King Zhi gave up the land of the four counties, which surprised Bailiyan, as a result, there are only four remaining counties left in the east of the Sishui River in the Sun State, of which Jiao County and Jianghui County border Xu State, and half of the Xu State has fallen, and it is difficult to go north to recover all the lost land in a short time, and Zhi Guo has time to take Jiao County and Jianghui County, so Xu State will have no gain in the northeast front, and can only seek to occupy Sun State's land on the northwest front.

In this way, Xu Guo and Wei Guo collided in the northwest, while Zhiguo may continue to cross the Sishui River and march westward, capturing several counties.

In this way, after the Xu State occupied the land of the Sun State, it may be sandwiched between the three kingdoms of Weiguo, Changsun State, and Zhiguo, and it is still possible for Zhiguo to avoid bordering Weiguo.

Walking out of the Zhiguo Pavilion Station, Bailiyan immediately returned to the palace to inform King Xian of the results of the negotiation, and the negotiation was smooth and surprisingly smooth, and King Xian was very happy to get the promise of the four counties.

However, the situation was not very favorable to Xianguo, and it was likely that the Xian army would not be able to capture Ganfu County after capturing Shangguan County.

Ganfu as a rich place of Sun Guo, there is a granary of the Great Plains in the lower reaches of the Sishui River, Changsun Guo is a pig, and he can also attack Ganfu County with a water army, taking the lead, most of the Xian army and water army have lost their combat power, and can only attack with infantry cavalry, and there will not be enough time to arrive in Ganfu County before Changsun Guo, unless Changsun Guo himself has a problem.

"Great King, the situation is unfavorable to King Zhi's promise to the four counties, and the second is that King Zhi has other requirements."

"What are the requirements?"

"King Zhi wants my country's gunpowder formula."

"What, how can this be true!" King Xian was furious: "Black fire powder is a sharp weapon for the town, how can it be granted to other countries." ”

"King, the minister thinks the recipe can be given."

King Xian was puzzled and hurriedly asked:

"Aiqing, why is this!"

"Because our country already has more powerful gunpowder, the value of black fire powder has been weakened, and this is one of them. Second, black fire powder must be combined with artillery to see power, even if Zhiguo can make black powder, its uncast cannon and our Xianguo steelmaking technology, it is still difficult to pose a threat to our Xianguo.

Third, the minister predicts that within eight to ten years, the artillery of Yongxing City will make a huge leap, and the soldiers will also be equipped with more powerful firearms, so the combat strength of our army of 100,000 people will reach the current 350,000 lions, and Zhiguo will not pose any threat to me. At that time, the only use of Zhiguo and my Xianguo is to guard the south gate for my Xianguo, and my Xianguo can free up my hands to clean up the Jin Kingdom and the Changsun Kingdom. ”

King Xian immediately looked at Baili Yan, and his pupils shrank:

"Aiqing is saying that my Xianguo can be promoted within ten years!"

"No, you can be dominant. Or attack the Jin Kingdom in the east to recover the lost territory, and take the eldest grandson in the west to expand the territory, and the only use of the Zhiguo at that time is only to honestly be the barrier of my Xianguo and defend my southern land.

Therefore, if you are friendly with Zhiguo now, you can build a foundation for revenge in the future, so as to avoid relapse at that time. Although Zhi Wang Ming wants to get a good alliance with our country on the surface, in fact, if our country becomes stronger, it will be a great threat to Zhiguo, so if he doesn't form a good Zhiguo now, when the time comes, his country will be extremely passive. ”

"Well, for the sake of the four counties, the widow will give up. However, whether Ganfu County can be captured in time, Aiqing can be sure? ”

"It is difficult for the infantry army and cavalry to attack quickly, and a part of our army has to stay in Xianxi County, and some soldiers and horses have to divide into two roads to the east and west, so it is no longer possible to divide troops to seize Ganfu, and I think the Zhi army will not take Ganfu County for our army.

Therefore, the minister thought that Chen Qu, the son of Chen Feishi, and Chen Dian, the son of Chen Qu, should be immediately recalled as the governor of the navy, and the navy should be reorganized to march westward. ”

"Where are his father and son now?" King Xian asked.

