Novel Bin Chapter 136
Chapter 136
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The faces of the entire court turned pale, and they were unable to squeeze out anything to counter Li Ce’s words. Yet, Li Ce became even more talkative as he strolled around while continuing his monologue, “In addition, considering the barren lands of Yan Bei, they must be an uncultured bunch who do not follow basic morals like filial piety. The civilians there must be a bunch of dumb people who need to be enlightened. In our Tang Empire, we have thousands of brilliant scholars, and if the Yan Bei people dare to oppose us, we would send out our knowledgeable scholars to enlighten their barbaric minds. I am very sure they will bend before the words of our saints, and will feel shame for their actions. That said, I have heard that the Xia Empire spent eight years trying to convert the Yan Bei citizens’ loyalty to the empire without much success. Even with their efforts, the civilians of Yan Bei would crazily attack the armies of Xia Empire without hesitation. But do not worry, I am sure we are way better than the Xia Empire! After all, when our forefathers were being educated by the saints, the Xia people were probably still not wearing any clothes! Hahaha! And finally, I have one last request, and this is also the most important one!” Li Ce turned around, smiling happily while kneeling solemnly before the Emperor, and loudly declaring, “Father, this one last request is extremely important, and will be closely tied to our nation’s prosperity. We must make doubly sure this is carried out fully!”
With a tinge of amusement, the Tang Emperor allowed his son to continue, “Go ahead.”
Li Ce lifted up his head and solemnly declared, “This child wishes to request the relocation of our capital”
“What?” The moment this statement was said, the entire court could no longer hold in their shock and utter confusion, and started to panic.
“Sigh...” Li Ce heaved a long sigh, before helplessly stating, “This is also not something that we can help. To protect our Tang Empire’s honor, this is a battle that must be fought. But what after? Although I am certain of our victory, I am sure that we will suffer great losses in manpower, finances, food stockpiles, weaponry, civilians, and et cetera. What is most important is that when this war continues to rage on, our soldiers will be deep within the Xia territory. What if the Xia Empire decides to take this opportunity to strike our capital? Even if the Xia Empire chooses not to backstab us, given our weakened state, the Song Empire will certainly take this chance to go on the offensive! Please do not forget, we are in the middle of a war with the Song Empire! We must prepare ourselves. The Tang Empire will be facing a historical period where we are going to fight wars on both fronts! Our victory will be uncertain, and as such, I recommend burning down the capital after relocating to the barren lands of the southern borders! With that, even if we lose the war, the Song Empire and Xia Empire will not find anything. Hiding in the jungles of the Southern Borders, no one will find us! They will be so furious then! Haha!”
At this time, the looks on the officials had completely turned black. Li Ce still had not finished his talk, as he continued to ramble on excitedly, “Oh, I have just thought of a great plan! If we could live to see the end of the war, and defended the much-revered glory and honor of the Tang Empire, then at the end of the war, we can send a royal princess to marry into the Xia royal family, along with countless officials who are good at convincing others. When we reach the Xia Empire, we can use the same tactic! We can say that the princess had been humiliated by the spies of the Song Empire, and while their whole court was in dishevel, we can send out our officials to bribe the officials of the Xia Empire. Haha! With that, the Xia Empire will start a war with the Song Empire. We can then watch the two of them fight, and swoop in at the end to have the final laugh! What says everyone?”
The crowd turned dead silent. Suddenly, one lone voice burst out laughing. The crowd turned and stared at that man in fury.
With the shake of his robe, Xue Changling walked up and kneeled on the ground. Loudly, he declared, “The Crown Prince is truly brilliant. This humble servant is completely blown away by your brilliance. If you insist on the war, I am willing to follow you to battle, and serve you along the way.”
“Sure. I will remember you.” Li Ce laughed, and turned to the Emperor again, kneeling, and solemnly pleaded, “Father, please give the order! This child has made up my mind. If I do not annihilate Yan Bei, I do not have the honor to call myself a human any longer. Even if this journey is filled with danger, I swear to ensure at the very least, a mutual death with Yan Bei, to ensure that the Tang Empire’s honor and reputation will be upheld. Just now, all the officials have fervently supported the war that my blood is now completely boiling in anticipation of the war. This child also requests that those who spoke the loudest are to follow me in this campaign to give them a chance to achieve great victories and leave their names in history! Please give us the approval, Father!” With that said, he pressed his head hard into the ground with a crisp knock!
The Tang Emperor groaned very slightly, and was just about to say something, when someone shrieked, “Your Majesty!” and kneeled onto the ground.
Elder Liu solemnly stated, “Your Majesty, this servant suddenly feels that Master Xue’s words make a lot of sense. Starting an entire war only because of the biased words of the Xia Princess alone is too reckless. We should find out more before making any decisions!”
“Oh?” The Emperor raised his voice. “But didn’t you just claim that Master Xue was a scheming person who should not be trusted?”
Elder Liu’s head was full of cold sweat as he forced out an excuse, “That, that was due to my lack of consideration just now. What Master Xue had said just now...was indeed reasonable and should be considered.”
The Tang Emperor turned and looked at General Qi, and asked, “General Qi, what do you think?”
“This servant also agrees. Such a huge campaign should not be so hastily decided...and we need to be more careful.”
The head of the Military Department also interjected, “This servant also believes that if we were to send out our soldiers now, we would not have enough food stockpiles to sustain a prolonged offense. We should think about this carefully.”
“Yes, yes, indeed. It would not be easy to muster our forces all the way to the Northern borders. Plus our country had not seen much war for many years, even if we were to fight a war, we should prepare more adequately.”
