Chapter 106: The Surrender of the Southern Kingdom
There was no need for Wu Yiqing to say much, as the envoys who went to the Great Zhou and the king of the Southern Kingdom told them in detail what they had seen and heard along the way. Among them, the highlight was how Wu Yiqing was favored by the Emperor of the Great Zhou.
Not only did Wu Yiqing come back, she also brought some rare things from the Great Zhou, such as the many boxes of glass beads she brought back, which were worth a fortune among the nobles of the Southern Kingdom. Everyone was used to seeing gold, silver, and jewelry, but these crystal clear and translucent treasures with hidden secrets were something no one had ever seen before.
Wu Yiqing naturally won over some nobles.
Although Wu Yiqing was not kept in the Great Zhou by Yan Xuanyu as the King of the Southern Kingdom had expected, the current situation was obviously more favorable to the Southern Kingdom. The fact that Wu Yiqing brought back so many rewards was the best proof of this.
The King of the Southern Kingdom was just as cold and indifferent to his daughter before Wu Yiqing went to the Great Zhou Dynasty as he was now. Not only did he always keep her by his side, he even gave rewards to Wu Yiqing's mother, the Queen, to appease her.
Although Wu Yiqing still had some feelings for his father in the past, now when he heard him say how helpless he was and that he had to give up his most beloved princess in order to save the Southern Kingdom, Wu Yiqing felt only coldness in his heart.
Regarding Wei Yan, whom Yan Xuanyu had mentioned unintentionally, Wu Yiqing thought about it for a while and still decided not to ask him to help her. Firstly, the path she was going to take was destined to make her deserted by her friends and relatives, and secondly, she didn't want the Wei family to be involved, so she would slowly accumulate her own manpower.
It was only after Wu Yiqing returned to the Southern Kingdom that she truly experienced the taste of power. Everything she was experiencing now was because of Yan Xuanyu's identity. She had to admit that power was intoxicating, but what Wu Yiqing longed for more was to hold power in her own hands. The future Yan Xuanyu painted for her was too beautiful, and also... too dangerous.
During the time they were together, Yan Xuanyu did not deliberately hide how he had gotten to where he was today, so Wu Yiqing knew a little bit about it.
She thought, since Yan Xuanyu had made it to where he is today under such circumstances in the Great Zhou Dynasty, there was no reason why she couldn't.
...
"The princess is here, the princess is here with her people!"
A faint light flashed in the eyes of a group of people who were lying numbly in their thatched huts waiting to die.
The people of the Southern Kingdom all knew that Her Royal Highness the Princess often brought female doctors and attendants to provide porridge and treat illnesses to the poor people. The female doctors would provide free medical treatment for the people and write down prescriptions, and would even give herbal medicines for the people to boil and take.
"Mom, you will definitely get better." A little boy with a big head and an extremely thin body said to his mother in front of a straw mat. The boy was almost naked, and there were two obvious tear marks on his dirty face.
Their tears had almost dried up.
The boy wiped his eyes. Although he was very afraid of the identity of "princess", he still got up and let the haggard woman lie down. He dragged the tattered straw mat with difficulty and followed the others towards the place where the most people were.
"Your mother is saved." A limping man said, and the boy let down his guard only after confirming that he had seen this man before.
"Axi, let your mother lean under the tree, and you go to the soup shed and get a bowl of porridge first." The man held a broken bowl in his hand, and without asking the child named Axi if he heard him, he hurriedly walked towards the soup shed, leaning on a branch.
The lame man must have heard about the princess's free porridge. Ah Xi followed the lame man's instructions and took the only bowl in the house. The bottom of this ceramic bowl had a hole bitten by a mouse.
Wu Yiqing wore a veiled hat and distributed the porridge with his attendants, listening to the people's praises one by one. These people, who had been at the bottom of the southern country since birth, clumsily said some self-righteous words. They didn't know where they heard the words "Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady" and "Bodhisattva who saves the suffering and the distressed" from.
She has done these things thousands of times, but every time she goes to a different place, sees different sufferings, and then returns to the palace to see the royal nobles living a life of luxury, her heart can never be at peace.
Wu Yiqing repeated the action of scooping porridge until a dirty little hand stretched out in front of him. The hand held a ceramic bowl that was much larger than his hand, and he had to hold it up with both hands together.
The pottery bowl already had many cracks. Wu Yiqing hesitated for a moment and stopped using the spoon.
