The study of General Chu's mansion.
Nangong Jiu sat on Liu Hao's lap.
[General Qin's army will soon march to the Southern Jin border. My uncle's Chu army can prepare to march north.]
Liu Hao served as a substitute.
Chu Ruofeng stood up abruptly after hearing this: "I'll make arrangements right away. As soon as General Qin leaves, the Chu army will head directly north."
General Chu nodded and said, "You go and make the arrangements. I can go and receive their letter of surrender on your behalf."
Nangong Jiu frowned.
The letter of surrender is not easy to obtain. It must be obtained through untold hardships by the ministers themselves. Only then will it be legitimate and will be doubly cherished.
If I force the dog emperor to write a letter of submission, even if he does, without the participation of the ministers, they will not have a strong sense of belonging and will not know how to cherish it.
Liu Hao bent his fingers and tapped the table lightly.
“The old emperor’s ancestors betrayed their ancestors and established Xiyue with great difficulty. He will not be willing to let Xiyue return to Dongling.
Just wait and see, there is still a battle to come.
Jiuer's idea is right. Let those ministers compete with him in wits and courage. Only then will they cherish the opportunities they have worked so hard to obtain."
[Hehe...I'll go over from time to time to join in the fun, play a supporting role, and add fuel to the fire.]
Prime Minister's Mansion.
Liao Yongxian pondered for a long time in his study, and finally wrote a list and gave it to his confidant.
"Go, have this person come to the Prime Minister's residence before dark and tell him that I have something important to discuss with you."
The confidant took the order and left.
At dusk, all ministers above the third rank were invited to the Prime Minister's Residence.
Liao Yongxian cleared his throat.
"My dear colleagues, I have invited you to my humble abode today because I have a matter of life and death that I would like to discuss with you.
Now, Southern Jin and Northern Yue are already dispatching troops to the border, and the war to divide up our Western Vietnam may start at any time.
The royal family can no longer be relied upon. I wonder if my colleagues are willing to stand with me to protect our homeland, our people, and ourselves?"
Mu Qingchun, Huang Zhongyuan and other ministers were the first to respond.
"For the people and my family, I am willing!"
"I do, too!"
"Prime Minister Liao, we are all willing, but we are just civil officials, powerless, what can we do?"
"That's right. If the enemy comes to attack us, can we fight them with poetry, songs and great principles?"
"Yes, as long as it is something we can do, Prime Minister Liao just said that we will go through fire and water without hesitation."
Liao Yongxian raised his hands and signaled everyone to stay calm.
“As everyone knows, our ancestors were from Dongling. For some reason, the royal family separated us from Dongling.
For ordinary people like us, it doesn’t matter whether it is divided or not. As long as we can have enough food and clothes, it’s fine.
However, the current royal family has put us in a situation where our country is destroyed and our family is ruined.
In order to protect our homeland and survive, we can only find a way to survive, and that is to return to Dongling.
The current Emperor of Dongling is a wise ruler. The people of Dongling live and work in peace and are blessed by the gods.
The gods also said that our lives will only get better after we return to Dongling.
Once we become citizens of Dongling Country, we will be protected by Dongling Country and the gods."
The ministers nodded in unison: "Yes, the people are talking about this now. They all want to submit to Dongling as soon as possible and live a peaceful life as soon as possible.
Prime Minister Liao, what should we do? You decide."
Liao Yongxian nodded.
“We civil officials are weak and incapable of fighting the invading enemy, but there is one thing we can do, and it is something that only we civil officials can do.
To submit to Dongling, the emperor must write a letter of surrender.
In this way, Dongling can legitimately accept us and protect us."
One minister was puzzled: "Isn't the emperor bedridden? Can we wait until he dies..."
“If that happens, Dongling taking over Xiyue would be seen as taking advantage of the situation, and other countries would have an excuse to cause trouble.
But the emperor will most likely not agree to this.
Therefore, we need to beg the Emperor, reason with him, and use our expertise to convince him."
"Yes, we are not good at fighting, but we can still do the simple work of presenting facts and making arguments.
There are so many of us, and if each of us says one sentence, that would amount to dozens of sentences. Even if the emperor gets angry, we cannot give up and must fight him to the end.
In a word, he must write this letter of surrender."
"That's right, if he doesn't write, we won't come back and will just stay in the palace and waste time with him.
If you give up easily this time, it will be even harder to persuade him next time."
"Since all my colleagues are willing, let's gather at the palace gate at the beginning of the morning and go into the palace together to ask the emperor for help. We must all work together to make the emperor write this letter."
"Okay, it's a deal!"
Huang Zhongyuan nudged Mu Qingchun lightly, and the two of them came forward to offer suggestions.
"Prime Minister Liao, if we go there empty-handed, we're afraid the Emperor will shirk his responsibility. How about getting ten thousand people to sign a petition?"
Liao Yongxian slapped his thigh.
"This is a good idea, but the situation is urgent. It's so late now. Will it be too late to go to the palace tomorrow morning?"
"Nothing is impossible. All of us, the dozens of colleagues here, should go back and prepare immediately."
"Yes, mobilizing everyone who can be mobilized shouldn't be a big problem."
"Good idea, let's do it, go, go!"
The ministers quickly dispersed and hurried back to their homes to find someone to sign.
This night.
In the streets and alleys of every city, you can see people carrying torches and lanterns, going door to door asking for autographs.
They patiently explained to the people.
When the people heard that it was a signature, they asked the emperor to write a letter of surrender, and they called their friends and came forward to sign.
"Sign! Not only do we have to sign, we also have to follow the adults to ask the emperor for help."
"Can we enter the palace?"
"If you can't get in, just kneel at the palace gate and you can cheer for the adults."
"Yes, that's it. We don't want to become slaves of a conquered nation, and we don't want to leave the homeland where we have lived for generations."
Some people who cannot write even ask others to hold their hands so that they can write their names stroke by stroke in a crooked manner.
When the first rays of morning sun shone on the earth, the ministers had gathered at the palace gate.
"Prime Minister Liao, these are the signatures we collected."
Liao Yongxian took the thick stack one by one and said, "There are more than ten thousand people. There are tens of thousands of people."
"The more the better, the more the better!"
"Okay, are you ready, colleagues? We may have a tough battle today. No matter if the emperor scolds or hits us, everyone must hold on."
"Don't worry, Prime Minister Liao. We civil officials also have the pride of civil officials. Once we set our minds on something, we will accomplish it even if it means dying."
"Okay, let's go!"
At this time, thousands of people poured out from the streets and alleys.
Prime Minister Liao was startled.
"What are they going to do? Do they want to come into the palace with us?"
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