Chapter 3: Tang ’s Simplicity is Respect

The empire’s culture is rather open, plus it was discussion at night in

a military camp. But after hearing the words ‘ignorant princess’, Ma

Shi Xiang’s facial expression turned worrisome.

After the noble woman entered Wei city, he was so careful of his

words and actions. Ma Shi Xiang never thought Ning Que would give

such a harsh comment toward the noble guest so carelessly.

Moreover, he thought Ning Que’s evaluation of the guest was

inappropriate and unfair, which made him even angrier.

Everyone knew that the fourth princess of Tang Empire was not an

idiot and not arrogant, but in fact the opposite was true. She is a

wise and caring princess.

A vast empire like Tang, with its formidable military force, was not

afraid of anyone. Even when Tang was against numbers of other

central empires and the tribes of the Great Plain, it never thought of

diplomacy through marriage. Except during the early years of Tang,

some of the generals of the first emperor were from the Great Plain.

They married some daughters of the royal family to establish greater

bond and loyalty.

But three years ago the tribes of Great Tribe was in a turmoil, the

enemy of the Tang empire stirred up an invasion in the largest tribe in

the Great Plains to invade the Tang Empire. During such an

emergency, the youngest princess of Tang at the age of fourteen,

kneeled in front of the Royal Palace for days. She requested to

marry the chief of the tribe to achieve peace. Although the request

was against the will of the entire empire, she went her own way and forfeited the flourishment of Chang An and entered the Great Plain

for the peace treaty.

After the marriage was announced, the entire world was shocked

and people were discussing all over the streets. Old officials

requested meeting with the emperor during the night to discuss the

said matter. Emperor himself released his angers by smashing

countless luxurious jaded cups, and the queen was silent due to her

mixed feelings toward her daughter’s decisions. However, all the

protests couldn’t stop the girl’s determined mind. After knowing all

this, the chief of the tribe was astonished and took the princess for a

liking. He ordered five thousand lambs, cows, and horses as tribute

to the Tang empire to marry the young princess. In the end the Tang

emperor reluctantly decided to let his daughter marry far out into the

Great Plain.

After the young princess arrived the Great Plain and married the

chief, the couple was respectful and cared each other. The once

ambitious leader of the barbarian race became a calm lion of the

prairie. He defended the territory of the Great Plain but dare not to

invade an inch of Tang’s land.

Except the unexpected happened. The chief died suddenly during his

prime years, and his younger brother succeeded the position as the

head chief. The situation around the borders once again became

hostile.

Despite the current situation, there was a valuable period of peace

for five years between the Great Plain and Tang empire. From the

moment when the princess kneeled before the Royal Palace, there

was no war, and she had all the contribution for the achievement.

Rumors said that the reason for the determination of the princess to

go out to the Great Plain was to avoid the queen. If even this was

true, in the eyes of the military general and court officials, it was the

right thing to do. The fourth princess did not abuse the emperor’s

love and avoided problems with the queen, which helped to sustain

the stability of the upper class and the entire empire.

On the other hand, the princess’s actions was almost like a slap on

the face towards the military generals and soldiers who defended

the borderline. They were not afraid of barbarians nor warfare. They

felt they were ashamed by her actions of marrying their enemy for

diplomacy. However, no one will reject the god-send peace.

Therefore their feelings toward the princess was very complicated,

with some unreasonably anger, but also appreciation. All those

thoughts mixed together and became an emotion of indescribable

respect.

Ning Que was just a regular soldier, so it was hard to say if he

understands the mixed feelings of the general. However it did not

matter, his current situation will determine his future and safety, and

Ning Que took his life very seriously – perhaps more important than

anything else. He pretended not to noticed the gloomy face of the

general and continued, “I estimated the number of arrow holes, it

was clear that new chief was pretty determined on killing the entire

carriage. I bet half of the original group died on the Great Plain due

to ambushes and assassinations. “

“They said there was an encounter of some marauders ,” Ma Shi

Xiang showed some suspicion on his expression. Even he did not

believe the story.

“Even the chief of Great Plain himself dare not attack the princess of

Tang under broad daylight. So…..it can only be marauders, except

everyone knows who was behind them.” Ning Que continued, “But

something was off, if everyone knows that the marauders were the

cavalry from the Great Plain, why were the tribe so daring? Do they

not fear that the wrath of Tang will seek revenge and eliminate the

entire tribe?

Tang declared independence based on its strength. Its culture was

simple yet competitive. It’s known as the strongest nation on the

world, so it concerned the most about honor, yet if it really wanted to

completely destroy the barbarians on the Great Plain, it would

exhaust more than half of the nation’s wealth and power.Just to revenge for the assault of the princess, which would cause

the entire nation to suffer, may seem impossible to happen, but in

fact, such things were common in Tang’s history.

The most famous example happened when Tang’s first Emperor was

still in charge,

A tribe on the Great Plain massacred a small village called White

Sheep, one hundred and forty people were killed. Emperor’s

messenger went to the tribe to ask what happened, yet he was

expelled with one ear cut off by the tribe’s chief,. The first Emperor

felt extremely angry, immediately decided to invade the Great Plain.

As a result, the entire nation prepared for the war, supporting a

troop of 80,000 cavalries marching north. The tribe was frightened

and fleeted to the northern Great Plain under huge wind and snow,

yet Tang’s cavalry troop followed all the way without hesitation. The

battle lasted for several months, and the entire tribe was eventually

slaughtered.

Fighting battles for months, destroying the opponent tribe, these

results may seem simple, and these may seem glorious, yet they at

same time took Tang Empire a great amount of costs.

To afford such exhausting war, the court sent millions of farmers and

levied three provinces of livestocks. Because of this war, the tax in

the South quadrupled, the citizens all got angry, court officials had no

time and energy to take care of their work, and even worse, the

entire world was on the edge of collapsion.

Tang Empire’s most marvellous quality, was shown clearly from this

one of the most dangerous moment ever and the later evaluations

towards it.

When the Tang cavalry marched onto the Great Plain, the rebels in

the South, surprisingly, did not attack the empire at its weakest

moment, but rather returned to their bases. It looks like that they

didn’t want to hinder Tang’s march. Maybe the rebels wanted to grab

the opportunity to rebel when the Tang Empire was at its weakest.

Maybe they hadn’t felt connected to the “pride of the empire,” but in the end they didn’t attack. They had to face the reality that the poor

peasants who used to support them before, all remained silent to

show their opposition to the leaders of the rebellion party, at the

moment when Tang was in danger.

Tang’s first Emperor who won this battle did not have a high

historical status. He didn’t have a respectable status even within the

empire. Not even in historical records or in the travellers poets’

stories, there were no good evaluations of the Emperor. Many

considered him as totalitarian and harsh.

But even the most conservative scholar, the Academy professors

who didn’t care about the sovereign at all and the farmers and

merchants who hated taxations the most, they will find different kinds

of reasons to criticize this emperor. But none of the people think the

battle solely caused by the Emperor’s anger, which exhausted the

nation’s wealth, should not be fought.

Because since the establishment of country, the people on this land

insist to believe and defend a simple reason: I will not invade you,

but you cannot invade me, even if I invade you, but you…..shall not

invade me!

No matter who invades me, I will invade back.

This is Tang Empire’s basis to establish the nation.

This is Tang Empire’s road to strengthen the nation.

This is why the strongest nation in the world is called Tang.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***