Chapter 223: The Dormancy of Beidi

Khan Court.

Mule Hongzhen sat on a poplar wood chair draped in tiger skin.

Before him, the great kings of the nine royal tents stood in order.

After a long silence, he said slowly, "We, the ten kings of Beidi, are now reduced to nine; Sa'erge died at Yanguan."

The nine great kings of the royal tents lowered their heads upon hearing this.

The death of Sa'erge was, to Beidi, like an Imperial Prince of Great Song being killed by the enemy on the battlefield; this was a national vendetta.

Once this news spread, it would cause Beidi's prestige among the surrounding nations to be swept away.

"You must all know how Sa'erge died; it was Yan Wang, it was the artillery Yan Wang created," Mule Hongzhen suddenly raised his voice.

After the Battle of Yanguan, Yan Wang's firearms were no longer a secret.

He had also learned that this type of firearm was called artillery.

"Of course, my good-for-nothing younger brother also died at Yanguan; it is a humiliation..." Mule Hongzhen slammed his hand onto the table in front of him and stood up.

Boketie, Lamu, and Enke lowered their heads even further.

This battle was fought by them, and now all three felt waves of shame.

"Great Khan, we Beidi must avenge our grudges; only by throwing this Yan Wang's corpse onto the Grassland to feed the wolves can the hatred in our hearts be resolved," one person said.

His name was Tiemuta, and he was the eldest son of Mule Hongzhen.

He currently commanded the Sky Wolf Royal Tent that guarded the Khan Court.

"Right, kill Yan Wang!"

"When have we of Beidi ever suffered such humiliation?"

"This matter will not end until one side is dead."

"..."

The remaining five great kings said angrily, while Enke, Lamu, and Boketie remained silent.

Mule Hongzhen nodded.

He had a purpose for summoning all the great kings of the royal tents on the Grassland to the Khan Court this time.

The first, naturally, was to avenge Sa'erge.

For Beidi, this was tradition; if he showed no reaction to Sa'erge's death,

everyone on the Grassland would blame him for his cowardice.

The resulting dissatisfaction could even shake his position as Khan.

Therefore, they had to hold high the banner of revenge.

Of course, besides this, he also had hidden concerns.

The war in the Extreme North and the war at Yanguan both featured the same type of powerful firearm.

Having witnessed the power of this firearm with his own eyes, he believed it would pose a serious threat to Beidi.

Revered as the greatest Beidi Khan, he was naturally not a foolish man.

In fact, Beidi had always been adept at learning the skills of their enemies.

After breaking through the Ningjin Dusi, the armor and weapons in the Beidi army had been greatly improved.

After obtaining firearms, they had also quickly equipped them to every royal tent.

And they had continuously modified the firearms to make them even more powerful.

In terms of governance, since they occupied the black soil and took the Ningjin Dusi,

he had recruited many surrendered Great Song officials to establish a Beidi system of rule.

In ten years, this system had moved Beidi away from a purely nomadic life to one of semi-farming and semi-herding.

And this provided Beidi with a large supply of grain and fodder.

So, although winter was still difficult, compared to before, the Beidi people at least would not face mass starvation.

"Breaking through Yanguan and marching south to destroy Great Song is the vow made by generations of Beidi Khans; now, a mere Yan Wang of Great Song has caused us to lose the golden opportunity to march south—this is a supreme humiliation!" Mule Hongzhen said loudly.

"However..." his tone shifted, "wolf packs avenge their grudges, but they are never reckless; the lessons from the Extreme North and the lessons from Yanguan are equally profound, and that is that we must never stand still."

"Is Great Khan speaking of the firearm known as artillery?" Tiemuta said.

Mule Hongzhen nodded; he could not turn a blind eye to this type of firearm.

The Beidi cavalry was fierce and invincible, but when facing Yanguan, they had to dismount to lay siege.

Facing this type of firearm placed on the city walls, they would only be wasting the lives of their soldiers.

"But how can we obtain this type of firearm?" Boketie said.

