The next day, in Wei Palace, Qinyang Hall.
"Foreign Minister Huang Yun has met Emperor Wei."
In the main hall, Huang Yun was invited into the hall. After introduction, he saluted Wei Yong, the emperor of Wei, who was looking up to him.
"Messengers are exempt from courtesy."
Wei Yong looked at the extremely burly Huang Yun below and couldn't help but look at him curiously.
The real people of the Qing and Huang series have been famous in the upper echelons of Chu State for a long time. Everyone knows that they have a close relationship with Chu Emperor Lu Yuan, and they are most likely their clones.
This secret, which is not a secret, naturally spreads to other countries in Kyushu with some breeze.
It's just that compared to the senior officials of Chu State who had in-depth contact with these two series of real people and could deeply understand their relationship with Emperor Chu, other countries in Kyushu were dubious or even scornful after hearing the news.
What clone?
What kind of profound teachings are there?
Don’t you see what kind of world this is?
Those Jiuzhou Immortal Sects were all forced to gather together to ascend and run away due to this extraordinary environment.
Those divine blood mutants with rough skin, thick flesh, noble blood, and inheritance for thousands of years were all starving to death in the spiritual desert before their eyes.
In this case, if you say that Emperor Chu Lu Yuan is a powerful monk, everyone in Kyushu will believe you.
Because this has been personally verified by the monks of Danding Dao and Feishuang Dao.
They all said that Emperor Chu Lu Yuan was a genius in cultivating immortals, and his cultivation was as advanced as that of a Taoist master of an immortal sect.
But if you want to say that Emperor Chu Lu Yuan can continue to practice in this desert where spiritual energy has disappeared, and he has achieved a breakthrough in cultivation, and even created eight powerful clones, this is a bit bullying.
Do you think of me as one of those bumpkin from Yangzhou?
Yes, in the eyes of many established imperial families in Kyushu, no matter how powerful the Chu State is now, they are just a bumpkin.
Nothing else, just look at the background of Emperor Chu and his ministers.
Hunters in the mountains, poor scholars, medicine sellers, rural landowners, rough men, traffickers and lackeys, farmers in the villages...
If you count carefully, you can see that there is no one with a good family background. There are almost no family members who have been rich for hundreds of years.
The court empire established by a person from such a family background is completely alien in the eyes of other empires in Kyushu.
Among the other empires in their nine provinces, which one has not been inherited for thousands of years and has been in power as an emperor?
Going forward tens of thousands of years, maybe the ancestors of these emperors of aristocratic families would even have immortals!
I would like to ask the Huangguiwei people these days, how can they look down upon the rising aliens of Mudleg and regard Chu as one of their own?
Therefore, when rumors about the real people of the Qing and Huang series came from Chu State, senior officials from various countries almost took it as a joke.
With their own heritage, they simply did not believe in the idea of cultivation in this age of the end of the Dharma. They only regarded this as a lie deliberately created by Emperor Chu Lu Yuan in order to increase his prestige and fabricate the legitimacy of his claim to emperor.
After all, if you want to be an emperor, if you don’t have a few destiny-destined and divine halos on yourself, why should others obey you and listen to you?
As for cultivating the Dharma, others cannot do it, but I can do it.
Doesn’t it perfectly reflect the specialness and destiny of Emperor Chu Lu Yuan?
Moreover, this kind of publicity can also promote in disguise the strength of Chu Emperor Lu Yuan.
Think about it, the last monk in the age of the end of the Dharma, when others heard this, they immediately stood in awe and instantly became taller.
Who dares to be disrespectful to Emperor Chu, a living cultivator of immortality?
Thinking about this in his mind, Wei Yong felt a little envious.
The last monk at the end of the Dharma, eight clones, and many halos. What a great prestige and publicity blessing!
If he had all these, there would be no need to worry about his lack of prestige and the imminent danger of his throne.
I'm jealous!
With this feeling, looking at Huang Yun's burly and rugged figure, Wei Yong became even more convinced that the other person was not some clone of Emperor Chu.
Over the years, the relationship between Chu and Wei has been very good. Basically, they send envoys to each other every year to greet and contact each other. Those Wei envoys who went to Baling, after they came back, all described the appearance of Emperor Lu Yuan of Chu to Wei Yong.
All the envoys said that the Emperor of Chu had a majestic face, heroic appearance, and looked like a young man, but he was one of the greatest men in the world.
