Chapter 1220: Li Xuanya's Request

Although Narisong did not believe it, he knew that Tsarist Russia was becoming stronger and stronger, so he began to call upon his tribesmen to once again reinforce their defensive works and traps.

Zhai Shiqing, however, fell into deep thought.

Originally, the task the Viscount had arranged for her was to provide Assistance to these Chukchi in resisting the Tsarist Russia people, ideally creating some threats to Tsarist Russia, causing them headaches and leaving them in a state of anxiety.

But clearly...

Things were not that simple.

Although these Chukchi had strong combat power, their combat power was limited to their own doorstep. Once they were allowed to enter those wide-open areas, they would undoubtedly be living targets for the Tsarist Russia Army! Therefore, if one wanted to make this group of Chukchi pose a threat to Tsarist Russia...

Then one must think of a Method!

Think of a Method!

Zhai Shiqing fell into deep thought.

She also realized that this should be a test given to her by the Viscount.

A test to see if she could adapt to changing circumstances when facing different situations.

She took a deep breath.

Although they had just experienced a great battle, these Chukchi were still optimistic; they were running about, preparing a banquet to host them, and many people had even begun to sing and dance. What kind of people were they, after all? It seemed that the harassment by the Cossack Cavalry for over a hundred years had already made them incomparably resilient.

The Chukchi were very hospitable and gave them the highest etiquette.

The more this was the case, the more Zhai Shiqing felt that she should lead these people to victory.

When Ruslan returned to the small town where he was stationed, he was furious and in an incomparably disheveled state.

"Defeated again?"

"Hahahaha, I'm used to it, I'm used to it!"

"Look at his dejected appearance; he must have been cleaned up badly by the Chukchi again!"

"Shh... keep it down!"

When he was returning to the city, all he heard along the way were such discussions!

Bastards!

Presumptuous!

He really wanted to draw his sword and hack off the heads of these people who were wagging their tongues!

But...

He had already received over a dozen warnings from the Tsar for killing the innocent indiscriminately...

Calm down!

He had to calm down!

He was now the governor of a town, no longer the bandit leader he once was!

Again?

Had he failed many times?

His blood pressure shot up instantly.

"Call for men, call for men for me!"

He could not swallow his anger.

Today, these Chukchi were supposed to have quickly become his spoils of war!

It was all the fault of those Black Devil that appeared suddenly!

Devils?

He did not believe there were devils in this world; if there were, they would certainly be his Cossack Cavalry!

He began to summon reinforcements.

He must go and attack again to probe their true strength!

Li Xuanya was waiting expectantly at the gate of the Capital; Liu Zheng was about to arrive, and at this moment, to her, the air in this world was sweet.

Today, Li Xuanya had clearly dressed with great care.

At this time, Li Xuanya was no longer the vase she once was, but the true Chief Minister of the Li Dynasty.

Mature and steady, coupled with her heaven-defying beauty and gorgeous clothes.

Surrounded by stars like the moon, she was already the most dazzling woman in the Li Dynasty.

At this moment, she was already imagining the wonderful scene of drinking and chatting with Liu Zheng about the affairs of the state.

However, the appearance of one person shattered Li Xuanya's fantasy.

Xie Chan.

Seeing Xie Chan by Liu Zheng's side, Li Xuanya gave a bitter smile.

Indeed, the young couple was as inseparable as glue and lacquer; where would there be time for her to be alone with him?

When Xie Chan saw Li Xuanya, she was very happy; the two had been like sisters when they were in Longyan. Xie Chan had even suggested that Liu Zheng take this Princess of the Li Dynasty into his chambers directly.

When Xie Chan saw Li Xuanya, she was very happy; the two had been like sisters back in Longyan. Xie Chan had even suggested that Liu Zheng take this eldest Princess of the Li Dynasty into his chambers.

Facing such a Xie Chan, the gloom in Li Xuanya's heart naturally vanished.

She was no longer a child now...

State affairs were of the utmost importance.

She would take the future of the Li Dynasty as her lifelong pursuit.

She only wanted to bury that deep affection for Liu Zheng in her heart.

