Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2137 Princess Yelü Enters Tibet, Three Immortals Slay Defei

After a long period of war with the Eastern Barbarians and the Han Dynasty, a major battle with the Sun Kingdom was not far off.

Although there was a pause in between.

However, after fighting so many major battles in one go, the Eastern Yi were no longer able to continue. Their national strength could no longer support their arrogance.

If they rashly start such a major war again, they will begin to collapse internally, even before an external crisis occurs.

Furthermore, besides the Eastern Yi, there are the Great Han and the Sun Kingdom. If Yelü Abaoji were to wage war against Yelü Defei at this time, it would only benefit these outsiders.

If the surrounding tigers and wolves saw an opportunity, they would definitely rush to tear it apart.

Therefore, even if Yelü Abaoji had some thoughts about Yelü Defei.

However, it is impossible to resolve this through war; it is imperative to narrow the scope as much as possible and achieve a decisive victory.

They must deal with Yelü Defei completely before the tigers and wolves around them see an opportunity.

During the war with the Sun Kingdom, Yelü Abaoji had already been making overt and covert contact with Yelü Defei's men.

In fact, some of Yelü Defei's subordinates were indeed quite disappointed in him. While they didn't fully accept the olive branch extended by Yelü Abaoji, they didn't completely reject it either.

The fact that they didn't directly refuse is already a very clear stance.

Although they were already disappointed in Yelü Defei, they hadn't reached the point where they wanted to help Yelü Abaoji kill Yelü Defei.

If Yelü Defei were to be defeated and die one day, they wouldn't mind switching sides and joining Yelü Abaoji's forces.

However, if they were to personally take the initiative to betray their masters, although there might be one or two who have absolutely no moral bottom line, at least the majority would not cross that line.

After all, since ancient times, once this bottom line is crossed, unless one turns the tables and becomes the leader, most people will not be able to infiltrate the core level even if they go to other places.

Most people will instinctively resist and be wary of someone who stabs them in the back.

Therefore, although Yelü Abaoji had already established contact with some of Yelü Defei's subordinates.

However, without these people completely siding with him, there is still a lack of an opportunity to keep the struggle within a small area and eliminate Yelü Defei with a single, decisive blow.

However, the arrival of the highland delegation gave him some opportunities.

The highland delegation heading to the Han Dynasty only arrived in November. However, the highland delegation coming to the Eastern Yi had already entered the Eastern Yi territory in September.

After all, the distance between the Dongyi and the plateau is much shorter.

The Dongyi delegation, though numbering only a little over three hundred, included two hundred guards. Two hundred men have their own methods of fighting; if used properly, they might actually be able to take down Yelü Defei.

Of course, if Yelü Abaoji wanted the highland delegation to cooperate with him, he would have to offer sufficient benefits.

The highland envoy sent to the Eastern Yi was none other than Gar Tongtsen Yulsung, the Grand Minister of Tibet.

After three days of negotiations between Wang Changluo and Yelü Helu, Yelü Abaoji's two most trusted advisors, and Lu Dongzan, the two sides finally reached a preliminary agreement on friendly exchanges between the two countries.

Firstly, the Dongyi and the Tibetan Plateau formed a marriage alliance. Yelü Abaoji married his daughter Yelü Zhigu to Songtsen Gampo as a concubine, and Songtsen Gampo's sister married Yelü Deguang, the son of Yelü Abaoji.

Yelü Abaoji didn't care much about what dowry Songtsen Gampo was going to bring for his sister, since there wasn't anything he could find appealing anyway.

However, the two sides had an in-depth discussion about what kind of dowry Yelü Abaoji wanted to prepare for his daughter.

After all, the size of the dowry directly affects whether Gaoyuan will help Yelü Abaoji with that favor this time.

After friendly negotiations between the two sides, Yelü Abaoji promised that when the princess entered the plateau, her entourage would include 3,000 sets of agricultural tools, iron smelting and textile equipment, as well as 1,500 workers from various trades.

