Chapter 71: The Dagger Revealed (Part 1) Update
The bonfire gradually died down.
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
Xiying crawled into her tent in a daze without knowing when, and fell into a deep sleep.
The others gradually returned to their tents, drunken and fast asleep. Finally, Fu Zhen'er, finally about eight or nine points drunk, was helped into the tent by the team member on duty today.
This was the first time Liu Ziye got drunk in his two lifetimes.
She felt as if her body was lying in a soft cloud, and the cloud was floating up with her. When she opened her eyes, she saw a sky full of stars.
When the Milky Way and the dome were about to be obscured by a gray tent, she struggled a few times in the soft clouds with great dissatisfaction.
"What happened to the young marquis?"
She heard what seemed to be Jin Jie asking herself.
Only then did he turn his gaze and find that he was probably being picked up by Jin Ji and was being taken into the tent.
She said, "My Lord wants to see the stars."
Jin Jie raised his head when he heard this.
The starry sky is low, and countless silver lights are almost within reach. It is truly a beautiful sight.
He turned around and went out again. Qin Wu saw Jin Jie coming back with the young marquis in his arms, so he stepped forward and asked.
Jin Jie said to him, "It's okay. Just take your men and guard the camp."
Qin Wu nodded.
Jin Ji picked up two felt blankets, walked out of the camp, and went to a high ground outside the camp. He spread two thick blankets with one hand and put the young marquis on the ground with the other hand, facing the sky.
He himself stood quietly beside the blanket.
The starlight and moonlight were very bright. Even from a long distance away, Qin Wu could still see Jin Ji's upright figure.
Qin Wu looked up at the sky and smiled knowingly.
On the high slope, standing and lying.
When Jin Jie came back with his men again, the young marquis had already closed his eyes, nestled in his arms, and was completely asleep.
·
The great tent of the Di tribe's king Khan.
Mo Zhe mentioned the news that the Di shaman had brought from Yi Town.
Written on it was a brief explanation: "My Khan, I witnessed the reincarnation of the Fire Lotus God within the Zhou Dynasty. As long as we follow the god's footsteps, our Di people will surely prosper."
After Mo Zhe finished reading this letter, he opened the other two.
One from his younger son and one from his older son.
The younger son said, "Father, I have seen God! From now on, He is my true God! Of course, my eldest brother will always be my unchanging God!"
After reading it, Mo Zhe couldn't help but smile.
Since childhood, Little Si'er had idolized his eldest brother, and even his father rarely had the opportunity to compete with him. Now, there was someone who could easily stand on equal footing with his eldest brother, or even surpass him. This was truly remarkable.
Finally, Mo Zheyi unfolded the secret letter from his eldest son, whom he always valued the most.
He sent someone to deliver a message to his eldest son, wanting to ask him, since he had now found clear signs of Tianyin, whether he could temporarily leave his identity as an ordinary private guard and return to the Di tribe to help him handle more tribal affairs.
As for the matters of serving and following the gods closely, his Di tribe could have arranged more people to do it for him.
The white paper was unfolded, and Mo Zheyi saw the reply from his eldest son.
"No need, Father Khan."
Just five words, nothing more.
Mo Zhe put down the letter, looked at the beautiful scenery of withered grass in the distance, and silently threw several pages of paper into the brazier.
He twitched the corners of his lips slightly and said, "The gods are indeed gods. These brats, big and small, are all completely lost."
·
In the twelfth year of Tianxi (three years later), Fanyang County of the Zhou Dynasty.
Flags were flying in the territory and people were rejoicing.
The soldiers of the Governor's Mansion and the troops stationed in the west of the Central Army were gathering troops, mobilizing food and supplies, and organizing the troops. On the official roads throughout the territory, carriages and horses were galloping and smoke was rising everywhere.
The Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty has been building the Dongwang Mountain Cool Palace for the past three years, but it has not yet been completed.
Shortly thereafter, the construction of the Grand Canal and the East-West Grain, Horse and Military Road began.
In addition, there are bridges, dams and even palaces, temples and pagodas being built in various places, which can be said to be very lively.
Last year, at the emperor's behest, Yiyang King Liu Qing crushed a coalition of powerful rebels in the southeast that had formed an alliance to oppose the imperial court. Now, with no major resistance force left in the southeast, the various factions have been scattered, becoming a chaotic mess, vulnerable to manipulation.
Every ordinary citizen who joined the powerful in the rebellion was caught by the government and sent to the front lines to build fortifications in various places.
Let’s talk about Fanyang County’s actions this time. It was because the Great Zhou Dynasty was preparing for a new major war.
In the winter of the eighth year of Tianxi, heavy snow suddenly fell in Xiguan County of the Zhou Dynasty and the eight Rongdi tribes.
Each of the eight Rongdi tribes suffered heavy losses, but the Qiang, the leader of the eight, suffered the most. Since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, the Qiang had been the most proactive in establishing good relations and expressing positive attitudes towards the court. Having previously received the most benefits from the Zhou, the Qiang naturally sent a signal for help.
However, who would have thought that this time, the Qiang people's request for help was rejected by the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty in Yanjing, who believed that they were exaggerating the snow disaster and wanted to defraud the Great Zhou Dynasty of supplies.
In the end, the Great Zhou did not provide the Qiang people with sufficient material subsidies as they requested, but only gave them less than one-third of the amount they requested.
The Qiang people seemed dissatisfied.
When this news reached Yanjing, Liu Jian was furious.
