Prince Bei Jing of the Red Chamber, starting from saving Qin Keqing

Batu chuckled, shook his head, and spoke in a mix of Mandarin and Mongolian dialect:

"Your Majesty is mistaken! My Khan said that next spring, the Tatars and Oirats will lead their cavalry to 'stroll' along the border."

"However, if the Great Emperor agrees to our two conditions, our Great Khan and the Oirat Grand Tutor will withdraw their troops and cease harassing your borders."

As he spoke, Batu's gaze swept unabashedly over the dancers hiding beside the hall, his eyes greedy. Pointing at them, he said in a gruff voice:

"First, open trade routes so we can exchange our horses and furs for your cavalry; second, present these young ladies to our Khan and Grand Tutor, so our brothers can have a taste!"

Ersen added, his tone sinister:

"Your Majesty, don't forget how your grandfather—the Great Yin Emperor we captured—died!"

"Back then, the Grand Tutor imprisoned him on the grasslands, and he refused to surrender even at the cost of his life. In the end, didn't he still freeze and starve to death? The shame of your Great Yin Dynasty is etched into your bones!"

These words were like a sharp knife, piercing the sore spot of the Great Yin Dynasty.

Shui Rong frowned sharply, his heart sinking—this world was similar to, yet different from, the Ming Dynasty of his previous life.

His Majesty's grandfather, his imperial ancestor, was indeed captured by the Oirat Mongols. Later, because the Great Yin Dynasty refused to compromise, he was imprisoned and died by the Oirat Mongols.

Later, the emperor's younger brother took the opportunity to rebel, but his father, Shui Yanchen, stepped forward and supported the late emperor (Zhu Yiheng's father) to succeed to the throne, thus stabilizing the country of the Great Yin Dynasty.

That humiliation was not only a pain for the royal family, but also a national disgrace for the entire Dayin Dynasty!

"How dare you!"

Zhu Yiheng's lips trembled with anger. He slammed his hand on the armrest of the throne and shouted angrily:

"Your Khan is courting death! My Great Yin Dynasty has a strong army and ample supplies. If you dare to invade, I will leave you utterly defeated and your Khan will die without a burial place!"

"Oh dear, Your Majesty, please don't be angry!"

Batu laughed heartily, slapping his thigh and saying:

"What a profitable deal! You only need to provide some grain and cloth, and a few young women, and you can live a peaceful life. Why not?"

"Our iron cavalry of the grasslands is not to be trifled with!"

"Exactly!" Ersen interjected, his eyes filled with disdain.

"Your soldiers of the Great Yin Dynasty look flashy, but they fight like sheep. If it weren't for the old Prince Shui risking his life to hold on, your country would have been destroyed long ago!"

"You're talking fucking nonsense!"

Shui Rong suddenly stood up, completely disregarding the etiquette expected of a prince.

He had originally intended to wait and see how far this barbarian from the grasslands would go, but the other party's words directly involved his father.

Such arrogance and rudeness meant he could no longer stand idly by.

With the typical Northern rascal air, he pointed at Batu and Ersen and angrily rebuked them:

"Has your Khan lost his mind? Or has he been corrupted by the sluts of the grasslands? How dare you presume to treat the people of the Great Yin as your playthings, and yet you dare to call yourselves a 'nation'?"

"Why don't you take a piss and look at yourselves? Your wretched grasslands used to be so poor you couldn't even get a hot meal. You dare call yourselves emperors? Golden bloodline? I think it's just a bloodline of idiots!"

These words stunned everyone in the hall—who didn't know that Prince Bei Jing, Shui Rong, was a gentleman, gentle and refined?

Today he's hurling such profanities, acting like a street thug, yet he exudes a domineering and intimidating aura!

Batu and Ersen were stunned for a moment, then their eyes widened in anger. Batu drew his curved sword from his waist, pointed it at Shui Rong, and roared:

"You little prince, how dare you insult our Great Khan? By Tengri, I'll chop you down!"

"You're asking for it!"

Shui Rong stepped forward, her eyes sharp as knives: "Go ahead and try to move! In His Majesty's palace, how dare you, a barbarian, act so arrogantly?"

Ersen quickly pulled Batu back, his face grim, and said, "Batu, don't be impulsive! We're here to negotiate, not to fight!"

He turned to look at Shui Rong, a hint of smugness in his voice:

"Young Prince, don't be stubborn! Tengri has protected our grassland tribes and sent us the goddess!"

"The goddess has given us two crops, called sweet potatoes and potatoes. They are drought-resistant and can grow in poor soil. You can harvest a lot of them by simply planting them on the grassland."

"We herders on the grasslands have long since stopped going hungry!"

"that is!"

