Chapter 17 9. Follow the plan and build the Zhengguo Canal

At the end of the Warring States period, among the seven states of Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Wei, and Han, Qin was the strongest.If the other six countries were to be attacked, South Korea would be the first to bear the brunt, and South Korea's national power at that time was simply vulnerable to Qin, and it was in danger of being swallowed up by Qin at any time.In 246 BC, King Han Huan adopted a very clumsy so-called "tired Qin" strategy when he was desperate.He used Zheng Guo, a well-known water conservancy engineer, as a spy, and sent him to Qin to lobby Qin to build a large irrigation channel between Jingshui and Luoshui (Northern Luoshui, a tributary of Weishui).On the surface, it is possible to develop Qin's agriculture, but its real purpose is to exhaust Qin's strength.

After Zheng Guo came to Qin State, he encouraged everywhere: "Qin State has no water canals, crops cannot be irrigated in time, and farmers cannot get food and clothing. This is indirectly hindering the development of Qin State." King Qin had long heard that there was a Korean named Zheng Guo who was good at building water conservancy in Qin State, and he heard Zheng Guo's instigation, and immediately felt the necessity of building aqueducts.A big country that doesn't even have a decent canal will be laughed at by other countries.Considering this, he immediately sent someone to inform Zheng Guo that he wanted to meet with him to discuss the construction of the canal.

Zheng Guo had long expected that King Qin would send someone to invite him over. In the society at that time, a person who was good at water conservancy was highly respected.The King of Qin valued Zheng Guo very much, and he showed great respect when he spoke. He said, "I have heard people say that Mr. Zheng is a capable man who is good at water conservancy?" Zheng Guo was a little surprised, so he said: "Your Majesty has won the award. I just built some small canals for irrigation. Your Majesty's honorable ministers really dare not accept it." King Qin said with a smile: "I like people who are talented and humble. Such talents will make more progress. On the contrary, I hate those lobbyists who have little strategies and skills. I have heard of Mr.'s deeds for a long time. Hearing is believing, seeing is believing, so I want to meet with my husband to see if the rumors are true."

Zheng Guo said: "Does Your Majesty want to test your ministers?" The king of Qin said: "Mr.'s words are serious. I don't have that ability, so I am not qualified to test you. That's right, I have heard that Mr. came to Qin to help Qin build a canal. I don't know if this is true? " There was a blush on Zheng Guo's face, and he said with an embarrassed expression: "It's like this. To put it bluntly, a person like me is just a reckless man who does rough work. Compared with those strategists It's a world of difference, if you can see the king today, even if you die, your wish will come true."

These words moved the king of Qin very much, and said: "Although my Great Qin is powerful, it is not comparable to other countries in terms of agriculture and water conservancy. It is also my great Qin's fortune to meet you now. I wonder if you are willing to help me. How about Daqin building a canal?" Zheng Guo cupped his hands and said: "It's just what the king ordered. The purpose of my minister's coming to Qin is also to build water canals in Qin, but I suffer from limited ability and lack of manpower and material resources." The king of Qin said: "You don't have to worry about this question. You only need to say a word about how much manpower and material resources you need."

Zheng Guo was very excited, thinking that King Qin was finally caught by my words, but he still pretended to be flattered. "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will definitely repair the Qin State Canal. If I break my promise, I am willing to be severely punished by Your Majesty." Afterwards, the king of Qin mobilized 200,000 manpower and a large amount of materials for the construction of the canal to Zheng Guo, and gave Zheng Guo full authority to direct the construction of the canal. Seeing that his goal had been achieved, King Han Huan was overjoyed, and secretly sent someone to support Zheng Guo's work.Qin State invested a large amount of manpower and material resources in the construction of water canals, and it would take at least a few years to build a water canal. South Korea can take advantage of this gap to restore and rectify. Don't let Qin be underestimated, King Qin will definitely give up his plan to attack South Korea.

King Han Huan's wishful thinking was sound, and Zheng Guo's spies were quick-witted.This is already a certainty, but no one knows who leaked the news and spread it everywhere: "Zheng Guo is a spy of South Korea, and he wants to use the construction of aqueducts to contain Qin's manpower and consume resources." When the king of Qin learned about it, he was furious, thinking that he, a majestic king, had been tricked, and he played it so spectacularly that he really couldn't hold back his face from any aspect. "Come here, bring Zheng Guo back to me, and stop the construction of the canal!" King Qin shouted.