The boy stammered, "I, my mother and I share a bowl."
He noticed that the people giving out porridge were looking at him, and he was about to cry, as if he was afraid that these people would drive him away because he was small.
"Please give me a spoonful of porridge, just one spoonful..." he begged the servant.
Wu Yiqing had no choice but to ask the attendant next to him to scoop a spoonful of porridge, but the porridge started to drip as soon as it was poured into the ceramic bowl.
The porridge in these buckets was still steaming and hot. When the boy saw the porridge flowing out of the broken bowl, he was completely at a loss and burst into tears.
He didn't dare to let go and used his mouth to suck up the porridge that was flowing out, but the already dirty ceramic bowl could not withstand it at all. The cracks became bigger and bigger, and the boy's hands and body were covered with porridge. Because he used his face to catch it, half of his face was also a mess like his body.
Wu Yiqing said to a servant beside him, "Go get a bowl."
Then he leaned forward slightly and said softly, "Don't be afraid. Your mother and you will definitely have porridge to drink."
Wu Yiqing took out a small piece of burlap from behind and handed it to him: "Wait aside and wipe your face."
The boy took it in a daze.
There were still many people behind her, so she asked another servant to take the spoon and continue to scoop porridge for the people behind.
After distributing porridge, Wu Yiqing took the female doctors who had come with her from the royal city to provide free medical services everywhere. By the time they returned to the carriage, Wu Yiqing was exhausted.
"Your Highness, the monarch asked you to go back early." The woman next to Wu Yiqing brought a basin of water and wanted to wash her hands.
When Wu Yiqing heard this, her eyes dimmed. She sat up and said, "I can do it myself."
Now Wu Yiqing has become Princess Zhaoning, who can meet with the king and his ministers. Her good father has given her a title and a mansion.
At first, the King of the Southern Kingdom knew what Wu Yiqing was doing outside, but he didn't say much. Later, when he summoned her to the palace, he admonished her, asking her to visit her mother more often and to stop fooling around outside.
Wu Yiqing's provision of porridge and free medical treatment to the people was just "nonsense" in the eyes of the king of the Southern Kingdom.
After hearing this, she even wanted to laugh, but after laughing, she felt a sense of sadness in her heart. How could such a southern country and such a monarch be compared with the Great Zhou?
Fortunately, her power is growing. Now noble banquets are proud to have Wu Yiqing attend the banquet, because Wu Yiqing can always bring rare things that amaze others and make the host of the banquet very proud.
At the same time, Wu Yiqing also opened many shops in the South Country and cooperated with many royal nobles, making them earn a lot of money, so these royal nobles naturally became more and more supportive of Wu Yiqing.
Yan Xuanyu once said in correspondence with her that the best way to gain the trust of greedy and evil people like royal nobles is to become their "accomplice" temporarily.
Of course, the person Wu Yiqing tried his best to please was the King of the Southern Kingdom. In the eyes of the King of the Southern Kingdom, his daughter was completely open with him, would tell him everything, and seemed to be very dependent on him.
Even those shops opened with royal nobles were opened after Wu Yiqing asked him for permission. On the surface, Wu Yiqing made money, but in fact, the money went into the private treasury of the King of the Southern Kingdom. And of course, any good treasures would be presented to him for review first.
Wu Yiqing's understanding and tact finally made her have some weight in the heart of the King of the Southern Kingdom.
As for the ministers of the Southern Kingdom, although the King of the Southern Kingdom was not a wise ruler, he had accumulated great prestige over the years and no one in the court dared to disobey him. Therefore, the King of the Southern Kingdom bestowed on her the title of Zhaoning, giving her an honor that no princess had ever had, and no one dared to say anything.
"Did my father tell me why he summoned me?" Wu Yiqing leaned on the cushion with his eyes half closed.
The woman's name was Aruo, and she was Wu Yiqing's confidant.
Aruo said softly, "The monarch didn't say anything, but we in the palace spread the news that when the monarch was favoring the dancer, his mouth suddenly became crooked and his eyes were distorted, and he couldn't speak."
After hearing this, Wu Yiqing opened his eyes slightly and said slowly, "It is time for me to fulfill my promise to His Majesty."
Although the Southern Kingdom Palace blocked the news, the monarch summoned two princes, Princess Zhaoning and several important ministers into the palace. Such panic made everyone realize that something was wrong.
