741 Trouble (2)
The crown prince did not dare to speak. Prince Rui went to the palace and said something to Emperor Wen Hui. After Prince Rui left, Emperor Wen Hui flew into a rage and slammed the table and threw the teacup.
The crown prince guessed that he must have said something impudent. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made Emperor Wen Hui so angry.
Emperor Wen Hui was indeed furious. He knew better than anyone the current strength of Ming Qi. It was no longer as powerful as when the late emperor was alive. Facing the State of Qin and the rich and powerful Daliang Dynasty, Ming Qi had no chance of winning. He made this tribute banquet especially grand just to show the Daliang Dynasty and the State of Qin that Ming Qi was still not to be trifled with.
However, he was just deceiving himself. On the surface, Huangfu Hao respected him, but in fact, he did not take him seriously. In order to seek justice for Princess Ming An, he was nagging the judicial office to investigate. The officials of the judicial office were busy with the case of Princess Ming An’s death all day long. However, Emperor Wen Hui did not dare to stop it. After all, he still wanted to rope in the State of Qin to deal with the Daliang Dynasty together.
There was no need to mention the Daliang Dynasty. At least on the surface, Huangfu Hao still respected Emperor Wen Hui. However, Prince Rui did things his own way and did not show any respect for him. Emperor Wen Hui convinced himself that It was Prince Rui’s nature to be willful. Yesterday, when Prince Rui came to the palace to talk to him in the imperial study, Emperor Wen Hui expressed his willingness to build an alliance with the Daliang Dynasty, but he was rejected by Prince Rui.
Emperor Wen Hui was the emperor of a country after all. Feeling disrespected, his expression darkened. Prince Rui didn’t care if Emperor Wen Hui was offended or not. He casually mentioned the cities at the border of Ming Qi and the Daliang Dynasty, implying that he wanted to take back the cities.
Emperor Wen Hui’s expression immediately changed.
The cities were not very big, but there were several mines in the cities. The ores mined from those mines could be used to make large weapons. The cities happened to be at the border of Ming Qi and the Daliang Dynasty. In the past, the Daliang Dynasty showed no intention of occupying the cities because the people living in the cities were all from Ming Qi. However, what Prince Rui meant was that the Daliang Dynasty had the intention of occupying the cities now!
Emperor Wen Hui was very sensitive about matters relating to his territory. If the Daliang Dynasty snatched the cities, who knew what else they would snatch later? In a few days, they would take a liking to other cities, and in no time, they would take a liking to the capital.
With Ming Qi’s military strength, it was impossible for them to compete with the Daliang Dynasty.
Prince Rui was an envoy sent by the Daliang Dynasty, which meant that he represented Emperor Yong Le. These seemingly casual words of Prince Rui revealed some ambitions of the Daliang Dynasty. What made Emperor Wen Hui frustrated was that even though he knew the ambitions of the other party, he did not dare to directly detain Prince Rui because he could not withstand Emperor Yong Le’s wrath. If he formed an alliance with the State of Qin, he would probably have some confidence in confronting the Daliang Dynasty. Just Ming Qi alone was definitely not possible.
“Your marriage with Shen Miao is not urgent for the time being.” Emperor Wen Hui said, “I can’t anger Shen Xin now. It’s a critical moment. If Shen Xin is unhappy with me, it won’t be good if the Daliang Dynasty takes advantage of the situation.”
