CHAPTER XXXIII

Dozens of fires burned, bringing warmth to the dim and shady atrium; The monotonous sound of bells and drums rises and falls, and the unique rhythm makes people's hearts tremble, solemn and solemn; Wearing eerie masks, the witches danced under the fire, singing tunes from ancient times, and their songs echoed throughout the temple.

"Sigh Lie Ancestor, there is a rank Sihu. Shen Xi Wujiang, and Les. It is clear, and I think about it......"

Although there were many discomforts, Xiong Jing still stood beside the king of Chu, and under the gaze of the minister, he knelt down with his father to advance and retreat, worshipping and comforting his ancestors. Concubine Zhao stood behind the father and son, from today she is the queen of Chu, and she is qualified to enter the Taimiao with her husband to worship the first king of Chu.

The layout of the temple and the palace bed is the same, and it is also a cross, but the first ace tablet erected in the atrium and the overlapping curtains make people unable to see through the whole building, especially after the elevation into the hall, those colorful murals on the wall are fascinating and moving. There are people, beasts, gods, ......and demons, this is the mural painting that the court painter copied to the old Yingtai Temple according to his memory, and most of the paintings on it are the ancestors of the Chu State, so as to highlight their great achievements, so that future generations will not forget them.

Maybe the willow bark sap had some effect, and at night, after the hour-long sacrifice, Xiong Yuan was in good spirits and did not faint because of physical exhaustion like last time.

"Jing'er wants to know how the Chu army will fight?" Only when it was sacrificial, Xiong Yuan was dressed in a knight's robe and wore a finch silk crown on his head. This is Xiong Jing's familiar image of the emperor of later generations, although there are only nine crowns hanging in front and back, but in this way he feels like an emperor.

"Yes, yes." Xiong Jing still has his hair hanging down, and the difference from before is that his body is no longer a silk coat, but a silk brocade.

"The crown prince can teach you." Xiong Yuan, his son's plan for the military school, knew a rough idea, and now he felt that this might not be a good way to revitalize the Chu State. "In the East Palace of Jing'er, there are also fifteen palace armors, and Cai Bao is the military rate, so you can ask about it."

In addition to the Yin of sanitation, the garrison of the palace is the armor of the East Palace. Fifteen times the military system of the Chu army, that is fifteen hundred. There was no prince before, this is newly formed.

"Yui." Xiong Jing responded. After two days of pondering, he no longer has the excitement he had at the beginning - military school is not so easy to run without a full understanding of contemporary military technology.

Unexpectedly, the King of Chu became more and more interested in the military academy, he lowered his head and smiled: "Tomorrow will open the dynasty, Jing'er can listen to it." ”

His father allowed him to listen to the court and deliberate, and Xiong Jing was very surprised. Although there is a precedent for the crown prince to supervise the country, he has not yet been crowned. Surprised, when the next day, hundreds of courtiers saluted Xiong Jing, he did not have a trace of panic. It's just that the platform of the court is three feet higher than the court, standing here looking at the appearance of Xuanyi below, thinking that this is the position of the king and his position in the future, Xiong Jing's pulse rate increased a little.

After the three prostrations, the pilgrimage begins. Zhen Yin Zimo was the first to come out: "The minister has a happy event to tell the king." ”

"What's the joy of?" Seeing the dynasty is just a passing scene, I didn't expect Zimo to have a happy event.

"Tell the king: My great Chu has set up the eldest son and sacrificed to the Taimiao, and the country has been consolidated, which is a joy. The king's complexion this morning was different, and he had just recovered from his illness, which was the second joy. Double happiness descends to Chu, and God favors me. Please ask the king to give amnesty to the world and seal the house of three coins. ”

Don't say it, don't pay attention, Zi Mo said that including Xiong Jing, he found that King Chu's complexion was indeed better than a few days ago, unlike a patient, and the court was full of people. A few days ago, everyone was worried that the king would fall ill, but they didn't expect that the prince would be cured of illness.

