spoiled brat

Chapter 138 137. Empty Flowers (7)

Upon hearing this, the eager students froze instantly.

This is really not a good question, like asking a person who is about to die why they are about to die.

The hall was silent.

After a long while, someone finally stood up and answered, "What else could it be? The border general failed in battle."

"Whenever there is a war, the imperial court collects heavy taxes from every household and recruits new soldiers, sending large numbers of able-bodied men to the front lines. Even if it's a ten-to-one exchange, the barbarians should be wiped out!"

"But twenty years have passed, and not only have we failed to recover the lost territory, our defenses have also retreated hundreds of miles to the south. Such a disgrace is all due to the incompetence of our generals!"

He shifted all the blame to the border generals, neither considering the various obstacles they faced nor investigating the capital's reckless urging for war.

This is illogical, but since the border generals are led by Prince Ning and Minister Wu, this man dared to curse their parents in front of Xiu Ning and Wu Jiu, which shows he has quite a bit of courage.

Several rounds of applause rang out in the hall, gradually spreading outwards, and everyone clapped and cheered.

Zhao Zhao looked back at Xiu Ning and saw that she looked normal. She nodded slightly and took out a pearl from the East and personally delivered it to her.

The man who spoke was from a poor family. He took the pearl in a daze and, out of habit, examined it like he was examining silver. Just as he was about to put it in his mouth and bite it, Zhao Zhao stopped him with a smile: "No, if you bite it and it gets damaged, it won't be worth anything."

The crowd gasped, seemingly shocked yet also spurred on, and a loud voice rang out:

"You say the border general suffered a setback in battle? That's a huge misconception!"

A man with a round figure stood up from the back row; it was Pang Xuan.

He was usually smooth and tactful, but when he got serious, his face was full of righteous indignation: "Our dynasty governs the country with Confucianism and is truly a superior nation. Everyone is upright and honest, and the national system is also open and aboveboard."

After saying these nice words, he sighed and said, "But that's where things go wrong... Our dynasty's military tactics are too upright, and we have never bothered with the barbarians' underhanded tricks. The barbarians can send spies, can turn generals against their cause, and can even send soldiers disguised as merchants to enter the city and coordinate attacks from the inside and outside. How could we possibly learn such despicable methods?"

The room erupted in responses. Seeing the atmosphere heating up, Pang Xuan added another absurd story he'd heard from who-knows-where:
"If it were just despicable, that would be one thing, but the barbarians are utterly inhuman—one summer, our soldiers were besieged in an isolated city, which had ample food supplies to sustain us for half a year. Guess what heinous things the barbarians did in order to attack the city?"

"what's up?"

"They gathered up the corpses from the battlefield, loaded bundles of dead bodies onto catapults, and hurled them all into the isolated city. There were so many that the soldiers inside couldn't burn or bury them all. It was the height of summer, and the corpses rotted quickly, so a plague broke out in the city. Our army was defeated without a fight!"

The crowd was horrified, and after a long silence, they said, "Both sides have suffered casualties in the battle. Besides our fallen soldiers, there must be others among those dead..."

Pang Xuan's tone was impassioned: "That's right, the barbarians are willing to sacrifice even their own people to win battles! How could our generals do such a thing? If your fathers and brothers died on the battlefield, would you rather their corpses be desecrated?"

Everyone agreed, and the gloomy atmosphere vanished. What's shameful about losing to cunning over integrity?
Zhao Zhao thought to herself that this person was a master at stirring up emotions and would be very useful in a position where he could interact with ordinary people.

Xiu Ning nodded, agreeing. Zhao Zhao picked up a pearl, stepped forward, tossed it into Pang Xuan's hand, and asked with a smile, "What eloquence! What's your name?"

Pang Xuan held the pearl, overjoyed, wishing he had a long, wagging tail. He loudly announced the pearl's name.

Zhao Zhao noted it down, glanced at Xie Xiaoqing, and asked the crowd loudly, "Is there any more?"

