"Your Majesty, our army has lost all its food and grass in this battle. Why don't we ask Marquis Ju and Tan to send another army to help with the evacuation of our army?" said Wang Cheng's father next to him.
"I'm afraid not!" Guan Zhong shook his head and said, "This time Ju and Tan have mobilized their armies, and there are not many remaining armies in the country. Once they are mobilized, there will be almost no one to defend them, and the Huai army can march straight in."
"Then what should we do?" Qi Hou's face also looked bad.
"Your Majesty will lead the army back to the country, and I will stay here to break up the throne!" Wang Cheng's father stepped forward and said.
After the break!
With no food and grass inside and no reinforcements outside, the morale of the soldiers is low. If they stay to break up the rear, they will just die.
Wang Chengfu's tone was sonorous and powerful, his eyes were firm, and he completely ignored life and death. Qi Hou's eyes changed when he looked at him. He didn't expect that he would be willing to stand up in such a difficult situation.
The Marquis of Qi sighed: "Wang Qing, you are the general of our Qi State and the pillar of the Qi State. Over the years, we have defeated the Ji State, conquered the barbarians, defeated the Lu State, and driven the Chu State. You have been invincible. If the Qi State did not have you, we would be invincible." What should we do next?”
"Leave the broken queen to others!"
Wang Cheng's father shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, it has been a hundred years since we came to Qi from Wang Ji with our ancestors. The Wang family has been treated with courtesy by Qi for a hundred years. Now that the Marquis of Qi is in trouble, how can I not refuse to die? Besides, the army is so big The people are in panic, if there are no old ministers to guard them, and the Huai Kingdom comes to attack, I am afraid that they will be defeated immediately!"
"Your Majesty, the State of Qi can be without ministers, but it cannot be without you and Prime Minister Zhong! Please leave immediately with Prime Minister Zhong."
The Marquis of Qi walked over directly, pulled Wang Cheng's father up and said: "When the country is in danger, the country's soldiers come forward. This battle is Gu's fault. Gu swears that he will let Wang's heirs succeed him as minister and increase the number of people. One thousand households. As long as the Wang family does not fail the Qi State, and the Qi State does not fail the Wang family, please take care of yourself, General!"
Wang Chengfu took a step back, knelt on the ground and paid homage: "Old minister Chengfu, I thank you!"
In the camp, other princes and ministers were silent, only Wang Cheng's father thanked him loudly!
In front of more than a dozen princes and dozens of ministers, Wang Chengfu said that he was willing to die and leave his queen behind in exchange for a way of life for everyone. This made all the princes and ministers want to accept his favor.
Immediately, all the princes and officials bowed solemnly to Wang Cheng's father. Wang Cheng's father's resolute expression was deeply engraved in everyone's minds.
Wang Chengfu's execution ability was very fast, and the army was short of food and grass. At the same time, he was worried that withdrawing too many troops would attract the attention of Huai State, so he did not take many troops with him when he withdrew. Minzhuang all stayed behind.
The princes only mobilized their elite soldiers to protect them from leaving. Wang Cheng's father used the army to cover the princes' ministers. At the same time, they are also dispatching troops and generals to familiarize themselves with cooperation.
He knew very well that he was no match for the Huai army. Even if he had enough food and grass, he was not sure of winning. In the previous battle with Xu Mao, although the army did not listen to orders and was not commanded properly, he understood that even if he was replaced by the elite of Qi, he would lose.
What's more, the Duke of Huai of Huai State was also a figure with great military exploits. At this time, Huai State was full of talents. But Wang Cheng's father was not afraid.
This time he was determined to fight against the Huai State. In addition to repaying the kindness of the Marquis of Qi, he also wanted to contribute to the prosperity of the Wang family.
Wang Sheng didn't know that the Marquis of Qi and other princes had already escaped in advance. He was thinking about how to swallow up the more than 200,000 troops in front of him. They have burned all the food and grass, and the army is short of food. If he does not annex these 200,000 troops, he will be sorry for himself.
Wang Cheng's father has made all preparations and will do everything he can to the best of his ability, but the development of things will not change much.
Although Wang Cheng's father was a veteran on the battlefield, he commanded the army in the north and south, and made great achievements in battle, but it was hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. What's more, Wang Sheng, Xu Mao, Wei Jun, and Gong Yangshuo all dealt with him together, and the coalition lost its strength again. Advantage, and after several previous battles, Huai State has firmly gained the upper hand.
Faced with the all-round crushing of Huai State, even Wang Chengfu's desperate efforts were of no avail. In the end, more than 200,000 strong troops were defeated in consecutive battles and were completely surrounded.
The army was short of food and had low morale. In the end, Wang Cheng's father committed suicide and the army surrendered.
After surrendering more than 200,000 coalition soldiers, Wang Sheng also learned that those princes had fled.
