As Zhao's "die-hard" ally, it can be said that since the Battle of Changping, Wei has been following Zhao's butt almost all the time. Although it still suffered a lot of losses, at least it was not as bad as before. They ceded territory and begged for mercy at every turn.
Even in terms of territorial area, Wei State had positive income for the first time.
It should be said that following a "good big brother" like Zhao Guo is not a perfect choice, but it is still better than fighting alone, and it is better than living as a dog for Qin.
But people, after all, still want to go further.
Even if he is used to being the little brother, which little brother doesn’t want to be the big brother one day? What's more, Wei Guo was once the eldest brother.
Therefore, under Qin's conscious planning, it is not surprising that Wei had an ambiguous defection.
Of course, this seemingly ambiguous defection was actually a betrayal of Zhao Guo.
Everyone, including King Wei, Lord Xinling, and Fan Sui all understood that Wei only needed an opportunity before true betrayal, an opportunity to knock Zhao off the altar and develop Wei.
Naturally, even the "hardcore" allies like Wei State have begun their journey of betrayal, let alone the wallflowers like Qi State.
However, due to the particularity of Qi's system, almost anything the King of Qi agrees with is bound to be opposed by the ministers, and anything the ministers agree with is bound to be opposed by the King of Qi.
Therefore, even if Tu Jia received a positive answer from King Qi, the actual help to Qin was still minimal.
But no matter what, after several months of running around, Fan Sui and Tu Jia of the Qin State fulfilled their mission and obtained the letters of credence from the two countries, expressing their sincerity in forming an alliance.
Of course, the letter of credence does not mean mutual alliance, and even the mutual alliance does not mean how firm it will be. Everything has just begun.
At this point, the Qin State has taken the first step in changing its national policy from "diplomacy far away and close attack" to "continuous resistance against Zhao".
However, Fan Sui, who knew that only interests could bind countries, immediately made a proposal to King Qin to start reciprocal trade with the two countries after returning home.
To put it simply, it is to comprehensively utilize Qi’s salt industry, Wei’s iron ore, and Qin’s military industry. Specifically, the finished ordnance made by Qin was exchanged for the ordnance of Wei and the salt industry and wealth of Qi.
This move was learned from Zhao Kuo.
Since Zhao can exchange its eliminated ordnance for food from Qi and Chu, Qin can naturally exchange its eliminated ordnance and even grain for Wei's raw materials, iron ore, and Qi's sea salt and other supplies.
Once such a transaction reaches a large scale, Wei and Qi will not only have many economic exchanges with Qin, but will also become more and more dependent on Qin to a certain extent.
The economic foundation determines the superstructure. Once Qi and Wei rely on Qin on the economic basis, they will naturally become closer to Qin and even eventually turn to Qin.
However, Qin's huge move naturally did not hide it from Zhao's eyes.
But in the face of Qin's almost conspiracy, even Zhao Kuo couldn't deal with it much.
Fortunately, the State of Zhao still has the State of Chu.
The Qin State, which had just annexed the Chen capital of the Chu State, and coupled with the hundreds of years of grievances and resentments, it was naturally impossible to reconcile with the Chu State.
In this way, after learning about Qin's actions, Zhao Kuo immediately sent an envoy to Chu.
However, Zhao Kuo had not yet been able to take action, but the Chu State over there sent envoys to Zhao State first.
The arrival of the Chu envoy first expressed gratitude to King Zhao for personally leading his army south to relieve the siege, and at the same time reiterated the unshakable purpose of the Chu-Zhao alliance for a hundred years. Most importantly, the Chu envoy brought a great gift to Zhao. The gift of Zhou Di.
Yes, the King of Chu will give away one-third of the land of the Zhou Dynasty that was divided up with the Wei State last year to the State of Zhao.
When he learned the news, Zhao Kuo almost jumped three feet high in the court meeting.
You know, one-third of the land of the Zhou Dynasty is just a useless place for going abroad, but for Zhao State,
In other words, it’s simply not too important!
With this one-third of the territory, Zhao's Shangdang County can be connected with Yingchuan County (the land of Han).
There is no need to attack Wei State, Zhao Jun can send its troops to Yingchuan quickly and directly at any time.
The issue of whether to defend or abandon the land of Han, which had troubled Zhao Kuo for a long time, was easily solved in the hands of Chu.
To put it bluntly, this area of only a dozen cities can be equal to an army of 100,000.
With his allies so powerful, Zhao Kuo obviously can't do anything!
Dangji packed up a large number of rare treasures from the Korean treasury and gave them to the Chu State, along with the entire arsenal of the Korean State.
These things were obviously urgently needed by Chu State, which had just lost its capital of Chen.
Rare treasures can enrich the still dilapidated Shouchun Palace, while the arsenal can rejuvenate the Chu army that has abandoned its armor. In particular, the weapons of the Kingdom of Han are known for their excellent quality.
With this batch of weapons and equipment of the Korean army, the Chu army could temporarily recover its strength in a short period of time.
