While Wei was celebrating its victory in the "Second Central Plains War", Qi and Chu were trembling because of Wei's unstoppable power.

Let’s talk about Qi State first. In fact, in this war, Qi State’s military losses were not serious. Taken together, the casualties of Qi’s soldiers may only be a few two to three thousand people.

The reason for this situation, in addition to Tian Dan's premeditated attempt to preserve the strength of his own army in the early stage, is also due to the Chu State General Xiang Mo. After all, it was the latter who ordered the Chu army to attack Qi State on the day of the decisive battle.

After the army was cut off, this allowed the Qi army to survive.

In the same way, the Dongou Army of the Yue State and the Qi and Yue armies were able to retreat unscathed because they finally received the "protection" of General Xiang Mo of the Chu State.

After the defeat of the coalition forces, Tian Dan quickly evacuated eastward before the coalition forces of Wei, Wei, and Lu regained Song County. After passing through Song County, he returned to the Qi mainland.

On the way, Tian Dan ordered people to send the bad news of "the defeat of the coalition forces" to Linzi, the capital of Qi State, overnight.

At this time, Wei generals Zhao Jiang and Qu Cheng were still leading the Hanoi army and the Yanling army to attack Qi. However, because Wei general Pang Huan received a letter from Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, he ignored the order of Zhao Jiang.

The army was transferred back to the State of Wei, which resulted in the military strength of Zhao Jiang and Qu Cheng not being able to pose much of a threat to the State of Qi, so that the war situation inevitably ended in a stalemate.

After Tian Dan led his army back to Qi, Wei general Zhao Jiang's "strategy to overthrow Qi" could be said to have completely failed.

Therefore, after Zhao Jiang received the order from Wei King Zhao Run, he returned to Julu North County without hesitation.

At this point, the Second Central Plains War ended, and Qi State survived.

But having said that, although Wei returned Zhao Jiang and Qu Cheng to Julu North County, Linzi did not relax at all. The reason was the bad news that Tian Dan sent people back.

In the Linzi Palace, King Qi held Tian Dan's letter in his white hands, looked around at the ministers kneeling on both sides of the palace, and said in an inexplicable tone: "The coalition forces were defeated. To be more precise, they were defeated by Wei..."

In the palace, Zhao Zhao, the prime minister on the left, Tian Tao, the prime minister on the right, and the other ministers Gao Xi, Bao Shu and Guan Zhong were summoned to greet several ministers. After hearing the words, they all couldn't help but breathe.

Maybe for Left Prime Minister Zhao Zhao, this is still good news. After all, the defeat of the coalition forces means that his home country Wei has won the final victory in this war. But for the rest of the people in the palace at this moment, it is absolutely

Sad news.

"How come?"

Right Prime Minister Tian Tao first raised questions.

It's not that he doesn't believe in his cousin Tian Dan, it's just that he really can't believe that Wei can defeat the coalition forces of various countries under such circumstances.

You know, the total strength of the coalition of countries attacking Wei this time is nearly 1.5 million!

And what about the Wei State? At least 80% of the elites of the Wei State were sent to attack South Korea, and there were almost no troops left in the country. Under such circumstances, the Wei State could actually defeat the coalition forces of other countries?

Qi Wangbai glanced at Tian Dan, and after taking a long breath, he said: "General Tian Dan analyzed the reasons for the defeat of the coalition forces in his letter. First of all, everyone underestimated the prestige of Wei King Zhao Run in his country.

, with a conscription order, he easily recruited 340,000 people to follow him on the expedition; secondly, on the day when Wei King Zhao Run led the reinforcements to Daliang, the coalition commander Chu Shuijun made a wrong judgment, so that

Instead of seizing the opportunity of disparity in military strength to defeat Wei, they were defeated by Wei King Zhao Run, allowing Wei's reinforcements to gain a firm foothold in Daliang; as for the third, and most crucial point, Lu's Huan Hu and Chen Shou Er

They betrayed the Lu State and the allied forces. They may have been bribed by the Wei State in private, so that on the day of the decisive battle, Huan Hu and Chen Shou took Ji Wu of the Lu State hostage and controlled the Lu State.

