At the same time, the guards of the Western Front were completely imprisoned and killed by the Xian army in the north of Rui County, and after Rui County suffered a defeat, the Wei army saw the advantages of the Xian army's firearms, and no longer dared to continue to fight in the south, and at the same time, the Western Front Guards had to begin to face another fatal problem, which was grain and grass.

Because the war did not end, the Weiguo did not have a good economic production in the territory occupied by Changsun during the war, and at the same time, the economic plundering policy of war and war basically squeezed out the economic potential of the seven counties of Changsun in the past three years.

Now that the Xian State had cut off all the channels for the Wei army to retreat south, the Wei King could only transfer grain and grass from the territory of the Liang State to supply the northern Wei army after reaching a compromise with the Liang State.

Based on this, after defeating the main force of the Western Front Guards in mid-January, Bailiyan began to persuade the Western Front Guards to surrender.

The original plan was for the Third Army to go north to control the important parts of Changsun territory occupied by the Guards, cut off its grain and grass supplies and communication routes, isolate the Guards in various places, wait for them to attack, and then break through each of them. Due to the intervention of the Liang State and the continuation of the original strategy, the Wei Army had the threat of retreating into the Liang State movement behind the Xian Army and cutting off the junction of the Third and Second Armies.

Bailiyan then decided to use military oppression and bribery and persuasion as a supplementary policy to disintegrate the Western Front Guard.

Thanks to the fact that most of the old land occupied by Wei Guo fell into the hands of the Xian army, and at the same time, we should be more grateful for the eastward migration plan of the nobles implemented by King Wei back then.

And the families of two of the three younger brothers of King Wei are small, at least their grandsons, wives, second sons, wives and concubines and other incidental relatives and properties, which are now held hostage in the hands of the Xianjun.

The Xian army did not kill or rob everywhere, opened warehouses and released grain to appease the people, except for some insistence on resistance, most of them opened the city peacefully, and the local economy and population were basically not destroyed and plundered, and now most of the nobles and generals of the Wei army were under the control of the Xian army, and the lifeblood of the Western Front Guard Army was in the hands of the Xian army.

On the sixth day of the second month, the guard Zhong Ting sent a secret envoy to Xue Sheng's camp to ask for secret talks in the south, and the time that Bailiyan had been waiting for finally came, so he asked Zong Botai to exchange views:

"Mr. Zongbo, what do you think Zhong Ting's intention is here?"

"As expected, one is a small family, and the other is to be self-reliant."

"Oh, self-reliance!" Bai Liyan paused for a moment, and then said: "Self-reliance requires the canonization of the Son of Heaven, and our country is still a state under the Jin State, and it may not be appropriate to ordain the princes."

Since the existence of the Liang State, the princes have only decreased but not increased, if Zhong Ting wants to stand on his own, King Wei will not allow him, and the Liang State may not be able to tolerate him. Now that he has come to negotiate with our army, I am afraid that this will not be easy to do. ”

Although the Xian State is now nominally the overlord, politically the Xian State still wears the hat of the lower state of the Jin State, and the Jin and Xian are both princes of the Liang State. That is to say, the political status of the Xian State is actually two levels lower than that of the Liang State, and today's situation is the result of economic and military support, and politically it is still a dwarf who has not turned over, so it is not justifiable for the Xian State to directly canonize the princes.

Of course, since ancient times, military hegemony has always been the main theme, and the world hegemon is all a hegemon of both economy and military, relying solely on military achievements, without economic support, the military hegemon will sooner or later abdicate and make way for the virtuous.

The technological dividends brought about by the development of science and technology in Xianguo have given birth to advanced weapons and military systems, and the economic success has also matched the existing national strength and social development, but behind the economic success is that the supply of raw materials for the entire Central Plains is controlled by others.

The Xianguo needs to import a large amount of cotton, soybeans, oil, minerals and other raw materials necessary for production, and tung oil, which was still self-sufficient 20 years ago, cannot keep up with the pace of domestic agricultural policy adjustment due to the acceleration of industrialization, and now it also needs to import from Changsun and Jin. Cotton is not only used for weaving, but also an important raw material for the production of single-base gunpowder nitrocellulose.

Therefore, the economic appearance of the Xian State was prosperous, and the deep economic operation of the internal state was severely restricted by the princes of various countries. In a sense, the purpose of defending the country is to obtain the economic production areas and labor force of the Changsun Kingdom and the Central Plains.

However, because the country was extremely passive politically and relied heavily on imports of economic raw materials, it had to be militarily tough to defend its economic gains, and this toughness had to be limited. Neither can they fall below the red line of the princes of various countries, nor can they be hurt by a strong backlash.

The Xianguo attacked and defended, and the princes did not dare to offend because of the military strength of the Xianguo, but if the Xianguo swallowed the fifteen counties of the Weiguo overnight, these princes would also use their brains to touch the guns of the Xianguo, because no one wanted to become the next defender.

Now that Zhong Ting wants to stand on its own, its territory can only be in the land occupied by the Xian army, which cannot bypass the Xian State militarily and politically, and the Liang State cannot be bypassed at the political level.

As a subordinate state of Liang, Xian had no political basis for canonizing princes, and at the same time, the princes arbitrarily established princes and lacked political legitimacy.

Of course, splitting a large country into a small country is more conducive to exploitation and manipulation, but Bailiyan now has to consider more geopolitical fragmentation and the far-reaching impact of future unification.

If the Xian State ordains the princes and provides military guarantees, covering the new princes as the younger brothers, the Xian State must give them economic benefits and national support, which will further divert the economic dilution of the Xian State and dilute the financial resources, and at the same time, the situation will be further complicated by new geopolitical changes.

