Tigers Sniff the Rose - Chapter 20
Chapter 20
The stars hung low over the mountains and wilderness.
In the Wu Barbarian royal tent, the lights burned until dawn, and the songs and dances lasted through the night.
In the very center of the tent sat a massive bronze tripod, inside of which boiling water bubbled rhythmically.
Four brawny warriors carried a whole sheep into the tent with an imposing air. They stood at the four sides of the tripod and ceremoniously cast the butchered mutton into the boiling water.
The scent of the meat was mouth-watering, yet those invited into the tent felt anxious and uneasy, their eyes fixed on the boiling meat.
The Wu King, Meng Zaishi, sat on his tiger-skin throne with the posture of a conqueror. He watched the people below, who were neither enjoying the dance nor feeling at ease, and were instead sneaking glances at him. His expression was cold and stern, and in the shifting light and shadow, he appeared somewhat sinister.
He raised a hand to dismiss the maids serving him and picked up a bowl of distilled liquor.
The tent fell silent, save for the sound of the boiling water and the wafting aroma of the meat.
The crowd heard the Wu King speak in a languid tone: "I have summoned you tonight for no bad reason; there is no need for any of you to be nervous. I intend to emulate the system of Great Wei, abolish your status as slaves, bestow upon you the rank of nobility, and gift you gold, silver, jewelry, beauties, and herds. Henceforth, aside from facing me, you yourselves may keep slaves and raise cattle and sheep; you shall no longer be considered guilty of a crime.
"You shall swear a blood oath with me here tonight. As long as I live, I will not let you down. In the future, when you follow me into battle, you will no longer have to surrender all your spoils. You are permitted to keep a portion for yourselves."
The people looked at one another in confusion, not understanding the Wu King's meaning.
The Wu Barbarian system was backward; the only master was the Wu King. Everyone else—whether they followed the King into battle or served him—was a slave.
Slaves had no human rights and no right to conceal wealth. Once discovered by the Wu King, it was a capital offense.
Yet, there were always some who coveted beautiful jewelry and longed for magnificent silks... but they hid them away in secret, fearing discovery and the King’s wrath.
And tonight, the Wu King had announced that he would abolish their status as slaves!
They trembled as they spoke: "Great King, what does this mean... we do not understand."
Meng Zaishi sneered. "You need not understand. Just know that from this day forward, you are masters, not slaves."
With that, Meng Zaishi raised his hand, signaling the warriors to present a dagger. He slowly stood up, his tall, lean frame casting a presence that rendered the entire tent silent.
The ambitious and talented King sliced a long gash into his palm with the dagger, watching the blood drip into the bowl. He drained the bowl in one gulp and gestured to the others; the crowd hurriedly followed suit.
Meng Zaishi looked at these newly appointed nobles with a pensive expression. The Princess Danyang from Great Wei had once said that not everyone in Great Wei was a slave. An Emperor could allow others to help govern the nation, but the Emperor could not humiliate a scholar.
Great Wei had many nobles, and it was only with these nobles that the commands of the Wei Emperor could be executed from the top down.
Once, at dusk, that Princess had ridden with him, traveling through the stone forest. She had ridden in front, holding the reins, and turned back to smile at him: "You cannot expect everyone to listen to you without giving your people a shred of respect, can you?"
Meng Zaishi narrowed his eyes: "Then, Princess, by cooperating with me, what benefit are you hoping to gain?"
Her beautiful eyes had been brimming with moisture as she replied: "This concubine only wishes that when you become King, you do not let me down."
Thinking of this, Meng Zaishi clicked his tongue. He had been playing a game of truth and lies with a beauty back then, but who would have thought that the beauty was using him as well! A perfectly lovely Princess of a marriage alliance had been forced by his father into becoming a cunning, devious woman... how very unlovable.
"Great King, there seems to be fire in the distance!" Just as Meng Zaishi was reminiscing about the Princess’s delicate smile, a warrior pushed open the felt curtain and entered to report.
His complexion changed abruptly, and he stood up with a start.
That night, the Wu King and the group of nobles he had just ennobled ascended the mountain peak, where they indeed saw flames soaring into the sky in the distance. The fire, however, did not belong to the Wu; it came from the Chi Barbarians, who were neighbors to the Wu.
Someone below guessed: "It must be the Great Wei army taking advantage of the night to launch a surprise attack on the Chi."
"In any case, the Chi are the ones fighting Great Wei; it has nothing to do with us."
Meng Zaishi ignored the sense of relief among the people behind him; he frowned, burdened by his thoughts. After returning to the royal court, Meng Zaishi ordered his army to prepare for war.
His subordinates were still bewildered, wondering why Great Wei's raid on the Chi had anything to do with them.
Only two days passed, and when some Chi people fled to the Wu with their herds, the newly appointed nobles could no longer sit still.
They ran to Meng Zaishi, pointing and gesturing: "...Those refugees from the Chi are not only willing to trade livestock for our grain, but they say the fires are massive. The Chi King is enraged and is currently hunting down the Great Wei army. The refugees say there are furs strewn all over the roads that no one wants. Great King, let us go take them; once we have them, we can trade them with Great Wei for jewelry!"
As the nobles discussed this excitedly, Meng Zaishi retreated from the tent and rode out on horseback, lost in thought. Before long, his subordinates brought back intelligence, saying that the nobles were all hoping for war.
Meng Zaishi remained noncommittal: "Do you also think we should go to war with the Chi at this time?"
One of the sharper subordinates stepped forward: "The Great King has just unified the Wu. If we want to implement the techniques learned from Great Wei within our borders, this is not the time to start a war. Fighting back and forth over a few pieces of jewelry is not worth the cost."
Meng Zaishi allowed them to voice their opinions.
