Chapter 785: Mongolian Prince (Part )

Seeing Liu Xunyi's tangled expression and his reluctance to refute, Hu Lie knew that the time had come, so he laughed heartily and slowly said, "General Wang and Wang Xutong are from the same clan. He was so angry just now that he was inevitably impulsive. I hope Lord Liu will take into account General Wang's deep feelings for his brother and not take it to heart with him."

Hearing Hu Lie speak, Wang Dechen's attitude suddenly softened a bit. He took a deep look at Liu Xunyi, who was feeling mixed emotions, and walked back to his seat with the empty bowl.

"Huh?" Hu Lie glanced at Wu Chan inadvertently and asked curiously, "Why is there a monk among the envoys from the Song court?"

"I am a Shaolin disciple. I met the princess by chance on the way, so I followed the order of my uncle to escort her all the way."

"So, the young master is not from the imperial court?" Hu Lie couldn't help but frowned and said, "Then the others..."

"Well... I am not from the imperial court either." Li Haitang forced out an awkward smile and took the initiative to introduce himself to Hu Lie and Wang Dechen. "It is a rare honor to meet the prince and General Wang. No matter what, I must say hello to the two of you on behalf of my Holy Master..."

"Who is your Holy Lord?"

"Longxiang Mountain, clouds chasing the moon."

"Longxiang Mountain?" Hu Lie was startled and murmured, "I seem to have heard it somewhere..."

"Your Majesty, Longxiang Mountain is in Dali, Yunnan. Yun Zhuiyue has sent people to flatter Wulianghetai many times in an attempt to make friends with us, but Wulianghetai has always ignored us." Wang Dechen reminded, "If it weren't for Dali King Duan Zhixing's repeated pleas to protect Yun Zhuiyue, when our army passed through Ailao Mountain, it would have taken only half a day to raze Longxiang Mountain to the ground."

"I remember now. Wulianghetai and Yan Wuji both mentioned Longxiang Mountain to me. The difference is that Yan Wuji highly praised Longxiang Mountain, but Wulianghetai sneered at it." Hu Lie suddenly realized and asked with a hint of meaning, "Why? Could it be that Yun Zhuiyue has become a loyal minister and general of the Song Dynasty court?"

"This..." Li Haitang wanted to deny it, but considering the current environment and Liu Xunyi and Feng Tianba beside him, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue and said vaguely, "The Holy Lord is used to being an idle cloud and wild crane. He doesn't want to participate in the struggle of the court. He just hopes that the world will be peaceful and he can live a few days of peace."

"Whether he can live a peaceful life depends on whether he knows how to deal with the current situation." Long Yu interrupted sarcastically, "Yun Zhuiyue was originally an ally found by Yan Wuji, and he promised to join us to eradicate the major sects in the Central Plains during the martial arts conference. At that time, the Jingbei camp dispatched 30,000 soldiers and horses to be on full alert and ambushed around Huashan. Unexpectedly, Yun Zhuiyue suddenly changed his mind and colluded with Luo Tianjin to deceive Sui Zuo, and even used the secret order given to him by Sui Zuo to send people to attack the camp, causing the perfect eradication plan to fail. The Khan was extremely angry about this matter, and Sui Zuo and Yan Wuji were also affected. This must be the reason why General Wulianghetai refused to pay attention to Longxiang Mountain..."

"No, no, no!" Li Haitang explained hurriedly, "At that time, the Holy Lord did not agree to join forces with General Sui, but instead persuaded Master Yan Ling to withdraw his troops. Although there were disagreements among the various sects, they all belonged to the Central Plains after all. The Holy Lord really couldn't bear to watch his fellow Taoists being killed. As for what happened later, it was just a series of mistakes... The most important thing is that my Holy Lord tried his best to mediate and saved General Sui's life..."

"You should kill him." Wang Dechen said calmly, "For Sui Zuo, living a miserable life is far more shameful than death."

"This……"

"That's enough!" Hu Lie waved his hand to interrupt the chattering of the crowd, and said sternly, "My central military tent is not a place for you to reminisce about the past. No matter where you come from, since you are standing here today, I will only regard you as envoys from the Song Dynasty. As for other grievances, right and wrong, I have no time and no interest in asking."

"Your Highness is right!" Su He took the opportunity to speak, "They came here on behalf of the Song Dynasty, and they should discuss the matter of marriage and peace with Your Highness. How can they waste Your Highness' precious time with trivial matters in the martial arts world?"

After saying this, Su He gave Liu Xunyi a subtle wink, signaling him to quickly discuss business with Hu Lie.

"The peace talks between the two countries have already been settled in the past negotiations, so there is no need to say more today. Lord Liu is the 'Song Dynasty's Marriage Envoy', so he should be in charge of negotiating the marriage. However, there is another more important matter now, and I want to be frank with you all." Before Liu Xunyi could say anything, Hu Lie suddenly changed the subject and said solemnly, "If this matter cannot be properly resolved, whether it is the marriage or the peace talks... I am afraid it will be difficult to proceed."

"Your Majesty, please tell me clearly!" Liu Xunyi and Feng Tianba looked at each other and promised, "We are here for the sake of peace between our two countries, so we must tell you everything we know."

"Master Liu, I am very pleased to hear what you said." Hu Lie nodded with satisfaction. "Since Princess Song is now my beloved concubine, I will treat you two as my family. You Han people have a saying that 'family members do not speak different languages', and I agree with it."

"Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty!"

