Chapter 635
Chapter 635
Shen Lang’s son was not the only one acting like a little monster; so was Aro Zhang. Not yet a year old, Aro Zhang was as sturdy as a small calf, already a full meter tall. It was late October, and snow had already fallen twice in the Qiang Kingdom, making it bitterly cold. Yet, Aro Zhang was crawling around in the snow, clad in thin clothes with his bottom bare, playing so hard that steam rose from his body. It wasn't that Aruna was neglecting the child; he simply refused to wear clothes. If she tried to put one more layer on him, the baby would wail loudly and tear it off himself.
In the snowfield, Big Dummy was training in martial arts, wildly swinging a Xuan Iron staff that weighed over five hundred pounds. No one could get within several meters of him, as the powerful force from his swinging staff made it impossible to even open one's eyes. In fact, in a radius of over ten meters around him, the ground was completely clear of snow, as if a helicopter had landed there.
When Sword King Li Qianqiu left the Qiang Kingdom, Big Dummy remained behind. His wife and child were here. However, without the Sword King to launch surprise attacks on him, his defensive skills had temporarily plateaued, which, of course, made him quite happy.
Before leaving, the Sword King had taught him a staff technique called the Wind-Breaking Staff. It wasn't some ancient, secret manual, but an ordinary staff technique with only nine moves from start to finish. Big Dummy practiced it over a thousand times every day, and by now, he had practiced it more than two hundred thousand times in total.
No one knew just how formidable his martial arts had become, but according to the old eunuch of the Qiang Kingdom, the prowess of the Royal Consort Dazhuang surpassed that of the previous Qiang King, Aro Gang. At the very least, even the current Queen of the Qiang Kingdom, Aruna, was no match for Big Dummy. In fact, all the chieftains and generals of the Qiang Kingdom had challenged him, only to meet a rather despairing end.
He would beat any challenger until they cried. Even if a challenger gained the upper hand at the beginning of a match, their internal energy would eventually be depleted. In contrast, Big Dummy’s strength was like a relentless, surging tide, never seeming to run out. Within half an hour, he would bring all his opponents to their knees.
Aruna, the Queen of the Qiang Kingdom, was handling official duties, while Big Dummy trained his martial arts. Aro Zhang was rolling around in the snow with his bottom bare, but no one paid him any mind. Children of the Qiang Kingdom, even a prince, were raised in a free-range style. Sitting in the snow with his bottom exposed, the baby’s little jewels and pecker got buried in the white powder. The cold sensation made his jewels retract, and he felt the urge to pee. The baby stood up, then squatted down again and let loose a stream of hot urine, which melted all the snow.
“Ah… Gak, gak, gak, gak.”
Aro Zhang, as if he had discovered a new continent, marveled at his creation and continued to pee with all his might. After he was done, he wanted to melt more snow, but with no more pee left, he strained hard.
*Poot!*
In the end, all that came out was a fart.
“Gak, gak, gak, gak.”
At that, the baby, delighted once more, rolled around in the snow. This father and son, Big Dummy and Aro Zhang, found joy in the simplest, most trivial things. In contrast, Aruna, in the Qiang Royal Palace, was extremely frustrated. This was because the conflict on the Qiang-Yue border had erupted for the third time. Originally, the Qiang Kingdom and the State of Yue had a very close relationship, and the border was a mere formality, almost non-existent. Yue cavalry would sometimes enter Qiang territory for training, and Qiang cavalry would occasionally cross into Yue. But ever since Zhang Ziyu was appointed Central Area Commander of Tianxi Province, everything had changed.
He first reinforced the forts of the Marquis of Zhenyuan's Estate, then dismantled all of the Qiang Kingdom's temporary barracks within Yue territory, and finally, he built a massive defensive line along the border between the two nations. The moment she saw such a guarded posture, Aruna was deeply displeased. Still, she didn't make a fuss because King Ning Yuanxian of Yue had shown a very friendly attitude toward the Qiang Kingdom.
Later, even after Shen Lang resigned and returned home, Aruna received a secret letter from him, and so the relationship with Yue did not sour. In fact, until then, a large delegation of envoys from Yue had been staying in the Qiang capital. With Zhang Ziyu acting as if facing a great enemy, Aruna ordered her cavalry not to enter Yue territory again. The Qiang warriors were displeased, but they followed the Queen's command.
However, the State of Chu sent a large number of spies into the Qiang Kingdom. Disguised as Qiang warriors, they ambushed a border fort in Yue. They also dressed as Yue warriors to rustle cattle and sheep from Qiang herdsmen, even committing murder and arson. When trust between the Qiang and Yue was strong, such divisive tactics by Chu spies would naturally have failed. But now, thanks to Zhang Ziyu's hostile stance, the trust between the two nations had eroded, and over time, Chu's schemes began to achieve their goal. The atmosphere on the border grew heavy, and conflicts had already broken out three times.
A few days ago, a small Qiang tribe was attacked again. All their cattle and sheep were stolen, dozens of herdsmen were killed, and over ten Qiang women were violated. The lucky survivors testified that they had clearly seen Yue warriors commit the deed. The chieftain of that tribe, naturally, could not stand for it. He immediately led a thousand cavalrymen to the border, demanding that Yue hand over the murderers, threatening to use force if they did not comply. The army under Zhang Ziyu, though filled with hostility towards the Qiang, acted cautiously. No matter how much the Qiang cavalry provoked them, they kept the gates shut and did not come out. The chieftain reported the matter to Aruna, which gave the Queen a massive headache.
