As early as when he made this plan, he had thought that Gu Jue might trace it back to him, but he carefully weighed the pros and cons and felt that even if he was exposed it would not be a big deal, the most he could do was to apologize to Gu Jue in person.
Their Dahao is not a barbaric small country like Chidi and Lin. Dahao and Daqi are equal countries. Even though Gu Jue is the honorable emperor of Daqi, even if Gu Jue is furious, he must consider that his decision will affect both Qi and Hao countries, and may lead to chaos in the world.
Gu Jue has just ascended the throne, and his position is not yet stable. He certainly does not want the two countries to fall out.
That was Wu Helangnan’s thought before today, but now he is not so sure. Gu Jue’s words and actions make him feel uneasy.
Wu Helangnan and Gu Jue had only come into contact a few times, but from Gu Jue's repeated unconventional actions, he vaguely felt that Gu Jue was too strong. Perhaps it was because he had been in the army for many years, so he was used to the style of military orders being as heavy as mountains, and he would not tolerate anyone saying no to him.
Gu Jue tapped his fingers lightly on the coffee table twice and said calmly, "Come here, escort the Third Prince Wuhe and the Second Princess back to Hao Country. Emperor Hao must give me an explanation for this matter. If you cannot satisfy me, don't blame me for resorting to war!"
Gu Jue's face still looked calm and composed, but the words he said made Wu Helangnan tremble with fear, and the hairs on his back stood up.
Wu Helangnan: “…”
It was indeed his plan to plot against Gu Jue in the wolf attack at the hunting ground, but he did not intend to take Gu Jue's life. He also knew that a few wolves could not hurt Gu Jue, who was highly skilled in martial arts. His purpose was only to sow discord between Gu Jue and Wuhejialou.
And Gu Jue actually wanted to declare war on Dahao for this? !
Isn't Gu Jue afraid that the officials and the people will say that he is warmongering? Isn't he too self-centered and unscrupulous? !
Wu Helangnan was sweating profusely. He tried to look Gu Jue in the eye calmly and said in a difficult voice, "Your Majesty, I am an envoy of the Hao Kingdom. Do you treat me as a criminal?!"
Gu Jue curled the corners of his lips, and said slowly with a cold smile: "Of course I know that you are an envoy of the Hao Kingdom, otherwise, do you think you can still stand here safely?!"
Gu Jue's eyes were indifferent, with a bit of arrogance, and he looked at Wu Helangnan as if he was looking at a dead person who had done nothing.
"..." Wu Helangnan was speechless, feeling increasingly uncertain.
As the third prince of the Hao Kingdom, he believed that he had seen countless people, including many heroes and heroes. Even the contemporary heroes like his father, Emperor Uhaduro, had traces of how they behaved.
But Gu Jue is different!
Gu Jue has his own set of rules for doing things. Once he has made up his mind about the direction, he will not waver and does not care at all about how the world views him.
Saya looked at Uhorangnan anxiously, not knowing what to do.
If they were sent back to Hao Kingdom in such a disgraceful manner, it would mean that their mission had failed. Her father would never tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes. She could not even imagine how her father would deal with them after they returned home!
Gu Jue said no more and ordered, "Take the person away!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" The Jinyiwei commander immediately clasped his fists and responded, and took Wuhelangnan, Saye and other Hao people away.
Before, Wu Helangnan and his group were guests and enjoyed the treatment of distinguished guests in Da Qi, but from this moment on, their status changed drastically.
They will be placed under house arrest and guarded, almost like prisoners.
After a while, the surroundings became quiet again, and even the kneeling Lu Linxiao was taken away by the Jinyiwei.
The only people left in the room were Gu Jue and Prime Minister Zhang, who had been sitting next to him without saying a word for a long time.
Prime Minister Zhang coughed twice and hesitantly advised: "Your Majesty, Qi and Hao have been at peace for more than 20 years, and the diplomatic relations between the two countries are hard-won..." He wanted to persuade Gu Jue not to go to war with Hao easily.
Gu Jue took a sip of hot tea and corrected, "It is indeed difficult to maintain the peaceful diplomatic relations between the two countries. However, it was not the current fake emperor of Hao Kingdom who established diplomatic relations with our Great Qi, but Wuhejialou."
The information revealed in Gu Jue's words made Prime Minister Zhang open his eyes wide in shock, as if he was thinking about something.
In other words, Gu Jue never agreed with Wu Ha Du Luo from the beginning to the end, and thought that he was a false emperor. The person Gu Jue favored more was Wu Ha Jia Lou? !
