On the 15th day of the 5th lunar month, nearly a hundred vassals gathered outside the main gate of the palace of the Son of Heaven with tributes and entered the palace to pay homage to the Son of Heaven, Weng Zhai, in accordance with the rank of the sovereigns of their respective countries.
When each vassal met the Son of Heaven, the ceremonial officer had to sing the list of the vassal's tributes. The lord of the six strongest countries has the highest title, all are dukes, the other vassals are mostly marquis or uncle, and there are even small country vassals who are dukes. However, there are also small vassals with the same title as the strong vassals, the same dukes.
Most of the lords of these small states with such a high status were close members of the Qin royal family who had been granted titles in the last 40 or 50 years. The reason for the smallness of the titles and the smallness of the fiefs was that the emperor had no more land to divide among them. By the time the new emperor had finished rewarding his siblings after the death of Emperor Ying Zhai, his own domains would probably have been turned into prefectures.
Because the tribute gift list is in full view of the dedication, specific details and sung by the ceremonial officer, the vassals even if not the son of heaven in the eyes, in order to save face, according to their respective national strength, the tribute will not be too shabby.
According to the actual national strength, Wu was first and Zhao was second. When the ceremonial officers were lined up, Zheng Yuming took the initiative to walk behind the Chen Kingdom's Lord and stood in the fourth position.
The six strongest vassals came to four, the people who were not clear about the change in the strength of the six strongest, still placed Chu with the most land and population in the first place, and Duke Ur of Chu also took the right to represent the King of Chu in the first place, and Zhao Xuan stood in the second position according to the last ranking.
The ranking of the vassals was supposed to be a stage to show off one's country's tiger's teeth, the best occasion to proclaim one's country's force, and the best time to subjugate weaker vassals based on their strength. Zhao Xuan felt that Zheng Yuming was really losing an opportunity to promote his country's prestige by being so modest.
Nineteen years ago, just because the rank was related to the political status of the vassals in Great Qin, the kings of Qi and Lu fought.
There are not many lords who understand the actual strength of Wu, and the Lord of Chen is one of them, and the Lord of Chen is a cautious person from the outside. Seeing Zheng Yuming standing behind him, he appeared very uneasy, and Zheng Yuming humbly, at Zheng Yuming's insistence, before standing in front of Zheng Yuming with fear and trepidation.
Wu unselfishly aided Zhao, and Zhao Xuan did not publicize it for personal gain. Zheng Yuming helped Win Zhai to pay off his debt, and Win Zhai didn't tell anyone about it to save face.
Zheng Yuming nature is generous, but never when the idea of scattering money, as the previous life of the achievements of the planting of flowers and trees, Zheng Yuming some of the good things have their specific purpose, not to do not leave a name of the philanthropist.
When the Wu delegation arrived at Haojing, the officials of the delegation went out to visit all the lords, and all of them publicized Zheng Yuming's benevolence and righteousness. Among them, the unconditional aid to Zhao was the most important propaganda.
Some of the lords did not believe in it and went to ask Zhao Xuan for confirmation. Zhao Xuan could secretly choose to hide it from his own people, but he could not deny it openly. As long as there are lords mentioned, Zhao Xuan are recognized and expressed gratitude, words, Zheng Yuming and he is a brotherly love, because of their deep friendship, Zheng Yuming is generous.
As for helping to win the Zhai debt, there are merchants who lent money to Zheng Yuming, debtors who accepted Zheng Yuming's repayment, and the people of Haojing who tailed to appreciate the beauty of the people of Haojing took the initiative to publicize for Zheng Yuming, and Zheng Yuming's 300,000 gold for the son of heaven to relieve the siege of the deeds of Zheng Yuming was spread throughout the city of Haojing as early as one day, and there is nothing that the lords don't know about it.
Zhao Xuan and Zheng Yuming were both rulers of powerful states, with outstanding appearances and virtuous names, and were collectively noticed by the lords. In particular, Zheng Yuming selflessly assisted Zhao last year, this time into the Haojing and step forward to pay a huge debt for the win Zhai, coupled with the refusal to negative father's foster grace humbly ceded the position of the country's leader, carefully do their best to assist the king of Wu Sheng, all kinds of benevolence, benevolence and virtue, the Lords of the Lords of the Lords simply Zheng Yuming as saints to look at.
Because of his concern for Zheng Yuming, he paid close attention to the tribute from Wu. Wu's tribute did not disappoint the lords, from food to clothing, from gold and silver to jade, everything was available, especially a set of exquisite tableware, which opened the eyes of many lords. Zhao Xuan knows that Zheng Yuming has always been generous, but the tribute is so generous that it still makes him look at it.
The exquisite and superb tableware in the tribute of the Kingdom of Wu, from the villa, is a product of the twenty-first century. It had been sold to the Tang Kingdom and was collected by the Lord of the Tang Kingdom. After the destruction of Tang by Wu, Chu Chao Hui transported the tableware back to Nambu together with the gold and silver treasures that he had found, which was considered to be returned to the original owner.
