warring states careerist

Chapter 764 Non-Alliance

It was not the first time for an envoy from the State of Qin to come to Sishang. After Danshui was put under house arrest by the royal family on the grounds that "there is chaos in the State of Song, fearing that the envoy will be injured", he also quickly figured out the situation of the State of Song incident.

There is no conflict of interest between Qin and Sishang. Historically, Qin had disagreements on whether to enter Shu first or attack Wei and Han. The direction of Shu is not Qin's only choice.

Historically, because the King of Shu was obscure, the strength of the Kingdom of Shu was not strong, and the Kingdom of Qin obtained Nanzheng, it was possible to calmly destroy Shu.

This can also be regarded as the most important strategic choice for Qin to unify the world. If Shu is won, Chu will die, and if Chu dies, the world will be settled.

The strategy here in Sishang is actually the same as that of the Qin State in history. Huaibei, Sishang, as the north-south dividing line, is the easiest area for the Northern Expedition and the most southern area for raising horses. As long as you can control the Huaihe River, Dabie Mountains, and Tongbai Mountains, you can win Chu. And take the world.

It's just that Qin's reform is still going on now, Nanzheng was acquired from Shu by the Mohists, Wei was weak after a war in the Central Plains, and the continuous wealth brought by the western trade... All these reasons made Qin The country's strategy directly eliminated the idea of ​​​​attacking Shu, and still wanted to win the Xihe first, and then plan the rest after the dangers of Hangu and Wei.

Up to now, Hangu Pass is still in the hands of Wei Guo. Wei Jian once faced the precipitousness of Xihe and lamented the magnificence of the mountains and rivers, and Wu Qi once persuaded Zaide not to be in danger.

The struggle between Qin and Wei is inevitable.

For the people of Qin, it doesn't matter whether the Song State is a tyrant, a republic, or Song Gong's sole power.

The important thing is to fight around the state of Song. If the Central Plains is in chaos, the chances of the state of Qin will be even greater.

Win or lose, it doesn't matter.

Even if Wei State wins, it will hurt its vitality. Based on Qin State's understanding of Sishang, even if Wei State wins in terms of its resilience, a long war on Sishang will drag Wei State down; if Wei State loses, Xihe It's what Qin said.

The important thing is to fight!

Therefore, the envoys of Qin State did not talk about righteousness, rules, etiquette and so on.

Before coming, Qin’s monarchs and ministers gave the emissary a programmatic opinion that if Sishang hesitated, then he would confuse, form an alliance, and even make a promise to send troops to Xihe to relieve the pressure, and induce Sishang to lean in the direction of sending troops.

If Sishang is ready to fight, then sufficient conditions must be given.Wu Qi believed that the Wei, Chu, and South Korean countries are now recuperating, and if Sishang is fully prepared for the fight, it is likely to scare the rest of the countries back, which is something to be wary of.

The envoy saw that he was not in a hurry to ask about Song, but asked about Qin's reform, the development and trade of the Western Regions, etc., and he knew in his heart that Sishang was probably ready to fight.

Because if you want to fight, you must have confidence first. If you lack confidence, the first thing to do now is to talk about Qin's taking the opportunity to seize Xihe, in order to reduce the pressure on Wei and Han.

Therefore, the envoy asked: "When I arrived at Danshui by car, there was a scene of war in the Song Dynasty. There were many roads. Wei, Chu and Han will take advantage of the internal turmoil in the Song Dynasty to carve up the Song land to prevent Sishang. Sishang has already mobilized. The transportation is on the way, and the crisis in the Central Plains is imminent."

"At this time, an alliance is needed to prepare for war. In the past, when King Wu defeated Zhou, his fate was in the sky, and he still needed eight hundred princes to form an alliance; when Qi was fighting barbarians, the righteousness was in hand, and the princes of Kuiqiu Central Plains still needed to meet."

"The affairs of the Song Dynasty are related to the kingdoms of Wei, Chu, Han, and Qi. Although the Qin people are far away in the west, they must be involved in it. The Wei people have seized my West River for decades. The only wish of the kings and ministers is to take back the West River."

"Song is the territory of Sishang. If Wei, Chu and Han stationed troops in Song Dynasty, they can attack Sishang when they advance, and defend Danshui and Suishui when they retreat. This must be vigilant."

"Although Qin and Chu are close, Qin and Wei are enemies. Sishang and Qin have Wei as enemies, so they can be allies. I don't know what you think?"

There is no substantive covenant between Qin and Sishang, and no formal written agreement has ever been signed or sworn.

Qin envoy's intentions are still being tested.

Qin State and Sishang are natural geographical allies, especially as long as Qin State has the heart to aspire to the world, it must have a common enemy with Sishang for the time being.If the state of Qin only wanted a corner of peace, then the vassal states with the heart of peace and the strength of only a corner of peace were not qualified, and it was impossible to choose a foreign policy of long-distance diplomatic relations and short-term attack.

But there has never been an alliance between the two parties, and the reason is because of Sishang's righteousness.

Sishang's righteousness, and after the Heze League rejected Zhou Tianzi's canonization four years ago, it is doomed that Sishang cannot have substantive alliances with various major countries.

If there is a covenant, Sishang will lose some of the people's hearts. In their view, Sishang is no different from other vassal states, and it is nothing more than a place for hegemony in the world.

Sishang has always been opposed to Qin's policy, and Sishang has always pursued the concept of synonymousness, and it is impossible to form an alliance if there is a difference of righteousness.

The Qin envoy's temptation also stemmed from this.

