Yunchang stood on the big ship and sailed northward along the canal and entered Hangou. After learning that these canals were all dug by the Huai State, I was immediately shocked.
When he came to Huai'an, he was even more stunned when he saw the prosperous city. Huai'an is the largest city in the world, with more than 200,000 people living here.
Such a large population is already comparable to half of the population of some small vassal countries. Such a prosperous city greatly shocked the Yue prince.
Yunchang came as a hostage and handed over his credentials and tributes. After Wang Jin also responded, he recognized Yue as a vassal state. In his credentials, he severely reprimanded his alliance with Chu and demanded peace with Yue. The state of Chu broke off diplomatic relations.
The kings and ministers of the State of Yue quickly agreed and expelled the envoys sent by the State of Chu from the State of Yue. At the same time, they also accepted the supervision of the envoys sent by the State of Huai.
After seeing how submissive the Yue Kingdom was, Wang Jin withdrew his army from the border, leaving only the soldiers who patrolled daily.
After the army withdrew, the mountains that worried everyone in the Yue Kingdom were also moved away, and the Marquis of Yue breathed a sigh of relief.
After the Yue State surrendered, the Huai State did not completely relax their vigilance. If the current environment of the Yue State was not too harsh and the roads were difficult to travel, the Huai State would not have kept the Yue State at all.
However, after the Yue State surrendered, the Huai State began to send caravans to the Yue State for trade.
Huai's fine wines, delicacies, refined salt, maltose, pottery, silk, lacquerware, grain, coarse salt, linen and other commodities were hot-selling goods. They were transported by caravans to Yue for sale, and then Yue's rhino horns and rhino yarn were purchased. , large wood, leather, preserved fruits, etc. were transported back to Huai State.
And under Wang Jin's instructions, the goods sold to Yue were not expensive, but the purchased goods were given high prices.
The country of Yue was originally located in a remote and barbaric land. How could we not like these exquisite products when we saw them? In the past, Chu State would also sell these goods to them, but the prices were not low. Unlike now, the price is half lower than that of Chu State.
It is human nature to like enjoyment, comfort, and delicious food. Only a very small number of people are able to restrain their behavior, and the vast majority of the officials and officials in the Yue Kingdom are not such people.
So in order to gain money and enjoy themselves, these ministers and officials began to let the people hunt rhinoceros and elephants, and instructed the people to cut down giant trees in the mountains.
For a time, the lives of the people of Yue State became more difficult, and many people were killed by wild beasts.
Although the people of Yue State are living a very difficult life, the tax revenue of Yue State has increased a lot, and the whole country seems to be prosperous. The arrival of the Huai Kingdom's caravan brought a large amount of tax revenue to the Yue Kingdom, which also caused the Marquis of Yue to not notice that the people in the country were not living well.
After a few years of this, news came from nowhere that the roads across the country were difficult to travel and that it was difficult for caravans to travel back and forth. As a result, the prices of items were always high, and there were even shortages of some items.
This point was felt more clearly by the officials and officials of the Yue State, so some of them wrote a letter asking the Marquis of Yue to send laborers to repair the roads. And also listed many benefits of road construction.
However, after making calculations, the Marquis of Yue found that the cost of building roads was very high. Considering the prosperity of Huai State, he hesitated and finally refused.
However, although the proposal to repair the road was rejected this time, it also left a deep impression on the whole country.
Some officials and officials also felt that the roads should be repaired so that they could sell more animal skins, rhino yarn, rhinoceros horns, giant trees, etc. and earn more money.
The huge benefits made many officials and officials eager to take action, so they began to repair roads in their fiefdoms. Huai Guo is happy to see this kind of behavior come to fruition. So he ordered the caravan to be slightly tilted towards these ministers and nobles, and after seeing the benefits, other ministers and nobles also began to repair the roads in the territory.
The Huaiguo caravan collected a large amount of intelligence in the Yueguo, and even drew the topographic map of the Yueguo, and had been preparing for the Huaiguo's conquest of Yue.
After several years, the topographic map of the Yue Kingdom was basically completed. At the same time, the resentment of the people continued to accumulate because of the expropriation of rhinoceros horns, animal skins, and giant trees by the officials. However, these problems have not been serious until now. At the same time, the roads are not smooth, and Wang Jin has not
There were troops sent out.
Moreover, it was morally untenable to send troops to attack Yue at this time. After all, Yue was already a vassal state of Huai. On the other hand, they are also worried that Qi, Jin or Chu will intervene.
Now these princes of the Zhou Dynasty have deeply realized the danger of Huai State and dare not let Huai State continue to annex and develop.
On the one hand, Wang Jin instructed the caravan to continue to develop in the Yue Kingdom, and on the other hand, he began to cause trouble for the Jin, Qi and Chu States to contain their energy.
After several years of development, the secret guards of Huai State have developed an intelligence network in Jin State. Since Duke Wen of Jin passed away and Duke Xiang of Jin reigned for a short time, the Six Ministers of Jin began to grow in power.
When Jin Xianggong's son ascended the throne, he was still a young son, and state affairs could only be entrusted to the Six Ministers. Later, the Marquis of Jin gradually grew up, but the Six Ministers still held high positions, causing the power and majesty of the Marquis of Jin to be challenged. .
The monarch and his powerful ministers have never been able to live in peace, not to mention the Huai State's spies who have been adding fuel to the fire.
The Huaiguo caravan brought a large amount of fine wine, silk, and candy for the Marquis of Jin to enjoy. At the same time, they secretly instigated the relationship between the Marquis of Jin and Zhao Dun, the leader of the Six Ministers. This led to the relationship between Zhao Dun and the Marquis of Jin getting worse and worse.
In particular, Zhao Dun participated in the alliance of princes on behalf of the Marquis of Jin, exercised the rights of the Marquis of Jin, and assumed the position of overlord, which further encroached on the rights and prestige of the Marquis of Jin.
The conflict between Zhao Dun and the Marquis of Jin almost became public. As long as the person Zhao Dun punished sent money to the Marquis of Jin, the Marquis of Jin would protect him. Doing this would be an insult to Zhao Dun. Zhao Dun was the chief minister of the Jin State, in charge of the court and had great power. How can I have no temper and let others humiliate me?
The relationship between Zhao Dun and the Marquis of Jin made Jin's politics chaotic, and it was temporarily unable to target Huai. Without the pressure from Jin, Qi was left alone, and Huai was now strong enough to start a war with them at the same time.
The State of Yue had already severed diplomatic relations with the State of Chu after expelling the envoys of the State of Chu. Moreover, Xiong Yun of the State of Chu was now seriously ill and seemed to be dying soon. Even if the State of Huai attacked Yue, the State of Chu could not contain the State of Huai.
It took Wang Jin ten years to finally cut off the foreign aid from Yue one by one, and used wealth to induce Yue to take the initiative to build roads. After all preparations were made, Wang Jin started to take action.
But before taking action, Huai State still needs to find a suitable excuse. After all, Yue State is now a vassal state of Huai State. Soon Wang Jin came up with a way. He deliberately leaked the news of the attack on Yue to Prince Yunchang of Yue. After getting the news, Yunchang fled Huai'an overnight and returned to Yue to report the news.
So Huai State prepared to send troops to conquer Yue State on the grounds that Yue State was rude.
