To be fair, when Zhao Hongrun stationed 100,000 troops in the Julu area of ​​South Korea, the Qi State was not unaware from the beginning to the end, but they did not dare to act rashly - Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng in the south, had already made the Qi State unable to resist him. Dare to provoke Wei Gongzi Run who was stationed in Julu at that time?

Regardless of others, Zhao Zhao guessed the intention of his brother Zhao Run at that time. Therefore, he advocated deploying elite troops to give the Chu army a heavy blow. On the one hand, it was to frustrate the Chu army's arrogance, and on the other hand, he wanted to The Wei army, who was watching eagerly from the sidelines, understood that Qi State still had the strength to fight.

Otherwise, if the Qi State retreats steadily in front of the Chu Army, maybe even the Wei Army stationed in Julu will take advantage of the situation and capture Linzi before the Chu Army - this is a disaster that they absolutely do not want to face!

Fortunately, things went smoothly. Although it cost a lot, the martial arts warriors recruited and organized finally blocked the Chu army. Perhaps because of this, the brother in front of him gave up attacking Qi and focused on attacking South Korea. .

"What Hongrun said is great good."

After listening to Zhao Hongrun's evaluation of martial arts warriors, Zhao Zhao nodded and asked sincerely: "I don't know, Hongrun, do you have any way to alleviate this matter?"

Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun glanced at Zhao Zhao and said with a smile: "Sixth brother, you have overstepped this... Even if I have an idea, I will not seduce the enemy, right?"

"Qi is not the enemy of Wei!" Zhao Zhao said seriously.

Zhao Run chuckled. If it weren't for Zhao Zhao's sake, he would definitely make some sarcastic remarks: With today's Qi State, do you still want to become the enemy of his Wei State? Come on, if it hadn't been for his Wei State in these years The captured land has not yet been digested. With the strength of Wei State, he can now annex Qi State.

But at this moment, in front of Zhao Zhao, Zhao Run naturally wanted to give this brother some face and said lightly: "No, Qi is the enemy."

"Hongrun..." Zhao Zhao said hesitantly.

However, before he could finish speaking, Zhao Run raised his hand to interrupt him, and said sternly: "I respect King Xi of Qi, and I respect you, Sixth Brother, and my two sisters-in-law, but...Qi is the enemy!" Having said this, he grinned and added: "Ever since that arrogant Tian Hu said such outrageous things in front of me, I have been thinking about teaching Qi Ren a lesson... This time Fortunately for the Qi State, South Korea's counterattack was far more intense than I imagined, so that my army of Wei Dynasty was dragged in South Korea. Even though it has defeated South Korea now, it is temporarily unable to conquer the Qi State. Otherwise, I will definitely let those who The great state of Qi understands that in this era, only we, the great Wei Dynasty, stand at the top of the Central Plains!"

Listening to Zhao Hongrun's last heroic words, Zhao Zhao not only felt a sense of joy that seemed to have a lingering glory in his heart, but also inevitably felt an inexplicable heaviness because of the situation of Qi State.

"Hongrun, our country of Qi is now willing to accept Wei as its overlord..."

"Too late!"

Zhao Hongrun shook his head, looked at Zhao Zhao and said: "If it were another envoy from Qi, I wouldn't even be interested in meeting him. But for the sake of Brother Six, I'll tell the truth... I The Wei Dynasty has no interest in participating in the war between Qi and Chu for the time being. In recent years, the national policy of the Wei Dynasty has only been to develop national power and further suppress South Korea. However, if Qi State cannot withstand Chu's army one day, then Qi State will face Maybe Chu is not the only one... This is why I don’t want Sixth Brother to return to Qi again.”

Zhao Zhao was silent when he heard this. He took a deep breath and suddenly changed his tone and said: "Hongrun, as you are a fool, the Wei Dynasty's appeasement of the Chu State is not necessarily the cause of raising tigers. The Chu State has a vast territory and a large population. , it’s just that in the past, the nobles in the country only cared about extortionate taxation and did not think about the people’s livelihood. But as far as Brother Yu knows, Chu Gongzi Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo is actually a man with far-reaching ambitions. If he works hard to govern, cultivate his health, and strengthen his army, one day , will definitely become Wei’s powerful enemy.”

"Sixth Brother, are you trying to make a case for the State of Qi?" Zhao Hongrun said with a half-smile, "Is the person in front of me now Zhao Zhao, the Left Prime Minister of the State of Qi?"

Zhao Zhao's face froze when he heard this, and after giving a wry smile, he said: "Hongrun, don't make fun of Brother Yu, and listen carefully to what Brother Yu has to say..."

Zhao Hongrun smiled lightly and listened to Zhao Zhao's story.

Zhao Zhao's point of view is very simple. To put it bluntly, it is just to persuade Wei to "unite the weak to attack the strong": since Qi is far from Wei's opponent and can no longer pose a threat to Wei, it is better to unite with Qi to attack powerful forces. The Chu State, which is showing signs of rising, in layman's terms, is nipping the threat in the bud.

In this way, the Wei State can always securely maintain its position as the overlord of the Central Plains, and neither the Qi State nor the Chu State can pose a threat to the Wei State.

It is undeniable that secretly supporting Qi and Chu as enemies at this time is really in the interests of Wei, and on the other hand, Qi can also benefit from it - for Wei and Qi, this is a win-win situation policy.

But everything has pros and cons. Supporting Qi means breaking with Chu, although Chu is indeed a potential threat to Wei in the future.

However, looking at Zhao Zhao's expectant eyes, Zhao Hongrun shook his head and said: "Sixth brother, you understand that it is impossible for our Wei Dynasty and the Chu State to break up at this time... Maybe our Wei Dynasty can only Being able to maintain peace with the Chu State for twenty years, after that, the rising Chu State may covet the position of the Central Plains overlord, but even so, I, the Great Wei, will not break with the Chu State at this moment, because I, the Great Wei, also It takes twenty years of development. Therefore...Qi is out."

