Zhao Weiwang in the Warring States Period

Looking at the old man in front of him, Zhao Dan felt a little emotional. Is this the first person he has seen in the Warring States period?

Hmm, I seem to be a little unclear.

Pang Nuan, his master is the famous Huang Lao faction leader, the great hermit of Chu State, Hedu Heguanzi, who wrote the book Heguanzi.

He Guanzi is a great figure in the Huang-Lao School who inherits the past and the future. His idea of ​​"vigorousness" is based on Laozi's theory of the relationship between Taoism and Qi, and it inspired the trend of thought on "vigorousness" in the Han Dynasty. He became an important force in the academic development of the Huang-Lao School in the pre-Qin period. His ideas greatly influenced the entire ideological circle at the end of the Warring States period, and made an indelible contribution to the prosperity of the Huang-Lao School when the Qin Dynasty collapsed and the Han Dynasty was first established.

Even in the Tang Dynasty, the great poet Du Fu once called himself the son of the crown, and the great poet Han Yu even praised: "It is not so little merit to make people meet the right time, to help the country, and to do it to the country!" Heart carved dragon Among the scholars, it is also said that he is "the crown is long and long, and he is eager to speak deeply."

As the saying goes, a famous teacher produces a good apprentice, and Pang Nuan's master is so powerful, so his own level is naturally not bad.In fact, Master Pang Nuan learned a lot from He Guanzi, including the Art of War and the Book of Straight and Horizontal, as well as the thoughts of the Huang-Lao School.

And besides the great teacher, this Pang Nuan's family background is also very famous.His ancestor is Pang Juan, a famous figure in history, that is, the great general Pang Juan of the Wei State who acted as a villain in the "Besieging Wei and Rescuing Zhao" and was hanged and beaten by the ghost military strategist Sun Bin in the Battle of Guiling and Maling.

After Pang Juan was defeated and died, the Pang family, which was once prominent in the State of Wei, declined rapidly. Later, Pang Cong, a descendant of Pang Juan, was sent by King Wei to accompany Prince Wei to Zhao State as a hostage. Pang Cong died in order not to go to Zhao State. I told the king of Wei a story of "Three people become tigers". However, it turns out that not every king is fooled by you after hearing a story, so Pang Cong settled in Zhao State in a fit of anger. Pang Cong is Pang Nuan grandpa.

Historically speaking, Pang Nuan stood up when the two generals of Zhao State, Lian Po Lecheng, left due to internal strife, and Li Mu was restrained in the north and could not preside over Zhao State's military affairs, and became one of the last mainstays of Zhao State.

Pang Nuan led the Zhao army to defeat the Yan people who would take advantage of the fire when they were full, and killed the old rival Yan Guo coach Ju Xin. On the outskirts of Xianyang, he also ambushed and defeated the Qin army in the subsequent Qin-Zhao War, and killed the general of the Qin army, Meng Ao.

You must know that Meng Ao, the general of the Qin army who was killed by Pang Nuan, was not an ordinary person. Meng Ao's grandson was the famous general Meng Tian, ​​the founding general of the Qin State who defeated the Huns and recovered the Hetao area for Qin Shihuang.When Pang Nuan led his army to defeat Meng Ao, he was already an old man over eighty years old.

Although Pang Nuan and Li Mu, as the last reliance of Zhao State, eventually fell one after another, and Zhao State also perished at the hands of Qin State, but this cannot change the fact that Pang Nuan is indeed a talent.

It is naturally impossible for Zhao Dan to let go of such a talent who is loyal to Zhao Guo.After asking the eunuch to order Miao Xian to form two major spy organizations, Zhao Dan once handed Miao Xian a list, which listed the many talents that Zhao Dan obtained from memory, and Pang Nuan was on the list. The ranking is quite high.

So Zhao Dan's attitude towards Pang Nuan is also quite good, I saw him pointing to another chair in the hall: "Mr. Pang, please sit down."

Pang Nuan took a few unexpected glances at the "chair", which was not popular in the Central Plains at the moment, and sat down on the chair after hesitation.

The two sides chatted for a few words, and then Zhao Dan realized that the timing of finding Pang Nuan was quite a coincidence.Because Pang Nuan left Zhao State after the change of the Dune Palace, and has been following his master He Guanzi to study and practice in the mountains and fields of Chu State. It was only a few months before he returned to Zhao country after the funeral.

