“Oh! Shit. Prince Wei’s suspicion is true?” The Grand Secretariat was taken aback and so were the others. Panic struck a few ministers as they heard of the existence of a supreme realm expert.

Song clan’s current head spoke in a hurry, “We have to send Ancestor Song Tai to deal with them. Does anyone have any instant means of communication with him?”

As everyone shook his head, Lin Wuying spoke, “Or we can take Lu Zhen’s help.”

“Are you serious, Lin Wuying?” Nie Rougang flared up when Lin Xue’s father suggested the name. As a person who was on the side of the Crown Prince and Ji clan, he took the opportunity to put allegations against Mark.

“Lu Zhen kidnapped Ji clan’s heir and handed him to the Kunyu bandits to take revenge. 

He stole Song Yue away from Ji Mingyu when he was supposed to wed her. 

He sold those weapons to Kunyu bandits who were using them to murder our civilians.

And I strongly suspect he is also behind Kunyu Bandits as of now. After all, you have heard the reports. A supreme realm expert attacked the Ji Palace. I remember Lu Zhen had a supreme being as his servant.

Don’t you think it is likely both are the same person? In this situation, do you want to take his help? Ridiculous.”

Lin Wuying became silent as he couldn’t counter that. He doesn’t actually want to defend Mark at the moment as he had the same suspicion.

However, the Emperor doesn’t think so. He immediately scolded Nie Rougang before anyone else react to it, “Don’t speak based on speculations, Minister Nie. He is a friend of the Imperial family. Insulting him is the same as insulting this throne.”

Nie Rougang realized that the emperor was unhappy and he quickly apologized for his statements before saying that he didn’t have any other logical explanation. 

Shang Fu snorted and told the rest to get on to the original topic and discuss the best course of action.

In the end, Bai Xun suggested the assassination of Feng Wu, followed by inciting a rebellion from the citizens until we surround them with our troops and let Song Tai take care of that mysterious expert.

Everyone seemed to agree with his suggestion but the Emperor stayed silent. He dislikes such underhanded methods for the sake of victory, and hence, there is hesitation to give the answer.

After a lot of thinking, he turned to his son and asked, “Shang Wei, you are my special adviser. Tell me if there is a better plan than sacrificing innocents.”

As if he already had a plan in his mind, the third prince readily answered as he got up from his seat, “Your Majesty, there is one which doesn’t involve bloodshed.”

As everyone curiously looked at the third prince, the latter spoke, “We give up Western Yan on the condition that Feng Wu and his army remain loyal to the throne.”

“What?” Nie Rougang opposed it immediately. He raised his voice at the third prince, “Prince Wei, whose side you are on? You want our majesty to admit defeat against those bandits and give away our land? Do you know how big it even is? It’s over 260,000 sq. km.”

Even the supreme commander Bai Xun opposed the plan. “The war against the Feng clan took the lives of thousands of soldiers. Giving it away will not be a humiliation to our soldiers but also a betrayal to our citizens there. 

Furthermore, the enemy’s strength hasn’t been confirmed yet. It was only mere speculation from General Hu. If he is a legendary realm expert, then, we can win this war without a problem.”

Shang Wei folded his hands and leaned to the backrest as he argued, “Supreme Commander Bai, Minister Nie; both of your arguments are true but it is also a fact that we won’t have much support from the civilians as the land was originally ruled by the Feng clan for hundreds of years anyways.

Whether Ji clan rules it or Feng Wu rules, does it really matter as long as he swears loyalty to his majesty? If they can’t compromise on it, we can proceed with the assassination of Feng Wu, followed by giving asylum to the bandits and their families to start a new life. 

As the great scholar Sun Tzu said, the greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”

Shang Wei then looked at his father and said, “His Majesty asked my advice and I gave my opinion. We follow your orders whatever they may be.”

Emperor Shang felt that his son is right and he was about to agree to his proposition for the sake of peace but before he did that, a soldier scurried forward and informed everyone that Feng Wu’s messenger is waiting for permission to enter.

Soon, the former fatty merchant and a nervous freak, Huo Fen walked into the courtroom with his head held high in confidence. Strangely, he was already in the 5-circle realm. Only he and Feng Wu know how it happened.

Halting his footsteps at the center of the court, Huo Fen calmly greeted the emperor and raised his palms to display a scroll, “Your Majesty, His Highness Feng Wu has sent a letter to you.”

The Chief Eunuch took the scroll and read it aloud.

“Dear, Emperor Fu of the Shang Dynasty, 

With the greatest pleasure, we’re informing you that our Kunyu royal force has successfully captured Gong City and imprisoned the general named Hu Shi, Ji clan heir, and Ji Cheng’s wife along with more than fifteen hundred soldiers of your army.

Western Yan gained its independence and we would like to stay that way as we once did.

Seven days from now, there will be an official coronation ceremony taking place at Gong City and the Phoenix Empire is welcome to send its delegate for wishing our new king. 

We also hope to receive a formal acknowledgment from Phoenix Empire for the sake of peaceful relations. If you chose peace, Western Yan is willing to forget past grudges.

As a gesture of goodwill, we will release all the war prisoners. In exchange, the soldiers of the Phoenix Empire will also leave our land.

And of course, we would also welcome enmity too. In that case, we will act accordingly.

Hoping for a positive response, yours sincerely;

Prince Wu of the Feng Dynasty”

Everyone except for Shang Fu rose to their feet in anger. The Emperor, on the other hand, tightly grabbed the handle and showed heavy restraint in order to keep his image in front of the messenger. He gestured for everyone to sit down.

As they took their seats, Shang Fu tried to be as calm as possible as he dealt with the matter. “Return and inform your king that I will give him three days of time. Release the hostages, make a proper apology to the victims along with the announcement of compensation, and swear his loyalty to the throne. I will allow him to rule Western Yan with a certain degree of freedom.

If he doesn’t, the Phoenix Empire will formally take it as an act of war and retaliate in our own way.”

“I’m sorry but can you please provide me an official letter with everything you have said written on it?” Huo Fen refused to deliver the message through the mouth as he was afraid of the scheming politicians sitting in the courtroom. He might show his confidence due to the fact that Feng Wu managed to reclaim his kingdom but he was still afraid of death. He doesn’t want to get caught in the middle of all of this.

Shang Fu’s face turned beet red and his veins popped up because of his rage but he managed to put it under control and asked for the scroll.

After a while, Huo Fen bowed and then turned around to walk away with the letter.

Once he is out of sight, Emperor Shang finally showed his real emotions. He couldn’t low down his voice as he roared with flames erupting from his body, “A mere messenger of bandits dares to say that he doesn’t trust my words? A bandit dared to threaten me with hostages? 

Who do they think they are? Just because I’m showing lenience, those bandits think that I’m weak?”

Shang Fu stared at the startled officials of his and spoke in a powerful tone, “I don’t care what sort of busy plans they have but the three remaining generals, retired generals, guild leaders, sect leaders, and lastly the clan leaders have to be at the palace within 36 hours.”

“Your Majesty” 

The ministers and Bai Xun felt like they were seeing their aggressive emperor of the past days; as a result, everyone’s morale received a huge boost.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep