Chapter 258 The world is in chaos
No one expected that at the beginning of the new year, most of the countries in the world would be involved in this war.

In the southern part of Qi State, the Qin Army was galloping and the Chu Army suddenly intervened. For a time, the Qin Army and the Chu Army were wary of each other. After each occupied a part of the territory, no one dared to further launch an attack in the direction of the Great Wall belonging to King Chong of Qi.

But Yang Chong in Dongjun had no such concerns. After capturing Dingtao, he quickly launched an attack, going upstream along the river, and successively captured Changyuan, Yongqiu, Yanjin and other places.

Just as the Qi army turned around and prepared to attack another important place in Dongjun, Puyang, which once belonged to the capital of Wei State, the Qin army also responded to the offensive of the Qi army.

On the one hand, the Qi army urgently mobilized troops from Henei County to rush to Puyang for support. On the other hand, it sent envoys to the Wei capital Daliang to persuade the King of Wei to send troops to attack Yang Chong.

As for the conditions, the people of Qin were very good at it, otherwise King Huai of Chu would not have been deceived so badly.

Similarly, the King of Wei also had his own plans.

"It has been so many years, and someone has actually been able to force the Qin army to such a point, and even made King Zheng of Qin resort to the strategy of vertical and horizontal alliance that only we would use." King Wei looked at Dun Ruo in front of him, with a playful smile on his face.

Over the years, Wei State has been bullied by Qin State many times, and even its hometown Anyi has become a city in Hedong County of Qin State.

In the past few years, the King of Wei was severely beaten by the Qin army, and no less than thirty cities were lost. It is impossible to say that the King of Wei did not hate the Qin State. So when he saw King Zheng of Qin being defeated by King Chong of Qi, the King of Wei was in a very good mood.

But facing Dun Ruo, he did not dare to drive Dun Ruo out of Daliang City, because Qin State not only beat Wei State severely, but also scared Wei State.

"King Chong of Qi can't even do anything to your King Qin, so how dare I become his enemy?" King Zeng of Wei said with difficulty.

Although he looked embarrassed, he was extremely happy in his heart. The pressure brought to him by the Qin State over the years was too great. There were many nights when he would wake up in fright even when he was hugging his most beloved beauty to sleep, fearing that the Qin army would launch another attack on the Wei State.

Now that the State of Qin has finally met its nemesis, how could this not make the King of Wei even more unhappy.

It's really a changing world, and King Zheng of Qin also has his headaches.

"King Chong of Qi is very powerful. Even my king has to admit that among the famous generals of the time, King Chong of Qi should be the first choice. But so what? He is only one person, and the army under his command is no more than 100,000. If he was really invincible, how could he watch Zhao die without helping it? How could he allow General Wang Jian to invade Qi and re-enter Tian Jian as the King of Qi? He, the King of Qi, has now become the King of Northern Qi." Dun Ruo said.

"For Qin, King Chong of Qi is indeed nothing, but for me, he is someone I cannot afford to offend. The current Wei State is no longer what it used to be, and it really can't withstand the turmoil of Qi." King Zeng of Wei said with a helpless look.

Dun Ruo was quite helpless when he looked at King Zeng of Wei in front of him. Relying on the strong national strength of Qin State, the envoys had sufficient confidence when they visited any country. But this time they had to ask for help from others, so their previous arrogance was naturally not enough, and they had to use some other tricks.

"It's a good thing that the King of Wei knows this. King Zheng of Qin can't even do anything to our king. If the King of Wei were to confront him, he would naturally be even more powerless." Dun Ruo said.

"Since the Qin envoy also knows that King Chong of Qi is not easy to mess with, how could I take the initiative to provoke him?" King Wei added.

"With the ability of King Chong of Qi, does King Wei think that his ambition will be limited to Qi? Can King Wei guarantee that you will not be an enemy of King Chong of Qi, and King Chong of Qi will not be an enemy of you?" Dun Ruo reminded.

"Prince Chong of Qi is in Linzi, and I am in Daliang, so why are we enemies?" King Zeng of Wei asked in confusion, with a smile on his face. He thought he had seen through Dun Ruo's tricks and he would not be fooled.

"Prince Chong of Qi is not Tian Jian. Tian Jian is not even capable of defending his home, so he poses no threat to the outside world. But Prince Chong of Qi is different. He has now captured Dingtao. Doesn't the King of Wei know what this means?" Dun Ruo used his rhetoric to guide Prince Zeng of Wei's thinking.

