Chapter 282: Tactics

These two countries are really amazing. It seems that they care more about the affairs of the Great Zhou than they do themselves. As soon as the plague here eased, they sent envoys over.

The eight words “coming with ill intentions” and “taking advantage of the situation to rob” were almost written on their faces.

Ye Shuo wanted to see what they were trying to do.

Even though so many people have tried their best and done everything they should, the population of the Great Zhou still suffered a considerable loss.

Each of these are human lives.

Putting down the household registration statistics results submitted by various places, Ye Shuo let out a long breath. A feeling of pain and heaviness flashed through his heart. When he opened his eyes again, his vision became clear again.

The two countries came together, so there was bound to be quite a stir. Just the discussion on how to entertain them caused a huge uproar in the court.

Ye Shuo sat on top, listening to them cursing, and felt a headache.

In the end, there was really no other way, He Xiang and others couldn’t help but look at him. After all, he was still the emperor.

“May I ask your Majesty, what do you think?”

Ye Shuo didn’t even think about it: “I think what you said is wrong. It’s better to listen to my ideas.”

He Xiang thought that Ye Shuo had some brilliant ideas, but he didn’t expect that Ye Shuo’s idea was just to do it casually, just to save face. It was even worse than the suggestions of several generals.

I really shouldn’t have expected anything from him…

He Xiang pulled the corner of his mouth and couldn’t help but remind him: “Chen Guo and Bei Ting came at the same time, I’m afraid they have other intentions.”

“That’s why we must treat them like this because they had bad intentions.”

Ye Shuo said, “Let me ask you, if they really have bad intentions, will treating them with good food and wine be effective? National affairs are not a joke.”

He Xiang hesitated: “This…”

Ye Shuo added: “Similarly, if they have no other intentions, they will not turn against each other just because of a banquet.”

If it was normal, it would be fine. It’s not like the Great Zhou couldn’t afford a few meals, so they would just give it. But in this situation, the people can’t even eat, so where would they get so much spare money to feed these enemies who are obviously unfeedable?

“So listen to me, there’s no need to make a big fuss.”

He Xiang suddenly felt that what he said seemed to make sense.

Wait, I almost got led astray by him.

After calming down, He Xiang said hurriedly: “The matter of hospitality is not only about money, but also about the reputation of the Great Zhou.” It’s not that simple. If we could really save money, we would have saved it long ago. 𝐫𝙖𝐍οʙΕṤ

“We must not lose the face of the Great Zhou, and we must not let the surrounding small countries laugh at us. If that happens, I’m afraid those people will also have rebellious thoughts.”

Face, face, and face again. Ye Shuo didn’t know how many times he had heard this word.

The so-called face, in the final analysis, is that they themselves are not strong enough, otherwise, if they fart, Beiting and Chen will think it smells good. And if the Great Zhou itself is not good enough, no matter how luxurious and gorgeous they make the ceremony, the other two countries will only think that they are bluffing and they don’t know how to laugh at them behind their backs.

As for those small countries on the periphery, they can only envy them, envy that even if the food was replaced with slop, the envoys from Beiting and Chen would eat it with a smile.

Of course, this is a bit exaggerated, but it is the truth.

“What’s the point of talking about face or not? Don’t you think they don’t know about our situation?” The other party knew the situation of the three countries very well. There was no secret.

The plague just ended in the Great Zhou, and they arrived right after. Isn’t that enough to explain the problem?

“Also, don’t forget that my father died in his prime because Beiting was rampant in the Great Zhou, which damaged his foundation. You have forgotten such a deep hatred, but I can’t forget it. Or are you so soft that you can even forget such a thing?”

Speaking of this, Ye Shuo became even angrier.

Seeing that he had brought up Emperor Jingwen, even Prime Minister He was at a loss for words. After all, tracing back, Emperor Jingwen did die because of Beiting.

The hatred for killing one’s father is irreconcilable. If Your Majesty lets it go, it would be unfilial, and if they, as his subjects, let it go, it would be disloyal.

Such words actually aroused the thoughts of He Xiang and others. After all, if Emperor Jingwen was still alive, why would the Great Zhou Dynasty be in such a state…

Seeing that they were silent, Ye Shuo spoke up at the right time: “Do you have any objections, my dear ministers?”

After waiting for a while, Ye Shuo waved his hand and said, “In that case, then do as I say.”

“Resign!”

He Xiang opened his mouth and hesitated for a long time, but he really couldn’t say anything like asking him to put the overall situation first.

As we all know, the emperor has been willful since he was young. How could he know what the overall situation is? When has he ever considered the overall situation? It’s useless to talk about it. When has he ever changed his decision?

There is no way. The person above can’t be relied on. Prime Minister He can only wait until the court is dismissed to have a meeting with the Shangshu Ling and others to work overtime.

The Minister of Rites and the Minister of Honglu Temple were the two people who were most tormented at the moment, because if nothing unexpected happened, the task of receiving the envoys would definitely fall on them.

Especially at this time, if they make any mistake, they may be pushed out as scapegoats.

“Master He, what do you think? Should we… relax a little bit at that time?” The only solution now is to tighten up and loosen up.

