Chapter 41 The special event opens again, and the big...

During this period, Shen Zhiwei was either busy with spring plowing or papermaking, so she didn't realize that Gui Yang had been away for almost half a month until she came back.

Feeling a little sorry for the loyal Taizai, Shen Zhiwei looked up at the sky with a guilty conscience, listening to Gui Yang telling her in detail about what she had seen and heard along the way.

Shen Zhiwei was in low spirits throughout the whole process. When Gui Yang said that she was the one that the people wanted, she blushed.

Alas, Gui Yang is actually good in every way, except that he is a good person who likes to flatter and fawn. He can say such outrageous words without changing his expression or heartbeat. Isn't this a special skill?

Some people are not good at speaking. They have a lot of words in their mind, but when they come to their mouths, they can only say "hmm".

That’s right, this person with a dumb mouth refers specifically to Shen Zhiwei himself.

Shen Zhiwei was also helpless. She actually wanted to interrupt Gui Yang. It was really annoying to hear the same words over and over again, especially when they were all lies.

But she couldn't interrupt. What if she made Gui Yang question her life? If she knew that every time he flattered her, he didn't do it right, he would probably die of shame.

"...After hearing the girl talk about her family slaughtering pigs, Yang remembered the pigs he had raised for the king. Now those pigs weigh over a hundred pounds, so they should be ready to be slaughtered."

It's a good opportunity to offer the pig's head to heaven, as in a few days it will be time to go to the fields to offer sacrifices to the God of Agriculture.

Such a big pig head is very rare. I think the gods will be very pleased and grant Jingchang a year of good weather and harvest.

Shen Zhiwei's eyes lit up, and he immediately became interested, urging Gui Yang to kill the pig.

Shen Zhiwei wanted to slaughter pigs during the Chinese New Year, but he didn't expect that the pigs had been raised for nearly a year and were not fat enough. Anyway, Shen Zhiwei was not very satisfied. Since it was not a good time to celebrate the Chinese New Year, Shen Zhiwei did not mention the matter of slaughtering pigs again, and wanted to wait for the pigs to grow some more meat.

If the pig is not fat enough, the pork belly will not taste good.

Alas, without feed, it is really difficult for pigs to grow. These days people are also not well fed, and they are getting thinner and thinner. Sometimes Shen Zhiwei even thinks that pigs look better when they are a little fatter. Being too thin really makes people feel very strange visually.

They look like walking big-headed dolls.

Shen Zhiwei did not watch the pig-slaughtering scene because she was afraid that the pigs would run around and cause chaos.

There are still a few killers popping up from time to time these days, and Shen Zhiwei still cherishes his life.

So when Shen Zhiwei saw the pig, it had already turned into dishes and was placed on her table.

Ever since Shen Zhiwei came here, the chefs in the palace have been really troubled by her.

From not knowing what an iron pan was at the beginning to being able to skillfully use it to cook, and even taking the recipe given by Shen Zhiwei, being able to replicate 70% of the dishes on the recipe with severely insufficient seasonings, only the chefs themselves know how much torture they have gone through!

The result was quite good, Shen Zhiwei almost cried while eating the familiar pork.

The meat is just not as tender as modern white pork. It is too chewy. Some people may like this taste, but Shen Zhiwei feels that she has bad teeth and loves to eat soft rice. It is so chewy that she feels sore in her cheeks after eating it.

But it smells so good!

I don’t know if it’s because Shen Zhiwei hasn’t eaten pork for too long, or because the pork in this era is not raised with feed, but it is more fragrant than the modern pork. Shen Zhiwei was so attracted by the fragrance that she wanted to swallow her tongue. It was really delicious!

"This pork is so fragrant and not greasy, it tastes so good!"

Gui Yang, who followed Shen Zhiwei to eat a mouthful of rice, looked nonchalant when he ate at first. Pork meat was cheap meat. He had heard many people say that pork meat had a fishy smell, was woody and unpalatable, and even the aroma of oil could not cover up the smell.

If it wasn't for the purpose of accompanying the king, he would definitely not eat a single bite!

Now, he can only say it smells good.

Later, he would raise a few pigs according to the king's method, Gui Yang thought, and asked Shen Zhiwei to send him some recipes.

In Gui Yang's opinion, the key is how to cook pork well.

