Chapter 286 Yong'an County Can Be Sold, but Not All of It

The situation in Daxia deteriorated very quickly. In less than a month, there were voices from the vassal king wanting to visit Emperor Xia in Beijing.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the vassal kings are expanding their troops and preparing supplies. They are going to the capital to visit Emperor Xia. They are clearly planning to compete for that position.

In fact, most of the vassal kings have no idea of ​​becoming emperors for the time being, especially those who are several generations away from the royal family. They know very well that they want to be emperors and lack legitimacy.

Therefore, some vassal kings took the initiative to contact the princes in the capital and secretly reached a cooperative relationship with those princes. In order to compete for the throne, the princes agreed to the conditions of those vassal princes. Because of this, the situation in Daxia became even more chaotic.

When Daxia was in chaos, Dawu was not idle. After Wu Yunwan returned from the northern country, Dawu began to mobilize troops and generals. He transferred all the elite soldiers to the areas bordering Daxia, preparing to wait for opportunities.

…

Qi State.

The meeting hall.

A fat man sat on the throne. Although the throne was spacious, due to the man's larger size, the throne seemed much narrower in front of him.

King Qi glanced at the envoy from the Northern Kingdom in the main hall and said with a smile: "It's such a rare thing. I didn't expect that my nephew would send someone to my kingdom."

Having said this, King Qi asked: "Tell me, what is the purpose of my nephew asking you to come to Qi State?"

Zhou Tongguang, the envoy from the Northern Kingdom, replied in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Back to King Qi, my king wants to buy the entire Yong'an County."

Hearing this, King Qi and the ministers of Qi State in the hall were stunned. They had no idea that the envoys from the North Kingdom were sent to Qi State to buy land, and to buy the entire county.

King Qi's face became a little more serious. He stared at Zhou Tongguang in the hall, and after a while he said, "Isn't King Bei kidding me?"

Zhou Tongguang replied: "My king indeed wants to buy the entire Yong'an County. If King Qi feels that it is not cost-effective to trade with silver, he can also exchange land for land. If King Qi likes the land in the north, he can say so directly. "

Hearing this, King Qi chuckled in his heart. He was not a fool. How could he exchange the land of Qi State with the Northern State? The Northern State was so poor and the Qi State was so rich. It would definitely be a loss to exchange land for land.

But having said that, why is Beiwang thinking of buying Yongan County at this time?

King Qi was a little puzzled, so he said to the soldiers in the main hall: "Get the map."

After the words fell, the soldiers in the hall took out a large map. The map was held up by a bamboo pole and placed in the middle of the hall. The whole map could be seen at a glance.

King Qi glanced at the location of Yong'an County and found that Yong'an County was located in the west and bordered the Dawu Dynasty. It not only bordered the Dawu Dynasty, but also bordered the land controlled by the Daxia royal family.

In other words, as long as the Northern Kingdom buys Yong'an County, the Northern Kingdom's army can directly bypass the Qi Kingdom through the Yong'an County corridor and enter the control area of ​​the Daxia royal family.

After seeing the location of Yong'an County, King Qi asked with a smile: "I am a little curious as to why King Bei bought Yong'an County. This location is a bit sensitive."

Zhou Tongguang said with a smile: "I believe King Qi has heard about the signing of a business cooperation agreement between the Northern Kingdom and the Dawu Dynasty. From now on, the Northern Kingdom can do business with the Dawu Dynasty, but the Northern Kingdom and Dawu are separated by Dayue and Qi Kingdoms. It's a little troublesome to get the goods to Dawu, so my king thought of buying Yong'an County and directly bordering Dawu. "

"In this way, it will be more convenient for goods from the North to enter Dawu, and for goods from Dawu to be transported to the North."

After hearing this, King Qi smiled and said: "The reason sounds quite sufficient, but I'm afraid that King Bei doesn't just want to do business with Dawu, right?"

Zhou Tongguang asked: "Then why does King Qi think my king bought Yong'an County?"

Hearing Zhou Tongguang's question, King Qi was stunned.

King Qi thought to himself, for what?

Isn't this simple?

Isn't it just to bypass Qi State at the right time and then send a large army to attack the city controlled by the royal family?

King Qi then said: "If Yong'an County is sold to the Northern King, then the land in the Northern Kingdom will be bordering the land controlled by the Great Xia court. If something happens, the Northern Kingdom will directly send troops into the city controlled by the Great Xia court. I’m afraid I will also bear the responsibility.”

"Furthermore, land transactions between feudal princes require the approval of the court. If the court does not agree, it will be useless even if the king agrees."

Zhou Tongguang said with a smile: "King Qi is too worried. My king is your majesty's prince. How could the Northern Kingdom send troops into the areas controlled by the imperial court without my order? Besides, the imperial court has hundreds of thousands stationed in Qi State." Soldiers, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers here, the court will be able to react immediately to any action in the Northern Kingdom, and Yong'an County is just a corridor, and King Qi has the ability to close this corridor at any time. "

"If something happens one day that forces the Northern Army to go south, my king will also borrow the road directly from King Qi. It is impossible to take a detour and go south through Yong'an County."

Upon hearing this, King Qi's face darkened instantly.

He was not a fool. How could he not hear what Zhou Tongguang meant?

What Zhou Tongguang meant was that if the Northern Kingdom really wanted to go south, the first country to fight would be the Qi Kingdom.

Yong'an County is a passage. If troops are really sent out from Yong'an County, the soldiers of Qi State can block the supply of soldiers from the Northern State at any time. Therefore, if the Northern State wants to send troops south, it must occupy Qi State to prevent Qi State from making trouble behind the scenes.

