warring states careerist

Chapter 513

Although Uncle Cuo has selfish intentions, this plan is also a plan for the country.

If Wei wins Handan, then the east of Taihang Mountain has nothing to do with Zhao State at all; the enclave of Zhongshan State can also become the core territory of Wei State, and Ximen Leopard itself has the ability to govern. If Handan can be governed If it is the same as Yedi, then Handan will become the bridgehead of Wei State in the east of Taihang Mountain and the area of ​​Zhongshan State, and it will be useless for Zhongshan State to jump.

Handan is the fiefdom of Gong Zizhang, and it is not the capital of Zhao State now. Gong Zichao used this in exchange for the support of Wei State, because those who supported him were all old nobles. No hindrance.

If you can take this opportunity to get Handan, the situation in Wei State will be completely opened.

At that time, Handan will be the axis, linking Zhongshan and Wei Zhongyuan together.

Going north, you can attack Yan; going east, you can attack Qi; going south, you are fighting for hegemony with Chu; marching west, you can attack Qin through the West River.

For a country seeking hegemony and unification, this is actually a choice for expansion during the offensive period.

It cannot be said that this is being attacked from all sides, because if Wei State maintains the momentum of 20 years ago, it can be called blooming from all sides. The key lies in the strength of Wei State itself.

Wei State itself is the place of the Four Wars, and there is no situation where I am not attacking and I am just defending.Shu State can do this, Chu State can do this, Yan State can do this, Qin State can do this, but Wei State cannot.

Wei Guo did not attack, not defend, but perish.

It's just that Uncle Cuo didn't understand the situation in the world. Wei's strength stems from the earliest reforms and the foundation left by Marquis Wen; it stems from the cultural advantages and cultural penetration of the Xihe School.

But now, all countries are seeking reforms, and the cultural advantages of the Xihe School are completely suppressed by the Sishang Mohist School. In fact, the advantages of the Wei State are not that great anymore.

For example, in the time of Marquis Wen, you can take Qin to get the Xihe River in the west, attack Chu in the south to seize the beams, attack Qi in the east to demolish the Great Wall, and destroy the country in the north to take Zhongshan... Small countries such as Wei and Zheng are trembling and loyal, but in fact they are walking with Gongshucuo At this time, the same strategy is expanded in all directions.The question is, does Wei Guo have the strength to start a war on all sides?
Uncle Cuo can also realize that the current strength of Wei State is not enough to support the war on all sides. In fact, Wei State is not weak, but other countries are stronger, and the gap between strength and weakness has changed.

Therefore, on the northern line, Gong Shucuo hoped to give up Zhongshan first and try his best to pursue Zhao, because on the northern line Wei could not afford a two-front war, so he could only choose one and then seek the other.

If it was under Marquis Wen, maybe there would be no such trouble at all, maybe Ximen Bao and Le Yang would put down the rebellion in Zhongshan while interfering in Zhao's internal affairs, and maybe Zhongshan would not even consider the rebellion.

Wei Jian himself also supported the policy of interfering with Zhao State. This was decided by Marquis Wen. From the day Zhao Ji died, Wei Si started planning for Zhao Ji's younger brother's ascension to the throne. It has been more than ten years. , This is something Wei Guo cannot give up.

Wei Jian didn't want to give up Zhongshan either, but his father-in-law persuaded Wei Jian not to fight on two fronts on the northern front, but to try to solve Zhao's affairs first, and Zhongshan would be within easy reach; if Zhao's affairs were not resolved, Zhongshan would be too Can't solve it.

Wei Jian asked again: "Then, what about Chu's attack on Chen Cai and Fei's invitation to become king?"

Gong Shucuo said: "Based on the state of Wei, Zhao and Zhongshan are in the north; Qi is in the east; Qin is in the west; Chu and Mo are in the south."

"Zhao and Zhongshan have made a plan. The Qitian family respects the emperor and dare not move lightly. The Qin people are about to have civil strife, so there is no need to guard against it. Then we need to consider the affairs of Chu and the Mo family."

"Your Majesty, if you want to win the world, you must go south. Jin and Chu compete for hegemony throughout the Spring and Autumn Period. In terms of Chu, Chu can be divided into east and west lines. The east line is Chencai, Sishang, and Huaibei; the west line is Nanyang and Fangcheng. , Kunyang."

