I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 406: Which is stronger, the Han army or the Xiongnu?

A few days later, Wang Hui and Su Wu's delegation returned to Loulan one after another.

Naturally, they successfully completed their mission and even exceeded it, but they were still a little confused and not sure what had happened.

After all, they had just arrived in Shan State and Yuli State.

Perhaps because they had heard about the destruction of the Kingdom of Loulan overnight, the king of the Shan Kingdom and the king of the Yuli Kingdom were courteous to the delegation.

But that was all. His attitude was still a little cold, and he did not agree to any of their requests. Even the issue of whether or not to observe the Han army's live arrow military exercise had to be discussed again.

But a few days later, the attitudes of the King of Shan and the King of Yuli suddenly took a 180-degree turn.

Not only did he readily agree to personally observe the Han army's live arrow military exercises, he also took the initiative to present a bilingual letter, expressing his willingness to submit to the Han Dynasty.

Wang Hui and Su Wu were so confused that they couldn't figure it out for a while.

Later, he sent people out to inquire and found out that it was because Yanqi Kingdom had already pledged allegiance to the Han Dynasty several days ago. As a result, these two small countries that followed Yanqi Kingdom's lead had such a change.

But this news made Wang Hui and Su Wu even more confused.

"What on earth happened that could make Yanqi Kingdom surrender to the Han Dynasty so quickly?"

"Is it just because of the real arrow military exercise? But this exercise has clearly not even started yet."

"Are you frightened by the Loulan incident? But even the kings of Shan and Yuli did not bow down to them before. They just treated the delegation in accordance with etiquette."

"Come to think of it, this should be Dongfang Yu's first time as an envoy to another country, right?"

"Could it be that he is a genius envoy, and even though he was forced to do this by Liu Ju, his extraordinary talent still enables him to make a splash?"

"In this case, doesn't it make us two appear weak?"

"Then wouldn't all the credit for this risky mission belong to Dongfang Yu alone? After all, his glory this time is enough to overshadow everyone else, and he can even compete with Liu Ju for glory. Maybe he can even be made a marquis in one fell swoop!"

With such thoughts in mind, Wang Hui and Su Wu hurried back to Loulan with mixed feelings, carrying letters from the Shang Kingdom and the Yuli Kingdom respectively.

Along the way, they continued to inquire about the news of the Yanqi Kingdom.

However, the more news they learned, the more shocked they became, and they even gradually stopped being jealous of Dongfang Yu's contributions.

"What? On the first night that Dongfang Yu arrived in Yanqi, he found the Xiongnu camp and led his men to burn it down, slaughtering more than 300 Xiongnu people and chopping off the head of the servant captain?"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. It seems that Dongfang Yu didn't bring many people this time. He only brought Guo Zhen and His Highness' personal soldiers. There are no more than a hundred people in total. How could such a small number of people create such a scene?"

"Shock!"

“This is the real shock!”

"The Han men are so fierce that a few dozen of them dare to go deep into the enemy territory to take the head of the Xiongnu commander. Hundreds or thousands of them will naturally dare to take the head of the King of Yanqi. Whether they rely on the Han army behind them or the bravery of the Han men, it is enough to terrify this small country with only a few thousand soldiers. How dare they not surrender and beg for submission!"

"No wonder..."

"Dongfang Yu has such courage and ability that no matter how great his achievements are, they are not excessive. One cannot help but admire him."

"Your Highness's vision is amazing. He must have seen that Dongfang Yu has such courage and ability, so he forced him to lead a delegation to Yanqi Kingdom, right?"

However, when the two returned to Loulan, they immediately learned a piece of news that amazed them even more:
"Dongfang Yu did not return. He only ordered the messenger to deliver the letter from Yanqi. He then immediately led the delegation with Guo Zhen to visit the more powerful Kingdom of Kucha in the west!"

What is professionalism?

This is called professionalism!
What does it mean to be faithful to one's duty? This is what it means to be faithful to one's duty!
What is addiction?

This is called addiction!

This fellow must have discovered his diplomatic talent in Yanqi State and suddenly developed a strong interest in diplomatic missions. Therefore, he took the initiative to go to Qiuci without consulting anyone else, hoping to solidify his title of nobility!
Talk about it.

Liu Ju had previously promised to give him a great achievement, and he actually accomplished such a great achievement. This can be considered as keeping his word, right?
He really had to thank Liu Ju for giving him such an opportunity, but it was also inseparable from his own courage, ability and hard work. Not to mention jealousy, even envy was not enough...

……

After many days of preparation, the Live Arrow military exercise at the tri-border area officially began.

If it had happened before, the kings of the Three Kingdoms would most likely have brought their troops and stopped a few miles away to observe, or in other words, to take precautions, fearing that the Han army would take the opportunity to launch a large-scale attack.

But now that the three countries have submitted letters requesting submission, they have all become our own.

Although they were still nervous, they knew that submission was the right thing to do. Naturally, the kings of the three kingdoms could only bring a small number of personal soldiers to the appointment. After putting down their weapons, they went up to the viewing platform with Liu Ju to watch this live arrow military exercise.

This live arrow military exercise is on a grand scale.

Half of the 30,000 useless county and state soldiers also took to the battlefield.

The Han Dynasty's unique chariot and crossbow formations were all on display.

The most eye-catching among them is naturally the powerful crossbow cavalry that was upgraded from the elite cavalry of the Han Dynasty after the appearance of double stirrups.

The Han Dynasty had many crossbowmen who could shoot an arrow through the air from a hundred paces away. Even the Xiongnu and the Western Regions, who only had bows and arrows, had warriors who could pull longbows and do the same.

But it's all bullshit when riding on a horse.

Even the Xiongnu cavalry, which was the most ferocious in the eyes of the Western Regions, could only use bows with low tension on horseback. This kind of bow had an effective killing range of dozens of steps, let alone a hundred steps. It was usually only able to disrupt the enemy's formation, and the killing effect was very limited.

The kings of the Three Kingdoms had a lot of contact with the Huns, so they were very clear about this and could also see the terrifying power of the powerful crossbow cavalry.

This can be seen from their expressions after seeing the crossbow cavalry.

Liu Ju saw it all and finally spoke at this time:

"Which is stronger, the Han army or the Xiongnu?"

"..."

The kings of the three kingdoms hesitated for a moment and looked at each other. Under such circumstances, it was natural for them to admit that the Han army was stronger, and this was indeed the fact.

However, before they could answer, Liu Ju continued:

"You are sandwiched between two great powers. Your situation is difficult, right?"

"Or you actually hope that the Han and the Xiongnu will continue to fight, preferably until both sides suffer losses. In this way, both countries will not have time to care about you, but will also need to constantly win you over. Your situation will be better, am I right?"

"Don't dare, don't dare..."

The king of the Three Kingdoms panicked and quickly denied it.

It is true that China is in a difficult situation being caught in the middle, but if we were to admit what we are thinking, we would offend both major countries. Who would dare to admit it?

(End of this chapter)