In fact, around the first month of this year, Chu State had already received a handwritten letter from King Yingji of Qin. ◢ With * dream ◢ small * say Щщш.suimeng

In the letter, it is probable that Qin Wangji believes that Chu has betrayed Qin several times, so he will lead the Qin team to "fight for his life" with Chu, and ask Chu King Xiongheng to gather troops so that the two countries can fight well.

I have to say that Qin and Chu do have a feud.

At that time, King Chu Huai was deceived by Zhang Yi into "six hundred miles of business", and in a fit of anger, he poured all his troops into a fierce battle with Qin, which not only caused King Qin Hui's most trusted younger brother "Gongzihua (Yinghua)" to die on the battlefield in order to prevent the Qin army from attacking Xianyang, but also almost caused Qin's capital Xianyang to be captured by the Qin army, but fortunately, another trusted brother of King Qin Hui "Zhu Li Ji (Yingji)" and Qin general Wei Zhang finally defeated the Chu army.

In the following years, in order to plead guilty to the Qin State, King Chu Huai personally went to Xianyang, but was placed under house arrest by the Qin State and died of depression in the Qin State.

It was these two things that made Qin and Chu hate each other.

At the same time as King Huai of Chu rushed to Qin to ask for guilt, Xiong Heng, who was the crown prince at that time, also went to Qi as a proton, and King Qi repeatedly considered whether to learn from Qin, that is, to detain Xiong Heng and ask for the city of Chu, but in the end, under the advice of the minister and the ministers, King Qi's field was still released to Xiong Heng, so that Xiong Heng was finally supported by the Chu people as the monarch of Chu.

This incident slightly offset the hatred of the previous Qi State and Wei and Han to launch the "Battle of Hanging Sand", and eased the joy of Chu and Qi States a little.

But for the Qin State, this was undoubtedly a bamboo basket for water, and the unrighteous act of detaining King Chu Huai not only did not gain any benefit, but made the Chu State ease the tension with the Qi State again.

This was no less than another betrayal for the Qin State, so after the Chu people supported Xiong Heng to inherit the throne, the Qin State launched an attack on the Chu State in a fit of rage and captured more than ten cities, including Xiyi.

Since then, the two countries of Qin and Chu have never reconciled, and during the period of the Qin State attacking Wei and Han, they have always used troops against the Chu State from time to time, so that in recent years, it has gradually encroached on a lot of the territory of the Chu State.

After receiving King Qin's letter this time, King Xiong of Chu did not pay attention to it, but he really didn't know what to do.

And Ling Yin Zilan and others are also at a loss for this, after all, these people were originally Chu ministers who were good at Qin, and now Qin wrote in the letter "fight for the life", which made them also can't help but be a little chaotic, although they have the intention to instigate the king of Chu Xiongheng to submit to Qin, but they are afraid that Qin will really destroy Chu regardless of feelings, so that these nobles of Chu have nowhere to depend.

For this reason, those courtiers in Chu who supported the fight against Qin could slightly elaborate their own views, such as Zhao Sui, Zhuang Xin and others.

Zhao Sui is the brother of Qu Yuan's wife, and he is also the face of the Zhao family today, among his ancestors and fathers, there have been two important ministers who have served as Da Sima in Zhaoyang and Zhaohua, even if Yin Zilan wants to give Zhao Sui some face.

Of course, the main reason is that Zhao Sui has not torn his face with the old aristocratic forces in China, after all, he is also a member of the "old aristocratic forces".

And Zhuang Xin, this person's personality is similar to Qu Yuan, and he has repeatedly reprimanded Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, and Ling Yin Zilan in person, so this minister is not valued by Xiong Heng, but there is a "rebel general Zhuang Ji" in the Zhuang family, so that Yin Zilan and others dare not target Zhuang Xin too much.

After all, the state of Chu still hoped that Zhuang Xin would influence Zhuang Ji and try to recruit him.