Although Pang Nuan in front of him is already 60 years old at the moment, even older than Lian Po, the general of Zhao Guo today, but Zhao Dan has no doubts about Pang Nuan's ability, after all, he is 80 years old Anyone who can defeat the Qin army.So after a brief conversation, Zhao Dan went straight to the point and said what he meant.

"Mr. Pang, I want you to go to Yan State as my envoy from Zhao State. I wonder if you are willing?"

Chapter 46 The Importance of Diplomacy

Some people may ask, now that hundreds of thousands of Zhao troops are fighting Qin people on the front line of Changping, you, Zhao Dan, a king of Zhao, is either Qi, Wei or Chu, Yan every day, can you still do something serious? ?

Here we will talk about the importance of diplomacy to a country.

In the European continent of later generations, there is a very famous country named Germany, which is often called Germany.Germany was not unified until the nineteenth century, and it was the Kingdom of Prussia led by the famous Duke Bismarck that unified Germany.

Although the name of the Prussian Iron Army and Bismarck's "iron-blooded prime minister" shocked the world, how did Prussia unify Germany?

The answer is diplomacy.

Around Prussia at that time, there were five powerful neighbors: Denmark, France, Great Britain, Austria, and Tsarist Russia.Many of these countries are feuds with Prussia, and none of the five countries want to see Prussia unified.

It was under such circumstances that Prussia used three dynastic wars to defeat Denmark, Austria, and France respectively, and finally completed the great cause of unifying Germany.

You must know that each of these five countries is almost above Prussia in terms of territory and population. A single one is enough for Prussia to drink a pot. There is a crisis of extinction.

There are five powerful neighbors around and they all oppose the unification of Prussia. It seems that the cause of unification should be a matter of Prussia singled out the five powers.However, in the three dynastic wars during the unification process of Prussia, each time they either found a helper for two against one or one-on-one, and they never fought more with less.

It's amazing, right?

This is where Bismarck's brilliant foreign policy came into play.Every time before Prussia launches a war, Bismarck will definitely try his best to isolate the country that is about to become the enemy of Prussia diplomatically, and make good friends with all other powerful countries, so that the enemy country of Prussia will not receive any help from any powerful country, and then use Prussia The powerful army launched in one fell swoop, one-on-one singled out and then defeated the enemy.

Do you feel a little familiar when you see this?That's right, Bismarck's diplomatic strategy is exactly the same as the current Qin Prime Minister Fan Sui's "distance and near attack" proposed.

Fan Sui's long-distance and short-range attack is also to make good friends with other continental powers, and then attack with all his strength after confirming that the current enemy is isolated, relying on his own superior military strength and national strength to win one-on-one one-on-one, first destroy Han Zhao Wei, and then destroy Yan Chu Qi defeated each of the six kingdoms and finally unified China.

Essentially speaking, there is no difference in the diplomatic strategies of Bismarck and Fan Sui. If they are exchanged with each other, the result must be the same.These two great figures, one Chinese and one foreign, might not even be as good as a small soldier in terms of fighting on the battlefield, but the effect they played was definitely better than a million soldiers.

The Great Qin Empire and the First German Empire were unified under the guidance of these two figures, stepped onto the world stage, and reached their respective peaks.

This is the importance of diplomacy to a country!

As a monarch who aspires to unify the world, if Zhao Dan can ignore diplomacy, which is more important than military affairs, then Zhao Dan couldn't be more stupid.

It is precisely because Zhao Dan understands the importance of diplomacy in his heart, so after crossing, Zhao Dan first stopped the change of generals, and then immediately sent envoys to the three kingdoms of Wei, Chu, and Qi without stopping.

The Qin army has a strong front, and there is such a peerless military god as Bai Qi. It is too difficult to defeat the Qin army led by Bai Qi head-on. At least Zhao Dan feels that he has no such ability.

But if Zhao Guo wants to defeat the people of Qin and Bai Qi, does he have to fight Qin alone?

Your Qin State has 95 points of national strength, and my Zhao State has 85 points of national strength. I can't beat you single-handedly, but that doesn't matter.I will draw Wei with 70 points, Chu with 75 points, and Qi with 70 points. The four countries will fight you together. No matter how powerful you are Qin and Bai Qi, you can still fight against most of the world with your own power. no?

