Empress in her second playthrough: Something's not right with this plot!

To be honest, among the Taoists he knew, the only one who was truly capable was Jingming Mountain.

Therefore, I went to Jingming Mountain to learn the method of activating talismans and, incidentally, to provide disaster relief.

Chapter 53 Everything is under control

Wei State, Imperial Observatory.

"Sir, there is news from the State of Chu."

A guard entered the room and handed two small bamboo tubes sealed with wax to Wenren Xu.

When Wenren Xu opened the bamboo tube, there was only one sentence on the small note inside.

[With the death of Mr. Thirteen, all the secret agents in the capital were captured, with only eight escaping.]

The other bamboo tube contained much more detailed writing, with the last sentence being:

Li Yunsheng asked me to pass on a message to you: one day he will personally visit Mr. Wenren.

Cough cough cough...

Wenren Xu first frowned, then coughed violently.

"gentlemen!"

The guards nearby were somewhat worried.

Wenren Xu raised his hand.

"Prepare the carriage immediately; I must enter the palace to see His Majesty."

……

The Imperial Palace.

"Your Majesty, the Grand Astrologer Wenren Xu requests an audience."

Wei Wenyu, leaning against the soft couch, turned his head slightly.

"Is something urgent that happened so late?"

"This servant does not know."

"Let him in."

When Wenren Xu entered the hall, Wei Wenyu was already sitting up straight.

"My dear minister, what is it?"

"Your Majesty, all the spies I planted in the capital of Chu have been exposed, with only eight escaping."

Wei Wenyu was startled.

"what happened?"

While it was inevitable that the secret agents' identities would be exposed, it was definitely not normal for them to be exposed and eradicated so simultaneously.

Over the years, the spies hidden in the State of Chu have provided David with a great deal of valuable information.

If they were wiped out in one fell swoop, David would lose his sight in the State of Chu in a short period of time.

Wenren Xu coughed lightly twice.

"The commander of the secret agents planted in the capital of Chu was arrested, and then Li Yunsheng obtained the list of personnel."

The Imperial Guards launched a city-wide manhunt; most people were arrested before they even had a chance to react.

Wei Wenyu's tone carried a hint of accusation.

"As the commander of the secret service, he actually handed over the list of his spies, betraying his country and treason. His entire family should be exterminated!"

"Your Majesty, there may be more to this than meets the eye—"

"What secrets could there be!" Wei Wenyu waved his sleeve. "Besides him, is there anyone else on the complete list of personnel who knows about it?"

Wenren Xu's tone softened slightly.

"No, no, but I know his character. He would never betray David, even if it meant his death."

"Alright, this trend must not be allowed to continue; it must be severely punished!"

Wenren Xu opened his mouth, but could only agree in the end.

"Your Majesty, Li Yunsheng is out of control."

He poisoned Li Yunsheng, thinking he could control him.

Unexpectedly, the other party gave him such a big 'surprise'.

This clearly shows a lack of fear and a complete disregard for the poisoning.

There's only one possibility: the other person has already been detoxified.

Therefore, he became even more certain that the matter of Shaluo must have been a scheme set up by Li Yunsheng from the very beginning.

"Li Yunsheng," Wei Wenyu muttered, "Didn't you say before that you had poisoned him and controlled him?"

"Judging from his current actions, he is clearly acting recklessly. I suspect that he may have already cured himself of the poison."

"I have said long ago that poisoning is ultimately a minor technique."

Wenren Xu bowed and said, "Your Majesty's teachings are correct."

Although he still doesn't understand where things went wrong, failure is failure, and there's no point in making excuses.

Wei Wenyu stood up and patted him on the shoulder.

"Alright, you don't need to blame yourself too much. We can gradually plant more spies."

"Now that our kingdom of David is growing stronger day by day, the destruction of Chu is just around the corner."

"His Majesty."

Wenren Xu took a deep breath and continued.

"I believe that the sale of silk gauze to the State of Chu should be prohibited immediately."

Wei Wenyu lowered his head slightly and glanced at him.

"I heard from the Prime Minister that you secretly sent someone to assassinate the Empress of Chu."

"Your subject deserves to die ten thousand times!" Wenren Xu immediately knelt on the ground.

Wei Wenyu said slowly.

"I know that you did not agree with the cancellation of customs duties between the two countries from the beginning."

"Your Majesty, Li Yunsheng's actions are clearly an attempt to cut off my David's supplies. At that time, my David will definitely be at the mercy of others."

"Very well, then I would like to ask, if you were Li Yunsheng, how would you plan to cut off my food supply?"

Wenren Xu, who was kneeling on the ground, immediately spoke.

“I will prohibit the sale of grain to David after the people of David have converted their fields to mulberry trees.”

"Ah."

Wei Wenyu nodded and continued to ask.

"With the autumn harvest just around the corner, the people will certainly not go hungry from now until this time next year."

Even if your Chu state no longer sells grain to my Wei state, I can still purchase grain from the Western Zhou.

Li Yunsheng alone could not buy all the grain in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

We can buy food anytime we want.

In fact, Wenren Xu had also thought of this.

He always felt that Li Yunsheng must have something to rely on since he dared to do this, but he couldn't figure out where the problem lay.

"Your Majesty, Li Yunsheng won't let me, David, reap such a great benefit for no reason. We must be on guard."

Hehehe...

"He's just a young man in his early twenties, all he can do is bully the Empress of Chu."

With the Western Zhou dynasty in power, even if he had schemes, they would all have failed.

Wenren Xu then raised his second concern.

"Your Majesty, what if the Chu Kingdom and the Western Zhou Kingdom join forces..."

"Western Zhou and Chu joined forces?"

Wei Wenyu smiled and shook his head.

“My dear minister, if you had a broader perspective, you wouldn’t have asked this question.”

I, David, used the natural defenses of the Western Zhou to resist them; the Hengduan Mountains are easy to defend and difficult to attack.

If the Western Zhou truly allied with the Chu state, what would he gain?

Wenren Xu quickly realized what was happening and focused all his attention on Li Yunsheng.

Therefore, it affected the judgment of the overall situation.

"It was my oversight."

"You probably don't know this, but Li Yunsheng was worried that we would hoard grain, so he sent people to Xizhou in advance to purchase a large amount of grain."

Wei Wenyu revealed a mocking expression.

"Utterly foolish!"

Now, the State of Chu is not only our cash cow, but also the cash cow of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

The Western Zhou would only try to profit from the two states, and would certainly not ally with the Chu state.

"Your subject understands."

Wei Wenyu stretched out his palm and then clenched it tightly.

"I have already formed an alliance with the Western Zhou. Once we have drained the blood of the Chu Kingdom, we will jointly attack Chu."