Stars hang down in the mountains and fields.
In the tent of the Wuman king, lights were on until dawn and there was singing and dancing.
In the middle of the tent stood a large bronze tripod, with boiling water bubbling in it.
Four burly strong men carried a whole sheep into the tent, looking very impressive. Then, they stood around the big cauldron and solemnly threw the cut mutton into the cauldron to boil.
The aroma of meat filled the air. All the invited guests in the tent felt uneasy and stared at the mutton being cooked in the cauldron with some uneasiness.
King Wuman sat on the tiger-skin throne in a stone-clad posture, looking at the people below enjoying the singing and dancing and feeling uncomfortable, while secretly spying on him. His face was grim, and in the shadows he looked a little sinister.
He raised his hand to let the maid serving beside him step back, and picked up a bowl of soju.
The tent was quiet, with only the sound of boiling water and the aroma of meat.
Everyone listened to the King of Wuman speaking in a lazy tone: "It is not a bad thing to summon you tonight, so you don't have to be nervous. This king wants to follow the system of the Great Wei, free you from slavery, make you nobles, and give you gold, silver, jewelry, beauties and sheep. From now on, in addition to facing this king, you can raise slaves, cattle and sheep by yourself, and you will no longer be guilty.
"You all swear an oath of blood with me. As long as I am alive, I will not let you down. When you follow me to fight in the future, you don't have to give up all your wealth. You can keep some of it."
Everyone looked at each other, confused as to what King Wuman meant.
The Wuman system was backward. The only master was the Wuman King. All other people, whether they followed the king to fight or served the king, were all slaves.
Slaves have no human rights, no right to conceal their property. If they are discovered by the Wuman King, they will be sentenced to death.
But there are always some people who envy those beautiful jewels and want those gorgeous silks... They hide them secretly, but are afraid that King Wuman will find out and blame them.
And tonight, King Wuman said that he would abolish their slavery status!
Everyone trembled: "My king, what does this mean...we don't understand."
Meng Zaishi laughed and said, "You don't have to understand. Just know that from now on you are the masters, not the slaves."
After saying that, Meng Zaishi raised his hand and asked the strong man to offer the dagger. He slowly stood up, his tall and slender figure stood up, and the deterrent force made the whole tent silent.
This wise and capable king cut a long gash on his palm with a dagger, and watched the blood drip into the bowl. He drank it all in one gulp, signaled to the others, and they hurriedly followed.
Meng Zaishi looked at these newly-appointed nobles, thinking deeply. Princess Danyang from Wei said that not all people in Wei were slaves. The emperor could have people help him govern the country, but he could not insult a scholar.
There are many nobles in the Great Wei Dynasty. With these nobles, the orders of the Great Wei emperor can be executed from top to bottom.
In the evening of the past, the princess rode with him on horseback, passing through the stone forest. She walked in front, holding the reins, turned back and smiled at him: "You can't make everyone listen to you without giving your people a little respect, right?"
Meng Zaishi narrowed his eyes and said, "Then what benefit do you want to get from me by cooperating with me, Your Highness?"
Her beautiful eyes were filled with tears as she said, "I only hope that you, my husband, will become the king and not let me down."
Thinking of this, Meng Zaishi sighed. In the past, he and the beauty had been acting out real and fake, but he never thought that the beauty was also using him! A beautiful princess who was married to a foreign country was forced by her father to become a scheming princess... It was so unlovable.
"My lord, there seems to be a fire in the distance!" When Meng Zaishi was missing the princess's sweet smile, he suddenly saw the felt curtain pushed open and a warrior came in to report.
His face suddenly changed and he stood up abruptly.
That night, the Wuman King and his newly appointed nobles climbed to the top of the mountain and saw flames rising to the sky in the distance. However, the flames did not come from the Wuman, but from the Chiman, who were neighbors of the Wuman.
Someone guessed below: "It should be that the Wei army attacked Chiman at night."
"Anyway, it's Chiman who's at war with Wei. It has nothing to do with us."
Meng Zaishi ignored the relief of the people behind him. He frowned and was worried. After returning to the royal court, Meng Zaishi ordered the army to prepare for war.
The subordinates were still confused, wondering what did the Wei's sneak attack on the Chiman have to do with them, the Wuman?
Only two days later, when some people from the Chiman fled to the Wuman with their flocks of sheep, the newly appointed nobles could no longer sit still.
They ran to Meng Zaishi and pointed their fingers: "...The Chiman escapees are not only willing to exchange animals for food with us, but also said that the fire was very big, and the Chiman King was very angry and was chasing the Wei army. The escapees said that they have a lot of animal skins thrown on the roadside, and no one wants them. King, let's go and get them, and then exchange them for jewelry with Wei!"
While the nobles were discussing excitedly, Meng Zaishi left the tent and rode away leisurely. Soon, his subordinates brought back the news that the nobles all wanted to fight.
Meng Zaishi did not comment: "Do you also think that we should go to war with Chiman now?"
His subordinates sent a wise man to say, "Your Majesty has just unified Wuman. If you want to apply the skills you learned from Wei to Wuman, it is not appropriate to start a war at this time. Fighting for a few jewels is not worth it."
Meng Zaishi allowed them to express their opinions.
Soon they came to a conclusion after discussing it, and unanimously advised Meng Zaishi not to go to war with Chiman.
Meng Zaishi said calmly: "Oh, if I say no to war, then we won't fight?"
