Chapter 613: Your Father

Though Chaoxian was a small state, Ji Zhun was still the scion of a ruling house; his father had been in poor health in recent years and required him to attend many occasions.

For example, making offerings to their ancestor King Xin, for example, banquets and feasts, for example, deliberating this year's tribute with the city lords, for example, dealings with the surrounding tribes such as Fuyu, Woju, Eastern Ye, and Mahan — although four generations ago, Chaoxian was defeated by the Yan army, lost two hundred li of territory, and was forced to humiliatingly send tribute to King Zhao of Yan. But it was no idle boast from the Ji clan: east of the sea, Chaoxian was still the only civilized state, and the small surrounding tribes often came to pay homage and offer congratulations…

So Ji Zhun could be said to have seen his share of grand occasions, yet today, he was thoroughly terrified by the Qin army supervisor sitting across from him!

This was how it happened: as the Qin troops returned by ship to Liekou, a voice within Chaoxian grew louder and louder: When would the Qin army leave?

Ji-clan Chaoxian still practiced the enfeoffed estate lordship system of the Shang and Zhou periods; under the Marquis of Chaoxian, there were over ten city lords — those near Wangxian were called "Inner Domain Lords," and those distributed in the outlying areas were called "Outer Domain Lords." Liekou fell within the Inner Domain of the royal territory; with his own estate occupied long-term and his people conscripted into labor by the Qin, leaving them no time to hunt fox or sable or gather firewood for him, the Inner Domain Lord of Liekou was frantic with anxiety.

The Inner Domain Lord dared not make trouble for the Qin army and could only keep running to Wangxian City, rallying his in-laws and friends to pressure the Marquis of Chaoxian.

Thus, under pressure from the domestic nobility, Ji Zhun could only steel himself and come to pay a visit to Fusu, nominally to "reward the troops and congratulate their success," but in reality to obliquely inquire:

"When will the superior state withdraw its troops?"

Fusu was the same as ever — gentle, refined, and well-spoken — but the "army supervisor" seated below him, a dark, burly rough fellow, upon hearing these words, set his face hard and rattled off a speech to Fusu in vehement tones!

Although Ji Zhun could not understand the original words, judging by the army supervisor's ferocious, fiendish look, they were certainly nothing pleasant.

Sure enough, when the interpreter this man had brought along, that fellow named "Xu Fu," translated the words, they were equally overbearing!

"The sea bandits were routed and fled; we failed to annihilate them completely. Seeing that winter is drawing near, the grand army will rest and regroup at Liekou, and wait until next spring and summer to march south again and exterminate the brigands! I have yet to ask when the grain Chaoxian promised will be delivered, and you ask when we will withdraw? What is the meaning of this? Are you driving us away?"

"Chaoxian absolutely has no such intent!"

Ji Zhun hurriedly poured out his grievances to Fusu, listing Chaoxian's difficulties one by one — for instance, the scarcity of grain, and for instance, that this Liekou settlement was in truth the estate of a certain grandee, yet it had been occupied by the Qin army; that grandee came weeping and complaining every few days, and he and his father were vexed beyond endurance…

Fusu seemed somewhat moved and sighed along with Ji Zhun, even asking the army supervisor a few questions on his behalf; the two appeared to be conferring, but that army supervisor, Heifu, was as hard-hearted as iron and struck the table, declaring:

"There is a saying in the Central Plains: under the whole heaven, every spot is the sovereign's ground; to the borders of the land, every individual is the sovereign's minister. Since Chaoxian has already agreed to become a vassal of Great Qin, the ports and harbors of Chaoxian are also the ports and harbors of Great Qin. To say nothing of merely stationing troops for an extra year or half a year — even if we were to stay stationed indefinitely, could Chaoxian possibly refuse?"

Ji Zhun did possess a measure of backbone and replied, neither servile nor overbearing:

"This saying — the Ji clan left the Central Plains too early; Ji Zhun has never heard it."

"In Chaoxian, even the lord marquis may not arbitrarily strip his ministers of their cities and estates!"

Indeed — this was, after all, the difference between a bureaucratic empire and a small feudal domain; the estate lords each governed their own lands, obeying summons but not decrees, unable to concentrate their strength in one direction. This was also why Chaoxian had remained tucked away in a corner for centuries and been utterly routed by the state of Yan.

Heifu shot a glance at Ji Zhun. He was a high regional official who governed a populace many times larger than Chaoxian's; he was also a battle-hardened general whose hands had long been stained with countless blood. That sharp gaze made the courage Ji Zhun had mustered with such difficulty vanish without a trace.

