Chapter 804
Of all the civil and military officials in the court, only I, Old Hama, am a loyal subje
"You've put up with me for a long time, but I've put up with you for a long time!"
"Over the years, I have devoted myself wholeheartedly to the Great Qian Dynasty, racking my brains for every possible solution, fearing that I might do something wrong and bring the country to the brink of collapse. But what about you? What about you?"
"Scheming and scheming for power, and you, Chagatai, you old codger, are the worst of them all, and you're still pretending to be a good person?"
"What...what happened to me?"
Chagatai, his face dark with anger, argued, "What have I done?"
"I have never embezzled or broken the law over the years. I can say with my hand on my chest that I have never done anything to betray His Majesty!"
"Yes, you won't do anything that would be a disservice to the country, but you don't do anything at all!"
"Over the years, you've claimed illness and avoided court, spending most of your time at home playing with your newly acquired courtesans. And when you're asked to lead troops, you make excuses all the time. Shouldn't this be the time for you military officers to step up? What have you been doing? What have you been doing?"
Upon hearing this, Chagatai's face turned ugly, and he said, "Am I not old?"
"Is being old an excuse? You're not dead yet, are you? You're old? How old are you? Sixty-seven or sixty-eight? Back in the day, Lian Po was famous at eighty-four. You're only in your sixties and you can't even lift a sword anymore. Are you afraid of dying, or have you ruined yourself by playing with courtesans?"
"Me, me!"
Chagatai's old face flushed red and then turned pale. Seeing his expression, Old Hama pointed at the Chinese martial arts school in Chaowen and said, "The building is about to collapse, and you all lower your heads and become cowards. I'll work myself to the bone to find a solution for you."
"After you've thought it through, you still call me a treacherous minister? Bah! None of you officials in this court are any decent. In this Great Qian Dynasty, I, Old Hama, am the only loyal minister!"
Old Hama then launched into a furious tirade at the court, leaving all the officials speechless for a moment. They were all spitting out shit; standing up now was useless.
Seeing Old Hama like this, Emperor Qianshun was about to say something when he suddenly heard a series of hurried footsteps outside. Immediately afterward, a eunuch rushed in from outside the palace and fell to the ground with a thud because he was rushing too fast.
He immediately looked up and stretched out his hand, saying, "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! Something terrible has occurred!"
The entire court was startled. At this critical juncture, any major incident could cause them great anxiety. Therefore, they all looked in surprise towards the direction of the voice, wanting to see what could have happened.
At this moment, the little eunuch scrambled to his feet and rushed to the dragon's desk, saying, "Your Majesty!"
As she spoke, she glanced around and saw all the civil and military officials in the court. For a moment, she was unsure whether to speak or not. Seeing this, Emperor Qianshun said, "I am not estranged from my ministers. Speak your mind. There is no need for this. Whispering and acting like a little girl!"
The eunuch was taken aback upon hearing this, but quickly replied, "Your Majesty, we just received a report from the front lines that the Prince of Zhai suffered a major defeat on the Luoyang battlefield, and only managed to escape back to Hebei with ten thousand remaining troops!"
"what!"
Upon hearing the eunuch's words, all the officials were shocked. Emperor Qianshun was also astonished and looked at the eunuch, saying, "Say it again, what happened to my 80,000 troops?"
"Only a little over ten thousand people remained; they fled back to Hebei!"
Upon hearing this, Emperor Qianshun was stunned, his eyes filled with panic as he asked, "Of the 80,000 troops, only 10,000 remain?"
"Still a defeated army!"
Emperor Qianshun slumped into his seat in despair. The empire was on the verge of collapse, and he, as emperor, was like a steamed bun in a steamer, finding it incredibly difficult to endure. Just then, he looked up and saw his father, Lao Hama.
At this moment, he seemed to have grasped a lifeline and said, "Prime Minister, what you say is very true. I am willing to share the throne with Chen Jiu Si in the North and South. I am also willing to form a brotherhood with him. I am willing to recognize him as my elder brother. From now on, I am his younger brother!"
Emperor Qianshun looked at Old Hama and said, "Your Majesty's request is my duty, how could I refuse?" Old Hama replied without changing his expression, "Your Majesty's request is my duty!"
Chagatai looked at the old man Hama like this, pondered for a moment and said, "I am not as good as the Prime Minister in terms of loyalty to the emperor and love for the country, but I have two questions for the old Prime Minister."
Old Hama glanced at Chagatai and said, "Ask away."
Chagatai said, "Old Prime Minister, I agree with the plan you just mentioned, but there are two problems. First, even if we agree with the two emperors of the North and South, will Chen Jiu Si agree?"
"meeting!"
Old Hama said with absolute certainty.
