The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

The people of Beijing have always considered themselves subjects of the Celestial Empire and have always looked down on the outer seas and territories.

In their eyes, it was no different from a harsh place of exile.

Have you ever noticed that during the Han and Tang dynasties, those so-called protectorates that were located in remote areas sounded prestigious, but how many Han and Tang people were actually willing to live there?

The principles are the same!

Even if Prince Zhongshun and Jia Huan's plan succeeds and they successfully establish their own fiefdom overseas, the people of the capital won't care too much; they'll just scoff a couple of times in the end.

Similarly, the fact that the four major families of Jinling and the Lin family joined forces to allocate a massive amount of resources was not immediately exposed; only some traces were revealed.

If left unchecked, it will inevitably become impossible to hide.

After all, in the agricultural era, such a large amount of supplies, food, and personnel transport was an absolute grand undertaking that could not be concealed.

But just then, a bombshell message from the southwest completely drowned out the commotion caused by the four major families of Jinling and the Lin family.

On the second day of the second lunar month, the Dragon Raises Its Head, the contemporary Prince of Nan'an, who has guarded the southwestern frontier for generations, suddenly led an army of 100,000 to launch an attack on the neighboring country of Qianxiang!

Such a crucial military intelligence was naturally transmitted to the capital at the fastest possible speed!

The entire capital city was in an uproar!

This was the largest number of troops mobilized by the Great Qian Dynasty since Emperor Taizong of the Great Qian Dynasty completely stabilized the situation within the country.

In short, the imperial court, which had just begun to recover from the lingering effects of the Lunar New Year celebrations, was in complete turmoil.

One after another, memorials impeaching the Prince of Nan'an arrived at the Emperor's desk like snowflakes.

The entire civil service system was quite dissatisfied with the actions of the Prince of Nan'an at this time, believing that this somewhat presumptuous act of a regional military governor should be dealt with severely.

In their view, such a thing was absolutely a taboo against imperial authority!

Even if the current emperor doesn't get angry or embarrassed, he will still erupt in fury, otherwise his imperial power might be affected.

This is no joke; we can't take it too seriously!

But what happened next left the court completely bewildered and at a loss for words.

Faced with a flood of memorials impeaching the Prince of Nan'an, the Emperor not only did not erupt in fury, but instead kept them all silent, as if they had never happened.

How is this going?

The current emperor is not a pushover. It's quite abnormal that he didn't react excessively at all to the Prince of Nan'an's provocation of imperial power.

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Given the current unusual behavior, the old foxes in the court naturally realized what was going on.

It seems that the war in the southwest and the present situation are definitely inextricably linked.

How did this happen?

The cabinet leaders, in particular, were quite angry about this.

Even if there are signs of them getting involved now, they are not happy about it.

Strictly speaking, the actions of the Prince of Nan'an violated the tacit understanding they had established in private.

This is no small matter!

The Prince of Nan'an has a very special identity. As the strongest military commander among the non-royal princes, and having guarded the southwest region for generations, he is similar to the Mu family in the Ming Dynasty and belongs to one of the very special vassal states of the Great Qian Dynasty.

The other two major fiefdoms were the Prince of Xining, whose fiefdom bordered the northwest border, and the Prince of Dongping, whose fiefdom bordered the sea; both were princes of different surnames!

According to the tacit understanding reached between the three non-royal kings and the imperial court, they are all vassals of the Great Qian on the border.

If we are to launch a military campaign against foreign powers, we must give prior notice and notification so that the court can be prepared.

Ideally, one should only take action after obtaining permission from the imperial court, so as to avoid major disagreements with the court.

For the past century, the heterosexual kings and the imperial court have had a very good understanding!

This time, however, the Prince of Nan'an clearly broke the rules, which the cabinet leaders naturally found unacceptable.

If this becomes a precedent, how will it be enforced in the future? Or, if the regional military governors become too powerful, they might become uncontrollable.

Therefore, their impeachment of the Prince of Nan'an not only did not stop, but became even more intense, to the point that even now they are finding it difficult to withstand.

After all, the current foundation is the civil service system!

If the matter of the Prince of Nan'an causes a rift with the civil service system, that would be bad.

The current situation is quite troublesome. Ever since the news of the outbreak of war in the southwest reached the capital and caused a great uproar in the court, there have been ongoing discussions with the cabinet regarding differing opinions.

As the Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, the Second Master Zheng naturally knew a great deal about such commotion.

