Remarrying Chun Yuan

Chapter 338 Choosing Ministers

Yuwen Yan was not angry when he heard her words.

When the Great Qi is truly divided up, will she still have the final say on whether or not she will marry?

However, Yuwen Yan offered some conditions, allowing Tuoba Yun and Wei Tianxuan to negotiate.

The first negotiation naturally broke down because Yuwen Chan wanted half of the mine in Huai Prefecture.

During the second meeting, Yuwen Chan offered another condition: either he could share the mines, or he could marry Liu Yuechu to him. The third option was to select one hundred officials from various departments to go to the Mongol Kingdom for ten years to assist in rebuilding the capital.

When Emperor Qi Xiao heard Yuwen Chan's request, he sighed repeatedly.

How many officials did the Great Qi Dynasty have in total?

He wants a hundred to leave right off the bat?!

Actually, sending Liu Yuechu to the Mongol Kingdom would have been the cheapest option, but she was his daughter-in-law, carrying his Qi imperial offspring. He simply couldn't bear to part with her.

Moreover, if he really did that, not to mention whether Yuan Cuo would erupt, the people of Da Qi would also regard him as a good-for-nothing emperor.

"The Imperial Examination"

After deliberation, the senior officials could only offer this suggestion. The Great Qi had many officials, and even more scholars.

Regardless of whether they are civil or military officials, why not just select a group of people specifically for diplomatic relations with Mongolia?

But the Meng Kingdom wasn't stupid, so naturally they wouldn't agree to take all the newcomers, because what they wanted was the experience of the Great Qi, and newcomers naturally had no experience.

So they began to study how to confuse the numbers, how many were old and how many were new, and even began to select old ministers who were about to retire or had already retired to go to the Mongol Kingdom, where their treatment would naturally be doubled.

Emperor Qi Xiao specially entrusted the selection of personnel to the Crown Prince to show his importance, but who knew that Tuoba Yun would also mention Yuwen Yan's requirements, "...The sect leader requires that Lord Yuan be in charge of the selection of personnel. The people he selects will be treated with courtesy by our sect leader and welcomed as honored guests. Those selected by outsiders will not be accepted."

"We are willing to treat Daqi with sincerity, and we also hope that Daqi will treat Meng with sincerity."

Tuoba Yun could be humble and smiling towards Liu Yuechu, even willing to be driven away. But in the Great Qi court, he stood tall and proud, his arrogant demeanor mirroring that of Yuwen Chan, revealing a deep-seated disdain for these scholars.

Qin Mushuo looked embarrassed. He, the Crown Prince, was actually inferior to a mere viscount? This Yuwen Chan was really looking down on him!

“It’s not that I’m unwilling to grant your sect leader’s request, but Lord Yuan has been extremely busy since returning from Huaizhou, and his family is pregnant. Your sect leader couldn’t possibly be unaware of this.”

Qin Mushuo's words were pointed out; if it were him, he would definitely have sent Liu Yuechu over there.

It's just a matter of sending a woman to get the Mongol Kingdom to help the Great Qi resist foreign enemies. Besides, Liu Yuechu is also a citizen of the Great Qi. What's wrong with making a contribution to the Great Qi?

But he only mentioned this to the Empress twice before she sternly reprimanded him and told him never to mention it again.

Qin Mushuo didn't understand why, but he could only agree. However, being disliked by the Mongolians, he couldn't help but make sarcastic remarks.

"Of course our sect leader knows and trusts Madam Liu's judgment. He even specifically instructed me to tell Lord Yuan that if he is unsure about the selection of people, he can also listen to Madam Liu's opinion," Tuoba Yun said sarcastically.

Qin Mushuo's expression turned even uglier.

It's one thing to trust Yuan Cuo, but to trust a woman as well? Does he, the Crown Prince, not even count as a woman?

Tuoba Yun's eyes were telling him, "Our sect leader would trust a woman more than you."

The two men locked eyes for a long while before Qin Mushuo finally gave in. "Since his return, Yuan Cuo has rarely attended court, and today he even asked for leave." His words were essentially a complaint.

Emperor Qi Xiao glared at him in annoyance. The Chu and Yan kingdoms were preparing to join forces to destroy Qi, yet the crown prince was still scheming against each other.

How could he have given birth to such an idiot?

Yuwen Chan believed that Liu Yuechu refused to trust the Crown Prince's judgment, and he did absolutely the right thing.

"Then pass on the message and tell them both!" Emperor Qi Xiao readily agreed, since Great Qi was not short of people anyway. "Great Qi also hopes that Meng State can help Great Qi resist the invasion of Chu State and Yan State at the appropriate time."

"Your Majesty, actually, sending people to the Mongol Kingdom is no different from the Mongol Kingdom directly dividing up territory and people with the Yan and Chu Kingdoms. Perhaps the latter would be cheaper and more convenient for the Mongol Kingdom..." Tuoba Yun said quietly.

Emperor Qi Xiao was utterly humiliated, losing all his dignity.

He could only wave his hand, not daring to offer any further opinions.

When the news reached Yuan Cuo and Liu Yuechu, the two looked at each other.

"Since it's His Majesty's decree, we have no choice but to do this job, right?"

"Let's do it then, we're just killing time anyway." Liu Yuechu touched her belly; she still had four months before giving birth.

“Not all of those selected need to be sent to Mongolia.” The two almost said in unison.

After exchanging glances for a moment, they stopped talking and began to carefully review the information from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites. The Ministry of Rites also specially opened a civil service examination for the Meng Kingdom, since everyone was afraid that the Great Qi would really perish and no one would bother to fool them anymore!

……

The capital was bustling with activity, maintaining close ties with the Mongol Empire.

At this time, Qin Muyan was also being bullied by the Lu family army in Huaizhou, and was cursing them every day!

"On what grounds does Father Emperor suspect me? If he suspects me, why did he send me to Huai Prefecture in the first place?!"

"Even if I used some tricks to raise money, it was out of necessity. What else could I do? Conjure up silver out of thin air to replace military equipment? I wouldn't be working myself to the bone here!" He would definitely oust the Crown Prince as soon as possible and take the throne openly and legitimately!

"Your Highness, General Lu has ordered us to pack all the weapons we've forged into crates and transport them to the southwest to support Governor Chen," the deputy general rushed over to report.

Qin Muyan had long disliked Lu Dachun. Ever since Lu Dachun brought his men to Huaizhou, he had been opposing him at every turn. Whenever Qin Muyan dared to express any dissatisfaction, Lu Dachun would produce the imperial edict of Emperor Qi Xiao, leaving Qin Muyan cursing in his dreams.

"No, the longswords produced by smelting are substandard, the shortswords are passable, and as for the iron thorns, hooks, and even the triangular spears, they are all substandard!"

"General Lu said, take whatever you can get. Even if the smelted items aren't the best, they'll still be better than the materials used in our previous weapons." The deputy general hesitated, but he actually thought so too.

The swords and spears of the past, let alone being cleaved by the long swords of the Chu state, could even break in two when chopping down a tree.

The newly forged swords and spears, just by looking at their color, are many times better than the previous ones...

"Does he understand or do I understand? If he cares so much about General Chen, why doesn't he lead his troops to reinforce him?" Qin Muyan certainly wouldn't part with the forged weapon, because he was certain that Chen Hongwu would not win.

He wanted to arm his own army first, which was also a way to protect himself.

Now that Emperor Qi Xiao has targeted him repeatedly, who knows if, after Chen Hongwu's entire army is wiped out, he will be used as cannon fodder to fight against the Chu and Yan states?!

As for whether Chen Hongwu lived or died, he didn't care at all.