his people?
Lu Chen said nothing more, but bowed and said, "I'll take my leave."

Li Zongben's face turned blue and red, but in the end he said nothing.

Walking out of the pavilion, Lu Chen glanced at Yuan Yuji indifferently when he passed by him.

The Young Eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who held real power, felt his heart tighten suddenly. Just as he was about to force a smile, Lu Chen had already moved forward.

Inside the pavilion, Li Zongben looked at Lu Chen's receding figure, and his fists in his sleeves clenched involuntarily.

(End of this chapter)