Chapter 62 – Become An Adult

The Great Scholar Mu Zhaotong returned home and shut the door of his study tight. He told his men that he did not wish to meet with any guests. He needed to process everything that happened.

He did not have to think too much about the matter pertaining to setting up a government in the Nanyue area. He felt that he did not have any selfish motives – he still felt that Bai Guinan was more qualified than Ye Kaitai.

Even though three years ago, the Bai clan of Xiangning did look for him to discuss this matter, as they hope that in the future, when the emperor set up a government in the Nanyue area, he would help the Bai clan. However, Mu Zhaotong did not regard this as a personal favor. If Bai Guinan was not capable, even if he fought with his life, he would not be able to do it.

Thinking about it made him feel at ease; Nanyue was a very vital place. Naturally, the emperor would use his trusted aide. He felt that he was indeed negligent. The emperor was doing everything he could to pave the way for the Navy to go down south.

At that time, when His Majesty was still Prince Liu, he had a few trusted aides who were the most competent. Later on, someone summarized it into this phrase – ‘Opening the branches and scattering the leaves; floating clouds on the horizon’. (Note: this is the hanyu pinyin of that phrase in chinese – Kai Zhi San Ye, Tian Bian Liu Yun. It was a play on words from the emperor’s trusted aides’ names).

The Navy’s commander Zhuang Yong was not included in these eight words.

Opening the branches and scattering the leaves (Kai Zhi San Ye) – the first part of the phrase was referring to Ye Kaitai, Ye Beizhi and Ye Yunsan.

Floating clouds on the horizon (Tian Bian Liu Yun) was referring to Ye Jingtian, Ye Fubian and Ye Liuyun.

Nobody knew why His Majesty made all six of them have the last name ‘Ye’. However, everyone knew that were the orphans of the soldiers that year. Upon careful consideration, the answer as to why their last name was ‘Ye’, it could be found in the first part of the phrase.

When His Majesty was younger, he served as a leader in the military. At that time, it was Heiwu Empire’s first invasion. They were located to the north of Great Ning. The young emperor and the young Great General Tie Liuli each led their own troops and fought against the Heiwu Empire’s great general. Both of them were akin to daggers – not only did they force the Heiwu Empire to retreat and killed hundreds of thousands of their people, they even attacked the Heiwu Empire from each side. His Majesty attacked the northern border, while Tie Liuli attacked on the other side.

That huge war had thoroughly destroyed and devastated the Heiwu Empire. Ever since then, they had been well-behaved for nearly ten years.

That war was too horrendous. His Majesty led 30,000 troops with him and charged straight in unchallenged. When he got back, less than half of them survived.

A lot of outstanding and talented young men emerged from that battle. Presently, they had already become the pillars of Great Ning. For example, northern border’s Great General Tie Liuli – he was able to lead the troops, just like His Majesty did back then, clearly proving his capability.

Not to forget the current great general of the eastern border, Pei Tingshan. He was the lieutenant of His Majesty back then.

Zhuo Feiya of the western border and Helian Wenshan of the northern border – they were people who made a name for themselves after that battle.

After the previous emperor died, Great Scholar Mu Zhaotong suggested to pick a suitable crown prince to succeed the throne. None of the civil officials in the imperial court objected. The empress dowager at that time could only agree. Why did Pei Tingshan have the guts to bring his 9,000 troops all the way from the eastern border over to Changan city?

The eastern border was extremely far away from Changan – there were several hurdles to go through along the journey. If the six divisions’ guards were to stop them, even if the 9,000 troops were extremely ferocious, they would end up being shot by the arrows within hundreds of miles.

Pei Tingshan brought 9,000 troops to Changan city. There were 80,000 elite troops within the city…The imperial guards’ Great General Tantai Yuanshu happened to claim that he was severely ill, and it was hard for him to carry out his military duties. The Great Scholar sent six groups of people to invite him, but he shut the door on them.

Ultimately, there was nothing he could do. Mu Zhaotong asked the empress to personally go to the imperial guard’s camp to retrieve the tiger tally. However, the tiger tally was taken home by Tantai Yuanshu…

Why?

