Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Inside the city of Wangjiao in the Li Kingdom, Shi Mingzhu, the envoy of Wuzhao, has been living the life of an emperor emeritus ever since he landed on this island.

To show his respect for the Celestial Empire, King Nguyen Ha Lai specially invited Shi Mingzhu to live in the palace.

Nguyen Ha Lai went to great lengths to welcome the Vu Chieu envoy and curry favor with the Vu Chieu Kingdom.

First, to ensure the Celestial Empire's envoys were comfortable, he had a new palace built in the royal palace long before Shi Mingzhu's visit.

After Shi Mingzhu arrived, he was received with royal honors, with lavish banquets served every morning, noon, and night. Fearing that the envoy might not be used to the food of Li Kingdom, a chef who could prepare the Wu Zhao state banquet was specially invited from Siam at great expense to please Shi Mingzhu.

In addition, Shi Mingzhu's palace had new maids to serve him every day, never repeating the same one. When Shi Mingzhu went out, he was always escorted by four priceless white jade horses, which can be said to have made this master very comfortable.

In just one month, the money spent on building the palace, repairing the city and roads, and other expenses related to receiving envoys could be described with one idiom.

A mountain of silver pressed down on the ground.

As the national treasury's gold and silver dwindled day by day, eventually reaching the point of being unable to make ends meet, some ministers finally couldn't bear it any longer and advised Nguyen Ha Lai to be more restrained, saying that the current scale of the expenditure was already enough to give Vu Chieu Guo face.

But Ruan Xiatian didn't feel any heartache at all.

Anyway, all this money was obtained by extorting money from overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. If it runs out, we can just swindle more from them.

On the day of Consort Ruan Xia Lai's seventieth birthday, the whole city was adorned with white wax and red silk, and decorated with flowers, creating a grand and spectacular scene.

Even Shi Mingzhu, the envoy from the Celestial Empire, was amazed by the scene, constantly shaking the rat tail on the back of his head and praising Ruan Xialai's sincerity.

The King's mother's birthday celebration was naturally to be grand and lively.

On this day, the entire city of Cape Lookout was under martial law. From the inner courtyard of the royal palace to the streets and alleys, a total of eight thousand banquet tables were set up, the main theme being extravagance and waste, with no shortage of money.

Shi Mingzhu was treated as an honored guest and sat at the same table as Ruan Xialai.

After exchanging toasts and pleasantries, Ruan Xialai revealed her true feelings.

"Angel, the Kingdom of Li has always admired the Celestial Empire. Now, do you think our Kingdom of Li is qualified to pay tribute to the Celestial Empire?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Mingzhu smiled and put down her chopsticks, saying to Ruan Xialai, "Your Majesty, I have already felt your country's sincerity, but sincerity alone is not enough to forge an alliance with the Celestial Empire..."

Ruan Xialai hurriedly asked, "Please enlighten me, angel, what should our country do to earn the favor of the Celestial Empire?"

He went to great lengths to curry favor with Wu Zhao Kingdom; if he still couldn't gain their approval, he would truly lose everything.

This is a desperate political investment.

Shi Mingzhu, however, did not speak explicitly, but instead indirectly said to Ruan Xialai, "Your Majesty, Wu Zhao is a celestial empire with a population of six hundred million..."

All nations under heaven consider it an honor to pay tribute to Wu Zhao, yet some foreign lands refuse the teachings of Wu Zhao's benevolent rule and insist on going their own way.

Ruan Xialai nodded quickly in agreement: "The angel is right. Wuzhao is the center of the world, and as the blazing sun shines brightly for all ages."

Those who receive the protection of King Wu Zhao will surely prosper. Since the founding of our Li Kingdom, we have been proud to have received the teachings of King Wu Zhao. Now, thirteen generations later...

"I've finally been blessed with an angel's visit, and I really don't want to miss this opportunity. Please, angel, show me the way."

Upon hearing this, Shi Mingzhu immediately replied, "Very well, since that's the case, then I will speak plainly."

In recent years, the State of Chu has been enjoying unparalleled power. Last time, Emperor Wu Zhao sent an envoy to Chu to invite its ruler to come to Emperor Wu Zhao's capital to learn about the way of the king.

Two years have passed, and yet the empress herself has not come; instead, she has sent two civil officials of the fourth rank to visit.

