Imperial city.
Ever since Concubine Jing committed suicide, Emperor Wen has been in a bad mood. Even though Empress Xu tried all kinds of ways to cheer him up, he rarely smiled.
Most of the time, Emperor Wen stayed in his own palace, silent and taciturn.
The things Emperor Wen did most were reading and playing chess.
However, he did not play chess with others, but basically played with himself, and only occasionally played a game of chess with Yun Li who came to pay his respects.
But Yun Li didn't know whether it was because he was not good at chess or he was letting Emperor Wen win on purpose, as he was defeated by Emperor Wen several times.
After a few times, Emperor Wen stopped playing chess with Yun Li.
Today, Emperor Wen was playing chess with himself again, playing both the black and white pieces.
Just as Emperor Wen was concentrating on playing chess, Mu Shun came quickly and said, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince wishes to see you."
Emperor Wen said nothing, but just nodded slightly.
...
...
Mu Shun understood.
Not long after, Mu Shun brought Yun Li in.
"Your son pays respect to His Majesty, Father."
Yun Li saluted respectfully.
"Get up!"
Emperor Wen raised his hand and pointed at the chessboard in front of him, "Choose one side and play this game with me!"
"I obey your command."
Yun Li stood up, walked to the chessboard and sat down.
Yun Li took a look at the situation on the chessboard and saw that the black piece had a clear advantage. He said, "Your son is not very good at chess. I will take advantage of your father and choose the black piece!"
"OK!"
Emperor Wen nodded slightly, and then instructed Mu Shun, "I will play chess with the crown prince, you can leave first!"
Mu Shun accepted the order and bowed to take his leave.
Next, Emperor Wen and Yun Li began to play chess.
Emperor Wen didn't say much and just played chess peacefully.
Yun Li wanted to speak several times, but he forced himself to suppress the thoughts in his mind.
Yun Li's chess skills were far inferior to Emperor Wen's to begin with, and now he was distracted. Before long, the black side, which originally had a great advantage, gradually fell into a disadvantage.
Emperor Wen raised his eyes slightly and threw the chess piece in his hand back into the chess cup. "Such a big advantage was played like this. Are you deliberately letting me down, or are you worried about something and can't calm down?"
"I am ashamed."
Yun Li smiled bitterly, "I didn't let you down, Father, but I do have some worries."
Emperor Wen paused for a moment and asked, "Did Qin Liu dare to negotiate with Lao Liu with unsatisfactory results?"
Calculating the time, Qin Liugan should have arrived in Gantang a few days ago.
There should be some news coming back in the next two days.
Yun Li nodded gently, "Sixth brother agreed to withdraw from Minzhou, but he asked the court for 5 million taels of silver, 3 million dan of grain, 600,000 pieces of cloth, and 20 warships..."
"Daydreaming!"
Emperor Wen snorted, "Does he really think that the court is there to provide him with food and military supplies? What does he think of the court? Just tell him directly that the court will reward him with a few hundred thousand taels of silver at most, and don't even think about anything else!"
This rebellious son really dares to speak!
Even if he left room for bargaining with the court, it was still too dark.
It was fortunate that the third brother was trained by him, otherwise, he would probably be so angry that he would vomit blood again.
"I also want to refuse it outright."
Yun Li said bitterly, "But my sixth brother has the leverage over the imperial court, and it is difficult for me to make a decision now."
"handle?"
Emperor Wen frowned slightly, "What did he catch you with? Did you take the initiative to provoke him again?"
“This time, it’s not me who has provoked my sixth brother.” Yun Li felt wronged and whispered, “To be precise, my sixth brother has found something on my father…”
"My handle?"
Emperor Wen was confused by Yun Li's words and asked in confusion, "Could it be that he is threatening you and the court with your fourth brother's life?"
What evidence could he have that Lao Liu could catch him with?
What evidence does that rebellious son have against him?
