Firmament Sword

In the imperial court, the Emperor sat upon the Dragon Throne with two secret reports laid out on the desk before him. He looked at the assembled ministers and said with a smile, ”Victories are pouring in from the southern front. Among the soldiers, many young men from True Martial Academy have distinguished themselves. They are worthy of praise!”

As he spoke, he looked down at the crowd. ”The sons of your families, in particular, are all outstanding! Leng Mengde, your son Leng Ping was wounded on the battlefield a few days ago. Were you worried?”

Hearing this, Lord Leng, Leng Mengde, stepped forward and bowed. ”To say I wasn’t worried would be a lie, Your Majesty. But blades have no eyes. Once on the front lines, no matter who you are, you must be prepared to die for the nation at any moment, and my son is no exception. After all, you go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and protect the kingdom, not to burnish your reputation.”

As Leng Mengde spoke, he shot a pointed glance at Wei Feng.

After Wei Ziting had failed to frame Xu Luo, he was sent straight to the southern front. But who would have thought that upon arriving, Wei Ziting had no intention of setting foot on the battlefield? Instead, he shamelessly declared that his talents were best utilized in strategy...

This statement made countless senior strategists in the Southern Army scoff. ’You know strategy? You don’t know a damn thing! What strategy do you know besides how to stab people in the back?!’

In any case, Wei Ziting was unwilling to fight, and Xu Zhongtian couldn’t very well force him. If Wei Ziting came to any harm, Xu Zhongtian would have a hard time answering to Prime Minister Wei.

After Leng Mengde finished speaking, a smug glint flashed in his eyes as he thought, ’Go on, Wei Feng. Let’s see you live up to your ”grand” name now!’

Due to a pun on his name and his overwhelming power at court, many people privately called him ”Awe-inspiring Wei Feng.”

To Leng Mengde’s surprise, however, Wei Feng’s expression remained perfectly calm. The glance he casually shot back was filled with mockery.

This infuriated Leng Mengde. ’You have a son who only knows how to stab people in the back and has no idea how to behave,’ he fumed internally. ’What do you have to be so smug about!’

But this was the imperial court, so Leng Mengde couldn’t be bothered to dwell on it and retreated to his position.

The Emperor on the Dragon Throne watched this exchange with a faint smile. He then said, ”Sun Yunpeng, your son’s performance has been outstanding. Starting as a common soldier, he has accumulated enough military merit to become a Deputy General! It seems that when he returns after the war, we will have another fierce general rising through the ranks! Sun Aiqing, I heard you weren’t very supportive of your son Donghai joining the army? That kind of thinking is unacceptable. If you dare to cost me a fierce general, I won’t let you off easy!”

Lord Sun, Sun Yunpeng, stepped out with a helpless look to express his gratitude, then said with a pained expression, ”I truly did not wish for him to join the army, but I’ve never been able to control that boy, not even when he was little. Since Your Majesty has taken a liking to him, then I shall hand him over to you to use as you please...”

”Haha, you old rascal, are you afraid I won’t give him a promotion and a title? Relax! I am always impartial, and my rewards and punishments are clear. It’s not my style to let merit go unrewarded!”

The Emperor continued in a light tone, ”Take Xu Ji’s second son, for example. A while ago, he joined forces with Prince General Cao Tianyi of the Cao Kingdom to utterly defeat the Yan Army’s famed general, Mo Yun. Then, he successfully persuaded the Cao Kingdom to become a vassal state of our Great Cangqiong Kingdom. What a monumental achievement! But that little rascal tried to hide his involvement afterward and give all the credit to others. Hmph. I do not approve of such sly behavior!”

”Do I... need to destroy someone with excessive praise? Or is it that the pinnacle of glory is the beginning of the fall? I... don’t subscribe to such superstitions! The Great Cangqiong Kingdom was founded nearly fourteen hundred years ago! If a peak was always followed by decline, wouldn’t our kingdom have fallen long ago?”

”So, I named him the Seven-Colored Grand General. While the title is somewhat in jest, it’s because his experience is far from enough to be named a proper General. At the same time, I also bestowed upon him a Third-Grade Official Title, yet assigned him no actual post... Why?”

The Emperor looked at the crowd below. ”Because his achievements alone were enough! If this accomplishment belonged to any of you, my dear ministers, heh... aside from making you a Prince... I truly can’t think of what else I could have rewarded you with.”

GASP!

A wave of sharp inhalations rippled through the crowd, and whispers immediately broke out.

The Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince, who had recently begun attending the morning court sessions, also had smiles on their faces, but their minds were reeling.

”Alright, you needn’t be so surprised,” the Emperor said lightly. ”I refuse to believe you don’t understand the magnitude of that little fellow’s accomplishment!”

The ministers below all thought the same thing. ’It’s not that we don’t understand how great his achievement was, Your Majesty. Your reward to the Xu Family’s second son is not wrong in the slightest. The problem... is your term of address for him!’

”That little rascal,” ”that little fellow...”

Previously, the Emperor’s disdain for Xu Luo had been common knowledge.

”Stealing the Civil Servants’ rice bowls...” It sounded like a joke, but for a scion of a Military General Clan, it was an insult harsher than cursing his mother to his face.

For the Emperor to say something like that in front of Xu Luo’s own father, the Grand General of National Guardian Xu Ji, showed just how much he had loathed the frail, good-for-nothing boy back then.

But now... he was using the tone of an elder speaking to a beloved junior.

