The World's Number One Medical Hall

Chapter 749 Questioning Balance of Power

Although the dynasty has many generals, the Fangziqi (方字旗) is undoubtedly the most skilled in battle. Mo Bai really did not want to see the Fangziqi fall before the curtain of the war against the barbarians was fully raised.

Having managed to persuade Fang Youqun, Mo Bai finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As for the next steps, Fang Youqun is the professional in deciding how to deploy troops and how to fight the war. Mo Bai shouldn't overstep his bounds and interfere too much.

After Fang Youqun left, Mo Bai put on his fake beard and straw hat again, and quietly returned to Du Juan's side.

Du Juan was still on the city wall, accompanied by a man who looked like a general. The two were talking about something.

Du Juan spotted Mo Bai returning immediately. She glanced at him, and when Mo Bai nodded, she nodded to the general and said, "General, rest assured, I will report the situation to His Highness Prince Ming truthfully."

Upon hearing this, the general immediately cupped his hands in gratitude and said, "Then I will trouble you, sir."

"General Wu, you're too kind. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave now," Du Juan returned the greeting.

"I send you!"

"General, please wait..."

General Wu still insisted on escorting Du Juan down from the city wall, and his demeanor and words clearly showed that he dared not neglect Du Juan in the slightest.

After they descended from the city wall, General Wu prepared to arrange for soldiers to escort them, but Dujuan politely declined.

On the way back, just like on the way there, although everyone was watching, nothing went wrong.

"You wrote to me before that the army treated you like a plague god and avoided you like the plague. But what I saw today was that General Wu's attitude towards you was quite good."

Upon entering the main hall, the two sat down, and Mo Bai, holding a teacup, said with a smile.

"Your Highness is joking," Du Juan said with a wry smile. "Your Highness doesn't know, but back in northern Jiangsu, I often went to General Wu's door, and nine times out of ten I couldn't get a meeting. Now that Commander Fang is in trouble, and Your Highness is in charge of the trial, General Wu is probably worried that I might hold a grudge because of the cold treatment I received before and speak ill of him to Your Highness. That's why he's being so cautious."

Mo Bai was just joking. He had already guessed the reason for the change in the army's attitude towards Du Juan. Hearing this, he said, "It seems that Fang Youqun's prestige in the army is indeed very high. Now that he is a criminal, his subordinates not only do not have any disloyal thoughts, but also try their best to run errands for him."

"That's not entirely true. After Commander Fang retreated to Xijiang, there were some fluctuations in the army, but overall, it was indeed quite stable." Du Juan nodded, and then glanced at Mo Bai, saying, "Speaking of which, we have to thank the late Emperor for this."

"Thank the late emperor?" Mo Bai didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"Your Highness is aware that most of the powerful generals under the Fang banner are old subordinates who have followed Commander Fang in battles across the country for decades. Therefore, when Commander Fang got into trouble this time, even if those who were not his direct subordinates had ulterior motives, they did not dare to make any rash moves. This is why there has been no major chaos in the army."

At this point, Du Juan sighed, "If the late emperor hadn't trusted Commander Fang so much and hadn't planted more spies in the Fang banner, the army would probably be in uproar by now."

After hearing this, the image of Emperor Dingwu involuntarily reappeared in Mo Bai's mind, and his heart was filled with mixed emotions.

Even now, he still doesn't know how to accurately define Emperor Dingwu.

Strictly speaking, this supreme ruler was not a tyrant.

He was ambitious and full of strategic thinking, but in the end, the country was devastated and the people suffered.

The most tragic thing is that Emperor Dingwu never accomplished anything in his entire life. Yes, from beginning to end, he never accomplished a single thing.

He wanted to subdue the Daoist sect, but decades of forbearance only emboldened them to become even more rampant, to the point that they dared to kill even his own prince.

He wanted to eliminate the warlords, but after decades of scheming, he not only failed to pacify the Northeast and Southwest, but also gained another powerful force, Southern Guangdong.

He wanted to drive away the Qi barbarians, but instead of driving them away, their army even entered the area...

In national affairs, nothing has been accomplished.

When it comes to family matters, never mind...

For Emperor Dingwu, bringing up family matters seemed to only fuel his anger.

But to say that Emperor Dingwu's life was completely without merit would not be entirely true.

Emperor Dingwu seemed to have no major problems in recognizing and employing talent.

Look at the two masters he once heavily relied on, Zhang Bangli, Cangming, and Qingyu, and now Fang Youqun.

These people were not treacherous officials; on the contrary, they were all capable and loyal officials.

Even Mo Bai had to admit that after Dingwu's death, the mess that was left behind by the dynasty would have collapsed long ago if it weren't for these people holding it up.

"Sigh!" With thoughts churning in his mind, Mo Bai could only let out a soft sigh. Everything was in the past.

His thoughts returned to the present moment, and Mo Bai pondered for a moment before slowly speaking: "Actually, the reason why the Fang Banner was like this, besides the late emperor's trust in Fang Youqun, was another important reason. Before the Qi barbarians invaded, the late emperor was heavily relying on Fang Youqun to fight Lin Huayao. The war had not yet ended when the Qi barbarians entered the country. At that time, Fang Youqun directly shifted the battlefield. The Qi barbarians came with great force, and the late emperor naturally could not allow Fang Youqun to be hindered at this time, which is why the Fang Banner became a place where one person had absolute power."

