In the Honglu Pavilion, a group of envoys wearing Xia Dynasty court uniforms gathered in the room, with solemn expressions and sad faces. From time to time, someone would lament, which immediately caused everyone to sigh.
It has been almost half a month since they came to Zhongqing City. But up to now, they still have not received an order from the Emperor of Yun State to summon them. The Yun State Imperial Court only placed them in the Honglu Pavilion, where they were given food and drink every day.
Other than that, there was no reaction.
Sitting at the top, the head of the Xia State Mission with a sad look on his face couldn't stand the depressed atmosphere in the room and couldn't help but say:
"Don't be discouraged. Today I have gone to see Qu Cheng, the Prime Minister of the Yun Kingdom. He gave me a way to go to see Feng Bao, the eunuch who is the trusted eunuch of the Yun Kingdom. This person is the Yun Kingdom Emperor.
As a confidant, I always accompany the emperor. As long as we can get him to agree to help us, it should not be difficult to be summoned by the Emperor of Yun Kingdom!"
When all the Xia envoys heard this, they still couldn't lift their spirits and looked discouraged.
One of the middle-aged officials couldn't help but sigh:
"In the past few days, we have visited the residences of the important officials of the Yun Kingdom. We have given away a lot of silver gifts, but they are of no use at all! The money allocated by the imperial court for us has been almost used up now! Even this Feng
If Bao Dang really has the ability to convince Emperor Yun, we don’t have the money to send anything!"
Another person couldn't help but said angrily:
"This Emperor of Yun Kingdom is probably trying to irritate us, so he avoids us!"
"It must be so. Otherwise, if it is a matter of war between the two countries, how could the officials of the Yun Kingdom dare to delay it?"
"Whether it's war or peace, give us an answer so that we can go back and deal with business..."
"Cough cough cough!"
Hearing that someone had spoken out what they were thinking about dealing with the imperial court, the head of the envoy couldn't help but cough violently, interrupting the man's complaints.
The official who had just opened his mouth to complain immediately closed his mouth and subconsciously looked towards the corner of the room.
In the corner of the room, there were several generals wearing Xia army armor standing there. They were standing straight there with expressionless faces, as if they had not heard what they just said.
These generals were nominally responsible for escorting the envoys to the Yun Kingdom to submit their credentials. But everyone knew that among these people, there must be Xia Kingdom's secret agents, who came specially to spy on the Yun Kingdom's intelligence for Emperor Xia.
Of course, monitoring them, the officials of the mission, was naturally a matter of course.
The atmosphere in the room couldn't help but become quiet.
After a while, among the officials of the mission, a rich-looking man suddenly stood up and said in a deep voice:
"Emperor Yun Guo has just come to power and needs time to grasp the situation in the country, so he will never focus on war with our country. Moreover, if he really wanted to fight, he would have expelled us early, and there is no way he would be embarrassed.
Keep us!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone suddenly realized, nodded and said:
"What Mr. Zhong said is true!"
"Yes, if it weren't for this, Yun Guo wouldn't let us live in this Honglu Pavilion!"
The fat man who spoke at this time was none other than Fengzhou Prefect Zhong Zizuo, who had spent some time with Xiao Cheng before.
I just don’t know why this guy appeared in the Xia Kingdom’s envoys.
Zhong Zi stood up, looked around at the officials, and said in a deep voice:
"At this time, the war between the two countries is uneven, and neither side can completely free up their hands to clean up the mess in the country. We are waiting for the situation in the southwest to be tense, and it is on the verge of collapse, but the Yun Kingdom is not necessarily much better! We will be with Buddhism all the way.
Everyone knows what is going on in various parts of the Yun Kingdom. With Emperor Yun’s talented and strategic nature, it is absolutely impossible not to care. So how could he not think of ways to quell the war and transfer his energy to the country? "
When the officials in the Xia State envoys heard this, they were stunned for a moment, and then they all nodded in agreement and said:
"Yes, there must be a reason why Emperor Yun is hanging on to us!"
"I just don't know what the Emperor Yun's intentions are?"
At this time, a general standing in the corner suddenly said:
"Master Zhong, what do you think?"
After everyone heard this, they all looked at the general who spoke.
This general has an upright figure, sharp eyes, and a resolute and solemn face, which makes an impressive impression on anyone who looks at him.
The generals like them were not allowed to interfere in what everyone was discussing at this time. But at this time, all the officials of the mission had no objection because everyone knew his identity well.
The secret service under the Xia Emperor was directly targeting the embroidered messenger.
Zhong Zizuo glanced at the general and said in a deep voice:
"I have thought about it for a long time, and I only think that there is one possibility. The Yun State wants to take this opportunity to test and see how impatient our envoys are, so as to determine the situation in our Xia State, so as to gain greater benefits during the negotiations!"
After Zhong Zizuo finished speaking, everyone immediately showed expressions of sudden realization.
"That makes sense!"
"Listening to Mr. Zhong's words, I really felt like I was suddenly enlightened!"
Only the head of the mission felt a slight thump in his heart and said in a panic:
"No, if you put it this way, wouldn't it be that my previous running has allowed Yun Guo to see the flaw?"
When everyone heard this, they also felt bad.
