Ranghou Wei Ran's mind was not on the plank road, but on whether and how to trade the three cities of Jidong occupied by Zhao Congqi.
Zhao asked Qin to give up the three cities of Taiyuan. This deal was no small matter. Lin, Lishi and Qi were all outposts obtained by Qin in Zhao. It took a lot of effort to attack them in the first place; while Liao, She and Linglu were mainly in The financial aspect is more important; one has greater current profits and the other has greater long-term benefits. It is difficult to decide how to weigh the balance between them. In terms of the difficulty of attack and defense, if Lin, Lishi and Qi are lost, if they want to recapture them, although they must go through careful planning and mobilize powerful troops, there is a possibility of capturing them; while Liao, She and Linglu are under normal circumstances , there is no possibility of capture; since the three cities of Taiyuan pose a huge threat to Zhao, and Zhao's backlash is also huge, to defend Lin, Lishi and Qi, we must rely on the protection of Qin, and it is difficult for the three cities to protect themselves only by their own strength; However, Liao, She and Linglu pose little threat to Zhao. Correspondingly, the three cities can protect themselves and even provide protection for Tao, Gang and Shou.
Now the question turns to how to evaluate the strategic status of Taiyuan and Tao.
Between the Luliang Mountains, the Huoshan Mountains and the Taihang Mountains is a plain alluvial by the Fen River; in the middle, the mountains on both sides are close to each other, forming a mountain canyon, which naturally divides the plain into two parts. The upper reaches is Taiyuan, and the lower reaches are collectively called Hedong. Unlike the low and flat mountains in the Hedong section of Luliang Mountain, the mountains around Taiyuan are relatively steep. The Lishi River Valley flowing out from Lishi has become an important passage from the west through Luliang Mountain into Taiyuan. Lishi and the Lin next to it are the most important parts of Taiyuan. of Simon.
The Qin army's capture of Lin and Lishi ten years ago was actually related to Wei Ran. When the five countries jointly attacked Qi, Wei was closest to Qi and Song, and most of the Song areas were occupied by Wei. Qin and Wei had conflicts, so Qin then joined forces with Han and returned to prepare to attack Daliang. After receiving the news, Wei Prime Minister Tian Wen persuaded Zhao and Yan to mobilize 200,000 coalition troops to rescue him. At that time, Wei Ran was the commander-in-chief of the Qin army. He led a division that was exhausted from long battles. Naturally, it was no match for the new Yan and Zhao coalition forces and was forced to retreat. But when they arrived at Lincheng, the Allied forces of South Korea suddenly turned against each other, and Wei Ran fell into a dilemma of being attacked on three sides. In order to force Zhao to retreat, Bai Qi led his troops to attack Zhao and attacked the two cities of Lin and Lishi. At the same time, Qin sent envoys to sue for peace and gave away all the land they had gained. Using both hard and soft tactics, Yan and Zhao were able to get the two families to stop their troops; and one of the conditions for the withdrawal was that the coach Wei Ran could not return home. Therefore, Qin dismissed Wei Ran from the post of Qin Prime Minister and sent him to Zhao. Although the State of Zhao did not embarrass him and even worshiped him as prime minister, Wei Ran felt deeply ashamed!
In order to save Wei Ran, Bai Qi captured Zi in the second year and Qi in the third year. As a result, Bai Qi was promoted to the rank of Daliang. The King of Qin lost no time in suing for peace with Zhao and initiated the Mianchi Meeting. Only then did Wei Ran return to the country and his position was immediately restored.
But this battle has a strong utilitarian nature. It can be said that it is entirely fought to rescue Wei Ran. After Wei Ran came back, only three of the six cities he originally occupied were left. These three are still struggling to support themselves under Zhao's strong pressure. For ten years, these three cities were like a thorn in Wei Ran's heart. And now to give up these three cities has once again stirred up the thorn that has been silent for many years.
