Chapter 58
Chapter 58
Two days later, Emperor Jian overruled all objections at court and rejected the proposal for a marriage alliance.
He ordered Prime Minister Li Ren to depart immediately for the border, support the Eldest Prince Xie Shoujun, and negotiate peace with the Xiongnu envoys.
Emperor Jian’s attitude was uncompromising. The officials could do nothing but rack their brains over what benefits they might offer the Xiongnu to make the negotiations succeed.
Instead, Emperor Jian swept a hand through the air and smiled coldly. “Benefits? My mercy in not exterminating the Xiongnu should be benefit enough, yet they expect gifts from me? Li Ren, go empty-handed!”
Prime Minister Li raised both hands in agreement and proclaimed loudly, “Your Majesty is wise! I will not disappoint expectations. I shall make the Xiongnu willingly retreat three thousand li and swear never to invade mighty Jian’an again!”
The officials stared in disbelief.
Wait, were these two serious?
Those were the Xiongnu, the fiercest warriors on the steppe, formidable mounted archers who attacked when the grass yellowed and the horses grew fat! No dynasty in history had solved the Xiongnu problem. If empty-handed negotiations could succeed, the officials would climb a tree upside down and eat shit!
Yet Prime Minister Li truly went to the northern border empty-handed. One month later, an urgent eight-hundred-li dispatch arrived: the Xiongnu had voluntarily agreed to a century of friendship with the Central Plains and wished to open mutual border markets, trading cattle, horses, sheep, and other livestock for porcelain, jade, grain, and silk.
The war that had stood on the verge of eruption abruptly transformed into peace. The entire court erupted in astonishment. “How was this accomplished?”
Indeed, how was it accomplished?
After Prime Minister Li raced to the border without rest, he sent an envoy to the Tager Tribe on the steppe to express his wish for negotiations to the Chanyu.
The Chanyu’s eldest son, Chanyu Er, was breathtakingly arrogant. Certain the Central Plains would lose the war and dared do nothing to him, he personally attended the negotiations and hurled insults at Li Ren, who was already over fifty.
“You cowardly weaklings from the Central Plains don’t even know your own strength, yet you dream of negotiating peace with the bravest, fiercest warriors on the steppe? This prince thinks you should surrender now and send all your pretty women to give us some pleasure! That would be far more useful – hahahahaha!”
Chanyu Er’s obscenities made every Jian’an soldier bristle with rage. The Xiongnu soldiers raised their fists and stepped forward as well, watching their opponents with cold disdain.
The atmosphere turned dangerously tense, and both sides prepared for a bloody fight.
Prime Minister Li remained seated calmly on the raised platform. Stroking his beard, he smiled faintly. “Young Chanyu, have you heard of the Second Prince of Jian’an?”
“The Second Prince?”
After considerable effort, Chanyu Er remembered that the imperial family did seem to include such a person. Clutching his stomach, he burst into laughter. “Oh~ You mean that Second Prince of yours who’s more delicate than a woman? Why bring him up now? Do you intend to offer him in a marriage alliance?”
“I hear your Second Prince is very… ah, what was the phrase? Beautiful enough to bring down kingdoms? If you’re truly willing to send him here, I could return and persuade Father to cease hostilities for three days, for the beauty’s sake, and give you weaklings time to recover! Hahahaha – ”
Chanyu Er laughed with increasing abandon, and the Xiongnu soldiers beside him doubled over as well.
Prime Minister Li appeared not to hear. He raised his tea and took a sip, then said naturally, “A marriage alliance is out of the question. Our Second Prince has been delicate and sickly since childhood. He cannot carry weight or perform labor and gasps three times with every step. Only His Majesty’s most painstaking care has kept him alive in the palace. I fear he could not endure the steppe’s poverty and roughness.”
He smiled faintly. “For that very reason, however, the Second Prince deeply admires Xiongnu customs and culture. He has long admired the mighty, towering Chanyu. When he heard the Chanyu had come for this border war, he specially ordered this old minister to deliver a gift he prepared with great care.”
Chanyu Er’s laughter stopped. “A gift? What gift?”
“Our Second Prince made it personally, as a small expression of his hope that he and the Chanyu may become one family.” Prime Minister Li rose with perfect composure and walked toward the tent entrance. “However, His Majesty places great importance on this object, so we can show it to you only once. If the young Chanyu is interested, why not step outside and take a look with this old minister?”
Chanyu Er rose at once. A Xiongnu soldier, fearing a trap, hurriedly extended an arm to stop him, but Chanyu Er shoved him away and snorted. “What is there to fear from a pack of weaklings? Didn’t you hear that their Second Prince specially offered goodwill and wants to become this prince’s second mother? Come! Let’s see it!”
Chanyu Er felt no fear whatsoever. If anything happened to him here, his father would immediately flatten the Central Plains. This old man from the Central Plains would never dare harm him!
Chanyu Er followed Prime Minister Li to the gates of Guanzhou on the frontier. Outside, in the battlefield between the two sides, a gigantic pile of stone had appeared at some point.
Feeling he had been tricked, Chanyu Er demanded in displeasure, “Is the Second Prince’s gift nothing but this pile of worthless rocks?”
Prime Minister Li smiled faintly and raised one hand. A soldier immediately lifted a wooden drumstick and struck the war drum atop the wall five times.
The deafening beats rolled out. Beneath the gate, a squad of fully armed soldiers raced toward the pile. The soldier in front crouched down and took out a fire striker.
After doing something Chanyu Er could not see, he waved, and the soldiers swiftly turned and fled the area.
They had run only several dozen yards when an explosion that nearly split the heavens erupted behind them. The sound almost shattered every eardrum and struck each chest with terror, sending hearts hammering wildly!
Chanyu Er went completely blank. He lunged forward, gripped the edge of the wall, and stared fixedly at the pile.
The enormous rocks that had lain there were blown into tiny fragments. Dust and sand billowed from the ground. Soldiers who had not run far enough were knocked flat by the blast wave. One was struck in the back by a flying stone, screamed, and collapsed motionless, either unconscious or dead.
It was easy to imagine how horribly a human body would be torn apart if such explosive power struck flesh!
Since when had the Central Plains possessed such a terrifying weapon?!
Only then did Chanyu Er understand. The delicate Second Prince’s talk of “becoming one family with the Chanyu” did not refer to a marriage alliance at all. He meant to conquer the northern steppe and incorporate the Xiongnu completely into the territory of the Jian’an Dynasty!
What gift offered in admiration of Xiongnu culture? This was intimidation! A threat! A warning!
Chanyu Er’s legs trembled. No matter how powerful and fearless the people of the steppe were, the sight of a weapon this destructive inevitably inspired terror. He wanted to seize it for himself, yet fear also kept him from acting rashly.
Prime Minister Li drifted to his side like a ghost and leaned toward his ear. In an eerie voice, he said, “This object is called blasting powder. Our Second Prince says he longs to become one family with the Tager Tribe. But he knows the people of the steppe treasure freedom and refuse restraint, so he has continually urged His Majesty not to go to war.”
“Our Second Prince also said that as long as you behave – ah, no – as long as you continue riding freely across the steppe and stop harassing our border people, he naturally will not make blasting powder bloom across the grasslands so that every step you take sets off another explosion.”
Chanyu Er: “!!!”
What a vicious Second Prince!
He even wanted to cover the entire steppe with blasting powder!!!