"Currently, the strength of the Wei State is not enough to attack across the board. If we go east and west and destroy the Chu State, then we have to plan."

Wei Jian laughed and said: "I know about this matter. The former king captured Daliang and Yuguan and sent Chen Cai back to the country. This is to seek the eastern front of Chu State. The land of Luguan in Nanyang...well, it is not easy to attack."

During the Prince Ding Rebellion, Wei Jian became the commander and defeated Luyang, which made the plan to break through Nanyang and enter the Prince Ding bankrupt, and made Wei Jian reluctant to mention his failure.

After Wei Guo gave up Wu Qi's strategy of destroying Qin first and then seeking the Central Plains due to various factors, the lands of the Central Plains, Sishang, and Huaibei became Wei's best expansion direction.

Including the Zhao country and the Zhongshan country that Gong Shucuo mentioned just now, they are all formulated for this strategy.

Let Zhao State be weakened instead of attacking Zhao State with all its strength, it is for the stability of Wei State's "rear".

Since the direction of Zhao State is regarded as the rear, there must be a front line if there is a rear. The front line of Wei State is Chu State, and the direction Wei State wants to expand is Sishang.

Gong Shucuo divided Chu State into the Eastern Front and the Western Front, and said that the current national strength of the Wei State is not enough to support the two-front battle on the Southern Front, so they can only choose one of the Eastern Front and the Western Front.

It was originally a good choice.

Before the appearance of Shi Shi, the Mohism was an academic organization plus a ranger organization, and its strength was not very strong.

Before the Mo family took over Sishang, Sishang was a concentrated area of ​​weak chickens.

Song State, Wei State, and Lu State are all plain areas, and they are extremely rich. Even if it is a millennium later, if the factor of population increase is discarded, and the flooding of the Yellow River is not considered, Southwest Shandong, Henan, and Northern Jiangsu, These are the rich lands of the agricultural age.

If there were no Mohists, Sishang would be the place where Qi, Wei, Chu and other countries competed, a standard Zhuxia gunpowder barrel.

The Nanyang area on the western front is the foundation of Chu State.Once Nanyang is breached, from Luyang to Xiangyang, which is named Yanying at this time, it is a great plain, and there is no danger to defend.

The direction of Nanyang is the foundation of the state of Chu. The advantage of the state of Wei in the direction of Daliang and Yuguan can be tolerated by the state of Chu, but once it breaks through Luyang and enters the Great Wall of Zhumadian, it is equivalent to directly threatening the core of the state of Chu. Definitely fight back desperately.

Conversely, the same is true for Wei, either attacking from Nanyang, attacking all the way to Yanying, separating the north and the south with Xiangyang as the boundary.Otherwise, it would be meaningless for a plain to be attacked by the Chu people after a few years.Now Wei Guo is unable to fight all the way from Luyang to Xiangyang, which makes Wei Guo completely abandon the western front and turn his energy to the eastern front.

The issue of the Eastern Front has become quite complicated since the Mohists began to separatist regimes with arms.

The Song State, whether it is strong or weak, has a solid background and foundation, and if it rises occasionally, it can suppress Chu on an equal footing; once it rises too far, it will be besieged from all sides.In the Spring and Autumn Period, the two war-removal conferences were both held in the Song State. The officials of the Song State left many stories as ministers of small countries in the troubled times of the Spring and Autumn Period.

Except for the Song State, the Lu State is not strong, and the small states such as Fei, Xue, Teng, Pi, Zou, and Ni are all struggling to survive in the cracks between the big powers.The powers of Chu State, Yue State, Qi State, and Three Jin parties converge here, and they are all the farthest points of the spheres of influence of each country, just like the Balkans in later generations of Europe, where one mobilizes the whole body.

But here is rich, especially after the emergence of iron ox farming, ridge farming, coal and iron Xuzhou, southwestern Shandong without Yellow River flooding and salinization, and Huaibei where the Yellow River did not take the Huaihe into the sea. This is simply the most suitable land for farming in the Iron Age.

When Shi Shi entered the Mohist family, it was just in time for Jin and Chu's struggle for hegemony, Qi's internal strife, Chu's internal strife, and the disintegration of the three Jins. No one had the energy to devote all their strength to Sishang.

When the countries took a breath and woke up, the Mohism had already taken root in Sishang like the alfalfa brought back from the west by Solucan, and it was unlikely to be eliminated in a short period of time.

