After Doctor Shangguan spoke, a large group of ministers immediately spoke in agreement.

Before Jing Li and the others could speak, Xianyin Fanhuan, who had always maintained neutrality in the court, immediately reprimanded: "Doctor Shang, at this moment, when the Qi State is sending troops again, why do you still make such unwise words to mislead the country? ”

Xianyin Fan Huan is in charge of the affairs of the Chu State, and there are a large number of Lang officials who specialize in discussions, and most of the Lang officials of the Chu State are large and small nobles in Yingdu. Usually their influence is not high, but in everyone's discussions, those Lang officials with a large number are a powerful force, although their status is not high, but they are numerous, and they are all nobles.

Fan Huan did not speak before, and most of the Lang officials under his command were in favor of the Song Dynasty, except for a few people who were consistent with Fan Huan.

Therefore, as soon as Fan Huan spoke, the ministers immediately all looked at him, because he represented not a person.

At this time, Doctor Shangguan said angrily: "Xianyin, how is it a mistake to send troops to attack the Song Dynasty, is it possible that Xianyin is afraid of the enemy like a tiger and thinks that the Zhu State cannot win the Song army?" ”

"Zhu Guo can naturally win against the Song army." Fan Huan responded as a matter of course, and then looked at Doctor Shangguan with contempt and said, "But why are we fighting Song Guo?" ”

Then, Fan Huan didn't wait for Doctor Shangguan to speak, and immediately arched his hand and said, "Great King, the Song State is weak, while the Qi State is strong. At this time, the Zhu State expelled the Huaibei Song army and brought the Qi army to help, but the ministers thought it was impossible. The Song State is weak, even if it swallows Huaibei, it will still be only a weak country in ten years, and our Chu army can easily take it back, this is where my Chu State temporarily put Huaibei in the Song State, and ask the Song State to keep it on my behalf.

This is not the case with the State of Qi, once the State of Qi swallows my Chu Huaibei, then it will be difficult for my Chu State to take back Huaibei again. Moreover, after the Qi State swallowed Huaibei, the territory expanded by thousands of miles in an instant, so a Qi State with a land of more than 2,000 miles was too powerful, and the ministers were deeply worried.

More importantly, as long as Huaibei is in the hands of the Song State, then if the Qi State wants to send troops to attack our Chu State, there are only two ways, one is to cross the river to attack Huaiyin City, our important town, and the other is to cross the Song State of the Yue State and attack Huainan Shou County and other places for thousands of miles. ”

As he spoke, Fan Huan bowed and said, "Yes, the minister thinks that at this time, my Chu State not only should not attack the Song State, but also need to take the initiative to make friends with the Song State." The three kingdoms of Qi, Wei and Song are full of contradictions, as long as the Qi State sees that our Chu State has no chance to take advantage of it, then it will set its eyes on him, this is the way for my Chu State to bribe the Song State with 500 miles of land, and ask the Song State to resist the Qi State for my Chu State.

It only takes ten years, when our Chu State completely obtains the human and financial resources of the Yue State, and when my Chu State frees up his hands, then I can take back Huaibei and force the Song State to form an alliance with my Chu State. ”

After Fan Huan finished speaking, he immediately bowed to Xiong Huai.

Seeing this, Xiong Huai just glanced at Fan Huan deeply, and finally didn't say anything.

At this time, as soon as Doctor Shangguan heard Fan Huan's suggestion to befriend the Song State, he immediately said angrily: "All countries are attacking Chu, Xianyin, as an important minister of the Chu State, does not think about serving the country and killing the enemy, but thinks about cutting the land and surrendering to Cheng, is this what a courtier should do?" ”

Fan Huan glared angrily: "Doctor Shangguan, Huaibei has been lost, how can you cut the land and surrender to Cheng?" ”

···

No matter what Fan Huan thought in his own heart, as he spoke, he immediately attracted a large number of courtiers who could not see hope, or gradually fell into despair.

Then many courtiers who supported and opposed the Song Dynasty joined it, and it quickly became a third party.