It was Liu Jian's birthday at that time. Liu Jian issued an edict, requesting the leaders of the eight Rongdi tribes to come to Yanjing to celebrate his birthday, and specifically pointed out that the Qiang Khan should come to Yanjing in person to attend the banquet.
The Qiang Khan Yao Can naturally did not have the courage to enter Yanjing, so he sent his eldest prince to replace him.
As expected, from the time the eldest prince entered Yanjing until now, he has not been able to return to the Qiang tribe for three years.
Once the rift opens, it is difficult to close.
During the three years, Liu Jian repeatedly asked Yao Shen to come to Yanjing in person. The eldest prince was detained in Yanjing first, and the Emperor of the Great Zhou was obviously increasingly dissatisfied with the Qiang people. How could Yao Shen dare to come?
After many attempts at tug-of-war, Yao Can finally made up his mind.
He abandoned his eldest prince who was in Yanjing and prepared to completely break off relations with the Great Zhou.
Anyway, although the Qiang people and the eight Rongdi tribes were on the border of the Great Zhou Dynasty, they were actually separated from the Great Zhou Dynasty by not only the Shuochuan River that ran across the northwest land, but also the Xisai Mountains with its continuous peaks.
These natural geographical barriers are also the reason why Emperor Shengzu of the Zhou Dynasty drew the border here.
The eight Rongdi tribes could no longer pose a threat to the Zhou Dynasty.
However, it was not easy for the Zhou Dynasty to cross mountains and rivers to attack them and chase them further to the cold and desolate land in the northwest.
Not only is it not easy, but for the Zhou Dynasty, doing such a thing is completely meaningless.
Not to mention the huge consumption of manpower and supplies, even if the battle was won, winning such a playground beyond the geographical barriers would not only hardly bring any benefits to the Zhou Dynasty, but would also be extremely difficult to govern.
Just like the Xiguan County that is closest to them and spans thousands of miles.
It was already a marginal exile place that the Great Zhou Dynasty ignored. It had a complex geography and a sparse population. Apart from the symbolic establishment of a governor's office, no one cared about the daily livelihood of the people in this county of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Anyone with a normal mind would not start a war and really stir up trouble with the eight Rongdi tribes again.
It was even more impossible to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops from the heartland of the Great Zhou Dynasty, assemble them, and travel thousands of miles to attack the eight tribes of the grasslands! !
But who would have thought that the current emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty was not a man of normal mind! !
When Yao Can learned that Liu Jian had mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to destroy his Qiang tribe, he was so frightened that he fell off the throne.
The first words I said when I woke up were -
"How could the wise and powerful Holy Ancestor Emperor of the glorious Great Zhou pass the throne to such a madman?!"
"Fuck you lunatic!!"
·
"Crazy" Liu Jian didn't feel that he was crazy at all.
He had to fight this battle against Rongdi no matter what.
"These little barbarians are not only deceitful, but have also been disrespectful and rude many times. If we don't teach them a lesson, how will the surrounding states view our Great Zhou Dynasty? Will they all be like them, receiving the grace and blessings of our Great Zhou Dynasty but not being grateful?"
Liu Jian looked at the prince kneeling on the ground and became furious.
"Prince, you always oppose me. What do you want to do? Do you want me to hand over the throne to you as soon as possible?"
Liu Ziling kowtowed: "Father, I have absolutely no such intention!"
He said, "The might of our Great Zhou Dynasty is known to all, and the people of the world are in awe. The Qiang clan, who have betrayed our Great Zhou today, will surely be taught a lesson in the future! However, as the Celestial Empire, it is not appropriate for our Great Zhou Dynasty to start a war over such a small tribe on the border!"
Liu Jian sneered: "Learned a lesson? What lesson did they learn? What I am doing now is to teach them a lesson!"
"The lesson I'm talking about is not this. Father, think about it, with the strength and prestige of our Great Zhou Dynasty, the nations from all directions flocked to us to make friends. Naturally, they could profit from our friendship! The strength of our Great Zhou Dynasty, if they were to show even a tiny glimpse of it, would enable these small families to help bring about earth-shaking changes. Now that the Qiang clan has chosen to dissociate from our Great Zhou, it is of no concern to us! The Eight Tribes of Rong and Di are not just the Qiang. Naturally, there are other tribes with more respectful attitudes and willing to cooperate with our Great Zhou. Our Great Zhou needs to focus on its own development and prosperity. Abandoning the Qiang clan in favor of another clan will make them regret it within two years!"
“Crash—”
Liu Jian angrily overturned the brushwasher and inkstone on the imperial desk. "So, what the Crown Prince is saying is that as the great Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, I have to endure the wrath of this little Qiang tribe for two years! Is that right?"
"No... Father... That's not what I meant..."
"What do you mean, Prince? Within the royal family, I have to endure the wrath of a virtuous and filial prince like you. In the court, I have to endure the wrath of those old ministers who jump up and down every day to oppose this and that. Prince, do you think that's not enough? I even let a mere Qiang tribe member step on my head and commit evil!"
Liu Ziling kowtowed vigorously, blood oozing from his forehead: "Your son dare not!"
"How dare you!"
Liu Jian leaned back on the couch in anger, ignoring the Crown Prince's indefensible remarks. He said, "Detain the Qiang prince Yao Sen. If Yao Sen still refuses to enter Yanjing, Yao Sen's blood will be used as a sacrifice to support the Great Zhou's expedition to the northwest!"
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