Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

This was not Jia Lian's first time meeting the emperor, and he no longer felt the same trepidation he had before.

Therefore, when faced with the emperor's inquiry, he simply and objectively recounted the events that had occurred in the desert, using somewhat official language.

Although he was a firsthand witness and had repeatedly performed meritorious deeds, Jia Lian's words and demeanor showed no trace of arrogance, which pleased Emperor Ningkang.

After Jia Lian finished his account, he apologized for failing to see through the Oirat prince's schemes sooner, which led to the loss of troops. Emperor Ningkang waved his hand and said coldly, "This matter is not your fault. Back when that Oirat prince was still in the capital, didn't all the court officials fail to see through his wolfish ambitions? On the contrary, they all spoke well of him..."

At this point, Emperor Ningkang's expression turned cold. He recalled the Oirat prince's meticulously planned schemes, how he had secretly bribed countless court officials back in the capital.

Otherwise, even if they couldn't see through the Oirat prince's conspiracy, how could so many ministers speak up for him!

After the incident, the court was busy quelling the storm and had not yet had time to settle accounts. Now that the matter has come to a temporary end, it is time to thoroughly investigate those people. If this can also make those old fogies who have been watching him behave themselves, he can have some peace of mind.

Seeing that all his doubts had been resolved, Emperor Ningkang did not press the matter further. Instead, he turned to Xiang He and said, "Minister Xiang, you have worked hard this time. Take advantage of the court's holiday to go home and rest well."

Furthermore, regarding the imperial rewards, the Ministry of Revenue will send someone to your residence later.

Xiang He was somewhat excited. After working hard for half a year, he felt that it was all worth it to receive a word of comfort from the emperor. Therefore, he immediately bowed to express his gratitude for the emperor's grace.

After getting up, he glanced briefly at Jia Lian beside him, then tactfully withdrew from the South Study.

Once only the emperor and his minister remained, Emperor Ningkang observed Jia Lian standing quietly before him with his hands at his sides, and suddenly said coldly, "Jia Lian, do you know your crime?"

Jia Lian was startled, initially thinking that Princess Zhaoyang's affair had been leaked. After all, aside from that, he believed that his trip to the Oirat Mongols had been meritorious and without fault.

His body trembled slightly, but he knelt down as was customary, feigning a look of fear, "Your Majesty, I am foolish and ignorant, please enlighten me."

"I received a secret report that when you were at Ganning Pass, you abused your power and acted arbitrarily. You not only bullied your colleagues, but also disregarded the interests of the court and coerced and humiliated Song Yewang, the newly appointed envoy of the Oirat Mongols, which almost led to the resumption of war between the two countries."

Do you plead guilty?

Upon hearing Emperor Ningkang's words, Jia Lian immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He also instantly knew who had been reporting him.

Since there was no one else, it was the few "most principled" envoys in the group who were chosen for the marriage alliance.

"Your Majesty, those who are sent on missions by imperial decree to accomplish important tasks for the court are always subject to the jealousy of petty villains. Otherwise, Your Majesty would not have personally bestowed upon me the Imperial Sword to purge these villains and protect myself."

Therefore, in order to fulfill the mission entrusted to me by Your Majesty, I must have unintentionally offended some colleagues, which is why I was impeached. However, to say that I abused my power and oppressed my colleagues is a slanderous statement.

As for disregarding the interests of the imperial court and humiliating Song Yewang, that is utter nonsense.

Since ancient times, when envoys from two countries negotiate, each has its own position and should do their utmost to strive for their own interests. How can there be any talk of saving face for each other?

Therefore, during my negotiations with Song Yewang, I used strong language and refused to budge an inch, which greatly angered Song Yewang. If any colleagues believe that one should also act with gentlemanly conduct and show consideration to the other party at the negotiating table, then I have nothing to say.

and……"

Jia Lian appeared somewhat angry and delivered a vehement speech.

He paused midway through his speech, glanced at Emperor Ningkang, and seeing that the emperor did not intend to interrupt, continued loudly, "Moreover, the reason why I have been at odds with that Song Yewang and have spent so many days dealing with him is because he wants to add another unreasonable demand, which I naturally cannot agree to!"

"Oh, what unreasonable request is it? Tell me about it." Emperor Ningkang seemed genuinely unaware and asked with some curiosity.

Jia Lian readily agreed, "Those Oirat traitors first deceived and tricked our Great Wei, causing our Great Wei princess to fall into danger. Yet, after learning that our Great Wei princess had returned safely, they still dared to shamelessly demand that our Great Wei continue to seek peace with them through marriage, and marry our princess to their so-called eldest prince."

