When it comes to integrity, Sui Guo's senior official Zeng Shan is indispensable. Otherwise, he would not be busy with Sui Guo's safety even at his old age.
In order to avoid being annexed by the Chu State, it can be said that Wu Wei Wang Gou Chen made a big bet, and then he continued to live in peace for many years.
people.
Master Zeng also has a unique vision. He can see the difference between the Hanzi Kingdom and the Wu Kingdom. The system is just weird. The key is the ability to digest and absorb the bottom layer, which is not on the same level at all.
During the period of King Wu Wei, Wu State's utilization rate of barbarians was quite low, and the system construction was extremely chaotic. This made the old monster mainly rely on, from beginning to end, the core population of the Gusu Wangji area.
That is to say, although the old monster is a great gambler, he can still win every time he plays stud. If he really encounters the people of Chu who want to steal chickens, as long as he wins in one wave, Wu will have no hope of recovering his losses.
It's a pity that the old monster didn't give the Chu State such a chance until his death. Even the Yue State, which had the possibility of stealing the chicken Gusu, was directly defeated.
What is even more shocking is that because it was the old monster's death battle, the last battle of his life, the survivors of the Yue Kingdom did not dare to quickly organize a rebellion after his death.
The reason is simple and breathtaking.
That kind of overlord's residual power really makes a large number of lower-level Yue warriors dare not act recklessly. It takes time to digest the fear of the overlord's residual power.
It was also during this period that Sui Guo hooked up with Li Jie, and Zeng Shan's second big bet was on Li Jie.
Even at all costs, even Suihou's own daughter joined him, and he tightened his belt to support Huaizhong City with food and grass.
It may seem like a brainless or even unlimited operation, but the final harvest is extremely rich. After the large-scale guerrilla war on both sides of the Huaishui River ended, the development momentum of Huaizhong City is extremely rapid.
The granary in Xu's hometown was redeveloped in less than half a year.
If the unit yield per mu is not enough, then the total output will be increased. Coupled with advanced agricultural technology and more advanced organizational management, in the eyes of Master Zeng, the food pressure in Huaizhong City is decreasing day by day.
Later, as Huaizhong City began to return the grain borrowed from Sui State, Sui State also began to operate the re-export trade of Huaizhong City's specialties.
After all, the Yangtze River waterway is not easy to travel these days without strength. The Pengli River, like the sea, lies across the intersection of Wu and Chu.
Communication on land has naturally become an important way.
At the intersection of Huai and Han, even if you don't go through the three passes of the Dabie Mountains and follow the caravan detour, you can still make a guaranteed three times profit. Then the special products of Huai Zhong City, such as glassware, ceramics, lacquerware, etc., will be transported to the south through Mishui
, profits directly doubled.
If the burden is bigger and they go directly to Yunmengze, Zhouguo or Luoguo in the south of the Yangtze River, then even if it is an exchange transaction, the guaranteed profit will be ten times.
Compared with the consumption of borrowing food in the first place, organizing two caravans can make back the money.
The benefits are visible, but Master Zeng did not think that everything would be fine just because he saw the benefits.
The location of Suiguo was destined to become the focus of the conflict between Chu and Han.
Even if it was not a battleground for military strategists originally, it will now become a battleground for military strategists.
And this is what Zeng Shan is very anxious about. He is afraid that Li Jie will destroy Suiguo early for convenience, which makes Suihou unable to rush to hell with peace of mind.
For Zeng Shan, this is where his career is imperfect.
Therefore, he had to find a way to delay Suihou until he stepped down, or passed the throne to a certain prince, and then the last king of Sui country would no longer be him.
Psychologically, I feel better after all.
As for saying that the ancestral heritage should not be abandoned lightly, that also depends on when.
If it were still the time when Emperor Zhou had conquered the world and had 1,800 states, then there would be no need to be afraid. The boss, Emperor Zhou, was the strongest and could attack whoever he wanted. If he could not defend this ancestral foundation, he would just sway others.
Now Emperor Zhou is a rookie himself, and he has made Li Jie, a barbarian who came out of nowhere, a man. Who can Sui Guo rely on? No one can be relied on.
This is no longer the era when Jin and Chu were fighting each other. Jin didn't care about the rise and fall of the country.
The reality is so cruel. Sui State will either be annexed by Chu State or Han State. Compared with Chu State, which cannibalizes people without spitting out bones, the conditions and treatment provided by Hanzi State are obviously much more favorable.
Is there any model project? The best example is the former king of Yangguo, the king of Yangguo, who can still serve as an official.
Living people are easier to talk about than anything else.
