Li Yunze, who had changed into a leather robe, warmly invited Yan Ying to drink and eat.
There is a large copper charcoal brazier placed in the room. The heat from the burning charcoal makes the room warm as spring.
The charcoal brazier has been around in China for a long time.
In contrast, in distant Europe, savages still hide in livestock sheds holding their cattle and sheep to keep warm in winter.
Li Yunze and Yan Ying were drinking together, Sun Wu was accompanying them, and Shaozhengmao was still watching the singing and dancing in the palace.
Shaozhengmao was more interested in being an official than in education, and now spent most of his time in the court.
"...The King of Chu used the country's important weapons for his own selfish purposes..." The topic Li Yunze and the others talked about was naturally the Chu army that was just around the corner. "In addition, it has offended the Chu nobles, so I'm afraid something bad is about to happen."
Yan Ying thought for a while and asked, "Is it because of Zhang Huatai's incident?"
The so-called Zhanghuatai is a palace built by the King of Chu.
According to historical records, this chapter of Huatai is more than ten feet high, which is tens of meters in height. It is very large in scale.
Considering the productivity of this era, the cost of building such a large palace is simply shocking.
The King of Chu did not pay for it himself, but blackmailed the nobles into providing money and people, saying, "It will take a few years to build it with the whole country."
He also collected many beautiful women to sing and dance with Zhang Huatai.
In order to win the favor of the King of Chu, these women ate less and endured hunger in order to slim down their waists, so Zhanghuatai was called the Slim Waist Palace.
In Yan Ying's view, this world's first machine was too expensive, which naturally aroused dissatisfaction among the people of Chu.
"This is just an inducement."
Li Yunze held the wine cup towards Yan Ying and said, "The real reason is that the King of Chu has touched the fundamental interests of the nobles of Chu State."
These words naturally aroused Yan Ying's interest and said, "I would like to hear the details."
"He kills people." Li Yunze, who had a fierce look on his face in Yan Ying's eyes before, actually showed a look of compassion. "The King of Chu killed nobles and robbed them of their belongings and fiefdoms. Once or twice, forget it.
After all, he is a king, and it is normal for him to kill a few unlucky people who have offended him. But he does this kind of thing endlessly, killing Wei Gui and his son, seizing the fiefdom of Wei Gui and his son, robbing Xu Wei, humiliating Cai Wei, etc.
"
Li Yunze breathed a sigh of relief, "Everyone in the Chu Kingdom's nobles is insecure and afraid of becoming the next unlucky guy. In this case, the King of Chu will naturally be in trouble."
Unlike the centralization of power in later generations, the countries of this era were feudal in the true sense.
Divide the country and establish princes.
Let’s not talk about Emperor Zhou. After all, after hundreds of years, Emperor Zhou would only have a righteous reputation. The children of poor families could not even get a share of two acres of thin farmland in Luoyang.
Under the princes of various countries, there are ministers and scholar-bureaucrats.
They formed a family with its own fiefdom.
Rather than saying it is a family, it is better to say it is a country in miniature.
Each family has an army, taxes, and materials in its own fiefdom. This is the country. The only difference is the size.
Each family also has its own vassals and its own territory.
There are actually very few lands, people and materials that truly belong directly to the monarch.
If the monarch had a lot of people and materials, there would be no civil strife in Qi State, the seizure of power by the three Huan states in Lu State, and the division of the three families into Jin.
The fundamental reason why the monarch is weak is the feudal system.
If one of your ministers has performed meritorious service, you have to entrust them with the benefits of enfeoffing territory. It won't work if you don't enfeoff them.
Naturally, the territory that can be divided cannot be snatched from the hands of vassals, but can only be divided from the land owned by the monarch.
As time goes by, the king's land is divided less and less, and his natural strength becomes weaker and weaker. The result is that he will either be divided, replaced, or the country will be destroyed...
For these Chu nobles who had soldiers, money, land, property and materials, if the King of Chu did something that went beyond the established rules, they would inevitably suffer backlash.
After explaining the ins and outs of Chu State, Li Yunze said to Yan Ying, "This battle is certain to be won. It depends on how Qi State wants to win to enhance its national prestige. There is no need to worry about the revenge of the King of Chu. It will take two years at most."
Now, it’s time for King Chu to change his position.”
Yan Ying was shocked by these words.
Even he, the Prime Minister of Qi State, did not think of this!
He only thought about the Chu army's expedition, which might not last long.
When I was in Lu Gong's palace before, I heard Sun Wu's explanation, which only further confirmed that the Chu army would inevitably retreat if they could not win.
In other words, as the Prime Minister of Qi, his vision is only a few months at most.
But the people in front of me can see what Chu State will look like in a few years.
This is not just random talk. Everything I said before is reasonable. Based on Yan Ying's own understanding, it is also extremely likely to happen.
What does it mean to be a wise man?
That’s it!
After a brief shock, Yan Ying suddenly put down the wine cup, stood up, and came to Li Yunze to salute.
Li Yunze, who knew full well, immediately asked, "Yan Zi, why is this happening?"
