“Can strategists not ascend the throne?”
Chapter 247 – Opening the Branch
If we take her words at face value, no one’s being wronged here.
But this ‘control group’ person is a bit special.
With Tian Feng’s smarts, it wasn’t hard to tell the situation he was in while Qiao Yan was pointing at the Qiao family members and scolding them.
However, understanding what kind of scene he was facing didn’t seem to fill him with joy.
When everyone collectively turned their gaze towards him, Tian Feng felt for a brief moment like even if his identity as “Tian Feng” wasn’t out in the open, it didn’t stop the word “target” from being written above his head.
His mind went blank for an instant.
Wait a minute!
Why was this happening to him?
Any other person in his position would probably feel pretty good about it.
As someone who initially just wanted to earn a living in Bingzhou, he had unexpectedly managed to catch the eye of the Grand Marshal and even learned from a renowned teacher. One could say he was halfway into the noble circle.
And now he had not only secured Qiao Yan’s promise to “eventually become a member of the court in Chang’an,” but also received her praise for having “great insight,” making his path ahead look smoother.
But what Tian Feng wanted was nothing like that!
He wasn’t some visionary who saw the potential in the Chang’an court and worked hard to stand out; he was simply someone who got pushed into this position by sheer accident.
Using him as a positive reference for disciplining the Qiao family from Yanzhou seemed a tad off, don’t you think?
As for how he knew these people hailed from the Qiao family of Yanzhou, well, it was because one particularly impatient young man stared at Tian Feng for a good while before turning back to Qiao Yan and saying, “My lord, are you really disregarding the fact that we also have unspoken troubles and casting us aside like abandoned shoes?”
He wanted to say that it’d be better to challenge this person Qiao Yan brought in.
But she had picked someone way too convenient to ridicule them.
Just like she said, this fellow was promoted from a tools maker.
So, if he managed to win against Tian Feng, what good would it do for their reputation?
A noble scion beating a common farmer!
If he lost, they’d end up looking even worse.
For that young man, it wasn’t impossible to lose; after all, Qiao Yan said the other person’s current teacher was Chen Ji.
They had no idea when this guy became Chen Ji’s student, didn’t know how long he’d studied at Hongwen Hall, or how much he’d learned.
Being sent to military service by Guo Jia really limited their chances of gathering news in Chang’an, leading to their ignorance of this “Yuan Feng” guy.
In fact, none of them had much knowledge to challenge Tian Feng.
Tian Feng’s age and seemingly simple appearance made it hard to figure out if he had a past of farming while studying that led to his current rise.
If this speculation turned out true, he might just be a hidden master.
Then the rumors would change—
Other than the one high up as Grand Marshal, the Qiao family scions from Yanzhou would be seen as inferior to a mere craftsman, explaining why the Grand Marshal wanted to distance herself from them.
Thinking of this, the Qiao family members could only muster a question to Qiao Yan and did nothing else.
Qiao Yan’s gaze shifted from the one who spoke to Tian Feng, delivering a remark that left no room for doubt: “Rather than saying I cast you aside like waste, it would be more fitting to say I regard you as venomous beasts instead.”
To her, this person’s immediate choice to avoid a challenge was somewhat laughable.
Tian Feng breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing this situation, finding it rather amusing.
Even if she was the one who created this spectacle, she’d probably consider it a masterpiece of absurdity.
She originally wanted to see what would happen if these two sides actually went at it, but aside from confirming that there was no one left to use from the Qiao family, she gained nothing new.
This young man, who received the “venomous beast” label, was actually chosen as a support figure after the Qiao family of Yanzhou lost Qiao Rui. He might not be particularly capable but had big ambitions.
He was oblivious to what his retreat meant; on the contrary, that decisive remark crushed his hopes of climbing up using Qiao Yan’s connections, only fueling his anger and resentment.
At that moment, one thought flashed through his mind—
What is the reasoning behind this?
Why would she rather support her subordinates to positions such as General of the Yama Gate, Middle General of Pingbei, and even Grand Minister of Agriculture, yet hesitate to grant her relatives high ranks?
An average person looking at this would think those subordinates might try to usurp her power after benefiting from her, so only those of the same bloodline could truly ally with her.
Doing so was almost like self-sabotage, inviting trouble!
The youth’s face flushed red; wanting to storm off but feeling he had to say something before he left.
After all the hits from Guo Jia to Qiao Yan and her blocking his path forward, his mind was far from clear.
He mused, since he couldn’t get anywhere here, he might as well head toward Ye City.
At this point, whether to offend Qiao Yan severely didn’t even seem like a big deal anymore.
So, what he blurted out wasn’t aimed at Tian Feng, but directed at Qiao Yan instead.
“You’re just as ruthless as your grandfather! If it weren’t for his coldness, your uncle wouldn’t have met his end at the hands of bandits, and your father wouldn’t have struggled for years just to be a Prefect of Rencheng, let alone during the Yellow Turban Rebellion…”
In a flash, a long sword suddenly pressed against his neck, cutting off his unfinished sentence.
The sheathed sword, like Qiao Yan’s not-so-raised voice, carried an air so chilling it made him gasp.
At that moment, the weight of her long-held authority seemed to promise a storm was brewing.
With deliberate clarity, she said, “My grandfather sacrificed his small family for the greater good, upheld principles at critical times, and struck against the evil bandits like lightning. How could mere leeches such as yourselves, who enjoy the remnants of past merits, aspire to even catch up?”
“Today, this world is in chaos, and the stability of the state is paramount. Even Mr. Bojie, in his inscriptions regarding my grandfather, spoke of his deeds as surpassing common people. Are you implying he is open to your criticism?”
With the sword sheathed, it was clear she was not here to decapitate him for the moment.
But as her words “implying criticism” landed, Tian Feng wished he could suddenly become deaf and pretend he didn’t catch any of it.
He just wanted to sneak a bit of knowledge…
Yet why was the conflict between the Grand Marshal and the Qiao family of Yanzhou playing out in front of him?
But if Tian Feng were to give an objective assessment, he’d say the Qiao family from Yanzhou really wasn’t bright.
Even if they wanted to turn against Qiao Yan to ally with Ye City, it shouldn’t be by targeting her like they were doing.
This was not so much a jab at Qiao Yan as it was a compliment!
The late emperor approved the transportation of Qiao Xuan’s body with the Northern Army Five Divisions to honor him in his funeral rites, thereby offering a conclusive judgment on Qiao Xuan’s merits and demerits during his lifetime.
As such, they certainly couldn’t dare to speak against him; otherwise, it would be disrespect to the late emperor.
Moreover, Qiao Xuan hadn’t done anything controversial like Cui Lie, so even if Yuan Shao and Qiao Yan were at odds, they wouldn’t dare slander the reputation of the deceased Grand Commandant.
This kid really had a lot of guts!
Though the younger folks didn’t get it, the older ones certainly did. They didn’t even wait for Qiao Yan’s two sentences to finish before they rushed over to cover the young man’s mouth, fearing he’d say something he shouldn’t.
They hurriedly smiled at Qiao Yan, saying, “Grand Marshal, he speaks without thinking; please don’t take it to heart.”
Qiao Yan replied casually, “It’s fine; it’s good to say it all out in the open.”
But those who heard it sensed no comfort in her words; after all, that sword was still aimed at the young man’s neck, and outside the building, they could hear the clattering armor and marching soldiers, ready to take care of these rash individuals at any moment.
Raising an eyebrow, she said, “My original position is this. If there truly are talented individuals in your clan, you can prove that your talents have nothing to do with the court in Ye City, and seek a future of your own through the current channels for gathering talent. But if you just want to rely on the name of Qiao Yan to climb up, then forget it.”
Her oddly cold gaze passed over the young man’s increasingly frightened face, “And not only do you harbor this kind of idea, your stance is unclear, yet you’re greedy as ghosts, blinded by profit, making it shameful to be associated with!”
Suddenly, she withdrew her sword and returned to the main seat.
If these people weren’t all related to her, Tian Feng had no doubt she would have straight-up killed someone.
But for now, it was enough to see what true wrath looked like.
Qiao Yan raised her hand and declared, “Show them out!”
This was no ordinary dismissal.
With Qiao Yan’s signal, someone quickly pinned those several people down on the spot while simultaneously blocking their mouths.
“Take everything they have in Chang’an and send it all the way out through Tong Pass.”
This one sentence completely crushed any hopes these people had of waiting for her anger to cool before they could negotiate.
That was seriously such a blatant slap in the face.
The stuff they gained in Chang’an technically included the clothes on their backs too.
Those were issued to them for hard labor in the military camps.
Now they were clearly bound to be confiscated as well.
