Wang Changshi secretly rolled his eyes.
How could one not guess the plan of this German king.
It was nothing more than asking him, the chief minister of the royal family, to come forward to do something, and then King Deku pretended not to know anything. Even if the court blamed him in the future, all the responsibilities would be put on him, the chief minister of the feudal lord.
However, he did not want to fight with King De on this point, and said directly: "Your Highness, please give me one or two things to prove your identity. Otherwise, even if I come forward, others may not recognize me."
"You are the long history of the palace, and your words represent the palace. Who dares to deny it." King De's face sank.
Wang Changshi said: "His Royal Highness also said that I am just the official of the palace. Although I can barely represent the palace in normal times, for such a big matter now, I still need a personal letter from King De. Not only that, but also a seal on it. precious."
"Isn't this impossible?" King De frowned.
Wang Changshi nodded.
"Okay then, I will write it now." King De chose to take a step back.
The eunuch in the palace prepared pens, inks, paper and inkstones. Rice paper as clean as snow was spread on the table, and a paperweight was placed in a corner.
The eunuch stood aside and carefully ground it.
King Deok picked up a pen and dipped it into the inkstone. He took it to the rice paper several times and wanted to write, but finally took it back when he was about to write.
"You go ahead and write it. After writing, I will use the seal directly." King De finally chose to give up writing by himself and left the matter to Wang Changshi in front of him.
Wang Changshi, who heard this, was not polite and apologized. He directly stepped forward and picked up a pen and ink to write on the rice paper.
As a long history man, he was also a Jinshi after all, so it was not difficult for him to write something like this.
Soon, the thing was written and given to King De to read it over. Finally, the eunuch took out King De's seal and stamped it on it.
"Okay, you have got everything. I will leave the defense of the city to you, Chang Shi, and I will also leave my life to you." King De looked at Wang Changshi and said.
"I will not disappoint His Highness." Wang Changshi bowed and saluted.
King De was in no mood to leave Wang Changshi talking, so he waved his hand to let him go.
Wang Changshi did not leave, and said: "The most important thing to defend Jinan City is to control the defenders in the city. Because of Fu Zonglong's departure, the defenders in the city must be in panic. At this time, the most effective way is to restore the combat effectiveness of the defenders. It’s a generous reward to make them work for His Highness.”
"Let's be honest, what does Chang Shi want me to do?" King De was not stupid, and he heard that Wang Changshi still had requests to make.
Wang Changshi said: "I hope that your highness can give me some money, so that I can use this money to boost morale and make the defenders in the city stick to the city."
"Defending the city is the responsibility of the city's defenders. Why should I pay for it? Even if I have to pay for it, there are still officials there. What does it mean for me to pay for it? No, I have no money." King De felt that he had no money. It's already more generous to let the other party use your own name, but if you want to pay for it yourself, don't even think about it.
Wang Changshi seemed to have expected that King De would not take the money, so he said: "Your Highness, the morale of the defenders in the city is low now, and they need to use money to stimulate it. Moreover, this amount of money is a drop in the bucket for Your Highness. Your Highness can easily let it go." That’s enough.”
"Wang Changshi, don't you know what giving money to the city's defenders means to me?" King De stared at Wang Changshi with an ugly expression.
If he was just presiding over the overall situation in his name as a prince, maybe the court would tolerate it once because Jinan City was in danger, but if he used the money to buy off the city's defenders, the court would never do it. Will forgive him as the vassal king, even if the reason is legitimate.
Wang Changshi bowed and said: "I understand His Highness's concerns, but the morale of the defenders must be boosted right now, otherwise the defense of the city will not go smoothly. If you want to defend Jinan City, you cannot lack the strength of these defenders."
"You are taking my life by doing this." King De shouted.
Wang Changshi did not back down because of King De's anger, and said: "I have a way to prevent the court from blaming you, and the money can also be used on the defenders of Jinan City."
"No matter what the method is, I will not give any money to the defenders in the city. I don't want to have anything to do with any soldiers. I am just a vassal king. Do you understand, vassal king?" King De said in the vassal palace. The two words were emphasized twice.
Wang Changshi said: "We have reached this point, and it is useless for Your Highness to retreat. We will never let the tiger thieves attack the city. Instead of waiting to die, Your Highness might as well take out some money. I will definitely not let you go." Let people know that the silver comes from His Highness’s hands.”
"What you mean is that I have paid money, but I still have to make wedding clothes for others. In this case, why should I pay this money? I will not use money to fill this hole." King De looked ugly. said.
He didn't want to have anything to do with military power at all. For a vassal king like him who couldn't inherit the great treasure, the best result was to eat, drink and have fun for the rest of his life, without even thinking about other things.
Wang Changshi said: "If Your Highness is not willing to pay this money, once the army of tiger thieves enters the city, all the belongings in the prince's palace will fall into the hands of the tiger thieves, and even your life and death, Your Highness, will be controlled by others. I, my Majesty, will I feel that Your Highness must not be willing to endure such a scene."
"Are you threatening me?" King De was furious.
The palace chief Shi in front of him would only threaten him about the thieves entering the city from outside the city, and he threatened him twice in a row, but on different things.
Wang Changshi said: "I am just stating a fact."
At this time, he also knew that he had completely offended the German king.
But he had no choice. The city of Jinan had the family property he had accumulated. Once the tiger-character banner army outside the city entered the city, all his hard work over the years would be in vain.
Compared with his own interests, offending King De is not that important.
He is not a eunuch or a maid in the palace. Even if he offends King De, the other party will at most hold a grudge against him and not dare to do anything to him.
"Okay, I promise to give you a sum of money, but you have to promise that no one will know that this money is related to me." King De finally chose to give in.
After all, Jinan City cannot be defended, and the wealth in his palace will only benefit others in the end.
"Your Highness is wise." Wang Changshi praised King De.
Praising others is the most beneficial and cost-effective thing for him.
King De looked at the eunuch on the side and said, "Take Wang Changshi to get the silver."
"Yes." The person who was called bowed in agreement, took two steps back, and turned to Wang Changshi and said, "Changshi, please come with me!"
Wang Changshi bowed respectfully to King De before leaving with the eunuch.
King De watched Wang Changshi exit the hall, raised his hand to grab the tureen on the table and was about to throw it out. In the end, he was reluctant and carefully put the tureen in his hand back on the table.
(End of chapter)
