In the spring of the third year of Shangtong in Shaoliang, King Qi summoned the prime minister Zou Ji and Tian Ji, Tian Ying and others to discuss the diplomatic relations with the Wei State.

How to view Wei, the overlord who dominated the Central Plains for more than a hundred years, is the most troublesome problem that Qi has at present.

As the saying goes, the Wei State has been in a state of decline in its national strength in recent decades due to the wars everywhere, and its national strength has gradually declined. This is obvious to all countries in the world, but it is not clear how far it has declined and whether it is worthy of being the overlord of the Central Plains.

Therefore, even though Qin, Chu and Qi have long coveted the position of overlord and wanted to replace it, they did not dare to take action in the end and only dared to test the Wei State in some minor details.

Zhao, who invaded Wei's Kingdom two years ago, acted as a pawn to test Wei's Kingdom, but was captured by Wei's princes and Wei's general Pang Juan and the capital Handan.

If Wei hadn't attacked Zhao too fiercely, seeing that Wei was about to force Zhao to surrender while forming an alliance with Han, and to achieve the "Three Jin Alliance" to a certain extent, Qi was unwilling to get involved.

In addition, Qin was attacking Hedong of Wei at that time, which was also a factor in Qi's decision to support Zhao.

Then Hui Shi sent an envoy to Qi. On the one hand, he proposed to show goodwill to Qi, "Wei and Qi are mutually respectful" and on the other hand, he implied that Qi, as a century-old hegemon, Wei still had the foundation, and successfully convinced the King of Qi, which made the King of Qi hesitate.

Therefore, when the Gaotang official Tian Ji represented Qi and joined forces with Jingshe of Chu, Jingshe of Songs, and Gongsun Cang of Wei to form the four-nation coalition forces of Qi, Chu, Songs and Wei, to attack Sui County of Wei, the tens of thousands of Qi troops led by Tian Ji were always stationed in the eastern part of the Wei Kingdom and did not really attack Daliang, which allowed the Wei Kingdom, which was trapped in the battle of two fronts at that time, to finally take a breath.

Later, after waiting for Wei general Pang Juan, Sun He and Xia Yangjun led the Wei-Han coalition forces to defeat the four countries of Qi, Chu, Song and Wei in Sui County. The King of Qi realized that Hui Shi’s words were true. As a century-old overlord, Wei was not weak enough to challenge the State of Qi.

So after the war, the King of Qi recalled the army of Tian Ji and Tian Ji and prepared to accept the promise of Wei. At this point, Wei dominated the land of the Three Jins, while Qi became the overlord of the East, and Wei and Qi respected each other.

Unexpectedly, the Wei State, which defeated the four coalition forces of Qi, Chu, Song and Wei with lightning speed, was defeated by the Qin and Liang coalition forces on the Hedong battlefield. Even the famous general Pang Juan of Wei could not reverse the disadvantage. After learning the news, the King of Qi couldn't help but fall into confusion again: Will the Wei State decline?

Around noon, Tian Ji returned to his mansion in Linzi City and saw Sun Bin sitting under the eaves of the study room with a crutch to admire the snow scenery. The latter was both his disciple and his think tank.

"Sir, I'm so happy, but I have to be careful of catching a cold."

Tian Ji shook the snow on his body and ordered the servant who was standing behind Sun Bin to take a blanket for the gentleman.

Because of physical reasons, Sun Bin nodded his head with a cane and saluted Tian Ji, and asked with a smile: "Today, the king summoned the lord to discuss state affairs. I wonder what he had discussed, but Is there any worries?"

"This... is a long story." Tian Ji smacked his lips and ordered the guards to move Sun Bin and his chair to the study room. He also ordered the servants to prepare tea for the two of them again. Then he said to Sun Bin: "The king ordered me to go to the state of Wei to explore the truth and reality of Wei, and then go and inquire about Shaoliang..."

"Shaoliang?"

