Chapter 50
The Emperor leading a personal expedition was a momentous event. All of the capital had fallen into a state of silence, but beneath that extreme calm lay a suppressed excitement.
The Great Zhou had not seen an Emperor lead an army for nearly a hundred years. A dynasty that had become a stagnant pond was filled with “smelly fish and rotten shrimp.” Even if fresh fish jumped in, they would be tainted by the stench.
To turn this stagnant water into a living stream, simply adding fresh fish wasn’t enough. Adding a hundred wouldn’t make the water flow; one had to pick out all the rotten elements, drain the foul water, and inject fresh water so the new fish and shrimp could survive.
Lu Siling’s reforms were aimed at doing exactly that. Unfortunately, while she used a small pipe to drain the foul water and inject fresh, someone else was using a much larger pipe to pump foul water back in from the other side. The stench was unbearable.
With the Emperor leading the expedition, some saw an opportunity to profit.
Lu Siling personally arranged the details of the young Emperor’s expedition, refusing to let anyone else interfere. Even the generals accompanying the Emperor were not allowed to be influenced by others. This was beyond the simple label of a “powerful minister”—it was complete regency.
Once the Emperor set out, all major military and political affairs would be handled by Lu Siling. She already held immense power; if she were to act ruthlessly, she could easily promote her own people while the young Emperor was away.
Li Ping knelt before Lin Jiayue. “Your Majesty, you absolutely must not let the Grand Chancellor oversee the state. Aside from Your Majesty, the court’s affairs must not be concentrated in the hands of a single person.”
He was right. When an Emperor leads an expedition, even a Crown Prince is rarely given absolute power, let alone a Grand Chancellor who is already a powerful minister.
But this powerful minister was no ordinary person; she was Lu Siling.
Lin Jiayue nodded solemnly. “Dear Minister, your words have merit.” Under Li Ping’s expectant gaze, she added slowly, “In that case, should I let the Empress Dowager resume her rule from behind the curtain?”
Li Ping: “…” That’s really not necessary. It was much easier to accept Lu Siling as regent.
When faced with Zhang Wuwei’s request, she said, “The Empress Dowager has committed great errors before and likely cannot sit in the court again. In that case, I can only thicken my face and invite my Sister-in-law (Empress Xining) to do it.”
Zhang Wuwei: “…” Are these the words of a human?
The Cui and Li families began to feel that Lu Siling overseeing the state was actually quite fine—as long as it wasn’t their direct rival.
After sending those two away, Lin Jiayue smiled and spoke to the person inside: “Teacher Lu, this is called the Open-Window Effect.” (Note: Also known as the Door-in-the-face technique).
First propose an unreasonable large request, and after it’s rejected, propose a smaller one; that smaller request becomes much easier for people to accept.
Lu Siling didn’t understand what the “Open-Window Effect” was, she only knew that the young Emperor had resolved the matter with a grin.
“What if they had agreed?”
“Then I would have said the Grand Chancellor disagreed.”
Lu Siling: “?”
The young Emperor smiled like a little fox and even raised an eyebrow. In Lu Siling’s eyes, it was a pure provocation. Lin Jiayue waved her hand. “Anyway, when you have many debts, you don’t worry about them.”
What kind of talk was that? It was simply absurd.
Lu Siling glanced at her calmly. “Everything is prepared. Your Majesty will depart tomorrow morning.”
“Mhm. Sleep early tonight, and head out early tomorrow.”
Lin Jiayue would wake up around three or four in the morning to review the grand army and depart at dawn. This was mainly to let the citizens of the capital witness the grand spectacle of the Emperor leading the expedition.
“Teacher Lu,” Lin Jiayue suddenly called out to the woman beside her. “I’m a little nervous.”
There was visible exhaustion in Lu Siling’s eyes. To arrange for Lin Jiayue’s departure, she had been sleeping less than four hours a day, while also dealing with those looking for trouble. She had had a headache for two days.
The young Emperor was also busy. People came to her every day to complain that Lu Siling was domineering and overbearing. She also had to integrate her personal guards. Among the Forbidden Army accompanying her, those allowed close to her were all from the Hidden Pavilion. No matter what, her personal safety had to be guaranteed first.
She also discussed tactics with the generals. Zheng Qinglin got his wish to go to the front, staying by her side. He was a true tactician who had passed the examinations and had been on the battlefield before; although he hadn’t participated in large-scale campaigns, he was one of the best Great Zhou had to offer. Along with a few others Lu Siling had recommended, they formed Lin Jiayue’s temporary advisory group.
Given the current situation, they knew in their hearts that driving out the Beidi would be difficult. Once the Beidi occupied cities and switched from offense to defense, the Great Zhou would need significantly more troops to storm the cities and drive them away.
Lin Jiayue had a plan in her heart, but without leaving the capital and seeing the actual situation at the front, she couldn’t be sure if her idea was correct. Thinking of the imminent expedition, she was naturally nervous, but her mind was becoming clearer and her ideas more refined. She believed that once she reached the front, she could perfect her plan immediately.
Lu Siling turned her head to look at her. Perhaps because she was too exhausted, her tone was no longer as icy as usual, even possessing a hint of tenderness. “Your Majesty has never been to a battlefield. It is only natural to be nervous when suddenly leading an expedition…”
The words sounded like she was writing a formal memorial. Lin Jiayue let out a yawn and moved her chair closer to Lu Siling, so they were sitting side-by-side.
“Lu Siling, say something that Lin Jiayue wants to hear.”
Her sudden interruption caused Lu Siling to fall silent. Wait, isn’t the young Emperor Lin Jiayue?
Lin Jiayue didn’t force her, she just smiled. “If we are friends, we can call each other by our names, right?”