Zheng Yuming once felt that as long as the twenty-first century artifacts that were exiled from the villa to the outside world, it seemed as if they were all returning to their destiny, and the pilgrimage chose to pay tribute, Zheng Yuming put this set of utensils. Zheng Yuming inwardly unsuspicious, since the items can be recycled, Wu's ultimate goal is to recover this set of tableware.
Winning Zhai was already very grateful to Zheng Yuming, and when he saw the rich tribute offered by Wu, Winning Zhai was so moved that he almost shed tears again. When he talked to Zheng Yuming, his words were obviously the most affectionate and sincere.
After the lords paid homage to the Son of Heaven, all of them followed the Son of Heaven to the sacrificial altar, and used the nine tripods to offer sacrifices to the ancestral gods of the past generations. All the vassals of Qin were either branches of the Qin royal family or descendants of those who had contributed to the establishment of the Qin Empire. The alternating marriages of the princes and dukes over the past 900 years had connected their bloodlines, and the ancestors of the Qin royal family could also be said to be the ancestors of all the vassals. When the vassals worshipped the ancestors of the Son of Heaven, they also worshipped their own ancestors.
At this time the sacrifices of the Son of Heaven were not only to his own ancestors, but also to those who had contributed to the continent of Kyushu, among them the Nestor Clan, the Suiren Clan, Shennong, and Fuxi.
Looking at the name inscribed on the altar, Zheng Yuming was overwhelmed with emotion, the Qin continent in the Qin before the establishment of the state, the history and the twenty-first century Chinese history is the same, there is a nest, flint, Shennong, Fuxi, the same is the ancestor of the Chinese race. When the history of the twenty-first century into the patriarchal feudal society, there is a nest, flint, Shennong, Fuxi these ancestral gods gradually withdrew from the altar, replaced by the emperor's ancestors, was used as a tool of rule of Confucius and Mencius saints.
As Zheng Yuming knelt in the solemn atmosphere, he secretly vowed to maintain the people's belief in their ancestral gods in the future, so that the people of the Great Qin land would only believe in their own ancestors and worship only their own heroes!
After the nine tripods had been sacrificed, the Prince of Qin held a feast for three days, after which the vassals would bid farewell to the Prince of Qin and return to their fiefdoms.
The lords in the sacrificial altar sacrifice, in the throat mouth of the city of Chu Chao Hui has been continuously issued orders to the outside world, one is the capital of the king of Wu and the south of the 80,000 troops and horses were deployed to the north, 60,000 elite troops gathered in Tang Di standby, 20,000 troops and horses stationed in the throat mouth of the city of the prevention of the annexation of Wu Qilu, the State of Zhao have to prevent the behavior of.
Chu Chao Hui was prepared to wait for Zheng Yuming to return to his country and then strike at Qi and Lu. After issuing the order, Chu Chao Hui summoned the leader in charge of Zhao's intelligence.
"Have the orders for Zoey been sent yet?"
Zuo Yi was a former Wu Huben who had been installed by Wu to help Duke Shi, the deceased of the State of Wei, to build a military base. With Zuo Yi's help and the secret support of Wu, Duke Sui had already established a military stronghold on the border of Chu and Zhao. In addition to the six thousand Chu soldiers hired, he also secretly recruited more than three thousand peasants from the neighborhood of the stronghold, and the total number of soldiers had been nearly ten thousand.
Chu Chao Hui's order to Zuo Yi this time was to prepare to send out troops to harass the State of Zhao, so that the State of Zhao would have no time to worry about Wu's northern expedition to Qi Lu in the future.
"The pigeons have already been flown over long ago, and the messenger carrying the secret message was on the day before yesterday, and should have arrived as well." The intelligence chief reported back.
Wu's carrier pigeon training was becoming more and more established, and for the sake of secrecy, only the army and the intelligence system used carrier pigeons to send messages, and the intelligence system had four hundred well-trained carrier pigeons.
In order to prevent accidents on the way of carrier pigeons, the intelligence system sends letters by two routes of pigeons. For important news, in addition to sending five pigeons to deliver the letter, a messenger is also sent. Whether it is the pigeon's secret letter, or the note carried by the messenger, are composed of passwords, ordinary people see as heavenly books, only the recipient can be deciphered.
"What's going on in Zhao Xuan's harem?" Chu Chao Hui had the intelligence officers provoke Zhao Xuan's harem, not for public, but for private, for the sake of Zhao Xuan's liking for his Zheng Yu Ming.
"Great General! On the third day after the new king of Zhao went on a pilgrimage to Haojing with his son, Empress Zhao's personal maid stole away to meet the Yan emissary, who sent someone back to his country on the same day, presumably to deliver a message to the king of Yan."
Zhao Xuan's intention to abolish the queen was clearly revealed in the house arrest of the queen and the order for your daughter to temporarily take over the affairs of the palace. When Queen Zhao was facing a crisis, it was only natural for her to seek help from her own brother.
Chu Chaohui stroked his chin, "Empress Zhao didn't make any other moves besides asking her mother's family for help?"
"Your daughter Ji is watching over Empress Zhao very closely, Empress Zhao can't move around at will, and the ears and eyes planted in the royal palace haven't noticed any movement from Empress Zhao."
