. Chapter 394 The Four Qings plotted and Zheng Guo was trapped
In the days that followed, the four ministers couldn't help but feel a little surprised when they found out that Jin Chugong didn't make a fuss. The four ministers all invariably had three big question marks on their foreheads. Do the Fourth Ministers and others know Jin Chugong's character? At best, he is a sweetheart, at worst, he is a fool. This kind of person attaches great importance to face, and often does not know what compromise is. They only focus on the results and ignore the process.
Zhiyao is proud, but people are not stupid. Moreover, a person's pride also depends on his opponent and the situation. After all, Jin Chugong has a great cause, and maybe he will really turn him into a serf and sing. That is not impossible. If Jin Chu Gong Xianyu is really turned around, it will not only be a matter of Zhiyao being ridiculed, but also the lives of the whole family may not be saved.
Zhiyao finally decided to put aside her prejudices temporarily and summoned Zhao Wuxie, Han Hu, and Wei Ju outside Xintian City to discuss how to deal with Jin's business trip. Although Zhao Wuxie and the others were afraid that Zhiyao would carry out a beheading operation, they also felt that it was necessary to reach an agreement on this matter. In the end, Zhao Wuxie and the others came to the meeting without leaving any one behind.
"Wuxie! What do you think Ji Zhe (Jin Chu's public name) wants to do?" After the four ministers were seated, Zhiyao turned to look at the ordinary-looking Zhao Wuxie and said carelessly. Although Zhiyao is careless, if you look at Zhiyao's face carefully, you will probably find that his carelessness is at least partly fake. Obviously Zhiyao is not as relaxed in his heart as he appears on the surface.
Zhao Wuxie was much more restrained than Zhiyao. He did not directly address Jin Chugong by his name. He said calmly: "They are probably preparing a new decree to force us to give up our fiefdom, right?"
"Where's the sheep? As long as our four ministers unite closely together, what else can Ji Zhe do to us?" Han Hu took a sip of sweet wine and said with a smile.
"That's right. As long as our four ministers are united, even if the monarch raises an army, will it be of any use?" Wei Juxiong said boldly. However, he did have the capital to say this. The Wei family was not the most powerful among the four ministers, nor did it have the most troops. However, if we talk about the same number, Wei's soldiers are definitely the most powerful, especially infantry and archery.
In terms of the heavy infantry of the Wei family, not to mention being the most powerful in the Jin state, they are also second to none in the world. Strictly speaking, this Wei heavy infantry is still the immature form of the Wei soldiers who defeated the Qin State in the early Warring States Period with 50,000 soldiers and nearly defeated the Qin State. It can be seen immediately how powerful their fighting power is.
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? It is because Wei's soldiers are strong, so when Wei's soldiers pick up bows and arrows, they are all hard bows. On the battlefield, where there is no need for exquisite archery skills, just about the same is enough. Coupled with a hard bow, the power of the arrows shot back will be much greater. Before hand-to-hand combat, three rounds of arrow rain will damage the arrows. The number of soldiers is considerable.
Zhiyao was a little unhappy after hearing this. He was a very proud person, but when he rolled his eyes, he thought of a trap and wanted Wei Ju to jump into it.
Zhiyao smiled at Wei Ju with a kind face and said, "In the future, we will have to rely on the Wei family to deal with the monarch!"
When Wei Ju heard this, his heart suddenly trembled. Although Zhiyao's words were ordinary, he actually encouraged Wei Ju to be the first, and even killed Jin Chugong. Needless to say, the consequences of being a leader were the worst. In addition, killing Guo Qi was a very big deal at that time, and no one wanted to take the blame.
Wei Ju laughed dryly and changed the subject: "We will discuss this matter later. No one knows what the monarch thinks now. But Uncle Zhi, you are not so kind. The batch of grain you sold to me a few days ago actually contained There is old grain! This is not possible, the price I gave you is the price of fresh grain!"
Seeing that Wei Ju was not falling into the trap, Zhiyao was in a bad mood. Moreover, Wei Ju is still complaining about himself. What does this mean? Fight back? Zhiyao immediately retorted: "I sold it to you for twenty-five cents per stone! You still want it to be all fresh grain. Then I might as well sell it to Yang Zizhen! Yang Zizhen repurchased grain in the Song Dynasty , thirty thousand shi per shi, I sold it to him, leaving aside the shipping fee, one shi of grain was less than two yen more! After all, the 30,000 shi of grain I sold to you made me earn 60,000 to 70,000 yuan less, and you What else do you want?"
