Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 583: The Marquis of Yan Surrenders
Before the New Year's Day of the eighth year of the Chu calendar, Liang Mao, who had "endured humiliation and bore heavy burdens" in Liaodong for a long time, finally "returned" to the Chu State.
Liang Mao was actually not from Chu . When he was a local official, he also served in Xuzhou and Qingzhou before going to Liaodong.
However, since he came into contact with Gan Ning and began to "cooperate" with the State of Chu, he not only sent his children to the State of Chu, but also... he himself felt a greater sense of belonging to the State of Chu.
This is Liang Mao's first time setting foot in his "homeland"...
Bai Tu also warmly welcomed Liang Mao, not only at the gate of Jinling City, but also took him and Gongsun Kang to ride in the same carriage with him. In fact... from the level of enthusiasm, Gongsun Kang felt that he was the guest!
If it weren't for Liang Mao, Bai Tu probably wouldn't have asked him to get in the car.
That’s right, now Gongsun Kang has also arrived in Chu, including most of Gongsun’s relatives!
As for the small number, they were those who were killed or captured during the failed breakout.
Gongsun Kang did not regard Chu as his homeland, but he knew that Chu was his lifeline...
Given his importance to the Wei State, even if he could break out and escape to the Chaohaixian Peninsula or even to Goguryeo, I'm afraid the Wei State would not give up chasing him.
However, after crossing the sea to the State of Chu, the State of Wei really had no way to deal with him.
When Liu Yi first mentioned this matter to him, Gongsun Kang was so angry that he wanted to kill someone, but after Liu Yi's tearful persuasion and analysis, Gongsun Kang had to admit that this was his only way out.
Even if he understood this, Gongsun Kang would not be willing to come to Chu...
After all, the Chu State, considering his "voluntary surrender", would at most not pursue the previous conflicts. As for his ambitions of establishing achievements or receiving the treatment that one would get from the other vassal states, he could forget about it.
But then Liu Yi used Gongsun Kang's descendants to persuade him, and also made up a lot of nonsense, saying that the Gongsun family had been in Liaodong for two generations for thirty years and the people's hearts were stable...
Gongsun Kang agreed reluctantly in order to convince himself that he could play a role in the State of Chu and receive corresponding treatment, rather than being placed under house arrest or being ridiculed as soon as he arrived in Jinling.
However, as they arrived in Jinling, Gongsun Kang became more and more uncomfortable.
Unlike Zhang Lu, Gongsun Kang was full of ambitions before and even broke the agreement and attacked the port of Chu.
But now they have to pledge allegiance to the State of Chu, and not just a "vassal state", but a true and authentic subject... How could Gongsun Kang not feel disappointed?
Especially when he saw the white picture, which made Liang Mao the protagonist without any concealment, and treated him, the King of Yan, as a supporting role...
But now that we've come this far, it's too late to regret!
Even though Gongsun Kang was not convinced, he tried his best to be patient.
When he arrived at the main hall of Jiangshan Pavilion, in front of the King of Chu and his ministers, Gongsun Kang bitterly recounted how he was deceived by the King of Wei and the Marquis of Qi.
Anyway…
The falling out with the State of Chu was the result of the deception by the King of Wei and the Duke of Qi. Now he has repented and hopes that the King of Chu can enforce justice and unify the country.
At the same time, he did not forget to follow what Liu Yi said, and "voluntarily" gave up the title of Marquis of Yan from the evil man, returned the Nine Gifts, and was only willing to accept the title of Chu and contribute to the construction of Chu.
Bai Tu didn't try to figure out how much truth there was in this. Since the person was already in Jinling, it didn't matter whether the "emotion" was real or not - Bai Tu didn't really want to use him anyway!
However, on the surface he still encouraged and comforted Gongsun Kang, and conferred him the title of Marquis of Shicheng, which was also hereditary. However, his fiefdom was only two thousand households, and...Shicheng County was on the Jinling Road!
The feudal lords of Chu State only had fiefs but no management rights of the fiefs, which meant they could only collect agricultural taxes based on the number of households in their fiefs. Moreover, they had no master-servant relationship with the farmers in the fiefs, so they could only choose to collect agricultural taxes according to the court's standards, or... collect less taxes.
The fiefdom in Jinling Road undoubtedly kept Gongsun Kang completely in the capital. From now on, he could only be a marquis with some fiefdom but no real power.
At the same time, Liang Mao was also granted the title of county marquis, with the same hereditary title and two thousand households, and was later appointed as the Minister of Rites.
Obviously, in Bai Tu's mind, Liang Mao was the main reason why Yan Hou came to surrender...
At the New Year's banquet, Liang Mao was obviously arranged in the front rows, and Bai Tu often @ him at the banquet, as if to promote him, while Gongsun Kang was just arranged in an inconspicuous corner. Although he was a marquis, a county marquis in Chu State did not have many privileges, and no one in the officialdom paid any attention to him.
The common people in the market do respect the dignified county marquis, but it is just respect. What is more important is... Gongsun Kang doesn't even dare to try, because he knows what punishment he will receive if he oppresses the common people.
Of course, although Gongsun Kang was only granted a county marquisate without real power and was given a house in Jinling, Bai Tu would not waste the role he should play since he had already been accepted.
The State of Chu had already sent envoys to inform the State of Wei, ordering it to return "Chu's Liaodong".
Naturally, Wei ignored this and even blamed Chu for accepting Gongsun Kang, the traitor.
However, this kind of verbal battle will not produce any results. Both sides know that they will have to fight in Bohai Sea this year to see who is the real overlord of Bohai Sea!
If Cao Cao wins, the Chu State will withdraw from the coastal areas of eastern Jizhou and southern Youzhou, and its influence on Liaodong and the Chaohai Peninsula will be greatly weakened. Even... Wei State is likely to turn its attention to Tanzhou.
If Bai Tu wins, Chu will have a firm foothold in the Bohai Sea region. It can almost be said that from now on, the sea will be governed by Bai Tu's words, and all places close to the sea will be "danger zones" for Wei and Qi.
There is no need for the several coastal counties to think about development and farming, because if Wei loses to Chu on its doorstep, it will mean that the Chu navy can easily land from anywhere!
The navy is not like the army, which can develop quietly and catch up. If Chu can win this battle, it will definitely take advantage of the situation to sweep the coast and will not give Wei any opportunity to build large coastal ports and shipyards in the future.
As the conflict between Wei and Chu became more apparent, the person who felt the most uncomfortable in Chu was not Xiahou Juan.
After all, Xiahou Juan and Bai Tu were in a good relationship and had a daughter. In the future, even if the Chu generals met Xiahou Yuan on the battlefield, they would try their best to capture him alive. She had let it go.
But Cao Pi couldn't see it clearly...
The State of Wei is now only a piece of paper away from completely falling out with the State of Chu, but there is not even anyone to plead for it to go back!
Although even if he asked Bai Tu for help, he might not be released, but now the Wei Kingdom did not seem to have any intention of doing so, which made Cao Pi even more depressed...
But a sister is a sister, and Xiahou Juan has already started arranging a marriage for him - this year Cao Pi has reached adulthood, and even in the State of Chu, he is old enough to get married.
