Zhang Yi didn't know the crown prince Mi Huai, and thought that his identity was just a member of one of the four major families of Qu, Jing, Zhao, and Wan, and no matter how powerful those people were, they were just courtiers, and they were opponents that Zhang Yi had to face if he wanted to exert his strength in the Chu State.

Zhang Yi thought to herself: "Why bother to show them mercy, today is just the right time to refute it in court, so as to show your talent, let the King of Chu know the true talent, and let the nobles leave an impression that they are not good at bullying." ”

Xiong Shang, the king of Chu, actually had a similar idea to Ling Yin Zhaoyang, he felt that there was no need to snub Zhang Yi by entangling in small etiquette, so he waved his hand at his son Qi Huai, signaling him to stop arguing with Zhang Yi.

Then, he looked very patient and said: "Our Chu country welcomes the arrival of Mr. Zhang Yi, you are the head of the dragon and the head of the Guiguzi, I have long heard of your name, I don't know what to teach the widow. ”

Zhang Yi saw that Xiong Shang, the king of Chu, was more polite, so he was a little angry in his heart, and he ignored the white eyes of the courtiers of Chu State, and replied: "Zhang Yi, the grass people, doesn't dare to give advice. I came to meet the king and wanted to make it clear to the king that the alliance was beneficial and harmless to the state of Chu. I'm just stating my opinion. ”

The king of Chu heard that Zhang Yi wanted to explain the matter of the alliance, which was exactly what he wanted to hear, so he said: "Then please Mr. Zhang Yi tell me, the widow listens." "The king of Chu is still not in a hurry or impatient, and his words are very polite.

Zhang Yi said eloquently: "The alliance is to accumulate the strength of everyone, and to fight against the superpower of Qin, in fact, it is not the most fundamental purpose, and it is the greatest interest for each country to get the opportunity to develop and strengthen its own strength." ”

The King of Chu had always thought that the alliance was a matter of war, but when he heard Zhang Yi's new explanation today, he couldn't help but be interested, and he listened attentively.

Zhang Yi continued: "Although Chu is a big country in the south, no one needs to be afraid, however, if you think that you are strong and cannot see the progress of your neighbors, you will make the mistake of resting on your laurels. Today, when it is a conquest, no country can be exempted, so how can the state of Chu be alone. ”

Zhang Yi's words are very reasonable, and it can be said that one stone stirs up a thousand waves. Wang Xiongshang has been in power all his life, and of course he understands the deep meaning. However, Zhang Yi's words sounded a little harsh from another aspect, because the implicit meaning was: Chu has a problem of resting on its laurels, and this problem must be changed, because the development of the situation does not allow it.

When the ministers of the court heard this meaning, they immediately began to talk about it, and many people showed a look of disgrief.

Among them, the courtier who followed the crown prince Mi Huai to reprimand Zhang Yi just now felt that it was the opportunity to make a big fuss about the disgust of the courtiers, so he actively stood up.

He said: "Okay, you Zhang Yi, you are bold nonsense, how can our Chu State rest on its laurels, it is you Central Plains people who are arrogant and arrogant, and look down on us." At the beginning, Wu Qi was in chaos in the Chu State, which was a huge disaster, and the civil strife continued, and today it is your turn to make a big statement here. As everyone knows, among the countries of the Central Plains, which of you is not our defeated general. ”

Zhang Yi was tepid and asked, "This benevolent brother has repeatedly reprimanded Zhang Yi without asking you which 'master' you are." ”

The man raised his head, his eyes showed disdain, and said: "In Xia Bucai, the senior doctor of Chu State, Qu Mu, is also." ”

Zhang Yi heard his introduction, and did not take the initiative to show courtesy, he saw that Qu Mu repeatedly embarrassed himself, and was determined to refute him at once and embarrass him.

