Test from the Emperor

The emperor entered the hall regally. All six of them corrected their posture and kowtowed to the king.

"This subject greets the emperor."

The emperor smiled. "So, you have all arrived. Please take a seat."

The emperor sat down first before all of them dared to sit down. The emperor's eyes locked onto Jun Min as he observed the young general. He had long heard about this boy, but seeing his appearance, he felt a bit odd. This kid didn't look any different from most teenagers in the streets so how could he have so much accomplishment?

The emperor didn't show his curiosity and instead started to talk calmly.

"I called you all here to help me construct a strategy. There is a certain riot in the Jin Village, which started three days ago. This is the map of the area and I wanted to know your thoughts about it."

The eunuch came forward and presented the map. They have marked the position of the enemies and the troops they had in the city nearby. The number was not great, but if they needed reinforcement, it would take some time before the capital could send any more people.

"How much time we have?" Soujin asked first.

"It's better to resolve this riot quickly in order to avoid any disturbances."

Lan Ping face scrunched a bit. He had wanted to propose cutting off the supply chain for the village in order to weaken the force there. The position of the village was quite remote, so it would be easy to block them, but with the emperor wanted them to resolve it quickly, there was no way he could propose the idea.

"What's their demand?" This time it was Jun Hua who asked.

The eunuch stepped forward. "They are asking for a new official to be sent there because they don't like the previous official. According to our report, this official is a good one and there shouldn't be any need to change him."

"So, they turned hostile just to change the official?" Jun Hua raised an eyebrow. "Then you should just switch the official with another from the other city near them. It should solve the problem if there's no more demand."

The eunuch was stunned. Jun Hua's straightforward answer was actually the same as the one that their strategist had said. It's just that the official had some backing and somehow, they didn't want to allow that official to change his position. The strategist thus chose a different method, and that family had to accept.

Soujin closed his eyes. "But the official has some backing so that makes it difficult to change. If I'm not wrong, you have already deployed people to forcefully shift that official's job to the neighboring village that is about the same size and some money to coax that family."

The problems have been resolved? This was the first time Lan Ping heard about it and all of the war strategies he wanted to propose soon disappeared. If it's like this, why did the emperor asked them to come here early in the morning?

The emperor was not too surprised by this development. He had already anticipated that Soujin would have some news beforehand since the Nanglong family was indeed strong. What he did not expect was how quick Jun Min proposed his ideas even before he knew the entire situation there.

"It's just some warm up. The real challenge is this one."

Another eunuch brought to them another map. This was the map of Ming Kingdom showing some areas which were still 'free'. There were a lot of smaller kingdoms and villages around the few bigger kingdoms that on some occasions, the big kingdoms would try to take down. The map that was presented to them had three small kingdoms marked by the emperor.

"There are three small kingdoms in the West that have been growing in power. I wanted to subdue them using a small number of soldiers. Five thousand soldiers with their generals are already waiting for an order at the border. Your task is to subdue these kingdoms in less than two months."

Jun Hua stared at the map and made a few calculations in her mind. Even with a horse, she could only reach the border in five days, which was if she sprinted all the way without sleeping. Then she would need to organize the soldiers and march towards the enemies. All in all, it would require around one and a half month at the very least.

Soujin also stared at the map for a moment. The task was not impossible, but two months were extremely arduous. If they would not encounter any trouble, they should be able to finish it in time. However, if there were a lot of problems along the way, it would take a much longer time.

Lan Ping looked at the map and tried to remember all of it perfectly. He wanted to show them all that he was the most brilliant general, exceedingly skilled than the rest.

"Now, among these three kingdoms, which one will you take down?" the emperor asked the three generals.

All the while, the three old men waited at the back patiently. For a kingdom to strive, they would require strong and talented people. It was only logical that the emperor wanted to test them, but Jun Zhenxian knew that this emperor would undoubtedly make their Jun family's task even harder.

Jun Hua's eyes swept across the three kingdoms and myriad strategies appeared within her mind. Soon she smiled slightly. She had found a feasible strategy which would allow her to conquer the kingdom swiftly, but there was a big risk there.

After a while, the emperor asked them again, "Who wants to choose first?"

The young generals looked at each other. Seeing that the two of them were still probing, Jun Hua raised her hand.

"Which one Jun Min?"

"I choose the Al Kingdom," Jun Min confidently answered.

Soujin's brows creased at Jun Hua's choice, but he didn't really mind it. He let Lan Ping choose before he picked the last one the other two didn't take.

The emperor only bid them good luck before retreating to the back, leaving the three of them in the hall. His last message was: "Two months will start tomorrow."