People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 634 Stress Test
"He's testing us."

"Testing?"

The road conditions in Goguryeo were far inferior to those in Xuanxia. Even the roads in the royal city were not smooth, and the carriage swayed from side to side with the movement of the horses. However, the two people sitting in the carriage at this time were not in the mood to care about the riding experience.

Li Zheng was turned away at the palace, and after coming out he immediately made a judgment, which made the students around him a little confused.

"This is a stress test." Li Zheng did not pretend to be profound, but explained to the students: "There is only one possibility for avoiding meeting at this time, that is, the King of Goguryeo intends to use this incident to test our reaction level."

The student seemed to understand something at this time, but he still frowned: "But, what is the purpose of his test?"

At this time, Li Zheng took out a sword from under the carriage. After unsheathing it, he slowly wiped the sword with a handkerchief, and a cold breath instantly emanated.

The student couldn't help but shudder; he clearly felt the murderous intent.

At this juncture, Li Zheng's reaction gave him a bad feeling that the ambassador's next reaction would not be gentle.

"The King of Goguryeo is just observing. If we react lightly to this matter and the court does not help, he will judge that this kind of thing is not our bottom line, and our voice will become smaller in many future exchanges between the two countries, and they will continue to test until they really find that red line."

Although Li Zheng's tone was calm when he spoke, the student couldn't help but become nervous. Dealing with the crisis at this time made him feel like he was on a battlefield.

However, the student was soon relieved. After all, the ambassador in front of him had followed the Yellow Turban army all the way to today and had witnessed all kinds of dangerous scenes. That was why he could remain calm and composed at this moment.

Now, such things may seem serious to me, but they are nothing in the eyes of the ambassador.

"How dare he be so arrogant? Isn't he afraid of angering us?" Although he has sorted out his thoughts now, the student is still shocked by Shirou's boldness. A mere small country is testing the bottom line of the suzerain country, which is tantamount to dancing on the edge of a knife.

Li Zheng glanced at the student and shook his head. "If the situation really starts to become dangerous, the King of Goguryeo will come out to calm things down immediately. This matter is not a big deal, and it is just offending some powerful people. It is not something that he, the ruler of a country, cannot solve."

At this point, Li Zheng had completely analyzed Emiya's thoughts, and the student also completely understood.

Although some things are not on the surface, smart people know them well, and even if both parties know the details, they can only move forward.

The student was a little distressed for a moment, and he didn't know what to do in the current situation.

After a moment of silence, he said, "Then how should we react? The attitude of the King of Goguryeo is ambiguous. How can we compete with the local tyrants? After all, the foreign students involved in this incident are all local dignitaries."

Li Zheng said calmly: "It's not difficult to handle. The stress test seems to be for us, but it is actually for him. If the pressure we put on him is great enough, we can naturally force him to take the initiative to stand up. If he wants to see our bottom line, then we can tell him that this matter is below Xuan Xia's bottom line!"

The student nodded and pondered, then said, "Although I have only been studying here for a year, I can feel that there are actually quite a few people in Goguryeo who are close to Xuanxia. If the ambassador takes the initiative, it should be possible to get many of them to speak out in support of us. In any case, we are right in this matter. As long as the momentum we create is strong enough, we will definitely force the King of Goguryeo to show up."

After hearing this suggestion, Li Zheng couldn't help but nod his head and admired this student even more.

But anyone who can stand out from thousands of people and be sent to study abroad is definitely not an ordinary person, especially the one in front of him who is a representative among the international students.

Although these international students came from poor backgrounds, they were no worse than the so-called elite scholars under Xuanxia's education system.

In fact, the student's judgment is very accurate. There is indeed a considerable number of pro-China factions within Goguryeo today. This is partly due to cultural admiration, but more is driven by interests.

Some of them made a lot of money by distributing Xuanxia's products, while others shared the profits from Xuanxia's industrial development in Goguryeo. This gave them the motivation to directly flatter and get close to Xuanxia. Only in this way can more people pay for Xuanxia's products, and as a link in the interest chain, they can also gain huge wealth.

Nothing can bind people's hearts more than interests. At this juncture, as long as Li Zheng is willing, he can indeed incite a considerable group of people to put pressure on Emiya.

These groups that rely on Xuan Xia for profit may even be more anxious than Xuan Xia himself when Xuan Xia's interests and authority are challenged.

In fact, this was not a situation that occurred naturally, but was a judgment that Xu Chen had anticipated long ago. He also gave this group a very precise name, namely the comprador group.

