Amid the drifting steam, Xiao Jingyan’s hand, which held the teacup, froze in midair.
“Take it down?”
His thoughts raced.
Though Dongying was in chaos, it lay across thousands of miles of open sea.
To take it down meant launching a cross-sea expedition.
He slowly lowered the teacup.
“But Commandery Princess Xu…” Xiao Jingyan said, his face clouded with doubt. “The Great Qian’s military finances are still running a considerable deficit.”
“The capital garrison must protect the imperial city. It absolutely cannot be deployed recklessly.”
“As for the soldiers stationed in the southern prefectures and commanderies, they are so laxly trained that they can barely handle bandits, let alone conduct an amphibious campaign.” Xiao Jingyan began listing the problems one by one. “The imperial treasury is empty, and we don’t even have enough warhorses or provisions. Where could Great Qian possibly find the surplus troops needed to cross the sea and wage war?”
Xu Zhan was equally perplexed by his little sister’s words, his thick brows drawn tightly together.
Xu Wuyou sat beside the table, unconsciously tapping the bamboo tongs against the tea tray.
He, too, was deep in thought.
Xu Qinghuan tilted her head slightly, a smile appearing at the corners of her lips.
“Why does Your Highness assume that?”
“Hahaha! When did I ever say we would be using Great Qian’s imperial troops?”
As soon as she said this, the heated chamber fell into an extraordinary silence.
Xiao Jingyan’s brows knitted together at once.
A doubtful look crossed his face as his gaze moved back and forth over the map spread before him.
Not using Great Qian’s soldiers?
Not deploying the capital garrison, the troops guarding the northern frontier, or the local garrisons?
Then who would do the fighting?
This was a cross-sea expedition. They would not only need ships capable of withstanding the raging waves, but also elite soldiers armed to the teeth, along with astronomical quantities of grain, supplies, and military provisions.
This was by no means a small operation in which a few thousand men went out to sea, made a quick haul, and returned.
This was a war of conquest—a war to destroy a nation.
Xiao Jingyan’s mind became a tangled mess.
Nearby, Xu Wuyou and Xu Zhan exchanged a glance.
Both brothers saw the same deep confusion in each other’s eyes.
Xu Zhan was a straightforward man who could never keep his questions bottled up.
“Little sister, what exactly are you planning?” Xu Zhan’s voice was rough and tinged with impatience. “You just said Dongying is already locked in a bloody war. If we’re going to take it without using imperial troops, where are we supposed to borrow soldiers from?”
He folded his arms across his chest and stared at Xu Qinghuan with undisguised curiosity.
“Surely you don’t expect ordinary people off the streets to take wooden clubs and risk their lives on the sea?”
Xu Qinghuan turned her head to glance at her second brother, then looked toward Xiao Jingyan, who sat opposite them in deep thought.
At that moment, Xiao Jingyan, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly raised his head.
“Borrow soldiers…”
He murmured those two words under his breath.
The chaotic thoughts in his mind, drawn along by those words, suddenly found a loose thread.
No need for the court to spend money.
Let the people provide the wealth.
Use borrowed resources to create something greater.
The various measures finalized in the Hall of Heavenly Mandate connected one after another in Xiao Jingyan’s mind…
I understand now. I understand!
“Borrow soldiers!” Xiao Jingyan suddenly saw the light. Pointing at the map, he blurted out, “Borrow them from the great clans!”
Xu Qinghuan remained calmly seated, giving a slight nod.
The hand holding the bamboo tongs stopped in midair. Xu Wuyou looked up at the Third Prince in shock.
Xu Zhan stood frozen, his mouth hanging open.
Xiao Jingyan kept his eyes fixed on the map and, as though working through the entire strategy in his mind, spoke it aloud piece by piece:
“Great Qian knows nothing about the lands beyond the sea, and neither do those great clans of Jiangnan. They’re all blind.”
“All they know is that Commandery Princess Xu has revealed an Iwami Silver Mine in court. All they know is that the shores across the sea are overflowing with gleaming silver!”
“What they don’t know is that Dongying is in the midst of chaos. They don’t know that Hirado Island has long since changed hands. Their minds and eyes will be filled with nothing but the prospect of profits multiplied a hundred or a thousand times over!”
Xiao Jingyan’s voice trembled faintly with excitement.
“To seize that silver, they will surely pour in their own money and frenziedly build great ships.”
“To protect the silver they bring home, they will spend without restraint to recruit desperate men from the coastal regions and purchase the finest weapons and equipment!”
Xiao Jingyan straightened and looked at Xu Qinghuan. A trace of chill entered his eyes.
“Commandery Princess Xu, could it be that you intend to make them exhaust the foundations they have accumulated over centuries, arming a peerless fleet with their own hands…”
“And then cross the Blackwater Ocean of their own accord to conquer Dongying?”
When his voice fell silent, the heated chamber became utterly still. Only the occasional crackle of charcoal from the brazier broke the silence.
Xu Wuyou and Xu Zhan both drew in a sharp breath.
How ruthless.
At last, they understood that the strategy their little sister had presented in court was not some harmless maritime trade scheme meant to promote mutual exchange.
