Chapter 189: The confrontation between Wei and Han (5) [two in one]
When the merchants of Wei State jointly planned to attack the merchant power of South Korea, in Jicheng, South Korea, Han Wangran was still worried about money matters.
Although before the winter of last year, the royal family, nobles, and noble families in South Korea donated a large amount of arrears to the court, in view of the arms race that broke out on the border between Wei and South Korea, the money in the South Korean treasury continued to decrease, as if
A river that has burst its banks is out of control.
How to balance military expenditures and domestic internal affairs expenditures in this difficult situation has been what Han Wangran has been most concerned about recently. At this time, he seems to have transformed into an accountant, calculating every detail carefully.
an expense.
In order to save money, I remember that since last winter, he was not even willing to light more charcoal fires in the palace, and would rather wear a sheepskin blanket. As a monarch, he is indeed quite shabby.
Think about the Luoyang Palace of Wei State. In the depth of winter, the bronze cauldrons filled with charcoal fire in each palace burned very warmly, just like spring. Wei Wang Zhao Run should really be ashamed of his extravagance.
!
However, in such a difficult environment, Han Wangran did not feel it was difficult at all. In fact, whenever his ministers looked ashamed and self-hatred because they saw him wrapped in a sheepskin blanket and insisting on handling government affairs in the cold winter, Han Wangran would comfort him.
They compare themselves with the most difficult civilians in the world - compared to those civilians who live a difficult life, they think that their lives are already very superior.
These words made the ministers both moved and angry at the incompetence of themselves and others.
When did the dignified monarch of South Korea fall to the point where he had to compare himself with the poor common people in the world? Even if he did compare, it would be compared with other monarchs from various countries in the Central Plains!
All the ministers understand that among the monarchs of the various countries in the Central Plains, Han Ran, the monarch of South Korea, is probably the most frugal and the most difficult. Needless to say, the king of Wei, Zhao Run, and the king of Qi, Lu Bai, are the two countries in the Central Plains.
It is a country with one of the best economic strength, and the monarchs of Qin and Chu will not treat themselves badly. Needless to say, Wei Guo, King Fei of Wei has always been famous for his licentious and extravagant life.
After counting, I am afraid that only the Yue King Shaokang of the Yue Kingdom is left.
But even Shaokang, the king of Yue, did not necessarily have such a tight life after Chu and Yue had reached an agreement and resolved the war.
But in fact, Han Wangran can indeed be called the most diligent and frugal monarch in the world. Even Wei Wang Zhao Run, who hoped to spend every money on national construction as much as possible, could not be so frugal.
"There's still a lot of money left...no, there's still a big money left."
After concentrating on the calculations for a long time, Han Wangran put down the brush in his hand, with a tired face.
"Ahem."
Suddenly, he coughed twice and subconsciously wrapped the sheepskin blanket around him tightly.
Seeing this, the chamberlains serving on both sides subconsciously raised their heads and glanced at the bronze cauldron placed in the center of the hall. They saw that the charcoal fire in the cauldron was very weak.
Looking at each other, one of the chamberlains persuaded: "Your Majesty, please add some charcoal fire? The charcoal fire in the cauldron is not strong anymore..."
Han Wangran looked up and said with a smile: "That's enough. Don't you have something to keep out the cold?" He gently shook the sheepskin blanket covering him.
The left and right chamberlains looked at each other and couldn't help but feel a little sad. When did the mighty Korean monarch fall into such a state?
Perhaps sensing the mood of the servants, Han Wangran hesitated for a moment and said: "That's all, let's just... add a little more charcoal."
Upon hearing this, one of the chamberlains immediately said with joy, "My slave, go and prepare now."
After a while, the chamberlain left and returned, holding a bucket of charcoal in his hand, and kept throwing the charcoal into the cauldron, as if he wanted to stuff the bucket of charcoal into the cauldron.
Seeing this, Han Wangran quickly stopped him and said, "Just add a few pieces. The more land you add, the faster it will burn..."
With a silent sigh, the chamberlain put down the barrel in his hand and returned to Han Wangran.
Because of the addition of charcoal fire, the bronze cauldron quickly started to burn again, gradually dissipating the coldness in the palace, and Han Wangran's fingers, which had been slightly frozen before, became flexible again.