Chagatai asked, "The second question is, on what grounds does he reply?"
Upon hearing this, Old Hama said, "There are three reasons!"
"Firstly, since the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun to the Liao Dynasty. This northern land has not been Han territory. The Han people here have been domesticated by the Khitans, Jurchens, and finally by our Mulan people. Now, the Han people in the north do not consider themselves Han people in their bones. Therefore, it would be very costly for Chen Jiu Si to occupy our northern land, and there is no one to support his rule."
"The cost is too high; I don't think he'll do something that would lose money."
"Secondly, although our Great Qian is not strong in terms of military strength, we still have the Living Buddha. As long as the Living Buddha is there, Great Qian will exist. There is no doubt about that. Even if Chen Jiu Si kills his opponent Zhu Chong Ba, it doesn't mean he can defeat the Living Buddha!"
"In the past hundred years, there have been one or two experts at the fifth level of the Fusion God realm, but weren't they all defeated by the Living Buddha? Not to mention those from the distant past, just take Han Shantong of the Fire Worship Cult. What kind of person was he? In the end, wasn't he also defeated by the Living Buddha!"
"So, Chen Jiu Si may be powerful for a while, but he would never dare to say that he can definitely defeat our Living Buddha."
"With these two points, I am 90% confident that I can persuade him. As for the third point, it is also very important. Our Emperor is very sincere. His Majesty has made such a great concession. I think he must be able to feel His Majesty's good intentions and agree to our request to cease hostilities."
"What do you all think? If you feel it's inappropriate, then offer a solution. Don't just shirk responsibility and say there's no way to solve it. His Majesty sent you here to solve problems, not to create more!"
"Gentlemen, please!"
At this moment, Lao Hama raised his hand, signaling to everyone to speak freely and say whatever they had to say, since they all claimed to be loyal ministers of the country.
Since you're a loyal subject, then act like one and let us see what a loyal subject is like.
At this moment, the ministers in the room all looked very grim. It seemed that they really had no other ideas except for Old Hama's method.
After looking around, Emperor Qianshun saw that none of the civil and military officials could speak, and he understood. He couldn't help but sigh and say, "Enough, enough, old prime minister!"
Old Hama immediately turned around and said, "Your Majesty."
"Old Prime Minister, I'm afraid you'll really have to make a trip this time!"
Upon hearing this, Old Hama immediately replied, "It is an honor for a subject to share the burdens of the monarch. Although I, Old Hama, am old and frail, I still have a heart full of patriotism. For the sake of the Great Qian Dynasty and for Your Majesty, this old subject would not regret dying!"
Upon hearing this, Emperor Qianshun looked at Old Hama and said, "Old Prime Minister, if you can accomplish this, I promise you, I will exceptionally bestow upon you the title of King!" "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Old Hama immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed, saying, "For Your Majesty, I will certainly devote myself wholeheartedly, even unto death!"
Emperor Qianshun said, "Please rise, Prime Minister. You are truly a wise and experienced minister who upholds the state, a model for all ministers!"
……
After the court assembly ended, Old Hama slowly walked out of the main hall, his body covered with the titles of loyal subjects.
Old Hama was overjoyed. Others thought his trip to Huangzhou Prefecture was a dangerous adventure, but who would have thought that returning to Huangzhou Prefecture would be as easy as going home? He had received quite a few things from Huangzhou Prefecture over the years!
It can be said that he had already amassed a fortune from the tributes received from Huangzhou Prefecture. In addition, Lao Hama also exerted himself when Liu Bowen went to the capital to seek help this time, and there was a calculation in his mind.
He deliberately orchestrated this event, causing the emperor to send troops to Luoyang to put pressure on Huangzhou Prefecture. Old Hama thought that Huangzhou Prefecture would be unable to withstand the pressure and would send people with money to beg him to find a way to transfer the troops and relieve Luoyang from the siege.
He had been dreaming of having it both ways, but little did he expect that Chen Jiu Si would actually send the Prince of Ruyang to Luoyang Prefecture.
This caused his plan to fall through completely, but it didn't matter. Although his plan to extort Huangzhou Prefecture had failed, he now had a new plan: to give Chen Jiu Si a big gift.
The idea of the North and South each establishing their own countries was perfect in Lao Hama's eyes. Wasn't Chen Jiu Si's goal simply to restore the old land?
The territory of the Song Dynasty was not even as large as that occupied by Chen Jiu Si. At least, Qinghai, Shaanxi and other places were not Song Dynasty territory at that time, but the territory of the Tanguts and Western Xia.
Now it all belongs to Chen Jiu Si, what could Chen Jiu Si possibly be dissatisfied with?
He even considered that Chen Jiu Si was a young man who might be impetuous, so he persuaded his own emperor to bow down and be subservient. Wasn't that enough?
