Chapter 107 - The Border Song

Chapter 107 – The Border Song

When the academy head became the academy head, the emperor was not the emperor yet. Hence, he probably had a deeper understanding about the entire Great Ning than the emperor himself. After all, the academy head and served three emperors. When he was most heavily involved in the imperial affairs, the current emperor was still very young. Even the princes were not as involved as the academy head – because the previous emperor forbade it.

If not for the sudden death of the late emperor, Li Chengyuan, the current emperor would not get to such a level. Hence, he exceptionally valued the academy head, beyond imagination; even more than Mu Zhaotong, who had similarly served three emperors.

This was because the academy head was a lot smarter than Mu Zhaotong. He did not interfere with the imperial family’s affairs, nor did he try to give the impression that he had authority over the imperial court and civilians.

“Still too young though.”

The academy head deliberated over and over again, and still decided to persuade him again, “By making him a Class A Fifth pin general, not only will the people in the imperial court be unhappy, I’m afraid a lot of people in the Navy will not be happy either. Why don’t you wait till after the all-military competition next year? Based on that fella’s capability, his ranking will definitely not be low. If you promote him to Class A Fifth pin by virtue of that, it will shut everyone up.”

He looked at the emperor’s facial expression. In truth, serving this emperor was a lot harder than the previous one. The current emperor was more powerful, overbearing and had more foresight.

“A vigorous young man who risked his life and went all out for Your Majesty deserves to be rewarded indeed. Why don’t you make a compromise – instead of promoting him to a Class A Fifth pin official, give him…the inside intelligence box?” asked the academy head, testing the waters.

The emperor sat down across from the academy head. He picked up two pieces of charcoal and placed it into the fireplace. “I know that your idea is the safest one. But perhaps…that young man is somewhat different.”

“In what way is he different? He is merely slightly more outstanding.”

“He…”

The emperor stayed silent for a while. Suddenly, he forced a smile. But the moment the corners of his mouth lifted up, it disappeared.

He looked at the academy head. “I can’t let these young men lose the passion in them. I want to produce a few good role models for all the young people in Great ning to see. The northern border already has Wu Xinyu and Hai Sha, and another Meng Changan now. If a figure as such appears within the Navy, it will inspire the young people and make them feel that there are good prospects serving in the military.”

The academy head suddenly understood. “The northern border is the most dangerous and also the harshest. The new soldiers of the four depositories were most unwilling to go to the northern area. That was because the Heiwu people were too ruthless, and the northern border was too cold. Hence, over the past several years, the outstanding young people in the northern border appeared to be more prominent – Wu Xinyu, Hai Sha and Meng Changan. Thus, young people would feel that even though going to the northern border is risky and dangerous, it’s easier to make a name for themselves.”

The emperor nodded. “Which young man would admit that they are worse than the others? They always feel that all they’re lacking in is an opportunity.”

The academy head realized that the scariest thing about the emperor was that he understood people well. The emperor understood the thoughts of young people, and also understood the thoughts of middle-aged people, as well as the elders. Hence, he was able to control from all directions, thus allowing Great Ning to become more and more powerful.

The emperor continued, “The northern border is a place that needs people the most, next would be the Navy.”

The emperor laughed; a slight cunning look flashed across his eyes.

“I also want to pass on a message to certain people that everything in this empire belongs to me, and I have the final say with regards to the happiness and disappointment of officials within the imperial court.”

The academy head was finally certain about what His Majesty wanted – intimidation and warning.

He wanted to warn Pei Tingshan, as well as the other officials who shared the same sentiment as him.

You people groomed your own successors – do you think you have the final say in that?

I am the one who decides who gets to rise up the ranks.

Immediately after, the academy head thought of something funny. Previously, someone told him that a Great Ning merchant went to Zhaoli Empire in the south to do business. When he was drinking and chatting with the Zhaoli people, the Zhaoli merchant drank too much and grabbed the Great Ning peddler’s hand and said, “Do you know how us Zhaoli people describe your emperor?”

The Zhaoli merchant sat upright and hit against the table. “His, his, all his!”