"...These are necessary expenses for internal governance this year and cannot be saved. But in this case..."
Wrapped in a sheepskin blanket and rubbing his forehead, Han Wangran showed a little worry on his brows.
In fact, the expenditure required for internal governance in South Korea is not very large, at least compared to the military expenditure in the past two years, it is simply insignificant.
Han Wangran must admit that the Wei State designed to force South Korea to start an arms race with the former. This was indeed a very vicious conspiracy - even if you knew Wei State's intentions, you had to be led by the Wei State.
"Use your own strengths to attack the other's weaknesses... You are truly worthy of being the "Wei Gongzi Run" who was famous in the Central Plains back then. He is deeply involved in the art of war and strategy..."
Sitting upright and putting his hands between his knees to keep warm, Han Wangran calmly assessed the direction of the situation between Wei and South Korea.
Although Wei's conspiracy of "preferring to lose 800 to himself or causing the enemy to lose 1,000" is indeed quite powerful, and has seriously slowed down the speed of his rule in Korea, for now, this strategy is not enough.
Defeat him Korea.
More importantly, although it was forced to start an arms race with Wei, South Korea did strengthen its domestic army and prepared for local wars in Handan North County, Julu County and other places in advance. If Wei
At this moment, the country is attacking with all its troops, and it is really unlikely that South Korea will be captured in a short time.
Because of this, Han Wangran believed that the Wei State would not easily go to war, just because Wei Wang Zhao Run was a monarch who was very proficient in the art of war. The other party knew very well that if the Wei State went to war with South Korea, as long as it failed to capture South Korea in a short time, then,
It is very likely that the Chu State will take the opportunity to launch a flanking attack on the Wei State.
Regardless of the marriage relationship between Wei and Chu, King Xiong Tuo of Chu is the brother-in-law of King Zhao Run of Wei, but when the interests of the two countries are related, neither Xiong Tuo nor Zhao Run will show mercy - they support
Most will save the opponent's life after defeating the opponent, and give the opponent endless glory and wealth for a lifetime.
Therefore, even though he suffered a complete strategic defeat, Han Wangran still did not lose confidence, and was still struggling to contain Wei for Chu, and was looking for Wei's weaknesses that could be exploited.
"... Among the three kingdoms of Wei, Chu and Han, Wei should be the one that can't afford to delay it the most. Since Wei may not be able to capture Korea in a short period of time, will Zhao Run find another way and take the lead in using troops against Chu?
?』
It has to be said that although the current situation in South Korea is quite difficult, what Han Wangran is most worried about is still whether Wei will change its mind and attack Chu. This is no wonder. After all, although South Korea is more than capable of defending itself, it has already
It can no longer pose a great threat to the Wei State. Looking at the entire Central Plains, I am afraid that only the Chu State, which claims to be able to dispatch four million troops, has the possibility of defeating the Wei State and dethroning the Central Plains overlord.
Therefore, nothing must happen to the Chu State, otherwise, everything will be destroyed.
Just as Han Wangran was deep in thought, someone suddenly walked into the palace. When Han Ran looked up, he realized that he was a chamberlain.
"Your Majesty."
I saw the chamberlain walking under the king's steps, bowing and saying: "Mr. Zhuang is asking for an audience outside the palace."
Hearing this, Han Wangran was shocked and said quickly: "Please come quickly."
After a while, I saw Zhuang Gong Han Geng walking into the palace with hurried steps, bowing his hands and saying: "Old minister, I pay my respects to the king."
"Mr. Zhuang is so polite."
Han Wangran struggled away and let the sheepskin blanket covering his body slip down. At the same time, he stood up and walked down the royal steps. He raised his hand to invite Duke Zhuang Han Geng to sit in the seat on one side and said with a smile: "These days
, Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Zhuang."
"What are you talking about, Your Majesty? How can you say that it is hard work to serve the country?"
Although he said this, Duke Zhuang Han Geng couldn't help but show a bit of complacency on his face.
It’s no wonder, after all, Han Geng was indispensable for the amount of money donated by the domestic royal family, nobles, and noble families before winter last year. Even if Han Wangran sent others, those royal families, nobles, and noble families would still donate.
