Chapter 1557 – Cutting Off Nie Liang and Attacking Yang Tao, Sword Aimed at the World (Ninety-Five)
Feng Zhen intended to use the Qiu Clan to stab from behind, naturally not wanting to show his face in case he revealed any flaws.
He simply sent someone to hint at the higher-ups to deliberately make things difficult, stirring up resentment in the other party.
The Qiu Clan was originally fence-sitters. Seeing that Yang Tao was gaining more and more chances of victory while they were constantly being suppressed, their mindset immediately became unbalanced.
“If I had known it would be like this, why did I bother to support Liu Xi in the first place?” Old Master Qiu’s son, Qiu Meng, was a late-born favorite, which fostered his proud character – he couldn’t take even the slightest grievance. Having been the one most heavily criticized, it was clear what heavy resentment he bore. “If only I had stayed under Yang Tao’s banner, I could at least have borrowed Yan Lin’s favorable wind; who knows—”
Before he could finish speaking, he received a fierce glare from Old Master Qiu, frightening him into swallowing his words.
“Once the bow is drawn, there’s no going back. What good does saying this do now?”
Old Master Qiu’s hair was completely white, his appearance old and frail, yet his skin glowed with health. One look, and it was clear this elder lived quite a refined life.
“Father, we should think of a way.” Qiu Meng quickly said, “Liu Xi can’t possibly defeat Yang Tao. With the stalemate, they’ll have to retreat. Yang Tao will have a chance to catch his breath; after a few years of recovery, things will surely take a different turn. Moreover, Liu Xi’s camp is filled with low-status commoners who can’t hope for their sons to rise; they’ll just keep suppressing their sons. No one can bear this kind of grievance!”
Old Master Qiu had also been troubled by this lately, and his son’s words made him even more distressed.
Jiang Pengji’s heavy reliance on commoners was squeezing the cake that should belong to the gentry, which indeed wasn’t pleasing at all.
The gentry had always believed themselves superior to commoners; having the two coexist on equal footing was a great humiliation to them, not to mention being at a disadvantage.
Old Master Qiu grumbled, “So what do you suggest? Should we switch back to Yang Tao? That’s courting death!”
They had just betrayed Yang Tao and raced into the enemy’s embrace. If they tried to go back when things turned sour, they wouldn’t be able to please either side.
Just look at the Zhao Clan; they were clearly used by others, ultimately meeting with their entire clan’s destruction.
Old Master Qiu simply couldn’t afford to take that kind of risk.
Qiu Meng said, “Why not? If we accomplish something under Yang Tao, we not only can break away from Liu Xi but also gain Yang Tao’s favor.”
Old Master Qiu countered, “Accomplish what?”
Qiu Meng glanced around, ensuring the servants were far enough away before he hesitantly whispered to his father.
As Old Master Qiu listened, his heart sank further, unable to help but exclaim, “Are you taking the whole clan to the grave with you?”
“Father, without entering the tiger’s den, how can we capture the tiger cub? Staying here, who knows when we will get our chance!” Qiu Meng, greedy for merit and willing to take risks, was completely caught up in Feng Zhen’s scheme. He said, “A little embellishment won’t hold a candle to timely assistance. As long as we help Yang Tao drive away Liu Xi, isn’t that better than wasting our time in Liu Xi’s camp?”
Old Master Qiu was indecisive.
Compared to his younger son’s single-minded pursuit of profit, he had more to consider.
They were a gentry family born and bred in Zhangzhou, naturally belonging to Yang Tao’s camp, yet they had instead sided with Jiang Pengji.
For Yang Tao, that was betrayal. Historically, what lord would tolerate a fence-sitter?
Old Master Qiu had this worry well considered, and Qiu Meng had thought it through, too.
He said, “What’s there to worry? As long as we obtain something that can impress Yang Tao, helping him defeat Liu Xi, we can claim our previous allegiance to Liu Xi was merely a ploy to gain her trust for a better operation. No matter how much Yang Tao doubts us, he wouldn’t sever the bridge after crossing it.”
