Chapter 332: The Belated Reward

"But come to think of it, His Highness the Yan Wang is truly formidable. Jinzhou has been ravaged by Xiliang for ten years, and now it has finally returned to our Great Song."

The woman in green on the left rested her chin on her hand, her eyes filled with a smile.

The woman in red on the right instinctively looked around and said softly, "But I hear the other Imperial Princes are not very happy; the Yan Wang has stolen the limelight again."

Changle gave a light hum, "Let them be unhappy if they wish. If they were all like the Yan Wang, our Imperial Clan would not be in such a predicament."

"Your Highness is right, but it is better not to let outsiders hear you, or you will invite hatred again," the woman in green said softly.

"It is right for them to hate me. If they didn't, it would mean I was wallowing in the mire with them. These descendants do nothing but wag their tongues instead of serving the country; they are not even as good as us women," Changle Princess raised her eyebrows.

The woman in red smiled and said nothing.

Among the various princesses and Imperial Princes in Jinling, only Changle Princess had always clearly supported the Yan Wang.

She knew this was not only because of Changle Princess's upright character, but also related to the time she and the Yan Wang spent living in the Imperial Palace.

Changle Princess lost her mother at a young age and was entrusted to the care of Mi Fei for several years as a child.

During those years, Changle Princess and the Yan Wang were as close as siblings born of the same mother.

However, later on, the Emperor handed Changle Princess over to be raised by Dou Guifei, the birth mother of the Third Prince.

After that, the two rarely met.

Yet, Changle Princess still held onto the memories of living in Mi Fei's courtyard.

Therefore, she always defended the Yan Wang in public.

"Since this is a spring outing, let's not talk about these affairs of state," the woman in green suggested at this moment.

The others nodded, and the four of them began chattering about interesting news in Jinling.

About which young lady and which young master were caught having a secret meeting.

Whose cloth shop had the best fabric, and where a poetry gathering was to be held.

Laughter and joy constantly drifted out from the painted pleasure boat.

The silver-bell-like laughter reached the shore.

The scholars wished they could see right through the painted boat to see what the women inside looked like.

Following the Nine-Bend River southward, at a point on the same line as the southern end of the Imperial Palace, the Nine-Bend River suddenly turned east, passed through a white jade bridge, and entered a garden enclosed by walls.

This was the Imperial Garden.

Unlike the Royal Forest Park used for hunting, this was a place for the Emperor's spring outings.

Today, with the weather being fine and the breeze gentle, not only the Imperial Princes and Princesses but also the children of powerful clans and wealthy merchants had come out to enjoy themselves.

Emperor Zhao Heng, feeling refreshed, also invited the important ministers of the court to tour the garden together.

Behind him, on the left was Dou Wei, on the right was Mi Yan, and behind them were Xie Duan, Ma Yuan, Yang Feng, Han Zheng, and others.

Stopping in front of a pavilion with the ministers, Zhao Heng looked at a peony in front of him in surprise, "This peony planted by the Late Emperor hasn't bloomed for over ten years. I didn't expect it to bloom so brilliantly this year."

Upon hearing this, Mi Yan smiled and said, "Your Majesty, this is a sign of auspiciousness, indicating that the Great Song will regain its glory and the Imperial Clan will flourish throughout the world."

"Indeed, as the saying goes, when the vegetation flourishes, the family and the country flourish."

"Truly an auspicious omen."

"..."

The ministers vied to flatter Zhao Heng one after another.

"Hahaha..." Zhao Heng felt a wave of comfort in his heart upon hearing this.

He looked at the peony before him with increasing affection.

He could not help but be happy.

Ever since he ordered the Yan Wang to lead the army into Jinzhou, all of Jinling had been focused on the war in Jinzhou.

For nearly three months, the Yan Wang had not disappointed him, giving him a battle result that exceeded his expectations.

If one could say that the pacification of the Yuan Family was perhaps because the Yuan Family's troops were weak and the Yan Wang won by luck.

But after this battle, no one in the court could question the Yan Wang's ability to lead troops.

For him, this battle would not only deter Xiliang but also further force the powerful clans to tuck their tails in.

However, this was not what made him the happiest.

Recovering Jinzhou and defeating Xiliang—such an achievement meant he would be a monarch of restoration in the history books.

This was something that would leave a name in history.