The old doctor also thought about this. If the Han Dynasty merged with Sui at this time, he would be the boss Suihou, and he could also work as a pensioner. As long as he didn't seek death, there would be no problem in maintaining his old age.
But again, Master Zeng values his career very much.
He tried his best to let the princes abdicate the throne smoothly. It didn't matter which prince he passed the throne to. As long as the prince was obedient, aware of current affairs, and aware of reality, then everything would be fine.
In this way, it will not be in vain for the emperor and his ministers. He was kind, benevolent and righteous, and his followers will have a good end. After his death, he will go to hell. He is not the last king. As for the anniversary of his death in the future, future generations will not say
Like other subjugated kings, there is not even a piece of cold pork on the grave.
In the Han Dynasty, this kind of problem is not a problem at all.
However, everything takes time to bear. However, Master Zeng obviously could afford to wait at his age, but he was afraid that Li Jie would not be able to wait.
If an irritable man picks up an ax and says he wants to "eliminate all evil" and then threatens to kill all the remaining villains of Chu, where can he go to reason?
From top to bottom in Suiguo, who can stop Li Jie? At most, Princess Suiguo has some hope.
But is there a shortage of princesses in Huaizhong City?
The most indispensable thing in Huaizhong City is a princess!
So all Zeng Shan can do is try his best. As for the results he can get, he can't control much.
Invite Yubao, Cai Xi, Douzun and others to learn from their experience, and then ask them to help analyze it to see if there is anything that they can do better.
It's just that the old master didn't expect that his outspoken words would stump these people.
Cai Xi is actually very talkative. His way of being an official, or the way of survival, is "only the best." His inner world and actual actions are highly unified.
"Only Shang" is the core, and the specific operation is "laws", but when it comes to "laws" specifically, he used to be Pingyu Sikou, who used the legal provisions he created to restrain and manage those under his rule.
But now, I have to learn it myself and adapt to the laws and regulations of Huaizhong City before applying them in Cai State.
The whole process can be said to be silky smooth.
When others see him, they will just call him a licking dog.
But in fact this is not the case. The knowledge Cai Xi has summarized is how to efficiently develop and grow his master.
Since the existing legal provisions in Huaizhong City are effective and can make Li Jie stronger and turn the originally loose savage into an efficient "national", then Cai Xi will implement it because it will make his master more powerful.
powerful.
Whoever holds back or stumbles is the enemy, and he can use the tool of "law" to "bring justice" to all the powerful "enemies" who hinder the lord.
Cai Xi doesn't care about his reputation within Cai State, nor does he care about his posthumous reputation within Cai State after his death.
Because Cai Xi firmly believes that her knowledge serves her master, then one day, the small Cai Kingdom will be just a corner under the rule of the master.
Looking at the overall situation, why is he so famous?
It is difficult for others to understand what is so good about Cai Xi's knowledge, but this does not prevent Cai Xi from being able to understand the mood of Master Zeng who is sitting across from him.
It's just that Zeng Shan's tool for serving his lord is not just "testaments".
In Zeng Shan's position, his way of thinking and knowledge reserves are completely different from Cai Xi. Zeng Shan cannot easily give up his current master, who is Suihou.
This is "ritual". If the Zeng family wants to live well in the future, the fate of Suihou must be good.
Otherwise, it is obvious that the Zeng family, which has survived two generations by betraying the king, will eventually become a bastard because of this dark history.
Because humans are social animals, future generations can use the term "shameless" to criticize Master Zeng, which will ultimately harm future generations.
Therefore, even if you want to betray Suihou, it cannot be Master Zeng. To be more precise, it should be Suiguo's senior official Zeng Shan, who is favored by Suihou.
Cai Xi felt the same way and understood Zeng Shan's situation very well.
The situations of Master Zeng and Master Cai are completely different.
As the current ruler of Cai Guo, even if Chua Mei rants in public that Dong Cai deserves to be arrested, it will not harm her reputation, because Cai Mei has never been a "minister" to Dong Cai seriously.
He, Cai Mei, came to power, and then he used that old face all over Cai State. This opportunity was given to him by Li Jie.
The reason why the monarch Cai Dong left was because of Zheng Hou Zheng Shuang. If the country was still prosperous, it could be said that the monarch had dragged down the people, not that the people had failed the monarch.
If Cai Dong had not lost his moral integrity, how could he have attracted "rebels", and how could he have colluded with Zheng Guo, which eventually led to the exile of both the kings of Zheng and Cai?
The monarch lost his virtue and eventually lost the country. This was an important cornerstone for Master Cai to gain face in Cai State.