, but this amount may not be available.
Because of this, Han Wangran was quite polite and courteous to Duke Zhuang Han Geng.
After a few words of greetings, Han Wangran asked: "Duke Zhuang came to see you today. What's the important matter?"
After hearing this, Duke Zhuang Han Geng remembered the reason for coming here. He quickly suppressed the smile on his face and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, those royal families, noble families, and noble families who promised to donate the second sum of money to the imperial court last year.
, the family, I’m afraid I can’t redeem the promise.”
"..."
Upon hearing this, Han Wangran frowned for a moment, then quickly relaxed his brows, and smiled nonchalantly: "Are those people feeling distressed?"
"Not really."
Zhuang Gong Han Geng shook his head and said seriously: "When the country is in crisis, generous donations of money to the country are not only to protect the country, but also to protect themselves. How can they feel sorry for them?"
"That's..." Han Wangran was a little confused.
"It's because of the State of Wei." Zhuang Gong Han Geng explained seriously: "Before the winter last year, the princes and nobles in the country donated money to the palace. It seems that they were found out by the Wei State's careful investigation and sent back to the Wei State. Therefore,
This caused the Wei merchants to resist the business activities under the names of these princes and nobles...Does your Majesty still remember the Zhong family in Hejian?"
Han Wangran nodded. He remembered that the name of the Hejian Zhong family was among the list of domestic princes and nobles who donated money to the court.
"The Zhong family in Hejian has been engaged in the jade business in recent years. They purchased jade mines from Qin State Lantian Jun Yingban, polished and carved them, and then transported them to Qi and Chu for sale... Around the beginning of spring this year, the Zhong family and Lantian
Several shipments of raw jade ore that you had negotiated were intercepted by Wen Shaobo, a wealthy man from Wei State, for no apparent reason, causing the Zhong family to spend even more money.
I bought back those few ships of jade from Wen Shaobo, but what I didn't expect was that before the Zhong family could transport the jade to Qi, Zhao Shen, the Chengling King of Wei, took the lead and sold a large amount of high-quality jade in Qi, so that
The few ships of jade belonging to the Zhong family have hardly been sold until now... they are anchored in the port of Qi State, and they are at a loss."
"Zhao Shen, King Chengling of Wei State?" Han Wangran frowned.
Zhuang Gong Han Geng nodded and added: "I'm afraid your Majesty doesn't know that Zhao Shen, the Chengling King of the Wei State, has been involved in a wide range of business affairs before, from tea, silk, and slaves in Bashu to pearls in the Chu State.
King Chengling was involved in lacquer ware, bronze ware, and any business that was profitable. But this year, the merchants under King Chengling's name gave up other businesses and only dealt in jade, focusing exclusively on the Zhong family.
Wait for a few of our families in Korea. What's even more disgusting is that even if the Zhong family had no choice but to lower the price and sell the jade at a low price, the Chengling King family would not give up and immediately sold the jade at a low price and pursued them.
The fierce attack is basically to push the Zhong family and several other families to a dead end."
Hearing this, Han Wangran frowned even more tightly: "Is it possible that the rest of the Wei merchants are also like this?"
Zhuang Gong Han Geng nodded and said: "Not only King Zhao Shen of Chengling, but also Wen Shaobo of Wei, Tao Hong of Song County, and merchants of Wei all jointly suppressed our Korean merchants with premeditated plans, causing all major
The family has suffered a lot of losses recently, with a large amount of goods piled up in their hands, but they cannot be sold at all..."
"...Is it you again, Zhao Run?"
Han Wangran subconsciously clenched his fists and said in a low voice: "Wei State, how do you explain this? When Bolangsha was completed, Wei State swore to the outside world that its domestic court would never interfere in commercial affairs..."
"It is said that Yang Yi, the Minister of Household Affairs in Luoyang of the Wei State, has explained to the outside world that this is a spontaneous move by the "patriotic businessmen" of the Wei State. Luoyang does not support it, but it is not easy to criticize it. Other than that,
It’s just some nonsense calling for mutual restraint, saying “business knows no borders” and so on.”
"Business has no national boundaries?" Han Wangran snorted coldly when he heard this, and said coldly: "But businessmen have national boundaries!... Can you still not see through such a simple truth?"
