Everything you do is under the watchful eye of others, and some plans are destroyed before they are implemented. Who wouldn't be upset?
Fan Li saw that Shi Yiguang and Zheng Dan could still remain calm on the surface, which can be regarded as acting skills at the level of a boss.
In fact, Zhiyao did not deliberately stage this scene.
As long as Zhiyao is at home, he will inevitably be surrounded by people who are always waiting for him. Is there any more suitable candidate than Shi Yiguang and Zheng Dan? Yes, it's just that Shi Yiguang and Zheng Dan will look after their own fields and don't want anyone to interfere.
In addition, Zhiyao didn't know that Fan Li had gone to check things out in person beforehand. Who knew that Fan Li had met Shi Yiguang and Zheng Dan earlier? Just such a thing made Fan Li have so many associations.
Of course, Fan Li had so many thoughts in one moment, and there was nothing wrong in fact.
Zhiyao has been paying attention to the Yue Kingdom for a long time and has sent many people there. Some of them even participated in smuggling into the Chu and Yue Kingdoms.
If it weren't for the special environment of the Spring and Autumn Period, that is, if you want to get along in a certain country, you must first be a noble. No matter which country you are a noble from, you must have a foothold to get along in all countries. Maybe those people in the past of the Zhi family have already gotten along.
It's middle class or upper middle class.
Because of the special circumstances of the times, if the Zhi family wanted to place people in various countries, they would have to lose a doctor's quota, and there would also need to be a process of building momentum to make the person famous, otherwise he would not be able to become a noble of other countries.
If Zhiyao wants to engage in espionage, not to mention the cost, it will take a long time, and there is a lot of doubt as to whether it can be done.
So, if you really want to carry out that kind of operation, Zhiyao will be more successful if he looks for the nobles of a certain country and adopts bribery and control methods than if he cultivates them from scratch.
"I have met the eldest son." Fan Li pretended that he did not know Shi Yiguang and Zheng Dan, and took the initiative to salute and greet them.
Zhiyao, of course, returned the gift and extended greetings to Yue Jun Gou Jian on behalf of Jin Junwu.
There are three people who are now kings.
The Emperor of Zhou is one of the kings recognized and loyal to most princes. Even if he is only loyal in name, he still has a legitimate title.
The second one is the king of Chu who a hundred years ago aspired to the throne and proclaimed himself king. They were also recognized by some princes. For a time, they were removed from the king's title because they failed in the struggle for hegemony, but they were restored later.
The third person to claim the title of king is the Kingdom of Wu. In the past, no princes recognized Wu Kingdom’s kingship status at all. Even though Wu Kingdom is now so powerful, no princes have clearly recognized it.
Formal diplomatic meetings generally involve the ministers of a certain country sending greetings to the other country on behalf of their own monarch. This kind of greeting will not reach the ears of the monarch and is purely a courtesy.
Both parties took their seats.
With Fan Li's social skills, there will naturally be no silence after they sit down.
Of course, Fan Li was stupid before he took the initiative to mention Zhi's possible monitoring or interference in the affairs of the Yue State, let alone asked why the Zhi family paid attention to the Yue State.
The Jin State was in the Central Plains, a little weak but still not to be underestimated.
The State of Yue is located in the southeast corner, especially in the past few years, the State of Yue was almost annexed by the State of Wu.
In fact, the current Yue State is nothing, but the Jin State has a tendency to regain hegemony. The national strength is unequal, which makes Fan Li's position appear to be relatively weak.
Zhiyao knew very well that Fan Li nominally represented Yuejun Goujian, but his career was to show his will on behalf of Chu.
In line with the principle of seeing things through but not telling them, Zhiyao would not take the initiative to mention Chu State anyway.
Fan Li and Zhiyao were chatting, and the topic turned to the current situation of Wu State.
"Before two years old, Wu's army conquered Qi in the north; then, Wu's army attacked Chen, Lu, and Lu again..." Fan Li talked about Wu's wanton expansion and aggressive nature from the perspective of the Central Plains countries.
This alone betrays Fan Li's true identity.
The current Yue State is a vassal state of Wu State. How can it say bad things about Wu State so easily?
Zhiyao did not correct Fan Li to respect his suzerain country, but followed the topic and also talked about the country of Wu.
The news about Wu State's another crusade against Lu State has been sent to Zhiyao.
The last time the Wu army invaded the Lu State, it failed. The Wu State, which was at its peak, would definitely not be able to swallow that sigh of relief. Fu Cha started his army again and headed north. Originally, Bai Gongsheng would have become the commander-in-chief, but Bai Gongsheng was pardoned by the Chu State.
After being pardoned, Bai Gongsheng chose to resign from his official position in the state of Wu and return to the state of Chu with his family and some retainers and subjects. The commander-in-chief of the Wu army fell on Wu Zixu.
Wu Zixu was very envious of Bai Gongsheng's experience. Unfortunately, Chu State could forgive Bai Gongsheng, but it was difficult to forgive Wu Zixu.
Furthermore, Wu Zixu is different from Bai Gongsheng. Bai Gongsheng is originally a member of the Duke of Chu. I heard that this time Bai Gongsheng can lead an army to attack Zheng when he returns. How could he not want to go back to Chu?
Wu Zixu, who was appointed as the commander-in-chief, approached Sun Wu and invited Sun Wu to accompany him on the Northern Expedition. However, Fu Chai blocked the incident.
The fact that Fu Chai re-employed Wu Zixu and Sun Wu did not mean that he wanted to see the two of them get too close.
