After learning about the changes in Zheng State in Yuzhou, the hall was a little quiet for a while, and everyone was silent.
It's so magical.
A huge empire collapsed in such an instant, or because of the Chu State... well, it was just one of the reasons.
But no matter what, it is still shocking.
"Everyone knows the whole story. Let's talk about it. How should I, the great Chu, deal with Zheng Guo?"
Lu Yuan saw that everyone was silent, so he took the initiative to break the silence.
The ministers below looked at each other, and then Sun Siwen walked out and saluted: "Your Majesty, the chaos in the Zheng Kingdom is caused by the conflict between the royal family and the ministers over the issue of reducing the vassal status for thousands of years. It is an old disease that broke out at this time. That’s all.
I, the envoy of Da Chu, was just unlucky and happened to catch up.
Then he was used by Emperor Zheng as an excuse to cut down the vassal vassal, which in turn led to the civil strife in Zheng. "
Sun Siwen first determined the nature of the chaos in Zheng and confirmed the justice and innocence of the Chu State in this matter, and then said: "Now that the Zheng State is divided, Yuzhou will not be able to maintain peace without this overlord.
From my perspective, in the next few decades, Yuzhou should be in a situation where Tang, Xu, Jin, and the two Zhengs are at war with each other.
The five parties are fighting here, and it is difficult for each to defeat the other, and the war will last forever. "
Sun Siwen saw the situation in Yuzhou relatively clearly.
Although from this point of view, Yuzhou is divided into two parts, the Zheng Kingdom, and the Jin Kingdom, which is located in the northeast of Yuzhou, all three parties occupy the land of five counties, and it is difficult to distinguish between them in terms of strength.
To the west of Yuzhou, the Liang State was also overwhelmed by the three kingdoms of Wei, Zhao, and Xu, and had no extra energy to take care of the affairs of Yuzhou to the east.
At this time, the only ones who could intervene in the affairs of Yuzhou were the Tang State of Jingzhou and the Xu State of Liangzhou, which were located next to Yuzhou and to the north.
Of course, the Chu State, which is located in the south of the Yangtze River and has sea access to Yuzhou, also has the ability to intervene in Yuzhou's affairs.
But with Lu Yuan's current policy, he wouldn't do that.
Therefore, the only ones that can affect the war situation in Yuzhou at this time are Tang and Xu.
Both Tang and Xu were large states that dominated one state. In terms of size, they were not as large as the Chu, Liang, and Wei states that unified one state or spanned two states.
But like the two countries of Zhao and Xu, they also have the background of a hegemon.
Both countries are hegemons with a population of 20 to 30 million each and an army of 1 to 2 million.
Judging from the current situation, the spiritual energy of the world is extinct, the sacred blood mutants originally reserved by various countries have been slaughtered and used in large numbers, and the reserves of spiritual elixirs in all parties have increased significantly.
It is conservatively estimated that after this wave of growth, the number of innate masters in Tang and Xu countries may not be less than thirty.
After all, after Lu Yuan collected the divine blood species from all over the country, the elixir he refined could cultivate twenty-three innates.
In other countries, all came from high-ranking families. There was no reason for them to have worse foundations than his, a rising low-income family. They should have more spiritual elixirs.
Therefore, even if each hegemonic country originally had only a dozen innate people, after this wave of harvesting, the innate number could explode to at least thirty people.
Therefore, even based on the most conservative calculations, hegemons like Tang and Xu could mobilize one million soldiers and more than twenty innates to intervene in Zheng's war.
This force is already quite strong.
Zhao and Xu in the north only used the same strength, but they had already forced Liang, the overlord of Zhongzhou, to use more than half of their strength to deal with it.
But here in Yuzhou, there is no second one. Liang State only has three small countries that are divided and hostile to each other.
With this kind of strength and fighting on their own, how could they be the opponents of Tang and Xu countries?
Of course, although the Three Kingdoms of Yuzhou cannot defeat the two Kingdoms of Tang and Xu, this is for sure.
But it does not mean that the Three Kingdoms have no power to fight back in front of the Tang and Xu Kingdoms.
The two Zhengs in the north and the south, as well as the Jin State, were also large countries that occupied the land of five counties. Their strength was no less than that of the Chu State or the Ning State before the decisive battle in Jiangnan more than ten years ago.
