Chapter 30: Capital of the Country
"My friends, is it possible that in my great state of Wu, among all the officials in the court, there is no one who can share my worries and dare to send troops to Yue?"
Qingji stood up, put one hand on the sword of King Wu hanging at his waist, and glanced at the ministers and officials under the steps one by one.
Almost every minister who was glanced at by Qingji lowered his head in shame and remained silent!
General Sun Wu raised his head and wanted to recommend himself, but when he was glared at by Qingji, he lowered his head unconsciously.
Qingji kept Sun Wu in Wudu, he was of great use!
Furthermore, his life or death was uncertain during this mission to the Kingdom of Yue.
It is still unknown whether the people of Yue can come back alive after leaving!
"Your Majesty, I am willing to be an envoy to Yue on behalf of Wu!"
At this moment, the junior official Bo Yan, who had been silent, suddenly stepped out with a ivory tablet in his hand.
Bo Yan volunteered to do this just because he wanted to show himself in front of King Qingji of Wu.
Bo-Han?
He is indeed a talented person. He is smooth-talking, good at flattery and has very slick skills!
Now, there is indeed no one in the Wu court or the country who is more suitable to be the envoy of Yue than Bo Yun.
"good!"
"Bo-Hun, you're fine."
Qingji looked at Bo Yun with admiration and said with a smile: "I was not wrong about you!"
"However, if you are sent to Yue as a junior official, it will inevitably make the Yue people feel neglected and hate our Great Wu. Therefore, after entering Yue, you can pretend to be a senior official!"
"Your humble servant will obey the king's order!"
This is an opportunity for Bo Yan, an opportunity to stand out!
As the saying goes, fortune and honor are achieved through risk.
Although Bo Yan was afraid of going through this journey, he believed that he could not be so unlucky!
Fortunately, Qingji was considerate of Bo Huan and allowed him to pretend to be a senior doctor.
Otherwise, with Bo Heng's status as a lower-ranking official, he might not even be able to see King Yunchang of Yue and would be turned away!
What's worse, it is not impossible that the Yue people would think that Qingji was too arrogant and then alienate themselves from the State of Wu, and even cook Bo Hun to death in anger.
…
After bidding farewell to the three groups of envoys headed by Ji Zha , Bei Li and Bo Yun, Qingji put on his casual clothes, tied his hair with a cloth belt, and then left the palace in disguise for a private visit.
In order to avoid attracting attention, only General Sun Wu accompanied Qingji.
Qingji wanted to implement reforms in Wu and work hard to govern the country, so he had to conduct on-site inspections and understand the people's sentiments.
If he were like an ordinary king, trapped within the palace walls, oblivious to what was happening outside, and became deaf and blind, how could he talk about reform?
Originally, Qingji wanted to reform the law to strengthen Wu, but according to the trend of the times, it was too rebellious to change the ancestral laws and go against the Zhou rituals, so Qingji could only settle for the next best thing.
Reform is part of the legal reform, but it is not the same as the legal reform!
Reform is a fundamental and large-scale innovation, while reform is only a small-scale and controllable innovation. The two are not the same.
"Come and have a look, have a look!"
"A big carp just caught this morning! It's still alive and kicking, and tastes delicious!"
"Brave man, take a look. This sword of mine is an heirloom..."
"No deception, genuine goods at fair prices! This year's new rice is sold at a low price!"
Qingji and Sun Wu came to a market. Looking around the whole street, they saw all kinds of stalls. Next to the stalls, there were many small vendors who were shouting loudly.
The stalls were filled with a wide variety of goods. Some people even just carried a few bags of rice and a bronze sword, and then set up their stalls on the spot and started shouting loudly .
"Please stay, brave man!"
"Look at this spear of mine. It's so sharp that it can pierce even the hardest rock!"
"And this shield in my hand can block any sharp weapon."
What made Qingji laugh and cry was that there was a vendor at a stall on the side who was bragging about himself.
Selling spears and shields and boasting about them like this, isn't that a contradiction?
Fortunately, no one suggested that the vendor use his spear to stab his shield, otherwise it would be absolutely embarrassing!
Qingji glanced at Sun Wu who was following him, chuckled and said, "Changqing, you should have lived in Linzi, right?"
"I was born in Le'an, but grew up in Linzi."
Sun Wu originally wanted to call himself "minister", but considering that Qingji had reminded him that this was a secret visit, he did not want to reveal his identity, so he quickly changed his words!
"So, in your opinion, how does Wudu compare to Qidu Linzi?"
Hearing this, Sun Wu was stunned for a moment, then he burst into laughter and said, "My Lord, forgive me for being frank, although Wudu is prosperous and the market is bustling with people, but in terms of prosperity, it is far inferior to Linzi."
"I have lived in Linzi for many years. Whenever I go out, I see a lot of traffic , people's clothes are connected like curtains, their sleeves are raised like curtains, and their sweat is like rain!"
"Looking at the people of Linzi, they are well-off and have high aspirations!"
"Let's not talk about anything else. Just considering the population, Wudu is far inferior to Qidu Linzi."
"When Duke Huan of Qi was the hegemon, Linzi had more than 40,000 households and a population of more than 200,000!"
"Linzi is a first-class famous city in the world. Even big cities like Yingdu, Dingtao, and Luoyi cannot be compared with it."
Hearing what Sun Wu said, Qingji was deeply shocked.
But, honest advice may be unpleasant to the ears but is beneficial to one’s conduct!
What Sun Wu said was true, and Qingji had to accept it humbly.
In terms of prosperity, Wudu is indeed not as prosperous as Linzi, and is even far behind in all aspects!
This is because Linzi is already a world-famous city. There is no city in the world that can compare with Linzi.
Just looking at the population, Linzi has more than 200,000 people, while Wudu probably doesn't even have 50,000 settled people!
Moreover, this is only the settled population, and there are also many floating populations such as merchants, heroes, etc.
Qi was a big country, and Linzi was one of the most famous cities in the world, with a bustling population.
The daily population of Linzi is probably over 300,000!
Wudu is located in a remote area with very few merchants and travelers coming and going. The floating population is 50,000, which is still a relatively optimistic figure.
"Changqing, just wait. One day, the capital of our Wu Kingdom will be more prosperous than Linzi, and have a larger population!"
Qingji looked at the city wall in the distance, and a look of determination appeared in his eyes.
He is serious!
Sun Wu nodded solemnly and said, "Then, Wu will wait and see, and wait for that day to come soon."
"No, maybe then you and I will both be involved."
The corners of Qingji's mouth curved into an arc, showing his confidence!
The current capital of Wu is relatively too small and its geographical location is too remote to be the capital of a hegemonic power.
Qingji believed that in time, once the national strength of Wu increased significantly, it would be able to conquer all directions.
An unprecedented city that will shock the world will appear in the vast southern land!
