Diqin Designer

Chapter 413: Our great country is underestimated by the Qin people?

The hall was in an uproar, and the faces of many princes and ministers were filled with anger and disbelief. If this was not the palace hall, I am afraid that some people would have rushed up to beat the Peacock Nation's envoy:
Tell me, have you been bribed by the Qin people? Why do you say that the Qin State is stronger than us?

You are a running dog of the Qin people, you damned traitor to the Peacock Nation!

Our Peacock Kingdom is number one in the world and the strongest in the world. There can't be a country stronger than our Peacock Kingdom in the world. You must have accepted benefits from the Qin people and speak for them specifically, hoping to confuse our country.

Faced with these doubts, accusations, and even insults, the Peacock Envoy remained unmoved. Before returning home, he already understood what situation he would face after saying that Qin was stronger than them.

Whether it was the king on the throne or the princes and ministers in the palace, they had been immersed in the prosperity and power that Ashoka had brought to the Maurya Kingdom for too long, not knowing that Ashoka's era had passed, and now even that little afterglow would be lost in the night.

Perhaps, they were not unaware that Ashoka's prosperous era was over, but they were unwilling to wake up from their immersion. Not only were they unwilling to wake up, but they also tried desperately to maintain and whitewash this glory.

In the eyes of these people, their Maurya Kingdom is the most civilized and powerful country in the world. No country can ever defeat them. They also do not allow anyone to question or deny the strength of their country or mention that there are countries stronger than them.

The Peacock Nation's envoy fully understands this mentality, because he was also one of them in the past. How could there be a country stronger than our Peacock Nation in this world? It must be a lie!

At the beginning, when the Qin people came to their Maurya Kingdom and told them all the news about Qin, his reaction was the same as that of the princes and ministers today. He did not believe it at all.

How could the Qin State, a barbarian country, have such a long history and so many great sages? It must be a lie deliberately made up by the Qin people in order to prevent them from looking down on them.

But today, the object of doubt changed from the Qin people to himself. He replaced the Qin people who were originally in this hall.

The Peacock Envoy thought to himself: "When the Qin envoys were in this hall, they must have been mocking us. We are obviously not as good as them, but we have no self-awareness and have to pretend to be a great country in front of them. At that time, the Qin people might have looked at us like a group of Peacocks with their butts exposed..."

The key point is that the Qin people at that time had already said some news about Qin, proving that Qin was not weaker than them, but not many people cared and just thought it was a lie made up by the Qin people.

But he is different today from the Qin people in the past. The Qin people came as foreign envoys, and the princes and ministers will be extremely tolerant of the Qin people. Even if the Qin people say that Qin is strong and not weaker than their Maurya Kingdom, the princes and ministers will only laugh it off and think it is a lie.

Isn’t it normal for the Qin people to say that the Qin State is powerful?

This is a manifestation of the Qin people's patriotism!

But as a Peacock Citizen and an official at that, when he said that Qin was stronger than their Peacock Country, the princes and ministers found it difficult to accept it and their reactions were much more intense.

The Qin people were foreign envoys. When he said that Qin was strong, it might be out of love for his own country, and what he said was not necessarily true. But as an official of the Maurya State, he said that Qin was strong, which was a big problem. What he said might very well be true, and this "truth" was what the kings and ministers did not want to hear!
Therefore, these princes and ministers, who were able to tolerate the Qin people in this palace in the past and were even very magnanimous and did not bother with the Qin people, can hardly tolerate him today.

The current Maurya King, Sambharadi, looked at the Maurya envoy. As a king, he was also shocked, but he did not loudly accuse or doubt like the other princes and ministers in the palace.

Hearing the constant accusations and insults coming from his ears, the Maurya King shouted loudly: "Silence!"

After hearing the king's words, everyone in the hall quieted down. But not speaking did not mean that their attitude had changed, as many people still had anger and suspicion on their faces.

King Kongque asked loudly: "You said that Qin is stronger than our country. Can you prove it?"

In his heart, he was also unwilling to accept that Qin was stronger than their Peacock State. Qin could be a powerful country, but it could not be stronger than them. His Peacock State was the strongest country in the world, so no matter how strong Qin was, it could only be below it!
The Peacock Envoy did not directly answer the Peacock King's question, but instead told about their experience in Qin: "After we entered Qin territory, we were discovered by Qin's border troops. They sent a group of troops to escort us to Xianyang. It looked like an escort, but in fact it was to prevent us from causing trouble in Qin territory."

