Chapter 3

Zhou Chong replied: "Please open the map and allow foreign ministers to make statements."

Although King Zhao did not understand why Zhou Chong used the map, he still opened it with his own hands and said, "Please give me advice from Mr. Zhou."

Zhou Chong pointed to the map and said, "Please look at Zhao State has strong Qin in the west, great Chu in the south, Wei and Qi in the east, and Yan in the north. Which of these five countries is the weakest?"

This is a common sense question. King Zhao said: "The strongest one is Chu State. Now Chu is in chaos and is no longer a strong country, but it cannot be considered a weak country. No faction can win either."

Zhou Chong smiled and said, "Your Majesty is the fault of the king! The Chu State is in chaos and war is endless. Why don't you send an envoy to the army to detour in the middle of the journey? It is unknown whether you can gain profits."

King Zhao nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, if Mr. Zhou hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten that I should have sent an envoy."

Zhou Chong corrected him again and said, "If you want to send, you should send two, one on one side. Xu and Wild, there is a place to get the 100,000 taels of gold given to the Qin Dynasty by the king. This is called losing the west corner and collecting the east corner."

King Zhao's eyes were staring and he slapped the praises, saying, "A clever plan, a clever plan." The chaos in Chu was the most needed foreign aid, even if it was to say good things, it was a kind of support.

What's more, Zhao State is not weak, and Zhao State's cavalry is well-known all over the world. If an envoy is sent, wouldn't Chu State give generous gifts?

Zhou Chong held back his funny face, pointed to the map and continued to analyze it for King Zhao, saying, "Your Majesty, for Zhao State, you should not be angry with the strong Qin State. The Chu State cannot move, and the Qi and Wei State cannot win. There is only one place where Zhao State can let the soldiers gallop. "

"Yan State!" King Zhao pointed at Yan State on the map and said, "Yan State's soldiers are weak and cannot compete with me for the strong Zhao."

Oh, Mr. Zhou meant that I wanted me to use troops to Yan State and take back the land and city dedicated to the powerful Qin State from Yan State. This idea is certainly good.

However, I have already implemented it. Otherwise, over the years, my country of Zhao will offer one city to the strong Qin and another city tomorrow, and the country will be destroyed soon after."

As King Zhao said, Zhao State repeatedly defeated Qin State, and any land and cities that were lost to Qin State were taken back from Yan State. Zhou Chong's idea was not very clever.

Zhou Chong smiled and said, "Your Majesty, this is not what the foreign minister means. You are not asking the king to seize the city of Yan State. You are going to destroy Yan State. Your king, please forgive me for your foreign ministers for speaking out.

In the view of Zhou Chong, the reason why Zhao State has become weaker and weaker over the years is that Zhao State does not have a clear strategy. In the humble opinion, Zhao State should adopt a strategy of defending the west and attacking the north. It should not make grudges against the strong Qin, and should not make friends with each other and not anger the strong Qin.

There is nothing to worry about Yan State, just attack with all your might." He sighed and said, "Thinking back then, if Zhao State hadn't been greedy for Shangdang, angered Qin State, and the Battle of Changping, and the loss of elite soldiers and generals, Zhao State would have been unable to recover from then on.

Instead, we should adopt the strategy of defense and attacking the north early. The situation will be very different."

The first enemy after Qin's rise was Wei, and the second enemy was Han. Zhao was just the third enemy of Qin.

Although wars broke out between the two countries from time to time, it was just a small fight, and the Battle of Changping was the first battle of life and death.

If Zhao State judges the situation and formulates a complete strategy, it should maintain good diplomatic relations with Qin before it selects its target and attack Yan State with all its strength.

Even if the Yan State cannot be destroyed, as long as the Yan State's land and cities are encroached on a large scale, the current situation will inevitably be very different for the Zhao State.

These are all Zhao's decision-making mistakes, without a complete strategy. The biggest mistake was the Changping War. The reason why the Changping War broke out was not because King Zhao was greedy to obtain the land of Shangdang, South Korea.

At that time, Qin State attacked Shangdang, South Korea. Feng Ting, the guard general of Shangdang, knew that he could not defend it, so he decided to attract trouble, so he defected to Zhao State. Sure enough, Qin State was furious and raised troops to attack Zhao State, and finally the Changping War broke out, causing Zhao State to lose its most elite army of 400,000.

For Zhao State, the best strategy is not to make a grudge against Qin. At that time, it should not be accepted by Feng Ting's surrender, but also supported Qin State to attack Han. In exchange for Qin State's favor, it is not enough to support it. At least it is possible to concentrate troops to attack Yan, and it is conceivable that Zhao State will obtain a lot of land.

Especially the more than 400,000 elite troops were invested in Yan State, and Yan State was almost the same. Zhao State can be said to have become stronger overnight. (Note: The author analyzed the local strategy at that time and could only sigh that Zhao State's advisers probably fell asleep.)

A country like Zhao with strong military strength did not seize the opportunity to become stronger, but instead became weaker, which is indeed a pity. Zhou Chong's design with this can be said to have hit King Zhao's heart disease, and it is impossible for him not to believe it.