Li Ce frowned and snapped, “What are you trying to say? We have been bullied so much? Are we not going to retaliate? What about our reputation? Even if we are to die, we must make sure we bring Yan Bei to hell with us!”
“Crown Prince!” Master Luo quickly interjected, “What is Yan Bei even? How are they worth us dying with them? We should let this go.”
“That cannot do.” Li Ce stubbornly refused. “My wife has been humiliated by someone. This is something of great importance. As the crown prince, how can I allow anyone to humiliate this country? As a man, how can I allow others to bully my woman? If I keep quiet, I am afraid the entire world will know about this embarrassment!”
Elder Liu quickly tried to pacify him, saying, “Prince, Your Highness, please calm down. Enduring your current anger is a form of sacrifice for our citizens, preventing thousands of our citizens who could possibly die on the battlefield from war. No one will say anything about Your Highness. They will only feel gratitude for your graciousness.”
“Exactly! In the first place, the Xia Princess has not formally been married into the Tang Empire yet. Although this matter involves us, their own guards are to blame as well! In the first place, Yan Bei, being the archenemy of the Xia Empire, is completely irrelevant to the Tang Empire. At most, we request that the Xia Empire send a different princess. They have so many princesses anyway.”
“Indeed, they brought such scandal to our capital. We had not even pursued their responsibility, how dare they make any noise?”
Li Ce frowned, as though he was in a dilemma. Slowly, he said, “But, gentlemen, can you really withstand such humiliation? You are all great officials of this nation, aren’t you scared that the historic archives will remember this day?”
“That much is okay! For the Tang Empire, this little sacrifice is nothing!” The crowds all shook their head in unison.
“Sigh.” Li Ce shook his head and emotionally sighed. “Seeing how everyone is so morally upright and self-sacrificial, I, Li Ce, feel that I have been truly inadequate as the Crown Prince. Since everyone can endure this, what can I say? Please, send a letter to console the Xia Princess about her misfortune, and send her back.”
Before long, the morning court hearing was over, and the hundreds of officials left the court. After a short private conversation with Li Ce, the Emperor left.
Sun Di followed behind Li Ce, and quietly gave him a thumbs up, saying, “Your Highness has truly improved in your speech!”
Li Ce snorted, as though it was no big deal. “Just a bunch of rotting old officials. That much was nothing.”
“But there are times those old officials can be very useful.”
Li Ce continued to belittle those elders, and instructed, “That Xue Changling seems okay. Take note of him more. We cannot use him until we observe him more.”
“Ok.” Sun Di nodded, and inquired, “Your Highness, what are we to do next?”
Stretching out his finger, Li Ce rubbed his temples, and said, “I am still thinking. Zhao Chun’er truly caught me off guard. I never thought that she was so daring as to use her chastity to fan the flames of war between the Tang Empire and Yan Bei. Have you talked to the nanny who checked on her chastity? Is she really no longer a virgin? Also, who saw that suicide warrior of Da Tong?”
“There were three nannies who checked, and were all elders within the palace. They provided the same statement. I feel that this should be the truth. As for that Da Tong Warrior, from what I heard, the moment that the palace guards rushed in, he jumped off her bed, and right after shouting ‘Yan Bei Da Tong’, he committed suicide.”
Li Ce sighed while shaking his head. “The Xia Empire dares to use this as a wager to push the Tang Empire into war with Yan Bei, they are really sacrificing a lot.”
“Your Highness, are we really sending Zhao Chun’er back to the Xia Empire?”
“If not what else can we do? Feed her here?” Snorting, Li Ce continued, “The moment I send her back, the Xia Empire will know that his plot has been broken. He still needs to rely on us Tang Empire at the moment, so he dare not to oppose us immediately. As long as we can control our own officials from trying anything, the Xia Empire cannot do anything to us.”
Sun Di nodded in agreement. “Indeed. Regardless of how anxious the Xia Empire is, it should not be our matter.”
At this moment, a servant rushed up, stumbling and panicking, completely soaked in sweat, while loudly shouting along the way, “Your Highness! Bad news!”
Frowning, Li Ce sallied forth and asked, “What happened?”
The person, with a loud bang, kneeled onto the ground. “The Xia Princess has attempted suicide at Rose Square!”
“What?” Sun Di instantly turned pale, only to hear the servant elaborate, “But she failed, and merely got some cuts on her head. It was only because there were a lot of civilians in the vicinity, so there was some chaos.”
Coldly dismissing the news, Li Ce was unmoved. “That much is nothing. She was merely trying to gain the sympathy of the crowd.”
Sun Di frowned as well, apparently displeased at the servant for blowing the matter out of proportion. “Such a small matter, yet you panicked so much. Who is your superior?”
“Your Highness, the main issue is not that!” The servant continued to panic, and breathlessly, he continued, “The problem is that the North Camp was training in Central Training Grounds located beside Rose Square. Those soldiers, who were mostly children of noble descent, witnessed the entire incident. Sympathizing for the fallen princess, 30,000 of them are now gathered in the main street, protesting to invade Yan Bei, and are headed to the palace now! The junior officers could not contain the situation!”
“What did you say?” Even Li Ce’s face twisted in shock at the severity of the situation.
At this very moment, another servant rode his horse over hurriedly, while shouting, “Urgent matters! Urgent matters!”
“What happened?” Li Ce’s face was completely serious, without a single tinge of his usual carefree attitude.
“Your Highness...” That man, with a flop, dropped down from the horse, kneeling. His clothes were stained with blood in many places.