Xi Liang's identity is the Princess Consort of the War King. The War King Ruan Xiyin did not divorce her, so her identity remains that of the Princess Consort of the War King. However, if she were dead, it would be a different story. Most importantly, so many people saw Xi Liang being stabbed, so it wouldn't be strange if she were said to be dead.
"Yes, Your subordinates obey."
Shi Lan and Shi Ju accepted the order, then boarded the carriage and first escorted Hai Ling and the others back to the post station. Only then did they drive away from the post station, leading a few people to quietly escort Xi Liang back to Bei Lu...
Chapter 128 Feng Zixiao is Forced [Handwritten VIP]
Inside the Falling Flower Pavilion, Hai Ling, her face grim, recounted the situation at the War Prince's Mansion to Ye Lingfeng. She then spoke angrily, "We will not let this matter rest. The Southern Ling Kingdom truly disregards our Northern Lu Kingdom. Xi Liang has been stabbed; if we hadn't intervened, she would have certainly died. What kind of place does the Southern Ling Kingdom place on our Northern Lu Kingdom? Furthermore, Ruan Xizong is not unaware of this matter. If he hadn't, that would be one thing, but judging from his attitude last night, he knew about the War Prince's Mansion's situation. To allow Ruan Xiyin to treat Xi Liang like this is utterly hateful."
After Hai Ling finished speaking, Ye Lingfeng looked thoughtful and then ordered Shi Zhu: "Summon the ministers immediately. I have important matters to discuss with them."
“Yes,” Shizhu said and left.
In the hall of Luohua Pavilion, Hailing finally stopped talking, looked at Ye Lingfeng, and asked softly, "What does Ye plan to do?"
“Princess Qinyang is still a member of our Northern Lu. How dare Ruan Xizong turn a blind eye to this? I will make him pay the price. If our Northern Lu doesn’t speak up, others will think we are afraid of the Southern Ling Kingdom. Therefore, if the Southern Ling Kingdom wants to quell this incident, it must cede Lianshui City to us.”
Lianshui City and Weiqiu County of Beilu are adjacent. Because both places are located at remote coastal ports, it is impossible to set up checkpoints. The two countries are governed by themselves. However, Weiqiu County is poor and is often invaded by the people of Nanling Kingdom in Lianshui City. If Lianshui City is ceded to Beilu Kingdom, then they can use Lianshui City as the boundary to divide the country into checkpoints. Otherwise, if Nanling Kingdom becomes powerful one day, it is possible that it will attack Beilu Kingdom from Lianshui City. This is the only point of contact between Beilu and Nanling. As long as this line is cut off, Beilu and Nanling will have no connection. Ye Lingfeng has been thinking about this matter. He did not expect that such a thing would happen during his trip to Nanling Kingdom. This gave him a good opportunity to openly ask Ruan Xizong for help.
As soon as Ye Lingfeng finished speaking, Hai Ling knew his plan. She had also seen the maps of the Northern Lu Kingdom and the Southern Ling Kingdom, so she knew that Ye Lingfeng was right.
Thinking this through, Hai Ling smiled and slowly said, "To increase our leverage, we will announce to the public that the Princess Consort of War is dead. In this way, Ruan Xizong will have no choice but to cede territory. If he does not cede territory, and they have killed our Princess Qinyang of Beilu Kingdom, we will join forces with Shaoyi Kingdom to destroy Nanling Kingdom."
The murderous aura emanating from Hai Ling at this moment showed that she truly wanted to destroy the Southern Ling Kingdom.
Her remaining rationality reminded her that destroying the Southern Ling Kingdom was unrealistic. If they were to destroy Southern Ling, the Great Zhou and Shao Yi, located to the east and west of Southern Ling, would not stand idly by. They might try to take a share of the spoils, or they might join forces with Southern Ling. If the world were in chaos, the Northern Lu Kingdom would become the target of everyone's condemnation. Therefore, destruction was unrealistic, but getting them to cede a city should not be a problem.
Ye Lingfeng's eyes were as cold and sinister as Satan's. He slowly nodded, agreeing with Hai Ling's words: "Alright, from now on, the Princess Consort of War is dead."
Just as the two had settled the matter, Shi Zhu led several ministers from the Northern Lu Kingdom in. The ministers first paid their respects to Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling, and then sat down according to their rank.
Hai Ling then recounted what had happened at the Zhan Wang Mansion, but instead of saying that she had saved Princess Qin Yang, she only said that Princess Qin Yang had been stabbed in the heart and was beyond saving, and that she had ordered someone to send her back to the Cang Wang Mansion for burial.
In the hall of Luohua Pavilion, gasps of surprise immediately erupted, and Ji Shaocheng stood up and spoke with extreme anger.
“The Southern Ling Kingdom really doesn’t take our Northern Lu Kingdom seriously at all. Even if War King Ruan Xiyin doesn’t like our Princess Qinyang, he shouldn’t have treated her like this and even forced her to her death. Your Majesty, let’s go find Ruan Xizong and demand an explanation.”
As soon as Ji Shaocheng finished speaking, another General Pei stood up and spoke angrily.
"This Nanling Kingdom is utterly despicable. First, that damned Queen Zanhua provoked our Empress, and now this War King has forced our Princess Qinyang to her death. We must settle this score properly. Do you think our Beilu Kingdom is afraid of them? We must wipe them out."
