Chapter 273
Chapter 273
The State of Qiang was a small nation to the west of the State of Yue. Its territory was a sixth the size of Yue, and its population numbered only a few hundred thousand. Despite this, its people were valiant and skilled in combat—a fiercely strong and savage populace. Their weapons and equipment were unremarkable, but their individual martial prowess far surpassed that of Yue's soldiers.
Situated between the Sha Barbarians, the State of Chu, the State of Yue, and the Western Regions, the State of Qiang was a land of perpetual conflict. Moreover, Qiang was a nation that knew no political compromise; if they disliked a country, they went to war with it. Within the last century, they had fought wars against Chu, the Sha Barbarians, Yue, and various nations of the Western Regions. They picked fights with everyone they saw, to the point where it seemed they would fight the sky, the earth, and the very air itself.
Despite centuries of incessant warfare, their territory neither expanded nor shrank. Their population, too, remained constant, never growing or diminishing. If their numbers ever dwindled, they would simply raid others. It is often said that a nation that loves war is doomed to fall, but that is because such a state cannot sustain an army or endure the costs of conflict. This adage did not apply to the State of Qiang, where every citizen was effectively a soldier, a warrior.
Furthermore, Qiang's lands were so barren that conquering them was meaningless; it would only be an added burden. Neither Yue nor Chu had any desire for such territory. Besides, having a small, bandit-like nation acting as a buffer against the Western Regions and the Sha Barbarians was advantageous. Thus, in recent years, the State of Yue had consistently pursued a policy of appeasement toward Qiang. To put it crudely, they were buying peace with money.
So, what was the connection between this State of Qiang and Marquis Zhenyuan, Su Nan? Their relationship was far deeper than one might think. While Qiang was on poor terms with everyone, their relationship with Marquis Zhenyuan was not bad. This was, of course, due to the Su Clan's strategy. A cornerstone of the Su Clan's strategy was to prioritize the State of Qiang. Every year, the Su Clan conducted trade with Qiang at a loss. They purchased nearly all of Qiang's cowhides and sheepskins. In return, the Su Clan sold them grain, strong liquor, silk, and brick tea.
Someone had calculated that the Su Clan lost at least thirty thousand gold taels annually from their trade with Qiang. However, this loss was converted into a political asset far more valuable than gold. Any contact the State of Yue wished to make with Qiang had to go through the Su Clan. Moreover, since the Su Clan's fiefdom bordered Qiang, Su Nan possessed a formidable military force that allowed him to survive and not be easily toppled.
The King of Qiang was unreasonable with everyone he dealt with, but he enjoyed his interactions with Su Nan. Su Nan's younger sister and daughter had both married the King of Qiang. His eldest daughter married the King of Qiang, while his younger daughter married the Crown Prince of Qiang. Yes, it was that convoluted. If this was what the rumors claimed, the reality was likely even more tangled.
And now, a delegation of envoys from the State of Qiang happened to be in the capital of Yue. Why were they here? To extort immense profits, of course. With the rebellion in the State of Nanguo, Prince Gong had set aside his old grievances with the Sha Barbarians, inviting their grand army into his territory to wage war against the forces of Yue. The state of the war had become extremely tense. Seeing this, the State of Qiang sensed an opportunity and sent a delegation to Yue for the purpose of extortion.
They demanded the king immediately provide them with three hundred thousand gold taels, three thousand women, and vast quantities of grain, silk, and tea leaves. Their condition was presented plausibly enough. They claimed that if Qiang received these goods, they would immediately dispatch troops to attack the Sha Barbarians. At the time, the king's reaction was:
"How can I possibly trust you!"
It was true that the State of Qiang and the Sha Barbarians had fought each other often. In fact, they had waged so many wars that they had reached a strange accord, with neither side coveting the other's territory. The Sha Barbarians were even poorer than Qiang. Ning Yuanxian was certain that if he handed over the money and supplies, Qiang would send five hundred soldiers to haphazardly kill a few dozen Sha Barbarians, then return to Yue to claim their reward and demand even more money. King Ning Yuanxian had long since seen through the tactics of this small, bandit-like nation.
Even though the war with Nanguo had entered a critical phase, the State of Yue still held an overwhelming advantage in terms of military strength and national power.
"We don't need Qiang's help in the first place. The greatest help you could offer is to stay out of our way. You're as useless as a stick for stirring shit, and your only conceivable purpose would be to attack Chu if Yue and Chu ever went to war in the future."
Having failed to extort any money, the Qiang delegation simply remained in the State of Yue. Foreign envoys typically stayed at the Court of State Ceremonials, managed by the Ministry of Rites. But the Qiang delegation refused to stay in such a place, instead spending months living in brothels, moving from one to the next.
"There's good food, entertainment, and comfortable beds here. What's not to like? Of course, we won't be paying. We people of Qiang only know how to demand money, not how to give it."
So, did they just enjoy everything for free? Not exactly. Someone came to pay for them. Claiming that Qiang were experts in diplomacy and good friends, the Su Clan paid their bills. But the Qiang envoys didn't just enjoy the women in the brothels for free; they also casually beat and killed people.
