478th Spring and Autumn to the Warring States

Mao Jiuzhong had a strong military talent.

In just eight years from 1566 to 1574, Mao Jiuzhong made countless outstanding achievements on the front line of the Vietnam-Wu War, and quickly won the honor of the world's famous generals. When Mao Jiusheng and the aristocratic forces tried to overthrow Mao Sigu's political reforms and designate an heir, Mao Jiuzhong decisively led more than 1,000 elites back to China and helped Mao Jiusheng capture the 12th Duke of Wei in one fell swoop. If it weren't for Mao Jiuzhong's absence from the country for eight years and no political foundation, it would not even be Mao Jiusheng's turn to inherit the Duke of Wei.

Mao Jiuzhong became famous in Wu State, and he liked to call himself a "disciple of Qi Xiang", and had a special interest relationship with the cabinet of Qi Jiguang of Wu State. Perhaps wanting to use Mao Jiuzhong, the Earl of Shuofang, to make a fuss, Wu Guo publicized the significance of Mao Jiuzhong's visit in a high-profile manner, and even exaggerated to claim that Mao Jiuzhong's visit symbolized "the unveiling ceremony of the new relationship between Wu and Wei".

At the cabinet level, Mao Jiuzhong's visit was attached, and the Hangzhou government and Guozijian naturally paid more attention to it. Ignoring the usual practice, Guozijian announced the suspension of all graduation assignments, and required all inmates to cooperate unconditionally with the reception. As an ordinary graduate, Wei Dongsheng could only stay in Guozijian and wait for Mao Jiuzhong to arrive.

The reception is trivial and boring, and there is nothing worth talking about.

Only the appearance of Qi Jiguang and Mao Jiuzhong, Wei Dongsheng was slightly interested.

Qi Jiguang's interest lies in the contrast between him and the real world. In the history of the Zhu Ming Dynasty in the real world, after Zhang Juzheng died of illness, Qi Jiguang was first transferred to Guangdong by the imperial court, and then was impeached and dismissed, and finally died of illness at home. In this time and space, Qi Jiguang rose because of the Vietnam-Wu War, he not only compiled the world-famous Wu Wushu phalanx, but also used Qi Xiang's prestige to govern the Wu domestic cabinet, which is much more beautiful than the real world.

Mao Jiuzhong's interest lies in his rampantness. When facing the speeches of the prisoners, Mao Jiuzhong was very modest in the first half, claiming to be a "disciple of Qi Xiang", praising Qi Jiguang's Wu Wushu phalanx innovation, and praising Qi Jiguang's Nantang supervision innovation, as if he was a humble gentleman. However, this is by no means the true face of Mao Jiuzhong. In the second half of the speech, Mao Jiuzhong suddenly revealed: "Our era belongs to the sea and artillery, and the Wei State must not only have artillery, but also sail to the ocean." Wei needs the ocean, and it must have it. ”

The fiefdom of the Wei domain was mainly in Inner Mongolia, and its territory covered the real-world cities of Datong and Shuozhou in Shanxi Province and the Alxa League, Wuhai City, Ordos City, Bayannur City, Baotou City, Hohhot City, Ulanqab City, Xilin Gol League and other places in Inner Mongolia. The four lands of Inner Mongolia, including Hulunbuir City, Xing'an League, Tongliao City, and Chifeng City, did not belong to the Wei State. When Wei wanted to conquer these four lands, Chifeng City was occupied by Zhao, Tongliao City was occupied by Yan, and Hulunbuir City and Xing'an League became pastures of the Horqin tribe in the form of Wei-Yan buffer zones.

Wei was surrounded by five feudal states such as Tang, Zhou, Jin, Zhao, and Yan, and the Xilin Gol League, which was closest to the ocean, was also three or four hundred kilometers away, and naval construction was simply a pipe dream. If Wei wanted to embrace the sea, it had to expand eastward, either to grab the territory of Zhao or Yan.

No matter who is the target of expansion, Mao Jiuzhong's words are a declaration of war.

