The Great Wei Empire in the Warring States Period

After dozens of days of traveling, Chunyu Kun finally arrived at Anyi in Wei State. He opened the curtain of the carriage and looked at the tall city tower. He sighed in his heart: It is worthy of being the most powerful country in the world. This city tower is really tall!

Chunyu Kun and his companions came to the posthouse. The minister in charge of the posthouse saw that they were envoys from Qi State, so he walked over and bowed and said, "I am the official in charge of the posthouse. I wonder what the envoys from Qi State are here for?"

Chunyu Kun also bowed and said, "I came here to see the Marquis of Wei. Please inform him!"

Then he stuffed a heavy piece of gold into the official's hand. The official smiled and said, "In that case, please wait here, envoy. I will inform him immediately!"

Wei State Court

The Marquis of Wei couldn't help laughing with the war report in his hand. The prime minister Hui Shi below asked, "Your Majesty, did Qi State agree to our Wei State's conditions?"

The Marquis of Wei put down the bamboo slips He said to his ministers happily: "General, you have beheaded nearly 100,000 people, captured more than 80,000 people, and broke through Qingshi Pass. Qi has signed a surrender agreement!" The ministers below shouted: "Long live Wei! Long live your Majesty!" Haha~~ The mood of the Marquis of Wei can be said to be very good. The Marquis of Wei said again: "Everyone, this time my Wei has defeated Qin, Zhao, Han, and Qi in succession, and has become the leader of the Three Jins, so I want to be king! I wonder what you think?"

Hui Shi thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, now my Wei has become the leader of the world, if you want to be king, it is also possible, and it can also enhance my Wei's status in the hearts of all countries in the world, but once my Wei is king, it may be feared by all countries, so I think it is better to ask Han and Zhao to be king. We will be kings together in Wei."

The Marquis of Wei frowned and said, "Mr. Hui Shi, your reasoning is right, but I want to be king alone. Besides, my Wei is already very powerful. Other countries have no strength to fight against my Wei alone, but my Wei's 400,000 iron army is not for show. Whoever dares not to obey me, I will be the first to fight him! As for Han and Zhao, they are just watchdogs of my Wei. Wanting to be king together with me is ridiculous!"

Sima Wutong stood up and said, "Your Majesty, if only I, Wei is king, first, Zhao will definitely not be willing, second, Chu will also be afraid, and third, it may push those small countries in the Central Plains to Qi. My Wei has already destroyed Lu and Teng. The twelve states on the Si River, Wei, Song, and Xue, will certainly surrender to Qi. I ask your Majesty to think twice. If my Wei State claims to be the king alone, I am afraid that all the countries in the world will attack me! "Duan Ganpeng also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the words of the Prime Minister and Sima are very true. Please think twice! Although my Wei State is powerful, it does not have the ability to go to war with so many countries in the world. If all the countries in the world unite to attack Wei, my Wei State will be in danger!" The Marquis of Wei smiled and said, "My Wei State has 400,000 iron troops. Why should I fear the countries in the world? Chu, Qi, or Zhao, can they come up with 400,000? Well, there is no need to say more. Today is a happy day. Celebrate! Celebrate! Have a banquet tonight!"

As soon as the voice fell, an official came in and saluted, saying: "Your Majesty, the envoys from Qi State want to see you!"

The Marquis of Wei smiled and said, "What are they doing here? Let them in!" - Yes!

After a while, Chunyu Kun came in. Everyone felt like vomiting when they saw his face. His face was so ugly that they wanted to beat him out.

The Marquis of Wei looked at his appearance and frowned. Seeing that he was about to reach the middle of the hall, he hurriedly stopped him and said, "Don't come over again. I feel like I can't eat when I see you. Just stay there!" Everyone laughed after hearing this.

Chunyu Kun didn't care about the people around him, but saluted respectfully, "The humble servant Chunyu Kun, greets the Marquis of Wei!"

