Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 432 The Addition of Sunset Kingdom (2)

At that moment, a soldier from Mingyi Country screamed, "General Fan has been beheaded!"

The other Mingyi soldiers, upon seeing this, began to retreat en masse. Hou Wei, sitting on his horse, shouted anxiously, "Retreat, everyone retreat! For your marshal’s sake, kill those who dare desert in the face of the enemy—with military law you will be dealt!"

The cowardly soldiers of Mingyi Country, having retreated, heard the marshal’s cry and dragged their heavy feet back into the battlefield.

Hu Liujin bellowed loudly, "Their general has been killed by me—look, this is their general’s head! Soldiers, they are like a dragon without a head, let’s charge!" He raised Fan Qingqiang’s head, which hung from his great sword, high on the battlefield, attempting to provoke Hou Wei while boosting his own soldiers’ morale.

The soldiers behind him saw the head on their general’s sword and instantly felt their blood boil, their eyes turning red with the fury of battle. Upon encountering the soldiers of Mingyi Country, they swung their long spears, killing one enemy after another.

Hou Wei, seeing the dire situation, raised the yellow flag in his hand and waved it twice. The war drums behind him then urgently began to sound. The soldiers of Mingyi Country, hearing the withdrawal drum, hastily retreated.

The blood-enraged soldiers of Xueyan Country began to fight back with all their might. Hu Liujin, seeing that the situation was about right, then stopped his soldiers from pursuing further, "Do not chase a defeated foe. Return to camp."

Ever since Dugu Chen arrived, they had won their first battle, not only scaring the enemy but also killing the traitorous Fan Qingqiang. The soldiers of Xueyan Country had regained their confidence anew.

Inside the Imperial Palace, Feng Xuxu had been restless all morning. The dream she had the night before still troubled her.

Sitting in the Imperial Study, the Prime Minister was at one side attending to petitions, while Feng Xuxu gazed vacantly, pondering over a way to resolve the fighting at the Western Frontier as soon as possible. Making explosives? But she had no knowledge of how—alas, what to do? 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The Prime Minister, holding a petition, called softly at her side twice, "Empress, Empress?"

"Hmm, what is it, Prime Minister?" Feng Xuxu, coming back to her senses, saw the Prime Minister bowing in front of her desk, looking at her.

The Prime Minister cleared his throat and placed the petition on the dragon desk, "Your Majesty, the Duke of the Zhenguo’s young master, Li Tianjie, has beaten up Wang Yan, the second young master of Lord Wang. The Minister of Rites’ Ma Ben, disliking Li Tianjie’s usual bullying, stepped in to give Li Tianjie a beating on behalf of Wang Yan. The Duke of Zhenguo went to confront Lord Wang, Wang Yanheng, who ended up turning him away. Outraged, the old Duke filed a petition, and coincidentally, Lord Wang filed one as well. They both request Your Majesty to preside over justice."

Having heard this, Feng Xuxu chuckled, "Those three families are quite something. And the Minister of Rites did not file a petition?"

The Prime Minister also chuckled in response, "He did, but it was a petition admitting guilt. In it, he claims that he did not discipline his son properly, making a grave mistake, and asks for Your Majesty’s punishment."

"This Minister of Rites really knows how to play the game. Li Tianjie and Wang Yan were fighting, and Ma Ben stepped in to give Li Tianjie a...," she mused, "two against one, yes, of course—how did I not think of this simple concept before."

The Prime Minister had also heard tales of the Duke of Zhenguo’s young master’s arrogance and oppression in the civilian world but had not paid much attention to it before, as it was common among the sons and daughters of officials. However, this time they had all filed petitions asking for the Empress to administer justice. He bowed his head, listening to the Empress speak, but after a moment without hearing her continue, he looked up to see the Empress bent over the desk, writing rapidly on a piece of paper.

"Your Majesty?" the Prime Minister called out softly.

"Wait a moment."

When Feng Xuxu finally stopped writing, she smiled slightly, "Take a look, how is this plan?" she said, handing over the paper she had just written.

The Prime Minister, with a slight frown, picked up the paper from the Empress’ hand and started to read carefully, "Genius, it truly is brilliant."