did not meet Liu Laosan who was invited to the alliance at the first time, this is not because Xiang Kang's heroic second uncle Xiang Liang is deliberately putting on a show, but Xiang Liang is giving Liu Laosan face, preparing to welcome Liu Laosan, the first leader of the anti-Qin alliance to come to Pengcheng in person.

Liu Laosan also made a lot of limelight, the next morning, when he and Xiang Kang came to the front of the Chu army camp to ask for a meeting, Xiang Liang not only personally went out of the camp to greet him, but also let the three armies blow the horn, play drums, and welcome Liu Laosan with the honor guard to welcome the duke of other countries. Liu Laosan, who made a hooligan, felt flattered, and as soon as he saw Xiang Liang, he bowed to the ground, and said in an excited tone: "Shangzhu country, it's too much, it's too much, Liu is just one of the pavilion chiefs in Surabaya, how can he be virtuous, how can he let Shangzhu country use such a guard of honor to entertain?" ”

"Pei Gong is humble, not to be exaggerated, not to be exaggerated." Xiang Liang laughed and personally picked up Liu Laosan, took Liu Laosan's hand and said cordially: "Pei Gong used to help the little nephew to break the violent Qin Bias, the old man has long known about this matter, and he is also grateful and admired for Pei Gong's righteous deeds. ”

"Shangzhu is too polite." Liu Laosan was very polite and said: "Speaking of righteous assistance, it is also the nephew of Shangzhu who rescued Liu first, and Liu returned later, but he just reciprocated with a peach." And in that battle, the real main force to break the enemy was also the Chu army under the command of General You, Liu just beat the side drum, and he had no size to do it, how dare he let Shangzhu Guo personally thank him? ”

Seeing that Liu Laosan's words were humble and his attitude was respectful, Xiang Liang, who actually loved face very much, was also very happy when he heard it, and said with a smile: "Pei Gong is really good at talking, okay, let's not be polite here, Pei Gong is invited inside, the banquet has already been prepared, just wait for Pei Gong to come." ”

Liu Laosan hurriedly thanked him, and followed Xiang Liang into the camp respectfully, and deliberately moved his position very carefully, not daring to walk side by side with Xiang Liang, and at the same time kept bowing to the Chu army next to him, pretending to be timid and fearful, and harmless to people and animals.

Xiang Kang has been smiling and observing Liu Laosan's performance, especially after entering the Chinese army's big tent, when Xiang Liang personally introduced Xiang Yu to Liu Laosan one by one to introduce Chu Jun Wenwu, Xiang Kang was extremely curious to carefully observe Liu Laosan and Xiang Yu's reaction to the happy enemy, but unfortunately, the newcomer Liu Laosan was just blindly flattering, and the noble overlord brother was only out of politeness, and Liu Laosan symbolically politely said a few words, and there was no spark between the two, which made Xiang Kang, who wanted to see the excitement, very disappointed.

The number of participants in this banquet was more than the previous times, but Xiang Kang, who was second only to Xiang Liang in military rank, still sat in the first place on the left, and his position did not change, while the chief person sitting in the right column became Jing Ju, a member of the royal family of the Chu State, and the second seat was Ling Yin Songyi, and Xiang Bo, who was not in line with Xiang Kang, was pushed to the third seat on the right and sat down. Carefully discovering this change, Xiang Kang, who also dislikes Uncle Xiang very much, inevitably gloated, knowing that his second uncle also does not want to reuse Uncle Xiang, who can only talk big and put on a show, Uncle Xiang must be depressed and depressed behind his back.

only cared about observing others, but Xiang Kang forgot to pay attention to others' actions towards him, or after everyone sat down together, Xiang Kang accidentally discovered that Jing Ju, who was sitting opposite, was actually smiling at him, and said very affectionately: "Lan Lingjun, congratulations on Gao Sheng's enthronement, Jing Ju congratulates you." ”

He didn't have a good impression of Jing Ju, who had been hiding in the territory controlled by the young marshal's army and refused to stand up to help him, Xiang Kang just smiled politely and said politely: "Thank you, son, everyone is happy." ”

"It should." Jing Ju smiled more kindly, and said: "Yesterday was busy with affairs, and I couldn't immediately go to the camp to congratulate Lanlingjun, and I hope Lanlingjun will not mind." If Lan Lingjun has time tonight, Jing Ju wants to come to the camp to congratulate, I wonder if Lan Lingjun can enjoy his face? ”

"Of course there is no problem, as long as the son is willing, he can go to the camp of the last general at any time, and the last general will definitely welcome him."