As it was a critical time, the State of Yue had no choice but to endure it. Every time the Qiang delegation caused trouble, the Yue officials would downplay major incidents into minor ones, and minor incidents into nothing at all. They had no choice. While Yue didn't need Qiang's help in the war against Nanguo, they couldn't afford to have them stir up trouble. They were like a nation of madmen; if provoked, they would ignore their own self-interest, march to Nanguo, and join Prince Gong in attacking Yue. That would make the situation truly troublesome.
And don't think for a moment that Qiang wasn't capable of such a thing. They had a long history of doing things like that, even to their own detriment. So, everyone did their best to avoid provoking them. After a long time of this, the Qiang delegation became an object of universal resentment in the capital, and people would steer clear of wherever they went. The sentiment was, "If we can't touch them, we'll just hide from them." This, in turn, enraged the Qiang delegation.
Left with no other option, the Marquis of Zhenyuan's Su Clan had to send people to exclusively entertain these lords from Qiang. The delegation was not large, consisting of just over ten people. Two men sent by the Su Clan accompanied them at all times. Over the past few months, the Qiang delegation's murders and disturbances had pushed the capital's citizens to their breaking point. If these madmen from Qiang were to burn down the Sacred Temple, it would ignite the fury of Yue's court and its subjects.
"You burned our faith!" The entire capital would erupt, with countless people screaming for their deaths. At that point, who would care about Jin Mucong? Moreover, the anger would spread to the Su Clan.
"Shouldn't your Su Clan have been watching those vicious bastards? You failed to supervise them properly and let them burn down the Sacred Temple? Do you realize the gravity of your crime, Su Clan?"
The king, while feigning great anger, would be inwardly delighted.
"As king, I have to go to that Sacred Temple and kneel every year. I've long been displeased with the Holy Confucius."
Furthermore, the king would finally have a legitimate reason to refuse the Qiang delegation's extortion. Not only that, he could also use this opportunity to punish Su Nan. For the king, it would be killing three birds with one stone. And for Shen Lang, it was also a case of three birds with one stone.
Second, it would reverse the situation at tomorrow's court session, robbing public opinion of the chance to attack the Jin Clan and diverting the attention of everyone in the capital. Third, it would bring down the Su Clan. And bringing them down wasn't as simple as just making Su Nan face the king's wrath. This was Shen Lang's first move to destroy the Su Clan, and it was the most crucial opening gambit. To annihilate the Su Clan, he absolutely had to use the State of Qiang. Therefore, even if the Jin Mucong incident hadn't occurred, the Sacred Temple had to be burned, and it had to be burned by the Qiang delegation.
"But since the Jin Mucong incident happened to occur, I'll just execute the plan ahead of schedule."
Making the Qiang envoys burn down the capital's Sacred Temple was the scheme Shen Lang was most proud of. Inwardly, he was more smugly satisfied with devising this plan than he had been when he seized Raging Tide City or during the battle at Sorrow's End Isle. This scheme had the lowest probability of accidental interference from other factors, meaning it had the fewest flaws. It was a grand design that would achieve astonishing results with minimal effort. A strategy with a massive return for a small price. Compared to this stratagem, what was Shen Lang's pacification of all four directions from the Wannian County Yamen? It was a flawlessly vicious scheme.
"Marquis Su Nan, allow me, Shen Lang, to show you the wisdom of a Zhuge Liang, planning three or four steps ahead with a single move!"
***
Princess Big-Buttocks, Ning Yan, was inwardly gloating. She had harbored anger toward the Qiang envoys for a long time. If her royal father hadn't repeatedly warned her not to provoke them, she would have dealt with them long ago. Those barbarians were so arrogant and insolent, running rampant through the capital every day and committing all sorts of atrocities.
"If there must be a source of trouble in the capital of Yue, one is enough. And that one is me, Princess Ning Yan."
A few days ago, the Qiang delegation had caused another incident, riding their horses into a dozen innocent commoners and injuring them. Two of them suffered incurable, grievous injuries, with three bones broken. Despite this, the Qiang envoys were completely unconcerned. Instead, they flew into a rage, blaming the people of Yue for blocking their path and furiously whipping the surrounding commoners who protested the injustice.
Even after injuring and killing people with their horses, they remained indifferent, continuing their days of debauchery. And once again, the officials of Yue downplayed the major incident into a minor one, then into nothing at all. Today, they had gone to the Spring Breeze Pavilion to enjoy a tyrant's feast and play with the women like conquerors. The entire Spring Breeze Pavilion was reserved just for them. Whichever brothel they visited, the establishment would clear the premises, hide away all the high-priced courtesans, and have sturdy, able-bodied women attend to them instead.
The Qiang warriors didn't mind much. To them, delicate women were nice to look at, but no fun in bed. They needed sturdy women to be able to wage battle on equal footing. The dozen or so Qiang envoys and warriors were drinking merrily, attended by these robust beauties. It was then that the she-tiger, Princess Ning Yan, stormed into the brothel.