That was because Tantai Yuanshu was one of the soldiers who fought in that battle. When His Majesty and Tie Liuli led their respective troops, Tantai Yuanshu brought 80,000 infantry soldiers and followed closely behind. When the Heiwu troops were about 93 miles within Great Ning’s territory, every single one of them was killed, leaving nothing behind. A third of them was killed by the cavalry, and two thirds were killed by Taitai Yuanshu’s men.

Your Majesty, you have already retained your glory in the military.

Those big generals willingly accepted His Majesty, but they were unable to accept a nobody.

And after that battle, the old emperor felt how scary Li Chengtang was. He had posed a direct threat to the crown prince, Li Chengyuan. Hence, he removed all his military rights and conferred him as a prince. However, he was only a prince in name.

After that battle, His Majesty took in several orphans. The six of them were nurtured by him. Apart from them, there were several others. Presently, the majority of them had vanished without a trace. Nobody knew where they were hiding or where they were guarding at.

Even Ye Liuyun had already disappeared for a long time. There were rumors saying that he was the first-in-command of the Liu Yun Sect.

Mu Zhaotong frowned. He thought to himself about how old he was. He should not be letting his mind run wild.

His Majesty’s decree had already been sent out. The Nanyue area was henceforth known as Pingyue. Ye Kaitai was the first-in-command. Bai Guinan was his deputy. By transferring over from Jingji to Pingyue, it seemed like he was moving to another position of the same rank, but in reality, he was being demoted.

However, to Bai Guinan, this was a good thing. If he did his job well in Pingyue for two to three years, it would not be a problem for him to get transferred out to another place.

Mu Zhaotong needed to ponder more about Bai Shangnian. What exactly did Bai Shangnian do that made His Majesty that furious?

“Mu Liu’er!”

Mu Zhaotong lifted his head and yelled. The door of the study creaked open. A young woman, who looked like she was 27 or 28 years old, quickly walked in. This woman was rather tall – she was at least 1.7 meters tall. She was slender and had a well-toned body. Her facial features made her have an icy arrogant look, especially her eyebrows. They exuded a murderous aura.

She bowed. “Master, is there anything I can help you with?”

“I need you to make a trip to Anyang and see if anything happened to young master.”

Mu Liu’er’s facial expressions kept fluctuating. She hesitated for a while before replying, “Actually, something did happen to the young master. But madame did not want me to tell you because she was afraid that you would be worried.”

Mu Zhaotong’s face went pale instantly. “Tell me!”

“Young master…young master is injured.”

“What?”

Mu Zhaotong stood up abruptly. The veins on his hands that were pressed against the table started bulging.

A moment later, Mu Zhaotong’s face eased up a little. He slowly sat down again and inhaled slowly. “Elaborate.”

Mu Liu’er told him everything that happened in the Navy. She tried her best to be as neutral as possible, without making emotionally charged statements. She reconstructed the entire story without leaving a single detail behind, because she knew that her master needed to make a judgment on something as close to the facts as possible. As someone who was nurtured by him, the first thing she had to do was to make sure that she did not interfere with his understanding and judgment with emotions.

“Hoo…”

After hearing everything, he exhaled a long breath. The corner of his eyebrows twitched. Of course, Mu Liu’er knew that her master was already extremely angry but he was actively suppressing his anger. The young master was Mu family’s precious son, the apple of his eye. Her master had a son in his old age, who was now disfigured. It would be surprising if he was not angry.

On the contrary, his wife was a lot more calm when it came to this matter.

“What did madame say?” asked Mu Zhaotong after he took multiple deep breaths.

“Madame said that presently, it’s an important juncture for a lot of the major affairs of the imperial court. If you are not cautious enough, it might possibly make His Majesty unhappy. His Majesty’s mind is hard to read. She said that you should be careful not to make any mistakes because of young master’s incident. Even if young master is important, he is not more important than you.”

Mu Zhaotong took a deep breath once again. Over the past several years, he was most grateful towards his wife. In the face of significant ups and downs, his wife had better foresight than him. Most of the suggestions he made in the imperial court were thought out by his wife.

“She’s right.”

