For this reason, Princess Wuyou also had a dispute with King Qiuci.
As soon as King Qiuci discussed his idea with Princess Wuyou, he was immediately opposed by Princess Wuyou:
"Father, the Huns have turned against each other several times and have broken their promises. How can we trust him on this trip?"
"What's more, the Qin army could repel 100,000 Xiongnu with only 10,000 troops."
"Now that Kucha is attacking from both sides, what are the chances of winning?"
"Even if we defeat the Qin army, won't we continue to pay tribute to the Xiongnu every year as before?"
King Qiuci replied:
"The Xiongnu can't be trusted, so how can the Qin army be trusted?"
"He first instigated the military and civilians to cause rebellion and then refused to marry. It was clearly with ulterior motives."
King Qiuci said this because he still had not made much determination on reform.
Although the results of the reform sound good, many people are content with the status quo and are afraid of change.
For example, King Qiuci is living a very comfortable life now. He has the title of the largest country in the Western Region. The nobles are stationed in several cities, but they still respect King Qiuci. Although the Huns have to pay tribute... they only lose some property.
What's wrong with living like this all your life?
The appearance of the Qin army disrupted this rhythm and gave King Qiuci a sense of crisis.
Although the blueprint drawn by Shen Bing is good, who knows whether the reform will be successful!
Who knows whether the countries can successfully form an alliance!
Who knows whether the coalition forces can defeat the Huns!
As long as there is a problem in one link, King Qiuci may be killed.
King Qiuci continued:
"As for whether the Qin army can be defeated..."
"I think the Huns envoy is right."
"The Qin army intends to form an alliance with us, and we only need to take advantage of the alliance to suddenly launch an attack..."
"The Qin army only numbered 20,000, so how could it withstand the attacks from the Xiongnu and the Western Region armies?"
Princess Wuyou was secretly shocked.
What King Qiuci said was that if they formed an alliance with the Qin army on the surface and integrated their troops into one, but then suddenly turned against the Qin army when they sent troops to the grasslands to conquer the Huns... the Qin army would indeed be unlucky.
In fact, this is just Princess Wuyou's idea.
The Xiongnu's idea is even more vicious... If the Western Regions form an alliance with the Qin army, it will not be difficult for the Western Regions soldiers to sneak into Gushi, Loulan and other oases.
At that time, all it takes is to poison the water sources in these oases, and the Qin army will face the dilemma of being surrounded by the main force in the grassland and unable to supply the base areas in the rear.
These were the strategies set by Maodun Shanyu.
Maodun Shanyu was not worried that it would not succeed. He was only worried that Qiuci would not cooperate.
So they secretly sent a group of envoys disguised as herdsmen from the Western Regions to bring their property to Kucha to lobby, and promised to help Kucha unify the Western Regions once the Qin army was successfully driven out of the Western Regions.
King Qiuci thought about it:
He helped the Qin army defeat the Xiongnu, but the Qin army stayed in the Western Regions and refused to leave.
And to help the Xiongnu defeat the Qin army... The Xiongnu who are accustomed to living on the grasslands will eventually go back. When the time comes, Qiuci will dominate the Western Regions, why not?
Kucha’s analysis in this regard is quite reasonable.
Because desert areas like the Western Regions could not accommodate non-productive people like the Xiongnu, they could only come every year to ask for some property and livestock but could not live in the Western Regions for a long time.
But the Qin army was different.
The Qin army will not only farm here, but also build water and use advanced technology to expand the area of cultivated land... This means that the Qin army will stay in the Western Regions for a long time and even live for generations to come.
When will Qiuci come into its own?
Therefore, hard work in farming has its own benefits and is a good virtue, but sometimes it is frowned upon by others.
Princess Wuyou was very conflicted at this time.
Her conflict is not about which side she leans on, but whether she should inform King Qiuci of Shen Bing's true identity.
Princess Wuyou knew that a large part of the reason why her father favored the Xiongnu was because he was rejected by the Qin army.
If Shen Bing's true identity is revealed and the reason for rejecting the marriage is explained clearly, will it be possible to bring back King Kucha's wishes?
However……
What if the wishes of King Kucha cannot be brought back?
If the King of Kucha knew Shen Bing's true identity, wouldn't Shen Bing really be unable to leave Kucha?
Only then did Princess Wuyou realize that Shen Bing's caution was necessary.
Princess Wuyou didn't dare to take this risk, so she didn't tell the truth in the end and just argued with reason.
However, King Qiuci could not listen at this time and strictly ordered Princess Qiuci not to have any contact with Shen Bing again.
However, due to the strategic need of "fake alliance", King Qiuci did not do anything to Shen Bing and others. He just hid the matter from the Huns envoys and sent a team of guards to keep an eye on Princess Wuyou.
Although Princess Wuyou was anxious to report the news to Shen Bing, she was always accompanied by several guards. Once she returned to the palace, the guards guarded every exit and did not give her a chance.
So Princess Wuyou came up with a way: teach a trusted maid two simple Chinese words, and let her issue a warning to Shen Bing.
Shen Bing immediately found Yu and whispered:
"The Xiongnu envoys are already in Kucha, and the King of Kucha seems to be interested in forming an alliance with the Xiongnu."
Chu couldn't help being surprised and said:
"General, if you come here like this, you won't be able to stay here for a long time."
"General, please follow me out of the city now!"
Shen Bing knew what he meant.
There is a saying that "if you keep the green mountains, you will not be afraid of not having firewood." As long as Shen Bing, the Qin general, can successfully return to Gushi, then Qiuci will not be a problem. Whether to fight or make peace will be decided by Shen Bing.
But Shen Bing asked back:
"Do you think we can still leave the city?"
Hu replied:
"Before, we sent six people."
"If they can get out of the city, it shouldn't be a problem for us."
Shen Bing shook his head and said:
"That's because those six people went out of the city to deliver messages."
"If I rush out of the city right now...I'm afraid King Qiuci will realize what I know."
"Not only will we not be able to leave, but we will also force King Qiuci to kill him."
When he thought about it, he felt it made sense, so he nodded and said:
"In this case, we have no choice but to sneak out of the city at night."
Shen Bing shook his head and said:
"I'm afraid that we have been monitored by King Qiuci. It's not that easy to escape from the city."
Chu asked quickly:
"What should we do?"
Shen Bing felt a little regretful.
If I had known this, I should have called in the army when the messenger left the city.
When the troops came to the city, King Qiuci had no choice but to release them.
However, Shen Bing only said that with the help of Princess Wuyou, he would be able to leave the city soon. He did not expect that things would take a turn for the worse and suddenly deteriorate to such an extent. Now he is in a dilemma.
The sky quickly darkened.
Just when Shen Bing and Chu were in a dilemma in the wooden building and did not dare to act rashly, another maid came in with a jug of wine.
She put down the wine bottle and whispered:
"Why haven't you left yet?"
Shen Bing was shocked that it was Princess Wuyou's voice.
It turned out that Princess Wuyou knew that Shen Bing and his party had not left yet, so in a hurry, she changed clothes with her maid and came alone.
Women in the Western Regions always covered their faces with gauze, so the guards didn't notice.