Chapter 2522: Five-Nation Game? No, it's the Seven Kingdoms
Today is different from the past. Due to the popularity of homing pigeons, information transmission is relatively easy, and allied countries basically have embassies.
Just as the State of Shu had an ambassador to Chu in the State of Chu, the State of Qin also had ambassadors to Wei, Song, and Wu in its embassies in the Wei, Song, and Wu states, and the ambassador to Wu was Xiang Tiao, the son of Xiang Lang. .
Despite Xiang Lang's low presence in Da Qin, because he followed Ying Hao early and remained loyal, he was named one of the 108 uncles after the founding of the country.
Xiang Lang, who was originally from a Jingzhou family, now holds a post in Jingzhou, assisting the governor Zhang Jiuling in governing Jingzhou. His status is second only to Zhang Jiuling and Xue Rengui, and on the same level as Biejia Guan Zhong.
Although Xiang Lang was on the same level as Guan Zhong in terms of official position, his title was higher than that of Guan Zhong.
Xiang Langna was an earl, while Guan Zhong was a viscount, not among the 108 uncles who founded the country.
As the son of Xiang Lang, since Xiang Tiao can be appointed as the ambassador of a country, it is enough to prove that he has real talent and learning.
After receiving the letter from Guan Zhong, Xiang Tiao immediately asked to see Sun Jian, the king of Wu, and followed Guan Zhong's instructions to lobby the king of Wu.
After learning that the 50,000 Qin army in Sizhou had set off and that Wei had agreed to send troops to aid Qin, Sun Jian had basically decided to send troops to Jiangxia.
Wu and Chu are fighting to the death. If they send troops at this time, they can not only benefit from Da Qin, but also seize Jiangxia County and weaken Chu.
If you do one thing, you will get three benefits. This will benefit the country of Wu without any harm. Why not do it? Therefore, Wu State must send troops.
Although Sun Jian was eager to send troops to attack Chu immediately, he couldn't make it too obvious.
After dismissing Xiang Tiao, Sun Jian summoned Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Sun Jing, Wu Jing, Sun Wu, Sun Bin, Zhang Zhao, Lu Su, Bu Zhi, Pang Juan, Tian Ji and others overnight to discuss whether to send troops. As a result, the top officials of Soochow all supported sending troops.
Soochow has followed the pace of Qin in the past two years, disarming internally and developing internal affairs, and attacking Japanese countries across the sea.
In addition, Sun Jian also listened to Sun Bin's suggestion and relocated Han, Shanyue, and Japanese people to develop the newly established Yizhou County and alleviate domestic land conflicts.
With all kinds of big moves coming out, Wu's national power can be said to be rising slowly.
According to the current development speed of Soochow, Chu State, which is trapped in the land of Jingjiao, is definitely far behind. If things go on like this, the gap between the two countries will definitely widen.
Therefore, the whole country of Wu was confident in defeating Chu and unifying Jiangnan.
But what the top leaders of Wu State did not expect was that while Wu State was striving for great development, Chu State also did not stand still and found a way to quickly increase its national power.
While the Chu State was developing its internal affairs internally, it also sent out troops to plunder the Annan region.
The Chu State had no intention of occupying Annan. It only used the resources and population of the barbarian forces to develop its own internal affairs. The development speed of the Chu State was not slower than that of Soochow.
So far, except for Ruan and Yue, all the small forces in Annan have been wiped out by Chu.
Ruan and Vietnam have also formed an alliance and are preparing to jointly resist Chu's aggression.
Chu State doesn't care at all about the alliance between the two countries. After all, no matter how much the ants jump around, it's impossible to defeat a few people, so it has no intention of increasing its troops, and the focus of development is still domestic.
Chu's contempt also made Ruan and Yue relieved, and both actively sent envoys to ask for help from Qin, exchanging resources and wealth for Qin's sophisticated equipment to increase the combat effectiveness of their armies.
Soochow obtained resources to develop its own country by sucking blood from the Japanese state, while Chu State sucked blood from Annan.
The two countries have developed in the same way and at similar speeds. Naturally, the gap in national power is not that big. If things continue like this, the two countries will fall into a stalemate.
Wu State was eager to break this balance, so in addition to sucking blood from Japan, Wu State also wanted to suck blood from other channels, so it naturally focused on the Nanyang region, but it was not Annan, but Siam.
Under the threat of the Chu State, the Ruan and Yue countries in Annan, who were frightened, had already surrendered to the Qin Dynasty and became vassal states of the Qin Dynasty.
