Chu, who had been deceived by Qin, finally learned how to deceive others. Zhuang Xin's tongue was full of temptations, and the poor King of Yue was suddenly fooled by Zhuang Xin.
"Is what the envoy said true?" The King of Yue's eyes widened and his hands trembled slightly. These were more than twenty cities. Even if they were not as wealthy as the Central Plains, they were far beyond the wild lands of the country.
If the Yue Kingdom can occupy these more than 20 cities, the Yue people will no longer be the old and young in exile, but will become the eighth hero among the seven heroes in the world.
"Not only seriously, if your Majesty can manage more than 20 cities on both sides of Zhejiang, our Chu Kingdom can also return all the original Yue Kingdom's hometown to your Majesty." Zhuang Xin sat on the couch, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he stroked his left hand. The beard is like an enlightened immortal.
"What price does the Yue Kingdom need to pay?" Facing the big cake sent by the Chu Kingdom, although the King of Yue was jealous, he still retained a sense of clarity in his heart.
"These cities originally belonged to the State of Yue. Our State of Chu was only in charge of them for the king. Now that they are returned to the king, how can we make the State of Yue pay the price?" Zhuang Xin said with a smile.
"The king of Chu is so righteous and benevolent, which is rare in the world. Qi Huan's gift of land to the state of Yan is not as good as that. The little king admires it." Regardless of whether it is true or not, the king of Yue put a high hat on the state of Chu, and then asked, "I don't know about my state of Yue?" When can we receive these cities?”
"Any time." Zhuang Xin still smiled.
The king of Yue was moved.
Anyone else would be moved at this moment.
Regardless of whether Chu State has any conspiracy, as long as the land is given to Yue State in real terms, even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire ahead, the King of Yue will still jump forward with his eyes closed.
There is no other choice!
The letter of credence was quickly concluded. The King of Yue killed chickens and pigs in person, held a banquet in honor of Zhuang Xin, slept with Zhuang Xin at night, and asked Zhuang Xin for advice on the strategies of governing the country.
Zhuang Xin also knew everything, and with a few clever flattery shots, the King of Yue felt as comfortable as if he had eaten a popsicle in the dog days of summer.
The next day, the King of Yue looked at the certificate of credence in his hand, still feeling a little dreamy, but the words written in black and white were very clear, and he couldn't help but believe that both sides of Zhejiang Province had belonged to the State of Yue...
"Inform Wen Zi and lead people to take over these cities."
In any case, the credentials have been signed and the city will definitely be taken over.
The King of Yue planned to send Wen Zhi to take the lead. If the Chu State did not play tricks, he would lead the remaining people into the city.
Zhuang Xin knew that Chu State would not let him leave before taking over these cities. This was all thanks to Zhang Yi, the number one swindler in the Warring States Period, which made other countries vigilant.
Therefore, Zhuang Xin did not leave the country of Yue, but asked the king of Yue for two guides, saying that he was going to visit the famous mountains and rivers of the country.
The King of Yue considered that Zhuang Xin was old and might have inconvenient legs and feet, so he specially ordered people to make a soft-seat sedan for Zhuang Xin and let people carry Zhuang Xin.
What happened next went smoothly, and the Yue Kingdom took over the city without any hindrance.
Half a month later, Zhuang Xin, who had traveled to famous mountains and rivers, returned to the place where the King of Yue lived and said goodbye to the King of Yue.
The Yue Kingdom, which had fully taken over the city, no longer had any grudges against Zhuang Xin. The King of Yue hosted a banquet for Zhuang Xin again and personally sent Zhuang Xin ten miles away before saying goodbye.
…
Zhao Guo did not know the news at this time.
The State of Zhao is sending people to dig canals from Fushui and Zhangshui to the Yellow River.
Zhangshui is a tributary of the Yellow River, and Fushui is a tributary of Zhangshui.
Handan's goods can be transported to various parts of the Central Plains very conveniently through Fushui, Zhangshui, and rivers. Marine fish brought by the fleet can also be continuously sent to Handan through water transportation.
The existence of three rivers has brought great convenience to Zhao's cargo transportation.
Even if the official road is built, the cargo capacity and low cost of water transportation far exceed that of land transportation.
However, Zhangshui does not merge into the river from west to east under normal circumstances. Instead, it merges with the river in the northeast and merges into the river very far away.
This resulted in Handan's ships needing to travel more than two hundred miles if they wanted to go south.
If the Zhangshui River and the Yellow River are dug at the right location, the distance of more than 200 miles can be shortened to only about 20 miles, which greatly saves travel distance and time.
Zhao Kuo wanted to organize manpower to dig the canal last year. However, Zhao Kuo was building the Yellow River embankment last year and expanding Handan City. There was really not enough manpower, so he postponed it to this year.
After several months of measurement and exploration, Zhao officially started construction after the summer harvest.
However, this thing is not a super big project in this era. Whether it is the Hangou of Wu State, the Honggou of Wei State, Li Bing's Dujiangyan, or the water conservancy project being excavated by Zheng State in Hetao, the scale is far away. beyond this canal.
Therefore, there was no big commotion.
Naturally, Zhao Kuo did not need to carry the shovel to dig the canal himself. After handing it over to Gongsun Long, Zhao Kuo took Lin Xiangru and Chulong to Handan College.
Perhaps because the world has entered a long-lost peace, there are many foreign students in Handan College, with Qi and Wei being the most popular.
The reason is very simple, because of the Jixia Academy in Qi State and the Xihe School in Wei State.
Although the glory of Qi State is no longer the same, and Jixia Academy is not what it used to be, the academic environment of Qi State that is open, inclusive, and wide-ranging still attracts a large number of scholars, supporting this academy that was once the first in the world and is now the second in the world. .
As for the Wei State, after continuous efforts, they finally invited several great scholars from the Lu State. Although their level was far inferior to that of Zixia, they at least supported the Xihe School.
Of course... the name 'Xihe' is a bit inappropriate. After all, Xihe has long fallen into the hands of the Qin State. Now it should probably be called the 'Daliang School'. '
When there are too many official schools, it is easy to cause competition, and Handan College is truly the number one college in the world in terms of reputation, scale, and strength.
Naturally, Qi and Wei would send people over to compete.
"The walls of Zhao State...are so white and slippery. There are also books, all made of paper. They are so comfortable to use. If such a small book were replaced with bamboo slips, I might not be able to hold it." Zhao Kuogang said. Entering the academy, I heard a student next to me whisper.
"Yes, I really envy the students of Zhao State."
"Speaking of which, we have the opportunity to join the sect of famous people, and we have to thank the Zhao State. If the sudden rise of the Zhao State had not made the king feel threatened, it would not have been possible for various places to recommend us to study in Daliang." Another student said.
"Yes." Another person echoed, "By the way, what do you think about this matter?"
"Stand by and watch, otherwise, the dispute between Confucianism and Mohism is something that little people like us can get involved in?" said the student at the beginning.
