Chapter 33 Gratitude
In the Mental Cultivation Hall, Ye An's lesson with Tutor Jiang proceeded as usual. Since the day she revealed her face to the entire court, Ye An also had the screen between her and the tutor removed. Therefore, Ye An's currently wavering focus was on full display.
Tutor Jiang put his book down and gracefully smoothed his greying beard. "Your Imperial Majesty, is everything alright? You seem to be slightly preoccupied today."
Snapping out of her reverie, Ye An felt embarrassed at being caught daydreaming by the middle-aged tutor. "My apologies, Tutor Jiang. It's nothing."
Tutor Jiang smiled kindly. "There's no need to apologize. Confucian texts can be a bit dry sometimes. I myself slept through numerous lessons when I was still a student."
Ye An gave out a small laughter of amusement. "You? Sleeping through lessons? I find that hard to believe."
Tutor Jiang's eyes crinkled. "Everyone has had a time when they were young and foolish."
"True." Ye An nodded.
Instead of picking his book up to continue their lesson, Tutor Jiang smiled kindly at Ye An. "Your Imperial Majesty, I'll gladly be your listener if you don't mind unburdening your heavy thoughts on this wrinkly old man."
Tutor Jiang had a youthful look that if it wasn't for the smattering of greys in his hair and beard, could have passed for being in his late thirties. Ye An laughed. "Tutor Jiang, you don't give enough credit for yourself. You're barely a wrinkly old man."
"Ah, but I'm an entire generation different from you. That alone is enough for me to feel old." Tutor Jiang smiled.
"You jest. Besides, your age might be the reason you are so wise."
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Imperial Majesty. But age isn't the only indicator of wisdom. It's the innate thoughtfulness that counts."
Tutor Jiang was the type of educator who thought that praise should be given when it's due and took this opportunity to praise the emperor. "Your Imperial Majesty, I have to let you know that seeing you strive to be the best ruler you could be for the common people would put my younger self to shame. When I was your age, I was still traveling about cluelessly."
Ye An smiled at Tutor Jiang's kind words. "Thank you for your reassurance, Tutor Jiang."
Tutor Jiang continued. "I believe that I'm also speaking for the commoners nationwide that we're grateful there won't be a war in the foreseeable future. That people could hold onto their loved ones and enjoy this peace for a little bit longer. There may come a day when war would be the only solution, but if we had more leaders who keep choosing the alternative when it is presented to them, it would benefit us all collectively. And I believe that you, despite your age, understood that."
"Well, that is certainly a great compliment coming from you, Tutor Jiang. Thank you." Ye An knew that Tutor Jiang was always tight-lipped with praises and compliments. To have received such compliments from such a person humbled Ye An, especially after that aggravating conversation with the Empress Mother earlier.
"Alright, so where were we?" Tutor Jiang finally pick up the book to resume the lesson.
*******
As Ye An and Tutor Jiang were getting ready to leave the Mental Cultivation Hall after Ye An's morning reading session, a servant who was waiting outside came in to inform that Minister Wu and Minister Wang had requested a private audience with her and were both waiting outside.
"Send them in." Ye An ordered the servant before facing Tutor Jiang. "You go ahead, Tutor Jiang. Thank you for the lesson today."
"No, thank you, Your Imperial Majesty."
As Tutor Jiang bowed and left, the two ministers entered the room.
"Your Imperial Majesty." Both men bowed as they greeted Ye An.
"At ease." Ye An ordered. Looking at how fidgety both ministers were, Ye An requested for the grand eunuch to leave the room as well.
Ye An waited for the grand eunuch to leave before continuing. "Minister Wu, your timing is perfect. I just asked for a letter to be sent to you for a private meeting this afternoon."
Minister Wu's ears perked up. "Oh? Whatsoever for, Your Imperial Majesty?"
"It's about Prince Adlai's accommodation. We'll talk about that later. So, what is the reason that both of you requested this private audience with me today?"