At this time, there was great dissatisfaction among the people in the southwest of Xia Kingdom, and there was even a faint tendency of rebellion and uprising among the people.
As for Xia's southwest frontier army, they first lost troops and generals in the northern border of Yun State. And because Xiao Cheng captured Sanping Pass, they lacked the dangerous checkpoints to contain them. Facing the harassment of a small number of Yun State's cavalry, they could only press all the troops on the border.
Border troops, guard and defend to the death.
But in this way, all the border troops are stationed at the border, and it is difficult to return to defend the southwest and frighten the people.
It was for this reason that the Xia Kingdom chose to send a mission, submit credentials, and stop fighting, so that the border troops could return to defense, guard the states and counties, and prevent the people from rebelling.
The situation in the southwest was getting worse and worse, and these Xia officials also knew that if they failed to complete their errands, they would be blamed and punished after returning home. In this short period of time, they were so anxious and panicked to meet the Emperor of Yun.
Everyone immediately recalled how worried and anxious they were before, and thought that if Zhong Zizuo's guess was true, they might have already shaken up Xia Guo's foundation by being so impatient.
If the errand cannot be done, they have something to do. If the errand is done incorrectly, the Xia Kingdom will pay a huge price. Isn't the imperial court still dissatisfied and punishing them?
Seeing the panic on everyone's faces, Zhong Zizuo also sighed with a look on his face, shook his head and said:
"It's a pity. It's also my fault that I didn't figure out the key sooner! However, it's not irreversible."
The messenger who turned into a general and pointed at the embroidered clothes immediately stepped forward and said urgently:
"Master Zhong, please speak clearly!"
If the errand cannot be done, these civil servants will feel uncomfortable, but at most they will lose their official positions. But for those of them who are directly targeting the embroidered clothes messengers, this is not necessarily the case!
All the envoys also cast their expectant eyes on Zhong Zizuo.
Zhong Zi waved his sleeves, his plump face was full of confidence, and his upright figure revealed a confident aura.
"This method is just to aggrieve the Lord Envoy."
The head of the mission quickly waved his hand and said anxiously:
"Now that things are going on, I don't care about these things anymore. Come on, tell me!"
"The envoy, in order to complete the errand as soon as possible in order to take credit from the imperial court, ignored the fact that the envoys were tired all the way and kept urging them. The envoys suppressed their resentment. But after working hard for several days and seeing that there was no progress in the errand, they became passive in handling the errand.
meaning."
After Zhong Zizuo finished speaking, all the envoys were stunned and immediately understood what he meant.
This is a show for the people of Yun country.
The head of the mission looked suspicious and said:
"With this, can you deceive the Emperor of Yun Kingdom?"
Zhong Zi spread his hands and said helplessly:
"As of now, this is the remedy. We don't know how effective it will be, so we can only do our best."
When the messenger who pointed at the embroidered clothes heard this, he pondered for a moment and then said decisively:
"Just do it like this! Even if you don't make the Emperor of Yun Kingdom completely believe it, you also need to make him have doubts, so as to prevent the lion of Yun Kingdom from opening his mouth during the peace talks!"
After all, it was the messenger who was accustomed to doing shady things, and his thoughts were much more decisive than these civil servants.
Zhong Zi clapped his hands and said immediately:
"Now that the decision has been made, please keep your words and deeds as normal. Colleagues, please secretly express your dissatisfaction with the envoy in front of the officials of Honglu Hall, and then say what I just said, intentionally or unintentionally. On weekdays,
You can also be more relaxed when doing things. On the surface, it is said that you are going out on errands, but in fact, you can go to visit the capital of Yun Kingdom. In short, except for the chief envoy, other colleagues are not allowed to do anything, and look like they are passive and slack!
"
When all the envoys heard this, their eyes lit up slightly.
Secretly scolding leaders? Spending public funds on tourism? Still being lazy and negligent in government? Hey, tell me earlier! We may not all be able to do things seriously, but we are all familiar with these things, and we are showing our true qualities!
Only the head of the mission twitched his mouth slightly when he heard this, and looked at his colleagues with a rather complicated mood.
If he had to describe his mood at this time, it would probably be as if his colleagues were all on vacation and he was called on by his supervisor to stay on duty.
Zhong Zizuo bowed slightly, saluted everyone, and said in a sincere tone:
"In this case, for the sake of our country, Daxia, and the stability of the people in the southwest, I would like to ask all my colleagues to work harder and put on a show in front of the people of Yun State!"
The originally smiling faces of the envoys suddenly changed, and solemn and serious expressions appeared on their faces.
They bowed their hands to Zhong Zi and returned the salute. Their voices were low and steady, and they all replied:
"We must do our best so that we will no longer be trusted by the imperial court!"
The man who pointed directly at the embroidered clothes messenger and the head of the mission looked at each other subconsciously, both frowning slightly.
Although both of them have already agreed to this plan.
But looking at the envoys and officials in front of them who were solemnly saluting each other, they felt that the atmosphere in the room was inexplicably absurd.
How to describe it?
There is a bit of tragedy in the solemnity, and there is a bit of comedy in the tragedy. Everyone is obviously going to eat, drink and have fun, but they have to look like they are about to sacrifice their lives for the country.
This scene is, in short, impressive and unforgettable!