"Well said." Stopping his laughter, Zhao Heng turned to Mi Yan, "But the Yan Wang has performed another extraordinary feat this time. How do you think I should reward him?"

The ministers fell into a silence.

The Yan Wang's contribution this time was great, although it was slightly inferior to pacifying the Yuan Family and preventing the Northern Di from moving south.

But such a contribution could still be called an extraordinary feat.

Seeing this, a flash of sharp light crossed Dou Wei's eyes, though his face remained full of smiles. He said, "Your Majesty, in this minister's opinion, since the Yan Wang has achieved such a great merit, a meager reward would truly fail to recognize his achievements. Why not grant him Jinzhou as his fiefdom as a reward?"

Zhao Heng frowned upon hearing this. He had given the Yan Wang Yanzhou to support the Yan Wang against the powerful clans.

If he were to give the Yan Wang Jinzhou as well, wouldn't the entire northern frontier of the Great Song become the Yan Wang's territory?

He would not do such a thing.

As Prime Minister, Dou Wei naturally understood this logic.

And he knew very well the purpose of saying this: it was merely to kill the Yan Wang with kindness.

However, he had to admit that this old fox, Dou Wei, was indeed ruthless.

The more he advocated for giving Jinzhou to the Yan Wang, the less he would actually give the Yan Wang any more fiefdoms.

He would just let the Yan Wang stay in Yanzhou.

Mi Yan glanced at Dou Wei indifferently. The longer he fought with Dou Wei, the more he realized that the brighter Dou Wei smiled, the darker his heart was.

He naturally understood that Dou Wei wanted to provoke Zhao Heng's and the other ministers' vigilance against the Yan Wang.

Thinking of this, he said: "Your Majesty, this subject believes that Yan Wang has both merit and guilt this time; since the merit and guilt cancel each other out, there is actually no need for a great reward."

"Oh?" Zhao Heng revealed an intrigued expression, "Tell me more."

"According to what this subject knows, after Yan Wang occupied Jincheng, he killed the Commandery Governor Cao Rui and others without seeking instructions from the Imperial Court, and furthermore confiscated their family assets for his own use; this is his guilt, while his merits, of course, need not be mentioned," Mi Yan said.

Ma Yuan said at this moment: "His Highness Yan Wang seems exceptionally greedy for wealth; he did not forget to plunder even while attacking Jinzhou, so he should be punished."

Zhao Xu's gaze swept over Mi Yan and Dou Wei, and he laughed lightly.

Many officials were now confused.

Usually, Dou Wei was always attacking Yan Wang, yet today he actually advocated for a great reward.

And Mi Yan and the others, who strenuously defended Yan Wang, actually wanted to punish Yan Wang.

"Beloved Minister Mi, Beloved Minister Ma is right; this Yan Wang is indeed too greedy for wealth. He is not satisfied even after acquiring so many commercial goods, and he does not forget to pluck a feather from every passing goose even while fighting a war; he should be given a warning," Zhao Heng said with a serious expression, but he felt at ease in his heart.

Being greedy for wealth is good; it is infinitely better than being greedy for power.

Then, he changed the subject: "However, his merits are ultimately greater; so be it, lift the restriction that limits him to only 150,000 troops, and allow him to command 210,000."

In his view, this was a reward that should have been given to Yan Wang long ago.

Giving it now meant that Yan Wang received no other rewards for this war.

But that was not quite right either; the wealth Yan Wang plundered from Jinzhou could also be considered a reward, so he would not pursue the matter.

"The Emperor is wise," Mi Yan and the other officials said in unison.

Dou Wei was displeased in his heart, but there was nothing he could do.

For him, it was enough as long as Yan Wang's fief did not continue to expand.

Furthermore, his scheme to weaken Yan Wang had failed.

The Dou Family had failed to imitate the Artillery again over these two months.

And it was said that the Han Family, the Xie Family, and the Liang Family had already purchased Artillery from Yan Wang.

This made the Dou Family's military strength clearly lag behind those families.

He could not tolerate this and decided to send someone to contact Yan Wang in the near future.

Therefore, to avoid angering Yan Wang, he would no longer oppose this matter of expanding the army.

Moreover, even if he opposed it, he might not necessarily succeed.

Zhao Heng was no longer like he was before, listening to many of his words.