Listen carefully to the underlying meaning...
Why would it bother him, the prime minister of the Yan state, to repair the "Qin-Jin alliance"?
It's certain that the ruler of Jin already knew that Jiang Ming was Ying Jiang, the one who escaped from Jin...
"Tsk tsk tsk!"
Zhao Yong clicked his tongue and smacked his lips: "Prime Minister, why say such unpleasant things? Yes, it was I who told the King of Jin... The current Prime Minister of Yan is the very Qin prince he wanted to arrest, but that happened after you became Prime Minister of Yan... And I had no ill intentions! Don't you know who I am, brother... If I really had a guilty conscience, would I dare to come to Gu County and upset you, brother?"
"Furthermore..."
Zhao Yong smiled wryly and said, "Now the ruler of Jin can't do anything to you. Why are you afraid of him?"
"hehe......"
Jiang Ming smiled faintly: "Is he out of his mind, or has he taken the wrong medicine? I am now the Prime Minister of Yan, how can I represent Qin to discuss any Qin-Jin alliance with him? Besides... in Qin, I am just an unpopular illegitimate son..."
"Hey, little brother, you can't say that..."
Zhao Yong smacked his lips and said, "The past is the past, the present is the present, and the future is the future. Let me explain slowly..."
Then, Zhao Yong explained the mystery to Jiang Ming in detail.
The State of Jin, lacking martial virtue, launched a surprise attack on the fertile land that the State of Qin had seized from the State of Song... As a result, it was defeated in both battles and the State of Qin even seized Shaoliang, the 'land west of the Yellow River'.
The Hexi region is extremely important!
If the State of Jin possessed it, it would be tantamount to the State of Qin exposing its heartland to the military might of the State of Jin!
But without it, if the State of Jin wanted to attack the State of Qin again, it would only be able to take the natural barrier of Hangu Pass...
In this series of actions, the State of Jin can be said to have lost the big picture but gained small gains.
Unable to win a fight, and getting angry was useless, the ruler of Jin wanted to mend fences with Qin to relieve the pressure from the west... After all, Chu, seeing Jin's defeat, was stirring up trouble again, deploying troops on the Jin-Chu border... If Qin and Chu formed an alliance and attacked Jin together, it would be a real problem!
However, the envoy sent by the ruler of Jin to Qin was driven back by the ruler of Qin, who said: "The prince of Qin was once a hostage in Jin, and his fate is now unknown. What face do the people of Jin have to come and negotiate peace again?"
Therefore, the ruler of Jin once again ordered a search for Jiang Ming.
At this point, Zhao Yong told the King of Jin that Jiang Ming had become the Prime Minister of Yan, and together they devised a "scheme within a scheme" for him and Jiang Ming!
That is, the ruler of Jin married his beloved daughter to Jiang Ming to show his sincerity, and was willing to make peace with both Qin and Yan, turning one good relationship into two!
Then, he went to negotiate with the Qin state.
However, this operation is only one layer, and it is hidden 'underwater'.
The other layer on the water is... Jin knew that Jiang Ming's next step was to give Zhongshan a good beating, but Zhongshan was like a turtle shell, hard to pry open!
Therefore, the State of Jin planned to use the pretext of continuing to "pursue and kill the prince of Qin" to form an alliance with the State of Zhongshan, gain the trust of the State of Zhongshan, and then betray it, working with Jiang Ming from the inside to take down Zhongshan!
Then the land can be divided equally!
"Your Excellency, the Prime Minister!"
Zhao Yong laughed and said, "The ruler of Jin has already sent an envoy to talk with the ruler of Zhongshan, offering to send 100,000 troops to assist Zhongshan and Qi in destroying Yan... Otherwise, if you become too powerful in Yan and have a grudge against the ruler of Jin, the ruler of Jin will be very uneasy... With such words, it would be hard for the ruler of Zhongshan not to believe it!"
"Heh... and then?" Jiang Ming smiled faintly.
"And then it's what I said!"
Zhao Yong laughed and said, "When Zhongshan stops guarding against Jin and concentrates all its forces on the northern front, even allowing Jin troops to cross the border, then we, Jin, will stab it in the back and invade the heartland of Zhongshan in one fell swoop, and Zhongshan will be destroyed!"
"hehe......"
Jiang Ming laughed and said, "That's a clever plan! But are you really so sure... that the King of Zhongshan is so stupid as to not be wary of you at all?"
"Ha ha!"
Zhao Yong laughed and said, "He can't defend against it. Right now, he only has 100,000 troops in the whole country. He can't defend the north or the south, or the east or the west... Even if he is wary of us, if the Yan and Jin families attack together, it's only a matter of time before we take him down. It's much easier than if we attack Zhongshan alone!"
"That's the truth!"
Jiang Ming pondered for a moment and said, "But if... after we destroy Zhongshan, will your Jin Kingdom really obediently share Zhongshan's land with us? Your Jin Kingdom's rulers have always been insatiable when it comes to land; would they be willing to give up Zhongshan, such a strategically important location?"
"Hahaha!"
Zhao Yong laughed and said, "Brother, have you forgotten the agreement I made with you before?"
"Oh? Just say what you want to say..."
"Cough cough!"
Zhao Yong coughed twice and said, "The Jin state has been depleted of its resources after these two wars with Qin. All that's left is our army... So, we've decided to divide Jin and rule it separately!"
"Promotion?"
"good!"
Zhao Yong's eyes flashed with a sharp, hawk-like light as he grinned wickedly, "Partition Jin! The ruler of Jin is incompetent. If he continues like this, his next move... will definitely be to send us to the front lines. How could we, the officials, possibly squander our resources for this foolish ruler? So, we simply want to depose him, and then let the Zhi, Zhao, Wei, and Han families divide Jin... My dear brother, we agreed back then... you help me, I help you. Facilitating this alliance between Jin and Yan to destroy Zhongshan and giving you half of Zhongshan is what I, your elder brother, can do. And you... you must also help me, send troops to assist our Zhao family, and prevent the other three families from dividing us up..."
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