GBP Chapter 161: Imperial Garden Talk
Chapter 161: Imperial Garden Talk
"The civil strife in Wu is over, and the winner is Xie Chengyun."
"As expected."
At this time, in a pavilion in the Imperial Garden.
Yun Zhi and Liu Anruo sat opposite each other like close friends of many years, sipping tea and admiring the flowers.
The pavilion is surrounded by colorful flowers, and the petals fall in the breeze.
This atmosphere was like returning to the Yunjiazhai of the past, when Yun Zhi was writing a notice with a pen, and Liu Anruo was grinding ink for him.
It is now mid-to-late April, and the beginning of summer is not far away.
The weather is gradually getting warmer and is no longer as cold as before.
As the weather warmed up, many flowers in the imperial garden bloomed, and even one or two butterflies flew out and circled around the flowers.
The king and his minister chatted while admiring the scenery outside.
Seeing that half of the water in Yunzhi's teacup was gone, Liu Anruo stood up, picked up the teapot on the stone table, and filled it until it was 70% full.
"Indeed, Wang Yi is indeed far inferior to Xie Chengyun in terms of strategy, and Xie Chengyun has also planted many spies around Wang Yi, making it extremely difficult for Wang Yi to win.
After Liu Anruo sat down, he looked down at his reflection in the teacup, his thoughts drifting away.
"The establishment of the Wu Kingdom was possible only because of these two men, one a scholar and the other a warrior, who complemented each other. If they had not fallen out, even if the Wu Kingdom fell in the future, the story of their unity between king and minister would surely be passed down through the ages."
Yun Wei nodded, picked up the teacup, took a sip, and looked into the distance.
"Their natures meant they couldn't maintain this relationship for long. If Wang Yi hadn't proclaimed himself emperor and had remained the leader of the rebels, with them sharing the same goal, perhaps this relationship could have continued."
Wang Yi was quite suspicious, which was not to say that suspicion was a bad thing, but when his own foundation was not yet stable, he began to doubt his former right-hand man and meritorious minister, who was also a person of equal power.
The most important thing is to make the other party aware of your own defense, so the situation will be bad.
If it were someone else, faced with the king's vigilance and distrust, they would most likely just feel chilled and would no longer be as dedicated in their work in the future.
But this person is Xie Chengyun.
Xie Chengyun is very ambitious, and Wang Yi does not have the ability to suppress his ambition.
Faced with your distrust, Xie Chengyun of course rebelled against you.
Listening to Yun Zhi's words, Liu Anruo lowered her eyes. If she were Xie Chengyun, she would do the same.
Call her a heretic or disloyal, she is unwilling to assist someone who is less capable than her, who is always on guard against her, and who even wants to get rid of her.
Even before, when she wanted to be someone else's aide as a woman, she wanted to be the aide of a talented person.
Her father, who had a vague idea of her thoughts at the time, once said that she was dreaming.
But she has encountered it now.
She raised her eyes and looked at the person sitting opposite her. She was so lucky to meet His Majesty.
This is a beautiful story of unity between the monarch and his subjects, and she and Your Majesty will surely have a place in future generations.
"Your Majesty, there are still ten days until Xie Chengyun's coronation ceremony. Should we send someone to deliver a gift?"
"At present, our five countries are still maintaining a superficial peace. The necessary gifts must be presented. We can send someone to deliver them when the time comes."
Liu Anruo nodded and looked around.
Now there are only the two of them in the pavilion, and everyone else is standing outside waiting.
She lowered her voice, "Your Majesty, Xie Chengyun is currently handling the remaining chaos. He must appease the military and the people, and replace Wang Yi's people in the court with his own. Furthermore, to improve his negative image as a minister usurping the throne, he must implement drastic reforms."
"According to this calculation, it will take at least half a year. Why don't we..."
The other three countries may really not have much surplus food and money to fight the war because of the snow disaster, but Anguo was not like that.
There is still a lot of money left from the previous sales of cement recipes, and because of the cement road, there are more merchants, which means more commercial taxes are collected.
The commercial tax collected now is no longer the same as before, which was a uniform 30%, but is determined according to the specific annual income of merchants.
The higher the annual income, the higher the business tax will naturally be.
The current Anguo is no longer in a state of deficit like before.
Although it cannot be said to be rich, the cost of attacking the State of Wu is enough.
As for food, Tang Qiuwan has been committed to increasing the yield of various crops in recent years.
The effect was obvious. Even with a 20% tax, a lot of grain was collected.
So even though a lot of people were escorted out during that snowstorm, there were still a lot left.
Facing Liu Anruo's gaze, Yun Zhi shook her head, "Let's wait."
Hearing this, Liu Anruo looked at her with a puzzled look on her face, "Wait? Wait for what?"
"Wait until Yue comes to us."
Liu Anruo tightened his grip on the teacup, and after a brief thought, he understood the deep meaning.
This time, in order to delay Xie Chengyun's victory, the State of Yue made the situation more chaotic and increased casualties, but exposed several spies.
So they will definitely take advantage of the time when Xie Chengyun is dealing with this mess to attack.
After all, if they missed this opportunity and let the situation in Wu State stabilize, with Xie Chengyun's talent, it would be difficult to fight later.
A lean camel is bigger than a horse. Moreover, the situation in Wu State is just chaotic, not weak.
If most of the troops were sent out, considering the discord between Ji Xun and Ji Lingyan.
Perhaps when the battle between Yue and Wu was in full swing, Yu would send troops to attack.
They might even join forces with the State of Wu and attack from both sides, which would be more harm than good.
But we cannot just watch Wu stabilize and miss the opportunity, so the only way is to join forces with Anguo.
Join forces to attack the State of Wu.
After figuring it out, Liu Anruo loosened his grip on the teacup.
"Given the speed at which Yue is stockpiling food and fodder, I think they'll contact us in three or four months. We'll see how they negotiate with us then."
Liu Anruo's eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and a meaningful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. "Maybe we can use them to reduce our casualties and easily take over half of the Wu Kingdom."
However, the Kingdom of Yue is not a fool. It seems that it has to start thinking about how to gain the greatest benefit.
But there is no need to rush now, there are still a few months left.
Liu Anruo came back to his senses from his deep thoughts and drank the last bit of tea in the cup. "Today I have the honor of appreciating the flowers in the Imperial Garden with Your Majesty. I feel very happy.
"So am I."
The two looked at each other for a moment and smiled knowingly.
At this moment, the slanting sunlight fell on the two of them, and they were surrounded by flowers in full bloom.
Time seems to have stopped, presenting a picture of peaceful and tranquil years.