This upright fellow actually submitted a memorial urging my Great Shang to cease hostilities. He claimed that Emperor Zong Shou of Great Qian is a sagacious ruler in this age, and that our Great Shang's current campaign is destined to end in bitter defeat.”

“Jin Buhui? Is that the Censor-in-Chief who once submitted three consecutive memorials, impeaching local powerful clans for rampant lawlessness, and who also proposed reforms to the Imperial Examination system and the policy on granting noble titles?”

Chong Xuan raised an eyebrow, finding the whole affair profoundly bizarre. This Censor Jin’s memorials always seemed to arrive at the most inconvenient times.

No, it should be former Censor-in-Chief. Emperor Yin had initially intended reform. However, in recent years, the influence of the aristocratic families had been stirring restlessly. Disputes erupted frequently across the nation due to conflicts over spirit stone veins.

Under duress, Emperor Yin had no choice but to relegate Jin Buhui to obscurity, demoting him to a seventh-rank county magistrate in the frontier. This action was also a measure taken by Emperor Yin for Jin Buhui’s own protection, as those three memorials had managed to thoroughly alienate every major aristocratic house in Great Shang.

It was truly unexpected that this man refused to lie low in the frontier. This time, his memorial aimed its spearhead directly at the Emperor of Yuan Chen himself. Did this man truly believe that merely possessing the backing of the Vast Profound Sect (Hao Xuan Zong) was enough to shield him?

Silently, Chong Xuan performed a salute and retrieved the memorial from Emperor Yin’s imperial desk. After a moment of reading, he felt utterly speechless.

Jin Buhui argued in his memorial that a nation should not wage war out of anger, nor should it engage in an unjust war. To attack Great Qian merely because of the pique of the Sage Zhu Zi was inappropriate—this was the first point of contention. Attacking Great Qian when it had committed no offense was inappropriate—this was the second.

Even Chong Xuan found these arguments utterly absurd and laughable. However, the latter portion of the text contained points worthy of consideration.

It stated that the sovereign of Great Qian, Zong Shou, was a talent rarely seen in ten thousand years. Not only was his martial cultivation profound and unmatched in the Cloud Realm, but his command of both military and civil administration was also top-tier, making him impossible to defeat head-on in the field. Furthermore, Great Qian was currently at the zenith of its national strength, with advanced maritime transport. The Southern Border, conversely, was a labyrinth of waterways and swamps. Great Qian’s army enjoyed superior logistical support and geographical advantage. If they chose to drag out the conflict in the South without committing to a decisive battle, they could exhaust the millions of troops of Great Shang entirely. Even if Great Shang managed to force Zong Shou into a pitched battle, it would undoubtedly be a trap.

In essence, the entire document conveyed one message: the moment Great Shang entered the Southern Border, defeat was inevitable. What Great Shang needed to do now was stabilize the interior, mend domestic governance, avoid giving Great Qian any pretext for invasion, and focus on external expansion. They should not rashly make an enemy of Great Qian. By uniting the fifty-two provinces of the Central Lands, the speed of external expansion could surely surpass that of the Great Qian Celestial Dynasty, which would also help divert internal contradictions.

While this showed a degree of insight, it was somewhat overly idealistic. Precisely because Great Qian’s national momentum was so dominant, they needed to strangle it preemptively, crushing the nation’s foundation in the Cloud Realm. This moment was, in fact, the optimal time—

Chong Xuan shook his head slightly and laid the memorial down.

“It is truly baffling; he dares to directly accuse the Sage Zhu Zi of distorting facts, manipulating the monarch, and interfering in state affairs. This is boldness beyond measure. I wonder how Your Majesty intends to deal with him?”

“Whoever disrupts the morale of my army shall be executed!”

Emperor Yin’s lingering wrath flared, his eyes blazing with murderous intent. “Using this man’s head as a sacrifice flag before we enter the Southern Border would not be a bad idea!”

If Zong Shou was a wise and capable sovereign in Jin Buhui’s eyes, then Emperor Yin was undoubtedly a muddle-headed ruler in his estimation. To accuse Zhu Zi of manipulating the monarch—where did that place him, his own sovereign? He had initially considered Jin Buhui a capable official, lavishing favor upon him. Now, he seemed nothing more than a treacherous ingrate.

