ChangNing’s Imperial Army

Chapter 76 – Story
On the second day, at night, Hei Yan was taken away by the people of Liu Yun Sect. However, they did not mention where they were moving to.

After they took their dinner, the few men took a small bamboo stool each and sat next to the deck chair, as they listened to Mr. Shen’s stories. Mr. Shen’s stories were always better than the ones that were told by those storytellers. Their best materials were fabricated stories about the underworld. However, Mr. Shen used to be within the realms of the underworld as well as the imperial court. Hence, there was no need for him to fabricate.

Mr. Shen did not only dabbled in the underworld, he was once living the dream of being involved in the imperial court matters.

Hence, all he had to do was to casually change the names of the characters in the story and it would become a well-developed full-scale story.

Master Cha sat in her room, but she kept the windows opened. She supported her chin with one hand and listened. She smiled from time to time. The pillow was tied to the pine tree by the entrance of the kitchen once again, even though it had been a long time since she threw Shen Leng against the tree.

After they finished hearing a story, everyone was not satisfied. Since the previous story happened to mention the Nanyue Empire’s Great General Hulan Shengxia, who was currently confined in the Eighth District Alley in the capital as a mess cook, Shen Leng decided to ask a couple of questions about the Nanyue Empire.

When Mr. Shen taught Shen Leng military tactics, he used Ning’s battle against the Nanyue Empire, which led to the latter being vanquished, as an example and teaching material more than once. Even though on the surface, it seemed as though Great Ning’s soldiers easily defeated the Nanyue troops, as though they were boiling soup that was being poured over the snow, in truth, there were a few battles that left a huge mark in history.

And as for those few battles, they all involved that mess cook named Hulan Shengxia.

Presently, the former emperor of the Nanyue Empire, Yang Yu, resided in a small courtyard in the Eighth District Alley in Changan city. He lived together with the great general, who was one of the teachers of the state of the Nanyue Empire.

Every day, Yang Yu copied the Daoist Scripture. Even though the word count was not a lot, he did it year after year. Inevitably, he would get sick and tired of it, but he did not have a choice. It was Great Ning’s emperor’s order. He would face the penalty of death as long as he did not do it, even if it was only for a day.

His copy of the Daoist Scripture would then be sent to the academic institution in Changan city. Nobody could confirm which child had received a copy of the one that was written personally by the emperor of a vanquished empire.

The reason why the academic institution required the daoist scripture was because of its opening sentence that was very meaningful.

Leaving aside the full sentence, the crux of it was the next few words…imperial power was bestowed by heaven.

Hence, for the emperor of a vanquished empire to personally write a scripture that was delivered to an academic institution to be used as a textbook for children, that in itself was the strongest mockery and irony. Only Great Ning’s emperor, who gave that order, knew clearly why he wanted things to be done that way. Even though he was the emperor of the empire that was the strongest on land, he was always on alert every single day, never letting his guard down.

The teacher of the state, Ruan Ke, was in charge of cleaning the courtyard, as well as arranging Yang Yu’s manuscript. Hulan Shengxia was a coachman, as well as a mess cook. The three of them struggled on while at death’s door in the small courtyard. That was only because Great Ning’s emperor felt that the three of them did not have to die.

Yang Yu was good at writing. Despite his current predicament, he was still able to create splendid and ingenious writings.

Ruan Ke was getting old; when Yang Yu’s father was the emperor, he was one of the teachers of the state. He was definitely a genuine talent.

As for Hulan Shengxia, from time to time, he would still get invited by the Ministry of War to go to the capital to teach the young people martial arts. Whenever he taught the dauntless and determined talented youths as a defeated general of a vanquished empire, Hulan Shengxia would feel afraid. He was not afraid that nobody would listen to him, but that those youths were paying close attention to his words.

This was one of the reasons why Great Ning was so strong.

That fear was in fact despair as well. Hulan Shengxia knew that he could never take revenge ever – not even in his dreams.

Chen Ran heard Shen Leng’s questions and started to get curious too. He asked, “Everyone says that Great Ning destroyed Nanyue because a few of their goats ate some of our cabbages. Is that true?”

“Nonsense.”

