The Yue State was originally preparing to mobilize troops to attack the Qi State, but under the lobbying of the Qi State, these mobilized troops soon began to turn their guns and aim at the Chu State. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

In the eighth year of King Chu Wei, in 332 BC, King Wu Wu raised a large army of 100,000 people in the Yue Kingdom, and attacked the Chu State in the west and north directions with the hometown of Wu as the rear.

In March, the main force of the Vietnamese army, led by Wujiang himself, totaling more than 70,000 people, conquered the dangerous Zhaoguan Pass of Chu State and began to march towards Chu State Qunshu. In April, Wujiang conquered Juchao and exhausted the land of Chu State. Subsequently, the king of Yue Wujiang personally pacified the people of Qunshu, left a small number of soldiers to defend, and led the main force of the Yue army to the north to surround Shouchun, an important town in the south of Huainan of Chu State.

The Yue State ordered a partial division led by the prince of the Yue State Budo, and led the army north from the ditch dug by Wu Wangfucha, first bypassing the Xiapi occupied by the Chu army, and then continued to march upstream along the Huaishui. In April, there is no doubt that Zhongli was captured. After the capture of Zhongli, Budo also quickly led the army to continue upstream, and in mid-April, Budo and Wujiang joined forces near Shouchun.

The news of the siege of Shouchun by 100,000 troops of the Yue State worried the King of Chu, who presided over the war against Qi in the Song State. Shouchun, also known as Xia Cai, is the key development area after the relocation of Cai Guo, a large country in Huaishui. As a feudal state personally divided by King Wu of Zhou, Cai Guo itself inherited the advanced culture of the Central Plains. Although Cai was reduced to a vassal of Chu and Wu in the late Spring and Autumn period, all of its own advanced culture developed Shouchun into a fertile land, one of the most developed areas of Chu in the Huai River Valley.

The geographical location of Shouchun itself is also very important, and people at the time called Shouchun "the screen of Jiangdong, the throat of the Central Plains". If Shouchun was occupied by the Yue State, the return journey of the Chu army remaining in the Song State would be completely blocked.

And just after the Yue State attacked the Chu State, the Wei State, which was worried that the Chu State was too strong, struck again. In April, Wei and Korea formed an alliance and began attacking Luyang and Yexian in the north of Chu. And Qi also took advantage of the strength recovered in a short period of time, and re-recruited domestic technical fighters, while confronting Zhao in Jishui, and on the other hand, sent troops south to support Xue Yi.

At this time, the shortcomings of Chu's vast territory as a superpower of this era were exposed. The state of Chu was attacked by the powerful countries of the world in three directions, and soon the forces of the state of Chu began to be overstretched.

In the camp of the Chu army in Fengyi, the king of Chu opened another urgent report sent by Shouchun, and his frowning brows finally relaxed. After Chu's great victory over Qi, his power began to rise. Soon, however, bad news kept coming, and all parts of Chu were attacked by foreign countries. Until recently, he was bored with the constant bad news.

Now, there is finally good news.

The report said that Jiangnan Juntian Ji exhausted a total of 8,000 soldiers in the fiefdom and went north to Shouchun. These 8,000 people were near Shouchun, so that the 100,000 troops of the Yue Kingdom had no way to do anything about them, and they did not dare to attack Shouchun unscrupulously. And the siege of Shouchun was relieved a little.

Although the King of Chu didn't know what method Tian Ji used to do such a thing, hearing such good news still made him feel comfortable.

At the moment of joy, the guards came to report, and Zuo Yin Zhaosui asked to see him.

As soon as Zhao Sui saw the king of Chu, he said to him: "Great king, now the Yue Kingdom is besieging Shouchun, cutting off the passage between our army and Yingdu. Now that we don't have enough money, it will be difficult to entrust the Song State to buy grain. ”

When the King of Chu heard the news, he frowned again. "Then how long will our army have enough food now?" King Chu asked.

"It's enough for our army to eat for half a month." Zhao Sui replied honestly.

Hearing that the situation was so serious, the King of Chu was also silent. Then he asked, "Can't you find Song Guo to be accommodating and hand over the grain to us first?" Could it be that I, a great country in the Chu State, will still be able to repay its debts? ”

"I also mentioned this matter to the Song State Daxing Ziyan, but he said that the Song State maintained absolute neutrality in the wars of various countries, opened its borders, and helped the Chu State to transport grain, which can also be regarded as not daring to offend Qiang Chu; However, if you take the initiative to supply grain and grass to the Chu State, you will really stand on the side of the Chu State in this war. This was contrary to the foreign policy of the Song State. Zhao Sui said.

"Hmph, it's that complicated. The Song State is a businessman, openly maintaining neutrality, but secretly making a lot of money by selling grain to various countries, right? All they value is interests, as long as I, the Chu State, can give them enough benefits, how could the Song State not agree! King Chu said categorically.

