Through countless dynasties, I can summon the heroes of Chinese history.

In the capital of the Cangming Dynasty, in the imperial court.

The moment the good news reached the Golden Palace, there was a moment of deathly silence, followed by an uproar. Civil and military officials argued their points, and the noise nearly lifted the roof off the palace.

The report of victory was a testament to the great achievement of King Jiang Ce of Laiyang, who led the remnants of the former Laizhou border army and successfully recovered all twenty-one counties of Laiyang in just over a month.

When the high-ranking officials in the imperial court heard this news, they thought they had misheard. After all, Jiang Ce's appointment as the Prince of Laiyang and his departure to Laiyang to assume his fiefdom was clearly a pawn that the emperor had pushed out to appease public anger.

They were tacitly aware of this.

After all, the situation in Laizhou had collapsed, and even if the imperial court invested a lot of effort, it would be difficult to take back this place.

After all, those powerful families had finally gotten such an opportunity, so how could they possibly be willing to return?

As for Jiang Ce's acceptance of the offer of service, it merely demonstrated the court's attitude that it had not yet abandoned the Laizhou region. In reality, the court had already tacitly approved of this.

However, no one expected that Jiang Ce, a pawn who was about to be abandoned, would actually carve out a place for himself in this desperate situation where there was no chance of survival.

At this moment, all the civil and military officials present had to reassess this Prince of Laiyang. Although Jiang Ce originally had the title of the Eighth Prince, it was not enough to make them look at him differently.

This time, Jiang Ce finally made his debut in the imperial court.

At this moment, among the civil and military officials, one of them stepped forward first. It was Ye Wenlai, the Minister of War who had always advocated for war.

He knelt on the ground, lifting his robe, and said in a booming voice, "Your Majesty, the Prince of Laiyang's victory in Laiyang has boosted the morale of the people of Laizhou and demonstrated to the world that our Cangming Dynasty has always wanted to recover lost territory. Such an unparalleled achievement deserves a generous reward to appease the army!"

Ye Wenlai comes from the Ye family of the Cangming Dynasty, a powerful clan that is no less powerful than the Yuan family. Even Ye Qianyang, the number one warrior of Cangming, comes from this family.

Otherwise, Ye Wenlai would not have been able to serve as Minister of War.

Moreover, it is worth mentioning that Ye Wenlai has always admired Jiang Ce. When Jiang Ce was exiled to Laiyang, Ye Wenlai pleaded for him. Although the final result did not change, he did his part.

Now that he has heard such good news, he naturally wants to advocate for Jiang Ce.

As soon as Ye Wenlai finished speaking, the generals in the golden hall echoed his sentiments, kneeling and bowing in unison. They all said that the rewards should not be taken lightly, so as to boost the morale of the army and deter the barbarians from all directions.

Normally, Yuan You, the head of the Yuan family, would definitely disagree, but today, he chose to remain silent.

After all, Jiang Ce had indeed made great contributions. If he were to voice his opposition, wouldn't that leave a handle for his political enemies to use against him? It would be better to pretend that he hadn't heard anything.

At this moment, Emperor Tianfeng, Jiang Chongzhao, sat upright on the dragon throne, his fingertips lightly tapping the dragon table. Although his face was expressionless, his heart was actually filled with complex emotions!

He still felt indebted to his son, after all, exiling him to Laizhou meant he could easily be buried there, but for the sake of the court's reputation, he had no choice but to do so.

But unexpectedly, this son, whom he had basically abandoned, brought him such a pleasant surprise!

"Now issue the decree: The Eighth Prince, Jiang Ce, the Prince of Laiyang, with only the city of Laiyang, finally broke the deadlock with a surprise attack, and successfully recovered the twenty-one counties of Laiyang. His courage, resourcefulness, and military achievements have all exceeded my expectations."

Therefore, he was granted a gold medal, which allowed him to submit memorials to the emperor on important military and political matters at any time, and he was also rewarded with a certain amount of pearls, jade, silk, and ten thousand taels of gold.

"in addition……"

After a moment's thought, Jiang Chongzhao immediately spoke again, announcing the decree of rewards and honors, which immediately shocked all the court officials.

The emperor actually allowed Jiang Ce to train a new army in Laiyang, with a maximum of 100,000 men, and named it after his title of king. All provisions, supplies, and weapons were provided by the court. The purpose was to enable him to recover Laizhou.

After all, Laizhou is now home to various forces, with the Dongyi being the strongest, followed by the local tyrants, and then the bandits and outlaws.

The emperor's meaning was clear: he granted Jiang Ce the great cause of recovering lost territory, and whether he could accomplish this task depended on his own abilities.

…………

In the capital of Cangming, inside the Jingren Palace.

The aftershocks of the court debate had barely subsided when Jingren Palace, within the palace walls, became the epicenter of a raging storm.

Empress Yuan Bingyan's dignified demeanor, which she had maintained while sitting on the phoenix throne, shattered instantly upon hearing the news from her father, Yuan You. The priceless white jade teacup in her hand fell to the ground with a thud.

White porcelain shards scattered across the floor, the crisp sound of them shattering piercing the palace's tranquility and unleashing her barely suppressed, raging fury.

"Outrageous! Jiang Ce, that wretched woman's son, merely won a battle and completely seized control of Laiyang County, yet he deserves such favor!"

Yuan Bingyan glared angrily, her usually gentle and kind eyes now furrowed in anger.

She casually swept her hand across the dressing table beside her, and gold hairpins, silver ornaments, brocade boxes, and jade ornaments tumbled to the ground with a clatter. The crisp sound of pearls and jade colliding, mixed with her angry shout, made the palace servants in the hall tremble with fear, and they all knelt down and kowtowed, not daring to even breathe loudly.

She staggered along, the hem of her phoenix robe embroidered with gold peonies sweeping across the mess on the floor, her tone full of resentment and bitterness.

"The 100,000 troops of Laiyang are supplied with food, provisions and equipment by the imperial court. And Your Majesty is even letting him lead the army to recover Laizhou. Is Your Majesty going to let him sit on the border of Cangming and form his own faction?"

"If we let him continue to act so arrogantly, won't he one day ride roughshod over the Yuan family and even the Crown Prince's position!"

If Jiang Ce were just an ordinary prince, she wouldn't be unwilling to accept him. In fact, after he demonstrated his abilities, she would decisively send someone to contact him and bring him onto the Crown Prince's chariot.

The key issue is that the Empress and Jiang Ce's mother are sworn enemies.

The Empress's family background is by no means low. The Cangming Yuan family has produced three dukes for ten generations. As the descendants of the founding heroes of the Cangming Dynasty, their status in the court is self-evident.

It can be said that the Yuan family of Cangming is just like the Xiao family of the Liao Kingdom in the history of Blue Star. Empresses of all dynasties were chosen from this family, and the purpose was to win over the Yuan family.

Before meeting Jiang Ce's mother, Jiang Chongzhao was head over heels in love with Empress Yuan Bingyan, after all, the latter was once the most beautiful woman in the Cangming Dynasty.

However, with the appearance of Jiang Ce's mother, Yuan Bingyan seemed much weaker than her, which fueled her jealousy even more.

Despite the sudden "death" of Jiang Ce's mother, it did not stop her from transferring her hatred onto Jiang Ce!