Xiang Kang agreed, but at the same time he wondered in his heart, he didn't know why Jing Ju, who was just nodding friends with him, suddenly became so affectionate, and then glanced at Song Yi who was sitting next to Jing Ju, Xiang Kang immediately suddenly realized, and said with a secret smile in his heart: "So that's the case, this puppet must have heard the news from Song Yi, knowing that my uncle wanted to support the king of Chu and become the king, in order to become the king of Chu, so he couldn't wait to come to please me and wanted me to speak for him in front of my uncle." ”

The next banquet situation did not have any impact, basically Xiang Liang and Liu Laosan were polite to each other, boasting to each other, the only thing worth mentioning is that Liu Laosan saw the opportunity, took the initiative to get up and bow in front of Xiang Liang, and respectfully begged Xiang Liang to integrate his own soldiers and horses, Xiang Liang pretended to be modest, Liu Laosan also begged again and again, and finally finally asked Xiang Liang to let go of his mouth, and happily accepted the title of General of the Chu Army, and since then he has been the same as the Young Marshal Army, and has changed to fight the banner of the Chu Army.

After the banquet, Liu Laosan returned to his army camp to personally preside over Yi Zhi, but Xiang Kang stayed behind and accompanied Xiang Liang and others to discuss the military. Then, as Liu Laosan expected, Song Yi, who was very politically minded, really made a suggestion to Xiang Liang, suggesting that Xiang Liang break up and reorganize all Liu Laosan's army, so as to empty Liu Laosan and completely annex Liu Laosan's army territory. And Xiang Kang, who had already weighed the pros and cons, immediately stood up and said to Xiang Liang: "Uncle, the little nephew thinks that this matter is absolutely impossible, Pei Gong sincerely came to vote, and our army did not reward him, but instead broke up and reorganized his army and forcibly annexed it." If this matter is spread out, who else dares to take the initiative to defect and ask our army to be included? ”

After thinking carefully for a while, Xiang Liang nodded and said, "Kang'er's words are reasonable, in order to recruit and accept other anti-Qin rebels in the future, we can't do this unrighteous act, or let Liu Ji continue to command his original soldiers and horses." ”

The suggestion was rejected, but Song Yi was not dissatisfied, on the contrary, he glanced at Xiang Kang a few times with interest, and became more and more convinced of Xiang Kang's influence on Xiang Liang, and also strengthened his determination to win over and encircle Xiang Kang. And then, Xiang Liang, who had already planned in his heart, issued an order to let all the departments of the Chu army go around looking for the descendants of the Chu royal family, and the propaganda said that it was to choose the best to support it, and the generals of the Chu army agreed one after another, but Song Yi, who had been the commander of the Chu State, changed his face, and vaguely guessed Xiang Liang's plan, but he did not dare to object, so he could only obediently accept the order.

The army is resting, Xiang Liang issued this order and there is no more order, everyone dispersed, Xiang Kang also honestly returned to his camp to preside over military affairs, but to Xiang Kang's surprise, in the afternoon, the overlord brother actually led a few personal soldiers to come as a guest, Xiang Kang personally welcomed Xiang Yu into the camp, Xiang Yu was not polite, in addition to letting the soldiers send a lot of gifts, he said straight to the point: "Brother, two things, one is to congratulate you, mix a few glasses of wine to drink, Second, I heard that you have a weapon called a horse chopping knife, which is very powerful, and I want to come and take a look. ”

"Brother is too polite, my own brother, why bother to give any gifts?"

Xiang Kang smiled, and while he was busy preparing a banquet, he asked someone to bring a horse chopping knife for Xiang Yu to appreciate, and the long and fierce horse chopping knife really made Xiang Yu like it very much, not only did he love it, but he also personally took the knife and practiced it outside the tent, and praised: "Good knife, good knife, sharp weapon for foot combat, especially suitable for the assault of soldiers." ”

"If Brother likes it, I'll ask someone to prepare fifty horse chopping knives for you, how about you go back in a while?" Xiang Kang asked with a smile.

"Thank you, brother, then brother, I'm welcome." Xiang Yu had a good temper, and accepted the gift from Xiang Kang without making any excuses, and then Xiang Yu said with some regret: "It's a pity that it is not suitable for horse warfare, if it can be shorter and smaller, it is convenient to use one-handed, and it will be convenient for cavalry to use, maybe it can play a better role in the cavalry battlefield than a long sword." ”

Hearing this, Xiang Kang of course immediately moved in his heart, and suddenly thought of whether he should invent the saber in advance to enhance the combat effectiveness of the cavalry, but although he thought about it, Xiang Kang was not in a hurry to try - because there are not many war horses, Xiang Kang didn't even dare to invent the saddle and stirrup of the high bridge, and Xiang Yu was already good at cavalry warfare, if he got a saber for him to take, who else in the world could be his opponent?

