Chapter 181 The Despicable Transaction (1/2)

“By now, King Ming, you have increased the strength of your army and strengthened your artillery beyond what was our agreement. What do you think if I want to cut your army down to 50,000?”

The Queen said with a calm, yet authoritative voice.

King Ming could feel cold sweat seeping through the back of his clothes.

If not for the death of Ming Yue, the Queen would not have this issue exposed to King Ming earlier than she had planned to.

King Ming’s mind went into a struggle instantly.

Should he persist in his demand for justice for Ming Yue? Or should he retreat now and let the Queen make the decisions and arrangements?

After a long pause, King Ming breathed a sigh and weakly replied, saying, “Since Your Highness the Queen has already made up your mind, I will obey your instructions. However, my children must not die in vain.”

The Queen had guessed as much that King Ming would respond in this way.

With a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, she said, “Rest assured, King Ming, I would surely give you an account. As for the matter regarding your army, given that I’m a woman ignorant of military matters, what do you think should be done?”

Fixing his eyes on the Queen, King Ming had a sudden realization of the reason Dajin was still in a harmonious state even though the Emperor had been ill for a long time.

This woman was a hundred times more capable than her son.

“This is my fault. I’m happy to reduce the strength of the army by 50,000 and increase this year’s tribute payable to Dajin. What do you think, Your Highness?”

The tribute the western vassal state paid to Jin State constituted a third of their overall production in a year.

Using two-thirds of the tribute in exchange for 50,000 valiant soldiers was still an advantage to King Ming.

“100,000 valiant soldiers? Do you, King Ming, despise us, the mother-and-son pair just because His Majesty the Emperor is ill?”

The Queen shot King Ming a chilling look.

Even King Ming was taken aback by the forcefulness in the Queen’s eyes.

The two looked into each other’s eyes for a long time.

Eventually, King Ming was the one to back off first.

“In that case, what would be a good number of valiant soldiers, Your Highness?”

The two had actually gotten into a negotiation, which made the Queen smiled. She lifted a cup of fragrant tea to her mouth, took a sip, and then said, “It’s not impossible for King Ming to maintain an army of 100,000. However, I have a request. Of the 100,000 soldiers, I want 30,000 of them to be free for my deployment anytime.”

King Ming’s countenance changed when the Queen raised the condition.

“Your Highness the Queen, this would be difficult. The western vassal state is so far away, how would the Queen deploy our troops?”

The Queen set her eyes on King Ming and in an unhurried manner, she said, “I will send one general of mine to go over to you to take control over the 30,000 soldiers. However, not to worry. The troop will still be under your control on usual days. I will only ask for them when in need.”

Little did King Ming expect that the Queen would think of such an idea.

His countenance fell instantly.

However, he was certain that the Queen would ask him to reduce the strength of his army immediately if he did not agree to her proposal.

On the other hand, if he were to agree, the general sent by the Queen would be like a spy planted by the Queen.

Those 100,000 valiant soldiers would be his elite soldiers.

Although he could subsequently make the general sent by the Queen a puppet, yet again the Queen would have guessed his intention.

She might well have thought of a contingency in that case.

He had started off as the party demanding an explanation for the death of Ming Yue, but ended up being taken advantage of by the Queen.

“Your Highness the Queen, my son, Hu Lunan and Ming Yue had lost their lives within the boundaries of Dajin. Your condition to have access to my best soldiers would have to commensurate and account for my loss.”

King Ming could only keep reminding the Queen of Ming Yue and Hu Lunan for his negotiation and transaction with the Queen.

“This matter is of serious concern. King Ming is also making things difficult for me if you keep persisting in your own way. Alright, I won’t pursue the matter if King Ming get rid of 20,000 soldiers of your elite troops.”

In that instant, King Ming knew that he had been tricked by the Queen.

In fact, the Queen had no intention to have any of the soldiers from King Ming’s elite troops in the first place.

The Queen’s scheme was to lure King Ming into negotiating with her in this way, so it would eventually seem like the Queen was simply going along with his proposal.

A pair of his children was given in exchange for 300,000 soldiers.

King Ming thought that this transaction was pretty worth it.

“Alright, we will take up the Queen’s proposal. However, please give us an account with regards to my children’s death as soon as possible,” said King Ming, and then turning to Hu Tianbei, he said, “Let’s go, Bei.”

Both sides had achieved their objectives and their transaction completed.

King Ming thought that it was pointless staying on.

He indicated to his son to leave with him.

“Take care, we won’t see you out.”

The elegant Queen did not betray any emotions in her expressions.

She watched the Hus as they left, after which she finally relaxed from the forced smile on her face.

The Crown Prince looked towards his mother with anxiety on his face. After all, the failure in this attempt was due to his miscalculation.

He was keenly aware that his mother utterly hated people who were incompetent.

He had failed on many occasions. Moreover, this time, his plan had been approved by her.

Not only did he fail again, but he had also upset his mother’s plan.

The Queen had been reserving that folding notebook for his use.

“This is all because of my incompetence. Please forgive me, mother,” said the Crown Prince with a trembling voice.

He had gone down on his knees as soon as King Ming walked out.

The Queen, seated on her seat, did not even look at the Crown Prince at all.

“Sigh, you may rise. You are not to be blamed for what happened.”

The Crown Prince was taken by surprise by the fact that his mother did not fly into a rage.

Stealing a wary glance at his mother, he realized that the Queen, though looking displeased, did not look severe.

“Do you know why you’ve failed this time?”

The Crown Prince pondered for a moment but shook his head.

“It was because you’re not as ruthless as her. Are you able to do to Ming Yue what she did to her?”