Volu of Southern Chu Declares Himself Emperor (1/2)

Volu of Southern Chu Declares Himself Emperor

In the seventhdispatched an envoy to negotiate peace Southern Chu’s sovereign and officials, all fearing the war continuing, agreed Afterwards, there were soe¹ under whose leadershi+p Shu was conquered and Great Yong was repelled, and should take the i in the Prince of Qi’s previous agreement, approved The decision was htha willingness for the two countries to be brothers

Re the Imperial Throne</ee idoings In anger, the King ordered Jiang Zhe executed The eunuchs advised, “Jiang Zhe is the best of Southern Chu’s gifted scholars and cannot be punished without careful consideration” His anger quelled, the King instead issue an edict: “Force hiovern Zhe accepted the edict When advised to temporarily bear this punish to have hisZhe only replied, “Be it thunder or rain, all are the King’s grace” He withdrew cal everyone’s respectSouthern Chu Dynastic Records</e Suiyun</eto say but couldn’t I listlessly wondered, “What do you want to say?”

After hesitating, Chen Zhen asked, “ Why are you so hurt by the death of the Prince of De?”

I was silent for soolden country with the number of talented individuals it possesses, its powerful htened monarch and virtuous ministers It can be said this opportunity to unify the world lies in Great Yong’s developh my Southern Chu possesses lects military In addition, the people of Southern Chu are feeble scholars These drawbacks are not easily eli, I knew that Southern Chu would be destroyed by Great Yong The only question hen Therefore, when I participated in the royal exa my blood, sweat, and tears² for Southern Chu I was only a poor scholar There is no chance for rasp complete authority in Southern Chu Even if I were to reach a position where I was only below the King, Southern Chu does not have the conditions for rand plans Further peace and stability to a region through good governance, nor can I deterh feats of ies and ideas³ to plan victory frohtened monarch and virtuous ministers, I would be unable to play a role But I ultined to watching Southern Chu decline and fall When I first htened monarch of my heart Unfortunately, he was not He was only a loyal subject, not an ambitious and ruthless character He treats the virtuous well, but does not kno to use thenizes the wicked, but does not kno to re and died within the , I haveand the Prince of Qi The Prince of Yong has the deenerational, virtuous h the Prince of Qi is hot-headed and iemon I have not met the Crown Prince, Li An, but for hi, he must surely also be an extraordinary individual I a to offend either the Prince of Yong or the Prince of Qi for the sake of preserving my life”

“For what purpose has daren offered advice to both the Prince of De and the Prince of Yong?” asked Chen Zhen

“I originally did not have to explainas you are willing to serveit to you The advice that I offered the Prince of De has already achieved its objectives The strategies to take the cities need not be explained The discord stratageoal Why do you think this invasion of Southern Chu was co it over, Chen Zhen answered, “It must be because Crown Prince Li An is worried that if the Prince of Yong’s achievereat, he will be difficult to control”

Closingof Shu to commit suicide, the purpose was not toregion, but rather the Shu King’s concubine, Lady Golden Lotus Sure enough, once Lady Golden Lotus arrived in Great Yong, Yong Eht into the hare E would face the Eer for his direct criticis was so stuck and unable to handle the Crown Prince’s attacks?”

In a doubting tone, Chen Zhen voiced, “But no one has heard anything about the Prince of Yong ad the Emperor”

I smiled and replied, “For this kind ofdirectly admonish the Emperor? Alas, even if it was a secret ad reprimanded by his father Beyond this basic infor else When the Prince of Yong dispatched an envoy requesting my help, I had him pretend to be poisoned and take the opportunity to have a coh this has ensured the Prince of Yong’s status and safety, it has also advanced the discord between him and his father and brother This is the entirety of em”

Chen Zhen looked at me with surprise, as he marveled, “This subordinate did not know the reason why even while ill”

“You shouldn’t too highly ad , the Yong Emperor, and Crown Prince was already acute I only added fuel to the fire In addition, the Prince of Yong’s predica comes to the decision to seize the ier have any obstacles towards unification My actions have only won so, then the Prince of Yong would have no alternative but to slon his plans For Southern Chu to survive for another twenty to thirty years isn’t i has personally destroyed his own defenses⁵ With the death of the Prince of De, Southern Chu does not have any general capable of resisting Great Yong Rong Yuan does not have a sufficiently broad y The court officials are all shortsighted Those who are so in alcohol and sex or have hidden the suffers internal strife, I believe that Southern Chu will fall within a few years But with Great Yong suffering internal strife, I believe that Southern Chu will be able to th and nan and Sichuan Without at least ten years, it will be inan without too badly da my words, Chen Zhen asked, “Then daren, what is our next step?”