"Nothing moves?" Chu Chao Hui was disappointed, he hoped that Zhao Xuan's wives and concubines would be the best to fight to the death and make Zhao Xuan a mess.
"The Queen of Zhao has made no moves, and Yan's envoys are moving around the Zhao capital a lot." The intelligence chief added.
"Oh? Who does Emissary Yan hang out with?" Chu Chaohui was immediately energized.
"My humble servant has analyzed the situation and found that the Yan emissaries are approaching conservative princes and nobles, with the closest dealings with Zhao Righteous Doctor."
The person in charge of intelligence doesn't just report the information they receive to their superiors and call it done, they also have to analyze the information and look for clues in it.
"Closest dealings with the right doctor?" Chu Chao Hui frowned and paced back and forth in the chamber. "Empress Zhao this is because she doesn't want to be dethroned, that's why she's letting Yan messengers move around, so that she's trying to get the hundred officials of Zhao's royal court to speak in her favor?"
When Chu Chao Hui was talking to himself, the head of intelligence stood in silence . He is an elite trained by the head of intelligence, Huang Zhong, and is well versed in the functions of the intelligence department. The Intelligence Department can collect intelligence, analyze it, and offer insights, how to take action should be the business of Chu Chao Hui and Zheng Yuming. Unauthorized action by intelligence officials is a big no-no.
Chu Chao Hui pondered, unconsciously stood in front of the newly drawn map of Great Qin. This hand-drawn map that occupies an entire wall, was drawn only last year, the map draws the general appearance of the terrain of the countries of the Great Qin, the map of the mountainous terrain and the situation of the major transportation routes, are all the merchants who have traveled far and wide to provide.
"What do you think about this?" Chu Chao Hui asked the intelligence head as he tapped on the map of Zhao, who had been following the movements of the Zhao King's Court all day long and knew it better than he did.
"The new king of Zhao is not a monarch who can be left to his own devices, and Empress Zhao's efforts to enlist the hundred officials to help her stabilize the throne will not be very effective." The intelligence officer voiced his opinion.
"Not bad!" Chu Chao Hui nodded his head.
"The decision made by the King of Zhao will not be easily changed, this move by the Queen of Zhao may be useless. Queen Zhao is just a queen with no real power, there are not many benefits that she can give to the hundred officials of the royal court, the hundred officials of Zhao's royal court have no interests, who will stand up for her, even if Queen Zhao's first son can successfully become the king of the country, it will only be after the King of Zhao's hundred years of life."
Intelligence officers analyze in detail.
"Right on point!" Chu Chaohui praised, "Empress Zhao will not stand on her side unless she herself holds great power in her hands and gives great benefits to the hundred officials of the royal court, this possibility is never realistic unless a coup is staged."
The intelligence officer continued to analyze, "Zhao Xuan's departure was meticulously arranged, with the most loyal Bo Yao controlling the force, and the most respected veteran ministers helping to run the dynasty, the possibility of Empress Zhao's coup d'้ at arching her son to the throne is virtually nonexistent. Even if the Lord of Yan sends troops to help, the result won't be too favorable."
Chu Chao Hui smiled faintly, "I really hope King Yan sends out troops to fight for Empress Zhao!"
Staring at the map, Chu Chao Hui felt that the chances that King Yan would stand up for his sister were still there, after all, Zhao was a big fat meat, and with his nephew becoming the Lord of Zhao, Yan would gain a very big benefit, and now that Zhao Xuan himself was out of the country, the chances of taking advantage of the opportunity to stage a coup were still there.
"Send a message to Yan's intelligence officers, ordering them to pay close attention to Yan's court movements!" Anything that could happen, Chu Chao Hui had to save for a rainy day. Thinking of this, Chu Chao Hui recruited his guard officers to convey his orders.
"Yes, sir!" The guardsmen led the order to leave.
"You send another order to Zuo Yichou, telling him to cross the Zhao border and harass him immediately after seeing the order." Chu Chaohui issued another order to the intelligence chief.
"Nuo! I will go and do it now." The intelligence chief bowed and exited.
In front of the large map, Chu Chao Hui tapped on the map of Zhao. "King of Yan, Queen of Zhao, I have created an opportunity for you, if the two of you have such ambitions, don't let me, Chu Chao Hui, down!"
The instructions originally given to Zuo Yi were that the harassment of Zhao would not be launched until the beginning of next month. By then, Zheng Yuming and Zhao Xuan had both returned home, and Wu's northern expedition would have begun.
Now that the possibility of a coup d'้ at in Zhao was analyzed, Chu Chao Hui wanted to do the coup makers a favor by using Gongzi Xie's mercenaries to draw away some of Zhao's troops and horses, alleviating the number of troops and horses the coup makers would have to face.
If the coup d'้ at in Zhao is just a speculation, Chu Chao Hui letting Zuo Yi carry out the harassment operation in advance does not affect the original plan, only because the harassment time is prolonged, the supplies and weapons provided to the Duke Suit mercenaries will have to be increased by a lot.