"If that's the case, that would be the best. Anyway, as long as you two submit your credentials, you don't have to worry about the rest. Just wait for the response!" Wang Wenzuo smiled, and his expression became serious: "But if it's me If the predictions are good, there will definitely be a lot of twists and turns in your mission this time!"
"Sanlang, do you think the Japanese will kill us?" Cui Hongdu's face changed slightly.
"That's not true. No matter whether it's the Prince Zhongda or other Japanese, they will not attack the envoy who gave me the Tang Dynasty credentials!" Wang Wenzuo smiled and shook his head: "This is unquestionable! Otherwise, I wouldn't do it either. I just sent you two here. To be honest, if there weren’t many things going on here in Baekje, I would have gone there myself!”
"Ming Gong, why are you so sure that your eldest brother, the prince, doesn't dare to take action?" Huicong asked.
"It's not that I don't dare, it's that I don't know how to do it!" Wang Wenzuo corrected: "The reason is very simple. The Tang Dynasty sent envoys with credentials to show that it wanted to negotiate peace. After the Battle of Baijiangkou, the Japanese wanted to negotiate with the Tang Dynasty from top to bottom. Tang Dynasty negotiated peace. Killing the envoys meant that the road to peace talks was completely cut off. If the road to peace talks was to be reopened, the only way was to offer the head of the chief envoy who killed the envoys! So whether it was the prince, the eldest brother, or other Japanese dignitaries, No matter what, as long as they dare to touch a hair of the envoys of the Tang Dynasty, they will immediately become the public enemy of the Japanese country!"
"That's it!" Hui Cong understood after hearing this. For the entire Japanese nation, the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Baijiangkou revealed an indisputable fact: the Tang Empire, located in the East Asian continent, had a huge military advantage over Yamato. If such a powerful enemy takes advantage of the victory to pursue and kill them all, the Japanese people will put up a desperate resistance even if they are beyond their capabilities; but if the Tang people not only do not continue to attack, but just send envoys to submit their credentials, even if they mention some in the credentials With such harsh demands, the Japanese people were unlikely to kill the envoys and continue the hopeless war with the Tang Empire.
"Then if that's the case, what's there to worry about?" Cui Hongdu said with a smile, "Since you don't dare to kill us, there's no need to torture and imprison us!"
"Abuse is indeed not possible! But imprisonment is very likely, to be precise, house arrest!" Wang Wenzuo said solemnly: "If I am not wrong, Prince Zhong Daxiong will do everything possible to prevent you from entering the capital of Japan. At least it will delay your arrival at the Japanese capital!"
"The poor monk understands what Duke Ming means!" Huicong said with a smile: "As long as we enter the capital of Japan, even if we do nothing, we will sow the seeds of chaos!"
"Well, that's it!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "The throne of the Japanese is vacant now, and when the angels of the Tang Dynasty enter the capital, a Japanese king will come to meet the angels and accept the canonization, but now the Japanese have no king, you understand Do you understand what I meant?"
Cui Hongdu and Huicong couldn't help but their eyes lit up when they heard this. According to the political practices at the time, the Tang Empire would not recognize any political entity with equal political status wherever its troops reached, let alone the Battle of Baijiangkou. The glorious victory demonstrated the disparity in military power between the Japanese and the Tang Empire. In this case, the first step for both parties to reach a peace agreement must be for the Japanese king to recognize the status of the suzerainty of the Tang Empire, and then the Tang envoys canonize the Japanese king. This is nothing originally, and this is the case for almost all neighboring countries that have established diplomatic relations with the Tang Dynasty. . But the problem is that the throne of the Yamato Kingdom is currently vacant. It’s not that Prince Nakadai doesn’t want to ascend the throne, but that his current strength is not enough for him to ascend the throne, and his opponents are unable to ascend the throne, so a special situation has formed. The "interregnum" period.
This is nothing originally. As long as the time lasts long enough, there will definitely be conflicts between the various Japanese factions, breaking the existing balance. The victorious party will ascend the throne and become the king, ending the existing "empty throne" period. But the problem is that the appearance of the Tang envoys artificially shortened the "interregnum" period. When no one was sure of winning, and had to decide who would own the throne, the best strategy for all the Japanese was to defeat the Tang envoys first. Sincerity in exchange for support from external forces. In order to avoid this situation from happening, the best way is to prevent or even delay the Tang envoys from entering Beijing in order to buy enough time to complete the internal integration.