Once the State of Yue left, the State of Qi coveted Sishang, the State of Wei coveted Sishang, and in fact Chu State also coveted Sishang.

However, the conflict between Wei and Chu was properly used to split the Chu state, so that the king of Chu has not even recovered Chen Cai, let alone Sishang.

The Yue State was strong and the middle was dry, and the battle of Lushui revealed its original shape. Only then did the people of the world know that the Yue State was no longer the tiger of the Goujian era, but it was too late, and the Mohists took a step ahead.

Wei Guo finally got Linqiu and Chengyang, which are hundreds of miles away from Sishang Taoqiu, but Shi tried to find a way to make Wei Guo face the pressure of Zhao, Zhongshan, and Qin, so that Wei Guo can only be greedy now. really go for it.

Uncle Cuo talked about Chu's east and west lines, and Wei Jian also had plans in mind.

On the west line of Nanyang, Chu State can take the direction of Yi and Que to attack the essence of Luoyang and South Korea.

If Chu State is strong, then South Korea will be attached to Wei State, with Daliang Yuguan in hand, and Chu State’s passage from Henan to the Central Plains will be blocked. If you want to go north, you can only pass through the territory of South Korea and the Zhou royal family.In the end, it was South Korea that was most wary of Chu State, and South Korea had to rely on Wei State to fight against Chu State.Wei State and Chu State do not border on the Nanyang West Front, but have South Korea as a buffer, which is a favorable situation for Wei State.

If Wei Guo joins forces with South Korea to attack Nanyang, it will be South Korea that will benefit. After all, Wei Guo will go to Nanyang through South Korea's land.If the power of Chu State in Nanyang weakens, the alliance between South Korea and Wei State will collapse in an instant.

The strength of the Chu State is the most reliable cornerstone of the Wei-Han Alliance.In addition, even if Wei and Han are connected by in-laws, it is not as effective as Chu's threat.

Although there are Mohists on the eastern front, based on the understanding of the organization form of the princes of various countries, they all think that Mohism will have problems.

Qiwuhai is selected as a giant, so who should he choose?Who not to choose?Isn't it whoever has the bigger fist has the final say?Now that Mo Zi passed away and Qin Huali had a high prestige, once Qin Huali passed away, it might be possible for Kai Zhishi to be stable, and then civil strife would be inevitable?
Sishang's current weird situation stems from the fact that the Mohists have focused on infiltrating and spreading morality in the past few years.In terms of strength, binding Song, Lu, Fei and other countries together may not be the opponent of the Mohists, but the Mohism seems to not care about the size of the land at all, and they have really formed a non-offensive alliance with them, which makes these princes quite happy. It's puzzling, but it also ensures the stability of Sishang.

The strongest one normally wants to annex everywhere. In recent years, the Mo family can destroy Xue, Zou and other countries with just one finger, but they didn't do anything at all, which led to the stability of the situation in Sishang.

This is like the state of Wei in the time of Marquis Wen, who suddenly decided that the world must be attacked, and the world must be stable that day.Putting it on Sishang, it's the same situation.

In this situation, Qi, Chu, Wei, Han and other countries, no one can take the lead.Whoever strikes first will suffer.

However, the greed of various countries towards Sishang Huaibei has been plotting all the time.Qi State defeated the most, Chu attacked Chen Cai, Wei State exchanged Linqiu from Zhao State and captured Chengyang, all of which were preparations for Sishang.

Among the countries in the world, except for Qin, Zhao, and Yan, whoever wins is the overlord of the world.

Now regarding the matter of Fei Guo, since Gong Shucuo and Wei Jian are looking at it from the perspective of fighting for world hegemony, the problem is far less serious than what the top Mohists worried about.

If the matter of Fei Country is a jihad between the old rules and the new culture, it will be very troublesome for the Mohists.

If it is only from the perspective of fighting for hegemony, then the Mohists can continue to take advantage of the contradictions among the princes.

When Uncle Gong talked about the Eastern Front of Chu State, he was actually talking about what happened in Fei State, and he was talking about it from the perspective of striving for world hegemony.

What Wei Jian wanted to hear was what Wei State could do to get the maximum benefit from the Fei State Rebellion, instead of using the entire Wei State as a sacrifice, to be a martyr to the old rules and culture.

(End of this chapter)