Chapter 297: Sluggish
Ye Shuo: “Given the current state of those people, I’m afraid it will be very difficult.”
From a distance, the prisoners of war in Beiting looked like frightened birds. The slightest movement of the people of the Great Zhou would make them tremble. In addition, they had little food and did not have enough to eat every day. They relied on a mouthful of rice soup to survive. Even if they were given weapons now, they might not be able to hold them.
Prince Ding couldn’t help swallowing his saliva and said with difficulty: “If this is the case… Beiting is too cruel.”
No matter what the result is, these are soldiers defending their country, how could they have the heart to do this!
But if you think about it carefully, this is actually Beiting’s style of doing things.
Beiting people believe in the Wolf King and regard the wild wolves on the grassland as their totems. Beiting people who grow up in such an environment are cruel by nature and not polite people. They cannot be judged by common sense. In their eyes, human life is no different from lambs, and they have always divided it into useful and useless, edible and inedible.
Ye Shuo sat down again, pondered for a while, and said, “Let’s wait a little longer.”
Wait another seven days, and there will definitely be a result no matter what. By then, Ye Shuo will be ready to send the people back and then withdraw his troops.
And so, the sudden silence of the Great Zhou made the prisoners of Beiting even more frightened and uneasy, fearing that they would be the next.
These seven days were almost the most tormenting time in their lives.When the executioners become prey, they are no better than the souls killed by their knives. Before they die, even if they once regarded human lives as cattle and sheep and livestock, their ugly side is revealed.
Every time at this time, everyone would ask themselves: Why hasn’t their wolf king come to pick them up yet? It doesn’t matter, just hold on a little longer, maybe he’ll arrive tomorrow.
What? If he didn’t come tomorrow, then it should be the day after tomorrow. No, that’s not right. It must be the day after tomorrow!
Day after day, from hope to despair, this question never has an answer.
However, even the Wolf King cannot do such a thing openly and too obviously, otherwise the other soldiers would be disheartened.
As the days passed, it was not known whether the Emperor of the Great Zhou was tired of killing, or had a change of heart, or had guessed their intentions. When the agreed time came, the Wolf King had no choice but to pack the 20 million taels of silver into a box and send it to the border.
This time, it was not only Huyan Guang who delivered the silver, but Zuo Xian Wang of Beiting also arrived.
With a sinister look on his face, Zuo Xian Wang took a cursory glance at the remaining ten thousand people and realised that it was just as he had expected. These people had become timid over the past few days and were afraid of the Great Zhou as if they were a tiger. It seemed that they were no longer useful.
However, the emperor of the Great Zhou was not quite what he thought.
The young man was not as crazy as he imagined. He looked like a normal person, but his actions were not consistent with his harmless appearance at all.
Regardless of whether he was really crazy or not, the fact that he killed all the envoys from Beiting in one breath without blinking an eye, cutting off his own retreat, and taking the initiative to resist the joint attack of the two countries showed that few emperors had such courage.
If we wait two more months, and if the Great Zhou agrees to let the princess come, we can delay the journey a little longer on the pretext of the wedding ceremony. By the time spring comes and the grass in Beiting sprouts new buds, the scene will be completely different.
What a pity. What a pity.
Noticing the look in Zuo Xian Wang’s eyes, Prince Ding immediately became alert.
What does this person mean? What is he trying to do by staring at his brother?
Just when Prince Ding was sure that this person must hate them very much in his heart, he suddenly heard Prince Zuo Xian change the subject and bowed to Ye Shuo and said, “Emperor Zhou has a good method. I, Beiting, am convinced.” R̃AΝọꞖЕS̈
Ye Shuo was so focused on the boxes that he didn’t hear what he said clearly. He just said perfunctorily, “Prince Zuo Xian, you are too kind.”
Ye Shuo kept calculating in his mind how much he could do with so much money. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about anything during the months from spring ploughing to harvest.
But for the current Zuo Xian Wang, how to deal with these ten thousand people has become a problem.
The national treasury cannot support treating them too well, but if we try to get rid of them, we are afraid of being discovered. Now these people are more like hot potatoes, which is really tricky.
King Zuo Xian left quickly, and out of concern, General Fang, General Xu and others quickly gathered around.
“May I ask your Majesty, what did Zuo Xian Wang just say?” Zuo Xian Wang was a cunning and sinister person, and they had killed so many people from Beiting, so General Fang and General Xu couldn’t help but feel worried.
Ye Shuo didn’t hesitate and said, “Zuo Xian Wang said that this is a different time, and a temporary victory can’t prove anything. He told me to be careful, because Beiting will retaliate sooner or later.”
Caught off guard, Prince Ding was stunned.
Wait, I was there the whole time, how come I didn’t know that Zuo Xian Wang had said this?
However, General Fang and General Xu believed it without a doubt. In their opinion, the emperor would not lie, or in other words, this answer was more in line with their expectations.
Besides, Beiting had suffered such a great loss, and according to their temperament, it was impossible for them not to retaliate. Not only would Beiting retaliate, but they would also retaliate in a more cruel way than before.
The joy of victory faded away quietly, and the two generals became nervous at a speed visible to the naked eye.
“I understand. I will be more careful in the future.”
After everyone left, Ye Shuo suddenly saw the eldest prince looking at him with an indescribable look, as if he had just committed an unforgivable crime.
Seeing this, Ye Shuo was speechless: “What’s that expression on your face?”
Prince Ding calmed down instantly: “I dare not.”
Knowing what he was thinking, Ye Shuo said righteously: “There is nothing we can do about it. For the sake of the great cause of unification, we can only put them in a difficult position temporarily.”
Be prepared for danger in times of peace. The more this happens, the more you should not be complacent.