Wei Ran kept reminding himself not to be disturbed by emotions. He sat on the table, closed his eyes slightly, and breathed in.
The situation is not urgent. After coming out of Ganquan Palace, this matter seemed to have passed. Taoyi's officials were asked to stay in Xianyang for a few days to wait for the results of the deliberations and evaluate their merits. In the past few days of court meetings, only Tao Yi's achievements after his victory were discussed. Most of the ministers believed that it was not enough to be promoted to Zuo Shuchang, so Zao could only lead Tao Shou as a guest minister. The exchange of cities was only communicated to a small range of officials at the monarch level. Even Zuo Geng and Zhong Geng did not hear about it. The main reason was that they could not make up their minds. After several days of thinking, everyone agreed that the young master should go to Xianyang in person to talk about the matter, and then act accordingly. Logically speaking, this matter should be over, but Wei Ran just couldn't take his mind away from it.
The slips that Wei Ran needed to deal with were put in a basket and brought in. These have been documents that have been picked up by scribes and must be processed by Wei Ran himself. Those unimportant regular documents have been processed by various Cao scribes themselves. Only a summary has been prepared, written on a few slips, and reported. Just come in.
Wei Ran used a red pen to review the documents. Some of them he could deal with directly, while others needed to be discussed at court and submitted to the King of Qin for approval. He separated them one by one. Then, he took out the document of Hanzhong Shou and wrote very simply: "I heard that the king wants to pass Baoxie, so please use Hanzhong to govern Baoxie, and the king governs Xie. If you understand the middle way, then things can be done half way."
Wei Ran thought that the affairs of Tongbaoxie were handled by Huayang Jun and Wu Anjun, so he forwarded the document to them for reading.
It’s time to handle a basket of paperwork. He packed up his papers, turned off the lights, and without asking his wife or concubines to accompany him, he spread a quilt and pillow on the mat and lay down to sleep. His thoughts returned to the city transactions. There were two voices in his heart. One voice told him to complete this transaction quickly; the other voice reminded him that this was a trap! No one can convince anyone.
At the court meeting the next day, the merits of Tao Yi officials were decided. Tao Cheng and above were promoted to high officials, and Tao Wei had been promoted to two high officials in succession. The current merits were not enough to be evaluated as "Ying", so we will not give it to him for the time being. The promotion of nobility; the euphemisms of the two cities of Gangshou are all promoted to nobility.
At the end of the court, several princes stayed behind to discuss matters. Regarding the matter of Young Master Pong, everyone thought that there was no need to discuss it anymore, so they asked Tao Yi's people to go back and ordered Young Master Pong to go to Xianyang to meet the King of Qin and negotiate again. Wei Ran agreed to issue merit certificates upon his return, and when Tao Yi officials came to the government to receive the certificates, they would report the matter to the two of them.
Then, Wei Ran said casually: "Hanzhong Shouyu sent Hanzhong soldiers to help build the plank road, and he has transferred to the two kings of Huayang and Wu'an."
Mi Rong's eyes lit up and he said, "Who came up with this plan?"
Wei Ran said: "What's this plan?"
Mi Rong said: "This plan works! If Bao and Xie build the plank road together and meet at the middle road, it will cost half the money!"
Wei Ran said: "Is this plan feasible?"
Mi Rong said: "It's feasible!"
Wei Ran looked at Bai Qi again, and Bai Qi said: "Hanzhong has become an inner county. There is no place for troops to use force. If the road is clear, it can be conquered and used for other purposes."
Wei Ran said: "In that case, the two kings will present themselves to the king and discuss it at court the next day. Please send the military talisman!"
Mi Rong said: "Now that the military talisman is issued, who can receive it?"
Wei Ran said: "Tong Baoxie, I have entrusted the guest with a salary. The military talisman should be used to lead it with salary."
Bai Qi said: "Lu is disabled and sick, so how can he lead the army? I ride with Sima Jin, who has been with his guest Qing Lu for a long time, and leads his soldiers. The guest Qing Lai Yan can lead the army in Hanzhong with his military talisman."
