I am a commoner, but I will lead the empress to unify the world

As soon as Shen Changgong said this, everyone immediately quieted down.

Ma Ling remained calm and didn't even look at him.

The Empress and Gongsun Wan'er were both looking at him with scrutiny.

"What? My husband, before he even accomplishes anything, is already asking me for rewards and military power?"

Shen Changgong chuckled and looked at the empress and said slowly,

“Whether I am destroying the powerful or issuing the Enfeoffment Order, I will become the target of public criticism from the powerful and wealthy, and even arouse considerable public indignation and the anger of civil and military officials.

After all, this affects everyone's interests.

If Your Majesty then decides to abandon you and use my head to appease the anger of others, how can I resist, since I am defenseless?"

Yan Fuyao looked at Shen Changgong deeply for a long time, his eyes a little lost, he laughed at himself and said,

"I have always regarded you as the person I trust the most. So you have never trusted me?"

"Your Majesty, your words are too serious. I just wanted to save my life. This has been my intention since day one.

Serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. The most difficult thing to guess in the world is the emperor's mind.

Gongsun Wan'er is your confidant who you cultivated, and the Prince of Nan is your uncle, but he has no right to inherit the throne, so it is understandable that you trust them.

But what about me? Your Majesty, we have only known each other for half a month.

You can't just say you trust me without any evidence, and then I will put my head entirely on your character, right?

I still say the same thing as when I first came in. If this thing fails, it is only right to use my head to appease the anger of the vassal kings and force the rebellious vassal kings to withdraw their troops.

Because this was proposed by me and implemented by me. If I fail, I will die. That is only natural.

But if I succeed, all the troops will be handed over to the King of the South to conquer the world, but my head will be hung on the palace gate and be cursed by the people.

Am I being too unfair?"

Hearing this, the empress also looked at Shen Changgong with scrutiny and said,

"By the same token, I can hand over the Central Army to you. But if I do, and you attack the capital and force me to abdicate, what am I going to do?"

"Is this your Majesty's trust?"

"I trust you, but you don't trust me."

……

The couple stared at each other, neither of them willing to give in.

Gongsun Wan'er stamped her feet in anxiety. Seeing that a big event was about to happen, she couldn't afford to engage in internal strife now.

She had to find a way to say something.

However, before Gongsun Wan'er could say anything, Ma Ling beside her revealed the secret.

"Have you two not consummated your marriage yet?"

"what?"

"what?"

Shen Changgong and Yan Fuyao both looked at Ma Ling in amazement.

Ma Ling said leisurely,

“My princess and I are very much in love, support each other, and have complete trust in each other.

But I don’t see any common ground between you two as a couple. You two don’t trust each other.

If the marriage has been consummated, it will be different. The relationship will naturally warm up, and the husband will naturally love his wife and want to give her the best.

The wife will also always think about her husband, worrying about whether he has enough food and clothes, and whether he is tired outside.

You two are only wary of each other and have no love between husband and wife at all.

It's more like a political marriage, where both parties take advantage of each other."

Shen Changgong turned his head away guiltily and said,

"I don't have any political capital, so how could this be a political marriage? Your Majesty is so handsome, of course I really like you."

Yan Fuyao also said with a guilty conscience,

"He is the husband I personally chose. If I didn't like him, I wouldn't have chosen him. He is handsome, talented in both literature and martial arts, and has courage and determination. He has also helped me so much. How can we not love each other?"

We agree, we're good.

However, Ma Ling sneered,

"So in the end, the marriage was not consummated."

"You can not?"

Ma Ling looked at Shen Changgong in surprise.

I can’t kill you!

My sister-in-law always begs for mercy happily every time.

Shen Changgong gritted his teeth secretly, but still said seriously,

"I'm good at it."

Ma Ling treated Shen Changgong and Yan Fuyao as his juniors and taught them earnestly.

"The two of you don't trust each other because you don't have children. If you give birth to a boy, and you are the official husband of the emperor, with a high status, then that child will definitely be the crown prince and will inherit the throne in the future.

There is no difference between your son becoming emperor and yourself becoming emperor.

Everything you do, you do for your son.

The empire you conquered was also conquered for your son."

"By the same token, Your Majesty, women are inherently weak, but they become strong as mothers. If you can have a child together, you will have an emotional bond between you and your spouse.

This king thinks that you two are a good match. One of you is brave and resourceful, and you are not from a powerful family, so there is no conflict of interest. The other one is also ambitious, and her husband can really help her.

I really can't understand why you don't trust each other."

Shen Changgong and Yan Fuyao both looked a little embarrassed.

It's a bit uncomfortable to have an elder interfere in such a private matter.

Gongsun Wan'er also came to smooth things over,

"That's right, Shen Changgong, think about it. If His Majesty kills you, it would be like killing your own husband. You'll definitely be labeled a tyrant in history books, or even ungrateful and abandoning your husband. Isn't leaving a name in history what a king cares about most? Isn't that what His Majesty expanded the territory for?

And the same goes for you, Your Majesty. Shen Changgong is already second only to you and is a family member to you. What's yours is his. All his power comes from you. Even if he wants to usurp the throne, it would be illegal.

No one in the world would agree.

The risk is high and the reward is low. He could just wait for his son to become emperor and then become the emperor emeritus.

You said no.

Yan Fuyao looked at Gongsun Wan'er with a strange expression, and asked doubtfully,

"When did you become so insightful?"

"You have always underestimated Wan'er."

Gongsun Wan'er smiled coquettishly.

Yan Fuyao paused, his face slightly red, and said,

"Consummating the marriage... can be done without too much haste. I'm not ready yet, and I haven't developed any feelings for it yet...

We'll discuss this later. If it really doesn't work out, I'll give Wan'er to Shen Changgong first."

Shen Changgong widened his eyes upon hearing this and blurted out,

"What is this? A maidservant?"

"almost."

So, Shen Changgong looked at Gongsun Wan'er, with a playful, strange and evil smile on his face.

Okay, okay, be my maid and see how I deal with you.

Gongsun Wan'er's face flushed with anger, she gritted her teeth and said,

"No! No! We'll discuss this later! Later! We'll discuss this later!"

"Okay, stop making trouble."

The serious Southern King Ma Ling said in a deep voice,

"If you don't give birth to a child, then I'll give you military power. It's unreasonable to let the horse run without giving it grass.

Why should they work so hard for you to conquer the world, but not get anything in return?"