The State of Zheng can be regarded as a long-established powerful country. It fell victim to the State of Jin and the State of Chu before weakening in decades.
In terms of strength, Zheng Guo has long been ranked in the echelon of first-rate powers. It once fell to the echelon of third-rate countries, and then recovered slightly and regained the position of second-rate powers.
It was not easy to become a first-class power in the Spring and Autumn Period. First of all, the comprehensive national strength should not be too devoid of potential, and secondly, the military strength must be guaranteed.
Looking at the period when Jin and Chu were competing for hegemony, Jin and Chu were considered superpowers. Qi, Zheng, and Qin were in the first-class ranks of powerful countries, as were Lu, Wei, Song, Wu, and Ju.
They should be second-class powers. Those that can be considered third-class powers include Chen State, Lai State, Cao State, Xu State, and Zhongwu. The rest have not flowed in.
Now? It is estimated that there is no recognized superpower, and it has become Jin State. Chu and Wu are ranked in the echelon of first-class powers. Zheng and Song are ranked in the second-class echelon of powerful countries. Qin is among the third-class powers.
Qi State, Yue State, and the rest are not included in the flow.
The calculation of strength will definitely change in each historical stage, based on which country is facing what situation at that time.
What is a so-called superpower? Having a great international prestige must be one of the hard conditions. Otherwise, even if it has a vast territory, population, and sufficient resources, it will be difficult to defeat the four-handed country with two fists, and it will definitely be attacked repeatedly.
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What is a country that has a strong reputation, sufficient strength, and allies willing to follow instructions, but a superpower?
The fundamental reason why there is currently no superpower in the land of Zhuxia is that there is no one prince who issues an order and the rest of the princes immediately follow.
One of the reasons why there are no superpowers is that they cannot conquer all countries with the strength of a single country.
The Jin State seemed so powerful. After a wave of civil war, it seemed that several families became stronger, but in fact the overall strength of the Jin State must have been weakened.
The more important reason is that, for example, if the Zhi family tries their best to gather five legions, the terrible thing is that four of them will be constrained by other families, leaving only one legion that can be used abroad.
To put it bluntly, the Jin State was too complicated internally and could not use all its strength to deal with the outside world.
Not only the Jin State, but the Chu State is also the same. More energy needs to be spent internally than externally.
Why can the Wu Kingdom look so dazzling at this stage? It is not because of their vast territory, population, and sufficient resources. It is mainly because of their internal unity. They have defeated the Chu Kingdom several times and brought sufficient prestige.
Understanding the changes in the diplomatic relations between the following countries will make it clear what the situation is. In the past, the princes kept sending people to "Xintian", whether it was purely to curry favor, or to ask the king of Jin to mediate conflicts, etc., what you can see is that the Jin country is prosperous
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"Many countries have gone to Wu now!" Zhiyao was reading the information.
The former capital of Wu State was called "Meili", but later it was expanded and a new capital was built, named after "Wu".
Zhiyao looked through it and found information about the Yue Kingdom.
About two years ago, Gou Jian was released by Fu Cha, and then lived a life of hard work and hardship.
In the beginning, Fu Chai monitored Gou Jian very closely, so that Fan Li was in charge of almost all affairs in the Yue Kingdom.
Relevant intelligence shows that Gou Jian disliked Fan Li very much, yet he gave him great power.
Zhiyao thought in confusion: "Why does Gou Jian hate Fan Li?"
If Fan Li was a talent sent from the Chu State to the Yue State, it would actually make sense, including the fact that after the Yue State invaded the Wu State, Fan Li immediately chose to retire into seclusion.
The husband took the information from Zhiyao, read it over, and said, "He is rich. The origin of his wealth is a mystery, and the origin of his purchases is also difficult to explain."
Fan Li in the history books was a very good businessman, and he could always obtain goods from sources unknown to others, and purchase military equipment without anyone noticing.
If there is nothing fishy in it, who would believe it?
Commodities cannot just be dug out of the soil, they must be manufactured by someone. If they can be manufactured, according to common sense, they must pursue greater profits, and the one with the higher price will follow the rules.
The manufacturing of military equipment is more difficult. If you want to produce it on a large scale, you need to have a lot of background. It is normal to buy and sell large quantities of ordinary materials. Manufacturing large quantities of military supplies is a trouble. It is really not something that just any family can do.
It can be done.
With a mysterious smile on her face, Zhiyao once again found a piece of information and handed it to her husband.
This piece of information also comes with pictures, which seem to include the mountains and rivers of Chu, Wu and Yue.
"This..." Hu Lio still figured it out after looking at some related city names.
"The Yue soldiers came from Chu," Zhiyao said.
The interesting thing is that the top officials of Wu State were not aware of the fishy trade between Chu State and Yue State.
Let's put it this way, the business exchanges between the Chu State and the Yue State were too frequent, and usually ordinary goods contained weapons and equipment.
The nobles or governors from various parts of the Wu Kingdom definitely had interests in it. For example, they were treated mercilessly when receiving gifts, or they simply set up cards to collect taxes and made a lot of money. Because of this level of interest, they chose to pass through
Hidden from the bottom up, digging a grave for the state of Wu bit by bit.
