The officials nodded silently in agreement.

Indeed, a fifth rank was already pushing it, and now they wanted to promote the dog further!

If this precedent were set, what if the dog kept getting promoted? If it became their superior through promotions, wouldn’t that be laughable?

No, they must stop the Emperor’s foolishness!

“Your Majesty, giving a dog official ranks and titles is truly inappropriate. We implore Your Majesty to reconsider!”

“We implore Your Majesty to reconsider—”

Emperor Jingming listened with lowered eyelids as the group of officials vehemently opposed, inwardly sneering.

Hmph, today he was determined to promote Erniu.

Seeing that Emperor Jingming showed no reaction to the officials’ remonstrations, a court advisor stepped forward: “Your Majesty, this humble official has heard that General Erniu discovered a young girl during the Jinli Town earthquake. General Erniu saving one person is indeed meritorious, but to say it warrants a promotion in rank and title is truly excessive… If you insist on this, where does it leave Deputy Minister Zhao and others who have worked tirelessly for days?”

The court advisor’s words immediately drew echoes of agreement.

Emperor Jingming looked down at the officials from his high position and suddenly smiled, “If we’re talking about merit, I believe no one, including Deputy Minister Zhao, would object that Erniu’s contribution was the greatest.”

All eyes turned to Deputy Minister Zhao.

Deputy Minister Zhao was slightly surprised.

For the Emperor to say this, could he be planning to reveal Erniu’s true contribution?

“Lord Zhao, say something—” a nearby official whispered.

“Say what?” Deputy Minister Zhao snapped back to attention.

The official’s mouth twitched as he reminded, “The Emperor said General Erniu’s contribution was greater than all of yours…”

Deputy Minister Zhao nodded, “The Emperor is correct.”

The official nearly choked, looking at Deputy Minister Zhao with shocked and disdainful eyes.

He never imagined Deputy Minister Zhao would be this kind of person!

Emperor Jingming, tired of listening to the officials’ commotion, spoke calmly, “What you don’t know, my dear ministers, is that the people of Jinli Town were able to evacuate early and avoid the earthquake not because a divine being warned Prince Yan in a dream, but because Erniu predicted the earthquake in advance!”

As he spoke, his gaze swept toward Yu Jin.

Yu Jin was first surprised, then smiled.

This smile was half genuine, half for Emperor Jingming’s benefit.

In Yu Jin’s view, the halo of being warned by a divine being in a dream was troublesome.

He had no ambition for that position; he had taken on the matter earlier because the Crown Prince refused, and for the sake of those thousand-plus people, he had to step up.

Who would have thought the earthquake happened? In the minds of those ambitious for that position, it became a huge flaw.

He wasn’t afraid of making enemies, but not meaningless ones. What he wanted was to live comfortably and freely with Asi behind closed doors.

Emperor Jingming taking the initiative to clear up this matter was a relief for Yu Jin, naturally making him happy. But this happiness didn’t need to be shown; his visible joy was to reassure the old Emperor.

Yu Jin didn’t find it bothersome, just somewhat emotional: sitting in that position must be truly exhausting…

Seeing Yu Jin’s relieved smile, Emperor Jingming was indeed reassured, and beyond that, somewhat moved.

His decision not to let Seventh Prince be associated with divine intervention was based on two considerations.

First, the Crown Prince’s position as heir apparent couldn’t be threatened in any way. Second, it was for the Seventh Prince’s good.

One day when the Crown Prince ascended to his position, his tolerance for a divinely favored brother might not be very high…

No matter how he thought about it, Emperor Jingming felt this was a potential danger, best resolved early.

Yu Jin’s reaction was undoubtedly gratifying to him.

He had worried that Seventh Prince might crave empty fame, might feel he was showing favoritism… Ahem, of course, there was some favoritism, he admitted that. After all, the Crown Prince was his only legitimate son.

But he also hoped for the Seventh Prince to have a stable and prosperous future.

Emperor Jingming’s words shocked the officials.

“If any of you doubt this, you can ask Deputy Minister Zhao and the others.”

“Lord Zhao, what exactly happened?” The officials crowded around Deputy Minister Zhao, asking questions.

Deputy Minister Zhao stepped forward and recounted the events of that day in detail, describing even Erniu’s warning gestures, leaving the officials with no room for doubt.

Emperor Jingming was quite satisfied with Deputy Minister Zhao’s explanation. He swept his gaze over the officials and spoke slowly, “In this Jinli Town earthquake, Deputy Minister Zhao and others indeed made significant contributions, but the primary credit goes to Erniu. I have said more than once that merit should be rewarded and faults punished. Erniu saved over a thousand people in Jinli Town. Do you think he deserves a promotion in rank and title?”

The officials had nothing to say and could only honestly reply, “He does—”

Deputy Minister Zhao silently looked toward Yu Jin.

Standing among the princes, Prince Yan still stood out, exceptional.

The Emperor truly had good intentions, using the pretext of promoting Erniu to naturally extricate Prince Yan from the situation.

Seen this way, the Emperor showed great care for Prince Yan.

Deputy Minister Zhao withdrew his gaze, thinking to himself: If he had such an outstanding son like Prince Yan, he would cherish him too.

The Crown Prince?

Ahem, a son like the Crown Prince didn’t exist; if born and found unsuitable, he would have been drowned immediately…

In the end, Erniu kept his title of Howling Sky General but was promoted from fifth rank to fourth rank.

The officials sighed in disbelief.

Many had toiled for most of their lives and still wavered below the fourth rank. If one of their sons or nephews became a fourth-rank official, the entire family would consider it a sign of future prosperity. Yet here was a dog becoming a fourth-rank general.

It was truly disheartening to think about.

Next, Emperor Jingming commended Deputy Minister Zhao and others. He didn’t immediately promote Deputy Minister Zhao, but keen observers could see that as soon as the Minister of Revenue retired, Deputy Minister Zhao would likely become Minister Zhao.

The Left Deputy Minister of Revenue forced a smile, regretting that he had been indisposed after the Qianhe County earthquake and missed the opportunity to earn merit.

He understood that Deputy Minister Zhao’s luck played a large part.

Following convention, disaster relief wasn’t considered a great merit, but the Jinli Town earthquake changed that.

The Jinli Town earthquake itself wasn’t extraordinary, but the fact that a town of over a thousand people only suffered a few dozen casualties made it a tremendous achievement, one that would likely be recorded in the annals of history.

It was truly a matter of luck!

The Left Deputy Minister of Revenue glanced at Deputy Minister Zhao, then at Yu Jin, inwardly sighing deeply.

After commending the outsiders, Emperor Jingming praised Yu Jin in front of the court, then reluctantly mentioned the Crown Prince before dismissing the court.

Prince Qi returned to his mansion, his face immediately darkening.

Seventh Brother was truly fortunate to have such an intelligent dog.

Although Father Emperor had clarified that Seventh Brother’s divine warning dream was unfounded, Seventh Brother’s reputation had already spread. Could they explain it to each ignorant commoner one by one?

This kind of popular support was what he had dreamed of for years, yet Seventh Brother had obtained it effortlessly.

Prince Qi was gnashing his teeth with jealousy when, a few days later, two “Umbrellas of Ten Thousand People” arrived from Qianhe County – one for Deputy Minister Zhao and another for Prince Yan.

It wasn’t uncommon for virtuous officials to receive such umbrellas from the people, but for a royal prince to receive one was extremely rare.

Suddenly, Yu Jin became the most prominent figure in the court.