Chapter 1578: It

"？？？"

The Qin Envoy froze instantly, his face filled with shock.

Is this lad insane, or am I?

What kind of words did he just say?

How dare he… how dare he show such disrespect to the King of Qin?

Soon, the Envoy's expression turned dark, his voice icy: "Your Majesty, these words of yours are a grave insult to the King of Qin! If you apologize now, I, this envoy, may overlook it…"

"Overlook it my ass!"

Xu Que flipped his hand and slapped the Envoy across the face.

With a sharp crack, the entire Great Hall fell into dead silence.

The Envoy was utterly stunned, unable to believe it.

He had just been slapped?

Isn't this Monarch of Eastern Tang a coward? He spends his days chasing after some damn romantic love—no one ever said he had this much guts!

This was mainly because Qin had been waging wars everywhere these past few years, focusing on recuperation and paying little attention to Eastern Tang's situation.

In their eyes, Eastern Tang was a backwater kingdom—just a flick of the finger, and their Monarch would kneel and beg for mercy.

They never imagined that today's Eastern Tang was no longer the weak, pitiful state it once was.

The court ministers were also stunned.

Holy shit!

The Emperor just slapped the Envoy!

Has he gone mad?

In diplomatic exchanges, an envoy represents the Monarch of his own nation.

There's always the saying that envoys must not be killed on the battlefield—anyone who harms an envoy is essentially declaring war.

Xu Que's actions were no different from slapping the King of Qin himself.

Xuan Yuan Wanrong was also stunned by Xu Que's sudden slap.

"What are you doing?" she whispered. "Isn't this the same as declaring war on Qin?"

Xu Que scratched his ear, unconcerned: "So what if it is? We're not gonna lose."

Come on, how dare this mere envoy act so cocky?

Thinks he can act cooler than me? Can I let that slide?

As for losing? Xu Que didn't care at all.

Please, I, the Saint of Acting Cool, have read every military strategy from the past five thousand years—I've memorized them all. Do you think I'd lose to some damn King of Qin inside an Illusion Realm?

Impossible!

"You bastards! You're dead! Your entire Eastern Tang Kingdom will be wiped out!"

The Envoy snapped back to his senses, his face turning crimson as he screamed in rage.

Wipe us out? Your ass!

Xu Que let out a cold smile, then, under the horrified gazes of everyone, waved his hand—and pulled out a Great Sword from between his legs.

"Robbery time! Men to the left, women to the right, all of you put your hands on your heads—or my Heaven Penetrating Earth Entering Great Sword won't be gentle! Hey, you! Give me a reaction!"

Swish!

At that moment, the entire Great Hall was utterly silent.

Everyone was dumbfounded, blank-faced.

Robbery?

You're the Emperor!

Robbing the Qin Envoy inside the Imperial Palace?

"E-Emperor…" a minister stammered out.

"Don't call me Emperor—I'm Xu Que, leader of the Destroy Heaven Gang!" Xu Que laughed freely.

Destroy Heaven Gang?

Where the hell did this damn gang even come from?!

No, the real issue is—when did the Emperor join this Destroy Heaven Gang?!

The Envoy felt the cold blade against his neck, his face turning pale.

Facing death, he lost all his earlier arrogance, trembling as he said: "Your Majesty… let's discuss this calmly, resolve it through law. Our King of Qin always seeks fairness and justice. This act brings no benefit to Eastern Tang."

"When you were acting so cocky just now, did you think about resolving it through law?"

Xu Que smirked. "You want law? Fine. I now claim your actions have caused me severe psychological trauma. I demand three hundred million Golden from your King of Qin—or I'll castrate you right here."

Three hundred million Golden!

The Envoy went completely blank.

You might as well just kill me!

If the King of Qin finds out his envoy was held at swordpoint, the first person he'll chop down is me!

Humiliated in another country—wouldn't I be the one to die?

Thinking of that fate, the Envoy felt overwhelming terror—even the wetness between his legs went unnoticed.

"Holy shit, you're such a coward, you pissed yourself?" Xu Que jumped back, waving his hand in disgust. "Guards! Take our Envoy away and treat him well."

Several burly Imperial Guards stepped forward and dragged the Envoy away.

With the Envoy dealt with, Xu Que leaned back, lounging lazily: "My loyal ministers, any insights to share?"

The ministers remained silent.

Publish my ass!

Xu Que's actions just now, however, made these officials feel extremely gratified.

But after the gratification came troubles they could not handle.

Should this envoy be killed or not?

If he is killed, the King of Qin will inevitably find out; then, with a wave of his hand, thousands of troops will attack, and we will become people of a fallen kingdom.

If he is not killed and is released to return, today the Emperor humiliated the envoy so severely that the King of Qin will surely fly into a rage; then, similarly, iron hooves will roll forth, and Eastern Tang will be annihilated in the blink of an eye.

"Xu Que, by doing this, you are completely disregarding the big picture," Xuan Yuan Wanrong said with a cold face.

Her mood was very bad now, not only because of Xu Que's erratic behavior.

It was also because, while Xu Que was doing these things, Xuan Yuan Wanrong actually felt a hint of betrayal.

Didn't we all decide to develop slowly?

Why do this instead?

In the end, he is still the same as before, completely disregarding other people's feelings.

Xu Que did not sense the resentment in Xuan Yuan Wanrong's words at all and said lazily, "Do you really think this person came to persuade us to surrender? Bullshit!"

Saying this, he flipped over and sat up, speaking seriously, "Let me tell you, even if we surrender now, we absolutely will not get a chance to catch our breath; perhaps next year, Qin Soldiers will disappear without cause within Eastern Tang's borders, and then the King of Qin will have plenty of reasons to come and deal with us."

Xuan Yuan Wanrong's delicate brows furrowed into the shape of the character 'Chuan': "Then according to you, the King of Qin will attack sooner or later, so why send someone now to persuade us to surrender?"

"There are only two reasons: first, he is too lazy to waste military strength; second, some problem has arisen within his own country, hindering his pace of outward expansion." Xu Que stroked his chin and said thoughtfully, "I lean toward the second reason."

"Why are you so assertive?" Xuan Yuan Wanrong still did not agree with Xu Que's words.

"Because an arrogant fellow like the King of Qin would not persuade anyone to surrender; he would only wait for others to voluntarily go and submit."

At this moment, the multitude of officials were already discussing loudly, with Civil Officials and Military Generals divided into two sides, arguing vehemently.

"In this old official's opinion, the current plan is to quickly reorganize the troops and contract our defenses; our country is far from the Qin Kingdom, and once the Qin Army has besieged us for a long time, they will withdraw on their own."

"You old thing talk less bullshit! Your Majesty, grant this subject three hundred thousand troops, and I will surely behead the Qin Army's general from horseback, never allowing the Qin Army to infringe upon our territory by even a hair!"

"You fool only know how to fight, fight, fight!"

"Old Bastard, do you want to fight?"

Xu Que sighed, slapped the Dragon Throne with his palm, and shouted, "Everyone shut up!"

Xu Que had now established sufficient authority; at his command, everyone immediately fell silent.

"I now declare that I will lead a Personal Expedition to personally decide the outcome with the King of Qin on the Battlefield!"

As soon as these words fell,

the entire court of officials stood stunned, nearly thinking they had hallucinated.

What did the Emperor just say?

He wants to lead a Personal Expedition?

To go to the Battlefield and decide the outcome with the King of Qin?

It's over!

It's over, it's over; after finally securing two years of stability, the Emperor is acting up again...