Moreover, the new princes are all the lower states of the Xian State, and the upper state of the Jin State is not even more of a great suzerain, and the Jin State is remotely controlled, and even infiltrates the newborn princes, and the final benefit is the Jin State.

If the Xian State did not protect the nascent princes by force and economy, they would inevitably be attacked and destroyed by other princes, further aggravating the turmoil in the Central Plains, which was not the result that Bailiyan wanted. Therefore, if Zhong Ting wants to stand on his own, the situation will be more complicated.

But if Zhong Ting's request for independence is not granted, the negotiations may be even longer, so that the Wei army will be pushed to the side of Liang.

The Wei army is now intimidated by the force of the Xian army and the hostages of their wives and children, and has lost the courage to continue fighting the Xian army, but this does not mean that the Wei army has no way to retreat.

If the guards on the Western Front obeyed King Wei's arrangement to make a comprehensive peace with Liang State, delayed it for a long time without fighting, or avoided frontal negotiations, dragged it until the national strength of Xian State bottomed out, and finally forced back to the negotiating table, then the value of the bargaining chip of the wife and the little hostage may be greatly weakened, so the timeliness of the bargaining chip has become the focus of Bailiyan's careful consideration at present.

While thinking about it, Zong Botai took over and said:

"The deputy marshal might as well make contact with Zhong Ting first to test his bottom line. And the matter of canonizing the princes can go with the flow and make another plan. ”

"Something else? How to plan something else. ”

"Today, most of the remaining princes in the Central Plains are the founding princes of the Liang Dynasty, and they only decrease but do not increase according to the rules. But there is no absolute, there have always been princes who are divided and self-reliant, and the Liang State has not crusaded and canonized, so it can be seen that if it is beneficial to the Liang State, Liang Tianzi will still be canonized. Now the Weiguo and the Four Kingdoms of the West Sea were separated back then, and if the Weiguo is divided again, as long as it is beneficial to the Liang State, it will still be canonized. ”

"Mr. is saying that as long as Liang Guo is given benefits, this situation can be broken."

"Yes, but the deputy marshal still needs to beware of Zhong Mi and Zhong Huai from concocting the same method and establishing themselves as kings, so as not to worsen the situation."

"I'm afraid it's going to be very difficult. There are many factions within the Wei Army, and it is only a matter of time before the news leaks out, and Zhong Ting only represents a force of the Western Front Guards, and does not include other Wei Army, so it must not be too long to hide the news of Zhong Ting's self-reliance. However, if Zhong Mi and Zhong Huai both want to stand on their own, Ben Shuai has a way to break it. ”

Zong Botai's eyes lit up when he heard the news, he knew very well that Bailiyan did not want to see the Central Plains territory continue to be shattered, and then seal a few more separatist vassal kings, but he really couldn't think of a good way to suppress the forces of the guards and cut the land and stand on their own. So he asked:

"I don't know what kind of good strategy the deputy marshal can break this situation."

Bai Liyan smiled mysteriously, looking very inscrutable, he said:

"The secret of heaven cannot be revealed, and it cannot be said, hehe......"

"Oh......"

Zong Botai sighed lightly and didn't ask more. But in my mind, I have already begun to deduce and calculate, and soon I came up with some clues.

Agreeing on the plan with Zong Botai, Bailiyan repeatedly and carefully deliberated for more than an hour, and then led more than 500 escorts and cavalry to rush north to Xue Sheng's camp in Rui County to negotiate with Zhong Ting on self-reliance.

Zhong Ting is the second brother of the current Wei Wang Zhong Dong and the second son of the old Wang Zhong Sheng. Zhong Sheng was brutal, and his four sons basically inherited this fine "bloodline".

But Zhong Sheng is not a faint monarch, he has made great achievements in domestic affairs, under his control, the old aristocratic slavery has been brought to the peak, so that Wei Guo has created a national strength that is ahead of the times with an extremely backward system, coupled with a vast territory and abundant population, Wei Guo can be among the great powers.

However, the price is to quench one's thirst and emasculate the road of reform on one's own, losing the possibility of iterative evolution of advanced ideas.

Zhong Sheng lived a long life, and died in 625 at the age of sixty-three, but he had a son late, and did not get the first son Zhong Dong until he was thirty-five years old, and then gave birth to the second son Zhong Ting, the third son Zhong Mi, and the fourth son Zhong Huai, so now King Wei and his three brothers are in their prime. Especially Zhong Mi and Zhong Huai are old men, just young and vigorous. But it is also the old man, Zhong Mi and Zhong Huai are not as powerful as the second brother Zhong Ting.

The power system of defending the country has always been quite complicated, before Zhong Sheng took power, it was scattered in the hands of more than 100 core nobles of all sizes across the country, and the total number of guards was very large, but half of the army was owned by the powerful, which was also the main reason why it had not been harmful to the Central Plains.

After Zhong Sheng came to power, in order to change this situation, he launched the Battle of the West Sea in 610, which shocked the Central Plains, and defeated the alliance of the four countries of the West Sea in Yuluye.

Through the war, Zhong Sheng was able to recover some of the military power of the nobles, and at the same time, by capturing the slaves of the four kingdoms of the West Sea, he monopolized the privileges of slaves, and then exchanged slaves for military power, forcing most of the powerful to compromise.

Since slaves were an important means of economic production in a slave society, whoever monopolized the slaves could get more economic resources. And raising soldiers requires money and food, and slave farming produces money and food, and slaves have to be exchanged for military power, so step by step the military power of the princes is stifled.

This is the first time that the country has tried to centralize rights, but it is constrained by technology, productivity, and ideas, and the rights holders who have collected them need to be controlled. For this reason, Zhong Sheng recruited a group of cronies, supported his cronies and ministers, married their daughters or married his own sisters, and concentrated power in the hands of a few people, which laid a hidden danger for the "disaster of the four sons".