"Four years ago, Chen Qu arranged for Chen Qu to run a waterway for Ding Caidong in the city to go to Zhiguo to sell goods, Chen Qu's son Chen Dian, was trained in the military camp and the lecture martial arts hall, and ran with Chen Qu at the beginning of last year."

"Then according to Aiqing's words, Chen Qu's father and son will be recalled immediately."

"King Shengming."

After Chen Qu was demoted, he had to fish to make a living, and Bai Liyan arranged for him to be the captain of the ship under Ding Su to go to Zhiguo to run goods, and his son Chen Dian received basic discipline training in Jiangwutang.

After the reorganization of the navy in the past few years, it was reduced from 20,000 to 5,000 people, and some of the personnel were reduced and incorporated into the infantry army, most of which were incorporated into the local government for transportation, and some of them were scattered into the merchant fleet to run goods, so as to store sailors, so as not to greatly damage the vitality of the navy, and once recruited, it could be pulled back and reorganized at any time.

In addition, the new annexes and foreign armies have a large number of sailors, and in recent years they have been fishing on the river, and in a short period of time they have recruited fishermen for training, so that they can be quickly put into battle.

When leaving the palace, it was dark, Bailiyan rode a horse on the way back to the house, and when he arrived at Junting Street, it coincided with the Jin Kingdom full of goods and slowly headed to the prince's mansion.

About every year in June and December, a batch of tributes from the Jin Kingdom were transported to the prince's mansion, saying that Xihuan was not used to eating and wearing, and some supplies were transported from the mother country to improve life.

Bai Liyan stopped and stopped, but she didn't care, but Jiang Jie was sharp-eyed at this time:

"Hehe, these Jin people, even the oil is transported from the Jin country, it's really a hell."

Bai Liyan didn't take it seriously, and continued to walk, intentionally or unintentionally, she glanced at the carriage and horses passing by her shoulders, and the two fifty-pound oil barrels on the carriage could be seen to be filled with edible oil.

The amount of edible oil used in the prince's mansion is very large, mainly vegetable oil and soybean oil, which is specially supplied by the Xianwang Inner Mansion, and rarely needs to be purchased from the market.

Xihuan transported two barrels of oil from the Jin country thousands of miles, the amount is not much, a hundred catties, think about it, it can only be sesame oil, because there are sesame seeds planted in the south of the Jin country, sesame oil is a high-priced commodity exported by the Jin country, it is the high-grade oil of the elite class, the Xianguo country does not produce sesame seeds due to the climate, so it needs to be imported from the Jin country, and Baili Yanfu also needs to consume more than ten catties of sesame oil every year.

But Bailiyan remembered very clearly that Xihuan was extremely disgusted with the smell of sesame seeds. Thinking of this, Bai Liyan couldn't help but be suspicious, and motioned to Jiang Jie to pull over and run into the nearby streets, and after the Jin army cargo team was far away, he chased the place where the oil barrels passed and carefully identified the smell.

"Jiang Jie, can you ask about oil incense?"

"Smelled."

Jiang Jie affirmed, and Bai Liyan asked again:

"But sesame oil?"

"No, but it doesn't seem to be rapeseed or soybean oil, could it be rice oil?"

"But if it is rice oil, Xianguo rice oil is the top grade of the Central Plains, and the Jin people have traveled thousands of miles from the Jin country to transport two barrels, which is unreasonable. Besides, there is a supply of high-quality rice oil in the inner palace of the king, and Xihuan needs to be transported from the Jin Kingdom? ”

"Isn't that the oil that people eat, but other ointments?" Jiang Jie guessed.

"I don't know yet, but it's certainly not an ointment, and if it were, it wouldn't have given off such a fragrance. You go to the inner mansion to find the chief Jiang Hao, and ask him to come to my mansion in the middle of the night tonight. ”

"No!"

After instructing Jiang Jie, Bailiyan led the guards back to Fuzhong, and Zhao Anling came from Yongxing City and waited for two hours.

"An Ling has seen Master Hou."

