Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

The atmosphere in the living room was solemn.

As Du Yuanji rejected Chu Ning's proposal, the other four county governors became embarrassed.

If they agree to Chu Ning's request, they will then be faced with the task of providing food and fodder and recruiting able-bodied men.

The four counties have already suffered heavy losses, and if they continue to collect food and fodder and recruit soldiers, it might lead to a catastrophe.

But if Chu Ning's request is not agreed, Chu Ning will not let it go.

The Chu Ning of today is no longer the Chu Ning of the past. With the power of a great victory, he is at the peak of his career and no one dares to offend him.

The four governors looked at each other, and then the elderly Zhang Xuan stepped forward and said with a wry smile: "But I wonder how much food and strong men Your Highness needs?"

Compared with Du Yuanji, the four of them did not have much background in the court, so they did not dare to offend Chu Ning and could only compromise.

But the compromise also depends on Chu Ning's requirements. If it is too excessive, they will naturally not agree.

But as soon as these words came out, before Chu Ning could say anything, Du Yuanji sneered and said, "Sir Zhang, do you really want to collect food and strong men for His Highness?

At this moment, Bingzhou is in a state of disrepair and needs silver and strong men everywhere. How can we provide them to the Prince of Penglai at this moment?"

These people are so useless that they are scared by a bastard!

Humph, I don’t believe that Chu Ning would dare to do anything to me if I don’t agree!

What's more, I have legitimate reasons, and even if Chu Ning is a prince, there is no reason to force me to agree.

Besides, with the prince's support, why should I be afraid of him?

At this moment, Du Yuanji was full of confidence. He was not afraid of Chu Ning's dignity as a prince at all and did not give him any face.

When Liu Shouren saw this, his face suddenly turned pale.

"Lord Du, please be careful with your words. Your Highness wants food and strong men in order to protect Bingzhou!"

Liu Shouren stared at Du Yuanji and said coldly: "Don't forget, if it weren't for His Highness, you would have been killed by the Zhao army by now!"

Having seen how powerful Chu Ning was, Liu Shouren was convinced by Chu Ning and naturally would not let Du Yuanji be so arrogant.

But Du Yuanji, relying on the support of the crown prince, sneered, "Sir Liu, our army has 100,000 troops here, plus the high walls of Dingxiang, how can the Zhao army reach the heart of Bingzhou so easily?

Even without the command of His Royal Highness the Prince of Penglai, the Chu army would have difficulty in overcoming Dingxiang City!"

With just one simple sentence, Chu Ning's battle record was completely negated, and the credit was placed on Dingxiang City.

Chu Ning almost laughed at this.

This Du Yuanji really has some abilities!

Even if you come against me, you'll have to admit that you're inferior to me in terms of talking skills.

It seems that this person is determined to go against me!

Chu Ning narrowed his eyes and waved his hand to interrupt Liu Shouren who was about to refute: "Okay, Lord Liu, since Lord Du is unwilling, I will naturally not force him."

"However, my troops are currently trying to capture four cities occupied by the Zhao army. We are currently lacking a grain transport officer. Lord Du has served in Bingzhou for many years and is familiar with the terrain of Bingzhou. Why don't we ask Lord Du to go there?"

This made everyone stunned.

Wasn't it about collecting grain and fodder and recruiting soldiers? Why did they suddenly ask Du Yuanji to escort the grain and fodder to the front line?

Could it be that Chu Ning knew he was in the wrong and didn't dare to say anything more about this matter?

Du Yuanji's eyes rolled and many thoughts flashed through his mind.

Chu Ning must have had bad intentions in asking me to go to the front line. There are Zhao troops there, and the situation is chaotic. It is possible that I will be intercepted or Chu Ning will secretly kill me and put the blame on the Zhao troops.

Humph, Chu Ning must be extremely angry with me for rejecting his request, so he wants me to go to the front line to die.

Yes, that must be the case!

I can never agree to this!