According to the descriptions and memories of these envoys, Wei Yong even had a portrait of Emperor Chu Lu Yuan painted and hung it in the palace. He often looked at it.
The Huang Yun in front of him had no resemblance to Emperor Chu's appearance or even temperament.
How could such a person with no connection at all be the clone of Emperor Chu.
'Sure enough, this so-called protector of the country, Huang Yun, is the innate master secretly cultivated by Chu State, but he has been hiding it. When necessary, he will use it to deceive the people of the world by using the name of Chu Emperor's clone. '
Wei Yong thought so in his heart, put away his distracting thoughts, then looked at Huang Yun's rough face and said with a smile: "I already know the purpose of the envoy's coming. I discussed it with all the ministers in the court yesterday and finally decided unanimously. , agreed to the request of Chu State.
In the spring of next year, we, the Wei Dynasty, will send millions of troops out to the southern grasslands to sweep away the barbarians and join the Chu State in Yongxi. "
When Huang Yun heard this, he immediately beamed with joy: "Your Majesty is benevolent and righteous, and my foreign ministers are grateful to my emperor for your Majesty's kindness. I wish our great Chu and great Wei to be friendly forever."
Wei Yong laughed and said, "What the envoy said is right. I hope that my country, Wei and Chu, will be prosperous and prosperous for thousands of years. I will host a banquet in the palace today to entertain the envoys from Chu. I hope the envoys will appreciate them."
Huang Yun returned the greeting and said, "I dare not disobey His Majesty's request."
…
Baling, Chu Palace.
Just as Huang Yun was meeting the Emperor of Wei and his ministers in the Wei Palace with a mission.
In the Chu Palace, Lu Yuan was also receiving an envoy from the State of Zheng.
"The envoy is saying that as long as I, the Chu State, are willing to send troops to rescue me, then the State of Zheng will be willing to cede Yangxia County to me. Is this true?"
Lu Yuan looked at Zheng's envoy Li Hu below and confirmed again.
Yes, it is Zheng Guo.
Just as everyone in the Chu State expected when Zheng was in civil strife a few years ago and split into two Zhengs, North and South.
After the overlord of Yuzhou fell into civil strife and fought for a period of time, as long as there was strong external pressure and forced to survive, it was very likely that he would reunite and unify.
So seven years ago, we faced the constant invasion and persecution from Tang Xu Er in the north.
Under the pressure of life and death, Beizheng took the initiative to find Nanzheng and wanted to return to his motherland.
In the past few years, Nanzheng's national power has also declined greatly after Beizheng split away. In the wars with Beizheng, Jin, Tang, Xu and other countries, it suffered many defeats one after another, and its life was equally difficult.
Therefore, when Beizheng came closer, the two brothers who originally came from the same origin hit it off and immediately reached a consensus on integrating and returning.
Zheng Emperor Zheng Lian announced that he would no longer pursue the charges of treason against Beizheng Junchen. Beizheng Junchen also gave up the national title system and returned to the Zheng State after retaining the rights of the original unified state.
It's just that although the two northern and southern Zhengs were reunited, in the previous eight years of civil strife, Beizheng first lost its two northern counties to the Tang State of Jingzhou, and Nanzheng also lost its northeastern county to the Jin State.
After losing these territories, even if the two Zhengs are reunited, the remaining territory will only be the land of seven counties, with a population of only about 20 million, only 1.3 million soldiers and horses, and 20 innate The strength of the three of them has been greatly reduced.
This is precisely the case, so when facing external threats, Zheng Guo has no choice but to turn to Chu, a friendly country, for help.
Li Hu nodded seriously and replied: "Your Majesty, this is absolutely true. As long as Da Chu is willing to send troops to help Zheng Guo repel the soldiers of the Northern Tang Dynasty, then our country is willing to cede all the five thousand miles of mountains and rivers in Yangxia County to Da Chu. , to repay the great Chu for saving us."
While answering, Li Hu's heart was bleeding and bitter.
In fact, if possible, who would be willing to cede their own land and hand it over to another country?
However, Zheng's current situation is too dangerous and difficult. If he does not ask for foreign aid, he is really in danger of losing his country.
Since the reunification of the two Zheng Dynasties, the pressure on the northern border that was originally borne by Beizheng itself has naturally been taken over by the unified New Zheng State.
Then what the New Zheng Kingdom faced was a huge empire that migrated from Jingzhou in the north and occupied three counties in southern Jingnan and two counties in northern Henan. It had a population of 30 million, 2 million soldiers and horses, and 32 people.
