Chapter 216: Qin Shu is waiting for Zheng Jia's break...

While waiting for Zheng Jia, King Zheng Jin of Shu ordered the Honglu Temple to arrange accommodation for the Qin delegation, and ordered the Guanglu Temple to prepare a night banquet to entertain the three envoys.

About half an hour later, Zheng Jia, after bathing in herbs, came to see the emperor wearing a jeweled robe.

She knew that the Qin envoys were coming to the capital today, but she didn't know what it had to do with her.

On the way here, he did ask the eunuch, but the eunuch felt that Qin Guo's proposal was a great humiliation for Zheng Jia, and was afraid that she would cause trouble if she knew about it and would not come, so he did not say a word and led the person here directly.

——As long as Zheng Jia entered Huaiying Palace, what happened next would have nothing to do with her as the guide.

After paying her respects to the King of Shu, Zheng Jia naturally asked what important matter was that she was summoned here.

She didn't think her talent was good enough to reach the ears of the gods. After all, she had just passed the imperial examination last year, and she would have to wait two years later to pass the imperial examination before she would be qualified to stand in the Golden Palace.

Before the Shu Kingdom could speak, Zheng Cuo spoke first, "Second Miss, this matter concerns our Qin Kingdom. Let our Qin officials speak."

The Shu officials didn't know how to start the conversation, but when they saw her take the initiative to take the matter over, they naturally wanted it to happen, so no one tried to stop her.

Apart from Zheng Cuo's mother, Minister Zheng, the only person present was Queen Sha, who was sitting at the head of the table and was familiar with her character. She knew that she was not simply kind-hearted.

But neither Minister Zheng nor Queen Sha would point it out at this time.

After all, the current situation of the Zheng regime was truly not optimistic. King Zheng Jin of Shu was merely sober and self-disciplined, but his own talents were not exceptional, and he certainly wasn't the kind of wise leader capable of turning the tide.

More importantly, they had been childless since their marriage. The palace physicians examined the couple daily, and while neither of them was ill, they simply couldn't have children.

This makes people think: Could it be God’s will?

As for the royal family, the Zheng family has been in power for so many years, and there are countless branches of the royal family with a population of about 100,000, but the rate of emergence of talents is surprisingly low.

The descendants are declining, and it is difficult to produce talented people. How similar is this to the Dai and Sha families back then?

This is the standard apocalyptic scene!

If they could get support from the State of Qin, perhaps they could extend the life of the Zheng regime.

Queen Sha had already made up her mind. If Zheng Jin showed no signs of pregnancy within two or three years, he would persuade her to bring back Zheng Yu's eldest daughter, who was far away in Qin, and make her the crown prince. Perhaps this would help cultivate a wise ruler.

Therefore, Queen Shah hoped that this marriage would be successful.

As for Minister Zheng?

Anyway, it wasn't her daughter who was going to get married. On the contrary, her daughter was an envoy of the Qin State and had already established a firm foothold in the Qin State.

Given the current situation in Shu, perhaps when she grows old, the whole family will have to retire. By then, following her second daughter, Zheng Cuo, the family will still have a way out in Qin.

If they fought to the death against Shu, their family was a branch of the royal family and they wouldn't even be able to get a title after the change of dynasties. Why should they care so much?

Out of personal and family considerations, Minister Zheng did not help Zheng Cuo, which was already very conscientious. Why would he give a warning and put obstacles in his own way?

Zheng Jia recognized Zheng Cuo, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said with a bow, "I never thought that the envoy from Qin State is actually an old friend."

She had heard that Zheng Cuo had gone to the State of Qin and was doing well. Even the king's sister Zheng Yu had gone to join him.

If it weren't for the pressure from his mother, Marquis Yi Yang, Zheng Jia would also want to leave Shu and go to the Central Plains to make a living.

I heard that the Central Plains has been plagued by wars for years, and now there are seven major vassal states, and some scattered small states are like dry grass after autumn, and are on the verge of collapse.

If she went to the Central Plains, she would definitely travel to all seven countries, firstly to broaden her horizons, and secondly to see if there was any country that could compete with Qin.

If there is anyone capable of competing with the Qin State, she will find a way to recommend herself and fight with Zheng Cuo, Dai Xuan and others in the Central Plains to see whose monarch can unify the world!