Now, how on earth were they supposed to find appropriate clothing once they passed through Tong Pass, and how would they make their way back to Yanzhou?
Yet their curses got stuck in their throats, and they were dragged away like some heavy baggage.
However, if you asked Qiao Yan, this wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
Once they left here, if they chose to join the folks in Ye City, they could have a bit of common ground when trying to cozy up to Xu You.
But I doubt that would be enough to win Xu You over.
Xu You might be greedy, but he had some skills and wouldn’t compromise on such selection matters.
And after this encounter, they had seriously lost face.
To strictly execute her plan of “sending them out through Tong Pass,” Dian Wei, just promoted to the role of Door General… no, wait, the Tooth General, personally led a team to escort them.
Qiao Yan could even guess that if there weren’t just two of those Qiao family members coming to Chang’an, and if she hadn’t had to think about Dian Wei’s generalship, he might have wanted to carry those dummies himself, channeling his past glory of carrying both Liang Zhongning and Bo Cai at the same time.
She couldn’t help but chuckle to herself, though she didn’t let it show on her face, just calling out to “Yuan Mo.”
Tian Feng seemed to have his gaze stuck on the departing folks for a moment too long before he finally reacted.
Realizing he shouldn’t get distracted, he quickly pulled his thoughts together.
As he watched those people leave, if their exit hadn’t been so undignified, Tian Feng might have even felt a tinge of envy toward those fools.
After all, he too wanted to be sent through Tong Pass; then he could legitimately head to Ye City.
But Tian Feng felt like no matter what, he wouldn’t be able to shake off his brain enough to utter the ridiculous question the Qiao youth asked.
That made his plan of being invited to leave a bit too difficult to pull off.
After all, he wasn’t a relative of Qiao Yan; if he didn’t gauge it right, he wouldn’t just end up being thrown out of the pass.
Just thinking about how if he really did that, he might end up executed for exposing his identity as a traitor, rather than just getting killed for saying something dumb, made him instantly shrug off that thought.
When he looked back at Qiao Yan, he saw the fury that was about to explode had been suppressed, leaving a lingering touch of gloom.
But this wasn’t the end of the matter.
Qiao Yan wasn’t planning to stop at just sending those people away.
Having Qiao family members saying such ill-mannered things right in front of her was like a once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity.
If she didn’t use the moment to cut down some people’s ambitions and position herself in a safer spot, she’d be doing a disservice to their “gift on arrival!”
She glanced down at the sword in her hand once more before addressing Tian Feng, “Sorry for dragging you into this.”
With her status, she didn’t have to apologize to Tian Feng; he quickly waved his hand, indicating he didn’t mind being used as a decoy.
Not pausing, she continued, “But I still need to trouble you a bit more. Please accompany me to meet the Son of Heaven and serve as a witness from this place.”
From Tian Feng’s angle, he saw a flicker in Qiao Yan’s gaze, a hint of melancholy that quickly turned into steadfast resolve.
The meaning behind it was crystal clear.
Rather than let people keep pestering her, it was better to slam the door shut right away!
What kind of witness did she want? Naturally, it was to testify that she had severed ties with the Qiao family from Yanzhou.
This was, of course, no trouble for Tian Feng.
To him, completely cutting off the Qiao family’s thoughts of joining Qiao Yan also ensured they wouldn’t stir trouble for other noble families in Yanzhou.
This earned some manpower for Ming Gong’s side.
The only thing making him hesitate was whether if they sent over less capable, low EQ helpers to Yuan Shao, it might create a negative effect instead.
But maybe he didn’t need to stress over it, because Qiao Yan had given him no room to refuse.
In the brief moment Tian Feng was weighing his options, Qiao Yan had already sent someone ahead with her seal to the location of the Son of Heaven.
Liu Yu was busying himself with nothing important in Chang’an, so there was no way he’d refuse Qiao Yan’s request for an audience.
Thus, as the seal was dispatched, Qiao Yan had already composed herself and stepped out the door.
Behind her, Guo Jia pulled Tian Feng along while asking Qiao Yan, “My lord, are you really going to restrict me from drinking for three months? That’s not punishment; that’s torture!”
Seeing she didn’t respond, Guo Jia continued, “By the way, Cai Lingshi asked my lord the other day if there were any fresh materials for the Leping Monthly Report, especially for the sections on anecdotes and stories. I think this could fit right in. Just say that the Ji Province worker, an unknown man, showed outstanding performance, earning a promotion from his superiors, being mentored by masters, frequenting gatherings of talented scholars, and even gained an audience with the Son of Heaven.”
