Zhao Youkun saw Li Zhiheng, the Imperial Minister of Foreign Affairs, leaving angrily.
He picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and said without seeming to care, "Zhu Dahu, do you think it will be counterproductive if we do this?"
Zhu Dahu saw the current situation more clearly. He thought that Zhao Youkun also saw the current situation clearly.
After hearing Zhao Youkun's words, he realized that Zhao Youkun was gambling.
He is an official who likes to bet on the fortunes of the country on important occasions.
If Zhao Youkun is a smart person, Zhu Dahu will play riddles with him and test each other.
Now that he discovered that Zhao Youkun was a gambler, Zhu Dahu did not dare to do this. He could not predict the gambler's behavior and could easily mess things up.
Zhu Dahu pretended to be confident and said in a slightly contemptuous tone: "We are all important ministers who can participate in state affairs, so of course we know the status of these affairs officers.
When we made this request, it was an obvious request and there was no problem at all.
The empire will not blame us for making demands, it will only blame Li Zhiheng for not handling the matter well.
The official we discussed next was, after all, an important minister who could attend the Imperial Council.
The agreement we reached with them means that Li Zhiheng has no ability to cause trouble."
When Zhao Youkun heard Zhu Dahu's analysis, his eyes lit up, he gave a thumbs up and said: "We have different positions, but I still admire Mr. Zhu's talent and learning."
Zhu Dahu also nodded with a smile.
"Mr. Zhao praised me. I'm just a bit smart."
Zhu Dahu knew that the two of them would have to cooperate for a while. The most important thing now was to complete the task first. The two of them could not have conflicts at this moment.
Zhu Dahu also wanted to discuss with Zhao Youkun how to cooperate in the future?
He heard footsteps outside and immediately closed his mouth.
Nowadays, everyone is telling lies with their eyes open. There is a tacit understanding between the suzerain country and the vassal country.
If he openly discussed with Zhao Youkun, how could he deceive and test the empire?
The nature of this matter has changed. The empire could sit back and watch the competition between vassal states, but now it must end up in order to maintain the prestige of the suzerain state.
Zhu Dahu heard the sound of the door being pushed open. He raised his head and looked at the door. A somewhat unfamiliar figure walked in.
The coat of arms on his chest is a pale golden wheat ear.
Zhu Dahu didn't need to know anyone. When he saw this coat of arms, he knew that this person was a cabinet minister from the first rank.
Appearing in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and involving vassal countries, it must be Chu Sheng, the imperial cabinet minister in charge of foreign affairs.
The empire's promulgation of policies related to the vassal states was inseparable from this person's participation.
Zhu Dahu was not familiar with Chu Sheng. He passed the Juren Examination and entered the Ministry of Rites that year, but had no contact with Chu Sheng. He endured the qualifications, and Chu Sheng had already been sent out to become an ambassador.
There is almost no contact between the two, but the name of the person and the shadow of the tree.
Chu Sheng's fame and ability are simply astonishing.
Zhu Dahu did not expect that the empire was so well prepared.
They had just rejected Li Zhiheng, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and within a moment, the cabinet minister in charge of foreign affairs had already arrived in the living room.
Zhu Dahu was just about to stand up and greet him when he saw Chu Sheng bowing slightly and inviting someone into the living room.
Zhu Dahu was stunned. None of the cabinet ministers could be invited by Chu Sheng in a low profile.
The person who comes must have a very high status.
When he saw the young man walking in wearing a python robe.
Zhu Dahu was trembling all over. Every official in the vassal state needed to memorize this man's photo.
He is the prince of the empire and the future emperor.
Zhu Dahu immediately stood up and greeted him, bowed respectfully and said, "Foreign Minister Zhu Dahu, I have met His Highness the Crown Prince."
When Zhao Youkun saw the arrival of Prince Su Shu, he was even more shocked.
He was stunned on the spot. After seeing Zhu Dahu's action, he followed suit and saluted.
Prince Su Shu saw the representatives of Wu and Gui. Their behavior was not as unruly as Li Zhiheng, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, described.
He waved his hand and said: "I was appointed by my father to come here specifically to solve your problem.
If there is any conflict between Wu and Gui, the empire needs to mediate between you."
Zhu Dahu saw that the empire dispatched the prince to resolve the matter.
Half of his mission has been accomplished. The Imperial Prince will definitely have a clear and unmistakable understanding of the Empire's attitude towards the vassal countries.
As the crown prince of a country, the Imperial Crown Prince represents both the royal family and the empire. He will not renege on his words or agreements signed without huge conflicts of interest.