"What does it mean? It means that the man whom King Qi admires is bold and reckless, but his ability is as big as his courage." King Zeng of Wei did not accept Dun Ruo's move.

"Yes, King Chong of Qi is as bold as he is capable. If such a person controls Qi, will his ambition be limited to the present Qi? When Qi was at its peak, Jixi, Yannan, the old Song, and Huaishang all belonged to Qi. But after the decline of Qi, Jixi was acquired by Zhao, Huaibei fell into the hands of Chu, most of the territory of the old Song was incorporated into Wei, and Yannan was taken back by Yan." Dun talked eloquently. It was not too difficult for him to deal with the King of Wei. The King of Wei was not a great ruler.

"What do you want to say?" Wei Wangzeng's face changed when he heard this. Dun Ruo's words obviously hurt Wei Wangzeng's nerves.

"Wei State has also occupied a lot of territories that originally belonged to Qi State!" Dun Ruo said. This was his confidence. King Chong of Qi was an opponent that even King Zheng of Qin was wary of. As long as the interests involved were made clear, Dun Ruo didn't believe that King Zeng of Wei could remain calm.

"Those territories originally belonged to the State of Song, but were annexed by the State of Qi." King Zeng of Wei said in a serious tone. Dun Ruo's words forced him to face a reality that he did not want to face.

"The King of Wei may think so, but the King of Qi Chong may not think so." Dun Ruo said bluntly.

"What exactly do you want to say?" Wei Wangzeng was a little restless.

"What I want to say is that there is absolutely no possibility of reconciliation between King Wei and King Chong of Qi. Without the help of our Qin State, does the King of Wei think he can stop King Chong of Qi and his army?" Dun Ruo spoke sharply. At this point he knew that his mission this time was almost 70% successful. The next step was to throw out enough chips to make King Zeng of Wei completely side with their Qin State.

"My Wei Kingdom is not a country that just sits there to eat and do nothing." Although King Zeng of Wei felt guilty, his pride as a king kept him calm on the surface.

"I am aware of the combat capability of Wei Wuzu. Wei State certainly has its own confidence. But what I want to say is that if the King of Wei can form an alliance with my Qin State to fight against King Chong of Qi, after defeating King Chong of Qi, our Qin State can send troops to help the King of Wei to completely resolve the dispute with the Chu State." Dun Ruo said, now that the threat has been made, it's time to talk about interests. Threats can shake people's hearts, but interests can seduce people's hearts.

With two approaches at the same time, Dun Ruo didn't believe that King Wei was not tempted.

"The issue of Chu? As far as I know, the wife of King Zheng of Qin is the princess of Chu, right?" King Zeng of Wei questioned.

Hearing Wei Wangzeng's doubt, Dun Ruo laughed. Wei Wangzeng was not in a hurry to refuse, but was busy questioning. These words had already betrayed some of Wei Wangzeng's thoughts.

"My Qin State has intermarried with the Chu State for generations. The Queen Dowager Xuan was also from the Chu royal family. But did that prevent Lord Wu'an from conquering the Chu capital Yingdu, which had existed for 700 years? King Wei, you must know that it was our king who married the princess of Chu, and not anything else." Dun Ruo smiled indifferently, and the King of Wei's additional doubts meant nothing.

"That makes sense, but can you really guarantee that after I help the Qin army break the siege of Qin's Dongjun by Qi Wang Chong, will Qin Wang Zheng send troops to help me take back the old Song land occupied by Chu next year?" Wei Wang Zeng asked. He has made his choice now.

"Your Majesty promised that as long as the King of Wei and our army work together to repel the attack of King Chong of Qi on Dongjun, we will send troops from the four counties in the future to help Wei resolve the dispute with Chu." Dun Ruo assured.

"In that case, I accept the invitation." King Wei added. It was all because what Dun Ruo said was so reasonable.

and……

King Zeng of Wei also had another idea in his mind: Qi had already been divided, and King Chong of Qi's offensive against Dongjun would not last too long, otherwise his Linzi would be lost. Therefore, I might not really need to fight a big battle with the Qi army when I send troops. By then, when King Chong of Qi saw that I had formed an alliance with Qin, he might retreat.

In this way, I don't have to fight with King Chong of Qi, and I can get help from the Qin army next year. Why not do it?

"The King of Wei is wise," Dun Ruo said flatteringly.

The Qin-Wei alliance was formed from then on.

So in the first year of King Chong of Qi and the twelfth year of King Zheng of Qin, in this war that swept across the four countries of Qi, Qin, Zhao and Chu, the State of Wei was added. Since then, five of the seven countries in the world have joined this war.

