The Soldier of the Red Mansion

Chapter 229 So terrifying

The weather was sunny in the morning.

A group of Hu people carrying white flags arrived at Weiyuan Pass. After verifying their identities, they were confirmed to be envoys of the Shanyu tribe and soon met with Wang Xin, the king of the pass.

The envoy was respectful, first bowing in greeting, and then telling Wang Xin, "Our Chanyu has made a decision and is on his way to Weiyuan Pass to meet with you in person, as requested by the general."

Wang Xin, sitting in his chair, sensed something was amiss upon hearing the messenger's message and asked, "If that's the case, why were you sent first?"

The Hu people are skilled at riding horses and have many horses. If the Chanyu (ruler) had decided to come to Weiyuan Pass, he should not have needed to send an envoy, or he should have arrived with this person. Although the envoy in front of him is a Hu person, he speaks fluent Zhou language, which shows that there is a close connection between the Chanyu tribe and the Great Zhou.

The envoy's face showed a smug look, and he laughed and said, "In order to show our sincerity, the Chanyu will lead an army of eight thousand to meet with the general in front of the whole army and make an alliance. In order to avoid any misunderstanding, the general has specially sent me to inform you in advance."

Everyone was shocked. This was no misunderstanding; it was a clear warning to the general.

Wang Xin was also taken aback for a moment, but quickly smiled. Instead of being angry, he sincerely said, "Dardai's sincerity shows that he is indeed loyal to the Great Zhou, and is not helping the wicked Ou Yanhu."

The general wasn't angry, and his attitude wasn't quite right, so everyone remained silent. The Chanyu's envoy didn't understand Wang Xin, and although he was a little confused, he quickly realized that this Great Zhou general was indeed wary of Ou Yanhu and was testing his Chanyu's attitude.

It makes sense. If Ou Yanhu and the Chanyu join forces, the Great Zhou cannot attack Ou Yanhu's rear. Only by winning over the Chanyu can the Great Zhou threaten Ou Yanhu. If the Chanyu helps Ou Yanhu, the Great Tong will be in danger.

The envoy was no longer as reserved as before. Feeling more confident, he said easily, "I would appreciate it if the general would come out of the city for a while later."

"Easy to say."

Wang Xin nodded.

Having agreed on the date, the envoy did not linger any longer, left Weiyuan Pass, and returned to inform the Chanyu.

"General?"

After the envoy left, everyone eagerly inquired.

Everyone present was a trusted confidant. Now that the situation was clear, Wang Xin no longer kept it a secret and said, "I am prepared to annihilate the Dardai tribe."

It's not surprising that the general wants to eliminate the Dardai tribe, but many people don't understand why the general made an agreement with Dardai. Zhang Can, who is impatient, immediately asked, "What is the general up to?"

The Dardai tribe is not so easy to eliminate. If it were, the general would have wiped them out when he dealt them a heavy blow last time.

The situation is worse now than before, because eliminating the Dardai tribe has cleared the way for Ouyanhu. The Great Zhou can no longer control the Dardai city area, where there is no farmland and no towns.

Moreover, the Daldai tribe is quite powerful. If we were to engage in a head-on confrontation, even if everything went smoothly and the Daldai tribe was wiped out, we would suffer heavy losses and become useless.

These problems are all visible, and I believe Dardai himself is aware of them.

He was wary of the general, so he led a large army here, probably not believing that the general could defeat his army.

"To catch the thief, first catch the king. Kill Dardai first, then take advantage of the chaos among his troops to lead your troops to annihilate them in one fell swoop, giving Dardai no chance whatsoever," Wang Xin said solemnly.

"hiss."

Upon hearing this, everyone felt that something was amiss.

The general's actions are insincere and shameless.

Tang Ping advised, "General, if word gets out that you're doing this, won't people laugh at you? After all, Dardai is the commander of the Great Zhou. If someone impeaches you because of this, it will cause some trouble."

"As long as we can wipe out the Dardai tribe and leave no trouble behind, we won't have any problems," Wang Xin said nonchalantly, then laughed. "We're fighting a war, not playing games. Do we need to follow any rules?"

Upon hearing this, everyone recalled the words the general often uttered.

The rules are for our own people, not for the barbarians.

“But if we can destroy Dardai like this, the Hu people will no longer trust you, General,” Tang Ping couldn’t help but say.

Wang Xin said calmly, "Why do I need the Hu people to trust me? As long as the Hu people obey the Great Zhou, I don't need their trust. They just need to listen to me. But if they don't obey the Great Zhou, they are enemies and need to be completely eliminated."

An old Eastern saying goes: the victor is king, the loser is a bandit.

An old Western saying goes that the victor is not blamed, and all the means by which the victor has acted are just.

Two hundred Spaniards killed the Inca emperor through deception, took advantage of the Inca Empire's leaderlessness to intervene in internal conflicts, and ultimately destroyed the Inca Empire with tens of millions of people. Therefore, no matter what methods these two hundred men used, it does not prevent them from being heroes in the eyes of the Spanish people.

