King Wu led an army of 100,000 to enter the country of Lu, garrisoned troops to defend the outskirts of the city, and Lu Aigong led an army of 50,000 to meet. Enter the big tent and take a seat. King Wu said: "The prince and the prince will talk about the situation. ”

Lu Hou said: "Previously, the army of Qi had approached the border of Lu State, and if it was to face it, there was no certainty of victory, so the king ordered the release of Yi Ziyi. The Marquis of Qi led his troops to retreat. ”

King Wu said: "So, Qilu has not yet been at war? ”

Lu Hou said: "The widow means to wait for the arrival of the king's army before making a final decision. ”

Wu Zixu said: "King, since the Marquis of Qi led the troops to retreat, the coalition army does not need to provoke. ”

King Wu said: "The Qi army has retreated, but it has not yet failed, and what the widow wants is the submission of the Marquis of Qi." ”

Lu Hou also did not agree to stop the army, if he did not teach Qi a lesson, he would bully Lu at any time in the future. Then he said, "The king has come from afar, and he must not gain nothing, but it is better to wait for the armies of the other nations to meet and then make a consultation." ”

King Wu said, "That's fine. ”

Within a day, Chen Guo and other three countries each sent 10,000 troops to Fangcheng. King Wu summoned a meeting of the kings, and the king of Wu said: "The Marquis of Qi sent troops to attack Lu, and the State of Lu released Yi Ziyi, and the Marquis of Qi has withdrawn his troops, and Qilu has not fought. Now that our coalition forces have gathered, the next step is to continue the conquest, or to stop here. Let's talk about our opinions. ”

Chen, Tan, and Xu were all small countries, unable to compete with Qi or Wu, but under pressure from Wu, they sent troops to form a coalition to jointly crusade against Qi. Now that the army of Qi has retreated, of course they don't want to fight any longer. Because no one can guarantee that they will win, if they fail, after the Wu army retreats, the Qi State wants to destroy them, it is just a matter of one sentence. Therefore, they all spoke: "Since the Qi State has withdrawn its troops, it will be morally incompatible to continue fighting, so it is better to stop the army." ”

Lu State had another idea, Qi State was forced by the pressure of the coalition army to show weakness and retreat, but the strength of Qi State was still there. After the coalition retreated, if Qi proposed that Lu should pay compensation to Yi, Lu would still face great pressure and have a hard time. If the coalition forces take the initiative to attack and defeat a part of the Qi army, so that the strength of the Qi State will decline, then they will not dare to bully the Lu State at will.

So he said: "The Wu army came from afar, and the consumption was huge, so it returned in vain, and there were two losses, one is that the military expenditure cannot be made up, and the other is the loss of the strength of the army. People in the world respect the strong, and those who are afraid are also strong. Lu Guo means to fight a few battles first. forced Qi Hou to admit defeat, not to mention the reparations, the coalition army also returned victorious. ”

King Wu said to Wu Zixu: "Xiangguo, tell me your opinion. ”

Wu Zixu was also reluctant to fight. His strategic intentions were never in the northern states. He has always paid attention to the state of Chu, although the state of Chu was destroyed by the state of Wu, but the state of Chu has a vast area, a large population, rich products, known as the lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full. He thought that one day when the state of Chu would recover its vitality, it must be to deal with the state of Wu.

Another one he sees as a major problem for his heart is Yue Guo. Although Yue is now a vassal state of Wu, Wu Zixu is afraid of Goujian.

Gou Jian has high prestige and strong cohesion among the people of Vietnam. The most terrifying thing is Fan Liwen, which is a rare cadre in the world. Although Fan Li has been serving in Wu all these years, Wu Zixu has never regarded Fan Li as a native of Wu State.

He intuitively felt that it must be Fan Li who would make the Yue Kingdom rise again in the future and destroy the Wu Kingdom.

Therefore, fighting with the north, Wu Zixu has always been very negative. He must preserve his strength and use it against the Chu and Yue states.

