With Qin's plan settled, the three discussed various details and the concessions they could afford. Huang Xie proposed that in order to learn more about the movements of the Qin people, he suggested traveling through Nanyang, Yan, and Ying, and entering Qin from Wuguan and Lantian. The King of Chu said sadly: "My hometown is lush, and I wander alone. Who can walk with me in the long sky!" He burst into tears. Zilan and Huang Xie bowed together and said, "May the king not worry!"
The King of Chu said: "I and Zilan are temporarily staying in Chendi, while Zixie travels through various countries and makes good friends with the princes. The Chu people first cut the blue strands of road to open up the mountains and forests. I have no virtue, and I am willing to follow suit."
Zi Lan said: "Although Chu has lost Yan, Ying, Rang and Deng, it still has Chen, Cai, Wu and Yue, reaching as far as Heji in the north and Xiaoxiang in the south, covering half of the world. King Gou Jian of Yue, after ten years of childbirth and ten years of teaching, he became a great hero. What's more, Chu has almost half of the world!"
The king of Chu said: "It is not as Zilan said. Chen, Cai, Wu and Yue, and Heji and Xiaoxiang did not exist in one dynasty. Fang Qi had the time of Yan, Ying, Rang and Deng, but he failed to defeat the powerful Qin, and the country was ruined and the family was destroyed. As of today." Today, the homeland of our ancestors is in panic. How can we rely on Chen, Cai, Wu, Yue, and Heji, Xiaoxiang? I just think about the ancestral teachings that people's livelihood is not easy, and disasters will never happen; people's livelihood depends on diligence, and diligence will not be lacking. If you do it physically and hard, success or failure will not matter. Give it to heaven."
Zilan and Huang Xie both bowed down and said, "The Lord is worried about the overwork of the ministers, and the Lord is ashamed of the ministers' death! The king is worried about the overwork, and the ministers cannot live anymore!"
The King of Chu said: "If two people are of the same mind, their sharpness will break through metal; if they speak of the same mind, they will stink like orchids. What's more, if my three sons are of the same mind, they will resonate with the great Chu!"
Zi Lan and Huang Xie bowed and said, "It will be as the king ordered!"
The next day, Huang Xie returned to Chencheng alone, while King Chu and Zilan still stayed in Zhangtai. Huang Xie was in a heavy heart. The Chu State needed ten years of peace to recharge its batteries, but the four kingdoms of Jin and Qin obviously would not allow him peace, or the next round of attacks would be after the autumn harvest.
He summoned the wealthy businessmen of Chen County and explained to them that he planned to enter Deng Rang Yan Ying and enter the Qin Dynasty via Wuguan and Lantian. Each family had their own property and cargo, so they could go with him. Immediately, more than ten families expressed their intention to go together, and some said that although the opportunity was rare, they needed to discuss it with their families.
In the following days, Huang Xie went to Xiangcheng, Cai County, and even Huangcheng and other surrounding large counties to summon merchants and asked if there was anyone willing to accompany him to Qin...
Ten days later, a business group consisting of 50 cars and 300 to 400 people set off from Chencheng. Huang Xie transferred thirty retainers and fifty young infantrymen from his own home to serve as guards. Everyone wears light clothes and short shirts, and their luggage, food and water are placed in the car. Each person holds a stick, which is used as a staff when walking, as a soldier when fighting, and as a load when transporting goods.
Fifty rides represent fifty merchants, each with one supervisor and five or six handymen. Although he is a handyman, he is also accustomed to traveling across countries and continents and seeing the world. Each household's business is different, so naturally the personnel dispatched are different, but they are all strong and capable, needless to say.
