Yun Zhuo declared firmly, "Father, I believe Princess Lingyang does not show enough respect to King Xuan of Great Zhou! The sincerity of the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom in this marriage alliance is questionable!"

Princess Lingyang immediately said, "Prince Jing, you are wrong. Although Prince Xuan was injured, I also gave away my virginity. How can you say I am disrespecting your Great Zhou?"

Yun Zhuo's tone was sharp: "If it's about respect, the consummation of the marriage should be on the wedding night, not tonight! Besides, the princess poisoned Prince Xuan, rendering him unable to resist and turning him into a plaything for the princess like a male concubine. What respect is there to speak of?"

Princess Lingyang went to see Empress Shen, who was so angry that she couldn't utter a single word.

Princess Lingyang felt wronged and angry, but she didn't know what to say!

Yun Zhuo changed the subject, saying, "Of course, a marriage alliance is an important matter for friendly relations between two countries, and it cannot be canceled because of a little accident! But our King Xuan of Zhou cannot just let the princess bully us!"

"Therefore, Father, I propose that the grain sent to the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom this time should be no more than 50,000 shi! The princess is at fault, but the marriage alliance cannot be abandoned. Therefore, the princess should make concessions on the amount of grain to express the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom's apology to Prince Xuan!"

He turned to look at Princess Lingyang, his gaze sharp: "Princess Lingyang, when you travel to our Great Zhou, every word and action represents the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom. Surely the princess wouldn't object?"

The emperor was somewhat surprised when the matter suddenly turned to food, but he also felt that Yun Zhuo's words made a lot of sense.

Last year, the Great Zhou had a bumper harvest and sent 400,000 shi of grain. This did not have much impact on the Great Zhou, but who would complain about having too much grain?

It was only at this moment that Empress Shen realized the enormous pit she had fallen into.

But she really didn't know which step she had taken wrong, that allowed Yun Zhuo and Ye Qingxue to know her scheme in advance, and thus set a trap for her here!

Empress Shen immediately said, "No! Tonight's events, to put it mildly, were nothing more than two young people unable to control their emotions!"

"Is Prince Jing deliberately exaggerating the matter and reducing the grain sent to the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom to provoke the Heavenly Eagle King? If the Heavenly Eagle King is enraged and the friendly relations between the two countries are destroyed, what good will that do Prince Jing!"

Empress Shen then knelt before the Emperor: "Your Majesty, I believe that what Prince Jing said is not feasible. Princess Lingyang has traveled thousands of miles to marry into our Great Zhou. Even if something unexpected happens, we should try to minimize the conflict and establish peace between our two countries!"

“But what Prince Jing said is only exacerbating the conflict between the two countries. Besides, it’s not like our Great Zhou can’t produce 400,000 shi of grain. Why should we let other countries look down on our Great Zhou’s magnanimity?”

As soon as the words were spoken, Prince Ding, Yun Chi, arrived with several officials. He knelt before the emperor and began to speak:

“Father, Mother is absolutely right. Even if we follow what Brother Jing said, we can only save 50,000 shi of grain, but this will only anger King Tianying. It would be a losing proposition!”

Several of his ministers echoed this sentiment.

Upon hearing their words, the emperor knew that the matter between Princess Lingyang and the Seventh Prince had already spread.

After all, the matter has become so big, and the truth needs to be investigated; it's really hard to cover it up.

Yun Zhuo took a deep breath and said, "Father, 400,000 shi of grain is never a small amount. It can make up for the grain loss of the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom for a quarter!"

"We can save millions of people from a single season of famine! This is true in the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom, and it is also true in my Great Zhou!"

"As the ancients said: 'A country without nine years' worth of reserves is considered insufficient; without six years' worth, it is considered in dire need; without three years' worth, it is not truly a country.' If all 400,000 shi of grain are sent to the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom, how will the people of my Great Zhou survive a natural disaster? I urge Father Emperor to reconsider!"

There was a moment of silence in the hall.

Then, a minister named Fang Bingzhi said angrily, "In recent years, the Great Zhou has enjoyed favorable weather and abundant harvests. How can there be any talk of natural disasters? Not only does His Highness Prince Jing want to sabotage the marriage alliance between the two countries, but he also wants to curse our Great Zhou. What are his intentions!"

This accusation is quite serious.

The emperor sat quietly on his high throne, twirling a string of green beads in his hand, listening to their argument without saying a word for the time being.

Empress Shen said, "Your Majesty, I still stand by what I said before. Tonight's events, to put it mildly, were nothing more than Prince Xuan and the princess consummating their marriage ahead of schedule."

"It really doesn't come down to reducing the amount of grain sent. What Prince Jing said tonight first damaged the friendly relations between our two countries, and then he was spreading alarmist rumors. If we listen to him, I'm afraid the country will fall into chaos, Your Majesty!"

Yun Zhuo said, "May I ask Your Majesty, even though the Great Zhou has enjoyed favorable weather in recent years, who can be certain that it will not suffer from floods this year? Who dares to be absolutely certain and bear the consequences? Is it you?"

"If there is indeed a flood in June, how will you bear the consequences? If 400,000 shi of grain are sent out, how will our disaster-stricken people survive? As the Queen Mother of the Great Zhou, do you not consider the people of the Great Zhou at all?!"

His questions were like thunder and lightning, fast and ruthless, making it impossible to withstand them.

Sweat rolled down Fang Bingzhi's and the others' faces.

A few months ago, Yun Zhuo was still the gentle and polite crown prince in their eyes, but a few months later, they found him to be as sharp as a knife, exceptionally shrewd.

Every word was like a blade, scraping across their faces!

The atmosphere was like a string stretched to its limit, ready to snap at any moment.

Empress Shen opened her mouth as if to say something, but suddenly a "thud" sounded in the hall, as if something had fallen to the ground. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Ye Qingxue.

Something fell to the ground beside her, having fallen from her wide sleeve. She knelt down to pick it up, and was immediately horrified. She threw it away and knelt down, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive me! This matter has nothing to do with me!"

What was that thing? How could it have frightened the usually bold Ye Qingxue like this? Huaifu led his men forward to investigate, and they were also quite frightened!

The emperor asked, "What is it!"

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