Regarding Yang Yi's so-called appeal, Han Wangran simply listened to it as nonsense, because there had been precedents for this matter: when the "All Nations" alliance was held, the Wei State used the excuse of calling for the whole world to stop war and benefit the people, and invited
All countries went to Daliang.
But what’s the result?
As a result, the Wei State showed off its powerful military power and basic national strength in front of the envoys from various countries, and through this alliance, it logically consolidated its position as the hegemon of the Central Plains. As for the previous call to "hope that the world will stop war", it has long been
He was left behind by those shameless Wei people.
After hearing Han Wangran's complaint, Zhuang Gong Han Geng smiled bitterly and said: "It's not that he can't see through it, it's just that there are a group of famous disciples in the Daliang Academy of Wei who are helping Wei. Among them is a man named Gongsun Long, who is even more powerful.
, The words are so colorful that no one can refute..."
Han Wangran remained silent. After all, he had also heard that when it comes to quarreling, the famous disciples deserve to be the first. Ten Confucian disciples cannot compare to one famous disciple, let alone most of the Confucian disciples in the world, if they are not already in Wei.
The country, which is the country of Wei, almost no one will come forward to speak for him in South Korea and quarrel with those famous disciples who are good at sophistry.
After taking a long breath, Han Wangran said in a low voice: "According to what you said, although Luoyang and Daliang of Wei State did not come forward directly this time, but like Wen Shaobo... no one in the world knows that he is Zhao
Run's royal merchant? Without Zhao Run's instructions, Shaobo Wen would not hesitate to delay his efforts to make money and attack our Korean merchants? The same is true for Chengling King Zhao Shen."
It cannot be denied that Han Ran's judgment is correct. Although the recent attacks on Korean merchants are all due to the alliance of Wei businessmen who claim to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic, behind these people, there are vaguely "Su's Chamber of Commerce" and "Wen's Chamber of Commerce".
Chamber of Commerce", as well as the shadows of the wealthy Wei people and nobles of Wei such as King Chengling.
But having said that, Han Ran wanted to use this matter to attack Wei State, but it was not justified. After all, Wei State's Luoyang court did not directly come forward. As for Tiance Mansion, other countries had no control over this Wei State's privileged institution.
Little is known about its existence.
After chatting for two full hours, Duke Zhuang Han Geng said goodbye and left, leaving Han Wangran alone in the palace, thinking worriedly about the bad news told by Duke Zhuang Han Geng.
I still remember that a while ago, he was very worried that the Wei State would use a large number of troops to attack his country, South Korea, so that when the Chu State would rise in the future, his country, South Korea, as an ally of the Chu State, would clamp down on the Wei State.
However, the King of Han never expected that instead of using force, the Wei State adopted another incredible tactic: letting his Wei merchants charge into the battle, starting the first battle of the war between Wei and South Korea.
How should we fight this kind of war?
Because it was unprecedented, Han Wangran was at a loss what to do.
However, it didn't take long for the merchants of Wei State to take the lead in teaching Han Wangran and the merchants of South Korea a lesson by preaching through words and deeds.
This different kind of war broke out in Linzi, the capital of Qi State.
Between May and August, merchants from Wei State transported a large amount of sheepskin, wool, cashmere, wine, rice, dates, jade and other goods to Linzi. In Linzi City, they started a price war with merchants from South Korea.
In just a few days, the price of rice, wine, sheepskin, wool and other goods plummeted. Korean merchants sold it for ten yuan, and Wei merchants sold it for eight yuan. If Korean merchants sold it at a low price,
After selling it, Wei merchants sold it at a lower price, as if they didn't care about the cost at all.
"Wei people are crazy!"
The scholar-bureaucrat Uncle Bao screamed in surprise after learning about this incident.
He couldn't imagine that in the past, it took two or three gold coins from the Wei Kingdom to buy a high-quality jade pendant, but now, Zhao Shen, the Chengling King of the Wei Kingdom, actually sold it for three to five silver coins per piece, forcing the Korean Zhong clan to almost
He wanted to commit suicide by jumping into the river.
