It is not difficult to predict that once Julu City expels those Wei merchants, then the Wei general Pang Huan in Feicheng opposite will most likely send troops to attack the city immediately, and the war between Wei and South Korea will probably really end due to this.

Start.

Although Le Yi has made preparations for local wars in Handan North County and Julu County in advance, he still does not want a war to break out between the two countries until the last moment - because this is a war that is almost destined to defeat, even if

Even though he had made sufficient preparations, he could not stop Wei's overwhelming attack. At best, he could only delay the Wei army's capture of his Korean territory.

The real hope actually lies with the Chu State: Only the Chu State responded to his country, and when the Wei-Korean war really broke out, and sent troops from western Chu to contain the Wei State, his country, South Korea, was able to survive the fall of Wei's army.

possible.

To be honest, Le Yi doesn't like this. He doesn't like to pin his hopes of victory on others, even the Chu State, which is currently his private ally in South Korea - God knows whether the Chu State will assist him in South Korea?

If the Chu State is more despicable and waits until the Wei army attacks Yuyang County and approaches the gates of Jicheng, then it takes the opportunity to sneak attack the Wei State. Of course, the Chu State can catch the Wei State by surprise, but what about South Korea? If it is attacked by the Wei Army

When we get to Jicheng, how different is this from the fall?

Precisely because of this consideration, Le Yi absolutely did not want a real war to break out with Wei.

Under this premise, Le Yi certainly did not support expelling Wei merchants from the city.

"Ask Wang Cheng for instructions."

Le Yi said to Julu Shouyan.

Yan Kui nodded helplessly. In fact, he also felt that this matter had exceeded the authority of generals like them and could only be decided by Jicheng.

Probably at the beginning of the eleventh month, the messenger cavalry sent by Le Yi and Yan Kuai traveled day and night to the royal capital Jicheng and reported the matter to Han Wangran.

After learning the news, Han Wangran paid great attention to it and immediately summoned the Prime Minister Kaifangdi and Zhisu Neishi Han Kui. He briefly told them what happened in Julu City at the moment, hoping that they could come up with some clever plans to deal with it.

.

Kaifangdi and Han Kui looked at each other for a long time. Kaifangdi then frowned and said intermittently: "This rumor to slander the palace must be a conspiracy of the Wei people... I suggest that the entire city should immediately search for spies of the Wei state."

"Le Yi and Yan Fu are already taking care of this matter. I would like to know what the two adults' countermeasures are for Wei merchants using Wei's copper coins to purchase grain from our common people?"

"this……"

He hesitated for a long time without saying anything.

Next to him, the same was true for Han Kui.

It's not that Kaifangdi and Han Kui lacked wisdom, but that it was hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice: the real key to this matter was actually the credibility of his Korean coins, which gave the Wei State an opportunity to take advantage of.

"How about raising the purchase price..."

Han Kui said hesitantly.

Han Wangran glanced at Han Kui and remained silent.

It is undeniable that Han Kui is right. Since forcibly expelling those Wei merchants will lead to an early war between Wei and South Korea, the only way left is to increase the purchase price.

The question is, will those Wei merchants stand by and watch?

Think about it and you will know that those Wei merchants accumulated a large amount of Korean copper coins in the last merchant war, and they will definitely use it to purchase grain this time. The purpose is not to rush to buy grain, but to raise the purchase price and set off a stir.

The second commercial war came to crush South Korea's treasury funds.

Although the Korean treasury received a considerable amount of money last time by minting additional copper coins, this money may not be able to cover the losses caused by the food price war with Wei merchants - to say the least, even if it can defeat Wei

As a businessman from the country, I am afraid that there is not much money left in the South Korean treasury. How will it be supported in the future?

That day, after Kaifangdi and Han Kui left, Han Wangran sat alone in the palace, thinking about countermeasures.

At this time, he had realized that South Korea's pressure on him, South Korea, had become increasingly intense, and he, South Korea, actually could not sustain it for much longer.

"...Should we be decisive and declare war on Wei?"

