Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 377 The Current Situation of the State of Qi

While the various Xia states in the west were thriving and growing stronger,

Lu Peng in Japan is suffering.

"The Japanese are disgusting!"

"I swear I will never share the same sky with him!"

On the banks of the river in my hometown,

Lu Peng, who had been dismissed from his official post and sent back to his hometown, was uttering angry words through gritted teeth as he looked at the trickling stream.

A salted fish then floated to the surface, its lifeless but reflective eyes silently watching him.

Lü Peng poured out his pent-up feelings to it, while also expressing deep concern for the future of the State of Qi.

"Under the instigation of those Japanese, His Majesty has actually begun to consider competing with the Han Dynasty for the lands in the East Sea..."

"Isn't this like throwing an egg against a rock?"

The land of Haidong

It is a peninsula extending into the sea from the northern end of the Zhuxia continent, and it is also the place where the sun rises in later generations.

When King Wu attacked King Zhou,
King Zhou's uncle, Ji Zi, felt that the king's rule was too cruel and that the Zhou people, who had risen in Qishan, were pressing closer and closer, and that the dynasty was about to end. So he led a group of merchants to the eastern wilderness and eventually arrived in the east of the sea, where he established the State of Ji.

Because the country is small and remote

The emperors of the Zhou Dynasty

Even the feudal lords of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, who were obsessed with large-scale battles and territorial expansion, were too lazy to bother with this country.

The neighboring state of Yan only regarded the neighboring Donghu as its most pressing threat, completely ignoring the state of Ji.

After all, the Donghu possessed many cattle, sheep, and horses, which could serve as resources for the growth of the Yan state.

The area east of the sea is extremely desolate; what right does it have to attract the attention of the gentlemen of the Central Plains?
therefore,

The Hai Dong Ji Kingdom was able to continue.

When the Qin Dynasty fell and the Han Dynasty was established,
The rule of the Central Plains has been updated, but this poor and weak country still survives tenaciously.

It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Taizu of Han that the Yan state, established by Lu Wan, experienced internal strife. A minor general named Wei Man fled to Yan, led several hundred men to destroy the Ji state, and established the Haidong Wei state as his own ruler. This led to the complete extinction of the Shang people's legacy in the world.

but,

The Haidong Wei Kingdom did not completely rule the entire peninsula; it only occupied the northern lands, while a large number of barbarian tribes remained in the south.

Wei Man demanded that these barbarians pay tribute to him, severing their connection with the Central Plains, and even boasted:
"Only one sun can shine on the peninsula!"

"I hang high in the north, my sunlight shines over thousands of miles around me, how can I not satisfy the barbarians in the south?"

"If they want to betray me and defect to the Central Plains, then they should be severely punished!"

then,

The people and barbarians of both the north and south of the peninsula declared their loyalty to Weiman.

The thought that their desolate land could be ruled by such a great monarch as Wei Man moved them to tears, and they exclaimed, "We can never repay the kindness of our sovereign."

The Han court was very dissatisfied with this.

Especially when Liu Che, who loved war, came to power, he could no longer tolerate the existence of such an arrogant and conceited country in the northeast of the country.

The Han Feizi states, "A state that is small yet does not adopt a humble attitude, has little power yet does not fear the strong, is disrespectful and insults its powerful neighbors, and is greedy, stubborn, and inept at making friends is doomed to perish!"

This refers to the country in Haidong.

So a few years ago,
The Han court dispatched troops and destroyed the Wei Kingdom of Haidong, establishing four new prefectures and counties in its former territory.

original,

This event of national subjugation and territorial expansion that occurred across the sea had little to do with the Eastern Kingdom of Qi.

After returning to his country, Lü Peng told the King of Qi about what he had seen and heard during his studies in the Han Dynasty, which led him to establish a policy of "serving the great and being friendly".

The King of Qi hoped to gain resource support from his ancestral lands by demonstrating his submissiveness to the Han court.

This was a normal and farsighted decision. Even after settling here for a century, the people of Qi, who came from the land of Qi and Lu, were not satisfied with the poverty and backwardness of this place and often missed the beauty of the Central Plains.

