Chapter 300: Take It

"In front of the young master, I am ashamed, ashamed..."

Old Zouye said repeatedly that he was ashamed, but he couldn't close his mouth with a smile. That pride climbed along the wrinkles to his eyebrows and couldn't be collected. But he heard Wang Yang continue:

"But I also saved your life, can this be offset?"

Old Zouye's smile stagnated instantly.

"You set up this game well, but from the results, it is not perfect. After all, the Left and Right Haye died, and you two father and son lived. Le Le Luo Luo is brave and fought a bloody battle with the assassins, and was injured. So many people are watching, he escaped a disaster, no problem, but Zouye also escaped, which is a bit too 'lucky'. Of course, there are many reasons to think of, such as guards fighting to the death, assassins underestimating the enemy, or the focus of this assassination is not on Zouye, etc., but it is inevitable that some people will mutter. With Zouye's wisdom, you wouldn't have thought of this. So I guess, Zouye originally intended to use his own life to play this last move, and die with the Left and Right Haye tonight. Le Le Luo Luo inherits the father and son, which is logical, not only avoiding suspicion but also winning the sympathy and support of the tribespeople. This is the relatively perfect ending."

"Sure enough, nothing can be hidden from the young master... Then does the young master know why I didn't die?"

Old Zouye stared at Wang Yang with burning eyes.

"Because you want to see me. First, to release the suspicion in my heart, and second, to be honest with me about this game, ensuring that I will not blame this matter on Le Le Luo Luo. So I said, I saved your life, not just referring to my watching the game without saying anything, but without me, Zouye would have to use his own life to play this last move..."

Old Zouye laughed heartily, the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes were pulled deep and dense, but there were a few rays of brilliance drilling out from the folds, showing a bit of the young man's high spirits:

"Good, good, good! I really didn't look at the wrong person! I can clearly tell the young master that compared to the young master not having suspicion in his heart, whether this game is perfect or not is not that important!"

Wang Yang pretended to frown and dragged his tone:

"I was assassinated for no reason, walked between life and death, and was both surprised and afraid, tired and exhausted—this suspicion is not so easy to go away..."

Old Zouye smiled and said: "Naturally. So I prepared a thick gift enough for the young master to release suspicion, to plead guilty to the young master."

Wang Yang pointed his finger at Old Zouye and smiled:

"I said before that if Zouye died tonight, it would be a relatively perfect ending. The so-called relatively means it is already very perfect, but not enough. Actually, the truly perfect ending is here. Zouye one arrow and six carvings, one carving Left and Right Haye; two carvings Guo Shao; three carvings those who oppose the Han and dare to make trouble; four carvings use this chaos as an excuse to tighten the control of the tribe and unify power. Five carvings I owe Le Le Luo Luo a life-saving favor; as for this last carving, it is to borrow the name of pleading guilty and send me a thick gift. 'If you want to take it, you must first give it.' Zouye spent a lot of thought to send this gift!"

"Hahahahahaha! What is called seeing through the fire and calculating without strategy, I have seen it today! Then I will ask the young master, does the young master dare to accept this gift of mine?"

Old Zouye's eyes were shining, and his smile was also added with a bit of sharpness by this gaze.

Wang Yang smiled faintly:

"I am bold, even if you want to give the whole Wenyang Tribe to me, I dare to accept it."

Old Zouye's smile retreated like the tide, and his wrinkled face showed rare solemnity. He supported his arms, got up with great difficulty, and then spent a lot of effort to press his withered palm on his chest, sweating profusely, panting, but every word he spat out was like hitting from the depths of his chest, carrying power completely opposite to his old figure:

"From today on... the Wenyang Tribe... is willing to serve... the young master's orders!"

Wang Yang's expression was calm, without surprise, without joy or worry, and even his eyelashes didn't tremble at all. After pondering for a while, he asked:

"What do you want?"

Old Zouye looked at Wang Yang deeply, his breath gradually stabilized, and his clouded old eyes were shining brightly at this moment:

"I don't want anything, I just want the young master to treat us as—our own people."

The stars were hidden, and the morning mist was faint.

Wang Yang and Chen Qingshan came out of the bamboo house, and the sky was already bright.