Military generals have always been known for their forthright and outspoken nature, readily expressing their frustrations. Compared to Ji Shaocheng and General Pei, Wenbin and the Imperial Censor were more composed. Wenbin raised an eyebrow and looked at the Emperor. Seeing the Emperor's unfathomable expression, he knew the Emperor must have a plan in mind, so Wenbin slowly asked.
What are Your Majesty's plans?
Ye Lingfeng nodded: "The War King of Nanling Kingdom forced our Princess Qinyang of Beilu to her death. I intend to make Nanling Kingdom cede a city. Otherwise, this matter will never be over. If we join forces with Shaoyi, Nanling Kingdom will surely be destroyed."
Wenbin nodded, but then raised another concern.
“If we join forces with the Shaoyi Kingdom, then the Nanling Kingdom is likely to join forces with the Great Zhou Dynasty, and they may not be willing to cede the city.”
“Feng Zixiao won’t act easily. If they want Feng Zixiao to act, he will definitely make exorbitant demands. In that case, it won’t just be a city that they have to cede. Moreover, Nanling Kingdom doesn’t dare to take that risk. Even if Feng Zixiao verbally agrees to help them, if he joins forces with us behind our backs, then it will be a three-way battle, and Nanling will surely perish. Therefore, ceding a city is inevitable.”
Ye Lingfeng spoke calmly, his face full of understanding, his dark pupils filled with an unfathomable gloom.
The people sitting in the main hall broke out in a cold sweat. The emperor was far too shrewd. If he were not their emperor, but the emperor of another country, they would really have to be careful. Fortunately, he was their emperor.
"His Majesty desires Lianshui City of the Southern Ling Kingdom."
Wenbin spoke up, saying that apart from this, they had no border with the Southern Ling Kingdom. Not only the emperor, but also the court officials knew that Lianshui City was a hinterland. If one day the Southern Ling Kingdom's army became strong and powerful, they could break through from Lianshui City and attack the Northern Lu Kingdom. The emperor wanted a city, which must be Lianshui City.
Ye Lingfeng nodded, and the hall fell silent. Then Ji Shaocheng and General Pei stood up first: "In that case, what are we waiting for? Let's go to the palace to see Ruan Xizong immediately."
"good."
Ye Lingfeng responded, and everyone got up to go to the palace to see Ruan Xizong. Hailing stayed in Luohua Pavilion to accompany her son. The little cat had been sleeping for a while and was now awake, sucking on his hand. Hailing was both annoyed and amused when she saw this. This kid's bad habit was impossible to change. She reached out and slapped her son's little hand, giving him a stern scolding.
"Little kitten, you're sucking your paw again. Don't you know that's unhygienic?"
The kitten raised its head, but didn't cry. It seemed guilty for doing something wrong, glancing left and right but avoiding looking at its mother. When Hailing picked it up, it stretched out its little arms and hugged Hailing's neck, giving her a quick kiss and showing a flattering smile. At this point, Hailing no longer cared about its behavior.
Seeing that his mother was no longer angry, the boy got carried away and grabbed her hand, trying to put it in his mouth. Hailing's face hardened, and she warned him sternly, "Try putting it in there and see if your bottom is itchy."
The little boy became alert and quickly brought the hand that was about to his mouth to his lips, giving it a sweet kiss. His expression was innocent and cute, which made Shi Mei and Shi Lan in the room laugh. This guy was indeed too smart. Although he was only five months old, who knows how smart he would be when he grew up. No wonder Yu Zhenzi of the Sanqing Temple wanted to take him as his disciple.
"Your Majesty, the kitten is so clever, and he's only five months old."
Hailin was also a little proud. Indeed, her son was already very smart at only five months old, and he would definitely not be an ordinary person when he grew up.
Several people were talking inside the room when a maidservant came in and reported, "Your Majesty the Empress, the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty requests an audience."
Hai Ling, holding her son, raised an eyebrow, her sharp eyes narrowing, and waved her hand dismissively: "I have no time to see him. Tell him to go back."
If it weren't for the fact that she didn't want to use foul language, she would have wanted him to get lost. Not to mention seeing him, just hearing his name annoyed her. Seeing him again? Ugh.
The maidservant left without saying anything. Hailing thought for a moment, worried that the maidservant wouldn't be able to stop Feng Zixiao, as this madman always did whatever he wanted and was somewhat neurotic: "Mei'er, go and see, don't let him in. I need to rest for a while."
"yes."
Shi Mei responded and went out, while Shi Lan quietly served the mother and son inside the room.
In the magnificent and resplendent study of the Southern Ling Kingdom's palace, the room was filled with people. Behind the central dragon desk sat the soon-to-be-crowned new emperor, Ruan Xizong. Below him sat Ye Lingfeng of the Northern Lu Kingdom and several ministers. Ruan Xizong looked down at Ye Lingfeng and found his deep, dark eyes fixed on him. His heart sank slightly. Ye Lingfeng's domineering presence was terrifying. This man was full of predatory wildness, as if he could devour others at any moment, which was frightening.
However, as the emperor of Nanling Kingdom, he naturally could not show weakness to others, so Ruan Xizong spoke calmly.
"Does Emperor Xie have something to discuss with me?"
Ye Lingfeng's lips curled into a sharp, sinister smile as he spoke, "Has His Majesty not received the news from the War Prince's Mansion? Your War Prince Ruan Xiyin forced our Princess Qinyang of Beilu Kingdom to her death. I have come here to ask the Emperor of Nanling Kingdom, what is your intention? The marriage alliance between our two countries was meant to be amicable, but I never expected you to go so far as to force our Princess Qinyang to her death."