Chapter 526 Shen Lanxi has turned her back on her!
"No, no, Father is already in good health. If I were to act at this time, it would not be purging the court of corrupt officials, but treason!" Zhou Ruyuan said, but in his heart he was extremely flustered and confused.
Jiang Wuyai said decisively, "If Your Highness doesn't take a desperate gamble and goes back like this, Shen Lanxi will definitely pin a crime on you. If the court orders Your Highness to be relieved of your military post, Your Highness will have no chance to recover."
This is what Zhou Ruyuan hesitated about. If he hadn't known beforehand that Bai Qingling was behind it, he would have definitely thought that Shen Lanxi was forcing him to raise an army.
Now Bai Qingling has forced him to raise an army, and he is in the wrong.
Jiang Wuyai knew that Zhou Ruyuan must be very conflicted, so he didn't urge him, but just waited on the side.
Flames soared into the sky from the southwest, like dark clouds hanging over Zhou Ruyuan's head.
Inaction would be tantamount to waiting for death, while action could bring him infamy and condemnation from the world. Even if he succeeded, he would still be a reviled emperor in history.
...
While Zhou Ruyuan was struggling with this decision, Shen Lanxi received the surrender letter from the wolf clan and all the tribes.
This is not peace talks, not negotiations, it is a letter of surrender.
Shen Lanxi smiled and sent a letter back to the wolf clan.
As dawn broke, the fire gradually died down, leaving only black smoke rising into the sky after the fire was extinguished. The entire camp was filled with black ash, casting a somber mood upon everyone.
The Southwest Army soldiers, who had been cutting down trees all night, were exhausted and wished they could just lie down and sleep.
"Your Highness, the soldiers can't hold on any longer. The fire in the southwest looks like it's getting smaller. Should we order the soldiers to stop?"
Shen Lanxi: "We can't stop. We can't see anything during the day. What if the fire spreads while the soldiers are asleep?"
Although the soldiers were somewhat reluctant, they knew that Shen Lanxi was right.
This isn't a battlefield, it won't kill you. It's just cutting down a few trees, right? Let's cut them down!
Just after 3 PM, a scout suddenly brought an urgent report.
"Your Majesty, this is terrible! The foreign tribes have amassed a large army and are marching towards our Southwest Army. They say they want revenge, claiming that we set the fire that killed many of them!"
Shen Lanxi's gaze was heavy: "Gather all the soldiers here!"
"yes!"
The soldiers, who were so tired they could barely keep their eyes open, came down from the mountain and assembled in no time.
"Your Highness, the main force of the Southwest Army has been taken away by the Prince. Let's hurry and call them to come and provide support!"
"Your Majesty, our camp has less than two thousand men. We've been cutting down trees all night and haven't eaten or drunk anything. We're so exhausted we can barely hold our weapons!"
Now is the time.
Shen Lanxi stood up with a heavy gaze and said loudly, "Soldiers, with such a large fire last night, even if Zhou Ruyuan led troops out for training, he should have returned by now."
"He hasn't come back yet, which means he has clearly betrayed us and abandoned you."
The more than 1,000 soldiers from the Southwest Army looked terrified. Had their lord, the God of War of the Great Zhou, abandoned them?
Shen Lanxi sighed deeply: "Zhou Ruyuan must have colluded with the foreign tribes in the southwest, wanting to use our lives as a pledge of allegiance to them. Zhou Ruyuan is simply a wolf in sheep's clothing, a traitor, and has gone mad for power."
Suddenly, a soldier shouted something.
"Kill the princess..."
Immediately afterwards, many people joined in the shouting, all of whom believed that Zhou Ruyuan and Bai Qingling were in cahoots.
Seeing the excited soldiers, Shen Lanxi resolutely declared, "I am the Regent of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even if the sky falls, I can hold it up!"
"Send scouts to deliver a message to the foreign tribes, saying that I wish to negotiate peace with their leader!"
Guard: "Yes!"
Shen Lanxi sighed, "Zhou Ruyuan disregards your lives, but I will!"
"I have devoted myself to the Great Zhou Dynasty, unlike Zhou Ruyuan, who has no bottom line and only thinks about using every means to climb to the top!"
"You are not only the soldiers of the Great Zhou, but also the people of the Great Zhou. No matter what happens, I will stand with you through thick and thin!"
Many soldiers were moved to tears upon hearing Shen Lanxi's words.
Previously, they looked down on Shen Lanxi for being a woman, always suspecting that she had climbed to her current position through dishonest means, saying that she was not as good as their prince, and that women could never be as good as men.
They were wrong.
Their revered war god sacrificed his life to gain the support of foreign tribes. Ironically, it was the woman they had always looked down upon who stood with them at this moment, and even went to negotiate peace with the savage foreign tribes for their sake.
Many soldiers lowered their heads in shame.
Seeing the reactions of these people, Shen Lanxi immediately drafted a document to condemn Zhou Ruyuan and sent a copy to the capital as well.
Within three days, news of the Prince of Zhennan's rebellion would spread throughout the streets and alleys of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
An hour later, Shen Lanxi led all her soldiers to negotiate peace with the foreign tribes.
"You all wait here, I'll go alone!"
The soldiers, a sea of black, had complex expressions on their faces, a mixture of shame, emotion, and unease.
...
"The Regent is truly a visionary; he was able to foresee in advance that someone was sabotaging the peace talks between the Great Zhou and my Wolf Clan." Meng Xiangka smiled broadly, but a heavy weight was pressing on her heart.
Shen Lanxi glanced discreetly behind Meng Xiangka. When they met before, she was all alone, but not now.
Shen Lanxi sat calmly opposite Meng Xiangka. The situation had now reversed; she was strong and the enemy was weak, so she should be assertive.
"Our Great Zhou Dynasty is a great and powerful nation, and there is no such thing as peace talks. However, the southwestern tribes can follow the example of vassal states and submit to our Great Zhou. In the future, they can enjoy the same treatment as the citizens of our Great Zhou. What our Great Zhou has, you will also have. If a powerful enemy invades our borders, our Great Zhou will stand together with the southwestern tribes to resist them!"
Meng Xiangka's expression changed, and her smile froze.
This was different from what she had initially expected.
If Shen Lanxi says this, isn't she afraid that the Great Zhou will start a new war with the southwestern tribes?
"Your Highness, we agreed before that everything would continue as usual. The Great Zhou and the Southwest would continue their cultural exchanges, helping and benefiting each other!" At that time, the Southwest tribes could take the opportunity to learn advanced technologies from the Great Zhou, and bring back all of the Great Zhou's grain and tea seeds, as well as the technology for refining sugar and salt, to their tribes.
With the air of a superior, Shen Lanxi said calmly, "I did say that we should have a mutually beneficial relationship with foreign tribes, but the premise is that you foreign tribes must submit to my Great Zhou!"
Meng Xiangka stood up angrily, pointed at Shen Lanxi, and said angrily, "You never said before that you wanted me, a foreign race, to submit. You people of the Great Zhou are all treacherous and cunning."
Shen Lanxi's face turned cold: "I didn't say this before, but I will now. My Great Zhou is powerful and all nations pay tribute to us. You are just a mere foreign tribe in the southwest. My Great Zhou army can wipe you out with a wave of its hand. What makes you think you can stand on equal footing with my Great Zhou?"
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