Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

"Not only that! His letter incited the people to revolt, throwing the entire capital into chaos!"

"Tell me, what should we do now?"

After listening to their words, Cai Hui's expression turned extremely ugly.

"What, are you questioning me now?"

Xiao Tao said to Cai Hui, "Mother, shouldn't I have questioned you? I now feel that you and your son are conspiring to make a fool of me."

"I will still call you Mother Empress now, but if you can't explain yourself clearly... then today may be the last time I call you Mother Empress!"

Cai Hui sensed the murderous intent in Xiao Tao's words.

Cai Hui quickly calmed down after a brief moment of panic.

He sneered, then said to Xiao Tao, "Xiao Tao, I thought you were the smartest... the most shrewd among all the princes... but now it seems you're nothing special... such a small problem! And you've already thrown yourself into disarray? Besides, if I really wanted to support Xiao Yang, would my foolish son really need to come to you?"

"Furthermore, you also said that Xiao Yang and I came to set you up. If that were really the case, would I be foolish enough to wait here for you to come and deal with me? To threaten me?"

Xiao Tao calmed down a bit after hearing what Cai Hui said.

After forcing himself to calm down, he said to Cai Hui, "This isn't just one charge of regicide, it's two! He killed the late emperor and then attempted to kill Xiao Wenqin... Tell me, how do you plan to resolve this? This will likely incur the scorn of the entire world..."

"I'm afraid I'll be the first one killed then! Mother, do you have a solution?"

Seeing that Xiao Tao was starting to back down, Cai Hui smiled and said, "Of course... I certainly have my own methods. What, weren't you going to threaten me just now? What, aren't you going to threaten me now?"

Xiao Tao waved his hand awkwardly and said, "Mother...please forgive me...I was just caught off guard by this sudden turn of events. I was originally the legitimate heir. As a result, I've suddenly become universally hated...I can't accept it for a while."

Cai Hui's gaze sharpened: "Don't be anxious! Is this Xiao Ce's method?"

Xiao Tao asked with a hint of doubt, "Xiao Ce? Isn't it Xiao Yang?"

Cai Hui snorted coldly: "I know my stupid son's own limitations better than anyone! This kind of method couldn't possibly be his idea."

Xiao Tao said to Cai Hui, "Mother, do you have any ideas?"

Cai Hui said to Xiao Tao, "Judging from your expression, you really seem anxious... Isn't this a very simple matter? Why is it so complicated? Do you think Xiao Wenqin's word is law?"

"First, summon all the ministers and tell them that we have found out that the person who poisoned the late emperor was Xiao Yang. Xiao Yang arrested Xiao Wenqin and then forced him to smear us."

"Then, you should agree to their demands. Since Xiao Wenqin is not dead, you will temporarily assume the throne... Now that Xiao Wenqin has been captured by Xiao Yang, we will go and attack Xiao Yang. Make them hand over Xiao Wenqin. As long as Xiao Wenqin returns, you will hand over the throne to him! Those pedantic scholars will definitely be moved to tears when they hear you say this!"

Xiao Tao was stunned upon hearing Cai Hui's words, then his eyes brightened: "Mother, you are absolutely right. How could I not have thought of such a simple question... I was truly blinded by my own involvement!"

"Okay, I'll go arrange it now..."

Seeing that Xiao Tao was about to leave in a hurry, Cai Hui called out to him.

Seeing Cai Hui's unpleasant expression, Xiao Tao said to her, "Mother, I apologize. I was just impatient... Please don't hold it against me..."

Cai Hui's expression remained unpleasant: "Xiao Tao, I chose you because I trust you... but you don't trust me! That's something I can't accept."

"This is the first time... If there's a second time, then you go your way, and I'll go mine! Understand?"

"You should know my relationship with the Japanese! Do you think the Japanese would help you without me?"

Xiao Tao's face turned ugly, then he shook his head: "Mother, I know I was wrong!"

Cai Hui nodded again: "If you admit your mistake, you should correct it!"

Xiao Tao nodded and hurriedly went out to deal with the ministers.

Before leaving, Cai Hui said to Xiao Tao, "When you face those ministers, you must have a firm belief. That will definitely intimidate them... Those ministers don't have any real ability. If you are strong, they are weak. If you are cowardly, they are strong."

Cai Hui is right; he truly deserves his long experience in the palace.

These ministers also had a general idea in mind.

As expected, Xiao Tao told them very firmly, and the ministers trusted him.

They started condemning Xiao Yang again.

...

Meanwhile, in Jiangnan, Xiao Xiangqing and Xiao Zhan learned of this matter.

They were initially eager to fight, but after some discussion, they decided to let the dogs fight each other.

After reaching an agreement, Xiao Zhan was about to return to Sichuan.

To their surprise, those Slavic people invited them to dinner.

Xiao Zhan listened to the invitation from a young servant from the Xiao Kingdom.

"Do you know what those Slavs asked us to do?" Xiao Zhan asked suspiciously.

The servant shook his head, saying awkwardly, "Your Majesty, we are not aware of this..."

Xiao Zhan nodded: "Did you invite Xiao Xiangqing and the others?"

The servant nodded: "Your Majesties, the Slavs have all been invited..."

Xiao Zhan listened and nodded, then stopped asking questions.

After the servant left.

Xiao Zhan asked Bi Han, "Lord Bi Han, what do you think these Slavic people are trying to do at this time of year?"

Bi Han said to Xiao Zhan, "Your Majesty, they definitely want us to clash. Their quiet development like this is certainly something they don't want to see..."

Xiao Zhan asked疑惑地问道：“So, they're sending us to fight Xiao Tao this time? After all, didn't you say that Japan and this Slavic country are inherently at odds? And that Xiao Tao is backed by the Japanese…”

Bi Han nodded: "Your Majesty, you are very clever. I guessed that was the case."