Wei Ju was also angry. He put his hands on the table and said angrily: "Why don't you say that we settled the deal half a year ago? At that time, the price I gave was not only fair, it was also considered too high. ! Why didn¡¯t you Zhiyao tell me this? And don¡¯t forget that we agreed on the price. What does it mean now? Calculate the loss to my Wei family? What kind of logic is this? Zhiyao, let me tell you, I No matter how much you sell to Yang Zizhen per stone, even if it's one hundred dollars per stone, I, Wei Ju, can't care about it, but you have to give me new food! Otherwise our Wei family won't let it go like this!" Zhiyao's face turned dark immediately after hearing this.Wake up, he is not afraid of Wei Ju, and is just about to confront Wei Ju Sheng.
At this time, Han Hu saw that things seemed to be getting louder and louder, so he immediately jumped out and said to Xini: "Okay! Okay! It's the time now. If we are still fighting among ourselves, wouldn't we let Ji Zhe Will you laugh at us if you find out?"
After Han Hu finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at Zhao Wuxie, his eyes seemed to say, Zhao Wuxie, please come out and persuade me!
If it were normal times, Zhao Wuxie would be happy to watch Zhiyao and Wei Ju fight, but now that Jin is on business, he is watching from the side. Zhao Wuxie didn't want the Wei family and the Zhi family to be at war with each other at this time. Zhao Wuxie nodded slightly towards Han Hu, looked at Zhi Yao and said: "Uncle Zhi, what you did was indeed not kind enough, but Wei Ju, what Uncle Zhi said It makes sense. Let me see it this way! Uncle Zhi gave Wei Ju another thousand shi of new grain and let it go. What do you think?
A thousand shi of fresh grain would cost 30,000 yuan if sold to the Song Dynasty. Even within the Jin Dynasty, it would cost 25,000 yuan. Wei Ju thought about it and felt that the compensation was acceptable. He nodded and said, "I agree, but".
Having said this, Wei Ju looked at Zhiyao sideways, which was equivalent to saying, it's up to you now.
Zhiyao thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay! I'll have someone send a thousand stones to Wei Ju when I get back!"
In fact, Zhiyao also has Zhiyao¡¯s thoughts. Although Qian Shi is said to be worth more than 20,000 to 30,000 yuan when sold to him, don¡¯t forget that these are all produced and sold by Zhi¡¯s family. In other words, Zhiyao gave Wei Ju the cost price. Strictly speaking, Zhiyao only lost a little more than 10,000 yuan, or even 10,000 yuan was not enough. But he earned more than 10,000 yuan from the old grains he mixed with Wei Ju, but more than 30,000 yuan. The most important thing is that if Zhiyao doesn't agree, Zhao Wuxie and Han Hu may not say anything, but they will never stand on Zhiyao's side.
It¡¯s okay to offend the Wei family, but it¡¯s not okay to offend the Wei family, the Zhao family, and the Han family at the same time. After considering the pros and cons, Zhiyao readily agreed, but no matter what, everyone was happy.
Seeing that both Wei Ju and Zhiyao were satisfied, Zhao Wuxie brought the conversation back to its original track. "Uncle Zhi, I think we should all start preparing for war! As the saying goes, don't be afraid of anything but ten thousand, so we might as well be prepared. The nature of a monarch is like a blazing fire, but now it's like a flat lake. I'm really uneasy!"
Zhiyao thought for a while and thought that what Zhao Wuxie said was reasonable, but he was unwilling to compare with Zhao Wuxie. After thinking for a while, he suggested: "What Wuxie said makes sense, but we can't just be defensive. As the saying goes, only those who can be thieves for a thousand days, where are those who can guard against thieves for a thousand days? We simply force Ji Zhe to raise an army, otherwise, if we are on guard every day, which one of you can sleep peacefully?"
When Wei Ju and Han Hu heard this, they immediately felt that Zhiyao¡¯s words were profound and reasonable! Immediately he nodded like a chicken. "What Uncle Zhi said! Great kindness!" In this way, the gathering of the Four Ministers also reached an agreement. Although the two sides still had many conflicts, these conflicts were resolved under the appearance of Jin Chugong, a king who wanted to make the government rise again. They have become able to coordinate and tolerate. Now everything is aimed at overthrowing Jin Chugong. Even someone as arrogant as Zhiyao doesn't have much opinion on this.
Speaking back to Yang Zizhen, after more than a month of thinking, Yang Zizhen finally thought of a solution that was not a solution. In February, after Yang Ziyou reorganized the army gathered in Yeyi, the army immediately went straight to Nanzheng, the capital of Zheng State, and Yang Ziyou ignored the cities along the way.
After the army arrived at Nanzheng, Yang Zizheng did not choose to attack the city, but only surrounded Nanzheng. And let the subsequent soldiers build forts and roads along the way, and build them into grain roads.
