Chapter 259 - The Court Session (1/2)
Chapter 259: The Court Session
Translator: Transn <i class="_hr">Editor: Transn
Prireat boon for Fang Wenshi+ Upon arriving at the main hall, he started to identify his key opponents fro of Shu-lik was over forty and sat with a perfect upright posture, looking quite authoritative He did not speak throughout the entire court session, preferring the eunuch at his side toWenshi+ presented his strategy to the king as thethe ‘Leader of the Dragons, and the Master of the Five Peaks” He had strategically replaced Gu Shenwei’s title of ‘King’ to ‘Master’, following the Pri of Shu-lik Naturally, Gu Shenwei had no use for e
It took a while for the cere to end, and the eunuch invited the er from the Great Snow turns to pay their respects and everyone were all seated
Fang Wenshi+ had specially brought along a duster shaped like a feathered-fan for this occasion It was all the rage in the Central Plain, and was used during debates One would hold it to signify that one was about to speak, or place it down on a table to show that one was going to listen carefully to the esteemed opinion of the other speaker
First, he bowed to the king as a sign of respect, duster in his hand He then turned towards the twenty or so officials and swept his gaze across each of thereat white beard This , the chief minister of Shu-lik, and he was known as ‘the Master’ He was Priinally not approved of Shu-lik cosying up to the Golden Roc Fort However, after one of his sons was killed by a swordser to exter influence on the King of Shu-lik, and as he was never close to the Golden Roc Fort, his views carried even ht in the current debate It was for this reason that he was also the person Pri Wenshi+ began his speech “I’ve co the survival of Shu-lik In tis often fall on deaf ears…”
He had wanted to use his old strategy of scaring his audience into his corner by warning the disaster He did not expect that officials in Shu-lik did not follow the usual debate protocols of the Central Plain He had only begun to speak, and was still holding onto duster, when a dark-faced official interrupted him The official could not contain hi Wenshi+, “Nonsense, you’re a ht do you have to interfere in theill will”
Fang Wenshi+ shook his head and shtly When the official lost an speaking again, “The Great Snowmountain and Shu-lik are heavily reliant on each other to prosper Should any one of us be attacked, it’ll be detrimental to survival of the other as well As such, how can I not be worried about the security of your country?”
“What a joke this is You just joined the ranks of the Great Snowo, and cannot even be considered as one of thehts do you have to talk about the reliance of both countries on each other?” Another pale-faced official rebutted They were taking turns to debate with Fang Wenshi+ All this while, Moyang sat still and remained silent
“The joke is on you Shu-lik has always opened its borders Haven’t Shu-lik traded for silk from the Central Plains, fine iron from Wushan and horses from Norland? Haven’t this country welcomed merchants from all over the world to conduct business in its land? Why then do you expect that a counselor has to be a native of the country he or she represents? I’er and counselor If you should wish to debate with a swordsman fro outside the hall I can summon them in if you should wish”
The officials knew that men from the mountains were not keen to talk, and would not hesitate to attack if they could not win in a debate None of them wished to involve the swords gave off two coughs and began to defuse the situation “There’s no need for verbosity Since you’ve co Wenshi+ absent- that it had not served its intended purpose He decided that he should keep his arms behind his back instead He continued his speech “Shu-lik, Norland and the Central Plain are the three doion Each has ine that each country is a leg of a tripod, which represents the current balance If one leg is broken, the entire tripod would collapse Now, Norland is pre-occupied with its own chaotic situation, and the Central Plain is growing increasingly aion under its control Shu-lik is in an increasingly precarious situation, and I’m afraid that all of you Sirs would be unable to enjoy peace for long”
The officials had expected the er from the Great Snowmountain to come with an offer of peace, and had not foreseen that he would have started his speech with a etting up from his seat, “You’ve indeed come with a ‘prophecy of dooh Norland is embroiled in civil war, it’ll be quelled in a few years’ ti of the tripod’ Moving on, even though the Central Plain is indeed ambitious, it’s far away from us, and separated from us by a desert The troops they’ve stationed in the Western Region ah Shu-lik cannot be co nations, we do have our own crack troops which are 50 thousand strong We do not fear their ar Wenshi+ knew that there could not be so ’s bluff “You’re not correct, Master Even though the Central Plain hasn’t stationed ion, it has maintained a presence here for centuries Each country in Western Region has people from the Central Plain Take Shu-lik for example, there must be at least 10 thousand of them here Furthermore, as a major power, the Central Plain enjoys the support ofit with supplies and troops for every n it enters With a decree, the Emperor of the Central Plain could suion which could amount to ten times its stationed troops and at least hundred tiion May I ask if your ’50 thousand’ crack troops are able to withstand such an attack?”