The Marquis of Wei waved his hand and said, "No need to be polite. Envoys from Qi State, what do you want to do here? In the future, Qi should send an envoy with a better appearance. Otherwise, I would have thought that Qi was a small country!" Everyone laughed again, and the whole court was filled with laughter. Except Hui Shi, he stopped laughing because he knew that this person was a great talent in Lu State Academy.

Chun Yukun ignored him and said, "This time I came to ask the Marquis of Wei if he wants to be the king." The Marquis of Wei heard his words and said, "Of course, after this battle, my Wei will be the king!" Chun Yukun said again, "Then may I ask the Marquis of Wei, do you know the kingly way? Do you know the hegemonic way? ”

The Marquis of Wei was a little puzzled after hearing this, so he looked at Hui Shi. Hui Shi got the idea and stood up and said to Chunyu Kun: "Of course my king knows that the kingly way is nothing more than the way of ruling the world by King Wu of Zhou, and the hegemonic way is nothing more than Duke Huan of Qi's hegemony, uniting the nine princes, and uniting the world. Now, my Wei State first defeated the Qin State in the west, defeated the Zhao State in the north, defeated the Han State in the middle, and defeated the Qi State in the east. My Wei State's hegemony has been achieved, and my Wei State's people are rich and the people are healthy, so the kingly way can naturally be achieved! Envoy from Qi, what do you want to say?"

Chunyu Kun smiled, waved his hand and said: "No, no, the current Wei State has neither hegemony nor kingly way. The current Wei State can only be said to be a powerful country in the world. ”

The Marquis of Wei was furious and said, “How dare you say that my Wei State has not achieved hegemony and the kingly way? My Wei State has broken through the Great Wall of your Qi State. Your capital of Qi State has been surrounded by my Wei Army. It is only a matter of time for me to destroy Qi!”

Chun Yukun smiled calmly and said, “Back then, the Three Jin Allied Forces also broke through the Great Wall of Qi State, and your general Cui Jiao also captured my king, but was Qi State destroyed? No, it is even stronger than before! If your country wants to capture my king again, at most, both sides will die. Although my Qi State is destroyed, it is also possible to severely injure your Wei State.” After hearing Chun Yukun’s next words, the Marquis of Wei suppressed his anger and asked, “Then may I ask what is hegemony and what is the kingly way, envoy of Qi State? ”

Chun Yukun said: “To be a hegemon, the first thing is to intimidate other countries, the second is to gain their trust, and the third is to unite them.Although he was able to intimidate other states, he had not yet gained their trust and united them. When Duke Huan of Qi united the nine states and pacified the world, he not only intimidated Chu, but also united all the states, protected the majesty of the emperor, and resisted the Rongdi in the north, making all the states feel that Duke Huan of Qi was a trustworthy person. Therefore, Wei had not yet achieved hegemony. To achieve the kingly way, although Wei had made its people and citizens safe and sound, what about the people of the world? At that time, King Wu of Zhou defeated King Zhou, but he had made the people and citizens of the world safe and sound. Moreover, King Wu of Zhou's kingly way was about governing the world, not governing the country. Wei had only achieved the way of governing the country, but had not yet achieved the way of governing the world. Therefore, Wei had not yet achieved the kingly way. ”

After hearing this, the Marquis of Wei nodded and asked, "Then, sir, how can my Wei achieve hegemony and the kingly way? ”

Chun Yukun said: "If you want to achieve hegemony, the first is to ally with all the countries in the world again, and the second is to lead all the countries in the world to meet the Zhou emperor. Now that Wei has just defeated Qi, it is time to take advantage of the situation to ally with all the countries in the world again and lead all the countries in the world to meet the Zhou emperor. However, it is also necessary to gain the trust of the vassal states in the world. To gain the trust of the world, the best way for the vassal states is to release the captives. Now Wei has captured 80,000 soldiers from Qi. It is better to return them to Qi, which can not only win a good reputation but also gain the trust of the vassal states in the world! In this way, the vassal states in the world are willing to come to the alliance and meet the Zhou emperor! The kingly way must pay attention to the way of governing the world, and the way of governing the world must pay attention to the great governance of the people. Wei defeated Qi in this expedition, and the people of Qi were also miserable, especially in the Central Plains. As long as the world is informed during the alliance, the Central Plains will cease fire for three years. This will not only improve the status of Wei among the vassal states in the world, but also make the people of the world recognize that Wei Hou is a wise king. ”

The Marquis of Wei nodded and said, "Good, your words have opened my eyes. Tell Pang Juan to release the 80,000 soldiers!" ——Your Majesty is wise!