As a result, the ministers of the three parties attacked each other, and there was a great chaos in the hall, and the court discussion was spent in the scolding for a whole day.

The fifteenth day of the first month.

As the date of the Northern Expedition of the Yan State became closer and closer, the forces led by Fan Huanzuocheng who befriended the Song State became the force with the largest number of people in Yingdu.

At the end of the first month.

The Great Wall of Hanzhong.

After the fierce battle between the two armies of Qin and Chu ended this day, the emaciated general Zhao Rat looked at the retreating Qin soldiers, showing a gloomy face, and then didn't say anything, stayed in place for a long time, and then took his eldest son Zhao Yan and slowly walked from the Great Wall to his camp.

Back in the tent, after Zhao Rat sat down, he whispered to Zhao Yan: "Put down the tent curtain and don't talk loudly!" ”

Zhao Yan glanced at Zhao Rat strangely, and then replied softly, "Yes, General." ”

Just as Zhao Yan was about to lower the curtain, he suddenly heard Zhao Yan let out a violent and slight coughing sound. When Zhao Yan heard this, he immediately sped up his movements, lowered the curtain, and then turned around, and saw Zhao Rat coughing with a white silk covering the corners of his mouth.

The sound of Zhao Rat's cough was very small, but the white silk that was covered with blood showed that Zhao Rat's current situation was extremely abnormal.

"Father!" Zhao Yan was terrified, three steps and two steps, hurriedly ran to Zhao Rat's side, and asked, "Father, how are you?" ”

Zhao Rat finally stopped coughing, then slowly shook his head, and then asked weakly, "Is there any news from the king's side?" ”

Zhao Yan shook his head: "Father, not only has there been no news from the king, but even Yin has not had any news in the past month."

"Why hasn't there been any news?" Zhao Rat showed a look of despair: "It's been almost two months since I first wrote to the king, asking the king to send reinforcements and replace my generals, why hasn't the king responded?" Could it be that the messenger came out in the middle of the way? Didn't send my book to Yingdu? ”

Zhao Yan looked at the dead white Zhao Rat and said with tears streaming down his face: "Father, in the past two months, we have sent dozens of messengers, and many of them are our personal guards, so it is impossible for them to have an accident. ”

"So why is that? If the king received my letter, why didn't the king give me a response? Even if there are no reinforcements, there should be a reply, right? Zhao Rat's eyes were dull, and his face was stiff and he muttered.

"This..." Zhao Yan couldn't respond.

After being silent for a while, Zhao Rat suddenly exuded a dazzling brilliance in his eyes, then sat up straight and said, "I want to write to the king again, asking the king to send reinforcements and generals to preside over the defense of Hanzhong, and this time you will personally go to Yingdu to ask for help." ”

After that, he directly unfolded the white silk stained with blood in his hand, and then wrote on the red silk...

At the end of January, when the north was sunny for ten days in a row, the Yan Kingdom, which had long been ready, officially sent troops to the Northern Expedition.

After the Yan State sent troops, with the order of the King of Qi, soon, Lu Weiteng and other small countries around the Qi State all took action.

Soon, more than 100,000 troops gathered in Qinghe City, looking at Huaiyin City across the river.

For a time, above the Huaishui, war clouds were thick.

In Yingdu, in the Chu Palace, more than a dozen important ministers gathered in the main hall.

Chen Zhen said with a heavy face: "King, the spies have come to report, after the Yan State sent troops, a large number of troops in the northern part of the Qi State have moved south, and at the same time, the water division of the Qi State has also gathered in the northern part of Huaishui. Coupled with the strength of small countries such as Lu Teng Weiyue, the Qi State has now gathered 150,000 coalition troops in Qinghe City.

Moreover, at this time, the armies of the northern countries were still gathering, and the minister expected that soon, more than 200,000 allied troops of various countries would gather in Qinghe City. ”

"More than 200,000 troops!" Xiong Huai listened to Chen Zhen's report, not only did he not have a trace of nervousness on his face, but also faintly smiled with a relaxed smile: "With so many troops, the Qi army must be the main force, that is to say, now the Qi country has done its best!" ”