Jing Yan glanced lightly at the box on the table; it contained all the things of the Jing Kingdom, and the humiliations suffered by the Jing Kingdom.
Once upon a time, these things were called tribute by Anguo, which was the tribute that Jingguo paid to Anguo.
Now it has become a gift. Jingguo and Anguo only have a blood feud, where is the righteousness?
“His Highness Anguo is indeed adept at manipulating people’s hearts. He used everything that Jingguo once had to bribe Jingguo. It would be wrong for me not to be tempted, but I… refuse to exchange.”
"My wedding date with Jiang'er is about to be set, and we will soon be married. I cannot be heartless and give up my Crown Princess."
“Of the original fifteen cities, the Jing Kingdom has already reclaimed thirteen. Why worry about not being able to reclaim the remaining two cities in the future?” He pushed the object in front of him back.
"Shameless! Princess Yuejiang should be our prince's crown princess."
When Chu Lu brought Yue Jiang in, he saw that she ignored her own prince and obeyed Jing Yan's orders without question. He knew that there might have been something going on between the two of them for a long time.
He had foreseen that His Highness would suffer humiliation today, and sure enough, Jing Yan not only wanted to shame his own Highness, but also dared to say that they would be enemies of Anguo in the future. How could he tolerate this?
Wei You was unwilling to see anyone insult his prince, and he had long disliked Chu Lu on the other side, so he sternly called out to him.
"Why didn't your Crown Princess come to your An Kingdom? Why did she come to our Jing Kingdom instead? Isn't that because you're incompetent?"
"Who are you calling incompetent?" Chu Lu reached for the weapon at his waist.
Wei You refused to lose face and drew his sword as well: "You're incompetent!"
"Chu Lu."
"Step back!"
Seeing the two arguing, An Chenghuan, who only wanted to bring Yue Jiang back and did not want to make things worse, scolded Chu Lu.
Jing Yan didn't want to be that smug little man; his only goal was to make Yue Jiang see the value An Chenghuan had given her.
After the other party withdrew, he then gestured, "Wei You, step back!"
After the commotion subsided, An Chenghuan stared at the things that had been pushed back, his expression becoming more serious. Jing Yan was more difficult to deal with than he had thought.
Although the past grudges were great, he had just destroyed the Feng clan and reclaimed the thirteen cities that Jing Kingdom once possessed. The national treasury must have been greatly depleted. Even if the Feng clan's national treasury was confiscated, it would still take a long time for them to recover and rebuild.
Jing Yan seems determined to achieve unparalleled feats, treating Anguo as his mortal enemy. It is likely that in the future, Jingguo will relentlessly seek every opportunity to destroy Anguo.
It would be extremely dangerous for Anguo to expose its internal problems.
Yue Jiang was not only his Crown Princess, but also represented the support behind the Yue Kingdom. An Chenghuan pondered for a moment and decided to try his best to win her over.
"Since Your Highness has come to see me today, doesn't that mean there is an opportunity for discussion? Yue Jiang is the Crown Princess agreed upon by Anguo and Yueguo."
"Before Your Highness took another man's wife, you didn't care about what Yue Jiang thought. You then made such an absurd marriage. Was Yue Jiang sincere?"
"Your Highness, please don't play games with me. Just tell me how you can return Yue Jiang?"
Jing Yan chuckled: "Your Highness Anguo, are you trying to tell me that you and Jiang'er have an extraordinary relationship, and that I have done something despicable?"
He sighed softly, his whole body exuding a relaxed air that An Chenghuan couldn't achieve today, and chuckled lightly.
“Since Your Highness is so generous, I will not refuse to give you a chance. I will trouble Your Highness to prepare the documents again and cede fifteen cities of Anguo to Jingguo.”
"An additional one million taels per year, Jingguo will not force Anguo's descendants to work for this, and will continue to do so for forty years."
"His Highness Anguo is the Crown Prince of Anguo. I think this is just a matter for His Highness's generation and won't cause too much trouble for his descendants."
"Also, my grandfather died far from home back then," Jing Yan paused here, recalling that after Emperor Jing died by hitting his head against a pillar, Anguo refused to return his body.
