As he held her, the maid's heart pounded so hard that even Zu An could hear it.
"Xiao Tuo, why are you so nervous?" Zu An suddenly understood why so many people like power. It's really satisfying for those in power to manipulate those below them and have everything under their control.
"I'm not... I'm not nervous," the maid hurriedly explained.
Seeing her anxious expression, Zu An almost burst out laughing. It seems that people in ancient times were still simple and honest. Even a carefully trained female spy couldn't hide her thoughts. If they had gone through several hundred years of development, the spies of the feudal dynasties in later generations would not have been able to see through her so easily.
At this moment, the maid gradually regained her composure. She knew that she couldn't get out anytime soon, so she decided to take this opportunity to complete the young master's task.
Zu An preemptively asked, "By the way, since Tuo Kingdom is in the east, do you know anything about Dongyi Kingdom?"
He knew that directly asking about her background would be mostly useless. It would be better to ask her things she couldn't possibly lie about, gradually lowering her guard before getting straight to the point.
"The Eastern Yi Kingdom?" The maid was taken aback, not expecting him to ask such an irrelevant question. Shouldn't he be asking about the Qiang people?
She increasingly felt that this tyrannical ruler was somewhat unfathomable, but she still replied, "I know a little. The Dongyi people are skilled with bows and arrows. The character 'Yi' evolved from the image of a person carrying a bow and arrows. Their customs are very different from those of the Shang Dynasty..."
Hearing her answer, Zu An nodded secretly, gaining a deeper understanding of the Dongyi: "By the way, do you know about the princess of the Dongyi Kingdom? Don't they have a national treasure, the jade cong?"
He thought of the young girl's request, and heard from the chief that Fu Hao really liked the jade cong, so he figured that the Dongyi princess must have been a contemporary of hers.
"The Dongyi princess?" The maid thought for a moment and replied, "Two years ago, the Shang Dynasty and the Dongyi fought a war. The Shang Dynasty won a great victory and captured their princess, Jiang."
Zuan hurriedly asked, "Where is she now?"
The maid's expression was strange: "She has already been sacrificed. Her skull has been put into a bronze cauldron and steamed."
Zuan: "..."
Alas, Jiang Jiang is truly pitiful. I originally hoped to use my current position as King Shang to see if I could save her, but I never expected that I still couldn't change her tragic fate.
"What about the jade cong from the Dongyi Kingdom?" Zu'an asked. Now, all he could do was fulfill her request to let her spirit rest in peace.
The maid hesitated for a moment before saying, "According to the Dongyi people, the jade cong can communicate with the gods, so it is now in the hands of the high priest to enhance its sacrificial power."
"The High Priest?" Zuan recalled her hesitant expression earlier, and a thought struck him. "Is Xiao Tuo on good terms with the High Priest?"
The maid's expression changed, and she hurriedly said, "Your Majesty misunderstands. It's just that the High Priest is of noble status, and this servant dares not speak rashly, which is why I hesitated."
Zuan thought that in this era, the high priest represented the messenger of the gods, and in some ways, his status was no less than that of the Shang king. He also remembered that Fu Yue had mentioned trying to take back the right of sacrifice, so this high priest must not be one of them.
“Tell me about the High Priest,” Zaun asked. “What’s the High Priest’s name?”
The maidservant looked at her strangely, thinking, "You don't even know these things? Are you possessed?" But she still answered, "The high priest's name is Lian, and he is the king's cousin..."
As Zuan listened to her explanation, he asked some questions and finally understood the identity of the high priest. It turned out that he was the son of the previous Shang king, Xiao Xin. When Xiao Xin died, because his son was still young, he passed the throne to his younger brother, Xiao Yi, who was the father of Wu Ding.
This makes it very clear that Lian was definitely dissatisfied with Xiao Yi's decision to pass the throne to his own son. Logically, the throne should have been returned to their lineage, so he harbored rebellious intentions.
All those period dramas I watched in my past life weren't for nothing; these relationships are easy to guess.
Objectively speaking, it's not surprising that Lian was dissatisfied. Zuan believed that if he were in Zuan's shoes, he would definitely try to reclaim "his own" throne.
Of course, now that Zu'an is Wu Ding, and knowing that Wu Ding was a wise ruler who reigned for decades, the historical trend is there, and he cannot possibly abdicate and give way to a worthy successor.
"His Majesty seems to trust the Prime Minister quite a bit," a maid suddenly asked.
Zu An realized that she was deliberately changing the subject and clearly did not want to talk about the matter of restraint.
“Fu Shuo is my friend, and he is an upright and capable man, so I naturally trust him,” Zu An explained with a smile.
The maid did not refute him, but instead praised him extensively. However, she inadvertently said something to sow discord between Fu Yue and Wu Ding.
Her provocation was actually quite clever, leaving virtually no trace. If Zu'an hadn't been on guard against her from the beginning, it would have been very difficult for him to sense her provocation.
The maid felt she had achieved her purpose in staying there and was in a hurry to deliver the message, so she made up another excuse to leave.
Who knew that Zuan would suddenly pick her up in his arms and say, "Hahaha, where are you going? Come sleep with me."
maid:"……"
Anger level from Xiao Tuo: +233+233+233...
This lecherous and incompetent ruler kept asking me all sorts of questions; he was definitely after this!
Feeling the man's masculine aura so close to her, she panicked and instinctively struggled.
Zuan gasped. He admired the designer of this trial. Their bodies didn't enter; only their souls did. The characters inside were like NPCs in a game, except that failing to complete the game cost the player their life.
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