More than sixty miles northwest of Pinglu in Qi State and more than twenty miles south of Jishui, there is a mountain peak.

This mountain is the remnant of Mount Tai. Because it is close to Gucheng on the south bank of Jishui River in Qi State, it is named Gucheng Mountain.

Liu Yuxi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty who lived for more than a thousand years later, once said in his "Inscription on the Humble Room": If the mountain is not high, the immortal will be famous; if the water is not deep, the dragon will be spiritual.

Although this Gucheng Mountain is not as tall as Mount Tai in the East, the connection with a sage who is no less than an immortal gives it a sense of immortality.

To talk about who this wise man is, we have to mention Zhang Liang, one of the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty.

He once threw his shoes down on the Xiapi Bridge outside Xiapi City three times to test Zhang Liang's character, but Zhang Liang was able to retrieve the shoes for him three times.

Seeing that the other party passed the test he had set, the sage gave a book to Zhang Liang, who was in poverty at the moment, five days later.

The name of the book was "Tai Gong's Art of War", and the old man was called Huang Shi Gong by future generations because of his sentence, "The Yellow Stone at the foot of Gucheng Mountain is me."

Speaking of which, this is all a thing for later. We are still in the Warring States Period, and there are still more than a hundred years before the end of Qin Dynasty.

Zhang Liang's grandfather had not yet become the Prime Minister of Han at this time, let alone the Duke of Huangshi who became a yellowstone under Gucheng.

However, Gucheng Mountain, which was relatively peaceful in the past and not many people came, today has a more solemn atmosphere.

On the road leading to the top of the mountain, groups of soldiers wearing armor stood in formation, their eyes full of vigilance.

Looking up all the way along the road, I saw that the flags erected by these teams had either the Chinese character Zhao or the Chinese character Han written on them.

On the top of the mountain, two middle-aged figures wearing princely robes stood quietly. From the flags just raised, the identity of these two people was self-evident.

Casting his gaze into the distance, overlooking the endless plains at his feet, Han Hou Han Ruoshan suddenly felt a surge of heroism in his heart.

After pondering for a moment, he pointed his finger to the southeast, and heard the Korean king introduce to Zhao Hou Zhao Zhong beside him: "Look, Zhao Hou, sixty miles to the southeast from here is the meeting of the princes.

It's flatland."

After hearing Han Ruoshan's introduction, Zhao Zhong showed a look of understanding on his face and nodded his head lightly a few times.

"It is indeed a great country, but I don't know who it will belong to in the future."

Also looking at the scenery in the distance, Zhao Zhong's words were not only as surging as Han Ruoshan's, but also raised a question about who belonged to the country.

As for what the answer to Zhao Zhong's question is, I'm afraid only he himself knows.

After a few breaths, Zhao Zhong withdrew his gaze from the plain in the distance, and then looked at Han Ruoshan beside him.

"If I remember correctly, after the Battle of Puyang, among the brilliant achievements of the Central Alliance Army's consecutive battles and victories, it was the Korean army that captured Gucheng, right?"

"The ability to easily seize Qi's territory west of the Great Wall one after another makes me impressed by the combat prowess of Han's soldiers."

"Zhao Hou said this, which is really a bit exaggerated."

As the Marquis of Han, Han Ruoshan was naturally overjoyed when Marquis Zhao praised the Han army under his command.

However, on the surface, he still responded with some humility: "Our Korean army just took advantage of the great victory in the Battle of Puyang. In terms of combat strength, the Zhao army under Zhao Hou is not weak either."

ah."

"At the beginning of the Battle of Qi, Zhao State captured Qi State's Hejian, Lingqiu, Pingshu and other cities north of the river. Their combat power cannot be underestimated."

What Han Ruoshan didn't notice was that just when he was talking about Zhao Jun's performance at the beginning of the war, a trace of gloom flashed across Zhao Zhong's eyes.

It's not that Zhao Zhong wants to see the Zhao army fail, but compared with the brilliant achievements achieved by the central coalition forces, these are really not worth mentioning.

You must know that the 130,000-strong Central Alliance Army fought from the far west of Qi State to the original Great Wall of Qi.

Although there was no agreement between Zhao and Wei before the war to divide Qi's territory according to their respective military achievements, their performance on the battlefield was undoubtedly an important basis for dividing the spoils.

Seeing the Wei army singing triumphant songs in the middle direction and winning consecutive battles, but the Zhao army was still unable to break through Qi's river defense line, it was a strange thing for Zhao Hou to feel happy.

Thinking of Zhao Jun's previous achievements, and thinking of the alliance between princes that would begin soon, Zhao Zhong had a different thought in his heart.

"Marquis Han, since South Korea has such a record on the middle battlefield, then presumably your country should have a share of the territory it gained from Qi, right?"

Hearing Zhao Zhong's somewhat abrupt inquiry, Han Ruoshan's face flashed a bit of hesitation at first, then he pondered for a few breaths and then became somewhat clear.

On the surface, Zhao Zhong's words were asking Wei if he intended to give Qi's land to South Korea, but in fact he was testing South Korea's attitude towards Qi and Zhao.

After thinking about this clearly, a smile appeared on the corner of Han Ruoshan's mouth, and he looked straight at Zhao Zhong who was looking over at him.

"To be honest with Zhao Hou, Wei Hou does intend to hand over part of the territory gained in this war to South Korea, but I am not prepared to accept these lands."

"First of all, these lands in Qi are not bordered by our existing territory in South Korea, and we in South Korea are really unable to effectively control them."

"Secondly, Qi is strong and Korea is weak. Korea with few people is not as powerful as Zhao of Zhaohou and Wei of Weihou."

Although he did not receive an excessive commitment from Wei, Han Ruoshan still stated conclusively that he was prepared to give up participating in the fight for Qi's territory.

When he finished speaking, he looked at Zhao Zhong in front of him with a somewhat meaningful look, and heard Han Ruoshan say in a deep voice: "I wonder what Marquis Zhao thinks?"

"Marquis Han is not greedy for immediate small gains, but can consider the overall situation. Such foresight and foresight really make me admire him deeply."

After saying something that was half praise and half compliment, Zhao Zhong suddenly changed the topic and completely attracted Han Ruoshan's attention.

"Since the Marquis of Han has no interest in Qi's territory, I wonder which country South Korea is prepared to support in competing for these territories that originally belonged to Qi?"

As soon as Zhao Zhong said these words, how could Han Ruoshan still not understand what the other party meant? Didn't this make it clear that he would support Zhao Guo in the subsequent Pinglu meeting?

After realizing this, Han Ruoshan pondered for a moment and then said: "Zhao's great achievements in this battle of alignment were not only the capture of Qi's cities north of the river, but also the success of dragging

The 50,000-strong army inhabited the Gaotang area of ​​Qi State."

"Please rest assured, Marquis Zhao, that South Korea will never forget Zhao's contribution and will definitely fully support Zhao's fight for Qi's land."

"I feel relieved when the Marquis of Han said this." After saying this, Zhao Zhong immediately reciprocated: "I thought that since the Marquis of Han gave up the fight for the land of Qi, the Marquis of Wei should give partial compensation to South Korea, for example...

"

"Qin State."

Having said this, Zhao Zhong and Han Ruoshan looked at each other, and the corners of their mouths curled up in a tacit understanding.

Just at this moment, a report sounded in the ears of the two of them, "Your Majesty Qi, Marquis Han, and Duke Qi are driving less than twenty miles away from Pinglu."
Chapter completed!