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Migrating to such a frontier region would be madness.
Therefore, Dongping Prefecture was not a good place to settle.
But if Dongping Prefecture was not an option, then Xu State would have no new lands to expand into.
In Qingzhou, it only occupied the territory of two prefectures, and now the planning for these two prefectures left hardly any living space to spare.
If Xu State wished to settle immigrants, it had to find new territory to accommodate more people.
And if Xu State wanted to continue expanding and needed new land, there was only one choice left, which was to ask for it from Liang.
After all, Liang had six or seven prefectures’ worth of land in Qingzhou, and its strength had declined severely; naturally, it was the pri target in the eyes of the surrounding hungry wolves.
Who wouldn’t want to take a bite out of it?
But here ca the awkward part.
At the mont, Xu State and Liang had just ford an alliance.
Just last year, in August, before Xu State planned to move its capital, in order to stabilize the safety of the area near the Imperial Capital and to better support Liang, Xu State had ford an alliance with Liang.
Both sides were allies now, and the alliance had only just been established when Xu State turned on its ally.
Tell , if this got out, how could Xu State get along?
This would be even worse than Chu State backstabbing Wei Country.
Because although Chu State had stabbed Wei Country in the back, one undeniable fact was that there had never been any alliance between Chu and Wei.
Not on paper, nor orally; none of these existed.
For years, Chu had been pursuing a policy of neutrality.
Or rather, a policy of pleasing both sides.
Chu State opened its doors for business, and anyone who ca was a friend, as long as they paid, Chu would sell anything.
Whether weapons, grain, textiles, dicinal materials, etc., they were all for sale as long as you could afford it.
Moreover, with Chu located to the south of the great river, not participating in the Central State wars, along with its own formidable strength and the actual demands of countries during wars.
Under such conditions, Chu, as a middleman, gained the recognition of all the dominant states of the Nine Provinces.
This was also the reason why Chu previously had been able to do business with Wei, Liang, Zheng Kingdom, Jin Country, and even go the long way around to do business with Zhao Country and Xu State.
Having done business with so many countries, Chu couldn’t form an alliance with other countries or even show a preference, just to maintain these businesses.
Under such constraints, of course, Chu could not possibly form an alliance with Wei.
The so-called joint expedition previously was nothing more than setting a direction and then fighting independently.
The two armies never joined forces, one fought in Helong, the other on the grasslands, facing different enemy forces. Calling it a collaboration was generous.
It could only be said that there was a tacit understanding about the general direction and major objectives on both sides.
Therefore, when Chu backstabbed Wei, theoretically, there was no psychological burden.
This wasn’t a betrayal of an alliance; there were no written agreents between Chu and Wei.
At most, it was hitting a business partner who had always cooperated tacitly, heavily impacting the business and even more so the comrcial reputation. From now on, Chu could forget about doing business with the other states.
As for the rest, truly, there was nothing more.
If Wei thought well of its relations with Chu, that was their affair, what did it have to do with Chu?
In terms of moral righteousness, Chu had not acted unethically, and it maintained its last shred of integrity.
But the relationship between Xu State and Liang was different.
They had a clear alliance, and they had even signed a treaty.
If at this ti, Xu State stabbed Liang in the back, that would truly be a breach of alliance, and it would lose its credibility in the world, becoming despised by all nations.
After that, if Xu State wished to cooperate with other countries or engage in various diplomatic and comrcial activities, it could forget about it; there would be no chance.
All the countries would also be on guard against Xu State, extrely wary of this treaty-breaker.
Xu State would find itself in an even more isolated situation than Chu.
Well, that was the theoretical consequence.
In practice, with the rise of Chu as a variable, how the various countries would ultimately treat Xu State was sowhat uncertain.
After all, in the face of the great righteousness of resisting Chu, Xu State, an important dominant nation, was still a force that could not be ignored.
Without Chu, following the original international rules, everybody naturally could isolate Xu at will.
But with Chu, under the pressure of life-and-death survival, everything might be up in the air.
Yet it is precisely because everything might be up in the air that anything was possible.
The countries might target Xu State, or they might not; this uncertainty was enough to instill dread and prevent anyone from trying recklessly.
Certainly, Xu State didn’t dare to.
Already bordering Chu and possibly becoming the next unfortunate target after Wei, Liang, Zhao, and Zheng, Xu State needed international assistance just as much as Liang.
Without the help of Liang, Wei Country, Xu State, Zheng Kingdom, Zhao Country, Jin Country, and other nations, Xu State had no confidence that it could withstand Chu and avoid being annihilated.
Therefore, international reputation was still extrely important to Xu State.
This also led to the situation where Xu State, despite having an urgent need to expand and excellent directions for expansion nearby, dared not make a move on Liang due to concerns over its reputation.
And since a military approach was not an option, in the end, Xu State had to resort to diplomacy.
Therefore, since the relocation of its capital last year, once it had established itself in Le’an Prefecture, Xu State started vigorously assisting Liang while also sending ssengers to communicate with Liang and work on the Monarch and Ministers of Liang.
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