Chapter 137: We still have to seize the royal land

The State of Yan was in the midst of a bloody storm. The newly enthroned Yan Hou Ping was an accomplished ruler. He understood deeply that the hatred between him and the old nobles was irreversible, so he took heavy measures.

However, he also left a way out for those old nobles who were already wavering and willing to surrender, in order to prevent the entire Yan State from falling into a chaotic civil war.

The time chosen by Yan Houping for the reform was really clever, because the various countries in the Xia Dynasty had no time to care about Yan.

The Qin State was far away in the west and was also reforming and strengthening itself. The Qi State and the Chu State were fighting each other to seize the land of the Wu State. The Three Jin States were engaged in a civil war and had no time to take care of other things.

As the chaos in Yan State gradually subsided, Yan Hou Ping finally issued the decree seeking talents that his father had never been able to issue until his death.

“When the ancient sage kings recruited wise ministers, they would present them with treasures from all over the world to express their humility.

The State of Yan is located in a bitterly cold land, where such treasures cannot be found. However, King Su once said that gold will not change for tens of millions of years. This is just like my desire to prosper the State of Yan, which will never change, and my desire to recruit talented people, which will never change.

There is also flawless jade, which is a treasure born to be given to wise men. If the beautiful jade in the palace of Yan State cannot be given to wise men, won’t it be dull and lifeless?

I will build a high platform in Jicheng with gold and beautiful jade. If there is a great sage, regardless of his background, I will give him beautiful jade as a gift, entrust him with state affairs, and appoint him as prime minister. "

The issuance of the order to seek talents was a shot in the arm for the frustrated scholars in various countries.

In particular, regardless of background, the high platform was built with gold. This was an extremely successful publicity, which made scholars all over the world know about Yan Hou Ping's determination to recruit talents.

…

The Kingdom of Han suffered heavy losses in the attack by Zhao and Wei. The happiest person was naturally the Emperor of Zhou, who had just been defeated by the Marquis of Han.

In the Battle of Hulao Pass, the royal family's power was wiped out, and Ji Ni's dream of reviving the royal family was shattered. How could he not hate it?

The land ceded to the royal family in the past seemed like a dream. Now that the dream is over, the royal family is once again left with only a hundred miles of land around the royal capital of Luoyi.

There is also an enclave located in the State of Song.

However, this piece of land is already independent, because it has no power to resist South Korea at all.

The reason why South Korea did not capture this land was mainly because it was located between two territories of Luo State.

Han hoped to have a buffer zone with Luo, but Qi's betrayal of Han made the king and his ministers gradually give up this concern.

Xinzheng City.

As the Marquis of Han ordered the whole country to fight to the death, South Korea once again conscripted Koreans on a large scale, with the conscription age even lowered to twelve years old at the minimum and sixty-five years old at the maximum.

Han Hou's face was full of numbness. The casualty figures reported in recent days did not change much, but the outcome he saw was completely different.

Just like losing ten thousand every day, losing for a week and losing for a year are completely different feelings.

"I had a dream yesterday and heard Haotian say that the heavens had punished the King of Zhou and were going to take away his land in Song. The Kingdom of Han should respond to the will of heaven.

Send troops to seize Song territory immediately, and I believe that God will favor the Han people."

In the hall, after careful consideration, Marquis Han spoke these words to everyone. He knew that this would definitely cause an uproar.

As expected, the ministers of Han rose up in opposition, "Your Majesty, if the emperor attacks the princes without reason, it is fine for the princes to fight back, but if the emperor does nothing wrong and the princes directly raise troops, this is really cutting themselves off from other countries.

Han is a vassal state of the Central Plains with the surname Ji. If you do this, will Han still be able to lead the country in the name of the king's subjects in the future?"

Han Hou was not angry, but said in a helpless and cold voice: "I understand what you are thinking.

There was a man in the State of Song who was about to starve to death. There was a piece of bacon hanging on the eaves of his house, but he refused to eat it.

When his neighbors asked him why, he said that if he ate it now, there would be no meat to offer sacrifice to his ancestors during the New Year.

The neighbor then said: If you starve to death now, your ancestors will not only lose the meat for sacrifice, but also the descendants for sacrifice.

How similar this is to South Korea today!

South Korea must obtain more population and land, otherwise it will be consumed by Zhao and Wei and bled to death.

By then, even if Qi came to help, what good would it be?

If South Korea's population is wiped out, its food is eaten up, and its land is all turned into scorched earth, the country will exist in name only. That is not what I want.

As for attacking the royal capital, Zhao and Wei have already attacked Han on the grounds that Han was disloyal, so could the outcome be any worse than it is now?"

Han Hou's words were well-reasoned and made the ministers of Han speechless. Han Xiang frowned and said respectfully: "Sir, if you have to conquer the royal land, you can't just rob it openly, at least find a reason."

Faced with Korea's irreversible desperate situation, the Marquis of Han made the most extreme reaction. Everything that Korea had lost must be taken back from the royal family. After all, the royal family is now a piece of fat meat that anyone can squeeze at will.

