Chapter 201: The Battle of Muye (3)
Translator: Team TWO
Editor: Nora
That afternoon, Ouyang Shuo invited Wufu over.
The two did not meet secretly in the shadows. Rather, they directly held the meeting in Ouyang Shuo’s tent. Simply because there was nothing to hide and they couldn’t hide the meeting either.
“Can you tell me what conspiracies Di Chen and Chun Shenjun have?”
Ouyang Shuo’s boldness shocked Wufu. Without thinking, he answered, “Why should I tell you?”
“Your words, so there is indeed a conspiracy going on!?” Ouyang Shuo said.
“You!” Wufu realized that he had fallen into Ouyang Shuo’s wording traps. He calmed himself down and adjusted his strategy, “That’s right. They have a plan, but I will not tell you.”
“You will,” Ouyang Shuo said with great confidence.
“Arrogant!” Wufu became irritated.
Ouyang Shuo smiled and said, “Brother Wufu, there is no need to beat around the bush. We all know that you and them are not of the same kind. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be the one sent here. They have crowded you out. They distrust you; this is a truth that everyone knows.”
Wufu’s face darkened, Ouyang Shuo’s words had stung his painful spot.
Wufu raised his head; his face emotionless, “Then, can I trust you? Or should I put it this way, you, China’s number one Lord, Leader of Shanhai Alliance, representative of the civilian players—will you trust me?”
Ouyang Shuo nodded, “You have no other options.”
Wufu felt decrepit. He took a breath and made his decision, “Qiyue Wuyi, let’s make a deal.”
“Speak!”
“I tell you the truth that you want. In return, you accept me into Shanhai Alliance.”
Ouyang Shuo’s sights congealed. He had not foreseen this. Things were far worse than he imagined, as even Wufu had to look for shelter if he spat out the truth. That said, those old foxes were really unwilling to be lonely anymore.
Old foxes, do you all really think that I have not noticed anything at all? Truly hilarious.
“I accept your terms,” Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate.
“Things are simple. There are signs of a reunion of the Handan Six Tyrants. Not long ago, I inadvertently saw the heads of the forces gathering in Handan City. I’m not talking about Di Chen, Chun Shenjun, and the like. I’m talking about their elders, the real heads of the forces and parties,” Wufu said, as he recalled the images in his mind.
Sure enough, Ouyang Shuo’s conjecture was coming true.
The Handan Six Tyrants had only split because of Di Chen’s arrogance, Chun Shenjun’s self-pride, and Feng Qiuhuang’s ambitions. Ouyang Shuo and Xiongba were merely the catalysts that stimulated the process.
Handan Six Tyrant became divided into three. Shanhai Alliance had seized the opportunity to rise and grasp the power of discourse in China.
However, after the galactic migration, the elders were finally relieved of their duties and had more time to overlook matters in the game. The monkey businesses of the young ones had caused their dissatisfaction.
Clearly, the young ones were still handling matters according to their emotions, rather than handling it with the arts of negotiation and compromisation. At times like this, the elders would naturally have to step in and clear up the mess the young ones made. After all, they wouldn’t allow the power of discourse to fall into the hands of others. In their eyes, Ouyang Shuo was nothing but a petty child.
Through mutual compromisation, reuniting all their forces was their best option.
However, Ouyang Shuo did not worry about this. He was more concerned about Feng Qiuhuang. From the signs and indications, it was clear that they still kept her in the dark. She knew nothing about the gathering and did not know that her elders were engaged in a coalition.
“Xiongba is in it too?” Ouyang Shuo asked.
Wufu was surprised. He hadn’t thought that Ouyang Shuo would be this sharp. He nodded and said, “Yes!”
During the division of the Handan Six Tyrants, Xiongba had played a disgraceful role. He was the one that tempted Chun Shenjun to form an alliance of his own. If the Handan Six Tyrants were to seek a reunion, they would have to go through Xiongba.
With the wisdom of these old foxes, the best option was to accept and admit Xiongba into the alliance, or for that matter, the forces that Xiongba represented.
It was foreseeable that when the Handan Alliance, the Chunqiu Alliance, and the Blood-metal Alliance came together and reunited, the newly formed alliance would be much stronger and greater than before.
