"Mr. Chen Ping, didn't General Right ask you to bring the three seals? Now that the first seal has been approved, what are the contents of the other two seals? ”

Seeing that Xiang Kang had openly started to eat dogs with Xiang Yu, under the joy in his heart, Xiong Xin's smile was inevitably more cordial, and Chen Ping, an accomplice sent by Xiang Kang, became more and more respectful, first holding out a seal written on white silk, and then said in a clear voice: "Your lord, the content of the second seal of the right general is like this, the general Wu Xinjun was unfortunately martyred, and the officers and soldiers of my Chu State are all heartbroken, and the great revenge must be avenged, my Chu State will not set up the post of general for the time being, in order to commemorate General Wu Xinjun. ”

Before Chen Ping finished speaking, the civil and military forces of the Chu State in the palace were already in an uproar, but Chen Ping ignored it, and just continued to say loudly: "Then ask the king to promulgate a decree, among the generals of the Chu State, whoever can capture or kill the violent Qin general Zhang Han who killed the general Wu Xinjun will be named the general of the Chu State and take over from Wu Xinjun to lead the soldiers and horses of the Chu State!" ”

Hearing this, Xiang Yu's old friends Fan and Cao Ji, who were originally still full of anger at Xiang Kang, immediately lit up their eyes, and finally understood Xiang Kang's good intentions, but Xiong Xin and Song Yi changed color on their faces together, and screamed in their stomachs together: "It's a trick!" Xiang Kang'er, really treacherous! ”

It was still Xiang Yu who was still confused, but although Xiang Yu didn't understand Xiang Kang's hard work, he had absolute confidence in his own force and ability to lead the army, and said without thinking about it: "Good idea!" King, this is a good idea, the state of Chu does not set up a general for the time being, and whoever can capture and kill Zhang Handpifu will be a general, which is a good idea! Weichen agrees, please allow the king! ”

"Weichen also agrees!" Old man Fan stood up without hesitation, and said: "This suggestion of General Right can not only express the love and commemoration of General Wu Xinjun by the soldiers and people of our Chu State, but also inspire the soldiers of our Chu State to fight bravely to kill the enemy, fight to the end with the violent Qin army, and avenge the general." I ask the king for permission to discuss this great goodness. ”

"Weichen also thinks that General You's suggestion is very good, please let the king do it immediately." Cao Ji also jumped out and sang praises, and said: "Besides, among the hundred officials of my Chu State, there is no one whose merit and reputation can be compared with the general Wu Xinjun, no matter who is the general of Chu now, it is impossible to convince the public with prestige and qualifications. ”

Old man Fan and Cao Ji took the lead, and the Jiangdong faction of the Chu army, which had the advantage in numbers in the court of the Chu State, of course responded one after another, scrambling to persuade Xiong Xin to adopt Xiang Kang's suggestion, and Huan Chu, who was close to Xiang Yu, also openly shouted: "At this time, no one is qualified to be a general, except for those who avenge Wu Xinjun with their own hands, none of us are convinced!" ”

No matter how big a person is, Xiong Xin's face at the moment will inevitably turn iron blue, because Xiong Xin knows very well that he has fallen for Xiang Kang's evil, first deliberately pretending to be ready to fight with Xiang Yu in the dog-biting kennel, and deceived himself into canonizing Xiang Yu on the spot as a former general with a position in the army second only to the general, and then went up to the house to draw a ladder, and suddenly asked not to set up a general for the time being, if he agreed to this invitation, then Xiang Yu would immediately become the de facto first person in the Chu army, no matter how he adjusted his personnel arrangements in the future, His own confidants can only be subservient to Xiang Yu in the army, and there is absolutely no possibility to suppress Xiang Yu and control the power of the Chu army for himself.

The scheming Song Yi also understands this truth, in order to prevent the Xiang family from continuing to control the army and empty Xiongxin, Song Yi can only stand up and play to Xiong Xin: "King, although the performance of the right general is good, Wu Xinjun, who has been martyred, is indeed highly respected and worthy of the love and commemoration of the military and people of Chu, but there can be no master in the army, and the generals of our army must also be restrained, and the position of general is best not to be vacant for a long time." Therefore, His Majesty believes that this request of the right general cannot be granted. ”

"Lord Ling Yin, in your opinion, who should the king be the general?" Old man Fan asked very unceremoniously and directly: "Now among the civil and military officials of the Chu State, who has the meritorious prestige to convince the public and succeed Wu Xinjun as the general of my Chu State?" ”

