brush!
The moment the Turkic envoy outside the main hall uttered these words, everyone in the Hall of Supreme Harmony was astonished.
All the civil and military officials present turned their gazes toward the outside of the hall, as if trying to peek through the heavy hall doors at the immense wealth and prosperity that the northern barbarian envoys spoke of in "equal distribution of the world."
On the dragon throne, Chen Huai'an, who had been listening intently to the arrogant words of the Turkic envoy, became interested and immediately ordered, "Xiao Po, let them in!"
"I'd like to hear how your Great Khan Timur plans to bestow upon me an immense fortune to be divided equally among all the people!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Outside the main hall, Xiao Po, the commander of the Imperial Guards of the Royal Palace, wearing brand-new golden armor and a short sword with a ring pommel at his waist, immediately accepted the order.
Then, he gestured to the dozens of Imperial Guards soldiers outside the hall to sheathe their swords, before making a gesture of invitation to the leading Turkic envoy, and saying with a forced smile:
"Please!"
snort!
The Turkic envoy snorted coldly, a victorious air appearing on his fleshy face, and walked arrogantly into the Hall of Supreme Harmony with his nostrils flared.
As she passed by Xiao Po, she bumped into him intentionally or unintentionally.
Looking at the arrogant and barbaric back of the Turks, Xiao Po regarded them as worthless. He thought to himself that in his old days, he had beheaded no less than fifty of these northern barbarians with cow nose rings hanging from their ears.
If it weren't for the Prince of Jin speaking up, Master Xiao really wouldn't mind adding another head with a cow nose ring to his ear to the military tent.
Let's get back to the main topic.
When this arrogant Turkic envoy entered the Hall of Supreme Harmony, he immediately attracted the attention of all the civil and military officials in the hall.
In addition to his combat suit made of tough leather and iron plates, he also wore a helmet with a design similar to the wolf fangs of the grasslands, and his wrist guards and knee pads were inlaid with various mysterious and strange totems.
Facing the gazes of the assembled civil and military officials in the main hall, the Turkic envoy accepted them with composure.
Even after arriving at the foot of the main hall, facing Prince Chen Huai'an of Jin, who sat on the dragon throne in the center of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Turkic envoy still maintained his arrogant and domineering attitude.
Even when meeting Chen Huai'an, he skipped the kneeling ceremony, simply placing his left fist horizontally in front of his chest and bowing slightly as a sign of respect, before speaking in an imperious manner:
"Huobo Guitian, envoy of Timur Khan of the Turkic Empire, pays respects to His Highness Prince Jin!"
The other Turks in the delegation did the same, simply clenching their left fists and bowing slightly in front of their chests as a grand gesture of respect to Prince Chen Huai'an of Jin.
"Hey!"
"You audacious madman, why do you not kneel before His Highness Prince Jin?"
The arrogant and disdainful attitude of Huo Ba Gui Tian and his group of northern barbarians towards Chen Huai An immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the generals of the Po Lu Army.
General Pang Xianchu was the first to stand up, pointing at Huo Boguitian and angrily rebuking him:
"If I remember correctly, after the Battle of Yumuchuan and Onon River ten years ago, all the Turkic tribes in the northern steppe bowed down to the Great Xin Dynasty and recognized Great Xin as their suzerain state!"
“You mere messengers from a vassal state dare to fail to kneel and pay homage when you meet the King of Daxin, showing no respect for elders or superiors. According to the laws of Daxin, you shall be punished with thirty strokes of the cane in court!”
"Someone come here!"
At Pang Xianchu's command, Xiao Po, the commander of the Golden Guard, immediately led dozens of golden-armored soldiers to the main hall to await further orders.
Pang Xianchu shouted sternly, "Drag these barbarians who don't know their place out of court and give them thirty strokes of the cane!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Without wasting words, Xiao Po, with the attitude of capturing the leader first, immediately rushed forward and, with lightning speed, raised his arm to stop Huo Bo Guitian's neck.
With a slight exertion, he flipped over the burly, pot-bellied Huo Boguitian, not even giving him a chance to speak. He grabbed Huo Boguitian's neck with one arm and dragged his fat body out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
The scene was exactly like a butcher slaughtering a pig during the Lunar New Year.
The other Turkic barbarians fared no better. Before they could even figure out what was going on, they were all taken down by the fierce and invincible Jinwu Guard soldiers in one move, knocked to the ground, and then dragged out of the hall by the neck like pigs.
"Alright, let them go!"
Finally, Chen Huai'an, seated on the dragon throne, spoke: "What kind of behavior is this, dragging and shoving in the main hall? The northern desert is a barbaric land, where people are uneducated and their minds are foolish. How could I possibly stoop to their level!"
"Let that guy who's supposed to have passed away come up to the hall and speak!"
Chen Huai'an waved his hand, and the Jinwu Guard soldiers immediately released the group of Turks. The latter quickly and subconsciously gasped for fresh air, and their eyes finally showed some fear as they looked at the dragon throne.
Chen Huai'an knew very well that for a mere messenger from the Northern Turks to dare to act so fearlessly in front of him, the Turks must possess something they believed he could not refuse.