Wang Yang was eager to go back to make up for sleep, but his steps were not fast. Chen Qingshan knew what Wang Yang was thinking, so she held the wooden box and followed Wang Yang quietly, while guarding the surroundings.

It is temporarily impossible to be our own people.

Old Zouye said this very nicely, saying that the Wenyang Tribe would serve the young master's orders from now on, but if you really believed it and treated yourself as the master of Wenyang, you would be fooled by this old fox.

This is not a fairy cave, where a violation of the oath will be punished by thunder; nor is it a master-servant blood contract, where a thought will destroy the soul. This is just a sentence. It came out of his mouth and entered my ears. Empty words have no trace, and there is no effective binding force. In the absence of binding force, whether to listen or not, to follow or not, depends on the other party's mood, and even more on what your orders are. If you want them to take out all the gold and silver in the treasury and take it home by yourself, can they listen? If you order them to go out of Wenyang Gorge immediately, follow you to attack the state and county, and seize the world, can they follow?

So at the current stage, whether to listen or not, to follow or not, depends on whether the calculations of both sides can match. As for the future, it depends on Wang Yang's development in the future.

However, Old Zouye's intention to lean over is still very clear. If it can be managed well, this place can be used as a foundation or a retreat. Although this matter is actually very taboo, it is called "secretly communicating with the barbarian tribe and harboring different intentions," which is a capital crime. However, anyway, the surname Langya is fake, so adding one more is not afraid, just be cautious in doing things, and must be steady...

As for the second gift Old Zouye sent, it was Guo Shao's head. According to Old Zouye, Guo Shao was the subordinate of Shen Youzhi, the governor of Jingzhou who "rebelled" that year, and served as the governor of Jingzhou, Fu Huan Xuan, a genuine big family in the north.

Thirteen years ago, Xiao Daocheng (the founding emperor of the Southern Qi) monopolized the power of the court, abolished the emperor and established another. Shen Youzhi sent a message to all directions, started an army in Jingzhou, and claimed to punish the thief. Fu Huan Xuan received the order and guarded Jiangling with Shen Youzhi's eldest son Shen Yuanyan and Changshi Jiang Yi. Later, Youzhi's army was defeated, the imperial court's army arrived, and the three abandoned the city and fled. Shen Yuanyan and Jiang Yi were captured and killed, only Fu Huan Xuan fled into the barbarian land and was captured by the barbarians, becoming a slave. Later, he was reused by Old Zouye and made military merit to become a military advisor.

As for Guo Shao, it is actually Fu Huan Xuan's pseudonym. The so-called Guo is the city; Shao is the succession. As for what he succeeded, Guo Shao's statement is to succeed the incense of the Fu family, but Old Zouye thinks it is not like it. He even changed his surname, so what incense is there? So although he used Guo Shao, his defense was not reduced. Guo Shao did not socialize on the surface, but secretly let his house slaves practice archery and martial arts, day after day for ten years. But he forgot that these house slaves were all rewarded to him by Old Zouye after he made merit. That is to say, under the name of reward, Old Zouye buried manpower around Guo Shao.

As a rebel of the previous dynasty, Guo Shao has not been captured. Old Zouye's meaning is to let Wang Yang take this head back and count it as a merit.

However, Wang Yang refused.

Old Zouye is after all in the barbarian tribe, and doesn't know that the things inside are not as simple as he thinks.

First of all, in the background of the Xiao Qi Dynasty, regardless of text or oral, as long as it is in a public occasion, there will naturally be no good words for Shen Youzhi, and his uprising is also called rebellion. But in the hearts of those who love the previous dynasty, especially the royal family of the previous dynasty, Shen Youzhi is no different from a loyal minister.

Lady Xie Lady Xie Xinghan once said a sentence to Wang Yang before Shen Youzhi started the army, called "I would rather die for Wang Ling than live for Jia Chong." Wang Ling and Jia Chong were both ministers of the Wei State. Wang Ling was loyal to Cao Wei and planned to execute the Sima family, but failed and was killed. Jia Chong changed his family very smoothly and was favored by the new dynasty.