Let alone the fact that the Oirat prince already has wives and concubines, and whether he is a suitable match for Her Highness the princess. From the perspective of our Great Wei, this matter is absolutely unacceptable.

Your Majesty, please consider this carefully. When our dynasty first allied with the Oirat, we not only appointed the Oirat king as the Khan of the entire steppe and married our most esteemed princess to the Oirat, but we also promised to send troops to help the Oirat when they were ravaged by the Tatars. With such generous terms, our Great Wei has truly treated the Oirat very well.

However, the Oirats, instead of showing gratitude, plotted against our dynasty, intending to capture our princess and offer her to the Tatars, thereby provoking a new round of war between our Great Wei and the Tatars so that they could reap the benefits!

Their wolfish ambitions are blatantly obvious.

Fortunately, Princess Zhaoyang was blessed with good fortune and did not fall into enemy hands.

But our dynasty has already been thoroughly deceived by the Oirats and has lost all face. If we were to agree to their demands now and marry the princess to them, how would our vassal states and neighboring foreign states view our Great Wei?

Don't they think that our dynasty has completely disregarded the dignity of a great nation in order to win over a small Oirat?

Moreover, the Oirats might use the pretext of marriage alliances to obscure the fact that they had broken their promises, and distort the truth in their interactions with other countries.

Therefore, from the perspective of national interests and the face of the court, agreeing to a marriage alliance with the Oirat again would be harmful and not beneficial to our dynasty. Therefore, I firmly refuse.

"Your Majesty, I am solely devoted to the court and to the interests of Your Majesty. If other colleagues believe that only by pandering to the Oirat people is it truly for the court's benefit, and I, in arguing my case and upholding the dignity of our dynasty, am disregarding the court's interests, then I have nothing more to say."

Jia Lian's words left Emperor Ningkang somewhat stunned.

In fact, Emperor Ningkang was already aware of Jia Lian's resumption of negotiations with the Oirat Mongols.

Although Jia Lian's insistence delayed the negotiations for more than half a month, in the end, Jia Lian did not harm the interests of the Great Wei Dynasty. On the contrary, through a combination of persuasion and coercion, he persuaded the Oirat Mongols to back down and abandon their offer to marry Princess Zhaoyang.

Therefore, Emperor Ningkang had no intention, nor any reason, to punish Jia Lian for this.

He brought this up only to calm Jia Lian down and to pave the way for what would happen later.

To everyone's surprise, Jia Lian seemed to have been prepared all along, and he laid out so many "reasons" in one go.

Unfortunately, this kid's arguments were all logically sound, making it seem rather harsh for him to nitpick.

Looking at Jia Lian, who stood in the main hall, still looking somewhat indignant and aggrieved, Emperor Ningkang secretly rolled his eyes. He didn't go so far as to deliberately suppress Jia Lian.

"I understand what you have said. It is rare that you are so young, yet your thoughts and considerations are so thorough."

Hmph, those guys have only read half a book, they're just sitting idly by, clinging to outdated ideas and incomplete ideas. How could they possibly understand true righteousness? If you weren't so sensible, even if they sent the previous official letter back to the capital, I wouldn't have agreed.

Do they think my princess is someone the Oirat can marry whenever they want?

"Even before you arrived in the capital, I had already issued an edict banishing the person who submitted the memorial impeaching you. Such a short-sighted and foolish person has no reason to remain in the court."

Since Jia Lian had his own explanation, Emperor Ningkang, in order to save face, also took the opportunity to show that he and Jia Lian were of one mind, so that Jia Lian would be grateful.

Jia Lian knew, however, that despite Emperor Ningkang's current resolute words, if they were to go back to the beginning and use a princess who had become a widow, someone he wouldn't be able to handle, to exchange for concessions from the Oirat Mongols, his attitude would be quite uncertain!

If they truly had no intention of marrying their daughter off to a foreign land, they wouldn't have agreed to the marriage alliance in the first place.

Thinking this to himself, Jia Lian showed a relieved expression and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty is wise!"

Get up.

He gestured for Jia Lian to stand up, and then Emperor Ningkang changed his tone, becoming somewhat more intimate.

"Do you still remember what I said to you when you left the capital?"

"Your Majesty has instructed me to take advantage of this mission to the Oirat Mongols to ascertain their situation as thoroughly as possible in order to prepare for the future."

Unfortunately, due to these unexpected changes, I only managed to travel around the southern part of the Oirat region, without even being able to enter their royal court. Naturally, I failed to fulfill Your Majesty's important mission, thus disappointing Your Majesty.

