Chapter 318 A Failed Attempt

Chapter 318 A Failed Attempt

Before they set off, the Tatar Khan had already told them the truth: given that the Great Wei currently had no princesses to marry, whether the marriage alliance succeeded or not was not important. However, if the Great Wei wanted to negotiate peace, it had to hand over grain, cloth, tea, and other items worth a total of 300,000.

As some officials of the Great Wei Dynasty had guessed, the Tatars had become accustomed to treating the Han people as easy targets. After taking the initiative to attack, only to be defeated and forced to retreat in disgrace, they actually hoped that the Great Wei would choose to pay a price to avoid further trouble.

It's... hard to say.

Fortunately, the current state of the Great Wei is quite different from that of the late dynasty. The Tatars themselves may not realize the situation, but the emperor, crown prince, and court officials of the Great Wei will not allow them to run rampant on their territory.

After being verbally attacked by the court officials that day, the Tatar envoy received a reply from the Emperor of Great Wei that was completely unacceptable to them, a reply that left no room for negotiation.

Want something? Forget about doors, there aren't even any windows.

A marriage alliance? That's just wishful thinking on your part, you Tatars.

As a founding emperor who conquered the country on horseback and spent half his life waging war, he would not deceive himself with the so-called "great nation and land of etiquette" rhetoric of pedantic scholars.

As the saying goes, "We welcome friends with fine wine, but we confront enemies with swords and spears." His attitude towards outsiders depends on whether they harbor goodwill towards the Great Wei.

With such a resounding victory before him, if the emperor couldn't send those clueless Tatars back in disgrace, he would be letting down the brave young men who had given their lives to defend their homeland in the north. As for 300,000, the Great Wei would never part with that.

Seeing that the Wei emperor and his ministers were taking a tough stance, unlike the Han people of the previous dynasty who only wanted to appease the situation as much as possible, the Tatar envoy was quite dumbfounded.

The Tatar envoy was both angry and surprised that he could not obtain the expected supplies worth 300,000 taels of silver, and that the other party even tried to squeeze more money out of the Tatars.

They tried to use their old methods to attack the Great Wei, putting the Great Wei's rulers and ministers on a pedestal and making them spend money for the sake of the so-called dignity of a great power and to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

However, the Wei court did not listen to them at all, and the two sides argued for a long time without reaching an agreement.

Of course, it was only the Tatar envoys who tried to argue. The Wei emperor and his ministers have always had only one line: if you want to negotiate peace, first make sure you, the defeated party, have the right attitude.

The Tatar envoys, having returned empty-handed, conveyed the firm stance of the Wei rulers and their ministers to the Tatar Khan in detail.

The Tatar Khan, who was already quite old, was so angry at the unprecedentedly tough attitude of the Han people that he wanted to send troops again to teach them a lesson. However, the new weapons of the Great Wei were really effective against them. As long as they could not come up with an effective way to deal with it, they had to stay on the grasslands.

The grasslands are vast, and the tribes live by following the water and grass. Except for the Tatar royal court, which is heavily guarded and located far from the territory of the Great Wei, the other tribes basically migrate from time to time.

Under these circumstances, they were not worried that the Wei soldiers could sneak in unnoticed.

This is also the source of the Tatars' arrogance within the territory of the Great Wei. If it weren't for the vastness of the grasslands, the fact that their various tribes lived by following the water and grass, and the fact that the royal court was located far away from the Great Wei, the Tatars wouldn't have been able to still have the wishful thinking of plundering 300,000 taels from the Great Wei to make up for their own losses after their defeat.

However, they overlooked one thing: given their fickle and untrustworthy behavior, it would be a miracle if the Wei rulers and ministers believed their so-called "alliance and non-aggression."

The Tatars had taken money from the Han people under the guise of peace talks, only to continue using them as easy targets for exploitation and plunder. This was something the Tatars had done countless times before.

With such a long list of misdeeds, it would be truly absurd for the Wei court to believe their lies.

If it weren't for the objective condition that the Great Wei hadn't actually invaded the grasslands at this time, completely subdued, crippled, or even driven the Tatars to other places, the Great Wei's rulers and ministers would have long ago turned around and threatened the Tatars, forcing them to become vassals of the Great Wei and pay tribute.

Although the conditions were not right at the moment, the Emperor of Great Wei did not intend to continue maintaining the status quo.

The emperor planned to deal with the Japanese pirates, who were the most vocal among the other foreign tribes who wanted to take advantage of the situation while the Tatar army was attacking the Great Wei.

Of course, before dealing with the enemy, he had to send someone to deliver a batch of homemade bombs to the border troops responsible for guarding the southeast coast.

The method of making homemade bombs was originally only known to a small number of craftsmen employed by the Zhenbei Army. However, after the Tatars withdrew, the Marquis of Dingbei immediately sent the two most skilled craftsmen to the imperial palace in the capital.

Although he was related to the royal family and had always been trusted by the emperor, the Marquis of Dingbei always paid close attention to the emperor's reaction and feelings in everything he did.

It was one thing when the Zhenbei Army was too busy to attend to other matters, but now that the Tatars have withdrawn, it's no longer justifiable for him to continue monopolizing the method of making homemade bombs.

The Tatar withdrawal was a major piece of news, so it was perfectly reasonable and normal for the Marquis of Dingbei to send people to the capital to deliver the good news and, incidentally, to ask the emperor for instructions on their next course of action.

No one expected that he would send the craftsman responsible for making homemade bombs into the capital disguised as a servant as soon as the Tatars withdrew.

It wasn't until other military officers heard about the key to the Zhenbei Army's great victory over the Tatars and began to covet this weapon that they started asking the emperor for it, either explicitly or implicitly. Only then did the emperor calmly say, "Don't rush. Once the newly formed firearms battalion has made the weapons, I will have them delivered to the various military camps in succession."

Upon hearing this, the military officers immediately realized that the Marquis of Dingbei had already presented the method for making the homemade bombs to His Majesty the Emperor. While delighted and expectant, they also felt a greater sense of goodwill towards the Marquis of Dingbei for his willingness to share.

On the contrary, the court officials and concubines who had tried to sow discord between the Empress and the Crown Prince because of the Marquis of Dingbei's kinship with the Empress and the Crown Prince were now all feeling guilty.

The fact that the Marquis of Dingbei could report the methods for making such divine weapons to the emperor without hesitation shows that he was indeed exceptionally loyal to the emperor.