Otherwise, even if this guy named Guitian was completely uneducated, he probably wouldn't dare to be so presumptuous in front of me, the Prince of Jin, especially not in the Taihe Hall of the Prince of Jin's Palace.
However, the name chosen by this Turkic envoy was really not very sophisticated. Why did he have to be called "Gui Tian" (meaning "Return to Heaven")?
Soon, Huo Boguitian, the Turkic envoy who had almost lost his breath after being messed up by Xiao Po, hurriedly walked up the steps to the main hall and faced Chen Huai'an.
This time, Huobo Guitian learned his lesson and didn't dare to act so arrogantly again.
Instead, he stood respectfully before Chen Huai'an, took out two letters from the lining of his leather combat suit, and handed one of them to Chen Huai'an, saying:
"Your Highness Prince Jin, please take a look at this first!"
Chen Huai'an took the letter from Huo Boguitian's hand. After just one glance, his expression immediately became serious and solemn, and he even unconsciously straightened up from his previous lazy sitting posture.
On this letter, the official seal of the General, symbolizing the power and status of the Great Xin Dynasty in the Northwest region, is prominently displayed, appearing particularly jarring.
The first line of the letter reads "To be opened by Timur, Great Khan of the Turkic Empire".
Chen Huai'an held his breath and read through the letter written by Wu Qingyun, the Northwest General of the Great Xin Dynasty, to the Turkic Khan Temur. The contents of the letter made him feel a chill down his spine and his anger flare up.
To avenge his previous defeat at Longcheng, the treacherous Wu Qingyun secretly colluded with the Turks, who were eyeing the border of Daxin.
He offered Timur generous terms to borrow troops, completely disregarding the lives of innocent people in the twenty-eight counties and cities of Shuobei for his own personal grudge.
He even personally opened the northern gates to let the wolves into the house, completely forgetting the tragic scene half a century ago when the Five Barbarian Invasions left the Central Plains littered with corpses and the Chinese people with nine out of ten houses empty.
In the letter, Wu Qingyun offered Timur the price of all the money, grain, treasures, and women of the twenty-eight counties and cities in Shuobei.
The corresponding price was to borrow 50,000 Turkic cavalry from Timur to march south to Longcheng and help him eliminate Chen Huai'an.
This old scoundrel knew that his Yunzhou cavalry could not compete with the Longcheng Iron Pagoda, so he did not hesitate to use the lives of a million soldiers and civilians on the northern border as a bargaining chip to borrow troops from the Turks.
He was even willing to risk Timur's southward campaign and the slaughter of millions of people in the Central Plains in order to put himself to death.
In this light, I have overestimated the humanity of Wu Qingyun, this old scoundrel, and his conscience as a member of the Chinese nation.
As Chen Huai'an pondered the contents of the letter, Huo Boguitian, Timur's envoy, was also observing the changes in the young prince's expression.
The corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up slightly, and a hint of smugness flashed across his eyes.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Huo Boguitian took out another letter and handed it to Chen Huai'an, saying:
"Your Highness, please take a look at this. It is a personal letter from our Great Khan Timur to Your Highness!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Huai'an coldly took the handwritten letter from Timur from Huo Boguitian's hand once again.
"To Prince Huai'an of Jin: Receiving this letter is as if we were meeting in person."
"Upon hearing of the passing of Prince Jin, Po Lu, I was deeply shocked. I and Prince Jin, Po Lu, had fought side by side on the battlefield for decades; we were enemies, but also bosom friends..."
In his personal letter, Timur first elaborated on his close relationship with the late King Chen Polu.
The two fought each other on the battlefield for more than ten years simply because they served different masters and had different stances. If it weren't for the war, the two would definitely be close friends who would drink and chat together.
Timur also deeply resented Chen Polu's sudden death and the actions of Zhao Gan, the second emperor of the Xin Dynasty, towards the widow of the Prince of Jin.
Timur expressed his deep sympathy for Chen Huai'an's heroic act of raising an army in Longcheng to fight against the rebels in the south, and was willing to help Chen Huai'an to overthrow the tyranny of the Second Emperor Zhao Gan.
Here's the important part:
"Prince Huai'an of Jin has now ascended the throne, but the new emperor is utterly incompetent, and treacherous officials hold sway in the court. The people of Daxin are already suffering immeasurably."
Since you have already raised an army in Longcheng, why not take advantage of the situation to overthrow Zhao Gan's tyranny? I, the Khan, am willing to send an army of 100,000 south to help you sweep across Daxin and ascend the throne!
"After this is accomplished, the great new empire will be divided equally between you and me, uncle and nephew, with the Yellow River as the dividing line, ruling north and south along the Yangtze River."
The prosperous lands of the south belong to my nephew Huai'an. I, the Khan, only desire a peaceful haven north of the Yellow River, to provide a place for the countless Turkic people who have long suffered in the harsh, cold north!
After reading Timur's handwritten letter, Chen Huai'an almost laughed out of anger.
