The Turkic man panicked for only a moment before continuing to gnaw on his lamb chops. "You're such a cunning man! If he could really help you, why would you come to me?"
"You already said I was cunning, but if I use a little trick, it won't be difficult to get him to help me."
The Turkic man did not respond, but he felt in his heart that Zhao Xiu was capable of doing such a thing.
"I just thought that we've been through life and death together, sharing joys and sorrows, so I couldn't bear to abandon you." Zhao Xiu sighed: "I, Zhao Xiu, am not a good person, but I value friendship. Besides..."
The Turkic man sensed that he was not going to say anything good, so he interrupted, "I promise I'll go and deliver the jade tiger for you."
Zhao Xiu was a little worried about the sudden straightforwardness of this Turkic barbarian, so he asked politely, "After you Turks swear an oath to the Wolf God, can you not go back on your word?"
The Turks just wanted to stuff clean sheep bones into his brain to mess up his head full of tricks.
Seeing that he was about to kill her, Zhao Xiu was very considerate and handed him a new lamb chop.
After the Turkic man finished chewing the lamb chop, he wiped his hands on himself, faced the direction of the wolf's howl, and swore an oath: "I, Ayan Lianshan, swear to the Wolf God that I will help Zhao Xiu deliver the token to Beiting. If you break this oath, I will be buried in the wolf's belly."
After swearing, he glanced at Zhao Xiu and asked, "Are you relieved now?"
Zhao Xiu nodded, "Don't worry, don't worry, I have always been very confident in you."
A Yan Lianshan didn't believe his nonsense and said, "I agree to deliver the token for you, but you have to agree to one condition."
It’s not so easy for this person to agree.
Zhao Xiu raised his guard and said, "I'm all ears."
"You are Prince Ying's man, and you must be familiar with his network in the capital. Since you can pass on his message to Guo Yuanzhen, you can certainly help me smooth the relationship with the officials in the capital."
"You want me to be your informant?" This Turkic barbarian was quite ambitious. Zhao Xiu smiled and said, "You trust me so much? Aren't you afraid that I might stab you in the back like the Fuqiang County Magistrate did?"
"I don't believe you, but I can kill you. Our falconry masters are not useless wild sparrows like the hundred-winged sparrow."
Zhao Xiu had a smile on his face, but his heart sank. At this moment, he wished he could hang Lou Yunchun up and beat him eight hundred times. Just look at what kind of people he had offended because of him!
Either they wanted to kill him or force him to commit treason.
If this Turkic barbarian finds out later that he has been deceived, he will probably have to live in hiding for the rest of his life.
"What? You don't want to?" Ayan Lianshan's eyes flickered with fire.
Zhao Xiu came back to his senses, "This is the crime of treason and adultery, I have to think about it."
A Yan Lianshan said: "What you are doing now is no different from treason?"
"I'm only betraying the emperor, not the country. There's a huge difference between the two." Zhao Xiu stared at the fire and said slowly, "As the saying goes, the victors are kings and the losers are bandits. If Prince Ying ascends the throne, I can still be considered a meritorious official. But if you Turks occupy our land, and I stand on your side, I will be a traitor to the country and be cursed for eternity."
"You people from the Central Plains are just clinging to these empty titles." Ayan Lianshan said disdainfully, "As you said, the victors are kings and the losers are bandits. If we defeat Dasheng and establish a new dynasty, won't we also be kings?"
Zhao Xiu scoffed, "You are so arrogant! With your current situation, you can't even leave Liang Province, let alone defeat Dasheng. Even if you, the Western Turks, are lucky enough to defeat Dasheng and replace him, you won't be able to achieve anything."
Ayan Lianshan was hit in the sore spot and squeezed out two words, "Arrogant."
"You know this is a fact." Zhao Xiu stood up, shook his sleeves, turned to Ayan Lianshan, and raised three fingers at him. "Three generations! Even if you replace Dasheng, the country will surely be destroyed in three generations at most. And the reason for the destruction is the 'empty reputation' that you now disdain."
Ayan Lianshan sneered, "That's alarmist."
Zhao Xiu shook his head and sneered, "Foolish and ignorant."
The two men stared at each other for a while. A gust of night wind blew in, blinding their eyes and making them shiver. Zhao Xiu rubbed his eyes and walked to the upwind side of the fire, blocking the wind while warming himself by the fire.
"As the Art of War says, knowing yourself and your enemy ensures victory in every battle. You and your king don't understand Dasheng or the Central Plains at all, so you can't conquer us."
Zhao Xiu spread his palms toward the raging flames. "In your eyes, the legitimate name that Prince Ying values, the justification that Guo Yuanzhen values, and the name of treason that I dare not bear are all empty names. But in the Central Plains, these are all etiquette. For those who control the military and hold power, etiquette is even higher than imperial authority. You can disrespect imperial authority, but you cannot disrespect etiquette. Even the emperor is subject to its constraints."
Ayan Lianshan had never heard such remarks before. She found them both novel and reasonable, and was fascinated by them for a moment.
He couldn't help but ask, "What is etiquette?"
Zhao Xiu's face was illuminated by the firelight. "The rituals of the Central Plains originate from the ancient sages and wise men. After millennia of foundation, they have long been woven into the very fabric of the people of the Central Plains. The rituals, laws, rules, and regulations that derive from these rituals, along with the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, and trustworthiness that accompany them, are the foundation upon which a monarch establishes his state and the very foundation of the people's lives. No matter how power shifts, how internal strife, or how oppressive the people may be, once a new government is established, it must uphold its principles, establish its words, and uphold its actions, thereby pacifying the people and stabilizing the nation. This has been true throughout history, without exception."
"Like our Wolf God?"
Zhao Xiu shook his head. "The Wolf God is your belief, but etiquette is not a belief. It is a law of coexistence that has evolved through long-term interaction between people and the universe. It is more complex, deeper, and more practical than belief."
Ayan Lianshan seemed to understand something, but upon closer inspection, he felt confused.
Zhao Xiu looked towards the west. The sky was full of stars, but there was no bright moon.
"You Turks have been nomadic for generations, living in no fixed place. Although you have faith, you lack culture, are barbaric and backward, and are a people without manners. You do not understand etiquette, and you will not be able to convert people who respect etiquette. Therefore, even if you one day defeat the Great Sheng and set foot on that land to establish a new dynasty, it will be like a flash of lightning, not long-lasting, and will only lead to your own destruction."
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