There were constant commercial exchanges between Chen, Nanyang, and Yanying. Even if Nanyang was divided into Qin, Han, Wei and other countries, business was still done. All countries have a consensus that the two countries are at war and continue to trade. But after Yanying was occupied, Chen's business dealings there fell into uncertainty. The Qin people very much rejected merchants. In the Nanyang cities they occupied, they often drove away the indigenous people and moved in prisoners from Qin. After occupying Yanying, they followed the same pattern. Moreover, in the battle between Yan and Ying, the Chu people suffered heavy casualties, the rivers were blocked, merchants suffered huge losses, and countless merchants were wiped out. This extremely harsh business environment may seem like an opportunity to those who are interested. The old merchants are extinct, and it’s a good time to put an end to them. Therefore, although the trip to Qin was dangerous, there were many people willing to go, and Huang Xie had to limit it to fifty households.
While summoning merchants, Ling Yin Zilan also prepared various talismans for Huang Xie. Huang Xie had whatever he wanted: business licenses, transportation passes, certificates for passing various passes, documents from diplomatic envoys, and the mobilization of troops nearby. , orders from local forces... Huang Xie entrusted all these talismans to his ten most trusted retainers for safekeeping.
The eldest clan of the Chen Kingdom is naturally the Chen clan. Like the Chen clan, the Yao clan and the Yu clan are natives of Chen. It is said that they are all descendants of Shun; the Hu, Tian, Sun and other clans are directly separated from the Chen clan. branch. They are all considered "locals", with deep roots and huge influence. There are more foreign merchants, the traditional wealthy merchants Wang, Lu, Bai, Tao, Duanmu... the emerging merchants Ba, Guo, Zhuo, Cheng, Kong..., crown belt, fishing salt, paint, mulberry, leather, bamboo Wood, even copper and iron, cinnabar, pearls, jade, tortoise shells...all kinds of commodities. If you have enough money and a wild enough road, you can also buy crossbows, shields, spears, and even chariots.
Those who can enter Huang Xie's caravan are naturally the top merchants in Chendi. But they all followed the teachings of Bai Gui, the ancestor of the Shang Dynasty, and ate sparingly, endured sexual desires, exercised modesty in clothing, and shared the joys and sorrows of servants. There is no trace of arrogance when going out.
On this day, it was early summer, the wind was refreshing, and the group set out from Chen to Zhanghuatai. ——Although the two places are not far apart, the circulation of goods still relies on merchants to transport them. Each family unloaded the goods they had prepared and loaded the goods for the next journey in an orderly and precise manner. Huang Xie naturally met secretly with King Chu, Zilan and others to coordinate the subsequent steps.
After leaving Zhanghuatai, the caravan went up the Yinshui River. In early summer, when the hidden water rose, the caravan rented a boat, transported goods, and meandered all the way west. Although it was going upstream, it was much faster than walking. By dusk, the tall Zhaoling was already in sight.
Zhaoling is like an earth platform dropped out of thin air, about ten feet high and dozens of miles around, forming a natural defense fortification. More than three hundred years ago, Cai Guo married his daughter to Xiaobai, the overlord of Qi Huangong at that time. However, the young Cai Ji did not know the importance of it and acted coquettishly and brazenly to Qi Huangong, which angered the already elderly Qi Huangong and divorced Cai Ji. Go back to your parents’ home to think about your mistakes. Unexpectedly, Cai Guo was also angry and remarried Cai Ji and stopped serving her. So Duke Huan of Qi, as the leader of the alliance, led the Eight-Nation Allied Forces southward to attack Cai Guo. Cai Guo was defeated at the first touch. At that time, Cai State had an alliance with Chu State. When Cai State was bullied, he led Chu State to stand up for him. Chu State built Fangcheng, a hundreds of miles long Great Wall along Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain. Duke Huan of Qi was so excited when he saw the city that he had no choice but to make peace with Chu. When Qi and Chu signed an alliance, Zhaoling was the place where the treaty was announced to heaven and earth.
