The river is vast, and the breeze is refreshing.
The Crown Prince’s golden robe fluttered in the wind, sitting upright at the bow of the boat, floating like an immortal.
If we ignore the face, which could be extremely ugly, this should be an extremely beautiful picture. Many onlookers and those on the opposite boat feel regretful in their hearts.
Sui Heng received the Tusu wine from his own soldier, and the strong smell of herbs made him frown.
He enjoys strong wine and rarely touches ordinary turbid and fruity wine, let alone such lukewarm medicinal wine.
“Sure is a sickly one.”
Sui Heng thought with disdain in his heart.
After hearing that it was brewed by the other party himself, he became even more contemptuous.
The wine made by the ugly monster is too dirty for his mouth.
However, Sui Heng’s main purpose today was to watch Jiang Yun drink alcohol, and he didn’t really care about what he himself drank. He picked up the pot of Tusu wine, made a provocative gesture towards Jiang Yun from afar, then opened the seal and directly took a big sip from the wine jar into his stomach.
He also let his soldiers shout, saying that since both came to the river to drink, they should behave like men, and never learn from little children. Delicate, want to refuse but pretend to accept. Spend half a day just to finish a mouthful of wine.
Now not only Yun Huai and the other generals, but even Fan Zhou, frowned.
With such a strong Snow Mountain Saodaozi, ordinary people may burst into tears and cough uncontrollably after taking a sip. If one were to drink directly from a wine jar, he was afraid that the stomach would be burned directly.
Not to mention that their Highness has just recovered from a serious illness and also has a serious stomach disease.
This Crown Prince of Sui was rumored to have a violent temperament and a malicious heart, and the degree of malice far exceeded Fan Zhou’s expectations.
Fan Zhou suddenly has some regrets that he had easily agreed to the other party’s request.
Fan Zhou whispered, “A gentleman must judge the situation and act according to his ability, Your Highness does not have to carry on with him. The whole world knows that Your Highness is weak, even if Your Highness changes the wine, the onlookers will not say anything…”
“It’s fine.”
Under the curtains, Jiang Yun’s eyes remained warm and calm as ever.
Jiang Yun opened the wine jar’s seal, and the unique and intense aroma of Snow Mountain Saodaozi, like the scorching snow in the northern region, rushed towards him.
The advisors, generals, and soldiers on the entire deck could smell the strong smell.
“Your Highness!”
Fan Zhou was so anxious that he sweated profusely.
He is really worried about Jiang Yun’s health.
Jiang Yun turned his head to look at him and said, “Has the Master forgotten that Gu came here today not to tell the world how weak Gu is?”
Fan Zhou froze.
Jiang Yun asked the soldier to deliver a message: Since Your Highness has such a refined spirit, Gu will accompany Your Highness to the end.
Sui Heng found it interesting and narrowed his eyes. He directly threw the pot of medicinal wine in his hand that smelled of medicine, which smelled and tasted bad, and he did not know what spices had been added to the hands of his soldier, and he ordered someone to bring another pot of Snow Mountain Shaodaozi over.
After all, it was the wine brewed by the Crown Prince of the Jiang Empire from the opposite bank, and the soldiers anxiously asked how to deal with it.
Sui Heng casually said, “Split it up amongst yourselves.”
The soldier’s answer happily.
Tusu wine is a wine that can cure many diseases. Since it was brewed by the Crown Prince of Jiang, it is bound to add a lot of rare medicinal herbs. Who knows if it can help strengthen the body and bones after they drink it?
They don’t find it hard to drink!
Yun Huai and other generals saw Sui Heng’s behavior and angrily said, “Your Highness’s handmade wine is so precious and solemn. He even gave it to his own soldiers to drink. It is clear that he is deliberately humiliating Your Highness!”
The Generals sincerely advise their Highness not to take this matter to heart. Saying that the Crown Prince of Sui is just a wild and unreasonable tyrant!
