Chapter 400: A Pack of Wolves Feeding on a Tiger

"The Office of Agriculture is growing larger and larger. Old General, what do you think of the status of my position as Director?"

"Furthermore, I also hold the military rank of General of the Household for Agriculture concurrently. With both civil and military titles, I fear that in a few years, my influence will be no less than that of Li Si."

"I naturally know that Li Si will grow wary. This man's desire for power is extremely strong. Right now, he is dealing with Wang Wan and the others, but it won't be long before he deals with me."

"Since you know that, why are you still drilling your way into it?"

"Hehe! Old General, you don't know this! No matter how great the influence of the Office of Agriculture is, I have been in the Great Qin for too short a time. I simply cannot compete with these people, so the simplest method is to rely on His Majesty."

"Since that is the case, I will choose to be a lone official. This way, no matter who comes to attack me in the future, I won't have to be afraid."

"So what if I offend the Yin-Yang School? Besides, as you said, Old General, the Yin-Yang School and the Empire are not of one mind and might eventually rebel against the Empire. In that case, haven't I already made preparations?"

"Plus, I am indeed interested in the Fusang Divine Tree in the hands of the Yin-Yang School. Why not do something that kills several birds with one stone?"

Su Fan said with a chuckle, and after finishing, he looked at Wang Jian.

Sure enough, Wang Jian was also looking at him with some surprise.

"It seems I am truly old! I underestimated you."

"Haha, that's right!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Jian also laughed loudly. The more he looked at Su Fan, the more pleasing he found him; he truly regarded the former as a nephew.

It was a pity that his own granddaughter was already married; otherwise, this boy would have been a good match.

"However, you brat, you must be careful in the future. After this, you will inevitably become a thorn in the side of some people."

"And there is one point I must remind you of: the issue regarding the Crown Prince must not be easily involved in."

"Haha! Old General, rest assured, I am very clear on this point. That is His Majesty's family affair and has nothing to do with me. I believe that no matter who becomes the Crown Prince, it will have no impact on me."

"His Majesty is currently in his prime. By the time the future Crown Prince ascends the throne, I will likely have already retired."

"To tell you the truth, the reason I am willing to accept His Majesty's official post is also because I need to borrow the Qi of Luck of the Great Qin to cultivate."

"You..."

Seeing Su Fan speak such hard truths, Wang Jian was left between laughter and tears. Others were cautious about their power, terrified that it would slip away from them, yet he did not care in the slightest.

But this was for the best. Each generation of the Son of Heaven has their own ministers. His abilities could be carried forward under His Majesty, and he could even reach the pinnacle of officialdom, becoming the Chancellor of a state without issue.

However, the next monarch might very well be different. If he could retire in time, it would ultimately be a good thing.

After all, accompanying a monarch is like accompanying a tiger. His Majesty has a broad mind, but that does not mean the succeeding monarch will have His Majesty's breadth of spirit.

Retiring early also avoids ending up like that Lv Buwei.

Just like him, he withdrew in time, which created the prosperity of the Wang Clan today.

Because of Su Fan's return and the joint memorial submitted by him and Li Si, Xianyang City became increasingly lively.

Many people had not seen the Mirage, but they knew of it; after all, the Lesser Treasury had spent a great price to build it.

Moreover, the high-level officials all knew of His Majesty's future plans. In the northern Caoyuan, because the Barbarian Race was not weak, although the Great Qin's Cavalry were fierce, warhorses were always a problem.

Over these years, the Great Qin had fought with the Six States, and the loss of warhorses was not small, so without twenty years, it would be impossible to restore the warhorses to their peak.

Without warhorses, fighting the northern Barbarian Race on the vast Caoyuan, even if the Great Qin relied on elite armor and weapons to gain the upper hand, it would be very difficult to do anything about those Grassland Barbarians.

After all, even if they couldn't win, wouldn't they know how to run?

The warhorses raised in Zhongyuan were indeed inferior to those on the Caoyuan.

Moving north was impossible, and the forests in the south were vast, with the rainforests being even more fraught with crises, making them unsuitable for a large army to deploy. Moreover, the rainforests were full of miasma, and the army would often fall ill; it could be said that before even fighting the Hundred Yue, their own losses would reach thirty percent.

This was a lesson learned through blood.

Therefore, if the Great Qin wanted to develop, it could only look to the eastern ocean. The ocean was vast, but everyone knew that there were many islands in the ocean, some large and some small.

The small ones were only a few thousand zhang long, while the large ones were sometimes no smaller than the Great Qin.

Such continents were new targets for the Great Qin.

Moreover, sages had said that there were natives on those continents; conquering them would naturally increase the strength of the Great Qin.

This was military merit.

No one could ignore the military merit of the Great Qin. Since the Six States were destroyed, there had been very few opportunities for military merit.

Now that this path was open, no one was willing to give it up.

Previously, the Mirage was occupied by the Yin-Yang School because they were the ones who put in the effort, so others had nothing to say, and the Yin-Yang School was not easy to provoke.

But now that the Chancellor and the Office of Agriculture had both stepped forward, they saw an opportunity.

Various factions also stepped forward one after another. The imperial court had become increasingly clamorous these days, first to kick out the Yin-Yang School.

Then they would compete among themselves.

Regarding the Yin-Yang School, many in the imperial court did not trust them much because the Yin-Yang School was too mysterious.

Because they were unfamiliar and could not be controlled, they would naturally be vigilant and hostile.

With someone taking the lead, the various parties were no longer afraid of the Yin-Yang School; after all, if the sky fell, there were still taller people to hold it up.

Even if the Yin-Yang School wanted to hold someone accountable in the future, it could only be blamed on Li Si and Su Fan and their ilk.

These people had exactly this kind of thinking.

So they all united.

As a result, the officials backed by the Yin-Yang School were in trouble and were besieged by the vast majority of people.

Two fists are no match for four hands; how could one mouth argue against everyone?

Not everyone had the eloquence of Zhuge Liang to debate against a crowd of scholars.

Naturally, because of this, these people became increasingly hostile toward Su Fan and Li Si.

However, Li Si had been in the Great Qin for decades and could be said to have fully fledged wings; he had many supporters in the imperial court, and these people dared not do anything to Li Si.

Su Fan was also a high-ranking official, but he had risen too quickly and had no foundation. Even though he held a high and powerful position, among those in Xianyang City, which of them did not count as a high official?

So, immediately, someone took the lead in attacking Su Fan, saying that in the past half-year in the provinces, he had wantonly killed the innocent and caused local riots.

In any case, whatever crimes there were, they were all pinned on Su Fan, and every bit of filth was dumped on Su Fan's head.

For a time, it was as if Su Fan was being shouted down by everyone, and some people were also fishing in troubled waters in secret.

Unfortunately, no matter how they tried to smear him, Su Fan remained firmly in control, either at the Ministry of Agriculture or attending court to rest his mind every day.

He simply ignored all of these people.

As for His Majesty, he never said a word against Su Fan; instead, he harshly criticized those people and even demoted several of them.