At that time, the Chu State and the Ning State were not bad in terms of military strength alone, and were fully hegemonic-level forces.
With all his strength, he can mobilize millions of troops and more than ten innates for combat.
This is just the frontal battlefield.
Like Ning Guo behind, even if the front line was defeated and hundreds of thousands of troops were lost, it was said that their vitality was completely lost.
But after withdrawing to the country, within two years, they continued to mobilize 800,000 troops and horses. Their military strength still did not decrease much, and they could still maintain their overlord status.
When the Zhou Kingdom was besieged from all sides, it lost three to four million soldiers and horses, almost all the men in the country were killed, and it lasted twenty years before it was destroyed.
Its tenacity is astonishing.
This shows how difficult it is to destroy a hegemonic country.
Lu Yuan was able to eliminate Ning Guo so easily before, only because Ziyun Dao collapsed internally, and Jiangdong's people were unstable, and finally resorted to the great weapon of Feng Guo, so that he could surrender without a fight.
Otherwise, if any of the above conditions are missing, Jiangdong will never be so easily unified.
But at this time, the Tang Xu Kingdom did not have such good conditions as the Chu Kingdom, and there was Ziyundao who served as his internal correspondent.
The two Zhengs in the north and south, as well as the state of Jin, did not experience the same disastrous defeat as the state of Ning, which caused people's hearts in the country to fluctuate.
Even they are not from Yuzhou, but from a foreign country. To the people of Yuzhou, it is a proper invasion by foreign enemies.
Under this situation, even at this time, Beizheng and Jin had temporarily surrendered to Tang and Xu and became emperors.
But it is impossible for the two countries to conquer Yuzhou so easily.
If they want to conquer Yuzhou, the only way is to imitate Wei.
With overwhelming strength, he will encroach step by step and eventually eliminate all the forces in Yuzhou to achieve the goal of taking over Zhongzhou.
Now that Beizheng and Jin have surrendered, they just want to temporarily stabilize the two powerful enemies in the north and relieve themselves of the troubles in the north.
At the same time, we will use the opponent's strength to actively attack Nanzheng southward to gain more living space and strength.
Then he turned around and fought to the death with the two powerful enemies in the north.
The contradiction between the two sides is irreconcilable.
Tang Xu wanted to capture the entire Yuzhou as a land of future survival.
The Three Kingdoms of Yuzhou wanted to protect their own foundation and prevent themselves from being annexed by outsiders.
The contradictions and positions between the two sides in this regard make coexistence impossible.
Thinking about it, they also know this very well about each other. The so-called son-emperor and cooperation at this time are just using each other to see who has better means.
This alliance between the five countries, involving Yuzhou, is destined to be the main theme of the future.
Maybe, after all these conspiracies are carried out, the two sides of the North and the South will be reconciled and reunited as they were thousands of years ago?
Or maybe the two Zhengs formed an alliance with the Jin State and chose to jointly take on the enemy in the north?
Nothing is permanent and anything is possible.
And in this chaos, the five countries are restraining each other, and it is difficult for anyone to completely eliminate any country.
What Lu Yuan did not want to see on the ground in Qingzhou was already happening in Yuzhou.
Having reached such a balance, it is almost impossible for Yuzhou to unify.
Sun Siwen saw this and said that the war in Yuzhang will continue indefinitely.
Without the intervention of external forces, with the five forces in Yuzhou now close to each other, it is true that the war has no end in sight.
Zhou Qing, who was next to him, also agreed with this view and said: "The Prime Minister is right. The situation in Yuzhou is beyond the reach of other solutions. Countless hundreds of years of deadly battles will not break this situation."
After saying that, he bowed his hands to Lu Yuan: "Your Majesty, since I, the Great Chu, have no intention of directly interfering in the affairs of Yuzhou, it is better to control the situation among these five countries, provoke their conflicts, and make them fight to the death.
Killing like this for decades turned Yuzhou into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, allowing them to weaken themselves.
After the grievances and grievances between countries become difficult to resolve, and mutual suspicion, it becomes difficult to reconcile.
I, the great Chu, am marching eastward. Who in the country of Yuzhou can stop me?
But the autumn wind swept the fallen leaves and destroyed them with one blow. "
As a military general, Zhou Qingxian's strategy was undoubtedly much more ruthless.