Yan Ying solemnly stated, "I would like to recommend Mr. Qi to be the Prime Minister of Qi!"
Sun Wu, who was accompanying him, had his hands shaking.
His master was really capable, and Yan Zi was willing to give up his position as Prime Minister to invite him.
There is no doubt that there is absolutely nothing wrong with becoming a disciple this time.
Here Yan Ying is still persuading, "Sir, if you have the talent of Guan Zhong, I am willing to..."
Li Yunze shook his head very simply.
"A certain person cannot become an official, or in other words, becoming an official is not what he wants."
Li Yunze said calmly, "There is only one thing in my heart, and that is to establish a school of thought and teach students to promote the progress of the world. There is no need for Yan Zi to mention the matter of becoming an official in Qi State."
This is to be the Prime Minister of Qi State.
Although Qi is not as good as Jin and Chu, it is still the third largest country in the world.
Once you become the Prime Minister, you will receive fiefdom, reputation and other things, and no matter how many people ask for it, you can't get it...
Li Yunze smiled and waved his hand, then picked up the wine and said, "Come, let's drink together."
Yan Ying left with regret.
It is really a pity that talents like Kong Laoer cannot be used by Qi State.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Fortunately, Yan Ying was a good character, and he did not kill the talents he could not get, thus saving Qi State.
That's right, if you really want to destroy it if you can't get it, then it will definitely not be Li Yunze who will be destroyed, but Qi State will be unlucky.
After more than ten days of repairs, the envoy sent has returned from the King of Chu.
The meaning of the King of Chu was very simple, that is, as long as Li Yunze was handed over, the Chu State would withdraw its troops.
Many people are interested in this.
I feel that handing over a low-income family in exchange for peace is definitely a gain.
But the Ji Sun family in the Lu State was firmly opposed, and the Yan Ying in the Qi State was also fiercely opposed.
Ji Sunshi objected because he knew very well that if he really dared to agree to surrender, Kong Laoer would definitely demolish the entire city of Qufu!
He didn't care what others did, but the whole Jisun family would surely suffer the same fate, so he must be firmly opposed to it.
He would rather go to war with Chu than offend Kong Laoer.
As for Yan Ying's objection, that's much simpler.
One sentence explanation is that since it cannot be used by Qi State, it cannot be used by Chu State.
Once the already powerful Chu State gets this great talent, will there be a way for others to survive in the world?
The Jisun family held great power in the Lu State, and Qi Gong also listened to Yan Ying's words, so the debate about war or peace naturally disappeared.
After resting and recuperating, the Qilu Allied Forces marched south in a mighty manner, preparing for a collision with the superpower Chu State.
There is endless noise in the Chu army's camp.
The nobles who led the troops to fight were very dissatisfied. They were unwilling to fight the Qilu Allied Forces in this weather.
The most fundamental reason is that there is no benefit.
So what if we win? Can we destroy the State of Lu?
The food and grass can last for at most half a month before the troops have to retreat. What if they win and occupy the Lu State?
After the army retreats, people can easily regain the lost ground.
It's like a loss is in vain. You don't know how long it will take to get revenge.
No one was willing to do something that was thankless, so the nobles were trying to persuade the King of Chu to retreat. The army was already very dissatisfied.
King Chu's response was simple, "I don't want to fight now."
What the nobles knew, the King of Chu naturally also knew.
He also didn't want to fight Qilu because there would be no benefit.
The army came just to exert pressure. The King of Chu believed that the people of Lu State knew the current affairs, so he handed over the writer and took him back to Zhanghuatai as a chamberlain, writing stories for himself all day long.
But the result shocked the King of Chu and the nobles of Chu State.
Qi and Lu simply rejected Chu's request and even mobilized large armies to come directly.
This is how he slapped the King of Chu hard on the face with his bow from left and right.
You don't want to fight?
Let's fuck you first!
Feeling that his face had been damaged, the King of Chu was furious and summoned his generals to assemble an army to have a serious encounter with the Qi-Lu coalition forces.
He wanted the people of Qilu to know that it would be bad luck to offend the overlord of the world.
A few days later, the two armies met at a place near Shanfu.
The harvested fields were frozen hard under the cold wind in winter, which was very suitable for a battle between the two sides.
After preparations, the two sides opened their respective military camps at the agreed time, and lined up their military formations several miles apart to face each other.
According to the rules of this era, first the strong talkers were sent to engage in a verbal exchange.
Everyone said that their side is the representative of justice, and that coming to attack the other side is God's intention and the righteousness lies.
After the non-nutritious talk, the fight started with real guns.
Of course, it is not a hedging directly, but a one-on-one challenge.
Yes, dueling was very popular in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it was also the fastest way to gain fame.
This kind of duel in front of the battle line is not fighting on horseback, but driving a chariot for shooting.
Archery is the first among the six arts of a gentleman, and in the Spring and Autumn Period, archery was the one that received the most attention.
When the warriors sent by the Chu State slowly came out in chariots for roll call, the Qilu Allied Forces were immediately in an uproar.
The angry King of Chu directly sent out the best marksman in Chu State, Yang Youji!