Emperor Zhaoxing flatly rejected Mo Chi's request, and his anger was extremely rare written on his face.
"Go back and tell Emperor Yu Xian that Daxuan has so many spears, armor, and arrows that they can hardly fit in the armory, but I don't want to give them to him!
Let me tell Emperor Yu Xian again, "If the matter of the blood tree is brought up again, the declaration of Yu's alliance will end here!"
Mo Chi was not angry and said that he would bring the words to him, and then left the secret pavilion.
Emperor Zhaoxing sat silently in the secret pavilion for a long time and ordered Chen Shuncai to prepare lunch.
After eating a hundred pounds of mutton, Emperor Zhaoxing's mood improved slightly, and he ordered Chen Shuncai to find out the identity of the messenger.
Mo Chi returned to Zhuque Palace and was not in a hurry to report the news to Emperor Yu Xian.
There was no need to report the news at all, it was all within Yu Xianhuang's expectations.
Mo Chi immediately issued an order to the Zhuque Palaces in various prefectures and counties. They would not pray for prosperity for the Xuan Kingdom this year. The Zhuque cultivators in each palace immediately set off after receiving the order, leaving Xuan Kingdom and returning to Yuxian.
After the order was issued, the first to take action was the Zhuque Palace in the capital.
There were more than 1,400 cultivators in the Zhuque Palace in the capital, and more than 600 people left the capital in groups that day.
Qin Junlin, the new Minister of Household Affairs, hurriedly submitted the petition. He knew how important it was to pray for good harvests. Without praying for good harvests, 30% of this year's harvest might have been lost.
Emperor Zhaoxing did not see him. He did not care about how many Suzaku cultivators left the capital. He only cared about whether the Suzaku Palace would mention the blood tree again.
He didn't care, but the prince was very concerned. The prince hurriedly asked someone to tell Liang Jixiong the matter.
Liang Jixiong realized that the situation was serious and hurried to the East Palace to meet the prince.
"Your Highness, the only plan for now is to help Yu Xianguo raise a batch of ordnance to bring the two countries back together."
The prince nodded: "This is the only way. I am just worried that my father will not agree. Even if he agrees, he will not issue an edict easily. It will take at least a month for the edict to be sent to the Ministry of War. It will take time to raise ordnance. By then,
I'm afraid all the Suzaku cultivators are gone."
"Your Highness, is there anything you can do?"
"If I ask shamelessly, I might be able to get some."
"I will go and reason with Your Majesty. After convincing Your Majesty, I will go and persuade the envoy of Yu Xianguo."
After deciding on a plan, the two of them went their separate ways.
Ordnance is difficult to raise, including spears and arrows. Ten thousand sets of armor are even more difficult. Armor is very precious. Even the simplest armor, Daxuan soldiers cannot make one per person. Even if the Ministry of War has stocks,
I don't dare to hand it over to the prince easily.
The prince begged all the officials of the Ministry of War, and went to the ascetic workshop to beg, and finally collected more than 3,000 sets.
But Liang Jixiong's side was even worse. After waiting for ten days, he didn't even see the emperor.
Emperor Zhaoxing never easily deals with a prepared opponent. He will let you go for ten days, guess your thoughts, polish your spirit, and then deal with you.
On the eleventh day, Emperor Zhaoxing paid an audience to Jixiong of Liang Dynasty.
The anxious Liang Jixiong saw Emperor Zhaoxing and said what he had been holding back for ten days:
"Your Majesty, harvesting is related to the foundation of Daxuan and all the people. Without the help of the Suzaku Palace, the harvests in various places are bound to drop sharply. Under famine, the country will be in danger of overthrowing..."
He knows the truth with reason, moves with emotion, explains the gains and losses in detail, Chen Po is powerful, and Liang Jixiong is indeed well prepared. After living for so many years, he has seen famine and knows how many crises it will bring to Daxuan.
Emperor Zhaoxing listened very patiently. After hearing it, he asked with concern: "What the elder said is true. This matter cannot be delayed. I wonder how the ordnance preparations are going?"
Liang Jixiong was overjoyed when he heard this. In the face of the danger to the country, Emperor Zhaoxing could still see the overall situation clearly.
"60% of the spears have been raised, 30% of the armor has been raised, and half of the arrows have been raised. Although it is difficult to prepare them all at the moment, we have had good discussions with Envoy Yu Xian and the matter should be eased."
"Elder, you have worked hard," Emperor Zhaoxing said with approval, "I wonder who raised the weapons?"