The Confucianism of the Great Zhou Dynasty has lived too long. Over a thousand years, it has transformed from a vibrant and energetic ideology into a decaying old man riddled with problems. The two collapses of the empire during the Song and Ming dynasties are irrefutable proof of this.

On the contrary, the newly emerging civilization, unburdened, raced forward on the road to revival.

While Confucianism was still discussing principles and debating whether there was any difference between Hu (non-Han) infants and Zhou (Chinese) infants—both were human beings, differing only in their educational experiences—it was a time of idle idleness. Meanwhile, Westerners had already categorized Hu people as not human and were busy plundering and slaughtering them.

Which side is right? Of course, the scholars of the Great Zhou are right. The logic of this discussion is indeed correct and cannot be refuted.

Being right doesn't necessarily mean you're victorious.

During the most prosperous period of etiquette, it was considered right to observe etiquette. Etiquette regulated human behavior and made society more harmonious. In the end, however, it was Sun Tzu's Art of War, which disregarded morality, etiquette, and shame, that prevailed.

Only by being more brutal, more savage, more cunning, and more unscrupulous than the enemy can one defeat the enemy, become the ultimate victor, and devour the fattest prey.

Wang Xin seems to have a very simple approach.

This is an old saying that already exists in ancient times: "Inner sage, outer king," or "Inner king, outer sage."

Incompetent emperors cannot suppress internal conflicts, so they rely on external forces to suppress internal conflicts. The most typical example is the Five Barbarian Invasions. The emperors of the Jin Dynasty were incompetent and relied heavily on the power of the barbarians in order to suppress internal conflicts, which gave the barbarians a lot of power and influence.

Therefore, it doesn't matter how much internal strife occurs in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Wherever there are people, there will be conflicts and intrigue; it's something that can never be avoided.

But no one can cross the line.

That means they're experts at internal power struggles but incompetent at external ones.

After hearing the general's words, the crowd didn't have much of an opinion. As long as the general made a decision, they had no objections. The next focus was on how to eliminate Dardai.

Following the general's line of thought, everyone suddenly felt relieved.

Indeed. If the goal is to kill Dardai, then many things can be easily resolved.

The Shanyu tribe was indeed very powerful, but it was a loose alliance. Once Dardai died, the Shanyu tribe would be leaderless, and with their strength, they could easily wipe out the entire Shanyu tribe.

Ouyanhu is fighting with the Shenghu again, which is why he left the Shanyu tribe behind, allowing the Dardai tribe to hold off the Great Zhou.

If the general eliminates the Dardai tribe, then Ouyanhu's stronghold will be exposed to the general's sword. Everything will be alive, the whole game will become clear, and the initiative will be in the general's hands.

“Following the general’s method, we can achieve a swift victory and avoid consuming too many resources.” Tang Ping was the first to change his attitude.

The battle outside the Great Wall six months ago depleted a large amount of supplies. Currently, only military rations have been restored to their original levels, while money has been greatly depleted, and military supplies such as gunpowder and lead bullets have been restored to a relatively small extent.

The gunpowder used by the Portuguese was different from that used by the Great Zhou Dynasty and required special modifications. Coupled with Zhang Wenjin's previous embezzlement, the Hexi Camp was unable to sustain a prolonged campaign.

Everyone chimed in, discussing the upcoming battle.

Once everyone had reached a consensus, Wang Xin then said, "Killing Dardai is only the first objective. Next, I will build a city outside the pass and control the territory of the Shanyu tribe through the new city."

Everyone was confused again, unable to keep up with the general's train of thought.

Wang Xin didn't keep them in suspense and explained carefully: "Why do we need to completely eliminate the Shanyu tribe? Because only by eliminating the Shanyu tribe will this fertile land be ready for the best opportunity."

With deserts on both sides and the only direction for defense to be north, and Ou Yanhu entangled with Sheng Hu, he was unable to turn back in the short term. Taking advantage of this gap, a city could be easily built.

Through this city, a large amount of fertile land was distributed to the people inside the pass, allowing them to obtain their own pastures.

The problem of soldiers' families was solved, and the territory was expanded; the army also gained a stable source of income by controlling trade between the new city and the interior through Weiyuan Pass; without middlemen, the people in the interior could obtain stable and cheap cattle, sheep and horses.

"With such huge profits, I believe those merchants will change their attitude and be willing to donate money to build the new city," Wang Xin joked. "Of course, that's on the premise that we win the battle."

"Do you have the confidence to annihilate the enemy?"

Wang Xin asked.

The crowd immediately replied, "We have confidence!"

With a clear objective, everyone knew what to do. They were all seasoned generals who had fought for several years, so Wang Xin no longer needed to explain the specific tasks one by one.
-
Zhai Wen left Weiyuan Pass and returned to Datong.