Shen Zhiwei was very generous and asked Gui Yang to send someone to the kitchen to get it herself. She ate so deliciously that her mind was a little slow and she entered a state of intoxication.

Then Shen Zhiwei suddenly had an idea and asked, "Why not open two restaurants in Jingchang?"

"A restaurant? A place that sells alcohol?"

Gui Yang was puzzled as to why they suddenly talked about restaurants while they were having dinner. Could it be that the king was craving for good wine?

Yes, having good food without good wine is indeed missing something.

Gui Yang was thinking about sending some of the fine wine from his home collection to the palace. The palace had no shortage of fine wine, and he was just showing his loyalty.

"Not only do they sell wine, they also sell food. However, they are not like guesthouses that provide accommodation, but only food and wine."

Shen Zhiwei narrowed her eyes and slowly explained what she meant.

In fact, when she said this, she had already started to back down. Opening a restaurant is not a simple matter. There is the need to choose a store location in the early stage and train employees in the later stage. People have to be hired to do the shopping every day, train chefs, and also recruit a lot of people for logistics and cleaning. With so many people to take care of, Shen Zhiwei got a headache just thinking about it.

She certainly won't manage it herself, but if she doesn't, she'll lose the fun of running the business.

Then why did she open a restaurant? She couldn't have fun there, and she didn't rely on it for food and drink, and it was a waste of time and effort.

"Never mind, it's such trouble."

"No problem! Your Majesty, Jingchang City still lacks a place to provide food and drink for the nobles. If such a restaurant really exists, it will surely be world-famous after it is built. Then we can put refined salt in it and sell it..."

Gui Yang has always been troubled by the promotion of refined salt. Because there is war all over the world, trade routes are difficult and it is difficult for merchants to deliver precious goods to various places.

Merchants cannot give away refined salt. No matter how famous the refined salt is, it cannot be exchanged for gold!

But if you build a restaurant and attract nobles to come in person, then you don’t have to worry about sales.

The outside world is in chaos and only nobles dare to go out with their followers. For merchants, going out is completely a matter of luck and the money they earn is at the risk of their lives.

"It sounds good, but it's too difficult to open a restaurant. I'm a little sleepy."

Shen Zhiwei didn't do anything and backed out first. She didn't want to suffer at all.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to do anything. I am willing to share your worries."

"Good! Yang Zhen is the most capable person around me, like my left and right arm."

When Shen Zhiwei saw that Gui Yang was about to do it, she started praising her. She believed in encouragement-based education. When Gui Yang was praised so much that she wanted to leave the palace and open a shop immediately, she stopped talking and let Gui Yang go about her business.

When Gui Yang left the palace, the corners of her clothes fluttered in the wind and her face was full of smiles. She wanted to tell everyone how the king treated her!

He is the king's right-hand man!

After Gui Yang left the palace, Shen Zhiwei decisively went back to her room to take a nap. In fact, she shouldn't sleep right after a meal, as it's bad for her health, but Shen Zhiwei was really sleepy.

And it’s so sweet to sleep after eating. Let’s consider the issue of health preservation when she is older. She is young now and she will sleep as much as she can!

When Shen Zhiwei woke up, it was almost dark.

After doing nothing the whole afternoon and just sleeping soundly on the bed, Shen Zhiwei couldn't help but say inwardly, "That's great!" when he opened his eyes.

What an ideal life, she can sleep whenever she wants and eat whenever she wants, no one urges her to work hard, and no one asks her to go to school or work!

She was really going to fall, because the feeling of falling was so wonderful.

Shen Zhiwei stretched out his whole body comfortably, imagining himself as a pancake, stretching out in the electric baking pan.

It's just a little hot.

The temperature in spring was not very high, and perhaps because they were afraid that she would be cold, the palace maid covered her with a thick quilt. However, Shen Zhiwei's physical fitness was really a little too good, and the heat from the quilt made her sweat profusely.

After lifting the quilt, Shen Zhiwei felt a little more comfortable. When the temperature dropped, she covered it again.

It's the cold and hot season again. Shen Zhiwei said that she really doesn't like these few days at the beginning of spring!

Many people are the opposite of Shen Zhiwei. They love spring very much because with spring coming, they can finally continue the war!

Before winter, everyone was fighting too hard and were forced to take a truce. After three months of dormancy, they all believed that they had reached their best condition and this time they would be able to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop!

