After Tuoba Ren opened the leather pouch, a gleaming golden dagger appeared before Song Cheng.
Although not entirely made of gold, primarily consisting of gold ornaments, the craftsmanship is exquisite and possesses a strong Xianbei (traditional Xianbei) character...
"Your Highness, this is the golden sword bestowed upon you by our Khan," Tuoba Ren bowed respectfully, raising both hands to present the golden sword to Jiang Ming.
Jiang Ming took the knife, pulled it out and looked at it. He saw that the blade was as smooth as a mirror and had a chilling light. It was indeed a fine knife!
"We, the Great Xianbei, regard the curved sword as a symbol of status. Having obtained this golden sword, you are now our Great Xianbei's Golden Sword Prince Consort!" Tuoba Ren said solemnly.
"Thank you, Khan! Then I won't stand on ceremony. Please give my regards to the Khan when you return, and tell him that I am very satisfied with this gift..."
Jiang Ming looked at the golden knife with great joy, thinking to himself, "Finally, I can see some of Xue'er's dowry."
Unlike the Central Plains states, which used seals and jade pendants as symbols of status, the nomadic peoples of this period still used precious weapons as proof of official rank and even status.
It's clear that with their limited productivity, it must have taken them a tremendous amount of effort to forge this golden knife.
Seeing Jiang Ming's obvious fondness for the golden knife, Tuoba Ren smiled slyly: "Your Highness, now that you are the Golden Knife Prince Consort of my Great Xianbei, shouldn't you also share your father Khan's burdens, seize this opportunity to decisively defeat the Yan people, and establish unparalleled merit? Prince Consort, you are unmatched in wisdom and courage, truly a divine general bestowed upon my Great Xianbei by the Eternal Heaven. Now is the perfect time..."
Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Ming frowned and slightly raised his hand to interrupt, "Where is the Khan now?"
“Hehe, what the prince consort said earlier is correct, the Khan is currently stationing troops on the mountain,” Tuoba Ren laughed.
"Go back and tell the Xianbei Khan to abandon the idea of marching south as soon as possible!"
Jiang Ming looked at Tuoba Ren with an icy expression and said, "The defensive system of Dukang County was trained by me, Jiang Ming. If he marches south now, he will inevitably suffer a complete annihilation..."
Upon hearing this, Tuoba Ren's expression changed drastically, and he took a step back in alarm.
"The Prince Consort...?"
"Furthermore, I will not help him fight against the Yan Kingdom. If he insists on invading the south, he can try!"
After saying that, Jiang Ming put the golden knife to Tuoba Ren's neck, which made Tuoba Ren tremble all over.
"My lord...you, you? What makes you say such a thing?"
Tuoba Ren swallowed hard, his throat tightening, and said, "Since you are already the son-in-law of the Great Xianbei, you should be serving the Great Xianbei. What are you doing...?"
"Hehe," Jiang Ming smiled faintly, "Prime Minister Tuoba, don't always assume that the son-in-law is just a live-in son-in-law. Who told you that the son-in-law has to do things for his father-in-law? Xue'er is the one I married, not the one I, Jiang Ming, marry into your Xianbei family. Can you understand that?"
"You? You!"
Tuoba Ren was so embarrassed by Jiang Ming's words that his face turned red, and he didn't know what to say for a moment!
In fact, Jiang Ming made this choice after careful consideration.
The war between the Xianbei and the Yan state was fundamentally different from the wars between the Yan and Qi states, as well as between the Jin and Qin states!
Wars between agrarian civilizations were fought for land, people, and food.
They will not destroy the infrastructure in the occupied territories.
As for ordinary people, since they are all subjects of the emperor anyway, it doesn't really matter whether they are citizens of Qin or Jin...
But the Xianbei people today are still purely nomadic.
After defeating the Yan state, all they did was burn, kill, and plunder, destroying the Yan state's basic economy and severely weakening it, rendering it unable to wage war against them again.
Even if you conquer a city, you can't graze livestock there, let alone manage them...
They'll leave behind a mess when they withdraw.
Even if he went with them to the Xianbei, he would still be a son-in-law living with his wife's family.
Jiang Ming would rather die than become a live-in son-in-law!
I'd rather be poor than till my father-in-law's field!
Or they could take over their father-in-law's land and cultivate it themselves, just like they did with Old Master Chen.
Moreover, once he became some kind of divine general of the Xianbei, he would no longer have any 'trump card' to negotiate with his father-in-law, and would only be able to obey orders unconditionally!
A man cannot be completely without any "bargaining chips".
"Your Highness, don't be so stubborn!"
Tuoba Ren patiently persuaded him, "If you, my son-in-law, help the Khan conquer the Yan Kingdom... then the Khan will naturally hand over the Yan territory to you for management. We are all nomads and don't know how to manage this agricultural land. At that time, you will be the new master of this land..."
"Hahaha!" Jiang Ming burst into laughter: "Childish!"
This single word, "childish," left Tuoba Ren completely stunned!
Tuoba Ren was one of the most important strategists of the Xianbei Khan, and was known as a wise and capable minister. However, Jiang Ming made him look naive!
No one has ever said that about him before.
"Prime Minister Tuoba..."
Jiang Ming said with a smile, "It's true that the Xianbei Khan is my father-in-law, which is equivalent to a father. As his children, our first consideration is his interests and safety! Whether you can conquer the south is another matter... Even if you do conquer the south and destroy the Yan Kingdom, do you think you will have a good ending?"
"Why do you say that?" Tuoba Ren looked bewildered.
"snort!"
Jiang Ming sneered, "Don't look at the battles between Qi and Yan, or Jin and Qin, where tens of thousands of heads were lost, but those were just internal strife! Try destroying Yan! Immediately, all the states will come after you under the banner of 'Respecting the King and Expelling the Barbarians'! Anyone can eat this piece of fat meat called Yan, except you Xianbei... Whatever you swallowed, the other states will make you spit it out, and they'll throw you into the pot too, do you believe it?"
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