So this sentence of Shen Youzhi means that he would rather die than be loyal to the previous dynasty. Regardless of whether this is true or false, if Wang Yang wants such merit, he might offend the forces that love the previous dynasty. How big that force is, Wang Yang doesn't know. However, since the Emperor wants to appease them, let the Prince of Badong marry the daughter of the previous dynasty's eldest princess, it can be seen that its weight is not light. Rashly becoming a target of this group of people is very unwise.

Furthermore, the scholar-officials value style, and being keen on merchants is at most a small section of carelessness. Using a head to invite merit may involve the big section. The Southern Qi has only been founded for eleven years, and most of the ministers in the court came from the previous dynasty, so it is inevitable that they have a feeling for the old dynasty. The scholar-officials respect the clear stream like Lady Xie Lady Xie Xinghan's father Lady Xie Fei, who is "non-violent and non-cooperative." If you want to usurp the throne and be the emperor, I can't stop it, but if you want me to hold the jade seal, sorry, brother can't serve, go home first. As for Chu Yuan, who actively helped usurp the country, even if he reached the position of a minister, he still couldn't avoid being greatly ridiculed.

Actually, Wang Yang is different from Chu Yuan. Wang Yang didn't serve as an official in the previous dynasty. Not to mention taking Guo Shao's head, even taking Shen Youzhi's head, there is nothing to blame. But the problem is that Wang Yang wears the name of the Langya Wang clan, and some things cannot be done. Top-level families have the style of top-level families. Things like using the previous dynasty's legacy to advance, don't fit the rules of "everyone," just like publishing in c-journals without manuscript fees but paying layout fees, in popular terms, it is—losing face. Wang Yang's identity is fake, and there is no face to lose, but if he is suspected of his identity because of losing face, then...

Although the second gift is useless, this trip to the barbarian land is very satisfactory. Even if there are some risks, the things that should be done have been done, and the two backhands that should be buried have been buried very well. Hu, suddenly want to eat chocolate...

"Xiao Shan... eh? Where is the person?"

Chen Qingshan immediately stepped forward: "Young Master."

"What did Zouye give you?"

Chen Qingshan held the wooden box and shook her head: "Don't know, haven't opened it yet."

"Open it and see."

Wang Yang stopped his steps and waved his hand: "You guys retreat."

Several barbarian guards scattered. Chen Qingshan opened the box, and suddenly silver brilliance filled her eyes!

Inside was a set of exquisite silver jewelry! There were hairpins, hairpins, flower decorations, earrings, arm bracelets, bracelets, rings, and dangling hairpins, a total of seven pieces, all silver and shining, making people dizzy.

Jin Dynasty gold flower decoration collected by the Nanjing Museum, the picture is taken from "Langya King: From Eastern Jin to Northern Wei" edited by Nanjing Museum, Yilin Press, 2018 edition.

Wang Yang laughed: "Zouye is spending a lot of money! Xiao Shan, you are rich!"

The hairpins and dangling hairpins look like they have the feeling of ancient objects from the Han Dynasty. Where did they come from? Are they passed down from generation to generation? It shouldn't be grave robbing...

Chen Qingshan has been with Wang Yang for a long time, naturally knowing what "rich" means, and said somewhat embarrassedly: "This is for you."

Wang Yang said seriously: "No, no, this is specially for you, didn't you see they are all jewelry?"

Chen Qingshan didn't argue anymore, thinking silently in her heart:

Anyway, they are all yours...

——————

Note: ① Regarding Old Zouye rewarding Guo Shao with slaves and Guo Shao being with house slaves all day, see Chapter 288 "Military Advisor".

② "Zizhi Tongjian · Song Ji 16": "Youzhi sent his son Yuanyan and the concurrent Changshi Jiang Yi, Bie Jia Fu Huan Xuan to guard Jiangling City. Jing'er arrived at Shaqiao, watching and not advancing. At night, the city heard the cry of cranes, saying it was the army coming, Yi and Huan Xuan opened the door and fled, and the officials and people collapsed."

③ "Book of Southern Qi · Chu Yuzhi Biography": "Yanhui (Chu Yuan) gathered fame early with this world's capital. When he met the rise of the movement (referring to supporting the new dynasty), the slander was boiling, and he was pushed by the reputation of others, and he was also blamed by the reputation of others." ===== CHAPTER 301 =====