After listening to Hui Shi's words, all the ministers of the Song Kingdom nodded in agreement. Nowadays, in the Warring States world, the countries are competing for power, and they don't rely on their own strength. If you are strong, you will definitely be respected by other countries!

Then Hui Shi said: "On the contrary, what I am worried about now is not to reap the benefits of Chu in the future, but that Chu will not easily give up the Jiangnan and Jiangbei regions, and my country cannot easily take these two places." ”

When the high-level officials of the Song Kingdom present heard this, they all secretly felt reasonable. Think about what kind of country the state of Chu is, from a fief with a radius of less than 100 miles to a large country with a place of 5,000 li and a million armor, if it does not have a strong sense of possession of territory, how can it do it? You know, this is a country where once the war is lost, the generals must judge themselves. Now that its defeated army has lost its land, if it can't recover the lost territory, even the king of Chu will be disgraced.

As soon as Dai Yan, who was sitting on the throne, heard this, he immediately said: "Although the Chu State attaches great importance to the territory, but the family is big and the business is big, and in a remote place like Jiangnan and Jiangbei, the Chu State will definitely not really attach importance to it. Now the king of Chu is most interested in face, if we can save the face of the king of Chu, do you think that the state of Chu can cede the two places to our country? ”

As soon as the ministers present heard this, someone immediately asked, "What does the king plan to do?" ”

Dai Yan replied: "Although our army will no longer attack the Chu State after taking Jinling, the Chu State is still at war with Qin, Wei, and Han at the same time. My Song State is so rich, and it is so difficult to fight a war, you can imagine the predicament that Chu State is facing now. At such a time, there must be a shortage of sufficient materials in the Chu State. In the imagination of the widow, my Song State can now take the initiative to make peace with the State of Chu, and hand over a sum of money and grain to the State of Chu, and directly buy the land south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Jiangbei, what do you think? ”

Now, when the army of the Song State swept through the south and north of the Yangtze River, taking the initiative to make peace with the State of Chu did save the face of the King of Chu. As for buying the territory of the State of Chu? When the ministers of the Song Kingdom present heard this, they couldn't help but wonder a little. Among the countries of the world, it is common for monarchs to cede and even buy and sell cities, but now that the Song State has taken the south and north of the Yangtze River and occupies an advantage, they still spend money to buy cities from the Chu State, they really don't know what the significance of Dai Yan doing this is!

As soon as Hui Shi heard Dai Yan's opinion, he immediately clapped his hands and said: "Your Excellency's idea is really wonderful!" Now that the state of Chu is facing a crisis and is facing the siege of the three kingdoms, it will soon be unable to maintain its status as a great power. If the strength of the Chu State is weakened too much, and it cannot compete with the Qin State in the west, it will definitely take the initiative to open up to the east at that time, and at that time, even if our Song State wants to keep the land south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Jiangbei, it will definitely cost a great price.

We spent money to buy the territory of the Chu State, so that the strength of the Chu State would not be weakened too much, so that it could compete with the Qin State in the west. After all, the land of Yanying is the birthplace of the Chu State, and its real core area is by no means comparable to the land of Huaishui and the river in the Chu State. On the other hand, when our country buys the land south of the Yangtze River and the north of the river, it will naturally occupy morality, and even if the Chu State wants to take back these places in the future, it will not find any excuse! ”

To tell the truth, taking advantage of the crisis of other countries, "buying" land was not something that Dai Yan came up with independently, but also a valuable experience he gained by referring to the historical experience of later generations.

In later generations, the most important expansion of the United States as a global empire was in 1803, just over 20 years after its founding. In this year, its third president, Jefferson, spent only $15 million to buy the whole of Louisiana - a vast territory of more than 2.6 million square kilometers!

Before crossing over to the Warring States Period, Dai Yan only looked at such an expansion as an observation. However, when he became the lord of the Song Kingdom, from the perspective of a monarch, he had to admit that this expansion of the American imperialist was really a perfect model of imperial expansion.

At that time, the United States itself was still very weak, and its strength was far from being comparable to that of great powers such as Britain and France, and it was actually still influenced by Britain economically. Because of its proximity to Louisiana, it constantly sent men and horses to infiltrate the area on the one hand, and on the other hand, it took the initiative to seize the international situation at that time and create favorable conditions for itself. At that time, Napoleon's empire was about to take shape on the European continent, and Napoleon, in order to cope with the huge war in Europe, was unable to take care of the affairs of another continent, so that he lacked sufficient financial support to deal with Britain.

It can be said that under such circumstances, Louisiana, far away in the Americas, if France does not want to give it, the United States will infiltrate it itself and take it; And by "selling" this place in the name of justification, you can also recover enough money to be able to cope with your core interests. In such a situation, as long as a reasonable politician knows how to choose.