The Zhuang Ji mentioned here is Zhuang Ji, the deputy general of Yin Tangyu during the "Battle of the Hanging Sands".

After Tang Wu's death, Zhuang Ji took the opportunity to rebel, gathered a group of people to form a rebel army, refused to accept the king's order, and now the relationship with the Chu court is good and bad.

Considering that Zhuang Ji himself was also a rather brave general, and the Chu State did not want to be taken advantage of by other countries because of the civil war, the issue of Zhuang Ji was temporarily shelved.

In the last two days of mid-February, Chu Ying received news that the Qin general Bai Qi had broken through Yan County and was preparing to attack Yanyi (Xiling) across the Han River.

During the discussion, Ling Yin Zilan put forward his suggestion that he had always been friendly to Qin, that is, to send envoys to sue Qin for peace and cede several cities to satisfy Qin's appetite.

But this time, Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, did not listen to Zilan, and Zilan herself seemed to be lacking in confidence when she made this suggestion.

It's no wonder, after all, in the letter of King Yingji of Qin, it is clearly written that he wants to "fight for his life" with the state of Chu, who dares to guarantee that ceding a few cities will satisfy the state of Qin?

It was precisely because Zilan lacked confidence that Zhao Sui, Zhuang Xin and other Chu ministers were able to explain their views to Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, this time.

Zhuang Xin was a direct minister with a similar personality to Qu Yuan, and he said without hesitation: "The Qin State, the country of tigers and wolves, is quite ambitious, and it seems that Ling Yin's suggestion to make peace with the Qin State will only fuel the ambitions of the Qin State. Chen once heard that a farmer once met a hungry wolf, he may fight hard to drive the hungry wolf away, but he was timid, so he cut the meat on the leg to satisfy the hungry wolf, hoping that the hungry wolf could be satisfied after eating his leg meat, but he did not expect that the hungry wolf was not satisfied, and kept following him, so that in the end, the farmer was unable to drive the hungry wolf because he cut too much meat on his leg, and was finally swallowed by the hungry wolf. …… Now I am Da Chu, that is, this farmer, if the king blindly cedes the land to the Qin State because he is afraid of the Qin State and is satisfied with the Qin State, one day, the hungry wolf of the Qin State will devour my Great Chu. ”

Compared with Zhuang Xin's unceremonious point of ordering Yin Zilan, Zhao Sui's view is much more conciliatory: "Great King, regardless of whether or not he eventually reconciles with Qin, Yanyi cannot be captured by Qin under any circumstances. My Great Chu has lost too many cities north of the Han River, and I can no longer resist the invasion of the Qin State, and the Han Water is the only place where my Great Chu can resist the Qin State, if the Qin State breaks through the Yanyi, then the Yingdi will be exposed to the eyes of the Qin army. Therefore, the matter of sending reinforcements to reinforce Yanyi must not be delayed any longer, otherwise there will be a great disaster. …… Ling Yin, what do you think? ”

Ling Yin Zilan nodded slightly.

He still listened to Zhao Sui's suggestion, after all, he didn't want Qin to capture Yanyi.

In the final analysis, his wealth still comes from the state of Chu, not the state of Qin, once the state of Chu falls, how can he keep his current status and power?

Seeing this, Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, ordered Zhao Sui to lead Chu Ying's army to rescue Yanyi.

After leaving the palace, Zhao Sui advised Zhuang Xin: "Obviously, you can calmly convince the king and Ling Yin, why should Doctor Zhuang provoke the latter?" ”

Zhuang Xinhun said indifferently: "The country is about to die, what a pity is it for the body of the horseman?" The big deal was exiled, and he went to Jiangnan with Dr. Qu as a companion. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Sui blinked.

Others didn't know, but he knew that his brother-in-law Qu Yuan did not follow the king's order to go to Jiangnan at all, but was in Fangcheng of Wei State, next to a Wei general named Meng Zhong.