They don't have to worry. After the agreement is signed, the empire will directly blame a certain official and turn his back on it.
When Zhu Dahu was thinking about these things, he heard Zhao Youkun say sadly: "Your Highness, in the last battle of Wu Gui, Wu State used poison gas bombs, which caused great casualties to our Gui State.
The empire took action to sanction the Wu State and asked the Wu State to pay more than 500,000 taels of compensation to the Gui State to compensate the victims.
When the imperial army was in Wu State, Wu State paid compensation of 50,000 taels of silver coins.
After the imperial army withdrew from Wu State, Wu State began to default on its debts. Now there is still 470,000 taels of silver compensation that has not been paid to Gui State.
We have gone to Wu State many times to ask for compensation through various channels, but all ended in vain.
This is 470,000 taels of silver coins. The Ming Dynasty was as big as the Ming Dynasty, and its annual income was only 4 million taels.
We, a small country like Guiguo, are in desperate need of this silver coin, so we ask the empire to make the decision for us and support our reasonable request."
Prince Su Shu frowned. The reason Gui Guo came up with was too lame.
If it is a territorial dispute and the empire intervenes in the matter, it is normal.
It's just compensation, which is less than 500,000 taels of silver coins. This is a small matter, and there is absolutely no need for the empire to get involved.
If Prince Su Shu didn't have other small thoughts, he would turn around and leave after hearing Gui Guo's appeal.
But Wu Guo and Gui Guo came to trouble the empire for mediation just because of this trivial matter. This was completely making fun of the empire.
As the prince of the empire, he would definitely not allow this to happen.
If this incident spreads, it will become a joke whether it is the conflict between Wu and Gui or the empire that mediates this matter.
Because of the conflict over 500,000 taels of silver coins, private businessmen may not go to Dali Temple to file a lawsuit, let alone two major vassal states.
He looked at Zhu Dahu, the representative of Wu State, and asked unceremoniously: "Is this true in Wu State?
If there is, then directly transfer part of Wu’s advance payment for purchasing imperial goods to compensate Gui.”
Zhu Dahu could already hear the unkind tone of Prince Su Shu's voice.
He glanced at Zhao Youkun, this man was useless at the critical moment, how could he only express this request.
He saw the sweat dripping down Zhao Youkun's forehead and knew that this man's ability to withstand stress was very poor.
He may have prepared several plans when he came.
When facing officials of equal status to him, he can perform according to his previous preparation.
But he didn't expect that Prince Su Shu was personally responsible for this matter. He was afraid that if he messed up, it would bring trouble to your country, so he rejected the risky plan.
Zhu Dahu knew that he could only rely on him to perform on the spot.
If this matter is not handled properly, he will not be able to explain it after returning to China.
Zhu Dahu said in a slightly aggrieved voice: "Your Majesty, our Wu State did not pay compensation to Gui State, but there is a reason for this.
After the war ended and the armistice agreement was signed, Gui State never returned the Chengtian Fortress of Wu State's Chengtian Prefecture.
Chengtian Fortress is the defense line built with a lot of money by our Wu Kingdom, and it is also the core territory of our Wu Kingdom.
The territory of our Wu State, Gui State, has not been returned yet, but our Wu State wants to pay compensation to Gui State. This kind of thing is really impossible."
Prince Su Shu narrowed his eyes. The hatred between Wu and Gui was like water in a cotton cloth. It would disappear after squeezing.
The territorial dispute between the two countries is always more serious than compensation.
As the sovereign state, it is normal for the empire to intervene in territorial disputes between vassal states and it will not become a big news.
Prince Su Shu looked at the representative of Gui State and asked: "Is what the representative of Wu State said true?"
When Gui Guo representative Zhao Youkun saw Prince Su Shu's reaction, he knew he was going to mess up the matter.
When he saw Zhu Dahu react quickly and put the matter back together, his tense expression relaxed slightly.
Zhao Youkun showed an angry expression and said: "It is true that this happened, but Representative Wu deliberately did not tell the cause and effect.
If the State of Wu does not compensate us with silver coins, how can we withdraw from Chengtian Fortress?"
Zhu Dahu, the representative of the Wu Kingdom, said passionately: "You, the Gui Kingdom, are clinging to Chengtian Fortress and are so ambitious.
We, the Wu State, have not taken back the territory that fell into your hands, so how can we continue to compensate you?
The Chengtian Fortress must be returned before Wu will consider continuing to compensate."