Also to the east of the Zheng State, there was the Jin State, which was also forced to retreat by the enemy in the north and was constantly moving south.
Jin's life in recent years has been even more difficult than Zheng's.
It was originally just a country with five counties. Although it also had the size of a hegemon, the hegemony was also divided into big hegemons and small hegemons.
There is no doubt that Jin is a small hegemon.
But its opponent was the Xu State, which occupied most of Liangzhou and had more than ten counties.
Facing this kind of opponent, Jin would naturally find it difficult to resist.
The two countries fought against each other for fifteen years. Jin lost three counties in the north and 60% of its original territory.
That is to say, a few years ago, when they joined forces with Beizheng and Tang Xu, they got some advantages from Nanzheng. After a big battle, they captured Gaoyang County in the northeast of Nanzheng.
In this way, the Jin Kingdom now has three counties left, with a population of just ten million, about 700,000 soldiers and horses, and thirteen people left innately. It can be regarded as barely maintaining the size of a hegemonic country.
So near today's Zheng State, there is Tang State in the north and Jin State in the northeast. Both countries are very hostile to Zheng State, watching with covetous eyes, always thinking of tearing off a piece of flesh from Zheng State.
Originally these were nothing.
After all, there are those barbarians who migrated south to the north of the Tang State, and the Xu State to the north of the Jin State. The borders between these two countries are not peaceful. It is impossible to use all the strength to retain a large number of soldiers and horses in the country to defend against the enemies in the north. Deal with Zheng Guo.
As for the remaining troops and horses that can be mobilized, they can naturally cope with the size of the unified Zheng State.
Therefore, Zheng Guo is not afraid of enemies within Yuzhou.
But the problem lies precisely here.
As mentioned before, Wei Emperor Wei Yong united with Zhao Xu to attack Liang five years ago, but was defeated by the Liang State. The three kingdoms lost millions of troops. As a result, their vitality was severely damaged and they were no longer able to go south and east.
Liang Guo also won a great victory. When he wanted to counterattack, he was stabbed in the back by Chu State and cut off the food supply. The country fell directly into a serious famine.
Due to the turmoil and food shortage in the country, Liang Guo had to give up his plan to counterattack the Three Kingdoms and regain the lost territory.
In the next five years, Liang Guodu went on strike and ceased war, focusing on taking care of internal affairs, restoring production, and increasing national strength.
Now five years have passed and Liang Guo has recovered.
Not only did he solve the problem of food shortage in the country, but he also used this rare period of peace to save a batch of money and food reserves, which gave him some financial resources to support the army in another war.
So Liang Guo reassembled the disbanded army and restored the number of domestic troops to three million.
Then he scanned all directions, looking for a suitable expansion direction.
After looking around, we can see that the power of Wei State is still there, and it is the second largest country in Jiangbei after Liang State.
The two kingdoms of Zhao and Xu only occupied one county in Zhongzhou. They both regarded this county as their lifeblood and not only moved most of the country's population here.
In order to defend this territory, both countries hoarded millions of troops and built fortresses. The walls they built were made of copper and iron, full of tortoise shells, and extremely difficult to defeat.
As for the Chu State in the south, most of it is in Zhongzhou and only a small half of Xiangyang County.
Not to mention that there is not much point in fighting with this small corner; even if Liang Guo wants to fight, he may not be able to defeat Chu State.
Therefore, the three directions of west, north and south are not good directions for expansion.
On the contrary, the east side is a fat sheep.
First of all, there were threats from the Tang and Jin countries in the north of Zheng State, so most of the troops had to be stationed in the north, leaving the country empty.
Secondly, in recent years, because the two countries of Zheng and Liang have been threatened by external enemies, the two countries, which are also facing this kind of difficulty, have a tacit understanding and have not made any moves to station troops and build fortresses on each other's borders.
Therefore, on the border between Zheng State and Liang State, except for some old Guancheng in the past, there are no new fortifications built this year.
In this case, the defense will naturally have a lot of omissions.
Finally, the territory occupied by Zheng Guo was also Zhongzhou. Instead of being like the Yangzhou of Chu State, Jizhou of Zhao State, Xuzhou of Xu State, etc., they will be swallowed up by natural disasters sooner or later and become worthless.
No matter how much you take over the territory here in Yuzhou, you will make a profit, not a loss.