It was plainly a scheme to drive wolves against tigers from beginning to end.
Borrowing the knife of the great clans to destroy their enemies—using a temporary passage to annihilate a kingdom!
A fine layer of sweat spread across Xu Wuyou’s back.
He set down his teacup, his voice dry and hoarse.
“Little sister…”
“After they land, they’ll be filled with delight at the thought of looting a mountain of silver, only to run headlong into armored warriors hardened by a hundred battles.”
“No matter how well-trained the clans’ guards may be, they’ll inevitably suffer heavy losses when they first arrive in this promised land.”
“Once casualties mount and retreat is no longer possible, they’ll have no choice but to keep pouring in men and money to protect the fortune they’ve already invested!”
Xu Zhan looked at his sister and spoke with difficulty.
“You intend to drain the lifeblood of the great clans.”
Xu Qinghuan lifted the teapot and refilled the cup Xiao Jingyan had knocked over.
“Your Highness, and Big Brother and Second Brother, are all correct,” Xu Qinghuan said calmly.
“If the imperial court moves against them directly, it will be striking at the foundation of Great Qian itself. The entire realm would inevitably descend into chaos.”
She pushed the teacup toward Xiao Jingyan.
“But what if their own greed makes them carry their entire fortunes onto ships and throw themselves into the millstone that is Dongying?”
Xu Qinghuan raised her eyes to look at the three men before her.
“The imperial court won’t have to spend a single coin or deploy a single soldier. It can simply hold the ports.”
“Whether they live or die, so long as silver is brought back, the court will collect a guaranteed thirty percent of the profits.”
“As for whether the plan will truly produce such splendid results, that will depend on what happens in the future. But in any case, it will benefit the Great Qian imperial household.”
Xiao Jingyan sank back into his chair.
His thoughts ran deep.
After hearing this entire chain of schemes, his mind had already drifted toward matters even more far-reaching.
The grand court assembly had only just ended. When he left the palace, he had keenly sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere in the capital.
There were twice as many guards outside the Zhengyang Gate as usual.
At the entrances to every ward and alley, the hoofbeats of the patrol censors rang out without pause.
The Secretariat’s Wenyuan Hall had even detained Xu Qinghuan outright.
At the time, he had assumed that His Majesty was merely guarding against military commanders becoming too proud of their achievements.
But… could this be what Xu Qinghuan had whispered to His Majesty during the court session?
Xiao Jingyan looked at the young Princess Wanping before him.
Suddenly, he realized something even more serious.
Once this strategy was put into practice, and the great clans suffered enormous losses and countless deaths in the lands beyond the sea, who would receive all their anger and hatred when they realized they had fallen into a trap?
Naturally, it would be Xu Qinghuan—the woman who had proposed building ships and sailing overseas, issuing exclusive trade charters, and drawing up the sea charts!
And the entire Chengyi Earl’s Residence would become the target of every great clan in the realm, a thorn in their flesh and a nail in their eye.
Such courage.
Such ruthless resolve.
Xiao Jingyan drew a deep breath, forcing down the emotions roiling in his chest.
He slowly rose to his feet.
Then, beneath the astonished gazes of Xu Wuyou and Xu Zhan…
The Third Prince turned toward Xu Qinghuan, who was seated on the mat, and solemnly clasped his hands before bowing deeply.
Xu Wuyou hurriedly moved to stop him, but Xiao Jingyan silenced him with a single look.
“Commandery Princess Xu.”
Xiao Jingyan remained bent in salute, his voice utterly sincere, carrying even a trace of barely concealed awe.
“At first, Jingyan thought that what you did in the court was merely a desperate gambit to save yourself. Only now do I realize that your vision and methods are far beyond those of ordinary people.”
He straightened and gazed at Xu Qinghuan with clear, steady eyes.
“With nothing more than a nautical chart and several mountains of silver whose existence has yet to be confirmed, you have managed to make the great clans compete to sail overseas and expand Great Qian’s borders—without costing the imperial court a single coin.”
“Sea storms and enemy blades will eliminate the clans’ excess private troops on the court’s behalf, while the thirty percent of profits brought back will replenish the military supplies of the nine frontier garrisons.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk! Killing three birds with one stone—borrowing another’s path to destroy Guo.”
Xiao Jingyan paused.
“You will weaken the clans’ foundations without shedding a drop of blood. Such an ingenious stratagem, carried out without a trace, is truly the work of a statesman. You have earned this bow from Jingyan.”
Xu Zhan listened with his blood surging, his fists clenched so tightly that they crackled.
Xu Wuyou, however, looked at his younger sister with a hint of worry in his eyes.
He naturally understood the unspoken meaning behind Xiao Jingyan’s words.
The great clans were not fools. Once they realized they had been used as blades, they would surely strike back with all their might.
From now on, the Xu family’s days would be like walking along the edge of a knife.
Xu Qinghuan did not stop him from bowing.
She lifted her teacup and took a light sip, her expression as composed as ever.
“You flatter me, Your Highness. I’ve already lent out the blade. As for whether the clans can pull it free, that will depend on whether the Maritime Trade Office makes a loud enough brick to shatter the jar.”