Baili Yan handed Fei Yu to the guards, and said as he walked:

"Mr. Zhao doesn't have to be formal, but he is here for the Gong faction?"

"Exactly, Master Zuomen has agreed to all the requests, and has sent someone to secretly go to the Liang Kingdom to discuss with the head of the sect. Presumably, after the first month, someone from the main hall of the Ligong faction will come to Xianguo for final negotiations, and Brother Zong guessed that most of them were the head of the family who came to Xianguo in person. ”

"Well, quite possibly. Not only willing to pay, but also able to learn the method of construction, where there is such a cheap thing in the world, its head must come to investigate Yongxing City in person. ”

The biggest advantage of Yongxing City is the steel output and the mold, forging, metallurgy, machinery, processing, mathematical foundation that has been formed.

The two said as they walked to the study, and Bailiyan told Zhao Anling about Tao Ji and asked him what he meant:

"This time it was unexpected, King Zhi offered to exchange the land of the four counties for gunpowder, but I always feel that there is another hidden secret, Mr. Zhao may wish to refer to the details for Ben Hou, whether there will be any tricks in this."

"Well...... If Zhiguo crosses the Sishui River and goes westward, it is reasonable for him to cede the four counties northeast of the Sishui River to our country, and he does not want to border Changsun Guo east of the Sishui River, and although the infantry army of Changsun Guo is useless, its water army is extremely fierce, but if our country takes Ganfu County, our Xianguo Navy can be stationed in Ganfu County in the future, and the river can be blocked in the future, and the Changsun Navy can be prevented from cutting off the cross-strait contact of the Zhijun Army from the river.

Second, the four counties of Ganfu, Shangguan, Wanchuan, and Pengyuan stretch from east to west, and it will be easy for the Zhi army to take them in the future. It was given to me, one is to let me Xianguo block the eldest grandson, and the other is that after Xianguo occupies the four counties, it is necessary to rectify the local government to promote the new law, with the experience of Yongxing, Zhongxing, Tailai, and Longsheng, it only takes three or two years, and the four counties can regain their vitality.

But the blame is here, in the current situation, King Zhi will definitely not meet with the soldiers of the Xian State, and it is unlikely that it will be more than ten years in the future. Under the suspicion ......"

Zhao Anling wanted to speak and stopped, and Bai Liyan asked:

"Suspect what?"

Zhao Anling poked his head over, approached Baili Yan and whispered:

"An Ling doubts whether it is the Gongliang clan who wants to rebel!"

"Hiss......" Bailiyan's scalp was numb, and she didn't dare to think about it, so she asked again: "How can Mr. Zhao see it?" ”

"Then the Hou Ye thinks that if Zhiguo swallows the land of the eight or nine counties of Sun Kingdom, how much grain and grass will be needed?"

"With the national policy and national strength, there is absolutely no possibility of picking up new land within three or five years, it will take eight or nine years, or even more than ten years, so it will take at least three years to appease the people, and the rice and grain required will be more than 20 million stones, and millions of baht."

"In that case, who will the king of the occupied new land send to guard it?" Zhao Anling asked again.

"Tao Yong's headquarters was greatly injured, and he has not recovered his strength so far, and he is still confronting Wang Yanfei at the border of Zhi and Jin. If there is no accident, it should still be the land where the Gongliang clan captured the Sun Kingdom, and the Gongliang clan defended it. ”

"That's right, in my opinion, the Gongliang clan returned to China in victory, accompanied by more than 600,000 new vassals, tens of thousands of foreign troops have become self-contained, plus 200,000 or 300,000 Zhi troops in his hands, I am afraid that King Zhi will be difficult to control."

"Mr. Zhao is saying that King Zhi wants to force the Gongliang clan and the Black Turban Army to consume each?"

"Exactly, in the next thought, the Gongliang clan must have secretly hidden the treasure back then, and only dedicated part of it to King Zhi, even if the Gongliang clan donated it all, with the status of the Gongliang clan in the Zhiguo, King Zhi would still be suspicious of the private treasure of the Gongliang clan.