The fact that the United States was able to acquire more than 2.6 million square kilometers of territory from the hands of Napoleon, the Great of the Great, is itself extremely politically intelligent! The United States has taken such a territory, which not only gives it a new piece of territorial development, so that it can get rid of the economic control of Britain, but also gives it a period of strategic opportunity for more than ten years. After all, when Napoleon had money, he would set his sights on Europe, and then he swept across Europe, challenged British hegemony, and successfully contained Britain, so that Britain, the maritime hegemon, had no chance to get involved in the Americas.

Just over a decade after this expansion, the United States has become the preeminent power in the Americas. Monroe, the special envoy who went to Europe and signed the Entente with Napoleon, relied on this merit to become the fifth president of the United States, and issued the extremely strong "Monroe Declaration" - America is the America of the Americans, and the whole of America is included in the sphere of influence of the United States, making the United States successfully change from a weak colony to a regional power!

And after the United States is strong enough, plus the entente in black and white, even if France becomes strong later, there is no reason to reclaim such a vast territory.

No matter how Dai Yan looks, he feels that the situation of the Song Kingdom today is very similar to the situation of the early expansion of the American imperialists! Now that the Song State has the strength to seize the land south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Jiangbei, it buys this land with a small amount of property, which is to buy morality at a very small price, and buy the land that will be regarded as the core interests of the Song State in the future. At the same time, such a practice can also make the struggle between the Chu State and the Qin State in the west more intense, and create opportunities for the rise of the Song State!

In Dai Yan's view, creating opportunities for rise is almost as important as expanding the territory itself. After all, the opportunity to rise is the general trend, and once it is formed, it is not possible for human beings to reverse it!

And after listening to what Dai Yan said about negotiating peace with the Chu State and spending money to buy the territory of the Chu State, even if Hui Shi agreed, they couldn't help but slander in their hearts. The Song State had just taken advantage of the siege of the Three Kingdoms when the State of Chu was facing the siege of the Three Kingdoms, and went up to rob it while it was on fire, and now he wanted to help it and negotiate peace with it, this change was too fast, right?

The one who controls the diplomacy of the Song State is the Ministry of Rites, and is also in charge of sacrifice and education, etc., and today's Secretary of Rite is not an old man who follows the Song Kingdom, but an old nobleman named Xiang Yu. As soon as he heard that he was going to negotiate peace with the Chu State now, he shook his head like a rattle and said: "Your Majesty, I took advantage of the danger of the Chu State to sneak attack the Chu State, this is unjust, and now I am negotiating peace with the Chu State, wouldn't it be a shame for the Chu people?" ”

Hearing Liqing's words, Dai Yan was speechless. He secretly cursed himself in his heart, why did he be so brainless, mixing the most flexible diplomacy and the most conservative and pedantic sacrifices in a country to form such a ritual department?

Although the international struggle is covered by all kinds of morality, in fact it still speaks by strength, and it is a naked predator of the jungle! If it is useful to talk about faith and righteousness, why was the state of Chu deceived by Zhang Yi of the state of Qin, and then fell into such a miserable situation now? However, such a fact, everyone knows it, and it is enough to operate alone, so why do you have to poke this kind of thing out directly and put it on the surface?

The Song State spent money to buy the territory of the Chu State, although it was a superficial morality, but in fact it was time and development opportunities. If you want to accomplish this kind of thing, you don't rely on the superficial verbal confrontation, but on the strength!

Dai Yan immediately had the idea of separating the diplomacy and sacrifice under the Ministry of Rites, and the officials in charge of these two parts must not be the same kind of officials, otherwise the future Song State will definitely fall into danger because of diplomatic pedanticism and conservatism!

However, Dai Yan, as Song Jun, really can't oppose these pedantic guys clearly, and he still has to solve the current problem of negotiating peace with the State of Chu, so he thought about it and said to the ministers of the State of Song: "Xiang Qing is right, now that my country has just started a war with the State of Chu, and now it is too difficult to negotiate peace with the State of Chu." However, the widow thinks that as long as my Song State has the heart, I can still reach an agreement with the Chu State. Ladies and gentlemen, is anyone willing to contribute to the future peace between my Song State and Chu State? ”

Dai Yan's voice fell, and before those pedantic guys could speak, a person immediately stood up and said: "The minister is willing to go to the Chu State and buy the land south and north of the river from the Chu people." ”

When Dai Yan saw it, he immediately put his mind at ease. Because this person is Su Qin's younger brother Su Li, who is also from the Guiguzi sect, and is by no means comparable to pedantic people!