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“The Prince of Yan is indeed cunning.”
In the Qingzhou government office, Fiji was reading the letter sent by Zhan Xingchang.
He had just returned from Pengzhou yesterday. Now that the Pengzhou City government office was officially operational, and the Prefect of Pengzhou had taken over the various administrative affairs, there was no need for him to remain there.
Pang Yukun said, “The Prince of Yan wants both the matchlock gun technology and to restrain us. He truly harbors ulterior motives, and he has indeed presented us with a dilemma.”
Xiao Ming’s face was grim. The situation he least wanted to see had arisen. Judging by the Prince of Yan’s reaction, the Prince of Zhao would probably also be very wary of his annexation of Wei’s territory.
Indeed, ten days later, Zhan Xingchang returned from Chang’an, bringing the Prince of Zhao’s reply.
“Your Highness, now only the Prince of Liang has agreed to Xiao Qi’s alliance. The attitudes of the Prince of Zhao and the Prince of Yan are still wavering, awaiting our reply,” Zhan Xingchang said.
“So, what are the Prince of Zhao’s terms?” Xiao Ming asked.
Zhan Xingchang said, “After meeting the Prince of Zhao this time, the Prince of Zhao initially wanted to threaten Your Highness with the alliance matter. However, when I mentioned the alliance with the King of Chu, the Prince of Zhao changed his mind. Now, he only requests that Your Highness does not continue to annex Wei’s territory.”
Taking a breath, he continued, “This time, the Prince of Wei also paid a heavy price to get reinforcements. It is said that to secure troops, he had Xiao Qi send eighty thousand taels of silver to the Prince of Zhao. However, the Prince of Zhao is currently at war with the King of Shu and is unwilling to fight on two fronts.”
“So, only the Prince of Liang is willing to send troops now?” Xiao Ming asked.
“Yes, Your Highness. Now the most important thing is the Prince of Yan’s attitude. If the Prince of Yan also ceases hostilities, this alliance will basically fail.”
Xiao Ming paced back and forth. Now that the vassal kings of Great Yu Empire had declared independence, each vassal king had their own interests, and no single vassal king wanted to see another become too powerful.
If he hadn’t displayed such overwhelming strength, it would probably be the Prince of Zhao who was being attacked right now.
After careful thought, he said to Zhan Xingchang, “Since that is the case, we will agree to the Prince of Yan’s condition and provide him with matchlock gun technology.”
“Your Highness, but in that case, are we to abandon our campaign against Wei’s territory?” Niu Ben was also in the government office. He was very displeased about this matter. Now that the Southern Expedition Army and Dengzhou Army were advancing like a broken bamboo, it was the perfect time to pursue victory.
Fiji and Pang Yukun were both old foxes. They exchanged glances, seemingly seeing through Xiao Ming’s strategy.
“To avoid being besieged by an alliance, we can only temporarily agree to this condition. Moreover, having now obtained Pengzhou City and Tongzhou City, we also need time to thoroughly transform these two places. Now that the Prince of Wei has involved the Prince of Zhao, the Prince of Yan, and the Prince of Liang, this alliance seems to require the signing of an agreement.” Xiao Ming looked at Zhan Xingchang.
“Your Highness’s brilliant foresight! Both the Prince of Yan and the Prince of Zhao proposed sending envoys to Qingzhou, so that envoys from all five sides can jointly sign a truce agreement in Qingzhou, maintaining the status quo,” Zhan Xingchang said in surprise.
Fiji said, “This matter reminds me of the Six States allying to attack Qin. The current situation indeed bears resemblance to those times.”
“Hahahaha… So, we are now the mighty Qin, you mean?” Xiao Ming said.
Pang Yukun echoed, “That’s right. Precisely because of this, these vassal kings will fear our continued growth. Your Highness’s campaign against Wei this time truly made them wary. In this situation, even if the Prince of Wei hadn’t sent someone to form an alliance, it’s likely the other vassal kings wouldn’t have been able to sit still.”
“Chief Grand Councillor Pang is absolutely right. I also saw this point and decided to play along with their scheme. Since they want a written agreement, we will give it to them. After Pengzhou and Tongzhou are stabilized, we will continue to take other cities in Wei’s territory.” Xiao Ming said loudly.
Everyone nodded upon hearing this. The initiative, whether to attack or defend, was now in their hands.
Pengzhou now had a population of five hundred thousand, and Tongzhou had a population of two hundred thousand. Now they only needed time to recruit and train soldiers from these two places. Once they had an additional fifty thousand troops, they would not fear even if the Prince of Zhao, the Prince of Liang, the Prince of Wei, and the Prince of Yan attacked them together.
Niu Ben sighed. He said, “But I still feel at a disadvantage. If we sign this troublesome agreement, won’t it mean that only the Prince of Wei can attack us, and we can’t attack him?”
“Rest assured, Commander Niu. Since we are signing an agreement, I will naturally make them acknowledge our occupation of Pengzhou and Tongzhou. Moreover, I have another idea: perhaps we can take Huaizhou in the process!”
Xiao Ming already had a plan in mind, then he explained the plan to Pang Yukun and others.
After listening, Fiji looked astonished. He said, “I never thought text could be used this way. I have truly learned something new. If that’s the case, the Prince of Wei and other vassal kings will truly have difficulty speaking.”
Xiao Ming smiled and nodded.
This time, Xiao Ming didn’t sign the truce agreement because he was a coward. In fact, even if the four kings attacked, he might not necessarily lose. However, he never forgot that the barbarians were constantly watching the changes in Great Yu Empire.
At that time, even if he won, it would be a Pyrrhic victory, and the four kings would also suffer heavy losses. This situation was precisely what the barbarians most hoped to see.
Once that happened, he would no longer have any spare capacity to deal with Great Yu Empire’s true enemies.
Therefore, at this moment, he had to avoid the Prince of Wei’s alliance scheme. After all, he had already gained advantages and only needed to consolidate his victory.
Once his strength was further enhanced, he would completely annex Wei’s territory in a very short time, leaving the Prince of Yan and others no time to react.
As for now, he still needed time to digest the conquered land and population. Most importantly, he was preparing to seize an overseas food supply area: the Sanzan Kingdom, currently controlled by Japan.
In this era, the large island opposite Fuzhou was called Ryukyu, and a series of islands between Ryukyu and Japan were called the Sanzan Kingdom, which are later Okinawa and its surrounding islands.
According to the intelligence provided by Wang Xuan, the Sanzan Kingdom had a population of two hundred thousand and was now forced to pay tribute to Japan, providing a large amount of grain to Yamada Nobunaga every year. During Yamada Nobunaga’s unification of Japan, the grain provided by the Sanzan Kingdom greatly helped Yamada Nobunaga.
In contemporary history, successive dynasties twice missed the opportunity to recover this kingdom. Xiao Ming did not want to miss it now, especially since it was a place that could provide free grain.
Therefore, the reason for signing the truce agreement was also partly due to this consideration. With a stable food supply, he would not have to worry about logistics in the future.
Having settled the matter, Xiao Ming said to Zhan Xingchang, “This time, you will be responsible for this to the very end. You will now notify them, saying that I have agreed to their conditions and that they should send envoys to Qingzhou for discussions.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Zhan Xingchang bowed.