My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 269 Armory
Yang Guang stared at Pei Yun in front of him for a long time before slowly saying, "Is it you who wants to rebel?"

Pei Yun hurriedly looked up, "Your Majesty!! My investigation last year was indeed without error! It was verified repeatedly, so how come problems arose as soon as Li Yuan took office?"

“I’ve heard that the nobles in the country have a very close relationship with Li Yuan and frequent interactions with him. I think either Li Yuan did them a favor and let them take the things. If not, then Li Yuan himself embezzled them!”

"You mean Li Yuan denounced himself?"

Pei Yun grew increasingly anxious as he saw that the emperor did not believe him.

Pei Yun really didn't cheat. Although Pei Yun's character wasn't exactly exemplary, he was quite capable and had never engaged in embezzlement or bribery. He was focused on climbing the ranks and wouldn't do such a thing.

The armory is thoroughly inspected twice a year, and the results of the inspections must be reported to the Ministry of Civil Affairs for a summary.

During the last thorough investigation, Pei Yun was very serious. To prevent being deceived, he even led people to investigate one by one. He was quite certain that the problem did not lie with him!

Seeing Pei Yun's flushed face and eagerness to explain, Yang Guang put down the memorial in his hand.

"Last year there was a major war, and the armory was frequently in and out, which caused some problems, which is understandable. However, we must not let this happen again in the future. The Ministry of Civil Affairs must be extra careful when receiving and verifying documents in the future."

"This time, we will not pursue your mistake."

Pei Yun was filled with grievances, her face flushed, but she did not argue. She simply bowed to the emperor to express her gratitude.

There is a 30% chance that a powerful noble like Yuwen Shu took something from the armory, and Li Yuan helped cover it up, shifting the blame onto himself, saying that this had been the case since last year, and that the Ministry of Civil Affairs had verified the problem.

There's a 70% chance that Li Yuan took it himself, and then started crying wolf, trying to pin the blame on himself!
Pei Yun was furious, but after returning home, he suddenly remembered the Imperial Guard standing outside and instantly calmed down. He looked at the Emperor with sincere eyes, "Your Majesty, I will definitely verify things carefully in the future and this situation will never happen again."

Yang Guang smiled and nodded. In fact, it was a routine for the armory to be missing something every year. Yang Guang knew very well what kind of people his military men were.

Those from scholar-official backgrounds were actually alright; they at least had some sense of shame. But the military men were utterly shameless, each one more greedy than the last, daring to take anything. Yuwen Shu was the worst of them all. Yang Guang was relatively lenient with these military men; he let them take what they wanted, as long as they did their job well.

Pei Yun suddenly said, "When I came in just now, I saw that the son of the Duke of Tang was on duty for His Majesty. He was full of energy and was different from other warriors. This shows that he is loyal and virtuous. From now on, I will never dare to offend the Duke of Tang again."

Yang Guang's expression remained unchanged; he simply nodded, gave a few more instructions, and then dismissed Pei Yun.

Pei Yun strode out of the main hall, passing by Li Xuanba, but glanced at him.

Li Xuanba remained silent, sensing that the minister harbored some hostility towards him.

When Pei Yun came out, the officials who had been there earlier were terrified and hurriedly stepped forward to inquire about the outcome.

"What other outcome could there be? The sage told me not to make the same mistake again!"

Hearing Pei Yun's words, the officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs all felt wronged, "How could this be our fault?"

Pei Yun frowned, a hint of doubt in her eyes. "Do you think Li Yuan might actually be plotting a rebellion?"

"Ah? Why do you say that, my lord?"

"Why do I get the feeling he's a little guilty? Many of the past Imperial Guards, even if they knew something was wrong with the armory, wouldn't report it. They could just overstate the losses. There was already a war last year, so reporting the losses wouldn't be difficult. Why would he go to the trouble of reporting it? Just to get revenge on me? Would the Emperor punish me for this?"

Upon hearing this, the officials exchanged bewildered glances.

"My lord, what do you mean?"

"I can't explain it either, but I need to be careful of this person in the future!"

As Pei Yun spoke, she glared at Li Xuanba in the distance and said with a sneer, "Let him know what happens when he offends me. Go and invite General Chen over. Tell him I have something to discuss with him."

"Here!"

