A sharp gleam flashed in the eyes of Qing Zhaoye, the Qing Household's Fourth Elder. He immediately seized the opportunity, stepped forward to twist the knife, and declared loudly:
"Grand General! I told you long ago that Qing Chen rose too suddenly to high office, and his virtue falls short of his station! Look at him-the congratulations on his elevation to marquis still ring in our ears, yet in the blink of an eye, he has lost cities and territory, soldiers and officers!
"Is this the conduct of a capable general? He has plainly betrayed your trust and the grace of the Immortal Dynasty! If such a grave offense goes unpunished, how can we convince the ranks? How can we steady the army's morale?!"
His words were vicious in the extreme.
He had directly elevated Qing Chen's mistake into a matter of maintaining the army's morale.
Wei Ting, who had just returned from the Qiong Prefecture front, instantly broke into a sweat and hurriedly stepped out to defend him:
"Grand General, please judge this clearly! Blackstone City fell because Southern Yue spies and insiders coordinated their efforts from within and without! The battle report states it plainly: large numbers of fortune nodes were destroyed with precision. This was no ordinary oversight!
"Qing Chen was fighting fiercely in Lingyuan County City in Qiong Prefecture at the time. Afterward, he turned the enemy's scheme against them and joined forces with me to severely wound the Yinshi Marquis in Pingnan Prefecture. He also arranged for three True Lords to defend Blackstone County Seat. He could not be everywhere at once! His officers and soldiers fought bathed in blood, even detonating their formations and fighting to the death as the rear guard, and only thus preserved most of the main force..."
"Enough!"
Xiao Canglan's