Chu State, Xicheng.

Since the capture of Chen City, Chu Wang Yuan led the ministers of Chu and the remnants of the defeated generals to flee here in embarrassment.

This city is not big, much smaller than Chen City, but at this moment, it is already the safest city in the Chu State.

In terms of scale, Shouchun is undoubtedly much larger than Xicheng, and Shouchun, as the current Yandu (accompanying capital) of Chu State, has a palace built in it for the monarch to need from time to time.

From this point of view, in fact, Shouchun is a better place to go, in fact, Chu Wangyuan also went to Shouchun at the beginning.

But it wasn't until Chu Wangyuan walked halfway that he knew that Caicheng, which was now separated from Shouchun by a river and located on the north bank of Huaishui, had been occupied by the Wei people, so Shouchun was actually in danger.

After hearing the news, the helpless Chu Wangyuan had no choice but to change the direction of retreat and retreat to Xicheng in the southwest.

The largest mansion in Xicheng is the City Guard Mansion, and this City Guard Mansion has naturally become the temporary palace of Chu Wangyuan.

In the largest hall in this temporary palace, Chu Wangyuan, whose face was gray, sat on the top, looking like a defeated rooster, and he had no energy at all when he spoke.

"Now that the war situation is critical, what should we do?"

No one spoke.

Chu Wangyuan's words are not exaggerated at all, and now the situation in Chu is already very critical.

The vast western part of Huaibei has been occupied by Wei, and the Wei people are not satisfied with this, and they also take advantage of the opportunity of Qi's withdrawal to start eastward, preparing to occupy the eastern part of Huaibei that the Qi people have abandoned.

On the Zhao side, although the main general Lian Po led an army of 100,000 to the north in the starry night, there were still 50,000 Zhao troops under the leadership of Le Cheng who continued to move south, capturing Xiangcheng and Pingyu along the way.

If you calculate the distance, the Lecheng Department is only a few days away from Xicheng.

The bad news didn't end there, as the Koreans, having captured Wancheng, began to move eastward, having already appeared outside the city of Sangchae two days earlier.

There were only a few thousand defenders in Shangcai City, and it was a matter of time before it fell.

Once Shangcai City fell, then the two forces of Zhao and Han could encircle Xicheng from two different directions, north and northwest.

Although there are still 80,000 Chu troops in Xicheng, these Chu troops are all remnants of the defeated army, and they have basically lost their fighting spirit.

If you want to rely on the defeat of this remnant army to turn the tables in the future, the difficulty is simply hell-level, comparable to the kind of success of Tiandan's restoration back then.

What to do?

This question weighed heavily on the faces of all the monarchs and ministers of the Chu State like a mountain, and they were completely overwhelmed.

Chu Wang Yuan took a deep breath and set his eyes on the two ministers of Chu who were sitting at the front but were silent: "Huang Xie, Jingyang, and you will tell the widow!" ”

When he spoke, Chu Wangyuan's heart was obviously full of anger.

Needless to say, Huang Xie is a guy, it is precisely because of his strength that the Chu State broke the alliance with the Zhao State, which has led to the current point.

And Jingyang is command is unfavorable, if I think about it now, if Jingyang can defeat the 50,000 Zhao army that Lian Po used as bait at that time, then the morale-boosting Chu army may not necessarily lose even if it faces the 100,000 troops led by Lian Po later.

Therefore, Chu Wangyuan felt that the reason why the Chu State had fallen to this point now was that the two biggest black cauldrons should definitely be detained on Huang Xie and Jingyang.

If it weren't for the fact that Chu Wangyuan still maintained a little clarity and knew that it was not appropriate to kill the minister without permission before the war was over, Huang Xie and Jingyang's heads would have fallen to the ground long ago.

But if you don't kill, you don't want to kill, at least one will atone for your sins.

Huang Xie and Jing Yang glanced at each other when they heard this, although these two people are the kind of political enemies who want to live and die on weekdays, but at this moment, they both saw a helpless look on each other's faces.