Liang Jixiong's heart tightened, and he knew something was wrong.
The correct answer to this question is that the ordnance was not raised without His Majesty's permission.
He really wanted to slap himself in the mouth, but he was deceived by the emperor again in his eagerness.
He forgot Xu Zhiqiong's advice that the emperor was much smarter than him and should not speak too much in front of him.
Emperor Zhaoxing then asked: "Did the prince raise this ordnance? Yuyang is really filial. He shares all my worries with me. Not only is he filial, but he is also very capable. He has raised so much ordnance in ten days. If he raises another army,
, I wonder who in the capital can rival him?"
Just these words can kill the prince.
Fortunately, Liang Jixiong still had a way to make up for it: "Your Majesty, this batch of ordnance was raised by me. Earlier, I wanted to prepare a batch of ordnance to attack the Suzaku Palace and avenge Elder Shengci, but now something unexpected happened...
…”
"What happened?" Emperor Zhaoxing interrupted Liang Jixiong, "Will Elder Shengci's revenge not be avenged? Just because King Yu Xianman threatened, Elder Shengci was forgotten?"
Liang Jixiong said: "I have never forgotten Elder Shengci's hatred."
Emperor Zhaoxing nodded and said: "Not only must we not forget Elder Shengci, but we must also remember Emperor Gaozu's holy teachings. Elder Canglong should not interfere in political affairs."
Liang Jixiong didn't dare to say another word and quickly bowed and left.
This time he was lucky. Firstly, he made up for it quite comprehensively. Secondly, Emperor Zhaoxing just wanted to give him a warning and didn't go into details further.
The matter of giving ordnance was not feasible. After returning to Canglong Palace, Liang Jixiong stayed up all night without thinking about food or tea, and finally came up with a plan.
…
Xu Zhiqiong was patrolling the south of the city alone at night. In the past ten days, he had carefully visited various places in the capital and counted the Longnu Clubs everywhere.
There are seven in the south of the city, seven in the west, the east of the city is poorer, with four, and the north of the city is the poorest, with two.
Taken together, there are a total of twenty Longnu shrines, which are comparable in size to all the religious houses in the city.
Every evening, Confucian students gather in the community hall to listen to the community teacher's lectures.
In the past few days, the contents of the lectures in various clubs were similar, and they were all enumerating the various crimes of the Suzaku Palace.
Around the time of Zi's reign, classes were dismissed in the community hall, and Confucian scholars gathered in small groups to wine shops and teahouses to discuss their experiences after studying.
Tonight, three Confucian scholars did not go to the wine shop. They went to the Orioles and Magpies Forest in the east of the city.
Yingque Forest, also known as Liuying Street, is the territory of the eighth-grade judge Lu Yanyou.
Three Confucian scholars came to the street, frightening the orioles on the street and running away in all directions.
These days, whenever ordinary people see someone wearing a Confucian crown, their first reaction is to run away. No one knows what they will do.
Today, a girl was running a little too slowly and was grabbed by the hair by a Confucian scholar.
This Confucian scholar's name was Jiao Zimu, and he was a disciple of Chen Chuanlong, the master of Longnu Society. Chen Chuanlong was a disciple of Liu Xuanfei, the leader of the society, and Liu Xuanfei was a disciple of Gongsun Wen.
To sum up, Jiao Zimu is Gongsun Wen's direct great-grandson. He has a good family background and a high status in Longnu Society.
Jiao Zimu grabbed the girl's hair and slapped her more than a dozen times: "Bitch, tell me how mean you are! You are a mean person, but you have ruined Xuanren's dignity. All your virtues have been ruined by you!"
The girl's face was covered with blood after being beaten. Jiao Zimu still felt angry, so he knocked the girl to the ground and raised his feet to raise his foot. When the other two Confucian scholars saw this, they also stepped forward and kicked her.
How could a woman withstand being beaten by three men? Not long after, the girl was dying and about to die.
Jiao Zimu shook off the blood on his boots and spat: "That's it, let this bastard go away!"
A Confucian scholar said from the sidelines: "Why should such a shameless person be left in the world?"
Another Confucian scholar said: "Brother Jiao, are you afraid? You said that you have really killed someone. My classmates have only heard of it but have never seen it."
Jiao Zimu sneered: "Killing this bitch made my hands dirty, but today I want to kill a decent person to show you."
The woman raised her head and glanced at Jiao Zimu secretly. She was not sure whether she could leave.
Jiao Zimu shouted: "What do you think I did? Believe it or not, I picked out your eyes?"