Then Yang Zizhen left 50,000 people from Chu to surround Nanzheng, and then returned to the coalition forces to reorganize military affairs. Yang Zizhen ordered that in addition to soldiers from Song and Han, soldiers from other coalition forces were stationed at fortresses along the way. The soldiers of the Song Dynasty escorted the grain, and the soldiers of the Han Dynasty patrolled near the grain road. No one was relaxed.
Among them, the Han cavalry was the most majestic, coming and going like the wind. Although the Zheng soldiers were determined to rob the coalition's food. But the soldiers who had no choice but to plunder food had just left the city gate for a short time when they saw the Han cavalry who had received the news and rushed towards them, killing those soldiers to pieces. There was even a small city that was defeated by the Han cavalry. They took the opportunity to attack the city and captured it. Although the city was small, it was of great significance.
This news had spread throughout Zheng State in just three days, including Nanzheng, the capital of Zheng State, which was surrounded by 50,000 Chu troops. All the soldiers and civilians in the city knew about it. Maybe some people are wondering, isn't Nanzheng City surrounded? How do you know the inevitable news?
??Actually, it¡¯s not the Chu army¡¯s fault. Fifty thousand Chu soldiers may sound like a lot, but if they want to trap the capital of Nanzheng to death, it¡¯s impossible. The main force in encircling the city is still the city.?? direction to prevent the Zheng army from breaking through. As for the city wall, the defensive force is not large, but some soldiers are sent to guard it symbolically.
Because people can only be sent away on bamboo baskets on the top and bottom of the city wall, and there are at most three people on the top and bottom of the city wall. If you are fatter, it may be difficult for two people. Because of this, although the Chu army knew that Zheng people secretly went outside to inquire about information from time to time, they ignored them.
The main thing is that it can¡¯t make a difference. What can two or three people do? In addition, those people sent out are all elites. One or two people sneak into the Chu army camp and want to find them out. It will take a lot of trouble. It is hard to say whether they can be found or not. After all, how difficult would it be to hide three more people in a camp of fifty thousand people?
After about half a month, the Zheng soldiers almost did not dare to step out of the city gate. Yang Zizhen also became much calmer and his mind became more alert. He felt that if things continued like this, he might be able to kill Zheng Guo, but the price he paid was too high, so Zheng Guo had to bear part of it.
Yang Zizhen mobilized 15,000 people from the coalition forces stationed on the grain road and sent them to various parts of the Zheng State to capture all the Zheng people. Because of the intimidation of the Han army's cavalry, although the Zheng people knew that the Han army was arresting people, they only watched helplessly and did not dare to send troops to plunder.
Yang Ziyi gathered all the captured Zheng people to farm near Nanzheng, and captured a total of 40,000 people. Because Nanzheng was built on the edge of the clear water, Yang Ziyi sent people to fish specifically on the edge of the clear water. Later, he simply built fish ponds by the river. If you ignore the tense confrontation in Nanzheng, this decision is a nice pastoral scene, full of people's domineering attitude towards life.
What Yang Zizheng did was not just to let the Zheng people plow the fields for him and save military rations. It also had another effect, which was to demoralize Nanzheng. These actions of Yang Zizhen seemed to be telling the defenders of Nanzheng, look! I am plowing and preparing for a long siege! I have built fish ponds on such a large scale and sent people to take charge of spring plowing. Naturally, I cannot let go easily and take advantage of Zheng Guo, so don't think about waiting for me to leave. It has to be said that as soon as Yang Ziyi came up with this strategy, even if Qin Huali, Mozi's most outstanding disciple, took charge of Nanzheng in person, everyone in Nanzheng City was worried. Qin Huali had nothing to do about this. Yang Ziyou's strategy was a conspiracy. The only thing Qin Huali could do was to ask Zheng Shenggong, the king of Zheng, to come forward and appease people in Nanzheng City. However, the strategy given by Qin Huali is not of much use. Although Nanzheng is not a small city, it is one of the largest cities in the Central Plains. But no matter how small it is, it is still a city. It is densely populated and it is impossible to farm in it. Even if it is cultivated, how much open land will there be for him to cultivate? This means that Nanzheng City cannot make ends meet. The most important thing is that there is not much food in Nanzheng City. At most, it is enough to support Nanzheng for a year.
Originally, there was a lot of grain stored in Nanzheng City, enough to last for nearly three years during the war. But when Zheng Guo and Chu State started fighting, the soldiers were all pulled to the front line, and the food was naturally transported to the front line in an endless stream. Later, Yang Ziyou decided to send troops to attack Zheng Guo, which was even more incredible. Ji Zichao, the ruler of Zheng Guo, immediately decided to defend to the death. Mobilizing civilians in border cities to strengthen city defenses and sending soldiers to defend the cities, this defense will naturally produce food, which further consumes Nanzheng's stored food.