He still felt a lingering fear.

"The enemy in the Extreme North has it, and Yan Wang of Great Song has it, so we must also be able to possess it; now, you must exhaust every means to find out the origin of this firearm," Mule Hongzhen said.

"Yes, Khan," everyone said in unison.

Mule Hongzhen continued, "Also, we must send envoys to Great Song to ease the relationship between the two countries, demand a ceasefire, reopen the Border Market, and lull Great Song and Yan Wang into a false sense of security; this will also make it easier for us to obtain the supplies we need from Great Song and investigate the origin of Yan Wang's artillery. Once we are fully prepared, we will wait for the right moment to take Yanguan."

Everyone nodded.

Over these years, they had been fighting and stopping with Great Song.

For them, a wolf pack needs enough patience to wait before hunting.

This time they lost the opportunity, but they would wait for the next one until they succeeded.

Yancheng.

The Prince's Mansion.

Zhao Xu lay leisurely on a rocking chair, basking in the sun.

Luan'er was behind him kneading his shoulders, while Feng'er held a plate of preserved fruit, feeding him one from time to time.

At this moment, time seemed quiet and beautiful.

Zhao Xu enjoyed the decadent life of feudal society with a clear conscience.

Since he took down Zhang Han, he had spent these days in heart-pounding suspense, not a single night sleeping soundly.

First, he worried about the Zhang Family plotting against him, and later, he was anxious about the Yuan Family causing trouble in secret.

But now, Yanzhou was peaceful.

The Zhang Family had vanished like smoke, and the Yuan Family had also become history.

Even the Rich Clans of Yanzhou had been purged by him, taking advantage of this rebellion.

The current Yanzhou was truly a vast, white expanse; it was truly clean.

It was precisely because of this that he relaxed for the first time.

Basking in the sun and teasing the maidservants—what endless joy.

This, only this, could be called the life of a Yan Wang.

Of course, although he had stolen a moment of leisure, he was not about to become addicted to indulgence.

At the very least, now that a royal order was issued in Yanzhou, all sides obeyed, and there were no more old enemies by his bedside.

He could finally balance work and rest.

Just as he was enjoying the leisurely time, a maidservant entered the backyard and whispered something to Feng'er.

"Your Highness, the scholars seeking an audience have blocked the outside of the Prince's Mansion so that we cannot get out. These people are really something; we already said we wouldn't see them, yet they still linger and refuse to leave," Feng'er pouted.

Luan'er only smiled, two dimples appearing on her face.

After the Rich Clans of Yanzhou were wiped out by him, the humble scholars who had previously attached themselves to the Rich Clans saw that the wind had changed in Yanzhou and flocked to the Prince's Mansion to recommend themselves, hoping to become retainers of the mansion.

Especially after the Imperial Edict designated all of the Yanzhou Seven Commanderies as his fief.

Scholars from other commanderies all poured into Yancheng.

After all, Yanzhou now had only one master, and that was the Yan Wang.

"This is all because Great Song lacks a sound official selection system; these scholars can only enter officialdom through the shortcut of attachment, which is why they are unwilling to leave, hoping only to be chosen by this Prince," Zhao Xu said.

It was not out of arrogance that he refused to see these scholars.

Rather, after taking control of Yanzhou, he did not want to inherit the bad habits of the officialdom and control Yanzhou by gathering retainers.

In his view, this would cause many talents to be overlooked.

Before the great chaos in Yanzhou, he had mentioned to Liu Fu the idea of holding a fair examination to select officials.

This remained the best choice.

Chewing on the preserved fruit, he stretched and stood up.

Having become the Yan Wang in name and reality, what he faced next was the construction of his fief.

This disaster had caused severe damage to Yanzhou.

Already the most barren place in Great Song, it was now suffering from compounded misfortune.

As the Yan Wang, he had to properly build up his fief.

After all, this was his power base.

If one day he were surrounded by enemies on all sides and his trade routes were cut off, the only things he could rely on would be this land and the common people upon it.