Chapter 446 The Moon Kingdom's Arrogance and Unreasonable Demands!

During the day, Zhou Ruyuan argued with the Yue Kingdom envoy all day long, his throat was parched and his mouth was about to bleed.

He had no desire to go home at all. When the Yue Kingdom envoy had dinner, he dragged his weary body and ate a few bites before resting at the post station.

News was kept secret in the palace, so the people in the Zhennan Prince's Mansion naturally didn't know that Shen Lanxi had spent the entire day in the palace. They simply assumed that Zhou Ruyuan had spent the whole day with Shen Lanxi and that he was so engrossed in his pleasure that he didn't want to send a single word to the Prince's Mansion.

Bai Qingling and Shen Yuantang were filled with hatred, and the concubines also harbored great resentment towards Shen Lanxi.

Before dawn the next day, Shen Yuantang couldn't sit still any longer and hurriedly ordered a sedan chair to be prepared for him to go to the Duke of Huguo's mansion!

Emperor Renxiao remained unconscious for a day and a night, finally opening his eyes weakly at dawn.

"Uncle, you're finally awake!"

Emperor Renxiao first heard Shen Lanxi's voice, and then he heard her call the palace servants to attend to him.

Has he fainted again?

"Your Majesty, you're awake! If you hadn't woken up, this old servant would have been worried to death!"

Wang Bao was so moved that he kept wiping away tears.

Emperor Renxiao was thirsty, and after being helped up by palace servants, he drank two mouthfuls of water.

"Lanxi, do people outside not know?" His health condition must absolutely not be known to the court officials and the harem.

Shen Lanxi: "Uncle, Lanxi took it upon herself to tell the court officials that you went to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to offer incense."

Emperor Renxiao breathed a sigh of relief. He was in his prime and his health would improve with rest.

"You've arranged everything very well!"

Emperor Renxiao was deeply moved when he saw Shen Lanxi in her official robes.

Even his own children don't serve him with such devotion. Lanxi noticed him as soon as he woke up; she had clearly been taking care of him all night without closing her eyes.

"Lanxi, I am much better now. You should go back and rest. Come see me again when you are fully rested!"

Shen Lanxi obeyed and withdrew.

After she left, Emperor Renxiao spoke softly.

"Wang Bao, call Mr. Song over here!"

"yes!"

Before noon, Shen Lanxi received a message from Emperor Renxiao instructing Song Daoxi to prepare elixirs for the medicines in his home.

Clearly, her uncle did not make good use of the Guigu School's disciples!

...

"Uncle, Lanxi has ordered the arrest of all those suspected of spreading rumors, and all the papers with rebellious words written on them have been burned!" Shen Lanxi said respectfully.

Emperor Renxiao had already sent people over, and Shen Lanxi had taken care of things for him in advance, which made him very happy.

Lanxi really understands his thoughts and is anxious about what he's anxious about!

He truly deserved to have allowed her, a woman, to enter the imperial court.

"Such rumors must be related to those two traitors!"

Shen Lanxi asked feigned surprise, "They should have come to apologize to Uncle, why didn't they come?"

Emperor Renxiao said in a sinister tone, "They no longer take me seriously."

Shen Lanxi: "Uncle, I was worried that if something happened to them now, the political climate would turn against you. That's why I didn't take action against them!"

Emperor Renxiao has already heard what Wang Bao said.

“You did the right thing. Although they are talking nonsense, we must be wary of public opinion!”

Shen Lanxi: "Lanxi understands. Uncle is not like what they say. They have wronged Uncle too much."

"Uncle, why don't we send troops to fight them?" Shen Lanxi said, looking indignant.

Emperor Renxiao sighed, "Although their intentions are despicable, now is not a good time to deal with them." Especially after the incident involving the Yue Kingdom.

"By the way, has the matter with the Moon Kingdom been resolved?"

Shen Lanxi was taken aback for a moment, then said, "I've been staying in the palace with my uncle, and then I rested for a while. I haven't had time to go to the post station yet." She put on an act as if she had done something wrong.

"It's not your fault. You don't have three heads and six arms, so you can't do everything perfectly!"

