"Brother, you also said that this Yue State attacking Chu State is already an ally of Wei and Qi, but it is not a real ally of Wei and Qi after all!" Dai Yan said as if chewing words there. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"I don't understand you at all." This time, Zixi was completely confused.

"Brother, you should know the Xuzhou Treaty that I once advocated at the meeting of the Prime Minister, right? The Treaty of Xuzhou stipulates that when a country attacks another country, it must submit a declaration of war and initiate a declaration of war. However, after all, the Yue State was a barbarian in the south, and he did not declare war against the Chu State. Moreover, the Yue State attacked the Chu State and did not really sign an alliance with Wei Qi, so it naturally cannot be regarded as a person from the Wei and Qi camps. If we declare war on the Yue State at this time, then our war with the Yue State cannot be regarded as an enemy of Wei and Qi. ”

For this kind of way of playing with words to manipulate diplomacy, Zixi is the first time I've seen it. And this way of playing with words also made Zixi, who has the tradition of the Song Kingdom and abides by his promises, a little uneasy. "Is it really okay to do this?" he asked. ”

In Dai Yan's view, diplomatic declarations should be as vague as possible, so that they can have full flexibility in their actions. In this regard, he fully learned from the experience of later generations.

In later generations, when it came to diplomatic attainments, there was no one with the highest means than the British. The British have never made their position clear in diplomacy, which has allowed it to remain in a neutral position, and it has been able to obtain the right to arbitrate international affairs.

Relying on this neutral foreign policy of its own, in the nineteenth century the whole world was shrouded in the rule of the British Empire. However, there is still a major flaw in its foreign policy, that is, it is too fond of playing tricks, thus ignoring the fundamental force that determines diplomacy -- strength. The crown of the British Empire was finally beaten to the ground by the United States and Soviet, and it is only right.

In Dai Yan's opinion, if the Song State helped the Chu State to attack the Yue State, the Wei State and the Qi State, which were making enemies of the Chu State, would definitely be dissatisfied with the Song State. However, if Wei Qi is dissatisfied with the Song State, will he definitely attack the Song State? I'm not sure! Once the Qin State really captured the land west of the Wei River, and the Wei State declined in strength, then did it still have the heart to come to the Song State for trouble?

"Of course you can, now is the time when the Chu State needs us the most. If we help Chu Guo at this time, we will definitely be able to obtain unimaginable benefits! Dai Yan affirmed.

"Well, my brother believes in your abilities. The matter of negotiating with the State of Chu will be left to you with full authority! Zixi is also an unambiguous person, and after hearing that Dai Yan was so confident, he immediately began to give Dai Yan full authorization.

As soon as Dai Yan returned to Fengyi, he received a summons from the King of Chu.

As soon as the king of Chu saw Dai Yan, he said to him with a pleasant face: "Ziyan, you are such a talented person at such a young age. The Song State has a virtuous son like you, it is really a blessing for the Song Kingdom! ”

Dai Yan immediately replied: "Don't dare, don't dare." He knew that the king of Chu was so kind to him, and he must have asked for him.

The king of Chu then asked him: "I don't know if Dingzi Yan has a relative?" ”

Speaking of which, Dai Yan's body is now seventeen years old, and it is indeed the age of marriage in this era. However, his brother of the cheap monarch never mentioned it, and he himself forgot about it.

So he had to honestly reply: "The kid is not engaged yet." ”

Then the king of Chu laughed and said, "Since Ziyan is not married, why don't you be the widow's son-in-law?" The widow has a daughter, Miyue, who is twelve years old this year, and the widow loves her very much. Now the widow is willing to marry this woman to you, I don't know if Ziyan is willing? ”

Miyue? The name Dai Yan sounded familiar, but he couldn't recall it, so he had to give up.

However, the king of Chu issued such an invitation, of course he could not refuse, so he said: "The kid has not yet reached the crown, and of course he can't make his own decisions about the marriage matter." If my brother doesn't object, the kid naturally doesn't dare to say anything. "If a strong country like Chu wants to marry a weak country like Song, Song will naturally not object. According to Dai Yan's implication, if Zixi did not object, he would agree to this marriage.

The king of Chu also heard the meaning of Dai Yan's words, so he continued: "My Chu State and the Song State are married to the country, and your brother naturally has no opinion. The king immediately sent someone to inform Song Jun of this marriage. ”

Then he said: "Now that my Chu State and the Song State are married, then now that my Chu State is in trouble, should the Song State help?" ”

As soon as he heard the help, Dai Yan had to be secretly vigilant. He asked the king of Chu: "I don't know what the king wants my Song Kingdom to help?" ”

"It's simple." The king of Chu replied, "Our army has always purchased grain through the Song State. However, now that the Yue State is besieging Shouchun, our army's connection with the country has been temporarily cut off, and the domestic money cannot be transported to the Song State. As long as the Song State supplies food to our army now, after our army defeats the Yue State, the money owed will definitely be paid truthfully. ”