The General Chen that Pei Yun mentioned was none other than Chen Leng, the Left Attendant. The court was divided into many factions, and Pei Yun, like Chen Leng, was a surrendered Chen citizen, belonging to the Southern faction. The two had known each other since childhood and were quite close in court. Pei Yun sat in the study, smiling as he invited Chen Leng to have tea.

Although Chen Leng had some dealings with Pei Yun, Pei Yun was mostly a lone official, focused on his work and only thinking about getting promoted. This was Chen Leng's first visit to Pei Yun. Chen Leng did not know Pei Yun's intentions and seemed a little reserved when he sat in front of him.

"General Chen, I must congratulate you in advance."

"May I ask what brings you this congratulations?"

"Zhu Gui is coming back. He sent someone back at top speed to report that the King of Liuqiu still has not agreed to submit and even wants to take action against the envoys. His attitude is very bad."

"It seems that this battle is unavoidable. The nobles in the north are not good at fighting at sea. The emperor plans to find a local general from the Eagle Banner Prefecture and send someone from his own side to serve as the commander-in-chief, so that the two of them can lead the army to attack Liuqiu."

"The sage has already ordered the warships to be assembled. I think that soon General Chen will be the commander-in-chief and go to achieve the feat of destroying the country."

Chen Leng was a cautious person. Upon hearing Pei Yun's words, he humbly replied, "I have no talent. If the sage were to appoint me as a general, I would only fight to the death. Besides, Liuqiu is a small country, and there is no merit in destroying a country."

"Whether it's a small country or a large country, it's all meritorious service. General, please don't be too modest."

Pei Yun cleared her throat. "There's only one thing that worries me a lot."

"Please speak plainly, Lord Pei."

"I heard that His Majesty intends to transfer soldiers from the Right Army to serve as military officers, seemingly to hone their skills so that he can lead the creation of a new army."

Chen Leng was taken aback. "What's wrong with this?"

"General Chen, you may not know this, but within the Right Palace, although there are mostly ordinary soldiers, there are also a few nobles. Take, for example, Li Xuanba, the son of the Duke of Tang. He is of noble status and young. If he were to go overseas to fight with you and something were to happen to him, how could you bear the responsibility? I have heard that the Duke of Tang dotes on this son the most. If something were to happen to him, I would be very worried for you."

Chen Leng then remembered the rumored little boy. He nodded and said, "Thank you for reminding me, Lord Pei. There are many brave warriors in the Right Army. We won't make a difference with this little boy. If His Majesty really wants to appoint me as a general, then I request to leave the younger ones behind and only take the brave warriors with me."

"Then I wish General Chen a swift victory against the rebels, and I await your triumphant return!"

Pei Yun smiled and said a few more words to Chen Leng before seeing him off.

After some time, in January of the sixth year of the Daye era, Yang Guang finally announced his plan to attack Liuqiu. Since the battle was in the south, he did not intend to continue using Yuwen Shu and others, and he summoned Chen Leng alone.

"I intend to appoint you as general, and Zhang Zhenzhou, the general of the Dongyang Eagle Banner, as my deputy. We will dispatch 5,000 warships and 16,000 soldiers to attack the Ryukyu Kingdom. We must complete this war within this year, kill its king, and destroy its kingdom!"

Chen Leng was very excited and quickly bowed and paid his respects.

"Your Majesty, I am determined to quell this banditry!"

"In addition to the soldiers from the Eagle Banner, bring along the soldiers from the Right Banner as well. Let them serve as military officers, give them more opportunities to do things, and give them more chances to make meritorious contributions."

"Here!!"

At this moment, Chen Leng recalled Pei Yun's words and said, "Your Majesty, I have heard that there are still several young soldiers in the Right Army. I think it would be better to leave them behind and only lead the able-bodied soldiers into battle."

At this moment, Yang Guang flew into a rage.

Do you think I don't know your intentions?

"When the soldiers first set out with me, everyone was listless except for a few who were full of energy. Now that we are going to war overseas, they are unwilling to go. Can't the sons of noble families serve me? No one is allowed to be left behind! Take them all with you!"

"If I find out that you pity them, leaving them behind in the rear and taking special care of them, I will absolutely not forgive you! I will never let you be in charge of war again!!"

Chen Ling was startled and quickly apologized.

(End of this chapter)