My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

Sunlight filtered through the openwork patterns of the dome, falling onto the woven carpet beneath the throne, where it was fragmented into countless golden pieces, dazzling the eyes.

Frankincense was burning in the bronze incense burner at the corner of the hall. Wisps of bluish-white smoke rose slowly, dispersing into a thin mist in the air, enveloping the entire hall in a slightly bitter fragrance.

Ashina was most impatient with these useless banquet diplomacy.

Since his father was defeated by Ye Fan, their former tribe has been subordinate to the Great Flame.

Every year, during the Great Flame Festival banquet, envoys are required to attend.

Envoys from various countries mingled and drank in the capital, exchanging empty pleasantries and drinking wine with feigned sincerity...

Just imagining such a situation made him feel as if ants were crawling all over his body. Starting from the back of his neck, they would run down his spine all the way to his waist, dense and persistent.

Besides, to put it nicely, he was invited to the Lantern Festival banquet; to put it bluntly, wasn't he just going to offer tribute?

They would send cartloads of their tribe's finest furs, most prized horses, and most precious spices to the Great Flame Emperor, only to receive a few perfunctory compliments in return.

"The loyalty of XX country is commendable," "The Khan of XX tribe is exemplary in loyalty and bravery"...—These are all just empty words. Are they worth a horse? Or a sheepskin?

He had left this matter to Dashiman ever since he succeeded his father.

Dashiman understood all the formalities and knew what gifts to give and what to say to the envoys. Ashina, on the other hand, was incapable of doing any of these things, nor did he want to.

So he rested his elbows on the armrest and cast an inquiring glance at Dashiman.

Those golden-brown eyes circled halfway around the hall before settling steadily on the old prime minister's face.

He didn't ask Fujiwara no Shūjin about the two tribes, and he didn't even glance at Fujiwara no Shūjin again.

Clearly, Ashina trusted Dashiman more than Fujiwara no Tsuruhito.

At this moment, Dashiman was filled with astonishment and doubt. His face was frozen, showing only a deep disbelief that seemed to seep out from his wrinkles.

His hand, which was twirling his beard, stopped in mid-air at some point, his fingertips pressing against the tips of his gray beard, so hard that his fingertips turned slightly white.

How is that possible?!

Japan is far away in the South China Sea, separated from the northern grasslands by a vast expanse of flames! Countless checkpoints, garrisons, and eyes are watching along the way.

How many times could Fujiwara no Shūjin, a king of Japan, have sailed the seas? How many times could he have seen the grasslands? How did he manage to maintain contact with the tribes of the northern grasslands?

Moreover, it sounds like they have a pretty close connection!

The confident tone in which he said "let them cooperate with the Western Regions" didn't sound like he was talking about two distant, unfamiliar tribes; it sounded more like he was talking about an old neighbor he had known for many years.

No need to send envoys to sound them out first? No need to send gifts to pave the way first? With just a word from Fujiwara no Tsuruhito, these two tribes would agree? They could be directly persuaded to cooperate with the Western Regions?

This is utterly absurd!

Moreover, these two tribes... Dashiman began to rummage through his memories.

During the years he was in charge of diplomacy in the Western Regions, he would have the participating envoys compile a detailed list of guests after the annual Great Flame Festival banquet.

The above will record the names of all invited countries and tribes, the number of envoys, and their seating arrangement.

He had seen those two names on those lists before! More than once!

This shows that these two tribes have been invited for several consecutive years, and it also shows that their tribal size has consistently remained among the top five!

The Chi Na tribe only started participating in the Great Flame Festival two years ago, making them a newly emerging force among the various tribes of the grasslands.

But these two tribes participated for at least five years!

What does five years even mean?!

That means their position on the grasslands is rock solid, while other tribes rise and fall, being swallowed up today and driven out tomorrow.

Yet they manage to maintain their positions year after year, like two nails driven into the top five, never moving an inch.

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

How could the king of a South China Sea island nation possibly have connections with one of the top five tribes on the grasslands?! The geographical distance and cultural and linguistic differences between the two are ridiculously large!

They barely even have a chance to meet, so how could they possibly have any real relationship?

Could it be that this person heard about these two tribes from somewhere...?

Da Shiman's rolling eyes paused for a moment, and his heart skipped a beat.

Oh, right! As the largest country in the South China Sea, Japan will certainly be invited to participate in the Lantern Festival banquet of the Great Flame!

It's not difficult for the envoys to find out the other invited countries with just a little inquiry!

This information is not a secret at all; you can get it by asking around, or you don't even need to ask. You can get a pretty good idea just by observing.

So, is Fujiwara no Tsuruhito trying to use their names to elevate himself? To use two of the top five tribes on the grasslands to embellish his own reputation?

Anyway, Horqin and Bairin are far enough away, big enough, and influential enough that using them to brag is not easy to expose and can make one seem like they have connections everywhere.

When the envoy finally went to them and explained his purpose, he was driven away.

Then the man found another reason, saying, "Everything had been agreed upon, but the envoy somehow offended the tribes, and the two tribes are no longer willing to cooperate."

Then he can disappear without a trace, saying it's all their own problem, that he, Fujiwara no Shūjin, has done his best, and that the responsibility doesn't lie with him.

Yes, that must be it! I absolutely cannot let this despicable person succeed!

Fujiwara no Shūjin wants to climb the ranks on his turf? Dream on!

The court in the Western Regions is not his quagmire in the South China Sea; it will not tolerate him stirring up trouble there.

Wasn't the idea to get those two tribes to cooperate?

As far as he knew, the Bahrain tribe had always had a good relationship with the Great Flame.

During the annual Yuan Festival banquet, the envoys of the Balin tribe were placed in the position closest to the emperor among all the envoys, and received more generous rewards than those of other tribes.

Why would a tribe with such a good relationship with the Great Flame cooperate with the Devouring Flame to fight the Great Flame?

I'd like to see how he manages to get those two tribes to agree to cooperate!

Don't you have a solution? Don't you have confidence?

Alright! Then reveal your true intentions and strategies! Let the King see what cards you, Fujiwara no Tsuruhito, are holding!

If you can't produce it, then all those boasts you just made are the grave you dug for yourself!

Dashiman lowered his hand, looked up at Ashina, a smile on his lips, and answered truthfully.

"These two tribes are among the top five tribes in the northern grasslands, and their scale is no smaller than that of the China tribe."

Ashina's breath hitched.

His back suddenly sprang up from the backrest, and the hand that was supporting himself on the armrest tightened instantly, his knuckles turning white, as he gripped the red agate tightly in his palm.

The sharp edges of the gemstone pressed against the lines of his palm, causing a slight pain, but he was completely unaware of it.

He really didn't expect that Fujiwara no Shūjin would casually blurt out two names—two names he had never even heard of before, and he almost thought they were made up tribal names.

It's even bigger than the China tribe!