When the servant wanted to scold, the king of Chu stopped with a smile: "The widow got up today, and he didn't feel the pain of heart disease." After saying this, he looked down at Xiong Jing again, "Jing'er is a widow who tries medicine, and filial piety is also a filial piety." ”

More than 700 courtiers did not frighten Xiong Jing, but his father's simple praise made his blood surge, and he was stunned all of a sudden. Several courtiers saw the opportunity and said: "The eldest son is filial, and the blessing of the king and the blessing of the great Chu are also." As soon as they said this, the rest of the people also congratulated the king of Chu, and only then did Xiong Jing come back to his senses.

It doesn't matter if the world is amnesty, it's just to let go of some prisoners, but sealing the house of three coins is equivalent to saying that there will be no taxes this year, others are willing, Huang Xie is unwilling, but in the midst of praise, he is not good to object. Only listen to Xiong Yuandao: "There are two joys, and amnesty is also available." ”

"The Great King is wise!" Once again, the courtiers praised in unison, and the early dynasty was dispersed like this.

The Zheng Dynasty has dispersed, and the Yan Dynasty is about to open. Here the important ministers are not standing, everyone has a seat. The newcomer, Xiong Jing, sat on his father's side, several times the same case as his father. The discussions of the Yan Dynasty were all military affairs, and this was presided over by Ling Yin Huangxie. This time, Huang Xie also cited several major events, the first is the ballista, the power of the ballista is heard of by all countries, whether it is an ally or an enemy country, they all send envoys to ask for it; The second is the waterwheel, there is a drought in the summer and autumn of Chu every year, and the waterwheel must be manufactured quickly; The third is the summer festival, which has sacrifices in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and summer is now ready to be prepared; The fourth was caused by the amnesty, and this year's land tax revenue was not enough, which made the Yin government's finances strained.

Huang Xie is over eighty years old, and his speech is still very organized, and the four things he said are all big things. As soon as he finished saying these things, Nao said slyly: "The crossbow is a sharp weapon of our army, how can it be given to other countries?" Please let Yin tell me nothing. ”

The ballista was invented by Xiong Jing, and now it is called Jing crossbow, which means the crossbow of the Chu State and the invention of Xiong Jing. Nao's cunning big Sima said very easily, but Dazai Shen Yinyu, who was specifically in charge of diplomacy, was dissatisfied: "The crossbow shot three hundred steps, and the arrow fell into the moat, who doesn't know?" The world knows it. If other countries do it, the Qin State will ask for it, and the consequences will be unpredictable. ”

Shen Yinyu's sentence was unpredictable, everyone's faces sank, although there are three passes between Qin and Chu, such as the Hades, the Great Tunnel, and the Zhiyuan, but these three passes can only protect between the Jianghuai and Huai, and Biyang (now Miyang) north of Huaishui belongs to Qin's Nanyang County, and against Bishui can rub the southernmost tip of the Wei border to attack Chengyang of Chu; Then the three passes only protected the area east of Dabie Mountain and Tongbai Mountain, and there were two cities in Chu State: Tang and Sui, west of Dabie Mountain and Tongbai Mountain; Also in the west of Dabie Mountain, close to the Yangtze River, there are Xiling, Di, Xia, Hubei; Finally, there is Dongting County, which was recovered by Yangling Junzhuang Xin with 150,000 Dongdi soldiers, which was next to Wuqian County of Qin.

From south to north, these four places bordering the Qin State, the northernmost Chengyang is the least to worry about, and the width between the southern border of Wei and Tongbai Mountain is about 100 miles, mostly mountainous, not to mention that there is no army, even if there is a large army, the back road is also easy to be cut off by the Wei State; Although Tang and Sui were easy to pull out, they were only two isolated cities, and the Chu State was prepared for losses before the alliance with the Qin State.

