Rebirth of Wu Ba Spring and Autumn

Chapter 578

"Right now, everyone in the world is looking at the King! Look at me, Wu!"

Wu Zixu glared at Ji Ran with wide eyes, gritted his teeth and shouted: "Among all the countries in the world, the only one who can fight Jinshi is my great Wu team!"

"Seeing my vassal country being bullied by others, but turning a deaf ear to it, wouldn't it make the world laugh at my country Wu?"

"..."

In fact, whether it is Ji Ran or Wu Zixu, they are all thinking about Qing Ji and Wu Guo.

It's just that they look at the problem from different angles, and the conclusions they draw are also quite different.

Qingji thought for a while, then turned his attention to Sun Wu, squinted his eyes and asked, "Dear Sima, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty... Soldiers, the important affairs of the country, the place of life and death, the way of survival, must be investigated."

Sun Wuchang sighed, and said: "This time, the people of Jin have seen the consumption of our country Wu due to the southern expedition, coupled with the frequent wars over the years, the national strength has been too depleted, and they dare not go all out to the north to fight for hegemony."

"Therefore, the people of Jin dared to invade the land of Luoyi, as well as the country of Zheng... If your king wants to fight for hegemony with the Jin people, and to uphold justice for Zhou Tianzi and Zheng Bo, there is nothing wrong with wanting to fight this battle."

"If Wu Jin fights, what are the odds of winning?"

"A battle between the two overlords in the north and the south will inevitably affect the whole body. The Chinese countries will not be spared, and it may be protracted..."

After a pause, Sun Wu lowered his head and replied: "I think the odds are [-]-[-]!"

"[-]% chance of winning?"

Qingji's face was still indifferent.

He already knew in his heart that Sun Wu was just telling him euphemistically that Wu's chances of winning the battle between Wu and Jin were not high.

Wu Guo and Jin Guo, one is an established hegemony power, and the other is an emerging hegemony power, which one is stronger and weaker?

Hard to say.

However, as far as the general situation of the world is concerned, there are more allies on Wu's side.

Although the Jin State is an old hegemony, it has been dormant for many years and has not fought frequently. It is just that in recent years, it is not used to the Wu State that has risen.

Only then was he going to suppress Wu Guo's power in the Central Plains to ensure that his dominance would not be lost and would not be challenged by Wu Guo.

But is this possible?
Thinking of this, Qing Ji understood in his heart, and said with a smile as if relieved of a heavy burden: "The great battle in the world is about you coming and going, just like victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs."

"As the saying goes, the east corner of the lost, the mulberry and elm harvested."

"I, Wu Guo, quelled the rebellion in the six counties in south of the Five Ridges, and expanded Dian County, Qianzhong County, and Jiaozhi County. Now I just lost control of the land of Zhou Zheng."

"There's nothing wrong with coming and going..."

Qing Ji, who said such words, was comforting himself, and also comforting Sun Wu, Wu Zixu, Ji Ran, Bo Tong, and Confucius present here.

This kind of political compromise is nothing to Qingji now.

If Qing Ji was at the beginning of his accession to the throne, and he was full of blood, he would definitely not tolerate this kind of thing happening.

After all, this is not a duck with its mouth missing.

Rather, the territory that Wu Guo has already eaten will be forced to spit it out.

This is unacceptable for an arrogant person.

The land of the Zhou royal family, as well as the state of Zheng, served as the bridgehead for Wu to enter the Central Plains. Once lost, it would be very difficult for Wu to enter the Central Plains in the future.

"Your Majesty..."

Wu Zixu still couldn't bear it, and said again: "Please think twice, Your Majesty."

"Now the rise of our country of Wu has completely threatened the dominance of the Jin people."

"The six princes of the Jin Kingdom will inevitably unite with the Central Plains countries to block our Wu Kingdom. At that time, in the lifetime of the ministers and the King, I am afraid that it will be difficult to attack the Central Plains even half a step..."

The reality is very cruel.

The people of Jin have been awakened by the state of Wu, like a lion waking up, how can they tolerate the fierce tiger from the south of the state of Wu invading their territory?

Song, Lu, Wei, Chen, Zheng, and even Qi in the Central Plains, after this incident, are afraid that they will follow Jin to deal with Wu, just like the northern countries blocked Chu back then.

How can it be?

Qingji waved his hand and said, "Wu Zixu, I've made up my mind, so there's no need to say anything."

"The most urgent task for my country of Wu at this stage is to restore people's livelihood as soon as possible, and absorb the young and strong of the new Wu people, assimilate them, and use them for me."

The ultimate goal of celebrating Ji is nothing more than to make the world a mess and make a great country without borders.

However, in his lifetime, this long-cherished wish may not be fulfilled.

Therefore, what Qingji has to do in his lifetime is to defeat the state of Jin, make himself the overlord, and make the state of Wu the most powerful country in the Central Plains that is superior to the Kyushu in China.

So, how can Qingji fulfill his long-cherished wish?

Wu's national policy was not formulated for Qingji's hegemony.

In fact, Wu's national policy has not changed since Qingji succeeded to the throne.

What is Wu's national policy?
It was the only country in the south that destroyed Yue and swallowed Chu.

Therefore, in the next few years, Qingji must endure it, accumulate national power, and finally send troops to annex Chu in one fell swoop and complete the unification of the south of the Yangtze River.

Wu Guo gave up control of the Zhou royal family and Zheng Guo, but it does not mean that Qingji no longer intends to seek hegemony.

Qingji is just taking retreat as an advance and carrying out strategic contraction.

Immediately, Qingji issued an edict, ordering Fan Li and Tian Rangju, who were far away in Zheng State to fight against the Jin army's invasion, to lead their troops back to Wu State.

At the same time, Qingji took Bo Tong as his envoy, prepared rich gifts, and went to the state of Jin to discuss the truce and conclude an alliance to eliminate soldiers.

Jin people want to dominate, let him go!
However, if they wanted to go further south and get their hands on Wu's cities and lands, Qingji would not spoil them.

……

The officials who had concluded the court meeting all dispersed, except Tingwei Boshun who remained in the Zide Hall.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

Qingji squinted his eyes and asked.

Bo Tong has a heavy task now, and he is going to be an envoy for Wu State to Jin State. It stands to reason that Bo Tuo should have prepared early and set off immediately.

Now that he hesitates to speak, he clearly has something to say.

Seeing Qingji's question, Bo Tong's face softened a little, then he lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, I would like to recommend someone with mixed reviews... No, it's a great talent."

"Great talent? Mixed praise and criticism?"

Qingji became interested, and said with a smile, "I don't know who you are going to recommend for the widow?"

In the state of Wu, there are many ways to get ahead, except for the scholars selected from the Jixia Academy, they can take up official positions in the court or in the local area.

The inspection system is also a good way to recommend talents.

Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou implemented the "Shiqing Shilu System".

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, all countries reformed the old systems, made the country richer and stronger, and appointed some people with low status but outstanding talents.

During the Warring States period, the "military merit system" appeared, and the trend of "nourishing scholars" arose to recruit talented and eloquent talents, regardless of their origin, to serve the monarch and princes.

In the Qin Dynasty, officials were selected based on "opening up fields" and military merits.

However, these are not complete official selection systems.

In the Han Dynasty, a whole set of system for selecting officials was established, called the inspection system.

Chaju is a bottom-up system of selecting talents, also called "election".

Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, first issued an edict to seek talents, asking the prefectures to recommend sages and officials with the ability to govern the country.

(End of this chapter)