Chapter 105: Grand Court Meeting? Let Princess Ning’an marry?
“My Lord, are we going to prepare to march north?”

After reporting the situation, Sui Maoxiang asked Jia Cong about the next move.

In terms of age, all of Sui Maoxiang’s grandchildren are older than Jia Cong.

But the reality is not that way.

Not to mention that strength is respected in the military.

These are the methods that Jia Cong has shown in recent events.

It’s enough to make people ignore his age.

“No, the Siege of Shenjing doesn’t need us.”

Jia Cong looked back at the map hanging on the wall.

“I will go north through Yanzhou and suppress Qingzhou.”

“After Mu Dajiang’s defeat, most of the White Lotus rebels in Laizhou Prefecture are gone, and the remaining small rebel groups are not a force to be reckoned with.”

“Now all that’s left is…”

Jia Cong set his eyes on the upper right corner of the map.

The place of six prefectures in Shandong!

Among them, Dongchang Prefecture is located in the west and has not been affected by the locust plague.

Small groups of White Lotus rebels can be wiped out by local garrisons.

Yanzhou Prefecture looks ordinary on the map, but in fact it hides a huge monster.

The Kong family of Qufu is the leader of Confucianism and Taoism!
The sacrificial fields granted by successive dynasties made the Kong family’s land spread all over Yanzhou.

In this case, the size of the rebel army was only slightly larger than that of Dongchang Prefecture.

The remaining Jinan Prefecture, Qingzhou Prefecture, Laizhou Prefecture, and the coastal Dengzhou Prefecture were the areas where the rebellion was most severe.

Especially in Jinan Prefecture, 300,000 rebels marched northward, causing a lot of commotion.

This was only the case when the main forces of the rebels in Qingzhou and Laizhou had been wiped out.

Jia Cong chose to do the opposite.

He placed his hand on Dengzhou Prefecture, located on the easternmost coast of the map.

“Master Hou, this…”

“Wonderful!”

Sui Maoxiang was a veteran of many battles, so he was confused at first.

But I reacted immediately.

When I looked at Jia Cong again, I felt nothing but admiration.

“Go and prepare. Gather a hundred thousand men and prepare food and fodder. We will march out the day after tomorrow!”

“Yes!”

……

Shenjing City

Hall of Supreme Harmony

According to custom, Emperor Shunde offered sacrifices in the ancestral temple and then held a grand court meeting.

All civil and military officials above the fifth rank, meritorious generals, royal family dignitaries, and foreign envoys in the capital also attended the court.

In the past, all the grand court meetings were for the various departments in the court to summarize the department’s situation in the previous year.

Sing praises for the emperor.

Then the foreign envoys presented tribute.

These two processes were used to demonstrate the dynasty’s civil and military achievements.

But something went wrong at today’s grand court meeting.

“Your Majesty, the Emperor of our country, Annan is a small country with a weak population, and we really cannot offer tribute this year.”

“I hope that His Majesty the Emperor will show mercy and exempt us from paying tribute every year.”

“Siam has suffered from severe drought for three consecutive years. We are unable to pay tribute. We beg His Majesty the Emperor to forgive us!”

“The Wala tribe suffered a white disaster this year, and the people suffered heavy losses…”

When it came time for foreign envoys to pay tribute, one after another envoys stood up and refused to pay tribute.

The officials of the Honglu Temple had not received any information in advance, and their faces turned green when they saw this scene.

Since the rise of Confucianism and Taoism, emperors of every dynasty have sought to demonstrate their civil and military achievements.

Everyone longs for a situation where all nations come to pay tribute.

On the contrary, they did not care about the tributes brought by envoys from foreign countries.

The amount of tribute paid each year will be returned.

If the year is good and the emperor is in a good mood, the return will be doubled.

Daqian is a vast country, and many common items such as silk, porcelain, and tea from noble families are the best-selling commodities in foreign countries. However, under such circumstances, today is the first day of the first lunar month.