Xu Mao looked at the empty camp and said, "Your Majesty, we didn't capture those princes in this battle, and we didn't get the maximum result!"
"However, if we can defeat the alliance of princes of Bangzhou in one fell swoop in this battle, the Huai Kingdom will definitely be powerful in the world, and the hegemony of the Qi Kingdom will also become precarious!"
"I am afraid that all the princes and countries of the Warring States Period will not be able to recover within ten years!"
After defeating the alliance of princes, Wang Sheng's army took the opportunity to directly destroy the Tan Kingdom. The State of Tan was just to the north of the State of Huai. The State of Tan also sent troops in this battle, but this time it also suffered heavy losses.
The surrounding countries such as Qi, Lu, Ju and others were severely damaged and could not mobilize any troops to help Tan resist the Huai army. Coupled with the great victory of Huai's army, all the princes in the world were frightened and did not dare to become enemies. Tan State could only face Huai State alone.
Naturally, the result was a great defeat for the Tan State. Xu Mao commanded an army of 50,000 to attack the Tan State. The Tan State was defeated and the city was destroyed in January. Since then, the Tan State has been destroyed.
After the fall of the Tan Kingdom, Wang Sheng directly moved the population of Tancheng to Zhongli, and also moved the population from Zhongli and Huaidi to Tancheng.
The king of Tan State was destroyed and died. Some of the officials fled to Qi State, and the rest were killed under Wei Jun's order. All the officials and nobles were also moved to Wu.
Moreover, Wang Sheng split up all these officials and nobles, and it can be said that the upper-level power of Tan Kingdom almost disappeared.
At the same time, Wang Sheng left 50,000 troops in Tancheng and Xiapi to guard them to prevent local rebellions and also to defend against the northern countries.
Although the northern countries are now in a state of despair, who knows whether they will go crazy regardless of their national strength?
After the victory of the Huai State army, they began to escort the prisoners back to the Huai State. The number of prisoners this time was too many. There were more than 200,000 in the alliance of Qi State princes, and there were 20,000 in the Chu State on the other side. This time the princes of the world attacked Huai State. Defeated, Huai State captured more than 250,000 people.
The total population of many small princely states is not that large.
After this battle, the Huai Kingdom became so famous that no princes dared to test its prowess.
After this battle, Wang Sheng's reputation was at its peak. If the Huai State was not a remnant of the Yin Shang Dynasty, he could have replaced the Qi State and become the overlord of the princes.
However, even though the Huai State was a remnant of the Yin Shang Dynasty, some surrounding small countries also took advantage of the power of the Huai State, surrendered to the Huai State and respected it as their leader.
[The overlord politics of the Spring and Autumn Period begins. 】
[Your ninth generation grandson successfully defeated the coalition forces of the princes of Bangzhou and Huaiguo. The power of Huaiguo increased greatly. Huaiguo was strengthened by the fate of Bangzhou. 】
[Your ninth generation grandson defeated Qi Hou, the first overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period, ended Qi's hegemony, and succeeded him as the new overlord. Your luck will increase. 】
[You obtain human-level props and amulets. Amulet: It can help the owner resist a fatal injury. Note: If the damage exceeds the upper limit, you will also be injured. The product has been added to the mall and can be purchased by spending luck points. 】
Seeing this amulet, Zijue was slightly startled. This thing should be a treasure to prevent assassination. Generally speaking, the damage caused by killing a person can be withstood, unless there is a continuous natural disaster.
It can be used by the public servants of Huai State. Zijue opened the mall and took a look. One amulet cost ten thousand luck, which was not cheap.
More than 250,000 young people are a huge wealth for any country, but it is not a good thing for Huai State.
The 250,000 strong men do not identify with the Huai State, and they have basically undergone military training. Even if the Huai State demotes them as slaves, they must be guarded by soldiers to prevent them from rebelling and fleeing.
As for making it annexed to the Huai Kingdom, where would the Huai Kingdom find 250,000 women of the right age to marry them? So the best way is to let the Central Plains countries redeem it.
The princes of the Central Plains are also willing to redeem these soldiers. These soldiers and young men can be said to be the backbone of their country. Without these young men, many small countries may not even be able to suppress the surrounding Yi and Di.
After Wang Sheng agreed to exchange prisoners, the Central Plains Army
Guo finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, the conditions proposed by Huai State immediately made them feel a sense of pain.
Each young man needs two to three adult slaves to exchange, and most of the slaves exchanged are barbarians from the vassal states. In fact, he is said to be a Yi Di, but his appearance is basically the same as that of Chinese people. But there are some differences in living habits and level of civilization.
At that time, the Huai State also continued to annex these Yi and Di and began to grow.