Of course, Zhou Tongguang's words sounded like a threat to Qi State to King Qi. If Qi State does not sell Yong'an County to the Northern State, the Northern State will inevitably attack Qi State when it marches south in the future.

King Qi snorted coldly, and then said, "Are you threatening me?"

Zhou Tongguang said, "I dare not, I am just stating the facts."

King Qi then said, "If the Northern State really wants to buy Yong'an County, it is not impossible, but you must first tell the court. When the court agrees, you can come to me to discuss the price of buying Yong'an County."

Generally, vassal states have the obligation to guard the border. Qi State borders the Dawu Dynasty to the west. When the Dawu Dynasty invades Daxia, Qi State will bear the heavy responsibility of resisting the invasion of the Dawu Dynasty.

If Yong'an County, which borders the Dawu Dynasty, is sold to the Northern Kingdom, then the Northern Kingdom will border the Dawu Dynasty in the future. At that time, the responsibility of resisting foreign enemies will fall on the Northern Kingdom. King Qi is eager to give Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom.

The last time Dawu and Daxia went to war, the court asked the vassal kings to send troops. Qi lost a lot of soldiers that time, which made King Qi have to agree to the court's request to station troops in Qi.

If Qi still had a regular establishment of 50,000 soldiers at that time, the court wanted to station troops in Qi, and King Qi could still be a little tougher, and he would not agree to the court so easily.

After hearing King Qi's words, Zhou Tongguang instantly understood what King Qi meant. King Qi pushed all the responsibilities onto the court. In this way, he would not offend the Northern Kingdom. If the Northern Kingdom really sent troops from Yong'an County to the south, the court could not blame Qi for selling Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom.

Of course, the most important point is that Qi State now has hundreds of thousands of troops stationed by the court. They really dare not act recklessly. Although it is said that Emperor Xia is already terminally ill, and the princes of various places are frantically expanding their troops, only Qi State dares not make any moves.

There is a tiger in the north and a dragon in the south. Qi State can only tremble in the middle. If they act rashly, Qi State may be gone in an instant.

Zhou Tongguang said: "In this case, I will write a letter to my king and ask him to report this matter to the court quickly."

"If King Qi has no other questions, I will take my leave."

After the voice fell, Zhou Tongguang turned around and left.

After Zhou Tongguang walked out of the hall, the King of Qi, who had been suppressing his emotions, could no longer hold back. He swept everything on the table in front of him to the ground, and then roared: "This is simply too much! What do you think of Qi State!"

At this time, a minister stood up and said: "Your Majesty, are we really going to sell Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom? If we sell Yong'an County, I'm afraid we won't be able to communicate directly with Dawu in the future?"

Hearing this man's words, the King of Qi fell silent.

Indeed, although Yong'an County borders Dawu, Qi State has to bear part of the obligation to resist Dawu's invasion during the war, but if Yong'an County is gone, it will be difficult for Qi State's caravans to communicate directly with Dawu in normal times, and they will have to pass through the areas controlled by the court in the future, which is not a good thing for Qi State.

Some commercial trade between Qi State and Dawu is not open to the public. If it passes through the areas controlled by the court, it is easy for people to see something.

But if Yong'an County is not sold, the envoys of the Northern Kingdom have already threatened that if they do not sell it, the Northern Kingdom will definitely attack Qi Kingdom if it moves south one day. Qi Kingdom does not even have 50,000 regular troops now, and cannot resist the Northern Kingdom's southward advance.

After a while, King Qi thought of a good idea. He said, "Yong'an County can be sold, but not all of it. Only half of it can be sold to the Northern Kingdom. In this way, the Northern Kingdom will not be able to directly contact the area controlled by the court, and the caravans in Qi Kingdom can continue to trade with Dawu."

Hearing this, the ministers in the hall breathed a sigh of relief. These ministers in the hall were basically the aristocratic families of Qi Kingdom. Almost every family of them had some kind of trade with the Dawu Dynasty. If the trading channel with Dawu was really cut off, it would not be a good thing for them.

Half a month later, the news that King Bei wanted to buy Yong'an County reached the ears of officials in the court of Daxia.

In the court, officials talked about this matter.

At this time, the eldest prince, who was sitting on a chair next to the dragon throne, asked, "You should have heard that the Northern Kingdom wants to buy Yong'an County from the Qi Kingdom, right?"

The eldest prince is now temporarily taking over the position of the crown prince and is in charge of national affairs. This matter is also decided by him.

As soon as the eldest prince finished speaking, an official stood up and said, "Your Highness, this matter must not be agreed to!"

"If Qi Kingdom is approved to sell Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom, then the Northern Kingdom will directly border the land controlled by the court. If the Northern King has any ulterior motives, the Northern Kingdom's army will be able to march straight through Yong'an County and attack the capital!"

After the voice fell, another minister also said, "The Northern King's move is ambitious. We must stop the Northern King and cannot let Qi Kingdom sell Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom!"

The eldest prince said at this time: "Qi King handed in a memorial saying that if Qi Kingdom does not sell Yong'an County to the Northern King, the Northern Kingdom is likely to send troops south to capture Qi Kingdom."

Hearing this, the hall was instantly in chaos.

"The King of the North is truly lawless. How dare he do this!"

"This is a problem. The princes of various places have expanded their troops, and now the Northern Kingdom is preparing to move south again."

"The Northern King really doesn't take the 400,000 troops of the court seriously. In my opinion, we should send troops directly to quell the rebellion."

"Send troops? Are you crazy? If we send troops now, the princes of various places in the south will definitely lead their troops north and directly attack the capital!"

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