It was still a coincidence that at this time, Liu Laosan actually ran to the door of the young marshal's camp again to ask for a meeting, Xiang Kang knew his thoughts, in addition to personally going out of the camp to greet him, he whispered when they met: "Don't worry, big brother, the matter is done, although Song Yi and some people persuaded my uncle to break up and reorganize your army, but my uncle finally listened to my advice and promised to let you continue to command the original soldiers and horses." ”

"Thank you, brother."

A big stone fell to the ground in his heart, Liu Laosan hurriedly thanked Xiang Kang again and again, Xiang Kang stopped, and invited Liu Laosan into his own Chinese army tent, and invited him to drink with himself and Xiang Yu.

But it's a pity that now the two hooligans and an overlord not only don't have any uncommon hatred for each other, but on the contrary, they are also comrades-in-arms who belong to the same army, so this banquet is of course not as tense and dangerous as the Hongmen banquet, and at the same time, Liu Laosan, who is very knowledgeable, also saw through Xiang Yu's personality and temper at a glance, and in order to improve the relationship between colleagues, he also deliberately ingeniously flattered Xiang Yu repeatedly in his words, which made Xiang Yu quite happy, and also let Xiang Kang take the opportunity to learn a lot of flattering methods.

During the chat, when talking about the future development strategy of the Chu army, Xiang Kang inadvertently mentioned that Xiang Liang ordered the soldiers of the Chu army to look for the descendants of the king of Chu, but Liu Laosan, who did not know about it, was very curious when he heard it, and hurriedly asked Xiang Kang for details, and there was no need to keep it secret.

Contrary to Liu Laosan's secretly happy reaction, Xiang Yu was very unimpressed with this matter, and after Xiang Kang carefully finished talking about the details of the matter, he snorted and said: "Uncle is not too troublesome, he can obviously claim the king himself, but he still has to find some descendants of the king of Chu to support him, it is simply a superfluous move." ”

"Brother, uncle, he also has his considerations." Xiang Kang persuaded: "Brother, don't forget, back then, my eldest father's prestige was not only higher than that of our uncle, but he also controlled more troops than our uncle's current army, but in order to unite the army and people of Chu State, he still did not support Changping Jun who came back from the land of tyrannical Qin as king. Uncle He also effectively imitates his eldest father, so that he can truly win the hearts of the Chu people. ”

Liu Laosan was very cunning and did not speak on this matter, but Xiang Yu reluctantly nodded, agreeing with Xiang Kang's opinion. However, what Xiang Kang didn't expect was that at this time, there happened to be a soldier outside the tent to report, saying that Jing Ju, a descendant of the royal family of Chu, came to visit, Xiang Kang smiled when he heard it, and couldn't help but say: "Say Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived, just talked about supporting the king of Chu, and the person who thought of the king of Chu came." ”

"Just him?" Xiang Yu listened with disdain on his face, and said: "Wen Cheng is not good at martial arts, he can't even ride a horse, and he also wants to be the king of Chu?" ”

Liu Laosan, who was obedient and very sensitive to politics, immediately asked Xiang Kang: "Brother Xiang, do you want to avoid it for the time being?" ”

glanced at Liu Laosan, and secretly praised this old rascal's keen political sense, not only wanted to avoid the political whirlpool in time, but also took the opportunity to test his attitude towards supporting Li Jingju. Then Xiang Kang didn't hesitate, and immediately said: "Big brother, there's no need to avoid it, with you, Brother and I can also save some nonsense." ”

"Oh, then the foolish brother will stay." Liu Laosan nodded, and at the same time, he immediately understood in his heart that Xiang Kang, like Xiang Yu, was not interested in the so-called descendant of the Chu royal family, Jing Ju, and had no plans to support him as the king of Chu.

As Xiang Kang expected, after politely inviting Jing Ju into his Chinese army tent on the surface, he saw that Xiang Liang's other most trusted nephew, Xiang Yu, was also in the tent.

