My chat group is full of female losers

Chapter 341 A clever plan
After a long while, Meng Xiao's frozen thoughts slowly began to thaw.

He watched the cavalry of dead men slowly approach, their faces twisted yet familiar, and his heart ached.

The blankness and astonishment on his face gradually faded, his lips tightened, his eyes darkened, his hands trembled slightly, and anger seemed to burst forth from every pore of his body.

He strode down the city wall and walked toward the group.

"General..." The adjutant beside him instinctively tried to stop him.

"General? What kind of general are they now?" Meng Xiao's voice trembled uncontrollably. "Are they all blind?! Come with me now... let's take them home!"

The lieutenant general seemed to have been punched hard, instantly snapping back to reality. All his previous confusion and hesitation vanished. He straightened his back and roared, "Yes, sir!"

Meng Xiao walked at the front, and together they headed towards their comrades.

The soldiers lifted the stiff corpses off the horses, and then carefully placed the heads they held in their arms back onto the necks.

Meng Xiao stood there, staring intently with his bloodshot eyes, as if trying to etch this hellish scene into his mind.

Just as they were preparing the body of the royal envoy, a soldier's hand touched something hard. Looking down, he saw that the envoy was clutching a letter tightly in his cold hand. Without delay, he immediately reported this discovery to Meng Xiao.

Meng Xiao's heart clenched. He strode over and, with considerable effort, managed to pull the letter, which was covered in blood and frozen like a stone slab, from the envoy's stiff fingers.

He unfolded the letter and his gaze fell upon it.

Just a glance.

The grief on Meng Xiao's face was swallowed by horror, and that horror was completely ignited in the next second by a burst of rage that seemed to burst through the top of his head.

He struggled to read those few lines, and felt a surge of heat rush to his head, turning the whole world blood red.

He whirled around and roared, "Someone! Send this letter to the capital immediately! Now!"

A few days later, at the Political Affairs Hall.

Prime Minister Shen Shi'an and several trusted ministers had just finished dealing with some trivial matters and were resting, with a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere in the air.

“Judging by the days, the envoy should be arriving soon,” said Jia Ruhui, Minister of Revenue. “I think it won’t be long before the good news of the Third Princess’s sincere submission arrives.”

“Indeed,” Wen Yutang, the Minister of Rites, chimed in with a smile. “The Third Princess is a sensible person and would never disappoint us. Your Majesty, you were indeed worrying unnecessarily.”

Shen Shi'an, with an air of composure, said, "Your Majesty is still young, and it is only natural that you overthink things. As your subjects, isn't our job to share your burdens? Once this matter is resolved, our dynasty can sit securely for another hundred years."

Everyone said yes again and again.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps sounded outside the hall, and a Ministry of War official rushed in, stumbling and scrambling. He held a wax-sealed memorial box high in his hand and shouted, "Your Excellency! Northwest! Urgent dispatch from the Northwest, eight hundred li away!"

Shen Shi'an's spirits lifted, and he exchanged glances with the others, their eyes gleaming with unspoken joy.

"What's the panic? Bring it here." He tried to remain calm, but the upturned corners of his mouth betrayed his true feelings. "It must be that the royal envoy has succeeded and is here to report the good news to us!"

The official held the memorial box high above his head.

Shen Shi'an practically snatched it, tearing open the wax seal himself and pulling out the letter inside. He unfolded the letter with great enthusiasm, but the next moment, the smile on his face shattered as if frozen in ice.

The handwriting on the letter was wild and unrestrained, and the content was extremely malicious.

“I have killed the men you sent.”

He's noisy, and he's a man. Those two reasons are enough. I've already accepted the gift; it's what I deserve.

Now I am the Lord of the Desert, a mandate of Heaven, and it is only rightfully my destiny. Afterwards, I will travel to the capital to take over your lands and become your emperor. Finally, I will restore the entire world to its rightful state.

Before I arrive, I need to see all the men break their own legs and kneel outside the city. Your emperor must kneel at the very front.

Do not attempt anything foolish. You are not worthy to speak with me. Resistance is pointless and will only make your end worse. Your hypocritical and cunning schemes are useless; before my absolute power, you are all laughable clowns.

As slaves, submit to me. This is your only way to survive.

This is not a threat, but rather informing you of an impending reality.

Upon seeing this, Shen Shi'an's face turned extremely ugly. It was like coming home to find his wife cheating on him. He wanted to maintain his dignity and calmly question her, but instead, his wife slapped him and scolded him for coming home so early, causing her affair to be exposed.