There was no way around it; although the position of Commissioner of the Court of State Affairs was a sinecure, his access to information was exceptionally good.

Upon returning to his residence, he would immediately summon Jia Huan to his study, where he would reveal the latest news from the court while discussing and analyzing the underlying reasons with Jia Huan.

There was nothing he could do; the pressure was so heavy that it made him quite uncomfortable!

It can be said that the cabinet in turmoil was quite unfriendly to the representatives of the nobility in the court.

The cabinet elders would naturally suspect that the entire group of founding nobles was involved, and that the Prince of Nan'an was his most loyal ally, so they would not be treated well.

This made the second-generation politician, who admired the cabinet leaders, feel quite apprehensive.

However, the powerful figures in the founding noble group in the court, such as Minister of War Niu Jizong, although they did not explicitly express their support for the Prince of Nan'an's actions, the Ministry of War was quite cooperative in specific matters.

This situation led to a rapid deterioration in relations between the cabinet and the founding nobles.

If the Prince of Nan'an achieves quick results, that would be good, since military achievements can overshadow all unfavorable factors.

However, if the war goes poorly, the founding nobles will be in an awkward position.

They might even suffer a crushing defeat in the imperial court!

Upon hearing Master Zheng's complaints, Jia Huan immediately thought of some plot points from the original novel, Dream of the Red Chamber.

For example, at the height of his fame, Jia Yucun became the Grand Marshal, which is equivalent to the Minister of War. Jia Yucun was clearly a scholar and a key figure in the civil service system.

Clearly, by then the founding nobles had lost control of the Ministry of War!

Don't underestimate the Ministry of War. Without its cooperation, the power of the founding nobles would be significantly hampered, and they would eventually become as worthless as the former Ming generals.

"Huan-ge'er, didn't you mention the Prince of Nan'an last year?"

Lord Zheng suddenly spoke up: "Back then, you didn't seem to have much faith in the Prince of Nan'an's expedition?"

"It's not that pessimistic!"

Jia Huan said directly, "It depends on just how ambitious the Prince of Nan'an really is!"

"If we just know when to quit while we're ahead, taking over one or two prefectures would be a piece of cake!"

"But if we want to destroy the Qianxiang Kingdom or occupy half of its territory, then the situation is different!"

Master Zheng was completely ignorant about military affairs, and waved his hand to indicate that Jia Huan didn't need to explain in such detail.

Jia Huan was speechless for a moment, then changed the subject and asked, "Master, have the prefectures bordering the southwest taken any action?"

"not at all!"

Lord Zheng Er shook his head and said irritably, "Without the permission of the Prince of Nan'an, neither the imperial court nor the local authorities can rashly interfere in the affairs of the southwest!"

Jia Huan suddenly realized and nodded to indicate that he understood.

What is this? This is the majesty of the King of the Others!

"Who cares? It's not really our concern for now!"

He chuckled and said, "I do hope that the Prince of Nan'an will have a smooth journey!"

Master Zheng nodded slightly, that was also his thought.

As the pillar of the founding noble group, if the Prince of Nan'an can successfully expand the territory, it will be a good thing for the entire founding noble group.

Putting everything else aside, their influence in the imperial court will rise by at least two levels!

This matter has nothing to do with the Ning and Rong mansions for the time being; that is a fact.

The Ning and Rong families were originally military giants of the Great Qian Dynasty, whose mere presence could shake the entire military.

Unfortunately, the battle to depose the crown prince severely damaged the Ning and Rong families, almost forcing them to withdraw from the military completely.

Even if there were still some family members in the army, they had no future to speak of.

Otherwise, the Rong family would never have entrusted all their connections and networks in the Beijing garrison to the rising star, Wang Ziteng.

Currently, only Jia Cong, who was involved in the suppression of bandits in the Central Plains, has joined the army to fight.

At present, Jia Huan is only a military officer, which means he can only be considered a prospective general.

Clearly, the Rong family mansion is not good enough for the Prince of Nan'an.

Last year, when Nan'an County was recruiting sons of founding noble families, they did not contact Jia Cong, who was already famous, let alone Jia Huan, who had not yet made a name for himself.

Jia Huan didn't seem to care about this at all!

If the Prince of Nan'an were to extend an olive branch, refusing would inevitably damage the already strained relationship.

Haven't you noticed that in the capital, those who make public appearances at the Prince of Nan'an's residence are mostly the Dowager Consort?

He didn't discuss this topic in depth with the Second Master Zheng; it was really pointless.