cloud can also

Chapter 402 Petition
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Seeing that Suo Li was in a daze, Qing Yi quickly called out in a low voice.

Suoli came back to her senses, looked at Qingyi and asked, "Has Suoliwa arrived in Gancheng?"

Qing Yi nodded and said: "The eldest princess sent someone to report, saying that she will not enter the city and go directly to Xindu."

Sa Lizhen listened, nodded, and asked again: "What about my son Suo Ye?"

Qing Yi bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, His Highness Suo Ye was so angry that he led the army on the way back regardless of General Shi Xun's persuasion."

"Of course he is angry! The dignified prince's concubine was easily killed by others. When he returns to the Ganlan Palace, those people must be able to bear it." Suo Lizhen sighed.

After hearing this, Qing Yi was stunned and speechless.All the ministers bowed their heads and fell silent.

Suo Lizheng looked at the silent Qing and said, "Go ahead and bury Princess Mingyue according to the specifications of a crown princess. If no one is found for the other side concubines, let's set up a tomb!"

Qing Yi bowed his head in response, turned his head and told the court official in charge of the funeral and sacrifice.

Within half a day, the Cabbage Palace was completely white, and a gloomy atmosphere enveloped the entire palace.

Xiyi, Paidu Palace.

Wang Xichen of Xiyi, wearing a gilded crown and black gold royal clothes, was sitting on a fur chair in front of the palace, discussing with Prime Minister Qianrun and other ministers how to defeat the enemy, but suddenly saw a guard rushing in hall.

"Why panic?" Seeing this, Xi Chen was taken aback, and thought to himself: Could it be that Beihuang or Nanman have broken through the last line of defense and are approaching Paidu Palace?

"Is there something wrong ahead?" Qian Run followed up and asked the guard.

The guard prostrated himself on the ground, looked up at Xi Chen and Qian Run, and said, "Report to Your Majesty and Prime Minister, the Nanman has retreated!"

"What?" Xichen and Qianrun looked at each other, confirmed it again in disbelief, and then said: "It seems that what the cat god said is not bad, my son Dansu's life is worth it!"

After hearing this, all the ministers and workers also showed joy on their faces.

"What about Beihuang?" Qian Run hurriedly asked the guard.

The guard said: "Beihuang is hesitating when he hears that the Nanman has withdrawn urgently."

"What did General Hong Meng say?" Qian Run asked.

"General Hong Meng said that at present, he is accumulating strength at the gate of the camp and will devote all his strength to the whole country. He wants to deal a heavy blow to Beihuang and force them to retreat." The guard said: "General Hong Meng and Ambassador Cui Feng both said that the specific They will explain the situation clearly to the king and the prime minister face to face."

Hearing this, Xi Chen couldn't help being overjoyed, and said, "This time, Panxi has made great efforts, we must thank you very much!"

After hearing this, Qian Run said with a worried expression: "My lord, now that Nanman and Beihuang have fallen out with us, they can no longer lend us a way. How can we go to Panxi to thank them again?"

After hearing this, Xi Chen was slightly taken aback.

Bei Zhou was standing at the bottom of the palace steps. Seeing that Qian Run and Xi Chen were troubled, he thought for a while and said with a smile, "Father, Prime Minister, have you forgotten? When Panxi forcibly crossed the Tongjiang River to destroy the base camp of Yuanling Valley in the Northern Wilderness , so that the plan of the Northern Wilderness who wanted to force the county to cede the land was defeated. The location where they forcibly crossed the Tongjiang River happened to be our Sandfly Mountain in Xiyi. As long as the Nanman and the Northern Wilderness withdraw their troops, we immediately started to build a port at the location where they forcibly crossed the Tongjiang River. Build ships and open up water transportation. At that time, we will have more exchanges with Panxi, and the current situation of being pinched by two ends and being powerless will never happen again."

After hearing this, Xi Chen and Qian Run showed joy on their faces.

Xi Chen praised: "Okay, good idea. However, this time is not short!"

"Father, it's okay. They can cross the Tongjiang River, why can't we? Besides, we have traded with the Mingzhu country in the land of no limit. The people of Mingzhu country are good at building ships and know how to swim. We can ask them to help." Bei Zhou suggested.

"Land of Promise? Pearl Country?"

"How can people in that place be called human beings! They are clearly monsters."

"Yeah, those are half-human, half-shark monsters! After seeing them, I can't sleep at night."

"The mermaids are naturally strong. If they are invited, it will be troublesome if something goes wrong."

"Furthermore, they know water and are good at building ships. Once they figure out the water terrain of Floating Cloud Continent, what if they invade us like Nanman and Beihuang?"

"Yes, yes, that's exactly what you said."