Batu laughed triumphantly:

"The Goddess said that our grasslands will rise up, we will establish our own country, and we will never be bullied by your Great Yin Dynasty again! From now on, we will be a powerful nation with food to eat and territory to occupy!"

Upon hearing this, Shui Rong's pupils suddenly contracted, and a storm raged in his heart—in his previous life, sweet potatoes and potatoes were only introduced to China during the Wanli era.

But this world, which resembles the Dream of the Red Chamber, is clearly similar to the mid-Ming Dynasty. How could it have been introduced to the grasslands so far ahead of time?

And what's with this "goddess"? Who is she? Is she a time traveler? Or a reclusive master? Why does she choose to help the Tatars and Oirats?

The ministers of the six ministries and the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet inside the hall looked at each other, their expressions changing.

The core issue preventing the Tatars and Oirats from resisting the Great Yin Dynasty for an extended period was food shortages—the harsh grassland climate meant they could only graze livestock.

Once they encounter snowstorms or droughts, they will have no harvest and will have no choice but to plunder southwards.

But if they truly possessed this drought-resistant, high-yield crop, solved their food problem, and then integrated the forces of the Tatars and Oirats...

A powerful regime will inevitably rise in the north, which will be a catastrophic disaster for the Great Yin Dynasty!

The foreign guests inside the hall were also in an uproar, with various expressions on their faces.

Matteo, the envoy from the Portuguese Empire, asked his accompanying interpreter in a low voice, "What are sweet potatoes and potatoes? Why have I never heard of them?"

The translator quickly stepped forward and asked Batu, who proudly raised his chin and said in broken Chinese:

"It's an edible root! It's dark black, planted in the ground, and grows bigger than a fist; one root can be a meal!"

Ali, a merchant from Samarkand, had a glint in his eye as he secretly calculated—if the grasslands were truly well-fed, trade would certainly be profitable, but this goddess was far too mysterious.

The Japanese envoy, Yamaguchi Taro, quickly jotted down notes on silk, his brow furrowed—if there were powerful enemies in the north of the Great Yin Dynasty…

This will inevitably affect our policy towards Japan, and this matter needs to be reported back to China as soon as possible.

Zhu Yiheng's anger had long since dissipated, replaced by a deep sense of apprehension.

He had never heard of sweet potatoes or potatoes, and had no idea who this so-called goddess was. He was at a loss for what to do.

Seeing the various expressions on everyone's faces, Batu became even more smug. He took two dark, unsightly objects from his attendant and threw them on the ground.

With a "smack," one of them cracked open, revealing the pale yellow flesh inside.

"Your Majesty, look! This is a sweet potato!"

Batu kicked something on the ground, his tone arrogant.

"This is our Khan's gift to you—either agree to our terms, or next spring, we'll lead our iron cavalry to raze your borders! As for the Goddess..."

He paused, a look of awe in his eyes: "The goddess is an envoy sent by Tengri, descending from the sky, dressed in white and wearing a golden crown."

"No one has ever seen her true face; all we know is that she can control the wind and rain, teach us how to plant, and even cure diseases and save lives! Anyone who dares to disrespect the goddess will surely be punished by Tengri!"

Ersen added, "The Goddess said that if the Great Yin Dynasty knows what's good for it, it should obey. Otherwise, Tengri will bring down calamities, making life unbearable for the people of your Great Yin Dynasty!"

Shui Rong bent down, picked up the sweet potato from the ground, and ran her fingertips along its rough skin, a hint of seriousness flashing in her eyes.

This thing is indeed exactly the same as the sweet potato from my previous life, but this goddess is too strange—descended from the sky? Commands wind and rain?

If they truly possessed such abilities, why would they specifically help the Tatars and Oirats? There must be something fishy going on here.

He looked up at Batu and Ersen, his tone icy, tinged with a hint of probing:

"Goddess? I think she's a demoness! If you truly had Tengri's protection, why were you all so thoroughly defeated by my father back then? You dare to cause trouble in His Majesty's palace today only because you have some food!"

"How dare you insult the Goddess?"

Batu flew into a rage and drew his scimitar again, shouting, "I'm going to kill you today!"

"Insolence!" Zhu Yiheng shouted sternly. The guards outside the hall immediately rushed in, drew their swords, and surrounded Batu, Esen, and the others.

Although Batu and Ersen looked fierce, they knew they wouldn't get anywhere inside the palace. Ersen quickly pulled Batu back and said coldly:

"Your Majesty, we'll give you three days to consider! If you don't agree to our conditions after three days, we'll immediately return to the grasslands and lead our troops south in the spring! Don't blame us for being impolite then!"

After saying this, Ersen gave Batu a wink, and the two turned around and strode out of Fengtian Hall with their entourage, leaving behind a solemn and uneasy atmosphere in the hall.