The empress disliked my achievements for overshadowing her own, so she turned her attention to the N

The courtiers below had no idea that their Empress Dowager would drop such a bombshell right from the start.

To avoid attracting attention, Chen Nan deliberately followed the line of military officers and was the last to enter the court.

But he didn't expect that as soon as he said that, dozens of eyes were immediately fixed on him.

Chen Nan pouted angrily, intending to step forward and refuse.

Before he could even step out, a line of civil officials raised their voices in question, which reached everyone's ears.

"Your Majesty, Chen Nan rose from a commoner to General Zhennan in the blink of an eye."

"This time, he was merely on par with Daqian and Xishu, yet he was granted the titles of king and prime minister. Are all the great generals of our Northern Wei truly inferior to this one man from Daqian?"

Following the sound, Chen Nan saw a middle-aged man who was half-bent over, wearing a red robe and sporting a small mustache.

He carefully searched his memory and confirmed that he did not know this person, and that the two had no connection whatsoever.

I started to get curious, wondering why this person was so interested in my affairs right from the start.

"Your Majesty, I also believe that it is too early to confer titles and appoint ministers upon General Chen at this time!"

"Not only is it premature, but our Northern Wei also suffered considerable losses in the battle against Daqian! Your Majesty, I request that you punish those responsible one by one before rewarding those who have rendered meritorious service!"

Chen Nan shook his head inwardly as he stared at the second person who spoke.

He didn't know the first one, but he did know the second one.

The one speaking was none other than Changsun Du, the Right Chancellor, who was of the same rank as him.

What puzzled him was that before the expedition, Changsun Du's attitude towards him wasn't particularly good, but it wasn't this bad either.

How could things have changed so drastically in just a few days?

Seeing the two men question her one after the other, the Empress Dowager of Northern Wei frowned on the dragon throne.

His eyes searched around, and finally, he spotted Chen Nan at the end of the group of military officers.

Then she put on a smiling face and said calmly to Chen Nan, "General Chen, why are you standing so far back? Come, stand in front of me!"

Chen Nan looked around, then reluctantly stepped forward to the front of the military officers, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Empress Dowager!"

The Empress Dowager of Northern Wei smiled slightly at Chen Nan, then turned her cold gaze to the two civil officials who had just spoken.

She asked in a cold voice, "Qin Academy, Prime Minister Changsun, do you two have any questions about what I have to say?"

Upon hearing this tone, Changsun Du knew things were about to go wrong.

He immediately knelt down and begged for forgiveness, saying, "Your Majesty, I was only trying to share your burdens. General Chen is the culprit who caused the deaths of 200,000 people in my city of Suzhou."

Seeing that something was wrong, Qin Xueyuan also knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Changsun is right. Without General Chen, how could more than 200,000 people in Sucheng have been killed by Jiang Zhe?"

"Moreover, I have heard that General Chen had the advantage from the beginning and allowed Jiang Zhe's army to run rampant, which is why this situation has arisen."

"If we were to grant Chen Nan the titles of Marquis and Prime Minister even under such circumstances, how would the rest of the Northern Wei generals and soldiers view this?"

In the end, Qin Qingmin stopped using his official title and addressed Chen Nan by his first name.

However, he was kneeling with his head down.

While speaking, he didn't notice at all the face of the Northern Wei Empress Dowager on the dragon throne, which was as black as the bottom of a pot.

After he finished speaking, he looked up and realized that everyone in the hall was staring at him.

This includes the young emperor sitting next to the dragon throne in his wet nurse's arms.

The notification sound echoed in Chen Nan's mind again.

[Beep, detected the young emperor's inner thoughts: Mother, this person is an idiot~ I'm so hungry, I want to nurse~~~]

Upon seeing this notification, Chen Nan wanted to laugh.

He never expected that Qin Academy would attract the ridicule of the young emperor.

Just as he was wondering what Qin Xueyuan's identity was and why he was belittling him like this.

On the dragon throne, the Empress Dowager addressed him by his full name: "Qin Qingmin, don't think I don't know your little schemes."

"So what if a descendant of your Qin family was beheaded on General Chen's orders!"

Qin Qingmin's expression changed drastically. He never expected that the Empress Dowager would find out about his family's affairs.

Meanwhile, Chen Nan remembered that when he ordered Qin Feng to be killed in Lecheng, the man mentioned that he had some relative in the capital doing something.

Faced with the Empress Dowager's cold words, Qin Qingmin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "Empress Dowager, I am not doing this to avenge the younger generation in my family."

"It was Chen Nan who went too far, allowing the Daqian army to roam deep within our Northern Wei territory, resulting in the massacre of Sucheng."

"This further led to the Western Shu cutting off supplies to our Northern Wei and joining forces with the Da Qian to deal with our Northern Wei."

Hearing this, Chen Nan could no longer hold back and wanted to go up and slap him twice.

Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager's words were even more sharp: "Qin Qingmin, you have been fixated on General Chen's crimes."

"Today I will tell you that before General Chen, the Northern Wei was once so badly defeated by the Da Qian that it could not even lift its head."

"Only after General Chen was stripped of his title by the Daqian Emperor was General Hongming able to reclaim the lost territory of our Northern Wei."

"Now that General Chen has joined our Northern Wei, we have annihilated the 300,000-strong army of the Great Qian Dynasty, plus the 100,000-strong army of the Western Shu!"

"On this one task alone, I ask you, who among you can do it?"

Seeing the Empress Dowager's obvious favoritism towards Chen Nan, the officials were completely disheartened.

Qin Qingmin's words, in particular, sent chills down his spine.

Before he could recover, the Empress Dowager raised her voice again: "General Chen joining the Northern Wei is undoubtedly a great thing for you military generals."

“Think back to the past, when General Chen was in the Great Qian Dynasty, you military officers didn’t even have the courage to attend court.”

"Now look what's happened, you dare to attend court, but the first thing you do is watch as the leader of your side is trampled underfoot by the civil officials, right?"

In an instant, the military officers all began to recall the events.

As they thought about it, they both lowered their heads.

They suddenly realized that if Chen Nan were still in Daqian, Sucheng would still belong to him, and there would have been no massacre.

As for Jiang Zhe, everyone had heard of him. If all their previous opponents were replaced by someone like Jiang Zhe...

I'm afraid the Great Qian Dynasty has already fallen more than ten times.

As they pondered this, most of the military officers glanced up at Chen Nan without revealing their thoughts.

However, the expressions on the faces of two of them were very strange, their faces turning as red as a monkey's bottom.

Suddenly, Hongming stepped forward and glared at Qin Qingmin with disdain.

Only then did he arrive at the center of the hall and respectfully say, "Your Majesty, this humble general can testify for General Chen."

"At that time, the army had only recently captured Lecheng, and in order to keep Lecheng safe, they did not take action against Jiang Zhe's army."

"Just when we were about to make a move, Wang Dong of Western Shu led an army of 100,000 to the city gates."

"Just as we were engaged in a decisive battle with Wang Dong, Jiang Zhe made a desperate gamble and besieged Su City."

"In the end, this matter is all my fault for not discovering it in time, which is why this situation has arisen."

Hongming explained softly, trying to use her status as the commander-in-chief to take the blame and thus not hinder Chen Nan's path to promotion.

But Qin Qingmin didn't give her that chance at all, and said directly: "If General Hong wants to take responsibility for General Chen, just say so. Why beat around the bush like this?"

Hongming's face turned ashen. In the end, she was the commander of the army, and that incident could indeed be blamed on her.

However, Qin Qingmin had no intention of letting Chen Nan go.