At the same time, Zixi summoned Dai Yan to meet in private.

"Ziyan, you see that the war between the following countries is getting more and more fierce today, and sooner or later it will burn on our heads, what do you think we should do?" Since Dai Yan used a neutral foreign policy to help Song Guoda make a windfall, Zixi has become more and more his "younger brother".

"Brother, I think that if the following countries are at war today, and it seems to be chaotic, in fact, they can be clearly divided into three camps. Now it is based on Qi, Wei, and Han, the three powerful countries from Hexi to the East China Sea, plus the Yue Kingdom in the south. The three kingdoms of Qi, Wei, and Han were all great powers that participated in the Xuzhou Xiangwang, and they all recognized the situation under heaven dominated by Wei and Qi; The Yue State in the south was stimulated by the strength of the Chu State and was bewitched by the Qi State to participate in the war against Chu.

The second camp was dominated by the two great powers of Zhao and Chu, both of which refused to recognize the order dominated by King Wei Qi. desperately wanted to attack the two powerful countries of Qi and Wei.

As for the remaining camps, there are the remaining neutrals, that is, the Song Kingdom, the Qin Kingdom in the west, and the Zhongshan and Yan States in the north. Although the two countries of Zhongshan and Yan were now at war, they actually did not want to get involved in the conflict between these two camps, so they fought in the north to make the nations let go of their attention. My Song Kingdom is a country that truly maintains neutrality, and I am satisfied with the hope that the war between the countries of the world will gain some benefits.

And the last remaining Qin State, its mind is not as simple as my Song State. In the younger brother's view, the Qin State was greatly strengthened by the changes led by Qin Xiaogong and Shang Ying. Later, in the first battle of Hexi, Shang Ying led the Qin army to defeat the main force of the Wei army and captured the main general of the Wei army, Gongzi Wei, and the strength of the Qin State was really not to be underestimated. Now that the new monarch of Qin has ascended the throne, it should be a time to make great achievements, but he can still remain neutral when the kingdom of heaven and earth is fiercely fighting, which shows that Qin has a great plan!

In the opinion of the younger brother, the biggest dilemma that the Qin State is currently facing is the threat of the Wei State to its national capital, and the Qin State should want to completely drive the Wei State's forces out of Guanzhong and seize the entire Hexi region of the Wei State! ”

"The Qin State has such great ambitions?" Zixi asked in surprise.

The land west of the river refers to a narrow mountainous area between Luoshui and the Yellow River, and the entire area can almost reach most of the Song Kingdom. Although it has entered the Warring States period at this time, the scene of conquering such a large area of land in a single war has indeed not appeared in this era, and it is no wonder that Zixi is so surprised.

However, in the opinion of Dai Yan, who knows the history of later generations, the Qin State captured the land west of the river, which can be regarded as the smallest ambition of the Qin State in this era. Later, the Qin State swallowed the whole world.

"Of course." Dai Yan said affirmatively. "From the younger brother's point of view, the two camps that are now in full swing can be said to be evenly matched. Although the Yue attack on Chu was a bit overstretched by the scattered forces of Chu, Chu was sure to be able to get out of the unfavorable situation quickly. Once Qin begins to attack Wei, the camps of Qi, Wei, and Han will definitely be defeated! In this great war that determines the direction of the world, we in the Song Kingdom should stand on the side of the victor, so that we can share the greatest benefits. ”

"Are you so sure that the Qin State will be able to defeat the Wei State? You must know that the Wei State defeated the Qin army of hundreds of thousands with 50,000 Wei warriors! Zixi was still a little undecided.

It seems that the people of this era still haven't changed their concepts from the impression that Sanjin is strong. In fact, it is not surprising that since the Spring and Autumn Period, the Jin State has been famous for its courage of "good and tidy", and it has always been the overlord of the Central Plains. And none of the three Jin Han, Zhao, and Wei that inherited the Jin State was a weak country.

Since the three families were divided into Jin, Wei took the lead in changing the law and inherited the hegemony of the Jin State, attacking from all sides, defeating Qi in the east, Qin in the west, Chu in the south, and Zhongshan in the north. Now, although Wei has experienced two defeats with Qi, it is not easy to convince people of this era that Wei's hegemony has declined.

"Brother, but you're worried about being an enemy of Wei?" Dai Yan said the biggest worry in Zixi's heart.

"Yes, my Song Kingdom is surrounded by the Three Kingdoms, and none of the Three Kingdoms is stronger than my Song Kingdom, I really don't dare to be an enemy of them." Zixi sighed.

"Brother, if you are worried that being an enemy of Wei will be detrimental to us, then we might as well not provoke Wei and Qi, and we can directly help Chu to deal with Yue!" Dai Yan persuaded again.

"Yue Guo?" Zixi looked puzzled. "Now that Yue is attacking Chu, it is already an ally of Qi and Wei, if we help Chu to attack Yue, wouldn't it be the same as Qi and Wei?"