During the meeting today, Xing Yucheng, Li Yuheng and the Minister of Works were deliberately avoided because they were afraid that they would complain. That’s why the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Honglu Temple dared to speak like this.

But what’s the point of avoiding Xing Yucheng and the others? Now that the eldest princess controls the Supervisory Office, if anyone dares to disobey her orders, the news will reach the emperor’s desk within two quarters of an hour, and they can only think about it.

Just when the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Honglu thought that the old man at the head was at least verbally supporting them, they didn’t expect that as soon as they finished speaking, they heard He Xiang hurriedly say: “Absolutely not.”

“If His Majesty knew about this, the consequences would be disastrous.”

If the emperor starts to make a scene, who can control him? Even if Prince Su and Prince Jin come, it won’t work. Things will get worse.

“So it’s impossible to tighten the top and loosen the bottom. All we have to do is tighten the top and tighten the bottom even more.”

As soon as He Xiang said this, everyone was dumbfounded.

But soon, Shang Shu Ling was the first to understand what he meant: “You mean, we should keep an eye on those envoys for His Majesty?”

He Xiang nodded: “This old man does have this intention.”

After all these years, how could He Xiang not know what kind of people those envoys were? A bunch of scumbags.

Prime Minister He has never forgotten the time when the current emperor, who was only that old, came to the post station with a knife and killed people. So many years have passed, and the emperor’s temper has not only not been restrained, but has become even worse. If the same thing happens again, a group of envoys will surely die. Not only will the leader die, but the others may not survive either.

But it’s different if they fall into their hands. No matter what, they will not harm their lives. As long as the person is still alive, there is still room for manoeuvre. It’s always better than being completely dead, right?

When it comes to choosing the lesser of two evils, how could He Xiang, who is old and experienced, not know what to choose?

“Or, before the envoy arrives, can one of you ask His Majesty to change his temper? There may be a chance for this matter to turn around.”

The moment the words fell, everyone present shook their heads like rattles. Forget it, why say something like this that is impossible to come true.

Shang Shu Ling couldn’t help but cough lightly: “I think that He Xiang’s idea is not bad, very good, very good.”

“Yeah yeah.”

“I agree.”

He Xiang: “…”

well……

After everyone left, the Minister of the Chancellery heard him sigh and couldn’t help asking, “Now that the matter has been resolved, why is the old Prime Minister sighing?”

He Xiang did not hide his feelings: “I just hope that Beiting and Chen will not mess around this time, and will not deliberately provoke His Majesty.”

Otherwise, God knows what will happen.

He Xiang couldn’t help but pray in his heart, please don’t do anything reckless! The emperor is a very straightforward person, and he is not a soft-hearted person. He is not controlled by the court officials at all. If he gets impulsive, he can do anything. He doesn’t care so much.

The Minister of the Chancellery also thought of this, and even his tone became particularly difficult.

“Your Majesty should…have some sense of propriety, right?”

“Oh, what do you think?”

Shangshu Ling: “…………”

Oh my god…

Just when several ministers were feeling gloomy and depressed, the envoys’ team finally arrived.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the troops of both sides had gathered together dozens of miles away from the outskirts of the city. Beiting and Chen State entered Shangjing City almost at the same time.

After entering the city, the two teams immediately found something wrong.

If it had happened before, the people of Shangjing would have lined the streets to welcome him, and it would have been bustling everywhere, but look at this time… so many people were doing nothing, with only a few people watching the fun, and the rest didn’t even bother to raise their heads.

If the envoys randomly asked the people in the post station, they would definitely get the same answer: Busy! Very busy! The plague had just ended, people from all over the country had just resumed circulation, and it was almost time for farming. How could they have so much time to visit these envoys who were never very friendly?

In the past, it was the emperor’s order, and they had to show their support. Now… forget it, they don’t have so much free time.

Originally, the envoys of the two countries thought that this was a coincidence, or that it was because the plague had just ended and the people were in panic, but what followed was the Minister of Rites.

There were envoys from two countries, but the Great Zhou did not even send a prince or nobleman, and only asked a small minister to receive them.

Seeing this, the two countries, which were originally full of confidence, frowned and couldn’t help but become alert.

When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong, so they should be more vigilant.

Soon, the two teams of envoys discovered that the matter was far more complicated than that. If sending only one Shangshu was just bluffing, then the group of soldiers in black armour surrounding the post station were a real deterrent.

The Beiting envoys instinctively wanted to protest, but the group of black-armoured guards remained unmoved and forcibly separated them from the Chen State’s team.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The moment the door of the posthouse was closed, the envoy’s face changed.

Oh no, when did the officials of the Great Zhou become so tough?

If a person is really tough, even if the other person is very thin, it will make a sturdy man feel afraid. Otherwise, what if the other person fights you to death?

Even if the Great Zhou has just experienced a huge change, if you really don’t care, you can still scrape off a few layers of flesh and blood from one of them.

Then, the Beiting envoys heard that the newly enthroned emperor had said in front of everyone during the morning court session that he had a deep hatred for them, especially Beiting…