These factors answered why they dumped Wufu away. In such a great alliance of forces, Wufu was nothing. The only reason he was in the alliance was because Di Chen desperately needed allies for his Handan Alliance at that time. Wufu was taken in as an emergency measure. Now he had grown useless to them, it was not a surprise that he was left behind.
Ouyang Shuo nodded and said, “Alright, today’s talk shall end here. We will discuss about the alliance after the war. What’s more important as of now is to win this war.”
After he sent Wufu off, Ouyang Shuo did not stay long in the tent. He rode back to Zhaoge.
In the city of Zhaoge, the people were terrified. The news of the approaching Zhou armies had spread throughout the whole city. The city was practically defenseless, as the military had been sent to wage war with the Dongyi to the east. As such, what else could the king use to fight off these intruders?
In fact, there was still a week before the final battle. Gaia left this period of time so that players could utilize it and complete the side missions.
However, Ouyang Shuo ignored all this and went straight to the palace.
The royal guards stopped Ouyang Shuo in front of the palace gate, “Who are you? This is the king’s palace. It is restricted to authorized personnel only.”
Ouyang Shuo dismounted and passed the reins to his guard Wang Feng. Then, he made a slight bow with clasped hands, “Player representative Qiyue Wuyi. I am here to look for the king; please pass on my words!”
The royal guards checked his waist tag and immediately passed his words to the king.
Following behind the royal guards, Ouyang Shuo did not look at the palace. He was only thinking in his heart about how to convince King Di Xin to accept his plan.
In the palace, Di Xin was currently discussing with his General E’lai about how to fight off the Zhou armies. His royal guards report that the player representative was here, which sparked his interest.
E’lai was the son of Fei Lian. He was a warrior that could fight with rhinoceroses, bears, and tigers. On the other hand, Fei Lian was a messenger. This father and son duo served under King Zhou of Shang, Di Xin. The two were both extremely loyal.
During the era of Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao called his subject Dian Wei ‘The ancient E’lai’. The “E’lai” Cao Cao referred to was the E’lai here.
Ouyang Shuo walked into the palace. Then, he bowed and greeted the king, “Qiyue Wuyi, greets the king.”
Di Xin sat on his throne with an imposing appearance, “For what matter do you seek me?”
“I am here to help the king,” Ouyang Shuo answered, neither servile nor overbearing.
“What boasting,” E’lai said from the side.
“And you are general...?” Ouyang Shuo calmly smiled and asked.
“I am E’lai, don’t you boast. The Zhou armies are strong, and our main forces are not here. How can we do it?” E’lai was a straightforward man, so he directly asked the questions on his mind.
“I do not agree. From what I heard, the king has gathered 700 thousand slaves, which is multiple times that of the Zhou armies. How is that lack of forces?” Ouyang Shuo acted dumb.
E’lai scoffed in disdain, “Child, what do you know? Those slaves, they have never received military training. They do not have weapons or armor either, so how can they even go to war?”
Ouyang Shuo nodded, “Then why not give them weapons and armor?”
E’lai had almost run out of patience. However, Di Xin sat on his throne and pondered.
“You. You know nothing, yet you dare to speak of rescuing the city, this is ridiculous.”
Ouyang Shuo continued to smile normally and said, “Please enlighten me, general!”
Seeing that his king did not stop him, E’lai held himself back with great patience and said, “The 700 thousand slaves all come from the countries and tribes around us. How can they be reassuring? If we gave them weapons, what if they defected? That will drive us into great trouble. Furthermore, even if we gave them weapons and armor, in such a short period of time, how can they train and fight?”
Ouyang Shuo pretended that he had just understood E’lai’s words. He smiled and said, “So, that is why I am here.”
Di Xin was finally moved, “What plan do you have? Say it quickly!”
“My king, in order for this plan to work, the king has to make a promise.”
“What is it?”
“I request that the king places the high priest under house arrest. Cut off his connection to the outside world,” Ouyang Shuo’s words surprised everyone.
The high priest that Ouyang Shuo mentioned was Di Xin’s elder brother—Weizi.