"You always have to put on a show for others, right?" she sneered.
Wu Yiqing ordered his men to ride as fast as they could, and after returning to the princess's residence to change clothes, he took a carriage to the palace.
What he didn't expect was that he met Wei Yan who was on duty outside the palace.
Wei Yan saluted Wu Yiqing. After Wu Yiqing returned the salute, he saw that Wei Yan seemed to be hesitant to speak.
She asked, "General Wei, do you want to say something to me?"
Wei Yan remained silent.
"Your Highness, you have lost weight." He said after a while.
Wu Yiqing was stunned for a moment before she said, "Really? I hadn't noticed. My father summoned me into the palace, so I didn't catch up with the general."
...
When Wu Yiqing entered the palace, his brother the king had not arrived yet, but two ministers who were highly trusted by the King of the Southern Kingdom had arrived.
Only when she saw the King of the Southern Kingdom did she realize how accurate the news spread by their people was. The King of the Southern Kingdom was lying on the bed, supported by a palace maid. Two palace maids were kneeling on the ground beside him, holding paper and pen in their hands. There were some crooked words written on the paper.
"Father!" Wu Yiqing's eyes reddened as she knelt before the Southern King's bed. Tears welled up in her eyes. "What did the imperial physician say?"
Tears streamed down her face, but she didn't cry out loud, fearing that crying too hard would annoy the King of the Southern Kingdom.
This sincere and heartfelt look made the King of the Southern Kingdom feel even more disgusted with his two sons.
The queen wiped her tears and said, "My son, come here quickly. That is your brother's seat."
People are most impulsive and vulnerable when they are sick. After hearing this, the King of the Southern Kingdom suddenly widened his eyes and made a few hoarse sounds, as if he was angry.
There was undried blood outside the hall just now. It seemed that those dancers had been sentenced to death. Wu Yiqing thought that he was still a step too late.
But what did this have to do with the dancers? He was the one who was indulging in pleasure. He was the king of the Southern Kingdom. How could the dancers dare to disobey him?
No, not just the dancers.
The King of the Southern Kingdom fell silent after a few "ho ho" sounds, but when the two princes arrived, he started crying and wailing again.
The King of the Southern Kingdom wrote the name of the Great Prince, also known as Brother Wuyi Qing, on the paper with trembling hands.
Wu Yiqing clenched his hands in his sleeves.
Just when everyone thought that the King of the Southern Kingdom would not make any more moves, he pointed in the direction of Wu Yiqing, motioning her to come forward.
"Hehe...Assist..."
After saying this, the King of the Southern Kingdom closed his eyes and fell asleep.
...
The throne was inherited by the eldest prince Wu Yixuan, and Princess Zhaoning was named the eldest princess.
After struggling for several months, the King of the Southern Kingdom fell into a coma one night and never woke up again.
Not long after the eldest prince ascended the throne, he was imprisoned in the palace by the eldest princess, and the government of the Southern Kingdom was handled by her from then on.
The South was in turmoil.
The eldest princess's forces quickly calmed the chaos, and the world then knew the eldest princess's true methods.
The first thing the princess did after coming to power was to submit to the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty. The interests of the royal aristocracy were affected, and they gathered court officials to fight against the princess for power, and the princess was in a losing position.
The public's calls for the eldest princess are growing louder and louder, and some people are not afraid of death.
The following year, the Great Zhou sent troops to conquer the Rong and Di peoples and brought them under the control of the Great Zhou.
The sword points to the South.
There are only two options before the Southern Kingdom: surrender or become a prisoner of war.
The Emperor of the Great Zhou said that because the eldest princess of the Southern Kingdom was on good terms with the Great Zhou and had pledged allegiance to the Great Zhou, if the Southern Kingdom surrendered, the royal nobles of the Southern Kingdom would still retain their titles and enjoy fiefdoms in the Southern Kingdom, which could be passed on to their descendants.
And what about the Rongdi people?
No matter whether they were ministers or nobles, they had to work hard to open up new land after being captured.
Southern courtiers and royal nobles: .....
They suddenly didn't want to rebel against the princess anymore.
After all, the princess still saved the Southern King's life, didn't she? And now the King is still staying in the palace safely.
When faced with such a huge temptation, everyone knows what to choose.
Now they have no choice, no, they still have a choice - to surrender voluntarily or to lose their country passively, which one to choose?
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