Chapter 439: Nemesis

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

He remembered that this matter was also caused by the Xiao Family and the Third Prince. It was called “Veterans Reemployment”. He was furious but did not dare to say anything.

The Xiao Family and the Third Prince of Great Xia were Xiongnu’s nemesis, right?

“You have no choice but to lower your heads when you’re under someone else’s roof. Now, you can understand why I’m lying low in Great Xia, right?”

The officials had to admit that the current Great Xia did seem to have something.

Chernan asked, “Then there can’t be a problem with the land dedicated to Great Xia, right?”

The officials nodded and lowered their voices. “Don’t worry, the First Prince and the Third Prince have seen it to ensure that nothing goes wrong. The land given to Great Xia will definitely not be left untouched. It’s so barren that even we despise it!”

“But we still have an excuse—it’s close to Great Xia!”

“We even prepared an alternative plan, which is to reduce a portion of the iron ore and exchange it for another city that’s connected to that place.”

What was a city? It was just a desolate land. How could it be more important than the iron mines they had saved over the years?

Under the eaves, an overly quiet bird participated in this secret conversation the entire time, but no one knew, except…

Xiaoxiao lay on the lawn of the space and kicked Rong Yan. “I was wondering why the space suddenly opened an iron mine for me.”

“It’s actually Great Xia’s cheat, right?”

The space whined in dissatisfaction.

The next day, Xiongnu’s envoys indeed raised the request of exchanging land for mines. The Emperor and ministers fell into hesitation. Opening up their territory was a temptation that no dynasty could resist, but Xiongnu’s iron ore did not only represent the offerings of the defeated country.

At the same time, it was also an important prerequisite to ensure that Xiongnu would behave itself in the coming days.

Just as the Imperial Court was hesitating about who should be in charge of the follow-up negotiations, Lu Chen, who was traveling, brought Ning Ansheng, who had lost a lot of weight, back to the Imperial Capital.

The Emperor was overjoyed and immediately entrusted him with an important task. Lu Chen also took on the responsibility and accepted this task.

It was unknown if it was to appease the Gu Family, which was also a role model for scholars, but the Emperor handed the job of the next imperial examination to Grand Secretary Gu.

It was said that the two scholars who did not get along did not interact at all in the court, but no one knew that after the court session, the two of them sat at the Xiao Family’s dining table at dinner and raised their glasses to drink.

“It’s been many years since we last met, but Brother Gu’s elegance is still the same as before!”

“Brother Lu should be the one. Your persistence in learning is still the same as before. I admire you!”

Xiaoxiao and Gu Chang’an were in charge of the side dishes. The Royal Brush Monkey Head was also deeply liked by Lu Chen. After he wrote a few lines and ate them himself, he praised sincerely, “Let’s not talk about anything else. Your granddaughter is really enviable!”

Speaking of this, Grand Secretary Gu was no longer humble. “Indeed.”

Dean Lu was stunned for a moment before he chuckled. “I like Brother Gu’s straightforwardness. Come, drink!”

The two of them, who were the most experienced, drank too much and no one could persuade them to stop. All Xiaoxiao could do was add water to their wine jars and ask her brother to keep it a secret.

Needless to say, Ning Ansheng did not agree with his Teacher drinking too much. It was not good for his health. This old man, no, this old gentleman’s alcohol tolerance was really not good. The aftermath was a headache.

It was normal for him to eat and sleep in the wild on their travels. His head hurt only when he saw his Teacher drinking.

“Brother, do you think Great Xia should agree to Xiongnu’s request?”

Ning Ansheng pulled his thoughts back from the scene of Teacher being drunk when he was studying. “You mean to exchange land for iron ore?”

Initially, Ning Ansheng felt that it was inappropriate. Xiongnu had wild ambitions. If they did let them, who knew when these people would make a comeback? However, if his sister asked this,

“Do you have other considerations?” He could listen to her first.

Xiaoxiao pulled Rong Yan along and said with a fierce expression, “Eldest Brother, actually, there’s something else about those two plots of land.”

Ning Ansheng was willing to hear the details. He had thought of all kinds of possibilities. For example, the land there was vast and sparsely populated, and it was suitable for grazing. For example, the soil there was fertile and could be used to farm. He just did not expect his sister to say—

“Actually, Little Big Brother’s people once saw a suspected undiscovered mineral source near the border city.”

This was a big deal. After Ning Ansheng and his sister confirmed it again and again, they decisively snatched Teacher’s wine glass.

Dean Lu originally wanted to express his dissatisfaction, but after hearing his disciple’s words, his drunken eyes immediately regained clarity.

Not only him, but the participants in the dinner also looked over.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

Xiaoxiao shrugged innocently, and Xiao Ran said, “Actually, Yan’er told me after the court assembly. However, there were many people at that time. If Xiongnu found out, he wouldn’t hand over the land obediently, so he wanted to talk to Dean Lu in detail tonight.”

Unexpectedly, before the dishes were all served, he and Grand Secretary Gu could not stop drinking.

If not for the fact that they had drunk too much, everyone would have mentioned it after dinner.

“People need to eat. I’ll be hungry if I don’t eat. This matter can’t be explained in a few words. I might as well eat my fill first.”

Of course, this was what Xiaoxiao said.

After knowing about Xiongnu’s plan, she and Rong Yan planned to make things up.

For example, when they were guarding the border to capture Xiongnu’s spies, they found a cave by chance. They felt that the terrain looked like the mineral source mentioned in the books. Later on, when they passed by when they attacked Xiongnu, they saw that it was unguarded, so they sealed the mountain.

Clearly, the Xiongnu people themselves had missed that treasure land. Now, they even thought that they were smart enough to use it as a condition.

“I can tell that this is a move that Xiongnu racked his brains to think of. Then, we have to give them face and make things difficult for them.” Dean Lu was a man of his word. He only agreed to exchange land for mines “for free” after making the Xiongnu people think that his plan had failed a few times.

However, Xiaoxiao did not intend to let them bring back the iron ore that the veterans had worked so hard to transport to Great Xia back to Xiongnu.

After all, although the mineral source was good, it still needed to be mined. However, the tributes from the Xiongnu people were different. They could be processed into weapons directly. It was convenient and easy.

Chernan did not stay in Great Xia to escape the responsibility of defeat. He still wanted to make up for his mistakes and make a comeback.

Of course, he couldn’t handle this alone, so he asked the Crown Prince for help.

The Crown Prince was having a headache over the dried vegetables he had painstakingly obtained. No, the recipe for dehydrated vegetables was not as valuable as they imagined. Since Chernan came knocking on his door, he naturally had no reason to reject him.

The Yan Family had spent a lot of manpower and resources on dehydrated vegetables. However, other than earning a sum of money when they first launched this thing, no one cared about it afterward.

That was true. As long as there were fresh vegetables to eat, who would be happy to buy those dry vegetables?

He felt that he had been tricked by Xiao Ran, but they had no evidence, so they could only swallow their grievances.

The Crown Prince had actually been annoyed with Chernan for a long time. Chernan could not do anything right and could only spoil things. Every time he came to Great Xia, he would always threaten him with that idea.

He asked for money one after another. Did he think he was a bank?

He was already very unhappy when he saw how high-spirited the Third Prince had been recently!