But her mother would not allow her to do so. She had no family support and had not passed the imperial examination, so she put the idea aside for the time being.

If the Qin envoys had not come, and she passed the imperial examination in two years, she would have felt confident enough to sneak away to the Central Plains with her husband.

Zheng Jia was pleasantly surprised to see Zheng Cuo today. If it weren't for the wrong occasion, she would have wanted to pull him aside to reminisce about the past and ask about the Central Plains.

"It's naturally a joy to meet an old friend again," Zheng Cuo said with a smile, "but now is not the time to reminisce. I've returned on behalf of the King of Qin to discuss an important matter with you."

"With me?" Zheng Jia pointed at himself with his backhand, surprised and confused.

She had a premonition that things were not simple, and she quickly looked at her mother with a questioning look in her eyes.

Marquis Yiyang was about to speak when Zheng Cuo spoke first, "It was indeed you. Sister Jia, I know you were born a horse of great mileage, and you refuse to be confined to the stable—that would be too much of an injustice to you. Shu is not the place for you to shine right now; Qin is."

Zheng Jia asked doubtfully, "Could it be that you recommended me to the King of Qin, and he specifically asked you to invite me to be an official?"

Although there are not many talented people among the royal family members, she hasn't even passed the imperial examination. Even if Zheng Cuo recommended her, the King of Qin would not send an envoy for her, right?

She felt that she was better than her elder sister, but she was not so conceited.

Zheng Cuo said, "I invite you to the State of Qin, not to be my subject, but to be my ruler."

Zheng Jia's expression changed immediately.

Just like Zheng and Shu had royal families, Ying and Qin also had clans, and it was absolutely impossible for them to invite an outsider to be the King of Qin.

Since he is not a monarch, he can only be a minor monarch.

In other words, she was to be made a princess and married into the State of Qin.

Zheng Cuo didn't even give her time to react, and spouted off, "The current King of Qin is only seventeen years old, and his teacher is from Shu. He has admired Shu culture since childhood and has always dreamed of marrying a noblewoman of Shu, both talented and virtuous, to rule Qin with him and unify the world."

The anger on Zheng Jia's face gradually faded away. After thinking carefully for a moment, an ambitious smile appeared on his face.

Everything happened as Zheng Cuo expected. She would rather be the queen of Qin than stay in Shu with an uncertain future.

As for marrying off as a princess, is it a humiliation?

Compared to a bright future, what was this little humiliation? She just thought that the King of Qin was the only son in the family and she was marrying into his family.

Seeing that she was obviously moved, Marquis Yi Yang sighed, knowing that it was impossible to take back what he had said in the court.

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Three months later, the Shu Kingdom's wedding delegation, together with the Qin Kingdom's delegation, crossed mountains and rivers and arrived in Guanzhong from Sichuan and Shu.

King Zheng of Qin sent his left and right prime ministers to lead all the officials to welcome the Shu Kingdom ten miles outside the city, giving Shu Kingdom enough face. Seeing this, the Shu Kingdom's envoys looked much better.

In May of the same year, the King of Qin married, marrying Zheng Jia, a noblewoman from the Kingdom of Shu, as his queen. He built the Weiyang Palace specifically for his queen, directly behind the Zhangtai Palace, with a connecting gate.

There were no concubines in the Shu Kingdom's dowry group, but there were twelve good doctors, six women and six men. The female doctors were good at gynecology, and the male doctors were good at andrology.

Since the two got married, a good doctor has been taking their pulses every day and formulating diet plans for them to ensure that both of them are in peak physical condition and can give birth to healthy children.

Where had the Qin people ever seen such a scene?

They finally understood why Shu nobles only had to marry off one son. With such advanced medical technology, there was no need to worry about not having an heir, and there was no need to waste resources for offspring.

After the wedding, Ying Zheng officially took power. Although Lu Buwei was unwilling, he had Dai Xuan to check and balance him, and Ying Zheng had a large number of supporters in the court, so he had to take a step back and watch the power transfer.

It’s just that when a politician loses power, it’s like a flower losing nutrients. In just a few days, Lu Buwei looked so haggard that he seemed to have aged ten years.

Seeing this, Ying Zheng couldn't bear it, so he asked Dai Xuan to go and persuade him.

