"Your Highness."

"Your Majesty."

When Zhao Hongrun and Han Wangran walked out of the tent side by side, generals from both sides of Wei and Han came to greet them.

"Then...let's say goodbye."

After bowing his hands towards Zhao Hongrun, Han Wangran said goodbye to Zhao Hongrun with a smile, and then turned around and left with Ma She, Qin Kai, Le Yi, Han Yang, Sima Shang and other Korean generals.

Seeing that Zhao Hongrun looked at Han Wangran and his group with an unusual expression, Zongwei Chief Lu Mu whispered: "Your Highness..."

However, before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhao Hongrun raising his hand to make a gesture.

"Let's talk about it when we get back."

After taking a deep look at the backs of Han Wangran and his group, Zhao Hongrun also turned around and walked down the slope.

After returning to Julu City, Zhao Hongrun was alone in his study, recalling and thinking about what Han Wangran said to him today.

Of course Zhao Hongrun knew Han Wangran's goal, which was simply to see that the war situation was not good and wanted to end the war as soon as possible.

It's best not to be severely punished for defeat.

For this reason, Han Wangran not only betrayed the Qi State who was in the same camp, but also threatened to alienate the relationship between the Wei State and the Chu State.

But it has to be said that what Han Wangran said did arouse Zhao Hongrun's worries.

As Han Wangran repeatedly emphasized, if the Wei State always holds the idea of ​​destroying South Korea, will the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, or the disadvantages outweigh the benefits?

"Your Highness."

After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Hongrun heard the soft call of his concubine Zhao Que. He raised his head and saw Zhao Que and Zong Wei Chief Lu Mu looking at him with some worry.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Hongrun asked confused.

"What's wrong..." Zhao Que murmured, and after getting acquainted with Lu Mu, he whispered: "Since returning from the city, His Highness has been sitting here with a frown, Lord Zongwei and his concubine.

…”

"Oh?" Zhao Hongrun turned his head and glanced at the sky. Seeing that it was approaching dusk outside the window, he suddenly said: "So I have been in a trance for so long."

As he spoke, he stood up, moved his limbs, and stretched his muscles.

At this time, Zongwei Chief Lu Mu asked curiously: "Your Highness, are you still thinking about what King Han said?"

Zhao Hongrun shook his head and said with a smile: "I am thinking about another fundamental question."

"The most fundamental question..." Zhao Que and Lu Mu looked at each other.

At this time, Zhao Hongrun walked to the window, holding the window lattice with his hand, and said lightly: "I am wondering whether it is in the interest of the Wei Dynasty to destroy Han... What do you think?"

Perhaps because they never expected that the issue would be of such a high level, both Zongwei Chief Lu Mu and his concubine Zhao Que were taken aback and did not dare to express their opinions.

After all, on such a high-level issue of national policy, I am afraid that only the lords in the inner court of Chui Gong Palace are qualified to discuss it with His Majesty and the Prince of the East Palace in front of him. In addition, even the six ministers of the court, or the

None of the generals of the Shang Shui Army have this qualification.

What's more, Lu Mu and Zhao Que.

Thinking of this, Zongwei Chief Lu Mu quickly said: "This is a humble position... I don't dare to speak nonsense."

Zhao Que also said: "I don't dare to speak nonsense."

Seeing their inexplicable panic, Zhao Hongrun smiled bitterly and shook his head.

He also hoped that all the ministers in the inner court of Chui Gong Hall would be here at this moment so that they could discuss it in detail. No matter what, even if Jie Zizi was around, it would be a pity that he did not bring any advisers with a big-picture vision.

.

"Just say a few words and let me refer to it. It doesn't matter if you are wrong." Zhao Hongrun smiled and reassured.

"Just say a few words..."

Zongwei Chief Lu Mu smiled bitterly and thought to himself, how could he comment on such a big matter at will?

But since His Highness the Crown Prince in front of him said so, he could only bite the bullet and express his opinion.

"I think that South Korea has always been the close enemy of Wei Dynasty. If there is a chance to destroy it... I think that your Highness should not miss this opportunity."

After hearing this, Zhao Hongrun said with a smile: "But to destroy South Korea, I am afraid that we, the Wei Dynasty, will need to start a war that will last at least five years. During these five years, other countries may take the opportunity to grow..."

"This..." Lu Mu scratched his head, feeling that his brain was not enough.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun smiled and said: "Forget it, you two should step back and rest first, let me think about it carefully."

Lu Mu and Zhao Que looked at each other and retreated from the study.

At this time, Zhao Hongrun was already immersed in the calculation of the interests of destroying South Korea.

Let’s first talk about the benefits of annexing South Korea.

Annexing South Korea would of course bring many benefits.

