Teasing the First Dragon at the Start

Bai Su glanced at Hu Yi with some surprise. In the past, Hu Yi would often freeload here for a while. Why did she leave so early this time?

"I snuck here this time, so I can't stay too long, and also..."

Hu Yi said with a smile, "I'm going to Xianyang to see if your predictions are accurate. If they aren't, I'll let you ride my horse."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Miss."

Bai Su scratched her cheek, looking at the confident Hu Yi, and felt a little reluctant to tell her that she was doomed to lose.

Hu Yu blinked his heterochromatic eyes and asked, "Is there something you want to say to me?"

After pondering for a while, Bai Su said, "I wish I were a star and you were the moon, so that we could shine brightly together every night. What do you say?"

Hu Fang's heart trembled, and she murmured, "May I be the star and you the moon, shining brightly together every night."

Her heart was struck by the poem, and in a daze, she seemed to recall the past few days.

Standing before the Xianyang Palace, he looked up at the starry sky, while Bai Su sat in a courtyard a thousand miles away. At the same time, the two, though in different places, were in perfect sync, looking at the same starry sky.

Hu Yi smiled slightly as he thought of that romantic scene: "I really like that line."

Chapter 57 If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold

Several days later.

Princess Yuezhi, accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Rites, walked into Xianyang Palace.

Along the way, one sees green bricks and tiles, and towering walls. One walks slowly along the marble-paved imperial road.

From afar, a magnificent black hall slowly came into view.

The enormous, entirely black palace resembled a black behemoth, instilling a tremendous sense of oppression in those who stood there.

She felt a dull tightness in her chest and was temporarily unable to breathe.

As a powerful force in the Western Regions, the Yuezhi had seen magnificent palaces before, but never one so filled with a chilling aura. It was like the embodiment of a million-strong army, making one feel a little afraid just by looking at it.

The strength of the Central Plains was unmatched by the grasslands or the Western Regions.

Just as she was deep in thought, the envoy slowly walked out of the main hall and summoned the Yuezhi delegation to pay homage.

Princess Yuezhi regained her senses, took a deep breath, and, led by the envoy, stepped into the main hall.

The first thing that catches the eye is the civil and military officials of the Great Xia Dynasty. The military generals are led by Wang Jian. They are all dressed in black armor, with long swords at their waists. They stand in a row in perfect order, exuding a fierce aura. They look like they have fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The way the gaze that turned and scrutinized them was like that of a tiger or wolf observing its prey, sending chills down her spine.

The civil officials standing to the side were led by Li Si.

Although they were civil officials, their aura was no less imposing than that of military generals. Each of them wore a black and red robe and held a book knife in their hand, which they used to carve words on bamboo slips.

Princess Yuezhi stood at the entrance of the main hall, looking inside. All she could see was a dark, oppressive atmosphere that made her swallow hard.

She glanced at the dragon throne at the far end of the hall, only to find it empty.

Just then, the messenger shouted, "His Majesty has arrived!"

Princess Yuezhi was taken aback for a moment, then saw a graceful and imposing woman walk out from the side, her arms outstretched, the wide sleeves of her dragon robe making a whooshing sound as she slowly sat down under everyone's gaze.

All the civil and military officials in the court bowed and greeted His Majesty with thunderous applause.

Zhengjie waved gently.

She has been in a very good mood lately. With Bai Su's help, the national strength of the Great Xia is growing stronger day by day, and the counties and prefectures in various places are gradually stabilizing.

Now that foreign nations have taken the initiative to pay homage and honor her as the legitimate ruler of the Central Plains, she has the opportunity to demonstrate the legitimacy of the Great Xia's unification of the world to the entire world. How could she not be happy about this?

The hall gradually quieted down.

The Yuezhi princess, along with her delegation, bowed deeply and greeted Your Majesty, saying, "Xiao Li, the Yuezhi envoy, greets Your Majesty."

Her etiquette was impeccable, which earned her the admiration of many officials in the court.

