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

On the seventh day of the fifth month of the sixth year of Xuansheng, in Jinling, at Weiyang Palace.

"Your Majesty, this is a letter of surrender from the envoy of the Kingdom of Weizang. The Kingdom of the Plateau is willing to submit to our Great Chu."

Lin Yu, the Grand Secretary and now Minister of Personnel, presented Jiang Mengxuan with a letter of surrender and pleas for peace from the Kingdom of Weizang.

Jiang Mengxuan was not surprised at all by this result.

Because this was a scheme she orchestrated herself.

As early as the fifth year of Xuan Sheng, Wu Jie sent news from Shu that the Weizang Kingdom on the plateau was now embroiled in internal strife.

Jiang Mengxuan immediately seized the opportunity and began sending people to sow discord between the two sides of the Wei-Zang Kingdom, which ultimately led to a large-scale civil war breaking out on the Wei-Zang Plateau.

The war lasted for seven months, resulting in heavy losses for the Kingdom of Ü-Tsang, with corpses strewn across the battlefield, and the power of Zongzan was greatly weakened.

Taking advantage of the situation, Jiang Mengxuan ordered Lin Fei to go to Shu and join forces with Wu Jie's troops to put continuous pressure on Weizang. In the end, the local chieftains joined forces to assassinate Zong Zan, sent his head to Lin Fei, and surrendered to the State of Chu.

From then on, the southwestern border of the Great Chu was pacified, and the last trace of hidden danger was completely eliminated.

The disintegration of Weizang this time was achieved without the Chu Kingdom losing a single soldier; it was entirely the result of Jiang Mengxuan's scheme to kill with a borrowed knife.

"Prime Minister Lin, you and the cabinet should draft a plan. I want to station an army in Ü-Tsang to ensure that Ü-Tsang will not rebel again."

"Another envoy will be appointed to assist the local chieftains in quelling the unrest on the plateau, and to organize the construction of a road connecting Sichuan and the plateau. The local chieftains will be allowed to manage their respective territories without much interference."

"Furthermore, we will establish more trade ports, allowing the people of the Wei-Zang region to trade with those within our Chu Kingdom, with prices assessed based on local market rates..."

Jiang Mengxuan's series of moves, combining kindness and force, brought Weizang under the influence of the Chu state in just a few words.

"I will go back and work with the cabinet members to draft the relevant regulations."

After Lin Yu finished speaking, he continued, "Your Majesty, the countries of Southeast Asia have jointly submitted a petition requesting the reopening of the factories to alleviate the people's worries. In particular, the Lebanese Kingdom has been sending telegrams to our court continuously."

He declared that he would certainly assist the local governor's office in managing its people, and pleaded with His Majesty to show leniency and prevent widespread starvation in the Southeast Asian countries.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mengxuan smiled but remained silent.

Over the years, the industrial sector of the Chu Kingdom has penetrated into all aspects of Southeast Asian countries.

However, the Southeast Asian countries did not realize the importance of this matter before, and instead incited the local natives to resist the colonial governor's office, thinking that they could use this to their advantage.

It wasn't until Jiang Mengxuan followed Shen Lang's advice and shut down the Chu-origin factories in all the colonies that the people of Nanyang instantly understood the meaning of "it's hard to go from extravagance to frugality".

Although the work in the colonial factories was hard and tiring, at least they provided meals and earned three to four silver dollars a month, which was enough to support a family.

However, after the factory closed, these Southeast Asian workers instantly became unemployed. Not only could they no longer find jobs with the same pay, but even getting food became a problem.

Now, several months later, the natives of the Nanyang colonies are in a state of panic and confusion, gathering daily in front of the colonial governor's office to pray for an early resumption of work.

Meanwhile, the aristocratic families of Southeast Asia who had already profited from tariffs were in complete panic when they discovered that their factories had closed, trade had come to a standstill, and no one was buying their raw materials such as rubber, sugarcane, and pig iron ore.

They joined forces with their own royal family to force them to compromise with the State of Chu. Even worse, a horrific assassination of a member of the royal family has occurred.

Meanwhile, the royal family was also troubled by the withdrawal of investment by Chu merchants and the cancellation of local industrial construction. Their previously luxurious lifestyle plummeted, and they were almost back to a state of poverty overnight.

