“Blue Prince is no ordinary individual… Yeah, no ordinary individual,” Boss muttered as though she still had sothing she hadn’t finished analysing.
I could sympathise with her. Back when I was exercising heroism across the world, I lost count of how many good deeds I completed. Su Xiao occasionally asked to share stories of my noble heroism, but due to being too busy, there were so things I couldn’t recall even now. The take-ho ssage here was that always being in a hurry to go from one task to another and being too busy had implications on one’s mory. Every ti it was ti to pay for my food bill, I’d suddenly be inundated with work. Fate was a cruel monster to owners of restaurants.
“Feizhen, what nonsense is your mind drifting off to again?”
My brooding distracted Boss from her brooding. Compared to my brooding, clearly, she was levels below . At the very least, it wasn’t on the level I reached when I ate out.
Boss crossed her arms, pushing her assets up and out further. I blinked to prevent myself from shifting my line of sight down and away from her piercing gaze, but it was hard.
“Let tell you now that, if you try to dine and dash, and people co here demanding justice, I’ll arrest you.”
I already knew you would!
I shook my head. “This one is a gentleman. A gentleman does not conduct himself in such a shaless manner. This one would never do that.”
“Do what?”
“Not pay.”
Paying would make it a business transaction, wouldn’t it? This gentleman would never do sothing so shaless.
“There is a price to pay for speaking the truth no matter what era one is in. The people who had to pay said price never wanted to cause harm. They are people history rembered and hailed as heroes. There was Qu Yuan in the State of Chu during the Warring States period, and there is handso Feizhen today. Politician Qu waded into the Miluo River while holding a rock to commit suicide, while handso Feizhen took six inkstones to the face without batting an eye. If you juxtapose the two of them, you will see they are both two greats who will live on for eternity.”
“You’re about to suffer for eternity if you keep spouting your nonsense! You want to join Sir Sui in the garden, too?!”
The mory of Sir Sui’s visual survey whilst he wore a shady smile made shiver. “N-no, please continue.”
Usually, Boss would look satisfied after beating . Today, however, she seed to raise her inkstone reluctantly and didn’t seem to an to hurt .
“You’re quite inford about the fighting in the imperial court. One matter still waiting to be resolved is the selection of the Crown Prince. At one point in ti, though, it was almost perfectly ended. Although not too many people know about it, but the end decision remains a mystery. I still don’t understand it any better than I did back then.” Boss slowed down towards the end, and a rosy hue ca to her cheeks. “Ahem, Feizhen, help analyse it.”
I was a little lost myself after hearing Boss out. It turned out that there was a small state between Beijiang’s two states that wasn’t acknowledged. The citizens were travelling rchants who struggled to make the long journey and therefore chose to seek residency there. Over ti, the wish of becoming an autonomous state flourished among the citizens. It was a precipitous and strategic place to be as it was a “cushioned” zone for Tiezhen and Luocha states. For centuries, it belonged to Tiezhen, and for other centuries, it belonged to Luocha. It was the first ti in ages that soone tried to designate it as an independent state.
Initially, everyone brushed the matter off. After all, they had no farm land, land for crops, sources of food, or even soone they could call a leader. Thus, the two Beijiang states looked forward to soone coming forward as a leader since that would make things far simpler than dealing with a group of people of many thoughts. That decision led to an outco that had them speechless. Before they knew it, the small zone had grown into a lively and wealthy entity with walls being built higher and higher, and thicker and thicker. In no ti at all, their population exploded in growth.
The young leader leading an army of old, weak and damaged soldiers adamantly declared his will to establish a state in from of envoys. Owing to his decision to ignore Tiezhen and Luocha’s monarchs’ warnings, they were naturally inflad. On top of that, the envoys told their monarchs of his rudeness, urging their sovereigns to crush the state by force. The outco was a foregone conclusion when he announced his plan. When Blue Prince’s flag appeared atop the city walls, however, the two monarchs realised their errors.
It wasn’t a conflict between two big states and a tiny town. It was a conflict between three big sovereignties. Beijiangs’ monarchs knew they’d be declaring all-out war if they attacked a city with the Central Plain’s flag. The mastermind pulled Beijiangs’ two sovereigns in without them even noticing.
While it might’ve sounded as though the small zone was Nieyao in Nanjiang, it wasn’t remotely similar. To put it into perspective, the location was essentially a blade in one’s gut. It’d have been delusional thinking to assu it was possible to defeat Beijiangs’ thriving states. As a defensive tactic to keep Beijiang from invading the Central Plain, though, it was marvellous enough to be considered a rit worthy of lifetis of rit. The arguably most impressive accomplishnt, in saying that, was the fact that the Central Plain didn’t have to pay anything to implent the strategy. The earnings from comrce opportunities provided made the investnt a high return on investnt. On top of that, they increased their population. The biggest gain of all was the residents’ strong will to fight for their independence.
Blue Prince rely loaned his figurative vocal support and a few thousand troops. He achieved the feat without needing even one more troop. By the ti the monarchs caught on, the designer of the strategy was already on his way back to the capital.
His Majesty decided to imdiately na the Crown Prince when he found out about Blue Prince’s accomplishnt.
“Uncle had been hesitant about selecting a Crown Prince due to concerns of officials objecting, but it was unlikely anyone could’ve objected to Blue Prince being crowned when he returned triumphantly. However, nothing happened because Blue Prince turned down the idea. I don’t know the details. I’m familiar with the Princes and Princesses as children. The Princes left for their assigned territories once they grew up, so we’ve hardly been in contact. Had Blue Prince not returned to the capital, I wouldn’t know any more about him than soone on the streets.”
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