"I heard that you have some dealings with Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo. Are you planning to take a hand in the civil strife in Chu State?"
Suddenly, the leader of the Lu Kingdom asked.
His words not only attracted Mi Jiang's attention, but also shocked Zhao Hongrun: "How did the king know?"
The leader of Lu State smiled and said nothing.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun wisely stopped asking further questions. After a slight hesitation, he said: "Yes, as the king said, Xiao Wang is indeed planning this matter."
After hearing this, the leader of the Lu Kingdom looked at Zhao Hongrun with emotion and murmured: "Your vision is farther than others of my generation..." At this point, something strange flashed in his eyes. , whispered: "Master Run, if you ascend the throne as the King of Wei one day, I, Dalu, would like to surrender to your country and serve as our ally, and we will be friends forever, okay?"
"..." Zhao Hongrun and Mi Jiang both looked at the leader of the Lu Kingdom in surprise.
Mi Jiang was surprised that the leader of the Lu Kingdom in front of her actually valued the little dwarf beside her so much that he actually said such words as "willing to surrender".
What surprised Zhao Hongrun was that the State of Lu had been surrendered to the State of Qi for generations. Now that King Lu Xi of Qi had just passed away, the leader of the State of Lu had other thoughts. He was a little unhappy with this unkindness and unrighteousness.
Perhaps guessing Zhao Hongrun's thoughts, the leader of the Lu Kingdom said with a wry smile: "I am not betraying the Qi State, but... Alas, none of the sons of His Majesty the King of Qi are really successful. A son is also like a man... Mr. Run is also a man of discernment. You and I both know that once the civil strife in Chu ends, the two countries of Qi and Lu will surely suffer... When the time comes, I hope Mr. Run can help me a lot."
"..." Zhao Hongrun glanced at the leader of the Lu State and gradually realized that just like King Lu Xi of Qi before his death, the leader of the Lu State in front of him was probably looking for a way out.
This is not surprising, after all, without the support of Qi State in the past, Lu State alone would not be able to compete with Chu State.
Now, the death of King Lu Xi of Qi has had a huge impact on the diplomatic relations between Qi and Lu. Who knows what attitude the new king of Qi has towards Lu?
Although King Lu Xi of Qi also left behind a backup plan - Ji Zhao, the prince of Wei, but having said that, Ji Zhao, as the son-in-law of King Lu Xi of Qi, was naturally the first to consider Qi and Wei. What's more, at the moment, Qi State Ji Zhaowei may not be able to control the entire Qi State due to the situation.
In comparison, another Wei Gongzi, Ji Run, became a better ally candidate.
In terms of vision, Ji Run predicted the civil strife in the Chu State a few years ago and befriended Xiong Tuo, the prince of Chu. In terms of ability, Ji Run sent troops to conquer the Chu State twice and returned with great victory. What's more important is that , Ji Run, Mr. Wei, is only seventeen years old, and he still has most of his life left.
Tapping the wine bottle, Zhao Hongrun was not in a hurry to give an answer.
Firstly, such words are empty and untrustworthy; secondly, if Wei becomes stronger in the future, Lu will still come to seek refuge with him without this contract. After all, as long as Zhao Hongrun’s sixth brother Ji Zhao is with him, As soon as the state was established, the Qi-Wei alliance became indestructible. The Lu state was sandwiched between the Qi and Wei states. If the Lu state did not accept the increasingly powerful Wei state as its leader, could it be possible to defect to South Korea or the Chu state?
That’s really asking for death!
After all, most of the territory of Lu State borders Qi State and Wei State (Song Dynasty).
Seeing that Zhao Hongrun didn't speak, the leader of the Lu Kingdom flashed a look of surprise in his eyes, and then changed the subject and said: "By the way, I have something that I want to discuss with Mr. Run. It is a matter that concerns both your country and my country, Lu." I wonder if Mr. Run is interested in matters of profit?"
Zhao Hongrun was a little amused by the extremely reluctant and abrupt change of topic made by the leader of the Lu Kingdom, and said with a smile: "I would like to hear the details."
"That's right."
The leader of the Lu Kingdom called Kong Fuling, the chief guard of the palace, took a map from the latter's hand, spread it flat on the stone table in the garden, then pointed at the map and said: "I hope to join hands with your country to open a canal.
, starting from Daliang, the capital of your kingdom, in the west, and ending in our country, Daliang, in the east... Lianglu Canal." "Note: It is almost the ancient Bian Canal today."
"Huh?" Zhao Hongrun was slightly stunned and couldn't help but take a second look.
I have to say that he is quite interested in the ditch mentioned by the leader of the Lu Kingdom.
To be honest, Wei and Lu originally had a natural water transportation, that is, the big river (today's Yellow River), but the problem is that the north of the big river is the territory of South Korea. Once a war breaks out, the river transportation will inevitably be restricted.
For example, why did Zhao Hongrun choose the two shallow-draft rivers of Guohe River and Huanshui River instead of the big river when transporting the more than one million Chu people?
The reason is that South Korea poses a great threat to water transportation in the river. Although South Korea does not have any powerful navy or warships, it is undeniable that it is not a problem for South Korea to destroy ships coming and going in the river.
Therefore, it is clear that there is water transportation such as the big river, but for the two countries Wei and Lu, it is equivalent to not having it.
And if Wei and Lu work together to open up this "Liang-Lu Canal", then Wei and Lu can avoid the threat from South Korea and start trade. This canal can even be dug to Linzi of Qi State, allowing Qi State to
Also join this trade line.
No matter how you look at it, it is an extremely beneficial thing for Qi, Lu, and Wei.