After all, Wu State is a little different from other countries. They have their own special national conditions.
Zhiyao and Fan Li discussed everything about Wu State, especially Wu State's plan to dig a canal.
"Yue is now a vassal of Wu, and Wu is digging the canal, so Yue will help." Fan Li said.
A vassal? A vassal state.
Now the State of Yue is indeed the younger brother of the State of Wu. But it is not easy to be the younger brother of the State of Wu. It is quite different from the other countries in the Central Plains.
In the Central Plains, for example, the Jin State is the recognized overlord. When starting any project, the rest of the younger brothers are rarely asked to send people to serve as laborers. More often, the younger brothers call upon the elders to bring troops to serve as allies when the boss goes on an expedition.
The way Wu plays the game is different. It is common to exploit it from time to time. For any big projects, the subject country will send the required amount of labor every time, and the materials that need to be contributed are quite a lot, and it does not matter whether the subject country can bear it or not.
Fan Li meant exactly what he said: No matter what you do, the State of Wu now thinks that the State of Yue is very submissive.
Of course Zhiyao understands, and sincerely feels that Wu Guo is still playing the game.
Is it just that? In the current era, the way Wu is playing is a bit un-big brother-like. It is destined that once it is in decline, it will make every effort to make the countries that have been bullied even worse.
In the era of great unification, it seems quite appropriate for the suzerain state to treat the vassal states like the Wu state?
What is the current state of Yue doing secretly? On the surface, it is indeed very obedient to the state of Wu. Moreover, Fan Li is deeply afraid that Fu Chai will not die on the bed, so he often offers beautiful women to Fu Chai.
Because Shi Yiguang and Zheng Dan deviated from their original historical trajectory, other beauties took their place.
What was a little different was that no one won Fu Chai's favor like Xi Shi, so the Yue State needed to win by quantity to keep Fu Chai's freshness, and would regularly select beautiful women and send them to Wu State.
Judging from the fact that Fu Chai has fewer and fewer personal expeditions, there is no doubt that Yue's beauty trap has achieved the desired effect. For the time being, there is no news that Fu Chai has done more ridiculous things, such as killing heroes in order to get a smile from a beauty.
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The fact that he was less able to lead his own troops on personal expeditions did not mean that Fu Chai's ambition was weakened, but it only proved that his body had become weak.
There is a tradition in Vietnam that the best way to make diplomatic relations is to send beautiful women wherever you go.
Like this time, Fan Li brought some jade and Yue-style bronzes, as well as local specialties from the Yue Kingdom... a beautiful woman, also known as Huan Sha Nu.
If the Yue Kingdom does this again and again, its reputation for producing beauties will definitely be confirmed, and surpassing the Wei Kingdom is just around the corner.
Most of the beauties of the Wei Kingdom were created by a certain Wei Jun. The difference is that the Wei Kingdom did not give away its own beauties repeatedly.
To be honest, the Yue State was so skilled at recruiting beautiful spies under the auspices of Fan Li that Zhiyao did not dare to trust the beauties sent by Fan Li.
Their final fate will probably be to be sent to continue to wear yarns? Or to marry a somewhat accomplished Zhi family member one day?
Anyway, Zhiyao would never leave them in the main house.
From morning to afternoon, Fan Li enjoyed a meal of Zhi's delicacies, and he paid a lot of attention to him, wanting to bring Zhi's characteristic delicacies back to Yue.
Fan Li felt that asking for delicious cooking techniques from Zhishi would not be rejected. On the contrary, Zhishi would feel very proud, but he did not know that he would be declined later.
Making delicious food is not a secret, right? Not to mention the Spring and Autumn Period, even in the future, who would want to spread the word to everyone who has mastered advanced cooking skills!
It wasn't until evening that Fan Li finally mentioned the traces of Zhi's activities in the south.
"The situation has changed. Jin and Chu are friendly and have frequent exchanges. My textiles are sold well in many countries. How strange is it to operate in the southeast?" Zhiyao said.
It should have been six or seven years ago that Zhishi started to expand his business to Yue. I especially remember that it was Fan Li who was handling the business of the second-level dealers at that time?
Zhiyao will not forget this matter, and there is no reason why Fan Li would forget it.
This is what Fan Li cares about.
Looking back at the pulse of the whole thing, it seems that Fan Li took the initiative to lure the wolf into the house.
Of course, Fan Li never imagined that the situation would evolve into what it is now.
Many people are considered geniuses if they can stay one step ahead of others. Not everyone is like Zhiyao who grasps the answers in advance and can make relevant plans and arrangements early.
But as I said before, this is not the era of meritocracy. It is too difficult to place people into the middle and high-level positions of a certain country. It can even be said that the chance is equal to zero.
All Zhiyao can do is to arrange relevant intelligence bases. Unless they are actually used one day, relevant intelligence cannot be obtained.
Just from this point of view, Zhiyao actually has a better advantage than anyone else. Waiting for the real era of collapse of rituals and music to come, with the first move, the advantage he will gain will not be just a little bit.
"We'll visit another day." Fan Li took the initiative to say goodbye.
Today, Fan Li felt that the Zhishi he knew was not in line with the real Zhishi. He needed to get more information about the Zhishi, and he did not reveal his true purpose.
One thing Fan Li remembered was that Zhiyao mentioned that the relationship between Jin and Chu was undergoing fundamental changes.
It may be that the speaker does not mean it, but the listener does it intentionally.
Fan Li thinks this news should be conveyed back to Chu? If Jin can adopt a consistent stance against Wu, it may be able to bring about fundamental changes in the world's situation?