Du Yuanji narrowed his eyes and quickly saluted: "Your Highness, if you ask me to escort the grain and grass under normal circumstances, I will never say no!

But now Shangjun is in a state of disrepair and there are many things that need to be handled by me. I am afraid I don’t have time to escort food and grass for Your Highness.”

"Really?"

Chu Ning looked at Du Yuanji deeply and said, "It seems that Lord Du is still a good official who is dedicated to serving the people. I guess you must have had a hard time in Shangjun during this period of time?

How about this, I will let you go to Shangjun to help you handle government affairs, and you can escort the grain to the front line and take a few days off, killing two birds with one stone!"

Du Yuanji was stunned.

After going around in circles for a long time, it turns out that Chu Ning's goal is his own official position.

Du Yuanji's face changed drastically when he realized what was happening. He said in a deep voice, "Your Highness, I am the governor, and I was appointed by the imperial court. If I neglect my duties, I will be severely punished."

The smile on Chu Ning's face disappeared. He stared at Du Yuanji and said word by word, "Are you saying that helping me escort the grain is dereliction of duty?"

"This... this is not what I meant."

"That's what you mean!"

Chu Ning's eyes turned cold, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes: "I asked you to collect food and recruit strong men, but you refused!

Now I ask you to escort food supplies to the front line, but you ignore it. What? Do you think I can’t do anything to you?

Come here, this man has repeatedly defied the king, his crimes are extremely serious, drag him down and chop him off!"

At the command, four soldiers in armor rushed in from outside the hall and held Du Yuanji down before he could react.

"Let me go, let me go!"

Du Yuanji struggled and roared, "Chu Ning, how dare you kill innocent people? If you kill me, His Majesty will not let you go!"

"You still dare to threaten this king?"

A cold expression appeared on Chu Ning's face: "Who gave you the courage to speak to me like this?"

Du Yuanji wanted to say something, but Chu Ning didn't give him a chance. He waved his hand and said, "Such an arrogant person, get out and behead him!"

Four soldiers dragged Du Yuanji out of the hall, raised their swords and slashed, and Du Yuanji was beheaded with screams!

A soldier came in with Du Yuanji's head and reported: "Your Highness, Du Yuanji has been executed!"

The four governors looked at the bloody head and felt nervous.

At this time, Chu Ning waved his hand and signaled: "Hang this man's head on the city wall and expose it to the sun for three days to serve as a warning to others!"

"Yes!" The soldier retreated with the head.

After doing all this, Chu Ning looked at everyone and said, "The position of Shangdang governor is vacant. I am planning to let you act as governor. What do you think?"

The four governors smiled bitterly.

You have killed people, do you still dare not agree?

"Your Highness, we firmly support your decision!" The four of them quickly expressed their opinions.

Chu Ning nodded in satisfaction: "Very good, since the four of you have no objection, let's go back to the previous topic, collecting food and recruiting able-bodied men, what do you think about this?"

The four governors were helpless, but they could only say in unison: "We are willing to help Your Highness make this happen!"

Chu Ning chuckled and said, "Don't be nervous, my lords. I won't collect too much grain, and you don't need to increase taxes on the people. You just need to go to those wealthy families and ask for some grain. Just think of it as my resettlement fee for protecting Bingzhou!"

As for recruiting able-bodied men, I only want strong and able-bodied men, and you must not just fill in the numbers."

The four of them breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.

The war has just ended. If we increase taxes on the people right away, it will definitely cause unrest. However, if we just ask the wealthy families for some food, it shouldn't be a big problem.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. We will do our best to handle this matter!"

Chu Ning nodded with satisfaction: "The four lords, please handle this matter with peace of mind. I will return to the court soon. If you do a good job, I will say a few good words for you in the court."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" The four governors' expressions improved a lot.

If you give someone a stick, you have to give him some benefits. If you want the horse to run, you have to give him some grass.

But what Chu Ning and others didn’t know was that what happened next was beyond everyone’s expectations!