When Li Ran heard Fan Li ask this question, he only smiled slightly:
"Actually, this matter... is also extremely beneficial to the State of Wu. If the King of Wu wants to make a difference, he should follow Sun Changqing's advice."
After Fan Li heard this, he couldn't help but furrowed his brows and felt a trace of doubt:
"Oh? Why are you so sure, sir?"
Li Ran nodded slightly and continued:
"Now that the Jin State is in decline and cannot convince the masses, the world will once again be vying for supremacy among heroes. Among them, the old state of Qi and the emerging state of Wu are most likely to compete with Jin for supremacy!"
"In the past, the power of the Dark Walkers was in Jin, so the Wu State was supported by it and its national power increased greatly. Now it is gradually trying to replace the Chu State. And this is certainly not what the Dark Walkers want. Therefore, Wu
The country is bound to turn against the secret forces, so it will ask them to seek other forces. Wu Zixu of Chu, including Sun Changqing, are all valued by the King of Wu for this reason."
"So, it is conceivable that the current state of Chu is no longer a worry for the underworld. The state of Wu has long since become a wild horse, and has become the force they are most afraid of."
"The King of Wu wants to dominate the world, and the Marquis of Qi wants to revive Qi Huan's ambition. If things go on like this, there will be a battle between the two in the future!"
"What's more, Lu and Wu are both states with the surname Ji. If the King of Wu wants to take Lu, it would be a clever move to make him get closer to Wu. In this way, if you advance, you can wait for opportunities to compete in the Central Plains, and if you retreat, it will be enough to intimidate Qi.
"
"Therefore, if the King of Wu really wanted to strive for hegemony, he would not give up such a good opportunity, especially with Sun Changqing's advice."
When Fan Li heard Li Ran's explanation, he couldn't help but nod his head, and he believed it deeply.
…
Nothing happened all night
In the early morning of the next day, Li Ran and Fan Li had just gotten up and finished washing when they heard someone coming in to report:
"Master Tian is already waiting for you outside the post house!"
Fan Li and Chu Dang wanted to follow, but Li Ran waved his hands to them:
"No need. If you meet the Marquis of Qi, you two won't be able to enter the palace. There's no need to work in vain."
When Fan Li heard this, he was quite worried and said:
"It's just that along the way..."
Li Ran smiled and said:
"Haha, don't worry, young uncle. There is no safer place in the world than following Tian Qi!"
Fan Li thought about it, smiled slightly, bowed his hands, and respectfully sent Li Ran out of the door.
Tian Qi was waiting at the door of the post house. When he saw Li Ran coming out, he immediately greeted him enthusiastically.
"How are you, Mr. Taishi? Let's set off now and enter the palace together to meet the prince!"
Li Ran smiled slightly, cupped his hands and said:
"Master Tian is busy."
So, the two of them rode in a carriage together, and Tian Qi still seemed very affectionate.
It seemed that he and Li Ran were very familiar with each other.
Arriving at the entrance of the palace, Tian Qi and Li Ran got off the car together, and after checking, they entered the palace one after another.
At this time, along the way, I also met some other Qi officials. However, most of these officials deliberately stayed away.
Obviously, all of this was Tian Qi's greeting in advance.
In private, Tian Qi has always relied on his strong financial resources to make friends with powerful people everywhere. And the Marquis of Qi, Chujiu, favored Tian Qi so much that now, people who are close to Tian Qi occupy the entire Qi court.
most.
Tian Qi accompanied Li Ran to the side hall. Not long after, the court meeting began, and all the officials entered the hall one after another.
Tian Qi led Li Ran in first, but saw Qi Hou Chujiu, accompanied by Prince Tu, also walked up from behind the screen and sat on the big seat.
Everyone performed the courtesy of a monarch and his ministers. Qi Hou Chujiu made a gesture of returning the courtesy, but he did not exhaust the courtesy. He said with a smile:
"My dear friends, no courtesy."
Prince Tu said at this time:
"I heard that the Taishi of the Zhou Dynasty came to our Qi country to collect news. Today I was summoned by the prince. He also came to the main hall and asked the Taishi to come out and speak!"
Li Ran stood up and came out of the queue, bowed deeply and said:
"Li Ran, Taishi of the Zhou Dynasty, pays homage to the Marquis of Qi!"
