Needless to say, the land of Hanoi was originally the territory of the Wei Kingdom. After Bai Qi's battle at Yique, the surname was Qin. Now it is even more necessary to add the wild king and other places captured from the country of Han.
From a geographical point of view, Hanoi is still an important checkpoint on the Weihan Passage from the east of Qin State. More importantly, Hanoi is also an important node in blocking Shangdang County.
The Yewang City that it had just merged into was stuck on the passage leading in and out of Shangdang, and it was also the passage connecting the north and south of the Kingdom of Han. With Yewang City in hand, if we advance, we can attack Jiepailing and Hedong's army to attack Shangdang. If we retreat, we can protect ourselves from intrusion in Hanoi and Hedong. It can be said to be a strategic location.
What about Tao Yi?
Therefore, the capital of the Song Dynasty is known as the best in the world. Since ancient times, it has been a thoroughfare for merchants, and Fan Li retired here, so it is called Tao Zhugong, and the potters are called Taoyi.
Qi destroyed the Song Dynasty and was attacked by the five kingdoms. The country was almost destroyed. The Song Kingdom that was finally captured was also divided among the five kingdoms. Among them, Tao Yi, the richest among them, returned to the most powerful Qin Kingdom. At that time, it was not the King of Qin who was in power in the State of Qin, but the Queen Mother and his uncle Ranghou Wei Ran, and the wealthy Taoyi became Wei Ran's fiefdom.
Tao Yi is worthy of being among the best in the world. Although he experienced a war, he quickly recovered and brought extremely generous taxes to Wei Ran. So Wei Ran, who had tasted the benefits, began to think of ways to expand. Qin's power in the Central Plains. And Qin also suddenly realized that the Central Plains was really wealthy!
The Qin State, who was used to being poor, had for the first time longed for the sacred land of the Central Plains. This also caused the Qin State's national policy to deviate for a time, trying to open up the passage from Qin State to Taoyi, including the Qin State. in the Central Plains region. And this road was an important reason why the former overlord Wei State declined - it fell into a quagmire of melee in the Central Plains.
At this time, the Qin State even proposed a dozen strategically important cities such as the Lishi Fortress in Shanxi in exchange for the Zhao State's cities in the Central Plains that had no other purpose except for wealth. And this is the antecedent of the famous battle between Yan and Yu.
And it was in this battle that the Qin army directly raided Yanyu from the Shangdang area and almost split the Zhao state into two. This also made the top leaders of the Zhao state thoroughly see the importance of the Shangdang area to the Zhao state. . And this is also one of the causes of the Shangdang War.
Having said so much, in fact, in short, it can be said in one sentence: Taoyi is too rich! So rich that Qin State even changed its national policy!
One side is a strategic location that can be attacked, retreated and defended, and the other is the rich and wealthy Central Plains.
Money or life?
If Fan Sui were to choose, it would definitely be fatal. But the land of Taoyi was still the fiefdom of Wei Ran, the uncle of the country. Although Wei Ran was moved down by the King of Qin himself and has passed away now, he was a real relative! The King of Qin was able to safely become the King of Qin, and Marquis Rang also put in a lot of effort. Now Wei Ran has just left for a few years, and he is giving away his fiefdom?
What do you want King Qin to think?
So, how to choose? No choice! Whatever you choose is wrong!
This multiple-choice question can only be answered by the King of Qin.
When the King of Qin saw that Fan Sui was silent, he immediately understood what he meant.
After thinking about it again and again, King Qin finally became cruel and said, "With the wealth of Tao Yi, I can exchange it for one hundred thousand elite soldiers."
King Qin's reason was simple, dictated by national policy. After Fan Sui became prime minister, Qin's national policy changed to "diplomacy far away and attack near". However, Taoyi, which is located in the Central Plains and separated by South Korea and Wei, obviously does not fall into the close range.
However, King Qin who made this decision felt painful in his heart. After three years of fierce fighting, the Qin State has been severely weakened. It is the special economic zone like Taoyi that needs blood transfusion and blood replenishment. Giving it away is tantamount to giving up one's blood bag to the opponent Zhao State. After the autumn harvest, Zhao Guo can take advantage of this to relieve a large amount of blood.
To be honest, King Qin didn't know whether his decision was right or wrong.
After hearing this, Fan Sui didn't have so many thoughts. He accepted the order simply and did not give King Qin a chance to regret it. After all, "diplomacy at a distance and attack at home" is the basic national policy proposed by Fan Sui.
Now that the bottom line for negotiation is in place, the next step is to choose the envoy.
Although everyone from King Qin to Bai Qi to Fan Sui had great expectations to persuade King Zhao to retreat, at the same time
At that time, several people also knew the difficulty. Therefore, the choice of envoy is really a problem.
The King of Qin then asked again: "I wonder who can go as an envoy to the State of Zhao for me and persuade the King of Zhao?"
After thinking again and again, Fan Sui finally bowed to the King of Qin and said: "Time waits for us not. Please serve as the king's envoy and go to Handan City of Zhao Kingdom in person."
King Qin nodded, then shook his head.
The nod means recognition of the Prime Minister's diplomatic ability - if anyone is the most eloquent in Qin today, it must be Prime Minister Fan Sui.
He shook his head, but it meant that it would be useless for the Prime Minister to go. On the contrary, he would be deeply in danger of the Zhao Kingdom. After all, Qin and Zhao have been at war for a long time, and the two countries have deep grievances. Now that the Zhao army has the upper hand, how can King Zhao retreat easily? Even if the price is given, I'm afraid it will be difficult to accomplish. If Zhao Guo were to take control of his prime minister, King Qin would have no place to cry.
"Prime Minister?" King Qin considered the words and wanted to discuss it with Fan Sui to see if there was a better way.
But Fan Sui bowed his head to the end again and said: "This is my king, this is the time when life and death are at stake. The honor and disgrace of a small minister is really insignificant compared to the safety of the Qin State. Besides, it is not the humble minister who boasts, there are those who are good at speaking in the Qin State. There are no ministers, so this matter is difficult. It is not because of the dignity of the minister that he cannot subdue the Zhao State, and because of his sharp tongue, it is not enough to persuade the King of Zhao."
With that said, Fan Sui cupped his fists and saluted again: "Please, my king, take the country and the country into consideration and the century-old foundation of the Qin Dynasty as your consideration, and allow me to send my ministers as envoys to the State of Zhao to save the crisis."
When the King of Qin heard this, he was deeply moved. He always talked about patriots, but it was difficult to do patriotic things. Fan Sui, who did not want to be born in another country, always thought of Qin. How could the King of Qin not be moved by this?
But the more moved he was, the more reluctant King Qin was to give up.
"But?" King Qin also understood that this matter must be done by Fan Sui, but after what he said, King Qin didn't want Fan Sui to be involved in danger from the bottom of his heart.
Does Fan Sui love Qin?
It must be love! Without him, it can be said that everything Fan Sui has now, whether it is a life of fine clothes and fine food, or a majestic ostentation, was given by Qin. Without Qin, he is nothing.
Fan Sui saw this clearly.
Therefore, Fan Sui must love Qin.
Of course, from another perspective, Fan Sui must love himself more than Qin.
It's just that along the way, from a "traitor" who was expelled and even almost beaten to death, he turned into the prime minister of the most powerful country in the world. The hardships involved cannot be appreciated by outsiders.
If Fan Sui doesn't want to fall again, he has no choice but to step forward. If he helps Qin, he is helping himself.