The real concern is the Xia and Hubei to the east of the confluence of the Han River and the Yangtze River, Xia is in the south of the Han River into the river, the geographical location is very important, and the same is true of the lower reaches of the Hubei - Hubei follows the Yangtze River, and a few dozen miles to the south is the Tonglu Mountain (now Daye). This is the lifeblood of the Chu State, although there are other copper mines in the Chu State, but the combined output of other copper mines is not as much as the Copper Green Mountain. More than 30 years ago, after the Chu State recovered the fifteen towns beside the river, the reason why King Xianqingxiang swore an oath with the Qin State and the reason why he would cede a lot of land west of Qingyang to the Qin State was for this patina mountain.

As for the southernmost Dongting County, it is also very important, and along the Xiangshui River, you can communicate with the Dian Kingdom, the South China Sea, and the Yue. The barbarians there paid tribute to the state of Chu every year. Ivory, pearls, gold, rhino skin, all rare treasures.

"Jing'er once said that a big city should be built in the south of Xia to prevent the Qin State Boat Division from going south." Thinking of Tonglu Mountain, Xiong Yuan couldn't help but remember the words of the crown, which was said by the crown prince to persuade him to make Xiong Jing the crown prince.

"Build a big city in the south of Xiayi?" Several important ministers all looked at Xiong Jing.

"Yes, yes." Xiong Yuan nodded. "The foundation of the Great Chu of the Copper Green Mountain is also not to be lost. If Qin Guozhou Shi goes south down the river......"

"Great King, the Qin State attacked our country and destroyed Han Wei. After destroying Han Wei, you can go south in the Huaishang waters, and you don't need to go down the river. Xiong Yuan didn't know exactly why he wanted to build a city in the south of Xiayi, and when he was groaning, Huang Xie raised an objection at the right time.

"Father, the cement has not yet been completed, and if you want to build a city, you should wait a while." Huang Xie objected, Xiong Yuan naturally looked at his son, this was his opinion. Xiong Jing didn't want to build a city right away.

"What is cement?" Xiong Yuan asked with interest.

"Cement resembles clay. There is fire in the center of the earth, and the burning rock turns into red pulp, and the magma erupts when the ground is cracked, more than thousands of miles high, and its ash covers the sky and the sun. This ash falls, and it can be mixed with water to become a solid stone. "Worried that people don't know the importance of cement, Xiong Jing had to pull the volcanic ash." Use it to build a city, and get twice the result with half the effort. It can also be used underwater, where it can be condensed into solid stone after a few days. ”

"The eruption of the earth-cracking fire magma is indeed more than a thousand miles high, covering the sky and the sun." Taibu Guanji echoed.

"The eldest son can make it with his feet...... Cement? Zuo Tu Zhaohuang asked tentatively, some believing and some not believing.

"The raw materials are complete, the tools are complete, and they can be made." Xiong Jing glanced at his father before answering, and saw that he didn't say anything, so he nodded.

"Great goodness." Zhao Huang praised.

"King, the Qin State asked for a crossbow but couldn't, raised troops to attack me, and it was too late to build a city, what if so?" Obviously, everyone digressed, and Huang Xie hurriedly pulled it back.

"If the Qin army gets my crossbow and cuts me again, what can I do?" Nao asked rhetorically.

"The Qin State asked for the Jing crossbow to kill Zhao, not me." HUANG Xiedao,

"If you are cutting Zhao, how can you kill me?" Zhao Huang interjected. "I, the eldest son of the Chu State, can I be subservient to the Qin State. In this way, if the nations do not despise me, the kingdom of Qi will also go south to be my enemy. ”

"Great King, what Zuo Tu said is very true, you must not submit to the Qin State." Song Yu, who had been silent for a long time, also agreed with Zhao Huang.

"No." When Huang Xie wanted to say something, Xiong Yuan agreed. The promise is heavy, the king is 'no', and the matter is decided.