pertwk Chapter 2663 Mediation
Chapter 2663 Mediation
Chapter 2663 Mediation
Even the trade delegation led by the Imperial Preceptor Qiugong has already negotiated many new contracts in Jucheng and is currently on its way back to Beka.
However, once that statement is issued, the conflict between the two countries will immediately escalate.
At that time, it won't be as easy for Bega to get Cang Yan to release the person as it is now.
When the relationship is on the surface, it's easy to say nice things; but once the relationship deteriorates, both sides become hostile and hostile, making communication very difficult.
"Wait a minute, is the blood feud between Cang Yan and King Bolang just going to be left like this?" King Aoling protested. "Cang Yan made me, Bega, lose face, and he thinks he can get away unscathed?"
"So you mean to disregard the 60,000 prisoners of war in Bolang, as long as we can teach Cang Yan and Wu Song a lesson?" Nie Xiaolou chimed in from the side, "You should ask Bolang first if they can agree to this."
Both princes of Bolang were present, their faces grim.
They certainly understood the will of the gods, but these past few days, the families behind the noble prisoners of war had been causing them almost noisy disturbances. These families held up half the sky of the Kingdom of Bolang; without their support, even if the prince could ascend the throne, he would not be able to govern smoothly.
They were so frustrated they were practically bursting with pent-up anger, but all they could manage to say was, "The dead are gone, but the living can still be brought back. Human lives are at stake, and we hope to prioritize rescuing the soldiers who are trapped in Wusong."
Those tens of thousands of prisoners of war were the elite troops of the Bolang Kingdom. Could they just be thrown away like that? Losing these 60,000 men would be a heavy blow to Bolang's military strength.
What's most infuriating is that after this battle, Beka had no enemy prisoners of war to exchange for, because the battlefield was thousands of miles away, and the Bolang army had suffered a major defeat and retreated!
Thinking of this, everyone was scratching their heads, and once again they blamed King Bolang for overreaching and plundering countries thousands of miles away! Now, Bega wanted to avenge it and save people, but he was in great difficulty.
Now that the Kingdom of Bolang, as the aggrieved party, has spoken out, the other vassal states should not overstep their bounds and make decisions for it.
Upon seeing this, the Demon Emperor secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice:
"Now that the Kingdom of Bolang has made a decision, we should contact Cang Yan as soon as possible to discuss the matter of welcoming back the fallen Bolang warriors."
In other words, that statement was never issued and was withdrawn.
The first sanction against Cang Yan ended hastily.
……
A special messenger was sent to convey the Demon Emperor's decree to Cang Yan.
Cang Yan's reply was timely and enthusiastic, saying that he would try to coordinate between you and Wu Songguo as soon as possible.
Coordinate what? The whole world knows that Cang Yan is putting on an act. The real decision-making power in this matter is in Cang Yan's hands. Whether those tens of thousands of prisoners are executed or released is just a matter of a word from the Nine Nether Emperor.
Soon, Cang Yan came back to report the results of the coordination:
If Bega ceases its invasions and Bolang pays a sum of money to Wusong to compensate for the losses suffered by Wusong due to the invasion, Wusong will cease executing Bolang prisoners of war and will release a batch of nobles and soldiers who were originally to be executed every month.
That means releasing 6,000 prisoners of war every month.
Lingxu City had no objection to Wusong Kingdom's demands; traveling by land to Wusong was already particularly troublesome for the army. Bega had plenty of other targets to exploit, so there was no need to focus solely on Wusong.
The key lies with the Kingdom of Bolang. Therefore, the Demon Emperor threw the decision-making power back to the Kingdom of Bolang.
It was your soldiers from Bolang who were captured at Wusong, it was your king who was beheaded by the enemy, and it is you who want revenge. Then make a decision; Bega does not wish to interfere.
A few years ago, the Demon Emperor would have prioritized Bega's overall external relations, and perhaps this attitude wouldn't have been appropriate. But now...
Don't forget, the Kingdom of Bolang is a follower of the gods. Its radical attack on the Sea Kingdom thousands of miles away was also to curry favor with the gods. Now that it has been humiliated, why does it know to come back to Lingxu City for support?
In short, the country of Bolang was in an uproar. One faction insisted on avenging Old Wang, while the other faction was more pragmatic and wanted the soldiers to return home alive.
While they were arguing, Wu Songguo continued to execute two hundred prisoners every day, working diligently and without fail, rain or shine.
The more fiercely and for longer they argued, the more prisoners of war were executed.
When Wusong Kingdom sent the second list of executions, Bolang Kingdom finally succumbed to internal pressure and agreed, but demanded that Wusong Kingdom release all prisoners within six months and not pay any compensation.
After all, King Bolang died mysteriously in Wusong, leaving the Bolang Kingdom feeling aggrieved.
Wu Songguo basically stuck to the original conditions and continued to behead two hundred people every day, but with Cang Yan's mediation, he eventually cancelled the claim for compensation.
In other words, the Kingdom of Wusong only requested that the Kingdom of Beijia (including the Kingdom of Bolang) cease its invasions in the future.
The Wusong people certainly wanted compensation, but they also knew that this victory came from Cangyan, not from Wusong itself. If they pushed Bolang Kingdom too far, and it truly abandoned the 50,000 prisoners and vowed to fight Wusong to the death, then Wusong would not have a good end either—the voices advocating war within Bolang Kingdom had never been small.
After giving up the compensation, Wusong's demands sounded more reasonable, even a bit aggrieved. After all, the cause of these wars was Bolang's unprovoked invasion of Wusong. Shouldn't they be asking it to stop its thieving behavior?
Helpless, the Kingdom of Bolang finally reported to the Lingxu Royal Court, stating that it was willing to submit to the overall situation and asked the Emperor to make a decision.
It still can't bring itself to say "I agree".
The Demon Emperor understood the difficulties faced by the Bolang Kingdom and replied directly to Cang Yan:
Let's do it this way and release them quickly.
Throughout the negotiations, Wu Song did not speak to Bei Jia, only sending two separate notes and personnel lists. All specific negotiation matters were handled by Cang Yan.
Cang Yan did not engage in dialogue with the Bolang Kingdom; he negotiated with Bejia throughout the entire process.
Therefore, the main actors in this war are clearly the conflict between Bega and Cang Yan.
It was only then that many of Bega's officials realized why Cang Yan had insisted that he had not sent troops to Wusong.
The reason is here.
If the two sides were to openly become enemies, how could Bega possibly ask Cang Yan to mediate the prisoner-of-war issue?
Wouldn't all those tens of thousands of Bolang soldiers have perished?
See? Cang Yan has always been thinking about Bei Jia.
intimate!
When the upper-class nobles of Lingxu City spoke of the death of King Bolang, they were filled with righteous indignation, both publicly and privately. But what no one would say was that Cang Yan's refusal to admit to sending troops actually brought a slight sense of relief to Lingxu City.
If Cang Yan were to stubbornly and foolishly admit: Yes, I did it!
And then what? What should Bega do? The demon king under his rule is dead. Should the murderer be severely punished? Should he launch a large-scale expedition against Cangyan?
Between Bega and Cang Yan lies the vast Kingdom of Mou. Even if Mou were to allow Bega's ships and army to maneuver behind them, would Cang Yan be so easily dealt with? (The text then goes on to discuss the conflict between Bega and Cang Yan, including the current war between them.)
That was a powerful empire with an equally vast territory!