THE DAY EMPEROR: 阳明王 【The Night Emperor Book 2】

Chapter 6 Yue Fei

Xi Chen calmly placed a hand on Ye An's arm, knowing intuitively that she would regret it later if she had an outburst right this second. To Ah Lin, he just said, "Mind your manners, Captain Zhang, you're speaking to your sovereign."

Ah Lin finally realized his mistake and widened his eyes before apologizing profusely. "My apologies, Your Imperial Majesty."

Ye An took a deep breath to calm herself. She then turned her attention over the border towards the Northern territory. "It's alright. What's important right now is that we have an entire army of enemy waiting just outside our doorstep and we need to figure out a way to make them go away."

Both men nodded.

Ye An continued her gaze on the Northern troop that was camping only a few yards away. "Since Chieftain Burat agreed to the treaty the last time he came to visit us and the fact that this happened after he was assassinated shows us that this probably wasn't his intention."

Ye An paused slightly before adding, "And.. Even though I really hope that it isn't true, there might be a chance that Adlai was in on this. Since this happened after he had left for the North instead of right after Chieftain Burat's passing. The assassination was the perfect set-up to use as an excuse to go to war with us. Why wait for over a week?"

Xi Chen frowned as he tried to make sense of things. "But Prince Adlai might've also been a scapegoat. Remember his reaction when the grand eunuch delivered the news of the assassination? His shock was genuine."

"Yes, there's that too. It is also one of the reasons why I think that he's innocent. Based on how General Shao was welcomed by Leader Wakhia earlier, Leader Wakhia might be the one in control. However, that doesn't mean that Adlai was absolutely clueless." Ye An contemplated. "For now, let's just keep that particular part open-ended. But I believe that Minister Sze is still in the North. I haven't had any contact with him since he left for Chieftain Burat's funeral."

Xi Chen added. "Yes, the Northerners might spare General Shao because he had some private alliance with them. But based on the battle earlier, the rest of us are probably not safe around them."

Ah Lin frowned. "Well, that's not good. It makes Chang an easy target."

"Then, it's our priority to get him out safely." Ye An concluded.

Ah Lin turned to face Ye An. "Your Imperial Majesty, I'm afraid that at this rate, we won't be able to do anything other than bartering but what could we offer? It seems like they'll only be satisfied with taking a part of our land."

Xi Chen observed the spacious flat land that lay in between the wall and the campsite of the Northern troop and added, "Yes, and with them camped out at such a distance away, it's difficult for us to infiltrate their lines to get any information on Minister Sze's whereabouts, much less get him out of the North. The sparse land here is good to spot invaders but it also makes it hard for people to not notice someone creeping over it."

Ye An flipped the situation into different angles in a bid to find the best solution to tackle the problem. But none of them seemed possible without ultimately offering a part of the country to the Northerners. Was a minister worth losing a part of the territory that she had a duty to protect? The answer came easily to Ye An in a prominent yes. Yes, because it was also her duty to protect the civilians living in this country. Ye An knew that if she was to readily give up on one civilian, her civilian, there would surely be more that would follow in the future. It wasn't a scenario that she would tolerate.