Shen Wuyu was entrusted by Li Ran to come to Qianxi to admonish the king of Chu.
But when he opened his mouth, he mentioned Zheng Zhuanggong.
This made King Chu very puzzled.
He looked at Shen Wuyu quietly, thinking about what he wanted to say next?
And Shen Wuyu seemed to have seen what King Chu was thinking, and immediately replied slowly:
"I think back then, Duke Zhuang of Zheng built a city in Querchi to accommodate his son Yuan, but in the end, Duke Zhao could not be safely established as king."
"And Duke Huan of Qi built a city in the valley and let Guan Zhong's family garrison it, and Qi is still benefiting from this."
"I heard that 'the five elements are not with you, and the five details are not in the court'. Those who are close to the king cannot be left outside. And those who live around the king cannot be allowed to stay with him all the time."
"Now that the king has allowed the fourth prince to go outside, while keeping Li Ziming by his side, the king may have to be a little more vigilant!"
Shen Wuyu's words were actually for the sake of King Chu on the one hand, and for Li Ran on the other hand.
The so-called "five big ones are not on the side" refers to important figures in a country. Generally, it is best not to put them in the border areas. On the contrary, the so-called "five details are not in the court" refers to the people around the king who should not always be kept by his side.
The implication is that as Prince Qiji is a big shot, he should not be allowed to serve as a high-ranking official outside, but Li Ran has been around the king for a long time, so he should be allowed to leave.
However, King Chu was not a fool after all. How is it possible that what you say is what it is?
As soon as he heard this, he thought to himself that Shen Wuyu had followed Li Ran and was very good at talking. He also brought more and more private goods.
So, he just smiled and said disapprovingly:
"Haha, is this what Li Ran asked you to say?"
Shen Wuyu did not deny it:
"I have met Li Ran, but these words are indeed my heartfelt words."
As mentioned before, in Shen Wuyu's view, if Li Ran truly stayed in Chu State, it would indeed be helpful to Chu State.
But the problem is that Li Ran will not always stay in Chu State.
Even Li Ran himself was unwilling to stay in Chu State for any longer.
As the saying goes, a strong person is not sweet, and if you are not in love or agree with each other, you will only end up turning against each other in the end.
And this is the meaning of "the five details are not in the court". As the saying goes, "No one is good for a hundred days." In many cases, just because the relationship is too familiar, it will only become more and more opposite in the end.
Therefore, instead of letting Li Ran leave with dissatisfaction with Chu State at that time, it is better to let Li Ran leave easily.
At least everyone can leave a thought and maintain Li Ran's good impression of Chu State, right? If Chu is really in trouble in the future, Li Ran might help him, right?
Therefore, what Shen Wuyu said just now was indeed what he said from the bottom of his heart.
He really didn't want Li Ran to stay in Chu State.
In addition to the reason mentioned above, there is actually another reason.
That's because Shen Wuyu knew very well that the reason why the current King of Chu dared to carry out such a large-scale conquest and be so militarily violent. In his opinion, it wasn't just because of Li Ran's existence?
It was because King Chu had this trump card that he had full confidence. That's why he developed the habit of "asking Li Ran when he is in doubt".
In addition, although Li Ran did not take many shots, he was always able to turn the tide at critical moments, making Chu's hegemony flourish.
The King of Chu has indeed won Ma.
Shen Wuyu was extremely unwilling to see the King of Chu like this, and he was also extremely unwilling to see that the Chu Kingdom would suddenly decline one day under such a rule.
Because he knew that this false victory would only be short-lived after all. Once the people could bear more than they could bear, civil strife would break out.
By then, can King Chu still count on Li Ran to wipe his ass?
As the saying goes, good advice hurts the ears but helps the deeds. Shen Wuyu still maintained his usual style, specializing in picking up such unpleasant words to advise the King of Chu.
The King of Chu may have understood, but he didn't say anything. He just smiled lightly and left it alone.
After a while, he asked Shen Wuyu about building the city.
Rebuilding the city wall after sieging the city seems to have become a common practice after the war in this era.
After Chu State recaptured Qunshu, he ordered people to renovate Shujiu's city wall.
He captured Zhongli, moved the capital to Qianxi, and directly built a new capital.
After he captured Lai State without any blood, he also ordered people to build a new city.
It can be seen that Chu King Xiong Wei wants to transfer the strategic center of Chu State to the east without reservation.
Therefore, there is no doubt that now that Chen and Cai have been merged into the Chu State, how can he do nothing? So, he immediately asked Shen Wuyu:
"I think that the reason why our country of Chu could not win over all the countries in the Central Plains before, and the reason why these countries only served Jin, was because Jin was close to them and we were too far away from them."
"So, now we, Chu, have built three city walls of the old country, and our chariots have reached a thousand vehicles. Coupled with the majestic military strength of our Jingchu, the princes will probably come to join us, right?"
Cities, chariots, troops.
This is the most direct and simple standard to measure a country's strength.
Generally speaking, the King of Chu still believed that Chu State still had a strength gap with Jin State to a certain extent, and his purpose of doing this was to make up for these gaps so that all the countries in the Central Plains could see how powerful Chu State was. Then they had to submit to their Chu country.
However, after hearing these words, Shen Wuyu shook his head slightly and replied helplessly:
"But Your Majesty, if a country builds big cities, there is actually no benefit..."
“In the past, the State of Zheng had Jingyi and Quyi, the State of Wei had Puyi and Qiyi, the State of Song had Xiaoyi and Mengyi, the State of Lu had Bianyi and Feiyi, the State of Qi had Quqiu, the State of Jin had Quwo, and the State of Qin had Zheng Yi, Yayi."
"Gongshu Duan created trouble for Duke Zhuang of Zheng because of the capital city, and Duke Zhuang of Zheng could hardly win; the people of Puyi and Qiyi of Wei State expelled Duke Xiang of Wei, and the people of Xiaoyi and Mengyi of Song State also killed Duke Zhao of Song; Lu The Ji family's Bianyi and Feiyi weakened the power of Lu Jun. The people of Qi's Quqiu killed Gongsun Wuwu; Duke Huan and Duke Jin of Qin, these things are recorded in the annals of various vassal states. These are all examples of the disadvantages of building a big city."
Indeed, as far as the countries in the Central Plains are concerned, the size of the city directly determines the strength of the vassals.
If the city is too big and the power of the fiefdom is too strong, it will naturally threaten the authority of the king.
"Moreover, the relationship between the king and the city is like the human body. Humans have heads and limbs, right down to fingers, hair, and blood vessels. Only the big ones can mobilize the small ones. Only in this way can you move without fatigue. .”
"There are ten days in the sky, and people are divided into ten grades. The so-called distinction between kings and ministers, and the establishment of large cities and border towns are all systems that have been handed down since ancient times."
"The former king was afraid that some people would not follow it, so he used systems to regulate it, uniforms to highlight it, etiquette to promote it, names to distinguish it, words to record it, and language to express it. If these are lost If there are no rules, it will be the bane of changing one’s status.”
"The border cities are like the tail of a country. Using the analogy of cows and horses, when the summer heat comes, more gadflies will gather. But if the tail is too big to swing, then the tails of cows and horses will not be able to drive away the gadflies. Country The same is true. The three cities built today were originally designed to defend against foreign enemies, but if they are too big, they will become like 'the tail is too big to fall off' in the future!"
(End of chapter)
