Chapter 931: Daring to Kill Even an Inspector-General? [Part 1]
Kangguo, Wuzhou.
Wuzhou wasn't always called Wuzhou; it used to be called Shiwu.
Why did Shiwu change its name and become part of the territory of Kangguo? This story begins with the Battle of Yonggu Pass.
After this battle, the elite forces of the Ten Crows were severely weakened, many nobles perished, and the number of able-bodied men was extremely high. The Ten Crows royal court's control over the various tribes completely collapsed. Eighty percent of the smaller and medium-sized tribes rose up in rebellion and began to rival the largest tribes.
The two sides engaged in fierce struggles over a series of conflicts, including water sources, food, mineral veins, and military power. Su Shiyilu, the former general of the royal court, was the first to break away, gathering a group of tribes dissatisfied with the old court and establishing a new one. Wars erupted between the old and new courts across various regions, and the lower-class slaves of the Ten Crows seized the opportunity to rise up, spreading ancestral legends and using faith to unite the people.
As one side gains and the other loses, the three sides eventually unite in a powerful struggle.
However, the foundation of each faction's faith lay in the ancestral inscriptions, and each person had their own interpretation. This led to internal strife and division among the believers at the height of the three-way conflict. After years of fierce fighting, the population of Shiwu plummeted to half its original size, splitting into fifty or sixty mutually hostile factions. That year also brought severe weather; those factions in unfavorable geographical locations and lacking resources were the first to succumb. Larger factions maintained basic operations by absorbing smaller ones. However, this approach was ultimately a short-sighted solution, unsustainable in the long run.
The forces led by Su Shiyilu have once again conceived the idea of attacking Longwu County, even though they know that they will inevitably lose this battle.
If we fight, we'll most likely lose.
If we don't fight, we'll be surrounded and killed.
Since the establishment of the Kang Kingdom by the Shen family, they no longer relied on replenishing their supplies from the Ten Crows, and strictly limited the entry of resources into the Ten Crows. The lack of resources was also one of the main reasons why the Ten Crows were forced into internal strife.
For survival, fighting is the only way out.
However, the troops sent out were all wiped out by the border garrison. The two sides fought on the border for about half a year. Su Shiyilu was captured and escorted to Fengluo, the capital of Kang Kingdom. Su Shiyilu spent a month as a prisoner there and met the King of Kang Kingdom, Shen Youli.
"Now that the Ten Crows have come to this, whether you want to exterminate them or slaughter their entire clan, humph, it's all the victor's story, I'll do as you please." Although Su Shiyilu has been busy with internal strife and wars these past few years and hasn't had the spare energy to think about anything else, it doesn't mean he doesn't know who is behind the current state of the Ten Crows. She knows best what methods that woman surnamed Shen has used here!
Su Shiyilu had no intention of living after being captured.
"Extermination of the entire race? That's an exaggeration. Although I don't have a good impression of the Ten Crows and we have a deep-seated grudge, I'm not that ruthless." The young king, dressed in casual clothes, personally untied Su Shiyilu, showing no fear of a sudden outburst. Su Shiyilu wasn't that foolish either. "With the current population of the Ten Crows, if you continue fighting amongst yourselves, it won't take more than a decade or two for you to be wiped out, right?"
Su Shiyilu's face turned ashen.
He didn't really pay much attention to the population issue.
It wasn't that he didn't want to, but after years of frequent wars, his main force had been decimated, and there were too many fragmented forces within the Ten Crows territory. He knew about the situation in his own territory, but he was unclear about the situation in other tribes, though he could guess that it wasn't optimistic.
Su Shiyi Lu: [What do you intend to do?]
The young king smiled, his handsome face becoming even more captivating. He tossed him a scroll and said with his hands behind his back, "What do I want? Nothing much. I just want to give Shiwu a way out. But this path is fraught with restrictions. I don't know if you're willing."
Su Shiyilu opened the scroll in his bosom.
I skimmed through all the content.
The young king's voice reached his ears: "As long as the Ten Crows are willing to submit, I intend to gradually lift all restrictions on them. However, the two regions have deep-seated grudges from years past, and a hasty integration would be unacceptable to either side. We must proceed cautiously."
To put it nicely, they really just want to gradually erode Shiwu's territory.
Su Shiyilu sneered: "Your Highness has a clever plan, but don't you know the saying 'inviting a wolf into the house' or 'raising a tiger to cause trouble'? In the past, many powerful countries in the Northwest never even entertained such a thought, yet Your Highness dares to utter such arrogant words..."
Within the pass, the Ten Crows were classified as belonging to the foreign races.
Foreign race, haha.
Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts.
How easy is it to devour, swallow, and digest? Aren't you afraid of indigestion? How did you eat it, and how did you excrete it?
The young king's eyes shone with dazzling pride: "If you can think of it, how could I not?"
Su Shiyilu said: "I would rather die."