The river wind blew a corner of the curtain away.
A few of the closest Generals happened to be able to catch a glimpse of a corner of the Crown Prince’s jade-like features.
Jiang Yun gently raised the corner of his mouth and looked at the vast river flowing by, as well as the little doggy flaunting like a peacock across from him. He didn’t pay much attention and said, “That’s because he doesn’t have good taste. Don’t worry, Gu won’t be angry.”
Jiang Yun ordered the accompanying musicians to play string music.
Then, amidst the attention of the crowd, he picked up the pot of Snow Mountain Shaodaozi and tilted his head back to pour a mouthful into his throat.
The light veil covered the young Crown Prince’s supposedly ugly face. The crowd only saw a small section of fair wrist hidden within the golden wide sleeves and a chin that was equally white as jade.
Jiang Yun’s movements were graceful and swift.
Our Highness thanks the Sui Empire’s Highness for the good wine!
Sui Heng’s eyes gently narrowed as he stared intently at Jiang Yun, like a wild wolf staring at an interesting prey, wanting to wait for this frail, sickly, ugly creature to choke, cough, weep, and not be able to stand up straight. However, Jiang Yun did not. After drinking, Jiang Yun held the wine jar and still sat calmly at the bow of the boat.
It seems that what he drank just now was not the famous Northern Region wine but a pot of ordinary plain water.
The people on the boat all showed looks of disbelief.
Including the Guozhu of the Jiangnan kingdoms and a group of officials and famous scholars, they were all amazed. They couldn’t believe that the frail and sickly Crown Prince of the Jiang Empire could really tilt his head back and drink a mouthful of Shaodaozi.
That’s the strongest of the strong liquors. Many of them had already started coughing just by smelling it. In fact, when they first boarded the ship, Sui Heng also forced them to drink a cup of Shaodaozi, but most of them only took a small sip and coughed until their faces turned red. There were a few who could drink, but their stomachs also felt like they were on fire, and their faces were agonized.
After the Crown Prince of Jiang had taken a mouthful, he was surprisingly able to maintain his elegant sitting posture without any reaction.
This just doesn’t make sense.
Sui Heng also felt that it didn’t make sense. Sui Heng began to doubt whether the person sitting on the opposite boat was actually Jiang Rongyu. But the soldier on the other side quickly replied, “Our Highness said that if there is any deception, the people and gods shall get angry, and heaven and earth shall punish him together.”
This is already an extremely vicious oath for the Crown Prince of a country.
Even if Jiang Rongyu had a mental illness, there was no way he would curse at himself with such a vicious oath for a jar of wine.
That’s even more interesting.
Sui Heng proposed the next requirement: sparring matches.
“This lunatic!”
Fan Zhou was furious and felt that Sui Heng was too unethical.
Sui Heng also conspiratorially had someone send word that if Jiang Yun was afraid, he could just abandon the wine and admit defeat, and if he also kowtow to him three times, he could let the matter of the Jiang Empire’s kidnapped Beauty Xin go.
Return Beauty Xin, and today’s matter will end here.
Before the official archery competition began, a strong smell of gunpowder had already permeated the river.
Sui Heng’s subordinates and his generals all cheered loudly. In their opinions, their Highness’s ability to use such a method to kill the Crown Prince of Jiang’s arrogance and prestige would make the Crown Prince of Jiang unable to lift his head as a human being in Jiangnan, as well as the whole world. It was truly refreshing and satisfying.
The famous scholars and officials of the Jiangnan countries were shivering with fear upon hearing this.
Using strong liquor like Snow Mountain Shaodaozi is not a sparring match, it is clearly a rhythm of putting the person to death.
On one hand, they were even more fearful of Sui Heng’s coldness and tyranny, and on the other hand, they also genuinely sympathized with the Crown Prince of Jiang on the other side of the river.