Me. Shen lightly fanned himself with a palm fan. “The common folks felt that at that time His Majesty was too lazy to look for an excuse, and the excuse he ended up using was awesome. It was extremely overbearing. But of course, His Majesty took joy in the fact that his people felt that way…”

“What exactly happened.”

“His Majesty…is really lazy, to the point that the fellas who were in Prince Liu’s mansion from the beginning became like him.”

Mr. Shen said, “Nanyue existed for hundreds of years – they were founded around the same time as Great Ning. Ever since the first year Great Ning was founded, Nanyue paid tribute every single year. They had never delayed in doing so. Do you really think that their goats only gnawed on a few cabbages in that one year?”

“If anyone were to be blamed, it would be Yang Yu. He was incapable and yet he had lofty aspirations. He led to the demise of his empire…frankly speaking, for hundreds of years, Great Ning did not touch the other small empires like Nanyue or Zhaoli. Why was that so? It was because Great Ning needed a buffer zone. With the Zhaoli Empire and the Nanyue Empire blocking on the outside of Great Ning’s southern border, it was a good thing.”

“Does any of you remember which year did His Majesty establish the Navy?”

Shen Leng answered, “It should be the year after they vanquished Nanyue.”

“That’s right – it’s that year.”

Mr. Shen continued, “Originally, His Majesty already had plans to establish the Navy forces, because the Nanyue people were truly arrogant and unbridled. However, at that time, Nanyue was Great Ning’s buffer zone. The civil officers would not easily agree to His Majesty’s suggestion to set aside a huge amount of money to establish the Navy. In their words, it was not necessary. No matter how savage the Qiuli people were, they did not have the guts to go ashore. Even if they did, the people who bore the brunt of it would be the Nanyue and Zhaoli people, and not our people. Hence, there was no need to establish the Navy forces. However, after Nanyue was vanquished, their people became our people. Of course, it is not ok for our people to get harmed.”

“It’s not that the civil officers were wrong, but rather, their duty was different. If you think about it – establishing a massive Navy force not only required a significant amount of money, the cost of maintaining the Navy every year is terrifyingly exorbitant as well.”

When Mr. Shen spoke, he had a kind of charm. He continued speaking without pausing; to people like Chen Ran and Uncle Chen, it was a secret that they never would have been able to listen to in their entire lives.

“Hence, His Majesty wanted to vanquish Nanyue a long time ago.”

Shen Leng laughed. He thought to himself: Oh, so that was what happened. The main culprit behind the fall of Nanyue was not those goats, but His Majesty’s lofty aspiration of conquering the lands outside of the territorial waters.

“Earlier on, I said that Yang Yu courted disaster by himself…”

Mr. Shen continued, “As for the emperors of these small countries, with a huge monster like Great Ning next to them, all they could do was to resign to their fate. Every year, they paid their tribute and did everything necessary. Even though it sounded rather stupid and cowardly, the majority of them had found a way to deal with it.”

“What is it?”

“Get used to it.”

Mr. Shen shrugged his shoulders and continued talking, “But Yang Yu was different. He felt that he was born to be a powerful leader, someone who could achieve great things. Hence, he secretly sent people to contact all the neighboring empires in an attempt to form a powerful alliance against Great Ning. If they were to depend on themselves, as a small empire, they would never be able to stand a chance against Great Ning. Hence, he thought of a foolish idea as such.”

Chen Ran rubbed his head. He did not feel that it was foolish. “Sir, I don’t think it was a foolish idea, though. It is a normal thing for small countries to unite against a big country.”

Mr. Shen sighed. “You’re thinking too superficially…Yang Yu wanted to gather the other small empires to form an alliance. If he depended solely on his own country, he was never going to be able to be on an equal footing as Great Ning’s emperor. Hence, he dreamed about becoming the alliance leader of the alliance amongst the different empires, to be on the same level as Great Ning’s emperor…

 

Shen Leng noticed that Chen Ran was still struggling to understand. Hence, he clued him in, “None of the emperors of the small empires would truly be on the same page as Yang Yu.”

Only then did Chen Ran react. “He got betrayed!”

Mr. Shen laughed and nodded. “Make a guess – which small country betrayed Nanyue?”

