Princess Promotion

Yao Chuguang climbed the mountain with Zhou Mingrui on his back, one step deep and one step shallow. When he took a breath, he looked back and saw Elder Xiao. The old man was now in such a state that it was beyond words to describe his miserable state.

It can be said that he is like two different people, transformed from a powerful official who is awe-inspiring without even getting angry into an old man fleeing for his life.

When he first started running and taking a rest, Lord Xiao would subconsciously find a clean and flat stone, sit upright with his back straight and rest.

People who don’t know him would think that Lord Xiao was a rich man out for a picnic, sitting in the mountains and enjoying the scenery.

The contrast with Yao Chuguang and General Park who just lay down to rest is not too obvious. At this time, the difference between civil officials and military generals is particularly intuitively reflected.

General Park walked up to Yao Chuguang and said, "Your Majesty, please take a rest! We have been walking for a whole day and night."

Yao Chuguang nodded, and General Park immediately ordered them to rest on the spot.

The moment he heard that he could take a break, Lord Xiao sat down on the ground without any hesitation.

Yao Chuguang put Zhou Mingrui down, then walked to the side of Lord Xiao with a smile, and helped Lord Xiao up in a friendly and easy-going manner, and found a shady tree where he could lean against the trunk to rest more comfortably.

Elder Xiao felt horrified by Yao Chuguang's sudden kindness.

This conscienceless thing is being too attentive for no reason. He is either a traitor or a thief.

As expected, Yao Chuguang smiled brightly, but her words made people want to kill the king: "Master Xiao, look at these memorials and official documents you brought with you. They've been here for several days. When will they be processed?"

What do you mean he brought it out? It was clearly this conscienceless thing that he repeatedly ordered them to bring out.

Yao Chuguang never felt guilty about the nickname he gave her, and he was constantly pushing his limits on Yao Chuguang.

Perhaps because he has experienced so much, Elder Xiao now has a strange sense of calmness.

Yao Chuguang saw that Lord Xiao's eyes revealed a sense of having seen through the vicissitudes of life, and felt that the civil officials had no will to fight and struggle. If this continued, the morale would be low and it would not do.

Yao Chuguang felt that he had a responsibility and obligation to cheer them up and boost their fighting spirit!

Yao Chuguang called all the other civil officials over. At this time, the head of the Wu family and Li Jinglong no longer cared about the difference between the monarch and his subjects.

They came over one by one and sat down, surrounding Yao Chuguang, looking up and stretching their necks to see what Yao Chuguang was going to do next.

After fleeing for several days, the ministers who were once glamorous and handsome are now disheveled and dirty.

Moreover, the ministers' clothes were made of fine material, but they would be torn by a few scratches from branches or a fall.

So even though the civil officials only had to run along the whole time and never fought against the Western Border Army, they were all dressed in rags and looked even more miserable than those soldiers who fought bravely.

Not to mention that Yao Chuguang is among a group of people, it looks like a Beggars' Gang meeting no matter how you look at it.

Yao Chuguang cleared his throat and smiled, "My dear ministers, you have suffered a lot these days. Although we are fleeing for our lives, we are short of food and clothing, and we even have to eat wild vegetables and tree roots to barely fill our stomachs."

With every word Yao Chuguang spoke, the ministers' faces grew darker, and Lord Xiao lowered his head, unable to bear to look at them.

I don’t know if after this heartless thing is finished, the ministers will rise up in rebellion and tie Yao Chu up and surrender to the enemy.

Yao Chuguang seemed oblivious to the ministers' increasingly grim expressions as he continued his passionate speech, "Although we are facing numerous difficulties now, I believe we can overcome them."

Elder Xiao sneered in his heart. How could they overcome the difficulties? They followed Yao Chu just to make achievements, not to live in fear and uncertainty like they do now.

Yao Chuguang suddenly changed the subject and said, "Compared to those warriors who only have brute force, we scholars may not be able to fight in battle, but we definitely have more backbone than them."

"We are different from those short-sighted generals. In the past, those warriors cried every day because they didn't have enough food and military funds to fight."

"Now is the time for us to take concrete action and let those warriors who only know how to make noises every day know that even scholars like us can get through a few meals without food. How can we measure the cost of defending our country with money?"

Yao Chuguang spoke passionately, even pulling General Park over to support him as he spoke excitedly, "After this battle, we want to show the military commanders that they can stop talking nonsense behind their backs. We, the civil officials, only know how to hide in the imperial city all day long. It's not the civil officials who have to fight in the battlefield, so of course it's easy for us to say that."

General Park agreed politely, "Yes! We, a bunch of unsophisticated people, all thought that the ministers didn't know how difficult it was for the soldiers. Now we realize we were too narrow-minded."

The boomerang launched many years ago accurately pierced the ministers' hearts.

Throughout the dynasties, civil officials and military generals were mostly at odds with each other, but it was not because of any grudges.

To put it bluntly, it is a dispute caused by the division of interests. The court collects only so much tax every year. It is okay if it is a year of good harvest, but if it is a year of famine, it will almost cost the lives of civil servants.

With so much silver, if more is given to military generals, there will be less left for civil officials.

These days nothing can be done without money. Civil officials also need money to achieve political achievements, but what will they do if the money is given to military generals?

So over the years, civil officials and military generals have more or less quarreled and argued over money.

Now Yao Chuguang is simply roasting them on a grill, and they can't get down.

If they were to complain now, wouldn't that contradict what they said before?

For civil servants, they can lose their heads and keep their blood, but they must leave a good reputation in the world.

Civil servants have a perverted obsession with reputation, otherwise they would not be proud of dying as a role model.

If future generations knew that they bowed down for a few pieces of silver, but in the end were still no match for the warriors they looked down upon in the past, it would be more painful than killing them.

General Park added with admiration, "General, I never imagined that under such difficult and precarious circumstances, you gentlemen would still persist in handling memorials and official business. It truly puts us to shame."

What else could the civil officials say? That they were too hungry to work?

You say you’re tired and hungry and don’t want to work anymore?

Then let those generals whom they once looked down upon laugh at them, saying that they were nothing but hungry for a few meals and they couldn't bear it.

It is common for their generals to suffer from hunger and cold while marching and fighting. They cannot do that. Wouldn't they be inferior to the other generals in the future?

Yao Chuguang continued to fan the flames, "From now on, if any warrior says we're only good at talking, we can just slam the table and yell back. Think about how we were trapped in the deep mountains and forests back then, and we managed to survive by just gnawing on tree bark and grass roots. What's wrong with you?"

The civil officials seemed to see those arrogant military generals in the past being scolded by them and unable to raise their heads.

I've been to the battlefield too, and I even ate tree bark and grass roots, so who do you think you are?

I have suffered so much before, if I don’t do my best, it will all be in vain.

The civil officials immediately regained their fighting spirit and took out the only remaining ink stick, but the inkstone was broken while they were escaping.

A group of civil servants couldn't even put together a complete set of ink sticks and inkstones.

Finally, I found a relatively flat stone, dipped some water on it and ground the ink.

A group of people gathered around this only ink and began to annotate memorials and write government decrees.

Lord Xiao couldn't help but shake his head as he watched the civil servants and even Li Jinglong writing with passion!

They were all fooled!