"They've lost so many people in battle. How could they just let this matter rest? Even if they can't beat you now, what about ten years from now? What about one hundred years from now? Once you're dead, they'll still start a war! This hatred will only deepen until it can never be resolved, a dead knot that can never be untied. In the end, the unlucky ones will be the common people of the Central Plains. When this land is covered in corpses and rivers of blood, is this what you want to see? "
The old woman coldly said, her basket hanging from her shoulder.
"Heh!"
Upon hearing the old woman's words, a smile suddenly appeared on Wang Chong's face.
"War truly cannot resolve all problems, but can compromise obtain peace? Withdrawing from Khorasan, allowing Arabia to rise, disbanding the prefectural armies, cutting off your own limbs and crippling your own martial arts — is this the best medicine for resolving war? "
Wang Chong sneered.
Outside the carriage, the old woman was stunned, apparently stumped by Wang Chong's words. But a moment later, Wang Chong realized that he was wrong. The old woman's body trembled, the clarity in her eyes fading and turning turbid.
"What's going on here? I … how did I end up here? "
The old woman glanced at the reins in her hand and then at Zhang Que and Wang Chong, a look of confusion on her face. Her expression was that of someone who had slept for a very long time and then awoke from a dream. As the old woman muttered to herself, she let go of the reins and vanished into the crowd on the side of the road. Zhang Que had been watching her the entire time, and even he was confused as he watched the old woman vanish.
"Just what's going on here?"
Zhang Que had originally believed that this old woman was some formidable character in disguise, but now, he realized that he was wrong. Everything around him made him feel extremely strange. Only Wang Chong sat calmly in his carriage, his expression extremely calm, as if he had expected something.
"Ignore him. Let's go!"
Wang Chong indifferently said.
"Yes, Milord!"
After a moment's hesitation, Zhang Que cracked his whip and urged the carriage forward. While driving the carriage, Zhang Que hurriedly looked around. He saw that everyone was pointing and looking at them.
Zhang Que's scalp went numb, and the strange feeling in his heart intensified. Ever since he was young, there had never been a day where he felt so strange.
"Go!"
The two pure white horses galloped forward. Before they even reached fifty meters, the crowd was in an uproar. From his high vantage point, Zhang Que could see a bare-chested butcher selling pig meat by the side of the road. But a moment later, the butcher seemed to be possessed. He stabbed his cleaver into the chopping block, pushed through the crowd, and strode onto the street, blocking the path of Wang Chong's party.
"The King of Foreign Lands is truly twisting words and forcing logic. Using violence to curb violence is no solution. In the last few years, the Imperial Court has been at constant war on the border, with Ouzan, with Mengshe Zhao, with the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates, with Goguryeo … It's been hundreds of years without a break. Now that Arabia has appeared, the wars have not only not lessened, but worsened. The reason for this is that there are no treaties between countries. If countries can understand each other, interact with each other, live in peace, help each other, and realize the Great Harmony of the World, how could there be wars? Only benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust are the ways to resolve all wars! "
The butcher stood in the middle of the road, his hands still greasy from cutting meat, but his expression was cold and stern. These were not the words of a butcher.
Whoosh!
When he was still three or four paces from the butcher, Zhang Que suddenly pulled on the reins and stopped the carriage. The scene before him left him even more bewildered.
But Wang Chong's expression did not change.
"Haha, agreements are meant to be broken. So what if you've signed an agreement with all the parties? A wolf is a wolf. When have you ever seen a wolf that doesn't drink blood or eat meat? If a piece of paper could resolve all disputes, then the wise and benevolent people of the Central Plains would have resolved this problem thousands of years ago. Why would they have left it until now? Only powerful strength can win the respect of the opponent. Only by subduing the opponent can one practice benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. What I am doing is turning this country into a wolf, not a sheep. Use strength to obtain the respect of the opponent, not weakness to obtain the humiliation of the opponent! "
Wang Chong was as steady as Mount Tai. No matter what that mysterious existence did, he would remain unmoved.
On the street, the butcher shook his head and came to his senses. After looking around, he walked back to his butcher shop with a blank look on his face.
The carriage continued forward, and a few moments later, a shrill voice rang out in his ear.
"King of Foreign Lands, you've truly gone mad! Humans are humans because they have benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. If everyone believes in your principles and follows the law of the jungle, how are you any different from beasts? Although I am not a general and have never fought on the battlefield, I can see the past and know the present. More than one thousand years ago, the Great Qin Empire unified the world and destroyed the Six Kingdoms, relying on its formidable martial power to establish the first powerful empire of the Central Plains. Isn't this the country of tigers and wolves that you desire? But King Qin conquered the world, but he lost the will of the people. In a few short decades, he was overthrown. King of Foreign Lands, you are repeating the mistakes of the past! "
After traveling seventy or eighty meters, a girl of seven or eight, dressed in a peach-colored dress and with her hair combed down, pointed a finger at Wang Chong in the carriage and harshly rebuked him.
