When Zhao Hongrun and Han Wangran walked out of the tent side by side, generals from both sides of Wei and Han came to greet them.
"Then...let's say goodbye."
After bowing his hands towards Zhao Hongrun, Han Wangran said goodbye to Zhao Hongrun with a smile, and then turned around and left with Ma She, Qin Kai, Le Yi, Han Yang, Sima Shang and other Korean generals.
Seeing that Zhao Hongrun looked at Han Wangran and his group with an unusual expression, Zongwei Chief Lu Mu whispered: "Your Highness..."
However, before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhao Hongrun raising his hand to make a gesture.
"Let's talk about it when we get back."
After taking a deep look at the backs of Han Wangran and his group, Zhao Hongrun also turned around and walked down the slope.
After returning to Julu City, Zhao Hongrun was alone in his study, recalling and thinking about what Han Wangran said to him today.
Of course Zhao Hongrun knew Han Wangran's goal, which was simply to see that the war situation was not good and wanted to end the war as soon as possible.
It's best not to be severely punished for defeat.
For this reason, Han Wangran not only betrayed the Qi State who was in the same camp, but also threatened to alienate the relationship between the Wei State and the Chu State.
But it has to be said that what Han Wangran said did arouse Zhao Hongrun's worries.
As Han Wangran repeatedly emphasized, if the Wei State always holds the idea of destroying South Korea, will the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, or the disadvantages outweigh the benefits?
"Your Highness."
After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Hongrun heard the soft call of his concubine Zhao Que. He raised his head and saw Zhao Que and Zong Wei Chief Lu Mu looking at him with some worry.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Hongrun asked confused.
"What's wrong..." Zhao Que murmured, and after getting acquainted with Lu Mu, he whispered: "Since returning from the city, His Highness has been sitting here with a frown, Lord Zongwei and his concubine.
…”
"Oh?" Zhao Hongrun turned his head and glanced at the sky. Seeing that it was approaching dusk outside the window, he suddenly said: "So I have been in a trance for so long."
As he spoke, he stood up, moved his limbs, and stretched his muscles.
At this time, Zongwei Chief Lu Mu asked curiously: "Your Highness, are you still thinking about what King Han said?"
Zhao Hongrun shook his head and said with a smile: "I am thinking about another fundamental question."
"The most fundamental question..." Zhao Que and Lu Mu looked at each other.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun walked to the window, holding the window lattice with his hand, and said lightly: "I am wondering whether it is in the interest of the Wei Dynasty to destroy Han... What do you think?"
Perhaps because they never expected that the issue would be of such a high level, both Zongwei Chief Lu Mu and his concubine Zhao Que were taken aback and did not dare to express their opinions.
After all, on such a high-level issue of national policy, I am afraid that only the lords in the inner court of Chui Gong Palace are qualified to discuss it with His Majesty and the Prince of the East Palace in front of him. In addition, even the six ministers of the court, or the
None of the generals of the Shang Shui Army have this qualification.
What's more, Lu Mu and Zhao Que.
Thinking of this, Zongwei Chief Lu Mu quickly said: "This is a humble position... I don't dare to speak nonsense."
Zhao Que also said: "I don't dare to speak nonsense."
Seeing their inexplicable panic, Zhao Hongrun smiled bitterly and shook his head.
He also hoped that all the ministers in the inner court of Chui Gong Hall would be here at this moment so that they could discuss it in detail. No matter what, even if Jie Zizi was around, it would be a pity that he did not bring any advisers with a big-picture vision.
.
"Just say a few words and let me refer to it. It doesn't matter if you are wrong." Zhao Hongrun smiled and reassured.
"Just say a few words..."
Zongwei Chief Lu Mu smiled bitterly and thought to himself, how could he comment on such a big matter at will?
But since His Highness the Crown Prince in front of him said so, he could only bite the bullet and express his opinion.
"I think that South Korea has always been the close enemy of Wei Dynasty. If there is a chance to destroy it... I think that your Highness should not miss this opportunity."