She only wanted to bury that deep affection of Liu Zheng's within her heart.

"Princess sister!"

She pulled on Xie Chan's hand and smiled sweetly.

The two women exchanged pleasantries for a while before it was Liu Zheng's turn.

Upon seeing Liu Zheng, Li Xuanya had intended to host a state banquet for him, but Liu Zheng declined it.

With constant crises at home, he had no heart to indulge in the pleasures of the palate in a foreign land.

"Grand Princess, oh, no, that's not right, now I should call you Prime Minister..."

"Lord Liu, stop with the Princess and Prime Minister titles; we are all family, so just call me Xuanya."

Li Xuanya said with a chuckle.

Although she tried her best to suppress her emotions, her heart began to race again when she saw Liu Zheng at such close range...

She could not forget how Liu Zheng had brought her along all the way from Longyan back to the Joseon...

She could not forget how Liu Zheng had turned the tide in the Joseon, and she could not forget the mutual support and help they shared while traveling south with his mother...

Hearing this, Liu Zheng also smiled; the Li Xuanya in his memory was not one to smile easily, but she could now exchange pleasantries like this—it seemed her half-year tenure as Prime Minister had truly made her much more mature.

"Alright, Xuanya, I really must thank you for this crisis in our Longyan; if it weren't for your navy taking action, the development trajectory of our Longyan's Liaodong would have been unpredictable."

Liu Zheng thanked her solemnly.

"Lord Liu, what are you saying? In the past, when my Joseon was on the verge of national extinction, it was you who led the army to stabilize the situation; a drop of water in need should be repaid with a spring, let alone such a great favor of saving the nation."

Li Xuanya said hurriedly.

"That is different; the mere Wa nation is just a pack of dog pups... but you were facing the great power of Tsarist Russia, which is a true starving wolf! To be able to take action against them, you must have withstood considerable pressure. Rest assured, I, Liu Zheng, am not someone who fails to repay kindness. For this troop deployment, your Joseon's military expenses will be covered by my Longyan. You may have someone compile a list and send it to Liangzhou; the money will arrive in the Capital in a few days."

Liu Zheng insisted.

"Then thank you, Lord Liu! With this money, I can shut the mouths of those opposition members!"

Li Xuanya said happily.

Although the Joseon won a great victory in the naval battle against Russia, the military expenses were not small, and for the Joseon, which had just emerged from the haze of war and was in urgent need of large amounts of capital for construction, it was a very huge expenditure.

Some members of the Westerner Party in the Joseon parliament used this as a pretext to attack Li Xuanya, and some Councilors even proposed that Li Xuanya step down!

Li Xuanya's pressure was also very great, but as long as Liu Zheng's funds arrived, that pressure would vanish in an instant.

"Besides this, Longyan will also provide guarantees to the Joseon. If the Joseon is threatened by the Tsarist Russia side, Longyan will definitely assist with all its might. After I return to my country, I will provide the Joseon with some advanced weapons to strengthen the Joseon's national defense. I hope that the friendship between my Longyan and the Joseon will last forever, and that we may seek development and share peace together."

Liu Zheng said with a laugh.

Li Xuanya nodded in pleasant surprise; besides money, what she worried about most was the issue of national security.

No matter how favorable the objective conditions were for the Joseon, the fact that Tsarist Russia was a superpower was indisputable; it was no joke that they could wipe them out with a flick of a finger.

And upon hearing Liu Zheng's personal guarantee, she felt even more at ease.

"Also, this time, I still"

"need your help with something."

Liu Zheng suddenly said with a serious expression.

"Please speak, Lord Liu, Xuanya will certainly do her utmost." Li Xuanya said with a sincere face.

"I want to borrow some troops from you."

"How many?"

"One hundred thousand."

"..."

Hearing this number, Li Xuanya was stunned; this amount was already one-third of their Joseon Standing Army!

"This... Lord Liu, I can only try my best to mediate in the parliament."

Li Xuanya said with her brows slightly furrowed.

"Many thanks, but please rest assured, all expenses for these one hundred thousand troops will be borne by Longyan."

