Beijia's "Mediation"

He Lingchuan chimed in, "I noticed the security checks entering Panlong City aren't as strict as they used to be." By security checks, he meant the Three Corpse Worms. "Traffic into and out of the city is too heavy these days, with merchants from various nations coming and going without pause. Guarding against everything as rigorously as before is neither necessary nor possible," Zhong Shengguang said gravely. "Now that we've grown stronger, we must open our gates to trade, accepting the good with the bad." Panlong City had once been a military garrison focused strictly on preventing spies and saboteurs from sneaking in to cause havoc. Now it was a major hub of commerce and trade; how could they expect every outsider to hold pure loyalty toward Panlong City? With more people came conflicting motives and private schemes, and plenty of them harbored no goodwill toward Panlong City. Could they simply bar them all at the gates? Everything had its pros and cons, and Panlong City's growth would inevitably bring drawbacks. Zhong Shengguang could only remind everyone: when you are strong enough, why fear petty scoundrels plotting in the shadows? Thus, General Red had withdrawn the Three Corpse Worms. Consequently, bad actors could slip in and stir up trouble by spreading rumors and driving narratives. Fortunately, narrative warfare had always been Panlong City's forte, and few among the military or common folk harbored divided loyalties. "When that happened, Panlong City issued a proclamation to the entire city: the new king committed treason by usurping the throne, lacked rightful succession in Xiluo, and went so far as to cede sovereignty, collude with foreign enemies, and plunge the state into chaos. We shall never obey the decrees of a puppet king and leave behind eternal regret." He Lingchuan exhaled softly. "Fortunately, the new king's claim is illegitimate. Otherwise, Commander Zhong would have been placed at a disadvantage." "Though the old king was... inept, he was unwilling to surrender sovereignty. Why else would he have been ousted in a coup?" Zhong Shengguang chose his words charitably when evaluating the former sovereign. He Lingchuan could only feel regret. "Beijia has set its sights on Panlong City after all. We won't be able to bide our time in the shadows anymore." With the Emperor's Flowing Dew descending frequently, Panlong City's golden age had lasted barely a few hundred days before it could no longer be concealed. In the past, Beijia had cast occasional glances at the Panlong Wasteland, but it had never taken it seriously. To that vast northern demon kingdom, Panlong City was merely a speck of territory belonging to a weak nation—hardly worthy of its notice. It was only because the celestial gods required mortal nightmare energy that Beijia had pushed Baling and Xianyou to attack, generating an endless supply of nightmare energy through war and covert maneuvers. It did the same elsewhere, never bothering to devote extra attention to Panlong City. Panlong City had also hoped to take advantage of Beijia's inattention to develop rapidly. Yet that plan now seemed on the verge of disruption. The stronger one became, the brighter one shone, and the harder it was to hide. "Wait until we're strong before fighting? When does life ever offer such convenience?" Zhong Shengguang shook his head. "The enemy will never wait until you're ready." Just then, a guard knocked and entered to report: "The dignitaries have assembled in Gange Hall." "You've arrived just in time for the meeting," Zhong Shengguang told He Lingchuan. "Come meet your new colleagues." Gange Hall had changed little, except for the Chinese trumpet vines climbing its outer walls, blooming in riotous profusion. From a distance, they looked like a dusting of orange snow, softening the hall's cold, austere lines. There were three times as many attendees as before. Alongside familiar faces like General Red, General Nan Ke, Zhao Xianhe, and Wen Daolun, He Lingchuan spotted many new ones. Those seated here were all high-ranking figures wielding real authority. In less than a year, Panlong City had expanded rapidly and promoted many officers. Meetings in Gange Hall, once rather sparsely attended, were now packed to capacity. He Lingchuan even saw two demons in attendance. One was an enormous vulture, standing five feet tall with its wings folded and head raised. The other demon representative was a fluffy leopard with black rosettes over a gray coat, stocky in build, its expression stern yet slightly comical. *Is that a snow leopard?