The Chaoxian scion hurriedly lowered his head, his heart pounding. This army supervisor named Heifu — though he knew nothing of his deeds — was clearly a man entirely different from Fusu, one who favored simple, blunt force and would not recite "The Martial King of Yin" with them or deal with them according to the ageless ways of the nobility.

He had simply bared his fangs and raised his fist!

This was, perhaps, the ultimate truth on the diplomatic stage…

Seeing Ji Zhun lower his head, Heifu could not help but smile:

"So it seems Chaoxian is not ruled solely by the Ji clan? Could we bypass the Ji clan and negotiate directly with that city lord?"

A simple sentence, yet when it reached Ji Zhun's ears, it made him shudder with dread!

"This…"

He forced himself to remain composed, but his speech still became somewhat halting. Though the Ji clan had ruled Chaoxian for centuries, there were indeed a few over-mighty estate lords and nobles who gave him and his father great headaches; even within the Ji clan itself, there were cadet branches that, after failing to seize the throne, had been demoted to the borders as Outer Domain Lords…

This seemingly casual remark from Army Supervisor Heifu was in fact a deep threat!

"So it is better to set aside Chaoxian's rules and proceed according to Great Qin's rules. As for that city lord — if he is willing, he need not remain an enfeoffed lord of Chaoxian; he can come and be a chieftain of Great Qin."

Heifu looked toward Fusu: "The general and I can report the circumstances to His Majesty and enfeoff the entire Canghai City to him. That island has a hundred li of land. Lord Ji may ask him — would he be willing to go and be its city lord?"

Ji Zhun was somewhat at a loss for how to reply, until Prince Fusu clapped his hands and smoothed things over.

"The army supervisor is correct. The grand army cannot withdraw for now. Besides needing to strike south against the sea raiders again next year, it is also to protect Chaoxian from harassment by the surrounding bandits. This was Fusu's fault, and it should also be Fusu who makes amends…"

What Fusu was referring to were the thousand-odd Yan men who had fled after the mutiny at the Manfanhan camp over two months ago.

Chaoxian's south was teeming with various tribes, and the north was no different.

To the northwest lay the Qin dynasty's Liaodong Commandery; directly north was Zhenfan, whose people were vassals of Chaoxian. Further north was Fuyu, which had established a loose tribal confederation decades ago and would from time to time cross the mountains and forests to plunder Zhenfan and Chaoxian.

And to the northeast, east of the Gaema Mountains all the way to the sea, lay the territory of "Woju."

Wei Man and the other mutinous soldiers had originally intended to return to Yan territory, but were intercepted by the garrison at Xi'anping in Liaodong; with no alternative, they could only flee northeast, entering the borders of Zhenfan. With no road ahead, the Qin troops ceased their pursuit.

This band of disorderly soldiers was formidable; a mere thousand men had actually seized the city of the small Zhenfan state and entrenched themselves there, burning, killing, and plundering. The Zhenfan people could not endure it and fled one after another, leaving the band of soldiers without a source of food and clothing; recently, they had begun raiding the northern cities of Chaoxian.

And so, in the end, "protecting Chaoxian" became the pretext for the Qin army to remain stationed, but the true reason was that Chaoxian's national strength was too meager to refuse any demand from the Qin dynasty…

A short while later, with Heifu dictating and Fusu holding the brush, they entrusted Ji Zhun to deliver a formal state letter to the Marquis of Chaoxian:

First, Chaoxian formally recognized Qin as its suzerain state. As a vassal, Chaoxian must, next year, send one scion and ten noble youths to Xianyang to study Qin script and the standard language at the public academy. At the same time, the Qin dynasty would dispatch an envoy to reside permanently in Wangxian City.

Second, the Qin army would continue to be stationed in Chaoxian to help Chaoxian resist "southern raiders and northern bandits" and to overawe the surrounding barbarians. The Qin army would have the right to march and anchor ships within Chaoxian territory at any time.

Third, Chaoxian would open its borders; Qin dynasty merchants could freely travel and trade within Chaoxian territory, and the Marquis of Chaoxian and each city lord would be responsible for protecting their safety. At the same time, Qin and Chaoxian would implement "border-market inspection without taxation" — Qin goods entering Chaoxian could not be taxed, and likewise for Chaoxian goods entering Qin.

Fourth, because Chaoxian's laws and ordinances were crude, henceforth, if a law-abiding subject of Qin committed a crime in Chaoxian, the determination of the crime and the sentence would be handled by extraditing the person back to Qin for trial and judgment.

Each clause made Ji Zhun's expression grow a shade more bitter; only the third clause seemed fair on the surface.