Moreover, at almost the same time, the sixth country, Yan, could no longer sit still.

"Brother, the king has allowed King Chong of Qi to raise an army that can conquer Qi in just Raoan. Do you have any doubts about Raoan's wealth?" In the palace of King Yan, Yan Chunjun chattered non-stop to King Xi of Yan. His only purpose was to urge King Xi of Yan to send troops to attack Raoan City under the rule of King Chong of Qi.

As the younger brother of King Xi of Yan, Yan Chunjun holds a high position of power in the State of Yan. He is second only to the king. Such a person is still Yang Chong's partner until now.

Under the jurisdiction of Raoan, there is a salt city and several wineries. A considerable portion of the liquor and refined salt produced in these places are sold to the State of Yan, or sold to Liaodong and the grasslands further west through the State of Yan.

Yan Chunjun was the protector of these goods entering the State of Yan. As a reward, Yang Chong had to pay Yan Chunjun 50,000 gold every year.

What is the concept of 50,000 gold? If we use this number in Korea, we can have a clearer concept.

South Korea's annual support for its entire army is only about 100,000 gold. Fifty thousand gold can almost support half of South Korea's army. If such a huge amount of money is collected by only one person, one can imagine how rich this person is. Even if he cannot be said to be as rich as a country, he is not much different.

Logically speaking, Yan Chunjun had no reason to be dissatisfied with such a huge and generous reward, but his greed was beyond common sense.

At the beginning, Yan Chunjun was of course satisfied. After all, it was 50,000 gold. Even all his annual income, including the money he received in bribes, was not that much. But as time went on, he found that every time Yang Chong took out 50,000 gold, he did so without any hesitation. He was so straightforward and generous that it seemed as if he was not taking out 50,000 gold, but 500 gold, or even 50 gold.

Since then, Yan Chunjun has paid some attention to it and started to investigate how much money he can make from the refined salt and liquor transported from Raoan.

It would have been fine if he hadn't investigated, but once he did, he was shocked to find that the goods brought Yang Chong a profit of more than 200,000 gold a year, and the 50,000 gold allocated to him was only one-fifth of it.

Therefore, due to his greedy nature, Yan Chunjun couldn't help but feel a little unwilling.

But Yang Chong was strong enough after all, and he even ruled the State of Qi. Since Yan Chunjun was unwilling, he could only endure it.

However, when Yang Chong was caught in a bitter battle with the Qin army, Yan Chunjun didn't want to endure it anymore, especially after Wang Jian restored King Jian of Qi in the south of Qi and the Chu army broke through Chengyang, an important town in the southeast of Qi.

In his opinion, Yang Chong had fallen into a strange situation. He was caught in a bitter battle with the Qin army, the Qi state was divided, and the Chu state was also struggling. Even his biggest backer, the Zhan State, had just lost 100,000 fresh troops to the Qin army, and it seemed that even Handan was lost.

Under such circumstances, it is a question whether Yang Chong can survive.

On the one hand, Yang Chong's future is in danger, and on the other hand, there is the profit of hundreds of thousands of gold a year. If Yan Chunjun can still restrain his greed, he will not be a bad person, but a stupid person.

That's why Yan Chunjun persuaded his brother King Yan Wangxi.

"It doesn't seem to be a good time to send troops now. You are well aware of the bravery of King Chong of Qi. Even the Qin army was defeated by him one after another. With the combat effectiveness of our army against King Chong of Qi, I am afraid it will be difficult to win." King Xi of Yan hesitated.

As for the benefits that Yan Chunjun mentioned, King Xi of Yan was actually not very tempted. He was already the King of Yan. In the country of Yan, which covered a thousand miles, he was the supreme existence. As long as he was still the King of Yan, money and other things would not mean much to him, because he could use his power to get everything.

Naturally, King Xi of Yan had no interest in provoking an opponent who even gave King Zheng of Qin a headache just for money.

"Brother Wang, King Chong of Qi is now trapped in Dongjun. Qi is facing attacks from the Qin and Chu armies. It is a question whether he can survive. Moreover, Zhao is facing the danger of national destruction and cannot take care of Raoan. Raoan is now a huge and undefended gold mine. This is an opportunity given by God to our Yan State. If Brother Wang does not go, he will be letting God down." Yan Chunjun continued to persuade.

After Yan Chunjun's persuasion, King Xi of Yan was finally moved.

In February, the Yan army marched south to Raoan.

Six of the seven countries have entered into war.

The world is in chaos!

(End of this chapter)