Prime Minister Zhang could vaguely sense that Gu Jue was not acting recklessly, but had an agenda in mind.
Yes, their new emperor has big ideas, and he never fights a battle without confidence! Prime Minister Zhang thought for a while, bowed solemnly and agreed: "Your Majesty is right."
The matter is now settled.
Before others set out to return to the capital, the brother and sister Wuhelangnan and Saya were escorted away from the Wanlinyuan Hunting Palace by a group of 300 Jinwu Guards that day and headed south.
Because Gu Jue had specifically ordered the horses to ride faster, the Jinwu Guards traveled almost day and night, resting only for two hours a day. For the brother and sister Wu Helangnan and Saya, who had always lived a life of luxury, this journey was no different from torture.
When they crossed the river on the border between the two countries and arrived at Jianye City, the capital of Hao State, both the brother and sister had lost a lot of weight and were exhausted.
The Jinwu Guards did not send the people directly into Jianye City. Instead, they ordered people to beat gongs and drums at the city gate.
“Ding! Ding!”
The deafening sound immediately attracted many people from the Hao Kingdom to stop and the crowd not far away came like a tide after hearing the sound.
After a while, the area near the city gate became crowded with people and became more and more lively.
When the guards at the gate of Jianye City saw that someone dared to cause trouble in the capital, they immediately took action. A group of twenty to thirty soldiers approached the Jinwu Guards aggressively.
"Who is making noise here?!" the leading bearded Hao man asked in a rough voice in Hao language.
The soldiers guarding the city gate behind him all had grim looks, as if they were ready to drive people away if they disagreed with him.
"Oh my, what a majestic presence!" A handsome young man in purple rode out from the Jinwu Guards on a black horse.
Facing the group of ferocious Hao people in front of him, the young man had a frivolous smile on his cynical face and yawned lazily.
At this time, the loud gong sounds finally stopped.
The mustached Jinwu Guard who was beating the gong bowed respectfully to the young man in purple and called out in a questioning tone, "Master Ten?"
The corners of his mouth twitched. The new emperor sent Nanyang King Qin Yao to do this job, which was actually a waste of talent, but Qin Yao said that he had never been to Nanhao and insisted on grabbing this job, and insisted that they call him "Tenth Master".
Then, the mustache-wearing Jinwu Guard cleared his throat and shouted in Hao language: "We are envoys sent by the Emperor of Great Qi. Today, we are ordered by our Emperor to ask why Emperor Hao sent someone to assassinate our Emperor!"
The first words he said caused an uproar among the people of Hao country around him.
The team of Hao people led by the bearded man changed their expressions, knowing that this matter was of great importance.
The mustachioed Jinwu Guard continued, "Three months ago, Emperor Hao sent the Third Prince Wuhe and the Second Princess to our country to congratulate our emperor on his ascension to the throne. Our emperor has always treated them with courtesy, treating your princes and princesses as distinguished guests and entertaining them properly."
"However, the Third Prince Wuhe has ulterior motives and is actually plotting to assassinate our emperor."
"Did Emperor Hao order the Third Prince Wuhe to assassinate our emperor? Did Emperor Hao want the two countries to go to war? Emperor Hao must give us an explanation!"
His voice was loud and clear, and most people around heard it, and the people of Hao State became even more agitated.
Although it has been more than a year since Uhadula forced the emperor to abdicate and usurp the throne, the people in Jianye City still remember the bloody scene vividly.
During that period, the whole Jianye City was in a state of panic, and the air was always filled with the strong smell of blood and corpses. Even if they stayed indoors, they could still hear the sounds of fighting, screams, and shouts of killing coming from the streets outside...
War is so terrible!
These most ordinary people in the Hao Kingdom are all afraid of war, and no one wants to experience that nightmare again, which is like walking out of hell.
The people of Hao State around were in a commotion like ants on a hot pan, pointing and talking, with a look of surprise and confusion on their faces.
A stick of incense later, the words of the Jinwu Guard were heard word for word by Emperor Hao Uhaduluo.
The air suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse, from the warm autumn to the cold winter. The square-faced Haoren who came to report did not dare to look up at Emperor Hao's expression and was in great panic.
Uhadula was about thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, in the prime of his life, tall and mighty. His handsome face looked serious even when he was not smiling, and he had the domineering and majestic air of a king.
Wuhaduluo was not afraid of Da Qi, but he did not want to go to war with Da Qi either. Da Hao was currently in civil strife, and once the two countries went to war, it would only greatly damage their vitality, and perhaps someone would wait for an opportunity to act.
