Only two days later, Shao Hu, the commander-in-chief of the Wei armies in Northern Xinjiang, received a reply from the Chui Gong Hall of the Daliang Palace - Yes.
The affirmation of Chui Gongdian means that Emperor Wei recognized the agreement of the "Wei-Han Handan Peace Agreement". With the authorization and approval of the two kings of South Korea and Wei, the "Wei-Han Handan Peace Agreement" will become the mainstream of Wei-Korean relations: regardless of
Neither the Koreans nor the Wei people are allowed to undermine the content of the peace agreement.
So on that day, Wei General Shao Hu negotiated with Su Wang Zhao Hongrun and returned Handan to South Korea first.
This move really made the subjects of Handan breathe a sigh of relief. After all, although the Wei soldiers did not commit any crime against Qiu in the city after capturing Handan, the people in the city were still uneasy. Many subjects even dared not show their faces in recent times for fear of being betrayed by Wei.
Soldiers are looking for trouble.
By the way, during the process of returning Handan, the Wei army denied that it was a night attack on Handan. The Wei army said that when they were besieging Handan, they received news from the city of Handan and learned that someone wanted to take advantage of the incident to rebel.
Therefore, the Wei army stationed in Handan to ensure peace and stability in Handan.
Of course, this lame excuse is at best just to fool the ignorant civilians in Handan City. Even if Han Wangran issued an edict to confirm the matter, and Li Hou Han Wu and Kang Gong Han Hu also expressed their approval, it could not deceive those who could see clearly.
The clear and clear Handan subjects.
But having said that, it is a fig leaf. As long as there is a decent reason, it is enough. Why bother to be more serious and make each other unhappy? You must know that after the signing of the "Wei-Han Handan Peace Agreement", "Wei-Korean Harmony as Neighbors" is the relationship between the two countries.
mainstream.
The next day, Han Wangran, Lihou Hanwu, Kanggong Han Hu and Zhuanggong Han Geng returned to the city after the Wei army withdrew from Handan, and published a part of the "Wei Han Handan Peace Agreement" to the public, intending to express to the city and even the subjects at home: Wei Han
The two countries have resolved their disputes and formed an alliance, and will work together to deal with the aliens in the Hexi and Hetao areas.
After learning about this incident, the subjects of Handan were greatly surprised. They did not even think about "whether Handan's capture by the Wei army would affect the status of the Koreans", so they regarded the Wei-Korean alliance as a focus of concern.
This is no wonder. After all, the Wei people and the Koreans are Central Plains people with very similar cultures and customs. The war between the two countries is a conflict of royal power between the two Central Plains countries. However, the Qiang and Hu are different, especially Lin Hu.
Donghu and other foreign ethnic groups have frequently harassed the Korean border in the past and have become the most hated people by Koreans. This is an ethnic conflict.
Therefore, when the Wei-Korean alliance fought against the Qiang and Hu, it was a form of "brothers fighting against each other, and outsiders resisting their humiliation." This was an extremely correct proposition in the Central Plains cultural thought. If anyone dared to stand up and oppose it, they would be condemned by everyone in the world.
Because of this, it was clear that the Wei people had captured Handan, the royal capital of the Koreans, but when both sides had the foreign enemy "Lin Hu", the Koreans chose to let go of the fall of Handan.
In this atmosphere, the Handan Han royal family then proposed the alliance concept between Wei and South Korea: Wei and South Korea would first devote themselves to attacking Hexi, and then attack Linhu in Hetao.
It has to be said that with Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, and Han Hu, Duke of Kang, deliberately controlling public opinion, most of the Handan subjects recognized this cooperation. They even selectively forgot about the Wei army's counterattack on their South Korea and turned to
Targeting the contradictions against the aliens in Hexi and Hetao paved the way for South Korea's subsequent attack on Hexi.
On August 16, He Yu, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, led the Daliang envoy to visit Handan. In fact, the Su Wang Zhao Hongrun who was to be discussed had already completed the negotiations between Jiyue and South Korea. Therefore, the right minister He Yu led the envoy to visit Handan. On the one hand, it was just a formality to protect the face of the Wei court's etiquette department.
But on the other hand, Wei Guo's Ministry of Rites also hopes to further discuss the cooperation alliance with South Korea.
For example, under the mainstream relationship of "Wei and South Korea are in harmony and jointly reject foreign wars", can Wei and South Korea open several "border markets" to exchange what they need?
Originally, Li Hou Han Wu and Kang Gong Han Hu were not interested in this, but Wei State threw out a big killer weapon-copper!
What is copper?
In this era, copper can be used to mint coins, especially for those who have the right to mint coins. How much copper there is means how much money there is.
This made Li Hou Han Wu and Kang Gong Han Hu feel excited.
You must know that the state systems of Wei and South Korea are different. Wei is a highly centralized monarchy. Although the princes and nobles in the country control various profit-making channels of Wei, such as minerals, coarse salt, etc., they have no military power. , and does not have the right to mint money. The right to mint money has long belonged to the state.
In other words, it is illegal to mint copper coins privately in Wei State. Although it is said that some nobles are still minting copper coins privately and flowing them to Song County, this kind of thing itself is not recognized. Once caught, it will be a serious crime of confiscating the army and confiscating their homes.