The cost of Zhiguo's annexation of Sun's land was staggering, and King Zhi probably didn't want to take out money and grain from the treasury, so he wanted to use the new land to consume the strength of the Gongliang clan, so that he could slowly reduce his military power in the future. ”

"So, it is very likely that the four counties will be the attention of the Gongliang clan? Looking for a source of money and food for the rebellion in the newly annexed land in the future? ”

"Exactly, Ganfu County is the most fertile place in the world, with a little management, the yield per mu can easily reach as much as two or three stones, plus the Hou Ye is able to govern the government, in the future, Ganfu, Shangguan, Wanchuan, Pengyuan four counties will be fertile and rich on the first side. Once the Gongliang clan rebelled, they could rely on the four counties and cities to deal with the princes. ”

"Then the Gongliang clan is not afraid that my Xianguo and Zhiguo will jointly send troops to attack it?"

"Absolutely not!" Zhao Anling affirmed.

"How so?"

"Because the Gongliang clan knows very well that Xianguo does not want Zhiguo to become bigger, and the eldest grandson, Jin Guo, and Xu Guo will not want to see Zhiguo become bigger, so it is profitable for Zhiguo to rebel.

At that time, the Xian State only needs to refuse to send troops in the name of the threat of the eldest grandson and the Jin State. Moreover, if the Xian State sent troops, King Zhi would definitely promise the benefits of the land to the Xian State, and the eldest grandson and the Jin State would never want to see the Xian State grow stronger again, so the Xian State would never be allowed to send troops. ”

"Well, what Mr. Zhao said is reasonable, but King Zhi is already vigilant, can he and Tao Yiyan know? And it is not a trivial matter to give up the four counties, if the Gongliang clan assists from it, how can King Zhi not doubt it? ”

"I think that if the Gongliang clan is stationed in Xinhe Land for a long time, it still needs the money and food of Zhiguo, and it will be easy to govern it and be able to use its life for it, and it will be difficult to succeed without ten or fifteen years.

At that time, I am afraid that the righteousness and righteousness and the good literature will be gone, and the treasures of gold and silver will be exhausted. The three brothers Gongliangchen, Gongliangxiu, and Gongliangsong had just taken power in the army, and when their families were in dire straits, King Zhi suddenly attacked at this time, and he would rebel

And Zhiguo is determined that after ten years of my Xianguo, Hou Ye will oversee the power, and he will turn against the Jin State and the Changsun State, so that the Xianguo will naturally be pushed to the Zhiguo, and there will be no choice to send troops to attack the Gongliang clan, otherwise he will face the siege of the three kingdoms of Zhi, Jin and Changsun. ”

"Then why did King Zhi give up the land of the four counties?" Bai Liyan asked.

"This is the insidious place of King Zhi, his Zhigongliang clan rebelled in the future, the consumption of grain and grass is huge, and the population and land towns of Ganfu and Shangguan will be endless.

And these two places have long been coveted by the Changsun Kingdom, and King Zhi ceded these two places to my Xianguo, one is to make the Changsun Kingdom hate our country, and the other is to govern this place with the power of my Xianguo, and at the same time not let the Gongliang clan's income become a disaster.

When the Gongliang clan rebels, its army is huge, and it needs a lot of money and food, so it will secretly communicate with the Hou Ye to raise military funds. If this is the case, Zhiguo can join forces with the eldest grandson and the Jin state to counterattack our Xianguo, and then use Ganfu and Shangguan as bait, promising to lure the eldest grandson to send troops.

At that time, the Gongliang clan saw that the general trend had gone, and he would inevitably ask the king of Zhi to return to the country, and the king of Zhi would secretly let the Gongliang clan attack the eldest grandson in the name of the crime, so that I could Xianguo fight with the eldest grandson first, and then attack from behind.

In this way, the Jin State was defeated by my Xianguo, and then fought with the eldest grandson to lose both, and my Xianguo adjusted the wind and rain of the four counties to govern, and the final benefit was still Zhiguo. ”

"Hehe...... Bai Liyan sneered and shook her head again and again: "It's really deep enough to play...... As the saying goes, a strong neighbor is like a tiger, and it is indeed true, but it is a pity that he made a mistake in his wishful thinking. ”