This old man is good at talking a good game, but his wolfish ambition to destroy China is obvious. His plan to use one tiger to devour another is truly brilliant!
First, release all the information about Wu Qingyun's attempt to borrow Turkic cavalry to march south to Longcheng, along with the price he offered.
Then tell Chen Huai'an that he can choose to cooperate with me, and then ask for an exorbitant price, promising that after the deal is done, everyone will split the world equally and rule the country separately, and wait for Chen Huai'an to bargain.
With Wu Qingyun's offer of money, grain, treasures, and women from the twenty-eight counties of Shuobei, if Chen Huai'an doesn't want to be swallowed up in one bite, he will have no choice but to offer an even higher price to seek cooperation with the Turkic Empire.
Then, he relayed the price offered by Chen Huai'an to Wu Qingyun exactly as it was.
Next, all that's needed is to wait for Chen Huai'an and Wu Qingyun to fight it out, thus putting the Turkic Empire in an invincible position to wait for the best offer, and finally decide who to cooperate with based on which side offers the higher price.
At this point, Chen Huai'an finally understood why Timur, who had been reduced to only thirteen men and thirteen suits of armor by his father Chen Polu in the Battle of Yumu River in northern Mongolia, was able to rise again in just ten years and become a ruler of the grasslands.
This man is cunning, shrewd, and politically astute. He also commands hundreds of thousands of elite grassland cavalry, making him far more difficult to deal with than the likes of Wu Qingyun and Chang Chenghu.
If Chen Huai'an hadn't been blessed by the [Born to Be an Emperor] system, he probably wouldn't have known what to do in this life-or-death crisis, facing Timur's scheme of using one enemy to devour another.
But now, as the chosen one who commands 200,000 elite troops and is blessed by the [Born to be an Emperor] system, Chen Huai'an has no time to bother with any nonsense about the Turkic Khan Timur.
You dare to dream of dividing the world equally with me and ruling from the river? You're dreaming!
Faced with absolute power, all schemes and tricks are nothing but paper tigers.
In response to Timur's threat, Chen Huai'an had only one word: "Fight!"
I'd like to see whether your Turkic cavalry, Timur's, or my own Dragon City Iron Cavalry and Xuanjia Light Cavalry are more powerful.
Thinking of this, Chen Huai'an immediately smiled and looked at the Turkic envoy Huobo Guitian, saying with a playful expression:
"Fireball returns to heaven, what if I don't agree to the demands made in your Great Khan Timur's letter?"
"ah?"
Upon hearing this, Huo Boguitian's expression clearly froze.
Then, his fleshy face regained its arrogant and domineering expression, as if he had Chen Huai'an completely under his thumb, and he said in a haughty tone:
"Your Highness Prince Jin, if that's the case, then don't blame our Khan for choosing to cooperate with your country's Northwest General Wu Qingyun!"
"By the time the iron hooves of my Turkic Empire trample Dragon City, it will be too late!"
After saying that, Huo Boguitian angrily tried to snatch the two letters from Chen Huai'an's hands.
Especially the letter bearing the official seal of the Northwest General, which was irrefutable evidence of Wu Qingyun's treason and collusion with the enemy, and the key to Timur's future control over Wu Qingyun, so it naturally could not fall into Chen Huai'an's hands.
How could Chen Huai'an possibly return these two letters to Huo Boguitian?
With a slight shift of his body, he dodged Huo Boguitian's massive body that was lunging at him with all its might.
With a gentle nudge, the latter, who had lost his balance, immediately fell face-first into the hall.
Huo Bo Guitian rolled to his feet, furiously drawing his sword and roaring:
"Chen Huai'an, since you have no intention of cooperating with the Turkic Empire, please return this letter to me!"
"Otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite!"
As he spoke, Huo Boguitian lunged forward again, brandishing his knife and lunging at Chen Huai'an.
Inside the main hall, upon seeing this, the generals of the Polu Army immediately roared, "Golden Guards, protect the Emperor!"
Then, they all stepped forward and fought with the Turks who tried to climb into the hall to help.
Inside the main hall, Chen Huai'an continued to nimbly dodge and weave, causing Huo Bogui to pant heavily and angrily curse incoherently:
"Chen Huai'an, your dangerous actions will anger Timur Khan and the Turkic Empire!"
"General Wu didn't say it in his letter, but his messenger had already assured us that when we captured Longcheng, the Turkic warriors would be allowed to enter the city and loot for three days!"
He also said that he would personally tie up your mother, Xu Ruoyun, and the women of the royal family and take them to the grasslands to receive the "sheep-leading ceremony" from our Great Khan!
"You wait—"
Pfft!
Before Huo Boguitian could finish speaking, he saw a flash of sword light before his eyes, and he was already dismembered.
The head, glaring angrily, rolled several meters away before the word "ba" was finally uttered.
In the main hall, Chen Huai'an casually sheathed his drawn sword back into the scabbard behind the dragon throne, holding two letters in his hand, and said calmly:
"There's a saying that in war, one should not kill envoys, but your mouth is too foul!"
"And another thing, why did you have to choose such a name, Guitian (meaning 'Death')?"
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