He was so angry he could barely hold the letter.

"Outrageous! Utterly absurd!" Shen Shi'an slammed the letter onto the table with a loud thud. "Lord Shen, what's wrong?" Jia Ruhui and the others felt a chill in their hearts upon seeing this.

However, Shen Shi'an did not answer. He suddenly stood up and shouted sternly, "Prepare the horses! Enter the palace immediately to see the Emperor!"

########
Inside the Yangxin Hall.

Chu Lu stared expressionlessly at the letter in his hand, the very same arrogant proclamation filled with the Third Princess's personal style.

Below him, Prime Minister Shen Shi'an, leading a group of ministers who had been so spirited just moments before, were now kneeling on the ground, their faces filled with anger.

"See?" Chu Lu casually tossed the letter onto the imperial desk. "I wasn't wrong, was I?"

"Your Majesty is wise!" Shen Shi'an pounded his head on the ground, his voice filled with anger. "It was our foolishness and arrogance that nearly caused a disaster! The Third Princess's words were so vicious, clearly indicating a fight to the death. We beg Your Majesty's forgiveness and to show us how to resolve this!"

"We are guilty!" The other ministers also kowtowed.

Chu Lu couldn't help but curl his lips at their behavior.

After his last conversation with Qin Su, he had already formulated a comprehensive plan. Hearing the question now, he replied without hesitation, "There's only one way: abandon all illusions and prepare for war. If she wants war, then let's fight!"

Upon hearing this, the ministers, who were already seething with anger, were immediately agitated.

"Your Majesty is right! A motley crew of women dares to challenge my heavenly army? They're just asking for death!"

"This humble general requests permission to fight! Give me 30,000 elite troops, and I will slaughter those reckless women until not a single one is left alive!"

"That's right! We have to let them taste our iron fist!"

They became more and more excited as they talked, as if they couldn't wait to fly to the desert and chop off the Third Princess's head.

"Enough," Chu Lu interrupted their boastful words coldly. "Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. Are you all so careless that you want to line up and hand over military merits to them?"

The officials' excited expressions froze instantly.

After a moment of silence, they all bowed and echoed in unison, "Your Majesty is right; we were rash."

However, their eyes were still full of indifference, clearly not taking Chu Lu's warning to heart.

Chu Lu was not surprised at all.

According to Qin Su's explanation, in the original storyline of the Third Princess, the reason why the court suffered a complete defeat in the early stages was due to this inexplicable arrogance.

Especially the commander-in-chief Meng Xiao, who was far away on the border, acted in a way that was utterly outrageous and incredibly stupid.

In the storyline, he knew the desert was dangerous; men who entered it would immediately freeze and become unable to move. He had also sent people to investigate, so there was no question of distrust. Furthermore, he already knew the desert would launch an attack. Generally, they should have chosen to remain still and wait for the enemy to attack.

As a result, under such circumstances, the Third Princess only sent a few people to lure him in, and he actually led tens of thousands of troops to charge in. In the end, he was frozen half to death and became a prisoner without any resistance.

The plot was so absurd that Chu Lu didn't know whether to criticize how a few people could lure in tens of thousands of troops, or to criticize Meng Xiao's suicidal behavior.

However, now that we know the problem, the solution is naturally simple.

He took out two brocade pouches that had been prepared beforehand from under the imperial desk.

"Imperial decree," he said, holding up the two brocade pouches, "Immediately send these two pouches to the northwest border and give them to General Meng Xiao. Instruct him that from now on, whenever he plans to send out troops, he must open and examine them in order, and then act according to the instructions. Disobedience will result in execution!"

Although Chu Lu was not Zhuge Liang and not as clever, he already understood the ins and outs of the story, so he was more than capable of making targeted plans.

This action was tantamount to an imperial edict, and the officials dared not disregard it in the slightest. Shen Shi'an solemnly replied, "Your subjects obey the edict!"

"You may all step back," Chu Lu waved his hand.

Shen Shi'an kowtowed deeply and said in a deep voice, "Your subject takes his leave."

Then, he slowly rose and led the civil and military officials behind him out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation in an orderly manner according to their official ranks.

Once the Hall of Mental Cultivation returned to silence, Chu Lu sat alone on the dragon throne. He calculated the time and suddenly realized that today was the day the tea shop owner was to meet with the contact.

His eyes immediately filled with anticipation as he awaited Huo Qi's report.

(End of this chapter)