The army, and together with the Wei army, turned against each other, and finally the Wei State... incredibly defeated the coalition forces."

"..."

After listening to King Lu Bai of Qi relaying Tian Dan's analysis of the defeat of the allied forces, all the officials in the palace looked at each other.

After a long time, Shiqing Guan Zhong frowned and said, "The State of Lu... may completely fall to the State of Wei."

Including King Lu Bai of Qi, everyone in the palace glanced at Guan Zhong after hearing this, or a few of them moved their lips slightly, as if they wanted to say something.

But in the end, they said nothing.

Because they also felt that the possibility of the Lu State completely falling to the Wei State was very high.

The reason is very simple. Huan Hu and Chen Shou took Ji Wu hostage and defected to the Wei State. Now that the Wei State has won the war, if Ji Wu was not killed by Huan Hu who crossed the river and demolished the bridge, this person would have

To protect his family from the wrath of the Wei State, he is very likely to defect to the Wei State.

The problem is that the only generals in charge of the Lu State are Ji Wu and Huan Hu. If these two people really fall to the Wei State together, then the new king of the Lu State, Gong Shuxing, will have no ability to resist the Wei State.

, either die or surrender to Wei like South Korea.

And this also means that the "Qilu Alliance" that lasted for nearly a hundred years will completely become a thing of the past at this moment.

After a while, the right prime minister Tian Tan raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty, at this time, Tian Tan divides his troops to garrison Mount Tai, and sends people to keep an eye on the movements of Lu State."

King Lu Bai of Qi was not a stupid person. When he heard this, he immediately understood what Tian Tabu meant. He frowned and said, "Right Prime Minister, do you mean to sit back and watch Lu fall to Wei and stand by and do nothing?"

Right Prime Minister Tian Ba ​​was silent for a moment, and then said in a quiet voice: "Your Majesty, in the face of the Wei State, our army can only protect itself, and I am afraid it will not be able to help the Lu State... If Ji Wu and Huan Hu did not defect to the Wei State,

, I would advise your majesty to assist the Lu State, but the two of them have surrendered to the Wei State with the Lu State's army..."

He didn't finish speaking, but Qi King Lu Bai already understood what he meant: At present, the troops of the Lu State have defected to the Wei State. If the Qi State wants to aid the Lu State, it will have to send at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Army, but this does not guarantee whether the Lu State can be saved; on the other hand, the Qi State will have its defense power greatly reduced by transferring hundreds of thousands of troops.

Therefore, aiding the Lu State at this time is really not a name-based idea.

"Your Majesty, you can persuade King Lu to flee to Daqi when Wei attacks..." Shiqing Guan Zhong suggested from the side.

"Hmm."

Lu Bai thought for a moment and nodded.

On that day, he wrote a letter in his own hand and sent it to Qufu, the royal capital of Lu State, and handed it over to Prince Shu Xing of Lu, who had not yet surrendered to Wei State at that time.

After opening the letter from King Lu Bai of Qi and reading it, Prince Lu's heart dropped.

At the beginning, Duke Shu Xing of Lu felt that Qi might be able to assist Lu in resisting Wei. This was not only because of the "Qi-Lu Alliance" but also because of the interests of Qi - after all, if Lu was defeated by Wei

If the country falls, Qi will have to be prepared to fight Wei at home.

Unexpectedly, King Bai of Qi finally gave up his plan to aid him in the State of Lu, and only persuaded him in a letter: If things must not be violated, he can escape to the State of Qi, and the Qi State will help him restore his country when the time is right.

"Is the time right to help the widow recover the country?"

Prince Lu was unhappy at the time when he was defeated, and secretly sneered again and again.

Although Gongshu Xing's qualifications are not very high, he is not blind to such a simple matter: the reason why Qi King Lu Bai invited him to flee to Qi State was simply because he wanted to get him as the 'legendary of Lu State'.

If it were the once powerful Qi State, Gongshu Xing might choose to flee to Qi State and rely on the power of Qi State. But the problem is that even Qi State is currently trembling under the threat of Wei State. How can we guarantee that we can help him in the future?