What Ye Shuo said sounded good, but it was not so easy to really achieve this goal. Moreover, this kind of thing could not be accomplished by his efforts alone. Everyone had to unite and work together to have a chance to truly realise it.
So he not only wanted to deceive General Xu, but also wanted to deceive the people of the Great Zhou.
This is the truth, but Prince Ding couldn’t help but feel sympathy for General Xu and the people.
But soon Prince Ding stopped laughing, and immediately heard his brother: “Don’t be silly and laugh, I also have something to ask you to do.”
What is the cheap brother thinking? Everyone is included, so how can he be left out?
Although Prince Ding had already made preparations, he still felt a tingling sensation on his scalp when Ye Shuo said it.
“What? You want me to take all the credit for this?”
“What else can we do? It wouldn’t be good to let He Xiang and the others know that it was all done by me, right?” Although He Xiang and the others would know sooner or later, it certainly wouldn’t be now. After all, Ye Shuo still had to rely on He Xiang and the others to do work.
It is too late to worry about the outside world now. If party disputes are added, it will take a long time to accomplish anything.
Ye Shuo was not afraid of being exposed at all. Given his bad deeds in the past twenty years, it was impossible for them to believe it unless they saw it with their own eyes.
However, for Prince Ding, this matter was almost the same as asking for his life.
Asking him to claim military merit would be more painful than killing him.
Prince Ding held his breath for a long time before finally saying, “I really don’t have the nerve to do that.”
Ye Shuo’s tone was equally sincere: “For the sake of the Great Zhou, you can have it.”
“Besides, no one asked you to say it yourself. When the time comes, you just need to not refute or say anything.” He Xiang and the others would guess in this direction.
“Okay, you don’t have to say anything more, it’s settled!”
Without waiting for his cheap brother to refute, Ye Shuo made the decision immediately.
Prince Ding: “…”
Prince Ding felt that he must have committed some great sin in his previous life, which was why he had such a younger brother. What’s more, this younger brother was the emperor who had the final say.
Why the hell did he have to be the emperor!
However, Ye Shuo didn’t care what his cheap brother was thinking. After counting the last box of silver, it was time for Ye Shuo to return to Da zhou.
General Xu and General Fang are veterans, and they are the ones who will handle border affairs.
On the other hand, as soon as the news of the peace talks between Da Zhou and Beiting spread, the State of Chen knew that it could not hold on alone and quickly retreated.
At this moment, the State of Chen was extremely annoyed. This time, not only did Beiting make a mistake, but even the State of Chen never expected that the usually tough Beiting would surrender on its own initiative and also pay seven cities and 20 million taels of silver to the Great Zhou.
Chen State’s plan to reap the benefits was suddenly shattered.
Seeing that Beiting seemed to be preparing to target itself, the State of Chen had no choice but to hurriedly send envoys to speak good words, but this time Beiting did not believe them.
In anger, Beiting followed the example of the Great Zhou and killed all the envoys of the State of Chen in one go. The relationship between the three countries became unprecedentedly tense.
Before Ye Shuo left, he looked back at the endless grassland in front of him from afar. What he thought in his heart was that this time he had reached his limit and it would not be so easy next time.
I will come back sooner or later.
It has only been more than twenty years since Ye Shuo was born. During these twenty years, Chen State and Beiting have invaded many times, and it can almost be said that they have no taboos. He has witnessed so many things with his own eyes alone, and what he cannot see will only be more serious. Massacres and city destruction are just commonplace.
Today, the danger of the Great Zhou being destroyed has been temporarily resolved, but it will come back again tomorrow, and this cycle will repeat itself for hundreds of generations. Ye Shuo feels extremely annoyed just thinking about it.
So we still need to encourage Prime Minister He and the people to work harder…
After thinking about it, Ye Shuo turned around and raised the whip in his hand high: “Go!”
In this way, more than a thousand cavalrymen followed behind him, the sound of horse hooves was like thunder, smoke and sand rolled, and it was extremely ostentatious.
After about three to five days, the 20 million taels of silver were distributed to various parts of the Great Zhou according to Ye Shuo’s original instructions.
While the people of the Great Zhou were receiving relief, another matter inevitably reached their ears.
The reason why the imperial court was so generous this time was that it was all extorted from Beiting. The people of Beiting were cruel and bloodthirsty by nature. After suffering a loss this time, they made a harsh statement on the spot that they would retaliate in the future. Not only would they take back the 20 million taels of silver, but they would also rob their fields and kill their husbands/wives/children/parents, making them into human skin lanterns, and then everyone would have one to light for fun.
For a time, the people were in danger, but at the same time, they were reluctant to give up the relief they had received, after all, they had to survive. Moreover, the people could not run away, their fields were here, and if they ran away, they would starve to death.
Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem. As long as everyone plants more crops, exercises more, and actively responds to the call of the court, and everyone is united, then we will not be afraid even if the people from Beiting come.
Looking back at history, there are very few lands under our feet that have not been occupied by enemy countries, so the rumours should be true.
Knowing that there might be dangers in the future, people gradually became less confused.
On the other hand, after leaving the border, Prince Ding was still thinking that although his brother’s words sounded nice, it might not be so easy for him to hide it from Prime Minister He and others this time.
However, what Prince Ding did not expect was that soon after he walked out, Ye Shuo began to weaken at a speed visible to the naked eye. What shocked Prince Ding even more was that by the evening of the second day, his younger brother, who was already 27 years old this year, actually… actually started to have a low-grade fever!
“Did you catch a cold? Or did you catch a chill?”
When Prince Ding heard the noise at night, he stood there in a daze for a while. After putting on his clothes, he hurried to Ye Shuo’s room.
“Neither…”
Ye Shuo shook his head and lay on the bed, his face pale: “I killed too many people, I was scared.”
“………………”
Prince Ding: “???”
What? ? ?