After forking Lu Buwei out, King Chu's face softened a lot, and he gratefully said to Cai Ze: "If you hadn't reminded me, sir, I might have fallen into the trap of Qin again."
The King of Chu actually had no good impression of Zhao State, because Zhao State, like Qin State, was very unruly and did not abide by etiquette.
In the view of King Chu, although the world calls Chu State Southern Barbarians, in fact Zhao State and Qin State are Northern Barbarians and Western Barbarians.
Chu State observed more etiquette and laws than Qin and Zhao.
But Cai Ze had something that spoke to his heart: The State of Zhao and the State of Chu were in the south and the other in the north, and there was no conflict of interest between the wells and the rivers. However, the Qin State had occupied a lot of Chu State's land.
By uniting with Qin to deal with Zhao, Chu will at most gain some enclaves that are difficult to control. But if it unites with Zhao to fight against Qin, there will be hope of regaining its homeland.
"The foreign minister came here to complete his mission, and he couldn't bear to see the King of Chu being deceived by Qin again." Cai Ze said with cupped hands.
The King of Chu glanced at Huang Xie. Huang Xie immediately understood what the King of Chu meant. He leaned over and said, "The alliance between the two countries is a major matter. We need to appeal to heaven and earth, and to our ancestors. We must choose a good and auspicious day. Please wait for the two countries."
sky."
Once the Chu State got on the Zhao State's chariot, it would be impossible to get off for a while. Therefore, even if the King of Chu had already agreed, he still had to think carefully about it.
"Before the foreign minister came out, my king told the foreign minister to go back early." Cai Ze said.
"Don't worry, sir, I won't keep you waiting long," Huang Xie said.
"In that case, the foreign minister will respectfully wait for the King of Chu." Cai Ze stood up and walked outside.
Chu Guo and Huang Xie sent Cai Ze out of the palace and returned to the main hall.
"What a troubled time!"
The King of Chu picked up a glass of wine, drank it in one gulp, and sighed.
He could finally see that neither Qin nor Zhao, with the surname Ying, was a good person, and they both wanted to kill each other.
"I heard that after King Zhao made paper, he gave some as gifts to every country, including the two small countries of Wei and Lu, but not to Qin," Huang Xie said.
"Haha, these people named Ying are really a pair of old enemies. But this King of Zhao is really determined to retaliate. He has to worry about such trivial matters. It doesn't matter even if he gives some paper to Qin." King Chu said with a smile.
In his opinion, everyone is a country of etiquette. Even if there is great hatred, superficial etiquette still has to be observed. Zhao Kuo's behavior is too rude.
But he had wronged Zhao Kuo.
Zhao Kuo gave paper to other countries not to make friends, but to spread the paper.
The more people know about it, the higher the price will be.
Although the merchants of the Qin State were suppressed to death, Zhao Kuo initially planned to treat them equally and send some paper to the Qin State.
As a result, not long after the recruitment order was issued, the paper mill was attacked by dozens of men in black. If Zhao Kuo had not been on guard and had the generals in Handan take turns to garrison the paper mill, the assassins might have succeeded.
Afterwards, the men in black saw that they could not steal the technology and even planned to set fire to the paper mill. Fortunately, Zhao Jun responded quickly and put out the fire in time. Even so, several soldiers and two workers were still lost.
Afterwards, it was found out that it was indeed Qin who did it.
Zhao Kuo was immediately furious. If conditions didn't allow it, Zhao Kuo even wanted to lead his troops to attack Qin. How could he give him the paper?
It’s still almost the same as sending paper!
"What the king said is true, but Zhao Guo has always disrespected etiquette and law, which is normal." Huang Xie said with a smile.
"Ling Yin, do you think we should form an alliance with Zhao?" King Chu asked.
In the entire Chu State, Huang Xie was the one whom the King of Chu trusted the most, and all the others combined could not compare to Huang Xie.
Historically, the King of Chu reigned for twenty-five years, during which only Huang Xie served as Ling Yin (prime minister).
Not to mention in Chu State, it is extremely rare in the entire history of China.
It can be imagined to what extent the King of Chu completely trusted Huang Xie.
What's even more amazing is that in history, two people died on the same day. Although one died of illness and the other was hacked to death, they still had a companion on the road to hell.
"Now the world is divided into seven parts. The strength of each country is led by Qin and Zhao, followed by Chu and Wei, then Qi and South Korea, and finally Yan. Except for Qin, the other five countries have all formed alliances with Zhao.