The prisoner has poor sensitivity, and simply thinks that Mao Jiuzhong is belligerent, and he despises a martial artist as a martial artist. The other vassal states were aware of Mao Jiuzhong's influence in Wei, and did not dare to ignore Mao Jiuzhong's declaration of war, and condemned Mao Jiuzhong for trying to lead the people of Wei to the quagmire of war. Wu Guodu was criticized by a certain amount of public opinion, and envoys from various countries rushed to Hangzhou Mansion to ask Qi Jiguang what he wanted to do.

Who is Wei ready to declare war on?

Public opinion unanimously believes that it is Zhao Guo. Since Wei Shunzong, the vassal king of Zhao State, rode out of Wei State alone, Zhao State has actually formed a warlord melee pattern, and various nobles have been brutally strangled with the secret support of Wei, Jin, Zhou, Lu, Yan and other vassal states, and many townships and counties have been burned to the ground, which is even more tragic than the last picture of the Zhu Ming Dynasty in the real world. At this moment, there are more than ten large and small forces in the Zhao State, and it is difficult to resist the large-scale attack of the Wei State. If Mao Jiuzhong chooses Zhao to break through, Wei is likely to successfully annex the land of Zhao and embrace the ocean.

The vassal states tried their best to prevent Wei's eastward expansion, and even coordinated the Zhao nobles to sign an indefinite armistice.

These international games, which are full of gunpowder smoke, have nothing to do with Wei Dongsheng for the time being.

After graduating from Guozijian, Wei Dongsheng spent 300 silver dollars in bribes to apply for an idle position with no oil and water and no cumbersome affairs. The idle job has no real power, and there is no gray income at all; The salary is not high, and the salary and benefits add up to only about 32 silver dollars per year, which is far less than Qian Faqun, who worked in Xiaowei's commercial bank back then. Wei Dongsheng is willing to bid 300 silver dollars for such an idle job, who can rob him?

Why was Wei Dongsheng willing to spend 300 silver dollars for this idle job?

The answer is official status.

What Wei Dongsheng needs is only the official body represented by his idle position.

Because the Wu system does not prohibit officials from doing business, many well-known chambers of commerce and business groups are backed by high-ranking officials. Even if there is a taboo prohibiting oneself from doing business, officials can remotely control large chambers of commerce and large business groups through methods such as relatives, classmates, and white gloves. As long as the cabinet does not really put an end to the extreme idea of officials doing business, the official and commercial forces will always be stronger than the civilian and commercial forces. The chamber of commerce is used for profit grabbing, and the official body is used for political protection, which is the unspoken rule that the merchants of Wu State are accustomed to.

The day after Wei Dongsheng took up his idle post, he established Weihe Commercial Bank in the suburbs of Hangzhou.

The literal meaning is explained, Wei is the Wei of Wei Dongsheng, and He is the harmony of harmony and wealth.

In fact, Wei refers to Wei of the Wei Xia Dynasty, and He pinned Wei Dongsheng's simple wish that the twenty vassal states of Wei and Xia would no longer have frequent civil wars.

Wei Dongsheng first injected his 34.5% equity in Wei's five commercial banks (30% at the beginning of the share restructuring and 4.5% transferred by Qian Faqun) into Weihe Commercial Bank, so that Weihe Chamber of Commerce had an entity; Secondly, Weihe Securities, a subsidiary of Weihe Chamber of Commerce, was established, which was specially responsible for the stock trading of Weihe's five commercial banks and expanded its business scope at the right time.

In the following days, Wei Dongsheng frequently investigated the commercial potential of Hangzhou Prefecture, looking for a shortcut to the fastest rise.

In the summer of 1588, Wei Dongsheng was trying to persuade a small maritime trade chamber to merge with the five Wei firms, when news of war suddenly came from the north.

Mao Jiuzhong has gone to war!

Mao Jiuzhong did what he said, saying that Wei needed the sea and marched to the ocean with iron and blood.

But to the surprise of the world, Mao Jiuzhong's choice of expansion target was not the Zhao State that everyone thought, but the unexpected Yan State.

Mao Jiuzhong's choice was surprising.