The struggle for hegemony between countries has never been a play, and it does not pay attention to fighting alone, let alone false etiquette and shame. After you win, you can pretend to be a virgin and show tolerance to the loser. But before you win, please use all means to kill your opponents!

What Zhao Dan wants to do now is to completely isolate Qin on the stage of diplomacy, just as the great founding leader said, to "make our friends a lot, and make our enemies There are very few people."

Just as Prussia was unable to deal with group fights from multiple opponents, Qin certainly could not resist simultaneous attacks from multiple opponents, at least for now, Zhao Guo, the second among the seven heroes, has not been defeated, no way!

If Qin State can fight against six with one, then it would be a fart to attack close at hand, just frame A in the past, and push the six kingdoms of Shandong flatly.How can you lose with the flying dragon riding on your face?Right.

In terms of specific affairs, at this moment, Zhao Dan has received quick replies from Wei State and Chu State, and understands the situation of Zhao Sheng and Yu Xin's mission.

In view of the fact that Zhao State is indeed weaker than Qin State at this moment, if one of the three envoys sent by Zhao Dan to Qi, Wei and Chu succeeds in one, then Zhao State and Qin State can basically split [-]-[-]; if there are two envoys If it succeeds, then Zhao Guo already has a slight upper hand; if all the envoys from the three routes succeed, then Zhao Guo's victory in this battle can basically be said to be in sight.

The current situation is that the MT of Zhao Guo is in the front, the output of Chu State is cut in from the flank, and the nanny Qi Guo is behind. Although the main output of Wei Guo is missing, the problem is actually not too big. Zhao Dan and Zhao Guo already has the confidence to fight against the big boss Qin.

Generally speaking, the overall diplomatic situation is extremely beneficial to Zhao Guo, and basically has completely reversed the unfavorable situation of Zhao Guo in history.

Therefore, Zhao Dan now only needs to eliminate the last unstable factor, Yan State, and then he can devote all of Zhao State's strength to the west and deal with the people of Qin State with all his strength.

This is the mission that Zhao Dan wants to entrust to Pang Nuan to go to the country of Yan.

Don't forget that although Pang Nuan is famous for his military talents, Pang Nuan also has another title, that is, "the last strategist in the Warring States Period".For strategists, it goes without saying that the job of diplomatic envoy is definitely a professional counterpart, and they are familiar with it.

As for why he did not allow Su Dai, who had already been envoy to Qi to return, the main reason was that Su Dai, who had been an important minister of Yan State for a long time, had some grievances with the current King of Yan. The head is probably cut off by King Yan first.

Sure enough, as soon as Pang Nuan heard about Zhao Dan's mission, his face immediately showed joy, and he respectfully said to Zhao Dan: "Your Majesty has orders, how dare Nuan refuse to obey? I just don't know why your Majesty's envoys are going to Yan Kingdom? "

Seeing that Pang Nuan agreed, Zhao Dan was also happy, so he smiled and said: "Actually, the mission of Mr. Pang's trip is very simple. I hope that Mr. Pang will express to the king of Yan the friendship between Zhao and Yan. Tell Yan Guo not to send troops to Zhao Guo, and then send a letter to my sister Yanhou for the widow, and finally recruit a talent for the widow."

Pang Nuan thought for a while, and found that except for recruiting talents, the difficulty of the other two tasks seemed not too difficult, so she asked, "I don't know who is the talent that the king is talking about? "

Zhao Dan smiled slightly and said, "This person is an old acquaintance of Mr. Pang, named Ju Xin!"

"Juxin?" After the name was uttered, Pang Nuan was obviously stunned for a while, looked at Zhao Dan in surprise, and said after a while: "Nuan will do his best."

Pang Nuan really knew this Ju Xin, and the two were still good friends, but later because of the Dune Palace Change, Ju Xin went to Yan State and Pang Nuan followed his master He Guanzi to Chu State to live in seclusion. Haven't seen each other for decades.

After Ju Xin went to the Kingdom of Yan, he was reused by the then King Yan Zhao of the Kingdom of Yan. He played a very important role as the diplomatic envoy of the Kingdom of Yan when the Five Kingdoms conquered Qi. He was once one of the important officials of the Kingdom of Yan. one.

However, following the successive deaths of King Yanzhao and King Yanhui, King Yanwucheng, another branch of the royal family of Yan, ascended the throne, and Ju Xin, an old minister of the former dynasty, was forced to retire and is currently in retirement in the Kingdom of Yan.