Cunning General Si Ning
Chapter 219: A Loud Talker

Chapter 219: A Loud Talker

On a normal occurrence, Si Ning would have shut up and accepted it because he had always been looking out for himself as his first priority but just hearing that Xiu Zhicheng would go to war and he, as his wife won’t stay with him was so upsetting he decided to object if not all the scenarios about what might happen at the war was going to keep him awake for days to come and make him run mad a little.

Si Ning quickly walked to stand opposite the table in front of Xiu Zhicheng so that his serious expression could be seen. "Your Majesty I have been leading the army for years and the army sees me as their General and places so much trust in me so I think it will be best for me to lead them." He said quickly before Xiu Zhicheng give a task to the next Official.

After Xiu Zhicheng gave Si Ning his task, he already turned to address the next issue which was the main reason Si Ning had to stand in front of Xiu Zhicheng so his voice could be heard.

"I am putting you Si Ning in charge of Xiu by working with the Minister of Defense because I trust you to lead the court meeting in my absence and make sure Xiu doesn’t collapse nor there is any penetration by the enemy from anywhere." Xiu Zhicheng explained gently. "As the Empress, the mother of the Nation and a General, you are the perfect person to fulfill this position." He added.

Si Ning’s eyes widened, his role was a huge one that he could see why Xiu Zhicheng placed him in charge, he as the Empress had to do the Empress’ work now, yet he wasn’t satisfied with staying but he couldn’t oppose any more. "I will make sure to defend Xiu with my life." He said as he knelt like he saw the Officials do, his heart beating fast in his chest just by knowing he was going to stay behind while Xiu Zhicheng leaves. It was quite heartbreaking for him but he was going to put his trust in Xiu Zhicheng to come back triumph.

When Xiu Zhicheng didn’t say a word made Si Ning raise his head and he caught a flash of emotion in Xiu Zhicheng’s eyes, he didn’t understand and he was unable to understand because Xiu Zhicheng had turned to look at his subjects which made Si Ning stand up to stand at his position.

"Minister of Works." Xiu Zhicheng called out.

Xiu TianZhao, first of all, turned to look around like he was looking for the Minister of Works when nobody answered, he wore a confused expression then his eyes widened like he realised he was the Minister of Works which made him turn his head sharply to face front.

"Yes Your Majesty!"

"You will find out how many farmers are working on the Imperial farmland and if the need arises then farmers will be needed to be employed to maximize the yield and make work faster because if the provisions of war finish then we will need replacements." Xiu Zhicheng said. "Our enemies are intelligent just like us, same strategies which include cutting a trade route of supplies from other tribes, clans, towns, cities or Nations which means we will have to depend on Xiu just to make sure the other Nations we have an alliance with doesn’t suffer any damages from Xilie."

"Yes." Xiu TianZhao knelt. "Your Majesty."

Si Ning had no idea about Xiu TianZhao’s work but seeing him getting a task looked weird because he couldn’t imagine a man like Xiu TianZhao who loved to enjoy life so much would actually work.

"We will move over to the meetings with the Generals in the council room before afternoon." Xiu Zhicheng stood up and then turned to face Si Ning. "My Empress, I will like to see if not all but one of your Commanders present at the meeting." He told Si Ning.

"Yes Your Majesty." Si Ning replied, he bowed expecting a subtle show of affection from Xiu Zhicheng maybe a slight hold of his hand briefly or a pat on the shoulder with a smile but he was wrong because Xiu Zhucheng descended the steps and started walking away like he had no time to waste.

The rest of the Generals present followed including Song Ouyang and Shao Lang who gave a quick nod to Si Ning, while the rest quickly shuffled themselves out of the courtroom, the Minister of Defense faced Si Ning because he was going to work with Si Ning henceforth.

"Your Majesty." The Minister of Defense said as he saluted waiting for his order to make the order the Emperor gave him go smoothly.

"Ningzi, I bet brother wants to protect you as much as possible for him to say you will stay in Xiu." Xiu TianZhao whispered as he passed by Si Ning with a smile, he exit the courtroom from the side of the door he always comes in from.

Si Ning would have loved to call Xiu TianZhao to tell him that he doesn’t think so because his task was an extremely important one and he was the only one that could do it so it wasn’t a matter of being protected.

Seeing that Xiu TianZhao already left, Si Ning knew everybody was serious so he stood there knowing he urgently needed a place to sit and think, what he wanted to think about was how to come up with a plan about how he might be able to enter the meeting with the Generals alongside his Commander because his help might be needed, playing battleXmode strategies might be needed but his head was currently blank so he only stood there for sometime before heading to the large door he came in, the Minister of Defense walking behind but Si Ning needed to think so he started walking sideways of the building ignoring the flight of stairs he was supposed to take down to meet his companions. he was about to round the corner of the building when he heard some low voices coming from the corner.

".....guard our Nation?"

Si Ning stopped before he could round the corner just to listen, his gut told him to stop and listen. He had a feeling the discussion was about him and he didn’t recognize the voice so he was curious if they were going to praise him or not.

"Yes to guard our Nation, he is a General and he won’t go to war and I am sure his Majesty just wants to protect him because Xiu’s defense runs by itself, did you even see his ring, it matches with his Majesty’s."

"You noticed the ring? Minister of Education."

"But you saw General Si Ning objected and as a General, I am sure he would love to be on the frontline instead of....."

Ling Qi?

"Hiding between his tails in the Palace."

"What insolence!" The Minister of Defense stepped right from behind Si Ning and rounded the corner to appear before the men that don’t know when to keep their mouths shut.

Si Ning had no idea the Minister of Defense had been following him, he had been lost in thought he thought it was Xiao Pei, he wished the Minister of Defense didn’t go to stop them because he would have loved to hear their discussion till the end but since the cat was out of the bag he decided to step out and found himself facing Ling Qi and two other Ministers that had a same old appearance as Ling Qi, they had faces he used to see but had no idea about about their names or position but his only concern was the Minister of Education, he just had to find out which one was the Minister of Education that was adamant that he was just running away from the upcoming war. Like he quote ’Hiding between his tails in the palace.’

"Yo..ur... You..r Majesty!"

Nobody had to point to the Minister of Education because one of the Ministers already fell to his knees as he stammerd while the other was standing there like he was seeing a ghost, his face instantly went pale, his looks aging instantly that he looked twice his age, sweat started to trickle down his face and he started to shake a little all over, his breathing became louder as he fell to his knees defeated like he was seeing death.

"Your Majesty this subject of yours tried to reprimand him but he drank so much yesterday night which prevented him from keeping his mouth shut. Please Your Majesty forgive him." The first Minister to kneel said as he raised his two hands to kowtow.

Ling Qi also fell to his knees. "Your Majesty forgive this old foolish friend of mine with a loose tongue, he had much to drink yesterday night which made him keep saying nonsense, please punish him, Your Majesty and forgive us for not making him to shut up the instant he mentioned Your Majesty." He said as he grabbed the loud talker’s head and pressed it suddenly to the floor to make him kowtow. "Apologize!"

"Pl..e..ase fo...rg..ive me Yo... ur Maj..esty. Pleas. . punish me..." The Minister of Education said in a small shaky voice.

Si Ning could see that for Ling Qi to kneel he was trying to save the loud talker while the third among them was trying to save only his head yet the loud talker seemed to have lost his voice. This time Si Ning made up his mind to set up an example if not the repeat of gossiping about him was going to happen again and it seemed the old Minister of Education would be the scapegoat.