Chu and Qi attacked Wei, but because they were worried that Huai would take the opportunity to attack, they did not mobilize their entire army to attack Wei. Therefore, although the battle was lost, there was still a large army guarding the country.
The world is raging with war, and the princes are constantly attacking. No one expected that a small Wei State could defeat Qin, defeat Chu, capture the princes of Qi, and dominate the world.
While the Central Plains was raging with war, the Huai Kingdom in the south was relatively peaceful. After Wang Qi moved the capital to Jinling, and after decades of development, the state treasury was full. After seeing the disputes in the Central Plains, Wang Pu began to annex small surrounding countries.
When the Huai State initially competed with the Chu State, it did not annex the small states to the north of the Chao State such as Lu State, Zhou Lai, and to the east of the Zhong and Cai States. Now that the Huai Kingdom has digested its land and its national strength is strong, Wang Pu begins to annex these small countries.
Among these small countries, Zhoulaiguo is considered the largest, but even Zhoulaiguo has a population of only about 300,000. How can it compare with Huaiguo.
If the Central Plains countries had not been in chaos, the Huai State's capture of the state might have attracted interference from other countries, but now the Central Plains has become a mess because of the Wei State's disturbance.
Wang Pu did not hesitate and immediately ordered Xu Jun to be the Sima of the Left Army and command an army of 50,000 to prepare for the annexation of the state.
Wang Pu sent troops on the grounds that Zhou Lai had not paid tribute to him, and that his late king Huai Wenxiang had passed away and did not come to mourn him. Of course, in order to show the benevolence and righteousness of our Huai State and to distinguish ourselves from the barbarians of Chu, Wang Pu gave Zhou Lai a way to make amends. Given the opportunity, they specifically stated that as long as they came to pay tribute and send people to apologize within two months, the Huai Kingdom could forget about it and stop attacking them.
When Zhou Laiguo heard that Huai State was sending troops, he quickly sent envoys carrying a large amount of goods to pay tribute to Huai State, and was willing to let the prince come as a pledge.
It's just that Wang Pu has long wanted to annex the state, how could he give them a chance? The so-called opportunities actually never come in the state. Two months are just for preparing food, grass and supplies for the army.
Wang Pu directly ordered the secret guards to take action, find some savage bandits, and trap the envoys from the state in the wilderness, blocking them to the north of the nest. As long as the envoys from the state did not appear on the land of Huai State, they did not come. You said you sent an envoy? Sorry, I didn't see it, so I didn't come.
When two months later, the Huai State envoy had not yet arrived, it was justifiable for Huai State to send troops again at this time. Duke Huai personally ordered to give you a chance, but you didn't come. This is completely because you don't take Huai Guo seriously.
For a time, people in the Huai State were excited. A small state dared to do so. If they were not punished, where would the Huai State's face be?
Seeing that the military morale was available, Wang Pu immediately ordered 50,000 Huai troops to attack the state.
Zhou Lai asked Qi and Chu for help, but Qi and Chu were attacking Wei at this time, so how could they have time to take charge of Zhou Lai? Zhou Lai was isolated and helpless. The Huai army was equipped with sharp armor and iron swords. Zhou Lai still used bronze weapons. How could he stop them?
Although Zhou Laiguo has made preparations, Huaiguo's military power can crush Zhou Laiguo, not to mention a large number of advanced siege equipment.
The trebuchet made by the master craftsman was used to attack the city, and Zhou Laiguo couldn't resist it at all. After capturing a city, Wang Pu sent his Legalist disciples from the academy to take over the city. At the same time, all the noble officials in the city were moved away and sent to Kuaiji.
Without the upper class nobles, Huai State confiscated a large amount of land and distributed it to the people, completely abolishing the well-field system and slavery in the state. Xu Jun promulgated and implemented a series of policies to benefit the people after the reform of Huai State in the state, and immediately won the support of the people in the state.
In addition, the Huai army has strict military discipline. Anyone who dares to rob the people after breaking the city, burn, kill, loot, and rape women will be beheaded directly. Therefore, after the Huai army entered Zhou Lai, they were even more popular than Zhou Lai's army.
The reality is so magical. The nobles from different states regard the common people as slaves. The so-called well field system has long since collapsed and become the property of the nobles. These common people are just slaves working for the nobles.
The people had no food or clothing and worked all day long but had nothing to eat. After the Huai army conquered the prefecture, and after stabilizing the situation, they opened the warehouses to release grain, opened the treasury, and distributed the cloth and salt to the people.
At the same time, according to Wang Pu's order, every time a city was captured, Legalist students
He began to implement the system of the Huai Kingdom here, clearing land, moving away officials and nobles, and dividing the land equally among the people.
Although the series of operations seemed troublesome, the effect was surprisingly good. The people who originally had a sense of resistance against Huai State's attack on Zhou Lai immediately abandoned Zhou Lai after seeing Huai State's system.
Even before the Huaiguo army attacked, people kept coming to seek refuge spontaneously, willing to lead the way for the Huaiguo army and cooperate with the Huaiguo army's attack.
Since the Huai State captured Xu Guochao, they have not attacked Zhou Lai for decades. After the Zhou Lai country was free from foreign aggression, the politics became more corrupt, and the oppression of the lower class people became more cruel. As a result, since the Huai Kingdom's army, the people spontaneously helped the Huai Kingdom's army. , and even a large number of soldiers from various states surrendered in Kaicheng.
With the previous cities as examples, as soon as the Huai army arrived, people from all over the country rushed to join them and lead the way. The Huai State occupied the entire state with almost no effort.
Of course, the Huai Kingdom's system was able to spread so quickly across the country, and a large part of this was due to the Huai Kingdom's secret guards.
...
The news that Huai State attacked Zhou Lai State was not hidden. As a disciple of the Mohist school, he also had the concept of loving all sides and not attacking. After many Mohist disciples learned that the Huai Kingdom was attacking Zhoulai, they wrote letters one after another, saying that the Huai Kingdom's attack on Zhoulai was an unjust war, and begged Wang Pu not to attack Zhoulai.
Wang Pu kept all these petitions and waited until the Huai Kingdom captured a city before ordering an audience with the Mohist scholars.
"Your Majesty, Zhou Lai has committed no crime. This battle to capture Zhou Lai is an unjust war. Please, Your Majesty, withdraw the army." Qin Lili was not polite at all and said straightforwardly after saluting.
Wang Pu is not angry either. As the third destined son of the Wang family, Wang Pu has a deep grasp of human nature. If he were to be cut open, apart from his 95% charm on the outside, he would be black on the inside.
However, Wang Pu, who is proficient in the art of maneuvering and controlling people, does not have a gloomy character. If he were another person, he would be a tycoon. However, due to Wang's education and Zi Jue's interference, Wang Pu rarely used conspiracy and tricks.
After hearing what Qin Huali said, Wang Pu did not answer, but waved his hand and asked the eunuch next to him to send a bamboo slip over for him to check.
"Qiu Lili, you, the Mo family, put aside those ideals. His most basic ideal is to let the people live a good life, right? Now look at the living conditions of the people after the Huai Kingdom went to Zhoulai!"
Qin Huali quickly looked at the bamboo slips, and soon he was stunned and murmured:
"Impossible, impossible, how could things be like this..."