Immediately afterwards, seven or eight more students stood up to answer, their answers invariably revolving around treacherous officials and flawed decision-making—nothing new. Occasionally, some absurd ones brought up the theory of the Five Elements and Yin-Yang, claiming that the barbarians were incompatible with our dynasty.

The more they talked, the more incoherent they became, and Dongzhu could no longer be given away. Zhao Zhao even gave Xie Xiaoqing a wink, signaling him to get up and make a fortune, but he remained silent, his heart full of pent-up emotions, and dared not speak.

Just as the water was about to boil over, a light voice rang out: "If you ask me, this was a wrong question from the very beginning."

Everyone turned around in the direction of the voice, and the speaker was none other than Wu Jiu.

He lazily propped his head up, looking quite relaxed: "The front lines are reporting one victory after another, yet the princess says our dynasty is in grave danger. Such contradictions, how can there be any answer?"

These words reminded everyone that, indeed, the red notices posted on the city walls were all about good news, big and small. They had spent half the day at home weaving umbrellas, only to find out that it hadn't rained at all when they went out.

Someone stirred up trouble, saying, "I thought that since the princess could become the Director of Studies, she must be quite knowledgeable. I never expected that she couldn't even recognize the characters on the red list and would set such a stupid question to test us!"

Someone else pretended to advise, "You should keep your voice down! She comes from a noble family. What if she makes a fool of herself? Just bear with it for the sake of her father and brothers!"

A series of mocking remarks rang out, but the crowd was so dense that Zhao Zhao couldn't make out who was speaking.

Just as he was about to erupt, Wu Jiu casually said, "We entered the official academy to serve our country, but with one victory after another, the royal army will be able to return in triumph before winter. So what are you all wasting your time here? Let's disperse as soon as possible and stop chatting with young ladies in their boudoirs."

He rose to leave, and the纨绔 (sons of wealthy families) naturally followed, while the remaining men wavered. Zhao Zhao, leaning on her sword, stood guard before the threshold, her face cold as she asked, "Young Master Wu, are you truly certain that the war will end before winter?"

“Of course,” Wu Jiu said sarcastically. “If your princess can’t understand the battle report, then have the young master explain it to her word by word. Our army is currently in a very good position and will be victorious soon.”

“In that case,” Zhao Zhao gestured, “my princess invites you to play a game of chess.”

Wu Jiu's eyelids twitched. He looked down on Xiu Ning, but he had heard his younger sister Wu Wenrou praise Xiu Ning as a master of chess, unmatched by ordinary people.

Just as he was wondering how to refuse, four guards carried in a sand table.

The sand table depicts the undulating terrain, with mountains, marshes, forests, and streams, faithfully recreating the northern border. It also includes chariots, cavalry, infantry, crossbowmen, and artillery, replicating the troop types of our dynasty and the enemy army.

“Young Master Wu comes from a military family and claims to be knowledgeable in military affairs. Could you please offer some guidance?” Zhao Zhao asked.

Wu Jiu didn't understand Go, but he had been playing sand table war games since he was a child and had never lost a hundred games against others. How could he take Xiu Ning seriously? So he readily agreed.

Zhao Zhao had the screen removed and placed the sand table in the center of the hall, with Wu Jiuxiu and Ning each sitting on one side.

The students watched with curiosity, none of them optimistic about Xiu Ning, who didn't even understand the battle report. Some chuckled, while others predicted his downfall.

Under countless cold stares, Xiu Ning chose the enemy's piece, the barbarian piece that Wu Jiu described as about to be defeated.

She made a simple sign language gesture, which Zhao Zhao translated accurately: "Your sarcasm was quite witty just now. I hope you won't lose your backbone when you suffer a crushing defeat."

The surroundings fell silent. Wu Jiu forced a smile: "Arrogant."

Both sides began to deploy their pieces, placing their armies in the cities they were defending based on the existing battle reports.

Zhao Zhao stared at the top of Xiu Ning's head, her temples throbbing. Oh no! Every move in the sand table war game required the player to explain, and she knew absolutely nothing about war.

She's probably going to embarrass Xiu Ning.