Chapter 72
Book 7 Chap 5 – Mad with Envy and Hatred
Either deliberately or coincidentally, Xiang Shaolong’s seat was placed next to Zhao Ya, and on the other side of Zhao Ya was Han Chuang, Guo Xiu’er, Li Yuan, Guo Zhong while on Xiang Shaolong’s right there were Zhao Ba, Le Cheng and Zhao Mu. Zhao Zhi’s seat has been taken away.
Now everyone knows that the real main lead is Li Yuan, who is seated between Guo Zhong and his daughter. This person is a good talker and in no time at all, Guo Xiu’er was constantly covering her mouth and laughing lightly very amicably. It seems that as soon as Li Yuan is willing to nod his head, Guo Xiu’er will belong to him.
Han Chuang is obviously very interested in this outstanding and pretty young girl but because he has to regard the State of Han’s foreign relations, he dare not pit himself against Li Yuan. He concentrated on having a private conversation with Zhao Ya whereas Zhao Ya was deliberating ignoring the horse fanatic as she talked to Han Chuang in an intimate manner, constantly letting out tinkling laughs, which brought much gaiety to the feast.
In order to create more opportunities between Li Yuan and his beloved daughter, Guo Zhong, after making small talk with everyone at the table, turned to face Zhao Mu and Le Cheng who were seated on his left and engaged them in small talk, the topic of conversation always about the officials and wealthy in Handan.
Zhao ba and Guo Zhong were personal friends so he joined this circle of conversation as well. Although Xiang Shaolong pretended to be interested and listening intently, it was obvious that Guo Zhong was disregarding him.
Xiang Shaolong knows very well that Guo Zhong has changed so quickly because Li Yuan has influenced him and from this he can see that this great merchant is feeling pessimistic about the situation in Zhao and is already having thoughts of leaving.
This thinking naturally cannot be hidden from the King of Zhao and Guo Kai, that’s why the latter had reminded him to be careful of Guo Zhong.
With the Wu family gone, the State of Zhao seems to be coming to the end of her days and weakening immediately.
What is Zhao Ya’s future plan?
At this time the maids came forward to pour wine for everyone.
Li Yuan turned away from Guo Xiu’er to look at Xiang Shaolong and said, "Brother Dong has traveled such a long and arduous journey to come here and I wonder for what reason?"
Everyone could hear that his tone was filled with antagonism so they all stopped talking to see how Xiang Shaolong would respond.
For the first time Guo Xiu’er raised her pretty face and eyed this burly and boorish looking man who is even bigger sized than Li Yuan.
Xiang Shaolong was calm and composed as he narrowed his eyes to look at him, replying offhandedly in his hoa.r.s.e voice, "What Brother Li loves is beauties, what I love is handsome horses. Brother Li will go wherever the beauty goes while I will go to wherever there are fertile land and water. If Brother Li were to think about your own att.i.tude, you will understand my att.i.tude even more." His reply was just appropriate.
Guo Xiu’er thought that the beauty Xiang Shaolong is talking about refers to her and was so shy that she lowered her pretty face.
The others all did not expect that this boor’s argument would be so formidable and were all secretly surprised and at the same time feel a little embarra.s.sed for Li Yuan.
Only Zhao Mu was secretly happy, for he cannot offend Li Yuan so it’s most appropriate that Xiang Shaolong does it for him.
Li Yuan’s expression changed slightly as a murderous look flashed past his eyes and he said coldly, "Is Brother Dong implying that the water and land in Chu cannot be compared to here?" He had just spoken the words when he realized that he has been caught off balance, for everyone at the table are Zhaos with the exception of Han Chuang, so how can he say such words.
Indeed Le Cheng, Zhao Ba and Zhao Mu, who has long since regarded himself as a Zhao all furrowed their brows.
Xiang Shaolong saw that just a few words could force Li Yuan to stumble and was secretly overjoyed and continued nonchalantly as if he could not see Li Yuan’s anger, saying "Brother Li thinks too far ahead, I’m just making an example. Actually all land has their advantages and disadvantages. The weather down south is temperate and easy to rear horses but the horses reared there may look handsome but are not strong and stout enough and cannot tolerate harsh winds, rain and snow; it’s difficult to rear horses in the north but the horses reared there can take hards.h.i.+ps and there are less chances of horse plague happening there. That’s why the horses of the Xiong Nus are the most famous, precisely because of the cold and hard climate that resulted in the rich quant.i.ty of excellent horses."
Everyone was impressed and did not expect Xiang Shaolong to have such insight. He also managed to insinuate with sarcasm that Chu, which is in the south, are engrossed in merrymaking and doesn’t strive for improvement at all whereas the states in the north, including the formidable Qin, may be engaged in wars year after year but this has made them groom many a talent and their reputation is higher than the once powerful Chus.
This is indeed a fact. Ever since the tiny Yue successfully attacked Chu, their pride has taken a beating. Adding on to this is their constant failures in their strategies that made their situation go on a downturn.
The first time the 6 states joined forces to attack Qin, it is King Huai of Chu who takes the lead but in practice only Han and Zhao are taking part in the war. The 2 states were greatly defeated by the Qins at Xiuyu, which was within the Han borders while Qi turned around and attacked Zhao and Wei, creating internal strife. Hence Qin took the opportunity to eliminate Ba and Shu, thus increasing their territory twofold, making it close to the size of Wujun and Qianzhong in Chu. Thus the nightmare of the Chus began, letting them taste the bitter outcome of being just ‘onlookers’.
All along, the Qins are most worried about Qi and Chu joining forces, therefore the Qins ceded some territory to cajole King Huai of Chu to break his friends.h.i.+p with the Qis. However, they went back on their words once they got what they wanted, greatly defeating the Chu army at Danyang, where 80,000 people were killed and took over Hanzhong in Chu. They then proceeded to take over Zhaoling, making them totally lose control over the northwest areas of Yingdu.
This is not the only insensible act committed by King Huai of Chu. Just as he has agreed to work with Qi again, he was again enticed by the Qins and once again changed his mind suddenly, even to the extent of having a marriage agreement with the Qins.
Qi, Wei and Han were furious and sent their troops to attack Chu for going back on the treaty and King Huai was so astounded that he ordered the Crown Price to go to Qin to ask for Qin reinforcements. The 3 states then had no choice but to retreat. Later the Qins found an excuse to attack Chu and using coercion and persuasion, managed to trick this brainless King into Qin and imprisoned him. He failed in escaping and ended up dying of illness in Qin.
When his son King Qingxiang of Chu ascended the throne, he tried to seek revenge and after being threatened by the Qins, he was immediately scared s.h.i.+tless. Not only did he beg for reconciliation, he even asked for a marriage agreement with the Qins. Like his father, he added another muddied event in their history.
Therefore Xiang Shaolongs words hinted at how the Chus have destroyed their own country because of the people and not because of wars. The most impressive part was that he was insinuating that although Li Yuan looks able, he is in fact a useless man and cannot survive any setback.
Zhao Ya and Guo Xiu’er, eyed both of them with their sharp woman’s intuition and they