This time Wang Sheng exchanged prisoners of war for slaves, and what he asked for was basically a balanced ratio of men to women. Of course, not all the captives were exchanged back, just like many of the civilians were not exchanged.
At the same time, a large number of small nobles were captured this time, and the value of these small nobles was also very high. Overall, it took three years for the prisoners of this war to be exchanged.
In the end, the Huai Kingdom exchanged about 400,000 slaves, tens of thousands of people who had been abandoned by the Central Plains vassal states, and a large amount of bronze and other materials.
Nearly half a million slaves greatly increased the population of Huai State. Since the founding of the Huai Kingdom, King Wen has enacted laws, which stipulate that after five years of working for the country, slaves will be pardoned as slaves if they have not rebelled or been lazy, and will be entered into the official rolls of various places.
This can be regarded as a household registration system in the Spring and Autumn Period. At the same time, after being entered into the register, you can get a piece of wasteland. Taxes will be paid after three years of reclaiming the wasteland. During this period, you can borrow grain from the government and only need to return it after three years.
It was also because of such a generous policy that the population of Huai State increased rapidly. As a remnant of the Yin Shang Dynasty, the Huai State has faced a huge crisis since its founding and its population is not abundant. Therefore, Zijue initially opposed the public opinion to abolish human sacrifice and human sacrifice, and replaced it with Tao Yong.
And relying on these generous laws, Huaiyi and Dongyi slaves were transformed into Huaiguo barbarians or Chinese people. The population of Huai State increased from less than 10,000 to 500,000, laying the foundation for the prosperity of Huai State.
These nearly half a million slaves were distributed to the old land of Zhongli, Tan and Huai. As for why they did not move to Wu, it is because the environment in Wu is humid and hot, and people in the Central Plains are easily acclimatized. At the same time, there are many lakes and swamps in the wild, where many rhinos and crocodiles live.
After successively annexing Wu, Zhongli, and Tan, Huai's land more than doubled in just twenty years, and its national power developed rapidly. It's just that such rapid expansion has temporarily reached the limit of Huai State.
Land does not end when it is conquered, it still needs to be managed. Although Huaiguo had academies for education, its expansion doubled in a short period of time, and officials at all levels became stretched.
If these lands cannot be digested, once problems arise in the Huai Kingdom, these places are likely to rebel or be taken away by other countries.
After Wang Sheng won the victory over the allied forces of the princes, he specially sent an envoy to meet the Emperor of Zhou in the name of paying tribute and publicized his achievements.
Even though Emperor Zhou felt very unhappy, he did not dare to say anything when facing a powerful country like Huai State and encouraged him. After all, Huai State paid tribute according to Zhou Rites.
As for asking the Emperor of Zhou to recognize his position as overlord and to bestow the Emperor with ritual music, tripods, chariots and horses, and ceremonial guards, the envoy did not mention it.
Of course, although the Emperor Zhou did not give it to him, the Nine Cauldrons had already been used to offer sacrifices to the Huai Kingdom. After all, since the decline of the Zhou Dynasty, many vassal states have arrogantly used the emperor's rituals and music.
Wang Sheng held an alliance in Xiapi, and several surrounding princes and vassal states, including Ju, Peng, Xue, Juan, Xiang, Yang, Cai, etc., as well as Xu Guo, came to participate.
These vassal states are very close to Huai State. If Huai State is really offended and Huai State is attacked by a large army, it will probably be destroyed before other countries come to rescue them.
The Huai State became the second prince to dominate after the Qi State. However, Huai State's position as the overlord of the princes was not recognized by the Emperor of Zhou. But do you dare to say that he is not the overlord of the princes?
This time the alliance was more about demonstrating the military might of the Huai Kingdom to shock the world.
At the same time, Wang Sheng also began to vigorously support the development of the academy, expanding the academy into a school palace and allowing people from the Huai Kingdom to enter and study. Those with talents are not only free of charge, but also subsidized by the government to ensure that they have no worries about food and clothing.
in the next few years
During this time, the Huai State did not send troops to other countries, and the princes and other countries did not raise troops to attack. After the last war, the strength of the states of Bangzhou and Zhou was greatly damaged. There was no fighting between them. They were all actively restoring their strength, or Crusade against the Yi Di.
For a time, all the countries in the world were in peace with each other. It must be said that this turned out to be a black humor. Huai Guo: Peace in the world depends on me!
Although the Qi State suffered heavy losses, it recovered quickly due to the annexation of Lai Yi, a prosperous population, a vast territory, and the assistance of virtuous ministers. However, the recovered Qi State no longer dared to attack Huai State, but began to help other countries resist the invasion of Yi and Di.
Because the coalition forces of the princes were defeated last time, some princes suffered heavy losses, and even resisting the Yi Di was difficult. And through this method, Qi's reputation began to gradually recover.
