Munitions Empire-Chapter 1078 - 1000 anxious King of Qin

Chapter 1078: 1000 anxious King of Qin

In the capital of Qin Country, Wuyang, within the Royal Palace, a joyful scene was unfolding. Qin Country had achieved a phased victory in the war against Shu Country, and the trade route between the Great Tang Empire and Qin Country had been restored, which was certainly a double blessing for Qin Country.

However, the mood of King of Qin, Qin Duo, was not that great, as he was troubled by two matters. The first issue was that the Great Tang Empire clearly had the capacity to resolve the transport line issue, yet they let Qin Country take the risk to attack Shu Country, leading him to feel that things were not as straightforward as they seemed; the second issue was that the territorial dispute in the northern part of Shu Country with Chu Country had indeed planted some hidden dangers for Qin Country.

The first issue was something that Qin Duo and several of his confidants realized after the fact: The civil war within Dahua Empire had cut off the trade route between Qin Country and Tang Country, but in reality, the Great Tang Empire always had the ability to resolve this issue.

If the Great Tang Empire were willing, they could have launched a missile attack early on, thereby forcing Dahua Empire to restore the railway transport line—just like they did recently.

Yet the Great Tang Empire did not do so in advance, but instead turned a deaf ear, leaving Qin Country to deal with the transport line issue on its own, ultimately directly promoting a series of decisions by Qin Country to declare war on Shu Country.

This meant the Great Tang Empire was openly coercing Qin Country into declaring war on Shu Country, which is to say, the Great Tang Empire was involved in the strategic decision-making of Qin Country’s campaign against Shu Country.

Any country’s decision-makers would be wary of such occurrences: other countries actually being able to deeply influence one’s own national strategic decisions, does this not mean that one is being led by the nose?

What concerned King Ying Duo even more was actually the various implications behind this event: Why did the Great Tang Empire want Qin Country to invade Shu Country in the first place? What exactly did the Great Tang Empire want to gain from the war between Qin and Shu?

Although the subsequent demand for Nanshan Port by the Great Tang Empire seemed to expose their intentions, King Ying Duo always felt that things were definitely not as simple as they appeared on the surface.

He suspected that the Great Tang Empire must have had some shameful secrets hidden within this war that forced Qin Country to attack Shu Country.

The other matter was also related to this war. Qin Country’s frontline Commander Zhang Xuan, greedy for military achievements, had pushed forward about 70 kilometers more than estimated, seizing a large swath of Shu Country’s territory that should have belonged to Chu Country.

Ying Duo’s initial reaction was to order Zhang Xuan to withdraw from these areas immediately, but Zhang Xuan sent over the maps of these areas along with his own explanation.

From the report, it appeared that these areas should indeed not be given up, as the areas Zhang Xuan had occupied were easy to defend and difficult to attack, serving as a good barrier. If one wanted a stable border, it was indeed necessary to keep these areas in hand.

Chu Country also had no real strength to take back these areas. Qin Country’s troops were stationed in the mountains, and even if the Tang Empire Troops personally attacked, it would take some effort, let alone the lower combat-efficiency Chu Country?

On their own, it would be very difficult for Chu Country to take back these lands from the fearsome Qin Troops; theoretically, only the Great Tang Empire could mediate.

Ying Duo was also mentally prepared; if the Great Tang Empire really did intervene and reprimand Qin Country, he would take the initiative to retreat from these areas to defuse the situation.

But to Ying Duo’s surprise, the Great Tang Empire turned a blind eye to this matter and had no reaction to the provocation from Qin Country.

Qin Country’s higher-ups analyzed that this might be because the Great Tang Empire did not want to engage in war over a vassal state, and also was not strategically prepared for war, hence they adopted a policy of appeasement.

Even though Ying Duo felt this analysis made sense, he still believed that the seizing of Chu Country’s land was like burying a landmine for oneself, which might explode at any moment.

Yet the situation of victory was before their eyes. Qin Country had indeed achieved unprecedented success: not only had they completed the first stage of invading Shu Country, but they had even restored trade relations with the Great Tang Empire.

This series of great victories also simultaneously fostered the ambition of Qin Country; familiar with the decline of Dahua Empire, they immediately linked the Great Tang Empire to Dahua Empire.

A new empire began its decline into decay, believing themselves invincible in war, but from top to bottom, they began to detest the cruelty of war. The powerful empire began to avoid war, hiding within their vast territory, dividing interests…

To speak frankly, this script is all too familiar; whether it be Zheng Country or Qi Country, or the most typical Dahua Empire, which of them did not rise swiftly and fall just as abruptly?

As onlookers, many in Qin Country still feel they are bystanders, watching the rise of the Great Tang Empire, watching the decline of the Great Tang Empire: observing as it builds tall buildings, feasts guests, and then watches as the buildings collapse.

Qin Country, however, is completely different. Because their national economy is not strong, and their geographical position is not advantageous, they have always been conscious of crisis, existing in a state where if they do not strengthen themselves, they will be destroyed.

