"Isn't this... a suspicion that the "rumors" are true?"
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Hongrun said carefully.
To be fair, although Wei Gong Ziyu is his cousin by birth, the two cousins have never had any contact in the past. I only heard that Concubine Shen Shu once mentioned that Zhao Hongrun's biological mother Wei Ji once had a good relationship with her sister, and the two sisters were quite close.
, Therefore, considering this relationship, Zhao Hongrun also does not want Wei Gong Ziyu to fall into a disadvantageous situation because of a few complaints - such as losing the qualification to succeed King Wei.
Although the relationship between Wei State and Wei State was declared to be allies, in fact, the relationship between the two countries was that of a suzerain state and a vassal state.
The background of the situation that led to this incident was a bit complicated. Generally speaking, Weiguo was defeated by South Korea at the beginning and lost many lands north of the river such as Moyi and Qixian. It hoped to rely on the natural dangers of the river to stop South Korea's army.
But in addition to South Korea in the north, the Wei State at that time also had a strong enemy, the Song State. The relationship between the two countries at that time was extremely bad.
Speaking of "the feud between Song and Wei", we have to mention a preference of a certain Song king.
Probably more than a hundred years ago, the Wei State at that time had not yet annexed the Zheng State, Liang State, and Qi State had not yet risen in the east, and South Korea in the north had not yet annexed small countries such as Beiyan. In the Central Plains at that time, the strength of the Song State
It is quite impressive, and it is said that it can compete with the Chu State at that time.
But the king of the Song Dynasty at that time had a very bad habit, that is, he liked to do some thankless things, such as interfering in other countries' foreign affairs and internal affairs.
For example, there was a conflict between the Liang State and the Zheng State, and the armies of the two countries faced off at the border. At this time, if the King of Song heard the news, he would quickly send an envoy to mediate, pretending to be the overlord of the Central Plains, and brush his presence
feel.
For another example, if a country's monarch is immoral and there is war within the country, the King of Song at that time will also summon allies and send troops to conquer or quell the chaos.
It's not that they were trying to take advantage of the situation. After all, the reputation of Song State has always been very good in the outside world. Even in Song County today, the reputation of Song people will never be inferior to that of Wei people.
It can only be said that the King of Song Dynasty may have had this preference.
But the problem is, interfering in other countries' foreign affairs and civil strife can be tolerated by other countries once or twice, but if you do it again and again, how can other countries always accept it? After all, the Song Dynasty at that time was not strong enough to pass
Use force to make all neighboring countries surrender.
As a result, the state of Zheng was dissatisfied with the Song monarch's repeated attempts to mediate and dictate the internal affairs of various countries, so the state of Zheng soon began to flirt with the state of Chu, and the state of Wei gradually became discordant with the state of Song.
Subsequently, due to their "overlord status", the conflict between Song and Chu became more intense, and the armies of the two countries often fought wars on the border.
But unfortunately, although the Song army was considered elite at the time, it was ultimately unable to withstand Chu's huge main army, and it won less and lost more.
As a result, the king of Song at that time had no choice but to seek peace from the Chu State and cease the war, and the Song-Chu War ended.
But the defeat was a defeat, and the King of Song could not swallow this anger. Therefore, the following year, the King of Song launched an army to conquer the State of Zheng. After all, the State of Zheng had secretly defected to the State of Chu.
The State of Zheng was far less powerful than the State of Song and could not withstand the army of the State of Song, so it asked for help from the State of Chu. After receiving the news of the request for help, the King of Chu at that time resolutely ordered to join the war and attack the State of Song. As a result, the war between Song and Chu broke out again
.
In this war, because the Song king pedantically refused to attack the Chu army halfway across the border, thinking that it was an "unethical" act, he was eventually defeated by the Chu army like a flood.
Because of this war, Song's deterrent power in the Central Plains plummeted.
After that, Wei Guo, who was already dissatisfied with King Song's repeated interference in other countries' internal affairs, took the lead in withdrawing from the alliance. Under the leadership of Wei Guo, they all terminated their alliances with Song State, which made King Song's dream of "overlord of the Central Plains" shattered.
.
So at that time, the two countries of Song and Wei formed a feud.
Some people may be confused. According to this statement, the first object of hatred of Song State should be Chu State. How could it be Wei State?
The reason is very simple, because Song State is no match for Chu State at all.
After the War between Song and Chu, the Chu State seemed to have become the most powerful country in the Central Plains and the overlord of the Central Plains.
Therefore, under the threat of the Chu State, the grandfather of Qi King Lu Xi wooed the Lu State to form the "Qi-Lu Alliance", and the father of Qi King Lu Xi wooed the Song State to form the "Qi, Lu, Song and Three Kingdoms Alliance".
Work together to fight against the Chu State in the south.
Later, the State of Wei powerfully entered the Central Plains, first annexing the State of Zheng, and then the State of Liang, which was allied with the State of Wei. The State of Song saw that the State of Wei had lost its ally, the State of Liang, and turned against the State of Wei. Although it took the opportunity to lead its army to attack
Wei Guo, trying to avenge the past grudges.
At that time, King Wei had no choice but to realize that after Wei State had annexed Zheng State and Liang State, it was difficult for him to digest it for the time being and that he would not attack Wei State again in a short period of time, so he took the initiative to contact Wei State and seek Wei State's asylum.
And then, as the King of Wei had guessed, after careful consideration, Wei agreed to Wei's request for help and sent the powerful first-generation Wei Wu army to defeat the Song army.
This war led to bad relations between Wei and Song, and further exacerbated the hostile relationship between Wei and Song.