With a single glance, Chong Xuan understood that Emperor Yin intended to sacrifice Jin Buhui to appease those aristocratic families and regional lords. With Jin Buhui dead, the relationship between the court and the powerful houses would surely ease considerably.

However, this immediately brought to mind the words Zong Shou had spoken to him several years ago as he left the Cloud Realm. If anything untoward happened to Jin Buhui, Zong Shou would retaliate without reservation! The declaration had been resolute, leaving no room for maneuver! And that moment was when Zong Shou, traveling alone, had consecutively vanquished thirty-seven Daoist sects, his prestige soaring to its zenith.

“This is ill-advised! This man is Zong Shou’s closest confidant. Even if punishment is necessary, it would be best to wait until this Southern Campaign is over. By then, he will surely be left utterly speechless—”

“Zong Shou’s closest confidant? Then he deserves death all the more!”

Emperor Yin’s murderous intent intensified. It was precisely this Zong Shou who had annihilated thirty legions of his troops outside the Azure Firmament’s threshold, causing Great Shang to nearly lose its crucial leverage for suppressing the regional lords and aristocratic families.

His anger was hard to suppress, yet he managed to restrain it, for the moment.

“Enough. First, send men to detain him and confine him in the Ministry of Justice’s Imperial Prison. We will decide his fate after this campaign!”

With a cold snort, Emperor Yin reached for the other memorial. A moment later, his brow furrowed again, his expression growing increasingly grave.

Chong Xuan looked puzzled, wondering who this newcomer was and what content within this memorial commanded such attention from His Majesty.

Before he could ask, Emperor Yin spoke in a deep voice, “It is Shi Yue; he has also submitted a memorial stating that the Southern Border is densely covered with waterways and Great Qian’s navy is supreme. If our fleet cannot achieve victory, if we cannot sever the water network as we did in the Riverlands, then Great Qian’s mere three million soldiers can hold back our millions of troops. We will inevitably be ground down in the Southern Border. We must not rashly force a decisive battle until the opponent is pushed to the very brink. Kong Yao is a first-rate master of military strategy in this era, and Zong Shou’s generalship is also considered superb. They will never willingly engage in open field battles against our Great Shang forces without assurance. We must proceed with the utmost caution.”

Chong Xuan was struck dumb. He was well aware of Shi Yue’s background—a rising talent from the Central Lands. He had also vaguely heard reports of the Shi family’s impressive achievements in external expansion. His skill in military arts was certainly on par with any famous general of this age. The fact that this man’s assessment aligned perfectly with Jin Buhui’s was astonishing.

“The Shi family—”

Emperor Yin unconsciously gripped his wolf-hair brush tightly, unaware that fine cracks were beginning to spiderweb across its surface. After a pause, he let out a slight sigh and casually tossed this memorial aside.

Shi Yue was not Jin Buhui; he could not be so easily manipulated or summarily dealt with. Moreover, his text only cautioned prudence, not pointing out any fault of the Emperor’s. Thus, this memorial could simply be shelved without being officially addressed. Beside him, Chong Xuan’s brow twitched; he sensed Emperor Yin’s deep-seated apprehension regarding the Shi family.

If the Five Great Clans, led by the Yang family, used to be the thorn in Emperor Yin’s side, the Shi family was now the entity the Emperor of Yuan Chen feared most.

The third memorial was the only one that improved Emperor Yin’s mood. It came from the Grand General of Conquest in the South, Fei Yin, who was currently commanding the three million troops of the vanguard. Fei Yin reported that the Emerald Gorge would be breached within ten days. This meant that His Majesty’s imperial procession could pass through the Connecting Mountain Range shortly thereafter. In the Great Shang, only five men held the title of Grand General, each having earned it through hundreds of campaigns and countless merits; their military acumen was invariably top-tier. And Fei Yin was one of them.

“It is said that among the five titled Generals, Fei Yin is the only one who insists that Kong Yao is a mediocre talent—”