Chapter 223 All Sent to the Capital

Chapter 223 All Sent to the Capital

Chang Yao quickly reviewed the useful testimonies. "So, the Tatar princess came to our Great Wei under a different name simply because she was naive and willful, and didn't have any ulterior motives?"

The young man who was responsible for reporting the interrogation results to him nodded. "It seems that's indeed the case at present."

Chang Yao pondered for a moment, "Alright, I understand. Have someone keep a close watch on them, make sure no one escapes, but don't mistreat them."

The Great Wei and the Tatars fight several times a year. Even if the Tatar princess intended to infiltrate the Great Wei and didn't have any significant political goals, Chang Yao couldn't just let her go.

After the young man who was in charge of reporting the interrogation results left, Chang Yao picked up his pen and wrote a memorial, which he ordered to be sent to the capital by fast horse to be presented to the emperor.

He and his father were both just border guards; they weren't responsible for using this Tatar princess as a bargaining chip to exchange for benefits with the Tatar royal court.

This kind of work that requires constant mental effort and cunning should be left to the civil officials in the court.

Everyone performs their duties, and that's how their Great Wei Dynasty can flourish day by day.

With a sense of righteous indignation, Chang Yao pushed away this annoying and tedious task and breathed a sigh of relief.

He beckoned to his guard commander and said, “The goods that the foreign merchant brought have all been donated. Pick a reliable person and send this memorial and those goods to the capital to present to the emperor.”

Indeed, in order to save his life, the leader of the Hu merchants offered to atone for his sins with all the precious items such as gems, spices, and furs that he had brought to the Great Wei.

His original plan was to distribute half of these items to the border generals, including Chang Yao, and then present the other half to the emperor through Chang Yao.

But who is Chang Yao? He is the inheritor and executor of the foolish yet admirable act of sacrificing one's family for the sake of the nation.

From the end of the previous dynasty, when military pay and supplies began to be heavily embezzled, the Chang family had been using their private property to subsidize the soldiers in the army.

In order to hold the northern border firmly during the turmoil in the Central Plains and prevent foreign tribes from having the opportunity to invade the Central Plains, not only his grandfather, father, uncle and himself, but also his grandmother, mother, aunt and other female relatives all contributed their dowries that they relied on for their livelihood.

Later, they even "looted" the homes of his great-uncle, great-uncle, cousin, uncle, father-in-law, and even his uncles' brothers-in-law, the homes of other generals in the army, and the homes of many of his close friends and acquaintances across three generations.

If it weren't for the fact that after the establishment of the Great Wei Dynasty, the emperor and the crown prince secretly subsidized them, allowing their families, relatives, friends, and subordinates to make a fortune by following the accounts, they wouldn't have the financial resources to live a comfortable and luxurious life now.

People who are willing to go bankrupt to defend the border would not willingly hand over their secrets to others for petty gains.

Not only were all the valuable items that the Hu merchant wanted to use to bribe him and other generals meticulously recorded, but he also had all the provisions and other supplies used by the Hu merchant's entourage during their journey carefully noted down.

Although he wouldn't be foolish enough to spend more manpower and resources to send in grain and other worthless items to the capital and make a losing deal, he would have them inspected and then put into the military warehouse. But through this method, he demonstrated his stance and determination that he would not keep even a single blade of grass.

The foreign merchant never expected to meet someone like Chang Yao who was unmoved by profit. But what he didn't expect was that when Chang Yao decided to send all the valuables to the capital, none of his subordinates, who were originally entitled to a share of the spoils, raised any objections.

When he heard the people in charge of interrogating him say that their young master had agreed to pass on his message, conveying his remorse and atonement, he thought that Chang Yao had agreed so readily because he was willing to spend a lot of money to bribe them.

It wasn't until much later that he learned from other people that Chang Yao had sent all the valuables to the capital.

In stark contrast to the way Chang Yao and his group handled things, he went through a series of twists and turns to find those Tatar nobles after finally leaving the Great Wei.

At that time, the Tatars had already spent a great deal of money to redeem their princess. In order to avoid being blamed and losing his life in an unclear way, and also in order to continue doing business between the Tatars and the Great Wei, the leader of the Hu merchants promised a lot of money and asked a Tatar nobleman he had dealt with before to help him mediate with the royal family.

Those people were well aware that this whole thing happened because their princess was too willful, but that didn't stop them from sympathizing with the Khan, the princess, the princess's brother, and the princess's mother.

After all, it was because he took the princess to Zijing Pass that the princess fell into the hands of the Wei people, and the Tatars lost a lot of money in order to redeem her.

The fine horses, jewels, furs, and other gifts sent out were ultimately paid for by their Khan, as well as the Queen's mother and maternal grandfather.

The Khan's private property was coveted by his many wives and children. He had taken out so much to redeem the princess, and his other wives and children must have felt extremely resentful.

The things belonging to the Wang woman's mother and maternal grandparents were certainly not acquired by chance. Originally, they could have kept these things to cultivate their power and support the Wang woman's half-brother in his struggle for the Khan's position. But now, they have all been sent to the Great Wei to aid the enemy. How could they not be furious?

Furthermore, because of this incident, the other wives, concubines, and children of the Tatar Khan tacitly turned their blades against their faction, attempting to take the opportunity to completely suppress them and forever deprive them of the ability to compete for the Khan's position.

The woman's birth mother, brother, and maternal grandparents were overwhelmed with worry and lived a very difficult life.

This only applies to members of the royal family; the noble class that the Hu merchants approached were also significantly affected by this incident.

In order to redeem the princess, the Tatar nobles who went to the Great Wei as envoys not only suffered a lot of humiliation, but were also forced to sign a humiliating agreement to never invade the border for three years.

Although they can tear up agreements whenever they want, and this isn't the first time they've done it, being forced to sign such a thing is clearly not a pleasant memory.

The nobles were therefore somewhat resentful of the Hu merchants. If it weren't for the Hu merchant leader being sensible and promising them great benefits, and if they hadn't been unwilling to let the royal family destroy this golden goose that could only bring them a continuous stream of wealth in a fit of anger, they would not have agreed to mediate for the Hu merchants.