A Confucian scholar laughed and said: "Your eyes are full of copper. If you are given a few pennies, you will be at the mercy of others. When will you be willing to take another look at us poor children?"
Another Confucian scholar gritted his teeth and said, "It's time to prick out her eyes and count how many coppers there are in them!"
He stepped forward and grabbed the girl's hair, and really wanted to gouge her eyes.
Lu Yanyou hid in the dark and clenched his fists.
Looking at their sins, these three Confucian scholars should all be killed.
Judging from their cultivation level, all three of them were at the ninth level. Lu Yanyou had a way to deal with them, but he couldn't take action directly, but he couldn't find a chance to borrow a knife to kill someone.
Seeing the Confucian scholar's fingers reaching towards the girl's eyes, he suddenly heard Jiao Zimu say: "Ignore that bitch, the person who should come is here."
Two Confucian scholars looked down the street and saw a man walking quickly with his head raised and chest in his mouth.
Jiao Zimu glanced at the two Confucian scholars, and the three of them rushed forward and blocked the man's path.
Jiao Zimu asked: "Are you Cheng Qiaoqi?"
The man shook his head and said, "You have recognized the wrong person. My surname is not Cheng."
Jiao Zimu smiled and said: "Yes, your surname is not Cheng. You are a bastard with a barbarian life. How can you get the surname of my Xuanren?"
"You really have the wrong person." The man tried to avoid the three Confucian scholars, but was kicked to the ground by Jiao Zimu.
"Two classmates, this man's name is Cheng Qiaoqi, he is the master of Zhuque Palace. The barbarians in Zhuque Palace have all gone back to the wilderness, but this guy is still staying in the capital and refuses to leave. We all swore an oath in front of the Fourth Master. , we must not let this group of barbarians run rampant in our Daxuan territory, today I will beat these barbarians to death to show off the power of my Daxuan!"
The three men stepped forward and kicked and beat the man vigorously.
The man was protecting his chest tightly, as if there was something important hidden in his clothes.
Jiao Zimu shouted: "What are you hiding on your body? Take it out and show it to me!"
The man held his chest and didn't move.
A Confucian scholar shouted: "Needless to say, this is a spy sent by the barbarians, and he must be hiding the secrets of our propaganda."
What this man is hiding on his chest is not a secret, but a few sesame seed cakes.
He was indeed the Dianrui of the Suzaku Palace. Mo Chi ordered the Suzaku cultivator to return to Yu Xianguo immediately. Cheng Qiaoqi refused to leave because he was born in Daxuan, married in Daxuan, and his wife was from Xuan.
Now that he could no longer stay in the Zhuque Palace, Cheng Qiaoqi rented a house in the east of the city and stayed with his wife and children for the time being. He did not dare to go out during the day, but only dared to go out at night to buy some food.
His wife and children have been hungry all day, and these sesame seed cakes are more important to him than anything else.
Jiao Zimu had been kicking and beating for a long time when suddenly he saw a wisp of burnt smoke coming out of Cheng Qiaoqi's body.
The two Confucian scholars were so frightened that they took half a step back. Cheng Qiaoqi was an eighth-level Suzaku cultivator. If they really wanted to take action, the three of them might not be able to withstand Cheng Qiaoqi's fire.
Jiao Zimu was also a little scared, but after waiting for a moment, he saw that the flames on Cheng Qiaoqi's body were extinguished.
Cheng Qiaoqi didn't dare to take action.
If you really hurt these Confucian scholars, let alone him, I'm afraid the lives of the whole family will not be saved.
Jiao Zimu saw the clues and said with a ferocious smile: "Burning, you are burning, what? You don't have the guts? Let me see what kind of barbarians you are!"
Cheng Qiaoqi remained silent and silently got up, but was kicked down by Jiao Zimu again.
"You are burning," Jiao Zimu patted his cheek, "You burn it here, let me see if you burn one."
"Okay! Let me show you!"
A fiery red lantern pole suddenly touched Jiao Zimu's cheek, and a streak of burnt smoke floated up.
Jiao Zimu screamed miserably: "Oh my God!"
Xu Zhiqiong pulled the lantern pole back and tore off a large piece of flesh from Cheng Qiaoqi's face.
"Do you see clearly? I'm burned!"
Cheng Qiaoqi covered her face and cried loudly. The other two Confucian scholars were shocked and stood there daring not to move.
"Have you seen it?" Xu Zhiqiong frowned and said, "I'll burn it again for you to see!"
The lantern burst into flames and was directly placed on Jiao Zimu's head.