Chapter 85

After Mid-Autumn Festival.

An urgent memorial, sent over a distance of eight hundred miles, arrived at the desk of Emperor Chongzhao.

He went to court the next day.

He passed the memorial down and showed it to all the officials.

"Two large-scale conflicts broke out in the area bordering Nanning and Dazhou. A county magistrate died on the other side, and they want compensation."

The Minister of Revenue instantly caught the key words: "Compensation? Was the magistrate beaten to death by our soldiers?"

Emperor Chongzhao glanced at him and said with a smile, "Of course not. If the soldiers of the Great Zhou killed the officials of Nanning, the conflict could have risen to the national level. Their county magistrate was beaten to death by the villagers of the Great Zhou village."

The county magistrate stepped on the vegetables planted by the people and killed several of them. He did not apologize afterwards and behaved in an inappropriate manner. He accidentally did it during the conflict.

After taking turns reading the memorial, all the officials were at a loss as to how to evaluate it.

A military officer said: "This only shows that the people of our Great Zhou are brave and courageous."

The Minister of Revenue said: "Compensation is impossible. If we do, it will make us look spineless."

The Minister of Rites looked at the memorial carefully and said, "This is a letter of condemnation from the Emperor of Nanning. No matter what, it was our Great Zhou who killed their officials. If we do not compensate them, it will damage the dignity of a great country."

Emperor Chongzhao tapped his fingertips on the armrests of the dragon throne.

Look at the second and third princes below.

"What do you three think? Do you think we should pay or not?"

The ministers stopped discussing and looked at the three princes standing in front.

Seeing that the three of them did not speak up, Emperor Chongzhao began to call out names: "Boss?"

The eldest prince was troubled and said, "I feel that if I have to pay compensation, it will be a bit aggrieved."

Emperor Chongzhao: "Second brother."

The Second Prince: "The Great Zhou is a country of etiquette. If the other party is sincere enough, it would be fine for the Great Zhou to pay some compensation."

Emperor Chongzhao: "The third one."

The Third Prince: "Like my eldest brother, I think it is better not to pay."

"good."

Emperor Chongzhao glanced at them and said calmly, "I will give you two days to think carefully. After two days, submit your memorials and give me a reply. Your words must be meaningful and do not disappoint me."

This was the first time that he used the friction between countries as a test to examine the princes in the court.

"Yes, Father!"

-

East Garden.

After school.

Master Fang kept Qu Dubian under the pretext of giving him private lessons.

The two went to the side hall.

Grand Tutor Fang: "Today in the court, His Majesty asked the First, Second, and Third Princes how to deal with the case of the magistrate of Nanning being beaten to death by the people of Da Zhou."

"This is the first time that His Majesty has formally given them a test. The prince and the court officials take it seriously. Your Highness, do you think this compensation should be given?"

Qu Dubian sat cross-legged opposite him, holding his chin with one hand and tossing the empty cup back and forth in the other hand. He thought for a moment and then spoke.

"Actually, it doesn't matter what we think. The final decision is still made by our father."

"Um."

"Our Great Zhou borders both Northern Xinjiang and Nanning, but there are mountains between Nanning and Northern Xinjiang as a natural barrier. This is more disadvantageous than beneficial to our Great Zhou, and it is easy to be caught in a situation of being attacked from both sides."

"Now, the unrest in the various tribes in the northern border in the past few years has been suppressed under the joint efforts of Princess Axiang and the old marquis. Although there are still disturbances, it is barely stable. In addition, General Xia Hongxia is also guarding there, so there is no need to worry about the situation in the northern border for at least the next few years."

Master Fang spread out a piece of paper and drew three circles on it, representing the Great Zhou, Nanning, and the northern border tribes.

Qu Dubian came closer to him and watched with great interest.

This was the first time that Master Fang explained the overall situation of the country to him. Although he could not intervene, he must understand it. Living in an ancient dynasty, if he did not understand the overall situation and chose to close his eyes and ears, he would not even know how he died.

"The Emperor of Nanning is very ambitious. He has caught Your Majesty off guard several times since he ascended the throne. Frictions have occurred repeatedly at Zhennan Pass, and the people of both sides have become like mortal enemies. The killing of the magistrate this time was just a sudden outburst of accumulated emotions."