After Mu Zhaotong finished his words, he suddenly became furious. Whenever he thought about the word ‘right’, he would think about the disgusting look of that old fella in the study that night.

“You better make a trip to Anyang. Meet with young master. Tell him to tolerate and stop acting so unbridledly. If nothing bad happens, I have already confirmed that there is at least one inside intelligence box within the Navy…”

Mu Liu’er looked shocked. “I will relay this message to young master.”

“Don’t be in a rush to come back. Keep an eye on young master in the Navy. He is still very young and immature. He needs to have a careful and cool-headed woman by his side. You tell him that if his name appears in the inside intelligence box more than twice, even if he’s my son, I cannot protect him.”

Mu Liu’er’s face reddened slightly. She quickly lowered her head to hide it.

“After that, make a trip to Garrison B and meet with Bai Shangnian. Tell him not to make big sacrifices for small gains!”

Mu Liu’er replied, “Just these words?”

“Making big losses because of small gains. Just that will do.”

Mu Zhaotong gestured. “Young master is still rather disorganized when it comes to handling things. But you’re different. Within the military, you cannot lay a finger on the thing named ‘Shen Leng’. Outside of the military, I believe you’re able to find a way to make him disappear from young master’s life.”

“I know what to do.”

Mu Liu’er lowered her head. “I will make the preparations now.”

Mu Zhaotong was deep in thought for a moment before he instructed, “Pick a few people from your hall. Don’t take anyone from the residence.”

“Yes!” answered Mu Liu’er. She turned around and left.

“His Majesty has been watching the Navy attentively. I’m sure he has more than one inside intelligence box. His Majesty does not even trust Zhuang Yong. The Navy is definitely of great importance that is unfathomable…if I had known, I would not have sent you to the Navy. Initially I thought that it was a place where you can have a bright future. But from the looks of it now, I was wrong.”

Mu Zhaotong closed his eyes. All he could think about was the name ‘Shen Leng’.

When he thought about his son’s beautiful face being slashed, his heart started cramping. His son was all alone in Jiangnan, helpless. And as a father, he was the last to know about this. Even all his servants knew about it before he did.

Mu Zhaotong exhaled long breaths. He tried forcing himself to calm down, but he could not do it. His son was his weak spot; and he was one of the senior figures in Great Ning for three generations. He had assisted three emperors in total. On the surface, he was worried and afraid of things he should be worried and afraid of. However, if he was unable to remain calm in the face of events, how would he be as accomplished and successful as he was today? There were not many people who had a more stable and calm state of mind than him in this world.

However, the matter pertaining to his son, no matter how strong he was, he was not be able to remain calm.

The door creaked open once more. Mu Zhaotong was about to get enraged. However, after he saw who the person that entered was, his face eased up. “My lady, why are you here? You should be resting in the room.”

Mu Zhaotong’s wife looked older than Mu Zhaotong. A servant girl helped her to the chair and she sat down. After that, the servant girl excused herself. Mu Zhaotong’s wife looked at Mu Zhaotong and scrutinized before shaking her head. “Mu Liu’er told me everything. This is why I couldn’t help but come here to see you…for so many years, you have remained indifferent whether you were favored or humiliated. When the matter is related to Feng’er, you became like a violent cow. Cos are important, because cows can till fields. But if a cow headbutts the fence time and time again, ruining it, the owner of the cow would be angry.”

Mu Zhaotong laughed bitterly. “Of course I know what you’re saying. It’s just that I’m very furious right now.”

“I remember that you mentioned a long, long time ago – if you’re talented but get used by someone else, you’re only in the middle class. However, if you’re talentless but are able to use others, you’re in the upper class. And if you’re talented and are able to use others, you are way above everyone else…why do you have to worry over everything on your own? If you want to test the Navy, it is not rational of you to send people from our family one by one. Don’t forget the crown prince in Jiangnan, who’s full of grievances.”

“Him?”

Mu Zhaotong suddenly recalled. Thereafter, his lips curled. “You sure have a great foresight.”

That year, Pei Tingshan led 9,000 troops right outside of Changan city. Not only was he welcoming the present emperor, he was scaring off the crown prince…presently, he had already become an adult.