The other officials re s that neither Shu-lik nor Norland can withstand the ambition of the Central Plain Would you care to explain tothe balance’ between the three countries?”
The debate was heading in the direction Fang Wenshi+ expected He began growing confident He could not help hiain, before continuing “You’reto the Central Plain’s ‘power’ and not its ‘strength’ I consider its 30 thousand troops stationed in the Western Regin as its strength, as they belong solely to the Central Plain The other countries in the east can be classified as minor pohich can be utilized by the Central Plain at a price Now, the ion are a major power, and how each country uses the, they would be willing to serve any country in a war”
Upon hearing this, the dark-faced official spoke up angrily again “You es on so Wenshi+ waited for the official to return to his seat again before replying, “The future of Shu-lik is still up for debate, while that of the Central Plain and Norland has already been decided This is what I meant previously about survival”
The dark-faced official was about to get up again before Moyang signalled for hi replied, “What you mean by the fate of Norland and the Central Plain’s future refers to the civil unrest in the forht?”
“Yes”
“Do you have proof then, or are they just empty words?”
“The proof is Jade City”
“What do you o, when the Supre was extremely ill, the Central Plain took the opportunity to eradicate the Iron Mountain Gang This was a ion It’s a pity that none of the countries in the region have properly analysed it The Iron Mountain Gang’s camp was situated at the north of Tian Shan, close to the border of Jade City It was the sarazed its horses The 5,000 elite soldiers sent by the Central Plain never left after they co supplies ever since Now, they’ve already become a deep-seated problem Norland chose to not react, and it’s exactly this act of allowing its enemy to set up a camp so close to its heart shows that its civil unrest has still not been quelled After the Supre recovered from his illness, not only did he not counter-attack, instead he chose to belittle hi bandits in unison’ As such, the balance in Western Region has shi+fted The Central Plain has yet to act because it’s storing up its hover Jade City, thenShu-lik subion would be controlled by the Central Plain Norland is already out of the picture, ith its ongoing civil war Itsits foothold in Western Region When that ti while before Shu-lik can have any real hope of restoring the balance of three powers in the region again”
After they had listened to Fang Wenshi+’s long discourse, the officials could be seen either nodding or shaking their heads All of them, however, had a question in their minds, and it was the pale-faced official who spoke on their behalf “You have h the Golden Roc Fort does represent an obstacle to the future progress of Shu-lik, and your description of ‘inter-reliance’ is indeed apt, but you’re a er of the Great Snow Wenshi+ was just about to use the official’s question as a reason to start talking about the Golden Roc Fort, when the eunuchthe debate interrupted “This court session is adjourned for a lunch break We invite our guest, who has come all the way over fro Wenshi+ was already on track to win the debate before he was interrupted by the eunuch This had made hi the King of Shu-lik, he could not protest Besides, after growing accusto jerky for the past ood food was greatly diminished
In the past, he would have been overjoyed to be invited to eat food cooked by royal chefs, but now he barely touched the food in front of hi the fall of the Golden Roc Fort andan alliance between Shu-lik and the Great Snowmountain