Today, all of Xu Chen's judgments have come true. The comprador groups within the small countries and tribes have become a force that cannot be ignored by them, and are also a powerful tool that Xuan Xia can use.

And now this student has realized this kind of tool. As long as Li Zheng is willing, he can indeed do so. To a certain extent, Shirou's stress test is also to test how powerful this comprador power is.

However, although the student’s suggestion was good, Li Zheng had no intention of doing so. What he needed now was a simpler way to break the deadlock.

"Have you ever killed anyone?" The carriage slowed down. Li Zheng sheathed his sword and looked at the student.

The student was startled. Although he was a little confused, he still answered truthfully: "I have never killed anyone."

Li Zheng then stuffed the sword into the student's arms and asked, "Are you afraid of death?"

The student finally realized something at this time. After a brief silence, he nodded seriously: "I am afraid of death, but I am more afraid of losing Xuan Xia's face!"

"Well, you are worthy of being a Chinese man." Upon hearing this, Li Zheng laughed loudly, then pulled open the curtain of the carriage and looked at a small building next to it: "I have information. Those students are gathering here to have fun. If you want to avenge your dead classmates, then go and kill your enemies yourself!"

The student couldn't help but take a long breath. Although he had some guesses, he was still shocked when he actually heard it.

Afterwards, Li Zheng jumped off the carriage and the students followed him. Only then did he suddenly realize that his classmates were already waiting there. Dozens of Xuanxia students looked at each other, their slightly excited and flustered faces undoubtedly showed that they all knew what they were going to do next.

After Li Zheng looked around at the students, he just waved his hand and someone immediately brought a bundle of swords. Many students also took their weapons in silence. Only then did Li Zheng give them the final mobilization.

"You must remember that testing the bottom line is itself a provocation. When facing provocation, there is no need to try to find rules and reasons. Only swords can demonstrate dignity!" At this time, the Goguryeo people around the street had discovered that something was wrong here, and they stopped and watched the excitement from afar. As long as they saw the Xuanxia students holding swords, even a fool would know that a brutal fight would follow.

Normally speaking, the locals would not tolerate outsiders coming to their territory and acting recklessly. However, after a conversation among the Goguryeo people who were watching, no one showed any hostility towards Li Zheng and his men.

After all, the fact that students from the two countries fought and died was considered huge news in the royal city. These two groups of people were people that ordinary people in Goguryeo dared not provoke. Of course, they also knew the reasons behind this incident.

Ironically, Xuanxia students died to help the people of Goguryeo get justice, but it was the students of Goguryeo who oppressed and abused the people.

Now that the situation has intensified, although many lower-class people in this royal city can't do anything, it is very clear what people's hearts are like. There are even many people who secretly support Xuanxia students.

"Since the King of Goguryeo doesn't want to talk about morality, then use violence against them. This will definitely make him understand!"

Although he was under the watchful eyes of the public and living under someone else's roof, Li Zheng did not show any fear or panic at this moment. As a veteran who had participated in the Yellow Turban Movement in his early years, he had experienced too much. Life and death scenes were no longer a big deal to him. In his eyes, Goguryeo was not worth mentioning.

Such a small country, let alone compared with princes like Cao, Liu, Sun and Yuan, even Gongsun Zan in his early years could easily deal with it, let alone Xuan Xia who fought his way through the chaos among the princes.

Xuan Xia is willing to talk about morality to give face to other countries. If they don't want this face themselves, Xuan Xia naturally doesn't mind using some domineering tactics. As Xuan Xia's ambassador abroad, Li Zheng also has sufficient professional level to deal with the current situation, and he will not hesitate to use thundering means when it is time to do so.

"The enemy is here, you can go in." Li Zheng stood with his hands behind his back and said the last words.

A group of Xuanxia students looked at each other, and finally laughed at each other. Although they knew that a fierce battle was about to begin, they were not afraid at all. They just picked up their swords and entered the building one after another.

Immediately afterwards, the sounds of men and women screaming and shouting in fear were heard from the restaurant. One could imagine what kind of killing scene was going on inside.

However, such a scene did not frighten the surrounding people. On the contrary, many people even cheered for it. To the lower-class people in the royal city, the powerful people of Goguryeo were the ones who directly persecuted them, while it was Xuanxia who brought them many benefits.

Xuanxia's factory brought them a livelihood, Xuanxia's products improved their lives, and even Xuanxia's students were willing to seek justice for them. These were things that the Goguryeo royal court could not give them.
The people's hearts behind these cheers are also what Li Zheng relies on to dare to do so.