Of course, she couldn't reprimand her own chieftain. As the Queen of the Qiang Kingdom, she had to stand by her people. However, this incident was clearly another conspiracy orchestrated by Chu spies. Although Zhang Ziyu was wary of the Qiang Kingdom, he couldn't go against the will of King Ning Yuanxian. On the surface, he expressed his support for maintaining friendly relations with the Qiang, even voluntarily visiting the Qiang capital. Thus, even if Aruna wanted to censure him, she couldn't find a reason to do so.
Nevertheless, the cooling of relations between Yue and the Qiang was undeniably Zhang Ziyu's greatest responsibility. This man, while outwardly pursuing a friendly relationship, had secretly reinforced troops on the border, being the first to break the trust between the two nations. Of course, Zhang Ziyu had his reasons. First, Queen Aruna of the Qiang Kingdom was closely associated with Shen Lang, and Shen Lang was an enemy of the Crown Prince. As a direct subordinate of the Crown Prince, Zhang Ziyu naturally had to be wary of the Qiang Kingdom.
Furthermore, a very large pro-Prince Gong faction had formed within the Qiang Kingdom, a mercenary army led by Ying Yang. This mercenary army had many warriors from the Shaman Tribe, who regarded Prince Gong as their hero and savior. They had always pushed for an alliance between the Great Southern Kingdom and the Qiang Kingdom. Prince Gong had also sent envoys several times, requesting Queen Aruna to form an alliance to attack Yue together, offering to cede territory in Yue. He even promised that if Aruna agreed, the entire southern part of Tianxi Province would be ceded to the Qiang Kingdom.
***
Inside the Marquis of Zhenyuan's Estate.
Zhang Ziyu, the Central Area Commander of Tianxi Province, spent most of his time handling official duties here rather than at the Tianxi Area Command headquarters. How magnificently and loftily was this Marquis's estate built? He now controlled an army of nearly forty thousand, half of which originally belonged to Zheng Ta. Zhang Ziyu had been the top scholar in the imperial examinations a dozen years ago, a truly handsome man with a bold and dashing demeanor.
How to describe this man? He had good literary talent and was competent in administrative affairs, but he was extremely arrogant, looking down on the world due to his belief in his own genius. Among all the officials of Yue, only two had earned his respect: one was Zhu Hongzhu, and the other was the pair of Bian Wu and Zhong Yao, whom he counted as one. To him, the rest of the officials were a bunch of talentless hacks. In his eyes, Zhang Chong had a knack for getting things done but lacked political foresight. Shen Lang had a talent for sophistry but no ability to execute, and even less political acumen. He firmly believed that once Zhu Hongzhu passed away, Zhu Rong would become the leader of Yue's civil officials. And when Zhu Rong rose to that position, he himself would also secure a high place.
“Don’t worry. Queen Aruna has a straightforward character; she won’t truly turn hostile. Nor will she send troops to attack the Yue border. That woman is so upright it borders on foolishness. She can't bring herself to attack Yue, nor can she reprimand her own chieftains, so she's probably just stewing in her own frustration.”
Hearing Zhang Ziyu's words, the Adjutant of the Tianxi Central Area Command asked.
“Your Excellency is truly wise. But why have we gathered thirty thousand troops on the border, creating a defensive posture against the Qiang Kingdom?”
“Is it not said that one must be prepared for unforeseen trouble? An army needs an enemy. They must be kept on edge at all times; otherwise, they lose their unity and scatter like sand. It’s quite ridiculous when you think about it. It’s precisely because Aruna is a person of integrity and has a close relationship with Yue that I can act so boldly. If she were as cunning and tyrannical as the two previous Qiang Kings, we would be scrambling to appease her, let alone daring to be as cold as we are now.”
“When one side yields, the other pushes forward. Good people are merely taken advantage of by others.”
Zhang Ziyu said with a smile.
“That is politics. When someone steps back, you must press them hard. Besides, is what I'm doing wrong? With war imminent for our nation, am I not supposed to defend our borders?”
The adjutant replied with a smile.
“It is only proper. No one in the world could point a finger at Your Excellency.”
Though the adjutant said this, he knew in his heart that Central Area Commander Zhang Ziyu's intention was to use this opportunity to seize military power. Just as Zhang Ziyu had said, any army needs an enemy, and if one doesn't exist, one must be created. Only then would the armies of Tianxi Province unite under a single commander, a tactic Zhang Ziyu had successfully executed.
The armies in the southern part of Tianxi Province originally had no enemy. Both the Chu army and Prince Gong's army were very far away. When Zhang Ziyu, a newly appointed official, first arrived, the leaders of these armies were stubborn and unwilling to listen, making it very difficult for him to take control of the military. So, he created a virtual enemy: their ally, the Qiang Kingdom. This ‘virtual enemy’ proved highly effective. As expected, the relationship between the two nations grew increasingly tense, and the Yue army, out of fear and uncertainty, gradually rallied under Zhang Ziyu's command. In just half a year, he had taken control of thirty thousand troops.
Zhang Ziyu knew he was making a risky strategic gamble and was essentially bullying the good-natured Aruna. But a general in a distant land is not bound by his lord's command. When Shen Lang was posted far away, he had done things far crazier and taken many more risks. Moreover, Zhang Ziyu had not violated the King's will in any way. All his official documents and memorials spoke of the friendly relations between Yue and the Qiang. He had even voluntarily visited the Qiang capital twice to present gifts to Aruna. Zhang Ziyu was extremely proud of the strategy he employed, thinking that the position of Central Area Commander of Tianxi Province was becoming more and more enjoyable.