They were monarch and subject, teacher and student. But Lin Jiayue didn’t notice—in Lu Siling’s eyes, “friends” would make them equals.
“You are the Sovereign, I am the subject.”
Lin Jiayue knew she would answer like that; she wasn’t surprised at all. “Can an Emperor not have friends?”
Lin Jiayue asked a very childish question—at least it was in Lu Siling’s eyes. Before knowing someone’s identity, making friends is unrestricted; but in reality, friendships are limited by status, and an Emperor is no exception. An Emperor cannot have “pure friendship.” Friends? Even if she said they were friends, it would mostly be lip service. They could never truly be friends.
Without waiting for her to answer, Lin Jiayue nodded. “Understood.”
The sunset turned half the sky red. The two sat by the window, admiring a winter view that was rarely seen. A winter sun rarely turns the sky red; it was indeed unusual today. It was as if it were saying that of the hundred thousand soldiers setting out, there was no telling how many would return. The blood of the warriors who died on the battlefield would dye the sky red.
Lin Jiayue casually pulled out a book. “Teacher Lu, give me a lesson.”
If they couldn’t be friends, teacher and student was fine too. Listening to Lu Siling’s voice during a lesson made it easier for her heart to find peace.
Lu Siling thought of the officials blocking the gates of the Grand Chancellor’s Mansion—likely even the back door had spies, and people in the Secretariat were waiting for her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have actively sought out the young Emperor. Since there was nothing else to do, she might as well give a lesson.
Time passed minute by minute. The sky changed its scenery; on one side was the sun, on the other the moon.
The Sun and Moon shining together?
Lin Jiayue rose and stood by the window. “It would be great if I had a phone (shouji).”
What kind of “ji” (chicken/device)? Lu Siling didn’t understand.
The “brilliant” Wei Jinming understood. She hurried out to give orders: Today, His Majesty wants to eat chicken (ji).
The moment she saw the sun and moon shining together, Lin Jiayue’s spirits rose. “The sun, moon, mountains, and rivers are eternal… Great Zhou’s territory is eternal.”
Lu Siling felt she was going mad. Setting aside the fact that no dynasty lasts forever, her sudden excitement felt like she was over-nervous.
Lin Jiayue suddenly had a thought. “What if I sent a cavalry unit to strike directly at the Beidi Royal Court?”
“What did you say?” Lin Jiayue was truly mad.
“It’s called Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao.”
Lin Jiayue thought for a moment, took Lu Siling’s hand, and led her to the desk where a map was spread. She completely ignored how Lu Siling’s ears had turned red. Even though it was winter, Lu Siling felt a surge of heat. She was about to pull her hand away when Lin Jiayue suddenly let go. The feeling of her hand being empty caused Lu Siling to unconsciously clasp her own hands together.
Lin Jiayue didn’t notice. She pointed to the location of the Beidi Royal Court. “The Beidi army has come out in full force; their Royal Court has no soldiers. They dare to invade the Great Zhou because the Great Zhou has always fought defensive wars. Except for the period before Emperor Zhen, when we actively attacked, Great Zhou has always been on the defensive. For two hundred years, the Beidi have been led to believe that the Great Zhou only knows how to defend and will not attack. In my view, this offense and defense should switch places.”
Lu Siling pushed aside the strange feeling in her heart and shook her head, though it wasn’t clear if she was shaking off a stray thought or negating Lin Jiayue’s words. “The terrain from Great Zhou to Beidi is complex. Even with a map, a single sandstorm can cause one to lose their way. Now that everything is covered in snow, it’s hard to find supplies on the grasslands. The risk for our cavalry to go there is too great.” They might be wiped out before they even reached the Royal Court.
“Then what if we don’t go to the Royal Court? Here—the daily consumption of 170,000 Beidi troops is terrifying. I only need to prevent the Beidi from seizing other cities of the Great Zhou, and then have people cut off their grain support. We can drive them away much faster.”
Better yet, wipe them out in one go. She knew the difficulty of annihilating 170,000 Beidi troops; saying such a thing would sound like bragging, so she didn’t say it.
“Then where is the Beidi grain located? Changsheng Pass has been occupied; how will you block it?”
As Lin Jiayue came up with a strategy, Lu Siling would ask a question. The plan gradually took shape through this back-and-forth. There were many things written on the white paper; if they hadn’t witnessed the process, they likely wouldn’t even have known what they had written.
Lin Jiayue looked at the content and said with a sigh, “Teacher Lu, I told you we are a match made in heaven (tianzuo zhihe). Look at how this plan came together.”
So, is ‘match made in heaven’ used like that? Scoundrel.
Lu Siling said nothing. She was more surprised by the young Emperor’s ideas—one after another, fresh and unexpected. She didn’t know how this person came up with them.
Of course, it was from watching documentaries. Lin Jiayue loved listening to all sorts of documentaries. On her commute or while manning her stall, she always wore headphones—listening to novels, listening to documentaries. At night, she would listen to serious science popularization to help her sleep. Unless she encountered a term she couldn’t immediately recall, she would glance at it, or if she was anxious to know what happened next in a novel, she would take out her phone and skim through a whole book in a day.
Naturally, because she read so many miscellaneous things, she couldn’t immediately formulate a plan; she needed someone like Lu Siling to constantly ask questions.
Lu Siling masked the complex emotions in her eyes. Her cold face softened significantly at this moment. “A battlefield changes in an instant. Although we discussed a plan today, you must not rely on it.”
“Understood.” Lin Jiayue gave a playful salute. “I will certainly not fail Teacher Lu’s expectations.”
Hmph, dog-thing.
A subtle smile appeared on the corner of Lu Siling’s lips, which she immediately turned away so Lin Jiayue wouldn’t see.
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