Quick Transmigration: Survive to the End

When Li Yinyin entered, she saw Li Chengming sitting in the main seat, with officials lined up on both sides. Judging from their attire, the left side should be military officers, and the right side should be mostly scholars.

Li Yinyin didn't recognize any of the scholars, but she knew quite a few of the military officers, including Xiao Liu, who was sitting quite close to the front.

Upon seeing Li Yinyin enter, before the scholars could even react, the military officers were led by Xiao Liu to stand up and bow.

"girl."

"Your Highness."

The girl was naturally addressed by Xiao Liu and the others, but His Highness was someone they didn't know.

With Xiao Liu making a move, the civil officials naturally couldn't remain indifferent. So, the handsome young man sitting at the head of the table took the lead, addressing Li Yinyin as "Your Highness," and paying their respects.

Li Yinyin nodded casually, said "no thanks," and walked straight to the head of the table.

"Why is Yinyin here?" Li Chengming keenly sensed that his sister was not in a good mood and asked again.

Li Yinyin glanced at the ministers below who were ignoring her, first instructing her servants to distribute the food, and then answered softly.

"It's so late, and you haven't come back for dinner yet, so your sister-in-law ordered someone to prepare some food and bring it over. But someone stopped her, saying it wasn't a big deal and she shouldn't be disturbed."

"I saw that my sister-in-law was really worried about you, so I came over myself, but I was turned away. You used to say that my relationship with my sister-in-law was your biggest concern, but now you don't mean that anymore?"

"How could that be?" Li Chengming thought for a moment and knew who was behind it. He coaxed her, "Zhao Wu was so clueless, so we fired him and replaced him with a new one. Tomorrow I'll gather everyone together, Yinyin, you come and see. If you think one is better, then pick him up, okay?"

The civil officials were somewhat surprised by Li Chengming's attitude. One official hesitated and wanted to say something, but was pulled back by someone next to him and did not speak.

Li Yinyin did not agree to the matter, but said, "It's not like you're serving me, so what decision should I make? You should choose for yourself, brother. Just remember this time to pick a good one."

Li Chengming naturally agreed. Seeing that she was about to leave, he said, "Why are you leaving? We'll be finished discussing this in a little while. Wait for me here, and we'll leave together later."

Li Yinyin looked up and met his gaze. Seeing that he had no intention of joking, she glanced at the ministers below and boldly sat down next to him. In any case, the dragon throne was spacious enough that even if another sister-in-law were added, it wouldn't feel crowded.

Li Chengming dismissed all the unrelated servants from the room before saying, "Let's continue."

The civil officials looked at Li Yinyin and were speechless for a moment, but Xiao Liu and the others were completely unaffected. One of the unfamiliar generals spoke first: "Zhao is a large country. Even though it is currently in turmoil, with our current national strength, it will be difficult to take it down quickly. We will inevitably have to fight a protracted war. Li is different. Its territory is small. As long as we are well prepared, we can conquer it in one or two months."

Once the military officer spoke, the civil officials had no choice but to disregard Li Yinyin. The civil official in the middle retorted, "Although the Li Kingdom is small, its people are united and deeply respect the royal family. Many countries have tried to annex the Li Kingdom, but all have failed because of the bravery and unity of the Li people. To take over such a country would inevitably require a huge price."

"Moreover, once conquered, it will certainly not be like those small countries in the past, where people didn't care who ruled. It's conceivable that after conquering Le, even if the people of Le are given many favors, they may easily harbor rebellious thoughts due to their nostalgia for their former master, and even attempt assassination. This poses a huge hidden danger to the safety of the ruler and the stability of the country."

Li Yinyin had initially found it somewhat boring, but after listening to this person's analysis, she couldn't help but nod slightly, waiting to hear him continue his analysis of the Zhao Kingdom.

"But Zhao is different. Zhao used to be the largest country in the western border, but it gradually split into many small countries due to division and rebellion. Several small countries that the lord conquered in the past were once Zhao's territory."

"After our lord conquered those small countries, he remeasured the land and allocated it to individuals, distributed good seeds to them, and helped them fill their stomachs. Although he didn't publicize this to the outside world, the people all have relatives and friends. After they spread the word, many people from the border of Zhao Kingdom have quietly come to our place."

"The Zhao Kingdom is currently in great turmoil. It's either sons killing their fathers, younger brothers killing their older brothers, or uncles usurping the throne from their nephews. In just two or three years, there have been four or five emperors."

"Everyone knows that the imperial court cannot change its orders overnight, but every emperor who ascends the throne issues different decrees to show his power. People in remote areas hear that one emperor wants to pay taxes today, and another emperor wants to exempt them from taxes tomorrow. But in the end, they always pay more than they are exempted from taxes. The grain that was wrongly collected was never returned, which fattened the pockets of corrupt officials, yet they still have to continue to collect taxes from the people below."

"Therefore, given that Zhao has lost the support of the people while our lord has gained theirs, abandoning Li and attacking Zhao is the wisest choice!"

"What this gentleman said is truly insightful," Li Yinyin couldn't help but think to herself. If he were the only one saying this in front of her, she probably would have closed her eyes and made a decision right away.

“But Zhao is just too big,” Xiao Liu glanced at the civil official sitting at the head of the table before continuing, “We barely have two provinces, while Zhao has seven. The people of Zhao have been treated so badly. If we take them over, we won’t only not get any benefits, but we’ll also have to subsidize them to keep them alive. Moreover, we only have so few people in total. It’s enough to govern two provinces, but to govern a country as large as nine provinces, we’ll be stretched thin.”

After he finished speaking, Li Yinyin looked at him in surprise for several times, then whispered in Li Chengming's ear: "Brother, did that’s what the leading civil official taught Xiao Liu? I don’t believe he could say something so eloquent on his own."

Li Chengming nodded almost imperceptibly and gestured that he would speak later.

Li Yinyin listened knowingly as the leading civil official spoke: "General Liu makes a lot of sense. But if we want to attack Zhao Kingdom, we can only do it in one fell swoop and take over the entire territory directly. We can't attack one place, govern one place, and then attack the next."

"The root cause of the many internal strifes in Zhao is that those treacherous officials hold military power in Zhao, but they use all their troops to plot to usurp the throne. If we can't directly besiege the city, we'll be the ones in trouble once they realize what's happening."

The atmosphere inside the Xuan Shi Hall fell into a stalemate once again.

After hearing this, Li Yinyin finally understood why her elder brother hadn't been able to return to Weiyang Palace for a meal yet. All this discussion had ultimately come full circle. Many reasons had been given, but no one could truly convince the other, or even themselves.

If they don't work overtime, who will?

Li Yinyin sighed almost imperceptibly, wishing she had eaten something first before coming.

She was just thinking about whether to have a snack first when she saw her older brother looking at her.

"Yinyin, which country do you think we should attack first?"

"The Kingdom of Li, or the Kingdom of Zhao?"