……

After Bei Zhou finished speaking, he heard the ministers in the palace whispering, all worried about repeating the situation where the Southern Barbarians and the Northern Wilderness invaded Xiyi.

Bei Zhou quietly listened to the discussion of the ministers, and when the discussion stopped, he smiled and said: "The sharks in Mingzhu Kingdom are born to live in the water, so they have a shark tail. And not all sharks can go ashore. However, only the mermen who are good enough can turn their tails into two feet and walk on the land. Once they decide to survive on this floating cloud continent, they can no longer return to the water. Isn't this situation different from us? We They are born to live only on land, and only a very small number of people who understand water can stay in the water, but they cannot survive underwater. You can think about it in another way, the mermaids hope to come to the Floating Cloud Continent to see the beauty of the land, and we I also want to know the underwater situation. If there is communication, wouldn't everyone be happy?"

Bei Zhou saw that Xichen, Qianrun and all the ministers were silent, so he continued: "Mingzhu country is rich in shark pearls, shark silk, parallel imports, pearl oil, etc. These items are very valuable to us people on the Fuyun Continent. Yes, and our delicacies, beauties, beautiful scenery, and life are all yearned for by sharks. If we open water trade with Pearl Country, it will not be a bad thing for us.”

"But Your Royal Highness, have you ever thought that the mermaids are monsters in the first place, and they all possess unknown stunts. If they see the benefits of Fuyun Continent and forcefully sign an unequal agreement with us, what should we do?" What should I do?"

"Yeah, seeking skin from a tiger is not a long-term reliable thing after all."

"Your Majesty, please think twice!"

……

All the ministers were worried after hearing what Bei Zhou said.

Seeing that Bei Zhou's proposal was not accepted by the ministers, Xi Chen said, "Then everyone, since you are opposed to Prince Bei Zhou's suggestion, do you have a better way?"

When all the ministers heard this, they all bowed their heads and remained silent.

Seeing that the ministers looked like this again, Xichen felt annoyed in his heart, but he suppressed his anger forcibly, and continued to calmly say: "There is one more urgent matter, that is, after the Beihuang retreats, we must sincerely express our gratitude to Panxi. Thanks to the gratitude, the materials sent are extremely large. Therefore, this king wants to ask all the ministers and workers, who will go? Where will they go? How will they go?..."

All the ministers were left speechless by Xi Chen's question, and they dared not speak.

Xi Chen sneered and said, "Since I can't come up with suggestions, I can't think of a way, and I still have to deny other people's opinions, I want to know, what are you going to do? I was stupid before, so are you ministers more important than me?" Is it stupid? According to this king, all the ministers are very smart, knowing when to speak, when not to speak, and when to say something... You see, don’t you just know that you should not speak at this time? Have you spoken, keep your mouth shut!"

All the ministers were ridiculed by Xi Chen, all of them had red and white faces, like half-ripe sick peaches.

"Please calm down, Your Majesty!" Seeing Xichen's anger, Qian Run hurriedly said, "Prince Beizhou is right. We urgently need to build ports and establish communication with Panxi. I don’t know when they will withdraw their troops. Can we put this matter aside for the time being? Besides, after the Southern Man and the Northern Wilderness have all retreated, our first task is to let the people resume production and formulate corresponding incentives to develop national strength. Therefore, Your Majesty is looking ahead At the same time, we must first solve the immediate problem!"

"The prime minister is right. This king should think about it!" After hearing this, Xi Chen was not angered by Qian Run's last words, but instead smiled and said, "Do you have something important to do? If you have nothing to do, let's leave! "

After hearing this, all the ministers breathed a sigh of relief, and then left the hall in twos and threes.

Qian Run and Bei Zhou followed Xi Chen to the Imperial Study Room.

Xi Chen dismissed all the maidservants around him, looked at Qian Run and Bei Zhou, and asked, "Why did the Nanman suddenly withdraw their troops?"

After Bei Zhou and Qian Run exchanged glances, they said, "Father, my son heard that it was because the main concubine Princess Mingyue of Nanman Crown Prince Suo Ye was killed, and his other three side concubines disappeared. Now, Suo Ye's cabbage The palace is full of gloom!"

"Princess Mingyue was killed? Suoye's other three concubines disappeared?" Xi Chen didn't expect this to be the reason for Nanman's withdrawal. In Zhaoting?"

"The Nanman army has left Zhaoting. At least [-]% of Shi Xun's army is now Nanman people, so Suo also let him withdraw. All the Nanman soldiers shouted to withdraw, and Shi Xun was alone." Bei Zhou explained .

"Then do you know who did the killing of Suo Ye's concubine?" Xi Chen asked.

"This..." Bei Zhou glanced at Qian Run, and said, "Prime Minister, tell Father King!"

