Chapter 1068: State Letter

The battlefield here raged fiercely, while the imperial court's letter of protest against Wa Country reached Wa Country as well.

Of course, across thousands of mountains and rivers, the envoy couldn't sail over quickly to deliver the protest; the Cabinet directly issued orders via telegraph to the Mori Village Camp.

They appointed Kuang Ping as chief envoy and Jia Cong as deputy envoy, to be dispatched to Heian-kyo, warning Wa Country to withdraw its troops from Korea.

When Kuang Ping received this telegram, his face was blank with shock.

He turned to his left and asked, "Has Wa Country gone mad? Why not focus on unifying its own land and improving people's livelihood, and instead go attack Korea?"

To his left was the Jin Yi Wei officer Jia Cong, who replied, "When a person grows accustomed to gaining without effort, diligence becomes suffering to them; when a nation grows accustomed to seizing resources through plunder, it cannot endure the slow pace of building livelihood."

Kuang Ping turned to his right and asked, "The state letter must bear the Imperial Seal—but the Court sent only a telegram, no seal at all. How are we to proceed to Heian-kyo?"

To his right was his trusted aide, Wu Han, promoted from among the miners, who said, "It's just a petty Wa Country. My lord, use your own official seal, state clearly it is the Emperor's sacred command. The State Preceptor's birthday is approaching, and Wa Country must send an envoy anyway. If they doubt it, they can always go to the capital and file a complaint against you."

That's true.

After a moment's thought, Kuang Ping said, "Send another telegram to the Cabinet to confirm the orders and the content of the state letter, and keep a copy."

The telegraph operator agreed, and after triple-checking, Kuang Ping began drafting the state letter.

Though he was an official of the Ministry of Works, Great Ming's civil officials rotated through the Six Ministries, and he had once served two years in the Hanlin Academy—drafting a state letter was no challenge for him.

Kuang Ping revised it twice, confirmed it was flawless, then took out the sacred silk, spread it out, and carefully copied it line by line.

"My lord, how many men shall we take to Heian-kyo?"

Kuang Ping dismissed it carelessly: "Seven or eight men will do. The rest will guard Mori Village—do the Wa people dare kill an imperial envoy? Put on your official robes; we'll be perfectly safe."

Jia Cong opened his mouth but held back.

Kuang Ping ignored him, finished writing the state letter, stamped it with his own official seal, then paused and asked for Jia Cong's seal.

Jia Cong clutched his waistband seal: "Why do you need my seal?"

"The Emperor's decree bearing only my seal looks too thin. Stamp yours too—you're the deputy envoy; it's not wrong to use yours."

Jia Cong reluctantly unfastened his seal and handed it over.

Kuang Ping stamped it, then nodded in satisfaction.

He put away the state letter and told Jia Cong to select the accompanying personnel.

The distance from Mori Village to Heian-kyo was not far, but Wa Country's roads were treacherous—powerful factions were scattered everywhere, and bandits infested the mountains and forests; those so-called ronin were half-men, half-bandits, not unlike the Jianghu folk of Great Ming.

The Jianghu folk of Great Ming, whether orthodox or demonic, all shouted slogans of righteousness and justice.

Don't underestimate the demonic sects—in Great Ming, what we now call demonic sects originally also shouted slogans of righteousness; it was only during their acts of justice that they killed too many, clashed too violently with the majority's ideals, and thus became labeled demonic, hunted by all.

He was an official of the Ministry of Works, the ministry that, aside from the Ministry of Justice, had the most contact with Jianghu folk, so he knew a little about their ways.

After arriving in Wa Country, to blend in, he had also put in hard effort to understand Wa Country.

Oh, of course, gathering intelligence was the Jin Yi Wei's job—his hard work lay in observing and comprehending.