"The Son of Heaven* wishing to show his pledge to the Heavens are prestigious words from the supreme ruler, how could there be any room for me to cut in?" Gu Yun said with a blank expression, "And in order to appease me, His Majesty had promised to supply the Black Iron Camp with thirty chariots and four hundred Iron Armors, his decree had also been passed on to Ling Shu Institute. His Majesty has done his best like this, how can I be so shameless as to continue pestering him with such a trivial matter?”

*In ancient China, the son of heaven is another way to refer to the Emperor.

The new Emperor was just over the age of thirty, and when compared to his father, he was much more strong-willed.

Gu Yun did not concern himself with power, whether the new Emperor was tough or not, he did not care, but the problem was that his policy on the matter of the border was even more nearsighted than that of his father.

The two men walked side by side in silence for a while, Gu Yun then said: "But it is also a fact that the Treasury is empty. His Majesty just inherited the throne, it could not be helped that he was a bit rushed - you don't know, yesterday, the ‘big hat’ Western man sent a messenger over, they talked so much all afternoon that my ears are still ringing now.”

"..." It took a moment for Shen Yi to react. "You mean the Western Pope?"

In the hearts of most Great Liang people, the Westerners had quite unacceptable behaviors - the 'pope' never wanted to stay still in his temple, he and his big hat appeared everywhere, poking his nose into everything. At the same time, the words of their king held almost no value - wasn't that the same as rebellion?

Gu Yun nodded: "They expressed that they wish to begin trading with us. I listened in for a while yesterday. They want to extend the Silk Road along the Western Regions into a large commercial road, and both sides would be providing troops to guard and ensure that the trades go smoothly. Their flowery words fell all over the place, they even drew out a physical map for it already, and painted out a large unrealistic profit in order to tempt His Majesty.”

Shen Yi smiled: “Trading is a very good thing, what are you talking about?"

"I don’t mean that trading is a bad thing - just that although I'm not very knowledgeable about doing business –" Gu Yun said, "– I still think that if the foreigners were to trade with our country, it might not be very beneficial for their side”

“If there is no benefit, why must they travel all the way here? It almost seems as if they harbor ulterior motives.”

This was the truth.