As for the fact that this kind of thing would once again undermine the authority and sanctity of the Zhou royal family, the Marquis of Han had no time to care about it. Besides, it was just a matter of grabbing some land and population.

He never claimed the title of king, and never challenged for the throne. Isn't this considered a loyal minister?

At the critical moment that determines the fate of South Korea, and a moment that is destined to be blamed, Marquis Han decides to go at it himself. Only if he abandons everything, will the nobles who follow him follow him and risk their lives.

Soon, an army that was supposed to be transferred to the battlefield of Han and Wei gathered at the border between Zheng and Song, and then they found a random reason to start a war.

The royal officials in Song never dreamed that the princes would dare to directly attack the royal land, and they were immediately defeated.

Most of the Song army was surrounded and annihilated by the Han army in a battle under Hulao Pass, and most of those who remained were officials sent by the royal capital to collect taxes.

In fact, since the royal family got this land, they have been implementing heavy taxes, and have never cared about the lives of the Song people. Now that South Korea is attacking, the Song people don't want to resist at all. South Korea has taken down one city after another with great force.

Although Marquis Han had confidence before he sent out his troops, the degree of success still exceeded his imagination. He laughed loudly at the ministers and said, "My dear ministers.

The Zhou emperor imposed heavy taxes on Song, which led to our current unstoppable success. Isn't this a blessing from heaven?

When the war is over, I should send an envoy to Luoyi to thank the emperor in person.

Great rivers and mountains, people with virtue live here! "

But no matter how smooth a war goes, how can there not be casualties?

Along with the laughter of the Korean king and his ministers, the lives of the Koreans continued to disappear and turned into numbers on the casualty list. In the conquered cities, the Song people also needed to offer gold, silver and other valuables in order to keep their lives.

South Korea did not come here to do charity, but to make up for its continuous blood loss. It was not just gold and silver, but also Song people who were to be recruited to the battlefield.

Han Xiang immediately said: "Your Majesty, all Song men over the age of fifteen should be organized and trained, and then their families should be gathered in the city. As long as we control their families, we don't have to worry about these Song people not being able to be used by us."

The Marquis of Han readily agreed. In fact, this method was a common way among all nations to prevent deserters. The Qin State went even further. In order to prevent the Qin people from escaping, they asked neighbors to supervise each other. As long as one household escaped, the rest would all be punished.

Directly applying wartime military law to rule the common people is what is called a true national military.

The King of Zhou was watching the joke of Han in Luoyi. He had been paying attention to the war between Han and Wei, which was his greatest pleasure now.

On this day, Ji Ni was enjoying singing and dancing in the palace. Although a large area of ​​land was ceded, he was still living a pretty good life thanks to the taxes from the rich Song land.

Then he saw the minister hurriedly walk into the palace hall, his face full of anxiety and said: "Your Majesty, the Han people have launched an attack on Song.

The battle report said that the Han army captured a city in just three days. Now that so much time has passed, I am afraid that the entire Song Dynasty’s part of the royal capital will fall.”

The smile on Ji Ni's face froze instantly. He had only one thought in his mind: what to do with the taxes in Song?

Without the taxes from Song, who would provide for the huge expenses of the royal family?

While Ji Ni was struggling with taxes here, Han's brazen military action caused an uproar among the various nations.

Zhao and Wei did not expect that South Korea would do such an extreme thing under the pressure of the two countries. "The offensive against South Korea must be intensified, otherwise after South Korea takes over Song territory, the resistance will become stronger and stronger."

The fighting between the three kingdoms suddenly escalated.

The King of Chu felt that "I am not alone in my path" and laughed in the palace of Yingdu: "After eight hundred years, the princes of the Central Plains have finally torn off their hypocritical loyalty to the King of Zhou and embarked on the same path as the State of Chu."

The nobles of Qi were terrified. They had never expected that Qi's abandonment of Han would force Han to cause such a big incident. The Duke of Qi even wanted to give up aiding Han.

But the arrow was on the string and Wei had to contain it, so the support for Han could not be stopped, which made Qi feel very uncomfortable.

————

In three years, Han State dealt a greater blow to the sanctity of the Zhou royal family and the authority of the emperor than the previous three hundred years combined. The only comparable state was the Chu State's claim to the throne and its ambitions to succeed the throne. However, the Chu State had always been on the fringes of the other states and had long been regarded as a barbarian by them.

South Korea was the first Central Plains vassal to trample on the authority of the Zhou royal family and the Zhou emperor. The Zhou Dynasty was like a car going downhill, and South Korea stepped on the accelerator.

In ancient my country, there was always a saying that the king was the forerunner. As the forerunner of the king, Han paid a huge price. As a result, the thinking of the monarchs and nobles of various countries changed dramatically. The Mandate of Heaven of the Zhou Dynasty began to be questioned by everyone, which eventually led to the subsequent dramatic changes in the Zhou Dynasty. - "The Rise and Fall of the Zhou Dynasty"

I feel like I've been having a lot of fun writing these days, and I've regained some of the confidence I had when I first started writing.

(End of this chapter)