Chapter 169 Standoff
The Regent's carriage turned around and drove directly into the palace.
As soon as Shen Qingci got out of the car, before she even reached the Taiji Hall, she saw Liu Wenyuan leading a dozen or so officials, waiting on the palace road, completely blocking her way.
Judging from their posture, it was clearly to prevent her from seeing Chu Jichen.
"Why is Your Highness, instead of staying at home, rushing into the palace? What brings you here?" Liu Wenyuan asked with a forced smile, his eyes full of wariness and scrutiny.
Shen Qingci seemed completely oblivious to the intense hostility emanating from them, and instead gave Liu Wenyuan a bright and harmless smile.
"This princess has come to the palace today," she said in a clear and resonant voice, "naturally... to see Your Excellency the Prime Minister."
Upon hearing this, Liu Wenyuan was taken aback.
Before he could react, Shen Qingci continued, her voice suddenly rising so that everyone around could hear her clearly:
"His Highness is currently confined to the palace by the various officials and unable to attend to state affairs. Coincidentally, the Prince's residence received an urgent military report today from the southern border!"
"The military report says that the Northern You Kingdom has brazenly broken the agreement, deployed troops to the border, and has been fighting with our Great Zhou's garrison for several days! The Southern State is in grave danger, and we request the court to immediately send reinforcements!"
"I heard that this military report was delivered to the capital several days ago and handed over to Your Excellency the Prime Minister. But I don't know why... you suppressed this matter, and no one in the court knows about it!"
"I am deeply concerned, fearing that the border war is urgent and that further delay could have far-reaching consequences, even allowing the enemy to invade the heart of our Great Zhou! Therefore, I have come to the palace specifically to ask the Prime Minister in person—"
Her gaze instantly turned as sharp as a knife!
"Did you receive this military report? And what are your plans... in dealing with this matter?!"
Her words were like a thunderclap, instantly causing an uproar among the officials behind Liu Wenyuan!
"What? The Northern You Kingdom is invading?"
"Your Excellency the Prime Minister... actually suppressed such important military intelligence?"
Liu Wenyuan's face turned ashen in an instant!
He never expected that Shen Qingci, that bitch, would be so audacious as to expose this matter in front of so many people!
He sneered, looking at her with a gloomy gaze: "As everyone knows, the Northern You Kingdom signed a twenty-year peace agreement with our Great Zhou five years ago."
He turned to look at Shen Qingci, his eyes filled with malicious calculation: "Since the Princess Consort has come for this matter, she must already know why the Northern You Kingdom so brazenly tore up the agreement this time, right?"
"How about we ask Her Highness the Princess to... clear up everyone's doubts?"
Shen Qingci remained silent.
Seeing this, Liu Wenyuan sneered, his eyes full of smugness: "If the Princess Consort can't say, then I will say it!"
"It's all because of one person—the Sixth Princess, Chu Yuening! She disregarded the greater good of the country and secretly fled from the Northern You Kingdom back to the capital! The twenty-year peace agreement signed between the two countries was based on her marriage into the Northern You Kingdom! Now that she has run away, it is only natural for the Northern You Kingdom to use this as a pretext to invade!"
"Therefore, in my opinion, the most urgent task is not to mobilize a large army to fight! Rather, we should immediately..." His voice suddenly turned stern, filled with ruthless cruelty, "find the Sixth Princess and... hand her over!"
"Therefore, after receiving the military intelligence report, I did not remain idle; rather, I have been secretly investigating and searching for the Sixth Princess's whereabouts!"
"Hand her over?" Shen Qingci laughed upon hearing this, a laugh filled with endless mockery. "Why doesn't the Prime Minister say why the Sixth Princess ran away?"
"Isn't it because that dog emperor of the Northern You Kingdom frequently beats and scolds my Great Zhou princess and the child born to the Sixth Princess, intending to harm her?"
"So what?" Liu Wenyuan scoffed, his expression arrogant. "Since she is a princess sent for a political marriage, her life is no longer her own! Whatever she encounters in Beiyou Kingdom, even if she dies, she should die there!"
"It was just a little beating and scolding! Since ancient times, a woman has been obedient to her husband after marriage, and the husband is the heaven! She should accept everything that comes from heaven, whether it is sunshine and rain or storms! All women in the world are like this, so why can't she, the sixth princess, accept it?!"
"Moreover," his voice was filled with sanctimonious righteousness, "she carries on her shoulders the peace and stability of our Great Zhou, and the safety of countless people! Border soldiers are willing to risk their lives to protect their country! So what if she suffers some beatings and scoldings from her husband for the sake of peace in Great Zhou?"
"If we just hand her over, we can quell the war. Why not do it? Why bother...mobilizing so many troops?"
Shen Qingci almost laughed out of anger at his utterly shameless remarks!
Her voice was icy cold, "Then this princess would like to ask the Prime Minister a question!"
"What if the Northern You Kingdom deliberately provoked this, intentionally using the little princess's life to force the sixth princess to flee?"
"What if we hand over the Sixth Princess, but they still find other excuses to refuse to withdraw their troops?"
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister!" Her voice suddenly rose, filled with an undeniable authority, "Regardless of the cause of the war, the Sixth Princess can be summoned! But the necessary preparations and reinforcements must be dispatched immediately!"
"Now, you hold power in the court, yet you disregard the safety of the border and refuse to send troops, all for your own selfish reasons! If the Southern Prefecture truly falls because of this, the people in the city will be slaughtered, and the soldiers on the border will die on the battlefield—"
"Can you, Liu Wenyuan, shoulder this responsibility?"
Shen Qingci's words were resounding and powerful, like a heavy hammer blow to the hearts of the officials behind Liu Wenyuan!
They looked at each other, and in each other's eyes they saw a hint of hesitation and lingering fear.
"The Regent's wife...what she said makes some sense."
"Yes, border wars are no child's play. If this is truly a conspiracy by the Northern You Kingdom, wouldn't we be... playing right into their hands if we didn't send reinforcements?"
Liu Wenyuan took in the reactions of everyone behind him, his face growing increasingly gloomy.
He sneered, his gaze toward Shen Qingci icy and piercing.
"Since I have been entrusted by His Majesty to temporarily assume the duties of regent, I will naturally take full responsibility for every decision I make!"
His voice turned cold, and he abruptly turned his attention to Shen Qingci, "But you, Princess Consort, a mere woman, dare to speak so presumptuously about state affairs! What are your true intentions?"
"According to the ancestral rules of my Great Zhou Dynasty, the empress dowager is not allowed to interfere in politics! You are merely a regent's wife, yet you dare to meddle in matters of state and military affairs?"
Suddenly, as if he had just remembered something, a wicked glint flashed in his eyes: "Oh, I almost forgot. That sixth princess is His Highness the Regent's... own sister."
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