Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 173 The Grand Plan for Restoring the Nation
Kumārajīva's eyes widened: "Young Master Murong, do you wish to become our prince consort?"

Murong Fu stood up and said with a smile, "That's right! I am not very talented, but I am willing to ask your king for this marriage proposal."

Kumārajīva chuckled and said, "Do you know that our princess is already engaged? In the south of the snowy region, the king of Guge, Dezugun, is a man of great talent and ambition. He sent betrothal gifts the year before last. If it weren't for the bandits last year, the princess would have already become the queen of Guge. Hehe, this autumn, my king will send a large army to escort the princess to Guge. I'm afraid Young Master Murong will have no chance."

Murong Fu's face darkened, and he thought to himself: Why is Heaven making things so difficult for me?
Duan Yu chimed in, "Don't you Tibetans have any unmarried princesses?"

Kumārajīva shook his head and said, "Your Highness does not know, the king's previous children were all sons. He only had a daughter when he was forty years old. He cherished her like a precious jewel. How could there be a second princess?"

Azi interjected, "What do you mean by 'cherishing like a treasure'? If she truly loved this daughter, why would she marry that old bastard Gun Gun Gun..."

As she spoke, recalling Jiang Mingzhe's argument at the time, she casually boasted, "In the end, isn't it just about wanting to form an alliance with the 'Rolling Rolling Gugu Kingdom' to reunify Tibet, to befriend distant states while attacking nearby ones, and so on and so forth?"

Kumozhi was greatly surprised. He thought that although the Dali Duan family was a small state, their education was really not bad. A young princess had such insight. If he could marry her for his disciple, with her offering advice and strategies and the Dali Kingdom as an ally, wouldn't that be a great help?

His disciple was Zongzan, the second son of Aligu, the current ruler of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Aligu's eldest son, Bangbiaojian, was weak-willed and was deemed unfit for the position by Kumārajīva. Therefore, Kumārajīva sought to seize the throne for his disciple.

When Murong Fu saw Kumārajīva slowly nod in agreement with Azi’s words, he became even more anxious. He thought to himself, “They want to use the princess for a marriage alliance to gain strong support. What chance do I have?”

Unable to resist, he looked at Jiang Mingzhe, who smiled at him and said, "Grand Preceptor, which treacherous minister came up with this scheme of marrying into the Guge Kingdom to unify the snowy region? After you return to the country, you can execute this person to protect the nation."

Kumārajīva asked curiously, "Princess Azi just said that this is a brilliant strategy of befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones. Does Consort Jiang think it's inappropriate?"

Jiang Mingzhe shook his head and laughed, "It's not just inappropriate, it's utterly inappropriate! First of all, the strategy of befriending distant states and attacking nearby ones is not what you do. Your two sides are five or six thousand miles apart, with numerous states in between. How can you form a united force? You'll just fight your own battles, and he'll fight his own. Maybe you'll wait for him to make the first move, and he'll wait for you to make the first move. You're both afraid of being taken advantage of, so you won't dare to fight. Especially you Qinghai-Tibet, with the Song and Western Xia right next door. Do you dare to send a large army to conquer the snowy region?"

“This…” Kumārajīva frowned, and remained silent in thought.

Jiang Mingzhe continued, "Even if you really work together and conquer those small countries from the south and north, what then? You'll only be doing all the work for the benefit of Guge."

Kumārajīva disbelieved: "That's impossible! Everyone knows that Tibet is the legitimate dynasty!"

Jiang Mingzhe sighed and said, "I'm talking to you about strategy, and you're just spouting nonsense! You are the legitimate ruler, so why don't those small countries come to submit to you? Besides, your current ruler, Aligu, is the adopted son of the previous ruler, Dongzhan, and has no blood relation to the Tibetan Zanpu line. Therefore, I say you are just doing all the work for the benefit of the Guge Kingdom."

Kumārajīva frowned.

Duan Yu, being a kind-hearted man, genuinely felt sorry for Kumārajīva. After thinking for a long time and finding no solution, he said, "Second Brother, if you have a good idea, why not tell the Imperial Preceptor? Look how worried he is that he can't even eat."

Jiang Mingzhe laughed and said, "Didn't Young Master Murong already tell him about this good idea?"

Kumārajīva frowned and said, "You mean to make Young Master Murong our son-in-law? Then the Kingdom of Guge will be even more unwilling to send troops."

Jiang Mingzhe shook his head and said, "Grand Preceptor, you are unique in the martial arts world. You have great aspirations, great perseverance, and great wisdom. I admire you very much. I think that a person of your stature should know one principle: if you place your hopes on others, you will only fulfill the wishes of others. If you want to unify the Snow Region, seeking external help will lead to your death."