Qian Run nodded, looked at Xian Xichen and said, "Your Majesty, I speculate that there should be two possibilities. One is the struggle between the women in the Suoye Kalan Palace, internal fighting. The side concubine has been dissatisfied with the main concubine for a long time, Seize the right time to buy murderers; while the concubine wants to get rid of dissidents, she deliberately lures and murders people. As a result, the masters of both sides are killed by the killers hired by the other side! The second is that the Panxi Army deliberately sent people to do it, just to disturb Suo also had a heart, which caused him to be irritable and restless, resulting in a command error, forcing the Nanman to withdraw his troops."

"This king thinks that the second reason is more suitable. However, what is puzzling is that if Panxi did this, wouldn't he be afraid that the Nanman and Beihuang would unite to attack them again?" Xi Chen worried: "You Think, our passages are all blocked by the Southern Man and the Northern Wilderness, and we cannot send reinforcements."

"Your Majesty, now that the Panxi army has entered Hongxiang, Hongxiang is only ten days away from Gancheng, the imperial capital of the Nanban. Can the Southern Emperor Suoli not be in a hurry? Suoli has already transferred the eldest princess Suoliwa back , and sent an army of [-] to Zhaocheng for reinforcements. Presumably Suo will follow closely behind and lead troops to attack the Panxi Army in Hongxiang. Although we cannot send a large army to reinforce Panxi, we can bite Nanman in the back Give him a bite. At the beginning we made an excuse, but they teamed up with Beihuang to attack us, so this is just the way to relieve our hatred!" Qian Run said.

"It's so good." After hearing this, Xi Chen was overjoyed, and said to Qian Run: "Prime Minister, at this time, we should send the ministers of the court to the front of the war to visit and comfort the soldiers and boost morale. Look, who is more suitable?"

After hearing this, Qian Run thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, it's better for me and His Royal Highness to go."

"Inappropriate. The prime minister has left. Who will this king discuss state affairs with?" After hearing this, Xi Chen shook his head and said, "Furthermore, my son Dansu is dead, and Qian Run is the heir to the throne. He cannot have any accidents."

"Your Majesty, His Highness the First Prince is precisely because he is the heir to the throne, so he must possess great courage and wisdom. If he has never even experienced war, how can he lead his people to overcome difficulties and forge ahead to defend their home and country?" Qian Run said kindly: "At this time, it is the time when His Royal Highness wins the hearts of the people. Your Majesty must not lose the hearts of women!"

Xichen hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly said: "Okay, Qianrun will go to the gate of the camp to comfort Grand Envoy Cui Feng! Then who will go to General Hong Meng?"

Qian Run thought for a while and said, "It's better to let the seventh prince Zanxi go. Among all the princes, except for Prince Qianrun and Prince Dansu, Prince Zanxi has higher prestige."

Xi Chen nodded and said, "Okay, let's arrange it like this! Prime Minister, thank you for your hard work."

"What is your Majesty talking about? Serving Xiyi, I will not hesitate." Qian Run said modestly: "Now, seeing that I am getting old, I hope that Your Majesty will find a talented junior who can take on the important role of prime minister as soon as possible."

After hearing this, Xi Chen was startled, and said, "What is the prime minister's meaning? How can you say such a thing?"

"Your Majesty, for decades, I have devoted myself to the country and tried my best for the country, but my health is getting weaker and weaker, and I am no longer in the prime of life. In addition, a few days ago, my son was born, but the son died in battle. On the battlefield, I can't see my youngest son again, and my heart is sore. My three sons all sacrificed their lives for the country, and now there are only two eldest sons and two daughters, the second son, a son and a daughter, and the youngest son, two daughters and a son. Consummation, but these grandchildren only see their mothers but not their fathers. I want to wait until the end of the Southern Expedition and Northern War, resign from office and return to my hometown, teach my grandchildren to read out of chapters, and then continue my last wish to serve His Majesty !" Qian Run felt the corners of her eyes moist as she spoke.

Seeing this, Xi Chen got up quickly, picked up a silk handkerchief and approached Qian Run, wiped away his tears, pulled him to sit side by side, and said emotionally: "Prime Minister, you and I grew up together and governed the government for decades. This king once hated your endless exhortations and suggestions at the court meeting every day, but every time you hear the report that your son died in battle, this king is very sad! For Xiyi, you can say that you have sacrificed I sacrificed my youth to my children and grandchildren. This king has to thank you very much!"

"Your Majesty, I will be satisfied with your words." Qian Run smiled and said: "The King is the king of Xiyi, and I have been given the position of prime minister with one person below ten thousand. I dare not neglect, even if it is because of this. And die, I will not regret it either. However, now, I have run out of energy and can no longer accompany the king in governing the government."

(End of this chapter)