I remember that a few days ago, he also received a letter from Qu Yuan, in which the latter asked him to take care of Han Gongzi's lice, saying that in this way, he could make friends with the Korean princess.

He didn't know whether to tell Zhuang Xin or not, after all, Qu Yuan and Zhuang Xin used to have a very good relationship.

Probably noticing Zhao Sui's strange expression, Zhuang Xin's heart moved slightly, and he couldn't help but ask, "Doctor Zhao, isn't there something to hide from me?" ”

Seeing this, Zhao Sui didn't want to hide it, so he whispered to Zhuang Xin: "My brother-in-law Qu Yuan is not in Jiangnan now, but in Fangcheng in Wei State......

Zhuang Xin was stunned and asked puzzledly, "What is he doing in Fangcheng?" ”

As he spoke, before Zhao Sui could reply, an incredible expression appeared on his face: "Wouldn't it?" ”

Obviously, he misunderstood that Qu Yuan wanted to defect to Wei, and in Zhuang Xin's opinion, this was a very incredible thing, after all, Qu Yuan and he were both old ministers during the period of King Chu Huai, and both were loyal to Chu State, Zhuang Xin really couldn't believe that Qu Yuan would switch to Wei.

Of course, even if Qu Yuan switched to Wei, this would not affect Zhuang Xin's evaluation of Qu Yuan, who made Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, refuse to reuse Qu Yuan, and Ling Yin Zilan targeted Qu Yuan everywhere?

It's just that in the bottom of his heart, Zhuang Xin still can't believe this, after all, in his opinion, Qu Yuan is a person with a more stubborn personality than him.

It seemed to see through Zhuang Xin's thoughts, Zhao Sui hurriedly explained: "No, no, no, Dr. Zhuang misunderstood, Qu Yuan did not defect to Wei, but as a guest next to a Wei general named Meng Zhong, I received his letter a few days ago, he said in the letter, he was targeted by Zilan and others everywhere in the country, although he had the heart to serve the country but suffered from no opportunity, now, he is ready to use another way to serve the country......"

"Another way?" Zhuang Xin was confused when he heard it, but he didn't doubt it.

After all, he can trust the virtues of Zhao Sui and Qu Yuan.

"Well, I can't tell you the specifics, but when Dr. Zhuang meets Qu Yuan in the future, I will ask him in person."

"Oh......"

After chatting a few more words, Zhao Sui said goodbye and left, after all, he was in a hurry to lead Chu Ying's army to reinforce Yan Yi.

And Zhuang Xin was taken to heart by Zhao Sui's words.

He knew that Qu Yuan would never stay in Fangcheng for no reason, and as a disciple of General Wei, there must be some reason for it.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but want to go to Fang Cheng and ask Qu Yuan in person.

But before that, he had to write a letter to his brother Zhuang Ji.

In all fairness, Zhuang Xin's relationship with his brother Zhuang Ji was not very good, especially after Zhuang Ji made a rebellion - but it is worth mentioning that in the eyes of the people of Chu State, Zhuang Ji has a good reputation.

The reason is that in the cities captured by the Zhuangji rebels, he only collected a small part of the land tax to feed the rebels, which was much lighter than the heavy tax of the Chu state.

Because of this incident, Zhuang Xin didn't know whether this matter was good or bad: at worst, his brother Zhuang Ji did make a rebellion, tarnishing the reputation of his Zhuang clan; At best, Zhuang Ji sheltered a large number of Chu people, so that the latter were exempt from exploitation by the domestic aristocracy, and only had to pay a small part of the field tax.

Because of this, Zhuang Xin rarely corresponded with Zhuang Ji in the past, and maintained a blind attitude towards him: neither too close to him, tarnishing the reputation of the Zhuang family, nor accusing Zhuang Ji of his actions.