One hundred and fifty years later, the Jin State, which was also the overlord, stood up for its ally Cai State (Cai Hou was under house arrest by the King of Chu for three years) and gathered eighteen princes to attack Chu State. The joint headquarters was located in Zhaoling. . This time, Fangcheng failed to stop the coalition's attack. The coalition defeated the Chu army and marched straight to Nanyang. But then the Chu army's reinforcements came in a steady stream, and the coalition forces did not dare to fight a protracted battle and had to retreat. The unwilling State of Cai contacted the State of Wu in the east. Taking advantage of the Chu army's concentration in Nanyang and the emptiness along the Yangtze River, he launched a long-distance attack and captured the capital of Ying in just ten days. The King of Chu fled. The military sages Wu Zixu and Sun Wu became famous in this battle.
But the state of Chu was like an unbeatable giant. Even though it suffered a big fall and even the country was conquered, it still had its vitality intact. It dusted off the dirt on its body and made a comeback. Not only did it completely regain its lost territory, Zhao Ling, Chen Cai, and Wu Yue all The land is also in the bag.
In the seventeenth year of King Huai's reign, Chu was defeated by the Qin army in Danyang, and 80,000 Chu troops were wiped out. King Huai was unwilling to fail, so he mobilized the country and raised troops to fight Qin in Lantian. Unexpectedly, the Qin army, which was assisting Han and Wei in attacking Qi and Yan, learned that Qin was attacked by the Chu army. They united with the armies of Han and Wei to attack Chu from behind and marched directly to Nanyang. Zhaoling was naturally the first to be attacked. Qin captured. However, since Zhaoling did not border Qin and was not an important place, it was subsequently transferred to Wei. Therefore, Zhaoling is now a city of Wei State.
Zhaoling is located at a strategic location, at the junction of the three kingdoms of Wei, Han and Chu. It also blocks the passage from Nanyang to the Central Plains from the north. Its strategic position is undoubtedly very important. However, Zhaoling has a high terrain and lacks water resources. It can only be used as a national defense outpost and cannot sustain long-term operations.
More than thirty miles west of Zhaoling is the intersection of Yin and Li. It is a geomantic treasure land with flat terrain, abundant water sources and many farmers. Because these farmers were in an area where no one could care about them, they built a city for self-defense and called it Yin Yang. A few months ago, Hu Yang led his troops to garrison in Yinyang, and there are traces of it that can be tested. Zhao Ling seems to have no jurisdiction over Yin Yang, and Yin Yang maintains a kind of superficial respect for Zhao Ling. Both parties live in peace and contentment, each getting what they need.
When Huang Xie's caravan arrived at Zhaoling, it was natural that they first met with Zhaoling Ling, Wei and other officials.
Although merchants value equality, and the number of personnel dispatched by each merchant is similar this time, everyone still knows who has what weight. The person responsible for the introduction was naturally someone who had been doing business in this area for a long time and had a deep friendship with the Zhaoling officials. Everyone selected ten people from the parents of each merchant. As Huang Xie came in, each of them carried a load of gifts.
The talisman Huang Xie took out this time was the "license" for doing business in Chu State. The festival talisman explains that Huang Xie is the grandson of Chu State, and he was ordered by the King of Chu to do business in various countries. "Official merchants" are a common practice in various countries. Kings of each country have their own royal merchants, but they are usually not held by nobles. After all, traveling around doing business, not only sleeping in the open air, but also being a lowly person, is very inconsistent with the status of a young master. But Chu State inherited the tradition of Shang State, and the prince personally engaged in business.
Zhaoling officials inspected the festival symbols and accepted the gifts. They should not be scornful in public or private affairs. Although it was getting late, a banquet was ordered to be held. In Zhaoling City, candles were hung high, cauldrons and Gui were more prosperous, and the guests and hosts were enjoying themselves.
After the banquet, the caravan of nearly 500 people was allowed to enter the hotel outside the city and rest in reverse. In addition to those staying behind on the boats, vehicles, passengers and people have been accommodated. These businessmen are all experienced, generous with their money, and their words and deeds are all about the pain points, which makes the reception staff want to serve them with all their hearts; if they ask about anything, they will tell everything, and they will tell everything they know; and they will do whatever they want. No matter what you ask, what request you make, you will do your best. After a while, the situation around Zhaoling was fully understood!
