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Chapter 1061: Chapter 433: Zheng Kingdom Seeks Peace_3 Chapter 1061: Chapter 433: Zheng Kingdom Seeks Peace_3 Lu Yuan’s calm words carried a thick chill, pricking the Zheng Messenger below into a shiver, his heart cooling by half.

Indeed.

If it hadn’t been for Zheng Kingdom’s betrayal last year against the Yangxia Expeditionary Army of Chu State, which disrupted the coordination with the Eastern Land Expeditionary Army, by now the million-strong army of Liang’s Yan Yunqing might very well have already been defeated.

At that time, had Liang lost its million-strong main force, its entire rear would have been left exposed, devoid of any military strength.

The two expeditionary armies of Chu could then have driven straight in, sweeping across the whole of Liang State effortlessly.

The gains would have been substantial: seven or eight prefectures—no, the entire Liang State, the whole of Qingzhou.

But it was such a prospect, such a grand harvest, that ultimately vanished because of Zheng Kingdom’s backstabbing.

The strategic plan to annihilate Liang within a year of the Northern Expedition thus collapsed.

What could have been a resounding victory ended up as this bitter quagmire.

Chu State’s surprise attack on Wei Country and Liang State turned into a one-on-one contest against the whole Nine Provinces, trapping it deep in the quagmire of war.

With such deep enmity, tell me, could Lu Yuan forgive Zheng Kingdom?

Who, in his place, could forgive?

This Lu Yuan understood clearly, and naturally, so did Zheng Kingdom on their end.

But the survival or extinction of Zheng Kingdom hinged upon a single thought from Chu State—if the Chu Emperor’s forgiveness was not secured, Zheng would be finished by this year.

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“Your Majesty, our country acknowledges the enormity of its sins and understands it’s difficult to earn Great Chu’s forgiveness,”

Seeing that matters were turning unfavorable, the Zheng Messenger quickly threw in his bargaining chip, “But if Great Chu can forgive us, cease hostilities and make peace, then our emperor is willing to abdicate in favor of the Crown Prince, relinquishing the imperial throne.

Furthermore, he will send his eldest grandson as a hostage to Chu State.

And also cede Haiyang Prefecture as reparation to Chu State.”

Indeed, the current Emperor of Zheng Kingdom, having suffered such a devastating defeat, has seen his prestige greatly diminished.

It was the Zheng Emperor who had invited Chu to Yangxia.

It was he who had betrayed Chu and turned to Liang.

The loss of national territory and the fall of the Imperial Capital also occurred during his reign.

It could be said that if not for the current Zheng Emperor, Zheng would never have fallen to its current state.

Having made so many mistakes, the current Emperor Zheng Lian, of course, could no longer hold his position, lacking the authority to do so.

Within Zheng, there were many dissatisfied with him.

If the nation weren’t in peril, facing the risk of destruction at any moment, some might have already started to make moves against him, seeking accountability.

Therefore, choosing to take the blame by abdicating and then passing the throne to his son became the best option for Zheng Lian.

At the very least, the throne would remain within his lineage rather than being usurped by his brother.

Those who wished to support his brother against Zheng Lian were not few in number, especially after the state’s disastrous defeat.

As for sending his eldest grandson as a hostage,

The Crown Prince had a dozen sons or more; sending one eldest son was truly not significant.

Even if, in the future, the relationship between Zheng and Chu turned sour again,

Resulting in the hostage being killed, the Crown Prince still had enough sons to replace him, hence it posed no real threat to Zheng.

The only real pain was having to carve out one more prefecture from their already shrunken lands to hand over to Chu.

However, after the fall of the capital, Haiyang Prefecture’s significance to Zheng had already greatly diminished.

The territory of Yu State can roughly be divided into three regions based on cultural and geographical trends: the south, northwest, and northeast.

All three regions are roughly equal in area, each encompassing five prefectures.

Zheng controlled the northwest and south, while Jin Country held the northeast.

But these were the boundaries before the great disaster.

Through the years of warfare, Zheng and Jin, under the attacks from Tang Kingdom and Xu State, have both successively lost territories in the northern parts of their countries.

Now that Chu has attacked, swiftly seizing three prefectures in the southern part of Yu State, it nearly swallowed up the entire region.

The Haiyang Prefecture that Zheng prepared to cede lay in this southern region.

The remaining three prefectures that Zheng held were now all concentrated in the northwestern region of Yu State.

Thus, Zheng’s intentions became quite clear.

That was to abandon Haiyang Prefecture, inconveniently separated by geography and difficult to govern, in exchange for Chu’s forgiveness and withdrawal of troops.

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After all, if Chu wanted that land, it was essentially indefensible for Zheng.

Rather than having it seized by another, it was more beneficial to offer it now as a favor, using it as a bargaining chip.

Of course.

Beyond this purpose, Zheng also harbored another covert intention.

In the southern part of Yu State lie a total of five prefectures.

With Chu already holding three prefectures, and Zheng planning to give one more, that would be four prefectures in total.

Thus, the remaining part of this region would belong to anyone but Chu.

And who would that be in possession of these lands?

The answer is naturally Jin Country.

After Jin had been pushed south by Xu State, they finally seized the opportunity to snatch one prefecture in the south from Zheng.

To say Zheng harbored no resentment towards this is, of course, impossible.

Although now Jin has come to aid Zheng against Tang, making them allies for the time being,

When Chu and Zheng were allies, didn’t Zheng still betray them when it was in their interest to do so?

Therefore, if they could undermine Jin while redirecting the trouble eastward, thereby shifting Chu’s focus away from themselves onto Jin,

And forcing Jin to take the brunt of Chu’s firepower, providing Zheng with an opportunity to catch its breath,

For Zheng, this would be nothing short of perfect.

Why should Zheng care if Jin faces misfortune?

As long as Zheng survives this crisis and lives on, that matters more than heaven, earth, or anything else.

As for so-called allies, aren’t they there to be sold out when necessary?

And as to whether Chu would be fooled?

Having already taken most of the southern part of Yu State and eyeing partial unification, would Chu not attempt to consume that piece of tantalizing meat nearby?

Zheng believed that Chu would not let the opportunity slip by.

And once Chu moved to seize it, Jin, which had already tasted that piece of land, would, no matter how reluctant, still have to face Chu’s aggression head-on and fight for survival.

This way, Zheng would naturally achieve its goal of diverting the trouble eastward.