It's not that he doesn't give Zhao Zhao face, the key is that compared to Qi and Wei, the relationship between Wei and Chu is obviously closer now. Although Zhao Hongrun, considering the interests of Wei, does not want to see Chu completely annexing Qi. , but before this thing actually happens, he will definitely stand on the side of Chu State in exchange for Chu State's recognition and support for Wei State - to put it bluntly, Qi State has been regarded by him as a victim to win over Chu State.

At this time, the war with Qi was resolved, and a rift with Chu was caused, which was of no benefit to Wei.

That day, Zhao Run and Zhao Zhao brothers chatted for a long time in the side hall of Fengyi Palace. In the end, Zhao Run failed to persuade Zhao Zhao to stay in Daliang, and Zhao Zhao also failed to persuade Zhao Run to change his attitude towards Qi. diplomatic attitude.

But through this conversation, they also understood each other's difficulties.

At the end, Zhao Run said to Zhao Zhao with a complex expression: "Sixth brother's visit to Qi is like a moth flying to the flame. In my opinion, Qi is destined to be unable to resist Chu... Even if Qi this time You can survive, but what about next time?”

He is not worried about what the Chu soldiers will do to his sixth brother after the Chu army defeats Qi in the future. After all, even for the sake of Zhao Run, Chu Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo will treat Zhao Zhao well. With his family, what Zhao Hongrun is most worried about is that his sixth brother is likely to make some irrational actions when Qi falls. Although Zhao Run does not want Chu to annex Qi in his heart, Wei and Qi Even though they were more than a thousand miles apart, it was impossible for him to keep an eye on the war between Qi and Chu, right?

However, Zhao Zhao said with confidence: "As long as Wei does not intervene in the dispute between Qi and Chu, Qi will be defeated at the hands of Chu..."

"Rely on those martial arts warriors?" Zhao Hongrun curled his lips and said with a smile.

"No!"

Zhao Zhao shook his head and said seriously: "As my wise brother said, martial arts warriors are ultimately external forces. If you want to resist the Chu State, you have to rely on the Qi State itself... In fact, in my opinion, the defeat of this war is

It might not be a good thing. Just like what you said, Hongrun, the people of Qi in the past were too conceited. They thought that Qi was still the same state when their father-in-law was still alive... This defeat just made the people of Qi learn from the pain and abandon their past.

Those honors, facing the crisis before us..."

Looking at Zhao Zhao's leaving figure, Zhao Hongrun sighed sadly.

He had done everything he could do, short of putting Zhao Zhao, the sixth brother, under house arrest. But even so, he still could not prevent Zhao Zhao from returning to Qi.

It has to be said that that year, Zhao Zhao and his wife, Concubine, paid a return visit to the State of Wei. At that time, Zhao Hongrun's prediction when he bid farewell to him at Shiliting Pavilion outside Daliang City was very accurate: after leaving this time, the sixth brother would probably not be able to survive in his lifetime.

Return to Wei State again.

The next day, with Zhao Run's tacit consent, Zhao Zhao embarked on a journey back to Qi with his wife, concubines, and Tian Wan, as well as his children, Zhao Liang, brother and sister, and his mother, Wu Guifei.

At that time, only a few people came to say goodbye, such as Zhao Zhao's close friend He Xinxian, and He Song, the grandson of He Mei, the former Minister of the Ministry of Personnel who now works in the Ministry of Personnel, etc. They were all old friends of the Yafeng Poetry Society.

Apart from this, there is only Zhao Hongmin, the eldest son of Zongzheng Zhao Yuanyan.

When meeting Zhao Zhao, Zhao Hongmin looked a little embarrassed and said hesitantly: "Hongzhao, my father is extremely angry at your decision. In his anger, he even said that you would be removed from the genealogy... Can you really not stay?

?”

"Did the second uncle say that?"

Zhao Zhao couldn't help but smile bitterly.

However, he could also understand. After all, his second uncle Zhao Yuanyan was an elder who valued the Zhao family and the country very much. Naturally, he could not understand Zhao Zhao's behavior of abandoning Wei and the Zhao family and going to Qi. This man

The second uncle could resist not sending Zongwei Yu Linlang to arrest him and imprison him in the meditation room of the Zongfu as a punishment. This is already showing his noble hand.

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Zhao Zhao raised his head and looked in the direction of Daliang.

As if guessing Zhao Zhao's thoughts, He Xinxian whispered from the side: "Brother Xian, are you waiting for Your Majesty? In my opinion, Your Majesty may not come to see you off this time..."

From the side, He Song also curled his lips and said: "How can the king of Wei send off his ministers from Qi?"

It can be seen that he is also quite dissatisfied with Zhao Zhao's decision.

However, at this moment, they suddenly heard the sound of horse hoofs, and everyone took a closer look. It turned out that it was Mu Qing, the general of the Imperial Guard, leading a group of Imperial Guards in a hurry.

"Could it be that His Majesty changed his mind and wanted to arrest Zhao Zhao?"

While everyone was guessing, Mu Qing got off his horse, took out a piece of silk from his arms and handed it to Zhao Zhao.

Zhao Zhao spread it out and saw that there were only the words "I wish Qi Xiang a good journey" written on it.

"Congratulations to Prime Minister Qi...?"

Zhao Zhao shook his head, laughed at himself, and said goodbye to everyone.

He knew that after today, the two former brothers might become enemies.

But he had no regrets. Since his father-in-law had left him alone before his death, he could never sit back and watch the country be destroyed by Chu.
Chapter completed!