Our State of Chu must either rely on the State of Qin or the State of Zhao. The State of Qin handed over Wancheng to our State in order to provoke disputes between our State of Chu and Han and Wei."
Huang Xie's talent is to see the essence through phenomena. Except for his understanding of Zhao State which is lagging behind due to his own cognition and information gap, other things can be seen clearly under the influence of his talent.
Including Qin's purpose of ceding Wancheng, but even Huang Xie failed to see Qin's strategy behind it.
"If the king wants to regain his lost territory, he must rely on the State of Zhao. If he wants to...unify the world..." Huang Xie paused here, glanced at King Chu, and sighed in his heart.
The King of Chu never looked like he could dominate the world.
"What if you want to dominate the world?" King Chu sat upright and asked expectantly.
"If you want to unify the world, you must reform and learn from Zhao and Qin, weaken the old aristocracy, and strengthen the centralization of monarchy." Huang Xie said in a deep voice.
He said this with great determination, because once the reform was carried out, not only the King of Chu, but also him would be the loser.
But if a scholar dies for his confidant, as long as the King of Chu is willing, Huang Xie is willing to accompany the King of Chu to go crazy.
King Chu had a look of struggle on his face. After a while, he sighed, waved his hand and said, "Let's form an alliance with Zhao!"
"Promise, I will go and summon the ministers right now." After saying that, Huang Xie stood up and left.
King Chu looked at Huang Xie's back and said in a low voice: "I'm sorry, I can't bear such a heavy burden."
…
After Lu Buwei was driven out, he felt extremely anxious.
Why did he spend all his wealth, work hard to help Qin Yiren run the business, and send Qin Yiren back to Qin? Isn't it because he hopes that one day Qin Yiren will become the king of Qin, and he can follow one person to be inferior to ten thousand people!
Now through Qin Yiren, he has come to the front of Qin Wangji. As long as he persuades Chu to complete the alliance, he can be granted a title of marquis and may even become the prime minister of Qin. But now he has been killed by Cai Ze.
"The three Jin Dynasties have formed an alliance. If the Chu Kingdom is added to the alliance, our Qin Kingdom's eastbound road will really be completely blocked. No, we must not sit still and wait for death."
Lu Buwei walked back and forth outside the palace, thinking about who else could help him.
As long as Chu and Zhao have not formed an alliance, he will still have a chance.
"Follow me to visit Jingyang of Shangzhu Kingdom." Lu Buwei strode outside.
Two quarters of an hour later, Lu Buwei came back disappointed.
In the next two days, Lu Buwei visited almost all the nobles of the Chu Kingdom in Chenying. Most of the nobles refused directly. The only few nobles who invited Lu Buwei into the palace also expressed that they could not influence the King of Chu's decision.
Someone secretly told him that Huang Xie was the only one in the entire Chu Kingdom who could change the King of Chu's decision.
Lu Buwei stayed in front of Lord Chunshen's house, begging to see Lord Chunshen, and finally met Huang Xie before the two countries formed an alliance.
"Lu Buwei has met Chun Shenjun." Lu Buwei saluted quickly, raised his head and suddenly saw Huang Xie sitting in the carriage in a gorgeous service, and couldn't help but ask: "Chunshen Jun, is it urgent to go out?"
"I am now going to preside over the alliance ceremony between Zhao and Chu. If nothing happens, please step aside, Mr. Buwei." Huang Xie said with a cold face.
Whoosh!
The soldiers on both sides immediately stepped forward, pointing their spears at Lu Buwei.
"...Buwei excuses himself." Lu Buwei was stunned, turned around with difficulty, and walked away.
"Sir, what should we do now?" one of the attendants said in despair.
If the mission fails, all of them may be punished if they return.
Lu Buwei said nothing, standing there and watching Chun Shenjun's carriage gradually disappear.
After a while, Lu Buwei got on the carriage and said loudly: "Turn around and head southeast."
"Sir, aren't we going back to Qin?" The entourage was very surprised. The southeast was not the direction back to Qin.
"No, let's go to Yue Kingdom." Lu Buwei clenched his hands into fists and said with great determination.
So what if the State of Zhao and the State of Chu formed an alliance? Even if he, Lu Buwei, could chisel, he would still find a way to carve a hole in the two countries.
Although the State of Yue was destroyed, there were still many remaining forces. Many people in the Yue area did not obey the management of the Chu State. In addition, some Yue people fled into the mountains and have been fighting against the Chu State.
.
If there is Qin's support, Yue may not be able to recover and help Qin hold back Chu later.
With the help of Yan Qi, although it is much more difficult, Qin still has a chance to complete his strategic plan.