The surrounding crowd was in an uproar. Now, even the surrounding crowd had noticed this unusual scene. Zhang Que pulled on the reins of his horse for fear of injuring the girl on the side of the street. What he felt now was no longer strange, but extremely uneasy. Right now, he had no idea who else was going to charge in the next moment and from where.
The old woman selling vegetables, the butcher chopping meat, the little girl licking the tanghulu on the side of the street … that person seemed to be everywhere, everywhere, causing Zhang Que to feel a deep chill, his heart pounding with fear.
"That was then, and this is now. The Great Qin Empire has spent its entire life in internal strife, and the greatest opponent it has ever faced was the Xiongnu in the north, let alone a powerful foe like Arabia. The Tang Dynasty is surrounded by tigers and wolves. If they don't use strength, do they use benevolence and righteousness to deal with them? Moreover, war is a waste of manpower and resources, and the common people loathe it because the method of war is wrong. In the three campaigns to the west of the Cong Mountains, the Tang Dynasty exterminated one million enemies while suffering very few losses. At the end of the war, they obtained one billion taels of gold. This gold can be used to support the empire, and not only will it not put any financial pressure on the Imperial Court, it can even improve the lives of the common people.
"Do you know how many merchants travel to and fro that cement road I built for the war? All of this has caused the economy to flourish, and this is only the tip of the iceberg! There are hard battles and good battles in war, and I used good battles! "
Wang Chong calmly said.
"Absurd! Whether it's a hard battle or a good battle, it's still war. No matter how much you try to beautify it, you can't change this fact. A gentleman loves money, and he takes it in the right way. The people are like this, and the country should also be like this! This is why I returned your gold to the Arabs. "
At this moment, the seven-year-old girl suddenly woke up, and in the distance, a middle-aged man dressed in luxurious merchant robes walked out of a restaurant and loudly rebuked Wang Chong.
"Buzz!"
Wang Chong's pupils constricted, and his expression turned frigid.
"This is not your silver, but the blood and lives of countless soldiers. You have no right to deal with it. This is what the Tang Dynasty deserves! If you weren't so soft-hearted, this money would have already been sent to the Tang Dynasty and used to pay for the pensions of the soldiers, the livelihood of the people, the construction of schools, the repair of bridges and roads, the adoption of orphans, and the repair of cities. This money has nothing to do with you, so what right do you have to speak of this in front of me!
"No matter how much money you get from killing, it is still a curse, not a blessing, for this country. King of Foreign Lands, stop! The militarists have completed their mission, and now it is time for us Confucians to act! Only by carrying out benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom can we achieve the Harmonious World. You are now one of the leaders of the militarists. If you give up, you will be remembered by all. Thousands of years from now, you will become a hero of the Tang Dynasty, a hero that will be praised for generations to come! "
Several dozen paces away, the merchant had a solemn expression, his voice resounding as if he was making a promise. But Wang Chong only replied with a cold laugh.
"Impossible!"
The distant merchant was clearly taken aback by these words.
"King of Foreign Lands, even killing has an end. You've already killed one million people. Is that still not enough? Just when will you stop? "
Another figure walked out of the crowd.
"When the world is at peace, Wang Chong will naturally draw back his blade!"
Wang Chong sat motionlessly in his carriage as he slowly said these words.
"Buzz!"
Time seemed to stop, and all was deathly still. In the center of the street, the merchant said nothing, only gave Wang Chong a deep glance.
"King of Foreign Lands, I believed that we were the same kind of people with the same goal, but it now appears that I was wrong!"
A moment later, the merchant deeply bowed to Wang Chong, the clear and penetrating light in his eyes vanishing. At the same time, the Psychic Energy ripples around him vanished like the wind.
Silence!
Absolute silence!
Time seemed to stop, and no one spoke. After a long while, as if awakening from a dream, the crowd buzzed and came back to their senses. As for the merchant and the merchant blocking Wang Chong's path, they muttered to themselves in confusion and began to disperse.
Hwoooo! Zhang Que breathed a long sigh of relief, his back drenched in cold sweat.
"Milord, did that person really leave?"
Zhang Que turned his head and looked into the carriage.
"Mm."
Wang Chong nodded, unperturbed.
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