Inside the imperial study of the Twin Moon City's palace in the Cloud Moon Kingdom, the Empress convened a small court with her core ministers to discuss the rebellion of her second imperial daughter, Princess Li Mengdie.
Although the ministers present were well-informed and had likely heard whispers of Li Mengdie's rebellion, they still feigned shock upon hearing the news directly from the Empress.
"Your Majesty, the matter of Princess Li Mengdie's rebellion is of great importance. Are you certain of its veracity?" asked Wei Zi, the Grand General of State Protection, with a grave expression.
The Empress replied sternly, "I have repeatedly sent people to investigate from all sides. The Imperial Guard, the Ministry of Personnel's inspectors, and the censors from the Censorate have all reported to me about Mengdie's rebellion."
While she had anticipated her second daughter's instability, she had only expected minor disturbances, perhaps some reckless behavior within her fiefdom, resulting in the deaths of a few dozen or a hundred people at most. She had truly never expected her second daughter to rebel!
She couldn't help but feel a pang of regret, thinking, "Why did I enfeoff her in the first place? If I had kept her by my side in the palace, she could have only rebelled with a thousand or so people, easily suppressed. Unlike this current troublesome situation."
Wei Zi and the others fell silent. Multiple reports confirmed the rebellion. Regardless of how this matter was handled, it would damage the court's prestige. They could only hope for a swift suppression of the rebellion.
Wei Zi sighed and asked, "Your Majesty, do you know the strength of Princess Li Mengdie's rebel forces?"
"It is said that Mengdie, in the winter, before the court could conveniently mobilize large armies, used her three thousand enfeoffed soldiers as the backbone. She somehow acquired a large amount of money and provisions, organizing an army of over sixty thousand men, causing great destruction and incursions into surrounding counties." The Empress surveyed the room, her expression grim as she recounted the intelligence.
"Over sixty thousand..." Wei Zi's face darkened. If not for the fact that, starting last year, the Empress's privy purse inexplicably had a large sum of silver to support the replenishment and establishment of the court's armies, the court would have only had over fifty thousand men, insufficient to handle this.
As it stood, the court only had a hundred thousand troops, of which fifty thousand were soldiers who had only enlisted two years prior. Suppressing this rebellion would be difficult.
And the source of Princess Li Mengdie's funds... Thinking of this, Wei Zi inwardly cursed those aristocratic families. To possess so much money and provisions so suddenly in winter, even with his limited military intelligence sources, he could guess that these parasites of the empire were behind it.
Sixty thousand against a hundred thousand? We have the advantage! The other ministers breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the rebel force was not overwhelmingly large. While sixty thousand was a difficult number for the court to handle, it was still within an acceptable range.
Du Ke, the newly appointed Minister of Rites this year, immediately clasped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, Princess Li Mengdie has defied all heavenly principles, openly rebelling against the court and betraying Your Majesty. This is a grave violation of ancestral laws and propriety, severely disrupting the order of the Twin Moon Kingdom!"
He quoted, "'The Analects: Yan Yuan,' Duke Jing of Qi asked Confucius about government. Confucius replied, 'Let the ruler be a ruler, the minister a minister, the father a father, and the son a son.' The Duke said, 'Excellent! If indeed the ruler is not a ruler, the minister not a minister, the father not a father, and the son not a son, though I have grain, can I eat it?'"
"Therefore, such a person who is neither ruler nor minister nor father nor son, I implore Your Majesty to immediately order the court's great army to quell the rebellion!"
"I also request to be dispatched with a large army to suppress the rebels!" The ministers, including Chu Chen, made similar requests.
The Empress nodded with satisfaction, thinking that this Minister of Rites, appointed less than half a year ago, was indeed perceptive and pleased her greatly.
"Minister Qian, if the court sends troops to suppress the rebellion this time, will I still need to subsidize with silver from my privy purse?" the Empress suddenly asked Qian Jieren.
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue does not require silver from Your Majesty's privy purse this time. We have already allocated two million taels to the military, which has been used to procure a large amount of supplies. We only need an additional fifty thousand taels for departure expenses." Qian Jieren's whole body stiffened as he replied with unprecedented firmness. This was the most assertive he had been towards the Empress since taking office. With money in the treasury, the Ministry of Revenue dared to speak louder and stand tall in their official capacity.
"Excellent!" The Empress nodded with satisfaction and then said sternly, "Since that is the case, I command the military to dispatch seventy thousand troops, my Imperial Guard to dispatch ten thousand, and the Five City Patrols to dispatch ten thousand as auxiliary forces, totaling ninety thousand troops to march against Princess Li Mengdie's rebellion!"
"Understood!" Grand General Wei Zi clasped his hands excitedly, thinking that since he wasn't sent to campaign in the Eastern Frontier war last time, he should at least be appointed commander for this major event.
However, the Empress then turned to Chu Chen and said, "The person who has rebelled this time holds a special position, being a royal princess. Therefore, sending others to quell the rebellion might lead to hesitation and reservations. Thus, I appoint you, Minister Chu, as the commander, and the Fifth Princess, Li Xinyue, as the chief supervisor. You will lead the ninety thousand troops to suppress the rebellion!"
"Minister Chu, do you have the intention to take on this important responsibility?"
"Your subject, Chu Chen, will not fail this mission!" Chu Chen, knowing he could not avoid it, quickly clasped his hands and bowed.
Wei Zi, standing nearby, looked displeased and said unconvinced, "Your Majesty, our military also has many talented individuals. Minister Chu is too important to the court to be easily appointed as commander. If Minister Chu leaves, how will the court's affairs and the leadership of civil officials be managed?" The implicit meaning was that this was against the rules, and the military achievements should belong to the military.
The Empress felt helpless. If she could, she wouldn't want Chu Chen to lead. But she had her own plans. She needed to build Chu Chen's qualifications, his military achievements, and his prestige, and then have him accompany Xinyue, indirectly highlighting Xinyue. At the same time, she wanted the Fifth Princess to gain experience as the chief supervisor. Frankly speaking, the Empress doubted the combat capabilities of the military under Wei Zi for such an important task.
"My decision is made. Chu Chen will be the commander. This matter cannot be handled without the joint expedition of Minister Chu and the Fifth Princess," the Empress stated unequivocally.
However, to appease Wei Zi and the military behind him, she continued, "Although I have appointed Minister Chu as commander, you, Minister Wei, may also appoint a deputy commander to assist, who will command thirty thousand troops. The remaining troops will be under Minister Chu's command. Do you understand, Minister Wei?"
Wei Zi was stunned. His intuition told him something was amiss. After a moment of thought, he formed a guess, and his heart trembled.
"Your subject, Wei Zi, dares not disobey?" Wei Zi quickly clasped his hands and accepted the order, his heart pounding. He was shocked by his own thoughts.
"So be it," the Empress nodded and then said, "This expedition is of great importance. I command you all to cooperate and work together to quell this rebellion. Any department that deliberately hinders progress will not be forgiven!"
"We dare not!" Chu Chen and the others bowed in unison.
After leaving the imperial study, Chu Chen hurried back to the Office of Political Affairs.