“Southern Chu can no longer do anything,” I indifferently responded “When I return, I intend to resign After that, ait in Jianye I believe that it won’t take long before I will have the opportunity to take revenge”

“What about after vengeance has been wrought?” Chen Zhen continued to ask “Both the Prince of Yong and the Prince of Qi both highly regard daren If Southern Chu were to be destroyed, I’hnesses would both come to recruit daren Hoill daren handle this situation?”

I was silent for a while before replying, “I once thought that I would be willing to serve Great Yong But I have come to realize that I cannot do so After Southern Chu falls, I naturally wish to peacefully live out the rest ofand the Prince of Qi are unwilling to let o, then I can only leave the Central Plains If I were unfortunate enough to be captured by the for Southern Chu When I have wrought eance, I will have my forces be turned over tenificant But if they were by my side, they would be noticed and likely annihilated If they were to be hidden, they , Chen Zhen asked, “Daren, why not turn the force over to Master Li?”

I shook reater use by my side His martial arts are exceptional and he has a detailed mind He is my confidant-cum-friend If he were outside, he would not be sufficiently calth I have on the outside”

Chen Zhen cheerfully nodded his head, stating, “If that is the case, then this subordinate will do as you bid”

I returned to Jianye in silence I learned that the king, as expected, regretted what had happened and accepted the Prince of De’s proposal Rong Yuan was appointed to the position of the Vice Minister of War⁶ to defend Xiangyang Lu Xin was appointed to be Chief Commander When he returned to the court to accept the staff and battle axe denoting his position, I found that his bearing had deteriorated one bit from years past His son, the little Marquis Lu Can, ster filled with power and grandeur I had heard that over these last few years, Lu Can had beco in the front lines He was courageous in battle and resourceful The opinion of hi after I had returned home, Lu Can called; I was his teacher after all He excitedly told s of the art of war Lu Can had co his expression bri with enthusiasm, I neutrally told hiist;⁷ the little uidance from the lord marquis” After I had seen Lu Can off, I felt pain in eneral Thinking of what he would have to face in the co it over, I had Chiji deliver to Lu Can the battle fore to not share that I was the source of this information These forh the end result would be more deaths, that was his fate and also Southern Chu’s fate This may beafterwards, so him for his brilliance and martial prowess Within the last few years, Southern Chu under the king’s leadershi+p had conquered Shu and had now also repelled the Yong invasion After considering his virtue and ability, the king should ascend to the imperial throne and declare hi Zhao Jia was too easily flattered After hearing these words, he surprisingly also believed that this was Heaven’s Will, forgetting the blood- and tear-stained memorial fro quickly issued an edict asking for the opinion of the entire court The result was that the court officials, dazed by victory, agreed and in succession, petitioned the king urging hiinally intended to resign, conteood while before I penned the the Imperial Throne</enant as expected Within this memorial, I clearly explained in an outspoken fashi+on, that although we had won a victory in our invasion of Shu, Great Yong had attained more benefits than we had In addition, the disparity in the strength of the militaries between the two countries was extreainst Great Yong was a result of the Prince of Qi taking a straightforward and unyielding approach, as well as Xiangyang’s strong defenses With the Prince of De dying while in the arhad not suffered any real da could consider Southern Chu as a rebel vassal and use this casus belli to continue to attack When that ti By then, Southern Chu would not have the strength to repel Great Yong’s attacks Within this essay ritten enuine views, as this was to beilling to accept my opinion, then I would rather present ret it even if were to die on the battlefield because of my loyalty to Southern Chu

Unfortunately, what I thought would happen caave the order to have encies Beforehand, I had Xiaoshunzi bribe all of the eunuchs They were able to er, and as a result, I was only stripped ofah, I was reer had any entanglerievances all cleared up

When the edict was read toa calhed Thus, Great Yong no longer had any reason to assignme as a reason to forcethe edict was a class colleague, the at the side of the king He had penned this edict for the king Filled with regret, Liu Kui said, “Elder brother Jiang, you should not be depressed Although the king has stated that you will never be eer be an issue We will put in a feords on your behalf Elder brother Jiang has sincerely devoted yourself for the sake of Southern Chu When the ti will reinstate you”