"Let's go and invite the envoy from Da Qi in first." Wuhaduluo said slowly with gritted teeth, his sinister triangular eyes showing a changeable mood.
Wuheduluo would send Wuhelangnan to Da Qi to lobby Gu Jue in person, and naturally he had high hopes for this third son.
Four months ago, the night before Wuhelangnan set off for Da Qi, Wuhedu Luo had a secret conversation with him, asking him to persuade Gu Jue to cooperate with their Hao Kingdom, and also told him that he could "act according to his discretion" when necessary.
However, Wuhedu Luo never thought that Wuhelangnan would do things like this. He actually assassinated Gu Jue? ! What on earth was he thinking! !
At this moment, Uhaduluo felt a strong dislike for Uhadlangnan.
The square-faced Hao swallowed his saliva and said in great embarrassment, "Your Majesty, the envoys sent by Da Qi are unwilling to enter the city. They only said outside the city that they want Your Majesty to give Da Qi an explanation. They have detained the third prince and the second princess in the carriage."
The envoys from Da Qi only numbered 300 people. This was the territory of Hao State, so they could certainly rob openly. But if they really attacked the envoys from Da Qi today, then a war between the two countries would be inevitable! Wuhedu Luo stood up suddenly and paced back and forth in a somewhat anxious manner.
He was not only worried about Da Qi, but also about Wuhejia Tower.
Everyone in the world knows that the private property of the Hao royal family is rich enough to rival a country. In addition to these on the surface, the royal family also has some unknown industries in Haozhou and several small southwestern countries outside the country. These secrets are passed down orally by successive emperors of the Hao country, and he seized the throne from his brother Wuhe Beizhen, so he knew nothing about it.
With Wu Hebei's real death, these secrets will never be known.
Uhadula once doubted whether Uhajaro would know about it, but he also felt that his brother would not tell such a big secret to the eldest prince who was not yet the crown prince.
A few days ago, he found out that Wuhejialou and An Tan, the leader of the Eagle Guard, appeared in Haozhou. An Tan was a close confidant of the late Emperor Wuhebei, and also held some royal property. Wuhejialou and An Tan must have gone to Haozhou to meet Prince Pumixi, hoping to use the royal private property as a bargaining chip to impress the other party...
While thinking, Uhadula sat back behind the desk.
He picked up the pen, dipped it in some ink from the inkstone, and began to write quickly, finishing it in one go.
Now is a critical period. Once Dahao and Daqi go to war, he will be put in a very passive situation.
The current monarch of Da Qi is the famous Prince Gu Jue, who is known as the War King and is well-known in Hao State. Not to mention whether Hao State can defeat Da Qi in this battle, the vassal kings in the country are definitely unwilling to fight Da Qi.
These princes have always been fence-sitters. When the late emperor Wuhe Beizhen was in power, they were always worried that Wuhe Beizhen would reduce the power of the princes and were secretly quite dissatisfied with him. But now that he is dead, these princes have remembered his good points and keep saying that the late emperor would not do this or that.
Uhadu Luo could sense that the hearts of these princes were wavering, and some of them might have contacted Uhajialou privately...
Wuhadula put away his brush, dried the ink on the paper, and ordered: "Go and convey my oral order, saying that I am willing to pay compensation to Da Qi!"
His expression was as firm as iron. At this point, he could only make some sacrifices to appease Gu Jue.
The square-faced Hao man took the order and returned without stopping along the same route. He came to the north gate to meet Qin Yao, conveyed Emperor Hao's intention truthfully, and handed Qin Yao the handwritten letter from Uhaduro. He was polite from beginning to end.
Compensation? Qin Yao read the letter quickly, then smiled, with a cunning light in his eyes.
The task assigned to him by his ninth brother was indeed interesting, and it was worth his long journey to Nanhao.
Qin Yao crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it at the other person's face, saying unhappily, "Two hundred thousand taels of silver and five thousand rolls of silk, are you treating them like beggars?!"
"..." The square-faced Haoren's face was not very good. He stood there stiffly, his heart was filled with anger. Two hundred thousand taels of silver plus five thousand pieces of silk was already a huge sum! Qin Yao's eyes rolled, and he said with a playful smile: "Go back and tell Emperor Hao to cede Shuzhou to Da Qi!"
What?! The square-faced Hao almost got angry.
He took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and forced a dry laugh, saying, "Please wait a moment, Your Excellency. I will go back and report to Emperor Hao."
Qin Yao seemed to think that the other party was not annoyed enough, and added with a smile: "The Black Armor Army is already on the way, and by then there will be more than just 300 people!"
(End of this chapter)