Soon, they reached a consensus and came as one to advise Meng Zaishi against fighting the Chi.
Meng Zaishi said calmly: "Oh? Do I decide not to fight just because I say so?"
The subordinate was stunned.
Meng Zaishi waved his arm, pointing toward the group of nobles at the entrance of the distant tent who were still in heated discussion.
He sneered: "Look at them. Every one of them is gripped by insatiable greed. They were just granted the rank of nobility, and already they are dreaming of seizing jewelry, silks, cattle, and beauties. Because this is a right I just gave them! They want to enjoy the novelty of it, fearing that one day I will take back their rights.
"Greed has blinded their eyes, and ignorance has made them short-sighted. If I were to say we are not going to war now, do you think I could restrain them? Or if I suppressed them, they would think I am a backstabbing King who still views them as slaves. Then, everything I did before would have been for nothing."
The subordinates following him looked on with horror; if they tried to restrain that swarm of locusts now, the King would lose the support of his people instead...
Meng Zaishi closed his eyes and slowly revealed a somewhat gloomy smile: "This war must be fought for the time being. Let us take this opportunity to unify the Chi and make them subordinates of the Wu.
"Great Wei has cast a disaster onto others; they must have long anticipated that their surprise attack on the Chi would spill over into the Wu, a tribe they have only just unified. With the two great southern tribes at war, Great Wei can sit back and watch after losing only a small contingent of troops. It is exactly what they desire!"
The subordinates were shocked, but they began to praise the Wu King: "Great King, when you saw the fire that night, you ordered us to prepare for war. Clearly, the Great King had foreseen all of this. The Great King’s strategic planning is no less than that of Great Wei!"
Meng Zaishi ignored the flattery.
He mused: "We are in a marriage alliance with Great Wei. Since they do not want to go to war with us, but still wish to bring us to heel, they used the Chi to make us fight... interesting.
"I had just sent word to Great Wei, and then this happens. Perhaps this really is the handiwork of that Princess. But the Princess supposedly doesn't understand politics..."
The young man closed his eyes in contemplation, then opened them again, a dark, cold light erupting in his gaze:
"Have our spies in Great Wei find out who gave this idea to the Great Wei frontier army!
"I must kill him!" —
After Li Zhi sent Princess Danyang away, he learned that the Wu and the Chi had gone to war. He could not help but laugh, and he made a mental note of Yan Erlang, who had presented the strategy.
Before the year ended, Princess Danyang finally returned to Chang'an, back to her own Princess estate.
On New Year's Day, for the first time in three years, Princess Danyang spent the holiday in the palace with her brothers, sister, and the Emperor. It was just that, compared to three years ago, the Empress was no longer there.
After the New Year's celebrations, social calls began. The Princess estate welcomed a high-ranking official, a Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who had once served as an aide in her household.
The man was grateful for the Princess’s cultivation. Mu Wanyao encouraged him to follow the Crown Prince and work hard.
Thus, many people came to visit Mu Wanyao, mostly those who had emerged from her estate and had now secured good futures. Mu Wanyao patiently comforted them one by one. But as the number of visitors increased, Mu Wanyao grew so annoyed that she simply claimed illness and stopped leaving the house.
In the third month, the imperial examinations began.
Chunhua had been in a panic since mid-February, constantly finding excuses to leave the Princess estate to inquire about the exam results.
When the list was posted, Chunhua felt a wave of disappointment upon learning that Liu Wenji’s name was not on it. Yet, she steeled herself and comforted herself; the imperial examinations of Great Wei were notoriously difficult every year, and it was normal for Liu Wenji not to pass on his first attempt.
However, as Chunhua hurried out of the estate to comfort her failed lover, she couldn't find Liu Wenji all day long. Guessing that Liu Wenji must be filled with shame and hiding from her on purpose, Chunhua had no choice but to return to the Princess estate.
At the estate in the evening, Chunhua walked along, listless and lost in thought about Liu Wenji, when someone beside her called out: "Chunhua!"
Chunhua looked up and saw the guard, Fang Tong, holding a letter in his hand and approaching with a troubled expression: "Chunhua, help me read this. Tell me what is written in the letter Yan Erlang sent me. Yan Erlang is so polite in his writing, but I don’t know a single character..."
Chunhua pulled herself together to help Fang Tong read the letter sent by Yan Shisheng.
Coincidentally, just across the corridor, Mu Wanyao had just returned from drinking wine outside. She was walking unsteadily, her beautiful eyes clouded with intoxication, a rosy glow on her cheeks, when she suddenly heard the words "Yan Erlang."
Mu Wanyao suspected she had misheard.
She stopped in her tracks and, through the curtains, asked Chunhua and Fang Tong, who were huddled together reading the letter: "A letter written by Yan Shisheng?"
Upon seeing the Princess, Fang Tong bowed and answered blankly: "Yes, Yan Erlang is truly a good man. He often writes to this subordinate..."
He was kicked hard by Chunhua and let out an "Ow!"—then he looked at Chunhua in confusion, not knowing why she had kicked him.
On the corridor behind the curtains, Mu Wanyao remained silent for a moment before asking Chunhua: "Has he written to you as well?"
Chunhua was embarrassed: "He only occasionally asks this maid for advice on some questions..."
Fang Tong was puzzled: "What does Your Highness mean by asking that? Has Yan Erlang never written a letter to Your Highness? How is that possible? Yan Erlang is such a polite and socially adept person, haha..."
His laughter weakened awkwardly.
As the maids lifted the curtains, Mu Wanyao stared at him with cold eyes.
Chunhua whispered from the side: "Guard Fang, please stop talking. Yan Erlang has never written a single letter to the Princess... The Princess didn't even know Yan Erlang had been writing to us.”