Upon learning that Zhang Wenjin's envoy had not yet returned, Ou Yanhu's envoy arrived instead. It turned out that Ou Yanhu also had the idea of ​​easing relations with Da Zhou and did not want to be enemies with Da Zhou, so he took the initiative to send an envoy to Da Zhou.

After passing through Datong, I first met Zhang Wenjin. After meeting Zhang Wenjin and getting her consent, I will go to the capital. The round trip will take until next year.

Upon seeing Zhang Wenjin, Zhai Wen reminded him, "This is probably Ou Yanhu's scheme."

By next year, Ou Yanhu might have already defeated the Sheng Hu. Would he really be willing to maintain peace with the Great Zhou? Impossible. It's just a delaying tactic. But the Great Tong is currently helpless.

There cannot be two suns in the sky.

Now, the Great Zhou has an emperor emeritus and an emperor who are not even father and son. In addition, the strategy of using civil officials to control the military has entered a critical period. With various conflicts arising, the Great Zhou is unable to help Datong.

In fact, the court should not have transferred Feng Yong, but if it did not transfer Feng Yong, the court's strategy of using civil officials to control military officials could not be implemented.

Using civil officials to control military forces is not only what the imperial court wants, but also what local officials want, including the current governor and censor Zhang Wenjin. As for himself? In fact, he doesn't oppose it; he supported it in the first place.

Zhai Wen felt a mix of emotions. Although the Hu people were Hu people, there were quite a few intelligent ones among them.

Both the Shanyu tribe and the Dabansheng tribe had close trade ties with Datong and were well-informed about Datong's affairs. Therefore, many Hu people saw the opportunity in Datong. Perhaps it was because of the opportunity in Datong that Ouyanhu dared to take a gamble and betray Mobisheng.

"Whether it's a trick or not, it's not up to you or me to decide," Zhang Wenjin said calmly.

indeed so.

So what if it is, and so what if it isn't?

Zhang Wenjin was more concerned about Wang Xin and asked, "You went to see Wang Xin, what exactly did he want?"

Zhang Wenjin also learned of the news from Weiyuan Pass. Many people were furious, after all, many of the generals of Yongxing Army had good relations with Feng Di, and some wealthy families were also worried about Wang Xin.

Zhang Wenjin didn't dare say he fully understood the complex relationships behind the trade at Weiyuan Pass. If Wang Xin really messed things up, no one could protect him.

Zhai Wen thought of Wang Xin, his expression complicated. He really couldn't understand this man. He replied truthfully, "General Wang met with the Chanyu to understand the situation outside the pass and decide whether to use force or seek peace."

Zhang Wenjin frowned, weighing the pros and cons.

Seeking peace is the safest option, but it's not the most advantageous for oneself. Bearing Zhang Jifu's criticism would prevent one from ever getting ahead in life, and it would also damage one's reputation.

If Wang Xin could eliminate the Shanyu tribe, but how much strength does he have? He didn't eliminate the Shanyu tribe, but instead caused unrest outside the pass. Now he is going to be promoted, so he shouldn't mess it up and become punished.

Seeing that the governor and censor did not speak, Zhai Wen relayed Wang Xin's request: "Wang Xin hopes that Lord Zhang will allocate grain and fodder to Weiyuan Pass. In addition, Wang Xin has invited some craftsmen from the southeast to cast cannons at Weiyuan Pass."

These were all minor matters, and Zhang Wenjin didn't pay them any mind. Instead, he asked with concern, "If Wang Xin and Dardai were to fight, would Wang Xin be able to defeat Dardai?"

Zhai Wen dared not speak carelessly, otherwise he would easily become the scapegoat if problems arose.

Seeing that Zhai Wen dared not speak, Zhang Wenjin did not press him. He had not been too involved in Wang Xin's affairs, nor had Wang Xin consulted him. Was Wang Xin unintentional, or had he guessed his thoughts?
Zhang Wenjin hesitated.

If Wang Xin could guess his thoughts, then this person was truly terrifying, and it also revealed his confidence.

He believed he could destroy the Shanyu tribe.

He also saw his own hesitation and inner conflict, so he didn't ask for his instructions. In that case, it would be easy for him to make a decision to stand by and watch. If Wang Xin destroyed the Shanyu tribe, he could share the credit. If he failed, he could push all the blame onto Wang Xin.

Should I grant his wish? Or should I be wary of him?

He actually sent people to the southeast to invite craftsmen to cast cannons. What does this mean? It means that he had a grand plan and had already begun to plan for the craftsmen half a year ago. At that time, he had only been in Datong for a short time.

This young man's ambition is too great. No wonder Feng Yong is no match for him. Therefore, this young man has long regarded Feng Yong as his opponent. And Feng Yong is still trying to win him over. This young man is terrifying.

Zhang Wenjin subconsciously touched his beard, feeling hesitant.

(End of this chapter)