When he said that, he could not conceal his sad and sullen emotions.

As for the Great Ning merchant, he laughed exceptionally loud. Needless to say, he felt very proud.

“I understand.”

The academy head laughed. His Majesty thought about things long and far ahead into the future. In fact, most of the time, he could not keep up with His Majesty’s thoughts. Mu Zhaotong was the same; he needed to take some time to think about it before he could understand the meaning and motives behind His Majesty’s actions. Hence, the academy head was certain of one thing from the very start – even if His Majesty did not have him or Mu Zhaotong by his side, it would not affect him much.

More often than not, His Majesty placed him and Mu Zhaotong in important positions as a way to handle things. After the late emperor’s sudden death, His Majesty did not touch Mu Zhaotong at all, because he wanted to ensure that the people stayed calm. After that, he slowly made his move and slowly changed the structure. When people finally realized that something was amiss, His Majesty had already withdrawn the authority to mobilize the military from the Ministry of War, and nearly changed all the people within the four borders and depositories.

His Majesty’s Tian Wen Ge did not only contain the names of the young talents within the military forces; His Majesty also took down the names of the little fellas within the six ministries and nine ministers, who came from a humble background but yet produced an outstanding performance.

The frightening thing was that – most people assumed that Liu Yun Sect was only a mediocre secret society, but Liu Yun Sect knew what the common folks liked and disliked better than anyone else. An even more frightening thing was that Liu Yun Sect was able to look clearly into all three generations of the family of the names of the young people within Tian Wen Ge. If three generations worth of information was not enough, then five. Perhaps, they were able to have a better understanding about their families’ past than those young people themselves.

“Sir, do you still remember? Xu Qulu of the previous dynasty, as well as Wei Wuyang.

The Chu Empire’s famous general, Xu Qulu, was a twenty one year old great general.

Another famous general, Wei Wuyang, was a twenty six year old great general.

Both of them did something great, that even to this day, Great Ning was still benefiting from it…they conquered the grasslands.

The academy head laughed even more happily. “Yeah, after the age of thirty, we don’t get to see those two people’s bossy and domineering ways on the battlefield.”

The emperor said, “Chu only had one Xu Qulu and one Wei Wuyang, but my Great Ning will have more Xu Qulu’s and Wei Wuyang’s. As long as I give them a chance, they will throw their weight about much more on the battlefield than those two people did. Sir, you know why Great Ning has been enjoying peace and security for hundreds of years; those outsiders feel that it’s because Great Ning is sufficiently powerful, but in fact, Great Ning is not powerful enough yet. Even if I don’t fight the war against the Heiwu people, my future generations will still fight them. Hence, giving the young men more hope would mean giving myself some hope too.“

”Moreover, I also heard about one more thing.”

The emperor stood up and stretched his arms. “Young people are always competitive and ambitious. Tie Liuli mentioned in his memorial stating that he asked Meng Changan what he was fighting so hard for? Meng Changan’s reply was that he did not want to lose…hence, I was curious – who does he not want to lose to? After I thought about it, I realized that the only person was Shen Leng. Out of boredom, I sent someone to the Navy to investigate. Zhuang Yong vaguely knew about the Fifth pin bet between Meng Changan and Shen Leng

“Fifth pin bet?”

“They were competing to see who becomes a Fifth pin general first.”

The academy head laughed out loud. “If we call them superficial, I’m afraid that not many within their generation of young people have more profound and meticulous thoughts as they do. But do those two fellas truly think that it is easy to get to Class A Fifth pin? That is like saying that the both of us should compete and see who finishes running about 360 yards. It’s just a child’s play. Too easy.”

The emperor laughed more complacently, “Similarly, I have the final say in their competition. You say it’s not easy, but I can make it easy.”

The academy head was slightly shocked. “Your Majesty, if you interfere, that’s cheating.”

In the entire country, who was bigger than His Majesty?

“I will promote both of them to Class A Fifth pin. Nobody loses, hence they will have to continue competing…”

The emperor returned to his desk and looked at the two decrees he had already drafted. “Capable, yet a little childish. I like young people who are like that.”