Wu Zixu had a big strategic idea, if Wu State got Chu State and Yue State, Chu State Wu State and Yue State would be connected to the city, then the vast area south of the Huai River, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, south to the Min River, and west to the Pearl River would be under the control of Wu State. The Central Plains region is full of marquis, wars and chaos, and the consumption is extremely high. As long as Wu Yue and Chu join forces and wave their troops to the north, they can dominate the world.

Based on this consideration, Wu Zixu's intention is to fight with the northern countries, and if he can, he will not fight, and if he can fight, he will not fight big. So he said: "If you want Qi to admit defeat and pay compensation, you don't necessarily need to fight." Now that the 180,000-strong troops of the Five-Nation Alliance are stationed on the Qilu border, the pressure on Qi is enormous. The strength of the whole country will not exceed 100,000 troops, and if the two sides fight, there is no possibility that the Qi country will even draw. So in this case, we sent an envoy to the Qi country, knowing the interests, the maximum pressure, the Qi country could not withstand the pressure, and would definitely come to the alliance, at that time we asked him to admit defeat and pay compensation, without hurting a single soldier, wouldn't it be the best choice? ”

Several small countries were afraid of war, and said in unison that Wu Xiangguo's plan was the best plan. Lu Guo thought that if this goal was achieved, Lu Guo would not have any loss, he would earn face, and he could make a small fortune, and more importantly, if Qi Guo was poor, he would not have the strength to bully Lu Guo, and Lu Guo would be able to live a stable life for a few years.

So he said: "Surrendering without a fight is the best plan." We agree with Wu Xiangguo.

King Wu is not very interested in coming to the north to conquer the city, and there is also a Lu country and Ju country between Wu and Qi. Even if the Qi State is destroyed, this place is not easy to manage. His goal is to defeat the kingdoms and sit on the throne, and each country will pay an annual tribute of treasures and beauties, so that he can enjoy it. He did not have the strategic ambition of destroying all the princely states and dominating the world like King Yingzheng of Qin later.

King Wu said: "Xiangguo's proposal has been supported by everyone. In this way, we will exchange the least price for the greatest victory. This plan is good. Now our coalition army sent an envoy to Linzi to meet the Marquis of Qi and ask him to come to the city to meet the alliance. If he doesn't agree, we will go out of the city and cross the Great Wall and set foot on the Qi country! ”

Wu Zixu's proposal was unanimously agreed, and everyone rejoiced. Prepare to send someone to envoy Qi State. When he was discussing, he suddenly saw Xiaojun coming to report that Xu Cheng, the commander of the water division, had sent someone.

King Wu was stunned, the 20,000 sailors were the elite of the Wu State, and they were invincible in several great battles that defeated Chu and destroyed Yue.

Wu Zixu was even more surprised, if everything went well with Xu Cheng, he would not send someone here. If something goes wrong with the sailor, things are going in the other direction.

King Wu said, "Where are the people? ”

Xiaojun said, "It's outside the big tent." ”

King Wu said, "Call them in quickly." ”

I saw three people staggering in, and when they saw King Wu, they all knelt down and cried on the ground.

King Wu sighed and thought to himself, something bad happened, there was something wrong with the sailor: "Don't cry, speak, report the situation!" ”

The sailor stopped crying. said: "King, Xiangguo, there are no sailors, and twenty-eight of the 20,000 sailors have escaped!" ”

King Wu shouted: "What did you say? All 20,000 sailors are gone? ”

Wu Zixu also felt that his eyes were black for a while. He held back his astonishment and said, "Speak slowly and make the situation clear." ”

The three sailors gave a detailed account of the battle in the Langyatai Strait. King Wu trembled and said, "Where is General Xu Cheng now?" ”。

Xiaojun said: "The general was hit by an arrow in the chest and wounded in the thigh, and is now being treated on a small island. ”

King Wu gritted his teeth: "Yangsheng, you dog mongrel, I'm not done with you!" ”