warring states careerist

Chapter 828 Strategic Misjudgment

Before that, the King of Chu could only guess how far the Mohists would interfere with Song.

Going to Shangqiu is a clear statement of the attitude of the Mohists.

This is a kind of bargaining chip, a kind of bargaining chip in the subsequent diplomatic mediation with various countries. This bargaining chip means that if countries want to interfere, they must be prepared for an all-out war.

Are countries ready for all-out war?At least not yet in Chu State.

War is also a kind of devastation for Sishang, but once this kind of crisis arises, it depends on which side is the first to retreat.If they are not persuaded, there will be no better solution than war.

Most of the ministers of the state of Chu are eager to start a war, but they also understand that half of them do not want to start a war, and the king of Chu is precisely on the side that does not want to start a war.

That being the case, no amount of persuasion would be meaningful.

After the silence, the King of Chu said: "Let the Mohist envoy come, and I will hear what Kai Zhishi means."

After a while, a group of servants came forward with a Mohist envoy. This envoy had been to Chu State before, and he was familiar with the Chu king's officials. The righteousness of attack. Now that the Mohists are brazenly invading the Song Dynasty, besieging cities and plundering land, isn’t it against the righteousness of non-offensive?”

"Besides, the Song Dynasty is also in the world. It is connected to Qi and Wei in the north, Chu and Wei in the south, Sishang and Yue in the east, and Han and Zhou in the west. The actions of the Mohists really intend to trigger a war in the world."

The Mohist envoy said: "The battle of the world does not lie with the Mohist, but with the princes of Wei, Chu, and Han. The Song people choose the land affairs of the Song Dynasty, and the Mohism only sends troops on invitation."

"In the past, Jing and Jin fought each other, and Shangqiu was besieged no less than ten times. What did they do? It was the selfishness of one king and the hegemony of one country. Why did the Song people suffer this disaster?"

"Juzi sent me here this time to truly eliminate disputes in the world, so that people in the world will suffer less from war disasters."

"Please read it personally, Your Majesty."

The Mohist envoy presented the declaration on the third elimination of soldiers, which was written in Sishang script and Chu State seal script.

After the King of Chu read it, he stared for a long time at the treaties of various countries to build the army, release customs duties, and allow migration.

The so-called negotiation is similar to that of a merchant selling goods, asking for prices and paying back the money on the spot.

But there is still a little difference in "righteousness". Because of the existence of righteousness, the main body of interest is not a country or a region, but the whole world. This leads to some bottom lines that cannot be accepted by "princes" like Mohism. of.

Similarly, it is impossible for the nobles to accept content such as relaxing customs duties and allowing migration.

What the King of Chu cared about was about the establishment of an army by treaty and mutual protection of independence among countries. He stared at the content about "Zheng Guo" for a long time, and couldn't help but think that after the coup in Song Dynasty, the Mo family quickly sent people to Zheng Guo to provide The military aid thing.

In the King of Chu's view, the state of Song is already like this, and he really doesn't want to fight, and Kai Zhishi's visit to Shangqiu, as an "uncrowned prince", regardless of the tradition of princes meeting in the capital for pilgrimage, is spreading a signal : The State of Song is the core interest of Sishang, and it is impossible to allow countries to interfere. Interfering with Song is equivalent to starting a war against Sishang.

Both Song and Zheng were buffer states of Chu, but Zheng was a buffer state of Chu but not a buffer state of Sishang. This is why the king of Chu paid close attention to Zheng after confirming that the affairs of Song were irretrievable.

The Mohist occupation of the Song State was a good thing for the king of Chu, who was determined to carry out strategic contraction and use ironware and agricultural technological changes to develop the Dongting area.

With the Mohists controlling the State of Song, the relationship between Wei and Chu can be eased a lot.

The Dongting area, which was originally difficult to develop, is adjacent to Jianghan and is also the hinterland of Chu State. With the spread of iron and new technologies, it is obvious that it can become the grainland of Chu State.

The reform requires a stable external environment and sufficient energy under the contraction of the overall strategy.

Shrinkability is not a bottomless compromise, there must always be a limit.

Song and Zheng are different.

Song involves the interests of Mohist, Chu, Wei, South Korea, Qi, and Wei, and has always been the focus of Jin-Chu's struggle for hegemony.The Mohists occupied the Song Dynasty, so the Mohists would have to face the siege and covetousness of various countries.

After the last three points of Zheng Guo, the failure of Chu Guoliang, and the chaos of Siziyang, Zheng Guo actually only concerns the interests of Chu, Wei, and Han.

In other words, if strategic contraction is chosen, Chu State can ignore Song State, because in this way, more potential allies can ease the relationship. By the way, Song State will not threaten the core area of ​​Chu State, and the relationship between the Mohists and the princes exists. In a moral dispute, if the Mohists attack Chu, the countries will inevitably go to war against Mohist.

But we can’t ignore Zheng Guo, because if Zheng Guo is occupied by Wei and Han, then there is actually no fourth party that has a direct relationship. At that time, Chu State will not be able to attract allies. Even if Chu State chooses strategic contraction, But Zheng Guo's annexation by Wei and Han is equivalent to exposing his chest, and he may be beaten at any time.

In addition, after the Battle of Daliang City, the fulcrum of Chu State in the Central Plains was Yuguan. After Zheng State’s territory meandered to Yuguan, Zheng was occupied by Wei and Han. No.

