"My dear ministers, do you have any good suggestions?" Zhao Huan asked.
Zhao Huan was not a god, and it was impossible for him to be all-encompassing. At this time, the opinions of his ministers were most important, and he had to accept their advice.
The first person to stand up this time was Duan Xiaorong, who seemed to have been waiting for this day for a long time.
"Your Majesty, I know nothing about warfare. But I can guarantee that the Ministry of Revenue will be able to provide the necessary military pay for the next five years. Your Majesty, feel free to go all out."
"Great!" Zhao Huan slammed the table and said, "I like this sentence. In five years, I will definitely be able to conquer Mongolia!"
"Your Majesty, I think we should be on guard against Goryeo. If the Mongols start a war now, Goryeo will certainly not stand idly by. If Goryeo and Mongolia attack us from the front and back, our army will be at a great disadvantage." This was said by He Li.
At the mention of Goryeo, Zhao Huan suddenly remembered that Princess Yanran was still in the palace. "Come! Go to the wardrobe and invite Princess Yanran to the Wende Hall. All of you, please leave. How to deal with Mongolia and how to send troops will be discussed at the court tomorrow morning."
Everyone shook their heads and sighed. The Mongols had already started fighting. If they weren't careful, they might be forced into Bianjing again. But the damn emperor was still thinking about that princess.
Meng Gu Rao was a man of quick temper and outspoken: "Your Majesty, the army is approaching..."
Before he could finish, Zhao Huan waved his hand impatiently: "Go away, we will discuss this matter at court tomorrow morning."
Meng Gu was furious, puffing his beard and glaring, and it seemed that the emperor and his ministers were about to quarrel. Cao Dongsheng saw that things were not going well and hurriedly advised: "Master Meng, all the masters, please go back first. We can discuss any suggestions at the court tomorrow morning."
The ministers had no choice but to retreat, but Zhao Huanhou was impatient: "Quick, quick, quick! Bring the Goryeo princess up to me."
When Princess Yanran saw Zhao Huan, she was genuinely surprised: "You are the emperor, why did you lie to me?"
Zhao Huan had guessed she would say this before she even entered the Wende Hall.
"I didn't mean to lie to you. Princess, I want to ask you something. How many standing troops does your Goryeo have?"
Since you are unwilling to send troops, why are you asking these questions? Princess Yanran frowned slightly: "Your Majesty, why are you asking this?"
"I have decided to send troops to attack Li Ziqian!"
"What?" Princess Yanran's eyes flashed, her voice trembling a little: "Your Majesty, are you willing to send troops to help us?"
Zhao Huan stood up, walked down the steps of Wende Hall and came to Princess Yanran's side: "Alas, in fact, I have always wanted to send troops to Korea. However, all the ministers are desperately opposed to it, and I am helpless. Fortunately, I just received the war report yesterday that Mongolia has declared war on the Song Dynasty. In order to avoid being attacked from both sides, I also took this opportunity to persuade the ministers to send troops to Korea!"
Princess Yanran burst into tears of joy and knelt down: "On behalf of the people of Goryeo, I thank His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song!"
Zhao Huan hurriedly helped her up: "Please stand up quickly. This is just an idea I have. I will bring it up during the morning court tomorrow. However, if the ministers still object by then..."
Zhao Huan paused at this point, and Princess Yanran's heart sank again. Yes, it's useless if the emperor alone wants to send troops. What can you do if all the ministers oppose you?
Who knew that the foolish emperor Zhao Huan would suddenly change the subject: "That won't work either! Whoever dares to oppose my sending troops will have his ass smashed to pieces!"
Princess Yanran was stunned for a moment, then she was overjoyed. She couldn't help but hug Zhao Huan's neck and kissed him on the cheek.
With a creaky sound, the palace door suddenly opened, and Queen Zhu Lian appeared before her eyes.
This was unexpected for Zhao Huan. The queen never came to the former court to participate in government affairs, but for some reason she came to Wende Hall today.
The Queen's face turned cold: "Your Majesty, sending troops to Korea is no joke. Your Majesty, how can you rashly send troops based on personal interests? Although Taizu's will prohibits me from interfering in government affairs, I also have the responsibility to protect Taizu's country and people."
"Queen, you..." Zhao Huan was interrupted and immediately embarrassed.
The Empress, however, was unconcerned. She continued, "Emperor Yang of Sui mobilized the entire nation to conquer Goguryeo three times, but each time he was defeated. Even Emperor Taizong of Tang, a mighty and powerful man, conquered Goguryeo three times but returned without success. I wonder how Your Majesty can compare to the Emperor Taizong of Tang."
Zhao Huan blushed and was secretly frightened by these words. He was indeed blinded by the beauty. The destruction of the Jin Dynasty had made him arrogant. He thought the war was too simple.
Even when he was fighting against the Jin Dynasty, he almost died at the hands of the Jin people several times. If that had happened, history would have repeated itself.
Now that he had conquered the Jin, he thought the Song Dynasty was invincible. Little did he know that war is dangerous and there are no guaranteed victories. History is full of examples of the weak defeating the strong, the few defeating the many. He was too arrogant.
Zhao Huan then remembered Chen Guoting's words, saying that he did not want to go to war with Mongolia. Thinking of this, Zhao Huan sweated profusely. He bowed deeply to the queen and said, "The queen is right. I was wrong."
This dog emperor was extremely incompetent, but one good thing about him was that he could correct his mistakes. He said to Princess Yanran: "I can't help you. I have to think about the people of the Song Dynasty."
Princess Yanran felt desolate. The Queen was right. They couldn't possibly sacrifice their own country to save Goryeo. Without a vested interest, no one would help without a reason.
The Queen walked up to Princess Yanran and said softly, "You are a princess of Goryeo. I have heard of you. I hope you will not embarrass His Majesty, nor blame me. Just wait patiently in the palace. We, the Great Song, will help you when we need it. But we will not help you without a purpose. Do you understand me?"
Princess Yanran stared at her in a daze, then finally nodded: "I understand, you did nothing wrong, I don't blame you."
Empress Zhu Lian smiled faintly. She took Princess Yanran's hand and said, "You are a sensible princess. I am very pleased. Don't worry, your father is the King of Goryeo after all. Li Ziqian won't dare to do anything to him for the time being. Now that the Song and Mongolia have gone to war, you just need to wait patiently. The day will come when the Song Dynasty will send troops to Goryeo."
Princess Yanran nodded, and she finally smiled. She was a smart woman, and she knew what the queen said was right.
Zhao Huan was puzzled as to how the Queen had suddenly become so clever. With such an accurate grasp of the current situation, he couldn't help but pull Zhu Lian aside and whispered, "Queen, how did you know this?"
The Queen smiled and said, "It was you who drove away the four regents because of your lustful thoughts. No sooner had you driven them out of Wende Hall than Meng Gu Rao came to complain to me."
Zhao Huan was shocked: "Meng Gurao? Did he tell you all this?"
Zhu Lian shook her head: "That's not the case. My younger brother happened to be visiting me in Renming Palace, and that's when he said that."
Zhu Xiaoqing, the younger brother of Empress Zhu Lian and his own brother-in-law, was only sixteen years old. Zhao Huan never expected that he had such extraordinary foresight at such a young age.
"I want to summon Xiaoqing!"
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