Chapter 107 Luoshui Peace Talks
The snow was not heavy, and it did not seem cold under the warm sun, but Qin Chu felt a slight chill in his heart.
The theory of the Mandate of Heaven has a long history, especially during the Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty, which were both recognized as having obtained the world by the Mandate of Heaven.
It is precisely because of this that the decline of Bang Zhou in recent years has led countless people to believe that Bang Zhou’s mandate of heaven is coming to an end.
Qin Bo was a little absent-minded, but then he was determined, "When the will of heaven favored us, King Wu defeated King Zhou, King Su went on an expedition to the east, and even King Xuan Gong pacified the barbarians. Each of them was a glorious victory.
The fact that Bang Zhou suffered such a great defeat was a sign that heaven was gradually losing favor with Bang Zhou, and the Zhou Dynasty had indeed lost its mandate of heaven.
Now, if we can defeat Luo State, Bang Zhou will collapse."
What Qin Bo said made so much sense that it calmed the hearts of Qin's ministers. Prince Gao asked with some doubt: "Your Majesty, since the Zhou Dynasty's destiny has declined, why is it snowing?"
Looking at the glittering snow, Qin Bo sighed and said, "This snow is Heaven's warning to us that although the Mandate of Heaven of the Zhou Dynasty is declining, it is not the time for its sacrifices to perish.
The demise of Xia was because the Shang Dynasty received the Mandate from Heaven, and the demise of the Shang Dynasty was because the Zhou Dynasty received the Mandate from Heaven. Now, among the various countries in the world, who can receive the Mandate from Heaven?
The State of Chu is powerful, but it is a barbarian country. Can it rule the world?
This is why the Mandate of Heaven has not yet ended. The Mandate of Heaven has weakened but has not been extinct. This is a manifestation of Qin's favor by Heaven. "
Wei Qing was a little frightened. After looking around, he said, "King Su, you are the supreme god. Why do you interfere in human affairs?"
"King Su, when the Zhou Dynasty appoints me as a vassal, I will certainly treat the royal family with respect. Qin and Chu are both barbarians, and the Wei family has no choice but to ally with them. Please understand."
In the Chu camp.
The King of Chu and Xiang Cheng sat opposite each other and recalled the records in the Chu classics and family classics.
The King of Chu was not discouraged. He was a typical Chu man who believed in destiny and gods. But at the same time, he also had the best qualities of Chu people, which was perseverance and never giving in. He laughed loudly and said, "Uncle, you see how the Mandate of Heaven of the Zhou Dynasty has declined.
During the reign of King Zhao, Duke Wen held the Mandate of Heaven and froze the entire river, which forced our ancestors to retreat. During the reign of King Yi, Duke Xuan held the Mandate of Heaven, so snow fell on the earth for ten days, cutting off the retreat of the Shen Rong army and forcing them to fight a bloody battle in Haojing. To this day, this thin layer of frost is proof that the Mandate of Heaven of the Zhou State has declined.
Xiang Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly, looked up into the void, "Your Majesty.
Haotian and Taiyi are both supreme gods with endless power. Mortals only need to follow the procedures and the destiny will naturally shift. I believe that Haotian has long stopped protecting Bang Zhou.
But Bang Zhou also has an ancestor, King Su, who is equally supreme and holy, so there are two gods protecting Bang Zhou’s head, and now Luo State is Bang Zhou’s destiny.
We have only one goal, and that is to separate Luo State from the destiny of Bang Zhou!"
The King of Chu's pupils shrank slightly. He stood up and looked at Luoyi in the distance and said, "Uncle, it's time to meet the emperor. The nobles in the country have been waiting for this day for a long time."
As the snow fell on the earth, the whole Luoyi suddenly became bustling with people. The slightly cold snow fell on the bodies, but everyone's hearts were extremely hot.
As long as the Mandate of Heaven remains, sacrifices will remain, and there is still hope.
Ji Bai directly held Luo Zhi's hand and cried, "Lord Luo, King Haotian Su still blesses Bang Zhou."
Luo Zhi stood up with some discomfort, and said coldly: "Yes, King Haotian Su is still protecting Bangzhou."
But it does not protect you.
The messenger who went to the Qin and Chu camps reported: "Lord Luo, Duke Qin and Lord Chu said that this war was caused by Zheng and Chen, and it eventually led to such a great disaster.
But once the war has started, it cannot be stopped. They are willing to accept the peace proposal and let the world be stable again, but please delete the name of the emperor. They are all ministers of the king, and it is their duty to pay homage to the emperor."
Amid the confrontation of countless armies, the Duke of Qin, the King of Chu, the Qing of Wei and Luo Zhi and others finally met. Ji Bai presided over the peace talks with some trembling.
The King of Chu finally saw Luo Zhi, and his eyes immediately fell on the holy mark.