“Doing this will show my lord has no bias against people from different regions and will provide a model for aspiring scholars from humble beginnings. What do you think?”
Qiao Yan seemed somewhat burdened by the performance of those Qiao family members, but upon hearing this suggestion, a fleeting smile broke through, and she replied, “That’s doable.”
Tian Feng: “……”
Had it not been for his current need to hide his identity, he would’ve rebuked Guo Jia, “You want to cheer up the moody my lord and get back that drinking restriction punishment? Why drag me into it?”
He put in a solid effort to keep a neutral face upon hearing this, even putting on a show of surprise, before transforming into a total bumpkin when he stepped into the palace walls for the first time.
Fortunately, when he met Liu Yu, no one paid mind to his attitude as a witness, and nobody pointed out how poor his acting was.
The real star here was Qiao Yan.
She was the center of this whole uproar.
Perhaps as she issued the command to toss those Qiao family members out through Tong Pass, she had made her decision in her heart, but as she stood before Liu Yu, she hesitated for a moment before bowing and stating, “Your humble servant requests your majesty’s approval to establish a branch of the Qiao family from Taiyuan, separate from the Qiao family of Yanzhou, based on the ancestral temple of my grandfather Qiao Gong in Leping.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Yu, who had expected no trivial matters when Qiao Yan requested an audience, let alone bringing witnesses, couldn’t help but be startled and question, “What’s the reason for this?”
The issue of family branches could be significant or insignificant, but even small matters rarely got tossed around casually.
Especially when crossing regional lines for a family branch.
This sudden proposal from Qiao Yan made Liu Yu think of the conversation he had with Xianyu Fu before her triumph, when he inquired if there would be a reward or titles for Qiao Yan’s relatives; Xianyu Fu had told him that Qiao Yan seemed to have a rather delicate relationship with her family.
According to Xianyu Fu, issuing an official post to her relatives would be more likely to incur her wrath instead of honoring her by giving her the title of Inner Marquis.
But Liu Yu never expected this tension would blow up so quickly.
The moment Qiao Yan met Liu Yu’s gaze, any trace of hesitation had completely shattered, leaving only the quietly clenched fist at her side to show just how far from calm her face truly was.
She proclaimed, “At the end of Guanghe, in the house of my grandfather during the Yanshi period, I spoke with him on the night before his passing. His heartfelt teachings still linger with me to this day.”
What she meant to say wasn’t that if the Han didn’t let her down, she wouldn’t let the Han down either.
If she really said that, it would sound a bit too audacious.
What she intended to convey was—
“My grandfather once expressed that he never regretted having few offspring and not holding a high position. What he desired was only a prosperous nation and a peaceful populace. I honor his aspirations, etching his military exploits in the annals of history, offering ceremonial rites at the ancestral temple, upholding the principles of integrity and peace, which led to today’s achievements.”
“Now, having been fortunate to be entrusted by your majesty with the weighty title of Grand Marshal, I dare not overstep my authority. It’s because the Qiao family from Yanzhou draws from a renowned lineage; rumor has it that the Yellow Emperor was buried in Qiao Mountain, and among his descendants are those who carry the surname Qiao, passing down the arts of music and ritual up until now. I shall sincerely serve to restore the royal ambitions.”
She paused before continuing:
“However, pests arise among the peach and plum trees, and it’s difficult to avoid; there are indeed those among the Qiao family who have yet to achieve anything but still aspire to ascend to greatness. As a younger member, I should not be harsh or ungrateful to comment on this situation, but with the Han dynasty on the brink of crisis, I dare not put my own family before the greater need and disturb the hearts of the people because of familial ties.”
Having said this, she suddenly knelt down to Liu Yu and performed a deep bow, before lifting her gaze again.
Liu Yu didn’t mistake it; the pain in her eyes due to this sacrifice was barely concealed, and even those she had brought in as witnesses couldn’t help but be moved.
But if one only listened to her words, each one rang out with strength and steadfastness.
“I respectfully request your majesty’s permission for me to set up my own branch; if rumors arise saying I am overly ambitious and forget my roots, I am willing to resign from the position of Grand Marshal and only retain the title of General of the Eastern Campaign—”
“To recover Youji, intimidate Qingxu, and restore the prestige of the Han dynasty!”
