The chieftain’s tent.
When Maggie Toast said this, everyone present was filled with anger and wanted to go to Li Xiang to ask him clearly, "Are you trying to control us?"
"That's sheer nonsense. In order to maintain this alliance, he has to give his own son away. What kind of logic is that? If that's the case, he can use his son to control all of us. Then who will be the chieftain, us or him?"
Chief Wangbo had a rather hot temper and immediately became restless upon hearing this. His generals were also unhappy. "We are clearly the victors, yet we are sending our sons away. What's the logic behind this?" Although these chieftains were not well educated, they knew that sending their sons away would be like handing someone else a handle on them.
"Wang Bo is right. We can't do this according to his instructions. If we do, all of us will lose our autonomy, and he will be the one who truly calls the shots on this plateau from now on."
The remaining chieftains also expressed their opinions. Except for Chief Maggie and Chief Lasheba, no one else agreed. In desperation, Chief Lasheba had to stand up and take out the picture of Li Xiang. At the same time, he told them what Li Xiang had just said. The chieftains who were bustling about just now have now shut their mouths. Although they are still not convinced in their hearts, they also understand the real situation they are facing.
Although Li Xiang did not threaten them, the meaning of his words was very clear. Either you send your son to me, and we can continue to maintain the current model, or you don’t send your son over. Of course, I won’t say anything, and then the relationship between us will probably be in turmoil. Everyone present knew that if it weren’t for the support of the young master of the Tang Dynasty, perhaps they would have been killed by the court long ago. How could they still sit here and drink now?
"Lasheba, you only have one son. What do you think?"
Chief Ronggong thought for a while and said that Chief Laxueba was quite powerful, but he had only one son. He had many wives, nine in total, but apart from this one son, he had no other sons. If he was willing to send his son over, then others would have no reason to disagree.
"What else can I think? I discussed this with that young master. At the beginning, I disagreed just like you did, but given the current situation, do we still have a choice?"
Chief Laxueba spread his hands and said, the expressions on the other people's faces became even worse, the imperial army was eyeing us covetously not far away, and we were still eating the food shipped from Chang'an.
If we have a falling out with this young master, there may be no carriages coming next month. If there are no carriages coming, it means that we will be out of supplies. Compared with the imperial court, our financial resources are still relatively weak, not to mention that we are fighting against the whole country with only one region, so if this continues for a long time, we may not be able to gain the upper hand.
"Actually, we already know the next steps. As long as we stay within this circle, we can send our sons to each other's official camps. That way, we can take them back sometimes. This is also possible. Why do we have to send our sons to the Tang Dynasty?"
One of the chieftains pointed to the map and said that in his opinion, the necessary strategies were already in place. No matter how the situation developed next, as long as we strictly guarded this circle, the imperial court would have no way to do anything to us.
"Chief Yangjia, what you said is not true. Do you know how much faster Lu Dongzan's brain works than ours? If he had killed us five or six times under the same circumstances, would you have thought of a plan to deal with him if he had changed? Aside from that young master, I have never seen anyone who could defeat Lu Dongzan in my life. Haven't we all suffered at his hands before?"
Chief Maggie, who was sitting in the main seat, also spoke. When he said this, the chieftains around him were all whispering to each other. This was also necessary for a reason. Lu Dongzan put too much pressure on them. It was mainly because after Li Xiang left, Lu Dongzan launched a counterattack against them, beating them to a pulp. With Li Xiang's advice, they could maintain the current status quo, but if not, then in the future...
"Then do we really have to send our son to Liangzhou City?"
Although Chief Ronggong had two sons, one of them was useless and could do nothing except drinking, killing and playing with women. Only his eldest son could inherit the position of chieftain. If he wanted to send someone over, he could only send the eldest son, which was equivalent to sending his lifeline into the hands of someone else.
None of the other chieftains answered, which showed what they were thinking. Although we are extremely unwilling, in order to preserve our ancestral foundation, we have to do what Li Xiang said.
Seeing that no one spoke, Maggie Tusi stood up and asked everyone one by one, and then asked them to cut their fingers and print their fingerprints on the back of the map. This is also a tradition on the plateau. As long as you print this fingerprint, it means that you agree to this matter.
If you regret it later, you will probably have no place to stand on the plateau. No matter whether it is doing business or forming alliances in the future, no one will be with you. People like you are seen as untrustworthy. If you stay with untrustworthy people for a long time, you will probably be cheated by them sooner or later.
When Li Xiang received this reply, he was very satisfied and gave them seven days to prepare. After seven days, Li Xiang would set off with a dozen princes. They would be settled in Liangzhou City. Li Xiang would specially find some great scholars from the inland at that time to teach them some culture so that they could become pawns to rule Tubo in the future.
Everyone knew what Li Xiang was thinking, but there was nothing they could do to stop him. Unless you no longer wanted to cooperate with Li Xiang, you'd have to leave the alliance immediately. If you did, you'd be devoured by the imperial army. Perhaps the chieftain who was your ally yesterday would also take action. So, in this situation, sacrificing a son to preserve your entire family fortune was probably the safest option...