What does it mean for the state of Chu and the state of Zhao to form an alliance?

For the Qin State, it is to contain the way forward from the north and south, as long as the Qin State leaves Qinchuan, it will be attacked by the Zhao State and the Chu State from the north and south, and it will not be able to advance or retreat; For the Qi State, the Zhao State is not only becoming stronger and stronger, once the Qi State and the Zhao State go to war, the Chu State may send troops to occupy Juxian and other places, expand its territory to the Huai River region, and narrow the strategic buffer zone with the Qi State. As for Han Wei, South Korea has the guarantee of Zhao State, so he can not worry about Chu State's aggressiveness, while Wei State has to worry that he is facing threats from both sides.

Therefore, this wedding, in the eyes of outsiders, is the result of Zhao Guo's decision. But Qu Yuan knew that there might not be no idea of the King of Chu being in line here. Under the seemingly powerful state of Chu, there is not only the threat of Qin, but also the internal reasons why its own nobles hinder the change of law. Otherwise, with the pride of the Chu people, they would definitely not form an alliance with a former prince like Zhao State. At the end of the day, it's just an alliance between the two countries and each taking what it needs.

Originally, the princess should not have come forward to marry such a thing. This time, he came as a leftist disciple of the state of Chu to discuss the alliance between the two countries. As soon as he arrived in Handan, he was shocked.

Strip-shaped boulder paved roads, well-developed drainage systems, industrial and commercial zones with different functions, and increasingly dense population. He once went to Linzi in Qi State, and the atmosphere of Linzi was the most tolerant among many princes, which was roughly due to the influence of Jixia Xuegong, and King Qi Wei's concern for the Xuegong.

However, Handan's Abandonment of Wisdom Palace is different from other places, not only because the atmosphere here is more open, because Zhao Yong can be seen more than once being scolded by Master Meng, but also because of the excellent people here, and they can even be officials in Zhao State. Different from the Jixia School Palace, the outstanding talents here are not only those masters, but also excellent students, as long as the masters jointly recommend to Zhao Yong, they may get the opportunity to become officials in Zhao State. Although the opportunities are very slim and the official positions are not large, most of them serve as subordinates within the county, but it also gives these people hope. This kind of atmosphere in Handan is the atmosphere that a developing vassal state should have, and it is by no means comparable to other vassal states. This also reflects the strength of Zhao State now, and it is by no means in vain.

According to the ritual system, the wedding is not allowed to have music and celebration, but the necessary steps still have to be carried out. Zhao Yong's marriage this time, in terms of pomp, is not as good as Han Qian's time, but in order to show respect for Chu State, Zhao Guo's arrangement this time is not small. All the ceremonies are lowered according to the queen's specifications, and Wu Guang's daughter Meng Yao, although she was also married on the same day, is just a concubine, and the specifications cannot be compared to Mi Xi, but a team of female officials was sent by the royal city to drive to the royal city.

According to the rules, the queen naturally enjoys a palace by herself, and the other three ladies enjoy the same palace as the others, but in different palaces. Meng Yao was arranged to live in a palace with Han Chan'er, and the newcomer Mi Ji was divided into the newly built Fengluan Palace.

After the ceremonies were over, Mi Xi was invited to her new home in Zhao State. To her surprise, the decoration of this palace was completely similar to that of the Chu State, not only using vermilion lacquer, decorated with vermilion, but also a lot of furniture, but also with Chu style, but also some homely taste.

"This Fengluan Hall was built by the craftsmen of Chu State hired by the king, and many utensils are also produced by Chu State. The king said that his wife left home and went north, and she was already unaccustomed to the water and soil, and if there was a sense of estrangement, it would definitely be inappropriate. The palace people who had been waiting for a long time on the side introduced, "Even the slaves and maids, some of them are Chu people!" ”

"The king has a heart." Mi Xi pursed her lips and smiled. Fengluan Palace, from this name with Chu Feng, it can be seen that Zhao Yong has put some effort into it. The people of Chu revere the phoenix because they consider themselves to be the descendants of the fire god Zhu Rong, who in turn is the embodiment of the phoenix. The meaning of this Fengluan Hall is taken from this place.

