Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 286 Yong'an County can be sold, but not entirely.

The situation in the Great Xia Dynasty deteriorated very quickly. In less than a month, voices emerged from the vassal kings wanting to visit the Xia Emperor in the capital.

Anyone with eyes to see could see that those vassal kings were expanding their armies and preparing provisions, not because they wanted to visit the Xia Emperor in the capital, but because they were clearly planning to seize the throne.

In fact, most of the vassal kings did not have the idea of ​​becoming emperors for the time being, especially those vassal kings who were several generations removed from the royal family. They were well aware that if they wanted to be emperors, they would lack legitimacy.

Therefore, some vassal kings took the initiative to contact the princes in the capital and secretly reached a cooperative relationship with them. In order to compete for the throne, the princes agreed to the conditions of the vassal kings. As a result, the situation in the Great Xia became even more chaotic.

While the Great Xia was in chaos, the Great Wu was not idle. After Wu Yunwan returned from the Northern Kingdom, the Great Wu began to mobilize its troops, sending elite soldiers to the border areas of the Great Xia, preparing to act when the opportunity arose.

……

Qi State.

Council Hall.

An obese man sat on the throne. Although the throne was spacious, it appeared quite narrow in front of him because of the man's large size.

King Qi glanced at the envoy from the Northern Kingdom in the main hall and said with a smile, "This is truly a rare occurrence. I never expected that my nephew would send someone to my fiefdom."

At this point, King Qi asked, "Speak, what is the purpose of my nephew sending you to Qi?"

The envoy from the Northern Kingdom, Zhou Tongguang, replied neither humbly nor arrogantly: "Your Majesty, the King of Qi wishes to purchase the entire Yong'an County."

Upon hearing this, King Qi and the Qi ministers in the hall were stunned. They never expected that the Northern Kingdom had sent an envoy to Qi to buy land, and not just any land, but an entire county.

Prince Qi's expression turned serious. He stared at Zhou Tongguang in the hall for a long while before speaking, "Prince Bei is not joking with me, is he?"

Zhou Tongguang replied, "Our King does indeed want to buy the entire Yong'an County. If Prince Qi feels that trading with silver is not worthwhile, land can be exchanged for land. If Prince Qi has his eye on that piece of land in the North, he can just say so."

Upon hearing this, King Qi chuckled inwardly. He wasn't stupid; how could he possibly exchange land of Qi for land of the Northern Kingdom? The Northern Kingdom was so poor, while Qi was so wealthy; exchanging land for land would definitely be a losing proposition.

But then again, why is the Northern King thinking of buying Yong'an County at this time?

The Prince of Qi was somewhat puzzled, so he said to the soldiers in the main hall, "Bring me the map."

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers in the hall brought out a large map, which was supported by a bamboo pole and placed in the center of the hall, so that the entire map could be seen at a glance.

Prince Qi glanced at the location of Yong'an County and found that it was located in the west, bordering the Great Wu Dynasty. It also bordered the land controlled by the Great Xia royal family.

In other words, as long as the Northern Kingdom buys Yong'an County, its army can bypass the Qi Kingdom directly through the Yong'an County corridor and enter the control of the Great Xia royal family.

Upon seeing the location of Yong'an County, Prince Qi asked with a smile, "I am somewhat curious as to why the Northern King would buy Yong'an County. This location is rather sensitive."

Zhou Tongguang said with a smile, "I believe that King Qi has already heard about the trade cooperation agreement signed between the Northern Kingdom and the Great Wu Dynasty. From now on, the Northern Kingdom can do business with the Great Wu Dynasty. However, the Northern Kingdom and the Great Wu are separated by the Great Yue Kingdom and the Qi Kingdom. It is a little troublesome for the goods of the Northern Kingdom to go to the Great Wu. Therefore, our king thought of buying Yong'an County to directly border the Great Wu."

"In this way, it will be more convenient for goods from the North to enter Da Wu, or for goods from Da Wu to be transported to the North."