Wei Qing bowed respectfully to Ji Bai, and then presented some flashy treasures to Ji Bai, the King of Zhou. Han Cheng and Zhao Yong glared at Wei Qing, but they could do nothing about it.
According to Luo Zhi's previous instructions, Ji put on a forced smile and handed the golden book for enthroning the princes to Wei Qing, officially enthroning him as Marquis of Wei.
This was like a signal that the real negotiations had begun.
Wei Qing put forward his own demands, "Han and Zhao should each cede thirty cities to Wei."
"impossible!"
"Wei Qing is just a bastard. The people of Zhao will never tolerate such a great humiliation!"
Han Cheng and Zhao Yong were instantly furious. Instead of ceding so many cities, they might as well just merge the two countries into Wei and then form Jin.
Xiang Cheng, who was sitting behind the King of Chu, frowned slightly and turned to look at Qin Bo, but saw that Qin Bo did not show any expression. He was suddenly startled and thought that there must be an agreement between Qin and Wei.
That's true. The reason why Wei asked for such a high price was that it promised to cede Hangu Pass to Qin and also promised to cede the territories of the Three Jins close to Qin.
Therefore, Qin supported Wei's oppression of Han and Zhao.
Xiang Cheng sat beside the King of Chu and said softly, "Your Majesty, the Nine Cauldrons!"
Upon hearing this, the King of Chu immediately said, "Your Majesty, the Nine Cauldrons carry the Mandate of Heaven. The Zhou Dynasty is in decline and cannot bear the heavy burden. It would be better to move the Nine Cauldrons away from Luoyi."
Luo Zhi's face turned pale and he said in a cold voice: "Lord Chu, destiny favors Zhou, and if the Nine Cauldrons are seated in Luoyi, the world will be at peace.
Do you think that Chu has received the Mandate of Heaven?"
The King of Chu laughed and said, “Lord Luo, the Chu State is blessed by Taiyi and has always been blessed by heaven.
The Nine Provinces during the reign of King Yu were only a thousand miles, but now they are ten thousand miles, of which three thousand miles were opened up by the Chu people. Shouldn't the Chu people get one of the Nine Cauldrons?"
Luo Zhi was extremely angry and laughed: "The Nine Cauldrons are royal weapons, and only the ruler of the world can bear them.
Since the Duke of Chu wants the Nine Cauldrons, he wants the Mandate of Heaven for the Zhou Dynasty. So please kill me immediately and step over my corpse.
When I die and the snow falls all over the Han River, I hope the Duke of Chu will not regret what he said today."
Every word he spoke was chilling.
The King of Chu was about to speak when he saw blood flowing from Luo Zhi's mouth. His eyes fixed, and Luo Qing rushed over in an instant, holding his hand and asked, "Your Majesty, you..."
Luo Zhi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. As the shackles became stronger and stronger, the damage he suffered from using June Snow was far greater than the damage Luo Cheng suffered at the beginning.
Everyone remembered that the same thing happened to Luo Xuan Gong as recorded in the classics. The power of heaven was not something that mortals could touch. The atmosphere suddenly became stagnant and the negotiations ended in a bad mood.
The King of Chu and Xiang Cheng walked out of the place quickly. The King of Chu whispered, "Uncle, why do you want to deliberately disrupt the peace talks?"
Of course the King of Chu knew that Luo would not agree. The Zhou State's mandate was already shaky, and it would naturally not tolerate the loss of the Nine Cauldrons. So Xiang Cheng informed the King of Chu that Qin and Wei had already conspired in the negotiations, and the King of Chu's face instantly turned gloomy.
Ji Bai asked in a panic, "Lord Luo, the three countries of Qin, Chu and Wei are asking for such high prices. The conditions they put forward are impossible for other countries to agree to. Do you think they don't want to negotiate at all?"
Luo Zhi shook his head and said, "There was a dispute among the three countries, and Chu deliberately disrupted the peace talks. If we immediately send people to show goodwill to Chu, we may be able to save Wu."
After using the yellow-level divine weapon of destiny, although it caused great damage to his body, he also gained a trace of wisdom and finally had a moment of inspiration. Now he has grasped the most critical point.
The conflict between the three kingdoms of Qin, Chu and Wei was greater than anyone imagined.
The core demand of Qin State was to obtain Hangu Pass and the land of Zhao State. The next goal of Qin State was to occupy the plateau. If it could obtain a large enclave in a key location of Zhao State, it would gain a strategic advantage.
This was something the State of Wei could not agree to. Wei Qing pretended to agree in order to confuse the King of Qin. He was a traitor and had already planned to contact Han and Zhao to attack the State of Qin as soon as the war stopped.
His real goal was to obtain the entire Qiao-Han Pass to protect Wei from being attacked from all sides. After all, Wei had a close relationship with Han and Zhao. Now the three countries of Han, Zhao and Wei were all at a disadvantage facing Qin and Chu, so naturally they had to unite.
