Chapter 37 Gift
King Qingji of Wu spared no expense in facilitating an alliance between Wu and Yue to deal with Helu together .
One hundred taels of gold (two thousand taels of horseshoe gold, the unit of measurement is one tael equals twenty taels), a pair of fine jade bi, a set of ivory tableware, and fifty pieces of cowhide!
There are also ten beauties and fifty jars of Wu’s fine wine!
This is undoubtedly a huge sum of money for the State of Yue!
Because Yue was poorer than Wu, there were very few rare treasures in the Yue king's treasury. Sometimes he could only reward his subjects with things like rice, deerskin, and ox horns.
Therefore, the things sent by Qingji were undoubtedly generous gifts to Yunchang, which made him very excited!
"The King of Wu is truly sincere. I am convinced."
Driven by money, Yunchang had to choose to believe Bozhen and stand on Qingji's side.
Bo Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The King of Yue is wise! King of Yue, to be honest, I was ordered by the King to go to Yue this time. In addition to concluding an alliance between Wu and Yue and restoring peace, I also have another purpose!"
"Your Excellency, please feel free to speak."
As the saying goes, if you take money from someone, you should help them get rid of their misfortune. Yunchang doesn't believe in such things as pie falling from the sky. Now that Qingji is so generous, he must have something to ask for!
Could it be that he wanted the State of Yue to join in the expedition to quell the Helu Rebellion?
Or maybe Qingji wanted to lead his army to wipe out Helu, who was ruling a certain area, but was worried that Yue would send troops to help, so he let Yunchang stand by and watch?
It's not impossible!
However, what Bo Yan said next surprised Yun Chang and the ministers of Yue State.
Bo Yan said in a loud voice: "King of Yue, in addition to these rare treasures, beautiful concubines and fine wines, my king has also prepared a great gift for you!"
"Oh, a big gift?"
Yunchang was very suspicious.
Is King Qingji of Wu really so generous?
Bo Yu chuckled and said, "That's right. King of Yue, I wonder if cities and lands are great gifts in your eyes?"
“It’s a great gift, of course.”
As the king of a country, how could Yunchang not know that the most valuable things in the world are not gold and silver, nor beautiful women and good wine, but real cities and real lands!
Not to mention Yun Chang, every king of the countries in the world would probably be salivating over the cities and land.
However, although they covet the cities and lands of other countries, they often lack the ability to seize them.
"Then, my king is willing to offer the four cities of Wuyuan, Xing, Yu'er, and Li, and the territory of 200 miles in radius, to the King of Yue!"
"I don't know, does the King of Yue dare to accept it?"
Upon hearing this, the king and his ministers of Yue State, including King Yunchang of Yue, could not help but have green lights in their eyes, just like greedy wolves seeing their prey, their hearts beat fast for it.
Having said that, how could Yun Chang not know that this was a blank check issued by King Qingji of Wu?
This is because the southern part of the Wu State is now occupied by Helu and is temporarily not under the jurisdiction of the orthodox Wu State.
If Yunchang really wants to get the city and land there, he needs to send troops to destroy Helu!
However, Qingji's recognition gave the State of Yue a legitimate reason to attack. For Yunchang, who was ambitious and always advocated active external expansion, this title given by Qingji had extraordinary significance.
"How dare I not !"
Yunchang held his head high with a proud smile on his face.
The mighty army of Yue State is fully capable of crushing Helu's defeated troops!
If Qingji could guarantee not to interfere, why would Yunchang not dare to occupy the southern land of Wu?
Of course, Yunchang knew it very well in his heart.
The reason why Qingji is so generous now is that he wants to let Yue and Helu attack each other so that he can just watch from the sidelines.
But Yun Chang doesn’t care about these details at all!
As long as the Yue army swallows up the land occupied by Helu quickly enough, Qingji will be helpless against the Kingdom of Yue.
…
After the court session, King Yunchang of Yue summoned his right-hand men, Grand Marshal Shi Mai and Grand Minister of Justice Lu Ming, to a side hall and asked them to sit on the floor.
"Wu is currently trying to form an alliance with Yue and is ostensibly ceding the four cities of Wuyuan, Xing, Yuer, and Lili to Yue."
"According to your two opinions, should I accept the alliance with Wu and the cities and lands presented by Wu?"
Yun Chang had already accepted it in his heart, but he still wanted to ask for the opinions of these two important ministers of Yue State.
Grand Marshal Shi Mai said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, why don't you accept the alliance with Wu? No matter how you look at it, this is the advantage for Yue State, and the loss is for Wu State!"
Yun Chang nodded slightly and turned his attention to another important official.
The Grand Minister of Justice Lu Ming, however, looked worried and said, "Your Majesty, although that is true, I am really worried that the people of Wu have ulterior motives and bad intentions."
"The feud between Yue and Wu cannot be resolved overnight!"
"Moreover, since the two countries established themselves, there have been wars from time to time, with Wu attacking Yue or Yue attacking Wu, and conflicts have continued."
"We, the Yue State, wish to connect with the Central Plains and challenge the world, and we should annex Wu to achieve this goal."
"Wu wants to attack Chu in the west and compete in the north, but it should also destroy Yue to have no worries!"
"Therefore, the two countries of Yue and Wu are like water and fire, and cannot coexist."
After a pause, Lu Ming sighed again and said, "Now, Qingji has sent Bo Yu to Yue to offer generous gifts and also lent Wu the four southern cities. I'm afraid he may have evil intentions under such kindness!"
Hearing this, Yun Chang couldn't help but frown.
Shi Mai, who was standing at the side, disagreed and sneered, saying, "What the Grand Minister of Justice said is a big mistake."
"What if King Qingji of Wu harbors evil intentions? The great gift he offers us, the Kingdom of Yue, will accept it if we don't!"
Shi Mai had accepted Bo Yun's bribe, so he spoke for the State of Wu.
Even if he was not bribed by the Wu people, I believe that based on Shi Mai's usual style, he would have thought that it would be natural for him to form an alliance with Wu and send troops to attack the territory controlled by Helu!
"Grand Marshal, let's not talk about the valuable gifts presented by Wu. How can Qingji give the four cities in the south of Wu and the land of 200 li in radius to Yue just because he wants to give them to Yue?"
Lu Ming said in a deep voice: "You must know that the four southern cities of Wu are still under the rule of Ji Guang. If my Yue Kingdom wants to take their land, we will have to resort to war!"
"If Qingji takes advantage of the fierce battle between our Yue army and Ji Guang to march south, how will the king cope with it? How will the Yue Kingdom cope with it?"
"this……"
Yun Chang had to fall into deep thought.
Lu Ming said again: "Your Majesty, the current situation in the world is that the nations are attacking each other, rituals and music are in disarray, how can this letter of alliance count?"
"What's more, our opponent is the Wu Kingdom and Qingji!"
"I don't know much about Qingji, I just know that he is the bravest in the world and is known as the best warrior in Wu."
"Of course, even such a person could regroup, expel Ji Guang who killed the king and usurped the throne, and become the king of Wu!"
"From this we can see that Qingji is extremely cunning and scheming. He is as cunning as a fox and often does whatever it takes to get what he wants!"
"How can the king trust such a thing?"