"Your Majesty appeases his anger, this might not be a good thing." A minister said. "A good thing? This is clearly a scheme set up by the King of Han. How can it be called a good thing?" King Qin was puzzled. The minister said: "The plan is true, but it does no harm to our Qin State. Think about it, Your Majesty. The king of Han was just afraid that we would send troops to attack South Korea, so he came up with such a ridiculous plan. He sent Zheng Guo to build aqueducts to contain our country. A lot of manpower and material resources. But has your majesty ever thought that building a canal would require a lot of manpower and material resources, and even if Han Wang does not come up with such a conspiracy. According to the current water conservancy problems in our country, the construction of canals is imperative. We lack a capable person like Zheng Guo who is good at water conservancy."

The king of Qin thought about it for a second, and felt that what the minister said was very reasonable, so he asked: "So, how should we deal with it here?" The minister said: "Don't move, let Zheng Guo continue to build the canal. Let's just pretend that nothing happened." "Didn't that just fall into King Han's trick?" King Qin was still a little puzzled. "For the time being, he has fallen for his tricks, but at this time, King Han is just an ant on a hot pot, struggling for the last time. King Qin doesn't need to take this little action to heart. In comparison, building aqueducts is more important."

Qin Wang thought for a long time, and said with emotion, "What Aiqing said is very true, I almost did something wrong." It took five years to build the canal, and King Han's strategy of exhausting Qin finally turned into a good thing for Qin.When the canal was about to be completed, Zheng Guo was surprised when he heard that King Qin knew about King Han's conspiracy. He thought, since King Qin had seen through the plot, wouldn't it be dangerous for me to stay here?After much deliberation, he planned to leave Qin State quietly at night, but what he didn't expect was that King Qin had already expected him to do this, and had already sent someone to watch him secretly.As soon as Zheng Guo left the residence, he was captured by several warriors with extraordinary skills.

The warriors brought Zheng Guo Wuhuada to King Qin. Zheng Guo stood up and said: "Now that the matter has been exposed, the king will kill him if he wants to, and he will cut him up if he wants to. I have no complaints!" King Qin smiled slightly and said, "Do you know when I found out?" "Your Majesty, please don't tease me, the result will be the same when you know!" Zheng Guo said without hesitation. "How can this be the same? If I had known about your conspiracy, according to your thinking, would you still be alive?" King Qin said. "Then the king must have just learned about it." Zheng Guo said. "You are wrong. I got the news shortly after you built the canal." King Qin said. "Then why didn't Your Majesty kill me?" Zheng Guo was puzzled. "As I said before, I admire capable people very much, so I take this matter very seriously. You were ordered by the King of Han, and at most you can be regarded as a useless pawn of the King of Han. The general situation in South Korea is gone, and it is true that you are so foolish and loyal. Makes me sad." "I... Your Majesty... you should kill me. Your Majesty's prestige cannot be lost because of me." "If I killed you, I would have killed you long after I knew your intentions. As for the prestige you mentioned, it is not simply established by killing. If you have a heart of repentance, the widow will definitely not hold you accountable for committing crimes." fault." King Qin said. King Qin's words made Zheng Guo very grateful, and he knelt down in front of King Qin with a "plop" and said: "I am willing to do my best for the king and the state of Qin, and to be loyal to the king until death." After Zheng Guo returned, he began to build more perfect canals, making up for the deficiencies that had been intentionally left before. Zheng Guo presided over the construction of a large-scale irrigation canal, which diverted Jingshui in the west and injected Luoshui in the east, with a length of more than 300 li.The Jing River rushes out of the mountains in northern Shaanxi, flows to Liquan and then enters the Guanzhong Plain.The plain is hundreds of miles from east to west and tens of miles from north to south.The topography of the plain is slightly higher in the northwest and slightly lower in the southeast.Taking full advantage of this favorable terrain, Zheng Guo began to build the main canal at the mouth of the valley in the northeast of Liquan County, extending the main canal eastward along the northern foot of the mountain, naturally distributing the main canal in the highest area of ​​the irrigation area, not only controlling the irrigation area to the greatest extent, but also A complete artesian irrigation system has been formed, which can irrigate more than 40,000 hectares of fields. Since the "Zhengguo Canal" was excavated, due to sedimentation, the head of the main canal has been gradually filled up, and the water cannot flow into the canal. Over the past dynasties, the place where the river water enters the canal has been changed at the valley mouth, but the main canal channel below the valley mouth has remained unchanged. Although Han Wang's approach contained Qin on the surface, it did not achieve substantial results.Not long after Zheng Guo went to Qin to build the canal, King Qin heard the news, but did not take any action. What King Han did here was indeed a big failure.Han used tricks, but Qin followed his tricks. Qin got the aqueduct, but Han remained the same. King Qin's way of employing people is incomparable to the kings of other countries. As long as he values ​​​​talented people, even if they commit serious crimes, he will still avoid them all. Zheng Guo is one of the best examples.