Later, one did not lose his moral character, and the other did not lose his country. The situation was completely different.
So the troublesome part of the matter is here. The best way is of course for Master Zeng to go directly to Zhu Palace, find Li Jie and talk about the matter.
After all, Li Jie always likes to open the skylight and speak frankly. Master Zeng understands this.
But it was winter now, and even if Master Zeng had the heart, he didn't have the strength to go south along the Lishui River.
It was freezing cold. Don't encounter ice on the way. He handed over the old bones on the Qishui River.
What's more, at this time, Handong, except for Shangbo, was pretty good. In other places, it is not an exaggeration to describe it with the words "war and chaos". Those powerful locals in the Chu State with big surnames had armed themselves one after another and established separatist regimes.
Separatist rule, self-protection, self-protection, obviously means to save some strength and conduct peace negotiations with Li Jie.
You can talk only if you have strength. Chu people are not stupid.
Anyway, the Hanzi Kingdom has been established now. Although there are no sacrifices to heaven and gods, but after the seal of Emperor Zhou is stamped, it is not a random stamp.
The local forces of the Chu State in the east of Han Dynasty thought that if Li Jie, the king of the Hanzi Kingdom, wanted to keep his wife safe and stable, he would also give out a handful of positions as ministers and distribute them to everyone one by one.
There are no high-ranking officials or titles, but the country officials and countrymen are all right.
If this is not the case, then it would not be bad to imitate King Wu Wei and create a group of "common people and good people".
With such a mentality of a group of local Chu State forces, how dare Master Zeng be like the Tongchuan Crocodiles, running north and south single-handedly? He was scared to death, even if he got on the Xishui River, he would not be frozen to death, but he would also be killed by this group of Chu people Play to death.
Time waits for no one, and the old master also knew that the Han army was capable of fighting in winter, so after much thought, after being shocked by Douzun's surrender, he immediately went to Sanguan to discuss with Shang Wuji.
But it's one thing to find Shang Wuji, it's another thing to find these people who "sympathize with each other" to gain some experience.
The atmosphere at the small mountain road station at Ming'e Pass was a bit serious. A group of young and old were drinking hot tea there, holding teacups and not knowing where to start.
After Zeng Shan asked the question, Cai Xi hesitated and opened her mouth, still wanting to think about it again.
The tea in each hand gradually ran out. Dou Yu, the son of Dou Zun, stood up and personally filled a circle of tea for a group of seniors. He then took open pine nuts, walnuts, water chestnut cakes, and millet cakes, and brought them one by one to their desks. .
Old Douzun grabbed a handful of pine nuts and peeled one. The fragrant pine nuts were full of oil and exuded an aroma in his mouth. After chewing a little, Douzun continued to peel the pine nuts, relaxed his brows, and then looked at Zeng, who was frowning. Shan: "What worries Zengzi...I don't know the rest. However, if I talk about it from the perspective of military affairs, I have some humble opinions."
"Please also ask Duke Danyang to give me some advice."
With a sigh, Zeng Shan quickly placed the tea cup on the table in front of him, then cupped his hands and bowed deeply.
"How dare you."
Dou Zun peeled off the pine nuts, and then said, "Back then, when Chu was conquering the country, there were two difficulties."
"The first is the Xishui; the second is the green forest. It is unfavorable for the mausoleum to cross the river, and it is even more unfavorable to cross the green forest. Therefore, the attack will not be successful. The only way to succeed is to pass through Hengshan Mountain, make Shangbo the capital of Ying, and attack from the east and west."
Lao Douzun did not talk about anything else, but only explained the problems Sui Guo faced from a military perspective.
When Sui Guo was the vanguard against Chu, the reason why Sui Guo was able to speak loudly was not only that the concubines of Hanyang were still powerful, but also had the support of Emperor Zhou, Jin, Zheng and Cai behind them, it was also because Sui and Chu , there are natural risks.
A natural danger is the Lishui River. The Chu State's expedition originally had to cross the Han River. This process has already greatly increased consumption.
At that time, the Chu State was not so prodigal that it could be wasted casually. If the loss was a little bigger, it would have to save for another year or two before it could regain its health.
With the country's international assistance and its own fairly good financial resources, relying on the Lishui River, unless the Chu State had twenty times its military strength, it would have no chance under the conditions at the time.
In addition, even if the Chu State succeeds and is able to cross the Qishui defense line, no matter how it is passed, whether it is by flying around or swimming, just pretend that the Chu State has passed by, it will be very tiring, but attacking Sui State , we have to face the mountainous area of Green Forest.