Now that the Empress has achieved her goal, there is no need to continue suppressing it.

"Now that the Southeast Asian countries are aware of the seriousness of the problem, we hope they will learn from it. It has been two or three months, and it is time to notify the colonies to resume work."

"I understand. I will go back and urge the cabinet to issue an order to gradually restore trade with Southeast Asia."

After finishing these matters, Jiang Mengxuan turned the topic to the Kingdom of Wu Zhao.

"The day before yesterday, I received a telegram from Ban Dingyuan informing me that the mission had arrived in India and would be able to return to Nanjing in another half month."

This also brought with it the attitude of the Wu Zhao Kingdom, which is to refuse trade with my Chu Kingdom. I would like to hear the opinions of the cabinet members on this matter.

What are your thoughts on this?

As soon as he finished speaking, a chorus of discussion immediately arose in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

About an hour later, Lin Yu spoke first: "Your Majesty, I believe that since the interests in the South Seas have not yet been fully realized, there is no need to have any contact with Wu Zhao for the time being."

Second Grand Secretary Liu Wu also rose and replied, "Your Majesty, I agree with Grand Secretary Lin's opinion. Apart from the South Seas, the development of Liaodong, Yunshang Kingdom, the border regions, the former territory of Northern Yan, and Song territory of our Great Chu is still in its infancy."

There's no need to continue entangled with Wu Zhao Kingdom. It won't be too late to negotiate trade with the Western Continent after our Chu Kingdom has reorganized these regions."

Clearly, the cabinet was not very enthusiastic about trading with Wu Zhao Kingdom.

But Jiang Mengxuan was somewhat unhappy.

He then looked at Deng Xianjing, the newly appointed Minister of Rites and a member of the Cabinet.

Deng Xianjing immediately stood up and replied, "In my opinion, the vision of our Great Chu should not be limited to the Eastern Continent."

According to the intelligence sent, the Kingdom of Wuzhao is vast in territory, rich in resources, and most importantly, controls the vital sea routes between the east and west.

Even though our Great Chu's demand for trade with the Western Continent is not high now, we should still make plans in advance so that we won't be caught unprepared when trade demand increases in the future.

Minister of War Lü Lin rose to express his support: "I agree with Minister Deng's opinion. The fact that Wu Zhao Kingdom has so blatantly rejected the goodwill extended by Chu is tantamount to a provocation against Chu."

To uphold the dignity of the Chu state, the Ministry of War fully supported the formation of an expeditionary force to be sent to the Wu Zhao state, forcing it to submit.

Liu Wu frowned: "To start a war just because they are unwilling to trade is an unjust war that I cannot condone. Moreover, it is extremely unwise to send troops on a long expedition, and it will cause great harm to the people of Wuzhao."

Upon hearing this, Minister of Revenue Shu Xiaozhi laughed: "Minister Liu, you are mistaken. My Chu Kingdom was sent as an envoy to Wu Zhao Kingdom and was left stranded in Haizhou for two whole years."

After finally meeting their emperor, we were immediately expelled from the country and barred from trade. This is a blatant provocation against the dignity and bottom line of the two hundred million people of Chu.

If we don't teach them a lesson, the other western barbarian states will only think that our Chu Kingdom is some unknown little country.

Therefore, I believe that troops should be sent to Wuzhao to punish them slightly.

"That's nonsense!"

"You're all too conservative!"

"I'm conservative? What a joke! I was the first to propose the idea of ​​a unified currency for all the Southeast Asian countries, and you dare to call me conservative?"

"You are clearly trying to exhaust your resources with military force and force people to submit. If such an unjust act were to get out, wouldn't you be ridiculed by the whole world?"

"Let anyone who dares to laugh try!"

For a time, cabinet members split into two factions, each blaming the other for not being radical enough and the other for not being benevolent enough.

The only consensus is that Wu Zhao Kingdom is doomed to defeat, without a doubt.

Jiang Mengxuan did not stop the cabinet's debate until the two sides were about to start a martial arts discussion, at which point she spoke up to stop them.

"Enough. We'll discuss this matter another day. After the Emperor and I have discussed it, we'll make a decision. Now, let's adjourn the court."