After years of expansion, the Gainyan Kingdom not only topped the 20 feudal states of Wei and Xia, but also had a population of 15 million. On the other hand, the Wei State has a population of only 2.1 million, less than one-seventh of the Yan State, how can it be qualified to fight against the Yan State on its own? Before Mao Jiuzhong, Wei had to conclude alliance treaties with the Jin, Zhao, Lelang and other vassal states to curb Yan's expansion, so as to effectively restrain the Horqin tribes in the buffer zone that Yan did not dare to annex.

Is Mao Jiuzhong crazy?

Facts have proved that Mao Jiuzhong is not crazy.

After starting the Wei-Yan War, Mao Jiuzhong was shocked and won many battles, all the way to the city of Liaodong Mansion, the capital of the Yan king. Jianmen Mountain, Guangning, Shaling, Liaodong, Haizhou, Gaizhou, Jin......zhou, Mao Jiuzhong drove straight into the territory of Yan, and there was no enemy wherever he went.

The development of the Wei-Yan War stunned the world.

I have long known that Mao Jiuzhong is a famous general who rose during the Wu-Yue War, but no one thought that he would be so powerful.

Is Mao Jiuzhong too strong, or is Yan Guo too weak?

Seeing that the Yan Kingdom was defeated all the way, the vassal states began to analyze with hindsight why the Yan Kingdom was so miserable. The reason was found and searched, and public opinion gradually blamed Wei Jilei, the old and decrepit vassal king of Yan State, if it were not for Wei Jilei's insistence on centralizing power, how could Yan State collapse at the touch of a button? If it weren't for Wei Jilei's wanton suppression of the aristocratic group, how could the aristocratic group tacitly stand still and sit back and watch the Wei soldiers drive straight in? After investigating Mao Jiuzhong's march route, military observers from various countries even suspected that the so-called Wei-Yan War was completely a collaboration between the Yan nobles and Mao Jiuzhong.

However, Mao Jiuzhong was not able to completely conquer the Yan Kingdom.

After all, Yan is a large country with a population of 15 million and a territory of 7 million square kilometers. Even because Wei Jilei urgently transferred field troops to reinforce the royal capital, even if Mao Jiuzhong fought three battles and three victories in the field, he failed to tear through the dense fortresses around the capital of King Yan. Wei Jilei's defense of the nobles' sudden rebellion and raid on the fortress fortress of the royal capital turned out to be an unexpected joy to prevent Mao Jiuzhong from capturing the capital of Yan.

As the Wei-Yan War prolonged, the situation gradually turned against Wei. The other vassal states were unwilling to see Wei indirectly annex Yan, and even if Wei occupied half of the Liaoning province and had access to the sea, the other countries tacitly blocked the coastline of Liaoning Province under various names, which indirectly made it ten times more difficult for Wei to develop a navy.

However, people are not as good as heaven.

In 1590, Wei Jilei, the king of the Yan Kingdom, died suddenly. On the night of his death, some of the pretenders who had hated him for a long time led a rebellion, and all of Wei Gilei's direct bloodline was brutally slaughtered, except for an imbecile born from the marriage of a close relative. The rebels praised the imbecile Wei Fengxiang as the new king of Yan, and immediately signed a humiliating alliance with Wei, using the Liao River as the new eastern border of Wei, and ceded Tongliao City, Fuxin City, Panjin City, Jinzhou City, Panjin City, Huludao City and other fertile lands to Wei; The northern part was bordered by the shores of Lake Belga, and the Horqin tribe and the Mongolian plateau tribes were all ceded to Wei, who in turn recognized the ownership of Lake Belga and further north by the Yan nobles.

The alliance under this city is known as the alliance of Weiyan and Liaodong in history.

The Liaodong Alliance shocked all the vassal states of the Wei Xia Empire.

It was not surprising that Yan was humiliated and sued for peace, and it was impossible for Yan to fight for a protracted war with Wei after the remnants of the nobles slaughtered Wei Jilei's direct bloodline. What shocked everyone the most was that Yan State ceded land and begged for mercy, not the secret operation of the indirect puppet Wei State of Yue, nor the euphemism of Lu State in Henan Province, but the naked expansion of land cutting.