But Dai Xuan's persuasion was useless. Lü Buwei understood the principles she talked about better than she did. But even though he understood them, he just couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart.

Until Fu Li couldn't bear it anymore, he stepped forward to relieve his apprentice's worries and invited Lu Buwei to have tea together.

No one knew what they talked about, but when Lu Buwei came out of Fuli Mansion, the two men seemed to be injected with new vitality, with rosy faces and full of energy.

The next morning, his resignation letter was placed on Ying Zheng's desk. He had no intention of performing the "three refusals and three declines" show. After saying goodbye to his family, he disappeared from Xianyang.

This incident caused a great uproar throughout Xianyang. Those of high status went to Fuli or Nezha to make indirect inquiries. Most people did not dare to approach them and instead went to the Lu family to inquire.

The Lu family themselves were still confused and puzzled. They only knew that Lu Buwei said he was tired of officialdom and wanted to find a place far away from people to live in seclusion, and asked his family not to look for him anymore.

Before he left, he gathered his wives, concubines, and children together and divided his property among them. Before dividing it, he gave 30% of all the property to his wife and asked her to help him raise the children who were still young.

As for the concubines, those who want to remarry can take their property and remarry, and those who don’t want to remarry can stay in the Lu family. It’s up to them.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Lu family truly had no idea. The only ones who knew the truth were Fu Li and Nezha.

But this couple are both tight-lipped and good at deceiving people. As long as they don't want to say it, no one can get the truth out of them.

It’s not that no one came to slander Ying Zheng. After all, Lu Buwei had a special status. He was not only the prime minister of Qin, but also the minister entrusted by Zichu to take care of the young emperor.

But is Ying Zheng such an easy person to fool?

Anyone who made false accusations received a stern warning from him.

After the supreme ruler expressed his position, the matter was quickly settled.

The Qin State was now full of talented individuals, and Lü Buwei's departure only caused a slight commotion in the court, but did not affect its normal operations at all. Moreover, not long after, Ying Zheng promoted Dai Xuan to Right Prime Minister and Shang Qing Pang Sui to Left Prime Minister.

Queen Zheng Jia also gradually emerged in the court, and the couple continued to work together and their cooperation became more and more tacit.

Since Qin Shi Huangdi took power, the development of the Central Plains seemed to have been fast-forwarded. Talents of all kinds emerged in Qin State, leading to rapid development in politics, economy, food security, and culture.

In the tenth year of the reign of Qin Emperor Zheng, Qin sent an army to attack Zhao, with Lieutenant General Liao as the main general and Meng Wu as the deputy general. Zhao sent Pingyuan Jun Zhao Sheng as an envoy to Han and Wei to persuade them to unite against Qin.

However, Qin's conquest of Zhao was fake, and its attack on Han was real. Another army, led by Wang Jian and his son Wang Ben, took advantage of Han's lack of manpower when it came to aiding Zhao, and marched straight in, unstoppable, and laid siege to Han's capital, Xinzheng.

The Han army that came to aid Zhao was shocked when they learned about this and hurried back to rescue Han. However, they were ambushed by Wei Liao who had been prepared for this and almost all of them were wiped out.

Wang Jian and his son Wang Ben surrounded the city and attacked the reinforcements, let the envoys of Han leave the city, and successively repelled the reinforcements from Yan and Wei.

When Zhao was besieged, it asked Han for help, and Han sent troops to help. Now that Zhao's crisis has been resolved and it has received Han's request for help, the court is divided into two factions.

Those led by Pingyuan Jun Zhao Sheng strongly advocated helping Han; those led by Shangqing Guo Kai believed that Zhao had been severely damaged since the Battle of Changping and could barely protect itself, and should not waste military forces to help Han.

King Zhao felt that both sides had their reasons and was unable to make a decision, so the situation remained deadlocked.

As for the State of Chu?

If the Qin State was famous for its deceit in diplomacy, then the Chu State was famous for its "nothing for the sake of profit" and "going back on its word".

When the envoys from South Korea went to ask for help, the King of Chu agreed readily in the court and immediately appointed soldiers and generals.

But after sending off the Han envoys, the Chu rulers and their ministers decided to wait and see, to see whether, when, and how many troops to send.