Kumārajīva's heart stirred, and after a long silence, he slowly shook his head and said, "But you also said that there are powerful neighbors outside our country, so we cannot make any big moves..." Jiang Mingzhe interrupted him and said, "With your little Qing Tang, you want to restore your former glory but are afraid of taking risks, so you might as well wash up and go to sleep. When you wake up, you can completely surrender to the Song Dynasty and live a happy life as a Duke of Anle or a Prince of Gongshun."

Kumārajīva retorted, "Fine, then tell me, what if we make Young Master Murong our son-in-law?"

Jiang Mingzhe said, "Don't make him a prince consort yet!"

Kumārajīva and Murong Fu exchanged a glance, both surprised: "Oh?"

Jiang Mingzhe said calmly, "The Murong family has accumulated wealth over generations, enough to rival a country. The first step is to send Young Master Murong with a large amount of gold and silver and capable subordinates to the Qingtang area to subdue various bandits and mountain strongholds. Then, they will raise the banner of Tuyuhun and claim that he is the reincarnation of Murong Fu, the nineteenth king of Tuyuhun. Now that he has mastered his skills, he is coming out of the mountains to restore his country. This is a plan of resurrection."

He pointed at Kumārajīva and said, "The second step was that the Tibetan National Preceptor, the Great Wheel King, did not believe such fallacies and heresies, and personally came to verify it. Alas, it turns out that the rumors were true. This Murong Fu is indeed the reincarnation of the Murong Fu of that year! This is a scheme to fabricate something out of nothing."

"The Tibetans believed in Buddhism, which emphasizes reincarnation. So the national teacher calculated that when Tibet destroyed Tuyuhun, it owed a great debt of karma to the leader. The cycle of karma would come back to haunt them in this life. Therefore, the Tibetan king was magnanimous and helped him restore his kingdom."

Murong Fu was overjoyed, slammed his fist into his palm, and shouted, "Good!"

Jiang Mingzhe then pointed at Murong Fu and said, "The third step is that once Tuyuhun is re-established, it needs a territory as its foundation. However, Qinghai Tubo is a benevolent and righteous country, and you, Young Master Murong, are a grateful person. How could you bear to offend them? Therefore, you will send your founding army to attack the plateau. Those small countries will see that you are just starting out and assume that your fighting strength is limited. They will definitely not help each other. You can then destroy whoever you encounter and take the opportunity to grow stronger! This is a plan to fish in troubled waters."

Murong Fu said, "Very well, but my newly established country has limited troops and generals. Can we defeat these countries?"

Jiang Mingzhe nodded and said, "Good question!"

He then pointed to Kumārajīva: "So, in the fourth step, you will take the treasures gifted by the Murong family, make good relations with the Western Xia and the Song Dynasty, bribe the generals, and ensure that there is no fighting in the short term. You will then secretly send your elite troops to conquer the snowy region under the banner of Tuyuhun. This is a plan to deceive the heavens and cross the sea!"

Kumārajīva's eyes flashed as he considered the feasibility of the plan, and he slowly nodded: "If we want to keep it a secret for two or three years, it's not difficult."

Jiang Mingzhe then pointed at Murong Fu: "After walking four steps, you set foot in the snowy region, remembering the generosity of the Tibetan Empire in Qinghai, and vowed to repay it. So you asked for the princess's hand in marriage, and Tuyuhun willingly became a vassal state of the Tibetan Empire!"

Then, pointing to Kumārajīva, he said: "In this way, the king of Aligu will surely become famous and take the opportunity to attack the snowy region, giving the old land of Qinghai to Tuyuhun to make it a barrier against the Western Xia."

After saying that, he clapped his hands and said, "At this point, Qing Tang Tubo is focused on unifying Tubo. Both Song and Xia are blocked by Tuyuhun. Hehe, Young Master Murong has cultivated the Song Dynasty for generations. You only need to find a few people in the court who are willing to speak for you, and you can ally with Song to destroy Xia. With Tubo as your support, you can stand on equal footing with Song and Liao."

Murong Fu was delighted and nodded repeatedly, thinking to himself that his brother was truly talented. He couldn't say what he was going to say in front of Kumārajīva, but he was sure that he would take the opportunity to annex Tibet and create a truly great nation that spanned thousands of miles!

Kumārajīva also showed a look of joy, thinking that the Murong family was indeed much more controllable than the Guge Kingdom, and whether it could succeed in the early stages depended entirely on him. We didn't need to make any sacrifices. If he could really revive Tuyuhun and be willing to be the vanguard of our country, this plan might really be feasible!

The two exchanged a glance and burst into laughter, both of them valuing Jiang Mingzhe even more.

(End of this chapter)