roccoschili Chapter 378 The Great Qin Dynasty: No Marriage Alliances!
Chapter 378 The Great Qin Dynasty: No Marriage Alliances!
The two-day holiday is over.
On the morning of the third day.
As dawn broke, the area outside Xianyang Palace was filled with officials' carriages.
Officials, dressed in court robes and holding tablets, walked up the steps into the main hall of Zhangtai Palace.
Ying Zheng, dressed in a black imperial robe and wearing a crown, sat on a high throne.
His expression was calm, his gaze fixed on the assembled officials below.
Left Chancellor Li Si stood at the head of the civil officials, while on his right, at the head of the military officials, stood Marquis Tongwu Wang Ben and veteran general Wang Jian.
After the officials finished paying their respects, they lined up on both sides.
Zong Yu, holding a tablet, stepped out of the line. He took a deep breath, preparing to impeach Zhang Fan.
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the hall. A eunuch rushed into the hall, knelt down, and announced:
"Your Majesty, an envoy from the Xiongnu is requesting an audience outside the palace!"
Upon hearing this, the whispers in the hall abruptly ceased.
Zong Yu stopped what he was doing and returned to the queue.
Civil and military officials all turned to look outside the palace.
Just as the Qin Dynasty was preparing for a northern expedition and its army was stationed on the border, the Xiongnu sent an envoy to Xianyang, which surprised everyone.
Ying Zheng sat on the throne and spoke calmly:
"Announce."
The eunuch loudly conveyed the imperial decree.
Before long, heavy footsteps came from outside the hall.
A burly Xiongnu envoy entered Zhangtai Palace.
He wore a heavy wolfskin coat, had a Xiongnu-style braid on his head, and a curved knife hung at his waist.
According to the rules of the Qin Dynasty, foreign officials must remove their weapons and shoes before entering the palace.
However, the messenger stepped directly onto the wooden floor of Zhangtai Palace wearing leather boots, without even removing his scimitar.
He walked to the center of the hall, stopped, and did not kneel or perform the grand salute of the Central Plains. He simply placed his right hand on his chest and bowed slightly.
He looked up and surveyed his surroundings.
His gaze swept over the civil and military officials on both sides, his expression arrogant.
Among the military officers, Wang Ben, Li Xin, and others clenched their fists.
A suppressed murmur immediately arose from the ranks of civil officials. Several officials whispered to each other, their faces filled with indignation:
"How dare these mere barbarians from beyond China bring a knife to the Emperor's court?"
"Not only do they refuse to disarm, but they also disregard all etiquette. They are utterly arrogant, treating the Qin Dynasty as if it were nothing!"
"They're truly courting death..."
Listening to the surrounding discussions, the veteran general Wang Jian merely narrowed his eyes, coldly staring at the envoy, a glint of cold light flashing in his eyes.
The envoy looked at Ying Zheng on the high seat and spoke loudly in broken Central Plains dialect: "The envoy of the Great Xiongnu, on the orders of the Great Chanyu Touman, has come to meet the Emperor of Qin."
Ying Zheng looked at him without saying a word.
The envoy straightened his back and raised his voice slightly: "The Great Chanyu has 300,000 archers and a million fine horses. Now, the Qin state is amassing troops on the border, intending to wage war!"
The Great Chanyu did not want war, could not bear to see the people on both sides suffer, and did not want to see Qin soldiers die on the grasslands. Therefore, the Great Chanyu proposed that the Xiongnu and Qin negotiate peace at this moment and cease hostilities!
Upon hearing this, the courtiers exchanged glances. The Xiongnu had taken the initiative to propose peace talks.
The envoy's lips curled into a smile as he continued, "However, peace talks require conditions. Qin must demonstrate sincerity."
He held up three fingers.
"First, the Qin state must send 300,000 shi of grain and 10,000 bolts of silk to the Great Chanyu."
"Secondly, for the sake of good relations between the two countries, please send Princess Ying Yinman from Qin to the royal court to marry the Great Chanyu."