Shen Lanxi: "The Prince of Zhennan is handling it, and I believe he will be able to handle it with ease!"

Emperor Renxiao had already heard Wang Bao talk about the post station, and his face furrowed.

"He is increasingly disappointing me; he can't even handle the smallest matters properly!"

Shen Lanxi deliberately spoke up for Zhou Ruyuan: "The Prince of Zhennan may not be good at handling such trivial matters; his talents may be better suited for the battlefield."

Emperor Renxiao subconsciously recalled the successive defeats in Dongchuan and the Northwest, and then thought of the foolish things Zhou Ruyuan did for Bai Qingling, and his expression became even worse.

"You don't need to speak up for him. I know perfectly well what he has done!"

Shen Lanxi could only remain silent.

"I'll leave all matters concerning the Yue Kingdom to you!" Emperor Renxiao said wearily, relinquishing power.

Shen Lanxi: "Uncle, this is a very important matter, and I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it well."

Emperor Renxiao: "It's alright, your uncle will always back you up."

A glint flashed in Shen Lanxi's eyes, and she replied, "Yes!"

...

At the post station, Zhou Ruyuan woke up to find himself in a state of utter chaos.

The Yue Kingdom envoy seized upon the fact that the incident occurred on Great Zhou territory, finding every opportunity to nitpick Zhou Ruyuan's words and try to shift all the blame onto Great Zhou.

Fortunately, Jiang Wuyai was there and promptly took over the conversation when a loophole appeared.

This was the first time Zhou Ruyuan had experienced such a difficult verbal sparring between civil officials. It was as if every word was a trap, leaving him exhausted from dealing with it.

So when he saw Shen Lanxi arrive, the thought of seeing a savior flashed through his mind for a moment.

He immediately suppressed that thought.

How could he possibly be inferior to Shen Lanxi?

How could he possibly be inferior to a woman!

"Lord Shen, what has happened in the palace?" Zhou Ruyuan had already received intelligence, but he was unaware of Emperor Renxiao's coma.

Shen Lanxi said ambiguously, "Some things happened, His Majesty was furious and busy dealing with them, arresting quite a few people."

Zhou Ruyuan nodded; it was similar to the information he had received.

"Everything is fine now. I've come to check on the matter of the Yue Kingdom envoy and see if it's been resolved."

Zhou Ruyuan shook his head: "They are very difficult to deal with, and they are deliberately trying to control us by arranging our supplies."

Shen Lanxi: "Are they trying to lower the price?"

Zhou Ruyuan said wearily, "That should be the meaning." It was Mr. Jiang who saw through this matter; otherwise, the back-and-forth would have been no less intense than the clash of swords on a battlefield, and he really wouldn't have been able to distinguish between the feint and the real attack.

Shen Lanxi: "What if we take a tougher stance?"

Zhou Ruyuan smiled bitterly: "What will happen to the food supplies for the hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the border next year? You also came from the battlefield, and you understand the consequences of not having food supplies."

Shen Lanxi raised an eyebrow and glanced at Zhou Ruyuan. How come she had never noticed before that this person was so indecisive and weak?

When she arrived, the Yue Kingdom envoy was still arguing with the people from the Ministry of Rites.

The Ministry of Rites, having its weakness regarding grain supplies exploited, dared not respond excessively in words.

This further emboldened the arrogance of the Yue Kingdom's envoys.

“Your Great Zhou must compensate us for all the losses we have suffered during this trip. The one who was injured was our Yue Kingdom’s Third Prince. We will write a letter back to Yue Kingdom. As for the specific compensation, we will have to wait for the response from our Yue Kingdom’s Emperor.”

"You have caused His Majesty to lose his beloved son. Whether next year's provisions will be supplied, and at what price, we must wait for His Majesty's reply."

"Your Great Zhou must also send an envoy to personally escort our Third Prince's coffin back to the Moon Kingdom!"

"His Majesty the Emperor of Great Zhou, at his birthday banquet, in front of many envoys, admitted his mistake regarding the death of our envoy and publicly apologized to our Yue Kingdom!"