However, this time, Zhuang Xin couldn't help but write a letter to Zhuang Ji, hoping that the latter would help Zhao Ju when necessary, and he wrote in the letter: If the Qin State invades Yingyi, it will not be a good thing for the rebels.

In fact, he also understands that his brother Zhuang Ji is not the kind of reckless man who is brave and unscrupulous, and he can naturally see the stakes, whether he writes this letter or not, Zhuang Ji will definitely help Yan Yi in secret, at least he will never sit back and watch the Qin army attack the south of Hanshui, but he still hopes to get a positive reply from Zhuang Ji's side.

Sure enough, a few days after the letter was sent, Zhuang Ji sent a reply, saying that he would help Zhaoju defend Hanshui, but that was all.

In this regard, Zhuang Xin couldn't ask for more, and after instructing his family to stay in Chuying these days, he went to Yanyi.

By the time Zhuang Xin arrived at Yanyi, Zhao Sui had already led Chu Ying's army to arrive in this city, and took over the local garrison Chu army, stepping up the construction of defenses on the banks of the Hanshui River, the purpose of which was naturally to prevent the Qin army from attacking south of the Hanshui.

After seeing Zhuang Xin, Zhao Sui was a little surprised, and asked in surprise: "How did Doctor Zhuang come to Yanyi, could it be that he was ordered by the king?" ”

Zhuang Xin smiled and said, "I was just uneasy in my heart, so I came to Yanyi to see what was going on...... I have commanded my family that if the king summons me, I will be called sick in bed......"

Hearing this, Zhao Sui couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "This ...... Not really, right? ”

"It's okay, anyway, the king won't summon me a few times throughout the year." laughing at himself, Zhuang Xin said an inexplicably sad truth.

Indeed, now that Zilan is in charge of national politics, upright Chu ministers like Qu Yuan and Zhuang Xin are not reused at all, and there are very few times that they can see Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, throughout the year, which is really frustrating.

Shaking his head, Zhuang Xin asked Zhao Sui, "Don't talk about this, what is the situation on the Qin army's side?" ”

So, Zhao Sui took Zhuang Xin to the city wall of Yanyi, and climbed to look at the county on the other side of the Han River, as well as the Qin army stationed in the area of Yanxian.

During the period, he said to Zhuang Xin with a serious expression: "The Qin army on the other side of the Han River, its commander is called Bai Qi, is the descendant of Bai Gongsheng, the year before last, he came to prominence, once captured the new city of South Korea, and last year, as the commander of the Qin army, he attacked South Korea, in the Yique area, led more than 100,000 Qin troops against 300,000 Wei and Han coalition forces, and once sneak attacked the Wei army, and broke through more than 200,000 Wei and Han coalition troops overnight, and even the famous general of Wei was captured and killed by this person, and he was really a quite remarkable young man. …… I'm not very sure about such an opponent. ”

“……”

After listening to Zhao Sui's words, Zhuang Xin looked at him in surprise and asked puzzledly, "Why does Doctor Zhao know the details of the commander of the Qin army opposite?" ”

Hearing this, Zhao Sui smiled and explained, "It was Qu Yuan who sent someone to send a letter to tell me. Didn't I tell Doctor Zhuang a few days ago that Qu Yuan is now a guest next to a Wei general named Meng Zhong in Fangcheng? This Meng Zhong once led the Wei army to defeat Bai Qi in the Battle of Yique, and finally won a thrilling victory. ”

Hearing this, Zhuang Xin was even more surprised, and said incredulously: "The 300,000 Wei and Han coalition troops were broken by Na Bai Qi overnight, and then Meng Zhong was still able to reverse the victory and defeat the Qin army?" …… How did he do it? ”

"I don't know."

