To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 980: Chapter 406 Zheng Presents Soil_3 Chapter 980: Chapter 406 Zheng Presents Soil_3 And then, he surveyed the surroundings, searching for a suitable direction for expansion.

After looking around, Wei Country remained a tiger with undiminished might, second only to Liang as the second largest in the north of Jiangnan.

Zhao and Xu, two countries in Central State, only held one prefecture each, and regarded their territories as their lifeblood, not only relocating the majority of their populations there.

To hold onto this land, the two countries spared no effort to amass over a million soldiers and extensively fortified their defenses, creating ramparts as impregnable as a turtle shell, extremely difficult to overcome.

As for Chu State to the south, it controlled the vast majority of Central State, with only a small portion of Xiangyang Prefecture.

This remote corner had little significance to attack; even if Liang wished to strike, it was not certain they could overcome Chu.

Thus, west, north, and south—all three directions—were not good avenues for expansion.

In contrast, the east presented a fat sheep.

Firstly, with the threats of Tang and Jin to its north, Zheng Kingdom had no choice but to deploy the majority of its soldiers there, leaving the country internally hollow.

Secondly, in recent years, due to external threats, both Zheng and Liang faced similar dilemmas and had an unspoken agreement not to station troops or build fortresses along their mutual border.

Therefore, on the border facing Liang, apart from some old fortifications, there were hardly any new defensive structures built that year.

In such circumstances, there were bound to be significant gaps in defense.

Lastly, the territory Zheng Kingdom occupied was also in Central State.

Unlike the lands of Chu in Yangzhou, Zheng in Ji Province, and Xu in Xuzhou, which were eventually doomed to be swallowed by natural disasters, theirs had value.

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Securing territory in Yuzhou would always be profitable, regardless of the amount—it wouldn’t be a loss.

With all these reasons in mind, it was not surprising that, when Liang had the capability, they chose to focus their expansionist efforts towards Zheng Country in the east.

And so the question arose.

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Resisting both Tang and Jin, Zheng was already exhausted.

Now facing Liang, a country even stronger than both Tang and Jin combined, what could Zheng use to resist?

Alone, that was definitely not feasible.

Therefore, if they wished to avoid annihilation, they had no choice but to seek assistance from outsiders.

And looking across the Nine Provinces, in the world today, the only country both capable of contending with Liang and having the spare strength to lend a hand was Chu State in Yangzhou to the south.

So how would they persuade Chu to agree to confront the powerful Liang for the sake of Zheng?

The monarch and ministers of Zheng pondered hard and unanimously agreed that they could only be enticed by substantial profits, opting for the strategy of leading the disaster eastward.

Since their western territories were bound to be unsafe and could hardly be defended,

it was better to proactively offer this land to a strong country with which they had a good relationship, one that also did not share a border with them and therefore posed no significant threat, yet possessed enough strength to stop Liang.

With this logic in mind, there was the scene of Zheng envoys coming to discuss the cession of territory with Lu Yuan.

Indeed, Zheng’s objective was not really to ask Chu to help them fend off Tang’s invasion.

Despite Tang’s strength, Zheng could handle them alone without needing to cede territory and ask for aid.

So, what Zheng said about ceding Yangxia County once Tang was repelled was a foregone conclusion from the start.

This county was basically a gift to Chu, and the request for aid was merely a cover.

Zheng’s real purpose was to invite Chu to block Liang, and they did not hesitate to offer up Yangxia County, which bordered Liang to their west, all to create a buffer to their west and place Chu between Zheng and Liang.

If Chu agreed, they would certainly gain a county for nothing.

But once they enjoyed the benefits, they would have to bear the resentment of being snatched from the tiger’s mouth and the pressure from Liang in the future on their own.

Zheng, meanwhile, could be freed from the immense defensive pressure from the west and focus on threats from the north, significantly reducing the pressure they faced.

From this perspective, it wasn’t a bad deal.

Well, provided they were unaware that Chu had already commenced plans to eliminate Liang and Wei, there indeed wouldn’t be an issue.

But given Chu indeed had such plans…

‘Is this like someone bringing me a pillow as I’m about to doze off?’

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but think this after hearing Li Hu’s words.

He was preparing to attack Liang, and Zheng just offered Chu an excellent opportunity to march.

A territory not bordering Chu—an enclave, from which Chu would normally have no reason to act against Liang’s eastern frontier—could indeed catch Liang off guard.

Furthermore, through military actions in Zheng’s Yangxia County, Chu could further conceal its internal troop movements to confuse Liang.

After all, should Chu accept Zheng’s invitation and take Yangxia County, a confrontation with Liang would be inevitable.

And to secure this newly acquired territory, Chu would naturally need to station a considerable force there, far from its homeland.

For this reason, Chu’s domestic recruitment of soldiers and transport of supplies would seem justifiable.

Even Chu’s army could outright use the slogan of fighting against Liang—after all, if they were heading to Yangxia, who else but Liang would be the enemy!

Chu’s true intentions could be hidden behind two major moves: responding to the Wei army in Yong West and occupying Yangxia County at Zheng’s request.

Without knowledge of Chu’s real plans, both Wei and Liang would only react based on these overt actions.

Because who would suspect that Chu, a country seen by others as having only the second greatest strength, would dare to strike at the two strongest nations, ranked first and third in the current era?

That would be crazy.

Unless one is mad, why would anyone do that?

Were Chu’s monarch and ministers mad?

To outsiders, they certainly weren’t; on the contrary, they were seen as extremely wise and Shenwu, having built this grand empire.

Well, at this point, the logic has become a closed loop.