Yun Li sighed softly, "Duke Rong sent someone to send back a message that my sixth brother has forced the Zhenhe and Menghu tribes to surrender and allowed him to station troops there! He plans to use the two tribes as a springboard to capture the Li Dynasty as soon as possible, and then use the Li Dynasty as a springboard to attack the Yu Kingdom, so as to avenge the people of Yuzhou..."
Hearing Yun Li's words, Emperor Wen was suddenly stunned.
Inexplicably, Emperor Wen's hand was on the chessboard.
It seemed as if the chessboard would be overturned at any moment.
"Father, calm down!"
Upon seeing this, Yun Li quickly stood up and went to Emperor Wen to comfort him, gently patting his back, feeling very depressed.
"Rebellious son, what a trick!"
Emperor Wen was so angry that he laughed, "He is trying to turn the tables on the imperial court and me! I really miscalculated this time!"
"yes!"
Yun Li smiled bitterly, "My uncle and the others also said that this time, my sixth brother is using the revenge for the people of Yuzhou to coerce the court..."
This matter gave Yun Li a headache.
Lao Liu is now demanding money, food, cloth and warships from the imperial court in the name of revenge for the people of Yuzhou.
If the court doesn't give it, wouldn't it be considered as not supporting him in avenging the people of Yuzhou?
But if the imperial court gave it, it would be totally aiding the enemy!
Whether to give or not is a hassle!
This bastard, give him a pole and he will climb up right away!
The bastard's backhand blow directly knocked him and the four regents unconscious.
After the court meeting, he received a letter from Qin Liugan sent back from Minzhou. He then discussed it with the four regent ministers for a long time, but they still could not come up with a good plan.
He didn't want to trouble Emperor Wen in the first place.
But now he had to trouble Emperor Wen.
Now he only hoped that Emperor Wen could find a good way to foil the evil plot of that bastard Lao Liu.
“This matter is indeed a bit troublesome.”
Emperor Wen frowned, "Tell me first, what do you think?"
Yun Li opened his mouth slightly, hesitated for a moment, and then said tentatively: "I am afraid that if I tell you, it will make father angry."
Emperor Wen waved his hands and laughed at himself, "Don't worry, I've been through so many things in the past few years, I'm not easily angered."
Yun Li hesitated again after hearing this.
After a moment of silence, Yun Li tentatively said, "What I'm thinking is that instead of doing this, it would be better to grant his request and hand over Minzhou to him! The tax revenue of Minzhou for three or five years is not as much as he wants..."
Having said this, Yun Li paused for a moment.
Seeing that Emperor Wen showed no signs of anger, he continued, "Based on my understanding of your sixth brother, even if the court promised to give him so many things, he would definitely find a chance to occupy Minzhou and Muzhou in the future..."
He doesn't have any better solution now.
He would definitely be unwilling to accept money, food and military supplies.
God knows what happened to the money and food given to that bastard. Will he use it to fight the Li Dynasty or to fight me?
This bastard is extremely cunning. It is better to be ten times more careful when dealing with him.
In fact, his idea was also agreed by Xu Shifu.
But Xiao Wanchou, Tang Shu and Gu Xiu thought it was inappropriate.
They thought that although the court could give up Minzhou and even Muzhou, it must not give up too easily.
If Yun Zheng had put in a little more effort, the court would have given up Minzhou, which would not only have encouraged Yun Zheng's arrogance, but would also have caused the ministers in the court and the people from all over the country to lose confidence in the court.
Even the aristocratic families and clans would feel that the imperial court was weak and could be bullied, and thus would have inappropriate thoughts.
Even if they handed Minzhou over to Yun Zheng, Yun Zheng could still use the excuse of attacking the Li Dynasty and the Yu Kingdom to ask the court for money, food and military supplies.
If you think about it carefully, what Xiao Wanchou and the other three said does make sense.
Right now, the court has two choices.
Either give up Minzhou, or agree to give that bastard so many things and at most bargain with him.
He didn't want to choose either, but he had to make a choice...
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