The next words were even more boring, Jing Ju, who was camping under the sign of Daohe, had scruples, even if the opportunity was in front of him, he didn't dare to hint in front of Liu Laosan, an outsider, to persuade Xiang Kang and Xiang Yu to support and support himself as the king, and he just said some polite words that were not nutritious, and he just wished that Liu Laosan would get out of here quickly, so that he could speak freely. It's a pity that Liu Laosan deliberately didn't leave in order to please Xiang Kang, and he just admired Jing Ju's embarrassed appearance with a smile on his face.

In the end, I really didn't think it was interesting, Xiang Yu took the lead in proposing to leave, Xiang Kang didn't keep him, personally sent him out of the camp, and then returned to the big tent of the Chinese army, Xiang Kang deliberately shouted to Liu Laosan: "Brother Liu, my brother went back because he had military affairs and was afraid that my uncle would summon him at any time, so he had to leave." But you can't go, just stay here for me today, the opportunity is rare, we must drink until we all lie down today. ”

Liu Laosan agreed with a smile, but Jing Ju was helpless, and in the end, he could also say goodbye obediently, Xiang Kang dragged Liu Laosan to send him out of the camp together, and never gave Jing Ju any chance to buy and envelop him.

Or when there were no other outsiders present, Liu Laosan tentatively asked Xiang Kang: "Brother Xiang, look at it, are you going to support this Jingju Gongzi?" ”

"My uncle doesn't look down on him, so why should I talk nonsense with him?" Xiang Kang Shunkou put the responsibility on Xiang Liang.

"Then foolish brother ask again, brother, do you have a candidate for the king of Chu that you want to support?" Liu Laosan asked again.

"Nope." Xiang Kang shook his head and said very directly: "This matter is only counted if my uncle says it, I am too lazy to that idle mind." ”

Hearing this, Liu Laosan's reaction was very strange, first he looked at Xiang Kang carefully, as if he was observing whether Xiang Kang's words came from the bottom of his heart, and then he turned his triangular eyes and pondered for a while, Liu Laosan made up his mind and said: "Brother, the foolish brother relies on the old and sells the old, I have to say a word about you, if you don't want to this idle mind, it is a big mistake." In this matter, brother, you must brace yourself to help your uncle, so that it is in your best interest. ”

"What do you mean by that, big brother?" Xiang Kang asked suspiciously.

"Brother, it seems that you are a wise man, and you have a few mistakes, and you forgot to think about what happened after your uncle supported the king of Chu for yourself." Liu Laosan smiled slightly and said: "After your uncle supported the king of Chu, although your uncle must still be in charge of big and small affairs, if the king of Chu has any opinions, your uncle will definitely not completely disobey them out of the righteousness of the monarch and ministers, so this king of Chu also has some influence." Brother, do you think that's the truth? ”

Xiang Kang nodded, admitting that Liu Laosan's words were reasonable. Liu Laosan smiled slightly again and continued: "Brother Xiang, then why are you still stealing this lazy thing? The Huaisi area was personally brought down by you, and now although you have handed over the military and political power, the local officials in Huaisi are all personally appointed by you before. Since you have such a big advantage, why don't you let these people go all out for you to find the descendants of the King of Chu, pick one out and dedicate it to your uncle, and let your uncle be crowned king? ”

Speaking of this, Liu Laosan paused slightly, and then said: "If you do this, brother, then your great merit will not be able to run away?" In order to thank you, can the King of Chu who leaps over the dragon gate help you speak for you everywhere? With the support and love of the King of Chu for you, are you still afraid that you won't be able to do great things? ”

Xiang Kang opened his mouth wide, and then he suddenly remembered that he had only been vigilant about Liu Laosan's military talent, but he had completely forgotten his innate political talent, and he ignored the matter of supporting the king of Chu, not only did he make a mistake in politics, but he was also stupid in politics!

Understanding this truth, Xiang Kang did not hesitate anymore, and hurriedly left the table to bow to Liu Laosan, thanking Liu Laosan for his reminder. Liu Laosan hurriedly picked up Xiang Kang with his own hands, and said with a smile: "Brother don't have to be polite, to be honest, if it weren't for the descendants of the King of Chu I found, it would definitely be difficult for me to get into your uncle's eyes, and I really want to grab this great credit." So the eldest brother is just doing a favor, this kind of good thing, instead of cheapening others, it is better to give it to you. ”

Hearing this, Xiang Kang inevitably sighed even more emotionally in his heart, and said secretly: "Sure enough, you are my most dangerous opponent, if I want to defeat you, I must not only work hard in the military, but also not be relaxed and slack in politics." Otherwise, sooner or later, I am afraid that I will be forced to bow to you. ”