With Qin's grand plan settled, the three discussed various details and the concessions they could afford. Huang Xie proposed that in order to learn more about the movements of the Qin people, he suggested traveling through Nanyang, Yan, and Ying, and entering Qin from Wuguan and Lantian.

The King of Chu said sadly: "The hometown is lush, and I wander alone. Who can walk with me in the long sky?" She burst into tears. Zilan and Huang Xie worshiped together: "May the king not worry!"

The King of Chu said: "I and Zilan are temporarily staying in Chendi, while Zixie travels through various countries and makes good friends with princes. Chu's ancestors first cut the blue road to open up the mountains and forests. I have no virtue, so I am willing to follow suit."

Zilan said: "Although Chu has lost Yan, Ying, Rang and Deng, it still has Chen, Cai, Wu and Yue, reaching as far as Heji in the north and Xiaoxiang in the south, covering half of the world. King Gou Jian of Yue, after ten years of childbirth and ten years of teaching, became a great man.

Chu has almost half of the world!"

The king of Chu said: "It is not as Zilan said. Chen, Cai, Wu and Yue, and Heji and Xiaoxiang did not exist in one dynasty. It was only during the time of Yan, Ying, Rang and Deng that they failed to defeat the powerful Qin, and the country was ruined and the family was destroyed. As of today."

Today, the homeland of our ancestors is in panic. How can we rely on Chen, Cai, Wu, Yue, and Heji, Xiaoxiang? I just think about the ancestral teachings that people's livelihood is not easy, and disasters will never happen; people's livelihood depends on diligence, and diligence will not be lacking. If you do it with your body, success or failure will not matter.

Give it to heaven."

Zi Lan and Huang Xie both bowed down and worshiped: "The Lord is worried about the overwork of his ministers, and the Lord humiliates his ministers to death! The king is so worried about his overwork that I cannot survive!"

The king of Chu said: "If two people are of the same mind, their sharpness will break through metal; if they speak of the same mind, they will stink like orchids. What's more, my three sons are of the same mind, and they resonate with the great Chu!"

Zi Lan and Huang Xie bowed and said, "It will be as the king ordered!"

The next day, Huang Xie returned to Chencheng alone, while the King of Chu and Zilan still stayed in Zhangtai. Huang Xie was in a heavy heart. The Chu State needed ten years of peace to recharge its batteries, but the four kingdoms of Three Jin and Qin obviously did not want to return to Chencheng.

It will give him peace, or the next round of attacks will be after the autumn harvest.

He summoned the wealthy businessmen of Chen County and explained to them that he was planning to enter Deng Rang and Yan Ying, pass through Wuguan and Lantian and enter the Qin Dynasty. Each family had property, cargo, and transportation, so they could go with them. Immediately more than ten families expressed their opinions.

Regarding the intention to go together, some people said that although the opportunity was rare, they needed to discuss it with their families.

In the next few days, Huang Xie went to Xiangcheng, Caixian, and even Huangcheng and other surrounding large counties to summon merchants and asked if there was anyone willing to accompany him to Qin...

Ten days later, a business group consisting of fifty people in cars and three to four hundred people set off from Chencheng. Huang Xie transferred thirty retainers and fifty young infantry from his own home to serve as escorts. Everyone was lightly clothed.

T-shirts, luggage, food and water are all placed on the cart, and each person holds a stick. When walking, it is a staff, a soldier when fighting, and a loader when transporting goods.

Fifty rides represent fifty merchants, each household has a supervisor and five or six handymen. Although they are handymen, they are also those who have traveled across the country and seen the world. Each household has different business, so it is natural to send them

There are differences in the personnel, but they are all strong and capable, needless to say.

There were constant commercial exchanges between Chen, Nanyang, and Yanying. Even if Nanyang was divided between Qin, Han, Wei and other countries, business would still be done. All countries had a consensus that the two countries were at war and trade routes continued. But after Yanying was occupied,

Chen's business dealings with that country fell into uncertainty. The Qin people were very repulsive to merchants. In the Nanyang cities they occupied, they often drove away the indigenous people and moved prisoners from Qin. After occupying Yanying, they followed the same pattern.

