#ImperialEunuch
The eldest seemed to want to refute as Ji Li stopped him there “Even if you were right, that isn’t the biggest problem. It’s your brother, do you not know?” Ji Li said as he looked at the confused younger brother next to the eldest “In him burn the flames of arrogance and pride, he can hide it well, but I can see that the moment you come to rein, he’ll be a big issue.
Shixuan told me you see your brother as someone you would protect over everything else, it seems you also spoil him intentionally or not. How can you ensure he won’t cause troubles when you don’t look?
Just on my way here, the dukes were too busy preparing to dispatch for war, that they missed out when their children went out to torture wild animals for fun. An official complaint was issued towards them, do you think the dukes look well on it? Do you not understand the trouble their children caused, making them spend longer in the back, having their own guards die in the front because of a small ‘miscalculation’. You should rethink your approach to life.”
Ji Li sighed as he looked to the other side. The son seemed somewhat hopeful and happy, while his sister next to him tried to calm him down. Ji Li looked at the son and asked, “Your mother is a concubine, how do you feel towards this?”
The child was surprised and he rather rashly refuted “She is not a concubine! She is as much of a wife to father as the others are!”
His sister looked at him somewhat coldly, while his mother smiled wryly but with a bit of a smile. Shaking his head again, Ji Li told him “I didn’t deny that, but I asked you how you feel towards it. You didn’t even rage about the fact that your father has so many ‘wives’, but only about the title they were given. This is a strong double standard; do you understand it? You act, maybe unknowingly, like the culture to marriage is faulty, but your words seem no better than those that accept the system as is.
Your ruling skills are far outmatched by your elder brother, while your moral is worse too. Tell me, why would I pick you as the next heir just because he is faulty? Can’t he still learn now that I told him? Or do you wish your half-brother to fail, just so you can reign?”
The son was about to refute once again as Ji Li stopped him again “Of course you want your brother to fail, what is wrong with being ambitious? Your fault lays not in there, it’s because you are worse than you brother, yet you fail to realise that and keep being ambitious. Everyone is ambitious, but only a few people are called ‘ambitious fool’, this hits you very well. I recommend you join the army and refine your skills there; you seem to have talent in cultivation, at least out doing your brother in this game.”
Ji Li let his words sink into the room, then he turned to the marquis and asked “Honourable Noble, you have just heard what I said. Who do you think should be the next heir?”
The marquis frowned, he thought for a bit and might have even used his Talent to find out. His cultivation of course wasn’t that of a real viscount, it was obvious from the young ages of his wives. His grandfather is the one that ensured his family kept the title, he joined the marine though, his father also left for that place, and now he was preparing for that too. It was all too usual for a family to have ancestors that kept the title, while the one holding it wasn’t even close to the power.
The military was one place where you could have your own army under your command, but because you had one title already, you wouldn’t be assigned any troops and had to do everything on your own. This meant there were many small elite units led by nobles.
This wasn’t a bad thing, the resources they got from fights and explorations would go towards them while they only contributed a bit as tax. In exchange, the empire wouldn’t have their strong people sit under the sunshine and do nothing the whole day long.
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The marquis soon was about to reply as he looked at the eldest, but Ji Li had to once again stop him “Why do you consider those two when they’re horrible choices? You want to take the lesser evil it seems, but how do you even know the lesser evil before both show themselves?
Also, why would you only look at them? I disqualified the others, but it was your job to check why they were disqualified in the first place, then I should find and give reasons, you should counter that, they would show off and prove they are worthy, after a lengthy discussion, we would have the proper heir that takes care of your House while you are gone.”
This made the marquis smile awkwardly, everyone of them did. Ji Li didn’t have much interest, so he stood up as he said on his way out “The daughter is the right choice. She is composed, has every intention to improve the atmosphere of the marquisate, she seems to despise the wrong moral of her brother but still tries to talk to him and help him understand better, she focused and answered for her brother so he wouldn’t have too many wrong answers, and she has the loyalty of her brother, who would do everything to protect her.
Look at this pair, the sister is smart, and the brother is somewhat stupid, but he compensates it with strength. Make the sister the marchioness while the brother will be her guard.” Ji Li turned one last time, taking a look at the young lady and nodded before he fully left the room.
…
Ji Li went back to prepare going out the next day. He met the palace eunuch that acts as the branch head a last time, telling him his mission was over and that he would return. The past few days made him realise that his foundation is stable enough for rapid growth. He could actually go from middle essence awakening to low talent refining without any long seclusion to calm his mood and reaffirm his foundation.
This would also be what he planned for the next step, he would take a small break of a few days once he is back in the capital, since he had met every important person, there was no need to make meetups and discuss things for a while.
In all honesty, the next break at the capital also seems like a waste, but he has to report back. Bureaucracy was truly the murder of freedom, unfortunately it’s a core of a society.
The next days went by in a blur for Ji Li, he left in the morning, avoided the central city between the dukedoms, took in Qianyu, went back to the capital uneventfully, even skipping a shopping spree for fast-food, until he was finally back in his courtyard.
He didn’t stay there long at all, actually he left after just stepping into the outer yard. His two brothers didn’t say anything the whole time back. Lu Wei was confused, but the brothers just told him that they’d see some action soon and he should prepare himself to go out of the capital the very same day, latest would be the next.
Lila had received the same message, but she didn’t even ask, she had seen such reactions from her surroundings. It was the restlessness after one escaped into safety, it felt like you weren’t truly safe and something was going to happen, at least that’s her guess of the situation.
Ji Li soon found himself in front of his mentor. He didn’t plan to do so, but his elder brothers told him that Hua Jing would most likely have a solution.
And that was true, Hua Jing suggested Ji Li and his group join the borders in the front. Currently, a lot was happening at the borders, and many outposts and forts need help defending. Hua Jing didn’t know about their talents, but it wasn’t difficult to find a position in the army.
His husband, Tian Xuan, was a Lieutenant of the Military, commanding over a thousand soldiers to defend an outpost. It was somewhat in the territory of the warmonger tribes, and other surrounding outposts were built there to defend the forts in the back. They were supposed to look out for incoming enemies and maybe stop them for a short while till reinforcements arrive.
This post was risky and dangerous, Hua Jing himself would also soon go out, but he was going to stabilise his foundation for some time, his talent wasn’t as large as Ji LI’s, not was his foundation as stable, so when he advanced to the Talent Refining stage this early, it was a foreseeable issue. Not that his foundation was shaky, everyone needed to stabilise their foundation after advancing, especially after a big stage.
With this, as if his brothers predicted it, Ji Li went the very same day. He had been assigned under the Eunuch Ceremonial Palace after his formal ceremony, the same was for his brothers. So, they only had to report to their elder brothers, which they quickly did, then they left for the military. The outpost was pretty far away, and it was to be expected that the whole journey, even with the mist horses, would take around ten days.