Although Zhao had this intention to destroy Yan State, although he had already had this intention, he had never really implemented it. After hearing this, King Zhao was shocked and said, "Destroy Yan State? How is this possible? It can't be done for a while."

Zhou Chong rejected the view of King Zhao and said, "What the king is concerned about is just a strong Qin. If the king's conditions are good enough, it is not impossible for the strong Qin to sit back and ignore it."

Zhao has been resisting Qin's attack for decades, so he was determined to destroy Yan but was unable to achieve it. He could only make small fuss. If Yan was destroyed in one fell swoop, Zhao would really become stronger overnight. This place is indeed a wonderful strategy. The key is to win the support of Qin.

King Zhao pondered for a moment and said, "Mr. Zhou said very well. Mr. Zhou, what conditions do your country need?"

Zhou Chong did not directly negotiate the conditions, and then analyzed it downwards, saying: "To destroy Yan, it is not realistic to get the support of Qin. There is nothing to say in the chaos in Chu. Qi and Wei will definitely not agree. Why don't the prince send an envoy to Qi and Wei to persuade the kings of both countries to send troops to destroy Yan together.

As long as Zhao promises to Qi and Wei cities, both countries will agree, and the destruction of Song will repeat itself. The king takes advantage of his position, and Zhao will be strong for a while."

As long as there is support from Qin, it doesn’t matter whether there is Qi or Wei. The King of Zhao is most concerned about Qin. He interrupted Zhou Chong and asked: “Mr. Zhou, what are the conditions for your country? How about thirty cities?”

"Thirty cities are just my plan." Zhou Chong was not a fuel-efficient lamp, and said: "To get the support of Qin, you must have the place of Dukang. There are three other cities in every ten cities that need to return to Qin."

Du Kang is the granary of Yan State and the strategic important place of Yan State. Zhou Chong asked for it when he opened his mouth, but it was really a lion's mouth.

If King Zhao agrees, it is tantamount to the benefits of Qin, and Qin just said one thing: Go and fight, remember to give me the benefits!

King Zhao flatly rejected Zhou Chong's proposal and said, "No! Du Kang will not do it anyway! Other places can be obtained from."

Zhou Chong shrugged his shoulders and said, "If there was no Du Kang, my king would not agree.

The king also understood that no monarch was willing to watch his neighbors become stronger. If Du Kang entered Zhao, Zhao would not be able to be explained by the word "power". It should be said that it is very powerful and can compete with the strong Qin. This is the thing that my king is most reluctant to see.

”

"But Mr. Zhou has thought about it. If there was no Du Kang, what is the significance of Zhao's war? After all, it is not a waste of Qin. Qin did not come out, but he took advantage of the greatest benefit.

"King Zhao said firmly: "I won't do this business."

Zhou Chong smiled and said, "If the king really thinks so, it will be too late to regret it. Can the king know why Prince Dan of Yan stayed in Qin and did not return?" Yan Dan detained the King of Qin. How could the king of Zhao not know what everyone in the world knew about it.

"Yan Dan detained the King of Qin and refused to let him go back to Yan!" King Zhao said it without thinking.

This is a true thing, but Zhou Chong shook his head and said, "Why is the king clear about the whole life and ignorant of the moment? The king knows that Yan Dan and my king were in Handan at that time and were good friends since childhood. The king often talked about the old story of the two urinating and mud in Handan. My king respected friendship and treated him like a brother.

Zhou Chong came to Handan here, and had another mission to negotiate with the king.

King Zhao was surprised and said, "Mr. Zhou, what is his mission?"

Zhou Chong pretended to be pondering and said, "What the king knows is that Han has been destroyed. My king wants to use troops, but he has not yet chosen whether it is Yan or Zhao." Of course, it was to destroy Zhao Weiyi. The King of Qin had already set a goal, and Zhou Chong's words were just saying.

King Zhao's eyes were as bright as a bronze bell and said, "This... Qin wants to use troops to our Zhao State?" The Qin State's war against Zhao State was the thing that King Zhao was most afraid of. When he heard this, could he not be frightened?

Zhou Chong comforted him and said, "Please rest assured, my king has not decided on this matter yet. In fact, this matter is not decided by my king, but by the kings of Yan and Zhao."

Although King Zhao was stupid, his words had reached this point, and he almost jumped up and said, "Yan Dan was discussing conditions with King Qin and wanted to use troops to our Zhao State.

Yan and Qin coalition forces, wouldn’t I be finished with Zhao State?” His face turned pale, and sweat oozed out from his forehead. If Guo Kai hadn’t helped him, he would have fallen.

The most ideal strategic concept was to send troops from Yan and Qin to attack Zhao State in conjunction with the situation. It was from this point that the King of Qin detained Yan Dan despite his past wishes in order to coerce Yan State to send troops.

Zhou Chong nodded slowly and said, "That's right. The king understood that if Yan State requested Qin to send troops to avenge the lost territory for Yan State, then our great Qin army would be justified."

That's the truth. King Zhao knelt down for Zhou Chong and said, "Mr. Zhou saves me, Mr. Zhou saves Zhao!"
Chapter completed!