After hearing this, Zhao Hongrun said with a smile: "But to destroy South Korea, I am afraid that we, the Wei Dynasty, will need to start a war that will last at least five years. During these five years, other countries may take the opportunity to grow..."
"This..." Lu Mu scratched his head, feeling that his brain was not enough.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun smiled and said: "Forget it, you two should step back and rest first, let me think about it carefully."
Lu Mu and Zhao Que looked at each other and retreated from the study.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun was already immersed in the calculation of the interests of destroying South Korea.
Let’s first talk about the benefits of annexing South Korea.
Annexing South Korea would of course bring many benefits.
The first is the land area and national population. South Korea has a territory no less than that of the Wei State today, with major counties such as Yanmen, Dai, Taiyuan, Handan, Julu, Yuyang, and Beiyan. The domestic population is also different from that of the Wei State.
On the other hand, if the Wei State annexed South Korea, even if it had to give a share to the Qin State, the Wei State would fully expect to become the country with the most foundation in the entire Central Plains, basically the same as the Chu State in terms of land area and population.
Next is pasture. Several large counties in South Korea such as Taiyuan, Yanmen, Daijun, Yuyang, and Beiyan all have natural pastures suitable for grazing and raising war horses. If the Wei State annexed South Korea, whether it was cattle, sheep or other livestock,
Horses for war will become more abundant.
Secondly, South Korea has infrastructure that is no less than that of Wei State, and its farmland water conservancy technology is no less than that of Wei State.
Generally speaking, if the Wei State can annex and absorb South Korea, then the Wei State will undoubtedly become the largest country in the history of the Central Plains.
In general, annexing South Korea would give Wei the icing on the cake.
But, that's all.
Why do you say that? The reason is simple.
Does Wei State lack land area?
No shortage!
The Wei State has currently captured Hexi, Hetao, and Song County. They are also the fat meat rotting in the Wei State's pot. The area of these three areas is not small. Not to mention meeting Wei State's current demand for land, in fact, the Wei State even returned
"Shangdang County" has not been fully digested.
Under such circumstances, even if annexing South Korea could double Wei's land area, what other benefits would it bring?
Does the strength of a country simply depend on its land area?
Then why has Chu, the largest country in terms of land area, been beaten by Qi and Lu, whose combined land area is less than one-third of Chu country, in recent decades?
Speaking of pastures, it is undeniable that the Wei State did lack pastures for grazing war horses in the past. However, after successively conquering the three places of Sanchuan, Hexi, and Hetao, the Wei State already has enough natural pastures. But unfortunately, except for Sanchuan County, it has already obtained
Apart from a certain level of development, the development of Hexi and Hetao is actually just the beginning.
Under such circumstances, even if we get Yanmen, Daijun, Yuyang, Beiyan and other places, they will just be left there uncultivated.
Speaking of national population, this is probably the only thing Zhao Hongrun cares about.
More than ten years ago, the only real territory of Wei State was Hedong (including Hanoi) and Yingshui. In addition, Sanchuan was stolen by Yin Rong, Shangdang was captured by South Korea, and Song County
However, it did not belong to the Wei State in the true sense. Therefore, the Wei State inevitably had some needs for land. After all, in Yingshui County at that time, the annexation of land by the nobles was indeed a problem.
But now, the Wei State has not only retaken Sanchuan County, Shangdang County and the western part of Song County, but also captured Hexi and Hetao. The land area has doubled from more than ten years ago. Even if the domestic nobles still annex land from time to time,
It will not cause the Wei State to have a demand for land - simply put, the increase in the Wei people's demand for land, and the speed of the Wei nobles' land annexation are not as fast as that of a certain prince of their Wei State.
The new land comes quickly.
All these phenomena lead to the fact that even if the Wei State can annex South Korea, it will only be the icing on the cake, because Wei State owns everything that South Korea has. This is significantly different from the Chu State's attack on Qi and Lu - Chu's attack on Qi and Lu
, because Chu State covets Qi State’s wealth and Lu State’s technology, which can greatly accelerate Chu State’s own development.
