Whoever can strike me hard will be rewarded handsomely.

If you say you'll beat someone up, you mean you'll beat them up.

The crisp sound echoed through the main room, drilling straight into Shang Jingming's ears, making the commander of the Five Cities Garrison, who had composed himself, blush red and not knowing where to put his hands and feet.

Like scolding a child, the emperor's questions came one after another.

"Who gave you permission to apologize to me before Zhao Guangqi, saying things like you were too eager to make a name for yourself and tormented his two disciples?"

Shang Jingming's Adam's apple bobbed, but he remained silent.

Silence was seen as resistance, and in return, it earned a merciless slap.

The emperor's tone wasn't stern, but rather carried a calm and authoritative air: "I'm asking you a question."

Shang Jingming's breath hitched for a moment, and his knees bent silently: "Jingming acted on his own initiative."

He slapped him again, and Qin Ji said indifferently, "You made a good suggestion. You share the burden of the ruler. You are a loyal minister."

These words, so profound, would make even the Taiji diagram pale in comparison. Shang Jingming dared not accept them, for doing so would only anger His Majesty further.

Qin Ji was very dissatisfied with this, but upholding the good traditions of his sect, he suppressed the issue with two words: "Speak."

"You are the ruler of the world, your name will be remembered for eternity, and your might will shake the four corners of the earth. I am but a commander of the Five Cities Garrison, and my honor and disgrace depend entirely on your promotion and trust. Even when I go to the battlefield in the future, I will be judged by my military achievements. Fame is nothing but fleeting clouds to me, it is not that important." Shang Jingming said each word very seriously: "For my meager loss of reputation, to exchange for you being spotless, is a gain for me."

"You made a profit?" Qin Ji was amused by his words, and he also experienced a heart attack as a teacher.

He slapped the second disciple hard several times, but the disciple didn't utter a sound, even though his hand was in excruciating pain.

Qin Ji, in a fit of rage, picked up a bamboo stick and struck him twice more: "Since you will be judged by your military achievements in the future, and you have learned a great deal from these veteran generals these past few days, then let me ask you this: In battle, if a general cannot lead from the front, using his soldiers as human shields, and all the credit and rewards are his own while the blame and faults fall on others, no matter how good his reputation may be, will morale be high? Will the men below be willing to fight to the death?"

Shang Jingming was taken aback, and almost instantly understood the Emperor's unspoken meaning. He wanted to refute it, but he couldn't bring himself to say "can" or "willing" while ignoring the facts.

Seeing Shang Jingming with his head down and silent, Qin Ji continued, "Just as you said, I am the supreme ruler, the sovereign of the world. From the time I assume power until my death, I will have to make countless decisions in my life. Any small mistake could have immeasurable consequences."

If things succeed, he boasts of his wisdom; if things fail, he shifts all the blame onto the ministers who handled the task, or even goes so far as to have them executed at the Meridian Gate to quell public opinion and appease public anger.

If this continues, who will dare to serve me wholeheartedly? Who will be willing to be a loyal subject of the Great Yin Dynasty?

"Besides..." Qin Ji raised his eyebrows: "Even if I painted a rosy picture and fooled the people of the world while I was in power, so what?"

If I am muddle-headed, incompetent, tyrannical, and willful, then the historians of later generations will be like knives. Will they be polite to someone like me who has passed away?

If I were to usher in an era of lasting peace and prosperity, and the people to live in tranquility, my achievements would be judged by posterity. Why then would I need to conceal or try to whitewash them?

Shang Jingming was no fool; he understood immediately, especially since His Majesty had already put it so clearly.

He believed he was upholding His Majesty's reputation and repaying His Majesty's kindness in recognizing his talent.

In reality, they acted like sycophants, treating His Majesty like a foolish ruler.

He opened his mouth, his shoulders rose and fell with his breath, and his hands unconsciously clenched into fists, pressing against the floor tiles.

A moment later, he struggled to compose himself, rolled off the bed, bowed deeply, his forehead touching the ground, and said in a hoarse voice, "Jingming is narrow-minded and acted on his own initiative, which is a grave mistake. Please punish him severely."

"You're not narrow-minded." Qin Ji looked at the person kneeling before him, begging for forgiveness, and his anger subsided considerably.

He stood up, half-squatting in front of Shang Jingming, and stroked his head: "Heaven, Earth, Ruler, Parents, and Teacher. I am your ruler, your teacher, and I have also shown you kindness. You only want to be a loyal subject and a filial disciple, so you put yourself too low and think too highly of me, so you are eager to do something for me and give something for me."

"I appreciate your good intentions, but I do not approve of your methods."

Qin Ji glanced at Shang Jingming's sword: "I gave you the Hebi sword in the hope that wherever you are, you will soar to great heights, have lofty ambitions, and realize your aspirations. Not to see yourself as an object that can be sacrificed for me at any time."

"Your reputation is not unimportant to me either."

"I want history to record that we are a wise ruler and a virtuous minister. Your name, Shang Jingming, will be written as: A loyal minister of the Great Yin Dynasty, with outstanding military achievements, who pacified the four barbarian tribes. Not as: Loyal to the death, taking the blame for the ruler."

Shang Jingming lay on the ground, his forehead pressed against the cold floor tiles, the heat rising around him, and water droplets blooming close at hand.

Summoning his courage from who-knows-where, he corrected in a hoarse voice, "You're wrong."

Have they gotten too bold?

Not only were they not moved to tears, but they also dared to say that I was wrong.

Qin Ji grabbed a bamboo stick, glared at his second disciple's back of the head, and said in a threatening tone, "Say it again?"

"You missed a point." Shang Jingming straightened up without permission, his reddened eyes still showing emotion. "Heaven, Earth, Ruler, Parents, and Teacher. You are the ruler, the teacher, and also Jingming's family."

……

Update delivered. I'll add a few more words later. This is the only update today, but I know I still owe two chapters, sob sob~