Chapter 423: Shaodang Qiang

To the west of Longxi lies the Peach River. The Great King, with boundless ambition, wanted to bring this river into his great farm as well, extending all the way to the border line. In the dry season, if the Peach River runs dry, it's fine—he can spend money to get a spring.

The reclamation team had arrived, and he sat squatting at the field edge all day. Others saw him doing nothing, but in fact he was studying the map.

Wei Shen and Xie Tu squatted beside him, saying, "Your Highness, if you're really bored, go back and do your homework." Xie Tu said sincerely.

The Great King was shocked, "You haven't finished it yet?"

The Great King's shocked expression made Wei Shen burst out laughing, "Want your cousin to help you write it?" The Great King shoved him away without mercy, "Don't you know your own level?"

Xie Tu: "……My uncle won't let me help you write it."

The Great King: "I'm so busy, didn't I just dictate my views for you to polish?"

Xie Tu: "……Is that the kind of polishing where you take three sentences and expand them into an eight‑hundred‑character essay?"

This time it was Xie Tu who sat squatting at the field edge, withdrawn.

The Great King soon stopped caring about his homework, squatting in the shade and looking west: "Clearly there's still a piece of my land across the river—why does the prefect block me from crossing? Has he gotten full of himself?"

Wei Shen shouted back, "I know!"

There aren't many of our people over there, and it's right next to the Shaodang Qiang. If we farm across, we'd have to constantly worry about it, and the land across the river would probably end up being farmed by the Qiang people. There's no garrison here either, so they'll surely raid the border from time to time. I know the Qiang people best—don't believe me? Ask Wei Ke.

The Great King really went back to ask Wei Ke, then returned furious, magnifying the view of the opposite riverbank, but for a moment he couldn't see anything wrong.

Having arrived in Longxi, the Great King simply made a trip to Liangzhou—deserts are the biggest water‑guzzlers, and creating a few desert oases by spending money brings immeasurable merit. When the troop set out again, he chose to travel along the border with the Qiang tribe.

The Qiang tribe that borders the Northern Border—its vanguard is the Shaodang Qiang. The Great King was eager to go and take a close look.

The Great King sighed while looking at the map; a range of the Qilian Mountains separates Liangzhou from the Qiang tribe. Originally he had no interest in those mountains and plateaus, and as someone who lives by the sea he didn't want to adapt to low‑oxygen terrain. But after enlarging the map and comparing it with the one obtained from White Poplar, the Great King discovered something good.

On the northern part of the Shaodang Qiang's territory lies a famous large mine that produces Hetian jade.

This fellow not only plunders the Western Regions, but also eyes selling some Qinghai Hetian jade together with White Poplar.

He wouldn't say such things out loud, giving it the noble name of border patrol.

At the same time Tang Qian also arrived in the Western Regions, issuing the Great King's edict. Facing the pleas of poverty from the thirty‑six Western Regions states, wherever he went he would produce the sample the Great King gave him for promotion.

"The King of the Northern Border loves beautiful jade treasures—whether mutton‑fat white, green, or yellow, as long as the texture is smooth and the color even and attractive, with collectible value, they can offset tribute." As for how much these things can offset, that interpretation still belongs to the Great King.

Prefect Tang unfolded a map, saying, "I've heard this area around Kunlun Mountain is all jade production, especially Qiemo. Minglu has already pointed it out for you—if you still refuse to pay, the Northern Border cavalry can come personally to collect the tribute. Let me remind you: there's little time left this year to meet the tribute quota, and even our Your Highness can't help—nor can the Northern Border cavalry, who also need to eat."

As he was leaving, he said, "The message has been delivered; I'll head back now, no need to see me off—after all we'll meet again soon at Shanyang Pass." He hinted that they should hurry, rush to pay this year's tribute. Tsk tsk! They've taken advantage of the Great Jin for so many years; now trying to take something back would literally be the death of them!

Old Tang felt refreshed after this job; having guarded Yumen Pass for half his life, following the Great King these past two years has been the most comfortable.

Qiemo is merely an obscure little state in the Western Regions, originally without ambition, but now faced with this tribute list, the treasonous act of envying the neighboring Shanshan, which has already been occupied, is somewhat understandable.

Shanshan was wiped out in one fell swoop, looted clean, which actually was a relief—unlike them, who every year have to endure being bled little by little, and if they ever fall short, they still face annihilation…

★

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【Actually I have several thousand words; the latter part is a big plot, I got stuck, not satisfied, still revising.】