And what does Wei State lack most right now?
It's time!
Even though Wei is only one step away from becoming the hegemon of the Central Plains, it still lacks time to cultivate and recuperate, and to digest the gains from the wars over the years. At the current stage of Wei's development, even Qi's wealth and financial resources cannot survive.
Many places stimulated the development of Wei State.
Therefore, as Han Wangran said, at the expense of its own domestic economy for at least five years, the State of Wei risked the possibility that the State of Chu would grow stronger and replace the State of Wei, and launched an endless war of annihilation with South Korea, and even if
The final annexation of South Korea's territory was just the icing on the cake, and was this in line with Wei's fundamental interests?
The current Wei State is worthy of the praise of "the strongest in the Central Plains". Under such circumstances, should we consider maintaining this advantage and restricting other countries? For example, suppressing Qi State and restricting Chu State... Eh? This
Isn't it the strategy proposed by Han Wangran?
"That boy..."
Zhao Hongrun rubbed his brow bones.
He thought over and over again for a long time, but the conclusion he finally came to was actually exactly the same as the suggestion made by Han Wangran.
To be honest, this feeling is not good.
However, it is undeniable that the suggestions put forward by Han Wangran are indeed the most in line with Wei's current interests.
Zhao Hongrun thought about it over and over, but never found any loophole.
"Han Ran..."
Recalling the face of the King of Han who was similar to him in age, Zhao Hongrun felt silent in his heart.
If before this, he was still afraid of the country South Korea, then at this moment, he has to add the powerful enemy "Han Wangran".
When Zhao Hongrun returned to his bedroom, his concubine Zhao Que had already laid out the bedding and was sitting boredly at the table in the room, waiting for Zhao Hongrun's arrival.
"Your Highness."
Seeing Zhao Hongrun push the door open, Zhao Que quickly stood up and took off Zhao Hongrun's robe while curiously asking: "Does your Highness already have an idea?"
"No, not at all."
Zhao Hongrun shrugged, walked straight to the bed, threw off his boots and sat back on the bed.
Zhao Que arranged his man's boots neatly and asked in confusion: "Don't you have a clue at all?"
"ah."
I saw Zhao Hongrun leaning on his hands and saying with a strange expression: "That boy Han Ran, he has thought about everything for me, Da Wei, and he really can't find any loopholes... Although I know very well that I spared South Korea this time, where is South Korea?" Under the governance of this boy, it may become a personal thorn in my side, Wei, in a few years."
Zhao Que heard this and asked curiously: "Is that Han Ran really as outstanding as His Highness thinks?"
"Ha." Zhao Hongrun chuckled, and then said with a hint of melancholy: "Maybe the most difficult one..."
When he said this, the faces of Chu Gongzi Yangcheng Xiong Tuo and Wei Gong Ziyu appeared in his mind. He had to admit that this Han Ran was more dangerous than Xiong Tuo and Wei Yu. The city was so deep. With such a broad horizon, it is hard to imagine that this kind of person is not yet thirty, and so far, he has not even stepped out of the Han Palace in Handan a few times.
"He is such a troublesome person..."
After hearing Zhao Hongrun's praise of Han Wangran, Zhao Que frowned slightly, and then lowered his voice and said: "Your Highness, for the sake of our great Wei, we should get rid of such virtuous kings as soon as possible..."
"How to get rid of it?" Zhao Hongrun glanced at Zhao Que, chuckled and said, "Send an assassin to assassinate him?"
"It's not wrong." Zhao Que said with a rare sullen face, as if he had returned to the time when he first met Zhao Hongrun. Unfortunately, Zhao Hongrun reached out and pinched her nose, which immediately made her lose her temper and she couldn't help but become jealous.
"Don't be delusional. He is the king of South Korea and has countless guards around him. How can he be so easy to assassinate? Furthermore, if I get rid of Han Ran in this way, wouldn't I become a target of public criticism?" Zhao Hongrun said. He held Zhao Que in his arms, gently pinched her face and teased: "Compared with assassination, I might as well use a beauty trap to harm him with a beauty like Que'er... I'll make sure he's as intoxicated as me. In the arms of a beautiful woman, you cannot extricate yourself."