Led by the Oirat and Tatar, seven envoys found various reasons to stop paying tribute.

Anyone can see that this is clearly a slap in Daqian’s face.

Not only the officials of the Honglu Temple, but most of the officials in the court had grim expressions at this time.

“You seven envoys have simultaneously declared that they will stop paying tribute on the day of my grand court meeting.”

“I guess it was arranged in advance?”

Emperor Shunde’s expression wasn’t much better either.

The good mood on the first day of the new year was wiped out.

“Your Majesty, I had no idea that so many countries would be hit by disasters at the same time.”

“Such natural and man-made disasters are beyond human control.”

“I heard that there are rebels in Daqian now. The White Lotus Sect has even reached Baoding Prefecture and is now heading straight for the capital.”

At this time, the Korean envoy stood up and responded.

Although the tone and wording were respectful, the tone became sarcastic.

The words haven’t been finished yet.

This aroused the indignation of civil and military officials.

“How dare a mere Korean envoy speak so arrogantly at a grand court meeting.”

“Shu Zi’an dare!”

“My Great Empire is the Celestial Empire. How can you, a small vassal envoy, make irresponsible comments?”

“Your Majesty, I request that Korea be stripped of its vassal status and that we send troops to conquer it immediately!”

“I am willing to lead the troops to attack!”

There was a lot of shouting and cursing in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and some military generals with hot tempers even asked for orders to lead the army to attack Korea.

Faced with numerous criticisms, the North Korean envoys remained calm and even sneered from time to time.

When the voice died down, he began to speak sarcastically.

“Could it be that the ministers of the Celestial Empire are only good at talking?”

“Your Majesty, although Korea is small and its people are weak, it can gather an army of 200,000 and can suppress rebellion for Your Majesty at any time.”

“It’s just that our king has long admired the culture of the upper country and has remained unmarried. He wants to marry a daughter of the royal family.”

“I hope His Majesty the Emperor will help me!”

At this time, the Korean envoy finally revealed his evil ambitions.

Not only did he take this opportunity to embarrass Daqian, but he also wanted to trample on this face.

Since ancient times, there has been no precedent for a vassal state to send troops to quell a rebellion for the suzerain state.

Even if a large army were to march forward, it would be hard to say where they would attack.

This humiliation is ten times stronger than before.

“Oh? Which of my daughters or nieces has the King of Korea taken a fancy to?”

Emperor Shunde laughed in anger, raised his hand to stop the ministers from shouting and cursing, and then asked gloomily.

“Your Majesty, I know that the princesses and the emperors of the royal family are so precious that I dare not marry them.”

“I heard that your majesty recently canonized a county lady who is virtuous and dignified. If your majesty is willing to grant the marriage, our Kingdom of Korea will do its utmost to help your majesty suppress the rebellion.”

The North Korean envoy lowered his head and said.

As soon as the words fell, the court fell silent.

The newly-appointed county lady was undoubtedly the Ning’an County Lady of the Jia Mansion, who was extremely favored by the royal family.

At this moment, anyone would feel that something was wrong here.

It was clear that part of the forcing of the emperor by foreign envoys was aimed at the Jia family.

Countless civil and military officials subconsciously turned their gazes to the front row of ministers, the position that had been vacant for several months.

The four kings of different surnames in Daqian.

Beijing, Nan’an, Xining, Dongping!
As the name suggests, King Beijing’s territory was in Liaodong, close to the Kingdom of Korea.

“Oh? What if I don’t agree?”

“Your Majesty, as the emperor of the suzerain country, it would be unreasonable for you to do this.”

“I’m afraid it will discourage the vassal states like us. If there is unrest everywhere, it will be your Majesty’s people who will suffer.”

“I hope Your Majesty will put the country first.”

The North Korean envoy directly broke off relations and uttered threatening words.

Seeing this, the other six envoys also wanted to try.

(End of this chapter)