Liu Zheng also knew that Li Xuanya was no longer the one calling the shots in the Joseon, but he felt that since the Joseon had already taken action against Tsarist Russia, they should be firmly tied to Longyan both in reason and in law.

"I will try my best."

Li Xuanya nodded.

If the military expenses could be covered, Li Xuanya had a much greater chance of borrowing the troops.

After the matter was settled, Li Xuanya went back to make preparations; at the same time, personnel from the Longyan intelligence network also found Liu Zheng and informed him of the latest news.

Jinghua had been held after all!

The Prince of Yong, the Prince of Jin, the Prince of Chu, and the Prince of Shu had all arrived in Jinghua to protect the throne after the Youzhou Army retreated.

With this, Jinghua was considered safe, and no ambitious person would dare to have other ideas again.

With the crisis in Jinghua settled, Liu Zheng had no reason to stay here, so he went to bid farewell to Li Xuanya.

Li Xuanya's excitement had not yet faded, and Liu Zheng was leaving just like that; she was indeed a bit disappointed.

After this parting, she did not know when they would meet again.

She was reluctant to let Liu Zheng go; she needed Liu Zheng.

Not just as an individual, but this country also needed Liu Zheng.

Although she was now the supreme leader of the Joseon, the state power had already begun to fall into the hands of the parliament.

And the parliament was composed of Scholar-officials and the old Noble class; these two classes had rigid thinking and were all refined egoists. When government decrees affected their interests, it was very difficult to implement them.

And if one wanted the people to be wealthy and the country to be strong, the interests of these privileged classes would inevitably be affected, and when interests conflicted, these people would become obstacles to the country's prosperity and strength.

Therefore, Li Xuanya knew very well that for the Joseon to be prosperous and strong, these stumbling blocks had to be removed, and with her ability, it was very difficult to do so.

Furthermore, even if they were removed, a new batch of Councilors would come to power; in a situation where it was difficult for children from humble families to become nobles, state power would still remain in the hands of these Scholar-officials and Nobles.

Li Xuanya did not know how to solve this, so she needed Liu Zheng's help.

"Lord Liu, may I ask you for a favor?" Li Xuanya asked.

"Of course you can. As long as it is within my power, I will certainly help, but I have a small request."

Liu Zheng said with a smile.

"What is it?"

Li Xuanya looked puzzled.

"You let me call you Xuanya, yet you call me 'My Lord'. Call me 'Big Brother' instead; it sounds more intimate," Liu Zheng said with a chuckle.

Hearing this, Li Xuanya smiled and nodded: "Alright, Big Brother Liu!"

Xie Chan, standing to the side, also smiled but said nothing.

"Big Brother Liu, constitutional monarchy is indeed a more advanced political system, but in the parliament, the short-sighted still occupy the majority of the seats. These people are all refined egoists. Once a government decree harms their interests, it becomes very difficult to implement. Is there any good Method to solve this problem?" Li Xuanya asked.

"This..."

This question truly stumped Liu Zheng.

The Noble class holding state power is a problem that, even in modern times, is very difficult to solve; even in the world's number one Beautiful Country, the political arena is still controlled by big capitalists. People are divided into nine ranks,

just as trees are divided into pines, cypresses, poplars, and willows.

In the current strictly hierarchical social environment, without a peasant uprising breaking out to overthrow the current regime, those who are not part of the Noble and Scholar-Official Group can never touch the center of power. And those who can touch the center of power will, for the vast majority, prioritize their own and their family's interests first, and only then the national interest. This is an unspoken rule that has been followed from ancient times to the present.

He was not at all surprised that such a problem would appear in the Li Dynasty.

Especially since the Li Dynasty already had a tradition of factional strife lasting hundreds of years.

It was just that he had thought the now-vibrant Li Dynasty might be able to resolve this matter, but now it was clear...

It was still unavoidable.

Listening to Li Xuanya talk about the affairs of the Li Dynasty's parliament, Liu Zheng slowly furrowed his brows. Pop-ups are frequent recently, please click to download to avoid pop-ups.