"Concubine..." Zhao Que said with charming eyes, biting her lips.
Then, the two of them had a great time.
After a storm, Zhao Que lay on Zhao Hongrun's chest panting.
As for Zhao Hongrun, it seemed that after some venting, his thoughts became clearer, or at least his thoughts were much clearer than before.
He has never been a person who likes to be led by his opponents. Therefore, even if Han Wangran's suggestion to him is actually the best strategy in line with Wei's current interests, he still does not want to just accept it - because Han Wangran is opponent.
If this suggestion were made by the ministers in the Chui Gong Palace, then Zhao Hongrun would listen to it with an open mind, but Han Wangran... I'm sorry, Zhao Hongrun has never been in the habit of adopting his opponents' suggestions.
This may be because he has always been rebellious, or because he thinks that if he just accepts it, he will feel defeated by Han Wangran or something.
To take a step back, even if he finally chooses a strategic national policy similar to what Han Wangran proposed, Zhao Hongrun will definitely find a way to cause some trouble for Han Wangran and will never let the latter win so easily.
The question is, how to counter it?
Zhao Hongrun recalled in detail the conversation he had with Han Wangran at that time, including the second half, when they talked harmoniously like close friends.
Through this conversation, he further discovered that Han Wangran was probably the most forbearing and patient person among his peers. Zhao Hongrun was amazed by his tenacity.
Compared with Han Wangran, Zhao Hongrun's brother-in-law Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo was just a child who had not yet grown up. In order to vent his resentment, he actually attacked the Wei Kingdom for ten years regardless of gains and losses. With this time, Xiong Tuo He actually didn't go to fight Bashu.
How good would it be to defeat Bashu? There are many small countries in Bashu, and the chaos is like a small Central Plains. At the same time, the land of Bashu is also rich in resources, food, insect wax, silk, ore. If the Wei State had not been in Korea these years, Hidden in the cracks of the Chu State, waiting for opportunities to grow stronger, Zhao Hongrun may have already led his troops to attack Bashu.
Just as Zhao Hongrun thought, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, did not wait until after the "Five Parties Attacked Wei", that is, when Shouling Jun Jingshe led a million-strong army to attack Wei and almost wiped out the entire army, giving him the opportunity to take over Chu. Dong, this brother-in-law, gradually matured and truly possessed the magnanimity of a king.
Before that, although the various behaviors of Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, could not be said to be unsightly, they were still far from being a king, and his performance was even worse than that of Zhao Hongrun's cousin Wei Gongziyu.
However, it is a pity that the weak Wei State has become a burden to Wei Gong Ziyu. It is for this reason that even if Zhao Hongrun knew the talent of his cousin Wei Gong Ziyu, it would be difficult for him to be wary of Wei Guo - Wei Guo casually Sending an elite army of 50,000 people is enough to destroy a country, so why make such a fuss?
But Han Wangran was different. This man had talents that surpassed those of Wei Gong Ziyu and Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo. Behind him was a country like South Korea, which tolerated such a powerful enemy. This made Zhao Hongrun full of worries.
To be honest, Zhao Hongrun had actually thought about whether to take advantage of Han Wangran's regaining power and South Korea's internal instability to attack South Korea in one go.
But to his surprise, after regaining power, Han Wangran did not seem to take any action in the country - such as squeezing out officials from the three powerful ministers, Kang Gong Han Hu, Lihou Han Wu, Zhuang Gong Han Geng, or retaliating against those who had bullied him before. Those people who slandered him actually had nothing.
Han Wangran said that there were many foreign enemies and he could not tolerate any willfulness.
A young king who had endured humiliation and heavy burdens for fourteen years, after regaining power one day, was not at all proud or presumptuous. This kind of character was simply unimaginable to Zhao Hongrun.
He believed that if it were him, he would never be able to do this - he would definitely take revenge on those who had bullied him and slandered him.
