After Wu Zixu was granted the title of Huai'an Order, he finally gained the right to participate in national decision-making. After returning to Huai'an, Wu Zixu wrote "National Policy" and told Wang Qi his views on the future development of Huai State.
Wu Zixu's point of view is consistent with Sun Wu's point of view. The Huai Kingdom can no longer develop north or south. Its long and narrow territory is not conducive to governance, so it should develop westward.
Although Wu Zixu had the element of revenge mixed in it, Wang Qi had to say that the "National Policy" written by Wu Zixu was indeed excellent. Wang Qi couldn't help but feel excited when he saw it.
"Wu Qing, although this strategy is good, it is not a good opportunity to attack Chu at this time!" Wang Qi said.
"Your Majesty, Xiong Ju of Chu State is killing the clan. There are many dissatisfied people in Chu State. At this time, Chu is being attacked. I am willing to go to Chu State to persuade them to defect." Wu Zixu said.
Wang Qi shook his head and said, "I believe in Wu Qing's judgment, and I also believe that if Huai State attacks Chu, someone will respond. But do they want to support Huai State by responding to Huai State?"
"No, they just lost their interests and want to regain it with the help of the Huai Kingdom. How can a group of insects with the head and the rat end rely on them to achieve anything?"
Wu Zixu was silent for a moment, then he cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me, but I was careless."
Wang Qi smiled and said, "Although now is not the best time to attack Chu, some preparations still need to be made."
"When the late king built a city west of Wu and south of the Yangtze River, he called it Jinling. If you want to attack Chu, you can store grain, grass and equipment here. You can go to Jinling first to build a city and stockpile supplies. When the time comes, the army will be ready. You can send your troops to the west to attack Chu."
"Wu Qing, would you like to go?"
Wu Zixu immediately said: "Your Majesty, I am willing to go."
Immediately Wang Qi ordered Wu Zixu to take over Jinling City as well. This assignment is not a good thing. There are many things to do, it is very hard, and it is difficult to be qualified if you are not capable. Wang Qi was very happy to hear that Wu Zixu was willing.
The Chu State was powerful and could not be annexed in one day. Wang Qi had long been prepared for a long-term war. At the same time, in order to guard against the Qi State in the north, Wang Qi planned to find something for Qi State to do.
After Cui Zhu committed regicide, Prince Chujiu of Qi came to the throne. However, the political situation in Qi was not stable. After Cui Zhu killed the king, he took over all the power, which made other princes and officials in Qi very dissatisfied.
So the princes and ministers of Qi State united to attack the Cui family, and the Cui family was destroyed.
Originally, the matter was almost over here, but the secret guards of Huai Kingdom suddenly discovered something interesting.
Another high minister of Qi, Tian, was actually trying to win people's hearts.
The other ministers from other clans are all trying to carve up Cui's land, rights, gold, silver and jewels, but Tian is actually trying to win people's hearts.
The Tian family gathered a large number of refugees caused by this civil strife and distributed food and land to them. These people then followed the Tian family to their fiefdoms.
A large number of people entered the Tian family's fiefdom, which made the Tian family, which was not originally strong, soar in strength.
Land, money, and rights are indeed important, but all of them require population transformation. Without population, all of this is empty talk.
Tian saw it clearly and directly used the method of buying people's hearts to move the population away. Therefore, although several other princes and ministers received land, gold, silver and jewelry, their strength did not increase much.
Moreover, the expansion of the territory of these public officials will also attract the attention of the Marquis of Qi.
No one cared about Tian's way of winning people's hearts, and many people even praised Tian's benevolence and righteousness. But in Wang Qi's opinion, this was a big conspiracy.
Zijue was very worried about his heir, and recorded in detail all kinds of things that seemed to be loyal but were actually done by the eldest daughter. A very important step in this is to win people's hearts.
Sure enough, not long after, Tian became a doctor and collected taxes for the country. This doctor Tian Qi can be said to be a good strategist.
Taxes have always been collected in big buckets and given to the people in small buckets to borrow grain. Then the tax collector makes a profit from it.
But this field beggar did not do this. He used a small bucket to collect taxes and grain from the people, used a big bucket to lend money to the people, and when the people returned the money, he used a small bucket to pay back the taxes.
calculate.
With this move in and out, the people paid a lot less taxes, and even more so when borrowing grain. Not only did they get no interest, but even the principal was recovered at a discount.
Imagine that someone lends you a million dollars, and then you don’t want to pay interest. When you repay the loan, you only need to pay back 800,000. For such a person, the people still don't worship him as their ancestor.
By doing this, Tian Qi gained a very high reputation.
Originally, this had nothing to do with the Huai Kingdom, but this Duke of Qi was not very content. Ever since he ascended the throne, he had always wanted to restore Duke Huan of Qi's hegemony, which was completely different from the absurdities of the previous Qi Hous.
The Marquis of Qi worked hard and diligently, and the strength of Qi State began to recover. If this development continues, it is not impossible for Qi State to restore Duke Huan's hegemony.
Huai State was preparing to attack Chu State. At this time, he did not want to confront Qi State and involve his energy, so Wang Qi planned to do something. He planned to provoke a fight between the Marquis of Qi and the officials and nobles of Qi.
Wang Qi sent someone to invite Fan Li, the Prime Minister of the Left. Fan Li was born into a royal family, after Duke Wu Zhaogong of Huaihe. After Duke Wuzhao annexed Wu, he left his concubine in Wu to assist Huai in governing Wu.
Fan Li was the head of the family of this generation. He was sent to the Academy at a young age and grew up with the children of the royal family. He soon showed his extraordinary talents. Later, when Wang Qi came to the throne, he was appointed as the left prime minister.
"Fan Qing, there is something that requires you to take action personally!" Seeing Fan Li coming, Wang Qi said with a smile.
"I wonder what's wrong with you, Your Majesty?" Fan Li asked.
Then Wang Qi explained the matter, and then said: "I need an eloquent person to go to the State of Qi to sow discord between the Duke of Qi and the officials of the Duke's family. Is Fan Qing willing to go?"
Fan Li immediately held up his hands and said, "I'll leave this matter to you!"
...
Fan Li became an official in Qi State.
The Marquis of Qi was very happy about Fan Li's arrival. Fan Li came here under the banner that Huai State wanted to reconcile with Qi State.
The power of Huai State is known to all the world. If we can make peace with Huai State, the pressure on Qi State will be relieved a lot. Moreover, Fan Li inherited the handsome appearance of the Wang family.
No matter in any era, having a handsome appearance is an inherent advantage.
Fan Li received a warm reception in Qi State. At the banquet, Fan Li quickly discovered the target of this time, Tian Qi. This Tian Qi had an honest appearance, which made him feel that he was a loyal person at a glance, but his Those eyes were very bright.
At the banquet, almost everyone praised Tian Qi for his kindness. This situation made Fan Li couldn't help but look at him a few more times. I thought to myself: "If this person is not a saint, then he must be a eldest daughter who has done great evil!"