Qingshi Pass

Pang Juan has been staying at Qingshi Pass with the Wei and Han armies for more than two months. The 2 million dan of grain and money from Qi are being sent to Anyi, Wei.

Pang Juan was looking at the map, and Gongzi Ang asked, "General, when will we go back?"

Pang Juan smiled and said, "If we stay for a few more months, Qi will provide us with so much food for more than 100,000 people, which will also consume Qi's national strength. In addition, in order to guard against us, Qi will definitely recruit its people as soldiers on a large scale, which will also affect their farming. ”

Gongzi Ang nodded and said, "General, you are wise. Qi will bleed a lot now! Moreover, Qi still has 80,000 surrendered soldiers in the hands of Wei. These people can be called elites. It will take another five years for Qi to train such elites again! "Kong Ye, the commander of the Han army, said: "General Pang, when will the lands promised by Wei to Han be handed over to me?"

Pang Juan looked at Kong Ye and said: "It can be handed over tomorrow, and those lands will belong to you, Han!"

A messenger came in and said: "General, Anyi sentThe envoy from Anyi has arrived!" Pang Juan hurriedly said when he heard the envoy from Anyi: "Please invite the envoy in quickly!" - Yes!

It turned out to be Pang Mao, followed by an ugly man. Pang Mao bowed and said: "Uncle, the person next to me is Chunyu Kun, the envoy of Qi. This is the order of the king!"

Then he handed the bamboo slips to Pang Juan. Pang Juan opened the bamboo slips and thought it should be a reward. As a result, he opened it and saw that it was asking Pang Juan to release the captives and return them to Qi. Pang Juan was stunned immediately.

Pang Mao said again: "Uncle, the king asked you to execute it quickly and hand over all the captives to the envoys of Qi. "

Pang Juan reluctantly accepted the bamboo slips and said to Gongzi Ang beside him: "Gongzi Ang, you release all the captives and hand them all over to the envoys of Qi! "Gong Ziang asked puzzledly: "General, we have lost tens of thousands of brothers. If we let them go, it would be..."

Pang Juan waved his hand and said: "This is the king's order. Do you want to disobey the king? Let's let them go. If we knew this, we should have killed them in advance!" Gong Ziang also sighed helplessly, then glared at Chunyu Kun and left.

The next morning

Chunyu Kun returned with 80,000 surrendered soldiers of the Qi army. Sun Bin and Tian Ji were very happy to see the 80,000 soldiers coming back, because those who had fought a life-and-death battle and survived were considered the elite among the elite.

Sun Bin and Tian Ji went down the tower to personally greet Chunyu Kun. When Chunyu Kun saw that it was Tian Ji and Sun Bin, he bowed and said: "I have lived up to everyone's expectations and completed the mission! "Sun Bin smiled and said, "Thanks to you, sir. Please come into the city as soon as possible."

Inside Tian Ji's house

Tian Ji looked at the map, and finally looked at Sun Bin, and said, "Mr. Sun Bin, now the army of Zhao has retreated, and the army of Chu has stopped attacking after occupying the Huai and Si lands. Since you said that we want to take back part of the Huai and Si lands, how should we attack?"

Sun Bin thought for a while and said, "It depends on the performance of Yue. If we want to win this war, we must first let Yue send troops to attack Chu, so that the Jingshe army of Chu will bring troops back to support, and then we will take the opportunity to attack and take back some of the land! Order the army to rest for a while, and quickly send Tian Zhuo to Yue to ask the King of Yue to send troops to attack Chu. After Yue sends troops, we will send troops!" Tian Ji nodded and said, "Okay!" ……………