In addition, it includes 480 volumes of classics such as Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist scriptures, as well as astronomical and calendar systems, medical prescriptions, and craft treasures.

Although the six envoys sent from the plateau, whether in the Eastern Yi, the Northern Di, or the Han Dynasty, all offered high rewards to hire a group of craftsmen to travel to the plateau as laborers.

However, the plateau is thousands of miles away, and once you go there, it's uncertain whether you'll ever be able to come back in this lifetime!

Ordinary people are not entitled to ride in troop transport vehicles. And without troop transport vehicles, returning to their homeland from the plateau on foot is a journey comparable to the pilgrimage to the West.

On the contrary, most people are unaware of the hardships on the way to the plateau and the backwardness of the plateau. After all, most of them have limited experience and cannot think of so much.

But the mere fact that it's far from one's homeland is enough to deter many people.

In the countryside, any craftsman with some skill, while not necessarily wealthy, could easily support a family. Although the pay was high, not everyone could make the decision to leave their homeland thousands of miles away.

The idea that fallen leaves return to their roots is still a common mindset among most people.

Therefore, although some folk artisans were indeed lured by high salaries, the number was not as large as imagined.

Secondly, folk artisans ultimately have limited skills.

But the artisans in the dowry promised by Yelü Abaoji were all the emperor's own artisans. If they didn't have some skills, would they be able to make a living from the emperor so easily?

Therefore, the overall skill level of the government's own craftsmen is incomparable to that of ordinary people.

Secondly, Yelü Abaoji helped the Dongyi people take over the Suyuan region, and the two sides established a trading area there for commercial exchange, which was a mistake.

The Suyuan region is the area between the northern part of the Dongyi people and the plateau.

Because of the mountainous terrain of the Beiping Road region in Dongyi, it was possible for them to establish a complete northern defense. Therefore, this part of the region was like a chicken rib for Dongyi—tasteless to eat, but a pity to discard.

Although this region is unsuitable for agriculture, it does possess some mineral resources. However, these resources are scarce, and conquering it wouldn't offer much advantage. In fact, this region is easy to attack but difficult to defend, making it hard for them to establish effective rule. If the Northern Di were to harbor any designs on them, this region would be impossible to hold.

However, for the Northern Di, this region was sandwiched between the Eastern Yi and the plateau, and its long and narrow shape and desolate terrain were not suitable for them to raise horses and graze livestock, making it difficult to establish effective rule.

Therefore, over time, this seemingly useless place never gained effective control, becoming a no-man's-land and a place of crime.

Many people from the surrounding barbarian tribes and the Central Plains who couldn't make a living would come here.

Tibet didn't actually want to occupy this land; rather, it wanted to control it to develop trade with the Eastern Yi people. Of course, this also included the Northern Di people if possible.

This area was originally part of the Lu Dongzan Plan, a region where three businesses conducted trade.

After all, even merchants wouldn't set foot in that high plateau region.

Even for people from the plateau itself, if they were to make a round trip without proper preparation, one or two out of ten might die. For people from other places, if they wanted to make a trip to the plateau, six or seven out of ten might die.

Therefore, Tibet had no choice but to place the trading post between the two countries here.

Thirdly, Yelü Abaoji provided the Tibetan Plateau with 2,000 iron armors, 10,000 leather armors, and a total of 30,000 sets of swords, spears, and halberds to support the development of Tibet.

In reality, the things that the plateau needs are not that many.

The marriage alliance between Wang Yu and the Golden Horde involved gifts of equal value to what they are offering this time. The dowry used here alone filled dozens of large ships.

However, the marriage alliance between Wang Yu and the Golden Horde was a mutual exchange. Wang Yu prepared a dowry for his so-called sister, and similarly, Tuoba Changping prepared a dowry for his sister according to the same standard. Neither side suffered a loss.

Between Tibet and the Eastern Yi, it was almost entirely a one-sided giving by the Eastern Yi. What Tibet needed to give in return was to cooperate with Yelü Abaoji's plan.

As for what Tibet and Dongyi wanted, although it wasn't an exorbitant dowry for Dongyi themselves, everything here happened to be exactly what Tibet needed most.