Only when the Chu army recovered its strength, the Qin army did not dare to continue southward easily.
Coincidentally, these things are useless to Zhao Kuo and Zhao Guo.
Needless to say, rare treasures, Zhao Kuo was not interested in these. Even the He's Bi, which is said to be the most beautiful jade in the world, was not enough in Zhao Kuo's opinion, and it was even mentioned as other so-called rare treasures.
Zhao Kuo was used to seeing the gorgeous plastic products from the "National Treasure Gang", but these simple and unpretentious things really couldn't catch his eye.
As for the weapons of Han Zhiguo, they are excellent, but firstly, they are different from Zhao Jun’s standard and are not suitable for Lao Jun who is used to standard equipment. Secondly, Shangdang’s arsenal and mining field are now able to satisfy Zhao *** The workers were self-sufficient, and Zhao Kuo was not unfamiliar with these things from the Han army.
But what is his arsenic is mine honey.
The envoy from Chu State was also overjoyed after hearing the generous gift from King Zhao. Not only that, Zhao Kuo also promised to think about it every year
Of course, in addition to these substantial supports, Zhao Kuo also secretly promised the King of Chu that he would wait for an opportunity to launch an attack on Qin, recapture Chendu for Chu, and even, if possible, regain the former Yanying for Chu. place.
If the gift just made the Chu envoy ecstatic, then Zhao Kuo's promise at this time undoubtedly painted a huge cake for the King of Chu.
Of course it is impossible for Zhao Guo to attack Chendu.
If Zhao wanted to capture Chendu, he would have to use at least 100,000 or 200,000 troops. Expeditions with troops were already taboo among the military, not to mention making wedding dresses for others.
With this military strength, wouldn't it be good to clear away the obstacle of Wei? Wouldn't it be better to even advance eastward and march directly to Hedong and Hexi, until reaching outside Hangu Pass?
Even if Zhao Kuo is warm-hearted, the soldiers below cannot let Zhao Kuo do whatever he wants.
However, the huge benefits still blinded the Chu envoy.
Of course, this is inseparable from Zhao Guo's reliable commitment. After all, Zhao Kuo personally went to rescue the Chu State with real swords and guns.
As one-third of the Zhou territory returned to Zhao, Zhao Kuo incorporated these more than ten cities into Yingchuan County with a wave of his hand.
At this point, the situation in the Warring States Period has quietly changed again without realizing it.
First of all, from a military perspective, Zhao State has actually blocked almost all the ways for the Qin army to go east.
In other words, except for continuing to attack Chu southward, Qin actually had no possibility to avoid Zhao and launch a war.
More importantly, in almost all borders, except for the border between Qi and Chu, there is not much difference between the two countries. In other places, Zhao is almost superior and Qin is inferior.
From the topmost land of Hedong and Shangdang, Zhao State occupies Shangdang, the roof of the world. If the Qin army wants to attack, it will be a feint attack, and it needs to face the natural danger of empty warehouse.
From Hedong to Zhou Dynasty or Han Dynasty, let alone Zhao Kingdom, it occupies the key position of Weihan Passage, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
If Zhao wanted to attack Qin, at least until they encountered Hangu Pass, there would be almost no obstruction.
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It can be said that from the military perspective alone, Zhao State has suppressed Qin State to a great extent.
Fortunately, with the envoys of Fan Sui and Tu Jia, Qin surpassed Zhao in terms of political allies.
On the surface, the entire Warring States Period has presented a confrontational situation between Qin, Wei, Qi and Zhao and Chu.
Of course, under the surging undercurrents in private, the three kingdoms of Wei, Qi, and Chu actually reached a consensus to unite against Qin and Zhao.
Even before the Battle of Xinzheng began, Qin's envoys discussed with Zhao Kuo the suggestion of "dividing the world together and deciding it."
The Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period became the Five Heroes. Not only did it not make the situation clearer, but it made the situation more confusing and made more countries take action.
It has the meaning of five people and eight groups.
The good news is that in such a confusing situation, it is destined that everyone will choose more carefully. At the same time, it is also destined that future wars will not start easily.
It is obvious that the Warring States Period began to enter a stage of development that ceased activities.
Of course, this time will not be too long.
The old Qin people obviously also realized that the Zhao State today is no longer the Zhao State during the Changping War. If it continues to develop just by relying on its vast territory, the Qin State will only suffer more and more losses.
Therefore, Qin must launch an attack before Zhao has completely developed Han and Yan.
As for this time point, Zhao Kuo's guess is very simple - the day when the heavy cavalry is successfully trained is when the war begins.
Even on the battlefield, Zhao Kuo had already prepared for the Qin army.
It is impossible to go up to Dang due to the mountains, and the surrounding land is long and narrow, so it is naturally not possible to gallop with the cavalry.
Only the land of Han, now Yingchuan County, has a vast terrain that is most suitable for cavalry to charge.
More importantly, the Qin army was defeated by the Zhao army's heavy cavalry here. When their heavy cavalry succeeds, of course they want to avenge their disgrace here...