Sui Guo is fighting on his own territory, and he obviously knows Green Forest better than the people of Chu State. If they harass him a little, Chu State will have to divide its troops. As long as they divide their troops, they will not fight on their own territory, and the risk will be greatly increased.
This means that if Chu State wants to conquer Sui State, it must first kill the countries around Sui State so that it can make a roundabout way and have good logistics.
The Chu State thought so and did so, but it was a pity that the plan could not keep up with the changes. Who would have thought that King Wu Wei Gou Chen would appear and the entire Chu State's grand strategy would be abruptly interrupted.
Zeng Shan was really lucky and secretly happy to be able to survive for decades.
Now, as the leader of the Dou clan of Chu State, Lao Douzun naturally knew the strategic intentions of Chu State in the past, so now that he talked about it like a chat, it gave Zeng Shan a new understanding.
"What Doujun means is..."
"As far as the country of Sui is concerned, the flowing rivers and green forests are the whole world. As far as the land of Chu is concerned, the flowing rivers and green forests are not barriers."
Douzun's tone was calm and he didn't think too much. He said to Zeng Shan, "Zeng Ziruo, if you think about it carefully, during the peace talks between Chu and Han, Shangbo was not ceded."
The big city Shangbo is equivalent to the protrusion and has become a bridgehead in eastern Han Dynasty.
For the Chu people, it was nothing to stir up trouble around Shangbo and make the Han Dynasty tired of suppressing it, and they were very confident.
However, it is impossible for Li Jie to use too many troops to surround Shangbo. It is certain to establish a certain cordon. The Xishui River is east of the Han River, which is a very good natural cordon.
And there is a close country like Sui State in the upper reaches of Xi River and near Green Forest. Sui State will definitely be happy to help Hanzi State and bring Chu State to death.
Even though I might have had some thoughts before, I definitely don't have any now.
Li Jie cannot let Li Jie feel that it is a waste of time. He must see that using Sui Guo to establish cordons and security lines is rewarding and fruitful.
"If the green forest follows the people and abides by the laws of the Han Dynasty, it will be better."
Cai Guosikou Cai Xi, who had always wanted to speak but didn't, suddenly said this.
Yubao was stunned for a moment, then looked at Cai Xi, and saw that after this person finished speaking, he kept playing with the walnuts in front of him, which meant he understood what this person was thinking.
After listening to Cai Xi's words, Old Master Zeng already had a rough idea in his mind, but he was still not very interested.
He frowned, picked up a handful of pine nuts, peeled them for a while, and then asked: "So, when spring comes next year, men will not plot to follow the country?"
Suiguo is useful, and it is obviously inappropriate to annex Suiguo now. If the people of Suiguo are offended, they might go into the green forest and fight guerrillas with the Hanzi country, which will really outweigh the gains and losses.
But even after thinking about it, Master Zeng still felt that it was not safe. At least he had to let Sui Guo play a greater role. It would be better if he could attract Li Jie's sponsorship.
Therefore, Zeng Shan decided to ask again if there was any good way to bind Sui Guo for two or three years so that Li Jie could use it more easily and not be destroyed by his backhand.
Just when he raised his head, he saw Yu Bao cupping his hands and saying, "Zengzi, why don't you ask Lord Shang to inform Hanzi that he wants to form a 'Yi Cong' in the green forest and water?"
"Um?"
Yu Bao's suggestion directly opened up a new way of thinking for Old Master Zeng. He suddenly thought that instead of just "obeying", it would be better to do it in one step and directly become Li Jie's man.
Thinking of this, Zeng Shan thought about it, and still asked a few people directly: "How about following the country to use the green forest as a gift, and congratulating the man on being granted the title...?"
"As a gift from the green forest?"
"If it's so...wonderful."
"color!"
Even Dou Zun clapped his hands and praised him, while Dou Yu behind him didn't know why and asked in a low voice: "Master, what's so wonderful about this move?"
Douzun said loudly and cheerfully: "Zengzi's move is to turn Green Forest into Han land. May I ask, what country are the people of Green Forest at this time?"
"Suiguo."
"If the green forest is a ritual and becomes the land of the Han Dynasty, let me ask again, which country are the people of the green forest at this time?"
"This...is naturally the country of Han."
After Douyu answered, he was also shocked and said immediately, "This is not just 'righteous obedience'."
When the people under your rule come to seek refuge, they have to be retrained no matter what. The standards are not as good as those of brave men, so the new righteous soldiers can always have a try.
"Since it's a congratulation, it's not as good as calling him a 'hero' to please a man."
"A good man? Hmm... very good."
The old master finally relaxed his brows, brushed his beard and smiled.