The young king sneered: "Death is such a simple thing; a swift stroke of the blade, and a head rolls to the ground. Su Shiyilu, have you thought this through before you choose? The Ten Crows pose no threat to me now, but—that doesn't mean I want a villain sleeping soundly beside my bed, a hidden danger on the border! The Ten Crows can be a desolate wasteland, but it cannot be that villain."
She spoke the harshest words in the gentlest voice. She didn't want the front lines to be in dire straits while the rear was suddenly on fire, and her home to be raided.
Su Shiyi's pupils suddenly trembled.
The ten fierce generals of the Wu Kingdom, kneeling on the ground as prisoners, now focused all their attention on the young king before them.
He was breathing rapidly, his breath coming in short gasps.
The young king chuckled: "You doubt my ability to do it?"
Su Shiyilu lowered his head after a long while, squeezing out a sentence through gritted teeth: "No—I have never doubted Your Highness's resolve."
These few words contain so much resentment.
The young king: [General, there's no need to worry too much. For the Ten Crows right now, this matter can only bring benefits and no harm.]
She assured that life in Shiwu would not be any harder than it is now.
Su Shiyi lowered her eyes, suppressing all emotions, her voice tinged with dejection: "Your Highness, please forgive my presumption; I can only act as the head of my own tribe. I cannot interfere with the attitudes of other tribal forces."
The young king didn't mind.
"Then let's use your headquarters as a pilot project, and then I'll trouble you to persuade other tribal forces." She offered Su Shiyilu several tempting offers. "As long as you agree, you can go back! Later, when you establish the Zhechong Prefecture in Shiwu, you will be the Zhechong Commandant."
Despite its vast size and sparse population, Shiwu Zhechong Prefecture is undoubtedly a superior prefecture, based on its size!
This is just the most basic promise.
If Su Shiyilu's persuasion is successful, then his merits will be counted separately.
It's not impossible to enter the Seven Guardians and Four Rates.
Half a month later, Su Shiyilu was released back to Shiwu.
Half a month later, they successfully persuaded three tribes to join them.
As promised, Kangguo proactively relaxed its resource controls over Shiwu. Merchants within its borders could enter Shiwu to conduct business as long as they obtained a trading permit and passed through border checks. However, the number of permits was still limited.
This is still a drop in the bucket compared to the food shortages in various parts of Wuzhou.
At this time, Kangguo promulgated new policies.
Tribes willing to submit to Kangguo can send able-bodied men to work and earn a living, with each household allowed to bring two children. These Shiwu people will be assigned to a new town under the jurisdiction of Longwu County. They may stay there temporarily before being sent elsewhere as arranged.
Kangguo is willing to provide them with a one-month grant.
One month's salary including meals and accommodation.
When this policy reached the Ten Crows, Su Shiyilu and others reacted differently, with most still skeptical. Why would scattered young men enter Kang State only to die? They firmly believed it was a Kang State conspiracy to wipe out all the young men of the Ten Crows.
Su Shiyi Lu also had doubts.
After all, people from inside the pass have always been cunning.
First there was Zheng Qiao, who deserved to be cut a thousand times, and now there's Shen Youli, who deserves to be cut ten thousand times. Those who can become rulers are the most wicked people in the world!
However, if she didn't agree, she was afraid of angering Shen Youli.
Too many people have starved to death in Shiwu.
He slammed his eyes shut, then snapped them open again. His aide suggested, "Why don't we send some of our slaves to scout ahead?"
Since the slave revolt, the number of slaves in each tribe has decreased sharply, and many tasks have fallen on the shoulders of the people of other tribes. In order to solve this problem, the tribes have not exploited the slaves as severely.
As long as the exploitation is not too severe, slaves will not rebel.
Thus, a delicate balance is maintained.
However, the tribes treated slaves well not out of genuine compassion or repentance, but because they did not fundamentally regard slaves as human beings.
Sending slaves out to test the waters is a win-win situation.
Su Shiyilu nodded: [That works too.]
But not all of them can be slaves.
Besides slaves, many impoverished people were also sent away. If Shen Youli were to play tricks, it wouldn't hurt too much if these people were killed; if Shen Youli kept her promise, they could eat and drink for free for a month. No matter what happens in the future, at least they won't starve to death.
Speaking of which—
Is the weight of the young pear due to excessive grain?
Su Shiyilu didn't believe she would be so kind.
In fact, this policy was opposed by the court officials.
They didn't understand why they didn't launch a full-scale attack to eliminate the Ten Crows. After all, the two sides had a deep-seated feud, and it would be reasonable to take drastic measures. Their lord was merciful and unwilling to do so, wanting to integrate the Ten Crows to prevent future troubles, but that didn't justify granting them so many preferential treatments.
They established a dedicated town to settle down.
They'll provide room and board for another month.
Do these people from Shiwu deserve it?
