Of course, Feng Miaojun merely made a small retort, not wanting to immediately fall out with the Wei Kingdom. Therefore, she nodded slightly: “Thank you for your trouble, General Xu. The banquet will be held in five days. The scenery of Wusel City is exceptionally beautiful. May I arrange for someone to accompany General Xu on a tour?”

“Your Majesty is too kind,” Xu Guangxiang’s diplomatic etiquette was equally perfect, neither servile nor arrogant. “We can explore on our own.”

People said this Queen was merely a puppet. Where had Fu Lingchuan found such a beautiful puppet? And they said the people of An Xia were straightforward by nature—if the Queen had no real power, why did no one step forward to oppose her accepting the congratulatory gifts? Now that she had accepted them in person, they couldn’t be returned later.

And so this meeting concluded. Xu Guangxiang was certain that the woman occupying the throne was indeed An’an—even her soft, delicate voice was identical. She could only retreat with a mind full of questions, imagining State Preceptor Yun’s reaction when he learned of this.

After the Battle of Wufu Snow Mountain, An’an had disappeared, and the State Preceptor had been furious. After returning to the Wei capital, he had secluded himself to recover from his injuries and hadn’t appeared in public for a long time. While she was in mourning for her father the king, she had few opportunities to see him. Later, when disaster struck within the palace and civil war erupted, Xiao Yan ascended to the throne, and the State Preceptor seemed even more inscrutable.

One aspect of being inscrutable was that she could not discern the State Preceptor’s joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness. In their few conversations, he had appeared indifferent, yet her royal brother had complained to her that the State Preceptor was becoming increasingly irritable.

Xu Guangxiang remembered that she had personally witnessed An’an fleeing from the battlefield. How could any woman willingly leave such a man? Unless she had a loftier goal.

What exactly had transpired between the former Princess Changle and the State Preceptor? After a year had passed, these questions once again rose from the depths of her heart.

The current Queen had no time to concern herself with Xu Guangxiang’s thoughts.

No sooner had Xu Guangxiang left than Wang Yuan, the Minister of Protocol who stood at the side, took a step forward and addressed Feng Miaojun: “Your Majesty, regarding Wei Kingdom’s gifts…” The Wei envoy had arrived suddenly, and Fu Lingchuan happened to be absent from the palace, so this time it was the Queen’s decision. After all, the gifts were nominally presented to her.

“Accept them,” Feng Miaojun said calmly. “They’ve traveled thousands of miles to deliver gifts. If you don’t want to accept them, are you planning to go to war?”

The Wei King sending Xu Guangxiang with gifts was itself a form of probing.

Several court officials were also present, and one finally couldn’t help but say: “My Queen, between New Xia and Wei, lies a deep blood feud. If you accept these gifts, the spirit of the late king in heaven will likely be furious with New Xia!” The Wei envoy shouldn’t have been received by her on her authority. Now she had created a big problem.

She lowered her gaze: “According to you, we should reject the gifts?”

Xu Linghai immediately stepped forward and declared loudly: “The Wei Kingdom sending gifts merely acknowledges New Xia’s establishment as a nation, and henceforth they cannot arbitrarily send troops across our borders. Do you all want the Queen to refuse, causing the Wei Kingdom to also renege on this decision?”

When An Xia fell, its territory was naturally claimed by the Wei Kingdom. After New Xia was established with heaven’s blessing, the Wei Kingdom consistently refused to acknowledge it. Now Xiao Yan sending gifts was clearly announcing to the world that the Wei Kingdom recognized New Xia’s independence and its sovereignty over this territory.

From now on, he could no longer deploy troops to the An Xia region at will as before. To do so would be to invade another country’s territory—a direct declaration of war!

Whether his gift-giving was sincere or not, at least in the short term, the greatest threat troubling New Xia had temporarily disappeared. If the Wei Kingdom wanted to invade New Xia in the future, they would need to find an appropriate excuse.

The officials exchanged glances as they heard this, gradually understanding the logic. The previous speaker hesitated: “But Wei Kingdom wants to ally with us…”

Before he could finish, Xu Linghai let out a cold laugh: “Did our Queen agree to that?”

Indeed, Queen Changle had not nodded in agreement; she had merely accepted the congratulatory gifts.

“Is allying such a simple matter? It requires negotiation, signatures, and seals, exchanging agreements—can a single gift replace all that?” Feng Miaojun spoke promptly. Her voice was the standard soft and delicate tone, the ethereal quality of her childhood gradually replaced by a mellow richness, yet now it carried a reassuring steadiness. “How can my officials be so naive?”

Her sigh seemed to contain a kind of disappointment at their failure to meet expectations. The officials had only thought she was young and easily deceived, worried she might truly want to ally with the Wei Kingdom. But Queen Changle’s mind was clear as a mirror, making them somewhat embarrassed. So when Feng Miaojun listlessly waved her hand saying “You are all dismissed,” they bowed and departed.

Xu Linghai was the last to leave, exchanging a meaningful glance with her before turning away.

Feng Miaojun smiled with satisfaction.

In the royal court, she needed exactly such a person who could play off her, as there were some things the Queen shouldn’t say directly. Exchanging a nominal position for someone like Xu Linghai to serve her wholeheartedly was exceptionally worthwhile.

The fact that Feng Miaojun was the sovereign of New Xia would soon come to the attention of all her acquaintances, including the King of Jin, Mo Tizhun, Miao Fengxian and Princess Hanyue, and of course… Yun Ya.

Fortunately, she was no longer afraid of him now.

Outside, the spring scenery was beautiful. Feng Miaojun originally loved taking a lazy, comfortable afternoon nap, but lately, she couldn’t spare the time.

Now, specialists reported to her the conditions of the four cities of Mituo over the past two months. Feng Miaojun smiled with delight, as clear reports and data showed that these cities’ fiscal revenue had directly increased sevenfold in just sixty days!

Of course, this was because the baseline had been so low as to be negligible. But such a growth rate also indicated that her assessments and measures for Mituo City were effective. And as facilities improved, more wealth would continue to flow in steadily.

Only a small portion of the collected money entered the national treasury; the rest continued to be invested in infrastructure construction.

Affected by the regional economic radiation, Wusel City also became increasingly lively. Conversely, the approaching “Heavenly Acceptance Festival” and the gathering of guests from various countries also made the economy of the four cities of Mituo, not far away, even more vibrant.

Everything seemed to be developing in a positive direction. Even Wei Kingdom had expressed peaceful intentions—although Feng Miaojun and the people of New Xia were deeply skeptical, this was at least a good appearance.

The good mood continued until the evening when the envoy from the Yao Kingdom brought the Yao King’s blessings, along with gifts from the Crown Prince’s consort.

This envoy, named Lu Ping, was only in his early twenties. He was the great-great-grandson of Yao’s Grand Preceptor Lu and currently served in the Department of Ceremonial Supervision. Both his identity and official position made him suitable for this role as envoy.

Like most people from Yao, Lu Ping was tall and robust, yet his features were refined, and his conduct was courteous, leaving no room for criticism. Even when first seeing the radiantly beautiful Queen of New Xia, he did not lose composure like most men. His gaze merely swept across her face before properly lowering his head.

That gaze was gentle and reserved. Feng Miaojun could even sense his emotions were exceptionally stable, his heartbeat not increasing by a single beat. To be so steady at such a vigorous age—this young man would not be ordinary in the future.