The Empress Dowager remained calm, exuding the majesty of a first emperor throughout history.

She smiled faintly: "The princess and the envoys have traveled a long way to get here. You must be tired."

"It's all worth it as long as I can see His Majesty."

Princess Yuezhi slowly raised her head and said, "Your Majesty, this is the national document of my Yuezhi, written by the King of Yuezhi himself. I hope Your Majesty will take a look."

A hint of interest flashed in Zhengjie's phoenix eyes as she waved to the envoy beside her.

The messenger strode over and took a sheepskin scroll tied with a red rope from the Yuezhi princess's hands.

Zhengjie glanced at the documents presented by the envoy, then lost interest.

Most of the above consisted of polite official jargon with little substantive content; it was all flattery. The central message was that the Empress Dowager was awesome and they hoped to curry favor with her and establish relations with the Great Xia.

Zhengjie gently put down the parchment scroll in her hand, her phoenix eyes looking at the Yuezhi princess below: "The envoys have worked hard, and you have all had a long and arduous journey. Guards, offer wine..."

Soon, a group of maids came in from outside the palace, carrying tables, wine and dishes.

The officials took their seats, and the atmosphere in the hall became much more relaxed.

After several rounds of drinks, the Yuezhi princess glanced at her sister Zheng on the throne, then stood up and said, "Your Majesty, we have come here to show our sincerity by bringing some gifts to present. The gifts are now outside the palace. Please summon us."

A hint of curiosity flashed in Zheng Jie's phoenix eyes, and then she nodded slightly.

The Yuezhi princess called out to the door, "Bring up the gifts."

Before long, the civil and military officials of the court saw a man leading a tall, fine horse into the room.

Upon seeing this, Wang Jian's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but think to himself, "What a fine horse!"

She had fought for most of her life and had never seen such a fine horse. It was far superior to the horses commonly found in the Central Plains.

Even Zhengjie couldn't help but take a second look and couldn't help but ask, "What's the name of this horse?"

"This is a famous horse from the Western Regions, capable of traveling a thousand miles a day and eight hundred miles at night. Because of its thin skin, when it runs, the sweat beads under the light of its veins appear to turn the color of blood, hence it is called the Blood-Sweating Horse."

Princess Yuezhi said with a smile, "This time we have specially brought ten Ferghana horses. In addition to these, we also have fine wine and ten cartloads of fruits from the Western Regions, which we will present to Your Majesty."

When Wang Jian heard that there were ten horses, his eyes lit up, and he had the idea of ​​asking Sister Zheng for the horses after the banquet.

When Zhengjie heard that this place called the Western Regions had such fine horses, a bold idea popped into her mind.

She didn't show it on her face. After a moment of contemplation, she asked, "The envoy has come from afar and presented such a valuable gift. It can't be just for the sake of making friends, can it?"

Princess Yuezhi took a deep breath and said, "Since His Majesty has seen through us, I will not hide it anymore. In fact, we have come here today to ask for your help."

Zhengjie looked surprised and asked, "What is it?"

"We implore Your Majesty to send troops to join forces with the Yuezhi to fight against the Xiongnu."

The Yuezhi princess took a deep breath, her jewel-like eyes fixed on her sister, Zhengjie.

"The Xiongnu!"

Zhengjie's phoenix eyes widened in surprise as she recalled the prophecy of Hu Ye, the one who would destroy the Xia dynasty. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly: "Wasn't the Xiongnu defeated and driven a thousand miles by Meng Tian?"

Princess Yuezhi shook her head: "The Xiongnu were indeed defeated by your general Meng Tian back then, but the Xiongnu did not decline because of this. Under the leadership of a Chanyu named Maodun, the Xiongnu successively defeated powerful enemies on the grasslands, such as the Linhu and Donghu."

"They have brought the various tribes of the grasslands south of the Gobi Desert and east of the Liaodong Peninsula under their command, showing a trend toward unifying the entire grasslands."