Not to mention how the Mi Ji in the harem temporarily let go of the sorrow of leaving home, just say that in this hall, there is another change.

After the reform of Zhao Guoxin's official rule, the Dianke Division was set up under the Taichang Temple, Fu Ding was promoted to the secretary of the Taichang Temple, and Sima Qian took over the position of Fu Ding and became the Dianke Division. The status is not the same, even so, Fu Ding personally greeted this distinguished guest of the Chu State. and introduced him to several members of Zhao State one by one. When Le Yi and the lieutenants were introduced, Qu Yuan's eyes lit up again. Le Yi is now famous all over the world, everyone knows it, he is young and promising, he is ranked below the fourth secretary in Zhao State, naturally no one says anything. But this national lieutenant was unknown before, and his age was similar to that of Le Yi, but he was ranked as a national lieutenant, this position is very important, how much courage does Zhao Yong have to dare to hand over such a position to him?

Qu Yuan was surprised, but his mood was complicated and difficult to understand. Xiong Huai, the king of Chu, was also a master of great talent, and he also hoped to reform the maladministration of Chu and further develop and become stronger. It is precisely for this reason that he chose Qu Yuan as his left disciple, and together with Ling Yin Zhaoyang, he became the civil and military leader of the Chu State.

Qu Yuan is a descendant of Qu Bian, the son of Xiong Tong, King of Chuwu, and is also surnamed Mi. At that time, Wu Qi changed the law, because he was rebelled by the old nobles, Wu got up and died. But when Wu Qi died, he threw himself on the corpse of the dead King of Chu Mourning, and the old nobles shot Wu Qi in order to shoot him, regardless of the corpse of the King of Chu Mourning. However, then the king of Chusu, who succeeded to the throne, exterminated the old nobles who participated in the rebellion according to the law, and there were about 70 old noble families. The nobles had to be eliminated, but gradually formed the three nobles of Zhao, Jing and Qu, who were all relatives of the King of Chu, but their clans were different. Qu Yuan is from the Qu family.

Qu Yuan is talented and hated the current King of Chu Xiong Huai, so he is very important. But Qu Yuan, who is full of enthusiasm, is on top of the Chu State, and he is quite dissatisfied with the declining form of the Chu State, and also realizes that if Wu Qi succeeded in changing the law back then, the current Chu State should be a different scene, and he has persuaded the Chu King Xiong Huai many times to make up his mind to change the law. Xiong Huai thought about it again and again, and finally decided to appoint Qu Yuan as a left disciple to be responsible for the change of law in Chu.

I have to say that Qu Yuan has the ability to do so, and he also highly admires Wu Qi's law changes, and many law changes and decrees have Wu Qi's characteristics, and even deepen, for example, he hopes that the old nobles of Chu can change their customs, and he hopes that the king of Chu can speak widely and communicate with the people more. As for rewarding ploughing wars, strictly prohibiting friends, clarifying rewards and punishments, etc., there is no need to say more.

When the new law was first implemented, it would go smoothly, relying on the vigorous and resolute action of the king of Chusu to exterminate the nobles, and Qu Yuan's popularity and appeal as a nobleman, many government decrees were also implemented, making the state of Chu very strong.

However, as the decree deepened, the reform became more and more difficult. Many old aristocrats began to oppose Qu Yuan, and some of his previous decrees were also implemented by Yang Fengyin, so that when Qu Yuan called for meritocracy and strict prohibition of friends, many nobles raised objections.