The envoy paused, then, remembering Xiang Liang's instructions, added: "Thirdly, the Great Chanyu has heard that there is a woman from Chu named Mi Yueyao in the Qin State's Institute of Natural History!"
If this is a marriage alliance, Mi Yueyao must be sent to the grasslands as a concubine accompanying the bride!
The moment the envoy finished speaking, the Zhangtai Palace erupted in chaos.
The civil and military officials all glared angrily.
"Arrogant!"
Wang Ben roared, stepped forward, and pointed at the envoy, "You mere barbarians dare to covet my Great Qin princess!"
Meng Tian stepped forward, his face ashen: "They want grain, they want a princess for a marriage alliance! Touman is courting death! This humble general requests permission to immediately send troops to raze the Xiongnu royal court to the ground!"
On the civil officials' side, Zong Yu and others were also furious: "The envoy has spoken arrogantly and shown no respect for hierarchy. Great Qin will never accept such conditions!"
The people inside the hall all condemned and denounced the envoy.
The messenger stood still, listening to the curses around him.
He raised his head and retorted loudly, "These are the Great Chanyu's conditions. If you don't agree, 300,000 Xiongnu cavalry will cross the Great Wall and march south into the Central Plains! At that time, your borders will be in danger!"
"quiet."
Two words came from a high position; the voice was not loud, but it drowned out the noise inside the hall.
The officials immediately shut their mouths and returned to their original positions.
Ying Zheng sat on the high seat, looking indifferently at the envoy below.
"The Great Qin will not engage in marriage alliances," Ying Zheng said slowly.
The messenger frowned, about to speak.
Ying Zheng looked at him, his tone flat and even: "Kneel down."
The envoy was taken aback, then straightened his chest and declared loudly, "I am an envoy of the Great Xiongnu! I only kneel before the Great Chanyu! The Emperor of Qin has no right to make me kneel!"
Ying Zheng did not speak again.
Two heavily armored guards stepped forward on either side of the throne.
They descended the steps and came to the messenger's side from the left and right.
The envoy turned his head, his hand gripping the hilt of the sword at his waist: "In times of war, envoys are not to be killed..."
He hadn't finished speaking.
The guard on the left raised his right leg and kicked the messenger's left knee hard with his iron-booted foot.
"Snap!"
The sound of bones breaking echoed inside the hall.
The messenger screamed as his left leg lost its support.
At the same time, the guard on the right struck, slamming his scabbard heavily into the envoy's right knee.
"Bang!"
The messenger bent his knees and slammed them heavily onto the hard stone floor of Zhangtai Palace.
Two guards reached out and pressed down on the messenger's shoulders, exerting force suddenly.
The messenger's upper body was forcibly pressed down, his face pressed against the ground.
The messenger struggled to lift his head, cursing under his breath.
But the guards were extremely strong and pinned him to the ground, unable to move.
The hall was completely silent.
The officials felt a surge of satisfaction as they watched the envoy being forced to kneel.
Ying Zheng sat on his high seat, calmly looking down at the people below.
The hall was completely silent.
The officials felt a surge of satisfaction as they watched the envoy being forced to kneel.
Since the founding of the Qin Dynasty, it has swept across the six kingdoms and pacified the eight directions. When has it ever suffered such humiliation from foreign barbarians?
Seeing the arrogant Xiongnu envoy pinned to the stone slab, everyone felt a great sense of relief.
Ying Zheng sat on the high throne, his black crown tassels swaying slightly, concealing the expression in his eyes.
He looked down calmly.
After a long while, a voice rang out in the hall.
"I didn't hear you clearly just now."
Ying Zheng's voice was extremely calm, revealing no trace of joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness. He leaned forward slightly and said, "Say it again."
The messenger's knees were shattered, and his thick wolf-skin coat was already soaked with cold sweat.
The intense pain caused his facial muscles to twitch uncontrollably, yet he hesitated in his heart.
He knew that if he uttered even one more wrong word, he would never be able to leave Zhangtai Palace today.