Yet afterward, after taking leave of Fusu and returning to the guest lodge, Xu Fu, who had been handling the interpreting all along, bowed to Heifu with clasped hands and said: "Lord Commandery Governor, you are truly brilliant!"

Heifu glanced at him: "Brilliant in what way?"

Xu Fu said: "First, by playing the villain, you intimidated the Ji clan and did Prince Fusu a great favor. Second, the ill repute goes to yourself, while the merit goes to Fusu; His Majesty will understand the Lord Commandery Governor's pains. Third, you have won advantages for the state and at the same time secured many benefits for Jiaodong — is this not killing two birds with one stone, and thus brilliant?"

Heifu smiled but neither confirmed nor denied.

Xu Fu was right. Over these past months, with the opening of the sea route, trade between Jiaodong and Chaoxian had grown increasingly prosperous. Central Plains goods like silk, sugar, and lacquerware crossed the sea and were quite popular with the nobles and city lords, while Chaoxian's sable pelts and the like were also purchased in large quantities.

Although Qin dynasty merchants also "fed off the government," the Qi people were adept at trade, and Chaoxian's scale simply could not compare. What was more, Heifu had recently established an "East Sea Trading Company," specifically recruiting merchants from the Qi region and granting them the privilege of trading in furs from the East Sea and southern Liao. Every grain ship that went out carried millet and wheat; what they brought back were furs.

Eliminating border tariffs meant that Jiaodong's government merchants could, at extremely little cost, dump luxury goods like silk and sugar into Chaoxian and sell them at high prices to the local nobles. Then, they could purchase sable pelts at extremely low prices, bring them back to Jiaodong and hand them over to the government offices, which would then sell them in the Central Plains and earn another round of profit…

In sum, Jiaodong grew richer and richer through transit trade, while Chaoxian exported raw materials and purchased luxury goods, growing poorer and poorer.

But Ji Zhun did not realize this point — or rather, he did not care in the slightest.

Chaoxian, which relied on the tribute of city lords to balance its revenues and expenditures, simply did not see that this was a huge pitfall. The descendants of the former "Shang" people, having fled the perilous Central Plains and played eight hundred years of solitaire east of the sea, had finally played themselves into degeneration…

Heifu had his own plans and considerations.

"There is one thing Prince Fusu said that is actually correct: not everything can be resolved by conquest."

Take Chaoxian, for instance. The expeditionary army had encountered countless hardships and obstacles along the way, suffering losses before even seeing the enemy's shadow. For a state like this, lying beyond the radius of direct rule and possessing a certain degree of culture, to directly conquer it and divide it into commanderies and counties was simply unrealistic; all that awaited the dynasty would be endless rebellions and territory won and lost again. Historically, both Han and Tang had stumbled on the peninsula.

For now, maintaining this relationship — political vassalage and economic colonization — is not bad at all.

As long as the Ji clan agrees to those four articles, Korea's diplomacy, economy, military, and laws will all be fundamentally infiltrated by the Qin dynasty. Once transportation becomes convenient, losing independence and being absorbed and annexed will only be a matter of time.

A tributary? Calling it a protectorate seems more fitting.

However, it is not enough to get Korea to agree; Heifu must also write to convince Qin Shi Huang on the other end.

"Korea is merely the trial run for this diplomatic model."

Heifu said with some regret, "And the only trial run..."

Because looking beyond the Nine Provinces, among the places the Qin people can currently reach, aside from the city-states of the Western Regions, only the Ji clan's Korea — descended from the Yin-Shang remnants — possesses cities, a writing system (oracle bone script), and rites and etiquette, meeting these three criteria and qualifying as a "sub-civilization."

"From this day forward, whether it survives or perishes, Korea must understand one thing."

Having written the final stroke of the letter, Heifu smiled and said:

"You are nothing but a son born of a concubine to China. No matter how far you run, no matter how your face changes — whether you substitute a peach for a plum or graft one flower onto another — one fact remains unchangeable: your father will always be your father!"

Five thousand troops were stationed at Liekou, like a sharp sword pressed against the throat, giving Korea no room to delay.

Swiftly, after only two days, Korea sent a reply to the "Heifu's Four Articles" he had drafted.

"The Ji clan is willing to accept these terms in their entirety. Their only request is..."

Xu Fu was still acting as interpreter. After hearing out Ji Zhun, he clicked his tongue, looked at Heifu, then at Fusu, and said with a smile:

"Korea requests a marriage alliance with the Great Qin! Let a ducal daughter be wed to a Qin prince, so that the two nations may enjoy eternal amity!"

(End of Chapter)