"Although I trust you, I don't know if you trust me?" Hu Lie's eyes flashed with cunning, and he asked in a veiled manner, "Lord Liu, are you dissatisfied with the Khan's avoidance of meeting you?"

"Why do you say that, Your Highness?" Liu Xunyi was shocked, but remained calm on the surface. "Just now when you were 'reminiscing' with Commander Wang, your attitude was respectful, but your words were full of venom, as if you were holding a grudge." Hu Lie smiled faintly, signaling Liu Xunyi not to be nervous. "I guess your grudge is not from Commander Wang, but from the Khan, right? I hope Your Highness Liu will speak frankly."

Liu Xunyi thought for a moment, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not harbor any resentment towards the Mongolian Khan. It's just... I just can't figure it out."

"Do you want to figure it out?" Hu Lie asked back.

"This……"

"Do you want to know why the Khan refused to see you?"

"This..." Faced with Hu Lie's straightforward answer, Liu Xunyi hesitated and said, "Perhaps the Mongolian Khan has other important matters..."

“No!” Hu Lie straightened his expression and shook his head slowly. “The Khan has nothing to do today. The reason why he refused to see you is because there is something that bothers the Khan and he still feels bad about it.”

"What?" Liu Xunyi was shocked and asked anxiously, "Is it because of Huashan..."

"It has nothing to do with the martial arts conference."

"That……"

"What makes the Khan so upset is what happened in Yunya Town." Hu Lie looked around at Liu Xunyi and the others and said calmly, "Yunya Town is the territory of your Song Dynasty. The team sent by the Khan to pick up the bride was attacked there. Not only did they lose the ten carts of dowry of the concubine, but all the eight hundred cavalrymen who were there to pick up the bride died tragically."

"This matter..."

"Don't be impatient!" Hu Lie interrupted Liu Xunyi again and continued, "This is not what makes the Khan most angry. What is more infuriating is the Song court's negative attitude and slow response to this matter, which is rare in ancient and modern times. Almost two months have passed since the Yunya Town incident, and the Song court has not even sent a letter. The Khan learned about this matter through rumors among the people, which is simply ridiculous. No news, no explanation, no apology... As far as I know, the Song court did not even thoroughly investigate the thieves who attacked Yunya Town. They just made a fuss for a while and then there was no news. If the Khan hadn't told me these things himself, I would never believe it even if I died."

"This……"

"After the Khan learned of this, he immediately sent Long Yu to Hexi to meet with the emperor of the Song Dynasty... You are the 'marriage envoy'. After the incident in Yunya Town, can the Song court send someone to inquire about your news? Can you care about the safety of the princess?" Seeing Liu Xunyi speechless, Hu Lie couldn't help but sigh, and his words became more meaningful. "You Han people have a saying called 'covering your ears and stealing the bell', which is most appropriate at the moment. The Song court thought that it could pretend to be deaf and dumb and pretend that the incident in Yunya Town did not happen? For a great country, such a big thing happened. The murder was not even investigated. Officials at all levels only know how to pass the buck to each other, avoiding the important issues and focusing on the trivial. No one dares to stand up for justice, just waiting for the storm to pass and everyone to slowly forget about it. Is this what you Han people often say, "turn a big thing into a small thing and a small thing into nothing"? It is not only ridiculous, but also pathetic, shameful and hateful! There is a saying that "the upper beam is crooked, and the lower beam is crooked". The Song Dynasty court is still shirking responsibility and perfunctory, so the style of the lower government can be imagined. Such perverse actions, deceiving the superiors and deceiving the subordinates, how can the country not decline?"

"This……"

"Things must first rot before insects can be born. The Central Plains has produced so many learned scholars and unparalleled state figures, leaving behind so many theories on state governance and sacred books. Why do your emperor, your court, and your government still go against this and bring about their own destruction?"

Hu Lie's questions were like a sharp knife, piercing Liu Xunyi's heart. Being lectured by a foreigner using the wise sayings left by his ancestors was even more painful than being stabbed.

"Your Highness, the Song Dynasty's court is in chaos right now. Perhaps... it was delayed for the time being." Liu Xunyi's unreasonable arguments made him blush.

"We didn't launch an attack to accuse the Song court of this crime because we cared about the dignity of our two countries and wanted to wait for the Song court to take the initiative to give us a satisfactory explanation. But the Khan and I never expected that such a big thing happened in Yunya Town. We didn't mention it, and you didn't mention it either?" Hu Lie seemed to be so angry at the Song court's absurdity that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He asked seriously, "You muddle along and pretend to be deaf and dumb. You are shameless and hopeless. Confucius and Mencius clearly taught you to follow the rules and know etiquette, but you threw the teachings of the saints to the wind. Could it be that you don't even recognize your ancestors?"

Every word Hu Lie said pierced Liu Xunyi's heart, causing him to feel a lump in his chest. He sweated profusely and stammered, "My Lord, I..."

"You, the Great Song, are willing to swallow your anger because you are incompetent and cowardly, but the warriors of Mongolia must not be bullied by others, and the Khan and I must not remain indifferent when others ride on our heads." Hu Lie spoke righteously and loudly, "Not long ago, the Khan handed this matter over to me for full disposal, and he will not interfere. Before you came, I thought about terminating the marriage, sending people to the Central Plains to investigate the truth, and even thinking about sending a large army to directly wipe out the Great Song... But after thinking about it, I still couldn't make up my mind, and I always thought that none of the above were perfect. Therefore, today I want to ask several envoys from the Great Song, this farce in Yunya Town... How should it end?"

……

(End of this chapter)