Chapter 206 - Debate

The Emperor sighed a bit. For a moment, his eyes were looking a distance as he recalled the bitter memory of the past.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty. The fact that Tribe Bo managed to breach in, I think that it's an important thing to be addressed properly."

Wei Liuying looked to the side and saw a middle aged man spoke out. Based on his clothing, Wei Liuying could see that he was at the same status as her father. Looking at his face, she recognized him as Prime Minister Xie.

He didn't change that much from the last time she met him. However, the trace of aging became even more visible. It seemed that the unstable situation at the court had taken the toll on him. 

Emperor Xuan nodded, finally returning back to the main topic. "Yang Xian, do you have any excuse?"

"Do you want to put the blame on me, Your Majesty?" Yang Xian asked, yet the smirk on the corner of his lisp hadn't disappeared. It was as if he was confident that even if they tried to put the blame on him, they would never be able to do so.

That appearance of his nearly made many other officials enraged. However, they had to restrain themselves because they were in the presence of His Majesty. Besides, Yang Xian's position as Prince Ji Sheng's right hand meant that he had a very high rank compared to many of them. 

"I'm merely asking on behalf of the curious officials here."

Yang Xian nearly scoffed at the Emperor's reply. He knew very well that the Emperor wanted to bring him down because he was one of the most important people around Prince Ji Sheng. Without him around, it was clear that Prince Ji Sheng would have lost quite a considerable amount of influence and power.

However, he restrained himself and straightened his body. "Do you have a map, Your Majesty?"

"Bring out the map."

Yang Xian waited patiently for the map to be placed in the middle of the hall. He could see the faces of the officials around him, who looked like they were ready to pounce on him and point out all the mistakes that he had. Towards their attitude, he wanted to laugh more than anything.

They were so funny.

Trying to trap him without knowing the real situation of the north.

Very stupid.

"First of all, I'm sure that you all know the location of Prince Ji Sheng's City is here. The tribe that's facing us direction is Xiong Tribe, the largest tribe with several thousands of people who are capable to fight back. At the same time, there are several small tribes named…."

Hearing Yang Xian named all of them, Wei Liuying began to think that Yang Xian was not a normal human. How did his brain managed to store so many information all at once? However, she recognized some of the names because she had been fighting at the frontline against them.

But thinking that she also learned some other tribes through her lessons and many others, Wei Liuying thought that it was not that strange either. They were practically living beside those tribes for a long period of time.

Yang Xian had been staying there for nearly two decades of his life.

He was already familiar since the only method for him to survive is by observing his enemies. Know your enemy, know yourself, so that in a thousand battles, you will win a thousand times.

"Some of them have been defeated, but whether there are deserters or not, we're still uncertain," Yang Xian replied modestly. Of course, he would never reveal the fact that Prince Ji Sheng had completely eradicated some annoying tribes who continued to pillage the villages at the north. He was not that benevolent enough to let them off after they had harmed so many people in their path.

"As for Bo Tribe, the tribe that have been attacking us, they come from here." Yang Xian moved his finger near the eastern sea. Seeing the place, several officials' face turned pale. Because they were not at the north, many of them didn't know the real geography of the place and merely thought that all the tribe must be the same.

They were simply at the north.

What they had completely forgotten was the vast border at the north was. It was simply impossible to put one person to be in charge of everything and the Emperor was not that stupid enough to let Prince Ji Sheng had so much power.

But Yang Xian knew that they were stupid if they tried to challenge him this time.

"Of course, if you don't believe me, you're free to try asking the soldiers who used to stay there. They must have already gained the necessary information about the tribes' people that they have to face over the years. In addition, Bo Tribe is known for their clothing that also resemble fisher because they were not in the dry lands area…."

The more Yang Xian spoke, the more dejected they were. Some officials who already knew this merely sighed. They didn't point it out because they knew that Emperor Xuan wanted to hear how Yang Xian defended himself. 

Even though they knew that Yang Xian would be able to deflect this, they wanted to see his performance.

And now, those naïve officials who thought that the Emperor wanted to teach Yang Xian a lesson could only hung their head low.

They had just realized that above the sky was another sky.

(A/N: Idiom, meaning, there's always someone better)

And Yang Xian was clearly much smarter than them despite his young age and limited experience. Still, they believed that it was simply because they were talking about the north that Yang Xian was familiar in. If they were talking about other areas, Yang Xian would never be able to do the same. 

With that thought, they could feel slightly better about their inferiority.

"Is this explanation enough, Your Majesty?" Yang Xian asked. He smiled. "If you feel it's not enough, you can ask the soldiers who used to serve under General Ge."

General Ge was the one who was tasked to guard the north at the east area. Since the location of Bo Tribe was previously in the area where he stood guard, it was clear that he wouldn't be able to escape punishment. As for how heavy it was, it was not known to them, and Yang Xian was not really interested.

Emperor Xuan laughed. "You're really amazing, Yang Xian. To be able to discern so many things within a week's time since the incident."

"It's nothing much, Your Majesty."

"However, I'm sure that the reason why they can infiltrate is because of your trade treaty," Emperor Xuan continued. His eyes were looking at Yang Xian as if he wanted to pry deeper into the young man's body. "Do you know what we should do?"

"There are several restrictions that I have set in Prince Ji Sheng's city, but I believe that it's not imposed in other areas," Yang Xian replied. He took out a scroll and handed it to Prime Minister Wei who was standing not far from him. "Please take a look at the system in Prince Ji Sheng's City, Your Majesty."

The Emperor waved his hand and Wei Hong stepped forward to take the scroll. As he took the scroll, Yang Xian silently examined the prime minister before him. Even though they didn't have much relation with each other, Yang Xian could see that Wei Hong was keeping his distance from him.

Internally, Yang Xian laughed coldly.

'There's no need to worry. I don't have any intention to get close to you either, Prime Minister Wei.'

In fact, he would be more than happy to unseat this prime minister from his position if he had the chance. But since the condition in Han Shi Kingdom was already unstable enough as it was, there was no need for him to worsen the situation.

They have to deal with the outside threat first.

Wei Hong checked the scroll before he handed it to Emperor Xuan. Reading the content, Emperor Xuan's eyes narrowed. It was simple restriction, but if it was truly implemented, there was no way an incident like this would ever happen. It was truly unfortunate that General Ge was unwilling to put it into action.

Wei Liuying had seen the content before, so she knew what they were talking about. They were talking about the number of carriages and servants' restriction. In addition, their guards could only be people from Han Shi Kingdom in order to prevent the intervention from the tribes.

In Prince Ji Sheng's City and Gao City, they always checked the merchant who passed by thoroughly. Even if there was intruder, it would only be one or two people who will be interrogated heavily when they reached the next city. But General Ge certainly didn't implement such things because it was clear that there was nothing of the sort at the east area.

How unfortunate for him to not follow the simple instruction.