Chapter 634: Chapter 291: Jumping around left and right

“Your Majesty, ever since the founding of Chu and Southsea, they have been mutually supporting each other, relying on one another. It has been a friendship for a decade.”

It is unclear whether the Southsea envoy did not notice the veiled question in Lu Yuan’s words or he deliberately ignored it.

At this moment, facing Lu Yuan’s slightly sarcastic remark, the messenger still calmly said, “With our new king of Southsea ascending to the throne, he often laments the friendship between Chu and Southsea during the reign of our late king, saying that without the combined efforts of the three families, we would not have achieved what we have today.

Therefore, after our king ascended the throne, when the country was relatively stable, he dispatched diplomats to visit Chu.

To renew the old friendship between our two countries, to continue the ambitions of our late king, and to ally with the Great Chu.”

These words, while avoiding the major conflicts between the two countries, completely ignored them.

After hearing these words, Lu Yuan almost laughed out of anger. Looking at this fellow who still wanted to deceive him, his tone suddenly became colder, “To continue the ambitions of the previous king and to ally with the Great Chu, these words do sound pleasing.

However, I remember that when Yan Wangqiu and I formed an alliance, he agreed to the following:

After the opening of the two countries, Southsea would provide three million silver tales and two million stones of grain to Great Chu every year, while Great Chu would provide military protection to Southsea, defending it from external threats.

At the same time, the two countries would advance and retreat together, facing external foes as a united front.

This alliance has been honored for ten years, and even up until the death of your late king, it was never betrayed. Great Chu has also blocked countless open and hidden attacks for Southsea, stopping countless wolves and tigers.

It has been three months already, so where is the silver and grain Southsea promised to provide to Great Chu?

Moreover, if I remember correctly, just last month, your new king accepted Ning Country’s enfeoffment and swore allegiance to the Heavenly Son of Jinling.

Chu and Su have always been enemies with Ning, and no peace has been made. Seeing as Southsea claims to be allied with Chu and Su, but turns to Ning at this time, is it seeking to betray us and side with our enemy?

It has only been two months since Yan Wangqiu died, yet your new king of Southsea has made these treacherous moves. What is his intention?

After making those moves, how can he still have the face to seek renewal of our old friendship?

Do you still wish to create an alliance with Great Chu, thinking that like your king, we will debase ourselves and beg to others for mercy?”

Since Southsea has already brought things to this point, Lu Yuan was too lazy to play the diplomatic game with them. At this moment, he started to directly mock and scold them.

A traitor who has already sided with enemies should not expect to receive respect. He is indeed expecting too much.

“You… ”

The Southsea envoy’s face turned red with anger as he listened to Lu Yuan’s insults, but when he saw Lu Yuan’s murderous gaze, he choked on his response.

He suddenly realized that the man in front of him was the King of Chu, the glorious Military God, and the powerful Inborn Grandmaster.

Facing such a formidable figure, even if his heart was filled with humiliation, the Southsea envoy did not dare to be disrespectful.

Because with a powerful backing, Lu Yuan could say these things, and no one would dare to make things difficult for him.

However, he was just an ordinary envoy, and even the Southsea Country he relied on was just a small country.

Weaker countries have no diplomacy; if he were to speak carelessly, he would indeed die.

Taking a deep breath, suppressing his humiliation, the Southsea envoy barely managed a smile and said, “Your Majesty has misunderstood our king. Southsea has no intention to betray the alliance. It is just that after years of providing silver and grain to Great Chu, our people are exhausted.

This year, with the death of our late king, we have spent a large amount of silver on the funeral, causing our treasury to be scarce. Therefore, we are unable to fulfill our alliance obligations to provide silver and grain in a timely manner.

As soon as we collect enough Summer Tax later this year, our country will immediately provide the silver and grain to Chu, without any discrepancies.

As for submitting to Ning Country, it is because they have pushed us too far.

Our previous king had just passed away when Ning Country took advantage of our country’s chaos to send envoys to threaten us. They proclaimed that if Southsea does not submit, they will dispatch an army of 300,000 to conquer us.

At that time, 100,000 soldiers from Ning Country were already assembled within Jianan County.

Faced with the danger of enemy forces at our borders and the risk of national annihilation, our king reluctantly agreed to their conditions and submitted to Ning Country.

However, your Majesty should know that even though we submitted to Ning Country, our hearts still belong to Chu and Su.

Our submission is just a temporary strategy. In the future, when our king consolidates his power within the country and accumulates sufficient arms and men, we will break away from Ning Country and join Chu and Su in advancing and retreating together.”

Truth be told, there have been many voices within Southsea Country regarding the alliance established when Ning, Southsea, and Changsha were founded.

After all, for ten years, Southsea Country has enjoyed a long-lasting peace and stability in this chaotic era, only because of this alliance.

With the alliance, Southsea could secure its northern and western borders, and no longer worry about rear security.

They could focus all their power to the east, only needing to guard against threats from the Ning Country.

The price for these many benefits was just the annual payment of three million silver tales and two million stones of grain.

Although the silver is indeed a lot, accounting for as much as a third of Southsea’s annual income,

Compared to the benefits gained, the cost is negligible.

Without the alliance, Southsea would have to face powerful enemies from the north, east, and west, as well as ambitious countries looking to expand their power externally.