Xicheng.

Spring arrived, and everything recovered, but the temporary capital of Chu did not seem to show any signs of recovery.

The mottled walls are full of cracks smashed by trebuchets, and some of them look so shocking that they seem to be cracking and collapsing at any moment.

The temporary palace of the state of Chu was located in the very center of Xicheng.

It is said that it is a palace, but it is actually a bit reluctant, because this is actually the mansion of the former Xicheng City Guard, and then it was used as a temporary place for the king of Chu who retreated here.

Since the last war when Chen Cheng was broken by the Zhao army, Chu Wang Yuan had developed a great distrust of Chen Cheng's defenses.

It was precisely because of this sense of distrust that after learning that the Han and Wei coalition forces had sent troops, Chu Wangyuan had no time to think about it, so he immediately made the decision to withdraw from Chen Chengnan.

From a geographical point of view, Chencheng is located in the northernmost part of the Chu State, and it is itself above the border between Chu and Wei, so it is actually relatively unfavorable to implement defense.

Judging from the results of this war to the present, the retreat of Chu Wangyuan led to the fluctuation of the hearts of the military and people of Chu, and a large number of lands in the northern part of Chu fell into the hands of Han and Wei.

In addition, the Chu army did not escape in the subsequent decisive battle with the Han and Wei coalition forces, and was finally able to retreat to Xicheng.

It has to be said that this decision does not seem to be so satisfactory.

Fortunately, after retreating to Xicheng, the Chu army finally woke up like a dream and firmly held this place, not letting the Koreans break through here, and also blocking the Koreans from continuing to move south.

When the Koreans agreed to Zhao's request, negotiated peace with Chu and withdrew their troops, the place slowly regained its vitality.

But even so, a large area of land, including Chencheng, was still occupied by Korea, and the state of Chu still suffered heavy losses this time, and the entire Central Plains north of the Huai River had been completely lost.

Chu ordered Yin Chun Shenjun Huang Xie to sit on a carriage and march slowly through the streets.

Compared with before, Huang Xie looked even more haggard, his hair was almost white, and he already looked like a drooping old man.

For Huang Xie, the last few years have been very sad.

Although the state of Chu had a brief period of revival and victory, more often than not, it ushered in defeat.

As the monarch of the Chu State, Chu Wangyuan is undoubtedly unlikely to be harshly criticized, and no one dares to criticize the monarch.

Therefore, the overwhelming voice of doubt can naturally only be borne by Huang Xie, who is Ling Yin.

If it is just to be a scapegoat for Chu Wangyuan, what makes Huang Xie feel even more helpless is that even Chu Wangyuan himself has already developed a feeling of distrust of Huang Xie.

In the past two years, the authority in Huang Xie's hands has been decreasing.

Unlike the prime ministers of other countries, the Chu State Ling Yin Ke was the commander of the army and the government, and he had great power.

However, with the continuous defeat, Huang Xie has been completely deprived of military power, and now only the power of commanding civil officials is left in his hands.

However, in view of the large number of aristocratic fiefdoms in the Chu State, the sparse population directly under the central government, and now the war and perennial siege, it can be said that the central government of the Chu State has dropped to an unprecedented and dangerous level of dominance over the local areas.

In the past winter, Huang Xie was almost idle, and had been doing his best to restore the prestige of the central government of Chu and its control over the locality, while also being busy counting the losses of Chu in the past war.

The results are not optimistic at all.

Today's Chu State has a population of less than three million, and in addition to about one-third of the population under the jurisdiction of the nobles, the total number of soldiers and civilians who can organize to deal with the enemy's attack does not exceed 300,000, of which no more than 100,000 have been on the battlefield, and no more than 50,000 can be called veterans.

The current state of Chu is definitely the weakest state of Chu in history since King Chu Zhuang became the hegemon in the Spring and Autumn Period!

As soon as he thought of this, Huang Xie's heart sank.

As the commander of the state of Chu, Huang Xie knew very well in his heart that his responsibility could not be run, but he had to persevere.

With the incomparably cruel nature of the political struggle of this era, once Huang Xie falls, a great purge will immediately begin.

The counterattack of the three Zhaojingqu families will wipe out the Huang family, and those ministers and cronies who have defected to Huang Xie will also not end well.

Even for the sake of these relatives and cronies, Huang Xie must persevere.

The carriage slowly stopped in front of a heavily guarded mansion gate, which was the temporary palace of Chu Wangyuan.

Huang Xie got out of the carriage and walked directly into the mansion.

In the "main hall" of the palace, that is, in the lobby of the mansion, Huang Xie saw his monarch Chu Wang Yuan, as well as several important ministers of the Chu State sitting on the left and right sides respectively.

"See the king." Huang Xie respectfully saluted to Chu Wang Yuan.

Chu Wangyuan's spirit didn't look very good, and the whole person nodded towards Huang Xie a little listlessly, and said, "Chun Shenjun, sit down." ”

Huang Xie sat down, and just happened to see his old opponent Jing Yang sitting on the other side of Chu Wangyuan, and the eyes of the two were separated in the air, and they were a little unhappy in their hearts.

After Huang Xie sat down, Chu Wangyuan coughed and said slowly: "Ladies and gentlemen, I summoned you and others here today to discuss the matter of moving the capital. The widow wants to move the capital back to the capital of the widow's father, I don't know what Zhu Qing thinks? ”

From the perspective of the people of Chu, like Chencheng and Xicheng, they are all the names of people from other countries, and the people of Chu always have only one name for their own capital, that is, Yingdu.