The subordinates were stunned.
Meng Zaishi waved his arm and pointed at the group of nobles who were having a heated discussion at the entrance of the tent in the distance.
He sneered: "Look at them, they are all greedy. As soon as they were granted the title of nobility, they wanted to grab the jewels, silks, cattle, sheep and beauties. Because this is the right that I just gave them! They just want the novelty, and they are afraid that I will take back the power one day.
"Greed blinds their eyes, and ignorance makes them short-sighted. If I say we don't want to fight now, do you think I can restrain them? Or if I suppress them, they will think I am going back on my word and still treating them as slaves. Then everything I did before will be in vain."
The subordinates following behind him looked at them in horror. If the locusts were restrained at this moment, the king would lose the support of the people...
Meng Zaishi closed his eyes and slowly revealed a somewhat gloomy smile: "This war can only be fought for now. Take this opportunity to unify Chiman and make Chiman a subordinate of Wuman.
"When the Wei Dynasty caused trouble, they diverted the blame to the east. They had expected that their sneak attack on the Chiman would affect the Wuman tribe, which had just been unified. The two major tribes of the Southern Barbarians went to war, and the Wei Dynasty only lost a batch of soldiers and horses and could sit back and watch. They couldn't ask for more!"
The subordinates were horrified, but they all praised King Wuman: "When you saw the fire that night, you asked us to prepare for war. It is obvious that you had anticipated all this. Your strategy is no worse than that of the Wei Dynasty!"
Meng Zaishi ignored the compliment.
He seemed to be thinking about something: "We have a marriage relationship with Wei. Wei doesn't want to go to war with us, but wants to deal with us, so it uses the Chiman to make us fight... Interesting.
"I just sent someone to deliver a message to Wei, and this happened. Maybe it was really the princess's trick. But the princess doesn't understand politics..."
The young man closed his eyes and thought deeply, then opened them again, a dark and cold light flashing in his eyes:
"Let our secret agents in Wei find out who gave this idea to the Wei border troops!
"I must kill him!"
-----
After Li Zhi sent Princess Danyang away, he learned that Wuman and Chiman had gone to war. He couldn't help but laugh and remembered Yan Erlang who had offered the advice.
Before the end of the year, Princess Danyang finally returned to Chang'an and to her own princess mansion.
On the New Year's Day of this year, after three years, Princess Danyang once again celebrated the New Year's Day with her brothers and sisters and the emperor in the palace. However, compared to three years ago, the queen was no longer there.
After the New Year's Day, when everyone was socializing, the princess's mansion welcomed a high-ranking official who used to be an aide to the mansion and is now the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
The other party was grateful for the princess's cultivation, and Mu Wanyao encouraged him to follow the prince and do a good job.
Many people came to visit Mu Wanyao, most of them were from the princess's mansion and now had a good future. Mu Wanyao patiently comforted them one by one. As more people came to visit, Mu Wanyao was so annoyed that she simply claimed to be sick and did not go out.
In March, the scientific expedition began.
Chunhua started to feel anxious from mid-February and kept looking for excuses to leave the princess's mansion and inquire about the progress of the imperial examination.
When the results were announced, Chunhua felt disappointed when she found out that Liu Wenji's name was not on the list. But she tried to cheer herself up, saying that the imperial examinations in Wei were very difficult every year, and it was normal for Liu Wenji to fail this year.
However, Chunhua rushed out of the Princess's Mansion to comfort her lover who failed the exam, but she did not find Liu Wenji all day. It is estimated that Liu Wenji was extremely ashamed and deliberately avoided her, so Chunhua had to go back to the Princess's Mansion first.
At the princess's residence in the evening, Chunhua was walking around in a daze, thinking about Liu Wenji. Someone beside her called out to her, "Chunhua!"
Chunhua looked up and saw that it was guard Fang Tongfang, holding a letter in his hand. He came over with a sad face: "Chunhua, please read for me what Yan Erlang wrote in the letter to me. Yan Erlang wrote so politely, but I don't even recognize the words..."
Chunhua cheered up and helped Fang Tong read the letter sent by Yan Erlang.
It might as well be that Mu Wanyao had just come back from drinking outside through the corridor. She was walking unsteadily, her beautiful eyes were dazed and her cheeks were flushed, when she suddenly heard the words "Yan Erlang".
Mu Wanyao suspected that he had heard it wrong.
She paused, and asked Chunhua and Fangtong, who were reading the letter together, through the curtains: "Is it a letter from Yan Shisheng?"
Fang Tong saw that it was the princess who returned. After paying his respects, he answered blankly: "Yes, Yan Erlang is a really good man. He often writes letters to his subordinates..."
He was kicked hard by Chunhua. After a cry, he looked at Chunhua in confusion, wondering why she kicked him.
On the long corridor behind the curtains, Mu Wanyao was silent for a moment and asked Chunhua: "Has he also written to you?"
Chunhua said awkwardly: "I just ask you some questions occasionally..."
Fang Tong was puzzled: "What does your Highness mean by asking this? Didn't Yan Erlang write to your Highness? How is that possible? Yan Erlang is such a good person, haha..."
His laughter faded awkwardly.
As the maids opened the curtain, Mu Wan looked at him with cold eyes.
Chunhua whispered, "Guardian Fang, please stop talking. Yan Erlang has never written a letter to Your Highness...Your Highness doesn't even know that Yan Erlang has written to us."
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