Many kingdoms had decided to become allies with the Xia Kingdom to fight against the North Qiu Kingdom based on the a.s.sumption that the North Qiu Kingdom had ill intentions to dominate the continent. However, if North Qiu Kingdom did not have ill intentions and was avoiding a war, what would they do? In an instant, the palace broke into an uproarious chatter as the envoys from different kingdoms debated on the trustworthiness of Pan Wen"s words.
Pan Wen smirked to himself as he observed the crowd"s reaction. Through many years of hard work, the Pan Family controlled much of Tianyuan Continent and even if they angered the ma.s.ses, they knew their ways to pacify the sentiments of people. An alliance against them? What a joke!
“I heard that the First Prince of the North Qiu Kingdom was the greatest compet.i.tor against the Second Prince before he was chosen as the crown prince. Now that the Second Prince is dead, there is a high likelihood that the First Prince will be the next king. If he says that the North Qiu Kingdom would put a stop to their plans, I am willing to believe it,” the envoy of Yunlan Kingdom muttered towards other envoys who were seated near him at the wedding.
His words struck a chord in many of them. After all, no one knew how many kingdoms actually supported the North Qiu Kingdom. The Dayin Kingdom was a powerful kingdom that eventually got exposed by Rong Yuan, how would they know which other kingdoms were involved in the scheme? Furthermore, through the information the envoys got from Gu Lingzhi, it seemed that the North Qiu spies that were sent to other kingdoms had high statuses individually. Even if the kingdoms knew the ident.i.ties of the spies, it would be catastrophic to the kingdoms if they were to get rid of all the spies at once, not to mention attacking the North Qiu Kingdom. Hence, their alliance with Xia Kingdom was regarded as a safety precaution and an insurance that these kingdoms would have against the North Qiu Kingdom.
Pan Wen"s declaration raised a thread of hope in many people. The envoys knew that there was a possibility that his words might be a lie and they wanted to test him out. After all, there was nothing for these kingdoms to lose as only the Xia Kingdom and North Qiu Kingdom were the main stakeholders of the event. However, these kingdoms had just allied themselves with the Xia Kingdom a few days earlier and it was not a good diplomatic move to turn the Xia Kingdom away then.
Unknowingly, all of them had missed out a point. Pan Wen demanded the wedding to be cancelled for a reason, there was a high chance that the two would not be able to wed again for life once the wedding was cancelled.
The envoy from Yunlan Kingdom"s eyes s.h.i.+fted quickly and he exchanged looks with a few of them, trying to get their second opinion. The envoy from Nieyun Kingdom sighed deeply before he said, “If there can be peace, who would want to go to war? The North Qiu Kingdom is the biggest kingdom in the Tianyuan Continent and no one knows how deep their roots are. Its neighbours are powerful as well. A mere palace in North Qiu Kingdom is comparable to a city in my kingdom. If we can avoid war, that would be the best outcome. Even if this delays a war, it is enough for us smaller kingdoms to prepare ourselves.”
Nieyun Kingdom had only one DemiG.o.d in the entire kingdom but the envoy they sent this time was much smarter than any of the other kingdom"s envoys. His words echoed the view of many others in the palace and he set the platform for others to step onto.
As expected, as soon as he finished, another envoy from a small kingdom added, “That is true but who knows what the Xia Kingdom would want? Everyone can see the affection the Third Prince has for his fiancée and he might not agree to cancel the wedding now. Furthermore, it is not appropriate for us to go back on our alliance with the Xia Kingdom.
“What is there to disagree on?” The envoy from Yunlan Kingdom cut in right after the envoy spoke. “Can peace for the entire continent be compared to a woman? Anyone in their right mind would know what to pick. If the Third Prince sees the bigger picture, he will make the right choice. But if he disagrees…then we can only lament our unluckiness.”
This envoy from Yunlan Kingdom chose his words well, he had skillfully downplayed the pain of cancelling the wedding for the couple and changed the focus to the bigger picture. Thus if Rong Yuan refused to cancel the wedding, he would be a selfish person who pitted himself against everyone else.
In that moment, the glare in many people"s eyes changed. The initial hesitant looks were replaced with a determination and daring stare at Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi.
Would the Third Prince agree to it? After all, it was only a wedding and a lady. For the peace of the entire continent, it was only sensible for the Third Prince to make a sacrifice.