They wanted to use the body to control the Jing Kingdom, but for the sake of the Jing family's century-old foundation, the Jing Kingdom had no choice but to grit its teeth and give up Emperor Jing's body.
Anguo thought Jingguo was just talking, so he piled Emperor Jing's body on a bonfire outside Anguo city and burned it in front of Jingguo's envoys.
Even after burning them black as charcoal, Jingguo did not budge or compromise, and Anguo then realized that Jingguo did not care at all.
Emperor An, An Chenghuan's grandfather, saw that he could not gain any more benefits from the Jing Kingdom. If he were to start a war easily, the Jing Kingdom would not be easy to destroy in a short time, and instead, the war would continue.
He has just ascended the throne and it is not advisable for him to provoke war.
He then abandoned his idea of forcing Jing Huaixu to demote himself to a marquis and bringing the entire Jing Kingdom under the jurisdiction of An Kingdom.
Only after exchanging cities and silver did Anguo return Emperor Jing's charred remains.
Jing Yan pondered for a long time, his eyes slightly red: "Finally, I would like to ask His Highness Anguo to set up a memorial tablet for my grandfather in Anguo, so that he can enjoy the incense offerings of the An royal family's descendants. The tablet should be placed next to the former Emperor An!"
"What demands? Why should the ancestral temple of my An Kingdom offer sacrifices to people from your Jing Kingdom?" Chu Lu couldn't help but speak out again, even drawing his sword. This time, An Chenghuan did not stop him.
Wei You couldn't stand Chu Lu's constant meddling, which made him even less tactful than him. He touched the weapon at his waist and mocked him.
"If you can't do it, then go back to Anguo. The day His Highness marries Princess Yuejiang, send a portion of the wine to Anguo. You won't go hungry."
Jing Yan pretended not to see the indignant looks on Chu Lu and the others' faces, nor did he look at how cold An Chenghuan's expression was.
His tone became more relaxed, yet full of sarcasm: "Not too harsh, right? I didn't say that His Highness Anguo should dig up Emperor An's remains and send them outside Jingguo City to be burned."
"Your Highness repeatedly says you want to take Jiang'er away to show your sincerity. I said it, but Your Highness can't do it. Your feelings for Jiang'er are nothing more than this."
"How much affection does His Highness Jing have for Princess Yuejiang? He didn't even give her the chance to choose for herself. Hasn't it been His Highness who has been forcing her all along?"
An Chenghuan glanced slightly at the cubicle behind Jing Yan. He could see from the outside that it was covered by dark curtains, which must have been soundproofed.
After talking for so long, Yue Jiang probably hasn't heard a thing outside. If Jing Yan is truly innocent, Yue Jiang should willingly stay in Jing Kingdom.
Why would they arrange something like this to protect against her?
The Yue Kingdom sent Yue Jiang out to express its intention to form a marriage alliance, but the fact that she was abducted by the Jing Kingdom en route was something that was not expected.
The Yue Kingdom values marriage alliances, but it doesn't care which country it partners with. It won't be at a disadvantage for the Yue Kingdom, and it would never risk offending the Jing Kingdom to help the An Kingdom demand Yue Jiang.
In the eyes of the six kingdoms, this incident was at most a loss of face for An Kingdom because An Kingdom failed to protect the Yue Kingdom princess.
If he cannot bring Yue Jiang back, An Chenghuan cannot allow Jing Yan and Yue Jiang to marry smoothly. Otherwise, wouldn't he be doing a favor for the Jing Kingdom and making the two countries, Jing and Yue, become in-laws?
"Since His Highness Jing is in love with the princess, how can he let her be completely unaware of what is happening outside? Why not invite the princess out to discuss this together and see which side she chooses?"
“Wei You, tell Rong Ying to bring Jiang’er out. His Highness Anguo wants to meet her,” Jing Yan was surprisingly agreeable, which surprised An Chenghuan.
Soon Yue Jiang came out of the cubicle, and Jing Yan's people added a chair for her, so she could sit opposite An Chenghuan.
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