Since then, Wei and Wei have maintained a good relationship, especially in the fight against South Korea in the north. Wei and Wei have advanced and retreated together, guarding and helping each other. This is also the border between Wei and Wei.
This is because there is no military garrison and nationals of the two countries can enter and exit each other's borders at will.
But now, because of some actions of Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, and the behavior of Wei nobles such as Sun Mou, the Marquis of Huyou, Feng Shu, the Marquis of Yuanling, who "just shout slogans to support the Wei State", many people in the Wei State feel very sorry for the Wei State.
disappointment.
For example, Zhao Hongrun's cousin, Wei Gong Ziyu.
After hearing Zhao Hongrun express his thoughts tactfully, Du You, the Minister of Rites, immediately explained that he did not advocate immediately coercing King Wei and asking Prince Wei to go to Daliang as a hostage. Otherwise, he did not have to add a sentence.
"If necessary".
As early as a few days ago, when the court noticed this sign, the Ministry of Rites had already sent someone to visit Wei Gong Ziyu, probably hoping that Wei Gongzi would not be impulsive and say something that would affect the relationship between Wei and Wei.
Wei Guo will also give an explanation and so on.
But the problem is that the Ministry of Rites is actually unable to give Duke Wei the explanation he wants.
How to explain? Does the imperial court want to admit that "Han General Sima An's attack on Weiguo" is really the strategy of "diversion of trouble to the east" by Zhao Yuanzuo, King of Southern Liang? How can such a thing that deceives the allies be easily spread to the outside world?
Or should we severely punish Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Southern Liang?
However, the Ministry of Rites could not agree to this matter. After all, Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Southern Liang, was the "first-class meritorious minister" in this war. Although some of his actions were indeed criticized, it is undeniable that he did defeat the Wei State.
South Korea's powerful military.
What's more important is that Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, is the core figure of King Qing's party. King Qing Hongxin alone will definitely not accept the ideas of the Ministry of Rites.
Therefore, the Ministry of Rites could only comfort Wei Gong Ziyu with nice words in private and make some promises. Unexpectedly, Wei Gong Ziyu refused to give up and insisted on giving an explanation from the Wei State, and the Ministry of Rites was unable to give him the explanation he wanted.
Next, he angrily criticized the state of Wei.
Of course, the court would not tolerate Wei Gong Ziyu's behavior, so the Ministry of Rites decided to send people to hint to King Wei and put pressure on King Wei, asking the latter to discipline his son and stop talking nonsense.
In this matter, Du You, the Minister of Rites, thought that he must say hello to Su Wang Zhao Run. After all, Wei Gong Ziyu was the cousin of His Highness Su Wang.
"What's the response from King Wei?"
After Zhao Hongrun pondered for a moment, he asked Du Youdao.
Du You smiled bitterly and said: "King Wei was very friendly and immediately said that he would restrain his son, but... Du was worried that King Wei would not be able to restrain Mr. Wei Ziyu."
Zhao Hongrun nodded thoughtfully.
As far as he knew, the contemporary King Wei was not a wise king. The clues could be seen from the last war alone: when Han general Sima Shang led his army to attack Wei State, King Wei actually acquiesced in abandoning the eastern part of Wei State and the border with Wei State.
In the northeast, the elite troops in the Wei Kingdom, such as the "Puyang Army" and the "Tanyuan Army", were used to protect the royal capital. Finally, Wei Gong Ziyu recruited tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to personally lead the troops to attack Han General Sima Shang.
Because of this incident, the Wei people were very disappointed with the performance of the contemporary King Wei, but more and more people supported Wei Gong Ziyu and sincerely hoped that the latter would become the king of Wei in the future.
But it happened that it was the Duke of Wei, Ziyu, who had a high reputation among the Wei people, who was dissatisfied with the Wei State. This matter was really difficult to deal with.
"His Royal Highness Prince Su... are you able to come forward and talk to Mr. Wei Ziyu? After all, you two..." Du You looked at Zhao Hongrun and said hesitantly.
Zhao Hongrun nodded and agreed: "This matter... I will give it a try for now."
To be fair, this is not because Du You, the Minister of Rites, asked Zhao Hongrun to help. On the contrary, Zhao Hongrun had to think of the former for this. After all, Du You, the Minister of Rites, just wanted to see Zhao Hongrun's face, so he privately informed the latter and let the latter take a look.
Can it be reconciled?
Otherwise, with the current power of the Wei State, the Ministry of Rites does not need to pay too much attention to this matter. It can directly imply that King Wei puts Wei Gong Ziyu under house arrest. Anyway, King Wei has many sons. Which one cannot inherit the throne in the future? - For the Wei State
, it doesn’t matter whether the new king who inherits the throne of King Wei is virtuous or foolish.
To put it harshly, at this time, the Wei State was already vaguely qualified to become the overlord of the Central Plains, and it no longer needed the Wei State as an ally to jointly fight against South Korea.
After returning to Prince Su's Mansion, Zhao Hongrun dug out the invitation card he was going to send to Wei Gong Ziyu from the pile of invitations. After staring at it for a long time, he put it aside and then wrote to Wei Gong Ziyu.
The cousin wrote a letter.
"Wei Jiao, send someone to send this letter to Weiguo immediately."
"As commanded."
About two days later, Zhao Hongrun's personal letter was sent to "Wuyan" in Wei State - after Han general Sima Shang led the retreat, Wei Gong Ziyu led his army to garrison here, just like Zhao Hongrun did in Yangxia and other places.
Encourage local Chinese to farm and resume farming.
After receiving Zhao Hongrun's letter, Wei Gongziyu read the letter word for word.
Judging from his expression, it seemed that he was not surprised to receive the letter from his cousin.