Chapter 639: The People, The Root Also!

After An Yue’s exit, An Feng entered the ring with a collapsed mentality. Not to mention that he was not meant for combat, so in the end he chose to challenge one, and it still took him a lot of effort to defeat that one guard…

At the end of the first round, only An Yue was remembered, which made Zheng Gong’s face grimace as if he had eaten a fly. He had been dead set to win the first game and had put in a great deal of effort for it, but the sudden emergence of An Yue completely overturned his plans.

After a short rest at the end of the martial test, the competition entered the second round – reports on the princes’ handling of national affairs.

An Bang Ting had divided the national affairs into four fields for the four princes to pick: military, politics, commerce, and agriculture. The deceased An Ming had chosen military, An Ye had chosen politics, An Feng had chosen commerce, and An Yue, who had arrived late due to waiting for Bai Xiaofei, had been left with agriculture…

This round compared the princes’ results of this month and at the same time their own views on their respective matters after the reports.

According to the order of selection, An Ye and An Feng carried out their debriefs respectively. Each one was fairly satisfactory and had no faults. No major problems had happened during the period of their governance, which alone was enough to prove their abilities.

When it was An Yue’s turn, everyone had expectant eyes. Unfortunately, he wasn’t at all spectacular unlike the martial round. Bai Xiaofei simply pretended that he wasn’t watching at all…

You win some, you lose some. The majority of An Yue’s time was spent on training and the rest was used to follow Bai Xiaofei to develop connections. The affairs assigned to him were basically solved through communication, so An Yue didn’t quite have a feel for them. Besides, agriculture itself took a year, the seeds hadn’t even sprouted yet…

It could be said that the second round ended without a highlight. No one was particularly good, but An Yue did poorly.

However, this didn’t have much impact because only officials of the respective field could understand the reports, so what was bad and what was good sounded the same to many people. It was so bland that they just wanted to doze off…

After the second round, An Ye and An Feng regained their confidence.

As the saying goes, the one who gets fat first won’t necessarily end up the fattest one. Although An Yue shone brilliantly in the first round, all he had was a leap in personal strength. His brothers knew very well that he was an idiot in activities requiring brains.

And the third round concerned intelligence – Speech!

Drawing lots on the spot, An Yue ‘unfortunately’ ended up being the last one and An Ye went first.

An Feng had a serious expression. I shall pay you back for the embarrassment you gave me with this last round!

Regarding communication, An Feng was recognized as the strongest among his brothers, while An Yue was recognized as the weakest, so it was understandable that An Feng would have this thought.

“The army is the ultimate strength of a country. With a powerful army, not only can we effectively defend against foreign enemies, but also expand our territory when necessary…” An Ye started his speech. Although he had been handling political affairs, his speech was about the military. What he said was pleasing to the military officials.

In this kind of situation, one’s speech would basically represent their political orientation after ascending the throne. Since An Ye chose the military from so many aspects, it was clear that this would be his focus, and at that time, the military officials would become the biggest beneficiaries.

However, there weren’t many people that An Ye could persuade when he chose this aspect. After his speech, the majority felt like he was too militaristic and even somewhat paranoid.

After An Ye finished, a confident An Feng slowly stepped onto the platform and swept a look around the crowd.

After a simple opening, An Feng gradually got to the main point. Unlike An Ye, he found economic development more important for the current Tranquil. In other words, he supported boosting commerce.

“The trend of the continent has always been development. In recent years, there have been few large-scale wars, while trades have become more and more frequent. The status of a country has gradually been linked to its prosperity. Therefore, only when the country’s financial resources are strong, can its strength keep up, can its people have peace and contentment in life and work, and we will have the foundation to support self-protection and expansion!”

An Feng’s words echoed in the square. After two seconds of silence, following the lead of many businessmen, a round of applause resounded. Although it couldn’t compare to what An Yue’s fight had brought, it was still enough to make An Bang Ting happy.

As An Feng stepped down, a grinning An Yue went up. Both treated the other as air as they passed each other.

An Feng, however, couldn’t continue his previous indifferent attitude. After passing An Yue, he couldn’t resist looking back with a frown as he couldn’t spot any weakness or helplessness. Does he still have tricks left to play?!

“Do you still remember how our Tranquil survived the joint attack of three countries before?” In a heavy tone, An Yue started with a question.

The question stunned everyone, but after the surprise, sadness filled the square. This concerned a tragic history of blood and tears!

At that time, the coalition force of three kingdoms had killed their way to the imperial city. Reinforcements needed a month to arrive at the earliest, so how to survive that one month had been the biggest problem.

Just when the soldiers defending the city thought they would die, the citizens stood up.

Women, children, and the elderly only ate one meal a day and the food they saved was sent to the city wall. All the men joined the army guarding the city. A month later, the majority of elderly people had starved to death, and nearly 90% of the temporary soldiers were killed or injured. However, they successfully waited for reinforcements to arrive.

The coalition army of the three enemy kingdoms was battered and defeated and the Tranquil borders were protected!

“As my father said, Tranquil has never belonged to one person, she belongs to everyone. No matter who becomes the new emperor, this must not be forgotten. The land we tread is soaked with the blood of the people. The days we live are exchanged by countless lives.”

“…”

“Military, commerce, no matter what we want to develop, it can only stay a plan on paper without the people’s support.”

“…”

“From the agricultural reports I have dealt with recently, there are droughts in many places of Tranquil. While they haven’t gotten to the point that the people are driven to despair, hidden dangers have been planted. There is nothing else we should do at the moment when the people are suffering. Solving this urgent matter is our top priority!”

“The people, the root, the foundation of the country!”