"Yes, Song Lingyin, since you oppose the position of general cannot be vacant, then in your opinion, who is qualified to be the general of the Chu State?" Cao Qi also questioned, and said with a sneer: "Could it be that Lord Yin wants to recommend himself and ask the king to crown you as the general of the Chu State and replace Wu Xinjun as the general?" ”

Song Yi didn't dare to say anything, Xiong Xin was also in great difficulty, and he wanted to forcibly canonize Song Yi as a general according to the original plan, so as to control the power of the Chu army for himself, and knew that Xiang Yu and Cao Ji and others would definitely not be convinced, and Xiang Kang, who had more troops directly than the main force, would jump three feet high, and could do anything. So after thinking about it, Xiong Xin could only take a delaying tactic, and said stubbornly: "General Right's request is very good, and it is reasonable for Aiqing to support General Right's request, but this matter is too big, and it is related to the safety and survival of our Chu army. ”

"King, since you also said that General Right's recital is good, and it is reasonable for your lords to support General You's recital, what else is there to consider?" Xiang Yu, who firmly believed that he would be able to kill Zhang Han, couldn't wait, and said: "Please the king issue an edict now, announcing that there will be no generals for the time being, and whoever can capture and kill Zhang Han Pifu in the future will be the general." ”

"Please, Your Majesty!" Cao Ji and Old Man Fan took the lead, leading the large number of Chu Jun Jiangdong to send civil and military officers to salute together, and pleaded with Xiong Xin in unison to immediately adopt Xiang Kang's recital and not give Xiong Xin a chance to delay time.

"Ladies and gentlemen, don't be impatient, the widow has said it, this matter is too big, and the widow must think twice." Xiong Xin's face was extremely ugly and said, "What? As the king of Chu, doesn't he even have the right to be the master? Everyone, Aiqing, must immediately accept the request of General You, is it because you want to force the palace to fail? ”

is still the same sentence, the theory of aristocratic descent in this era is still very marketable, Xiong Xin is the king of Chu who led the Chu army to support the civil and military forces at the beginning, Old Man Fan and Cao Ji and others are Chu ministers, and they dare not casually mess up the order of the monarch and ministers, so they can only quickly apologize and say in unison: "The ministers don't dare." ”

"That's it!" Xiong Xin's face became even more ugly and shouted: "General Right's invitation, the widow will consider it, but today I won't discuss it!" ”

Cao Ji and the others had no choice but to sing the promise to receive the order, and each returned to the train, but the old man Fan refused to get up, and said: "The king, the right general Xiang Kang has made outstanding achievements, first recovering the old land of Huaisi in my Chu State, and then defeating the violent Qin army one after another, and welcoming back the body of the general Wu Xinjun. ”

Old man Fan's words are of course reciprocating favors, on behalf of Xiang Yu to repay Xiang Kang's initiative, so that Xiang Yu and Xiang Kang become the first and second people in the Chu army, and at the same time, it is also to completely block Xiong Xin's retreat, so that Xiong Xin will never have a chance to play new tricks in the army's personnel arrangements. Xiang Yu's sworn friends Cao Ji and Zheng Chang understood it, so they immediately jumped out to support Old Man Fan's request, and couldn't wait to implore Xiong Xin to promote Xiang Kang immediately.

Evil has evil retribution, although it is rare for the old man Fan, who is not in agreement with Xiang Kang, to let go of his prejudices, and wants to promote Xiang Yu and Xiang Kang to join forces to control the favorable situation of the Chu army, Xiong Xin, who has hated Xiang Kang to the extreme, refuses to comply, and said: "All Aiqing don't need to be anxious, the widow said at the beginning, the right general has made outstanding achievements, and the widow wants to reward him in person, and the issue of his official promotion should wait for the withdrawal of troops to return to Pengcheng." ”

After that, Xiong Xin yawned, waved his hand and said, "The widow is tired, today's court meeting is here, let's disperse." ”

"Slow down, big king." Chen Ping, who was almost forgotten by everyone, suddenly spoke, and said with an anxious expression: "King, General Right asked Weichen to bring three seals, and now he has only presented two seals to you, and the third seal has not been presented?" ”

"What else does the right general have to watch?" Xiong Xin's voice was extremely impatient, and it was obviously angry.

"Returning to the king, the right general will play ......."

"You don't have to dictate it, just present it to the widow for you to see."