It's the same person who is behind the blame of the Chu State.

At this time, there was actually not much thought between the two of them wanting to embarrass each other.

To put it bluntly, now that the state of Chu is about to die, if anyone is still fighting at this time, then it will be really stupid.

Yes, the crisis of the Chu State is no longer just a loss of land, but it has really come to the verge of a dead country!

In this era, there was almost no development south of the Yangtze River, so the land that could really contribute to the national strength of the Chu State was basically concentrated between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

Now, half of the land of Chu between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River has been lost, and if this trend continues, then it is only a matter of time before the other half is lost.

Da Chu, is he really going to die?

This question has begun to linger in the minds of many people.

Before this battle, no minister of Chu State thought that the direction of the war situation would be like this, but now the fall of Chu State is no longer a joke, but something that may really happen!

Chunshenjun Huang Xie took a deep breath, and finally slowly stepped out of the ranks, and said to Chu Wangyuan: "Great King, in the opinion of the ministers, the only way to seek peace with the Zhao State is now. ”

"Summation?" Chu Wang Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "The widow wants to make peace, but I don't know if this King Zhao is willing or not." ”

Huang Xie said: "King, in the opinion of the ministers, Zhao Guo should be willing. Chen heard that now Bai Qi led the army of Qin to attack Hedong County of Zhao State, and a large amount of territory in Hedong County has fallen into the hands of the Qin people, otherwise Lian Po would not have retreated as soon as possible after breaking through Chen City. ”

Jingyang on the side also agreed with Huang Xie's opinion very rarely: "What Ling Yin said is indeed true, and the minister also thinks that the reason why the Zhao people left 50,000 soldiers and horses is actually just to force the king to sue for peace." ”

When Chu Wangyuan heard this, his brows, which had been tightly locked, finally had a slight tendency to loosen up.

But immediately, Chu Wangyuan's brows furrowed even tighter again: "Even if the Zhao State is willing to sue for peace, but if Han and Wei insist on continuing to attack the widows, what will happen?" ”

Huang Xie said: "Great King, although the alliance between the three Jin Dynasty is an alliance, but the alliance is also filthy, Zhao Guo, as the leader of the alliance, must not want to see Han and Wei become big after the destruction of Great Chu." As long as this point is grasped, then it should be possible for King Zhao to order Han and Wei to withdraw their troops. ”

After Chu Wangyuan pondered for a moment, he finally agreed with Huang Xie's opinion, and said: "Since this is the case, then who is willing to go through such a situation for the widow?" ”

As soon as Chu Wangyuan's voice fell, Huang Xie, who had been prepared, immediately said: "King, the minister is willing to go to Handan and his party!" ”

Huang Xie's words were still in everyone's ears, and Jing Yang, another important minister of the Chu State, couldn't wait to speak at this moment: "The king, the minister is also willing to go to Handan and persuade the King of Zhao to negotiate peace with the Chu State." ”

Huang Xie and Jing Yang glanced at each other, and the peaceful atmosphere just now disappeared completely, replaced by a terrifying look at Mai Mang from the tip of the needle.

For the courtiers of the Chu State today, if they want to escape the punishment of the king, the only chance to atone for their sins is undoubtedly to successfully sue for peace, so that the Chu State can come out of the crisis of the collapse of the country.

There is only one chance, but there are two people who need this opportunity to get rid of the black cauldron, Huang Xie and Jingyang.

The next moment, a quarrel between Huang Xie and Jingyang immediately started in this hall.

Just as Chu Wangyuan was upset by the quarrel between Huang Xie and Jing Yang, and was about to open his mouth to shut up these two guys, the head of the Chu court guard hurriedly appeared in the hall and brought a news that surprised Chu Wangyuan and all the Chu ministers present.

"King, someone outside the city claims to be Zheng Zhu, the envoy of Zhao State, who wants to enter the city to see the king!"