"Among the Qin people who visited our country last time, many were elite soldiers selected from the Qin army. However, because they were on a diplomatic mission, they restrained their edge and did not show their true appearance. However, the Qin army escorting us did not restrain themselves. They moved like the wind, stood still like a mountain, and attacked like fire. They acted when ordered and stopped when forbidden."

"Excuse me for being blunt, but our army is vulnerable to the Qin army. We will definitely lose if we fight against the Qin army!"

As soon as the Peacock Envoy finished saying "they will definitely lose", a Peacock Duke retorted: "You make the Qin army sound so powerful, but have you ever seen them fight? If our elephant soldiers were deployed, would the Qin army be able to win?"

After saying this, the prince of the Maurya Kingdom had an expression that said, "Do you have the guts to say that the Qin army can defeat the elephant soldiers?"

When the other princes heard this, they looked at him approvingly: Good rebuttal, their elephant soldiers are invincible in the world, and no other country's army can resist them. If this guy dares to say that the Qin army can win, he must be lying; if this guy doesn't dare to say that the Qin army can win, it also proves that he is lying. The Qin army can't even defeat their elephant soldiers, so how can they be stronger than them?

But when they saw that the Peacock Envoy did not hesitate, they sighed and replied, "We have indeed seen the Qin army in battle, but I would rather not have seen it."

Recalling the tragic scenes created by the Qin army, the envoy of the Peacock Kingdom still felt fear. Those broken corpses seemed to be right in front of him, and the bloody smell filled his nose.

When he saw the Qin artillery attack, he was stunned at first. When he came to his senses, he vomited violently. As an official of the Peacock Kingdom, how could he have seen such a bloody and cruel scene?

Shaking away the old memories, the Peacock Nation's envoy continued, "Although our elephant soldiers are powerful, they have no chance of winning against the Qin army."

When the envoy of the Maurya Kingdom heard that the Qin army could defeat the elephant soldiers, the prince who refuted him pointed at him and said with a smile: "Listen, he said that the Qin army could defeat the elephant soldiers?"

Some princes and ministers also laughed and asked, "Can the Qin army defeat the elephant soldiers?"

I’m afraid the Qin army has never even seen elephant soldiers!

The laughter of these people made the originally tense atmosphere in the hall a little more relaxed. The Peacock Envoy, who was the target of ridicule, did not laugh. He just said calmly: "The Qin army has a weapon called 'cannon', which is very powerful and even elephant soldiers cannot defeat it."

The prince obviously did not believe that the Qin people had weapons that could defeat the elephant soldiers. He asked in a skeptical tone: "What kind of cannon is it? How can it defeat the elephant soldiers?" The Peacock Kingdom's envoy said seriously: "'Cannon' is a weapon unique to the Qin people. It is different from ordinary swords and arrows. We have only seen it once, but its power is definitely not something that the elephant soldiers can resist."

"After being escorted to Xianyang by the Qin army, we were strictly controlled. If we wanted to go out, we had to get permission from the Qin people. But one day, the Qin people forced us to go out. The Qin people wanted us to follow their army to watch the battle."

A minister of the Peacock Kingdom asked, "The Qin people forced you to watch the war? Who are they going to wage war against?"

Another Peacock King said: "The Qin people brought you to watch the battle, obviously intending to use this battle to show their strength."

The Peacock State envoy sighed, "The Qin people wanted to use this war to show us how strong they are. The Qin people are attacking the Donghu and Yuezhi states. These two states are located to the north of Qin. They are not submissive to Qin and have grievances with Qin's allies, the Xiongnu and Wusun. So the Qin people sent troops to quell them."

"We didn't know how the Qin army would fight against the Donghu and Yuezhi until that day when the Qin army met the Donghu soldiers and the Qin army used artillery..."

The envoy of the Peacock Kingdom recounted the scene he saw of artillery defeating the Donghu army. All the princes and ministers of the Peacock Kingdom in the hall fell silent. If what he said was true, then the power of the artillery was too great and it was really beyond the ability of the elephant soldiers to stop it.

When the cannon fired, anyone who grazed it would be injured, and anyone who was hit would be killed. Both the man and the horse would be shattered. Even if the elephant had thicker skin and flesh than men and horses, it would definitely not be able to withstand the power of the cannon, and at most would die intact.

The Peacock Prince snorted, "Who knows if what you said is true or not? We have never seen the cannon, so we may have made it up."

The Peacock Kingdom's envoy said: "I swear to the gods that if what I said is false, I will die a miserable death!"