He opened his mouth to provoke a chaotic war among the five nations of Yuzhou, causing them to kill mountains of corpses and seas of blood, leaving no room for hatred and hatred.
But I have to admit that if this matter can really be accomplished, even if the five Yuzhou countries are a foregone conclusion, it will no longer be an obstacle to Chu State's unification of Zhongzhou in the future.
Because before that, they had been exhausted from the continuous wars.
Even if the Chu State finally came over, the far-sighted people from all over Yuzhou would see the crisis.
Limited by past grievances and conflicts of interest, it is no longer possible to unite.
And as long as the other party is not a whole, one or two separate countries will not be worth mentioning at all to the Chu State, which has accumulated strength and is preparing to unify Zhongzhou.
Isn’t this the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves?
"The general's words make sense."
After listening to Zhou Qing's words, Lu Yuan nodded, waved his hand and said: "In this case, regarding the matter of Yuzhou, I, the Great Chu, will act in this way. Try to stir up disputes among the five countries so that they cannot unite, in order to wait for the Great Chu When he sweeps across Yuzhou one day."
Having said this, Lu Yuan looked at Sun Siwen and Zhou Qing and said, "Prime Minister, General, this matter will be left to you. How to implement this policy will be discussed by your cabinet and the Privy Council."
In recent years, with the stability and development of Chu State, various systems in the country have been slowly established and improved.
Up to now, it has been officially confirmed that political affairs come from the cabinet and military affairs come from the Privy Council.
The imperial court used the two major institutions of the Cabinet and the Privy Council to manage and operate the huge institution of Chu.
To provoke a chaotic war among the five countries in Yuzhou this time, economic, military, diplomatic and other means are indispensable. The departments and materials to be mobilized are destined to be extremely large.
This inevitably leads to the alliance between the military and political departments.
"I obey the decree!"
After hearing the instructions, Sun Siwen and Zhou Qing looked at each other and saw the bitter smile in each other's eyes.
Little did they know that this was because their friend (Master) was slacking off again and started to act as a hands-off shopkeeper.
However, as friends (disciples), as well as their responsibilities, and their feelings for the common cause of Chu State, they cannot shirk these responsibilities.
Fortunately, Sun Siwen and Zhou Qing were old acquaintances, and they had a tacit understanding of each other after decades of friendship.
There will be no civil and military disagreements in other empires, and things that undermine each other will not happen.
It's not difficult to put this together.
"Then let this be settled."
Seeing that his friends and disciples had no objections, Lu Yuan nodded with satisfaction and became the shopkeeper with peace of mind. He stood up and said, "This is the end of today's discussion. If there is nothing else, let's dismiss the meeting."
…
As Chu State continued to adopt a national policy of security, the turmoil caused by the two major changes in Qingzhou and Yuzhou did not cause too many waves in Jiangnan, and quickly subsided.
Except for some scholars who are not sure whether they are indeed outstanding in knowledge or want to be famous, they are unconventional and make some alarmist remarks. They are still talking about the war in Jiangbei tirelessly.
The attention of other scholars in the Chu Kingdom quickly shifted back to Sanli Tongjianghe, to the newly famous courtesans, and to the talents who stole the show at every literary gathering.
In this prosperous and prosperous age, if you care about those who fight and kill people, and always think about the dead, you must be mentally ill.
Wouldn't it be nice to have some free time, indulge in fun, and become famous through scientific research?
This is the right thing to do in the world if you win the imperial examination and have a golden house and soft jade!
Of course, not all wars are excluded in this world.
For example, in October, the protector of the country, the general manager of Hanzhong County, and Huang Xin, led 200,000 troops out of Longshan, defeated 500,000 barbarians who were harassing the border in Longxi, and captured more than 200,000.
The grassland barbarians who moved south were frightened by this battle, and their expressions changed when they heard the sounds of Chu and the banners of Chu.
After that, Huang Xin took advantage of the victory and pursued the attack. In two months, he raided the five Yongxi counties and captured millions of barbarians and tens of millions of cattle and sheep. The news spread back to the country, and the whole Baling cheered.
Lu Yuan was also very happy.
Not only to defeat the barbarians, but also to be happy for the performance of his two children in this war.
In this battle, the two brothers Lu Hao and Lu He were assigned 10,000 troops each as the army went out to take charge of various aspects, which was very useful.
And they are worthy of Lu Yuan's training over the years.