Hearing such a request from the King of Chu, Dai Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He said: "Since the State of Chu is willing to marry our country, the State of Song is naturally willing to do such a trivial matter. Not only that, but I, the Song State, are also willing to declare war on the Yue State and send troops to help the Chu State defeat the Yue State's army! ”

This time it was the turn of the King of Chu to be surprised, he didn't expect that the Song State, which had always been neutral, would be willing to send troops. However, he then asked Dai Yan: "Since the Song State is willing to send troops, then of course my Chu State will not be able to repay the Song State by marrying only one princess, does the Song State have any other requirements?" ”

"King Mingjian." Dai Yan said, "I, the Song State, am willing to send troops to help the Chu State, hoping to get the two hundred miles of land in the East China Sea that your country has conquered; In addition, the Fuli area at the junction of Chu and our Song State has not been developed, so I wonder if it can be leased to our country for grazing purposes? ”

When the king of Chu heard Dai Yan's words, he fell into deep thought. The land of two hundred miles in the East China Sea was newly attacked by the Chu State, and those places were very barren, and the governance of those places had to be done through the Song State, and in the current situation that the Chu State was facing a crisis, it was nothing to hand it over to the Song State. And this Fuli Sai is a real frontier for the Chu State, where only one kind of Fuli grass grows luxuriantly, and there is no agricultural cultivation, which is not too important for the Chu State. And the most important thing about this condition of the Song State is that it did not ask the Chu State to cede an inch of land, which is what the King of Chu values the most.

So the king of Chu asked, "I don't know how many troops the Song State can send to attack the Yue Kingdom?" ”

"If the king is willing to meet the conditions of our country, my country is willing to send 40,000 troops to help Chu attack Yue." Dai Yan replied.

The combat effectiveness of the Song army, the King of Chu also knew something. Since Dai Yan defeated the 6,000 army of Yanglingjun of Chu with 3,000 Fengyi soldiers and horses, the king of Chu has never dared to underestimate the army of Song. The 40,000 Song troops attacked the Yue State, and the price paid by the Chu State seemed to be insignificant, which was a reasonable deal for the Chu State.

"This request has been granted by the king." The King of Chu was quick to respond.

Dai Yan was also overjoyed when he heard that the King of Chu agreed to such a request.

For him, the two hundred miles of land in the East China Sea was only used to confuse the Chu State and appease the major forces in the Song State, and what he really cared about was actually that trivial condition: leasing the Fuli area for grazing purposes.

Dai Yan knew that in this era dominated by cold weapons, if you want to make the Song State strong, you must let the Song State have a strong military force. The territory of the Song State was small, and the population was not as large as that of many large countries of this era, and the only way to make the Song State quickly strong was actually only one way: to build a strong Song army.

For Dai Yan, in the era of cold weapons, what kind of army is a really powerful army? He has a wealth of historical knowledge, and naturally knows that cavalry is the mainstream that truly represents the future cold weapon warfare.

Take the simplest example as an example, if the history of this era is not deflected, in a few years, Zhao State will soon have a powerful cavalry after King Wuling of Zhao carried out the military reform of Hufu cavalry and archery. Relying on this cavalry, the territory of the Zhao State was directly expanded by three times in the hands of King Zhao Wuling!

To raise a cavalry, it is natural to have enough horses. For the south, there are very few places that can actually be used as large-scale horse farms. And Dai Yan happens to know a place that is really suitable for raising horses: that is Fu Li!

The land of Fuli is actually very suitable for raising horses. In history, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, it controlled the Huaixi Horse Farm near Fuli, so as to train enough cavalry, so that the Ming Dynasty was able to defeat the powerful Mongolian cavalry and complete the only unification war from south to north in Chinese history!

The nobles of the Song Kingdom were all boiling over the agreement reached between Dai Yan and the King of Chu! Two hundred miles of land, how many years has the Song Kingdom not been able to expand like it is now! Because the Song State itself was in the midst of military mobilization, Zixi soon selected 20,000 Song Wushu from the country and 20,000 troops from various feudal monarchs, with Sima Xiangshe as the commander and Dai Yan as the deputy marshal to help the Chu State attack the Yue State.

As for the marriage between Chu and Song, Song Junzi was also happy to see it come to fruition.

At the same time, far west in Xianyang, the young Qin monarch Yingsi sent an envoy to the Wei capital of Daliang to declare war on Wei. Subsequently, Ying Si appointed Gongsun Yan, a newly defected Wei traveler, as the commander, and his half-brother Ying Jian as the deputy commander, commanding 100,000 Qin warriors, and began to march towards the Hexi region of the Wei State.

The war machine of the Qin State, which was built by Shang Ying, began to be launched on the land of the Central Plains for the second time, and this time, the roar of this war machine will cause a sensation throughout the world!