Among the crowd, there were also other envoys who were like the envoy from Yunlan Kingdom and Nieyun Kingdom. In just fifteen minutes, some people were even shouting at Rong Yuan and demanding him to cancel the wedding. Although these people were quickly kept silent by the guards on duty, nothing could stop public opinion from changing. More and more people started to pressure Rong Yuan and soon, the guards were insufficient to deal with such men. Finally, Rong Han had to step in.
“Do I have to agree to you on the promise of peace of the continent? Does the North Qiu Kingdom think I am stupid?” Rong Han"s voice grew louder and louder, showing his increasing agitation. His eyes burned strongly with anger as he glared down at Pan Wen.
“In order to take control of the continent, the North Qiu Kingdom embarked on a plan that lasted a few thousand years. Would they give it up so easily? You must be looking down on all of us. Lingzhi is the woman my son is engaged to, how can their wedding be cancelled from a simple sentence from you. Just because you might be king doesn"t mean I have to serve you with two hands!”
Rong Han"s harsh words shot Pan Wen down and Pan Wen"s face immediately soured.
If it was not for Gu Rong"s hand on him, Pan Wen"s rashness would have caused him to argue back with Rong Han. He recalled what his teacher taught him to say before he came and stammered, “You…you are making false arguments! The North Qiu Kingdom is already the strongest in the Tianyuan Continent, why would we still want more land? The men that we sent to the other kingdoms are just informants who update us on current affairs. It is an act on your part by accusing us for starting a war! The Xia Kingdom only wants to get rid of the North Qiu Kingdom.”
“I am here at Xia Kingdom firstly to apologise for the misunderstanding and secondly, to relay a message to the Third Prince. Since when did the North Qiu Kingdom declare a war? You are falsely accusing us!”
While Pan Wen had been mildly taken aback by Rong Han"s powerful demeanour, he slowly regained his confidence when he observed the rest of the crowd. His voice grew louder and he twisted his face into a pitiful expression. This pitiful act made it really seem that he was guilt-free.
At that point, the North Qiu allies that were hidden among the crowd started to act again. They s.h.i.+fted the opinion of the envoys through their conversations to favour Pan Wen.
This was the North Qiu Kingdom"s objective!
Rong Yuan suddenly came to a realization, having been silent this entire time. He had been pondering over why the North Qiu Kingdom would choose such a moment to appear, it seemed that they wanted to conduct their play in front of a large crowd and the wedding was the perfect opportunity for that. After all, the evidence that Rong Yuan and Gu LIngzhi had on hand could only show the unethical acts of the North Qiu Kingdom by sending spies to other kingdoms. However, this did not show that the North Qiu Kingdom had intentions of taking over other kingdoms. With their position in Tianyuan Continent, they had indeed gone overboard to want to take control of all other kingdoms. Yet, it made logical sense for the North Qiu Kingdom to have such an aim.
“If the North Qiu Kingdom had no intentions of taking control of the continent, then what about the messages exchanged with Dayin?” Rong Yuan calmly countered. He smoothly retrieved the secret messages Su Nian obtained from Ding Rou. On it, incriminating words of "take action, attack from the outside and inside and annexation" stood out in bold and placed Pan Wen in a tight spot.
“That is just Uncle Wuyang"s own thoughts and it has nothing to do with the North Qiu Royal Family. With old age, he has ridiculous thoughts and the Royal Family has tried to warn him many times before. The North Qiu Kingdom is big enough and there is no need for us to expand further. The return of the Spirit Tribe was a lesson for him, orchestrated by officials of North Qiu Kingdom. We did not expect that in the end…”
Even before Pan Wen finished, everyone knew what happened to Pan Wuyang. Indeed, it was possible to blame everything on Pan Wuyang and hence remove all links and responsibilities from North Qiu. Besides it was only the opening of a Secret Territory, why would a DemiG.o.d appear from the start? This addressed a suspicion that many people had.
“So are we supposed to believe that Pan Wuyang is the only one to blame for the incident just because you said it? With a simple excuse of getting information to justify the North Qiu Kingdom sending so many spies to other kingdoms, do you think we would be foolish enough to believe you?”
Pan Wen was taken aback by Rong Yuan"s relentless questioning. He took in a deep breath and explained, “That is why we were sent here to apologise to the other kingdoms. However, Third Prince, I wonder what despicable methods you used to obtain evidence that you then manipulated to blow the whole situation up. Are you not afraid of being punished for your sins?”
“Well spoken!” The Yunlan Kingdom envoy that agreed in a loud voice. “What the First Prince of North Qiu Kingdom says makes sense. There is no reason for him to lie so outrageously in front of everyone anyway.”
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