And because of the existence of Yingshui, Zheng State is related to the safety of the upper reaches of Huaibei in Chu State.

The State of Song is different. The State of Song threatens the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, but the Jianghuai region of the lower reaches of the Huaihe River still has a force from the Yue Kingdom, and it is really difficult to go upstream.

If Zheng State is occupied by Wei and Han, using Yingshui for transportation, Chu State will actually be very dangerous.

The Luguan area in the direction of Nanyang and Huaibei are the corners of each other. If the Wei and Han soldiers split into two groups, attacking Nanyang along Luguan all the way, and going straight to the Huaihe River along the Yingshui River, then Chu would face a two-front battle.

Chen Cai's division and Shen Xi's division are on one battlefield, and Luyang Fangcheng's division is on another battlefield, and they cannot support each other.

Because... these county divisions and corps are all locals. If they abandon the Huaibei battlefield to support Nanyang, then Chen Cai Shenxi's division will definitely oppose it, and vice versa.

From the Ying River to the Huai River, based on the King Chu's understanding of the Mohists' consistent attitude, the Mohists might shout "This is the unrighteous king's dog biting the dog".

If the Mohists really have the intention to annex the universe, it is unknown that they will take advantage of the opportunity of the war between Wei and Chu to annex the country of Yue.

At that time, by the way, help Chu State "manage" some cities in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River and expand its power.

Anyway, the Mohists are not afraid that the Wei state will become bigger. If it really becomes bigger, the Mohist counterattacks and fights against Wei, and there is no need to form an alliance with the Chu State. At that time, it will really be a fisherman's profit.

On this point, the king of Chu was very sure.

The background of Moyue Sishang's hegemony war is the battle between Wei Chu and Daliang.

The background of Moqi Feidi War is the succession war of Zhao State, Zhongshan Kingdom Restoration Movement, Chu Guoping Prince Ding's Rebellion.

The background of the two important battles that the Mohist entrenched in Sishang was difficult to eradicate, and they were all fought against the background of the wars of the princes. There were only three things. Not enough to support his ambitions.

Here, the battle of Daliang City is over, and over there, the Moyue hegemony war is over; here, the rebellion of Prince Ding has subsided, and the succession of Zhao State has been settled, and over there, a peace treaty has been signed with Qi State...

This is exactly the reason why Chu Da Sima went to the alliance to demand peace in the Central Plains and establish a Central Plains defense line against ink.

If there is a threat from the Mohists in the Central Plains, then the only direction for Wei Chu to start the war is Luguan.

That is, along the only passable area at the junction of Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain, go to Luyang Zhumadian, and go straight to Nanyang Basin.

The key point of Luyang lies in the gap between Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain. This is also the key point of the defense line of the Great Wall of Chu State, and it is also the essence of Chu State.

If Luyang cannot defend and Zhumadian is captured, then the entire Nanyang Plain will be safe to defend, and the next area where an effective defense can be organized is Xiangyang. If Xiangyang cannot be defended, then Chu State will perish.

To the east of Xiangyang are the three passes of Yiyang. Once the three passes are broken, Huaibei has no danger to defend. The Dabie Mountain and Tongbai Mountain directly divide the remaining land of Chu State into two places that cannot be connected end to end.

But in the same way, the Chu State has a heavy army in the Luyang Nanyang area, and a large number of princes are here. This will become the place where Chu State can fight best: when the prince guards his fiefdom, he will use all his strength, and Chen Caizhi The direct control of the royal power of the land is destined to start a war in the Central Plains. The lords are afraid that they will work and wait and see.

Therefore, what the king of Chu has always hoped is to maintain peace in the Central Plains, and to maintain the war between Wei, Chu and Han at the northern foot of Funiu Mountain. On the one hand, it will weaken the power of the nobles, and on the other hand, it will also greatly increase the support of the central government. Demand can force vassals to accept conditions and centralize power.

Therefore, the King of Chu still somewhat supported these seemingly unrealistic fantasies of the Mohist school, at least he supported the issue of "eliminating military alliances to resolve disputes among countries".

Not because he is peaceful.

It was because he chose to shrink strategically and was unable to attack for the time being, otherwise, the third military elimination meeting more than ten years ago would have ended up in vain. After the Battle of Daliang City, he regretted why he did not continue to abide by the military elimination covenant.

After a moment of silence, the King of Chu asked: "I already know Shizi's meaning. As Shizi said, the four small countries of Song, Zheng, and Wei are all non-aggressive and neutral, and no country can invade them. This is indeed beneficial to the world. , It is also beneficial to the widow.”

The Mohist envoy hurriedly said: "The enmity between Zheng and Han, our Mohist family also wants to resolve it with the righteousness of love and non-aggression. Juzi has sent people to Zhengdi to rectify the military equipment, and Zheng Jun also intends to join the non-aggressive alliance."

This Zheng Jun is not that Zheng Jun, because the Mohists do not recognize the system of male and female princes, and do not recognize the order of superiority and inferiority, so the monarchs of all countries are basically called the third party in diplomacy.

In fact, according to the Zhou etiquette system, Jun is... the most low-level appellation. Although Zheng Guo is weak now, he has not yet reached the point of being called a king.

(End of this chapter)