Chapter 164: Chapter 163: High Merit Shakes the Lord
Translator: 549690339
To crush hundreds of thousands of soldiers with a mere one hundred thousand men is a substantial achievement in any era, bound to turn heads and inspire awe.
But such an achievement, in any era, is also likely to breed envy among many people.
Because such an outstanding talent, after demonstrating their brilliance, will inadvertently eclipse the accomplishments of their contemporaries.
Wang Bo’an, already oppressed by his superiors, is fully aware that this time he will make the same person, who has always suppressed him, even more jealous.
Even though he had accomplished great things this time, he feared that the results might not necessarily be positive.
But before he assembled his troops, Wang Boan had already prepared himself for this consequence.
If he failed to quell the rebellion, the outcome was clear – defeat in battle means death.
If he succeeded, he would still be committing a taboo by recruiting soldiers unauthorized.
But, even knowing that quelling the rebellion would not produce a good outcome regardless of success or failure, he still chose to proceed.
Simply because he was Wang B0’an, a man with unyielding resolve.
Looking at Pei Xuanjing’s intrigued expression, Wang Bo’an had no intention of explaining. He waved his hand dismissively: “Now that everything is settled here, you can go.”
He seemingly had no intention of detaining Pei Xuanjing, a fugitive wanted by the imperial court and last of the Shenxiao Sect.
Even though Pei Xuanjing had learned from the life simulation that Wang Boan would not turn on him, he still curiously asked, “Do you not want to capture me, a fugitive wanted by the imperial court and leftover of Shenxiao Sect?”
Wang Bot an chuckled: “Taoist Qingxu personally sent a message to me, why should I disregard his face?”
Hearing Wang Boan’s words, Pei Xuanjing finally understood why Wang Bo’an would not attack him in the life simulation it was because of Taoist Qingxu.
He had not expected Taoist Qingxu, whose circle of friends ranged far and wide, to have such a relationship with Wang Bo’an and to be able to persuade him.
No matter how capable he was of dealing with Wang Bo’an, he would definitely remember the favor Taoist Qingxu had done for him.
“I see,” said Pei Xuanjing, clasping his fists, but he did not leave. Instead, he began poking around Ning King’s body, hoping to find something useful.
He wanted to see if he could obtain something from these people. After all, now that he had the idea of rebuilding the Shenxiao Sect in mind, he had to start gathering resources for himself.
Looking at Pei Xuanjing’s actions, Wang B0’an couldn’t help but laugh quietly, but he didn’t say anything further.
After taking a few things from Zhu Chenhao and Yue Huan, Pei Xuanjing stood up, saluted, and then turned towards the direction where he had just killed those people. There were still some things waiting for him there.
Watching Pei Xuanjing’s departing figure, Wang Bo’an’s usually calm eyes flashed with worry: I don’t know whether letting you go today will bring regret in the future.
In fact, he had arrived when Pei Xuanjing was killing Yue Huan and all the conversation between Zhu Chenhao and Pei Xuanjing had fallen into his ears.
Aside from Zhu Chenhao’s pleas for mercy, his last remarks, combined with Wang Bo’an’s prior conversation with Pei Xuanjing, made him somewhat agree with Zhu Chenhao’s assertion that Pei Xuanjing might one day become a disruptor of the world.
“Hehe, perhaps I’m worrying too much! “Wang Boan muttered to himself.
Considering his current situation, with potentially significant trouble ahead, he didn’t have the energy to worry about these things.
Moreover, even if there were a possible concern, could he really have kept Pei Xuanjing behind?
Not necessarily.
After returning to the camp, Wang Bo•an commanded his men to quell the commotion among the people and round up the scattered soldiers.
He then documented his actions in detail and sent an emergency report to Tiandu.
As the emperor of the Great Ming Empire, he always maintains his emotions.
But this time, facing Ning King’s rebellion, the emperor couldn’t suppress his rage. He could never have imagined that a member of the royal family would betray him, especially Zhu Chenhao, who had always kowtowed to him.
The emperor is determined to personally lead an army to crush the rebel forces, to demonstrate his power and to prove that he is not inferior to the two founding emperors in terms of military prowess.
However,
Unexpectedly, when the army was halfway there, they suddenly received Wang Bo’an’s victory report from Nan Gan.
Ning King Zhu Chenhao, a serious threat in the eyes of the court, and a rival in the emperor’s eyes, had been defeated, and he himself was dead.
Unlike the ordinary soldiers who rejoiced when they received the victory report, virtually every high ranking official present had a change in their expression, devoid of any joy from the victory, when they heard the report.
Even Wang Qiong, who has always stood by Wang Bo’an and promoted him repeatedly, had a change in expression when he saw the victory report.
“Good, good, good, this Wang Bol an is indeed talented.” The emperor laughed heartily and said to Wang Qiong, “I had originally heard that Wang Bo•an was a great scholar of Confucianism and had achieved some success in dealing with the bandit problem in Nan Gan, which made me realize his leadership skills. But I never thought his leadership abilities would be so impressive.”
“Your Majesty over-praises him, Wang B0’an just got lucky, and all credit to Your Majesty’s blessing, otherwise how could he have achieved this?” Wang Qiong, an experienced official, quickly replied.
Yang Tinghe, the Prime Minister, also chuckled and said, “He is no less than the Marquis of Tiao during the Former Han dynasty, and the Marquis of Champion during the Later Han dynasty.” When he said this, he was obviously harboring ill intentions.
The Marquis of Tiao he referred to was Zhou Yafu, and the Marquis of Champion was Dou Xian.
Although both were illustrious men of war, they also tended to be arrogant and overbearing, and due to their high merits, they overshadowed their masters, which didn’t end well for them.
Therefore, upon hearing these words, Wang Qiong sternly said to Yang Tinghe, “Prime Minister, please be careful with your words. Wang Bo•an is not like those two.”
After finishing his words, Wang Qiong looked at the emperor, who was noncommittal, showing no joy, but rather some concern for Wang Bo’an.
He thought to himself: “Wang Bo’an, you’ve really given me a tough problem to solve.”
As the Minister of War, Wang Qiong has been in office for decades and has promoted and guided countless people, but in his heart, Wang B0’an was the best among them.
It should have been a cause for pride to have someone he had supported distinguish themselves with their achievements.
However, this time, the man who could match the prime minister in the cabinet was causing him trouble.
Wang Bo’an was simply too competent.
In the face of Ning King’s rebellion, it was not a problem to gather troops to combat bandits, and even to use troops wouldn’t be a big issue.
The problem was that he did his job too well, defeating Ning King’s army of five hundred thousand with less than one hundred thousand, causing the enemy to retreat in a big defeat. This was a problem.
For the entire Great Ming dynasty, every official was expected to handle the situation carefully. Even the emperor had to personally lead the charge and treat Ning King’S rebellion as a major issue, but Wang Bo’an resolved it so easily.
As a subject, it wasn’t wrong to achieve merit.
But your achievements were so outstanding they could overshadow the glory of the emperor, that’s a
problem.
Did it mean that all these officials combined were still lesser than you, Wang Boan?
Then, where should the emperor and all the court officials place their faces?