Qu Dubian asked sharply, "You mean, Da Zhou is going to go to war with Nanning?"

Grand Tutor Fang smiled and said, "I was appointed as Grand Tutor during the reign of the previous emperor and taught your father. I watched him grow up step by step and I understand his personality quite well. If it was ten or eight years later, when His Majesty was older, he would have sought safety."

"But now, your majesty is still in his prime."

There is no ambitious emperor who does not want to add more of his achievements to the history books.

Qu Watanabe: "Your guess has no basis."

Master Fang winked and said, "Do you want to make a bet with me?"

"No, you've cheated me twice. This time I agree with you."

Qu Dubian smiled and poured him a cup of tea: "You drink."

Master Fang laughed out loud: "Little fox."

-

The eldest prince's palace.

The eldest prince was thinking hard.

A piece of paper is still completely blank.

Dou Shun, the aide, said, "Your Highness, how about I write it, and then if you think it's okay, I can write it again in your own words, how about that?"

The eldest prince glared: "Isn't that cheating?"

Dou Shun: “…”

He smiled.

Did you cheat in school a lot when you were a kid?

The eldest prince seemed to see what he wanted to say, and coughed awkwardly, saying, "That was when I was a child. Now I'm married. I'm a man, and I have to take responsibility. And I'm thinking right now, so don't interrupt me."

Dou Shun: "Your Highness, the Emperor will ask you about this at court tomorrow. If you don't have any ideas, it will be too late."

The eldest prince said: "I'll think about it again. If I can't come up with it tonight, you can stay up all night and help me write it."

Dou Shun: “…”

-

The other side.

The third prince came to the second prince's house.

He came here to visit.

The second prince was currently bent over his desk, surrounded by a lot of discarded papers.

The third prince looked around and said, "Second brother, you work so hard."

After hearing his voice, the Second Prince seemed to wake up and quickly tidied up his surroundings.

"Third brother, please find a place to sit. This place is too messy."

He shook his head and sighed, "It's not that I'm trying hard, it's that I really have no idea. Look, I've wasted so much good paper, and I still haven't figured it out by tomorrow."

The Third Prince: "I actually have no idea either. I just came to your place to relax."

In fact, he had already finished writing it, but he always felt that something was missing, so he thought of coming here to take a look.

The Second Prince: "You know, I chose to compensate in the palace, but I didn't decide whether to compensate in silver or something else. It was a real headache."

He pressed his solar plexus and threw away a stack of written papers. "What the companion wrote is useless. I have analyzed it and it has no reference value."

"Indeed," the third prince nodded. When he glanced at the paper thrown by the second prince, his eyes fell on a certain place and suddenly focused.

He pulled out the one in the middle and looked at it for a moment. His eyes lit up slightly and he suppressed the excitement in his voice: "Second brother, can I take this paper back?"

"Which one?"

"That's it."

"What's the use of this? It doesn't even have a conclusion written on it," the second prince frowned and said, "You can do whatever you want. If there is anything else that can inspire you, take it as well."

He is always like this, not very competitive or trying to stand out.

The eldest prince and the third prince dislike each other, but they can both get along well with the second prince.

The Third Prince was not polite to him: "Thank you, second brother."

After he finished speaking, he left in a hurry, even forgetting to close the door of the study.

The second prince was sitting among papers on the floor. He raised his head, looked at his back, and curled his lips slightly.

-

He went to court the next day.

The three princes discussed the issue of whether Nanning should pay compensation.

The eldest prince said that if he did not pay compensation, even the common people of the Great Zhou would not be allowed to be trampled upon by Nanning. If he did pay compensation, wouldn't it damage the prestige of the Great Zhou and dishearten the common people?

Regardless of whether he wrote it or not, the tone was sonorous and inspiring, winning the approval of some generals.

The second prince said that we should compensate. The Great Zhou is a country of etiquette and should not care about trivial details. Since we are wrong, we should apologize. As for Nanning’s other unreasonable demands, you can ignore them.

The Third Prince said no compensation, and agreed with what the First Prince said, then added: "But if we don't compensate, it might provoke Nanning's anger and lead them to start a war. At this time, the right to start a war lies with them, not with Da Zhou. Whether to compensate or not, Da Zhou must have a legitimate reason."