If Sishang is not fully prepared, or if he is not confident about the upcoming war, then he will definitely find a way to form an alliance with Qin at this time.

Even if it means losing some righteousness that has been insisted on all along, if the crisis is really ahead, then there may be another choice.

During the battle between Qi and Mo in those days, people in the world thought that all the Mo people in Sishang were people like Song Xianggong.

But I don't want the countries to understand afterwards that the strategy of passing through Lu without sending troops is just to lure the enemy into deep, so that Qi can divide its troops and defeat them individually.

Sishang's Mo family is not Song Xianggong, and they have always been utilitarian. If Sishang felt that the pressure was great, it would be obvious that Qin Guo offered to form an alliance.

Anyway, there can be no peace between Qin and Wei. With Hexi on the table, there can be no trust between the two sides.

If Qin State forms an alliance with Sishang, it will be beneficial but harmless.

The covenant is a covenant, whether to send troops, when to send troops, and the scale of sending troops... The initiative is in the hands of Qin.

Just like the battle between Wei Chu and Daliang 20 years ago, the Qi Chu alliance, Qi State sent troops to rescue Daliang, but the time of dispatching troops was very late, and they turned back when they heard that Daliang City was broken halfway, but Chu State still thanked Qi State and all the princes thought that Qi Guotian Shi is trustworthy.

The envoys of the State of Qin were eager to know the bottom line of Sishang, the final result of the preparations surrounding the Song State, and whether the Second Central Plains War could break out around the Song State and weaken Wei and Han again.

While listening to the envoy of the Qin State impassionedly proposing the alliance policy of long-distance friendship and short-term attack written on the surface, he pondered Qin's attitude in his heart.

Qin State has already started a vigorous reform, but after the reform, it will take at least another three to five years for Qin State to form the combat effectiveness of the Warring States Period.

The interior is not stable, the oppressed nobles are ready to move, and the development of the west has benefited the people but the number is still small.

The Xihe area was taken from the Qin State by the Wei State, and the land reform was unscrupulous because there were no nobles to hinder it.Although Wu Qi is gone, the military soldiers in the Xihe area still exist, and most of them are self-cultivating farmers. In the past few years, because of the serious damage to the Wei State, the tax has been increased, but it has not yet reached the point where people want Qin.

No matter how you look at it, Qin State is just bluffing now, and may wave its flag to attract Wei Han's attention, but it may be difficult to say that it is really difficult to send troops to seize Xihe and completely weaken Wei State.

And I also hope that Qin State will get Xihe, at least not now, Wei State's hegemony is declining, internal struggles are one after another, and Wei Jian's two sons are not good. At this time, Wei State has nothing to fear.

Can defend, but the ability to take the initiative to attack is not strong.

The reason why the Three Jins were dismantled so easily five years ago was because the Wei State was too strong before, but the threat from Sishang never appeared. .

If Qin State retakes Xihe and directly oppresses Han, Zhao, and Wei, and Sishang's rise is added here, the Three-Jin Alliance may soon be established again.

And the reason why I don’t want to formally form an alliance with Qin is that apart from the prohibition of righteousness, once Sishang and Qin form a formal alliance, it will force Wei Chu, Han Yanzhao to form a joint vertical alliance, which will be difficult to continue Take advantage of conflicts between countries.

Judging from the information from Qin State, Qin State was not ready to participate in a big war at all, but just fanned the flames with loud slogans, wanting to reap the benefits of the fisherman.

As far as the matter of the Song State is concerned, the only ones that really matter to their own interests and their respective hegemony are the three parties, Wei, Chu, and Si.

The South Koreans stare at Zheng Guo, eat when they have meat, and keep an eye on their own bowls if they don't have meat.

However, Wei, Chu, and Sishang actually didn't want to fight. Of course, this is to replace Wei and Chu with Wei Hou and Chu King. The nobles of Chu State are looking forward to war.

The one who is most enthusiastic about Song's possible war is Qin, who is simply too enthusiastic, fanning the flames, sending envoys, and making big promises, fearing that there will be no fight.

Most of the envoy's words are unbelievable, but I believe in the news and judgments from Qin's hidden ministries. Qin has no intention of fighting a big war at all, and has no material basis to cross the Wei River to seize the Xihe River at this time. Then the envoy said Such a passionate temptation made it easy for Shi to guess what Qin Guo was thinking.

So he also said something similar to what the envoy of the Chu State had said, to the effect that he would respect the choices of the people of the Song State in matters concerning the State of Song, and would not ignore the State of Song being invaded by other countries, but would never annex it. Song Guo.

Exactly, those who are good fighters, who surrender without fighting, just want to show Sishang's attitude through general mobilization, but Sishang will not be afraid if there is a real war.

He also reiterated to the envoy of the State of Qin: If the State of Song is invaded by other countries, and Sishang sends troops, it is not because the State of Song is the side of Sishang's couch and does not allow others to sleep peacefully, but only because the Mohist is fulfilling the covenant of the year and fulfilling the benefits of the world. obligation.

In other words, Sishang is different from your imperialists. We don't regard Song as our sphere of influence, and we send troops only to fulfill our internationalist obligations.

Therefore, if you Qin State took advantage of the Central Plains war to attack Xihe, we would oppose it, but it would be useless if we were right.

However, if you want to formally form an alliance, it must be the same as what Sishang said: the government of Kyushu depends on the people of Kyushu, the government of Song Dynasty depends on the people of Song, respect the choice of the people of Song, in order to help the people of Song to resist The slaughter and aggression of the unjust king chose to send troops.

If not, there is no need to talk about the formal alliance.

(End of this chapter)