Sun Bin asked with confusion: "Hexi Shaoliang? That small country between Qin and Wei? The Shaoliang who rumored that forced Qin to withdraw his troops in the past two years?"

“That’s right.”

Tian Ji nodded and explained without waiting for Sun Bin to ask again: "The news about Hedong was confirmed before. Wei was indeed defeated and was forced to ced the nearly ten large and small cities of Qin. The Pi family town was also ceded by the Pi family town, and then the three parties signed a ceasefire agreement."

"Three parties?" Sun Bin's tone increased in surprise.

"Yes, three parties." Tian Ji nodded and said, "Although I don't know why, the ceasefire agreement was discussed by Qin, Wei, and Shaoliang, and South Korea was the mediation party."

Sun Bin was thinking with a crutch.

It is not surprising that South Korea has come forward to mediate. After all, everyone knows that South Korea has always been committed to maintaining the balance between Qin and Wei, and will never wait to see Qin and get Hedong. But Liang Yijie can actually participate in the truce and peace negotiations on an equal footing with Qin and Wei?

He thought Shaoliang was a small country like Wei State, who succumbed to Qin's tyranny and turned against him. Why was he qualified to be on an equal footing with Qin and Wei?

"I don't know this either."

Tian Ji shook his head frankly, saying that he knew nothing about Shao Liang either.

Seeing this, Sun Bin thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Since the lord was ordered to go to the State of Wei, I would like to ask you to accompany you."

"Well?"

Tian Ji showed a little surprise on his face, and he wanted to speak but stopped.

As if he had guessed what Tian Ji was thinking, Sun Bin smiled lightly and said, "I also want to meet Pang Juan, and by the way, I want to meet Ying Qian, the prince of Qin who defeated Pang Juan."

"Since sir is interested, then go with me."

Tian Ji hesitated and agreed. After all, this was not a big deal. With him, I would like to thank Pang Juan, who dared not be unfavorable to Sun Bin any longer.

The next day, when the servants at home prepared everything, Tian Ji took Sun Bin and set off on a journey to Wei State under the protection of a group of guards.

Since it was the time when winter was coming and spring came, and there were still wind and snow on the way, Tian Ji and his party spent more time than normal. It was not until late February that they arrived at Daliang, the Xindu of Wei.

After entering the city, Tian Ji and his group fell into the inn in the city. Then Tian Ji ordered the guards to go to the city to find out useful information, and he accompanied Sun Bin to play chess in the inn.

About half an hour later, Xia Yangjun came in a hurry.

Tian Ji invited Xia Yang to the house and explained his purpose: "...The king ordered me to go to your country to discuss the mutual respect of Qi and Wei."

"Qi and Wei are mutually respected? Oh oh..."

At first, Xia Yang Jun was a little confused, and then he suddenly realized.

Tian Ji saw that Xia Yangjun's face was full of fatigue and asked in a questioning voice: "Xia Yangjun seems to... look bad."

Xia Yangjun smiled bitterly, shook his head and sighed: "I have been worried about it recently..."

In fact, Tian Ji wanted to ask what he was worried about, but seeing that Xia Yang Jun seemed unwilling to say more, he also tactfully did not ask, and said, "Xia Yang Jun should know Shaoliang, right?"

"Shaoliang?" Xia Yang Jun suddenly paused and looked at Tian Ji with some vigilance.

Seeing this, Tian Ji explained: "That's right. I learned that your country had lost in Hedong a while ago and was defeated by Qin and Shaoliang. The king of our country ordered me to explore the details of Shaoliang... I wonder if Xia Yang Jun is convenient for him to tell me?"

Xia Yang Jun glanced at Tian Ji thoughtfully, then said relievedly: "It's not convenient or not, what do Dr. Tian wants to ask?"

So Tian Ji asked, "It is said that Qin and Shaoliang formed an alliance to form a Qin-liang coalition, defeated your country. After the war, your country ceded the Pi family's emblem and Shaoliang?"

