Apart from seizure of land by wars, Qin acquired through their bribery towns in minor cases and cities in major cases. These, put together, were a hundred times more than those occupied through its victories. By the same token, the towns and cities lost by the principalities were also a hundred times more than those lost through their defeats. Therefore, the great avarice of Qin and the great disaster of the principalities had nothing to do with wars. Just think how their forefathers, exposed to inclement weather, hacked a way through brambles in order to gain a piece of land, while their offspring, making little of it, gave it up to others unstintingly, ceding five towns this day and ten towns that day for peace and ease of a single night. But they woke up only to find the Qin troops coming again. Nevertheless, there was a limit to their land whereas there were no bounds to Qin's greed. The more land was ceded to it, the more unrelenting its aggression became. Thus, even without wars the balance of power and the chance of victory for the two sides were only too evident, and it stood to reason that the six principalities should have been annihilated. The ancients said: “To propitiate Qin with land is like extinguishing fire with faggots—no end of the faggots and no cease of the fire.” It is indeed an apt remark.
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