Of course Wang Wenzuo didn't know what the eldest brother prince did in history, but based on the existing information, he could guess at least 60%. He originally wanted to make a trip in person, but what he saw after returning to Baekje forced him to pass on this item.
The matter was entrusted to Cui Hongdu and Zen Master Huicong, because he himself had to sit in Baekje, train the army, build ships, and establish a small but usable expeditionary force within a few months, so that he could survive the chaos of Japan. Get a piece of the pie.
"Don't worry, Sanlang!" Cui Hongdu said with a smile: "No matter what, before this autumn, I will definitely reach the capital of the Japanese. Is it called Asuka? I will definitely step on the land of Asuka!"
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Yamato Kingdom, Asukakyo, Amaterasu Shrine.
The noises of the goddesses swirled up together with the sparks from the pyre, rushing into the purple night sky, - "Lead us out of the darkness, O Amaterasu, please fill our hearts with fire so that we may flatter Your light shines."
The night fire burned in the gradually condensing darkness, like a bright monster, changing and flickering orange light to cast a twenty-foot-long shadow in the yard. On the murals on the walls around the shrine, the monster echoes the ghosts and gods on the murals and is ready to move.
Looking down from the arched window of the corridor, I saw Princess Saitama raising her arms as if to embrace the flickering flames. "Amaterasu's destiny," her voice was clear and loud, "you are the light in our eyes, you are the fire in our hearts, you are the heat in our bellies. Your light is the sun that warms us during the day, your Light is the stars that protect us in the dark night.”
"It is the order of Amaterasu to protect us, to strike down our enemy, to make his body rot and his mind confused, to take away his life and to drive his soul into hell." The nobles stood up and responded, one by one. Zhang's face was full of enthusiasm. Princess Saitama turned around, and the firelight was projected from her back. She gritted her teeth, and her face smeared with cow blood showed an eerie purple. The spikes on her auburn hair ornaments reflected the light as her head moved. The eyes cast an inhuman light.
"Amaterasu Hina's destiny!" Princess Saitama said loudly: "Thank you for giving us a new king, the Prince of the Sea. Your blood flows in his body. Thank you for giving him such a pure and blazing heart. Thank you for giving him the unparalleled sword, thank you for giving him endless love for his loyal people. Please guide him, please protect him, Amaterasu, please give him the strength to defeat his enemies."
Following the voice of Princess Saitama, a young man in white walked out from behind her. The prayers of the nobles suddenly became chaotic. Most of them did not expect this person to appear. This is not surprising. Everyone here Everyone regards the prince, the eldest brother, as his political enemy, but the prince from Dahairen is actually the younger brother of the prince, the eldest brother.
"What's wrong? It seems that my appearance surprised everyone?" the prince of the sea people said with a smile.
Everyone exchanged glances, but no one said anything. The principle of speaking carefully to avoid disaster was not only known to the Tang people, but also to the Japanese.
"Princess Saitama!" Prince Hairen smiled and said, "You can tell me the rest!"
"Everyone!" Princess Saitama took a step forward and said, "I am about to marry the Prince of the Sea People, and I will fully support him in ascending to the throne of the King!"
It was like pouring cold water into a hot pan, and the room suddenly became noisy. Everyone looked at Prince Dahairen and Princess Saitama on the stage in amazement. Princess Saitama's speech just now could only mean one thing: the two have formed an alliance to compete with the eldest brother, the prince, for the position of king. Although there are too many cases of brothers fighting against each other within the royal family, there has never been any news before!
"You guessed it right. My marriage to the Prince of the Sea People is aimed at Prince Nakada Brother!" Princess Saitama continued: "You don't have to worry that I fell into the trick of the Prince Nakada Brother. Not long ago, the Prince of the Sea People announced Do you still remember the three edicts? This already shows that he and the prince, the eldest brother of Zhongda, are not the same people!"
Everyone was whispering to each other. Naturally, they would not forget the three edicts issued by the Prince of Dahairen not long ago. They also knew that those three edicts were concessions made by the royal regime to them. But who knew that this was not the way the eldest brother, the prince, wanted to retreat. What about Jin's trick? This is not the first time this guy has played such a trick in a political struggle.