Emperor Ningkang shook his head. "Although you didn't reach the Oirat royal court, you at least left Xisai. So, suppose I were to appoint you to command the three armies now, are you confident you can wipe out the enemy in the Western Frontier?"

Jia Lian was taken aback. He was being asked to command the three armies? Was it for real or a lie?

However, Jia Lian reacted quickly, immediately clasping his hands and bowing, saying, "If Your Majesty trusts me and I am willing to shoulder this heavy responsibility, although I dare not boast that I will wipe out the enemy in the Western Frontier, I am willing to be Your Majesty's vanguard, to ride across the Western Frontier, and to give my life for Your Majesty's grand cause."

Jia Lian's voice was loud and clear, and all the eunuchs inside and outside the palace could hear it.

If they didn't all know that only Jia Lian was currently meeting with the Emperor, they would probably have thought that at this very moment, His Majesty the Emperor was discussing a war to destroy the country with a group of generals.

This General Jia is truly favored by His Majesty; he dares to say anything in front of him…

The eunuchs felt that Jia Lian's words were too obsequious, but Emperor Ningkang did not think so.

I still remember that the decision to train Jia Lian was made because he was full of passion and dared to beat the Prince in public in order to uphold his father's reputation!

Which monarch wouldn't like someone so passionate, capable, loyal, and patriotic?

Therefore, he nodded secretly without offering much praise, fearing that if he showed more favor, Jia Lian would become too arrogant.

He then inquired about the military preparedness within the western border region, including major towns and Anxi Prefecture.

Jia Lian also submitted a memorial truthfully, explaining to Emperor Ningkang in a simple manner the advantages and disadvantages he had observed.

Emperor Ningkang was very concerned about this.

Although he was confident that his talent was no less than that of the retired emperor, he also knew that, compared to the retired emperor, he was an emperor who had never left the capital.

Information about the country's borders can only be obtained from trusted ministers.

Since the goal is to resolve the border troubles in the western frontier, the military preparedness of the western frontier is naturally of paramount importance.

He was relieved to learn that the Western Frontier Army was not in any major problems and was quite capable in combat.

Perhaps it was Jia Lian who had given him so many pleasant surprises today, but he was actually inclined to chat with Jia Lian a bit more about military matters.

"In recent years, I have discussed border troubles countless times with the veteran generals of the Ministry of War."

Jia Lian, in your opinion, what preparations should our dynasty make if we want to gain the upper hand in the inevitable war with the northern nomadic tribes?

Emperor Ningkang secretly desired a great battle that would be recorded in history, and he had to win decisively to erase the influence of the retired emperor and truly have absolute authority in the court.

For this reason, he has been planning and preparing for years, waiting for the right opportunity.

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian quickly shook his head: "Since Your Majesty and the veteran generals have already discussed it, I am still young and far inferior to the veteran generals in terms of both seniority and knowledge, so I naturally dare not speak presumptuously about national policies."

"Two heads are better than one. Since I'm asking you, just tell me."

"Well then, I'll speak frankly..."

Although I do not know exactly what preparations should be made to deal with those foreign tribes that repeatedly invade our borders in one fell swoop.

However, I do have a thought.

"In my humble opinion, if we want to gain an advantage in future wars, we might as well start with firearms!"

"firearm?"

Although Emperor Ningkang had a question, his expression showed some disappointment.

"Regarding firearms, when I inspected the Shenji Battalion years ago, I was also shocked by their extraordinary power, but after listening to the explanations of several veteran generals who were good at fighting, I did not pay much attention to them anymore."

Now that you've brought it up, why not share your thoughts?

Emperor Ningkang's disappointment was within Jia Lian's expectations.

In fact, firearms have been used in warfare for several hundred years.

However, looking at the previous dynasties, although they all developed firearms, it is clear that they did not attach much importance to them.

While firearms are remarkably powerful, they also have significant drawbacks.

The battlefield is ever-changing, and as cumbersome firearms, neither muskets nor cannons are as swift and powerful as mounted archery in terms of mobility and precision.

It can also easily lead to friendly fire.

Moreover, the research and development and manufacturing of firearms require a huge amount of money to support them, making them far less economical than bows and crossbows.

There are such drawbacks, and in previous wars, many armies equipped with firearms did not actually gain any significant advantage when fighting the enemy.

The investment and the actual combat results were disproportionate. It's no wonder that the Ministry of War held firearms in contempt.

Therefore, the reason why people at that time did not pay enough attention to firearms was not because they were not smart enough, but simply because they did not see the moment when firearms were used to change the fate of the battlefield!

However, as someone from a later generation, it is impossible not to know the historical trend that cold weapons will eventually be replaced by firearms.