He sincerely wanted to bring the true news about the Qin people back to the country, hoping that their Peacock Kingdom would be able to resist the invasion of the Qin people in the future.

Hearing the Peacock Kingdom's envoy swearing to the gods, the princes and ministers in the hall also became serious. In the Peacock Kingdom, a country with a very strong religious atmosphere, one cannot swear to gods casually. Now that this guy dared to swear, it means that what he said is most likely true.

But this is not what they want. They would rather believe that what this guy said is false, that the Qin people’s strength is false, and that their Peacock Kingdom is the strongest in the world!
The Peacock Nation's envoy said, "Because of this cannon, we truly feel that the Qin people are stronger than our country, and we also feel the threat that the Qin people pose to our country. Your Majesty and everyone else, do you know why the Qin people released us after detaining us for such a long time?"

In fact, the Qin people detained them for so long and did not allow them to return home just to let them see the war and the power of the artillery.

A minister of the Peacock Kingdom asked, "You mean that the Qin people deliberately let you go back to let us know how strong they are? What is the purpose of the Qin people?"

The Peacock Envoy said, "The Qin people want us to return to our country and tell the king and the others that they are stronger than our country, so as to confuse our country and make it easier for them to invade our country in the future."

The minister of the Maurya Kingdom asked again: "Will the Qin people invade our country in the future?"

The Peacock Kingdom's envoy Zheng nodded: "Nine times out of ten, given the ferocious nature of the Qin people, they will learn that our country is rich and weaker than them, and they will probably send troops to attack us."

Another Peacock Prince shook his head and said, "What you said seems reasonable, but there is an obvious omission: You said that the Qin people wanted you to return home and tell us about their strength so as to confuse our country and make it easier for them to invade our country in the future. Didn't the Qin people think that after we know about their strength, we will prepare to fight against them?"

These words also attracted the approval of many princes and ministers. They were not stupid. After learning that Qin was powerful and posed a threat to them, they would definitely make preparations in advance to confront Qin.

However, this contradicts what the envoy of the Maurya Kingdom said: the Qin people asked them to return to their country in order to facilitate their future invasion, but when they learned about it, they made preparations, which turned out to be detrimental to the Qin invasion.

The correct approach for the Qin people should have been to prevent them from knowing how strong Qin was, and then suddenly attack them to catch them off guard, rather than to inform the enemy in advance: We are strong, and we may invade you in the future.

If the Qin people were wise, they would not do such a thing, but they did it anyway. Either the Qin people are a bunch of idiots, or this person is lying.

The latter is more likely, but it is also unreasonable. What is the motive of this person to tell such a lie? This lie is not good for the Qin people, nor for the Peacock Kingdom, and it is not pleasing to both sides.

Hearing the prince's question, the Peacock Envoy sighed again and gave an answer that no one in the hall expected: "Because the Qin people believe that even if we know how powerful they are, we can't develop and surpass them!"

When saying this, the envoy of the Peacock Kingdom looked a little lonely. The Qin people looked down on them, but they were really disappointing. The Qin people laughed at them, but they were really funny.

The Qin people determined that they could not unite and could not develop beyond their own, so they let them return home. However, the Qin people's judgment was the fact, which made it difficult for him to refute.

The Qin State was superior to the Maurya State in many aspects, and it was difficult for them to develop beyond the Qin State before the Qin people sent troops to invade them.

After hearing what the Peacock Envoy said, the expressions of the Peacock Princes and Ministers in the hall all turned extremely ugly. The Qin people were looking down on them!

The Peacock State's envoy spoke in a tone full of desolation, and added: "From what we have seen in Qin, Qin is better than our country in many aspects, and Qin is still getting stronger. Even if our country develops vigorously from now on, it will be difficult to catch up with Qin, and the gap between us will only get bigger. The Qin people are sure that we can't surpass them!"

It is really infuriating. They were already angry when they learned that Qin was stronger than them. Now they are even more angry when they hear that Qin people look down on them. When has their Peacock Kingdom been looked down upon like this?

A prince of the Peacock Kingdom said sullenly, "According to what you said, Qin is not only stronger than our country, but also much stronger. I want to know in what aspects Qin is stronger? How can you prove what you said?"

They could not accept that Qin was stronger than them, and they could not accept that Qin looked down on them. They were a big and powerful country, so how could they be looked down upon by a country that was once considered a barbarian and small country?

The envoy of the Maurya Kingdom understood the feelings of these princes and ministers very well, because he had experienced the same thing before. He could not accept it, and was unwilling to accept it, but now he was forced to accept it.

(End of this chapter)