"Everyone!" Prince Dahairen said with a smile: "After I ascend the throne, I will surrender to the Tang Dynasty and stop attacking the mainland. This way, there will be no need to build stone cities in Zhuzi, send out garrison soldiers, and rebuild the fleet. You can Open up to the east, there is unlimited fertilization there
The fertile land is enough to make up for everyone's losses in Baekje and Silla! "
These words of the Dahairen Prince aroused heated discussion below: After the Battle of Baijiangkou, the Zhongda Brother Prince’s strategy for the Korean Peninsula was completely bankrupt. But this was not the end. In order to resist the ensuing revenge of the Tang Dynasty, he ordered the construction of a stone city in the Chikushi area in the southern Kyushu region, and placed the Baekje people who fled to Japan there as a shield against the upcoming invasion of the Tang Dynasty, and Rebuilding the fleet. This series of actions undoubtedly increased the burden on the clan nobles and aroused their dissatisfaction. The words of Prince Dahairen were directed at the policies of Prince Zhong Daxiong.
"If this is true, that would be great!" One person stood up and said, "Our clan sent more than 6,000 warriors to Baekje, but only less than 300 came back. I heard that most of them were captured by the Tang people. Yes, these are the young men of the clan. I hope the Tang people can be asked to return the captives, whether it be ransom with gold or something else!"
"Yes, our March Division also has thousands of people lost in Baekje. We hope we can negotiate a peace and let the Tang people return the prisoners!"
"Yes, no matter who can negotiate peace with the Tang people and return the captives, I will support him to ascend the throne and become king!"
"Yes, my second son is still in Chang'an and is being detained by the Tang people. I hope we can negotiate a peace and let him return to China!"
"Everyone, everyone!" The Prince of the Sea People stretched out his arms, lowered his arms slightly, and smiled after the voice subsided: "I have heard all your requests. They are all very reasonable requests. The failure of this expedition was not due to the general. The command was wrong, and it wasn't that the soldiers were unwilling to use their lives. It was just that the Tang people were too powerful. They used warships and catapults with the power of ghosts and gods, and we were defeated just now. What's the point of continuing to fight against such a powerful Tang country? Peace talks is the best way. This is not the first time we have dealt with the Tang people. They are very arrogant people, but they are not cruel. As long as we are willing to bow to them and admit that their emperor is the emperor, the rest will not matter. It is difficult to solve. The lives of soldiers are very precious and cannot be wasted on hopeless goals. There is still a large fertile land in the east, and the barbarians living there are weak and violent. If we send the army to the east , I will definitely get rich rewards! But only when I ascend the throne can I negotiate peace with the Tang people. I hope everyone can support me!"
"Yep!"
"The Prince of the Sea People is right!"
"It would be great if we could really ransom the captives and turn eastward, as he said!"
"Yes, the prince, the eldest brother in junior high school, was really crazy. He left so much land in the east unconquered and went to Baekje to fight against the Tang people!"
"Yes, the Baekje people sent a few envoys to ask for help, and he lost his mind. Fighting for the Baekje people and the Tang people is really crazy!"
"This can't be entirely blamed on him. After all, the situation at that time was still very favorable to us. If we can really regain the four counties, how can it be compared to the lands to the east?"
"No matter how good the land is, you have to be able to eat it to be useful! It's not like no one has been to the Tang Dynasty. Don't you know who is stronger and who is weaker on both sides? He is the one talking about the stupid behavior of throwing an egg against a stone!"
Seeing that no one in the audience objected, Princess Saitama stepped forward and said, "Since everyone supports it, please write your name on the oath!" After that, she clapped her hands and the maid on the side presented it to her. The oath was copied in advance. Everyone wrote their names at the end of the oath, then cut their fingers and pressed the blood seal. Then they placed the oath in front of the gods and prayed to Amaterasu to let him witness the truth and authenticity of the oath. Finally, these oaths were burned, the ashes were washed with water, and everyone drank them. According to the legend at the time, if anyone dared to violate the contents of the oath, they would be cursed by the gods and die of serious illness.
The party was over and all the nobles who attended the party were sent away. Princess Saitama smiled and said, "To be honest, I'm really surprised that you actually agreed to attend this party. You should know very well that this cannot be hidden from Katsuragi's eyes and ears!"
"Actually, it's not a big deal. After all, I am his brother!" Prince Dahairen smiled and said, "And Saitama, you are too prejudiced against my brother. Many of his actions are actually out of necessity. Since we were born into the royal family, Among them, the blood of Amaterasu flows in the veins, and you know that gods are also full of fights!"
