Wei Shouyi immediately saluted and responded, "Your Majesty can rest assured, hand this man over to me, Old Wei, and I will train him well."
As he spoke, he flashed a smile he thought was amiable at Zheng Feng, his bright white teeth gleaming.
Having experienced the fickleness of human relationships, the formerly reckless and unruly playboy Zheng Feng had now become very steady. He hurriedly bowed respectfully to his new superior.
[Master, does General Wei think his smile looks good?]
'No, he probably thinks his smile looks very 'nuclear' friendly.'
Wei Shouyi: His feelings were quite complicated. The Divine Artifact and the Little Immortal Lord both seemed to remember him, Wei Shouyi, but... was his smile really not good-looking or amiable?
Had these two ancestors not noticed that compared to those brutes in his army, he, Wei Shouyi, could at least be considered a 'handsome man'!
[If we give your military training methods to this Zheng Feng, do you think he could train a land army as strong as the strongest ground force on Earth's Blue Star?]
The strongest ground force... Although not fully understood, the mere thought that it was the Little Immortal Lord's training methods made everyone from Huo Ying at the top of the Ministry of War down to generals like Wei Shouyi light up like searchlights.
Huo Ying: Is this fortune finally going to land on our Ministry of War?
Wei Shouyi didn't dare look at Yue Fuguang, so he could only stare at the back of Zheng Feng's head. He now wished he could scrub his new subordinate clean, tie him up with a bow, and present him to Yue Fuguang.
Emperor Mingxi and Wei Ping exchanged a knowing smile. The Little Immortal Lord's training methods? If they could obtain them, their performance this morning wouldn't have been in vain.
'Probably not quite. An army without faith cannot forge an iron will. But even so, it would certainly be stronger than the most formidable army currently in Dayan.'
[Then do you want to give it a try? Life is too boring; finding some amusement wouldn't be bad.]
The Zheng father and his three sons' eyes nearly popped out. If it was really the little girl above speaking, why wasn't her mouth moving?
The father and sons had been kneeling and hadn't noticed earlier. Now, looking up, they realized the voices sounded clearly in their ears, but no one in the hall was seen speaking.
Apart from His Majesty and Lord Wei, who signaled them not to make a sound, everyone else kept their heads bowed, seemingly not hearing the two voices.
But seeing Minister Huo's tightly clenched fists, he knew he was just as unsettled inside as his own son Zheng Feng.
The father and sons didn't guess it was telepathy; instead, their thoughts drifted towards bizarre ghosts and gods.
Even so, even if it were a ghost or god, Zheng Feng at this moment wished he could prostrate himself before her, begging her to bestow the training methods.
His father was a civil official, and the family had always followed the civil service path. Without a family legacy, if he wanted to eat from the military bowl, he had to rely on himself to observe more, think more, and learn more.
As for some things he didn't understand, he believed that as long as the other party was willing to tell him, he would memorize them diligently.
'Let's see. Raising an army, especially the "strongest ground force" you mentioned, do you think that penniless emperor can afford it?
After the New Year, I'll discuss another deal with the Crown Prince to earn some petty cash. We'll raise it ourselves. I just don't know if the emperor will agree.
What if he suspects I'm interested in that shabby chair under his backside?'
[If he dares to suspect, we can make his dream come true! If you don't want to sit on it, you can seize it and give it to someone who does!]
'No, no, no. I won't do it, and I don't plan to seize it. If he disagrees, we won't proceed. We can wait until Dayan is gone and go play overseas. It's not too late.'
The Zheng father and sons: Is this something we should be alive to hear?
Looking at their Emperor, then at their colleagues, all were remarkably calm! What had they all been through to cultivate such composure?
It seemed after being away for years, the father and sons still had much to learn.
Emperor Mingxi: Alright, alright, stop talking. I really will become rich soon!
After playing the 'rob the rich to help the poor' card twice, Emperor Mingxi had become quite adept at it. He had even secretly considered establishing a department specifically responsible for confiscating and managing assets from corrupt officials.
But thinking of the obstacles he would encounter, he quietly tucked away this little idea.
He silently complained to Yue Fuguang in his heart: If you want to build it, just build it. Can I even stop you?
Emperor Mingxi was now lying very flat. As long as it wasn't his life or the throne, everything else could be considered.
Yue Fuguang had no idea she had inadvertently cultivated Emperor Mingxi's good habit of 'making quick money.' In the years to come, his execution in this area was exceptionally strong, never requiring her to worry at all.
"As for your eldest and second sons, I hear they both hold the title of Provincial Graduate. Let them both enter the Imperial College to study."
Emperor Mingxi then encouraged Zheng Feng's two elder brothers, "Study well. You will all be useful talents for our Dayan in the future."
The father and four sons once again kowtowed to thank the wise Emperor.
[Master, is... is that it? It's over just like that? The real mastermind hasn't even been found, and we're already scattering flowers for the grand finale?]
'Weren't a bunch of people beheaded and another bunch exiled a few years ago? Is there still a mastermind behind this?'
There was still someone behind it? Upon hearing this, the monarch and ministers of the Dayan court all shuddered. Whenever imperial examination fraud was involved, wasn't it always a case of many dying and many being exiled?
If there was still a mastermind behind this, wouldn't it implicate another string of people? Could it be that those previously beheaded were wrongly executed?
Not only Emperor Mingxi, but also those from the Supreme Court, the Censorate, and the Ministry of Justice felt uneasy.
One face after another flashed before their eyes. Hiss!
[Of course there's still a mastermind. That imperial examination fraud case actually involved two separate groups. One group, where none who deserved death were missed, we won't discuss.
The other group, connected to Zheng Zicheng and his faction... among those previously beheaded, Chen Pingliang was wrongly executed.]
Indeed, they had executed the wrong person. The hearts of the monarch and ministers, already suspended, finally died!
'What's the story? Explain in detail! How does one imperial examination fraud case split into two groups? This wrongly executed person is too tragic.'
[The first group was led by the former Minister of Rites, Cai Yi—Zhang Zhongping's predecessor. He was the chief examiner at the time. Most of the implicated officials in this batch, big and small, were rightly executed or exiled, with few issues.
The other group, connected to Zheng Zicheng, Chen Pingliang, and Zhao Xu's faction... Zheng Zicheng was wrongly exiled, Chen Pingliang died unjustly, Zhao Xu got promoted and rich, and the mastermind remains at large.]
Zheng Zicheng felt a pang of sorrow. Over these years, although he and his sons had suffered, they had at least kept their lives.
But Brother Chen...
[Back then, Cai Yi accepted bribes and leaked part of the exam questions. This point was later attributed during the trial to Zheng Zicheng's poor supervision and the theft of the exam papers.
This caused the two cases to be merged into one for handling.
The fellow examiner Chen Pingliang, simply because he was too upright during the grading and discovered issues with another fellow examiner, Yu Dayin, during the review, instead became Yu Dayin's scapegoat after the fraud case erupted.]
This also involves the Hanlin Academy Academician Yu Dayin? That Chen Pingliang was also a Hanlin Academy Academician before his death. After he died, Yu Dayin took his position!
