Chapter 142: First Encounter

I haven't showered in seven days and I feel like I stink."Anne frowned first, "Afterward, a group of people followed Ripple to their residence. Having repelled the space pirates today, they decided to..."Your Majesty, forgive me!"

The guard immediately knelt and pleaded guilty. If this person had just tried to harm the Empress, they would be guilty of a crime for all time.

"Take your own punishment! Don't underestimate anyone."

Ripples waved her hand and said.

The martial artist led the gagged Huo Mingliang away from the pavilion, while Lianyi took the hand of Xian Shijun and asked:

"Just now, thanks to you for stepping in. If this trouble had died, it would have been quite a hassle."

"It is my fault as the ruler for not being strict enough in my teachings, allowing the Third Princess to mingle with such a person. Luckily, the Empress was vigilant and sensed something amiss, uncovering this person's impropriety. Otherwise, the Third Princess would have certainly been in danger."

The wise attendant frowned and spoke in a low voice.

“People are calculating, and with the third prince’s personality, it would be impossible to guard against. But this is also a lesson. You arrange for someone to tell the third princess about the Fifth Prince of Panlong Country so that she can be more vigilant in the future and carefully select those around her.”

"Yes."

The wise servant immediately replied, for the empress had not blamed him, and he let out a sigh of relief.

The ripples revealed that the attendant, despite his aged and calloused hands, had never given up on martial arts.

After Lord Xian left, Lian Ri arranged for Huo Mingliang to be escorted to the palace and handed over to the eldest princess, who was handling state affairs.

“The Empress asks me to relay a message, hoping that the eldest princess will make good use of this Fifth Prince of Panlong Kingdom for the benefit of Fenqi Country. Although the Third Princess was unaware of the situation, she was punished by the Empress for her poor judgment. The eldest princess can proceed freely.”

After the martial artist had made all his dealings with people clear, he returned to Zhu Xiuyuan's response.

The Great Princess, seeing the accolades presented before her, was delighted. Her Empress Mother still valued her. She immediately summoned her advisors and began to consider how she could capitalize on this opportunity.

The second princess is busy finding new husbands for her three daughters. This time, because the three daughters spoke rudely, the empress was displeased and took drastic measures to find the source of the words. She directly killed the person, as speaking ill of royal descendants is a capital offense. She didn't hesitate at all.

And the three daughters' maids, handmaids, and wet nurses were all sold off. She and her own father personally selected new ones and placed them back by their children's sides.

The three children were completely dejected after being punished at Zhu Xiu Yuan. They hadn't expected that simply repeating some overheard gossip would lead to such serious consequences, even dragging their parents into the fray and earning them a reprimand from their grandmother. They regretted it immensely.

Royal children are precocious, and even more so when their mothers have a chance to inherit the throne. They thought they had suppressed their aunt's children to help their mother, but it backfired. They were truly frightened.

The Second Princess also felt sorry for her three daughters, but this time she understood very clearly that the Empress's words were not alarmist, but a warning to her and a reminder for her to take her daughters' upbringing seriously.

The empress dowager Zhao also felt sorry for the second princess, so she could only privately comfort her three granddaughters well, and then went to look for the second princess.

"My son, this time we were careless and it's not your Empress Mother's fault. Moreover, your Empress Mother didn't heavily punish the three children; she only gave them light punishment with a stern warning, but you must take this seriously."

"I understand, Father, rest assured! I won't fall in the same place twice."

""

Zhao hesitated for a moment before lowering her voice and saying:

"After your empress arrived at Zhu Xiu Yuan, she stopped burning incense and always had Mei Yuan Zheng by her side to take care of her health. Her health has improved considerably, so I'm afraid our actions were discovered."

The rest of the words were left unsaid, but they caused the second princess's heart to skip a beat. She immediately regained her composure and said:

"Father, I understand! At least the method worked, Empress Dowager isn't in control anymore, right It's just that my turn hasn't come yet. Let elder sister take the lead first, so I can learn some experience from her. This suits me perfectly."

After her words, she squeezed her own hand. Her father had risked his head to help her, and now she just had to seize the opportunity.

Soon after, the Emperor of Panlong Nation received a letter from the Fengqi Nation. It stated that the fifth prince of Panlong Nation had changed his name and identity to resemble the third princess of Fengqi Nation, and used this as a stepping stone to attempt to assassinate the empress. He was now captured along with his accomplices, and Fengqi Nation demanded an explanation from Panlong Nation. If they did not provide a reasonable explanation, Fengqi Nation would consider it a provocation and send troops to invade Panlong Nation.

Along with the imperial edict came 300,000 border troops from the Fengqi nation, making it clear that if their demands weren't met, they would launch an attack.

The Great Princess was also ruthless. She directly painted portraits of Huo Mingliang himself and his confidants, sending them together. Even if they wanted to deny it, there was no way to do so. After all, although the Fifth Prince was a failed contender for the throne, he wasn't dead. If he were dead, it would be easier.

The new emperor of Panlong Kingdom was so furious that he smashed a seal, thinking his men had already silently dealt with the target. Unexpectedly, the other party had escaped to Fenqi Kingdom and even dared to enter the princess's courtyard, resulting in this disaster. He suspected the other party did it on purpose.

At this moment, the court of Panlong Nation was in an uproar. Some officials felt that the fifth prince had disgraced them by dying in Fengqi Nation, and they should have just let him die there. Others believed it was best not to confront Fengqi Nation head-on, but rather to first probe the messenger's words, hoping for a peaceful resolution and avoiding unnecessary warfare.

They mainly had no chance of winning, and the other side's deployment was justified. The only external aid they could seek was from the White Tiger Nation and the Black Tortoise Nation, but those nations might not want to get involved in this mess.

Only the prime minister of Panlong Kingdom kept flipping through the imperial edict, as if he had discovered something.

The new emperor asked directly:

"Zhang Aiqing, have you discovered anything amiss"

"Your Majesty, this imperial edict bears the seal of the Great Princess of Fengqi Nation, not the jade seal of the Empress."

“Recently, the Empress of Fengqi Country abdicated, allowing her eldest princess to act as regent. She fainted once during her reign and is now very precious about her life. She is recuperating in the royal garden.”

They can still find out about these surface-level messages.

Since this is an imperial decree issued by the princess, there's a lot of room for maneuvering within it.

Zhang Zhang said meaningfully, stretching out his words.

"What do you mean"

The new emperor became immediately interested.

"The imperial princess of Fengqi Country is still undecided. If we promise to secretly support the eldest princess, perhaps this matter could be resolved easily. If we are allies, she naturally wouldn't go too far."

As soon as Zhang Zhang spoke, the clamor in the court immediately subsided. Everyone felt that Zhang Zhang was indeed cunning, no wonder he could reach the position of prime minister.

Pánlóng Xīndì listened carefully and pondered for a moment. He realized that it was indeed the case. Since he was supporting the elder princess, sending a few people into Fèngqí Guó shouldn't be difficult. According to his knowledge, this elder princess was indeed excellent. Her only drawback was that she lacked a powerful maternal family and did not command troops.ease one every certain distance until we are completely out of this star system. If you try to stop us, I will detonate the lifeboats.""No more than ten hostages shall be allowed on a lifeboat at any...