The friendship between Qin and Chu had long been broken. There had been constant frictions on the plains of Shu, and both wanted to annex Bashu. Even during the war, there were intrigues against each other. Now that the war has stopped and the Ji-Jiang alliance that had been weighing on both sides has been uncovered, Qin and Chu immediately regarded each other as enemies.
The State of Wei can be seen as a continuation of the State of Jin. If the State of Wei wanted the territory to the east of the State of Han, it would block the way to the north for the State of Chu, so the State of Chu could not agree to the Wei's rampant territorial demands.
As for Chu's territorial demands, not to mention that Wu and Qi would never agree to them, Qin and Wei would be even less likely to agree to them. Jin was gone, but Chu was still there. This was really terrifying.
In this strange atmosphere, various conspiracies and calculations were hidden beneath the surface, and finally a rough peace agreement was reached.
"The territory of Zheng and the eastern part of Song were incorporated into the royal domain.
Han ceded all of its land east of Luoyi to Wei.
The emperor gave the land north of the royal capital to Han to rebuild the country, and then took out a part of the land of Zheng and gave it to Han.
The State of Zhao ceded large tracts of land to the State of Qin.
The State of Wu ceded most of the land north of the Yangtze River to the State of Chu.
The states of Zheng, Chen and Song never recovered, but Song retained its sacrifices in Shangqiu.
Qi and Wu ceded the area through which the Huaihe and Sishui rivers flowed, which was jointly managed by Qin and Wei.
The western part of Luo State was incorporated into the royal capital, and land was allocated to Luo State from Song State, but Luo State was not allowed to station troops there.
Qin, Chu and Wei did not really make things difficult for the royal family, and the royal family's land was even greatly expanded.
No matter how one looks at it, Qin, Chu and Wei were all loyal subjects.
But everyone knew that the Zhou royal family was in a hopeless situation. If they gave him the land now, they could just take it back later.
The next most important goal of the three kingdoms of Qin, Wei and Chu was to remove Luo from the destiny of Zhou.
"The royal family of Luo State is not allowed to enter the royal capital, nor can they serve as royal ministers.
The Luo State military system can only retain 12,500 people.
The State of Luo should not have allowed all the sons of the royal family to remain in the country; they should have sent them out to serve in other states.
The prosperity of the Xia culture is the prosperity. Luo State should send teachers to teach other countries, and Luo State Academy should allow other countries to send people to record. "
On the surface, it was aimed at the State of Luo, but in fact it was all against the Mandate of Heaven of the Zhou Dynasty. An army of 12,500 people was already a lot, and the number of warriors of the State of Luo had never exceeded 5,000.
Therefore, the other countries added the idea of letting the royal family of Luo serve in other countries instead of staying in Luo, but this was not actually implemented.
There are only so many official positions, and the royal family of Luo will definitely fight for a position. Do other countries still dare to treat the royal family of Luo as inferior people?
Due to concerns for the mysterious King Su, this peace agreement did not treat the royal family of Luo State harshly. They were only not allowed to enter the royal capital, but it blocked the possibility of Luo State wanting to maintain the Mandate of Heaven.
Faced with these conditions, Luo Zhi had some strange feelings, as if this was the best time for Luo State to turn the country into a home, but he knew that Bang Zhou had not yet collapsed, the ancestors still needed Bang Zhou, and the existence of Luo State still had a purpose.
On the high platform, Ji Bai offered sacrifices to Haotian, and the nations once again enjoyed peace.
Under the high platform, Luo Zhi was signing the peace agreement. Everyone was looking at him. He turned around and looked at the sky, which was like a mountain.
“King Su, if you sign this peace agreement, the people of Luo will not have to shed blood.
The fate of the Luo family that has lasted for thousands of years should not be borne by ordinary people and royal families."
Ji Zhao looked at Luo Zhi and confirmed once again that he was really an ordinary person, a kind-hearted ordinary person, and an unqualified monarch.
King Su might be there, Luo Zhi thought, he took two steps forward, fell straight to the ground, and mouthfuls of blood gushed out of his mouth.
"monarch!"
"Master!"
"Lord Luo!"
The King of Chu and the Duke of Qin were both shocked and hurried to see Luo Zhi's condition. Everyone's attention was attracted by Luo Zhi.
No one noticed that Ji Bai's figure on the platform also fell down at the same time, struggling on the ground like a maggot.
…
In the twenty-fifth year, the king offered sacrifices to heaven, and Duke Min discussed the establishment of a vassal state.
It's done.
When Duke Min died, Wu and Qi mourned him, Qin and Chu lamented him, and tens of thousands of troops saw him off.
The king became ill and died.
Wrap him in a straw mat, cover him with ashes, and bury him in the suburbs of the king. - "Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Zhou"
It’s over, it’s over. The story that I have always wanted to write, I finally finished writing it today.
(End of this chapter)
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