As Pei Ji spoke forcefully and the Second Prince fell silent, the voices of opposition in the imperial court immediately diminished significantly.
Seeing that the situation was not right, Yao Jian finally spoke: "Duke Qi's words are wrong! Shen Jing certainly has merits, but they are only for breaking the city!"
"According to Duke Qi's meaning, shouldn't every general who breaks a city or is the first to ascend the walls, saving countless soldiers' lives, be granted a marquisate?"
"As for eliminating the hidden danger of the Qiang people and letting Yong Country see the strength of our Great Zhou, that is pure nonsense!"
"To eliminate the hidden danger of the Qiang people, we must thoroughly defeat them until they submit; only then can it be called eliminating the hidden danger!"
"Breaking a city by trickery is supposed to let Yong Country see the strength of our Great Zhou? Duke Qi himself is a military leader; what strength do you think this demonstrates?"
"There are countless generals who have broken cities through strategy on the battlefield; should they all be granted marquisates?"
Yao Jian refuted Pei Ji's words one by one.
Listening to Yao Jian's words, many ministers nodded in agreement.
Facing Yao Jian's refutation, Pei Ji was not flustered in the slightest; instead, he said with a smile, "If this old man remembers correctly, on that day in this imperial court, you personally proposed that whoever breaks the city could be granted a marquisate! How is it that now that person is Shen Jing, you have such strong objections? Did Shen Jing dig up your ancestral grave, or did he cuckold you?"
"You..."
Yao Jian was indignant but could not find words to refute Pei Ji, so he could only grit his teeth and say, "That was then, this is now!"
"Aren't you just holding a grudge against Grand Tutor Su?"
Pei Ji snorted coldly, "Grand Tutor Su has been dead for so many years, yet you still bear a grudge and suppress his son-in-law! Your Majesty, Yao Jian's narrow-mindedness makes him truly unfit to be a prime minister!"
A cold glint flashed in Yao Jian's eyes as he looked coldly at Pei Ji: "As the Minister of War, do you not know how many generals in the army have greater merits than Shen Jing? Why do you not petition His Majesty to grant all those generals with greater merits than Shen Jing marquisates? You say this old man is suppressing Shen Jing, and this old man also suspects you are suppressing those meritorious soldiers!"
"Bullshit!"
Pei Ji was furious and immediately started cursing, "Which time have I petitioned for merits for the front-line soldiers that you, this treacherous villain, haven't interfered with? You are just afraid that the military officials in the court will overshadow you civil officials..."
Recalling past events, Pei Ji became increasingly angry as he spoke, unleashing a torrent of abuse at Yao Jian.
However, Pei Ji's attack was too broad, directly bringing the long-standing civil-military dispute back to the forefront.
This was like poking a hornet's nest, and the civil official faction in the hall immediately began to refute Pei Ji.
Seeing that Pei Ji was struggling alone, many military officials began to voice their support for Pei Ji, and even Yang Zhongheng sided with Pei Ji.
"What is civil official and military general? In the imperial court, we are all subjects of Great Zhou!"
"In those years, when the imperial court faced internal and external troubles, without us civil officials raising grain and military pay in the rear, what would you have fought with?"
"How dare you mention military pay and grain to me? If it weren't for your repeated delays in delivering grain back then, would General Fan have been defeated by the Oirat people?"
"Exactly, you bunch of bastards, how much military pay have you embezzled? You know yourselves!"
"Nonsense, I think you are the ones claiming empty salaries!"
"So many military officials were ennobled for their military achievements back then; who remembers the merits of us civil officials? Have we ever complained a single word?"
"Complain about what? It's already an exceptional favor that His Majesty hasn't executed you, this treacherous villain..."
As the civil and military factions argued, the grand imperial court instantly turned into a marketplace.
Shen Jing stared, dumbfounded, at the scene before him.
Damn, the imperial court can be like this?
If that's the case, then I'm going to let loose!
Ye Shen glanced at Emperor Zhou's expression and quickly spoke to stop the ministers: "Enough, everyone, stop arguing!"
