The emperor in the Jinluan Palace was still slumped on the throne, while the queen below looked dignified. A curtain blocked the two of them, so that the ministers below could only see a vague shadow.
The ministers in the court watched the tall figure getting weaker day by day, and they all had their own plans in their hearts.
But the strange thing is that it is difficult for the emperor to say a word, but if anyone wants to question the queen for holding the emperor hostage to preside over the government, the emperor above can say in a low voice, "Drag him out and behead him."
Earlier, similar things had happened many times. Seven or eight important court officials were killed because they suspected that the queen was monopolizing the government affairs without the emperor's instructions.
Therefore, over time no one was surprised that the queen appeared in the morning court.
Even most of the time, only the queen sits on it.
Fortunately, this queen has some sense of proportion. Even when she is in charge of politics alone, she only sits under the throne.
Today's morning meeting saw more people than usual, and all those officials who had been absent from the meeting for many years, claiming to be ill, came in droves.
Because there will be an important matter to discuss in the morning today.
News came again from the direction of Xuzhou, and after one night, the news had reached the ears of all important officials in the capital.
The matter is related to the Japanese country, but it is not the Japanese pirates invading again.
When the people in the morning court were in order, the Prime Minister came forward with his spare time and said: "Your Majesty, Xuzhou flying cavalry sent a message last night, and the alliance letter was sent from the direction of Japan."
"A letter of alliance?"
Some ministers who didn't know the details started talking in amazement.
Fu Yu continued: "The book states that the invasion of bandits before Dongyue was the work of bandit forces within the Japanese state and was not a political decision of the Japanese state. His Highness Donghuang of the Japanese state was also deceived by the bandit forces, so he did not investigate the matter. In this regard,
His Highness Donghuang expressed his apology to Emperor Dahua. After the Japanese court learned of the news, it ordered the withdrawal of troops as soon as possible, and by the time the letter was sent, all the forces that planned the invasion had been eliminated."
Fu Yu paused and said, "Your Majesty, there are quite a lot of detailed letters from Japan, and since I am not good at Chinese writing, most of the contents in the letters are unclear and difficult to understand, so I will briefly summarize them here."
Behind the curtain, the queen said softly: "Send it to me to show you."
A young eunuch came out from behind the curtain, took the letter from the prime minister's hand, and carried it behind the curtain.
After the letter was presented, the Prime Minister turned around and explained to the ministers present: "This letter from the Japanese country is trying its best to defend itself and does not want the incident in Xuzhou to affect the friendship between the two countries. After the letter, a large number of special products from the Japanese country were sent as tribute.
"
"This is a good thing!" Jia Shangjie, the Minister of Household Affairs, said with a smile, "The Donghuang of the Japanese Kingdom showed the intention of his subordinates to pay tribute like their neighbors. It can be seen that our army fully demonstrated the might of the Chinese military in the battle of Xuzhou.
Let the Japanese pirates not dare to invade."
Other ministers also nodded in agreement.
But another person asked: "This is a good thing, but I heard the news last night that there will be big things to discuss today. What else is going on?"
The Prime Minister frowned: "At the end of the letter, it was said that the Eastern Emperor heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was killed on the battlefield and expressed his deep apologies. In order to make up for it, he decided to marry his daughter to the new Crown Prince of Dahua, and he is willing to form an alliance between the two countries forever."
This last piece of news was really unexpected, and only then did the ministers realize that this was the crux of today's discussion.
Seeing that the ministers were about to start talking again, the Prime Minister said in a low voice: "Moreover, Princess Yoshiko, the daughter of the Eastern Emperor, is already on her way to Beijing with the tribute, and is expected to arrive in half a month."
"What? Is there such a thing?" There was a sudden exclamation in the court.
This is a political marriage, which is not surprising. We have seen it many times in the past dynasties, but this is the first time I heard that one country unilaterally sent its daughter over without the consent of both countries.
This feeling is a bit like wanting to buy and sell by force.
On the surface, it may be said that the Japanese country sent the princess directly in order to show enough sincerity, but in fact, it did not give Dahua a chance to refuse.
The princess has already arrived. If you don't want to, can you still go back?
This is a direct slap in the face of Japan. I believe no country can accept such an insult.
If you don't agree to the marriage at this time, there is only one final result, which is to go to war directly.
And if this battle breaks out, it will be an all-round battle.
Not only is the emperor in Dahua now weak, but the prince has just died. The internal affairs of Dahua are not yet stable. What can we do to fight against them?
What's more important is that the prince died just now. And the other party's letter specified that he would marry the prince and become the princess.
If Dahua doesn’t have a prince, what can he do to get someone else’s princess?
This issue
The situation was complicated. Everyone in the court was exchanging glances with each other. They all knew that the matter was of great importance and did not dare to speak casually.
The queen behind the curtain said softly: "Pass the letter on for everyone to read."
"Yes." The young father-in-law responded and passed the letter to the following.
This was just a formality to let everyone know the authenticity of this matter. After everyone took a glance, the Queen above asked in a low voice: "Everyone, ministers, tell me what you can tell from this letter."
Something coming?”
As soon as the Queen finished speaking, someone below said in a deep voice: "Empress, these Japanese thieves seem to be respectful, but they are deliberately looking for trouble! Don't they say they have to do this? They are threatening us, Dahua!"
"That's right! Japanese pirates are Japanese pirates. Who can believe what internal conflicts they talk about? Who knows what they are thinking about doing this? You must never agree to this!"
"Mr. Liu, you say this very lightly! If we don't agree and the Japanese pirates come again, what will we do?"
"this……"
"I think the Japanese country knew that Dahua had no time to take care of itself and forced us to submit. But we had to agree to their request. Although we don't know what the Japanese country actually meant by this move, we had no choice at all."
no choice……
There really is no choice!
Everyone knows in their hearts that although they know that the other party will be uneasy and well-intentioned, there is nothing they can do about it.
This feeling is really depressing.
Seeing that all the ministers were dejected, the queen whispered: "I also feel that at this moment I can only agree to the other party's request and marry the Japanese princess. But now that the old prince died in the war and the new prince has not yet been selected, how can we ask someone to marry him?"
"The letter states that the Japanese princess will arrive in Kyoto in half a month. If there is no crown prince, we should immediately select a candidate for the new crown prince."
As soon as these words came out, all the ministers present felt their hearts pounding.
This is not something you dare to say casually, it is going to directly provoke a fight between all parties.
Looking again at who was speaking, it turned out to be the third prince Li Yong.
Li Yong only had the throne and no official position, so he went to court in an inconspicuous corner at the rear.
His Royal Highness, Prince Yong, has been in court for more than a year and rarely speaks. But now he said something that no one dared to say.