Qin and Wu were allies, and Wu could not deal with Qin's vassals openly, so it could only shift its target to the Siam region further away.
In addition, Wu State also made contact with Ruan and Yue, and under the guise of helping the two countries fight against Chu, they did business with the two countries and seized part of Qin's arms market in Annan.
Now Wu State has done everything possible to weaken Chu State. Now that Qin and Chu are at war, Wu State has an opportunity to make a profit, and naturally it is impossible to let it go.
After Sun Jian received the support of his ministers, he was completely relieved. He immediately decided to appoint Sun Ce as the chief general, Sun Wu as the deputy general, and command an army of 80,000 to conquer Jiangxia.
Sun Jian made Sun Ce the general, and naturally paved the way for Sun Ce.
As he grew older, Sun Jian increasingly felt that he lacked energy and was no longer able to deal with the heavy government affairs and deal with the increasingly complex situation.
In addition, this year he suffered a serious illness due to an old injury and almost died. This gave Sun Jian the idea of letting his eldest son Sun Ce succeed him while he abdicated early to recuperate.
He knew that the second son Sun Quan was not convinced by his eldest brother Sun Ce, and had always been dishonest. He was secretly developing his own small group in an attempt to replace his eldest brother as the crown prince of Wu.
Although Sun Jian did not want the relationship between father and son to break up, he did not want the two sons to kill each other, so he beat Sun Quan and made it clear that Sun Quan was not allowed to compete with his eldest brother for the position, but the effect was obviously not good.
Sun Quan agreed on the surface and showed that he had never coveted the throne, but secretly he still had his own way.
Sun Jian became increasingly disappointed with Sun Quan, but he had nothing to do. After all, although Sun Quan was ambitious, he really had not done anything, so he could only remind his eldest son indirectly.
Sun Ce thought that his father was telling him that he should treat his brothers well even if his father was gone, so he agreed on the surface, but in his heart he still did not regard Sun Quan as a threat.
Sun Jian's appointment of Sun Ce as the commander-in-chief this time is paving the way for Sun Ce. If he can win, no matter how hard Sun Quan tries, he will not be able to shake Sun Ce's position.
After finalizing the candidate for the coach and the number of troops to send, Sun Jian told Sun Ce not to go to war with the Chu State, but to station at the border between the two countries, in order to mislead the Chu army and the Wu State to only come to contain them.
When Wei's reinforcements arrived in Jingzhou and the Qin and Wei armies officially fought with the Chu army, Wu would have greater confidence in starting a war with Chu.
Sun Jian wanted to be a fisherman, but he didn't know that when he agreed to send troops, he had already been taken advantage of by Guan Zhong.
The King of Wei, Cao Cao, originally did not want to send troops. He did not care about the conditions promised by Da Qin for sending troops. He even wanted Chu to occupy Jingzhou to weaken Da Qin's strength. After all, being a neighbor to Da Qin was too painful.
However, Wei was greatly influenced by Da Qin. Although its reliance on Da Qin has gradually decreased in recent years, it still has not been able to completely get rid of Da Qin's control. In addition, it is nominally an ally of Da Qin, so it cannot refuse Da Qin's influence. Require.
But if Wu State did not send troops, then Wei State would have the same excuse not to send troops, so Cao Cao prepared to contact Sun Jian secretly and agreed that neither country would send troops.
But what Cao Cao didn't expect was that before his message was sent out, he received news that the Wu State had sent troops. Although the war had not yet completely started, this also gave the Wei State no reason not to send troops.
Cao Cao had no choice but to send troops. He ordered his newly recruited generals, clan kinsman Cao Bin as the main general and Zhang Guifang as the deputy general, to lead an army of 30,000 from Yingchuan to northern Jing to support the Qin Dynasty.
Although Cao Cao decided to send troops, he was not prepared to participate completely. He told Cao Bin that sending troops this time was only out of necessity, so he would not fight if he could, but the benefits of this battle must not be missed.
To put it bluntly, they don't want to contribute but still want benefits. But in fact, as long as 30,000 Wei troops enter Jingbei, it will be the biggest benefit to the Qin army.
Nanyang County and Yingchuan County bordered, and Da Qin took the initiative to open the checkpoint to the Wei army, so Cao Bin's 30,000 Wei army quickly entered Nanyang County, and then went south to Zhangling County.
