"Now, everyone in the world is looking at the king! Look at me Wu Guo!"

Wu Zixu glared at Ji Ran, gritted his teeth and shouted: "Among the countries under the heavens, the only one who can fight with the Jin Division is my Great Wu Force!"

"Watching my vassal country being bullied by others and turning a deaf ear, wouldn't it make the world laugh at me, Wu Guohu?"

「……」

In fact, whether it is Ji Ran or Wu Zixu, they are all thinking about Qingji and Wu Guo.

It's just that they look at the problem from different angles, and the conclusions they come to are also very different.

Qing Ji thought for a moment, then put his eyes on Sun Wu's body, squinted his eyes and asked, "Da Sima, what do you think?"

"The King...... Soldiers, the great affairs of the country, the place of life and death, and the way of survival, must not be overlooked."

Sun Wuchang sighed and said, "This time, the Jin people are looking at the attrition of our Wu State because of the southern expedition, coupled with the frequent wars for many years, the national strength has been lost too much, and they dare not go north to fight for hegemony with all their might."

"Therefore, the Jin dared to invade the land of Luoyi, as well as Zheng Guo...... If the king has the heart to compete with the Jin people for hegemony and seek justice for Zhou Tianzi and Zheng Bo, it is understandable that he wants to fight this battle."

"If Wu Jin fights, what are the odds of winning?"

"A war between the two hegemonic powers of the north and the south will inevitably affect the whole body, and none of the Chinese countries will be spared, and it may be protracted......

After a pause, Sun Wu lowered his head and replied, "The minister thinks that the odds of winning are five or five!"

"Fifty percent chance of winning?"

Qingji's face still had such a surging look.

He already knew in his heart that Sun Wu was just telling him euphemistically that in the battle between Wu and Jin, the chances of victory in Wu were not high.

Wu and Jin, one is an old hegemonic power, the other is an emerging hegemonic power, which is stronger and which is weaker?

Hard.

However, as far as the general trend of the world is concerned, there are more allies on the side of Wu.

On the Jin side, although it is an old hegemonic power, it has been dormant for many years and has not fought at every turn, but in recent years, it has not been used to the rising Wu State.

Only then was he ready to suppress Wu's power in the Central Plains to ensure that his hegemony would not be lost and would not be challenged by Wu.

But, is this possible?

Thinking of this, Qingji's heart was already clear, and he smiled with relief: "The great battle in the world is that you come and go, just like victory and defeat are common things in soldiers."

"As the saying goes, if you lose the east, you will harvest the mulberry elm."

"I, the Kingdom of Wu, put down the rebellion of the six counties of Lingnan, and also expanded the counties of Dian, Qianzhong, and Jiaozhi, and now I am just losing control of the land of Zhou Zheng."

"It's understandable to come and go......"

Qingji, who said such words, was comforting himself, and he was also comforting Sun Wu, Wu Zixu, Ji Ran, Bo Kuo, and Kong Qiu present.

This kind of political compromise is nothing to the current Qingji.

If it was a jealousy at the beginning of his ascension, his blood was strong, and he would not tolerate this kind of thing.

After all, it's not like a duck has gone missing.

Instead, Wu Guo has already eaten the territory and is forced to spit it out.

This is unacceptable to a person who is arrogant.

The land of the Zhou royal family, as well as the Zheng State, as the bridgehead for the Wu State to enter the Central Plains, once lost, the difficulty of the Wu State to enter the Central Plains in the future is not ordinary.

"The King's ......"

Wu Zixu was still a little unbearable, and said again: "Please think twice, the king."

"Now the rise of my Wu Kingdom has completely threatened the hegemony of the Jin people."

"The six secretaries of the Jin State will inevitably unite with the Central Plains countries to blockade my Wu State, and at that time, it will be difficult for the ministers and the kings to attack the Central Plains by half a step......

The reality is brutal.

The Jin people have been woken up by the Wu State, like a lion who has woken up from sleep, how can they tolerate the invasion of their territory by the Menghu of the south?

The Song, Lu, Wei, Chen, Zheng, and even the Qi State in the Central Plains, after this incident, I am afraid that they will follow the Jin State to deal with the Wu State, just like the northern states blockaded the Chu State together.

What can I do?

Qingji waved his hand and said, "Wu Zixu, the will of the widow has been decided, so there is no need to say more."

"The top priority of my Wu country at this stage is to restore the people's livelihood as soon as possible, and absorb the youth and strength of the new Wu people, assimilate them, and use them for my use."

The ultimate goal of Qingji is nothing more than to mess around and make a big country borderless.

However, in his lifetime, he may not be able to achieve this long-cherished wish.

Therefore, what Qingji wants to do in his lifetime is to defeat the Jin State, make himself the hegemon, and make the Wu State the first power in the Central Plains that is proud of Kyushu.

So, how can Qingji fulfill this long-cherished wish?

Wu's national policy was not formulated to celebrate hegemony.

In fact, Wu's national policy has remained unchanged since Qingji succeeded to the throne.

What is the national policy of the state of Wu?

It is to destroy the more and swallow Chu and become the only country in the south.

Therefore, in the next few years, Qingji must endure it, accumulate national strength, and finally send troops to annex Chu in one fell swoop and complete the unification south of the Yangtze River.

The fact that Wu gave up control of the Zhou royal family and Zheng did not mean that Qingji did not intend to dominate.

Qingji is just retreating and advancing and carrying out strategic contraction.

Immediately, Qingji issued an edict ordering Fan Li and Tian Sui Tho, who were far away in Zheng to resist the invasion of the Jin army, to lead their troops back to Wu.

At the same time, Qingji took Bo Ji as a messenger, prepared a generous gift, and went to the Jin State to negotiate an armistice and conclude an alliance to kill soldiers.

The Jin people want to dominate, let him go!

However, if you want to go further south and get your hands on the cities and lands of Wu, Qingji will not get used to them.

……

The ministers who ended the court meeting all dispersed, but only the court captain Bo Yu remained in the Zide Palace.

"Bo, what's wrong?"

Qingji squinted his eyes and asked.

Bo Biao's task now is heavy, and he wants to send an envoy to the Jin State for Wu State, so it stands to reason that Bo Biao should prepare early and set off immediately.

Now this appearance of wanting to speak and stopping is clearly something to say.

Seeing Qingji's question, Bo Ji's face softened slightly, and then lowered his head and said, "King, the minister wants to recommend a talent with mixed reviews for the king...... No, it's a great talent."

"Talent? Mixed reviews?"

Qingji was interested, and said with a smile: "I don't know who you want to recommend for the widow?"

In the state of Wu, there were many ways to get ahead, in addition to the scholars who were selected from the Jixia Academy, they could go to the court or local government to hold official positions.

The probation system is also a good way to recommend talents.

The Xia, Shang and Western Zhou dynasties implemented the "Shiqing Shilu system".

By the time of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, all the countries had reformed the old system, and in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army, they made an exception to appoint some people with low status and outstanding talents.

During the Warring States Period, the "military merit system" appeared, and the trend of "raising soldiers" arose, recruiting talented and eloquent talents, regardless of their origins, to serve the monarch and princes.

In the Qin Dynasty, the selection of officials was based on "opening fields" and military merits.

However, these are not a complete system for electing officials.

In the Han Dynasty, a complete system for selecting officials was established, called the inspection system.

Probation is a bottom-up system of selecting talents, also known as "election".

Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, first asked the county to recommend wise men and doctors with the ability to govern the country, opening a precedent for the "inspection system......