The problem lies in the purpose of the leader of the Lu State proposing to build this canal. After all, the canal can not only use merchant ships filled with goods, but also warships filled with soldiers of the Wei State...
After taking a look at the leader of the Lu Kingdom, Zhao Hongrun said with a smile but not a smile: "The king is far-sighted and the king admires him."
The leader of the Lu State laughed and didn't care. After all, the purpose of his proposal to build this canal was to start trade with the Wei State. After all, the Wei State now has the resource-rich Sanchuan County, and there are many things that the Lu State has.
Secondly, with this canal, if the Chu State raises troops to attack Qi and Lu in the future, the Wei State will be able to rush to help as quickly as possible.
Of course, the premise is that Lu State can persuade Wei State to send troops to support.
But if you think about it carefully, if Qi, Lu, and Wei really start close trade because of this water canal in the future, then Wei will naturally not sit back and watch Qi, Lu and Wei be destroyed by Chu.
Obviously, this is the fundamental reason why the leader of the Lu Kingdom put forward this suggestion: repair the canal first, and discuss the rest later.
It is precisely because of this that Zhao Hongrun praised the ruler of the country for being "far-sighted". After all, there are many people in this world who do not see rabbits and do not let go of eagles. To be honest, there are not many people with the vision of the leader of the Lu Kingdom.
"How are you doing, Mr. Run?" the Lord of Lu asked with a smile.
Zhao Hongrun looked at the map and hesitated several times, but in the end, he could only shake his head helplessly and said with a wry smile: "Xiao Wang cannot veto."
Yes, even if it was clear that the leader of the Lu State had "uneasy and good intentions", Zhao Hongrun could not refute it, because the construction of this canal was of great help to his Wei State. It can be said that it truly made the three kingdoms of Qi, Lu, Wei
closely united.
This point is very crucial.
The only problem is that this canal will pass through Song Dynasty and Weiguo.
Wei Guo is easy to say, he is Wei Guo's younger brother, not to mention that the construction of this canal will also be beneficial to Wei Guo, and he is not afraid that the leader of Wei Guo will not agree.
The key lies in Song Dynasty.
The two major forces in the Song Dynasty—Nangong Kui, the general of the Suiyang Army, and Song Yun, a rebel in the Song Dynasty—did not necessarily allow this.
After all, once the "Liang Lu Canal" is completed, it may only take a few days for Wei to send troops to Song Dynasty. Will Nangong Kui and Song Yun acquiesce in this matter?
Maybe they won't go against Wei on the surface, but secretly they will definitely send people to sabotage it.
Of course, now that Zhao Hongrun has made up his mind, how can the mere threats of Nangong Kui and Song Yun influence the decision of His Highness Prince Su?
After that, Zhao Hongrun and the leader of Lu State began to discuss the specific matters of building this Liangqu Canal.
For example, how to make full use of the original canals in the two countries and avoid direct digging of canals as much as possible; another example is how to designate several important cities as the hubs of the Lianglu Canal, and so on.
Finally, we finally got the route: Daliang, Jiyang, Dingtao, Fangyu, connecting Sishui in the north to Qufu, the capital of the King of Lu, and "Weishan Lake" in the south. One branch went to "Pengcheng" and the other branch went to "Pi County".
”, both places are important fortresses with strategic significance in resisting the invasion of Chu State.
But in this way, "Weishan Lake" has become an important hub in the path of the Liang-Lu Canal. What is embarrassing is that "Weishan Lake" is now the stronghold of the Song Dynasty rebels.
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun and the leader of the Lu Kingdom agreed to make preparations first. After all, in this era, the preparation and planning of a project took a long time, and Zhao Hongrun had plenty of time to slowly deal with the Weishan Lake matter.
After resting for two more days, Zhao Hongrun said goodbye to the leader of the Lu State and set off back to the Wei State.
Zhao Hongrun chose to go directly to the west as the route back home. After all, Qufu, the capital of King Lu, went directly to the west, which was the territory of Weiguo.
The relationship between Wei and Wei is no less than that between Qi and Lu, so there will be no security problems when traveling across Wei.
Of course, the premise is not to encounter South Korea's army. After all, since the war between South Korea and Wei, Weiguo, as a vassal state of Wei, has also declared war on South Korea. However, South Korea does not think highly of Weiguo and has not sent Tai
Just put more energy here.
Waiting until the end of June, Zhao Hongrun and his party finally returned to Daliang, the capital of Wei State, at the end of the month.
Before that, Zhao Hongrun was quite worried about the war between Wei and South Korea, but when he returned to Daliang, he saw that Daliang was still Daliang, and the soldiers and civilians in the city had not had any negative impact due to the war in northern Xinjiang.
This made Zhao Hongrun secretly relieved, and at the same time, he also had a slightly changed view of Hongli, the crown prince of the East Palace. After all, according to the information, the former high-ranking subordinate of the East Palace was still fighting with the Korean army in the difficult northern Xinjiang.
Mi Jiang and the other Prince Su guards were sent back to Prince Su's Mansion first. Zhao Hongrun only brought Wei Jiao, the chief of the royal guards, to the palace unimpeded.
Along the way, the guards and guards who saw His Royal Highness King Su kowtowed to the ground and looked at him with admiration and admiration.
After all, the news that "allied forces conquered the Chu State with great success and forced the Chu State to sue for peace" had already spread back to Daliang.
Even the guards outside Chui Gong Palace did not dare to stop His Highness Prince Su.
Under the admiring gaze of everyone, Zhao Hongrun stepped into the Chui Gong Hall and saw his father, Emperor Wei, concentrating on reviewing the memorial. He suddenly burst into laughter, and Emperor Wei trembled in surprise and almost lost his grip on the brush in his hand.