“Your Majesty, please calm your anger!” The Tianfeng envoy adopted an extremely humble posture. Regarding the attack on your nation’s Duke Gaoyi, our Tianfeng general was also deceived by the Xiliang Empress. And the attack on Pingyang City—all of this was that general’s initiative. When our Tianfeng ruler heard of this matter, he was greatly enraged and has already had that general beheaded. This foreign minister personally brought the head!”
With that, the Tianfeng envoy looked behind him. A guard stepped forward holding a wooden box and opened it… Inside was indeed the head of that Tianfeng general.
“Before this foreign minister came, His Majesty instructed that regarding Duke Gaoyi’s injuries… and the losses suffered by your nation’s soldiers, Tianfeng will not short Great Zhou on the compensation owed! Please, Your Majesty, seeing our Tianfeng ruler’s sincerity, calm your anger and consider the matter of leasing land and cities to our Tianfeng territory. Our Tianfeng is willing to establish trade with the Great Zhou, with both nations benefiting from mutual friendship.”
The Tianfeng envoy looked up and, seeing Bai Qingyan’s smiling expression, thought she was very satisfied with such compensation. He quickly continued: “Naturally, if Pingyang City is also among the leased cities, the repairs to Pingyang City will be entirely undertaken by our Tianfeng!”
Bai Qingyan held her teacup, looking at the Tianfeng envoy who wanted to take advantage of the situation, and laughed softly.
In this cold wind, Bai Qingyan’s sudden laughter truly made the Tianfeng envoy’s scalp tighten.
She placed her teacup on the broad-leafed rosewood small table beside her, stood up and took the hand warmer from Chun Zhi’s hands, walked forward two steps, and stared steadily at the Tianfeng envoy: “You can compensate Great Zhou’s Duke Gaoyi’s injuries with silver, but what will your Tianfeng use to compensate for my Bai family guards’ lives? What will your Tianfeng use to compensate for my Great Zhou’s elite soldiers who died in battle last night? With your Tianfeng’s mere general’s head? With silver? Let me tell you… The lives of our Great Zhou soldiers are priceless!”
The Tianfeng envoy kept his head lowered, not knowing what to do, completely losing the relaxed attitude from before. He hurriedly said, “If Your Majesty is not satisfied, we can discuss it further!”
“Discuss?! Fine…” Bai Qingyan’s voice was cold as icicles. “Then first bring the heads of all your Tianfeng elephant army, and then we’ll discuss!”
The Tianfeng envoy understood that there was no room for negotiation.
“What? When it comes to your Tianfeng elephant army’s lives, you can’t bear to part with them?” Bai Qingyan’s expression was cold and clear. “Tianfeng has no intention of paying any price, yet wants to lightly brush this matter aside, and still has the shamelessness to talk to me about leasing cities. Go back and tell your Tianfeng ruler, Sa’er Khan, that since you dared to attack Great Zhou, you must be able to bear Great Zhou’s wrath.”
The Tianfeng envoy understood this statement, yet didn’t quite understand it. He looked up toward Bai Qingyan.
“Wei Zhong, see the guest out…” After Bai Qingyan spoke coldly, she lifted her foot to walk out along the covered walkway.
The Tianfeng envoy looked up at Bai Qingyan once, unable to save face. Without waiting for Wei Zhong’s invitation, he turned and walked out. He vaguely heard the meaning of war from Bai Qingyan’s words and needed to quickly return to inform his majesty to prepare.
Inside the room, Li Zhijie, who had fallen from the bed and been helped up by servants and resettled on the bed, breathed a sigh of relief. In the end… Bai Qingyan still hadn’t handed him over to Tianfeng.
But he couldn’t help worrying in his heart. Every one of Bai Qingyan’s actions was not meaningless. She kept his life… did she have some other plan?
Shen Jingzhong, Shen Tianzhi, and Xiao Ruohai, who had been listening outside the courtyard for quite some time, saw Bai Qingyan emerge first from the courtyard and hurriedly bowed, following behind Bai Qingyan while discussing the memorials sent today that required Bai Qingyan’s decision.
Shen Tianzhi looked back at the Tianfeng envoy and had just caught up with Bai Qingyan’s steps when he heard Shen Jingzhong say to Bai Qingyan: “Your Majesty, will Tianfeng go to war with our Great Zhou? Their Tianfeng is far beyond the snowy mountains. Even with Xiliang backing them, Xiliang doesn’t have much grain either—otherwise, they wouldn’t be buying grain at high prices from our Great Zhou and Yan. Perhaps… they can’t afford to fight?”
“It’s precisely because they have no grain that Tianfeng will be more likely to fight… If they capture a city, they’ll have grain! From Tianfeng’s history, we can learn that the Tianfeng people believe in supporting war with war. The Hanying and Mengshe nations that once bordered Tianfeng—weren’t they all strong nations?”
Bai Qingyan stopped her steps and turned to look steadily at Shen Jingzhong: “Minister Shen… we must never harbor wishful thinking! The wise see far into what has not yet sprouted, the intelligent avoid danger while it’s still formless. We cannot gamble with the lives of the Great Zhou’s people on whether Tianfeng truly only seeks peace! After all, once winter passes… We’ll no longer be able to maintain the initiative!”
Born into a military family, Bai Qingyan was extremely sensitive to warfare and very clear about why wars existed in this world. It came down to just two points… first, to seize land, and second, to seize population.
Now Tianfeng’s land was gradually diminishing, being swallowed by the desert—this was what Tianfeng urgently lacked.
Tianfeng had a small population and had precedent for enslaving other nations’ people. Currently, every Tianfeng household had slaves… slaves were Tianfeng’s productivity!
So, what were Tianfeng’s elephant armies crossing the snowy mountains to reach this land for? Nothing more than… to seize Great Zhou and Yan’s land, to enslave Great Zhou and Yan’s people!
Minister Shen stepped back and bowed to Bai Qingyan: “Your Majesty speaks truly. This minister’s spirit has grown old.”
“Minister Shen also cares for Great Zhou’s soldiers—I understand! In that case… please ask Minister Shen and Minister Wei to immediately set out and return to the capital to take charge of grain and supply coordination.” Bai Qingyan’s gaze fell on Shen Tianzhi. “Just remember one thing: the soldiers fighting at the front cannot go hungry!”
“There’s one more matter this minister must ask Your Majesty’s instruction on before departing!” Shen Tianzhi looked at Bai Qingyan and said, “Regarding Tianfeng and Xiliang purchasing grain from Great Zhou and Yan at high prices, this minister believes… we might still need to moderately sell grain to Tianfeng at extremely high prices. This way… we won’t force Tianfeng, which has no grain, into desperate measures, attacking our Great Zhou’s weakly defended cities and bringing disaster to the border people.”
Bai Qingyan nodded: “You handle this matter.”
“Yes!” Shen Tianzhi bowed deeply.
“Things having come to this point, my Great Zhou must mobilize the entire nation’s strength to send troops against Tianfeng. Minister Shen and Minister Shen, bring word back to the court that the entire nation must unite in purpose and work together to overcome this powerful enemy and protect our Great Zhou’s territory and people!”
“This old minister receives the command!”
“This minister receives the command!”
“Both ministers, please go prepare!” Bai Qingyan nodded to Minister Shen and Shen Tianzhi.
After the two left, Bai Qingyan asked Xiao Ruohai, who had been following behind her: “Did you find it?”
Xiao Ruohai took out a drawn map from his clothing and presented it with both hands to Bai Qingyan: “Just as Miss predicted, the Huoyun Army is at Saddle Mountain, not far from Pingyang City and Pingdu City.”