For all the reasons mentioned above, it is not surprising that when the Liang State was capable, it would choose the Zheng State in the east as the direction of expansion.
Then the problem arises.
After resisting the Tang and Jin Dynasties, Zheng Guo was exhausted.
At this time, facing a Liang State that was more powerful than Tang and Jin combined, what could Zheng Guo do to resist it?
It's definitely not possible to rely on yourself alone.
So if you don't want to be destroyed, you can only ask for help from foreign countries.
Looking at Jiuzhou, the only country in the world that can compete with the Liang Kingdom and has the power to take action is the Yangzhou Chu Kingdom in the south of the Yangtze River.
So how to impress the Chu State and make them agree to fight against the powerful Liang State for the sake of the Zheng State?
The rulers and ministers of the State of Zheng thought about it and agreed that the only way to lure them was to lure them with huge profits and implement the strategy of diverting disaster to the east.
Since our territory in the west is destined to be unsafe, it will be difficult to preserve it.
So instead of handing over these territories to an ambitious and unkind neighbor, we can strengthen the other party's strength and accumulate strength for future attacks on ourselves.
It would be better to take the initiative to give this territory to a big country that has a good relationship with itself, is not bordering on itself, is not a big threat to itself, and has enough strength to stop Liang Guo!
Based on this logic, there was a scene where Zheng envoy came to discuss with Lu Yuan the cession of territory.
That's right, Zheng Guo's purpose was not to let Chu State help them resist Tang's invasion.
Although the Tang State was strong, Zheng State could handle it on its own and there was no need to cede territory. Ask him to help.
Therefore, what Zheng Guo said was that as long as the Tang State was defeated, Yangxia County would be ceded. It was destined from the beginning.
This county territory was given to Chu State for free, and asking for help was really just an excuse to cover up.
The real purpose of Zheng Guo in doing this was to invite Chu State to block Liang State. For this reason, he did not hesitate to cede Yangxia County, which borders Liang State to the west of his country, to Chu State in order to build a barrier to the west of him. So that the State of Chu can act as a buffer between the State of Zheng and the State of Liang.
As long as Chu State agrees, it can certainly get a county for free.
But after taking the benefits, the anger of being deprived of food, as well as the pressure from Liang in the future, can only be borne by Chu itself.
Zheng Guo himself was able to free himself from the strong border defense pressure in the west. From then on, he could concentrate on dealing with the threats from the north, and the pressure he endured was greatly reduced.
From this perspective, this is not a bad thing.
Well, as long as they don't know that Chu State has already begun the plan to destroy Liang and Wei, there is really no problem.
But under the premise that Chu State already has these plans...
'I'm dozing off, will someone come and give me a pillow? '
After listening to Li Hu's words, Lu Yuan couldn't help but think so.
He was about to attack Liang State, but Zheng State sent Chu State a good direction for sending troops.
An enclave that does not border the Chu State, and the eastern border of the Liang State where it was originally impossible for the Chu State to take action, will undoubtedly catch the Liang State by surprise.
Even from this, through military operations in Yangxia County of Zheng State, it was possible to further cover up Chu State's domestic mobilization of troops and horses, in order to confuse Liang State.
After all, the State of Chu, which agreed to the invitation of Zheng State and captured Yangxia County, was destined to confront Liang State.
In order to keep this newly acquired territory, Chu State naturally needed to station a large number of troops here to defend this enclave far away from the mainland.
For this reason, it is reasonable for the Chu State to recruit soldiers and horses and transport supplies domestically.
Even the Chu army can directly use the slogan of attacking the Liang people. Anyway, when they go to Yangxia County, the enemy is only the Liang State. If they don't attack you, who will they attack?
The real purpose of Chu State can be hidden in the two major actions of sending troops to Yongxi with Wei State and occupying Yangxia County at the request of Zheng State.
Without knowing the true plan of the Chu State, the Wei and Liang Kingdoms would only make subordinate countermeasures based on these two apparent actions.
Because, who would doubt that Chu State is so bold? A country that in the eyes of outsiders is only second in national power would dare to attack two powerful countries that are ranked first and third in the world.
This is crazy.
Who would do this unless they were crazy.
Are the kings and ministers of Chu State crazy?
In the eyes of outsiders, this is not the case; on the contrary, he is extremely wise and powerful, and there is no telling how he can create such a huge foundation.
Well, at this point, the logic has entered a closed loop.