As soon as Chen Ping opened his mouth to answer, Xiong Xin, who came back to his senses, quickly interrupted, for fear that Xiang Kang would give him some problems, and being told by Chen Ping would make it even more difficult for him to end. Fortunately, Chen Ping was also very obedient, so he immediately closed his mouth and handed Xiang Kang's third seal to the palace Juanren (attendant officer), and asked Juanren to present the seal directly to Xiong Xinguo. It's a pity that Xiong Xin's caution is useless, after a cursory reading of Xiang Kang's third seal, Xiong Xin's expression still changed involuntarily, his face was even a little pale, and his hands began to tremble slightly.

"What is the content of Xiang Kang's third seal?"

Seeing that Xiong Xin was silent for a long time, and his expression reaction was obviously wrong, of course the hundred officials in the palace were all curious, and Song Yi knew that something was wrong, and hurriedly said to Xiong Xin: "King, if General Right presents some confidential matter, it is inconvenient for the king to make it public, you might as well stay for the time being, and make a decision later." ”

Of course, Song Yi's words were to delay time for Xiong Xin, and wanted to send everyone away first and then discuss countermeasures with Xiong Xin, but unfortunately Xiong Xin had a hard time, knowing that even if he ended the court meeting immediately, the content of Xiang Kang's seal would soon be spread by Chen Ping, and when the time came, not only Xiang Yu and others would be able to understand Xiang Kang's intentions more, but he would also push another important party to Xiang Kang and Xiang Yu's side and become his mortal enemy!

So there was no way, after thinking about it and weighing the pros and cons again, Xiong Xin still forced out a little smile and said: "It's not a confidential matter, it's just that the right general asked the widow to promote the three Lu doctors Jing Ju to the left disciple doctors, and assist the widows in handling the government affairs." ”

"General Right, please promote me to Doctor Zuo?" The surprise of the party Jing Ju is not trivial, and he can't understand how Xiang Kang, who has a mediocre relationship with him, suddenly remembered to ask for an official for himself, but after quickly understanding it, Jing Ju couldn't help but be ecstatic in his heart, and quickly lowered his head, for fear that his happy look would be seen by Xiong Xin, and he couldn't wait to immediately put on his wings and fly to Suiyang, hugging Xiang Kang and kissing him fiercely!

"Please ask Doctor Sanlu Jingju to be promoted to Doctor Zuo?" Xiang Yu's sworn friend Cao Zhi was also a wolf, and then immediately understood Xiang Kang's vicious intentions, Cao Zhi couldn't help but lower his head, and said with a cruel smile in his heart: "Admire!" Ruthless enough! ”

The most fierce reaction was still Xiong Xin's sworn friend Song Yi, Xiong Xin's forced smile and said before he finished speaking, Song Yi's face was already as pale as paper, because Song Yi knew that Xiang Kang's third seal looked headless and brainless, but in fact, it was reminding Xiong Xin - above the court of Chu State, there was also a Jingju who was also qualified to inherit the throne, which made the old Xiang family anxious, and the old Xiang family could abolish Xiong Xin and support Jingju to become the king of Chu instead!

By the way, the abolition of monarchs has been common in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the earliest was the sacrifice of Zheng State, and later there was Qingfu of Lu State and Tian Chengzi of Qi State, and there were more than one or two monarchs who were abolished by these ministers!

This is not over, after worrying about Xiong Xin, Song Yi immediately woke up again, Xiang Kang's move was not only to warn Xiong Xin alone, but also to warn himself that this Chu State Ling Yin, because according to the laws of Chu State, Doctor Zuo can be directly promoted to Ling Yin! This is also to say, if Song Yi dares to help Xiong Xin deal with the Xiang family again, the old Xiang family can completely let Jing Ju replace Song Yi!

When Xiong Xin and Song Yi were up and down together, Cao Ji, the most politically minded in Xiang Yu's faction, of course, also stood up, and said in a very sincere tone: "Great King, Sanlu Doctor Jingju is not only the queen of the Chu royal family, but also has outstanding talents, both ability and political integrity, and Weichen also dared to implore the king to accept the request of the right general and promote Sanlu Doctor to Zuotu Doctor." ”

Although he didn't understand the intentions of Xiang Kang and Cao Yao, but seeing Cao Ji jumping out to support Xiang Kang, the civil and military forces of the Jiangdong faction of the Chu army still stood up and agreed, and even Xiang Yu, who had a negative political value, knew that it was not reasonable to help his relatives, so he stood up and begged Xiong Xin to accept Xiang Kang's request. Only Old Man Fan, who strongly advocated supporting the members of the Chu State clan as kings, did not move, but Old Man Fan couldn't help but say in his heart, "That's right, if the king is ungrateful and deliberately embarrasses the Xiang family who put you on the throne in the first place, the old man will never object to the Xiang family to abolish the establishment and replace you with Jingju!" ”