“The Zhaoli Empire,” answered Shen Leng quickly.

“Yes, it’s the Zhaoli Empire, the one that pray for blessings on behalf of Great Ning every year.”

Mr. Shen took a sip of his tea. The taste was already bland. Shen Leng stood up and brewed a new pot of tea with fresh tea leaves. Mr. Shen waited for him to sit down before he continued with the story.

“Logically speaking, if every empire were come together to form an alliance, would it be a good thing for them? Of course, it would be a good thing. However, who would dare to stake everything on one throw? What is the most important condition to form an alliance? To be in it together…if Great Ning were to invade the Nanyue Empire, the Zhaoli Empire and the other empires had to do all they could, with all their might, to provide assistance to the Nanyue Empire. Let me give you an analogy – for example, someone in the village was beaten up. He called the other villagers to go with him to take revenge. There are definitely people who would agree to it, but would all of them truly go?”

“That’s impossible. Especially if the person who beat him was the strongest one of them all. Who was not afraid that they would be be taken revenge on?

Mr. Shen said slowly, “When the Zhaoli Empire’s emperor received Yang Yu’s handwritten letter, he must have been unable to sleep the entire night. He must have pondered hard and ultimately made the decision to send someone to expedite through the night and send the letter to Great General Shi Yuanxiong in the southern border. Ordinarily, from the southern border to Changan city, it would take a few months. One of Shi Yuanxiong’s men took with him a ten-man squad and brought with them more than a hundred horses, as they rushed over to Changan city day and night without rest. They could only get some sleep when they were traveling via the waterways. When they were traveling on land, they took turns to be on shifts, so they could sleep for a bit.”

“Fourteen days. Within only fourteen days, the letter had reached His Majesty.”

Mr. Shen was slightly lost in thought. “It was said that after His Majesty finished reading the letter, in the decree that he replied to Shi Yuanxiong, he said…With you as the commander, destroy them.”

“The Great Scholar Mu Zhaotong naturally couldn’t agree to let the great general go into battle just like that. He said that they needed sufficient reasons. It was speculated that Yang Yu had written at least a dozen letters. If they were to use this as the justification to take action against the Nanyue Empire, the other small empires would inevitably be dragged into it as well, and would feel terrified. If they were too frightened, they would do all kinds of absurd things.

“Of course, Great Ning was not worried about dealing with them, but it was the big battle. Great Ning is rich and its people are strong – they were able to withstand hardships. Hence, there was enough reason to inflict fear in those small empires, albeit not too much lest they get too frightened. Hence, His Majesty casually used the Nanyue goats gnawing on our cabbages as an excuse.”

“However, this is what’s so clever about it…the emperor wanted the people of the small countries to know that all he had to do was to come up with an excuse as such to vanquish Nanyue. Hence, they should be well-aware of their own predicament and behave properly. Hence, the Zhaoli Empire’s emperor killed all the goats in his country to prove his allegiance. It might seem absurd, but in fact it was not that absurd at all.”

The story had almost ended. Even if Chen Ran’s brain was any slower, he had also understood the gist of the games played.

“Yang Yu is really foolish.” He could not help but lament.

“Indeed he was rather foolish. His goal was way too out of reach.”

Mr. Shen said, “By not killing him, the emperor was being more ruthless than if he were to kill him…think about how Yang Yu miserable must be feeling every day, as he leads a plain and ordinary life. His country was vanquished but he did not die.”

Mr. Shen asked Shen Leng, “Is there right or wrong?”

“No.”

Shen Leng answered, “There’s never right or wrong when it comes to affairs between empires. By wanting to do that, from the point of view of the emperor of the Nanyue Empire, Yang Yu was not wrong. The emperor of the Zhaoli Empire betrayed him – from the point of view of the Zhaoli Empire, he was not wrong either.”

Mr. Shen nodded. “Yeah, there is no right or wrong…hence, you should remember that only by being stronger, you can afford to disregard right and wrong. It is unreasonable, but in the entire world, only Great Ning’s emperor is able to be this unreasonable.”

He looked at Shen Leng; he was seemingly deep in thought.

Mr. Shen said that the path taken by the strong was never ordinary.