Unfortunately, that King of Qi had a short lifespan and died of illness before he could fulfill his promise to "govern the country together and bring prosperity to his descendants" with the many wise and virtuous people who had been sent back to the Han Dynasty.

after that,

Then came a period of internal strife.

The late king's ambitious brother, along with some ministers, led Japanese soldiers he had secretly recruited and launched a coup in the capital while Lü Peng and others were away on business.

When Lü Peng heard this news,
Everything is beyond repair.

The young sons of the late king were all forced to "die of illness" during that upheaval.

Their youngest uncle ascended the throne with the support of his subjects.

Even though Lü Peng and others were filled with grief and indignation, they had no choice but to grovel at the feet of the new emperor because of their hopes for the future of the country and the fact that their talents had not yet been fully utilized.

Naturally,
Lü Peng and other former ministers of the late king were quickly alienated by the new king.

In gratitude for the contributions of the Japanese soldiers during his usurpation of the throne, the new King of Qi broke with the ancestral law of "slaving the Japanese" and appointed some of them as officials of Qi, allowing them to enter the court and discuss state affairs.

When the Han Dynasty expanded its territory to the east of the sea by crossing the ocean to wage war,
These Japanese then raised objections with the King of Qi.

They said:
"The Haidong Peninsula is a treasure bestowed upon the State of Qi by Heaven, a land for counterattacking the mainland!"

"The sea area between the two places is not wide. With the current strength of Qi, is it not possible to land there and expand its territory?"

"Your Majesty's talent and ambition far surpass those of all previous rulers!"

"Your subject can see at a glance that the previous rulers were merely those who maintained the status quo, fearing the power of the Central Plains and never daring to even think of recovering the ancestral lands!"

"But Your Majesty is different!"

"You will surely be able to lead the Qi people and once again set foot on the Central Plains!"

"In that case, how can we allow the Han people to take over a place like Haidong?"

King Qi listened to his confidants' words and found them to be very reasonable.

He certainly doesn't have the ability to cross the sea and attack the old lands of Qi and Lu right now, but he can certainly attack Haidong!

Therefore,
The King of Qi issued new orders and established new national policies, determined to emulate the two "peers" of Qin and Xia in the west and demonstrate the power of Qi to the Han Dynasty, which occupied the Central Plains.

snort!
orthodox?

My Qi state can also compete!

Lü Peng strongly opposed the King of Qi's proposal, believing that he failed to recognize his own position and, under the influence of treacherous officials, was about to lead the State of Qi to its downfall.

King Qi was furious and wanted to kill him directly, but due to the obstruction of many senior ministers, he stripped him of all his wealth and status and banished him back to his hometown.

Forced into early retirement, Lü Peng had nothing to do every day, so he often came to the river to sigh and lament, expressing his worries about the future of the country.

"Is the ancestral temple of Tian Qi ultimately doomed to collapse?"

They escaped the First Emperor's forced relocation.
Yet, because of the monarch's folly, he faced the Han emperor's wrath. How ridiculous!
He Bo said of him, "It is a very normal thing for a country to collapse."

"Even the emperor who rules the Central Plains understands this principle. Why should you worry about this small piece of property that belongs to someone else?"

Although His Majesty the Pig has problems such as lust, greed for power, favoritism, and overconfidence,
But sometimes, however, one cannot avoid sudden illnesses due to bloodline inheritance, revealing a certain open-mindedness.

After he drank,

The Han emperor once drunkenly remarked, "What will happen to the world after the fall of my great Han dynasty?"

The courtiers were immediately terrified, breaking out in a cold sweat, and kowtowed, replying, "The Heavenly Han Dynasty is glorious; how could it possibly be destroyed?"

Looking at his tense ministers, Emperor Zhu Bao laughed heartily and said drunkenly, "What country in the world is immune to destruction?"

"As long as we don't lose it to my son and me!"

"...Qi is having such a difficult time thriving in Dongying, how can I abandon my concern for it?"

Hearing the words of the ghosts and gods, Lü Peng felt no comfort at all, and only let out a long sigh.

(End of this chapter)