Standing at the head of the Civil Servants, Wei Feng’s expression turned grim. Just then, he saw the Sixth Prince opposite him give him a subtle look. Startled, Wei Feng immediately composed his features and put on a faint smile.

’The Emperor’s true intentions were impossible to know.’

Heaven only knew what the Emperor was truly thinking.

”Zhao Wenzhao, and that son of yours. He’s normally so aloof and arrogant, I admit I wasn’t fond of him. I felt he lacked the vitality a young man should have. But I misjudged. I didn’t expect his performance on the front lines to be so outstanding! He’s daring and fierce in battle, and he knows how to unite those around him. His talents for both civil and military matters are exceptional. He’s going to be a great asset in the future. In my opinion, he’s far more capable than you, his father!”

Zhao Wenzhao quickly stepped forward and knelt, his eyes rimmed with red, to express his gratitude. Although the Emperor had seemingly said the father was inferior to the son, anyone could hear the immense praise in his tone. Zhao Wenzhao had already reached the highest position a subject could hold, and now his son was even more capable... This was the Emperor’s way of telling him outright: The glory of the Zhao Family will continue! It will only become greater!

Many looked at Zhao Wenzhao with envy, thinking to themselves that the old man had certainly raised a fine son.

The Emperor’s gaze then fell upon Lord Wang, Wang Moxuan. The Minister of Revenue began to feel distinctly uncomfortable.

This was because his son, although he had gone to the front, had never been on the battlefield and had no interest whatsoever in all the fighting and killing.

”Wang Aiqing, your son...”

”Your Majesty, my worthless son has failed to live up to your expectations!” Wang Moxuan hurried forward, fell to his knees, and spoke with the utmost sincerity.

”Nonsense! Who told you your son was incompetent? Are you aware that the Southern Army’s logistics have always been a major headache for me? Champion Marquis Xu Aiqing is skilled in both civil and military affairs, but he’s somewhat out of his depth when it comes to logistics.”

The Emperor shot Wang Moxuan a glare and continued, ”Ever since your son arrived, he has managed the Southern Army’s logistics with impeccable order. I’ve even implemented several of his suggestions in the Northern Army. Xu Ji wrote to me the other day, still full of praise for your son’s proposals. You muddle-headed fool! You run the Ministry of Revenue well enough, but you’re completely blind to your own son’s talents!”

”Ah...”

Wang Moxuan was dumbfounded. Staring at the Emperor’s teasing smile, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’Your Majesty,’ he thought, ’what has you in such high spirits today that you’re making sport of us old officials?’

The Emperor, however, paid him no more mind. What had been said was enough to guarantee Wang Ziweng’s future prospects, and everyone understood that.

”Wei Feng...” The Emperor looked at him with that same faint, unreadable smile. ”Has your son sent you any letters recently?”

”Er... yes.” Wei Feng hesitated before stepping forward and bowing to the Emperor. ”It is just that I was so rattled by that muddle-headed little beast of a son that I did not dare to hastily report this matter to Your Majesty...”

”Heh...” The Emperor chuckled softly. ”This achievement... is a great one. It’s hardly any smaller than the one that boy from the Xu Family recently accomplished. To cut off the Yan Army’s provisions and destroy their only supply route... The Yan Army, deprived of its supplies, will fall into chaos on its own without us even needing to fight...”

”What? Who could be so capable?”

”Was it Prime Minister Wei’s son?”

”Heavens, that’s an absolutely monumental achievement!”

”That’s like taking the firewood out from under the pot!”

”An achievement like that might be the single greatest of this war!”

”Making the enemy army collapse without a fight... now that’s true ability!”

”Supply routes are always top secret, and the caravans are guarded by countless experts. How on earth did they do it?”

The court officials below erupted into a clamor, discussing it openly without fear of the Emperor’s displeasure.

Leng Mengde was startled. He finally understood where Wei Feng’s earlier confidence had come from. But deep down, he absolutely refused to believe that someone like Wei Ziting was capable of such a feat.

The Emperor wasn’t angry. He simply watched Wei Feng with a faint smile.

At this, Wei Feng gritted his teeth and said, ”Regarding this matter, according to my son’s report, it was a few of his personal bodyguards who accompanied him to serve as scouts. They paid a large bribe to someone in the Cao Kingdom to get the location of the supply route, and then... they managed to accomplish this by chance.”

As he spoke, Wei Feng looked up with an earnest expression. ”Your Majesty, rather than say this is my son’s achievement, it would be more accurate to say that the heavens are protecting Cangqiong! Otherwise, how could they possibly have succeeded? In truth, this is all due to Your Majesty’s boundless good fortune. As for my son... he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I implore Your Majesty not to reward him...”

With that, Wei Feng fell to his knees, his voice choked with emotion. ”I only have this one son. I do not expect him to bring glory to our name, nor do I ask that he be made a marquis or a minister. I only hope that he can live his life in peace and safety. That... would be enough to satisfy me!”

The Emperor looked down at the sobbing, prostrate Wei Feng and sighed internally. ’Prime Minister Wei, we have been ruler and minister together for so many years. How could I not understand you? If that son of yours had even half your intelligence, you likely wouldn’t be so worried.’

As he thought this, the Emperor said aloud, ”I always reward merit. If your son has truly accomplished something, how could I not reward him? However... before I received this secret report from your son, which General Xu forwarded to me, I also received... another secret report... from Xu Luo!”

Wei Feng’s mind went blank with a deafening buzz. A chill shot up his spine, crawling all the way to the nape of his neck.

The very thing he had been worried about had actually... happened again!