The young king watched with a smile as his ministers' argument subsided, and said, "Hmm, what you all say makes sense, but do you know why we only allow able-bodied men to take care of children?"
Officials: [...]
Why choose older people over young and strong? Can they even work?
The young king: [It's definitely not just about their work ethic; what I truly care about are the children they bring along. Shiwu is impoverished and harsh, while Kang Kingdom is prosperous and wealthy. Shiwu is also known for its strong-willed people. What do you think these children will be like? Given the caution of people like Su Shiyilu, the first group sent will definitely not be loyal young men and women. That makes things much easier.]
As long as the people sent don't have any biases against the established power of the Ten Crows and witness the prosperity and wealth within the Kang Kingdom, it will be much easier to sow discord. Of course, this move also carries certain risks.
When the poor see the rich, they may flatter and fawn over them, or they may harbor malicious intentions.
The young king gambled on the former.
Established forces like Su Shiyilu are betting on the latter.
Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye.
Just when Su Shiyilu and the others thought they had been tricked, the people who had been chosen returned one after another. They returned with a lot of things. In just six months, the people who were originally thin and dark-skinned had all gained a lot of weight and had become strong adult bodies. The materials they wore were not expensive, but compared with the tribesmen who wore clothes made of cowhide and sheepskin, they were indeed considered wealthy.
They also brought back salt, tea, rice, cloth, needles and thread, seasonings... things that could only be bought when merchants came. Not only did the adults gain weight, but the children they took with them also grew strong and healthy; some could even do arithmetic, understand the local language, and speak fluent and proper Mandarin...
You must understand, these children are all sons of slaves!
The children of slaves are, of course, slaves themselves.
If you stand next to a child from a wealthy family in a tribe, it's really hard to tell who is the son of the master and who is the son of the slave just by looking at them.
Class prejudice is less pronounced among children than among adults.
Within two days, a number of children were gathered around these children.
Listen to the latter recount what he has seen and heard over the past six months.
A child asked: "Have you ever seen the capital of Kangguo?"
Answer: [I haven't seen it, but I've heard that the main road in the capital, Fengluo, is wide enough for eighteen two-horse carriages to travel abreast. The widest road where my parents and I live is only wide enough for six carriages!]
The children had no idea how wide a six-horse carriage could be.
The slave's child glanced at the simple, impoverished tribal tent, then pointed to two places: "Six chariots, from here to here!"
[Only this small? It's nowhere near as big as us.]
They can ride horses anywhere when they're out riding.
We can have as many as you need!
The slave's child said with a hint of disdain, "The road is for people and carriages, and it's the distance between tents."
The child's gaze was so obvious that it angered the son of a wealthy tribesman who had come to listen to the commotion. The son threw a punch and yelled, "Are you blind, you lowly dog? How dare you look at me like that!"
The situation escalated, from one-on-one fighting to a group brawl.
In the past, a slave's son who dared to retaliate would have been beaten to death, but now he was only punished and scolded, spared his life. His parents trembled and begged their master for mercy, and upon hearing of the pardon, they wept with lingering fear. Their child's expression was cold.
They came back to visit relatives and bring some things to improve the lives of the elderly left behind at home. But after this incident, they dared not linger and hurriedly went to Kangguo after only three days.
They were afraid that if they were a step too slow, their owner would change his mind.
Similar incidents have occurred frequently.
Shen Tang achieved his goal.
Through the words of these able-bodied men, Kangguo's reputation among the various tribes quickly turned around. Even without Su Shiyilu's intervention, many young men who could no longer make a living sought refuge in Kangguo. Su Shiyilu was slightly worried about this situation, but couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.
His advisors comforted him: "Shen Youli is arrogant and conceited, allowing our young and strong men to enter the pass. We'll wait until the time is right..."
Kangguo will eventually perish like countless other countries before it.
Once it weakens, the young men who enter Kang Kingdom will transform into poisoned daggers aimed at the heart of Kang Kingdom!
The woman surnamed Shen is digging her own grave.
In the spring of the fourth year of Yuanhuang, Shen Youli relaxed the restrictions again, allowing the ten young men who had performed well and lived stable lives in Kangguo to bring their elderly relatives who had stayed behind in their hometowns to live with them. Although these people's residence and activity range were restricted, and they could not cross prefectures without the written consent of local government offices, they believed that the restrictions would be lifted sooner or later, given the current policy situation.
Early summer of the fifth year of Yuanhuang.
Thirteen tribes, led by Su Shiyilu, unanimously agreed to submit to the Kang Kingdom of Shentang, while the opposing forces were forced to retreat to the western border of Shiwu. A month later, Shiwu was renamed Wuzhou.
In the same month, Shen Tang led a mobile royal court on a secret inspection tour of Shiwu.
|ω`)
As the ruler of the country, Tang Mei can also be addressed as Your Highness, or as Lord or Sovereign.
(End of this chapter)
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