However, although South Korea is also a monarchy country, its reforms in the matter of centralization of power have not been thorough. For example, Kang Gong Han Hu and Zhuang Gong Han Geng, these two domestic powerful officials, are actually the local nobles of the Korean royal family. Representative figures, they not only have an army, but also have many rights that the Wei royal family and nobles do not have, such as the right to mint coins.
Unless the copper content of the minted copper coins is too low and is filled with too many impurities, which has a serious impact on South Korea's economy, otherwise, local princes and princes in various places will not be punished for casting copper coins privately. of.
It was precisely for this reason that when Wei proposed opening a border market and hoped to exchange copper for Korean cattle and horses, Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, and Han Hu, the Duke of Kang, hesitated.
In fact, they knew very well that resources such as cattle and war horses must not flow into the Wei State. After all, Wei and South Korea did not form a sincere alliance. In the final analysis, they were just temporarily joining hands for their respective strategic purposes, that is. He said that there will definitely be a war between Wei and South Korea in the future.
Knowing this, selling critical resources such as cattle and horses to the Wei State, isn't this an act of capitalizing on the enemy?
Unfortunately, the price offered by Wei was so generous that neither Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, nor Han Hu, the Duke of Kang, had the heart to refuse.
So within two days, Wei and Han established the "Moyi Border City" and "Qixian Border City".
The essence of these two border cities is the same. The only difference is that Wei Jun has returned Mo Yi to South Korea, so South Korea will govern this border market - Zhao Hongrun guessed that it was probably Han Yang, the Marquis of Dangyin.
The border cities of Qi County are still under the control of the Wei army.
After all, at this time, the five Wei armies in Handan County had already retreated to Qiguan - until South Korea seized the land in that area from the Hexi Qianghu and transferred it to the Wei State, the Wei army would station its troops at this pass and a little further. "Qi County" to the north.
Therefore, if nothing unexpected happens, the border cities of Moyi and Qixian will become the base camps of Korean merchants and Wei merchants on the "Wei-Korean trade" route in the future.
In late August, the Ministry of Husbandry of the Wei State took the lead in starting trade with South Korea. The Ministry of Husbandry's transport fleet brought in large quantities of copper ore, exchanging cattle and horses from Korean merchants.
There is no doubt that those Korean businessmen at this moment must be under the command of Li Hou Han Wu, Kang Gong Han Hu, and Zhuang Gong Han Geng. How could real Korean merchants learn about the situation in the border market so quickly and send thousands of cattle Transported here with horses to exchange copper ore with Wei?
After observing for two days, Zhao Hongrun invited Cui Can, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
Cui Can, the left minister, is an effective subordinate of Li Liang, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. This time he came with the transport fleet of the Ministry of Revenue and temporarily served as the city magistrate of the "Border City of Qi County".
Zhao Hongrun thought it was incredible that the dignified Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Household Affairs was appointed as the city magistrate of Weihanbian City, especially since Cui Can was a very capable official of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Therefore, Zhao Hongrun felt that Cui Can might only be acting as the city magistrate on a temporary basis. After the border city of Qi County stabilizes, this position will be handed over to an official from the Ministry of Rites or others.
After waiting for the arrival of Zuo Shilang Cui Can, Zhao Hongrun took the lead and asked about the transaction status of the past two days.
Cui Can smiled bitterly and said: "The livestock traded in these days are mostly horses and few cattle. Among the cattle, there are mostly bulls of several years and few cows; among the horses, most of them are slaves or horses with disabilities... …”
Zhao Hongrun was not surprised at all by this - how could South Korea sell many cows and fine war horses to Wei? If he were to put himself in his shoes, even he would not do this.
Therefore, it is not difficult to guess that the cattle sold by South Korea to the Wei State were in all likelihood bulls that were old or had hidden diseases, and the horses must have been slave horses or war horses with disabilities.
But even so, both Wei and Zhao Hong were happy with it. After all, Wei's animal power was really in short supply. At least 70% of the farmers in Wei still used manual farming. , Therefore, even those old oxen and horses that Korea looks down upon are still in short supply of livestock power for the Wei State.
What's more, Zhao Hongrun believes that in such a huge transaction, Wei will definitely get some cows and good horses in the end - even if Li Hou Han Wu, Kang Gong Han Hu and others are still wary of Wei, I believe that even if These two powerful officials were unable to interfere with the nobles and merchants in their country. Could they still issue a royal edict and only allow the sale of defective livestock from Wei?
It is impossible. If Li Hou Han Wu and Kang Gong Han Hu dare to do this, it will be equivalent to handing the handle into the hands of the Wei State.
After bidding farewell to Cui Can, the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Zhao Hongrun invited He Yu, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, to ask the latter about the border market.
You should know that in the "Handan Peace Agreement" sent to Daliang by Shaohu and Zhao Hongrun, there was no mention of the border market, because at that time Zhao Hongrun was only thinking about Hexi and did not consider this at all - although he It must be admitted that this is a suggestion that will be of great benefit to the Wei State.
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun wanted to know who came up with the idea of a border market.
He initially wanted to ask Cui Can, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue, but after thinking about it carefully, he decided to ask He Yu, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites. After all, the Ministry of Rites and the border market had no boundaries at all, so the words of the officials from the Ministry of Rites were more credible.
After hearing Zhao Hongrun's inquiry, He Yu, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, named the person: "It's King Xiang... It was His Highness King Xiang who suggested that I add the border market to the Ministry of Revenue."