A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 124 Tun Yue
Yun Chang stood on the big boat, sailed along the canal all the way north, and entered Hangou.After learning that these canals were all dug by the Huai State, they were immediately shocked.

When he came to Huai'an, he was even more overwhelmed by the prosperous city. As the largest city in the world, Huai'an has more than 20 people living here.

Such a large population is already comparable to half of the population of some small countries.Such a prosperous city shocked the prince of Yue.

Yun Chang came to be a hostage, and after handing in the letter of credence and tribute, Wang Jin also gave a reply, agreeing that the state of Yue was a vassal state, and the letter of credence severely reprimanded his alliance with the state of Chu, demanding that the state of Yue be in peace Chu State broke off diplomatic relations.

The monarch and ministers of the Yue State quickly agreed, and expelled the envoys sent by the Chu State from the Yue State, and at the same time accepted the supervision of the envoys sent by the Huai State.

After seeing how obedient the Yue State was, Wang Jin then withdrew the army from the border, leaving only the soldiers on daily patrols.

After the army withdrew, the mountain in the heart of the Yue Kingdom was also moved away, and Yue Hou was relieved.

After Yue State surrendered, Huai State did not completely relax its vigilance. If the current environment of Yue State was not too harsh and the roads were difficult, Huai State would not have left Yue State at all.

However, after Yue State surrendered, Huai State began to send caravans to Yue State for trade.

Good wine, delicacies, refined salt, caramel, pottery, silk, lacquerware, grain, coarse salt, linen and other commodities in Huai State were all hot-sellers, and they were transported by caravans to Yue State for sale, and then they bought rhinoceros horn and Huansha from Yue State , large wood, leather, preserved fruit, etc. were transported back to Huai State.

And under Wang Jin's instructions, the prices of the products sold to Yue State are not expensive, but the purchased products are given high prices.

The country of Yue was originally located in a remote and barbaric land. How could one not like these exquisite commodities.In the past, the state of Chu would sell these products to them, but the prices were not low. It's not like now, the price is half lower than that of the state of Chu.

It is the nature of human beings to like enjoyment, ease, and food. Only a few people can restrain their behavior, and most of the gentry and bureaucrats in Yue are not such people.

Therefore, in order to obtain money and enjoyment, these gentry officials began to let the people hunt rhinos and elephants, and instructed the people to cut giant trees in the deep mountains.

For a time, the lives of the people of Yue State became more difficult, and many people were buried in the mouth of wild animals.

Although the people of Yue State are living in a bad way, the tax revenue of Yue State has increased a lot, and the whole country seems to be prosperous.The arrival of the Huai State caravan brought a large amount of taxes to the Yue State, which also caused the Yue Hou to not notice that the people in the country were not doing well.

After a few years like this, I don’t know where the news came from that the roads in the country were difficult, and the caravans had difficulty going back and forth, resulting in high prices of items, and even shortages of some items.

This point was felt more clearly by the gentry officials of the Yue Kingdom, so some literati officials wrote to ask the Marquis of Yue to conscript labor to repair the roads.And also listed a lot of benefits of road construction.

It's just that after calculation, Yue Hou found that the cost of road construction was very high, and considering the issue of the prosperity of Huai State, he hesitated, and finally refused.

However, although the proposal to rest the road this time was rejected, it left a deep impression on Yue.

Some literati and bureaucrats also felt that the roads should be repaired, so that they could sell more animal skins, gauze, rhino horns, giant trees, etc., and earn more money.

The huge benefits made many scholars and bureaucrats eager to move, so they began to repair roads in their fiefs.For this kind of behavior, Huai country is happy to see it happen.So the caravan was instructed to be slightly more inclined to these nobles, and other nobles also began to repair the roads in the territory after seeing the benefits.

The Huai country caravan collected a lot of information in the Yue country, and even drew the topographic map of the Yue country, and has been preparing for the Huai country's conquest of Vietnam.

After several years, the topographic map of Yue State was basically completed. At the same time, the resentment of the people continued to accumulate because of the expropriation of rhino horns, animal skins, and giant trees by the officials.It's just that these problems are not serious until now, and at the same time the road is not smooth, Wang Jin did not send troops.

Moreover, it is morally untenable to send troops to attack Yue at this time, after all, Yue State is already a vassal state of Huai State.On the other hand, they are also worried that Qi State, Jin State or Chu State will intervene.

Now these state and Zhou princes have deeply realized the danger of the Huai country, and dare not let the Huai country continue to annex and develop.

On the one hand, Wang Jin instructed the caravan to continue to develop in Yue, and on the other hand, he began to cause trouble for Jin, Qi, and Chu, and restrain their energy.

After several years of development, Huai State's hidden guards have developed an intelligence network in Jin State.Since Jin Wengong passed away, Jin Xianggong was in power for a short time, and the six ministers of Jin State began to grow gradually.

When Jin Xianggong's son ascended the throne, he was still a young son, and the state affairs could only be entrusted to Liuqing.Later, the Marquis of Jin grew up gradually, but the Liuqing still had a high position and power, which led to the challenge of the power and majesty of the Marquis of Jin.

The monarch and the powerful ministers have never been able to get along peacefully, not to mention the Huai country's spies who have been fueling the flames.

The Huai State caravan brought a large amount of fine wine, silk, and maltose for the Marquis of Jin to enjoy. At the same time, they secretly provoked the relationship between the Marquis of Jin and Zhao Dun, the head of the Six Ministers, which made the relationship between Zhao Dun and the Marquis of Jin worse and worse.

In particular, Zhao Dun participated in the alliance of princes instead of the Marquis of Jin, exercised the rights of the Marquis of Jin, and took 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 has almost become public. As long as the person Zhao Dun punishes sends money to the Marquis of Jin, the Marquis of Jin will let him protect him.To do so is to humiliate Zhao Dun. Zhao Dun is the Zhengqing of the Jin Kingdom, who is in charge of the court and holds great power.How could he lose his temper and let others humiliate him?
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 of the Jin State, only the Qi State is left alone, and the Huai State is now strong enough to fight them at the same time.

After expelling the envoys of Chu State, Yue State had already severed diplomatic relations with Chu State, and Xiong Yun of Chu State was seriously ill, and seemed to be dying soon. Even if Huai State attacked Yue, Chu State could not contain Huai State.

It took Wang Jin ten years to finally cut off the foreign aid of Yue State one by one, and lured Yue State with money to take the initiative to build roads. After all the preparations were made, Wang Jin started to do it.

But before doing anything, Huai country still needs to find a suitable excuse, after all, Yue country is now a vassal state of Huai country.Soon Wang Jin thought of a way. He deliberately leaked the news of attacking the Yue Kingdom to the Prince Yunchang of the Yue Kingdom. After getting the news, Yunchang fled Huai'an overnight and returned to the Yue Kingdom to report the news.

So the Huai State prepared to send troops to conquer the State of Yue on the grounds that the State of Yue was rude.

(End of this chapter)