Chapter 126: Sooner or Later, I'll Kill You

“Rest assured, the Empress will not kill me, at least not for now.”

Having said that, Wu Ning no longer wished to dwell on the matter. “Where were we?”

Taiping thought for a moment. “We finished encouraging the maritime merchants.”

“Next is... the approach to foreign trade: tightening control in the east while relaxing it in the west.”

“Why is that?” Taiping looked puzzled. “Tighten in the east and loosen in the west? Does this mean the maritime tributary trade is strictly regulated and heavily taxed, while merchants coming overland from the Western Regions are treated more leniently?”

Wu Ning nodded. “Exactly.”

“But wouldn’t that reduce the profits of the maritime tributary merchants, forcing them to come overland to Tang? Wouldn’t that decrease the dynasty’s tax revenue?”

“On the surface, it might seem so.” Wu Ning pulled out key points from the memorial and explained.

“In reality, due to geographic reasons, some foreign merchants have no choice but to come by sea.”

“The lenient policy in the Western Regions simply forces those who can also come overland to trade via the Silk Road.”

“Moreover, once Tang’s maritime merchants dominate the sea routes, the overland route becomes the best choice for foreign merchants to enter Tang.”

“I don’t understand.” Taiping lazily leaned against the wall. “If merchants from the Western Regions were also heavily taxed, wouldn’t Tang’s revenue be even greater? Why go through all this trouble?”

“If you don’t understand, I can teach you.” Wu Ning was patient, pointing to the paper. “Which do you think is more important: a little extra tax revenue, or stability in the Western Regions?”

“Oh?”

Taiping’s interest was piqued. “Stability seems more important.”

“Exactly!”

Making the Silk Road flourish, binding the Western Regions more closely to Tang through commerce—that is what matters most to the Tang Dynasty.

...

——————————

“Tighten in the east, loosen in the west???”

Far away, Lady Wu also pondered this phrase.

She seemed to grasp Wu Ning’s intention but couldn’t quite pinpoint it, so she quickly pulled out the next sheet from the chest.

“...”

Lady Wu was bewildered. “What kind of trickery is this???”

The paper was covered with tangled ink lines she couldn’t understand.

Well, it was a graph.

Wu Ning took the passing years as the x-axis, and the amount of silver currency as the y-axis.

Then, he charted the trade volumes between Tang and the Western Regions over nearly sixty years, along with the losses of goods during border conflicts and raids, creating a dual curve graph.

This was the first time Lady Wu had seen such a thing; she couldn’t grasp it immediately.

...

But after Wu Ning’s detailed explanation and her own exceptional insight, Lady Wu soon discerned the pattern.

She noticed that whenever the trade line peaked, the line representing border conflicts and barbarian raids dipped low.

During the flourishing years of the late Zhenguan era, the Silk Road thrived and the border was almost free of warfare.

Conversely, when disasters struck the Western Regions or trade diminished, the two lines inverted.

“This is interesting!”

Lady Wu mused. “Is he implying that war causes trade to decline?”

Yet Wu Ning’s graph conveyed more than that.

He meant these two lines complement each other. War certainly obstructs trade, but trade can also reduce war.

Now Lady Wu began to understand Wu Ning’s “tighten in the east, loosen in the west” policy.

In plain terms, survival is paramount. If they can survive, who would willingly oppose the mighty Tang Dynasty?

This is not like the Five Barbarians invading China, nor is it like the later Song Dynasty, where anyone could come and go as they pleased.

Would Tang tolerate such disorder?

They would chase you to your grandmother’s house and even dig up your ancestral graves.

Wu Ning aimed to show Empress Wu that if trade with the Western Regions remained prosperous and mutually beneficial, sustaining livelihoods, the need for warfare in the west would naturally diminish.

And if anyone tried to disrupt this prosperity, the Western Region states would unite against them without Tang’s intervention.

This approach costs far less than chasing enemies to their ancestral homes and desecrating graves.

“Hmm, not bad!”

Empress Wu was quite pleased with this advice. Stabilizing the Western Regions and Tibet would allow Tang to reduce military deployments in the west and shift strategic focus to the Khitan in the north.

For this alone, this suggestion was even more favored than the maritime trade policy.

...

Yet, amid her satisfaction, Empress Wu was deeply shaken by Wu Ning’s talent. Could she really let such a prodigy grow unchecked among the common people?

She looked at the chest, of which she had only seen a fraction.

Without it, she could continue as she had for the past decade—keeping a close watch but taking no direct action. Because this nephew and uncle held extraordinary significance for her, even great utility.

But now...

“Jiulang, Jiulang! How can I keep you?”

Empress Wu had made up her mind: once she finished reading the memorial, even if she did not kill Wu Ning, she would have him secretly transported to the Eastern Capital for confinement and supervision.

...

“Your Majesty!”

A soft call beside her pulled Empress Wu from her reverie. Looking up, she saw Shangguan Wan’er standing quietly by her side.

“Your Majesty, it’s late. Please rest.”

Empress Wu realized night had fallen. She rubbed her aching brow.

“Tomorrow, Wan’er, go to Fangzhou with a secret letter. Have Wu Jiulang closely guarded and secretly sent back to the capital after Taiping returns.”

“...”

Shangguan Wan’er was taken aback and blurted, “Your Majesty is finally...”

“Finally what?” Empress Wu retorted. “Are you saying I’m finally done being soft-hearted, done indulging maternal compassion?”

“Wan’er would never dare!”

“Phew.” Lady Wu exhaled deeply and picked up another memorial from the chest, leaning in to read. “Wan’er is still immature and cannot understand. It’s not kindness, but necessity.”

She looked up slightly. “If it weren’t for extreme circumstances, I would still keep that nephew and uncle until the truth is fully revealed!”

“Your Majesty!” Shangguan Wan’er gathered the scattered memorials. “Are you still haunted by the old case?”

“Not haunted—I must never forget!”

“Alas...” Wan’er lowered her gaze to the memorial. “But now we must take this child down; he will never see the day the truth comes to light.”

...

——————————

Empress Wu spent seven full days studying a single memorial.

During those seven days, she neither attended court nor received foreign envoys. Aside from eating and sleeping, she held that chest and meticulously studied its contents.

The deeper she read, the more shocked Lady Wu became. If the facts were not right before her eyes, she would never have believed such insights could come from a sixteen-year-old boy.

Nor could she believe that Helan Minzhi had taught Wu Ning so fearsomely well.

The further she read, the more she felt Wu Ning could not be spared; she even entertained thoughts of killing him.

Finally, reaching the last page, Empress Wu froze in confusion, then suddenly panicked, then flew into a rage.

“Where is Shangguan Wan’er!? Dispatch to Fangzhou—keep that bastard alive for now!!!”

The final command, “keep him alive for now,” was shouted with a trembling voice.

Through gritted teeth, fierce and terrifying:

“Wu Ning...

I will kill you sooner or later!!”

...