warring states careerist

Episode 301
Xiong Yi understands that none of this can be done in a hurry. Fortunately, he is still young and has many opportunities and time.

For all these things, what is needed is the word "slow".And the plan that the Mohists want to infiltrate cannot be hasty, and they can only aim for ten or even twenty years.

If there is no accident, I know that the person in front of me has eighteen or nineteen years to live, and his son has just grown up after his death, and the last two sons will go through the handover of power between brother and brother.

In history, Wu got up too late, and only three or five years later, the people died and the government died. In the end, the aristocrats fought back. Chu and even Shu couldn’t beat them. Finally, they built a fortress in Yiling and lost Luyang in the north. This gave us an opportunity to centralize power and develop and compete for supremacy in the world.

The more contradictions there are and the more serious the problems are, the more the Mohists will be able to survive in the conflict between monarchy and aristocracy.

Meng Sheng at the side peeked at King Chu's expression, appreciating Shi's plan even more in his heart.

Today's matter seems to have moved the king of Chu very easily. In fact, Meng Sheng understood after listening to Shi's analysis before coming here that all this has actually been prepared for five years.

In the past five years, the Mo family has done too many major events that shook the world, and the city of Shangqiu made the King of Chu firmly remember the Mo family as an organized group capable of interfering in the internal affairs of various countries.

With reputation and facts as the basis, it is possible to persuade the king of Chu today.

As for recommending the talents of Xian Yin, there is no need to worry for the time being, it will be a year or two later.

In terms of background, a suitable background is still a bit humble after all.

However, there are many aristocrats with slightly higher backgrounds in the Mohist family. They came forward as county governors. In fact, the power is still at the top of the Mohist family. The aristocrats of the Chu state may not be unacceptable.

After listening to everything planned by Shi Shi, the king of Chu said with a sense of loss: "The words beyond gold and jade are talking about the state of Chu. This time, the Mo family entered Chu to help the widows and benefit the world. They explained such truths, which made me understand clearly. Mr. Can you stay in Yingdu?"

Shi shook his head and said: "As soon as this matter is over, we will go to Luyang. If the king's conditions can be agreed, the Mo family's defense equipment can almost be transported there. There, the defense of the Luguan area can be quickly strengthened."

"If the king wants to change, he must first distinguish rewards and punishments. The Mo family has no merit in Chu now. If they win the county Yin position, they will be dissatisfied. This time Zheng Han wants to be a prince, and he must attack Luguan. Although the Mo family will not fight back , but defending the city can still be done, this is the opportunity for the king to take this opportunity to change."

The king of Chu nodded, and understood that the situation was not clear.

Shi Shi is more aware that the field combat capability of the Chu State is far behind that of the Wei State after a slight change.Seven or 80 years ago, it was still a tie, but now it is basically more defeats than wins.

The Mohists have Mohist ideas, and they have appropriate ideas. Under all kinds of seemingly clear rules and insurmountable principles, Chu State can only keep defending, and there is no way to fight back without the ability to fight in the field. Surrender directly, I am afraid that the campaign to counterattack and punish Zheng Guo will fail.

The worse the defeat, the weaker the power of the nobles, and the more urgent the king of Chu has to change.This was forced out. Compared with the promise of King Chu, Shi believed in the helplessness of the situation.

The King of Chu asked again: "So, then the repayment terms of the Mo family's loan this time can be negotiated."

"The Mohists can mine and smelt iron, and I will collect ten percent of all income. This is the principal."

"Mohist goods are exempted from tax when they pass through Chu, this is interest."

"The defense of Luyang and the construction of the city of Yanying, these are the words used by the Mohists to make meritorious deeds in Chu and order the county Yin."

Shi nodded and said: "Some can be clearly stated, some cannot be clearly stated, some can be urgent, and some must be delayed. If possible, then prepare the contract as soon as possible. Time waits for no one. After the spring plowing, the Wei people will definitely send troops, at most half a year, There is bound to be a battle at Luguan, and we need to do it as soon as possible."

Shi never mentioned the purpose of the Mohists, and his words were full of urgency and thoughts of the King of Chu, and the King of Chu didn't hesitate any longer, and agreed after thinking about it.

Three days later, all the ministers of the Chu State arrived, and Xiong Yi, King of Chu, signed a contract with the Mohists.

The Mohist loan was paid with city defense equipment, etc., and the king of Chu also used mining rights and tax exemption rights as repayment measures.

The other contents of the conversation in the secret room were not known to the nobles of Chu State.

The Mohists acted vigorously, and after the matter was completed and the goal was achieved, they bid farewell to the King of Chu with Meng Sheng and others, and headed northward along the road to Luguan.

Before coming here from Peixian County, after discussing this matter, it was decided that the King of Chu would definitely agree, so the weapons were prepared in advance in Peixian County, and they were being transported to Luyang area. The quantity in the early stage was not much.

Another group of Mohists who followed Shi to Yingdu stayed behind. After settling in Yingdu, they went to Ba to pick up Qisui and others who had left Pei County for three years.

Shi didn't go fast this way, and gradually figured out some of the current situation and situation of Chu State.

From Yingdu to Luguan, Nanyang Basin and Luyang Yingchuan area, there are seventeen emperors who have been conferred.

Take Luyang Gong who is considered old with Mozi as an example. At the beginning, because of the chaos of Bai Gongsheng, Ye Gong, the good dragon, settled the chaos of Bai Gongsheng and gave Ziqi the position of Sima.

