Zhuge Liang's Journey to Dominate the World: Starting from Another World

Du Ruhui had already made a plan in mind: if Li Guangling listened to him and went to attack An Tingjing, he could live a little longer.

But if he still dares to make demands, then I wouldn't mind killing him on the spot.

After Kongming saw that the conflict between the two had almost reached its peak, he slowly stepped forward.

"This must be Prime Minister Du Ruhui!"

"It is indeed I, the Prime Minister!" Du Ruhui cast a sharp glance at him, displaying the majesty and imposing presence of a prime minister.

In fact, the two had already exchanged blows several times from afar, but today was their first meeting. Du Ruhui had heard about Kongming's methods, but he always believed that seeing is believing.

"I have heard so much about the Prime Minister's name that I expected him to have some profound insights, but I did not expect him to utter such laughable words!" Kongming said with a slight smile, gently waving his feather fan.

"Oh? I would like to hear the details!" Du Ruhui asked calmly, trying to suppress his anger.

"Today, His Majesty the Emperor summoned the Prince to court to crown him. The family was all in harmony, but you insisted on accusing him of 'questioning His Majesty's decision' and 'uttering rebellious words.' Which ear did you hear the Prince say such things? This is nothing but an attempt to frame you, which makes me suspicious of your motives!"

Kongming waved his feather fan and spoke calmly.

"You...you...where did this insignificant cultivator come from? Do you think there are no great masters in our dynasty? How dare you bark like this!"

"Look, look, here we go again. I haven't even said three sentences, and you're already saying I look down on the Tang Dynasty for having no great men. Do you think the three major sects would let you be their pawns?" Kongming glanced at the garrison experts of the three major sects and said hastily.

Upon hearing this, the experts from the three major sects glanced at Du Ruhui with cold expressions.

Although they were only responsible for the safety of Empress Wu and the capital and never interfered in politics, it did not mean that they would turn a blind eye to the arbitrary and reckless behavior of powerful ministers in the court. Daring to use the three major factions had undoubtedly crossed their bottom line.

At this moment, Du Ruhui's expression was worse than crying. He had always done it this way before and had never encountered any problems. Why was it not working today?

Li Guangling, standing to the side, immediately perked up, thinking to himself, "Damn it, at this crucial moment, we still need this sorcerer to step in..."

"Zhuge brat, no matter how eloquent you are, Li Guangling's attempt to negotiate with the court by mentioning the recovery of three prefectures is disloyal!"

Du Ruhui said in a fit of exasperation.

"What is disloyalty? Knowing it's impossible yet still doing it, delaying important matters of the court, that's true disloyalty. Now the prince only has tens of thousands of soldiers, no pay, no manpower, you expect him to fill An Tingjing's teeth?"

Kongming stared at Du Ruhui and said in a forceful voice, almost as if he were saying that Du Ruhui was the truly wicked and evil person.

"What a sharp-tongued person you are! It seems that Li Guangling's current situation is all thanks to you!" Du Ruhui said with a gloomy face.

"So what if it is, so what if it isn't? Are we even discussing this topic today?" Kongming retorted without any politeness.

"You...you..." Du Ruhui was at a loss for words, wishing he had two more mouths.

The brief exchange had him on the verge of collapse, and his killing intent toward Kongming intensified.

Changsun Wuji, who was standing to the side, had long wanted to speak up for Li Guangling, but in order to avoid suspicion, he chose to wait and see. If Du Ruhui really wanted to kill Li Guangling, then he wouldn't care about anything else.

But to everyone's surprise, Kongming turned the tide with just a few words, even causing Du Ruhui to suffer such a great loss. Du Ruhui's opinion of Kongming rose to a new level.

Taking advantage of Du Ruhui's suppressed arrogance, this veteran of four dynasties knew that the best time for him to step in had arrived.

“This young man is right. With Xiao Lingzi’s current strength, it’s nothing short of a pipe dream to take over the three northern prefectures. The imperial court should give him its full support!”

"The Emperor's brother-in-law is right!"

"Yes, that's right, An Tingjing has a strong and well-equipped army..."

A group of outspoken courtiers immediately echoed this sentiment.

Empress Wu finally began to show her emotion. She glared at Du Ruhui with her beautiful eyes and asked, "I wonder how the Prince of Yuliang wants the court to support him?"

Li Guangling was stunned for a moment, then looked at Kongming. Fortunately, this sorcerer did not intend to abandon the matter at this moment.

Kongming looked directly at Empress Wu and said, "Ten billion gold coins. The court will allocate ten billion for military expenses first. If further needs are required, we can discuss it further!"

"what!"

"This……"

"That's incredibly daring..."

"This young man, holy crap..."

A group of courtiers were so shocked by Kongming's outrageous demands that they began to hurl profanities.

Li Guangling was also stunned. Wasn't it supposed to be 200 million? How did it turn into 1 billion when he turned around?

Empress Wu's beautiful eyes flashed as she stared at Kongming, "Do you know what ten billion means?"

"That means the Tang Dynasty's entire year's military expenditure!" Kongming said, shaking his feather fan without any hesitation.

"Knowing that, you still dared to ask for it!"

“Your Majesty, this is different. The amount of gold coins required to build an existing army is worlds apart from that required to create one. Currently, Your Highness’s main force only numbers in the tens of thousands. If you want to expand, equip, or acquire warhorses, all of this requires sufficient financial support.”

"Absolutely not! Zhuge Liang is simply using the guise of expansion to amass wealth. Your Majesty, please reconsider!"

Du Ruhui gave one of the officials a wink, and the official immediately jumped out to object.

"I would like to ask Your Majesty, do you think so too? Then why not simply appoint the Prince as the Grand Marshal of the Tang Dynasty's army, commanding all the troops in the country? That way, perhaps only two hundred million gold coins would be enough!" Kongming said directly to Empress Wu without even looking at the official.

Li Guangling, standing to the side, twitched his eyebrows. This Immortal Master Zhuge's appetite was getting bigger and bigger.

"That's absolutely impossible! There's never been a precedent for the Grand Marshal of the Army to be commanded by a vassal king. However, one billion is no small sum, and the national treasury can't afford that much money right now!"

Upon hearing this, Empress Wu rejected Kongming's suggestion outright.

"That's a difficult problem. Without financial support, I think even if Your Highness wants to make contributions to the Tang Dynasty, it's like a skilled cook trying to cook without rice!"

Kongming shook his head and sighed.

"I'll give you 500 million, no more. And after you conquer the three prefectures, the imperial court will take back this expanded army!"

Empress Wu directly cut the military expenditure in half, and it seemed there was no room for maneuver.

"This is absolutely unacceptable, Your Majesty. Once the tiger gains momentum, then..."

"Shut up, or you go ahead and do it, I'm asking you if you dare!"

Before Du Ruhui could finish speaking, Kongming immediately launched into a rebuttal.

At this point, Du Ruhui finally became restless. His original intention was to send Li Guangling to his death. However, the situation developed completely out of his control.

As the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, he was second only to the emperor. It could be said that whatever he wanted to do, he could accomplish. Even if he couldn't do it, no one else could.

He looked at Kongming with a gloomy expression, wondering when he had ever been in such a passive situation.

"Zhuge Kongming, you're just a kid who hasn't even grown a single hair yet, how dare you spout such nonsense..."