"I didn't expect that Doctor Tian was far away in Qi State, but he was also secretly paying attention to the matter here." Xia Yang Jun smiled faintly, then nodded and said, "That's right, it's true."

After receiving the affirmation of Xia Yangjun, Tian Ji became more and more surprised and asked in confusion: "Shaoliang is indeed an alliance with Qin, not a surrender to Qin? So, it is not a rumor that Shaoliang forced Qin to withdraw his troops before?"

"…Um." Xia Yangjun nodded, not seemingly trying to delve into this topic.

Seeing this, Sun Bin from the side couldn't help but say in surprise: "I thought before that, your country forced Qin to withdraw from Shaoliang..."

Hearing this, Xia Yang Jun smiled bitterly, shook his head and said, "No, it was Shaoliang... who forced his retreat from the Qin army alone."

As he said that, he didn't wait for Tian Ji and Sun Bin to say anything, and said first: "You two are here from afar, so why not take a good rest for a night first and wait until you have enough energy tomorrow, and then the king invites you two to the palace."

Looking at Sun Bin, Tian Ji nodded and said tactfully: "Thank you for your hard work, Xia Yangjun."

"Where?" Xia Yangjun smiled slightly, then stood up and said goodbye.

Watching Xia Yangjun walk out of the house, Sun Bin said to Tian Ji thoughtfully: "He doesn't seem to want to mention Shao Liang?"

"Um."

Tian Ji nodded, but he didn't understand the reason.

Around dusk, Tian Ji sent guards to the city to inquire about the news, and returned to the inn to reply to Tian Ji and informed them of the news that they had found.

Not to mention, Tian Ji's guards have really found out a lot of news. Among them, the most talked about by the people of Daliang is the increasingly intensified conflict between Xia Yangjun and Wei Gongsun Yan...

"Mr. Xia Yang wants to dismiss Gongsun Yan? For Shaoliang?"

Tian Ji and Sun Bin looked at each other and felt incredible. After all, Gongsun Yan was not a mediocre person.

"The city and the city are spread all over the city."

Tian Ji guards, who spoke about this, said confidently: "It is said that Gongsun Yan's arrogance angered Shaoliang and pushed Shaoliang to Qin. Xia Yang asked the King of Wei to dismiss Gongsun Yan in order to show his kindness to Shaoliang..."

“…”

Tian Ji and Sun Bin looked at each other and felt very surprised.

It is not uncommon among all countries to dismiss the prime minister of one country in order to show kindness to other countries, but generally only big countries are qualified to interfere with the ministers of other countries. How can Shao Liang and a small country be able to do so?

It seems that Shao Liang is even more fierce than he thought.

Tian Ji and Sun Bin thought at the same time.

In addition to the grudge between Xia Yangjun and Wei Gongsun Yan, Tian Ji's guards also found out many other things in the city.

For example, Sun Bin's beloved Pang Juan was appointed as the Hedong Guard by the King of Wei, who was nominally responsible for governing half of Hedong County, but in fact, he was preparing for the recovery of the entire Hedong County and even counterattack of Hexi in the future.

Furthermore, it is said that Daliang has just signed an agreement with South Korea to purchase tens of thousands of powerful crossbows from South Korea.

For example, it is said that the King of Wei intends to go to Zhao State in person to be in harmony with Zhao Hou.

After listening to the news told by the guards, Sun Bin said to Tian Ji with a serious expression: "It seems that the State of Wei is gathering the strength of the whole country to prepare for a war. In this extraordinary period, it is not appropriate to anger the State of Wei..."

Tian Jishen nodded with consent.

Facts have proved that the information found by Tian Ji and his guards were not groundless.

In late February, the King of Wei went to Zhao State to meet with the Duke of Zhao at the Zhang River south of Handan City, promising to return it to Handan and establish the "Zhang River Alliance".

At first glance, Wei and Zhao reconciliation, and the alliance between the Three Jins is being promoted.
Chapter completed!