Isn't that sophisticated enough?
Therefore, he felt that he would be very popular when he went to Huangzhou Prefecture and become a guest of honor of Chen Jiu Si. At that time, he would be able to choose from luxury cars and beautiful women.
"Get ready, head south to Huangzhou Prefecture!"
Old Hama told his servants that this time he was going south with full sincerity.
……
News of Chen Jiu Si's victory quickly spread throughout the north and south of the country, and it was a foregone conclusion that Chen Jie would become the Han emperor who unified the entire south.
Now the entire South is watching Chen Jie's next move.
Chen Jie did not take any drastic actions afterward. He simply sent troops to occupy Hongdu and stayed in the city for a full half month. During this half month, Chen Jie did not rest but continued to cultivate.
On the other hand, preparations were made to send envoys to Nanjing to negotiate with Ma Xiuying.
While the envoy was being selected, Su Yunjin stepped forward and approached Chen Jie, saying she wanted to speak with Ma Xiuying in person. Seeing her resolute attitude, Chen Jie appointed Su Yunjin as the person in charge of the negotiations, and then assigned her two deputies, Chen Xiaohu and Ni Wenjun.
In addition, Chen Jie appointed Yuan Sanjia as the bodyguard for the entire negotiation team, responsible for protecting the team's safety.
At the same time, Hu Weiyong was urgently transferred to serve as the deputy head of the negotiations, and he was in charge of the main negotiation matters.
Thus, Chen Jie sent word to Nanjing that he wanted to negotiate with Ma Xiuying and other remnants of the party.
The people of Jinling were already restless. Their King of Wu had been killed in battle, and 200,000 Han troops were rushing towards Jinling. At this time, the entire city of Jinling was in a state of panic.
The powerful families in Jinling City were also restless. They had connections with Huangzhou Prefecture. Over the years, many of Huangzhou Prefecture's cotton cloth and other industrial products were sold through these powerful families from Jiangnan. Shen Wansan, the Minister of Commerce of Huangzhou Prefecture, was once a member of one of these powerful families from Jiangnan.
With this bond of kinship, these powerful families from Jiangnan were very willing to pledge allegiance to Huangzhou Prefecture, since Huangzhou Prefecture's emphasis on commerce was definitely beneficial to these families.
Therefore, recently, some people have been secretly approaching the people of Huangzhou Prefecture, saying that they are willing to surrender. Huangzhou Prefecture is happy to see this happen.
However, this situation is extremely disadvantageous to Zhu Chongba's remaining forces.
On this day, in the Wu King's Palace in Jinling, Xu Da summoned his civil and military officials to discuss matters. The main matter was that they had recently discovered that many powerful families in Jiangnan were secretly writing letters to the Huangzhou Prefecture, filled with flattering words.
This greatly displeased Zhu Chongba and his remaining followers, so they prepared to discuss countermeasures. At the same time, some military generals suggested that they should support the two-year-old Zhu Biao as the King of Wu.
Ma Xiuying served as the regent's wife and took charge of the overall situation.
Therefore, Ma Xiuying was also invited to this meeting. This woman, who had recently lost her husband, had firmly controlled the court by virtue of her past prestige.
At this moment, inside the main hall, a group of military officers were whispering among themselves. The leader was Commander-in-Chief Xu Da, and there were also Tang He, Deng Yu, and Feng Sheng.
Following closely behind were some young fighters, among whom the two who were the most vocal were Lan Yu and Mu Ying.
"Those damned powerful families, especially the Wang family, are willing to marry all four of their daughters to Chen Jiu Si just to curry favor with him. Aren't they afraid of draining him dry?"
"That's right, that's right! The Huang family wants to marry their daughter, who is proficient in all the arts and is known as the most beautiful woman in Jiangnan, to Chen Jie. They're shameless!"
"Isn't that right? I've never seen such a shameless person before!"
"If you ask me, kill them all, let them spout nonsense, and rob their property to fund the army."
"Robbery? Are you bandits?"
Just as the group was about to rob it, a voice suddenly rang out. Hearing this voice, everyone looked in the direction from which it came and saw a woman dressed in mourning clothes walking over.
"lady!"
"Sister-in-law!"
At this moment, the leading generals all stood up and saluted, while Lan Yu and Mu Ying, who had been speaking, also shut their mouths and dared not say another word.
That's right, the woman who came in was Ma Xiuying, Zhu Chongba's wife and the current head of Jinling!
Ma Xiuying walked in, her expression calm, like a stagnant pool, making it impossible to discern her true thoughts. Behind her were Cui'er and Erhu. After sitting down at the front, she said, "Commander Xu, what brings you here today?" (End of Chapter)