Minister Wu replied. "We would like to express our gratitude for retracting the decision to go to war."
"We would also like to offer an apology for not cooperating when you and Lieutenant Yun were asking for information regarding the invasions at the northern border." Minister Wang added.
"Yes, both of us regretted almost immediately after making the decision to withhold our assistance." Minister Wu said.
Ye An shook her head understandingly. "No matter. I know who was engineering things behind the scenes. And I understand why you chose not to help us."
"Thank you for your grace and understanding, Your Imperial Majesty." Minister Wang bowed gratefully.
"To make up for it, we've decided to come clean with whatever information that we have. For both invasions." Minister Wu declared as Minister Wang nodded beside him.
Ye An's eyes lit up. Ye An knew how valuable firsthand accounts were. "Go ahead."
Minister Wang started. "As you have already known, Your Imperial Majesty, this happened ten years ago."
10 years ago, Winter.
"My lord! There is a massacre going on in the town. Some military men are going on a rampage and the entire town is now in chaos!"
Minister Wang had just been awarded the position as the minister in charge of the Heilong region. It was a relatively quiet mining town and for the short amount of time that he was there, the most stressing case that he was required to solve was the dispute between a drunk and a tavern owner. In a small town where even simple thefts never happened, a massacre was shocking. Minister Wang was stunned momentarily at the information but quickly spurred into action.
"Where are those military men now?" Minister Wang asked the servant urgently.
"They were last spotted at the town square, my lord!"
"Send a pigeon to Lieutenant General Peng! No, I'll just go see him myself. Prepare my palanquin!"
"Yes, my lord!"
Since Heilong was such a small town, there weren't many local guards stationed here. It was rare for Heilong to need more than those few local guards due to the town's extremely low crime rates. Extra security was only needed when there were any royalty or important officials and delegates who were stopping by the small mining town while on their way to the northern border. For those cases, the military troop from the border would dispatch some men over to Heilong to provide assistance. There weren't any visits from any member of the royal family or delegations scheduled for today so Minister Wang was wondering why there were military men in Heilong.
At Minister Wang's urging, his palanquin reached the northern border in no time. He scrambled out of his palanquin when they came to a stop and rushed to the lieutenant general's office without any break.
As he was about to knock on the door, Minister Wang heard the lieutenant general's deep voice conversing with someone who had a strong guttural accent.
"Lieutenant General Peng! Thank you for allowing us Northerners to enter your great nation." The man with the guttural accent exclaimed.
"Leader Wakhia, I believe that you would deposit the agreed amount to me now that your men have entered the country?"
"Of course, of course. It's all thanks to you that me and my boys had a safe and speedy passage here. If we were to go through the conventional way, things would have taken so much longer and our request to enter your wonderful nation might not even be entertained."
"What are you here for though, Leader Wakhia? I don't think I've asked you before."
"Oh, just this and that. My boys were just curious about this side of the wall. Don't need to trouble the chieftain and also your regent." Leader Wakhia replied dismissively.
"An excursion for your military troop?"
"Hmm.. Yes. I guess you can say that."
"Alright. Whatever you do, just make sure you and your men stay close to the wall until you head back to your country at sunset. I don't need problems with the capital. And don't forget to be discreet."
"Of course, Lieutenant General Peng. And to thank you, I've also prepared this for you."
Minister Wang could hear Lieutenant General Peng's audible gasp even from outside the room. "T-this is the Golden Eagle. An entire sculpture made out of gold."
"You can trade it off if you want to. Since it's solid gold, I bet that you would get a tremendous return for it. I know how much you're strapped for cash because of your troublemaker brother." Even though Minister Wang didn't see his face, he couldn't help but picture Leader Wakhia's sly smile.
"Well, it's time I meet up with my boys. See you when I see you, Lieutenant General Peng! Oh, and thanks for the uniforms. They're a great help."
The corridor outside the lieutenant general's office wrapped around the building. When he heard footsteps coming from inside the office, Minister Wang swiftly glided to the other side of the building, narrowly escaping Leader Wakhia's line of sight.