In this war, although the two men did not perform very well, they behaved in a satisfactory manner, made no mistakes, and performed their duties well.
The above sounds a bit mediocre, and seems not eye-catching enough compared to their status as princes.
But Lu Yuan didn't need Lu Hao and the others to stand out.
With the current strength of the Chu State, if nothing unexpected happens in the future, even if it relies on force, it will be able to defeat Zhongzhou and unify the world.
Under this premise, just follow the righteous plan and push it through.
In the face of hard power, as long as you make no mistakes, the enemy will have no chance and will eventually be defeated.
By using any fancy tactics, they are giving up their greatest advantage to compete with their enemies for their only advantage.
Isn't this asking for trouble?
Therefore, for Lu Yuan, safety is the most important thing.
As long as his subordinates, including his son, are qualified and can carry out correct orders.
No matter how outstanding the talents are, as long as they don't obey orders, it will affect the overall situation. This is also a mistake of inferior talents that needs to be abandoned.
Lu He and Lu Hao passed this test, which naturally made him feel happy.
So in order to continue to train his two sons, Lu Yuan directly ordered them to stay in the Hanzhong Army, follow up on the war against the barbarians in Longxi, and train their abilities on the border.
Yes, the war against the prairie barbarians is not over.
This time, although Chu State defeated the barbarians, it almost wiped out the grassland barbarians in Longxi and Hexi counties in one fell swoop, achieving an unprecedented victory.
But this victory was only against the grassland barbarians in the two counties.
As time goes by, as long as the cold weather in the north does not end, a steady stream of grassland barbarians will migrate from the grasslands, re-enter Helong County, and continue to harass the borders of Chu State.
Even after the cold wave, the West seemed to have changed.
Some people from tribal countries living in the Gobi in the Western Region also began to migrate to Yongzhou.
This time Huang Xin raided the five counties of Yongxi and found many people who had migrated from the Gobi in the Western Regions in the area that was originally within the Xiliang Kingdom.
I heard from them that there was a terrible earthquake in the west. Large areas of mountains, rivers and rivers were torn apart, and the ground was broken like a spider web.
Moreover, this fragmentation did not pass in one go, but an area continued to flip and fragment.
Many tribes living in the west were severely harmed by this and began to migrate to the east as if they were fleeing for their lives.
Affected by this wave of migration, they were the first tribe to arrive in Yongzhou.
Following the Arctic cold wave, the West Pole earthquake finally followed.
Things did not happen as Lu Yuan and the Kyushu monks had guessed, with natural disasters coming step by step in the order of first the North Pole, then the South Pole, and then the East and West Poles.
It seems that the four poles of heaven and earth are a whole. If something goes wrong at the North Pole, the other three places will also begin to collapse.
Chu State swept away the barbarians in Longxi this time, and it was only temporarily stable for a while.
More barbarians will come from the north.
Even from the west, a steady stream of people who wanted to survive began to arrive.
It is conceivable that for a long time to come, the border war between Hanzhong and Longxi will not stop until the Four-pole disaster spreads to the edge of Zhongzhou.
The Chu State will also face a long, continuous, and endless war like Wei, Zhao, and Xu.
This was Lu Yuan's inference after receiving the news of the incident in the west, and he was also prepared for a long war.
But before he could take a break after the war on the northwest border, it was at the end of December after winter, approaching the New Year.
After being granted a title by Lu Yuan, a report was sent from Jinghai Kingdom, which was transferred from the Mu family of the Linhai family.
It is said that outside the South China Sea, a large number of enemy ships came from the sea and invaded Qijinghai Kingdom.
Not long after, reports were sent back to the small seaside countries that Lu Yuan had entrusted in Lingnan, saying that pirates were invading.
After some time, with the help of the Chu State, the countries in Lingnan barely resisted the invasion of pirates and captured many captive ships.
Lingnan sent another report.
According to what the captured pirates said, they were the navy of a small country in the South China Sea. Because wildfires broke out in many areas of the country, and fires gushed out from the bottom of the sea, most of the country was reduced to a sea of flames.
As a last resort, these people had no choice but to go to sea by boat, away from their hometowns, and looking for a new habitat.
Finally, along the trade route, we arrived at Yangzhou, State of Chu.
Not only the West Pole earthquake, but also the Antarctic sea of fire, twenty years after the cold wave, has also begun to appear.
