After Dai Yan brushed his sleeves and left, Zhao Jiang Feiyi, who followed Dai Yan, said to Dai Yan: "Son, what you said just now is too good! The country of Qi has done many injustices, but it claims to be a country of benevolence and righteousness, how can there be such a hypocritical country in the world! You've really spoken for me! ”

Zhao Cheng also said: "What Gongzi said is right, this war was originally launched by the Qi State, and its fault lies with the Qi State. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info and the Qi State wanted to make the Song State the initiating country of the war, so that the Song State would bear the name of injustice, and take Taoqiu without blood. This is really a deception to me, and there is no one in Zhao and Song! ”

Dai Yan also thanked the two of them: "I would like to thank the two of you for supporting me and standing with me Song Guo." ”

Zhao Cheng excused himself and said: "Son, don't be polite, I, Zhao Guo, helped Song Guo, saved Song Guo's life, and I am also helping Zhao Guo." This is what Gongzi explained clearly in the court of my Zhao Kingdom, since my Zhao Kingdom is willing to save Song, I will definitely not break my promise. Taoqiu controls the world's water transportation, and Zhao will never allow Qi to seize this place! ”

When Zhao Cheng and Fei Yi left, Le Cheng, who came out with them, reprimanded Dai Yan: "Ziyan, how can you offend Qi Xiang so much? As the prime minister of Qi, Zou Ji has made great contributions to the country of Qi by changing the law and strengthening the country, and is deeply trusted by the king of Qi. If you offend the powerful ministers of Qi State like this, there will be calamity in the future! ”

For Le Cheng's words, Dai Yan was not at all convinced.

This negotiation is that Qi is strong and Song is weak, and Song Guo naturally cannot weaken its momentum. As the deputy envoy of the negotiations, how could he allow the Qi State to wantonly seize the interests of the Song State?

After the first negotiation had been in person, formal negotiations could not take place. As a result, the negotiations quickly went into private communication.

Although Wei acted as the initiator and arbiter of the negotiations, Wei itself also had an attitude. For Wei, if the Taoqiu of the Song State was ceded to the Qi State, it would be easier for the Qi State to send troops to besiege Daliang in the future!

After the Wei State experienced the Battle of Guiling and the Battle of Maling, it was also painful to face the strategy of Qi State to encircle Daliang without saying a word! If Qi really took Taoqiu, a city only more than 200 miles away from the capital of Wei, then I am afraid that Wei may be completely reduced to a vassal of Qi in the near future!

Wei had only suffered from the pressure of Qin's attack in the west, so he had to pretend not to see Qi's attack on Song. However, now that the Wei State has settled the Qin State, and the Zhao State has come out with him to fight against the Qi State, then Tao Qiu naturally cannot be ceded to the Qi State!

Therefore, Hui Shi solemnly warned Qi in private negotiations that Qi wanted to cede Taoqiu, which was absolutely impossible! The three kingdoms of Wei, Zhao, and Song would not tolerate the Qi State occupying Taoqiu!

Under such pressure, Qi's plan to seize Taoqiu was completely bankrupt.

However, Taoqiu is indeed too important, even if the Qi State cannot get it, it does not want it to be used by other countries. So the Qi State retreated to the second, the Song State could not cede Taoqiu, but the Qi State must send troops to Taoqiu to ensure that the merchants of Taoqiu will no longer be used by the enemies of the Qi State in the event of a future war!

For such a request, Wei can accept it. However, in Wei's view, since Qi wanted to send troops to Taoqiu, it didn't want Qi's enemies to use Taoqiu. So is Wei an enemy of Qi? So Wei also followed the strategy of Qi and also asked to send troops to station!

When Hui Shi told Dai Yan about such conditions, Dai Yan also complained about it. Qi did not give up his ambition for Taoqiu, and under such stimulation, did Wei also have an interest in Taoqiu?

When Qi and Wei reached a preliminary agreement and both wanted to send troops to Taoqiu, Zhao also began to panic. For Zhao Guo, Taoqiu, the world's commercial center, is also very important. During the Great War of Zhao Qi, if it weren't for the Taoqiu merchants transporting grain, it was not certain that Zhao would be able to seize the land of Qi and Jixi.

Therefore, in the face of the behavior of both Wei and Qi countries asking to send troops to Taoqiu, Zhao Guo was not to be outdone, and also asked to send troops to station!

In the face of the strong actions of several powerful countries, Le Cheng did not dare to resist at all, for him, the demands issued by several powerful countries at the same time, Song Guo could not refuse!

In such a situation, Dai Yan had to start acting.

After getting the full authorization of Jun Zixi, he first lobbied Zhao Cheng and Feiyi: "Qi and Wei want to send troops to Taoqiu, this is because Qi and Wei both border our Song State, Taoqiu is located in the center of Jishui, Wei and Qi can expand their power through Taoqiu, so they both have ambitions to covet Taoqiu." However, now that Zhao has returned Gaotang to Qi, Zhao's power has subsided from Jishui, even if Zhao gets Taoqiu, what good will this do to Zhao?