Given the current public sentiment, if Xuanxia was willing, it would be able to enter Goguryeo as a righteous army and overthrow the royal court to liberate the local people, rather than getting caught up in a long struggle with a vast ocean of enemy people. This was the path that Xuanxia had planned for expansion long ago, and only in this way could it achieve true assimilation and integration.

The reason why we haven't taken direct action now is that the time is not yet ripe. When one day all the countries and tribes have such public opinion, Xuan Xia only needs to give a little push, and it will naturally set off a wave of liberation and submission in various places. At that time, we won't even need to use weapons to smoothly annex the surrounding areas.

Of course, this does not mean that Xuanxia will really give up the use of force. Now the people's sentiments in Goguryeo are relatively suitable, and there is also a large pro-China group within the country. Even if Goguryeo is conquered by force, it will not be too difficult.

National strength is Li Zheng’s greatest reliance. If Shirou wants to conduct a stress test, then he will just put enough pressure on him.

A small fight actually didn't take long, only about a quarter of an hour, and everything was over. When the door of the restaurant was pushed open, seven or eight Xuanxia students covered in blood walked out, and looking inside the building, the ground was already covered with blood and corpses.

"Ambassador, we are afraid of the blood hatred." The student walked forward, panting and grinning.

Li Zheng only did a rough count and knew that several Xuanxia students had died in this fight. He could only pat the students in front of him and said in a deep voice: "You didn't lose Xuanxia's face. Leave the rest to me."

Many students nodded silently. They also understood that this was not the end of the matter, but the beginning.

Committing crimes on someone else's territory was undoubtedly an arrogant provocation, not to mention that the dead were all children of local dignitaries. They could imagine that a violent storm was about to come, and if it was not handled properly, not to mention them, the students, even Ambassador Li Zheng might die tragically from venting his anger.

Now it depends on whether Goguryeo has the courage to retaliate against them.

The death of just a few students of Xuan Xia might be considered a small event, but now things have reached a point where there is a fight to the death, and the conflict between the two sides has not eased at all. This is a huge matter. Li Zheng feels that the pressure he is putting on his body now may not be as easy to bear as Emiya.

"What, how dare this bastard do this!"

In the palace, when the eunuch staggered to Emiya and reported the news that had just been delivered, Emiya suddenly fell down on the royal couch. His whole body froze there, his eyes as big as copper bells, and his expression was full of shock and panic.

Emiya never expected that Li Zheng, who was usually calm and gentle, would turn around and do such a violent thing. He even dared to condone Xuanxia students to commit crimes against the children of local dignitaries. This was really going to expose the truth about Goguryeo.

Just thinking about the possible reactions of these powerful people made Shirou's scalp tingle. Even though he was the king, he could not ignore the pressure exerted by these powerful people united.

"Your Highness, our subjects have already captured all those students, including the Han envoy. They are now being sent to the palace for Your Highness to decide on the matter. I'm afraid they will arrive soon, so Your Highness needs to think of a response quickly!" the eunuch reminded.

However, Emiya slammed the table and said angrily: "This lunatic really wants to bully everyone in Goguryeo. What else can I say? I will tear him into pieces, and those students should all die as well!"

However, when the eunuch heard this, he was shocked and tried to dissuade him: "Your Highness, have you not heard about the past affairs of the Han envoys? Do you want to destroy Goguryeo?"

These words were like a basin of ice water suddenly poured over the angry Emiya's head, instantly cooling his excited emotions. What followed was an extreme helplessness and frustration.

I just wanted to test it, but the pressure from the feedback was too great. This pressure could even cause Goguryeo to be destroyed.
At this moment, Emiya regretted it. If he had known earlier, he should not have thought about so many unnecessary things. He should have decisively punished the culprit and given Xuan Xia an explanation. Then there wouldn't be so many troubles now. Now that the matter has become too big, he is unable to save face.

Emiya knew that the eunuch's words were not an exaggeration at all.

Things have come to this point. If he does not deal with Li Zheng and the other Xuanxia students, it would be tantamount to kneeling down to Xuanxia. The king's dignity would also be completely destroyed. The price would be huge.

But if they were to take action against Li Zheng and his men, they might have to repeat the old story of the Han Dynasty, where it only took one Han envoy to destroy a small country.

Although China's destiny has changed from the Han Dynasty to Xuan Xia, the Han people are still the Han people. Wei Gong does not think that Xuan Xia's attitude towards the outside world will be much weaker than that of the Han Dynasty. The current moderation is only based on the premise that all countries are obedient.

Until now, no one has seen what the consequences would be if they fell out with Xuan Xia. Do you want to be the first?
(End of this chapter)