“Your Yan nation’s people don’t cherish the common folk and soldiers, yet you use the common folk and soldiers to lecture us on the Great Zhou! You dare to use the lives of common folk and soldiers to put our Great Zhou in a precarious position…” Liu Rushi bowed toward the direction of the imperial palace, “Isn’t it just because you know our Great Zhou Emperor has always cherished the common folk, treating even the people of Liang who weren’t originally Great Zhou citizens, and later the people of Xiliang, as his subjects!”

“Exactly!” Fan Yugan voiced his agreement with Liu Rushi.

Liu Rushi’s sharp gaze swept across the Yan envoys with their varying expressions: “But you Yan nation need to remember this—treating all the people under heaven as one’s subjects, that is our Great Zhou Emperor’s benevolence. But our Great Zhou Emperor’s benevolence is not for you to exploit! Much less for you to use to put our Great Zhou on the fire!”

Seeing this, Wang Hanbing stepped forward and bowed to Liu Rushi: “Since Minister Liu has arrived, please take your seat. Let us sit down and discuss matters carefully…”

“I naturally came to discuss, but before we begin our discussion, I have a few words of advice to share with the Yan envoys. If anything I say offends, I hope all the ministers will be magnanimous!” Liu Rushi bowed to the Yan envoys, then straightened and said, “The Book of Songs states… ‘The field mouse has teeth, yet man has no shame! If man has no shame, what does he wait for but death?’ Gentlemen, to be an official, one must first be human… If one’s character is not upright, one’s official conduct cannot be straight, and the nation will have no peace! I hope all of you will learn some shame!”

How could the Yan envoys endure such humiliation?

“You…”

One Yan envoy was about to retort when Wang Hanbing stopped him.

“He insults us so, and you can tolerate it?” That Yan envoy was so angry that his face turned red and his neck thickened.

“If you argue with him, you’ll fall into Minister Liu’s trap!” Wang Hanbing’s expression remained unchanged, as if this insult meant nothing.

As long as he could settle the matter of the national wager, this slight humiliation meant nothing to Wang Hanbing. Even if it meant enduring spit in his face, he would be willing.

Seeing the Yan envoys restrained by Wang Hanbing, Liu Rushi turned around and addressed his officials…

“Our Great Zhou has never bullied the weak with strength, but… You must remember, we now stand before the soldiers of the Bai family army who are holding back Yan’s main forces for our Great Zhou, before the Great Zhou military officers and men at Yan’s borders. Behind us, the united hearts of our Great Zhou people support our backbone!” Liu Rushi’s gaze swept across the Ministry of Rites officials sent to negotiate the national wager strategy, “Our Great Zhou soldiers are not afraid of bloodshed—what they fear is that while they face death fearlessly on the battlefield for their lives, we here might lose our backbone!”

Fan Yugan slowly clenched his fists, unable to help but recall images of soldiers each gripping golden spears, their battle intent solemn and fierce, war horses neighing, banners fluttering in the wind. His whole being became heated with passion.

Not just Fan Yugan—the other officials were also stirred by Liu Rushi’s words.

The advantage they now held at the negotiating table was entirely won through the soldiers’ blood and sacrifice. Whether it was the soldiers shedding blood or them sitting here negotiating, it was all for Great Zhou’s benefit. Great Zhou did cherish the lives of common folk and soldiers, but it couldn’t let Yan use this as shackles around Great Zhou’s neck, binding Great Zhou’s hands and feet.

“We Great Zhou people have backbones that would rather break than bend! All of you… Straighten your spines for me. From today forward, whoever shows weakness during negotiations, whoever dares to bow down… I’ll have the Imperial Guards His Majesty granted me break their backs, so they’ll never be able to straighten up again in this lifetime!” Though Liu Rushi had delicate features and was usually known for his foul, stubborn temper, it was rare to see him display such a cold, hard, and murderous demeanor. He called out loudly, “Did you hear me?”

“We heard!” Fan Yugan was the first to respond, “We Great Zhou people have backbones that would rather break than bend!”

“Rather break than bend!”

“Rather break than bend!”

The officials were infected by his fervor, each one expressing their determination to never bend.

Liu Rushi nodded, then turned to look at the Yan delegation, his body carrying a murderous aura no less intense than that of bloodstained soldiers…

Wang Hanbing’s palms kept tightening. No wonder the Regent was so wary of this Liu Rushi.

Seeing him today, Wang Hanbing finally understood why. This Minister Liu was truly formidable—with just a few sentences, he had broken Yan’s original strategy of using civilian lives and soldiers’ safety to pressure Great Zhou, which prided itself on caring for soldiers and common folk, into making concessions.

With Liu Rushi’s arrival, the momentum of these Great Zhou ministers had completely changed. Each one now had fierce eyes, like wolf cubs just released from their cages.

Seeing this, Grand Marshal Lu’s expression was full of smiles as he said: “Since Minister Liu has returned to take charge, this old man will take his leave first…”

After Grand Marshal Lu finished speaking, he smiled genially at the Yan envoys: “Regarding this national wager negotiation, our Great Zhou Emperor originally entrusted it to Minister Liu. This old man was merely temporarily fulfilling Minister Liu’s duties while he was severely injured. Now that Minister Liu has returned, this old man will not accompany you, gentlemen. His Majesty has decreed… Minister Liu has full authority over this matter. Whatever Minister Liu says represents the will of all of Great Zhou!”

Wang Hanbing watched Grand Marshal Lu, who had been sitting here drinking tea without speaking much, knowing in his heart that Great Zhou had sent Zhou court’s highest-ranking official, Grand Marshal Lu, merely to keep the peace and prevent any disturbances between the two nations.

Now that the negotiations had dragged on to this point, it was time to resolve things quickly. So Grand Marshal Lu withdrew, leaving this place to the real authority, Liu Rushi. This was all planned by the Great Zhou from the beginning. Even without Imperial Uncle Zhong Xingxiao’s guards assassinating Liu Rushi, Liu Rushi probably wouldn’t have appeared initially.

“Grand Marshal Lu, farewell!” Liu Rushi nodded, making a gesture of courtesy toward Grand Marshal Lu.

The Yan envoys had no choice but to see Grand Marshal Lu off out of politeness, though the thought of facing Liu Rushi shortly filled them with dread.

After seeing off Grand Marshal Lu, Liu Rushi turned back, his gaze falling on Wang Hanbing: “Minister Wang… then, let us begin!”

Since he already knew who the real authority in the Yan delegation was for this negotiation, Liu Rushi stopped pretending he didn’t know.

“Please, Minister Liu…” Wang Hanbing also smiled.

With Liu Rushi now present, Wang Hanbing didn’t want to continue wrangling with Great Zhou, especially since Liu Rushi probably wouldn’t yield an inch.

After taking their seats, Wang Hanbing didn’t wait for Liu Rushi to speak and said: “We Yan don’t want the Yunjing that Great Zhou offered. As Minister Liu said, once the national wager is decided, all the territory of the losing nation will belong to the other nation land and cities are indeed worthless! Great Zhou can’t demand our Regent as hostage, just as we Yan would never demand Great Zhou’s Emperor as hostage in our Yan.”

“Minister Wang’s meaning is that your Yan’s Regent… is your Yan’s Emperor?” Liu Rushi looked to both sides as he spoke, “If that’s the case, this national wager strategy your Yan Emperor spoke of probably doesn’t count for much, does it!”