After capturing a prefectural city, Ian Song immediately sent troops to attack the county towns within the territory.
There were only five thousand soldiers stationed in the prefectural city, let alone the county towns. Plus, with Ian Song spreading the news that Peter Xue was already dead, in less than a day, the Frostmarch Army had reclaimed all of Shaoyin Prefecture.
After taking Shaoyin Prefecture, he did not continue advancing his army.
He wanted to give the rebel army time to retreat.
According to what he knew, there were fewer than fifty thousand rebel troops left in all of Cloudwaste Province, and they were scattered among the provincial capital and three other county-level prefectures.
Even if they combined forces, they were no match for Ian Song's army of over a hundred thousand, let alone when scattered. Besides, with Peter Xue dead and no one to lead them, the rebels' confidence had already taken a huge hit—there was no way they'd dare to confront Ian Song.
So—
In less than ten days, the rebel army completely withdrew from Cloudwaste Province.
Ian Song then led his men to take over, directly occupying the entire Cloudwaste Province.
Afterwards, he wrote a formal memorial to the capital, and also sent a private letter to his teacher, Zachary Cai.
Five days later—
Ian Song's memorial arrived in the capital.
The fall of the Five Northern Provinces had dealt a heavy blow to the Valeguard Kingdom, with a full third of its territory lost. And as the rebel army grew stronger, the entire kingdom was at risk of being overrun.
Because of this—
Everyone in Valeguard was left feeling lost and uncertain.
Even the Emperor of Valeguard, usually obsessed with pleasure, was now forced to actually govern for once.
So—
When he saw Ian Song's memorial, the Emperor of Valeguard couldn't help but praise him repeatedly, saying, "Song Ziyu truly deserves to be the Third-Rank Graduate I personally appointed!"
By the time the Emperor received Ian Song's memorial, Zachary Cai had already gotten Ian's private letter.
When he read everything described in the letter, Zachary Cai was full of disbelief—his student had actually led the Frostmarch Army to retake all of Cloudwaste Province! Ian also mentioned in his letter that he hoped Zachary could help him secure the post of Provincial Governor of Cloudwaste.
The Provincial Governor is a Third Grade grand official, known as a 'frontier-sealing dignitary.'
So when Zachary Cai saw Ian Song's request, he couldn't help but frown a little. Ian had only been in office for a year, and his promotion to Frostmarch Military Commissioner was already irregular. If he were promoted to Provincial Governor, there would definitely be pushback from the entire court.
Still, he decided to give it a try—after all, Ian Song was his student, and also his son-in-law.
The next morning, at court—
The news that Ian Song had retaken Cloudwaste Province had already spread through the entire court.
But after the Emperor of Valeguard announced the news, everyone pretended not to know and then offered their congratulations.
The Emperor was in a great mood about this and invited everyone to discuss what reward Ian Song should receive.
Right now, Zachary Cai was the Right Vice Minister of Rites and one of the court's bigwigs. Even if he wanted to help Ian Song get the Provincial Governor post, he wouldn't step forward himself—instead, he'd have one of his faction's followers do it.
But before he gave the signal, his followers kept quiet.
Instead, other officials began to speak up one after another.
But all the rewards these officials proposed were just gold, silver, or empty honorary titles—nothing of real substance.
The main reason was that Ian Song was already Military Commissioner of Frostmarch and only fourteen years old. If he got promoted again, it would make them all uncomfortable—even with all his achievements, no one wanted to suggest giving him another promotion.
Zachary Cai couldn't stand it anymore. With a glance, he signaled a Sixth-Grade censor from the Censorate—one of his faction's followers—who then stepped out, gave Ian Song a round of extravagant praise, and proposed that Ian be appointed acting Provincial Governor of Cloudwaste Province.
It would be hard to make him full Provincial Governor right away, so Zachary Cai took a step back and aimed for acting Provincial Governor. As long as Ian made more contributions later, it would be easy to remove the 'acting' part of his title.
Even if it was only acting Provincial Governor—
—it still provoked the rest of the court. Suddenly, opposition surged like a tide: some officials harped on Ian Song's age, others complained he'd just been made Military Commissioner, so how could he be promoted again?
Zachary Cai's faction wasn't about to back down either—they jumped up to argue back, insisting that Song Ziyu had earned every promotion with real merit. Besides, with four out of the Five Northern Provinces still in rebel hands, who but Song Ziyu had the ability to take them back?
So the two factions started shouting at each other in the main hall—it almost came to blows.
Gradually, the Emperor of Valeguard began to lose patience. He glanced at the eunuch beside him.
Immediately, a sharp voice rang out: "Gentlemen, how can you make such a scene in the main hall?"
As soon as that voice finished, the main hall fell quiet.
The Emperor of Valeguard turned his gaze to Bruce Summers. "Minister Su, you've worked with Minister Song before—what do you think of his abilities?"
"A heaven-sent genius!"
Bruce Summers replied.
"So do you think he has what it takes to serve as Provincial Governor of Cloudwaste Province?"
"He does!"
Bruce Summers answered without hesitation.
The Emperor nodded in satisfaction and declared in a deep voice, "Prepare the decree—appoint Ian Song, courtesy name Song Ziyu, as Provincial Governor of Cloudwaste Province!"
"Your Majesty, you mustn't!"
A minister immediately shouted.
"Please, Your Majesty, take back your decree!"
"Your Majesty, what virtue or ability does Song Ziyu have to be qualified as Provincial Governor?"
...
One minister after another panicked and jumped up to block the Emperor of Valeguard.
Seeing so many ministers opposing him, the Emperor's expression turned grim. He looked toward the elder standing at the head of the civil officials and asked, "Minister Yu, what's your opinion?"
The one the Emperor named was Yu Fan—Yu Zhongqing, one of the three Cabinet Elders.
"Your Majesty, Song Ziyu is simply too young. I'm afraid he can't bear the responsibilities of Provincial Governor!" Yu Fan said solemnly.
Hearing this, the Emperor's face grew even colder.
Zachary Cai's face also darkened.
"Minister Li, Minister Xie—what do you two think?"