Our Emperor believes this is a sign of deliberate disrespect from the State of Chu, and is therefore displeased and intends to teach Chu a lesson.

However, the distance between Chu and Wu Zhao was too great, and the Emperor was unwilling to incite war over such a trivial matter.

However, this action by the State of Chu is the greatest humiliation for my King Wu Zhao and his ministers.

As subjects of the Emperor, we should share His Majesty's burdens and, on His Majesty's behalf, teach the State of Chu a small lesson.

In fact, Shi Mingzhu's trip was not solely for the sake of pleasure, but also to resolve the emperor's concerns.

Li Hong learned of the rise of the Chu Kingdom from the remnants of the Western Xia who had been wiped out by Shen Lang and fled to Wu Zhao to eke out a living. He also heard that the emperor who ruled Chu was a woman, and that she was so beautiful that she was said to have the beauty to make fish sink and geese fall from the sky, and to make the moon hide and flowers blush. He couldn't help but feel curious and wanted to meet such an extraordinary person.

It's not that Li Hong is the kind of person who can't control his lower body when he sees a beautiful woman.

As the Emperor Wu Zhao, he had hundreds of beautiful concubines around him, and countless women he had one-night stands with. Naturally, he wouldn't have any special fetish for Jiang Mengxuan, a married woman.

I was simply curious how a woman could govern the State of Chu so successfully.

Among the states that paid tribute to Wu Zhao, there were also many that were ruled by women, but none of them were as vibrant and energetic as the State of Chu.

Two years ago, Li Hong sent an envoy to the State of Chu to invite the Empress to Shengjing, the capital of Emperor Wu Zhao, to participate in the "Teaching of All Nations" event, so as to take this opportunity to understand what kind of person Jiang Mengxuan was and what kind of country the State of Chu was.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Mengxuan didn't even show up on the opening day of the International Education Conference, which made Li Hong feel like he had lost face.

Even though the Chu envoy explained that Chu had been embroiled in internal strife in recent years and had been too busy to spare time, it did not quell his displeasure.

In fact, Li Hong had another unspoken purpose in wanting to see Jiang Mengxuan: to make Chu a vassal state of Wu Zhao and one of the many nations that came to pay tribute.

Now that the Empress has not arrived, this honor cannot be bestowed upon the State of Chu.

In Li Hong's mind, becoming a tributary state of Wu Zhao would be an immense honor, but Jiang Mengxuan refused it.

This matter became a thorn in Li Hong's side, and he continuously dispatched warriors to investigate news about the State of Chu.

However, to this day, Li Hong still has only a superficial understanding of the specific national conditions of the State of Chu.

So he secretly sent Shi Mingzhu to Nanyang to find out about the situation in Li, who was familiar with the situation in Chu.

Of course, this "inquiry" is not in the literal sense.

The emperor's thoughts must be carefully considered.

As Li Hong's confidant, Shi Mingzhu quickly realized that she had to trip up the State of Chu in order to please Li Hong.

Just as he was planning how to approach the Li Kingdom, the Li Kingdom took the initiative to invite him to its birthday banquet, which turned the tables and brought him to the Li Kingdom.

Unexpectedly, Shi Mingzhu's words were exactly what Ruan Xialai wanted to hear: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the Chu Kingdom has become increasingly arrogant in recent years, and I am planning to teach them a lesson."

Shi Mingzhu became interested upon hearing this: "Oh, just how arrogant is the State of Chu?"

Just as Nguyen Ha Lai was about to explain in detail, Prince Nguyen Giau Ha rushed up to him in a panic.

Before she could even speak, Ruan Xialai's face darkened: "What kind of behavior is this, all flustered and disrespectful? Can't you see the angel is here?"

Ruan Jiaoxia: "Father, something terrible has happened! Two behemoths have appeared on the Cape of Good Hope. According to the sailors who came to report..."

They had never seen such large ships before, and now these two giant vessels were sailing towards my Cape Harbour!

"what!"

Ruan Xialai shouted angrily upon hearing this.

"Who dares to disturb the banquet of the Queen Mother and the angels? I am truly impatient! Order the Great Li Navy to set sail immediately and capture these two ships for me!"

"Ok."

After Ruan Jiaoxia left, Ruan Xialai continued to drink with Shi Mingzhu, completely ignoring the matter.