Qihou Chujiu squinted his eyes, looked Li Ran up and down, and then said:
"Haha, I wonder what kind of virtue and ability Na Luhou is? How could he be helped by such a great sage!"
Li Ran smiled calmly.
"I am serving in the Zhou Dynasty, and I have no intention of doing anything for the world. There is a reason for me to be a foreigner in the state of Lu."
Qihou Chujiu nodded thoughtfully.
"Well, I have heard about this. Sir, you value love and righteousness. This is indeed what a man does! Let's not talk about this. It is said that Mr. came to Qi this time to intercede for Lu. I don't know if
true?"
"It's a pity that the Qi-Lu war has lasted for hundreds of years. It has been almost uninterrupted for more than a hundred years since the beginning of Duke Xiang. The grievances and grievances in it can never be fully explained! Therefore, if Taishi wants to make peace with it,
I’m afraid I won’t be able to convince others!”
"Now the governor of the city of Lu State, Lianyang, said that the Marquis of Lu was determined to go his own way and wanted to capture the three capitals. He did not realize the importance of the city. Therefore, he wanted us, the state of Qi, to take over! Haha, such a good thing, but
What else is there to say?"
Li Ran saw that Qi Hou Chujiu now looked like a "dead pig not afraid of boiling water", he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and he cupped his hands and said:
"Although the current situation in the world has its own strength and weakness. However, the great righteousness of Zhou Li still exists, but no princes dare to underestimate it. Even if it is as strong as Qi, it cannot be disobedient!"
"I think back on those days when Duke Huan respected the king and fought against the barbarians, united the nine princes, pacified the Song Dynasty, attacked the mountain warriors in the north, attacked the Chu State in the south, and saved Xing to rescue the defenders. How he obeyed the righteousness of the world!"
"Since your Majesty wants to inherit Duke Huan's legacy, and since he pacified Cui Zhu and Qingfeng's rebellion, he has been striving to regain hegemony, I admire him very much."
"Just like back then, when Wei was in civil strife, your Majesty ordered Gongsun Qing to defend the Wei State's office. Therefore, Wei State is still grateful for the kindness of Qi State..."
Qihou Chujiu was secretly happy when he heard Li Ran talking about the past scenes.
Indeed, he did a lot of things in order to regain his hegemony back then. And, compared to today, most of them were relatively positive.
At this time, Li Ran continued to say:
"The Lu State has been experiencing constant civil strife over the years. First, Lu Zhaogong went abroad, and Ji Ping's son took over the throne. Later, Yang Hu accompanied his ministers to govern the country, making enemies everywhere, and together with Fan Yang of the Jin State, they rashly attacked the Wei State."
"At that time, Qi State was also upholding its righteousness. In order to save the country, it attacked Jin State, so that it lost five hundred vehicles. Afterwards, it even moved west of Jishui and south of Zuidi, Meidi and Xingdi.
A total of five hundred villages were given to Weiguo to eliminate the impact of this chaos on Weiguo!"
"Your Majesty's move is difficult first and then rewarding. It can be said to be the most benevolent and righteous thing!"
"Since ancient times, the uncles of the world must have their own strength, but if there is no benevolence and righteousness first, it will be difficult to achieve success. Qi Huan and Jin Wen, nothing better than this!"
When Qi Hou Chujiu saw that Li Ran had praised him to such a high level, he was very pleased and couldn't help but grin.
"Master Taishi, is it because you have something to ask for from me, so you are talking like this to deceive me?"
Li Ran replied:
"What I said is all from the bottom of my heart. The State of Qi is so generous to the State of Wei, and does not care about the gains and losses of a city or a pond, so that now the Marquis of Wei still follows Qi State wholeheartedly!"
"The Jiagu League between Qi and Lu was held not long ago. The Marquis of Qi also kept his promise and graciously returned the land of the Lu State. The Marquis of Lu has always been grateful to the Qi State."
"But now, your Majesty is in such trouble with the State of Lu because of the Chengyi incident. The Marquis of Lu originally wanted to serve the Marquis of Qi like a Marquis of Wei. So, why did the Marquis of Qi abandon his benevolence and leave?
What about pursuing injustice?”
"As the saying goes, 'Good things cannot be lost, evil things cannot last'. Please Qihou... think again!"
After Li Ran finished this output, as expected, Qi Hou Chujiu felt that what Li Ran said was somewhat reasonable.
He couldn't help but stroke his beard, and his heart palpitated for a moment.