“Your Majesty!” Another military general stepped forward, kneeling and kowtowing: “If Your Majesty feels pity for us soldiers… and doesn’t want the soldiers to shed blood and sacrifice in vain, then you should destroy Yan now. Otherwise, once Yan recovers, it will be even harder for us to fight them, and we’ll only sacrifice more soldiers! This strategy of merging the two nations proposed by Yan brings no benefit to our Great Zhou. Your Majesty must not be soft-hearted…”
“Minister Lu Jin… what do you think?” Bai Qingyan picked up the hot tea beside her and asked.
Lu Jin quickly stepped forward, bowing to Bai Qingyan before saying, “This matter has both advantages and disadvantages. As all the ministers have said, this may be merely Yan’s delaying tactic. They’ve set a three-year term precisely to use these three years to recover, then fight us, Great Zhou—this is not impossible!”
The court officials all voiced their agreement.
However, Lu Jin changed his tone: “But… if it’s truly as the Regent said, that Yan acts out of guilt and wishes to repay Great Zhou, then in three years, our Great Zhou might truly be able to obtain Yan without bloodshed. The prerequisite… is that Yan isn’t deceiving our Great Zhou and is sincerely willing to make this gamble with us.”
“So what?” Grand Commandant Lu looked at Lu Jin. “Does Minister Lu favor fighting or favor gambling?”
Lu Jin respectfully bowed to Grand Commandant Lu before saying: “The temptation of obtaining Yan without bloodshed… is truly too great. As the Regent of Yan said, all the Yan cities that the Bai Family Army conquered in the past—aside from this capital city—every other city, from officials to common people, resisted to the death. Every city we conquered had its walls mostly destroyed and its people mostly dead. The military generals should all know this!”
The military generals in court all nodded.
“Why did the people fight to the death back then? Wasn’t it because Yan’s national policies were good for the people, while Jin’s national policies at that time were not exactly friendly to the people?” Lu Jin spoke slowly. “So when we took over Yan’s cities, the surviving Yan people all left their homes and followed Yan away from their homeland!”
Among those standing in the court hall now, the older ministers all still remembered this matter.
“But our Great Zhou’s current governance is much better for the people than Yan’s!” an official said.
“That’s true, but how could the people of Yan know this?” Lu Jin smiled. “How many literate people are there in Yan? Among the literate people, how many can concern themselves with other nations’ governance? Among the scholars who concern themselves with other nations’ governance, how many… can access information about our Great Zhou’s new policies?” Seeing no officials respond further, Lu Jin continued: “Therefore… if we fight, we must be prepared for a pyrrhic victory! And after a pyrrhic victory, we’d still have to take over a mess of a Yan nation.”
“What if we don’t fight?” Minister Shen cooperated with Lu Jin’s performance and asked.
“If we don’t fight and agree to this strategy of merging the two nations, then… we must ensure that in this merger strategy where victory is determined by national policies, the losing nation won’t renege—that is, ensure that Yan won’t renege!” Lu Jin unhurriedly guided the topic in the direction Bai Qingyan had instructed him. “As long as we can ensure Yan won’t renege, this minister thinks that with our Great Zhou’s strength, we could gamble the nation and give it a try…”
“Minister Lu speaks so lightly! Gamble the nation and give it a try… it feels like Minister Lu isn’t a person of the Great Zhou! ‘Give it a try!’ How can you ensure they won’t renege? Who among us standing here dares to guarantee this?” A military general couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Lu Jin, his heart full of anger, feeling that Lu Jin’s words were the same as saying nothing.
“We’re family discussing among ourselves here—there’s no reason to lose temper with family…” Bai Qingyan smiled as she spoke. “I won’t hide this from all of you—I’m quite tempted by Yan’s proposal to determine victory through national policies and gamble the nation! The lives of our soldiers are precious. If we can truly take Yan territory without bloodshed, it would be good for the people of both nations!”
“Your Majesty!” Liu Hong stepped forward. “Soldiers sacrifice their lives… to protect the nation. Your Majesty cannot put the cart before the horse! Gambling the nation to protect soldiers’ lives—this minister, being a military general, finds it hard to agree!”
“General Liu Hong is a veteran general—I can listen to your words.” Bai Qingyan nodded to Liu Hong. “However, if we can truly ensure that Yan won’t renege after losing, I think Minister Lu is quite right—we could gamble the nation and give it a try!”
“Your Majesty must not!”
“Your Majesty, this is Yan’s treacherous scheme—you absolutely cannot agree!”
“Your Majesty, don’t forget that years ago, Zhang Yi went as an envoy to Chu and promised that if Chu withdrew its troops, Qin would present six hundred li of Shangyu territory. After Chu withdrew, Qin’s main forces returned home and immediately broke the alliance! When Yan betrayed Great Zhou during our mutual alliance, this is a lesson from the past—Your Majesty must think thrice!”
In the great hall, court officials who disagreed with gambling in the nation all knelt, imploring Bai Qingyan to reconsider.
“All of you, rise!” Bai Qingyan smiled. “It’s normal for everyone to express their views freely in court—don’t kneel at every turn. Our Great Zhou court doesn’t practice this!”
The court officials knew Bai Qingyan’s words weren’t false. The Great Zhou court had always had a lively atmosphere with harmonious relations between ruler and ministers. Bai Qingyan had never been an emperor who couldn’t listen to others’ opinions. This was the first time such a situation of ministers kneeling and begging Bai Qingyan to reconsider had occurred.
Wei Zhong quickly signaled to the young eunuchs standing behind the red-lacquered pillars on both sides of the great hall to help all the ministers up.
“Minister Lu mentioned ensuring that Yan won’t renege after losing—I have an idea about this.” She stood up, speaking leisurely: “Have Yan send three capable military leaders as hostages to Great Zhou!”
The court officials’ hearts began to pound.
“One would be this Great Yan’s Regent Murong Yan, one would be their Great General Xie Xun, and another would be their Second Prince Murong Ping.” Bai Qingyan stood on the high platform with her hands clasped behind her back, her expression bright with a clear smile. “Our Great Zhou allied with Yan to destroy Western Liang, so we understand… in military campaigns, Regent Murong Yan’s abilities are quite formidable. Then there’s Great General Xie Xun, who became famous for recovering Nanyan, and another… Murong Ping, who also distinguished himself when Great Yan recovered Nanyan. If these three capable military generals were detained in our Great Zhou court, would we still fear that Yan might not honor the alliance?”
Everyone knew the importance of a commanding general in military campaigns.
No matter how brave the soldiers, if they encounter a confused commanding general, it’s all in vain.
But a brave general, as long as he has troops under his command, can work miracles—like Bai Qingyan’s southern frontier battle years ago, winning with fewer troops… the great victory at Weng Mountain that dealt a heavy blow to Western Liang.
The court officials began discussing the feasibility of this matter in low voices.
“If we tell Yan… that for our Great Zhou to agree to this national gamble, they must leave these three people in Great Zhou as hostages…” Minister Dong looked up at Bai Qingyan. “Your Majesty, I’m afraid Yan would also demand that our Great Zhou send hostages to Yan.”