As for money and provisions, they didn't want a single penny; they only needed craftsmen and technology.

Although the plateau was poor at that time, they were also short of money and food, and in fact, they were very short of them. However, no matter how much money and food they had, it would eventually run out, and they could only help them for a period of time.

Only by acquiring these technical talents and cultural resources can they truly become powerful.

Similarly, only by acquiring such a thing could their Tibetan state truly become powerful, thus gaining the opportunity to unify the entire plateau.

Thus, after three days of negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement and secretly arranged a marriage between them.

Of course, beneath the surface, Yelü Abaoji decisively rejected Tibet's marriage proposal. Therefore, Lu Dongzan, left with no other choice, had to leave Yelü Abaoji and go to Yelü Defei.

After all, the Eastern Yi were not limited to Yelü Abaoji alone; if this one failed, they could go to another.

Under the cover of the mission, Kratos and thirty elite soldiers successfully infiltrated Yelü Defei's headquarters.

Kratos did not serve Yelü Abaoji, so he was not considered Yelü Abaoji's subject.

However, due to Yelü Abaoji's scheme, Kratos repeatedly incurred favors from others.

Therefore, although Yelü Abaoji still did not gain Kratos's allegiance, he did obtain Kratos's promise to help him accomplish three things.

Moreover, Kratos can also assist Yelü Abaoji in his campaigns before these three tasks are completed.

Of course, these three things have a time limit. Ten years later, regardless of whether Yelü Abaoji made these three requests, Kratos will still leave.

After all, if Abao never brings up these three things in his entire life, wouldn't that mean that Kratos would be working for him for the rest of his life?
That's why there's a ten-year time limit. He believes that even if the other party hasn't brought up these three things within these ten years, he has already fought for them for ten years, which is enough to make up for their favor.

Yelü Abaoji agreed to this agreement partly because he wanted to appease Kratos temporarily and then gradually win him over.

But after all these years, Kratos still hasn't given up.

Over the years, Kratos has helped him accomplish two things.

Killing Yelü Defei was the third thing Kratos had promised to do for Yelü Abaoji.

Over the years, Yelü Abaoji tried everything he could, but he still couldn't warm up Kratos. Although he was unwilling, he also realized that the other party was probably determined.

Therefore, the only thing that can be utilized at the last minute is Kratos's value.

If it really drags on until the ten-year period ends, then all the grudges will be completely wiped away, and even if we meet again in the future, there will be no affection left to speak of.

Let him finish these three things as soon as possible, so that both sides can save face.

When foreign delegations arrive, regardless of the final outcome for both sides, the monarch will still give them a symbolic audience out of courtesy, even if it's just a formality.

On the very day Yelü Defei met with Lu Dongzan, Li Hu (Tiger Power Immortal), Li Lu (Deer Power Immortal), and Li Yang (Sheep Power Immortal), who were hidden in the delegation and accompanied Lu Dongzan to meet Yelü Defei, suddenly attacked Yelü Defei.

At the same time, Kratos led his delegation of two hundred warriors in a surprise attack on Yelü Defei's palace.

Yelü Abaoji's move was almost a carbon copy of Da Wu's move against Da Hao.

In fact, before Da Wu and Yelü Abaoji, there had been no precedent for using missions in this way.

This is precisely why, when an envoy visits a place, although the local area is not without defenses against the envoy, no one would expect someone to use the envoy to play such a trick.

However, in the third year of the Yuanshi era, almost within a few days of each other, the Great Wu on the west side of the Han Dynasty and Yelü Abaoji on the northeast side of the Han Dynasty simultaneously used their missions to manipulate events, further lowering the limits of the war.

Their actions were almost equivalent to Lü Meng's crossing of the Yangtze River in disguise at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, making it a first in the history of warfare.

After Da Wu and Yelü Abaoji, the missions sent to various places afterward were in dire straits. Whenever they went on a mission, the level of guarding they received was almost comparable to that of guarding prisoners.