After Shen Zhiwei had been idle for a few days, a message popped up on her system.

[A special event has been detected. This event is a continuous event and will inherit the status of the previous event. The host's behavior will affect the rating of this event. The current event rating is: SR!]

Shen Zhiwei was startled by the message prompt that suddenly popped up. When she saw the end, she frowned and didn't understand what was going on this time.

The ending evaluation hasn't started yet, so why are the SR ending levels displayed first?

Shen Zhiwei asked the system in detail and figured out what was going on.

This special event is a continuation of last year's special event, which was the World War. In the last special event, she received an SSR-level rating. That is to say, if she does not make a contribution sufficient to upgrade the ending rating in the second stage of this event, her final ending level will be SR.

To be honest, SR is pretty good too.

Thinking back to when Shen Zhiwei first learned about this special reward, she never imagined that she would get an SSR. She thought that she could only get an SR at most, or even an R or N.

As a result, after these special events, she dealt with the SR level most often.

Is this really not a bug? Or are special events just bonus levels for the host, with no difficulty at all?

Shen Zhiwei really wanted to ask the system, but she was afraid that if she responded, the system would think she thought the game was too easy, and would then increase the difficulty to enhance Shen Zhiwei's gaming experience.

Shen Zhiwei said that she doesn't need any game experience, she just wants the SSR-level ending achievement point reward.

After staring at the two letters SR for a long time, Shen Zhiwei finally gave up and lowered his head to start thinking.

How can she improve the ending level? Based on previous experience, her ending level is not high enough, purely because she has no presence in this incident.

Didn't get involved.

It’s amazing that Shen Zhiwei can produce an SSR in the first stage, but considering that this war was caused by her, the SSR level assessment is low!

Damn it, why can’t the contributions from the previous stage be accumulated to the second stage? Does it mean that the start of the second stage war has nothing to do with her?

Shen Zhiwei was furious and incompetent, and she was too timid to say a word to the system panel, for fear that the system would deduct her money.

While Shen Zhiwei was worrying about how to increase his involvement in the incident naturally without leaving any trace, Hu Youan had already begun to intensify his training.

She directly recruited another two thousand soldiers in Taisheng.

The matter of recruiting soldiers had already been discussed with Shen Zhiwei, who had personally approved it. The reason she approved it was purely because she thought that Hu Youan was alone outside and held great power, and could rebel at any minute. As the king of a fallen country, she had to lend her a helping hand!

Unexpectedly, Hu Youan really just wanted to recruit soldiers and attack the Bian State. She never thought of pointing her sword at the emperor.

She would never betray the king!

After the spring plowing, Hu Youan began to train the soldiers in the camp in an orderly manner. Some of the soldiers were veterans. They had followed Hu Youan since last year and had developed a tacit understanding with him. These soldiers were the ones Hu Youan worried the least about.

Those who have previous experience in the field can be used to some extent, but the new recruits need to be trained well.

Hu Youan was afraid of losing the battle, so he trained his troops honestly and worked hard to increase his strength.

As for some small countries, they no longer have soldiers to fight.

So they had no choice but to conscript soldiers directly. They did not train the conscripted soldiers properly and just threw them onto the battlefield. If they were lucky, they would survive, but if they were unlucky, they would die.

There was blood flowing like a river on the battlefield, and there was also blood flowing outside the battlefield.

Lord An fell seriously ill, and Crown Prince Zhuo thought he could easily ascend to the throne, but he didn't expect that his younger brothers would start to make trouble, and even his uncles started to cause trouble.

He is obviously the eldest son, and even has the title of crown prince, so his succession to the throne is perfectly legitimate, but those people still want to make trouble.

Prince Zhuo knew why. What happened in the Northern Kingdom set a precedent, and this group of people wanted to become the second Bei Gongyue.

But he didn't think about the fact that he was not Gongzi Rong, who would give up the position he had obtained to others.

Prince Zhuo has a very tough attitude and uses ruthless methods. Whoever falls into his hands, he will beat to death.

Several of his younger brothers became obedient after being disciplined by him, but some uncles were still making trouble. Prince Zhuo felt something was not right. After careful investigation, he found that people from Bian Kingdom and Bei Kingdom were interfering.

Prince Zhuo was not surprised that the people from the Northern Kingdom were involved. He saved Prince Rong and made enemies with the Northern Kingdom. Beiyue was very vindictive and would definitely cause trouble for him.

