warring states careerist

Chapter 874 Meeting in the Pool ([-])

In the twelfth lunar month of the Xin Chou year, the Marquis of Wei, Marquis of Han, the King of Chu, and the giants of the Mohist school will meet in Fengchi. Qi, Wei, Song, Zhao, and Qin may send Shangqing or envoys to attend the meeting.

After the Battle of Yinyang, Chu State did not continue to attack.

If they continue to attack, it is likely that Wei Han on the two wings will be cut off because they are too far ahead, so they will camp along the Weishui River to confront Wei Han, and it will inevitably lead to confrontation on the entire front. This is not what Wei Chuhan wants.

The Mohists chanted slogans and called for the Northern Expedition several times, but Chu refused, and Zheng Di was in an uproar.

Now that the fight has reached such a point, none of the three parties want to fight, and the Mohists, who shouted most fiercely to punish the Northern Expedition and restore Zheng Guo's neutrality, even less want to fight. An alliance that seems to rely on the negotiating table to solve problems is inevitable.

The location of the alliance, the Quartet all want to hold it on their own territory.

The Mohist gave Shangqiu as the place of the alliance, and believed that the Song State was a neutral country, and the two previous successful military elimination meetings were held in Shangqiu.In addition, it was still under construction for the alliance platform before, so it was well prepared and most suitable.

Wei Han gave Xingyang as the location of the alliance, thinking that this place is closer to Luoyang, and the emperor can also send people to attend, and by the way, he can go to see the emperor after the alliance.

The place of the alliance given by the state of Chu is Chen, because Chen is the capital, and in the past, King Wu once made an alliance with the princes in Chen. League.

Wei Chuhan and Mohist Sifang played the leading role, and the rest of the princes were just supporting roles. The Kingdom of Zheng had surrendered, and the Quartet had been talking nonsense about the location of the alliance for half a month, and finally chose Fengchi outside Daliang City.

One is that the alliance in Daze and Dachi has been a tradition in Zhuxia for decades. After all, the slogan of the alliance when Duke Wen of Jin ruled was "invite the emperor to shoot and hunt". Daze and Dachi are the most suitable places for hunting.

The second is that Daliang City belongs to Chu State. They think that Daliang still belongs to Chu State, but it was forcibly occupied by Wei State, so they can agree to meet in Fengchi.

The third is that Daliang City is the most marginal area where the military forces of all directions can radiate. If anything happens, no one can take advantage of it.

At this time, Fengchi is still under the public ownership, and it is part of the public land, and the people are not allowed to cultivate and fish casually.

Historically, it was not until after the Wei State moved its capital to Daliang that Fengchi was allowed to be cultivated for fishing and hunting. According to historical records, "King Hui of Liang distributed Fengji as a gift to the people."

Those who make hair are wastes; those who are stalks are countless grasses, which refer to swamps and lakes overgrown with reeds.

At this time, the mountains, rivers and lakes were basically owned by the princes and nobles, and the people could not go there to make a living, and they would be severely punished if they were caught.

This place is monopolized in the hands of princes and nobles, and slaves and serfs can be used to obtain benefits; secondly, once this kind of place is released, iron has begun to be popularized, and the people are scrambling to flee to hide in the big lake, and there will be fewer taxpayers, population and soldiers. .

At this time, it was the cold winter, and it was not enough for thousands of mountains and birds to fly away, but the reeds had already turned yellow and were covered with a layer of white snow.

Numerous ruts, horseshoes and human footprints left traces on the snow, and some birds flew around the fallen horse manure to look for undigested corn kernels.

The meeting has not yet started, and the venue is already being set up.

In Daliang City not far from Fengchi.

At this time, it is supposed to be the most leisure time. There is nothing to do in winter. It was originally a month for sacrifices. Before that, it was occasionally a winter performance and hunting, to maintain the original military system of the enfeoffment system.

But now there are not many people on the street, and the cloud of war is still hanging over. Many people are conscripted to serve, not only as soldiers to fight, but also to repair the city walls and deliver food and grass.

It has always been the people of the world who suffer in war.

In a very simple restaurant in Daliang City, some older people have already forgotten that they are Chu people, because it is not important.Counting a few more years, Daliang has always belonged to Chu State?
The people who can still be in the wine shop at this time are naturally not the hardest and most tired farmers, but the new citizen class in the cities over the years, who are either engaged in handicrafts or commerce. From the original status of state-owned handicraftsmen.

The weather is cold, so it's best to drink a few sips of spirits, and you don't need any good dishes. The peanuts and broad beans that have been planted in recent years can be served with wine.

The wine shop has a strong flavor of Sishang. It sells spirits, sits on chairs, leans on tables, has window paper on the windows, and peach charms with auspicious words on the door, which lacks a lot of traditional flavor. , but quickly became popular in the Central Plains.

It is not necessarily the Mohist who runs the wine shop, but there must be Mohist owners among so many wine shops in Daliang City, and even if there are none, they are inextricably linked with the Mohist family.