Moreover, in the Yan-Ying War, the Chu people suffered heavy casualties, the rivers were blocked, merchants suffered huge losses, and countless merchants were wiped out. This extremely harsh business environment, in the eyes of thoughtful people, may not be an opportunity. The old merchants died out, which is the end.

It was a good time. Therefore, although the trip to Qin was dangerous, there were many people willing to go, so Huang Xie had to limit it to fifty households.

While summoning merchants, Ling Yin Zilan also prepared various talismans for Huang Xie. Huang Xie had whatever he wanted: business licenses, transportation passes, certificates for passing various passes, documents from diplomatic envoys, and the mobilization of troops nearby. , the order of the local power... Huang Xie entrusted all these talismans to his ten most trusted retainers for safekeeping.

The eldest clan of the Chen Kingdom is naturally the Chen clan. Like the Chen clan, the Yao clan and the Yu clan are natives of Chen. It is said that they are all descendants of Shun; the Hu, Tian, ​​Sun and other clans are directly separated from the Chen clan. Branches. They are all considered "locals" with deep roots and luxuriant influence. There are more foreign merchants, the traditional wealthy businessmen Wang, Lu, Bai, Tao, Duanmu... the emerging businessmen Ba, Guo, Zhuo, Cheng, Holes..., crown ribbons, fishing salt, paint, mulberry, leather, bamboo and wood, even copper and iron, cinnabar, pearls and jade, tortoise shells... all kinds of commodities are endless. If you have enough financial resources and a wild enough way, you can use bows and crossbows. , shields, armor, spears, and even vehicles can also be bought.

Those who can enter Huang Xie's caravan are naturally the top merchants in Chendi. However, they all follow the teachings of Bai Gui, the ancestor of Shang Dynasty. They eat lightly, endure sexual desires, dress sparingly, and share the joys and sorrows of servants. When they go out, there is no trace of them. arrogance.

On this day, it was early summer, and the wind was refreshing. A group of people set out from Chen and headed to Zhanghuatai. Although the two places are not far away, the circulation of goods still relies on merchants to transport them. Each family will prepare their own goods. The cargo was unloaded and the cargo for the next journey was loaded in an orderly and precise manner. Huang Xie naturally secretly met with the King of Chu, Zilan and others to coordinate the subsequent steps.

After leaving Zhanghuatai, the caravan went up the Yinshui River. In early summer, the water in the Yinshui River rose. The caravan rented a boat, transported goods, and meandered all the way west. Although it was going upstream, it was much faster than walking. , by dusk, the tall Zhaoling was already in sight.

Zhaoling is like an earthen platform descending out of thin air, about ten feet high and dozens of miles around, forming a natural defense fortification. More than 300 years ago, Cai Guo married his daughter to the then overlord Qi Huan Gong Xiaobai , but the young Cai Ji didn't know the importance of it, and acted coquettishly and brazenly to Duke Huan of Qi, which angered the already elderly Duke Huan of Qi, so he took Cai Ji back to her parents' home to think about her mistakes. Unexpectedly, Cai Guo was also angry and remarried Cai Ji and stopped serving her. So Duke Huan of Qi, as the leader of the alliance, led the Eight-Nation Allied Forces south to attack Cai State. Cai State was defeated at the first touch. Cai State had an alliance with Chu State at that time, and Cai State was bullied, so he led the Chu State to stand up for him. Chu State along the Funiu Mountains , Fangcheng, the Great Wall hundreds of miles long, was built along the line of Tongbai Mountain. Duke Huan of Qi was so excited when he saw the city that he had no choice but to make peace with Chu. The place where Qi and Chu signed an alliance and declared the war to heaven and earth was in Zhaoling.

