Chapter 1325 Image
The Australian's representative was not expecting to blow this off like this. He just wanted to test the water out before making an actual exit. He looked around and the people around him either shook their heads or looked away from him. They drew a clear line that they did not want to get involved in whatever he stepped into.
He met with The Emperor's eyes and quickly realized he was not joking. The Emperor was serious about kicking him out. Even with those three choices presented to him, there was no choice for him to turn back. The choice was very clear that The Emperor did not like him and wanted him out. Giving back the territories that Yu Shun captured might be a choice, but he did not know what The Tang Empire would do to him. There was a big chance that The Tang Empire would declare war against his faction and take over Australia the same.
All the choices would lead to the same result. The Tang Empire would take over Australia, and he would get kicked out. There was nothing he could do to reverse the situation. He tried to think of a way to reverse the situation, but nothing came to mind. There was no way he would say that he was joking about ending their relationship. He would die for sure if he said that because it looked like he was toying with The Emperor.
There was nothing to do but apologize and hope that he would not get kicked out of his factions. He fell on his knees and lowered his head, "I apologize for my rudeness and stupidity, Your Majesty. Please give me a second chance!" That was the only thing that crossed his mind. Apologize and ask for a second chance. All this time, the Tang Empire had not treated them unfairly or like a tyrant as the rumor during the World Congress. He thought he could get away from the Tang Empire by asking to end the vassalage peacefully which was proved to be wrong.
As for the thought of the Tang Empire never crossed his mind or plan. He wanted to end the vassalage, but he wanted to end it peacefully, maintaining a distant relationship just like the First Order Guild and The Polar Guild.
Tang Shaoyang furrowed his brow as he did not expect the man to kneel and apologize. He thought the man would remain defiant, and he would kick him out without feeling guilty. But this put me in a dilemma because the other vassals were here to see this. Deep inside, he just wanted to get rid of problematic people from holding authority. Kicking the man out would be his choice. However, if he did not give the man a second chance, the other vassals might harbor uneasy feelings because they would feel that they could get kicked out anytime.
"I will discuss your matter with my people before coming up with the decision!" Tang Shaoyang decided to put it on hold before making the decision. His rational thought told him to give the man a second chance. His instinct told him to kick the man out before a bigger problem arose.
"Please forgive us for our impertinence, Your Majesty!? Please give us a second chance!" The three people got their heads on the floor. The three realized that they had kicked the bucket with their silly plan and decided to abandon the thought of ending the vassalage. What mattered to them right now was to stay in their factions instead of going into foreign territories or even a war with the Tang Empire.
Tang Shaoyang looked at the other representatives, "What about you guys? Do you have anything else you want to discuss with me? Also, give your answer at the latest in three days whether you want to remain as separate factions or merge into The Tang Empire!"
"We have decided to stay as vassals and become the Tang Empire's subgroup or sub-faction. I would like to retain our name, The Elven Kingdom as the name of the sub-faction!" Queen Alissa was the first one to make up her mind and gave the answer on the spot. For The Elven Kingdom, forming a faction within a faction was an upgrade from before. As long as the Elven Kingdom maintained the current benefit, there was nothing to discuss anymore.
The two elders who followed The Queen to the meeting breathed out a sigh of relief. They came to keep a watch on their newly throned Queen, in case she would do something immature involving her personal feelings in the kingdom's affair. They were afraid that Queen Alissa would be disrespectful or even something worse to The Emperor. Even though the former princess was quiet about her father and brother's betrayal and also her oldest brother's death. They understood her feelings, and no one said anything, but everyone knew that The Emperor could not escape the blame for this as the source of the problem was The Emperor's affair with the former Queen. They were afraid that Alissa might do something worse than what Revalor did.
The Elven Kingdom did not bear any consequence for what Revalor did since he was not The King. They easily cut off their ties to escape The Tang Empire's wrath, but not if Queen Alissa did something as crazy as her father. She's The Queen, and The Elven Kingdom would bear the consequences for what Alissa did. Their worries were for nothing since Alissa could separate her personal feelings and her responsibility as The Queen.
Following The Elven Kingdom's decision, the other factions made their decision. It was clear that Tang Shaoyang wanted the vassals to unite with the Tang Empire, so they did not want to make things difficult for themselves and chose to merge. With two vassals as an exception, Australia.
Australia's representatives were waiting for their judgment, and they could no longer represent Australia's voice.
"Then the meeting is over. You can leave if you want except for these three," He pointed at the three men who knelt on the floor, "We will be discussing what we will do to them in another room."
Tang Shaoyang stood up from his seat as Li Shuang and Zhang Mengyao followed him. The meeting room was connected to a different room, a smaller space than the meeting room, but big enough for three people. He told the other vassals they could leave if they wanted to leave, but that was just one of his tricks to decide those three people's fate.
If more than half of the vassals left the room, then he would lean more toward kicking those three and swapping the leaderships of Australia. That meant the other vassals did not care what would happen to Australia's representatives, meaning more than half of the vassals had no fear that they would be abandoned like those three. If all of the vassals waited, then he had no choice but to give the three representatives a second chance.
As an Emperor, he did not want to be feared as a tyrant, he wanted to be seen as a magnanimous ruler. Ruling with fear was not what he wanted. He used fear to establish himself as the leader, but he did not want to rule with fear. He knew that people who followed him would betray him with no hesitation the moment he lost the fear factor. If he was defeated and cornered, those people would betray him for sure. He wanted loyal followers, following loyally even if they faced strong enemies. The job was half-done with no one deserted him even though their enemies were factions with God Ranks, and now he needed to strengthen the foundation he had built. He wanted to assure his vassal that he was not a tyrant.
Tang Shaoyang shared his thoughts with the two girls, and they listened carefully to his thoughts. Li Shuang was the first one to ask a question, "I think we need more solid reasons if we want to kick them out than just because they want to end the vassalage. While it's not a weak reason, that's not a strong reason to kick them. While we have nothing on them, we can create something so we can justify our action of kicking them out."
Tang Shaoyang and Zhang Mengyao looked at Li Shuang in surprise, not expecting those words would come from her. Creating the justification to kick those three meant they must forge fake evidence to justify the expulsion to maintain his image.
"Don't look at me like that. Sometimes you just have to do it for the bigger picture, you know?" Li Shuang smiled, "Back then I was doing it when investors sent their kids into my company for "work". I don't mind if they are capable of doing their job, but most of the time, those kids are incompetent, just playing around. So I need a justification to kick them out."
"However, I want you to give them a second chance instead. That will create a positive image for the other vassals. But of course, we need to swap the leadership of Australia. You give them a second chance, but you take their authority as the punishment. That's a better solution."
"I also believe in a second chance," Zhang Mengyao nodded and added at the end, "But not the third chance. If they do something weird in the future, we just need to get rid of them without this kind of hassle. Our Intelligence Division can do the job without anyone noticing their disappearance for sure."
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