At this point, Mo Bai also felt somewhat fortunate: "This can be considered a blessing from heaven. Otherwise, it would probably not be so easy for us to clean up the situation now."

After listening, Du Juan pondered for a while but did not speak.

"What's wrong?" Mo Bai asked when she didn't speak.

Du Juan snapped out of her reverie, looked at Mo Bai, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "What is Your Highness's opinion on this situation under the banner with the character '方'?"

"You mean this kind of one-man rule situation?" Mo Bai understood what Du Juan meant.

"Yes, Commander Fang leads a large army, and everyone in the army follows his lead. Does Your Highness think that this is actually very risky? Just like this time, Fang Youqun retreated without authorization. When the army heard that the country would punish him, there were some radicals in the army. Fortunately, Commander Fang did not waver. Otherwise, with his prestige, it would not be impossible for him to change the flag with a single call." Du Juan looked into Mo Bai's eyes, her voice low but very clear.

Mo Bai, unusually, shifted his gaze to the teacup in his hand and remained silent for a long time.

This is a very difficult question to answer.

For an army, whether the commander-in-chief can maintain his authority is an absolutely crucial criterion for whether it can win a battle.

If the commander-in-chief gives an order, but the subordinates have their own thoughts, wouldn't that be a mess?

But if the entire team consists of the commander's confidants, wouldn't it be even worse if the commander developed disloyal intentions?

This is clearly a contradiction.

Whether those in power choose absolute trust or implement checks and balances, neither option seems right nor wrong.

This is not a question of right or wrong.

In fact, even if Du Juan hadn't asked today, Mo Bai would have already started thinking about this issue.

Perhaps this is something every person in a position of power must go through.

Leaving aside the imperial court, just considering the Prince's Mansion, was Mo Bai truly unaware of the conflict between Lu Xunyi and Ajiu?

No, he had seen it all from the beginning, but he pretended not to know and let the two gradually drift apart.

In fact, Mo Bai had already begun to use the separation of powers to maintain checks and balances by not choosing Lu Xunyi but instead bringing out Du Juan to deal with the problems of the Daoist sect.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Lu Xunyi, but everyone has their own selfish motives.

Deep in his heart, Lu Xunyi longed for Mo Bai to ascend the throne. This was naturally for Mo Bai's sake, but at the same time, Lu Xunyi also had his own thoughts.

Tie Xiong and his fellow disciples had left their hometowns and suffered a great deal of humiliation, especially the difficulty of getting into official positions, which left a deep impression on them.

Some people may not care that much, but others will remember it for a lifetime.

Lu Xunyi was the latter; the humiliation he suffered back then had planted a seed deep in his heart that he had to make something of himself.

This kind of thinking isn't actually a bad thing. What's wrong with having ambition? It can't be called wrong either.

The problem is, how should we handle the conflict between Lu Xunyi's ambition and Mo Bai's ideas?

Mo Bai's most pressing need was to deal with the Qi barbarians, while Lu Xunyi's most pressing need was to put him on the throne.

At this stage, Mo Bai is unable to deal with the Qi Man after ascending the throne, and Lu Xunyi is still clinging to his obsession, so Mo Bai naturally cannot hand over everything of the Ming Prince's Mansion to him.

Therefore, he brought up Du Juan, so that Lu Xunyi would no longer be the only teacher in the Ming Prince's Mansion.

Ajiu was supposed to manage the affairs of the Ming Prince's Mansion, but he had shared hardships with Lu Xunyi and his group, and he had no suspicion of Lu Xunyi and his fellow disciples. Mo Bai felt this was not a good thing, so he ignored the falling out between the two.

But looking back, the once united Ming Prince's Mansion has become a place where everyone is on their own, which has reduced its fighting strength.

Looking back at Du Juan's question, Mo Bai will undoubtedly have to make another choice.

Moreover, he knew that as his authority grew, he would have more and more of these options.

Seeing that Mo Bai remained silent for a long time, Du Juan shook her head slightly in her heart: "The Ming King's hesitation shows that he is not truly ready to take the throne."

His thinking wasn't wrong; Mo Bai truly never had any ambition to rise to power.

All of this is due to the circumstances. He is just a Taoist priest. He once longed for the mortal world, but it was only a longing he had experienced when he was deeply lonely in the mountains.

His aspirations were merely for the hustle and bustle of the mortal world, not for wielding great power and manipulating events.

However, just as he had already made his choice when dealing with the people of the Ming Prince's Mansion, he would not run away when the time came.

He raised his gaze again to Du Juan: "In my personal opinion, whether or not there should be checks and balances depends on the situation. We cannot interfere simply because of suspicion."

Du Juan's gaze sharpened slightly: "Please enlighten me, Your Highness."

"Not really." Mo Bai put down his teacup, waved his hand, and continued, "Take Fang Ziqi for example. Right now, fighting the flag is the most important thing. So, we should trust those we employ and not employ those we don't trust. What in this world is completely risk-free? Right now, as long as Fang Youqun can fight the flag and is willing to fight the flag, I will never hinder him."

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