Chapter 53 - You cannot trust Zhejiang

In Jiangxi, Meng Zhang was brewing some tea, accompanied by his prince, Xie Yun. It was a rare opportunity, as Xie Yun is most of the time out of the palace dealing with official matters:

-Xie Yun, please drink some tea.
-Yes, your majesty.

The pigeon Ding Qi has sent appeared in the window, and Meng Zhang noticed the bird:

-This is odd, a homing pigeon? Who sent it?
-A pigeon? - Xie Yun looks at the window.

Meng Zhang carefully takes the small container in the back of the pigeon, opening it. At first glance, he noticed the letter has come from Huangshan:

-Must be from Ding Qi!

He then opens the letter, and reads it so Xie Yun also knows the content:

-"Your Majesty Meng Zhang. I humbly thank you for giving me information about the epidemic in your empire, and I want to propose your majesty something else: we are studying several medicines we can use to treat or prevent the disease from spreading. We partnered with Zhejiang, which is helping us via their health minister, Zhang Yi. I'd like to know if you also want to participate. We are operating under total transparency and bringing all our effort together. Sincerely, Ding Qi, emperor of Huangshan."

-This is actually a pretty good move... There's really nothing to lose if I participate in that, so maybe it is a good thing to do... - Meng Zhang looks at Xie Yun.
-Feng Long is involved in that, I do not trust him.
-Really? I think we are now friends, well, at least we can trust them to some extent.
-I'd never trust him on anything...
-Well, you got to be honest: Zhejiang only stroke back because we believed in a lie. Feng Long does not seem to be someone purposely causing wars elsewhere, his "beautiful governance" model was copied at least by Jiangsu and seems to be working, they never claimed anything. 
-I understand your point, Majesty. I'd take that with a grain of salt. 
-Well, what do you suggest? We do have a working medicine already, don't we? 
-Not really sure, but many have been recovered.
-If we exchanged some information between empires, it would be easier to beat this disease. I'm not sure about others, but I started to take precautionary measures right after hearing that a dangerous disease was spreading.
-I'll not oppose his majesty on that matter...
-Good, I am the emperor, I'll not discard your point, but I can't see a problem. 

-Well, if this is how your majesty wants things to be, let's do in your way.

Meng Zhang gets closer to Xie Yun:

-Xie Yun, trust me. I'll not let Feng Long, Ding Qi, or whoever steals our land to them. Forget about the past, I had to apologize to Feng Long for our mistake, and it was a huge embarrassment to us.

-Yes, your majesty is right...

Meng Zhang feels that his arguments are not enough to convince the prince to cooperate, but he is set to do it anyway 

...

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