Under Wang Qi's order, the Huai State began to mobilize a large amount of manpower, material and financial resources to improve the iron-making process. At the same time, Huaiguo did not start changing his clothes and was still equipped with bronze swords.
At the same time, the Huai State also began to carry out the Qingmiao Loan reform under the auspices of Fan Li. The same reform as the Huai State was the Qi State, but compared to the Huai State, the Qi State's reforms were very turbulent.
The Marquis of Qi suddenly took action to suppress the Tian family. The Tian family united with other ministers' families to fight against the Marquis of Qi. For a time, the Qi Kingdom was in turmoil.
South, Chu State.
Since the King of Chu killed his nephew and established himself, the King of Chu began to weaken the power of the clan. Several successive generations of Chu kings in the Chu State did not ascend the throne normally, which caused the Chu State to be in turmoil almost every ten or twenty years.
This made the King of Chu very worried. He didn't know that one day he or his son would be defeated by other princes. Therefore, the King of Chu began to attack the power of the clan and weaken the power of vassals everywhere.
The systems used by Chu State and other states of Bang and Zhou were different. The State of Chu is like a smaller state of Zhou. There are a large number of small feudal lords in the State of Chu.
It was also because of the large number of feudal lords that the Chu State was able to expand rapidly and eventually occupied two thousand miles of territory. But success is also a title to the king, failure is also a title to the king. Due to the issue of kingship, the Chu State's national power has been dispersed.
Although it is two thousand miles away and has a population of four million, it is still like a giant with mud legs. Therefore, the King of Chu wanted to weaken the power of the feudal lord and concentrate more power in his hands.
Chu State and Qin State were on good terms. After Chu State was defeated by Huai State and had to withdraw from the Central Plains, Qin State was also unable to support itself and was defeated again by Jin State and retreated to the west of Hangu Pass.
In order to enhance their national strength, Chu and Qin began to prepare to join forces to attack Bashu and Bashu.
The two countries of Bashu and Bashu are thousands of miles apart and are important grain producing areas. At the same time, it is isolated by mountains and rivers, so it can be used as a logistics base for the two countries.
The Chu and Qin states hit it off immediately and prepared to work together to attack Bashu and carve it up. The two countries attacked from the north and from the east.
Although Bashu is isolated by natural barriers, the kings of Ba and Shu of this generation are both greedy people.
Uncle Qin had someone carve a stone cow, and then put some gold under the butt of the stone cow, claiming that it was a golden cow and could pull gold out. As a result, the king of Shu believed it and asked Uncle Qin for it, and Qin also I readily agreed. .
It's just that the golden bull was huge and it was difficult to carry it back, so the Shu State joined forces with the Qin State to dig a road from Qin State to Shu State. The State of Qin successfully deceived the State of Shu with this plan that was obviously fake at first glance, and asked the State of Shu to bring its own dry food to help Qin State open up the road. It has to be said that, blinded by greed, it was not long before its demise at such a distance.
After the road was opened, the king of Shu was happily preparing to welcome the golden bull, but instead of waiting for the golden bull to come, the Qin army came like wolves and tigers. The Qin army took advantage of this to invade Shu. Shu was defeated and was soon destroyed by Qin.
The neighboring country of Ba is also not much better. It can be said that Ba and Chu often attack. Pakistan has always lost more and won less, so it can only gradually retreat westward. Later, they could only rely on their geographical advantages to compete with Chu.
After the Chu State was defeated by the Huai State, the Chu State suffered heavy losses in strength, so Bahou began to get ready to attack the Chu State and gain some benefits.
Later, a coup occurred in the Chu State, and the King of Chu killed his nephew and proclaimed himself king. The Ba State thought this was an opportunity, and there would definitely be chaos within the Chu State, so it mobilized a large army to attack.
It's just that Ba State didn't notice at all this time. There was no internal turmoil in Chu State, and the transfer of power was completed in a lot of time. As for the Huai Kingdom, although it was defeated at the hands of the Huai Kingdom, it was thousands of miles away and had a large population, so soldiers could continue to be dispatched to fight against it.
The King of Chu committed regicide and ascended the throne. In order to increase his prestige, he personally led an army to resist the Ba Kingdom.
The Ba army marched out from the east and besieged Xiangyang. Xiangyang was a city built by Chu to attack Ba. The city was well-defended. Although there were few troops in the city, Ba failed to capture it despite several attacks. Instead, it suffered heavy losses.
Seeing this situation, the King of Chu did not attack directly, but allowed the Ba army to continue to besiege Xiangyang, allowing the Xiangyang defenders to continue to defend with the city, while the King of Chu led his army to hide on one side and wait for the opportunity.
The Pakistani state besieged the city for two months, but there was still no
Xiangyang was captured. It had been more than three months since Ba had sent troops. The soldiers were exhausted and many soldiers missed their hometown. King Chu saw the opportunity and the army took the opportunity to attack. Ba was defeated.
Immediately after the Chu State took advantage of the victory, the Ba State was defeated again and had to retreat in embarrassment. This time, not only did Ba's army suffer heavy losses, but the Han River Plain was completely occupied by Chu.
After obtaining the Hanshui Plain, Ba State was completely blocked by Chu State. At the same time, Ba also lost its strategy of relying on the Yangtze River to suppress Chu.
There are many mountains and ridges in the upper reaches of the river, the roads are difficult to navigate, and there are many reefs. Every boat trip is a narrow escape. Therefore, although Ba still occupies the upper reaches of the river, it is basically impossible to use the river to go south to attack Chu.
But Pakistan, which had lost its middle and upper reaches, could only retreat steadily, and in the end could only defend itself against the natural dangers. However, after the demise of Shu, Ba suddenly became surrounded by enemies from both sides.
Chu State immediately joined forces with Qin State and launched attacks from the east and west directions. Ba's national strength is not as good as Chu's, and now that Qin is added to it, it can be said to be a disaster.
Under the attack of Chu and Qin, Ba could not resist, and finally had to surrender to Qin and Chu.
After Qin and Chu defeated Ba, Qin wanted more land. After all, the Qin State also made great efforts in this war, so it is not too much to ask for some land. However, he was rejected by the Chu State, and the original close relationship between Qin and Chu came to an abrupt end.
The feud between Qin and Chu made Chu more and more isolated, with few allies among the states.
After the King of Chu annexed the Kingdom of Ba, he gained great prestige. With the power of the great victory, the King of Chu forcibly reduced the rights of local feudal lords and strengthened the power of the King of Chu.
This made the princes from all over the country very dissatisfied, but because of the prestige of the Marquis of Chu, they did not dare to object. After taking control of the overall situation, King Chu defeated his old enemy Ba, and his prestige reached its peak.
After taking full control of the government, the King of Chu became more arbitrary and domineering. His favorite ministers held a grudge because they failed to compete with Shen Qing for land and water, so they reported to the king of Chu and falsely accused Shen Qing of missing Duke Zhuang.
The King of Chu was furious and captured him without saying a word, then killed him and took back his land and property. This move instantly frightened the other feudal lords. According to the system of Chu State, how could a feudal lord take back his fiefdom and then kill him so easily?
The princes in the country dared not speak, which made the King of Chu very satisfied, and he became more and more arrogant. It's just that Chu's arrogance also caused the vassal states that were friendly with it to drift away.
Wang Qi was very happy to see Chu State's actions. This Chu State was really on its own.