This is why, after Qu Yuan saw the peaceful scene of the monarchs and ministers of the Zhao Kingdom, his feelings were complicated and difficult to understand. If the reform of the Chu State can be like that of the Zhao State, the Chu State probably will not have to worry about threatening the Yingdu after the Qin State occupies Bashu, and there is no need to use Mi Xi as a tool for the alliance between the two countries. Because he knew that Mi Xi and a young son of the Song family were about to talk about marriage, so he was married to Zhao Guo and married Zhao Yongwei, who was more than ten years older than him.

"In any case, when you meet this King Zhao, you must ask for advice on how to govern the country." Qu Yuan thought secretly.

"Xiangbang seems to have something on his mind?"

Sima Qian walked up to Sima Xi, poured him full of wine, and sat down beside him. Everything in Zhongshan is that he and Sima Xi are communicating with each other, so the two have a close relationship. After Sima Qian greeted the other envoys of the Chu State, he saw Sima Xi and the others thinking alone, so he came over to communicate with him.

It is said that Zhao Yong married a wife, not a queen, and would not invite envoys from other countries to visit, but on the contrary, Zhongshan Sima Xi and others discussed the armistice in Handan, and they also participated in this wedding by the way.

"Mr. is naturally proud of the spring breeze, but pity me Zhongshan is now broken by mountains and rivers, and his body is like duckweed, I don't know what year and month, it will be occupied by Zhao State. How do you make so-and-so happy? ”

According to the armistice agreement provided by Zhao to Zhongshan, Zhongshan recognized the three cities of Fuliu, Ningjia and Shenxian occupied south of the Hutuo River, and the two cities of Zuoren and Zhongren on the north bank, a total of five cities belonged to Zhao. Since then, on the south bank of the Hutuo River, there is no longer the territory of Zhongshan; Zhao returned the occupied city of Gu to Zhongshan; Zhongshan must open tariffs, not collect taxes from Zhao merchants who pass through Zhongshan, and allow Zhao merchants to do business in Zhongshan, and only need to pay one-tenth of the tax due; The people of Zhao broke the law in Zhongshan, and they should be handed over to Zhao people to deal with, and Zhongshan people should not be heard.

After Zhongshan received such an armistice agreement, he was very angry, and everyone from the crown prince and concubine to officials at all levels made it clear that they were against this agreement. It happened that the Qin State attacked the city of Zhao State, which made Zhongshan see hope, so it was delayed for a long time. In the end, Qiu Ye, who was guarding Jingcheng Pass, led the cavalry and defeated the Zhongshan Iron Horse Cavalry under Lingshou City. Zhongshan had no bargaining chips at all, so he had to send Sima Xi to Handan again to negotiate peace.

"Xiangbang's worries are too redundant." Sima Qian raised the bronze jue and whispered to him, "Zhao Guo doesn't want to see Zhongshan Kingdom, but he may not want to see Zhongshan County. As long as the monarch of Zhongshan is not the current king of Zhongshan, the rest, Zhao Guo will not care. Sima Qian glanced at Sima Xi with a little meaning, and drank all the wine in his bronze jue.

Sima Xi didn't know what Sima Qian meant, but this person was exquisite, and he was not as full of awe as his father about Zhongshan Kingdom, not to mention that after his father's death, the people of Zhongshan Kingdom did not respect him, which caused him to be radical now.

Sima Qian's hint is also very obvious. This armistice is only temporary, and I hope that Sima Xi will continue to work hard.

"In this case, we should be more magnanimous, so that Zhongshan can thank Zhao Guo for his kindness. It's like fishing. If the fishing line is too tight, it will cause the fish to panic, and only if he relaxes his guard can he hook up. Do you think so, sir? ”

Sima Qian looked at Sima Xi and wanted to see the clue from his eyes. However, Sima Xi's eyes were flat, and he didn't seem to be cunning, he was very sincere.

"The meaning of Xiangbang will be conveyed to the king in the future." Sima Qian said.

"Since I told you, there is one more thing for your subordinates, which can be regarded as a congratulatory gift for King Zhao's wedding."

"Oh? I don't know what this gift is? ”

"The two treasures of Zhongshan Kingdom!"

(End of chapter)