Both Qi and Wei can be regarded as enemies of Zhao, and the two countries sent troops to Taoqiu to insert their own forces into this famous city, which can make the two countries strong. If Qi and Wei are strong, it will be detrimental to Zhao, and I hope that Zhao will consider it carefully. ”

Taoqiu could not fall into the control of Wei and Qi, and Zhao Cheng naturally knew it. Zhao Cheng also heard that Wei Qi and Qi were going to send troops to Taoqiu, and he was panicked and asked to be stationed. But he didn't think carefully about the benefits that Taoqiu could obtain for Zhao Guo was much smaller than that of Wei and Qi.

He agreed with Dai Yan's point of view and said: "What Gongzi said is reasonable, but now that Qi and Wei have decided to send troops to Taoqiu, only I, Zhao State, are left behind, and let this matter go unpunished, this is also harmful to my Zhao State, right?" ”

Dai Yan immediately assured Zhao Cheng: "I will definitely lobby Wei and Qi to make them give up their plans to send troops to Taoqiu!" ”

Then Dai Yan went to lobby Hui Shi, and he said to Hui Shi: "Hui Xiang, as a native of the Song Dynasty, is known all over the world for his wealth and wealth, and Hui Xiang naturally knows the way of business. The kid dared to ask Hui Xiang, had he ever seen a commercial city that could sustain its prosperity without decay under the coercion of the army? ”

Hui Shi replied honestly, "No." ”

Dai Yan said again: "That's it." The reason why Taoqiu can become the center of the world's commerce is not only because Taoqiu is located at the intersection of Jishui and Heshui, which controls the center of water transportation in the world. What's more, under the governance of my Song Kingdom, Taoqiu implements inaction rule (in fact, it cannot be completely controlled). With such a relaxed environment, merchants were naturally willing to come to Taoqiu. Slowly, merchants gathered more and more, and thus became the commercial center of the world.

If both Wei and Qi sent troops to Taoqiu, would Hui Xiang be able to imagine that under the coercion of a group of soldiers, the merchants would still be able to do business normally? If Taoqiu is such an uneasy environment, I don't think the merchants will want to stay here for long, so that the merchants of Taoqiu will eventually become fewer and fewer, and eventually become an obscure city.

And Taoqiu's ability to flourish so much now is entirely dependent on commerce. If Taoqiu's commerce declined, then Jishui's commerce would also be greatly reduced, which was also unfavorable to Wei. In this way, Wei Guo spent so much effort, just to get a useless city, but also to damage his own interests, I am not worth it for Wei in private. ”

Hui Shi replied: "However, the Qi State wants to send troops to Taoqiu, which is even more unfavorable to my Wei State!" My Wei State Order can destroy Taoqiu and get a useless city, and it is impossible to tolerate Qi State to have Taoqiu alone and threaten my Wei State! ”

Hearing Hui Shi's resolute statement, Dai Yan was not flustered, he said: "Wei Guo did this, in my opinion, it is a bull's horn. There is a way to ensure that neither the Taoqiu is destroyed, nor the Qi State is allowed to have the Taoqiu alone.

In my opinion, Taoqiu is now the commercial center of the world, and its influence on the world is very important. Such a city, in the hands of any powerful country, is not good for other powers, only in the hands of our Song country, can countries feel at ease. This is also the reason why Taoqiu was rich before, but was able to maintain peace.

Therefore, it is in the interests of the major powers that Taoqiu is in the hands of our Song State. And maintaining a prosperous Taoqiu is not only beneficial to our Song Kingdom, but also to the various large countries that rely on water transportation for trade. In the future, in order to maintain this situation, it is better to make Taoqiu a truly neutral city.

Our Song State only stationed a small number of troops to maintain law and order in Taoqiu to maintain the daily management of Taoqiu. Taoqiu was open to all countries, and as long as merchants from all countries did not violate the criminal law, the Song State would never interfere with the activities of merchants for any reason. At the same time, if there is a war in various countries, through Taoqiu, our Song Kingdom will not stop it. Our Song State made such lenient conditions, in exchange for the condition that all countries did not send troops to Taoqiu, and they were not allowed to attack Taoqiu in the event of war. ”

A city that is completely neutral? Hui Shi's face was cloudy when he heard this concept for the first time. In his opinion, the Song State only maintained a small number of troops to maintain law and order in Taoqiu, which meant that Taoqiu was completely open to the world, and all countries could develop their forces in this city at will. So in the future, who can really control Taoqiu depends on how each country should lay out. Such conditions are acceptable to the Wei State.

So Hui Shi said: "As long as you can convince Qi Guo to agree to such conditions, I, Wei State, will have nothing to say about it!" ”