That's why Chu Wang Yuan specially pointed out that it was his eldest father's (grandfather's) Yingdu when he spoke, that is, west of Yunmengze, which had been the capital of Chu for hundreds of years, until it was broken by Bai Qi and included in the Qin State a few decades ago.

In fact, since the Chu people successfully recovered the capital in the Battle of Changping, the reconstruction of the capital has begun.

It's just that due to the successive defeats of the Chu State in recent years, manpower, material resources and finances are very tight, so the reconstruction of Yingdu is currently in a state of stagnation.

Judging from the situation in the report, the current Yingdu is actually just a new shelf, and if you want to restore the prosperity of the past, it is impossible without twenty or thirty years.

From this point of view, Chu Wangyuan's relocation of the capital was inevitably too hasty.

But when you think about it, it seems that there is no way to do it.

Chen Cheng and Shouchun should not be able to get it back in a short time, Xicheng is too small by the standards of a national capital, and the geographical location of Xicheng is not good, it is also under the radiation of the Korean soldiers.

In such a situation, Lao Yingdu, located further south on the edge of the Yangtze River, is the only choice.

For this point, all the monarchs and ministers of the Chu State present thought very clearly.

So after Chu Wangyuan spoke, Huang Xie agreed almost without thinking: "The king has a high opinion." ”

A voice of approval immediately sounded, and even Jing Yang, who had never looked at Huang Xie before, did not express any objection on this matter.

Now this Xicheng that has been very dilapidated after the war is like a scar, when the monarchs and ministers of the Chu State see the dilapidated Xicheng in front of them every day, it is equivalent to silently reminding them that the current Chu State is also dilapidated.

This is obviously difficult for anyone with self-esteem to accept.

The sooner you move out, the sooner you can get rid of this psychological torture.

Chu Wangyuan was also a little relieved when he saw that all the ministers agreed, but immediately his face became serious again.

"Zhuqing, where should the Chu State go after this war now, and let's express our opinions."

As soon as the ministers of the Chu State present heard this, they also subconsciously straightened their bodies.

Today's Chu State uses a sentence to say that it is "the autumn of critical survival", and any decision made at such a time must be very prudent.

If you make a mistake, you may really be ruined.

If that's the case, the person who has the wrong idea can basically determine the end of a notorious record in the history books and reviled by countless people.

After Yi Chu Wang Yuan spoke, the hall immediately fell into silence, and no one spoke for a while.

Chu Wangyuan sighed secretly in his heart, and turned his gaze to Huang Xie who was next: "Chun Shenjun, let's talk about it." ”

Huang Xie took a deep breath and said, "The king, the minister thinks that the only way to befriend Zhao Guo is to make friends with Zhao Guo for the sake of today's plan." ”

"Befriend Zhao Guo?"

As soon as Huang Xie's words came out, the ministers of Chu who were present immediately began to whisper.

Huang Xie's old opponent, Jing Yang, couldn't help but speak: "Chun Shenjun, have you forgotten that not long ago, Zhao Guo took a large territory from Dachu. Could it be that only two years have passed, and my Da Chu has already fallen to the point where I need to flatter Zhao Guo to be able to protect myself? ”

Huang Xie sneered when he heard this, and said to Jingyang in front of him: "Shangzhu Kingdom, you may have forgotten, if it weren't for King Zhao agreeing to the prince's request to order Han and Wei to withdraw their troops, I'm afraid the siege of Xicheng hasn't been lifted yet!" ”

Jingyang was also not to be outdone, and retorted: "The reason why Xicheng broke the siege is entirely because of the wisdom of the prince, and the credit is all in the prince, and what does it have to do with King Zhao?" Zhao Guo now has the intention of looking at the world, if he cooperates with Zhao Guo, wouldn't he seek skin with the tiger? ”

Huang Xie laughed and looked directly at Jingyang: "Shangzhu State, now the army of Wei is still in Shouchun, if you don't get married to Zhao State, then I would like to ask, how to deal with it when the next time the Han and Wei coalition forces attack again?" ”

As soon as Huang Xie's words came out, Jingyang was suddenly speechless.

Although he wanted to say some bold words, Jingyang now knew very well that the current Chu State was really not the opponent of Han and Wei, and at this time, bragging such a cowhide was simply slapping himself in the face.

Huang Xie didn't pay attention to Jingyang, but turned his head to Chu Wangyuan, who was sitting at the top, and said: "King, now Han and Wei are the big troubles in the hearts of Great Chu, and you must befriend Zhao Guo to be able to compete with Han and Wei, please King Mingjian!" ”

Chu Wangyuan hesitated for a while and said: "Chun Shenjun, then the relationship between Han and Wei and Zhao is an alliance, and the widow is worried that even if the widow has the heart to marry with the Zhao State, then the King of Zhao may not be able to agree." ”

Huang Xie smiled very confidently and said, "Great King, although Han and Wei are allies of Zhao, Zhao is also very jealous of the rise of Han and Wei. Otherwise, why did King Zhao order a truce between Han and Wei and Great Chu twice? Moreover, before this, there was also an alliance between Da Chu and Zhao State, as long as the king was willing to repair, then Zhao Guo should also agree to it. ”

Chu Wangyuan pondered for a while, gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, since this is the case, then Chunshen Junru will go to Handan, and be sure to let Zhao Guo and Da Chu get married!" ”

Huang Xie saluted: "The king has a life, and the ministers should do their best!" ”