Embroidered Uniform Guard: I Can Plunder Talents-Chapter 233 - 52: The Coming War? Marriage

The amount of silver needed for this must be at least a million taels to start with.

And the money can only come from the Ministry of Revenue.

The Ministry of Revenue definitely isn’t eager to cough up that much cash all at once.

So, naturally, an argument breaks out.

"Now it’s finally getting lively!"

Just a short while ago everyone was still being all proper, but it suddenly flipped like this.

Staring at the sudden chaos, which now totally looks like a fish market, Ye Liuyun couldn’t help but sigh.

I used to think civil officials and military officers would have different ways of hurling insults, but turns out—unexpectedly—their ’creativity’ is all about cursing each other’s families.

"Fuck your ancestors! The enemy’s about to attack, why can’t we be suspicious?!"

"Who’s coming to attack? Who exactly? Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"I’ll watch your mother!"

"Go to hell! We don’t have money. Bottom line, we just don’t. If you’ve got the guts, pay for the war yourself!"

"Oh, you want to throw hands now? Yeah? You want to throw hands?"

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At this rate, it looks like the two camps are about to rumble right here in the imperial court.

Awesome!

This is exactly the kind of morning court I wanted in on. That boring crap before? Worthless! This is where the fun is!

Ye Liuyun had originally planned to crack a few jokes with Lei Zheng next to him.

Only when he turned to the side did he realize—there wasn’t anyone next to him anymore.

Lei Zheng had somehow managed to worm his way into the crowd, already standing among the military officers, trading insults with the civil bunch like a champ.

Ye Liuyun, who was busy watching the show.

Suddenly sensed someone’s gaze land on him.

He turned his head—and sure enough, it was Yan Shuzhu up there on the dragon throne.

Faced with such a ’boisterous’ court, Yan Shuzhu—the emperor—was, in fact, completely exhausted inside.

He was just racking his brains for a way to shut these people up, when he happened to spot Ye Liuyun’s face, who looked like he was watching a comic play.

Great. I’m over here stressing like crazy and you’re enjoying yourself? Must be nice.

For a moment.

Yan Shuzhu’s look at Ye Liuyun turned downright resentful.

", , ,"

That look... if you didn’t know better, you’d think I committed some heinous crime.

Ye Liuyun just shrugged helplessly—how was he supposed to mediate that mess? Beat up both sides?

Ye Liuyun caught Yan Shuzhu’s eyes and signaled toward the Prime Minister, Fu Zhengqing, standing right at the front of the civil officials.

That guy had been standing there, cool as a cucumber from the start, looking like nothing in the world fazed him. Perfect—just the sort of guy to give a job to. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Noticing Ye Liuyun’s gaze.

Yan Shuzhu instantly caught on, nodding slightly, schooling his expression, and cleared his throat.

"Enough!"

That one word left everyone stunned for a moment.

Seizing the opportunity, Yan Shuzhu fixed his eyes squarely on Fu Zhengqing.

"Prime Minister Fu, what opinions do you have regarding this matter?"

Nobody expected Yan Shuzhu to ask Fu Zhengqing for his views.

As the civil officials’ leader, Fu Zhengqing had tremendous respect among them, so everyone fell silent at once.

The military officers—even they gave the Grandmaster some face and stopped bickering, all looking to Fu Zhengqing now, waiting for his verdict.

", , ,"

Fu Zhengqing originally planned to stay above the fray.

Because he’d already guessed—the war probably wouldn’t break out, so any "strategy" was basically irrelevant anyway.

He never thought they’d manage to drag him in after all.

With a Grandmaster’s sharp instincts, Fu Zhengqing certainly noticed the eye contact between Ye Liuyun and Yan Shuzhu.

"Your Majesty!"

He broke his silence.

"The new emperor of the Xihe Dynasty is in his prime, and it’s said he hasn’t married yet. Meanwhile, our Great Qian Dynasty just so happens to have several princesses of suitable age."

"So what you’re suggesting, Prime Minister, is... a marriage alliance?"

Yan Shuzhu immediately understood what Fu Zhengqing was saying.

He frowned slightly.

When Fu Zhengqing said this, a bunch of civil officials promptly stepped forward again.

"The Prime Minister is right. There’s precedent for marriage between Great Qian and Xihe already—so what’s the issue with a new marriage alliance?"

"Exactly, exactly!"

"If this can solve the tension with Xihe, it’s a great deed!"

Even the military officers didn’t argue this time—looks like even they thought it was a decent plan.

"What an old fox!"

Lei Zheng had already sidled back over to Ye Liuyun’s side, glaring at Fu Zhengqing’s back, clearly vexed.

With a solution like this...

He really couldn’t keep pushing for war now.

Noticing that Ye Liuyun next to him wasn’t saying anything, Lei Zheng got curious and glanced over.

"Brother Ye, what do you think?"

", , ,"

This whole exchange really gave off a ’Watson, what do you think?’ vibe.

"When so many people are already on board, does my view really matter?"

Even some of the military officers seemed to think it was a decent solution.

No matter what I think, it’s basically meaningless.

Lei Zheng thought it over and figured that was true, so he didn’t press further.

For these officials, trading an unknown princess for years—even decades—of peace for the dynasty was a total win.

Not like their own interests would take a hit anyway.

After frowning in contemplation for a bit, Yan Shuzhu agreed as well.

"Your Majesty!"

Seizing the moment—

Fu Zhengqing spoke up at the perfect time.

"Since it’s a princess being wed, the one leading the delegation should naturally be able to represent the might of Great Qian. I’d like to recommend someone!"

As he spoke, Fu Zhengqing’s eyes landed right on Ye Liuyun, standing in the middle of the crowd.

"I hear the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s Southern Governor, Ye Liuyun, has already become a Grandmaster at such a young age. I’m certain that kind of talent will show Xihe just how mighty our Great Qian is!"

He really holds a grudge!

Ye Liuyun could totally guess: Fu Zhengqing must’ve brought this on him as payback for that glance he sent Yan Shuzhu earlier.

With those words...

A whole flock of civil officials behind Fu Zhengqing started chiming in.

A young Grandmaster could indeed show off the power of Great Qian.

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