Ziqi's son, Gongsun Kuan, was granted the title of King Hui.

The original fief was going to be sealed in Daliang, but Gongsun Kuan said: "Daliang is an important county in the north, close to the Three Jins. I am worried that my descendants will betray the King of Chu and seek refuge in the Three Jins, so that I will cut off my sacrifice. It is better to give Luyang Seal it to me."

So Gongsun Kuan began to seal Luyang.

Before Wu Qi's reform, the politics of Chu State had been in turmoil, so in name the king of Chu had the right to take back the title of feudal monarch, but in fact it was hereditary.Today's Duke Lu Yang is a descendant of Gongsun Kuan.

When Mozi met Gongsun Kuan, Gongsun Kuan once said: "Within the four territories of Lu, all are the ministers of the widow. Today, most of them attack their small capitals, and everyone attacks their small houses and seizes their goods. The widow will definitely punish them generously." Of".

He not only called the widow, but also called the four realms a minister, so the status of the monarch of Chu before the reform was basically equivalent to that of the vassal states in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Except for some counties, the king of Chu split them into feudal cities and counties directly under the central government in order to gather power. Counties in places like Luyang are all county officials, county officials, and county soldiers. They are autonomous and have the right to fight.

That's why Wu Qi later said that these lords "forced the superiors to abuse the inferiors", and the several rebellions in Chu State were all caused by the county government and fair by the county.

Like Duke Luyang, he had his own fief and fief in Luyang as his salary.These salaries are not handed in, and they have nothing to do with the local county soldiers. He can rely on the salary to support his own private soldiers.

At the same time, he still has the power to govern the vast land outside the feudal fiefs, and governs as a local official, including the county Sima under his jurisdiction, and can recruit local county soldiers.

It's just that the Fu of the local county soldiers came from Luyang, but not from the fief of Duke Luyang.When fighting, the King of Chu can mobilize some county soldiers, but sometimes they can only be controlled by the county magistrate himself.

In addition to the fiefdom in Luyang, the first Duke of Luyang also held the post of Chu Sima for a period of time.

However, Sima's salary did not originate from Luyang's fiefdom. Luyang's fiefdom was just different from the fiefdom and official position.

On the plain near Yingdu, there are still many "states", which are one level lower than the county, and just near the capital. These states are also entrusted to the county officials who serve in the central government as salary income.

The seventeen lords near the Nanyang Basin are only part of the many lords in Chu State. In the later stage, the largest lords had "fourteen towns". As for the ease of destroying the state of Chu and the ease of restoring the state, it became the main force behind Qin Mo's desire to reverse history.

It can be said that the King of Chu does not even have absolute control over the vicinity of Yingdu, because some nobles still have "food states" near Yingdu, not to mention Luyang, which is far away in Yingshui.

Later, one of Wu Qi's reform measures was the three generations of hand-lords, or the distribution of the land of the lords to some "border areas" to allow them to expand outward.

This was a good move, but it died too early, and those dissatisfied lords fought back wildly, and there was even a situation where the magistrate of Xi County defected to Wei State.

That is to say, Wu Qi can fight, but the rest of the emperors dare not do it while he is alive, otherwise this change will not even last until Xiong Yi dies.

The Nanyang Plain and the Jianghan Plain were originally the essence of the Chu State, but with the staggered monarchy and fiefdoms, and the possession of ruling and military power, the Chu State's foreign war capabilities can be imagined.

It wasn't until the end of the Warring States period that the King of Chu regained judicial power from some weak rulers, but that was only a soft persimmon, and the really strong King Chu still dared not move.

Along the way, the productivity level of Chu State is also very low, and the technology in Niu Geng has not been spread to this point, which is completely different from the situation in Peixian County, which has already launched agricultural reform.

The feudal monarch has economic privileges and many powers. The income from the food town is either to support private soldiers, or to lend money in the enfeoffed county that is not his own food town, so as to continuously obtain income.

The private land system has not yet been implemented on a large scale in Chu State, but some private lands have also been established in the Nanyang Basin, where the development was better and earlier.

In terms of the military system, the original peasant-soldier system is still adopted. Farmers are planted on weekdays, and farmers need to fulfill various feudal obligations.Including serving as a soldier, going out to war, building palaces and so on.

Especially the peasants in the lord's food town, their status is basically equivalent to that of serfs. While they have to work for the lord, the lord also has enough control over them and exploits the labor of these farmers.

In some relatively large cities, the handicraftsmen are developing well, and some leisure classes have gradually emerged. These people are the main audience of the Mohist propaganda direction at this time.

Although the productivity is low, but fortunately there is no cold winter in Chu, and the population is not large at this time, and the famine can always be overcome by some messy things, but this situation coupled with the conscription system of farmers and soldiers will inevitably lead to The siege of Chu State for more than half a year is the limit - if the war cannot be resolved within a year, given the current situation of Chu State, it will inevitably lead to a large-scale food shortage in a certain county in the future due to the forced labor force.

This is also the reason why the former king of Chu favored the Mohists, not just the rhetoric of centralization, but also the potential for war brought about by the transformation of agricultural technology.

The land of Chu State is vast, seemingly thousands of miles across. However, even the Jianghan Plain in Nanyang, the most elite place, is full of feudal kings, and it really lives up to the evaluation of "gold and jade outside but ruins inside".

(End of this chapter)