Chapter 753

Great Tang.

Tang Shan Villa.

"Hahahaha..."

Seeing the few old men nod, Zhangsun Wuji

burst into loud laughter.

"A wise decision! I will let you know just how correct today's decision is!"

Still, someone was uneasy and asked one more question.

"What if we suffer painful losses, but Great Qin remains unharmed by this, what then?"

This was also the question the few of them were most worried about.

After all, the psychological shadow Qin Mu had left them with was truly too great.

That fellow who could write such an eternal, wondrous article had a way of thinking different from ordinary people, always so unexpected.

Zhangsun Wuji explained.

"Great Qin's strength lies in their most formidable army. This time, the Maurya Empire is about to attack the Yelang Kingdom. Afterward, the Maurya Empire's massive army will clash with the Great Qin army.

What we must do is collect a large amount of highly toxic substances in advance. After the war begins, send people to poison all the water sources along the path of the Great Qin army.

We must disregard personnel casualties and spare no cost!

Even if we cannot poison the Great Qin army to death, we will make their morale collapse in the face of extreme water shortage!"

This tactic sounds simple enough.

But it is very difficult to implement.

Losing a large number of men during the process is one thing. The greatest difficulty, however, lies in the need to spend money.

Good poison is worth its weight in gold.

To constantly poison the water sources along the route, the quantity of poison required is absolutely a terrifying number.

Even for the Four Great Clans, bearing this cost will feel very painful.

But they have no way back.

"Fine! We will go and collect the highly toxic substances. But, in the future, when opening the trade route with the Maurya Empire, Lord Zhangsun, please do not swallow it all alone; share a piece of the pie with our four clans as well."

This is an exchange of interests.

If you want them to put in the effort, you must give them benefits.

Zhangsun Wuji nodded silently.

He had long been mentally prepared.

The greatest benefit of the Maurya Empire trade route is not in trade, but in the introduction of cotton.

So, yielding some share of the trade to them is nothing.

At this moment.

Maurya Empire.

Pei Ji and his son, Pei Lüshi, had already arrived.

Under Master Bianji's arrangement, they met with the Maurya King to discuss the matter of forming an alliance.

It was just that they were now stuck on the issue of whether Great Tang would send troops.

The Maurya King waved his hand impatiently.

"No, no, Great Tang must send troops simultaneously. When the Maurya Empire attacks Yelang, Great Tang must be responsible for pinning down Great Qin." Pei Ji hated this filthy Maurya King to death.

No matter how he spoke to him, he wouldn't listen; he just insisted that Great Tang must send troops at the same time.

Pei Ji had no choice but to cast a pleading gaze toward Master Bianji, who was sitting quietly to the side.

"Master Bianji, please find an opportunity to speak with the Maurya King. Great Tang cannot send troops directly, but to thank the Maurya Empire, we will cede the land of Yizhou to him!"

The land of Yizhou!

Master Bianji naturally knew that this piece of land had been ceded by Great Tang to Great Qin a long time ago.

Now, it was no longer Great Tang territory.

Ceding this land that didn't belong to Great Tang in the first place—wasn't that just nonsense?

It was clear they thought the Maurya King was a simpleton and intended to start a grand deception!

Master Bianji didn't care about the deception, nor did he want to protect Great Tang's side.

His thinking was very simple: he just wanted to take revenge on Great Qin!

Whatever would create more trouble for Great Qin, that was what Master Bianji would do.

And so.

Master Bianji relayed Pei Ji's words to the Maurya King with added embellishments.

"Your Majesty, Yizhou is known as the Land of Abundance and is a very fertile piece of land. Its area is half the size of the Maurya Empire.

After we send troops, Great Tang will cede this place to the Maurya Empire!"

The Maurya King opened his eyes wide in greed.

The Maurya King was very satisfied with Great Tang ceding such a large piece of land at once.

Sure enough, he never mentioned the matter of Great Tang sending troops again.

After a brief confrontation, Pei Ji discovered that this dirty ghost of a Maurya King was extremely greedy and would even break his word.

He felt particular contempt for the Maurya King's unreliable character.

He despised him in his heart.

But he still had to offer some flattery with his mouth.

"Your Majesty, the Maurya King, is brilliant and martial! Such a great emperor should have twice as much land!"

After hearing this, the Maurya King was especially happy.

He even issued an imperial decree to gift Pei Ji and his son two elephant tusks.

In his entire life, the Maurya King had never met someone who appreciated him as much as Pei Ji!

He held Pei Ji's hand and treated him as a soulmate.

Pei Ji took this opportunity to make a request to the Maurya King.

"Your Majesty, Great Tang's military strength is far weaker than that of the Maurya Empire. I request that Your Majesty sell two thousand war elephants to Great Tang." The Maurya King was in high spirits and agreed without even thinking.

In any case, he had plenty of war elephants.

"Two thousand elephants, how much do you intend to pay?"

Pei Ji, having already deceived the Maurya King regarding the land, didn't feel there was anything wrong with deceiving him one more time.

Besides, the Maurya King looked a bit simple-minded and was begging to be deceived!

"Your Majesty, elephants are so precious that we will also bring out the best things from Great Tang to exchange with Your Majesty." As he said this, he beckoned.

Pei Ji's subordinates carried up a large basket of items.

These things were cylindrical, green at one end and white at the other. The white end gradually tapered to a point and sprouted some fibrous roots.

The Maurya King did not recognize this item.

"What kind of treasure is this?"

Pei Ji picked one up and held it in his hands.

"This is the thousand-year-old wild mountain ginseng, a specialty of Great Tang! Your Majesty, please look, each one is large and plump, dozens of times larger than ordinary ginseng. It is priceless!"

In reality, it was just a basket of green radishes.

The Maurya King looked at this basket of green radishes, and his saliva was almost dripping down.