The seemingly cautious answer made Emperor Chongzhao very happy. He praised the Third Prince for his thoughtful consideration in Ganji Hall.

The eldest prince looked at the smiling third prince with great displeasure, and the latter raised the corner of his mouth and smiled back.

"Actually, I just came up with this idea inspired by my elder brother's answer."

The eldest prince smiled wryly: "You are awesome then."

In the eyes of the eldest prince, the third prince chose not to compensate like him, which meant he was challenging him. Now that the third prince was praised, he had lost.

The second prince stood in his position quietly, as usual, and never got involved in the fight between his eldest brother and the third brother.

-

Da Zhou did not immediately compensate Nanning and kept delaying the payment.

The Emperor of Nanning became increasingly dissatisfied and sent several letters to express his condemnation.

At the same time, conflicts at the border between Nanning and Dazhou became increasingly serious, and contradictions between the two countries accumulated.

Qu Watanabe has been waiting for news of the war.

A month later, the Emperor of Nanning was extremely indignant and cursed in his letter:

"Nanning only asked for compensation, but your king ignored it. How shameless!"

Afterwards, he suppressed the anti-war faction that believed war was unacceptable, and prepared to go to war with the Great Zhou on the grounds of "appeasing public anger." His actions were very swift, and it was obvious that he had been prepared for this for a long time.

However, at this time, Emperor Chongzhao suddenly agreed to pay compensation to the Kingdom of Nanning with a thousand taels of gold.

The accompanying envoy was even a respected clan member, which made the apology of the Great Zhou seem sincere.

The Emperor of Nanning was choked for a moment. The reason for starting a war was gone, and the anti-war factions in the country immediately counterattacked.

He had to suppress his ambition temporarily.

Unexpectedly, when the envoys from the Great Zhou Dynasty who were delivering gold reached the border of Nanning, the respected relative among them was suddenly killed by the people of Nanning in an extremely cruel manner.

Emperor Chongzhao was furious and cursed in his letter:

"The Great Zhou was willing to reconcile. To show its seriousness, it prepared for months and traveled thousands of miles to pay compensation. However, your king killed the envoy of the Great Zhou. This is extremely unjust!"

All the officials of the Great Zhou felt humiliated and outraged, and they declared war on Nanning in the legitimate name of "attacking injustice."

Emperor Nanning: “…”

You bastard, you're such a drama queen.

The people of Nanning could have passed through the heavy defenses and killed your relatives from the Great Zhou? Who could believe this nonsense?

The emperor of the Great Zhou is so shameless!

-

"This is why wars must have a legitimate cause. It is very important. If we attack unjustly, then the Great Zhou will be the army of justice. If we are attacked, then we will be three points weaker in terms of morality."

After listening to Master Fang’s narration.

Qu Watanabe, "So that unlucky relative...?"

Master Fang: "Oh, Your Majesty has long disliked him. He thought the assignment he was given was a good and lucrative one, so he wanted to take advantage of it."

"His death was to fulfill the Great Zhou's goal of 'punishing the unjust'. As for how he died... there are thousands of ways to live or die. As long as the ultimate goal is achieved, no one will care about this."

Qu Watanabe: "How long will this war last?"

Master Fang thought: "It could be as short as one month or as long as half a year."

Qu Dubian looked at the hibiscus flowers outside the window.

There was a low flower branch that stretched obliquely into the window.

"I should win."

…

Autumn of the sixteenth year of Chongzhao.

The Great Zhou and Nanning went to war, and the fighting was intense and lasted for three months. Xia Hong was ordered to secretly sneak into Zhennan Pass and command the three military divisions of Zhennan Pass.

It snowed that year.

A light layer of snow covered the city of Kyoto.

A horse galloped over at a speed of 800 li, and the riders shouted as soon as they entered the city gate:

"Great victory! Great victory at Zhennan Pass!!"

Qu Dubian opened the window and leaned on the windowsill to watch the falling snow.

Winter of the sixteenth year of Chongzhao.

A great victory was won at Zhennan Pass, the State of Nanning was defeated, and a hostage was offered to the Great Zhou, and envoys entered the Zhou for negotiations.