One hundred and fifty years later, the Jin State, which was also the overlord, stood up for its ally Cai State (Cai Hou was under house arrest by the King of Chu for three years) and gathered eighteen princes to attack Chu State. The joint headquarters was located in Zhaoling. .This time, Fangcheng failed to stop the coalition's attack. The coalition defeated the Chu army and went straight to Nanyang. But then the Chu army's reinforcements came in a steady stream, and the coalition did not dare to fight a protracted war and had to retreat. The unwilling Cai Guo contacted Dongfang. The State of Wu, taking advantage of the Chu army concentrated in Nanyang and the emptiness along the Yangtze River, launched a long-distance attack and captured the capital of Ying in only ten days. The King of Chu fled. The military sage Wu Zixu and Sun Wu became famous in this battle.

But the state of Chu was like an unbeatable giant. Although it suffered a big fall and even the country was conquered, it still had its vitality intact. It dusted off the dirt on its body and made a comeback. Not only did it completely regain its lost territory, Zhao Ling, Chen Cai, and Wu Yue also The land is also in the bag.

In the seventeenth year of King Huai, Chu was defeated by the Qin army in Danyang, and 80,000 Chu troops were wiped out. King Huai was unwilling to fail, so he mobilized the country to fight Qin in Lantian. Unexpectedly, the Qin army assisted Han and Wei to attack Qi, and Yan's Qin army

, after learning that the Qin State was attacked by the Chu army, they actually united with the Korean and Wei armies to fight from behind the Chu State and marched directly to Nanyang. Zhaoling was naturally captured by Qin first. However, since Zhaoling did not border Qin, it itself

It was not an important place, so it was later transferred to the State of Wei. So now Zhaoling is a city of the State of Wei.

Zhaoling is located at a strategic location, at the junction of the three kingdoms of Wei, Han, and Chu. It also blocks the passage from Nanyang to the Central Plains. Its strategic position is undoubtedly very important. However, Zhaoling is located on a high terrain and lacks water resources, so it can only be maintained as a national defense outpost.

Can't fight for a long time.

More than thirty miles west of Zhaoling is the intersection of Yin and Li. It is a geomantic treasure land with flat terrain, abundant water sources and many farmers. Because these farmers are in a land where no one cares, they also build cities for self-defense, called Yinyang.

Months ago, Hu Yang led his troops to camp in Yinyang, and there are many traces of it. Zhaoling seems to have no jurisdiction over Yinyang, and Yinyang maintains a kind of respect for Zhaoling in appearance, and both parties live in peace.

, each takes what he needs.

When Huang Xie's caravan arrived at Zhaoling, it was natural that they first met with Zhaoling Ling, Wei and other officials.

Although merchants pay attention to equality, and the number of personnel sent by each merchant this time is similar, everyone still knows who has what weight. Naturally, the person responsible for the introduction has been doing business in this area for a long time and has a deep friendship with the Zhaoling officials.

.We also selected ten people from the parents of each merchant. As Huang Xie came in, each of them carried a load of gifts.

The talisman that Huang Xie took out this time was the "license" for doing business in the Chu State. The talisman stated that Huang Xie was the grandson of the Chu State, and he was ordered by the King of Chu to do business in various countries. "Official business" is a common practice in various countries, and kings of all countries have

They have their own royal merchants, but they are usually not appointed by nobles. After all, traveling around doing business, not only living in the open air, but also being humble, is very inconsistent with the status of a prince. However, the Chu State inherited the tradition of the Shang State, and the prince did business in person.

Zhaoling officials inspected the festival symbols and accepted the gifts. They should not be scornful in public or private matters. Although it was getting late, they still ordered a banquet to be entertained. In the Zhaoling city, candles were hung high, the tripods and guios were more prosperous, and the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves.

After the banquet, the caravan of nearly 500 people was allowed to enter the hotel outside the city and rest. Except for those who stayed behind on the ship, the cars and people had a place to stay. This group of merchants were all veterans and spent a lot of money.

His words and deeds were all on point, making the reception staff want to wait with all their heart and soul; if they asked about anything, they would tell them everything; if they had to do something or make any request, they would do it with all their heart.
Chapter completed!