The high-ranking officials of the Elven Poplar Empire had no good solutions after the capital was attacked twice; they had no way to intercept the Tang Empire’s missiles, nor could they stop the Tang Army from using such terrifying ans of attack.
To ensure his own safety, Poplar The First had already relocated to an underground bunker. However, such a lifestyle was destined to be uncomfortable, and over ti, no one could endure it.
So, Poplar The First secretly summoned a person, Duke Leibert! Their eting was private, with only the Pri Minister and Marshal Felix present.
Poplar The First didn’t bother with pleasantries and imdiately asked Duke Leibert, after they sat down, "I know you have connections. Reach out to the Tang Empire and ask if they can stop attacking Ruoslaina."
"This is also Your Grace the Duke’s hotown, and it’s not good to let outsiders ravage it like this, so we ask that you do more," the Pri Minister also said.
Felix just looked at Duke Leibert without speaking. Frankly, as a traditional old soldier, he still had so sense of honor. Not being able to defend the land and keep the enemy outside the gates was already shaful enough. He truly had no face to ask anything of Duke Leibert now.
Leibert didn’t put on airs and simply spread his hands, saying, "Your Majesty, Pri Minister, I indeed can contact so people over there, but in the current situation, with the relationship between us and the enemy... how much influence do I have to make the Tang Country stop its attacks?"
His response was within Poplar The First’s expectations: if Leibert could stop the Tang Army with just a word, things wouldn’t have escalated to this point.
However, since they sought out Leibert, they must have so leverage to use. Poplar The First continued: "Your Grace the Duke, we can secretly offer a paynt to persuade the Tang Army to stop attacking Ruoslaina."
Leibert had long guessed they would have such a plan. He nodded slightly and said, "I can contact them. How much you offer, how much they want, or whether they want it, that’s sothing I can’t decide."
"That’s fine. As long as you connect us, we will handle the negotiations with them," Poplar The First quickly replied.
If they could use so money to buy the safety of Ruoslaina, at least for a while, it would an regaining the people’s support in Ruoslaina and stabilizing so of the dostic situation.
In any case, it was a worthwhile business. Now, his only worry was that the Tang Empire would not be willing to take his ransom and would not cease the missile attacks on Ruoslaina.
"Alright, let’s leave it at that." Leibert shifted the topic and suddenly raised another issue: "Recently... there was a foiled assassination plot against Emperor Tang Mo in the Tang Empire. Does Your Majesty know about this?"
"Hmm?" Poplar The First was first startled upon hearing the news, then his expression changed dramatically. He had never heard of such a plan before, and now he really wanted to summon his intelligence minister and question whether they truly got embroiled in such a terrifying incident.
The Pri Minister looked at Poplar The First, eyes full of panic: could this Emperor have whimsically tried the most taboo assassination tactics among the nobility?
It did seem feasible: at least in terms of success rate, assassinating Tang Mo was evidently higher than defeating the Tang Army head-on.
"What are you looking at for? I had no knowledge of this! It was definitely not my order! I swear!" Poplar The First quickly distanced himself—what a joke, how much fake wine would he have needed to think of assassinating Tang Mo?
The light in Felix’s eyes gradually dimd; he had just thought his Majesty the Emperor had the courage to perish with the enemy. But it seems Poplar The First truly had no intention of sacrificing himself to bring down Tang Mo.
"Over there they want to know, who’s so eager to die?" Leibert had no interest in interrogating Poplar The First. He was just following orders to ask this question, leaving the rest for Poplar The First to figure out on his own.
Even though the Tang Empire had decided to place the bla for the assassination attempt on Sofia, it didn’t stop them from making a fuss about it.
Since it wouldn’t cost them anything, using this incident to warn other countries and make them abandon so unrealistic fantasies allowed it to play a residual edge.
"I can understand the Emperor of Tang being furious, but this matter has nothing to do with ! Elves disdain sneaky tricks! I swear by the na of the Goddess of Nature, I have no knowledge of any plan to assassinate the Emperor of Tang." Poplar The First swore calmly, without any ntal burden.
He truly didn’t know, but also feared his subordinates might have acted on their own, so he wouldn’t dare claim the Poplar Empire was uninvolved. At this mont, he could only clear himself first, then later seek out his intelligence minister for answers.
In reality, he also knew that such matters were indeed hard to clarify: since the other side had co to seek accountability, they must have already obtained so evidence. But on the national level, what monarch can say their subordinates are entirely blaless?
Let alone blaless, he himself knew well that most of the intelligence personnel deployed externally were bought, so how could their loyalty be trusted? If they were bought by elves, they could also be bought by others...
Thus, even he understood that with a little effort, the incident could be traced back to the elves sowhat, resulting in a scapegoat that couldn’t be defended against.
It’s just a matter of how the Emperor of Tang would use this as leverage: wherever the bla fell on any unfortunate person, that person would be dood, and even their demise would be t with applause from many.
After all, those most opposed to the proliferation of assassination thods are the high-ranking leaders of various countries. As beneficiaries, they naturally want to avoid risks. This logic is easy to understand, and thus, assassination attempts on emperors or heads of state are always most frowned upon by the elite circle.
Such thods cannot be used, and even if they are, they must be cleaned up. This is everyone’s consensus, which Poplar The First naturally understands. He now truly wishes he could have the real mastermind torn to pieces!
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