Wrapped in a sheepskin blanket, Han Wangran walked to the window of the palace and looked at the snow gradually piling up outside the palace by the candlelight inside.

His intuition told him that instead of being targeted step by step by the Wei State, it would be better to declare war on Wei at the breaking point and break out the war in advance.

Because once war is declared, Korea will no longer have to consider the issue of Wei merchants - just kill them if caught!

In this way, all problems are solved.

But on the other hand, once South Korea declares war on Wei, the 'tense peace' currently present in the confrontation between the two countries will no longer exist. Even Han Wangran cannot guarantee that South Korea will be able to defeat Wei's attack.

How long will it last?

It might be a year, it might be half a year, it might be shorter.

"...Zhao Run, are you so impatient that you want to force me to go to war with your Wei State? Does this also mean that this kind of confrontation has also caused great losses to your Wei State?"

Han Wangran took a long breath and weighed the pros and cons in his mind.

That night, Han Wangran was always struggling with the issue of "starting a war" or "not starting a war", but in the end, his prudent character led him to finally decide to continue to maintain the status quo until he could no longer persist in Korea.

In fact, this is not a bad idea. After all, in the "Three Kingdoms Alliance of Han, Qi, and Chu", South Korea plays the role of containing and dragging down Wei, buying time for Chu. If it can cause Wei's interests to suffer simultaneous losses,

, South Korea’s loss of interests is actually acceptable.

Furthermore, although the current situation is indeed very difficult, no matter how difficult it is, it is not as difficult as the actual war between Wei and South Korea. Once the war between Wei and South Korea actually breaks out, South Korea will face the attacks of the two great powers Wei and Qin at the same time.

It's a real disaster.

As the saying goes, choose the lesser of the two strategies. After weighing the pros and cons of the two strategies, Han Wangran finally chose to continue to maintain the status quo.

Perhaps, this is the biggest difference between him and Wei Wang Zhao Run.

If it were Wei Wang Zhao Run, he would definitely choose to declare war immediately at this time, regardless of whether he could win in the end.

In view of Han Wangran's forbearance again, Le Yi and Yan Kui of Julu City finally did not dare to disobey the king's order and expel the Wei merchants in the city to provoke a war between the two countries.

As a result, the Wei merchants in the city and the local county government started a grain price war in order to snap up the batch of grain from the common people: Julu County government purchased grain at twice the price of previous years, while the Wei merchants tripled the price;

The Julu County government raised prices again, and Wei merchants also raised prices accordingly.

This has led to the fact that Korean coins are "increasingly worthless" in the eyes of ordinary people.

Under this situation, another group of Wei merchants suddenly threw out the Korean coins in their hands, further damaging the latter's credibility.

When the merchants of Wei State begin to use Wei State Wan money to purchase food from the civilians in Julu City, and these civilians are also willing to use Wei State Wan money to trade, this means that in Julu City, South Korea's monetary system has almost collapsed and has been destroyed.

Wei's round money replaced the function of currency in circulation.

By the spring of the ninth year of Wei Xing'an, this phenomenon quickly spread to the entire Handan North County and Julu County. South Korea's copper coins were completely devalued, while Wei's Wan coins took the place of the former and gradually circulated in South Korea.

Even though Han Wangran begged Qi to use Qi's currency to save the Korean market, it was too late.

Zhang Qigong's goal was achieved. In essence, he had almost destroyed South Korea.

After receiving the news, the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Luoyang of Wei State congratulated each other.

It is indeed worthy of celebration, because they destroyed South Korea's currency and destroyed South Korea's economy - as long as the Wei merchants in South Korea withdraw their funds, South Korea's economy will collapse immediately.

And with South Korea's economy collapsing, of course this country can no longer continue to confront Wei.

Either declare war on Wei immediately and divert its domestic conflicts; or it will collapse in silence and fall apart.

Sure enough, in early March of the ninth year of Wei Xing'an, South Korea was forced to declare war on Wei.
Chapter completed!