However, everyone was in the heat of the moment and no one listened to Ye Shen, some even started pushing each other.
Seeing that both sides were about to start fighting in court, Emperor Zhou suddenly let out a furious roar: "Have you argued enough?!"
With Emperor Zhou's roar, the fiercely arguing sides finally stopped.
Everyone glanced at Emperor Zhou's expression and bowed: "Your subjects have been disrespectful; please, Your Majesty, punish us!"
Although they shouted this, they still looked at each other with resentment.
"I should have starved you for a few days first, to see if any of you could still argue!"
Emperor Zhou scanned the ministers with an annoyed look, then asked the Crown Prince with a cold face: "What do you think of my decision to reward Shen Jing?"
Ye Shen glanced at Emperor Zhou's expression and bowed, saying, "Your son agrees with Duke Qi's opinion; Your Imperial Father's reward for Shen Jing is very appropriate!"
Emperor Zhou frowned slightly and asked indifferently, "Besides agreeing with Duke Qi's words, do you have no other thoughts of your own?"
"This..."
Ye Shen clearly hadn't expected that while he was setting up a stage for his Imperial Father, his Imperial Father would turn around and dismantle his own stage.
Did he want him to agree, or did he want him to disagree?
Ye Shen couldn't fathom Emperor Zhou's true intentions and for a moment didn't know how to answer.
Seeing Ye Shen in a predicament, Tang Zhi immediately chimed in: "Your humble subject agrees with the Crown Prince's words! This time, the Yong Country Delegation is led by the Third Prince of Yong Country. Since His Majesty intends for Shen Jing to receive the Yong Country Delegation, merely giving Shen Jing the official position of Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial is certainly not enough! Granting Shen Jing a marquisate is the only way to avoid slighting the Yong Country Delegation in terms of etiquette."
"Lord Tang's words are reasonable!" Lu Sui immediately echoed.
With Tang Zhi and Lu Sui speaking, the Crown Prince's faction immediately expressed their agreement.
Even some who had previously opposed now suddenly changed their minds.
This significantly weakened the voices of opposition.
"Hmm, finally someone with sense!"
Emperor Zhou looked at Tang Zhi approvingly, then his gaze fell on Yao Jian, "As the head of all officials, you didn't even consider this point; I am truly somewhat disappointed! I don't know if you are burdened by your reputation, your vision not as sharp as before, or if it's truly as Duke Qi said, that you are suppressing Grand Tutor Su's son-in-law out of resentment!"
Yao Jian knew that Emperor Zhou was reprimanding him. Although he was displeased, he still adopted a submissive posture: "Your humble subject has absolutely no intention of suppressing Shen Jing; I merely feared that Your Majesty's exceptional reward for Shen Jing would cause dissatisfaction among other meritorious officials."
Just to have Shen Jing receive the Yong Country Delegation, he is to be granted a marquisate?
To say not to be disrespectful in terms of etiquette, wouldn't it be even less disrespectful to simply order a prince to greet them, and just have the Court of State Ceremonial arrange lodging and meals?
It's clearly an excuse!
"Whoever is dissatisfied can step forward."
Emperor Zhou raised his eyes and scanned the ministers, "This matter of receiving the Yong Country Delegation is not something that only Shen Jing can do!"
Listening to Emperor Zhou's words, all the ministers fell silent.
Receiving the Yong Country Delegation was not an easy task!
If it wasn't handled well, and it gave Yong Country an opportunity to cause trouble, they would certainly be punished!
"No one is stepping forward?"
Emperor Zhou scanned the ministers again, "If no one objects, I will have someone draft the imperial decree!"
The ministers looked at each other. Although they were still resentful, they ultimately dared not step forward.
Whoever dared to step forward at this moment, Emperor Zhou would certainly make him receive the Yong Country Delegation!
Seeing that no one was still stepping forward, Emperor Zhou now looked at Yu Rang: "Draft the imperial decree..."
