Jiuxi

Chapter 824: 822 [Not Enough to Cope With]

Lu Chen hadn't heard such blunt sarcasm in a long time.

Although he has gradually become a thorn in the side of the emperor and some court officials in the past two years, and there are endless small tricks against him, but those are all under-the-surface conspiracies and calculations. Very few people would provoke him openly, let alone confront him in court meetings.

When Zhang Xu said that expressionlessly, not only the important officials in the hall were shocked, but even Li Zongben, who was sitting on the dragon throne, couldn't help but become nervous.

Everyone knows that Lu Chen does not play by the rules, and everyone hopes that Lu Chen can play within the order that is recognized by everyone. Even the king and minister Li Zongben and Li Shizhi, the starting point of all their plans is to restrict Lu Chen within the rules, rather than forcing this young and powerful official to overturn the table.

At present, it seems that Zhang Xu is not among them.

Xiao Wangzhi turned around and glanced at Lu Chen, showing both concern and consolation.

Lu Chen suddenly smiled, looked at Zhang Xu and said, "Marquis Yongding, why don't you tell me what my selfish motives are?"

Zhang Xu took a deep breath and said fearlessly, "The Duke is so clearly against Lord Chen, simply because he doesn't want him to lead the army. If the Duke can lead the army himself, what's there to fear even if the Jing army ambushes in advance? Although the Jing army has a large number of troops, most of them will be used to attack Dai and guard Heluo. The Emperor Jing also has to leave some elite troops to guard the capital to deter those Jinglian nobles. So how many troops can the Emperor Jing deploy in the north of Shazhou?"

Lu Chen remained calm and asked, "According to what you said, I should oppose Duke Rong's proposal and ask His Majesty to send troops to Feiniao Pass. At worst, I can lead the troops myself."

Zhang Xu brushed his sleeves and said calmly, "Everyone in the capital knows that the Duke's wedding is coming soon."

All the officials suddenly understood.

It is now the end of May, and Lu Chen and Li Bingxue's wedding date is set for June 26th.

The faint smile on Lu Chen's face gradually faded, and he nodded, "I understand. According to Marquis Yongding's analysis, I don't want to leave the capital because of personal matters, but I don't want others to take this military merit, so I must oppose sending troops to rescue Dai. Even if Lord Chen's proposal is very reasonable in the eyes of Marquis Yongding, I will find ways to veto it. In other words, it's not impossible to send troops, but I must lead the army, and other military merits will be the targets of my attack and suppression."

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense.

Lu Chen ignored the other important officials and looked at Zhang Xu and asked, "Is that so?"

Zhang Xu frowned slightly, but actually nodded and said, "Yes."

"Cough-cough-"

Li Zongben, who was originally sitting on the dragon chair, suddenly coughed a few times and said earnestly: "Lu Qingjia, Zhang Qingjia, you are all devoted to the country, don't fight for your own will. Regarding whether to aid Daiguo, I think both of your views make sense. Why don't you take a look at the situation and then make a final decision? How about it?"

Li Zongben was indeed somewhat surprised that Zhang Xu stood up to Lu Chen. Although Zhang Xu had been biased towards the emperor in the Military Academy in the past two years, he was only biased towards the emperor. He was not as unscrupulous as Han Zhongjie and would always stand against Xiao Wangzhi.

Most of the time, Zhang Xu was fair and only supported the emperor on some issues that were debatable. He would not oppose whatever opinions Xiao Wangzhi put forward.

Just as he had said to Han Zhongjie at the beginning, he just didn't want to see the power of the ministers override that of the court, and he didn't intend to target Xiao Wangzhi and Lu Chen.

His statement today is obviously different.

The reason why Li Zongben was surprised was that there was a big difference between Zhang Xu and Han Zhongjie.

Although Han Zhongjie made significant contributions to the reconstruction of the Beijing Army, he had always stayed in the Beijing Army system and had no experience in leading troops in battle before the Second Northern Expedition. Zhang Xu was different.

Before Lu Chen's rise, both Huaizhou and Jingzhou were on the defensive, especially in the first six years of the previous emperor's reign. The Jingyan coalition forces often invaded the border of Da Qi. At that time, the Beijing army needed to frequently support the border army, and Zhang Xu was one of the generals leading the troops.

Not to mention that three years ago, the Nanzhao Kingdom raised an army of 100,000 and marched towards Taiping Prefecture of the Great Qi. Zhang Xu defeated the enemy with only 30,000 troops from the capital.

Zhang Xu's military achievements are certainly not as good as Li Tianrun, Xiao Wangzhi and Lu Chen, but he is the undisputed fourth person under them, far above Chen Lanyu, Li Jingda and Shen Yulai.

If Li Zongben had not wanted to quickly establish Han Zhongjie's prestige in the army and had not trusted Zhang Xu enough, he could have let Zhang Xu serve as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition Army.

Perhaps Zhang Xu's command would not necessarily achieve much success, but based on his past leadership skills, he should not suffer a major defeat in Kaocheng.

Li Zongben's mind raced. He knew that he couldn't show his inclination too obviously, and he didn't want Zhang Xu to offend Lu Chen too much, so he hurried out to smooth things over. However, Zhang Xu seemed unwilling to accept an outcome in which nothing happened.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to express some of my thoughts."