The first is the land area and national population. South Korea has a territory no less than that of the Wei State today, with major counties such as Yanmen, Dai, Taiyuan, Handan, Julu, Yuyang, and Beiyan. The domestic population is also different from that of the Wei State.

On the other hand, if the Wei State annexed South Korea, even if it had to give a share to the Qin State, the Wei State would fully expect to become the country with the most foundation in the entire Central Plains, basically the same as the Chu State in terms of land area and population.

Next is pasture. Several large counties in South Korea such as Taiyuan, Yanmen, Daijun, Yuyang, and Beiyan all have natural pastures suitable for grazing and raising war horses. If the Wei State annexed South Korea, whether it was cattle, sheep or other livestock,

Horses for war will become more abundant.

Secondly, South Korea has infrastructure that is no less than that of Wei State, and its farmland water conservancy technology is no less than that of Wei State.

Generally speaking, if the Wei State can annex and absorb South Korea, then the Wei State will undoubtedly become the largest country in the history of the Central Plains.

In general, annexing South Korea would give Wei the icing on the cake.

But, that's all.

Why do you say that? The reason is simple.

Does Wei State lack land area?

No shortage!

The Wei State has currently captured Hexi, Hetao, and Song County. They are also the fat meat rotting in the Wei State's pot. The area of ​​these three areas is not small. Not to mention meeting Wei State's current demand for land, in fact, the Wei State even returned

"Shangdang County" has not been fully digested.

Under such circumstances, even if annexing South Korea could double Wei's land area, what other benefits would it bring?

Does the strength of a country simply depend on its land area?

Then why has Chu, the largest country in terms of land area, been beaten by Qi and Lu, whose combined land area is less than one-third of Chu country, in recent decades?

Speaking of pastures, it is undeniable that the Wei State did lack pastures for grazing war horses in the past. However, after successively conquering the three places of Sanchuan, Hexi, and Hetao, the Wei State already has enough natural pastures. But unfortunately, except for Sanchuan County, it has already obtained

Apart from a certain level of development, the development of Hexi and Hetao is actually just the beginning.

Under such circumstances, even if we get Yanmen, Daijun, Yuyang, Beiyan and other places, they will just be left there uncultivated.

Speaking of national population, this is probably the only thing Zhao Hongrun cares about.

More than ten years ago, the only real territory of Wei State was Hedong (including Hanoi) and Yingshui. In addition, Sanchuan was stolen by Yin Rong, Shangdang was captured by South Korea, and Song County

However, it did not belong to the Wei State in the true sense. Therefore, the Wei State inevitably had some needs for land. After all, in Yingshui County at that time, the annexation of land by the nobles was indeed a problem.

But now, the Wei State has not only retaken Sanchuan County, Shangdang County and the western part of Song County, but also captured Hexi and Hetao. The land area has doubled from more than ten years ago. Even if the domestic nobles still annex land from time to time,

It will not cause the Wei State to have a demand for land - simply put, the increase in the Wei people's demand for land, and the speed of the Wei nobles' land annexation are not as fast as that of a certain prince of their Wei State.

The new land comes quickly.

All these phenomena lead to the fact that even if the Wei State can annex South Korea, it will only be the icing on the cake, because Wei State owns everything that South Korea has. This is significantly different from the Chu State's attack on Qi and Lu - Chu's attack on Qi and Lu

, because Chu State covets Qi State’s wealth and Lu State’s technology, which can greatly accelerate Chu State’s own development.

And what does Wei State lack most right now?

It's time!

Even though Wei is only one step away from becoming the hegemon of the Central Plains, it still lacks time to cultivate and recuperate, and to digest the gains from the wars over the years. At the current stage of Wei's development, even Qi's wealth and financial resources cannot survive.

Many places stimulated the development of Wei State.

Therefore, as Han Wangran said, at the expense of its own domestic economy for at least five years, the State of Wei risked the possibility that the State of Chu would grow stronger and replace the State of Wei, and launched an endless war of annihilation with South Korea, and even if

The final annexation of South Korea's territory was just the icing on the cake, and was this in line with Wei's fundamental interests?

The current Wei State is worthy of the praise of "the strongest in the Central Plains". Under such circumstances, should we consider maintaining this advantage and restricting other countries? For example, suppressing Qi State and restricting Chu State... Eh? This

Isn't it the strategy proposed by Han Wangran?

"That boy..."

Zhao Hongrun rubbed his brow bones.

He thought over and over again for a long time, but the conclusion he finally came to was actually exactly the same as the suggestion made by Han Wangran.

To be honest, this feeling is not good.

However, it is undeniable that the suggestions put forward by Han Wangran are indeed the most in line with Wei's current interests.

Zhao Hongrun thought about it over and over, but never found any loophole.
To be continued...