Kang Luo looked at the full cup of wine in front of him and didn't touch it.

He wasn't Ning Chen. He'd never drink wine nobody had checked... Getting bedded against your will was one thing, but getting poisoned to death would be a real loss.

The Wu Kingdom's woman emperor had drugged Ning Chen and stolen his seed. Kang Luo could laugh at him about that for the rest of his life.

Jin Tiancheng knew the rules too. He drained his own cup first, then showed Kang Luo the empty cup.

Then he poured himself another!

Then Che Ta came over. He tested the wine in front of Kang Luo with a silver needle, and when it came out clean, he tasted it himself.

Che Ta drank, waited a while, then gave Kang Luo a small nod. The wine was fine.

Jin Tiancheng raised his cup again and smiled. "Crown prince of Nanyue, we've come to these talks in complete good faith. Here, a toast to you, and to the success of our talks."

Kang Luo filled his own cup and raised it toward Jin Tiancheng across the space between them.

The Gaoli officials and the officers Kang Luo had brought all lifted their cups and drank along.

When the wine was gone, Kang Luo set down his cup. "We've had our drink," he said coolly. "Isn't it time we talked business?"

Jin Tiancheng smiled ingratiatingly and nodded over and over, then turned to a Gaoli official with a goatee seated below him.

This man's name was Yin Zhenghe.

He was Gaoli's Vice Minister of Revenue. The talks involved money and grain, so the Ministry of Revenue had to take part.

Yin Zhenghe turned to Kang Luo with a broad smile. "Your Highness, let me first make our position clear: we've come in complete good faith.

But Your Highness really is asking too much... It's getting colder by the day. Your Highness took three of our cities and left over a hundred thousand refugees homeless and starving.

We have to give our people relief. We truly can't come up…