The capital of Qi State, on the outskirts of Linzi.
Under the protection of a group of strict military guards, Yan Ying slowly stepped out of the carriage.
This is not a show. Anyone who has been assassinated more than ten times in two years must be so solemn.
The struggle for power in Qi has reached a fierce stage.
Logically speaking, at this juncture, Yan Ying, as Prime Minister, should not have left the city to give the enemy an opportunity, but he came anyway.
Visit someone.
Under the guidance of his servants, Yan Ying came to an independent courtyard. At the entrance of the courtyard was a peach tree, leaning against the door of the courtyard wall. The peach tree was as red as the morning glow.
When I pushed the door open, I saw colorful fallen leaves and a man sitting on the ground under the tree, taking a nap.
"Quiet and elegant, ráng ju, you are so laid-back!"
Yan Ying shouted.
"I want to go to the battlefield and fight!"
The man opened his eyes, smiled and said, "How about we switch?"
To be able to say such things shows how close the relationship between the two is.
Indeed, this person's name was Tian Ranju, and he was able to be reused by King Qi in the past because of Yan Ying's strong recommendation.
Yan Ying evaluated him in eight words: his literary ability can win over people and his military ability can intimidate the enemy.
Speaking of Tian Rangju, maybe not many people are familiar with it, but when it comes to the Ten Philosophers of the Martial Temple, everyone should have heard of it.
Come and listen to the list
Sun Wu, Wu Qi, Le Yi, Bai Qi, Han Xin, Zhang Liang, Zhuge Liang, Li Jing, Xu Shiji.
Tian Ruoju can be as famous as them, which shows his ability. However, at this time, he was jealous of Qi Jinggong and stayed at home.
"I'm here just to ask Rang Ju to lead the troops to eliminate the troubles of all my confidants!"
Yan Ying bowed his hands.
"Your Majesty, will you let me lead the troops?"
Tian Ruoju raised his eyebrows and said playfully: "Aren't you afraid that my Tian family will continue to grow?"
The current King of Qi is Qi Jinggong.
This is a very interesting king. He not only reused loyal and virtuous ministers such as Yan Ying, but also favored some flattering and treacherous ministers.
Tian Ruoju is the victim.
He made great military achievements and defeated the Yan Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty. However, because of the villain's slander, his military power was taken back, so he was naturally resentful.
"Who asked you to say that you will be away and military orders will not be obeyed?"
Yan Ying sighed secretly in his heart.
He greatly respected his old friend's ability, but his conduct as a person, especially his political skills, was inevitably lacking.
If the situation had not been extremely critical, Yan Ying would not have risked the fear of King Qi by inviting Tian Rangju to come out.
"please!"
Tian Ranju was also self-aware and knew that Yan Ying was under great pressure when he came here. He stood up and welcomed him into the house. After sitting down, he served a tea ceremony: "When did the various tribes of Dongyi pose such a big threat? What kind of extraordinary person has emerged?"
What?"
"It's not Dongyi."
Yan Ying sipped the tea and said slowly: "Rangju, do you still remember the defeat of our Qi army of three thousand chariots five years ago?"
"Why mention it more? It's not a crime of war!"
Tian Ranju consoled him and said: "The King of Chu paid homage to his ancestors and invited the Fury of the God of Fire. The Chu army returned to the rescue in time. The small country's coalition forces fought to the death and refused to retreat. This is a dead end. No one can win."
Indeed, Yan Ying did not make any wrong choices, and ultimately failed miserably. This was a crime other than war.
But this has always been the case for a successful king and a defeated enemy. It was from that battle that Yan Ying's power began to waver.
Tian Juju thought he was holding a grudge, but Yan Ying shook his head: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military officers. I am not unwilling to do so. I am even very lucky to have seen through Jiang Guo's true face!"
"Jiang Country? That little embroidery country?"
Tian Rangju was startled.
It has been more than ten years since he was deposed, and the news he has heard is still limited to the level of Jin, Qi, and Chu. This is not understandable.
What's more, what can a small country do in just a dozen years?
"Fifteen years ago, Jiang State was indeed a small embroidery country, a vassal of Lu State, and the weakest among the princes."
Yan Ying sighed leisurely: "It took Dan Jiang ten years to destroy the four surrounding countries, expand his territory ten times, and expand his military strength from a mere 30,000 to 200,000!"
"Amazing!"
Tian Ruoju looked a little moved.
Although he was the most prestigious Tian clan in Qi State, he was born as a commoner and wasted his time at a young age. Without Yan Ying's recommendation, he might not have been able to get ahead in his life. He knew that the weaker he was, the more difficult it would be to rise.
This is the same reason as the first pot of gold is the most difficult to earn in later generations.
In particular, Jiang State has an extremely poor geographical location and is surrounded by other countries. It is really a miracle that it can conquer all directions.
"Jiang Guo found another way and took advantage of its business advantages to secretly purchase grains from various countries, create food shortages, and recruit refugees. When the four countries woke up, the situation was over and they almost surrendered without a fight!"
Yan Ying said: "In just ten years, all the people of the four countries have been under the control of Jiang. The country is peaceful and the people are safe, and there are sufficient soldiers to direct the army to the four directions and grow stronger again!"
"I see!"
Tian Rangju clicked his tongue in surprise, and said strangely: "How can we, Daqi and Jinchu, give him a chance?"
Once this kind of small country has the tendency to rise, it will inevitably be suppressed by the big country. As a Qi native, Tian Juju thinks this is natural. Naturally, he is confused, why Qi didn't take action earlier?
"It's not that we didn't take action, it was Jiang Guo who struck first!"