Originally, there was nothing wrong with this. The only fault was that Ji Zichao had no idea that Yang Ziyou would send troops without following the routine and directly insert himself into the capital of Zheng with his huge military advantage. If it were other countries, their food routes would have been harassed long ago, and their military morale would be unstable.
In fact, the reason for this is that Ji Zichao did not really realize the pros and cons of both sides.
Yang Zizheng was able to do this because he had 110,000 men under his command. He had enough soldiers to escort the grain road along the way and could also trap Nanzheng.
Secondly, Zheng¡¯s territory is not large, which means there is no strategic depth. Yang Zizhen¡¯s attack from the border to Nanzheng is about 150 miles away. During this 150-mile journey, Yang Zizheng sent nearly 35,000 troops to build forts and garrison them, as well as 16,000 soldiers to escort the food. Even if the Zheng people knew that this was a food route for the multinational coalition, there was nothing they could do.
Thirdly, Zheng State is located in the Central Plains and the terrain is flat. It is completely possible to bypass the solid city walls and find a suitable grain road. If it were a mountainous and complex terrain like North Korea, let alone one hundred and fifty miles, Yang Zizhen would not dare to be so careless even if it was fifty miles.
" Others can just find a big mountain and build a temporary walled city on the mountain, which is enough for the multinational coalition forces to break into a bloody battle.
In addition, we can also fight guerrilla warfare with you. Anyway, the local area has many mountains and dense forests. In addition, as a local, he is familiar with the road conditions, and he can completely throw away the chasing soldiers eight streets. Maybe, the soldiers who are chasing them will be distracted and eventually give the enemy a counter-attack. Even if they don't fight back, the complicated terrain is likely to cause the pursuers to get lost. If it causes non-combat attrition, it will really make you vomit three liters of blood. But in the flat terrain of Zheng State, it is simply a paradise for cavalry. Give it a try?Guerrilla warfare? One of you will die, one of you will die, two of you will die, and one of you will die.
As a result, Zheng Guo was miserable. Zheng Guo had an army but could not move. Yang Ziyou made it clear that I will not attack the city and grind you to death. Zhigui knew that Ji Zi had an army of 50,000 in the sky, but he did not dare to go out of the city to support Nanzheng.
Zheng Shenggong is also an unknown person, and there is no sign of reinforcements. Although my family doesn't have to worry about running out of food now, what about the future? Duke Sheng of Zheng was afraid, but only in the past month or so, Duke Sheng of Zheng secretly sent someone to see Yang Zilu and ask for peace with Yang Zizhen.
To be honest, the conditions given by Zheng Shenggong are not small. According to the overlord's specifications, not to mention paying tribute to Han every year, Zheng Guo will cover Han's military expenses this time! But is Yang Zizheng worried about Zheng Guo? Of course not. What Yang Zizhen cared about was the territory of the Zheng State, so the conditions given by Yang Zizhen were very harsh and the Zheng State moved its capital. Moving to Wanqiu, the original capital of Chen State, was equivalent to a transfer of enfeoffment.
The State of Zheng moved to the original territory of the State of Chen, and Yang Zizhen set aside a place for them. Moreover, Yang Ziyou also stipulated that the appointment of Zheng Guo to be in power would only be valid if he, Yang Ziyi, nodded. Yang Ziyou's rule is equivalent to making it impossible for anyone who is in charge of the Zheng State to be hostile to the Han State. It is estimated that most of them are pro-Han people. Even if they are from the Zhongzhi faction, they are unlikely to be the ruler of the Zheng State. .
And when they moved to a new place, Zheng Guo was considered unfamiliar at that time and could only rely on Han Guo. Those who made their own decisions were regarded as vassals of Han Guo. Although Zheng Shenggong was relatively mediocre, he was not without self-esteem, so he naturally refused to agree to Yang Zizheng's conditions. In fact, if Zheng Shenggong dares to agree, I am afraid that Ji Zichao and others on the front line will not agree either. Blink: Thank you to my book friends Aimei Aimei and Qinghenmantian for the reward. I¡¯m really sorry that there was no update yesterday! Mumu's uncle's birthday was yesterday and he went to a restaurant to celebrate his birthday. It was nothing at first, but he was poured red wine by some unscrupulous elders. It was nothing at first, but the red wine has great stamina.
I have forgotten why Mumu got home. Anyway, it was already the next day when Mumu woke up. Sorry! (To be continued