When Zhao Youkun heard Zhu Dahu's unkind tone, he immediately retorted: "Wu State must first pay all the compensation in accordance with the agreement, and then Gui State will evacuate from Chengtian Fortress.
We take control of the Chengtian Fortress, and Wu will no longer pay compensation.
Once we evacuate and have no chips in our hands, Wu will not lose a penny."
When Zhu Dahu and Zhao Youkun introduced the situation, their tone became more and more aggressive.
The two started to quarrel, and Li Zhiheng, the Imperial Minister of Foreign Affairs, immediately sent someone to separate them.
Cabinet minister Chu Sheng walked to Prince Su Shu and lowered his voice and said: "Your Highness, this is the complexity of dealing with affairs in a vassal country.
No one dares to compromise the interests of the country.
It must be a matter of picking out the details bit by bit."
Prince Su Shu's expression did not change on the surface, but he was very happy in his heart.
When there is such fierce conflict between vassal states, it can convey the attitude of the empire through various methods.
What he did on the surface was just to resolve the dispute between Wu and Gui. As for what other vassal states thought, it had nothing to do with Prince Su Shu.
After listening to the chatter of the representatives of the two countries, Prince Su Shu frowned and thought for a long time but could not find a solution.
"This matter of yours is just a bad debt, and you all say that your side is right.
The most critical point is that the two of you have lost mutual trust.
What the other party says is ridiculous, and you won't believe what the other party says.
The first thing you have to do is to establish a mutual trust mechanism. If you cannot do this, it will be difficult to continue what you want to do next.
You can't let the empire be your nanny.
All disputes between your two countries will be settled by the empire.
If you think that as long as this issue is resolved, there will be no other conflicts between the two countries in the future.
The empire can also come forward to help you completely solve this problem and restore peace between the two countries."
When Zhu Dahu heard Prince Su Shu's request, he was stunned.
This request is simply unrealistic. With the current tense situation in European countries, they, Wu State and Gui State, can only maintain a short-term peace.
Once chaos breaks out in Europe, there will be revenge and complaints.
Gui State has formed an alliance, and Wu State has also begun to actively contact other countries to prepare for an alliance.
From the analysis of the telegrams he received occasionally, he has now formed the prototype of an alliance centered on Wu State.
Even if Wu and Gui have no conflicts for the time being, they will definitely end up if many countries in the alliance take action.
In this war that is sweeping across Europe, if there is no strength to sit on the table, then they must be on the menu.
It is even more impossible for Zhao Youkun to sign relevant contracts on behalf of Gui Guo.
Gui Guo's alliance is now actively preparing for war.
They don't know when or where the war will break out, but they know it will break out.
The cornerstone of this alliance was to oppose the expansion of Wu State.
Once Gui Guo and Wu Guo reach an agreement, where will this leave the many countries in the alliance?
Gui lost its alliance and was ostracized by many countries in the alliance.
Gui's already unsafe geography will become even more precarious.
When Prince Su Shu made this request, he knew that Wu and Gui would never agree.
Only when Wu and Gui refused could Prince Su Shu proceed to the next step.
If Wu and Gui really agree, it will have no impact on the empire.
These two countries have minimal impact on the world situation.
Prince Su Shu just wants to make a casual move, and it doesn't matter what effect he gets.
He saw the representatives of Wu and Gui, and after hearing his suggestion, they were all stunned on the spot.
Prince Su Shu snorted coldly and said: "My request is already very tolerant, but you two are still hesitating.
I see that your two countries are not very willing to accept imperial mediation.
You still want to solve the problem on your own, so why come all the way to the empire?"
Prince Su Shu's tone was rude, but he also pointed out these two representatives.
If they are smart people, they will naturally know which direction to answer.
Zhu Dahu clasped his hands and bowed to everyone.
"The Marquis of Wu and most people in the Kingdom of Wu still prefer to solve problems by themselves.
It is better to rely on yourself than to rely on heaven and earth.
It’s just that we vassal states, even if we have the idea of going to war, we must consult the empire’s attitude.”
Zhu Dahu kept his posture very low. What he did could be said to be a direct test.
If this trial is successful, he will surely become a hero recognized by everyone when he returns to the country.
If he failed this time, even if he could return to the country, he would be looked down upon by other officials, and his status would be in ruins.
For his own future, he could only learn from Zhao Youkun's approach and make a huge gamble.
Zhu Dahu sorted out what he wanted to say in his mind.
His mood changed and he was about to speak, but found that Zhao Youkun had already arrived first.