He returns to the country?

During this period, Ji Wu, the general of Lu State, came with the advice of Wei Wang Zhao Run to persuade Lu Wang Gong to lose Xing.

Therefore, after receiving the promise from Wei King Zhao Run that "Qufu is allowed to be retained as a food town", Gongshu Xing immediately abandoned Qi and fell into the arms of Wei.

There is nothing to be ashamed of. After all, the State of Lu could not stop the revenge of the State of Wei. Instead of being attacked and destroyed by the troops of the State of Wei, it would be better to accept the goodwill of Wei King Zhao Run, and at least allow his Gongshu clan to retain a piece of the fiefdom.

Facts have proved that Prince Lu's choice to lose Xing was wise. After learning that he was willing to surrender, King Zhao Run of Wei rewarded 60-70% of Lu County's land as a downgraded territory for him, the feudal king of Lu. Although

The throne was downgraded and the territory was reduced by more than half, but Gongshu Xing was already satisfied.

At least compared to the subjugated monarch who fled Qi, this is already a world of difference.

"In the future, letters from the State of Qi will no longer need to be sent to me...well, to this king."

After defecting to Wei, Duke Shuxing of Lu said this to his subordinates.

A few days later, because Lu Wang Gong Shu Xing issued an edict to the country, clearly stating that "the virtues are not as good as those of the King of Wei, and he is willing to surrender to the Wei State," the Lu State was classified as the territory of the Wei State.

After learning about this incident, King Lu Bai of Qi and other officials sighed.

Although King Lu Bai of Qi kept accusing Gongshu Xing of "ignoring the friendship between Qi and Lu" and "traitoring the country for glory", in fact, they all understood Gongshu Xing's approach.

It's just out of Qi's interests that they can't accept it.

But whether it is acceptable or not, it is already a doomed fact that Lu State merged with Wei State.

Therefore, King Lu Bai of Qi once again summoned the ministers to ask for countermeasures.

For Qi State at this time, the situation is indeed quite serious: South Korea surrenders to Wei, and Wei and Lu also surrender to Wei. Although Wei State has not taken any retaliatory measures against Qi State for the time being, everyone in the palace understands that this is just because

Wei Guo suffered huge losses in this battle, and it won't be long before Wei Guo will send troops to attack Qi again.

In this regard, the scholar-bureaucrat Lian Chen suggested: "Your Majesty, I think we, Da Qi, should send people to negotiate with Wei."

"Negotiation?"

Lu Bai snorted coldly and said displeasedly: "Offer war compensation and surrender to Wei, Chen Chen?"

After he finished speaking, he thought again, his eyes rested on the left prime minister Zhao Zhao, and then asked the right prime minister Tian Ba: "Right prime minister, what do you think?"

Right Prime Minister Tian Ba ​​smoothed his beard and said in a deep voice: "As Master Lian Chen said, sending people to negotiate with Wei, admitting defeat, and offering compensation is a way to ease the relationship between Qi and Wei... But

The problem is, I'm afraid King Wei won't accept it." After saying that, he glanced around at the master of the palace and said seriously: "Go there.

In 2009, no matter whether the Wei State defeated South Korea or the Chu State, they would immediately send people to negotiate with Han and Chu to demand war compensation. But this time, the Wei State has no intention of doing so. I can only think that this means that the Wei State

The country is not willing to make peace with us, nor is it willing to make peace with Chu. This war will continue..."

After hearing this, everyone present looked worried.

Once upon a time, there was an option to "acknowledge defeat" in the war with the Wei State, that is, to pay high war compensation. But now, the Wei State has blocked this option, unless the Qi State can defeat the Wei State and defeat the Wei State.

Otherwise, it will either surrender or perish, and there is no third way.

And can Qi defeat Wei?

King Lu Bai of Qi and the officials present had no confidence - even South Korea was defeated by Wei, let alone Qi.

That was the only country in the Central Plains that could compete with Wei since the decline of Qi.
To be continued...