The Empress Kneels in Her Palace to Admit Her Mistakes After Slaying Her Ways in the Female-Oriented

Ren Tianye smiled and said, "Zhang Shi!"

"I never said I was going to punish you!"

Zhang Shi was taken aback: "Then what does the Duke mean?"

"What I mean is..." Ren Tianye said, "I plan to hold a grand ceremony soon to recognize the merits of the generals who made outstanding contributions during the attack on Yunjing!"

"And a representative figure must be chosen."

"This will inspire the entire army."

"Fortunately, this gave the soldiers even greater fighting spirit when they attacked the Yangtze River defense line next."

Zhang Shi seemed to have caught Ren Tianye's meaning and couldn't help but say, "Lord Duke, the representative figure you're talking about wouldn't be...?"

As he said this, Zhang Shi could clearly sense that something was wrong with his voice; his throat felt tight, but he still gritted his teeth and asked the question.

"Of course..."

Ren Tianye's gaze slowly swept over the generals in the tent, finally landing on Wang Ming beside him, and he said, "Naturally, it's General Wang Ming!"

"General Wang Ming's military achievements are truly remarkable!"

"Since the conquest of Yunjing, Wusheng Pass was captured by him!"

"He captured the three strongholds of Qingfeng Post Station, Luoyan Ferry, and Pingling Village."

"He also captured Zhenjiang City, one of the fortresses in Jiangbei, and even captured two heavyweight figures, Prince Qing of Lianyun and Marquis Pei Wugou of Jingyi."

"This achievement is truly remarkable!"

"If we don't make him a role model, who is?"

"If he isn't elected as the representative, who can be?"

Ren Tianye looked at Zhang Shi: "You?"

Zhang Shi said with a bitter face, "This subordinate dares not."

"Yeah, you don't dare, and if you don't dare, fine, but..." Ren Tianye said with a half-smile, "but you've done so many things!"

"Wang Ming is attacking Wusheng Pass, you're flanking from behind!"

"Wang Ming has taken over three strongholds: Qingfeng Post Station, Luoyan Ferry, and Pinglingji. You're incredibly dissatisfied!"

"Even Zhenjiang City, one of the fortresses in the Jiangbei region, was taken by General Wang Ming with ease, without even suffering any combat losses. But what about you...?"

"We only captured some less important strongholds."

"It also wasted a lot of manpower and resources!"

"It consumed an unknown amount of military supplies!"

"Do you think this exemplary case should be given to General Wang Ming?"

Wang Ming quickly stepped forward and said, "Lord Duke, I was just lucky; it was all thanks to everyone."

"Look..." Ren Tianye pointed at Wang Ming and said, "He's even more humble and generous than you. He deserves my praise."

"Zhang Shi, what do you think?"

"I think..." Zhang Shi said sullenly, "Your Excellency, you are right."

"At the same time..." Ren Tianye laughed, "I also intend to set up a negative example. General Zhang Shi, tell me, who do you think would be suitable for this role model?"

Zhang Shi's tone became even more subdued: "Me!"

"My lord, I... I'm the most suitable person to be the negative example!"

"Smart!" Ren Tianye patted Zhang Shi on the shoulder and said, "Since you agree, let's do it this way."

"I will be holding a grand ceremony in the next couple of days. You must come then. In front of 200,000 troops, I will tell you how you squandered military supplies to outflank us, so much so that several groups of soldiers I sent out couldn't find you!"

"At the same time, let me also tell you about the bet you made with Wang Ming..."

Zhang Shizao understood Ren Tianye's meaning: he was simply trying to reopen old wounds to convince Ning Wanqin, Ruan Fei, and especially Zhou Mengyan, the Grand Admiral of the Yunjing Navy.

He had long ago made up his mind to give everything for victory!

Can……

Why are you saying all this?!

Zhang Shi was on the verge of collapse. He knelt down with a thud, his face contorted in a mournful expression, and said, "Your Excellency, please punish me instead!"

"If one hundred strokes aren't enough, then one hundred and fifty!"

"Hit me with the paddle!"

"I'm itching for a beating!"

"I really want to get beaten up!"

Zhang Shi screamed in agony, but Ren Tianye ignored him. It wasn't that Ren Tianye wanted to rub salt into Zhang Shi's wounds, but Zhou Mengyan was a man not to be underestimated.

If Zhou Mengyan were to receive a hundred lashes, there would be a high probability that he would realize it was a ruse, especially since he had already fallen for it once.

and so……

Zhang Shi will have to suffer.

There's nothing we can do about it; he keeps making bets and can never win, so it's good to have readily available material and not use it!

Ren Tianye left, and Zhang Shigen was devastated.

The generals around them gathered around, many with curiosity in their eyes.

They did know about the relationship between Zhang Shi and Wang Ming, but because Wang Ming was not greedy and Ren Tianye had always forbidden the rumors from spreading, everyone only knew part of the story and not the whole picture.

This piqued my curiosity.

"General Zhang Shi, what's going on? Why are you so agitated?"

"General Zhang Shi, it's just going around to the back, that's your skill, there's no need to be so upset, is there?"

"Old Zhang, what's going on? Is it really worse than getting a hundred lashes?"

……

When questioned by the crowd, Zhang Shi, not wanting to lose face completely, forced himself to stand up and quickly left the main tent, returning to his own camp.

Not long after I sat down, Lu Chaosheng arrived.

With a fawning smile, he asked, "General Zhang Shi, do you have any of those little blue pills left?"

Zhang Shi quickly composed himself and said, "Yes, what's wrong?"

"Give me some!"

"Want more?" Zhang Shidao asked. "Old Lu, you're not really going to be unable to perform, are you?"

"No, no, absolutely not!" Lu Chaosheng shook his head vigorously, his face flushed red, and said, "Absolutely not, definitely not, definitely not, I'm perfectly fine!"

"that is……"

"The Duke just gave me orders to act according to the plan. I'm just worried that things won't go as smoothly as I'd hoped, so I'm asking for some precautions just in case. It's definitely not impossible!"

Zhang Shi remained silent.

Lu Chaosheng became even more anxious: "General Zhang Shi, no, I've already taken off my pants..."

"Get out!" Zhang Shi roared, immediately ordering his personal guards to bring over medicine bottles, which he then shoved into Lu Chaosheng's hands, saying, "Get out of here and do what the Duke ordered you to do."

Lu Chaosheng then left, but paused at the tent entrance, turned around, and said, "General Zhang Shi, I really..."

"Get out!"

Lu Chaosheng was quite upset after his words were rebuffed. Back in his own tent, he still felt incredibly stifled. Just then, he saw Ning Wanqin approaching and immediately picked her up in his arms.

What are you doing?

Ning Wanqin screamed in surprise.

"Something big is going to happen in the army. I might not have time in a couple of days, so I'll spend some quality time with you today." Lu Chaosheng's mind raced at that moment, and with just one sentence, he had already completed half of the task Ren Tianye had entrusted to him.

Upon hearing this, Ning Wanqin immediately took it to heart: "What important matter is it?"

"This is a matter of utmost importance!"

"Speak quickly... um... um..."

……