Back to the present, Ye An listened diligently at Minister Wang's recollections of the incident as it came to an end.
"At the time, I didn't know what I should do. I was new and had always depended on the late lieutenant general for guidance, especially on Heilong's security. So I didn't do anything and headed back home without confronting him. An action I regretted to this day. I should have confronted him there and then." Minister Wang said gravely.
Minister Wu who was standing beside him patted his shoulder consolingly. "At least you sent that letter to General Shao later."
"Yes, but by the time he arrived at the border, so many had lost their lives." Minister Wang said sadly. "And I'm not sure if my action was even the right move, considering what happened after."
Ye An's eyebrows were knitted over what was being told by Minister Wang. "Hold on. So you mean that you were the one who wrote to General Shao for him to go to the border? Not Lieutenant General Peng?"
"No. Before I sent the letter, I did meet the lieutenant general to enlighten him about the situation. This was the day after I heard his conversation with the Northerner. Things were getting out of hand at the time. He was visibly shocked. I believe that he really didn't know the true intent of the Northerners initially. But I also felt that at that moment, the money and whatever else that he had received from the Northerners were more important to him than the lives of the civilians. I just snapped and immediately wrote to General Shao after that."
Minister Wang took a deep breath and continued. "Then, General Shao swooped in to take care of things and the war happened. A war I never wanted to relive. I nearly lost everything. My family.. The town.. Thanks to Minister Wu, Heilong was able to return to its former glory with all the extra rice Chang'an smuggled into Heilong."
"I was just helping a friend in need." Minister Wu gave Minister Wang an earnest smile.
Ye An admired the camaraderie between the two ministers who were from opposite sides of the country. "If everyone at court could have the same mentality as Minister Wu, our nation would flourish without a doubt."
"I'm flattered, Your Imperial Majesty." Minister Wu claimed.
"So what about the recent invasion?"
Minister Wu answered this time. "As for the recent invasion, I was coincidentally visiting a sick relative in Beixia in the northern region around that time. One of my servants caught wind of the invasion rumors when he was out running errands. He was buying some vegetables when he accidentally eavesdropped on the conversation between two soldiers who were sitting near the entrance of a small tavern that was right beside the vegetable stall."
Few months ago, Beixia.
"Feng, I have something I need to get off my chest." The stockier of the two soldiers declared.
"What is it, Bing?" The lithe Feng asked as he chewed on his food.
Bing looked around nervously before saying, "You know how I was assigned to guard the wall the other night?"
"Yes, why?" Feng asked as he continued to shovel food into his mouth.
"I intercepted an eagle that was flying in from over the border." Bing said, taking a sip of tea before continuing. "It was carrying a letter to General Shao."
"What?" Feng whispered as he too cast a furtive glance at the people around the tavern. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. I read the entire thing."
"Did anyone see you?"
"I don't think so. It was the dead of night, the couple of men near my post was napping when I checked."
"What did the letter say?"
"That there would be an invasion in two weeks. After Crown Prince Ye An's coronation."
Feng frowned. "Do we even have spies in the North now?"
"No."
"Then who was the letter from?" Feng inquired.
"Leader Wakhia from the North."
"What?" Feng hissed. "But why would he inform the general if he wanted to invade us."
"Because it's a plot to have the people lose faith in Crown Prince Ye An's ability to govern."
There was silence after that.
"Did you let the eagle go after that?"
"I did, do you think I'm dumb? I reattached the letter to the eagle and let it go."
"Listen, Bing, this is not something we should meddle in. We're of the lowest rank in the military. Let's just keep quiet about it." Feng stated.
Minister Wu returned to the present as he recalled what had happened after his servant overheard the conversation in a forbidding tone. "My servant didn't know who he should turn to after hearing that so he kept quiet for the first few days. When he told me about it later, I tried to track both Bing and Feng down discreetly, but they were nowhere to be found.."
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