“That won’t do; Yang Tao and the others won’t easily trust us.”
Old Master Qiu was still torn, so Qiu Meng threw out his ace.
“Father, have you forgotten you have a good grandson? Considering him should sway Yang Tao, isn’t he the most trusted by him?”
The “good grandson” Qiu Meng mentioned was, of course, Yan Lin.
Mentioning this grandson made Old Master Qiu a bit embarrassed.
He had previously shamelessly suggested recognizing his grandson, only to be outright rejected; the boy wouldn’t even meet him.
Old Master Qiu had his pride, and he had endured the humiliation of recognizing a child of a concubine just to have Yan Lin support the maternal family. If not for that, he wouldn’t lower himself to plead with the descendant of a concubine, yet Yan Lin had been even more unyielding.
Old Master Qiu had almost spat blood in anger.
After that, he treated this grandson as if he were dead, weary of mentioning Yan Lin again.
“Why do you bring up that ungrateful little wolf?”
Old Master Qiu was furious.
It took all of Qiu Meng’s eloquence to convince him.
What mattered more, momentary pride or the family’s well-being?
Without a doubt, it was family!
Everything was unfolding exactly as Feng Zhen intended, seamlessly to an unbelievable degree.
Yang Si had no surprise at all, as he had seen through the Qiu father and son. Rather than saying Feng Zhen designed their demise, it was more accurate to say their own ambition pushed them onto a dead-end path. The Qiu Clan was different from the Zhao Clan; the Zhao Clan brought their whole family when they sided with Jiang Pengji, but the Qiu Clan only brought the main members while leaving the old, women, and children behind in the old manor. Thus, it was also easier for Qiu Meng to send messages back.
“What’s this?”
Qian Su said, “Reporting to the Lord, this was thrown over deliberately by someone.”
Yang Tao flipped the letter over and over, reading it several times before saying, “The signature is Qiu Meng. Do you know him?”
Qian Su had also seen the letter and had checked on Qiu Meng beforehand, surprised to find out that the man had already sided with Jiang Pengji.
Yang Tao laughed, “This is getting interesting; he’s flirting with me while being under Liu Xi – what a wobbly position!”
Qian Su said, “Just a profit-seeker’s facade.”
Yang Tao said, “Qiu Meng claims they only pretended to side with Liu Xi. Do you think that’s believable? I certainly don’t buy it.”
Such clumsy tactics; did he really think he could go out without his brain?
Qiu Meng was aware that being so blatant about it wouldn’t win Yang Tao’s trust, so he quickly wrote another letter.
Yang Tao was momentarily dazed by the second letter, questioning, “The Qiu Clan is actually Shaoyang’s maternal family? I’ve never heard of that.”
Qian Su sneered, “Perhaps it’s just a random connection.”
Even so, Yang Tao still sent someone to inquire about Yan Lin, who changed his expression upon seeing the letter and quickly wrote a reply.
As a younger member, Yan Lin couldn’t possibly divulge his elder’s privacy to even Yang Tao, the Lord.
He briefly described his entanglement with the Qiu Clan, keeping many parts vague, and Yang Tao shrewdly didn’t press for details.
Yang Tao then asked Yan Lin, “Is he trustworthy?”
Yan Lin pondered for a long time, analyzing Qiu Meng’s character carefully, saying, “Mostly trustworthy. Qiu Meng is a person driven by profit and ambition. It’s likely he sees the situation unfavorable for Liu Xi now, and since Liu Xi hasn’t promoted him, he’s feeling imbalanced and wants to return.”
Yang Tao saw through it; Qiu Meng wanted to climb to power on the backs of Jiang Pengji and Yan Lin.
“Though there’s some truth to it, we still can’t let our guard down. It’s best if the Lord only trusts him half-heartedly,” Yan Lin was ultimately cautious. Qiu Meng was a small-minded man, and it was wise to remain cautious.