Zhao Sui shook his head and said: "However, Qu Yuan said in his letter that that Meng Zhong was a Wei general whose talent was still above Sun Xi, the prince of Xiwu, just because he was at odds with Wei Xiang Tian Wen, and Tian Wen slandered the King of Wei, so he was sent by the King of Wei to garrison Fangcheng, otherwise, that Meng Zhong should have been destined to succeed to the Hedong Guard...... Tsk, Qin Zhibai Qi, Wei Zhimengzhong, north of the Han River, there are two tiger generals...... The future is terrifying, and the young people of today are getting more and more terrifying. ”

Hearing this, Zhuang Xin stroked his beard with a look of surprise, he could hardly imagine that Qu Yuan gave such a high evaluation to Meng Zhong - after all, the famous general of Wei State, Xiwu Gongsun Xi, this is already the standard of a "famous general", but Qu Yuan was evaluated by Meng Zhong as "still above Gongsun Xi", which made Zhuang Xin also a little curious about Meng Zhong.

Suddenly, Zhuang Xin asked Zhao Ju, "What Doctor Qu heard must have been what Meng Zhong told him, right?" Doctor Zhao, since Meng Zhong and Bai Qi had already fought each other during the Battle of Yique, can you ......?"

"It's hard."

As if he had guessed Zhuang Xin's thoughts, Zhao Sui shook his head and said: "Qu Yuan has already written in the letter that Meng Zhong is the general of Wei after all, since the Battle of Yique, Qin has made peace with Wei and Han, and without getting the order of the King of Wei, it is not easy for Meng Zhong to start a war with the Qin army without authorization...... And that Bai Qi seems to be a little jealous of Meng Zhong. After I arrived in Yanyi, I learned from many civilians who had fled north of the Han River that in recent days, the Qin army had repeatedly attacked the cities of our Chu State, and after breaking through the cities, they wantonly pursued and slaughtered the civilians of our Chu State, but as long as the Wei army was present, the Qin army would restrain a lot...... Thanks to the Wei army, so far, only more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians in Lixian, Suixian, Gaohu, Dengxian, Fancheng, and Yanxian have been slaughtered by the Qin army, and the rest have defected to Fangcheng and been sheltered......"

Zhuang Xin was slightly surprised.

You must know that as far as he knows, the total number of Chu people in Lixian, Suixian, Gaohu, Dengxian, Fancheng, and Juxian is close to 20,000, and the total population is conservatively estimated to be about 100,000 to 150,000, and so far only more than 10,000 people have been slaughtered by the Qin army, and most of the rest have defected to Fangcheng, even Zhuang Xin cannot deny that the Wei general named Meng Zhong is indeed worthy of his benefactor of Chu - even if his purpose of sheltering those Chu people is not pure.

On the other hand, the Qin army was able to sit back and watch the Wei army take away hundreds of thousands of Chu people, which shows that Bai Qi also had a great fear of Meng Zhong, otherwise the Qin army would never make such a compromise.

Thinking about it carefully, the Wei general named Meng Zhong was also cunning, while reaching a tacit understanding with the Qin army, he took the opportunity to take away the Chu people in Lixian, Suixian, Gaohu, Dengxian, Fancheng, Yanxian and other places, and on the other hand, he privately revealed the truth of the Qin army to his Chu State, obviously hoping that his Chu State could repel the Qin army.

Zhuang Xin must say that this young man named Meng Zhong is really cunning.

After thinking about it, he said to Zhao Ju: "Doctor Zhao, before going to Yanyi, I have written to inform Zhuang Ji that he will help Yanyi at a critical time. I can't help Doctor Zhao here, so instead of worrying in vain here, I intend to go to Fangcheng to ask Doctor Qu about some important things, and by the way, meet the Wei general named Meng Zhong. Just ......"

He glanced at Zhao Ju and stopped talking.

Of course, Zhao Ju guessed what Zhuang Xin was worried about, and said with a smile: "Doctor Zhuang, don't worry, although the young man named Bai Qi opposite is quite powerful, Zhao is not incompetent, not to mention, the Wei general named Meng Zhong has already revealed Bai Qi's military habits to me through Qu Yuan's mouth......"