The remaining sheepskins, wool, pickled mutton, smoked mutton, etc. were so cheap at this time that even the common people of Qi could have three meals a day on the table. One can imagine the ferocity and intensity of this war.
However, after listening to Uncle Bao's words, the scholar-official Guan Zhong had a different opinion. He believed that Wei's strategy of "repaying blood with blood" was really clever.
The reason is very simple. Take mutton, sheepskin and other livestock goods as an example. Wei State has three natural pastures: Sanchuan, Hexi, and Hetao. In addition to the Wei people who graze their own animals, there are also hundreds of thousands of Yi, Jie, and Yi people.
, as well as Hu people and Ba people slaves to help with the grazing.
Therefore, Wei State does not need to consider the supply of goods at all.
The only problem is whether to earn more or not - even if the Wei people only earn back their costs, or even only earn back a part of their costs, compared to the Korean businessmen who cannot even make back their capital, the Wei people are still the winners.
However, this kind of trick is too strenuous. Even a big country like Wei does not dare to use it excessively - just like this time, Wei only targets Korean businessmen and does not dare to target other countries in the world.
What the merchants wanted to avoid was that the attack would be too large, causing Wei to become the target of public criticism.
Since Wei merchants took the lead in starting the war, Korean merchants quickly united and launched a counterattack even after losing the opportunity.
But unfortunately, the enemy they faced was too powerful.
Wen Shaobo of Anling, Tao Hong of Dingtao, and Zhao Shen of Chengling, the king of Chengling, do not know whether it was because of the stimulation of the foreign enemy Korea, or because of the death of the leader of the Beibo Army, Xiang Xuan, the Wei court had recently
The efforts to win over Song County in 2006 finally paid off, making the Wei people and Song Dynasty
For the first time, the people of the county stood on the same side - the Wei merchants were led by Wen Shaobo, while the Song merchants were led by Tao Hong of Dingtao. The two sides cooperated sincerely and launched a fierce pursuit of the Korean merchants.
Further eroding the market share of Korean merchants in Linzi.
As of mid-August, in Linzi City, the capital of the King of Qi, many merchants from South Korea were forced to close their shops and transfer their industries. Only a small number of people were left, and they were still suppressed by the joint efforts of Wei merchants.
Survive with difficulty.
During this period, many Korean merchants were crushed by Wei merchants, drank themselves to pieces, and committed suicide by drowning themselves in the river in Linzi City.
This made the world further realize how cruel this bloodless war was.
By the beginning of September, the Korean merchants were basically forced out of the Linzi market by Wei merchants. Immediately, Wei merchants took Linzi as the center and radiated to all counties in Qi.
After learning about this, the scholar-bureaucrat Guan Zhong sighed: "This is to kill them all."
It has to be said that the Linzi court witnessed this unprecedented bloodless war one after another, but there was nothing that could be done about it.
To be honest, Qi State has the ability to assist Korean merchants to repel Wei merchants. Even the Linzi court can assist Korean merchants through manipulation, but the Qi people do not dare.
After all, Wei and South Korea are already on the verge of war. If the Qi State dares to assist South Korea, it is likely to be resented by the Wei State - Qi State is not like South Korea, and it does not have a vast territory.
Deep down, if Wei State sends troops to Qi State at this moment, Qi State may not be able to defend it for even half a year.
Soon, Qi State, the second largest market in the entire Central Plains after Wei, was almost immediately occupied by Wei merchants. Wei merchants used a large number of cheap and high-quality goods to seize the market share of Korean merchants, and will
It was driven out of the Qi market.
However, after winning this victory, Wei merchants were still not satisfied. As if premeditated, they pursued them all the way to South Korea and dumped a large number of various goods into South Korea at low prices. Not only did South Korea's
Merchants suffered heavy losses, and even farmers were affected. Large amounts of agricultural products accumulated and could not be processed.
When the news reached Jicheng, Han Wangran was furious as never before. He kicked the imperial court in front of him to the ground and was immediately knocked unconscious on the spot.
In the eighth year of Wei Xing'an, the Wei State went through a trade war between merchants, which made the world deeply realize that this bloodless war was actually as cruel as a real war.
And the destructive power it caused was greater than if Wei directly sent troops to attack South Korea.