Xiao Zhan said, "Then we definitely can't go and fight, right? If we go and fight, wouldn't we be falling into their trap?"

Bi Han nodded, then said, "Let's go find Xiao Xiangqing first. Let's see their attitude! If they want to fight, then we'll follow them! If they don't fight, then they're closer to the Slavic people."

After hearing Bi Han's words, Xiao Zhan's smile widened.

“Not bad...not bad...then, let’s go find Xiao Xiangqing first.”

Xiao Xiangqing and the others had guessed it, and their attitude was very clear: they needed to rest and recuperate for the time being.

Although they have established a nation, there are still countless things to do here.

If we're going to fight, let them fight.

Hearing Xiao Xiangqing's words, Xiao Zhan felt reassured.

...

These Slavs hosted a banquet for Xiao Xiangqing at a Qian family hot pot restaurant in the capital.

Qian Dafang's hot pot restaurant has one in almost every city in Xiao Kingdom.

Business was naturally booming.

Because Qian Dafang uses a franchise model, he provides the hot pot base and services.

They gave these shops to local powerful families or businessmen.

Therefore, even though Xiao Guo was facing this situation, the Qian family hot pot restaurants were not affected in the slightest.

As the saying goes, a local official is more powerful than a distant one!

This statement is absolutely correct; Qian Dafang made a lot of money using this model.

I also got closer to these people.

These Slavic people were genuinely surprised when they tried this hot pot for the first time.

After all, they had never tasted these things before.

After eating it once, I completely fell in love with it.

Nikolayevich Ries, accompanied by a group of Slavs.

That's exactly what we're waiting for.

"Your Highness, do you think these people will agree?"

"Yes, Your Highness Rhys, I just feel that you're being too polite to them... With our strength, there's absolutely no need for us to be so polite to them!"

After listening to what the people around him were saying, Nikolayevich Riess smiled and said, "Don't be impatient! Controlling them with violence is bound to backfire. Besides, they're not stupid. Why would they help us if we don't give them a taste of what's good for them?"

"We want to use incentives to get them to cooperate closely with us... and thus completely control them!"

The group seemed to understand, but they nodded nonetheless.

They knew that their prince was exceptionally intelligent.

There's nothing he can't do once he sets his mind to it.

“Every one of you needs to change your mindset. If you really want to control these people, you can't look at them as superior. These people from Xiao Kingdom are indeed inferior to us. However, they are extremely arrogant... So, to deal with them, you just need to flatter them to death.”

“If we look closely at these people of Xiao, we can see that they were an extremely powerful nation hundreds of years ago. But why have we surpassed them in this generation? It’s because they were complacent, arrogant, and conceited. Now, since we introduced industrial technology from across the ocean, our Slavic nation has carried out a series of reforms, thus unifying the entire Slavic nation and achieving our current glory.”

"But after we've come this far, I've discovered something. Many of us, including you, have become arrogant! We Slavic people have only had a few decades of good times. And we've already become so conceited? Isn't this a sign of decline? Never underestimate our opponents."

Nikolayevich Ries's words caused everyone present to lower their heads.

"You must understand, it's not just us who are making progress. The Fusang Kingdom is also making progress! The Xiao Kingdom is very important to our game, so we must be cautious about this issue!"

The group nodded in agreement.

Just as Nikolayevich Ries was talking to the person next to him.

A servant knocked on the door, and Rhys let him in.

Only then did I realize that the people they had invited had arrived.

Nikolayevich Riess smiled and got up, then went to greet him personally.

If it were before, the remaining members of their group would definitely have expressed their objections.

However, he had just been brainwashed by Nikolayevich Ries.

They all went out after that.

Xiao Xiangqing and Xiao Zhan had been here several times before, and this time they took the manual elevator up.

As soon as I stepped out of the elevator, I saw Nikolayevich Riess and his entourage waiting at the door with smiles on their faces.

Not only was Nikolayevich Riess all smiles, but the people behind him were also all smiles.

This startled Xiao Xiangqing and Xiao Zhan.

Actually, they haven't had much contact with these Slavic people since their last meeting.

They had never seen it before.

Xiao Zhan whispered to Xiao Xiangqing, "Brother, they're laughing like that, I'm scared..."

Xiao Xiangqing said to Xiao Zhan, "Don't say anything... Let's be careful later."

Seeing this, Nikolayevich Ries acted as if nothing had happened, and went straight up to give Xiao Xiangqing and Xiao Zhan a big hug.

This left the two of them even more confused.

Before they could speak, Nikolayevich pulled them into a private room.

The more enthusiastic Nikolayevich was, the more uncertain Xiao Xiangqing and Xiao Zhan felt.

"Your Highness, what brings you here this time?"

"Yes, Your Highness, if you need anything, just let us know..."

Nikolayevich Riess noticed the tension between the two.

"Gentlemen...gentlemen, there's no need to be nervous. I've come here for two reasons. First, I heard that His Majesty Xiao Zhan is also here. It's rare for us to be all together, and as partners, we certainly had to get together. Second, I've also heard about the proclamation from your former emperor at Yumen Pass..."

"Although I know that as outsiders, it's not appropriate for us to interfere in your country's internal affairs, I still consider us friends... I feel it's necessary to remind you not to act rashly. After all, this is a struggle between them; letting them wear each other down is in your best interest!"

Upon hearing Nikolayevich Riess's words, the two of them finally breathed a sigh of relief.

I thought they were sending them to fight, but it turns out they didn't want us to send troops at all.

But if not for this, then what was his purpose?

They didn't believe a single punctuation mark when Nikolayevich Riess suggested that they improve their relationship.