"Is that so?" Zhuang Xin asked in surprise.

"Haha." Zhao Ju stroked his short beard and smiled, and then said with a straight face: "According to what he said, Bai Qi uses troops to complement each other, if the righteous way is not enough to defeat the Qin army, then he thinks of tricks, if I fortify on the bank of the Hanshui River, he advises me to be careful of the upper reaches of the Han River, to prevent the Qin army from secretly building dams and storing water to irrigate my Yanyi......"

I have to say that it was this suggestion that made Zhao Ju dare not underestimate Bai Qi and Meng Zhong, and he sighed "the future is terrifying", after all, it seems that this advice given to him by Meng Zhong was not thought of before.

He couldn't imagine what kind of tragedy would have been for his Yanyi Chu army if Bai Qi had secretly built a dam to store water in the upper reaches of the Han River as Meng Zhong had predicted, and when the time was right, he would have released the water to pour it into Yanyi.

Fortunately, he had been warned in advance, and deployed a force in the upper reaches of the Han River, always keeping an eye on the Qin army on the other side of the Han River, preventing it from secretly building a dam to store water, and he believed that in this way, it would not be so easy for Bai Qi to capture his Yanyi.

Not to mention, this matter was really expected by Zhao Ju, so that Bai Qi was so angry that he was stomping his feet and scolding his mother in the handsome tent of the Qin military camp outside Yunxian County at the moment.

It turned out that since the capture of Yanxian County two days ago, Bai Qi looked at Yanyi on the bank of the Hanshui River and thought about ways to capture Yanyi.

However, the Han River is quite wide and the water flow is quite turbulent, and if the Qin army wants to cross the river, it is bound to build bridges, but it is clear that the Chu army in Yanyi on the opposite side will never sit idly by and watch the Qin army build bridges, so that the Qin army's offensive will be contained.

Seeing this, Bai Qi hit the idea of this Han River, just as Meng Zhong predicted, to build a dam in the upper reaches of the Han River, and when the time comes, the Han water will be diverted to irrigate Yanyi, and the fortifications built by the Chu army on the banks of the Han River will be destroyed in one fell swoop.

Therefore, while Bai Qi posed in Yunxian County to forcibly cross the river, he sent an army to secretly go to the upper reaches of the Han River to find a suitable location for building a dam.

Unexpectedly, the Qin pawn he sent out sent back the news yesterday, saying that the Chu army had deployed several patrol guards in the upper reaches of the Han River for some reason, which made Bai Qi quite stunned.

You must know that in order to prevent the Chu army in Yanyi from being vigilant this time, he deliberately asked his corporal to build a dam in the Hanshui Valley around Fancheng, and Fancheng is at least fifty miles away from Yanyi, but he didn't expect that there were still Chu troops patrolling here.

Seeing this, Bai Qi asked the Qin army to continue north, looking for a suitable location to build a dam in the Han River basin around Deng County, but he didn't expect that there were still patrols and guards of the Qin army on the other side of the river from time to time.

What made Bai Qi even more shocked was that from the mountain capital south of the Han River to Yanyi, the Chu army set fire to all the woods along the way, so that the situation in this section of the Han River basin could be seen at a glance, no matter whether the Qin army secretly smuggled from the gentle flow of the water, or built a dam in the narrow part of the river, it could not escape the eyes of the Chu army patrol guards.

Bai Qi felt very wrong about this: it was clear that the Chu general on the other side had never fought with him, why did the other party know so well his habit of leading troops to fight? Even early on to prevent him from making a surprise?

After thinking about it, Bai Qi understood, and for a while, his face turned pale, and he gritted his teeth and burst out of his mouth with a name.

"Meng Zhong! It must be this ......."

Indeed, the person in this area who knows his habit of using soldiers for nothing is Meng Zhong in Fangcheng of Wei State......

That is, the bastard who took advantage of him for nothing, and still stumbled him behind his back!