Yan Ying said coldly: "Years ago, a man came to my door. It was the former great thief Zhan Zhi, who brought a message. He had obtained a spiritual map about the trend of mountains and rivers, the distribution of troops and the operation of large formations in Chu State. You
Guess where you got it from?”
Tian Ruoju's eyes narrowed: "Could it be Jiang?"
Yan Ying nodded: "That's right! After Zhan Zhi obtained the map, he was immediately chased by the killers of Jiang State. He had no choice but to flee to Wu Ying. In the end, the spiritual map fell into the hands of Wu State. Wu Zixu was eager for revenge, and Sun Wu used his troops like a god. That's how it came about.
Chu’s disastrous defeat!”
Tian Ruoju's face was solemn: "Call the wind and blow the fire! How clever!"
"The decline of the Chu State was not only promoted by the Jiang State, but also used it to form an alliance of small countries, with Chu as the leader!"
Yan Ying said: "In the end, it was a great war, and all the countries were defeated. It seemed like there was no winner, but in fact our three powerful countries suffered the most heavy losses, especially Chu. There were small countries in trouble inside, and the emperor of Zhou issued an edict outside. They were already very energetic.
Injured, after being surrounded by enemies on all sides, the decline is unstoppable!"
Tian Ruoju asked: "Jiang wants to use this to swallow Chu?"
"No! The most brilliant thing about Jiang is that its targets are precisely those small countries that swallowed up Chu!"
Yan Ying said: "Those monarchs of small countries were bent on swallowing up Chu, and their domestic defenses were empty. Some were even eager for quick success. They did not care about the life and death of the country and forcibly recruited troops, making the people miserable. Jiang State took the opportunity to send grain from all directions and promote Confucianism, Taoism and benevolence. In fact, with the help of grain
The paving of roads will spread the large formation in the country to dozens of small countries around it!"
Tian Ruoju shook his head: "The situation is over!"
In the world of Xianwu, the Divine Protector Formation is the foundation of a country. It radiates from the capital to counties across the country, forming a giant network to straighten out the spiritual energy. Only in this way can the weather be smooth and the country and the people be safe.
Why did the Chu State fall to such a miserable state that it was carved up by small countries?
The root cause is that the Flame God Formation was broken and has been unable to be repaired since then.
Otherwise, no matter how many small countries there are, they are just a mob and would have been expelled long ago.
Now that Jiang State has spread the seismic array to other countries, those kings are greedy for the interests of Chu State, care about one thing at the expense of the other, and even ignore it.
There was even a king of a country who said that as long as Jiang State gets the rich land of Chu State and the poor land of a small country, if Jiang State is willing to take it, feel free to take it.
As a result, the people can't wait to ask Jiang to destroy their country and become Jiang nationals!
Yan Ying sighed: "Yes, the people's unpopularity is the most difficult thing to solve when destroying a country, but for Jiang Guo, this is not a problem at all!"
In this era, as long as the military is strong and the enemy is defeated overwhelmingly, it is not difficult to destroy the country.
The difficult thing is how to take all the resources of the enemy country into your arms after destroying the country.
The big thief Zhan Zhi specializes in making war fortune. Whenever a country is defeated and swallowed up, he recruits soldiers. Those samurai who have lost their country join them. After a little training, they become elite soldiers.
This is the principle that a mourning army will win.
Generally speaking, the best solution is time.
When the original citizens with hatred died, the newly born people only knew the new country and not the old country.
But now, Jiang is destroying other countries, but there is no resistance at all, and there is no time to digest.
As long as you win it, you can transform it into your own national strength in the shortest possible time, recruit troops, and expand your army for training.
"In the past five years, Jiang State has expanded three times, and its territory now exceeds that of Song, Wei, Lu, and Zheng!"
Yan Ying concluded: "In fifteen years, Jiang has expanded thirty times, with 600,000 soldiers, thousands of chariots, hundreds of thousands of bows and crossbows, and 3,000 flying boats. They are already qualified to compete for hegemony!"
It took Chu State more than three hundred years, Jin State more than two hundred years, and Qi State nearly two hundred years to have the foundation for hegemony.
Ginger has been used for fifteen years.
Seeing such a comparison, Tian Juju took a deep breath and stood up suddenly.
He finally understood the reason why Yan Ying felt like facing a powerful enemy.
Anyone who had seen through Jiang Guo's layout would have trouble sleeping and eating.
"This is not the end yet. The next step for Jiang State must be Chu. Chu will be carved up by small countries!"
Having said this, Yan Ying's voice was passionate and he stood up: "In just five years, Chu will be swallowed by Jiang and expand several times again!"
Originally, the Chu State was too large. Except for Jin and Qi, no other country could swallow the elephant with the snake, even if it won the war.
But now, there are more than thirty small countries in Dachu, and the country is in chaos and conquering each other.
King Chu Kong was the leader of the alliance, but his power was getting smaller and smaller, just like the emperor of Zhou.
A miniature version of Spring and Autumn.
A piece of fat meat cannot be digested even if it can be swallowed in one bite.
But what if it is cut into more than 30 small pieces, eaten piece by piece, and chewed slowly?
The answer is no doubt.
This is Jiang Guo's strategy of conquering Chu.
In the first stage of expansion, Chen, Yang, Cai, and Xu barely qualified to enter the game.
In the second stage of expansion, the dozens of small countries in the alliance have the foundation to compete for hegemony.
The third stage of expansion covers the entire south!
Including Chu State! Including Wu Yue!
"By then, Jiang State will have half of the country and millions of soldiers, making it the most powerful country in the world!"
At this moment, Yan Ying's originally short stature seemed to have suddenly grown a few inches taller. His eyes were gleaming, like a beast about to jump and bite people, and he said word by word: "The one who will destroy Qi and Jin is Jiang Ye!"