Upon hearing this, Prince Qi smiled and said, "The reason sounds quite convincing, but I'm afraid the Northern King's intentions go beyond simply doing business with Da Wu, don't they?"

Zhou Tongguang countered, "Then what does Prince Qi believe is the reason our King purchased Yong'an County?"

Upon hearing Zhou Tongguang's question, Prince Qi was taken aback.

Prince Qi wondered to himself, "Why?"

Isn't that simple?

Isn't it all just to bypass the Qi Kingdom at the right time and then send a large army to attack the cities controlled by the royal family?

King Qi then said, "If Yong'an County is sold to the Northern King, then the Northern Kingdom's land will border the land controlled by the Great Xia Dynasty. If something happens then, and the Northern Kingdom directly sends troops into the city controlled by the Great Xia Dynasty, I'm afraid I will also have to bear the responsibility."

"Moreover, land transactions between vassal kings require the approval of the imperial court. If the imperial court does not agree, it is useless even if I agree."

Zhou Tongguang smiled and said, "Prince Qi is overthinking it. My prince is His Majesty's son. How could the Northern Kingdom send troops into the territory controlled by the court without my order? Moreover, the court has stationed hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the Qi Kingdom. With those hundreds of thousands of soldiers there, the court can react immediately to any move made by the Northern Kingdom. Furthermore, Yong'an County is just a passageway, and Prince Qi has the ability to close this passageway at any time."

"If something were to happen that would require the Northern army to march south, our king would directly request passage from Prince Qi, and would not detour south through Yong'an County."

Upon hearing this, Prince Qi's face instantly darkened.

He wasn't stupid; how could he not understand what Zhou Tongguang meant?

Zhou Tongguang meant that if the Northern Kingdom really wanted to move south, the first country they would attack would be the Qi Kingdom.

Yong'an County is a passageway. If troops are sent out from Yong'an County, Qi soldiers can cut off the supply of Northern soldiers at any time. Therefore, if Northern troops are to be sent south, they must occupy Qi to prevent Qi from causing trouble behind the scenes.

Of course, to the King of Qi, Zhou Tongguang's words were a threat to the State of Qi. If the State of Qi did not sell Yong'an County to the Northern State, the Northern State would surely attack the State of Qi if it raised an army and marched south.

Prince Qi snorted coldly, then said, "Are you threatening me?"

Zhou Tongguang said, "I wouldn't dare; I'm just stating the facts."

Prince Qi then said, "If the Northern Kingdom really wants to buy Yong'an County, it's not impossible. However, you must first inform the court. Once the court agrees, you can come to me to discuss the price of buying Yong'an County."

Generally, vassal states have the obligation to guard their borders. The western border of the Qi State borders the Da Wu Dynasty. When the Da Wu Dynasty invades the Da Xia, the Qi State has to bear the heavy responsibility of resisting the invasion of the Da Wu Dynasty.

If Yong'an County, which borders the Great Wu Dynasty, were sold to the Northern Kingdom, then the Northern Kingdom would be on the border with the Great Wu Dynasty. In that case, the heavy responsibility of resisting foreign enemies would fall on the Northern Kingdom. King Qi would be more than happy to hand over Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom.

When the Great Wu and Great Xia fought a war, the imperial court ordered the various vassal kings to send troops. Qi State lost a lot of soldiers during that war, which made it necessary for the Qi King to agree when the imperial court said it wanted to send troops to be stationed in Qi State.

If Qi Kingdom still had a regular force of 50,000 soldiers at that time, and the court wanted to station troops in Qi Kingdom, King Qi would have been able to stand up a little more, and he wouldn't have agreed to the court so easily.

Upon hearing Prince Qi's words, Zhou Tongguang instantly understood Prince Qi's meaning. Prince Qi was shifting all the responsibility onto the imperial court. In this way, he would not offend the Northern Kingdom, and if the Northern Kingdom really sent troops south from Yong'an County, the imperial court would not be able to blame Prince Qi for selling Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom.