Either because they have no money, they have borrowed money from the Gold Bank as stock capital; or they have joined organizations such as craftsmen associations to learn some crafts;

In recent years, tea shops and wine shops have gradually replaced the original role of "township schools" in Zheng State, and have become places where people complain and discuss politics.

At a small table, a person asked, "Have you heard?"

He didn't say anything, but his tone seemed to mean that everyone would know without mentioning the subject.

Sure enough, someone replied: "Of course I listened. If it is true, as said in the "Book of Reporting to the World", the soldiers will be eliminated in peace, non-aggression and love, everyone will get something, and the world will be united, then it will be really good. "

Seeing that this so-called "Reporting to the World" is very deceptive, or very suitable for what they want, many people nodded and gathered around.

Not long ago, the contents of the "Report to the World" written by the Mohist School were circulated in the big cities and giant cities of the Central Plains, and they were quickly circulated through various secret or public channels.

For the princes, the popular will may be useless; but for the Mohists, it is necessary to win the popular hearts, because the Mohists are not princes, and their legal principles come from the public opinion rather than the enfeoffment system and the rules that have lasted for thousands of years.

The content inside is easy to understand, of course, most of them are a kind of strong words from a certain angle.

For example, countries loosen the system of physical bondage, countries allow people to migrate spontaneously for land reclamation, countries recognize people’s private ownership and property rights systems, countries’ legal subjects should be people rather than families, countries have unified tax rates, countries have opened up gates, and countries allow merchants to set up mining workshops , Unified characters in various countries, unified weights and measures in various countries... all kinds of things.

From the perspective of Wei Han and other princes, princes and nobles, this is of course unreasonable, and it is as unreasonable as cutting roots and digging graves.

These things cannot be obtained by lip service at this time, and there is no major change in the world that can be completed by making mutual compromises and taking a step back.

But at least, this is not impossible, but a clear program that the public knows and approves.

If the countries can’t do it, then the Mohists can only use violence to solve it: princes and nobles are unwilling to give up their land and personal attachment to feudal rights, and they are unwilling to take the initiative to surrender for unification, so they have to use violence. The highest level of non-aggression.

This can be regarded as the first time that the Mohists have "shown poorly" in front of the people of the world.

Most people in the restaurant don't know a saying in later generations, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Disappointment is sometimes a kind of power, a power of resistance and tyranny, which will burst out at the moment of disappointment.

And now, they are still discussing the wonderful future that makes them intoxicated.

But there was also an indescribable irony in this intoxication.

"Have you heard about Xinzheng? The people of Xinzheng went to Wei Han with the contract signed by the nobles of Zheng State, but they were regarded as rebellious."

It has been a while since Xinzheng was breached, but the contract that was signed when defending the city in exchange for freedom and land resulted in a result that angered the people of Xinzheng but felt reasonable.

South Korea rejected the "reasonable" request of the people of Xinzheng, believing that the contract was invalid because it was signed with the nobles of the Si family of Zheng.

The nobles of the Si family have been slaughtered, and Zheng Jun has surrendered to Wei Han, so the land of Zheng State should belong to the victor.

From the very beginning, the ink practitioners in Xinzheng had already expected this result.

But just like the conversation between Xinzheng Mohists and Xu Ruo that day, this result is beneficial to Mohism.

If it is said that whoever has the biggest fist will get the land, wouldn't that prove that the rebellion is not guilty and the division of land is justified?
Since it is reasonable to have a big fist, since the nobles used their fists to take away "the land of the world that should belong to the people of the world", and it is reasonable to think that the land belongs to the nobles, wouldn't it still be reasonable for the people to grab it back with their fists?
Mentioning this incident, the people in the wine shop inevitably feel sympathetic, or someone said: "At that time, people in Xinzheng said that all crows in the world were black, and they changed their surnames, but they were still the same. It’s hard to get results.”

"What the Mohist thinks is what we want. Don't you hear that the Mohist say a lot that people in the world are divided into classes by the nobles, and each class has its own advantages, and there is no virtue that is applicable to the whole world. There is no benefit that is applicable to the whole world. Some people gain, and some people lose."

They couldn't understand what the morality of Mohism was all about, but because of the reconciliation between Mohism and Yang Zhu on the matter of anti-feudalism, the trend of humanism was flooded.

Excessive humanism will inevitably lead to the expansion of personal selfish desires, flooding and social turmoil, which is an acceptable manifestation of overcorrection against hundreds of years of patriarchal clan system.

People in various countries, especially those in the Central Plains, began to consider their own self-interest. Instead of being loyal or dedicated to the "country", they began to think about whose country and whose home it was.

Hundreds of years of war in the troubled times of the Spring and Autumn Period made the people tired of war, anti-war, anti-ritual, and anti-those imposed on them, and even some morbid thoughts of "not pulling out a hair" appeared, and became a prominent school.

The people in the wine shop may not stand up because of the demands of the people in Xinzheng, and support the demands of the people in Xinzheng with the morality of the Mohists, but it does not mean that they think that South Korea’s opposition to the contract and Violation is justified.

For the time being, they will not oppose Wei Han for the people of Zheng who are hundreds of miles away from them, but they hope that the Mohists can fight for what they want in this four-way meeting.

(End of this chapter)