"Now that the Xiongnu have defeated the Donghu, they have more than 300,000 cavalry, which is unmatched in the entire grassland. Now, Modu has begun to set his sights on the Western Regions. Our Yuezhi tribe is located at the gateway to the Western Regions and is the first to be targeted."

"Your Majesty, if the Xiongnu continue to grow stronger, and once they annex the Yuezhi and the other kingdoms of the Western Regions, their next target will probably be Your Majesty in the south."

"Your country has a saying, 'If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold.' If Your Majesty does not send troops to rescue my Yuezhi now, the Xiongnu will grow to an uncontrollable level in the future, and the Central Plains will inevitably be invaded by the Xiongnu."

"I beg Your Majesty to consider our shared interests and send troops to rescue the Yuezhi so that we can fight the Xiongnu together."

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Mother and Daughter with Different Thoughts

The hall was silent. The ministers gently put down their wine cups, their brows furrowed.

Those present were all high-ranking officials, and they could easily understand the Yuezhi princess's meaning: her visit to Xianyang was a pretense; her true intention was to request reinforcements.

This guy first praised the Tang Dynasty highly, boasting about it, and mentioned things like paying homage and sending gifts.

Now they're only explaining the pros and cons, hoping Your Majesty will send troops to rescue them—this is clearly a way of trying to prevent Your Majesty from refusing.

After all, Zheng Jie had always been wary of the Xiongnu. Back then, because of the prophecy that the one who would destroy the Xia dynasty was Hu, she directly dispatched Meng Tian with an army of 300,000 to drive out the Xiongnu and build the Great Wall in the north to resist them.

Now the Xiongnu have annexed the various tribes of the grasslands, possessing an army of over 300,000, and have become a unified and powerful regime. Faced with this growing threat from the north, how could Zhengjie sit idly by?

Secondly, this time the foreign nations took the initiative to come and pay homage.

The Empress Dowager attached great importance to this, and even ordered officials in various regions to be responsible for escorting the entourage.

If the matter ultimately comes to nothing, wouldn't that be a loss of face in front of the remnants of the six states?

Given Zhengjie's strong personality, she would naturally not allow something that would damage her prestige to happen.

Wang Jian saw through Zheng Jie's thoughts, so he put down his wine cup.

She walked out slowly, cupped her hands and said, "Your Majesty, if the Xiongnu grow stronger, they will surely become a major threat to the north in the future. It would be better to eliminate them before they become too powerful."

Her statement immediately garnered the support of the young military officers in the hall, who clasped their hands in a fist and stepped forward to volunteer for the northern expedition against the Xiongnu.

After all, the Great Xia Dynasty was founded on military strength, and promotions and titles depended entirely on military merit.

However, since Zhengjie unified the world, there has been no war in the Central Plains for a long time, which has made them all eager to fight.

Now that they finally have a chance to earn merit, they are all eager to volunteer.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't..."

Just then, a woman dressed in a black and red brocade dress, with graceful movements like a willow in the wind, walked out from behind the table.

It was none other than Li Si, the Prime Minister of the Great Xia Dynasty.

She cupped her hands and said, “Your Majesty, the distance between our Central Plains and the border is more than a thousand miles. With hundreds of thousands of troops marching thousands of miles north to fight the Xiongnu, the logistical pressure is simply too great.”

"The campaigns on the grasslands are not like the sieges and conquests in the Central Plains. The Xiongnu live by following the water and grass and have no fixed place of residence, so it is difficult for us to take the initiative to fight against the main force of the Xiongnu."

"The logistical supplies for these hundreds of thousands of people, including food and horse feed, are an astronomical figure. If the stalemate continues for half a year, the imperial treasury will be completely depleted, and the finances will be completely ruined."

"The burden of corvée labor and taxes will increase sharply, and chaos may break out in the Central Plains. In my opinion, there is no need to launch a distant expedition against the Xiongnu. We only need to hold the Great Wall defense line."

Zheng Jie frowned slightly, and after considering Li Si's statement, she hesitated for a moment.

"His Majesty……"