Therefore, they have always been vigilant, always striving, and so Qin Country shall ultimately be the victorious party!

Driven by this thought, Qin Country has recently been immersed in an atmosphere of optimism: They believe that occupying some of Chu Country’s territory is a beginning, the rise of the Great Qin Empire. They must persevere and push the Great Qin to its pinnacle.

The Great Qin Empire… frankly, even Ying Duo was tempted by the dream. How many People of Qin have struggled for it their entire lives, and now it is truly laid out before their eyes.

Who could not be tempted? Who could resist such allure? Qin Duo could not, so he turned a blind eye to Zhang Xuan’s overreaching greed for glory and did not actively return the territories of Chu Country; thus, he watched indifferently as Qin’s Troops marched southward, continuing their assault on the Shu Mountain defense line.

These actions had, in fact, gone beyond the scope of previous negotiations between Qin Country and the Great Tang Empire, where Qin Country had stated to the Great Tang Empire that they only wanted a trade route bordering Chu Country. But now, Qin Country’s expansion had exceeded that assurance.

Yet, over two months have passed without the Great Tang Empire’s accountability coming, as if the Great Tang Empire was unaware of Qin Country’s actions.

In reality, Qin Country had made probes; they let their own domestic newspapers report victories in certain areas to test the response of the Great Tang Empire. However, the Great Tang remained silent on the matter, and even the ongoing trade had not been reduced in the slightest.

Sometimes, audacity and ambition are nurtured in this way: The Qin side took this compromise as a sign of the Great Tang Empire’s weakness and incompetence.

They naturally knew about the strength of Tang Country, but they generally believed that it was precisely because the Great Tang Empire was wealthy and prosperous that they were unwilling to continue waging war, just like the Dahua Empire of old!

Today, Wuyang City is adorned with lanterns and decorations, for the main forces of Qin Country, which had marched south, have surrounded yet another fleeing army of Shu Country in front of the Shu Mountain defense line. Fifty thousand Troops fell into Qin’s encirclement, and these people from Shu did not struggle for long; they surrendered obediently yesterday.

Up until now, Qin’s Military has almost annihilated all of Shu Country’s Troops south of Shu Mountain; they have advanced farther and faster than planned!

Due to Shu Country’s defenses collapsing too quickly, many supplies could not be taken and were all left to Qin Country. Qin’s side can be said to have profited handsomely, basically achieving self-sufficiency through warfare.

In this state of mobile warfare, Qin’s Military suffered minimal losses and obtained plenty of supplies, so naturally, the whole of Qin Country was more elated, and the clamor to continue the fight was even louder.

Only Ying Duo knew that for every step they took southward, it could potentially displease the Great Tang Empire. Even if such displeasure was not expressed, it surely existed.

In the future, even if that future were this afternoon or tomorrow morning: The wrath of the Great Tang Empire could descend upon Qin Country, and the entire Qin might well collapse as a result.

Therefore, at the celebration banquet for the great victory, Ying Duo was not in high spirits. After exchanging a few words with his confidants, he returned to his own chamber and sat alone in a daze.

Only he was aware of the tremendous pressure on his shoulders; he truly feared that in this process of continually testing the Great Tang Empire’s bottom line, he would wake up one day to the news of the Great Tang declaring war on Qin.

At that moment, the door to the room was pushed open from outside, and a woman walked in, followed by a maid holding a food box.

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“Father.” The woman’s figure was graceful, moving like a fairy as she walked, her voice tender and pleasant, calling out ‘Father’ in a way that made Ying Duo’s mood improve by several degrees.

Seeing his daughter, a smile immediately appeared on Ying Duo’s face. He gestured to the seat beside him, his voice exceedingly gentle: “Yue’er, you’ve come? Sit down!”

As the sole Princess of Qin Country, Ying Yue really was the embodiment of adoration. She was exceptionally outstanding, and her status was exceedingly illustrious.

Being on the frontier, Qin Country had always been known for its strong military force, and hence the King of Qin had always been highly regarded by the Dahua Empire; most of the time, he was a marital candidate for the princesses of Dahua.

The mother of Princess Ying Yue was a daughter of a prince of the Dahua Empire and had been conferred the title of Princess when marrying Ying Duo. In terms of seniority, Ying Duo was even the uncle of the Emperor of Dahua, Zhao Kai, although this relationship was not one that anyone dared to exploit casually.

It was also because of this relationship that Qin previously went to war, aiding the Dahua Empire against the Great Tang Empire in battle. Of course, no one expected that in that war, the formidable Qin Army would be pummeled by the Great Tang Empire.

Ying Yue took the food box from the maid and then carefully laid out the dishes one by one in front of her father: “Yue’er heard that Father didn’t eat enough at the front hall, so I brought some delicious food. You can’t go hungry; it will make you uncomfortable at night.”

Looking at his daughter’s face, which bore a strong resemblance to her late mother, Ying Duo sighed, picked up the chopsticks, and feigned nonchalance as he asked, “How are your considerations going?”