The key is why Bian State was involved in it!

Prince Zhuo was furious and immediately wrote a letter to question the king of Bian State, asking him to interfere in the dispute over the crown prince. Did Bian State want to tear up the alliance with An State?

His question was destined not to reach the King of Bian State, because the current King of Bian State was in a daze and seriously ill all day long.

When you are old and indulge in pleasure, you can catch a cold and stay ill.

Sheng Jiang brought the medicine and fed it to the king of Bian State who was lying on the bed. Half of it went into his mouth and the other half spilled on the bed.

Sheng Jiang didn't care. When the medicine was gone in the bowl, he asked someone to get more. After feeding him three bowls, the king of Bian State didn't react at all. He already smelled of the bitter medicine, and the medicine was dripping from the corners of his clothes.

Sheng Jiang asked someone to clean up the place, bowed to the unresponsive king, and told him to leave. The king did not react at all as usual.

After leaving the palace, the confidant said to Sheng Jiang with great concern, "Princess, the king hasn't opened his eyes for three days. Should we call the crown prince?"

"The king is just very sleepy, that's why he hasn't woken up yet. Do you think the king will end up like Lord An by calling the prince over now?"

Upon hearing this, the confidant opened his mouth to say something, but was afraid of angering Sheng Jiang, so in the end he remained silent.

Sheng Jiang knew what his confidant was thinking. The king’s current situation was even worse than Duke An’s.

But she could not let the news of the king's serious illness spread throughout the world. She knew very well that her power came from the king. Before she had completely grasped the power in her hands, if the king was replaced by her nephew, her position would be unstable.

After all, she did not have a good relationship with the Crown Prince of Bian State, and was far less trusted by the Crown Prince than Wen Chengjun.

Wen Chengjun is considered the prince's enlightenment teacher, and they have a close relationship. She cannot compare with him.

If she had known that the king's health was so poor, she would not have presented so many beauties to him and would have followed his wishes.

Sheng Jiang felt a little regretful, but only a little. After all, the king was not very satisfied with her after she came back from Taisheng. If it were not for those beauties who pleased the king, her situation would be a hundred times more difficult than it is now.

Sheng Jiang returned to his home and received a letter of questioning from Prince Zhuo of Anguo.

It can be seen between the lines that Prince Zhuo is extremely angry.

But Sheng Jiang was confused. How could she not know that someone from Bian State was interfering in the dispute over the An State Crown Prince position? Anyway, she didn't get involved, and Wen Chengjun was no fool, so he shouldn't have gotten involved either!

Could it be that Prince Zhuo heard that the king was in poor health, so he sent a letter to test him?

Sheng Jiang's thoughts ran uncontrollably in another direction, mainly because in her opinion, the evidence attached to the letter by Prince Zhuo could not prove that someone from the Bian Kingdom was involved.

Just based on the casual confessions of a few Bian people, she said that Bian State intervened. Then if she arrests a few An people tomorrow, she can also say that An people are plotting against the king.

When the evidence doesn't hold up, the rest seems even more absurd.

The letter sent by Prince Zhuo was full of nonsense in Sheng Jiang's view. Rather than asking for punishment, it seemed more like he wanted to fabricate charges in order to sever the alliance between Bian'an and An.

As the king of Bian State was seriously ill, Prince Zhuo's behavior was indeed abnormal.

Sheng Jiang thought about it and finally sent the letter from Prince Zhuo to Wen Chengjun. When Prince Zhuo was held hostage in Bian State, she had already arrived in Taisheng, so she didn't know him very well and didn't know how to reply to this questioning letter.

Wencheng Jun was of the same clan as the king of Bian State. In terms of relationship, the king should call him uncle, but this relationship was a bit too distant, and the king was superior and he was inferior, so Wencheng Jun never talked about seniority.

He is nearly fifty years old this year. Faced with the impolite remarks in the letter from Prince Zhuo, he was not angry at all. Instead, he felt a little more relaxed, as if he was watching a child playing mischief.

"When Crown Prince Zhuo was in Yongming, he loved listening to Changzi's lectures. His calligraphy has become somewhat similar to Changzi's. Changzi believed that everything was either black or white and that he should act according to his own will. Crown Prince Zhuo has a lot of Changzi's appearance."