Bai Qi was very sure, and the others had no objections, so the matter was settled: Sima Jin personally went to Hanzhong to lead the army to build the Bao Valley Road, which ran opposite to the Xie Valley Road and ran through it in the middle.
Officials from Taoyi were called into the Prime Minister's Mansion, obviously to receive the roster, but secretly to receive instructions from Prime Minister Qin. Without much delay, the two of them left Hangu Pass and reunited the five hundred people in Shaanxi County to return to Taoyi together. This time, the returning pedestrians did not go with them, but a new pedestrian was sent by Dianke Mansion.
Both Mi Rong and Bai Qi circulated the report from Hanzhong's defender and agreed that Hanzhong would send troops to repair the plank road. An envoy was sent that day and ordered Sima Jin to come to Beijing quickly to receive the order. The next day, Mi Rong and Bai Qi submitted Hanzhong Shou's report to the court for discussion. Everyone praised Hanzhong Shou's behavior of knowing the general situation and taking the overall situation into consideration. The King of Qin issued a military talisman and ordered Sima Jin to go to Hanzhong to mobilize troops; during his absence, his position was temporarily replaced by a public official.
Sima Jin entered Xianyang two days later, received the military talisman from Mi Rong and Bai Qi, and headed back to Hanzhong.
After Sima Jin left, the official who took over the position tried his best, but his ability was limited. Maybe he was a good general in charge, but he was not good at building bridges and roads. Zhang Lu had to send Mang Wei to assist him, and he was happy to do it. Leave everything to Mang Wei. Zhang Lu was still coughing and wheezing, running back and forth on the construction site, with Gai Nie following behind. Ge Nie was not happy that Sima Jin was gone. Without Sima Jin's sword at night, one of the great pleasures in life would be gone.
However, the troops heading to Taoyi were left halfway, and the Weiguan guard refused to let them go. The pedestrians went to negotiate and were ordered to go to Daliang to meet the King of Wei directly. A few days later, Tao Cheng accompanied the travelers back to Xianyang and said that the King of Wei believed that such frequent exchanges of soldiers were too threatening to Wei, and that he had to declare customs in advance and obtain permission before passing. Xing's argument was that Ranghou had requested the King of Wei at the beginning, and Wei would not interfere with the communication between Qin and Taoyi. After several negotiations, the two sides reached a compromise, and the King of Qin sent a young master as a hostage before they could safely let them pass.
This is when someone gives me a pillow just when I'm about to fall asleep. The King of Qin immediately agreed and asked the prince to serve as a hostage, with as many as a hundred people accompanying him. King Wei knew that he had miscalculated, but he had no choice but to arrange a post for the prince in Daliang and wait carefully. The five hundred people from Taoyi stayed for nearly a month before continuing their journey to Taoyi.
When Prince Pong entered Xianyang, it was already early summer. After arriving at the Yellow River from Jishui, he actually did not return to Handan. He only delayed on the road for a few days and then came west along the Yellow River. Abandoned the boat and landed in Luoyang, then entered Xianyang via Hangu Pass. From the time he arrived in Luoyang, Prince Yong sent someone to go one day early every day to report his itinerary. He took his time one step at a time and arrived in Xianyang in a leisurely manner.
After settling down in Guanyi, Dianke came to visit. After checking the festival talisman, the identity of Young Master Xi was confirmed again. When the situation was reported to Wei Ran, Wei Ran was inexplicably excited and made an appointment with Young Master Pong the next day.
The negotiations went extremely smoothly! Prince Pong said that in order to avoid the misunderstanding of King Qin, he was willing to stay in Qin as a pledge until all transactions were completed.
It seemed like all questions were answered and all worries were eliminated. The performance of Prince Pong showed everyone that King Zhao was sincere about this transaction and there was no conspiracy in it.