He first bowed to the emperor, then turned to Lu Chen and said bluntly: "I have always admired the Duke's military achievements and reputation, and I don't want to speculate on the Duke's actions with those mean thoughts. However, today in the court in front of the emperor, the Duke was so harsh to Lord Chen, which is suspected of using public power for personal gain. This is what I mean by selfishness."

This person is like a volcano that has been silent for many years. He is quiet and introverted most of the time, but once he erupts, he openly points out the contradictions in the court, shocking everyone.

"I see."

To the surprise of the ministers, the usually tough Lu Chen did not lose his temper. He said calmly, "Is Marquis Yongding trying to defend Lord Chen?" "Lord Chen does not need me to defend him."

Zhang Xu responded straightforwardly, and then said tit for tat: "I just think that the Duke has no respect for the court. This is not a military training ground or a street market. Since the Duke is a minister of the Great Qi, shouldn't he respect His Majesty and the etiquette? The Duke is so impressive that he taught and ridiculed a military minister and the commander of the Beijing camp in public!"

Seeing that the situation seemed to be heading in a direction where there was no way out, Li Zongben quickly said, "Mr. Zhang, your words are too serious. Mr. Lu has absolutely no such intention."

Several civil officials also spoke out to persuade them to reconcile. Although some people were secretly delighted by Zhang Xu's words, they could not just watch the two powerful military heroes quarreling in the court.

"hehe."

Lu Chen smiled expressionlessly and nodded, "Marquis Yongding is indeed loyal to the country and has no selfish motives."

Xiao Wangzhi's eyes narrowed slightly, but this time he did not speak out to stop Lu Chen.

Zhang Xu bowed to Lu Chen and said, "I have a clear conscience. If the Duke thinks I have selfish motives, why not speak out in public."

"Just now you said that I was rude to Mr. Chen. Perhaps your understanding of the word rude is a bit distorted."

Lu Chen raised his eyebrows slightly and said slowly: "In fact, he was not the only one I wanted to question outside the capital that day. I just didn't want to make His Majesty worried or cause a sudden disturbance in the capital, so I forced myself to hold back. Since you mentioned this matter today, let me tell you what you military ministers have done in the past two years."

Zhang Xu said, "I'm open to your advice."

Lu Chen raised his finger and pointed at Xiao Wangzhi, and asked directly: "Does the Marquis of Yongding think that the Duke of Rong is a loyal minister?"

Zhang Xu's heart tightened, and he nodded, "Yes."

"Just admit it."

Lu Chen's expression gradually turned colder, and his attitude became more and more rigid: "Duke Rong has been guarding the border for Da Qi for fifteen years. He has worked hard and made great contributions, and he has never slacked off for a moment. Even though he has a very high prestige in the border army, as long as the late emperor issued an imperial decree, Duke Rong would abandon the army he had trained for more than ten years and return to Beijing with only a hundred or so soldiers. You, Han Zhongjie, and Chen Lanyu, relying on the power of the Beijing camp, have made things difficult for him, the chief military minister, so that in the end the power of the Military Academy was left to you three to manipulate!"

Zhang Xu frowned, but found it difficult to respond to these words because some things were just his personal thoughts.

At least on the surface, Xiao Wangzhi did not do anything abusive, and the reasons for excluding him could not be made public at all.

Xiao Wangzhi sighed silently in his heart, and at the same time felt indescribable relief.

Lu Chen continued, "Even if you don't say it, I know what you are thinking. Although Duke Rong is a military hero, he cares about the people and the overall situation. You people take advantage of his tolerance and become more and more aggressive. If Duke Rong can't hold back, you can accuse him of abuse of power and disloyalty. When it comes to playing with people's hearts and using public power for personal gain, how can Duke Rong compare to you?"

"Your Highness, this is absurd. Zhang has absolutely no selfish motives!"

Zhang Xu's face flushed and his tone suddenly rose.

"I don't care what you say, I only care what you do."

Lu Chen's words silenced Zhang Xu, and he continued, "You know that the methods you used to deal with Duke Rong won't work against me, so you did the opposite and couldn't wait to pin the word selfish on me. In terms of temperament and cultivation, I'm certainly not as magnanimous as Duke Rong, and I won't endure the grievances for the sake of the overall situation like him. You play tricks in front of him, and put on a righteous attitude in front of me. Haha, you are really scheming."

"Now tell me, who is the real mean one?"

Although he did not get angry from beginning to end, Zhang Xu was already unable to refute and his face looked extremely ugly.

Lu Chen turned to look at the slightly embarrassed emperor on the dragon throne, and said with a cupped hand: "Your Majesty, I am the commander-in-chief of the border army, and I have no right to discuss military affairs in the court. Now that the people of Da Qi are in the court, with a military hero like Yongding Hou who is loyal to the country and serves the country to give advice to Your Majesty, I think the worries of the country can be solved in a snap."

Li Zongben knew something was wrong and was about to say something to comfort him, but Lu Chen had already said the next sentence.

"I will not disturb your majesty from discussing state affairs with the other lords. Please allow me to leave!"

After saying this, without waiting for Li Zongben to speak, Lu Chen turned around and strode away.

The ministers were stunned and looked in disbelief.

Xiao Wangzhi's lips moved, but in the end he said nothing.

In the solemn and dignified Chongzheng Hall, the emperor and more than a dozen important ministers watched Lu Chen leave.

After passing through the door, the bright sunshine outside the palace shone on Lu Chen. As he walked forward, a long shadow was cast behind him.

(End of this chapter)