Wen Chengjun was talking to Bian State's Crown Prince Sen, and casually put the letter aside. He asked softly, "How do you think we should respond to Crown Prince Zhuo?"

"Zhuo is a man with lofty ambitions, extremely arrogant and unruly. He actually sent a letter to ask about something without any evidence or proof. He has no grace like a Crown Prince. In my opinion, I should directly reject this matter and warn Crown Prince Zhuo not to treat Bian State as a small country that can be scolded at will by An State!"

Prince Sen was of average appearance and height, so he disliked Prince Zhuo, who was handsome and tall.

When Prince Zhuo was in Yongming City, he was also known for his intelligence and courage. However, his character was just like his appearance, unremarkable, which made Prince Sen hate Prince Zhuo even more.

So Prince Sen didn't think much about it, he just thought Prince Zhuo was deliberately looking for trouble, he must teach Prince Zhuo a lesson! Now they are both princes, Bian State is stronger than An State, Prince Zhuo should be lower than him!

When Lord Wencheng saw that Prince Sen was very angry, he thought that Sen was just upset by Zhuo's impolite remarks. As for the conflict between the younger generations, he didn't take it to heart at all.

Lord Wencheng has been an outstanding person since childhood, and he was granted the title of lord smoothly. He could not understand the pain of Prince Sen, who was an ordinary person in all aspects.

"Your Highness is right. We shouldn't let anyone underestimate Bian State. However, Prince Zhuo is not someone who attacks without a purpose. He sent this letter of inquiry not simply to rebuke Bian State. Perhaps, Your Highness should investigate whether anyone from Bian State has truly interfered in the dispute over the position of Crown Prince of An State."

"The king has been seriously ill recently, and the people of Bian State are all worried about this. How could they care about the unrest in An State? He questioned the stability of the alliance in his letter. I'm afraid he specifically mentioned this because he has the intention of destroying the alliance."

Prince Sen was very stubborn. He thought that the subjects in his country could not be so idle and that the other party was just looking for trouble.

What he said was somewhat true. The alliance between Bian State and An State was fragile to begin with. Once one side had second thoughts, the alliance would be shaky.

Wen Chengjun pondered for a moment and said, "We should send someone to investigate. If it's not someone from our own country with ulterior motives, then it's probably another country causing chaos, like Yun and Ning. They certainly don't want to see Bian'an and An join forces."

When Prince Sen thought of the frequent good news coming from the front line, he felt that Lord Wen Cheng was overthinking it. Both the Yun and Ning countries were almost destroyed, so how could they have the time to make such arrangements.

After investigating over and over again, of course nothing was found. The person that Prince Zhuo caught was from the State of Bian, and he had even worked for the nobles in the State of Bian.

After a closer look at those nobles, it turned out that they had people from all walks of life. It is possible that Wencheng Jun had even seen those captured people from Bian.

As the matter was not concluded, Prince Zhuo received no response from the Bian Kingdom. Not to mention an apology, he didn't even get an explanation.

During this waiting, Lord Anguo passed away first.

It was because rumors were spreading in Anguo. Those gossips were all talking about the King of Anguo, saying that the King of Anguo did not cultivate virtue, which led to his sons fighting endlessly for the throne, and no one cared about the health of the King.

Whether as a father or as a monarch, An Guojun was a failure. The rumors criticized An Guojun to the point of being completely worthless.

The rumors were almost all exaggerated and false. An Gongshou was not such a failure. During his reign, the national strength of An State was constantly increasing.

It's just that people are unable to face reality and are instead influenced by the words of others. An Gongshou has been very sensitive ever since he was scolded. Now, after hearing the rumors that slandered him, he felt that his life was a complete failure.

In a fit of rage, he passed away within two days.

Crown Prince Zhuo succeeded to the throne as Duke An. As soon as he took the position, he announced to the world that the alliance with Bian State was invalid, and that they would no longer join forces to attack Yun and Ning. He even did not allow the people of Bian State to have any contact with the people of An State. He unilaterally cut off all ties with Bian State, set up checkpoints, and did not allow the two countries to communicate with each other.

This move caused an uproar in the world.

Since the war between Anguo and Yunning, they have never cut off the trade between the three countries, nor have they prevented the exchanges between the people.

Now who can tell whether An Guo is attacking Yun Ning or Bian State?