The academy head no longer had anything to say. His Majesty had already thought of everything that could be thought of. From the academy head’s position, as an old subject who served three emperors, looking at the future, he could see that everything could happen in the future because of the two earlier emperors, as well as Mu Zhaotong.

But the present emperor was different – he could see far into the future by himself. The academy head felt that even if he were to stand on Mu Zhaotong’s shoulders, he would not be able to see far into the future like the emperor could.

The academy could not help but think about those Daoists and monks constantly talking about reading the future, or reading faces or palms, and cause and effect…some even said that the Daoist on Mount Longhu could see ten years into the future, and that the western Zen Buddhist master could do the same too. However, those were just said to deceive others.

Even if one could clearly see ten years into another person’s future, so what? It was only a small thing.

As for His Majesty, he could see ten years into the future of the entire country, or even dozens of years!

“They will have to wait till the all-military competition next year to have their next personal competition.”

The emperor personally used his seal on the two decrees. Evidently, he did not plan to let the officials within the imperial court know in advance about the two decrees; same for Great Scholar Mu Zhaotong. In the past, the decrees were drafted up by the officials before passing onto the emperor to look over, afterwhich, he would place his seal on them. The two decrees, however, were personally written by His Majesty.

The academy head realized that in fact, he still was not thinking far and profound enough. His Majesty was in a rush to promote the two of them to Fifth pin not solely because of the reasons he had thought of earlier; the talents that His Majesty wanted to see was not the so-called ten new talents competition. That was rather meaningless…what His Majesty wanted to see were the ten great generals…

Right now, since he promoted both of them to Class A Fifth pin, when the next all-military competition rolled around, a year would have passed. He would therefore be giving the extra margin to promote them again the next time. If he were to promote Shen Leng in half a year’s time and wanted to promote him again after the competition, the interval between both promotions would be too short. The dissent amongst the court officials would be even greater then.

In the previous all-military great competition, Peng Zhansha, who came in first place, did not produce results as good as the person who came in last place in the competition before his. At that time, His Majesty was extremely disappointed. Currently, the academy head could still remember His Majesty’s facial expression at that moment.

“But Meng Changan’s credit should be bigger, right?” The academy head cunningly reminded.

“Oh…”

The emperor narrowed his eyes and looked at the academy head. “Indeed, you care more about your own disciple.”

The academy head chuckled. “Hence, this time, Shen Leng still lost.”

“What do you mean?”˜

“Even if they are both Class A Fifth pin, I’m guessing that in terms of merit ranking, you would reward Meng Changan a little more than Shen Leng, perhaps even more than just a little. So ultimately, Meng Changan wins.”

“Did they say that they were competing in merit rankings too?”

The emperor snorted. “Even if they were, I can cancel it out with just a word. If I say it’s a tie, it is a tie…”

The academy head looked at the emperor. What he was trying to convey with his eyes was – His Majesty was the most powerful in the entire world; he had the final say and as long as he was happy, all was good.

“Sir, you seem to be a little unhappy?”

The academy head waved his hand continuously and said, “Unhappy? I don’t dare…”

The emperor grunted. “I heard that you received two jars of the northern border’s aged wine?”

The academy head replied decisively, “Those were given by Shen Leng. Not valuable.”

The emperor said, “Of course, I was not planning to ask you to go back to bring the wine over to taste it.”

The academy head heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“I have already gotten someone to take it over. After all, sir, you are already old, so your legs are slower.”

The emperor laughed, while the academy head wanted to cry.

The wine was not good wine, and of course, it was not valuable. But His Majesty wanted to taste the northern border’s border army’s biting chilliness.

After drinking a mouthful of it, the emperor’s facial expression changed slightly. That wine lived up to its reputation – it was too strong. It burned to the extent that his throat was slightly sore.

“One cup of it seals the throat?”

The emperor suddenly laughed out loud. Ten thousand cups of it would not be able to stop the tough northern cavalry from singing loudly, but only the burning sensation from such a strong wine suited their voices.”

“I want to change the name of this wine, I shall call it…The Border Song.”