Chapter 636 - Chapter 636: Chapter 291: Jumping Around Left and Right_3

Chapter 636: Chapter 291: Jumping Around Left and Right_3

Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix.

The same principle applies to Nanhai Country as well.

Use Chu and Su to counter Ning, and use Ning to counter Chu and Su.

The two points above are the consensus national policy reached by the Pro-Chu faction and Pro-Ning faction in the current Nanhai Country after their struggle.

It’s hard to deny that this strategy of swinging and jumping between the two powerful nations truly fits the identity of Nanhai Country as a small and weak country.

As for the ultimate outcome…

After the Nanhai Country submitted to Ning Country and promised to send one million silver tales as tribute every year, the original ten thousand soldiers gathered in the Jianan County of Ning Country have already been disbanded.

The border threat on the east side of Nanhai Country has been resolved.

As for the Chu State to the north…

Lu Yuan took a deep look at the Nanhai Country’s envoy below, and after a long silence, said in a low voice, “Alright, if in July this year, Nanhai Country can make up for the previously promised money and grain tributes, and continue to do so every year hereafter.

Then I can let go of the backstabbing crime of Nanhai Country this time and not send troops to attack.

The border between Chu State and Nanhai Country can remain peaceful.

However, signing an alliance treaty is out of the question.

We are already enemies, and we are not on the same side anymore.

Now your country is just paying for peace. Let’s not talk about any feelings in this transaction.”

Well, it must be said that Nanhai Country chose a good timing for this backstabbing.

Chu State is now deeply caught up in the battlefields of the Southwest Yi and Xichuan County, with over a hundred thousand soldiers involved, and can’t pull away from it.

Even if they ended these two battles, it would take at least ten years to digest the fruits of victory.

Chu State is powerless and cannot wage any wars abroad in the short term.

Therefore, even though Lu Yuan has sent 20,000 soldiers to the northern border of Nanhai Country, the envoy of Nanhai Country in front of him is still calm and negotiating terms with Chu State slowly.

Because he knows that Chu State doesn’t have enough strength to punish Nanhai Country.

Even if Chu State has enough strength to punish Nanhai Country…

As long as Chu State doesn’t have enough strength to fight Ning Country head-on, they can’t attack Nanhai Country, which is already a subsidiary of Ning Country.

Because, after submitting to Ning Country, attacking Nanhai Country is equivalent to attacking Ning Country.

Ning Country would never allow Chu to attack its vassals, expand its power under its nose, and counterattack Ning itself.

And similarly…

If Ning Country wanted to annex Nanhai Country, even if Chu and Su didn’t want to see a threat emerge in their own backyard, they would still have to hold their noses and help Nanhai Country defend against Ning Country, no matter how unhappy they were.

At this point, the status of Nanhai Country is similar to the previous position of the Three Nations Alliance when Pre-Yue was involved in the Northern Expedition against Zhou Country.

When Zhou Country attacks, they will turn to Yue Country for help. When Yue Country attacks, they will turn to Zhou Country for help.

Jumping back and forth between the two sides, they profited a lot and made a great fortune.

‘But back then, we three countries were able to play this game of playing both sides to our advantage.

The reliance from behind was that, with our three countries united, we could face Zhou and Yue individually, or at the very least, stand a chance in battle.

But now, Nanhai Country, let alone facing off against us, the Great Chu and Ning Country, can’t even compete against Su Country.

With such weak strength, they still want to play the card of balance between the two sides, which is being too confident and overestimating their strength.

Or they look down on our Chu and Ning, thinking that they can play us in the palm of their hands?’

The clever scheme of Nanhai Country was sneered and despised by Lu Yuan.

When he used to play this same game, he relied on the four Inborn Grandmasters and nearly 800,000 soldiers that could be brought out when the three nations were united.

But what does Nanhai Country have now?

They don’t even have one Inborn Grandmaster, and even if they heavily recruit civilian workers from within the country, they can barely muster 300,000 people at the most.

But right now, Nanhai Country is facing Chu State, which has decided to expand its army to 378,000 regular soldiers in the next three years, and Ning Country, which already has 500,000 soldiers and is expected to continue expanding to 800,000 in the coming decade.

Merely calculating from the current strength, the joint strength of Chu and Ning Country has already surpassed the total force invested by Zhou and Yue Country in the Northern Expedition battle.

Facing a situation worse than before and having weaker strength than the Three Nations Alliance, Lu Yuan really didn’t know where the confidence of those in Nanhai Country came from, thinking they could handle this balancing act well.

‘Those idiots are bound to be wiped out in the future. Nanhai Country is destined to be part of my Great Chu. But for now…’

Lu Yuan glanced at the departing envoy of Nanhai Country, who had accepted his terms and left the hall, and sneered in his heart, ‘I might as well keep this fat lamb for now and let them give blood to my Great Chu every year to strengthen my nation.

Once we have accumulated enough strength, I will let them know what the game of the strong is all about.’

This fool who jumps left and right in front of the strong has already been marked for death by him.

It’s just that he can’t deal with Nanhai Country right now because his hands are tied, so he decides to keep things as they are for the time being and deal with them later.

Right now, Ning Country has nothing holding it back and is ready to swallow up this fat lamb of Nanhai Country at any time.

“I still need to think of a way to tie the hands and feet of Ning Country and prevent them from acting alone against Nanhai Country.”

Lu Yuan furrowed his brows in thought and pondered for a while before sending a message back to Baling, asking them to prepare a messenger to be dispatched to Liang Country.

Nanhai Country’s actions gave him some inspiration.

If this small country can jump from left to right and use foreign force to counterbalance Chu and Su State.

Then Chu State, facing the tremendous pressure from Ning Country, can naturally use foreign force to counterbalance this Master of Yangzhou.

“The Liang Country, which has always been an old rival, probably doesn’t want Ning Country, who inherited the Heavenly Son’s throne in Jinling, to gradually unify the internal factions of Yangzhou and unite the Jiangnan region.

They wouldn’t want to see another gigantic figure in the south threatening their border security.”

Lu Yuan’s lips curled into a slight smile.

Compared to facing a unified southern country that controls ten regions of Yangzhou, he believed that Liang country would prefer facing Ning Country that only has four regions.

With this foundation, there is no need to worry about Liang Country’s lack of cooperation.

The only concern is how much benefit Liang Country would demand in exchange for cooperating with Chu Country.

However, compared to holding back Ning Country, Lu Yuan was willing to accept some costs.

The precondition is that Liang Country’s appetite should not exceed his expectations.