Of course, the most important point is that the Qi Kingdom currently has hundreds of thousands of troops stationed there by the imperial court. They really dare not act recklessly. Although it is said that Emperor Xia is terminally ill and the vassal kings in various places are frantically expanding their armies, the Qi Kingdom alone dares not make any moves.

With tigers to the north and dragons to the south, the Qi Kingdom is caught in the middle and can only tremble in fear. If they make any rash moves, the Qi Kingdom may be wiped out in an instant.

Zhou Tongguang said, "In that case, I will write a letter to the King and ask him to report this matter to the court immediately."

"If Prince Qi has no further questions, I will take my leave."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Tongguang turned and left.

After Zhou Tongguang left the main hall, Prince Qi, who had been suppressing his emotions, could no longer hold back. He swept everything off the table in front of him, knocking it all to the ground, and roared, "This is simply outrageous! What do they take Qi Kingdom for?!"

At this moment, a minister stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, are we really going to sell Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom? If we sell Yong'an County, I'm afraid we won't be able to have direct contact with Da Wu in the future?"

Upon hearing this man's words, Prince Qi fell silent.

Indeed, although Yong'an County borders Da Wu, and Qi State has to bear part of the obligation to resist Da Wu's invasion during wartime, without Yong'an County, it would be difficult for Qi State's caravans to directly interact with Da Wu in normal times, and they would have to pass through areas controlled by the imperial court, which is not a good thing for Qi State.

Some of the commercial trade between Qi and Da Wu is illicit; if it passes through areas controlled by the imperial court, it is easy for people to find out.

However, if they don't sell Yong'an County, the envoy from the Northern Kingdom has already threatened them. If they don't sell, the Northern Kingdom will inevitably attack Qi Kingdom if it moves south one day. Qi Kingdom doesn't even have 50,000 regular troops right now, so it's impossible for it to resist the Northern Kingdom's southward advance.

After a moment, King Qi came up with a good idea. He said, "Yong'an County can be sold, but not entirely. Only half of it will be sold to the Northern Kingdom. In this way, the Northern Kingdom will not only be unable to directly access the areas controlled by the imperial court, but the caravans within Qi Kingdom can also continue to trade with Da Wu."

Upon hearing this, the officials in the hall breathed a sigh of relief. These officials were mostly from powerful families in the Qi Kingdom, and almost every family had some form of trade with the Da Wu Dynasty. If the trade channels with Da Wu were really cut off, it would not be a good thing for them.

Half a month later, news that the Northern King wanted to buy Yong'an County reached the ears of officials of the Great Xia Dynasty.

In the imperial court, officials were discussing the matter extensively.

At this moment, the eldest prince, seated on a chair next to the dragon throne, spoke up and asked, "You have all heard about the Northern Kingdom's intention to purchase Yong'an County of Qi Kingdom, haven't you?"

The eldest prince is currently acting as the crown prince and is in charge of national affairs; this matter is also decided by him.

No sooner had the eldest prince finished speaking than an official stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, this matter must not be agreed to!"

"If the sale of Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom is approved, then the Northern Kingdom will directly border the territory controlled by the imperial court. If the Northern King harbors disloyal intentions, the Northern army can easily advance through Yong'an County and attack the capital!"

As soon as he finished speaking, another minister chimed in, "The Northern King's actions reveal his wolfish ambitions. We must stop him and prevent the Qi Kingdom from selling Yong'an County to the Northern Kingdom!"

The eldest prince then said, "The Prince of Qi submitted a memorial stating that if the Kingdom of Qi does not sell Yong'an County to the Prince of the North, the Northern Kingdom may send troops south to conquer the Kingdom of Qi."

Upon hearing this, the hall instantly descended into chaos.

"The Northern King is truly lawless! How dare he!"

"This is troublesome. The vassal kings in various regions are expanding their armies, and now the Northern Kingdom is preparing to march south."

"The Northern King really doesn't take the imperial army of 400,000 seriously. If you ask me, we should just send troops to quell the rebellion."

"Send troops? Are you crazy? If we send troops now, the regional princes in the south will definitely lead their armies north and head straight for the capital!"

……

(End of this chapter)