"Is it invulnerable?...Heh, what if I release Han Wu?"
Gently hugging Zhao Que, Zhao Hongrun closed his eyes and estimated whether if he released Han Wu, it would cause turmoil in South Korea at this moment, allowing Wei Jun to take advantage of him.
But if you think about it carefully, Li Hou Han Wu, a tough guy, did not consider his own safety when he was captured by Wu Ji, but appointed Dangyin Hou Han Yang as the commander, as if he was determined to let him die here, even if he was buried with him. Julu, Zhao Hongrun really doesn't think that after being released by him, Li Hou Han Wu will ignore the threat from Wei and compete with Han Wangran to seize power.
If you think about it this way, putting Li Hou Han Wu back is like trying to draw water from a bamboo basket but in vain?
Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun frowned.
Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, and there was a hint of smile in his eyes.
"By the way, isn't there still the Qin State?"
Touching his chin, Zhao Hongrun began to make calculations full of malice.
He suddenly felt that he could let Qin continue to consume South Korea. Anyway, Qin's domestic economy was already very weak. It was so weak that it would not be able to support so many troops if it did not launch a war. It was not afraid of South Korea's so-called "death together". threaten.
Qin is a country that relies on war to support war in the true sense.
Of course, Zhao Hongrun does not think that Qin's strength alone can defeat South Korea - even today's South Korea.
But on the other hand, isn't this exactly in the best interest of Wei?
Licking his lips, Zhao Hongrun had an idea in his mind.
He is only worried about one thing right now, and that is whether his side room, Qin Shaojun Yingying, will make trouble with him after learning about this incident.
After all, Zhao Hongrun was taking advantage of Qin.
"...It's okay, it's okay, at most it can provide some economic help to Qin."
Zhao Hongrun comforted himself secretly.
As he thought about it, he thought of Chu State again.
As Han Wangran suggested, when Han Wangran, the Korean monarch, had privately admitted defeat, Zhao Hongrun would of course try to restrict the Chu State. After all, if the Chu State really annexed the two countries of Qi and Lu, he would gain Qi State's With the financial resources and the craftsmanship and technology of the Lu State, the Chu State has truly become a wild horse that can no longer be restrained.
But the problem is that, just like the situation with Qin, Wei cannot order Chu - although the three kingdoms of Wei, Qin and Chu are indeed an alliance, this does not mean that Qin and Chu will follow Wei's instructions. Fundamentally speaking, , Qin and Chu still focused on their own interests.
This is also the key to Zhao Hongrun's "calculation" that Qin will continue to consume South Korea.
But unlike the situation on the Qin and Han side, South Korea still has the strength to resist Qin’s army even under the current situation. However, Qi and Lu may not be able to withstand Chu. Is it possible that Wei will personally take action?— -If Zhao Hongrun really turns the gun against Chu, he will really become the target of public criticism.
After thinking for a whole night, Zhao Hongrun finally came up with a feasible strategy: If Qi and Lu were able to withstand Chu, then he would stand still and continue to weaken South Korea; but if Qi and Lu could not resist Chu, then he would immediately At Julu, he turned his spear and attacked Qi to intercept Hu.
Anyway, he had long wanted to teach those arrogant Qi people who still lived in the "Era of King Lu Xi of Qi" a lesson. After destroying the Qi Kingdom, he would bring his sixth brother Zhao Zhao back to the country. If he thought about it carefully, there would be nothing wrong with him.
In this way, even if the State of Chu conquered the State of Lu and obtained the craftsmanship and technology of the State of Lu, because Zhao Hongrun attacked the State of Qi and seized part of the financial resources of the State of Qi, the State of Chu may not have sufficient financial resources to study and seize it from the State of Lu. process technology.
More importantly, if Qi and Lu are divided and destroyed by Wei and Chu, even if South Korea is still lingering, it will not be able to shake Wei's status in the future. As for Qin and Chu, the former was consumed in the war with South Korea. Too much, and because the latter did not fully obtain Qi's financial resources, it did not necessarily pose any threat to Wei.