eurekapd Chapter 290 Boil the Frog in Warm Water
Chapter 290 Boil the Frog in Warm Water
When the Southern King said this, not only Feng Chang and Kang King were stunned, but even commanders such as Guan Shouchang, Yu Huatian, Zhang Han, and Li Bohan all widened their eyes.
No, if you can’t pay back the money, can you still use others to pay off the debt?
Feng Chang was dumbfounded and said,
"Your Highness, the Prince of the South, this... the nobles are the foundation of the nation, how can they be enslaved and used to mine?
And our women, that's also... Oh, it's disgraceful, it's disgraceful."
"Civile? Humph, I am a barbarian."
Ma Ling snorted coldly,
"Don't you Kun people always say that we Yan people are northern barbarians? Don't you always say that we are barbarians? Then we are barbarians.
Anyway, these are the conditions for now. You just send us the money we want first, and then we can add other terms. If there are no other clauses, this way the king and Lanling Wang can discuss it.
Remember, I only give you three days. If I don’t see the money within three days, I will bombard Shengjing City.
This prince will remain as a hostage, and you will return to tell your queen what I have said."
"That's...ok."
Feng Chang asked again,
"Your Highness, Prince Nan, if this gold and silver is delivered, will you be able to withdraw your troops?"
"Once the treaty is signed, we will naturally withdraw our troops. This king will never break his promise."
King Nan sneered.
He won't go back on his word. He will withdraw his troops if the treaty is signed, so wouldn't it be better not to sign it?
How simple.
Feng Chang left the general's tent with a heavy heart, got on the carriage, and quickly left the Yan army camp.
In the tent, only King Kang was left alone, standing there like a minion.
"Arrange a tent for His Royal Highness Prince Kang and take care of his food, drink, and toilet needs."
The Southern King gave the order.
This means that you are not allowed to go anywhere except inside the tent.
After the guards took King Kang away, Yu Huatian looked outside and saw that there was no one there. He asked worriedly,
"Your Highness the Southern Prince, do you really want to negotiate peace?"
The three commanders, Guan Shouchang, Zhang Han, and Li Bohan, also looked at the King of the South anxiously.
Li Bohan said,
"Your Highness, we've already reached this point. Shengjing is within our grasp. We'll surely defeat the enemy and enter the city within three days. Why are we negotiating peace?"
Nan Wang Ma Ling sneered and said,
"Seeing that you all think we're going to negotiate peace, I'm relieved. The enemy will definitely think our army wants to negotiate peace."
"Oh? Your Highness has other intentions?"
"If Shen Changgong were here, with his intelligence, I don't even need to say these words, he would definitely do the same."
Ma Ling looked at the generals in front of him and explained patiently,
“If we want to make the enemy despair, we must first give them hope, let them see the hope of survival, and then they will be willing to listen to us.
Think about it, what will happen to the Kun people after hearing these conditions of mine?
They will definitely find ways to raise money, no matter if it is from the national treasury or the inner treasury, no matter if it is from the palace or the homes of the nobles, they will empty their homes to buy their lives.
Even after the silver was delivered, we still didn't sign the treaty and continued to ask them for money.
But they have no money, what should they do?
They would plunder the money of the rich and the common people, and their soldiers would attack their own people.
Our Yan Army is a benevolent and righteous army. We do not rob ordinary people, but fighting a war also costs money. So we can use the Kun Army to make money for us.
If we rob people ourselves, it will be troublesome and tiring, and we will encounter resistance. If we kill people, we will be labeled as a group of tigers and wolves.
Now, let Kunjun do it for us and let them deliver the money to us obediently. We save time and effort and can get the money just by sitting down.
Moreover, this can also alienate the relationship between the people of Shengjing and the court, make them disloyal, and make the people full of complaints against Kunjun and the court.
This way, when we attack the city again, they won’t help Kun’s army.
Moreover, when we enter Shengjing in the future, it will be easier to maintain stability, and the people will be less likely to cause chaos, because they hate Kun State more than they hate us.
We will give out another tael of silver to every household so that the people can at least buy some food.
The Kun army robbed them, while the Yan army gave them money. In contrast, how can our Yan army not be a benevolent and righteous army, and how can we not be loved by the people of Kun country? "
After the Southern King's explanation, everyone's eyes lit up and they all praised the Southern King for his quick wit and resourcefulness.
So many clever ideas.
Guan Shouchang stood up and said with a smile,
"Your Highness the Southern Prince's idea is really good. He made a lot of money for nothing, but also alienated the relationship between the army and the people of Kun Country. Even if he gave one or two taels of silver to each of those people, there are only 200,000 to 300,000 households in the city at most, which is only 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver.
Compared to the silver we want, it's a drop in the bucket. We stole the money from them anyway, so if we give some back to them now, they'll be grateful. That's brilliant! I've learned something new."
Yu Huatian nodded and said,
“This trick is indeed effective. Although it may plunder some of the people’s money, it can at least prevent many people from willingly helping Kun’s army and thus saving their lives.
Compared with that little bit of money, life is more important. The King of the South saved more Kun people by doing this.
There are millions of Kun people in Shengjing. If they rebel, it will be a disaster."
Everyone praised Ma Ling's decision.
Zhang Han also laughed and said,
"Not only is there that money, but there is also money in their imperial mausoleum. Kun Kingdom is very rich, and there must be a lot of burial objects in the imperial mausoleum. If we dig them all out, it will be another huge fortune.
Prince Kang and Feng Chang are truly the children who bring wealth."
Hearing this, Zhang Yide widened his eyes and said,
"Oh no! We helped them 'protect' the imperial mausoleum, but they said we'd have to pay them. I forgot to ask them for the money!"
The Southern King waved his hand and said,
"Don't worry, don't panic. We'll boil the frog in warm water. Once this batch of money arrives, we'll use this excuse to ask them for more money."
"Ha ha ha ha……"
The Yan army destroyed the imperial mausoleum to dig out money, and at the same time demanded money from the Kun State on the grounds of protecting the imperial mausoleum. They simply wanted to squeeze the Kun State to the bottom.
Kun State was very rich and had a strong military, but now its capital had been attacked. Its former prosperity had turned into fat meat and was about to be devoured by the hungry wolf of Yan State.
The imperial mausoleum of Kun Kingdom is much closer than Jiulin Villa. Although the army of King Nan set out later, they arrived at their destination almost at the same time as Shen Changgong's army.
It's already afternoon.
When Shen Changgong sent people to surround the mountain of Jiulin Villa, the Pingnan Army also launched a fierce attack on those guarding the imperial tomb.
Just kill them directly, surround them and kill them, don't let a single one alive.
Five thousand old, weak and sick people were quickly slaughtered. The Yan army sent some people to dig pits to bury the bodies, some to keep guard, and others to blow up the doors of the tombs one by one, and then began to loot gold, silver and treasures.
Of course, this kind of thing cannot be done openly. It would be a bit embarrassing to tell others about tomb robbing, so it has to be done secretly.