"Your Majesty, I am aware that the veteran generals in the army do not like to use firearms."

Your humble servant is aware that the firearms currently being manufactured by the Divine Machine Battalion do indeed have significant drawbacks.

However, I believe that if firearms are used properly, they could be a powerful weapon on the battlefield.

Although the firearms currently in the Shenji Battalion have many shortcomings, they may not be incapable of being improved.

I once met a Portuguese merchant who had traveled across the ocean to my Great Wei. According to him, in their country, which is tens of thousands of miles away from us, weapons of war have been replaced by various kinds of firearms instead of ordinary swords.

In particular, their wars with enemy countries were not even fought on land. Instead, they would load powerful cannons onto countless ships and sail thousands or even tens of thousands of miles to wage war against the enemy!

"What, tens of thousands of miles?"

Emperor Ningkang found it somewhat unbelievable.

As the emperor of the Great Wei, he certainly did not believe, like those dynasties of long ago, that there was only one China under heaven.

He also knew that there were other countries far away from the Great Wei.

But those countries left him with the impression that they were all weak.

How could those countries, according to Jia Lian, be able to fight against the enemy across tens of thousands of miles?

It should be understood that even when the Great Wei was conquering foreign tribes, a battle line stretching over a thousand miles was considered a long distance. At most, a few thousand miles was considered an expedition.

The concept of a massive battle spanning tens of thousands of miles was nonexistent in Emperor Ningkang's mind.

"At first, I also found it very incredible, so I asked some other foreigners who had come from overseas to inquire. Although some of their statements were different, one thing was certain."

In the far west, there were indeed powerful nations capable of building strong ships and powerful cannons, and then crossing oceans to attack others.

I thought that since firearms could be loaded onto ships for long-range expeditions, this would be a good opportunity.

Why don't we, the Great Wei, follow suit? If we could also build a decent fleet, then, aside from anything else, those Japanese pirates who have been harassing us along the southeast coast for years would no longer be a problem.

As for how to apply this to the battles against the nomadic tribes to the north, I haven't figured it out yet.

After all, the steppe cavalry were far too sharp and swift, and given the current disadvantages of firearms, they might not necessarily be effective.

Jia Lian, fearing that it would provoke Emperor Ningkang's rebellious attitude, deliberately phrased it more tactfully.

In reality, while cold weapons were utterly inadequate compared to firearms, that was still the era of relatively advanced firearms.

In this era when firearms are still in their infancy, to be honest, cold weapons are still the mainstream.

Putting aside other things, take the "Frankenstein" (or "Frankenstein's gun"), which is currently the best-developed Western firearm. Even if the entire Western nation came to war, the Great Wei could rely on its thousands of years of combat experience and its massive army to subdue them...

This might be a bit unfair, after all, the Great Wei is not in a position to attack others right now!

This also shows that the West today has probably only entered the first industrial revolution at most, and firearms are still in their infancy.

Otherwise, these foreign merchants who came to the Great Wei with the belief that the East was full of gold would not have been so honest.

Therefore, Jia Lian was not too worried that the Great Wei was lagging too far behind the West. As long as he started to pay attention to the development of firearms, he believed that with the wisdom of the East for five thousand years and the strength of the country, it would be easy to overtake the West.

Thus, in the future Age of Exploration, it remains to be seen who will truly be the trendsetters.

Emperor Ningkang originally did not believe that firearms could be of any great use, but Jia Lian's assertive words made him suspicious.

After being asked several questions repeatedly, Jia Lian was able to answer them all, so Emperor Ningkang fell silent.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Since you are so confident in firearms, I happen to remember that the Shenji Battalion is still short of a deputy commander. You can temporarily take on the role."

Remember this: I do not like people trying to deceive or mislead me.

"I'll give you a maximum of three years. If you don't produce any results to show me, don't blame me for punishing you for deceiving the emperor."

"Your Majesty, I obey your command and will certainly not fail in your trust!"

Deputy Commander, has he been promoted?

It seems not.

This seemed to be a fourth-rank official, because he remembered that the commander of the Divine Machine Battalion was only a third-rank official. A commander of a unit being only a third-rank official showed the court's contempt for firearms.

Ignoring Jia Lian's inner grumbling, Emperor Ningkang turned his gaze to the two bright yellow imperial edicts hidden in the secret compartment beneath the dragon throne.

After hesitating for a moment, he took out one of the portions and then pretended to be indifferent.

"Alright, kneel down and receive my decree."

Jia Lian's expression turned serious, knowing that after carefully pleading for so long, the moment he was most concerned about had finally arrived.