Chapter 39

The Dongyi envoy's mind was quick. He glanced at the Xirong group sitting over there, then raised his head and looked at Zhou Xuanqing and said, "Your Majesty, our king heard that the Xirong were challenging the Great Zhou, so he sent me to see if there's anything I can do to help. If there is, we will certainly help. After all, only when the Great Zhou is stable can we, the Dongyi, be stable."

When he said this, the old man Lugosh from Xirong snorted coldly. Fence-sitter!

The Dongyi envoy knew that what he said would definitely make the Xirong bear a grudge, especially after hearing Lugosh's cold snort, he knew that the Xirong's path had been blocked by him.

But who cares about Xirong now? Zhou Xuanqing is not someone to be trifled with. It is better to offend Xirong than to upset Zhou Xuanqing!

They were badly beaten by Zhou Xuanqing six years ago, and they, the Dongyi, cannot bear to go through it again!

The Northern Di envoys thought the same as the Eastern Yi. They raised their heads and quickly expressed their resolve, saying, "We Northern Di are the same. If the Emperor needs anything, please feel free to ask!"

Undoubtedly, he also earned the contempt of the Western Rong. He could only look at Zhou Xuanqing firmly. No matter what, he could not lose the support of the Great Zhou!

"Haha~ I'm very grateful to the King of Dongyi and the King of Beidi for their concern for the Great Zhou. Coincidentally, I do need your help with something. I'll send someone to find you tomorrow morning."

Zhou Xuanqing said this with a smile, his amber eyes brimming with laughter, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. He turned to look at the people of Xirong with a bit of coldness and said in a cold voice: "Xirong has indeed challenged the bottom line of the Great Zhou this time, and even touched my taboo."

Zhou Xuanqing paused here and put the wine glass in his hand on the table. There was a crisp "bang" sound. Even the dancers and beauties stayed quietly in their positions, not daring to breathe.

Tang Mitang was watching from behind and shook her body unconsciously. The boss's aura was fully exerted, which was not something an ordinary person could withstand.

Seeing Zhou Xuanqing's anger, Lugosh's confidence instantly vanished. He stood up, walked to the center, and saluted, saying, "Our King of Xirong acted impulsively and made a grave mistake. Now that he has acknowledged his error, he has specially sent the prince and princess to negotiate peace with me."

After Lugosh finished speaking, Gena and Angus slowly stood up from their seats, looked at Zhou Xuanqing with guilt in their eyes, and planned to walk towards the middle.

"A man cannot stand without trust. Xirong broke the agreement first. I have a bad temper. If Xirong cannot give me a satisfactory answer, I don't care about the lives of tens of thousands of Xirong people." Zhou Xuanqing said word by word.

As soon as these words were spoken, Gena and Angus, who had just taken a step forward, froze for just a second, then they still walked to the middle and saluted.

"Angus (Gena) attends the Emperor!"

After Angus finished speaking, he looked up at Zhou Xuanqing, his eyes filled with deeper guilt, as if he had really reflected on Xirong's mistakes and was seriously repenting.

Zhou Xuanqing glanced at him expressionlessly, then looked at Lugosh, waiting for his response. What handsome men are there in the Great Zhou? This Angus looked like a fox, and even looking at him for a second made me uncomfortable.

Lugosh and Zhou Xuanqing looked at each other. Looking at her pupils without a trace of emotion, their brains were working fast, thinking about how to make this matter perfect.

"Your Majesty, Xirong is sincerely negotiating peace this time and is willing to sign a permanent peace agreement with Dazhou. We hope to form an alliance with Dazhou to maintain the stability of both regions forever."

After Lugosh finished speaking, all the ministers turned their attention to the three of them, waiting for their emperor's response.

After listening to this, Zhou Xuan raised his eyebrows slightly. How shameless!

Zhou Xuanqing opened her red lips and said lightly, "What are the conditions?"

When Lugosh heard that Zhou Xuanqing asked about the conditions, it showed that he attached great importance to this peace negotiation. As long as he could delay the time and get back more than a thousand soldiers, everything would be fine.

Lugosh raised his hand and stroked his beard, saying, "We in the Western Rong only hope that the Great Zhou can release the prisoners of war."

"Hmph!" Lu Zehua, who was sitting on the side, snorted coldly after hearing this. He slowly stood up and said, "The prisoners are all dead. This condition is no longer useful. If we want to fight or negotiate, it's not your turn now!"

"What? All the prisoners of war died?" Lugosh asked in surprise.

Lu Zehua nodded and said with disdain, "We in the Great Zhou Dynasty haven't taken care of those prisoners of war since we knew you were coming to negotiate peace. We originally planned to release them as soon as the peace edict arrived, but unfortunately, it took so long that the prisoners starved to death. Oh, and some of them even ate their companions to fill their stomachs. It was truly disgusting. I couldn't help it and killed them all. They feed on human flesh, and who knows what they will do. I am here to help you, the Western Rong, clean up the scum!"

Lugosh's face paled upon hearing this, his small eyes filled with shock and pain. This Lu Zehua was simply a demon who took human life lightly! The Quanrong army was small to begin with, and this battle had lost more than half of them!

We can't confront Da Zhou head-on no matter what!

"Your Majesty... our prisoners of war are dead, but Xirong has realized his mistake and is still willing to negotiate peace. We only hope that the Great Zhou can treat our princess well." Lugosh said, turning to look at Gena as if he was reluctant to leave.

It's really unbearable to watch.

But Zhou Xuanqing was an exception. He raised the corner of his mouth and said calmly, "I don't think there's any point in negotiating peace. Since I've started the killing spree, how can I stop it if I haven't killed enough? Chang Xi, pour these three a glass of wine."

"Yes." After Chang Xi finished speaking, he picked up the wine jug from the palace maid beside him and began to pour wine slowly.

The faces of Lugosh and the other two turned pale. Zhou Xuanqing actually acted in such an unconventional way!

Before he could say anything, Chang Xi had already walked up to Zhou Xuanqing with a glass of wine in his hand.

Zhou Xuanqing casually took a bottle of medicine from the palace maid next to him, opened it and poured some into each of the three glasses of wine. When it came to the last glass, his hand shook and he poured much more than the other two glasses.

Zhou Xuanqing put away the medicine bottle, took the handkerchief handed to him by Tang Mitang, wiped his hands slowly, and then signaled Chang Xi to give it to them.

Seeing that they were just looking at it and not taking it, Zhou Xuanqing said dismissively, "Don't worry, the poison is easy to cure. I just don't want you three to stay at the banquet so unharmed. Xuanyi will send a letter to the Quanrong King, telling him the truth about what just happened and asking him to send his troops."

After Zhou Xuanqing finished speaking, a black shadow flashed, leaving behind the word "yes" and disappeared in the imperial garden.