* When He Lingchuan entered, it merely glanced at him before going back to licking its paw and washing its face. Zhong Shengguang introduced He Lingchuan to the newcomers, and the atmosphere was quite warm. He Lingchuan's reputation was well established across the Panlong Wasteland; even those who had never met him had heard his name, so everyone greeted him with great enthusiasm. Cutting the pleasantries short, Zhong Shengguang raised his hands and pressed down twice. The hall fell dead silent, awaiting his words. "Over the past few months, we have all been dealing with the trouble to our east." Everyone knew the "east" referred to their motherland, Xiluo. "I have just received word: the Xiluo Kingdom has officially declared allegiance to Beijia as a subject state. The illegitimate new king performed the rites of obeisance before an envoy from Lingxu City." A collective gasp rippled through the hall. General Nan Ke's expression darkened. "Our motherland hasn't become a vassal state of Beijia, has it?" Beijia had twelve vassal states, all of which were demon kingdoms. Was a human kingdom now being added to their ranks? "No, merely a tributary dependency, a subordinate state." Zhong Shengguang left one thing unsaid: *Become a Beijia vassal? How could Xiluo ever qualify?* "Following that, Beijia dispatched three armies to garrison within Xiluo's borders." Faces fell all around. The motherland's new king had publicly declared allegiance to Beijia, while Panlong City—nominally Xiluo's territory—was at odds with Beijia. Their position had become extraordinarily awkward. This was Beijia's deliberate design: squeezing Panlong City from an overwhelming vantage point. The vulture spoke in human tongue: "Beijia is the greatest power of this era. Why fixate on Panlong City?" Zhong Shengguang glanced at He Lingchuan. "As for the cause, it is very likely that Yuheng City's defeat of Fu Shanlie drew Beijia's attention." He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow, taking it as a compliment. Fu Shanlie was a rising general of Beijia who had shone brilliantly during the war in the Yuan Kingdom. Beijia had sent him to stir up trouble in Yuheng City for strategic purposes of its own. He Lingchuan had led Yuheng City in defeating and driving him off, foiling Beijia's calculations. How could Beijia fail to take notice? Failing to achieve their ends covertly, they had chosen to act out in the open. "I've just received a missive from Beijia." Zhong Shengguang produced an official dispatch and laid it on the table. "Seeing that we haven't responded to Xiluo's orders over the past few months, Beijia intends to offer us 'amnesty' on Xiluo's behalf." Stepping in on another's behalf like this sounded like a bad joke, but no one in the room could laugh. General Red casually picked it up to read. After finishing, she passed it down the line until it reached He Lingchuan. Just as Zhong Shengguang had said, it was a letter of "pacification," dictated by the Demon Emperor, recorded by a scribe, and stamped with an imperial seal. The letter stated that Beijia cherished talent and desired peace for the people, and was willing to mediate the rift between Panlong City and its motherland, Xiluo. Xiluo would no longer demand the return of the annexed lands, nor would Zhong Shengguang need to return to the motherland. Furthermore, Beijia would step forward to mediate relations between Baling, Xianyou, and Panlong City to "cultivate neighborly goodwill," while urging major merchant guilds within Beijia to expand trade routes westward and actively engage in commerce with Panlong City. He Lingchuan looked at it and thought, *Well, well. They're certainly piling on the sweeteners, both economically and militarily.* Naturally, Beijia would not do good deeds for nothing. In exchange, the post of Vice Commander of Panlong City was to be appointed and dismissed by the Xiluo Kingdom. As Xiluo territory, the Panlong Wasteland, along with the Panlong Army as a Xiluo military force, would be required to answer the Xiluo Kingdom's orders to suppress rebellions, pacify borders, project force, guard strategic passes, and rush to the defense of the monarch without evasion. "So we're supposed to thank them for their great mercy?" General Nan Ke scoffed repeatedly after reading it, a sentiment shared by the rest of the commanders.