Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 897 Madam Diplomacy
"...What does Your Highness mean?" Song Qin was a little confused.

"Haha." Zhu Su smiled and said, "The cause and effect of this matter are all on Ma Ye. However, the country has its own laws. Although I am a prince, I cannot kill local generals without authorization."

"But I know that Shuixi West was wronged! It was Ma Ye who forced Shuixi to rebel in order to achieve his own fame."

"Although I cannot kill the generals without authorization, there are others who can. The Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is a great leader with a sharp eye. He will never tolerate treachery. As long as Shuidong can stabilize Shuixi and make him come to the capital to pay homage to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, my father will make a fair judgment."

"Shuidong will also be a great achievement..."

"We know this truth." Song Qin interrupted Zhu Su. "But Your Highness, Shuixi is already extremely angry with the imperial court. Even if Shuidong intervenes, we may not be able to stabilize Shuixi..."

"So I said, add me." Zhu Su said. "Isn't I already a hostage in Shuidong?"

Song Qin was so shocked that he was stunned.

"You can tell Shuixi that if there is no public opinion in the court, you, Shuidong, are willing to kill my Zhou Wang Zhu Su and raise the flag with Shuixi..." Zhu Su blinked, as if the person he was talking about had nothing to do with him. "If so, is this enough?"

Song Qin's face changed drastically, and he knelt down reflexively: "Your Highness, I, Shuidong, absolutely do not have such intentions..."

"If Shuixi is destroyed, Shuidong will be in trouble too. It's not uncommon for them to rebel together." Zhu Su's expression did not change. "Why should Tusi Song explain?"

"This..." Song Qin didn't know how to defend himself for a moment. He had to express his loyalty to the court. He had already hinted at his dissatisfaction with the court in his words just now. It would be pale and powerless to express his loyalty at this time... But if he admitted that he had the same rebellious intentions as Shuixi, this would really be...

Song Qin was in a dilemma for a moment. In an instant, he was sweating profusely and didn't know how to explain.

Zhu Su just smiled at him, his face showing no joy or anger, and he didn't seem to care about Song Qin's embarrassment. The air in the room seemed to become stagnant.

Just as Song Qin was still in a dilemma, the curtain moved again, and a woman walked out. "Your Highness, why do you have to embarrass me like this... If I had the intention to rebel, I would have captured Your Highness today and went to Guiyang to show off my power. Why bother to explain here?"

The woman bent down, helped Song Qin up, raised her face and spoke to Zhu Su in a stern tone.

As early as when Song Qin kept paying attention to what was behind the curtain, Zhu Su knew that there must be someone else behind the curtain.

He knew early on that there was an extraordinary woman in Shuixi and Shuidong. Madam Shezi from Shuixi was a caring wife and mother with a broad mind, while Madam Liu Shuzhen from Shuidong was resourceful and a perfect match for the brave Song Qin... Now that Song Qin was at a loss for words, Liu Shuzhen naturally could not sit still. She lifted the curtain and walked out to talk directly to Zhu Su.

"This must be the famous Madam Shuzhen from Shuidong." Zhu Su bowed gently. "I've heard that Tusi Song has a virtuous wife who helps him govern Shuidong. Shuidong is thriving under the governance of this virtuous couple... I finally saw it in person today."

"Your Highness, I am so ashamed to accept your compliments." Liu Shuzhen was much more outspoken than Mrs. Shezi. Now that she had left the curtain, she simply bowed to Zhu Su generously and said straight to the point: "Your Highness, I understand everything you said."

"Your Highness, there is no need to scare us... My concubine and I just want to ask Your Highness, do you really want to resolve the conflict with Shuixi?"

He looked at Zhu Su with his pair of phoenix eyes.

Zhu Su also looked serious and said, "Of course. I want to recover Guizhou, but I absolutely do not want to start a war in Guizhou... Maybe the chieftain and his wife don't believe me, but as far as I am concerned, whether it is the Yi people or the Buyi people, they are all Chinese people just like the Han people."

"What I want is for you to sincerely submit, to be accepted by China, and for all ethnic groups to live and work in peace and contentment, and to be proud of being Chinese people. How can it last long if you use force to bully them? How is it different from the Yuan court in the past?"

"If that's the case, I don't want you and your tribes to be alienated from the Ming Dynasty... How could the tribes not know the reason for the chaos in Shuixi? When the rabbit dies, the fox mourns. When the lips and teeth are in danger, you are not the only one in Shuidong who suffers."

"Even if we destroy Shuixi and use officials from other provinces to govern the area...how long will it take to win back the hearts of the people in Guizhou? Will this approach really benefit our Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Su spoke sincerely, and his words even revealed his great murderous intention towards Ma Ye for destroying the harmony in Guizhou and disrupting the order of the Yi people... On the other side, Madam Liu Shuzhen and Song Qin looked at each other with suspicion in their eyes. They didn't understand why this prince of the Ming Dynasty had such great identification with them, the ethnic minorities.

The sincerity in Zhu Su's eyes made them realize that what Zhu Su said was actually genuine.

This also made them even more confused.

"Your Highness chose to look for Shuidong because he wanted to reassure Shuixi... But Shuixi and Shuidong have always had a grudge, so they may not think that we are of the same mind as them." Liu Shuzhen said. She thought for a long time and chose to believe Zhu Su's sincerity, but she still looked hesitant.

"What if they think we have defected to the imperial court and deliberately made up a lie to deceive them... What should we do then?"

"Madam, please think about this matter with the chieftain." Zhu Su smiled and said frankly, throwing this important task directly to Liu Shuzhen and Song Qin. The two of them were in a similar situation to Shuixi, so they were the ones who were most likely to come up with a way to make Shuixi temporarily put aside their hatred.

I have shown my sincerity, even as a prince, I have volunteered to stay in Shuidong and share the fate of Shuidong. I will leave the minor details to Shuidong to solve.

After all, if the issue of Shuixi can be resolved satisfactorily, Shuidong will also be happy to see it happen.

Song Qin and Madam Liu Shuzhen were slightly startled. Seeing that Zhu Su really stopped talking and continued to drink tea with his head down with a calm expression, they realized that Zhu Su really threw this question to them.

The two did not harbor any grudges against each other. After all, Zhu Su did not know the internal affairs of each department, and if they stood with the court to resolve the conflict, they should have been considered Zhu Su's subordinates.

A superior does not have to come up with specific methods and do everything personally. Otherwise, how can the ability of subordinates be demonstrated?

So Song Qin and his wife frowned and thought hard. Finally, it was Madam Liu Shuzhen who came up with a plan. She looked up and said, "Your Highness, Prince Zhou, I and Madam Shezi will go to Yingtian to ask for an audience with Your Majesty... In this way, we should be able to gain the trust of Shuixi. What do you think?"

This move can be said to have completely tied Madam Liu Shuzhen's life to the safety and interests of Shuixi. If the audience failed, Shuixi would still be regarded as a rebel, and she, Liu Shuzhen, would surely die. Therefore, Song Qin's face changed immediately: "Madam, no!"

(End of this chapter)