Xiong Xin is indeed very politically minded, knowing that if he opposes the promotion of Jingju, he will only force Jingju, who is also qualified to inherit the throne, to the side of the Xiang family, and not to mention his siblings, and set up a new enemy for himself. So no matter how much Xiang Kang hated Xiang Kang to the extreme, Xiong Xin still said with a smile on his face: "What General Right and your Aiqing said is reasonable, Jing Ju is outstanding, and he can't continue to succumb to the position of Sanlu doctor, so it's decided, Jing Ju is promoted to Doctor Zuo." ”

Xiong Xin's deliberate forbearance did not keep Jing Ju, and after thanking Xiong Xin happily, in front of Xiong Xin and Song Yi, Jing Ju immediately thanked the Jiangdong faction of the Chu Army who helped Xiang Kang recommend him. Seeing this scene, Xiong Xin and Song Yi also immediately knew that Jing Ju, the second and fifth boy, had rebelled, and the line of fire had defected to the Xiang family, and they were ready to serve as Ling Yin to drive Song Yi out of the court under the recommendation of the Xiang family, and even directly replace Xiong Xin!

Although Xiang Kang's three seals were only approved by Xiong Xin on the spot, after the court meeting ended, Chen Ping was immediately invited to Xiang Yu's residence as a guest, and drank and talked with Xiang Yu and several of his friends, and in the meantime, Xiang Yu's side of course intentionally or unintentionally avoided the sensitive topic of Xiang Kang's refusal to return to Pengcheng, but Chen Ping was unceremonious, and soon brought the topic to Xiong Xin's refusal to return the military power to the generals of the Chu army.

This is also the most troublesome and troublesome thing for Xiang Yu and Cao Ji and others at present, the discussion is hot, and the anxious Xiang Yu also directly slapped the case, and said angrily: "We must not bear this matter anymore, at tomorrow's court meeting, we will directly ask him Xiong Xinxiaoer, do you want to return the military power to us?" If he doesn't want us to command the army, then we will resign together and let him take the army to fight against the tyrannical Qin army! ”

"Former general, don't be impatient." Cao Qi persuaded: "Don't be impulsive, he is the king, we are the ministers, if we fight him in person, we will only suffer, and even if we force him to make concessions, we will fall into the infamy of bullying the king with ministers and lose the support of the people." ”

"Then you can't keep spending so much time with him, right?" Xiang Yu asked angrily, and roared with a rare brain: "I can see it, if it weren't for the fact that Ah Di didn't come back with the army in Suiyang, so that Xiong Xin'er wouldn't dare to act rashly, he Xiong Xin'er would definitely hand over the military power to his people, forcing us to listen to him and treat him as a cow and a horse!" ”

"You only see it now?" Cao Ji muttered helplessly in his heart, and then turned his gaze to Chen Ping and asked: "Mr. Chen Ping, presumably the king's refusal to return the military power to us for a long time, the right general must know about it, what is the high opinion of the right general on this point?" ”

"Of course General Right knows, but he is also a courtier of Chu State, and if the king doesn't return the military power, he can't help it." Chen Ping sighed, and said: "However, among the colleagues of the lower officials, there is one person who said a few words of offense, feeling that the former general and General Cao have neglected a person, and feel that if you can win him over and cooperate with you, then the king will definitely be jealous and will not take power again." ”

"Dare to ask Mr. Chen Ping, who have we overlooked?" Cao asked hurriedly.

"Chen Ying." Chen Ping replied very directly, and said: "General Chen Ying was ordered to command the East China Sea army south of Huaishui, whether it was the army escorting the king to the north, or the king's personal guard, they were all under his command, if the generals can persuade him and ask him to help you make a personnel adjustment in the army, then the king will definitely return the military power to you immediately." ”

"What kind of personnel adjustments can you ask him to help us make in the army?" Cao Ji asked.

"General Cao, do you still remember when the general arranged General Xiang It to serve in General Chen Ying's army?" Chen Ping asked rhetorically, and said with a smile: "If General Cao, you can persuade Chen Ying to appoint General Xiang It as the commander of Lang Zhong and directly command the king's personal guards, then if you have any requests in the future, the king should not fail to listen." ”

Cao Yi applauded and laughed, and hurriedly bowed his hand to Chen Ping and said, "Thank you for your advice, I understand." ”

"General Cao, don't thank me." Chen Ping hurriedly waved his hand and said with a smile: "Thank you, thank my colleague who expressed his high opinions." ”