RWNEFE -Chapter 447 The Three Grand Councillors Make Their Move!

What difference was there between this and forcing Great Zhou to admit to murder?

“You people of Yue are going too far!”

“You’re pushing your luck!”

“There’s absolutely no way Great Zhou will agree to such terms!”

The Yue envoys remained arrogant.
“If you refuse, then wait for our Yue Kingdom to cut off your grain supplies—and there is a strong possibility we will launch a war. You’d better think carefully.”

The officials of the Ministry of Rites were flushed red, as if someone had seized them by the throat, unable to resist.

At that moment, Shen Lanxi’s voice rang out.

“If your Yue Kingdom insists on this, then Great Zhou will accompany you to the end!”

“If war is launched, Great Zhou will resolutely fight!”

“And if you cut off grain supplies, then we will join with friendly states to boycott Yue. At that time, who will be carved up may not be so certain!”

The Yue envoys glared angrily at Shen Lanxi.

“How dare you speak to us so rudely?”

Shen Lanxi replied, “If enemies come at me with blades, I answer with blades. If friends offer me jade, I welcome them with fine wine.”

“You—” The Yue envoy pointed at her angrily, seeing she showed no fear of threats, then turned to Zhou Ruyuan. “Aren’t you afraid we will really cut off your grain supplies?”

Before Zhou Ruyuan could answer, Shen Lanxi spoke first: “Cut them off if you wish. Great Zhou does not accept threats!”

The Yue envoys’ faces darkened. “Good, very good. Let’s see—if these words spread, will your emperor have you torn apart by five horses!”

Shen Lanxi replied calmly: “Great Zhou’s territory is vast, unlike certain tiny states. Just because you possess a few inches of fertile land, you think you can control a lion. But even a flea on a lion’s back—once the lion awakens, a single palm is enough to crush it.”

“You—” The Yue envoys had not expected Shen Lanxi to be so ruthless in her words, cutting off all retreat.

They had been full of confidence, but now felt somewhat uneasy.

If Great Zhou truly united with other states to boycott Yue grain, how would they explain it to their emperor upon returning?

“You are only a woman. Your words don’t count—we won’t speak with you!”

“Find a man who has authority to talk to us!”

“A mere shrew, daring to be so rude to envoys. Great Zhou is nothing more than this!”

“A woman should stay home embroidering and tending children. What propriety is there in showing your face in public!”

Shen Lanxi sneered. “When you cannot win an argument, you attack my identity as a woman. You men are merely a few pounds of flesh more than women—stop making a nuisance of yourselves with such unreasonable nonsense.”

The Yue envoys glared in fury. “Shen Lanxi, how can there be a woman like you? You… you are a disgrace to refinement!”

Shen Lanxi looked at them coldly. “We women can serve in court above and embroider and care for children below. You men, meanwhile, only know how to point at women and cry ‘disgrace to refinement.’ What use are men who do nothing at all?”

“You—you—you are outrageous! You violate morality—like a hen crowing at dawn! You treat ancestral rites as nothing! She is so presumptuous—won’t the officials of Great Zhou restrain her?”

The officials of Great Zhou were also irritated hearing Shen Lanxi speak this way.

But now this was a verbal battle between two nations. Naturally, they stood with their own people—how could they side with Yue?

If Shen Lanxi seized on it and accused them of colluding with a foreign state, how would they survive in Great Zhou?

These Yue scoundrels clearly intended to sow discord before the battle lines.

“Our emperor is naturally enlightened,” one Ministry of Rites official suddenly retorted. “You people of Yue belittle women so much—were you not born of women?”

“Exactly! How can women be so disparaged? We men are broad-minded—how can we not tolerate women entering official service?”

“Yes, Yue is not like Great Zhou. In Great Zhou we respect women and their wishes—compared to the past, this is unprecedented!”

“Yes, yes…”

The Yue envoys were so angry they nearly vomited blood.

Earlier, they had clearly heard these officials criticizing Shen Lanxi in private—yet now they had all reversed themselves.

The officials of Great Zhou were too cunning!

Shen Lanxi looked coldly at the Yue envoys and declared with imposing force: “If Yue wishes to cut off grain supplies to Great Zhou, then do so. Great Zhou does not fear!”

The Yue envoys glared at her, their faces turning red, pale, and green in turn.

The officials on Great Zhou’s side outwardly showed no fear of power, but inwardly they felt miserable.

Tomorrow’s court session would be difficult.

Before the morning court even began, news that Shen Lanxi had provoked the Yue envoys and caused them to cut off grain supplies reached the Grand Secretariat.

The three chief councillors jointly attacked Shen Lanxi.

“Shen Lanxi, your actions are simply ruining the future of Great Zhou!”

“If enemy states learn that Great Zhou cannot secure grain supplies and rise up together to attack, you will be a criminal of the state!”

“Shen Lanxi, you disregard the fate of Great Zhou, act arbitrarily, and ignore the lives of countless people—you are no different from a treacherous minister!”

The three senior ministers jointly brought charges against Shen Lanxi before the emperor.

Emperor Renxiao had entrusted the Yue Kingdom matter entirely to Shen Lanxi, yet this was how she handled it.

Did she not understand how important Yue’s grain was to Great Zhou?

Or had he overestimated her after all? Women, in the end, were prone to act on impulse and could not see the greater picture.

Shen Lanxi… you have truly disappointed my trust!

“Your Majesty, the Yue envoys repeatedly pressed us. Prince Zhen’nan and the officials of the Ministry of Rites were present—they can testify to every word I have said.”

“They repeatedly provoked and insulted Great Zhou, even demanding that on the day of your birthday banquet, before all the assembled envoys, you lower yourself and admit fault to Yue.”

“They also demanded full compensation for all losses, threatening and belittling us repeatedly. How can our great nation be threatened by such a tiny state?”

“I was impulsive—but I do not regret it!”

“The dignity of Great Zhou must not be violated. The only thing I regret is that I did not beat them to death on the spot!”

The Grand Tutor shouted, “Shen Lanxi, you are insolent!”

Emperor Renxiao, however, felt a certain relief in his heart. He could understand that Shen Lanxi’s actions were meant to defend him wholeheartedly.

But…

Even an emperor had his helplessness.

Looking at her arguing passionately and defending her position, the emperor sighed inwardly.

She had filial devotion and loyalty—but she did not know how to be an official, nor how to consider the larger situation.

“Lanxi, I understand your meaning,” Emperor Renxiao said. With this single sentence, everyone else fell silent.

Shen Lanxi’s face was stubborn. “Uncle, we must never raise others’ prestige while diminishing Great Zhou’s!”

A trace of malice flashed in Wu Yanzhi’s eyes before he spoke with feigned concern: “Lord Shen speaks so righteously—have you already thought of a strategy regarding the grain supplies?”

The Grand Tutor’s eyes gleamed. “Lord Shen is extraordinarily talented. Surely, if she had no solution, she would not have spoken so boldly.”

Liu Mingxin, Grand Academician of the Wenyuan Pavilion, added: “Lord Shen appears so calm and unhurried—could it be that she is deliberately keeping us guessing, intending to make fools of us?”