Chapter 696: First Volume, Chapter 696: Anger to the Point of Spitting Blood

First Volume, Chapter 696: Anger to the Point of Spitting Blood

Lü Li had long anticipated what was inside the ice box.

After all, that secret letter was commissioned by the Northern Di King and secretly delivered by Lü Li to Lü Qiu; those who knew of this matter were few and far between.

The purpose was naturally to gain leverage in negotiations.

If everything proceeded smoothly, Lü Qiu could use this opportunity to achieve glory and merit.

If anything went wrong, no one would ever know the truth behind it—just find a scapegoat and be done with it.

Now, with this secret letter in Qin Feng's hands, it meant Lü Qiu was already dead.

Lü Li seethed with resentment and fury, yet had no recourse—he could only forcibly swallow this bitter fruit.

At this moment, gazing at Lü Qiu's pale, bloodless head inside the ice box, Lü Li felt as if his heart were being sliced by knives.

It was the extreme anguish of an elder burying a younger, and the bitter frustration of having lost to Qin Feng.

It wasn't just a loss—it was a total, humiliating defeat.

Only now did Lü Li understand why Chen Si had repeatedly warned him on the journey to Beijing to be wary of Qin Feng.

Looking back, Chen Si's assessment of Qin Feng was spot-on, without the slightest exaggeration—this man was truly a dire threat to Northern Di.

One man alone is better than ten thousand troops!

An overwhelming sense of despair surged within Lü Li; he felt a tightness in his chest, his vision darkened, and he collapsed backward onto the ground.

Seeing Lü Li struck down by rage and accumulated resentment, the entire Northern Di Envoy Group fell into chaos.

"Pillar of the State!"

"What's wrong with the Pillar of the State?"

"Quick, quickly send for the imperial physician!"

The Northern Di Envoy Group was in utter disarray—some held Lü Li and wailed in tears, others clenched their fists and glared at Qin Feng, while many more shouted for help.

The Peace Negotiation Minister, who had witnessed the entire scene, stood frozen, equally at a loss.

Since the founding of Liang Kingdom, there had been at least eight or ten state peace talks with foreign countries, yet never had such a thing occurred.

The chief envoy of a foreign country had actually fainted from anger on the spot?!

You have to understand that anyone who can participate in peace talks must have an unusually strong psychological makeup, and the other side is none other than Lü Li, who is known as the hawkish representative of the Northern Di.

All the Peace Negotiation Ministers could only think of one word to describe what they had just witnessed: unimaginable!

Qin Tianhu had seen countless storms in his life, yet he was still stunned by what he saw.

He glanced at Lü Li, collapsed and unconscious on the ground, then at Qin Feng, standing nearby with arms crossed, utterly unconcerned.

Qin Tianhu involuntarily swallowed hard.

"This… this kid—where the hell did he learn these tactics?"

"Not even the Qin Family… let alone the entire Liang Kingdom… has ever produced such a ruthless, iron-fisted minister."

Qin Tianhu could no longer tell whether it was heaven's favor to Liang—that after centuries of dormancy, a genius had finally emerged to turn the tide—

or whether the ancestral spirits of the Qin Family had manifested, granting them such a prodigy destined to lead the Qin Family to an unprecedented peak of glory.

The Minister of Revenue, Li Xu, and the Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices exchanged uneasy glances.

Li Xu recalled how, in the Imperial Court, he had opposed the Qin Family over the "war or peace" divide, and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, filled with dread.

"This… this is what the Qin Family's next generation looks like? So terrifying…"

The Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, like Li Xu, had once stood on the opposite side of Qin Feng.

After witnessing Qin Feng's iron-fisted methods firsthand, he felt a wave of relief.

Looking back now, his decision to abandon darkness and embrace the light by joining the Taolin Party had been profoundly correct.

As host, Qin Tianhu could not stand idly by—he immediately summoned the imperial physician to take Lü Li away.

Both sides returned to the negotiation table, but the atmosphere had grown strangely Weimo.

The once arrogant and overbearing Northern Di Envoy Group now slumped, heads bowed, utterly broken.

With Lü Li down, Han Yu became the Northern Di Envoy Group's new pillar.

He looked up at Qin Feng, his eyes filled with fear, his voice devoid of any conviction.

"Qin… Young Master, whether it be your Liang Kingdom or our Great Di, neither side wishes to continue fighting."

"Bo Bing Du Wu drains our people and exhausts our treasury—ultimately, it is our own civilians who suffer."

"For the sake of peace, our Great Di is willing to offer our most sincere goodwill."

"But two hundred million taels of White Silver in war reparations is simply unbearable—please, Young Master, show mercy."

"Such a vast sum, once paid, will ignite civilian resentment across our lands; if chaos erupts, the fragile agreement we've barely reached may collapse."

Han Yu's words were surprisingly honest.

Since the other side was now willing to negotiate, Qin Feng naturally did not press further—he softened his tone slightly.

"Our Liang Kingdom's bottom line has already been laid out; whether your nation accepts it or not means nothing to us."

"This border province will inevitably become the Buffer Zone between our two nations—Xiongying Ridge must be taken!"

"I speak plainly, Minister Han—don't take offense."

"Your nation reveres war—from within to without, from top to bottom, your very bones are Hawk Faction. Even without Lü Zhu Guo, there would be other Zhang Zhu Guo, Chen Zhu Guo, Wang Zhu Guo…"

"So long as your nation retains the capacity to raid our borders, your hostile intent will never fade."

"Rather than entrust the safety of our Liang border to your goodwill or a mere written agreement, I would rather control it myself."

"Minister Han, let me be direct: so long as Beixi County remains planted on the border—"

"No matter the state of relations between our two nations, should your side ever plan to rebuild the border, Beixi County will unhesitatingly launch troops to launch Ambushes!"

"We Liang may forgo taking this entire province, but you Di must cede it—no negotiation."

"Only after the Buffer Zone agreement is settled can we proceed to discuss war reparations."

Although Qin Feng's tone had softened considerably, his attitude and stance remained utterly firm.

Han Yu knew full well that this entire province was already beyond recovery; forcibly reclaiming it would only plunge them into an endless Consumption War.

And…

It was the entire Di Kingdom mobilizing its full strength to Consume against a single County City of Beixi.

No matter how you looked at it, Di was losing the deal—and would lose even more the longer the fighting continued.

The most critical point: if the two nations continued to fight, with this province as a buffer, Beixi County's Expeditionary Brigade could constantly threaten Di's core territories.

At that point, the balance of power that had lasted for centuries would be completely reversed.

The situation would shift from Di ambushing Liang, to Beixi County's Expeditionary Brigade launching relentless, round-the-clock Ambushes against Di's territory.

Although this agreement was hard to accept.

But from a rational standpoint, it was the option with the least loss…

Han Yu took a deep breath, neither agreeing nor refusing, only replying ambiguously: "This matter requires further discussion upon our return."