The Chu State definitely learned from the Jin State in this wave, and they also played better than the old!
In the past, the State of Jin treated the State of Wu with a strategy of "teaching a man to fish is worse than teaching him to fish", gifting him with all kinds of knowledge and providing talents in return.
However, the Chu State carried out a wave of transportation to the Yue State, and was able to make a profit on the side.
"So the Yue State's efforts to support the Wu State did not last long, and the Chu State withdrew its support and immediately allowed the Yue State to show its original shape?" Zhiyao thought to himself.
Zhiyao was not so sure who else knew the trick, and had no idea of reminding Wu Guo.
Now the state of Wu is making every effort to challenge the state of Jin. It wants to use the state of Jin as a stepping stone to defeat the state of Jin and make the princes recognize Wu's dominance.
In this case, if the Jin State helps the Wu State, first of all, the Wu State will not believe it, and if it does, it will not be grateful.
Zhiyao said to his husband: "When you go to the Yue Kingdom, if you can meet the Yue Lord Gou Jian, you must make him understand your good intentions."
The husband felt a pain in his heart, so of course he responded: "Promise."
Before Zhiyao finished speaking, he continued: "Go to the Kingdom of Wu again, and spend your money and money to make good friends with the prince."
What can I do? I found out that it was going to be a long business trip, which made me feel even more miserable, so I still respectfully responded: "Promise!"
A weak Wu State is a good Wu State, and it would be too cheap for Chu State to perish.
Zhiyao's contact with Gou Jian for her husband is another preventive plan that will definitely come in handy in the future.
The husband left.
Zigong comes over.
"Yao heard that Mr. Wu sent him to open the canal?" Zhiyao asked.
That was when Fu Chai decided to dig the "Hangou" canal in order to go north to fight for hegemony. Its route was to pass through Gaoyou in the north, then turn to the northeast, exit Sheyang Lake, then change to the northwest, reach Shanyang and enter Huaihe River.
This canal, which was named "Hangou" by Fu Chai, later became known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It was the first artificially dug canal in the history of Zhuxia.
If Zhiyao's history books are correct, Wu State also created another first among all Xia Dynasties with Chu State, which was the first large-scale water battle between Wu State and Chu State in the Yangtze River about a hundred years ago.
Zigong was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses and said, "This is indeed true."
This group of disciples has always maintained contact with their brothers and sisters in other places, and their information channels are better than those of some big nobles.
Zhiyao ordered: "You take a hundred students as envoys to the State of Song, and then go to the State of Wu to participate in this matter."
So that’s it?
Zigong suddenly felt that it was not difficult.
At the same time, he immediately understood why Zhiyao had such an arrangement.
Zhishi's first five-year plan has come to an end, and the second five-year plan is to dig a water conservancy project from Dalu Ze to "Handan".
It happened that Wu State was about to dig a canal, so it was absolutely necessary to send people there to learn from experience!
Zigong has also left. He doesn't need to select people. What he needs to do is to contact his senior brothers in Wu State first, arrange the connections first, and then bring people from Zhi's side there.
From the bottom of her heart, Zhiyao recognized Wu Guo's awesomeness.
Now the state of Wu is also using troops every year. This year it will attack this prince, and next year it will provoke that prince. It still has enough energy to start the big project of digging the canal.
On this day, Zhishen went out and came home. He summoned Zhiyao immediately and said, "Send troops to attack the Song Dynasty next year."
Zhiyao didn't have any special reaction.
That is a need under the general trend, and it will not change because of the opposition of one or two people, and Zhishi does not want to be the one who stands out in a turbulent trend.
Zhishen continued: "We raised three 'armies' and raised less than the number."
Got it.
Three legions were dispatched, but each legion was under-strength. The purpose was to intimidate the Song Dynasty, not to really fight.
Zhiyao was listening quietly.
According to the requirements of each "Qing", each Qing family dispatches a "division" of troops, and a legion needs to have two full-strength "divisions". The corresponding reserve forces must be arranged. If a war does break out, it must be sent to the army in time.
The battlefield begins.
Zhishen said: "Zheng sent out two 'armies', Lu one 'army', Wei two 'divisions', Xue two 'soldiers', and Teng two 'soldiers'."
This is the amount of troops that Jin will ask all the alliance countries to dispatch.
A legion under the Zhou system has 12,500 men, and a "division" has 2,500 men.
So, it is similar to what Zhiyao had estimated in advance.
The done deal is done, right?
In fact, even if this wave did not end in a fight, it would not bring much benefit to the Jin State. On the contrary, it would force the Song State to move closer to the Wu State.
"It is very difficult for Jin State at the moment. It cannot ignore Song State and annex Cao State. At the same time, it wants to prevent Song State from moving closer to Wu State. Let's see who can stand up and get things done." Zhiyao has some ideas, but the problem is one point.
I don't want to get ahead.
Shi Xie was right when he said that the Jin State needed enemies, enemies that could pose enough threats to ensure domestic unity.
Zhishi needs time. Having strong enemies outside can reduce internal friction and avoid sudden attacks.
Therefore, Zhiyao will not have so much presence at present, and she will just have to plan for the longer-term future.