Chapter 676: Chapter 305: Adding Another Vassal State

Relocated?

Upon hearing these two words, Qiao Kangquan’s expression slightly changed, revealing a trace of confusion in his eyes.

He had been a ruler of a country for several years, and previously the head of an aristocratic family, so his political accomplishments and vision were not lacking.

Thus, it meant that the King of Chu wanted to reclaim the two prefectures of Xichuan that were in his hands, but doing so would be too embarrassing.

So, he wanted to give himself another territory, exchanging other places for Jiange and Tongchuan prefectures.

After he realized this, Qiao Kangquan quickly understood what Lu Yuan meant.

As for this arrangement, after understanding the reasons behind it, Qiao Kangquan didn’t have much resistance in his heart.

No one knew better than him what the situation was like in Hanzhong Country now.

Being the ruler of Hanzhong Country, he deeply understood that Hanzhong Country had now completely lost all hope.

After losing three-fifths of his territory, he was still nominally the King of Hanzhong.

But Chu and Ning countries had two or three hundred thousand people in one prefecture, and even up to seven or eight hundred thousand. Hanzhong Country’s two prefectures together had a population of less than three hundred thousand.

Calling himself a king was equivalent to no difference from a Prefect.

It just sounded better on the surface.

Therefore, after understanding the reality and strength gap, he didn’t have much objection, and asked with slight apprehension, “What does Your Majesty mean?”

“Zhou Country is a tiger and a wolf.”

Looking at Qiao Kangquan, who had already guessed some of his intentions, Lu Yuan said frankly, “Now that they have retaken the entire Hanzhong territory, even though they have negotiated a truce with my Chu Country, it is just a temporary ceasefire.”

“In the future, if there is a chance, they will definitely send their troops southward or eastward, attacking Xichuan and Xiangyang prefectures.”

“In order to curb this tiger and wolf, I need to station heavy troops at the border where Xichuan and Hanzhong meet, to hold them in check.”

“Now that Hanzhong Country is broken and unable to resist Zhou Country, I will exchange Jiange and Tongchuan prefectures with Hanzhong King for another land and move Hanzhong Country elsewhere.”

“What does Hanzhong King think?”

Now that Chu Country had control over eight prefectures in Xichuan, it was only a short distance away from unifying the entire Xichuan.

As for Hanzhong Country, which controlled the remaining two prefectures in Xichuan, it was absolutely impossible for them to stand by and let their two territories remain outside the system.

It was inevitable to have all ten prefectures of Xichuan and take back the northern entrance of Xichuan Province.

However, how to take it back, the methods and strategies involved are varied.

There are strong and hard methods, such as direct annexation. There are soft and slow ones, such as exchanging territories.

The effects and functions of each are different.

Comparatively speaking, Lu Yuan preferred the latter.

After all, Hanzhong Country had already submitted to Chu Country, becoming a vassal state of Chu in name.

If they silently annexed Hanzhong Country, it would inevitably cause fear and hesitation among other vassal states.

It should be noted that both Chilih and Kunhai countries were still fighting hard against Nanzhao Country in the south at the command of Chu Country.

The successful pacification of Xichuan and the defeat of Nanzhao Army could not be achieved without the contribution of the Southern Route Army composed of these two countries.

Chu Country wanted to stabilize the southwest, but couldn’t do without the cooperation of these two countries.

In this situation, in order to avoid making Kunhai and Chilih countries feel sad and hurt, the means of taking back the two prefectures of Hanzhong Country had to be more amicable and flexible.

Moving the country to another territory was his way of appeasing Qiao Kangquan.

The only question was whether the other party would accept this condition.

However, he believed that if the other party were wise, they should not refuse the olive branch that he extended.

Thinking this, Lu Yuan looked calmly at Qiao Kangquan.

After hearing Lu Yuan confirm his guess, Qiao Kangquan’s expression changed slightly, and his eyes flickered.

Qiao Kangquan was clear about his situation.

Hanzhong Country was sandwiched between Zhou and Chu countries, and no matter who won or lost in the future, it would eventually face an inescapable fate of destruction.

To be honest, Qiao Kangquan had already regretted accepting the proposal of the Yue State court to give up his great foundation in Guangling and travel thousands of miles to Xichuan to become a broken ruler.

After nearly a decade of struggle in Xichuan, the Qiao family of Guangling had spent more than half of their thousand years of accumulation, and the final result was the loss of state territory, with Hanzhong Country on the verge of collapse.

This result was hard to accept.

But time had passed, and Yue Country was no more. They were separated from Guangling by Chu, Zhou, and Liang countries.

Wanting to return to Guangling from thousands of miles away was not easy at all.

Even if they were to return, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to regain their previous position at Guanhai Villa.

There was no medicine for regret.

In the past, Qiao Kangquan had completely given up and stopped thinking about it.

However, if there was an opportunity to escape now, it naturally stirred his heart.

At the same time, he needed to confirm one thing: where exactly was the territory that the King of Chu planned to exchange with him?

First of all, Xichuan, Xiangyang, and Dongting prefectures were out of the question.

These three places were the core territories of Chu Country, which had been developed to the utmost and were extremely prosperous.

Chu Country wanted to take back even the ruined two prefectures of Xichuan that were in his hands.

As for these foundation territories, Chu Country would never exchange them with anyone under any circumstances.

If these three prefectures were not feasible, then the only remaining territories were in the southwest.