Xu Qiao also felt impressed by this bad idea of his Highness and couldn’t help but laugh and say, “Your Highness’s move is too ruthless. Isn’t this forcing him to admit defeat in public? If it were anyone else with less courage, they would have been scared to tears by His Highness already.”
Sui Heng’s hand was on the railing, still holding onto the wine jar in his hand. He drank it haphazardly, raised his eyebrows, and sneered, “This hypocrite really thinks that Gu has the leisure to run here to meet with him and drink. Since Gu is here today, Gu needs him to kneel on the ground, cry, and kowtow to Gu three times. Didn’t he claim to have a famous virtue all over the world? If he wants to convince people using virtue, the first rule is to keep his word, he can’t run away from the battlefield, right?”
Sui Heng’s eyes sparkled with disdain and ridicule.
Dare to cause trouble in his territory, he really thinks he’s a kind and benevolent Buddha.
Today, he not only wants him to cry and beg for mercy, but he also wants him to publicly unveil the curtain and show everyone that ugly and disgusting face.
Chen Qi’s fists are tightly clenched inside his sleeves, his eyes flashing with excitement.
He rarely showed such a look, but at this moment, when Sui Heng proposed such a highly insulting and abusive idea, he could no longer control it and revealed some real emotions.
He was standing right behind Sui Heng, and at this moment, he arched his sleeves, made a long bow, and said, “The minister thanks Your Highness for going out of your way to do this for the minister.”
Chen Qi knew that Beauty Xin was most likely on the opposite ship. With his mother’s soft and gentle nature, at this moment, he still does not know how frightened and worried she is. A trace of guilt rarely rises in his heart.
After suffering for several days, he still did not choose to completely comply with Jiang Yun’s demands and secretly released Luo Fengjun from the Sui capital. He can’t afford to gamble.
In the end, he walked into the Crown Prince’s mansion, kneeled, and handed over the threatening letter to Sui Heng, begging Sui Heng to help him. When he took this step, he thought that Jiang Yun might get enraged and kill his mother.
But he has already taken this step.
He thinks to himself that his mother should be able to understand his difficulties and not blame him. But that doesn’t mean his conscience won’t be condemned.
This complex emotion aroused deeper resentment in Chen Qi’s heart.
If it weren’t for the Yellow River’s natural moat blocking it, he would have wished to immediately follow Sui Heng’s army southward, break through the Muyun Pass, break through the Jiang capital, and capture that hypocritical Jiang Rongyu, making him unable to even want to die.
Sui Heng was a wise and courageous heir. After reading the letter, Sui Heng helped Chen Qi up and said, “The Military Advisor has been loyal to Gu, Gu will naturally not let the Military Advisor’s loyalty down.”
Sui Heng directly used the Luo Kingdom as a bet and invited Jiang Yun to meet on the river.
To the court and the public’s eyes, this is simply a crazy move. The Left Prime Minister, Jimo Qingyu, even directly scolded Sui Heng in court, accusing him of being arrogant and treating the subordinate countries as a child’s play.
Emperor Sui also expressed doubts about this decision.
Soi Heng testified in front of the whole court. If he lost the Luo Kingdom, he would bow and admit his mistake in front of Jimo Qingyu.
“There’s no need for the Military Advisor to be polite.”
“When dealing with such a hypocrite, you have to hit the nail on the head and strip him of that cover.”
Sui Heng directly ordered someone to pour out thirty cups of Snow Mountain Shaodaozi and had his personal soldiers deliver them to the opposite side.
He stood on the deck with his sleeves down, his eyebrows sharp and handsome, proudly announcing that as long as Jiang Yun could drink these thirty bowls of Shaodaozi, Jiang Yun would win.
Later in the archery competition, he can give Jiang Yun an arrow.
Of course, to show that he was considerate of the lonely and weak, Sui Heng poured himself thirty-five cups.
This behavior, in Xu Qiao’s opinion, seems somewhat shameless.