Cao Bin was only prepared to wave the flag and shout, and did not want to start a war with the Chu army.
In this regard, the senior officials in Jingzhou, headed by Xue Rengui and Guan Zhong, knew very well that they did not expect the Wei army to contribute much, as long as they could help Da Qin contain the Chu army.
Xue Rengui ordered Huang Feihu to lead an army of 5,000. After joining Cao Bin's army of 30,000, the army of 35,000 was stationed in Zhangling to contain the Chu army in the Jiangxia direction.
Subsequently, Xue Rengui asked the governor Zhang Jiuling to lead 10,000 troops to defend Xiangyang, while he and Guan Zhong each ordered 15,000 troops to garrison Yicheng and Enguocheng respectively to face Deng Yu's 550,000 Chu troops head-on.
That's right, Xue Rengui not only did not wait for help, but chose to take the initiative, because he knew that if he chose to defend, even if he could defend Xiangyang City, the southern cities would probably fall.
Without the help of Wei and Wu, Xue Rengui might have abandoned several counties to concentrate his efforts on ensuring the safety of Xiangyang.
But since both Wei and Wu have sent troops, Xue Rengui can naturally be bolder and take the initiative.
When King Liu Xiu of Chu learned that Wei and Wu had sent troops to help Qin, he was so angry that he smashed three Qin-made glass bottles.
That's right, even now, various countries have still not been able to crack Da Qin's glass-firing technology.
As for the reason, in addition to Daqin's too strict sealing of technology, there is also the fact that Daqin has not popularized glass technology. The number of workers who master this technology is not too many, which naturally greatly reduces the possibility of technology leakage.
"My lord, both Wei and Wu have sent troops. I'm afraid it will be difficult to succeed in attacking Qin this time." Pang Tong said solemnly.
"I had calculated and thought that Xue Li would recall Han Xin to temporarily expand the army, or transfer troops from Sizhou, but I never thought that Xue Rengui would borrow power from Wei and Wu."
At this point, Liu Xiu's face was full of resentment and he cursed angrily: "Are Sun Jian and Cao Cao fools? I don't know that Da Qin is getting stronger and stronger and is ready to unify in the future. Sooner or later, they will also join them." Have you packed it up?"
Sun Jian and Cao Cao naturally knew this, but under Guan Zhong's manipulations, they simply could not see the hope of Chu State weakening Qin. In this case, it was better to take the opportunity to strengthen themselves than not being able to fight back when the Qin army attacked in the future. .
The current situation of Chu State is very embarrassing. Wei State has sent troops to help Qin State, and Wu State is watching eagerly. If Chu State continues to attack Qin, the outcome is unpredictable, and there is even a risk of being attacked by Wu State.
After some thought, Liu Xiu decided to temporarily recruit 50,000 people just in case.
He didn't dare to recruit more. After all, recuperating and strengthening national strength was the mainstream now.
If it is a large-scale military expansion, it will trigger a chain reaction and stimulate all countries to expand their military forces together.
If it really evolves to the point of extreme military expansion, this will not be a good thing for all countries.
After all, the total population of the Qin Dynasty was 38 million. If the army were to be expanded to the extreme, the six kingdoms of Shu, Chu, Wei, Sui, Song, and Ming combined would still be unable to match the military strength of the Qin Dynasty.
Therefore, the wisest approach is to adhere to the strategy of elite troops and use the country's excess troops to develop national strength.
After much thought, Liu Xiu was unwilling to withdraw his troops, so he ordered Deng Yu's troops to continue marching, but Wei Zhang's troops were ordered to stop their march and confront Huang Feihu and Cao Bin's troops.
As for Sun Ce, who was eyeing Jiangxia, Liu Xiu sent envoys to Wu to explain his interests to him, hoping to persuade the Wu army to retreat. At the same time, he sent an additional 50,000 troops to Jiangxia from Jingnan and went to Jiangxia himself to take charge.
In order to support Liu Xiu and fight against the Qin Dynasty, Liu Xiu really fought hard. Not only did he expand his army before the battle, breaking the rest strategy that the Chu army had insisted on for two years, but he also went to the front line to guard Jiangxia.
The first battle between Qin and Shu in Hanzhong really affected the whole world. In addition to Qin and Shu, the three kingdoms of Chu, Wei and Wu were also involved. The five kingdoms were in endless chaos due to the war in Hanzhong.
But it was more than that. The Sui and Song Dynasties were also involved later. This war actually involved seven countries.
(End of chapter)