Weizi Qi, Weizhong Yan, and Di Xin. They were brothers from the same mother. When Weizi Qi was born, their mother was still a concubine. After she became the queen, she gave birth to Di Xin. The king initially wanted to make Weizi Qi his heir, but the court said that according to etiquette, Di Xin was the rightful heir.
After Di Xin was crowned as king, Weizi Qi buried his hatred deep inside with great patience and restrained himself for years. As the first son of the former king, Weizi Qi enjoyed a great amount of prestige among the royal family, nobles, and blue bloods. In the end, he managed to form a great force by his side.
As the King of Shang, Di Xin was clearer than anyone else of the threat his dear brother could bring. Even after Di Xin was crowned, he still had to show his goodwill toward his brother. Although the former king—his father—was not here anymore, his two uncles were still at their prime of life, and they eyed the great throne. His uncles formed another group of strong forces within the country.
Therefore, Di Xin decided to entice his brother. After they wiped off the former high priest and their forces, Weizi Qi took over the position of high priest. Theocracy seeped through to the bones of Shang, so the high priest was the great leader of all. His status was comparable to the Roman Pope.
But things drifted far beyond Di Xin’s expectations. After he became king, he started a revolution. One of his moves were to limit and strip the rights of the nobles. He promoted talents from the civilians and even slaves—E’lai was an example of this. However, his move enraged the entire slavelord nobles.
From Xia dynasty to the Warring States period, China had thousands of years of slavery in their history. The nobles dominated the official posts. They owned the slaves and controlled the country’s economy. Di Xin’s move was a great provocation to the entire slavelord nobles, so it was undoubtable that he would be faced with great resistance. Especially when the war he waged to the east depleted a large amount of resources. At that time, the chancellors in the imperial court would criticize him greatly. In the end, a force that opposed the king emerged during the Shang dynasty, Weizi Qi, and the two uncles—Bigan and Qizi, led these forces.
It was a joint force that consisted of nobles that controlled the military, government, and finance, and a royal member that held the theocracy. The threat that they imposed to the king was immense. However, Di Xin was a cold-blooded and ruthless king, so there was simply no way that he would compromise. All these things led to one ending, the king sentenced Bigan to death, he exiled Qizi, and Weizi Qi surrendered to Di Xin.
But in actual fact, his hatred toward the king had grown far beyond redemption, so he swore that he would take his revenge in a way that shocked everyone. He sold his beloved country to his greatest foe—Zhou.
This traitor ordered his men to bring along the sacred ceremonial item and the royal power representative cauldron ‘Jiu Ding (Nine Cauldron)’ and defected to Zhou. At the same time, they brought a gift to the King of Zhou—intelligence regarding Shang’s economy, politics, and military. This intelligence included the chaotic political affairs, the withering financial status, and also the emptiness of military forces in Zhaoge City. They also reported to King Wu of Zhou the path taken and the time required for the Shang major force in the east to get back.
The Shang dynasty was stripped naked of secrets in front of the Zhou.
Without hesitation, King Wu of Zhou and his trusted minister Jiang Ziya gathered every soldier they had in the country and also convened the other countries to form an alliance. Within the shortest period of time and with the quickest speed possible, they waged war directly to the capital city of Shang, Zhaoge. Hence, the tragic Battle of Muye had taken place.
When the alliance surrounded the city, Weizi Qi led his men and surrendered to Zhou. After that, Dan, Duke of Zhou, rewarded Weizi Qi with a piece of land and established the country of Song. This action aimed to show their courtesy and that ‘the descendants of Shang will not die out.’ Weizi Qi hence became the first ancestor of Song of Zhou Dynasty.
Therefore, Ouyang Shuo had to get rid of this biggest traitor Weizi Qi before his plan could work.
Di Xin’s sights congealed, and coldness lurked in his eyes. His elder brother had never let him be at ease, but it would not be easy to house arrest his brother either, “Is this a must?”
“Yes, it is,” Ouyang Shuo did not back off.
Di Xin was also a decisive man, “Alright, I promise you. But, if your plan doesn’t work as you say it would, you know what consequences would be upon you,” the royal king could never be provoked.