Zhang Yi said: "I am not from the Chu State, but the history of the Chu State is also known one or two, you can tell me, is the Chu State that won the Central Plains during the reign of King Chu Zhuang two hundred years ago strong, or is the Chu State strong today?" I think you must agree with my judgment and be stronger then. ”

Most people in the court listened to Zhang Yi's words, and although they didn't like the way Zhang Yi and others spoke, they still recognized his judgment and nodded yes.

Zhang Yi showed his eloquence and continued: "However, in the past few decades, the state of Chu has not been strong, think about the era of King Chu more than fifty years ago, because of the introduction of Wu Qi and the change of law, it was also powerful, which made the princes of the world frightened. ”

"The root cause of the strength of the era of King Chu is that the talents of other countries were introduced and used by Chu, thus creating a new situation. It is a pity that after the death of Wang Xian of Chu, Wu Qi's reform came to a halt, which caused even greater chaos, and Chu lost the opportunity to win the Central Plains again. ”

Zhang Yi said his point of view in one breath, he was probably aggrieved and suppressed for too long, and he never had the opportunity to state his point of view completely and in detail, so he seemed generous and upright, and almost did not add any politeness between his words.

Moreover, he felt that speaking outright was more moving, especially for the King of Chu, and he must be clear about these causes and consequences. Therefore, he deliberately sang the opposite tone and strongly admired Wu Qi's contribution to the Chu State.

Sure enough, after listening to Zhang Yi's words, Xiong Shang, the king of Chu, nodded slightly, he was not a fool, and he had a clear judgment on the strength and status of Chu among the princes today.

Not really! If the state of Chu was really strong enough to dominate the princes as Qu Mu said, why did it repeatedly return from defeat at Wuguan at the junction of Qin and Chu, and gradually became at a disadvantage in the struggle with Qin for control of Bashu.

The king of Chu became interested in Zhang Yi's introduction of external talents, and he asked: "Listening to what Mr. Zhang Yi said, it seems that you have an opinion on the use of foreigners in our country, but there are often few people who are afraid that no one can use them, so I wonder if you can recommend a few contemporary celebrities who can be of great use." ”

Zhang Yi raised his head slightly, his eyes looked directly at the King of Chu, he made up his mind to fight once, so he replied bluntly: "Although I, Zhang Yi, am not talented, I am confident that I have some talents, which can be used by the Chu State, but I don't know if the king is willing to give me a chance." ”

Zhang Yi's words were obviously recommending himself, and none of the courtiers present expected him to be so straightforward, so they were stunned on the spot.

The crown prince Mihuai, the doctor Qu Mu, including the old Cheng and the serious Ling Yin Zhaoyang, all felt that Zhang Yi was ashamed of his words and was suspected of boasting, especially the prince Mihuai, who didn't like Zhang Yi even more, and said in his heart: "This kind of self-contained and outrageous person, stay in my Chu country, isn't that a scourge?" ”

Only Xiong Shang, the king of Chu, was very interested in Zhang Yi's self-recommendation, he laughed loudly, and said: "Okay, good, the widow likes a happy person like you, welcome Mr. Zhang Yi to stay in my Chu country, and the widow will ask for advice from time to time." ”

The words of Xiong Shang, the king of Chu, made many people feel unhappy, and the crown prince Qi Huaixin said: "What's wrong with my father today, so much importance to an outsider who has just arrived in Chu State, is it true that our Chu State does not have usable talents?" He was particularly unconvinced.

The prince Mi Huai didn't understand the reason: Xiong Shang, the king of Chu, wooed Zhang Yi, first, he felt that he was talented, and he was of great use, and the more he reached his old age, the more he felt that the Chu dynasty had too many shortcomings, especially being controlled by the nobles, it was difficult to improve, so he deeply agreed with Zhang Yi's introduction of talents.

The second is that he also took a fancy to the relationship between Zhang Yi and Su Qin, and keeping Zhang Yi also shows that Chu intends to join the Hezong Alliance? Although it is not certain whether you want to actually join the EU, it is always a good choice to advance and retreat freely, so why not?

Zhang Yi listened to the words of approval of the king of Chu, and his face showed relief that could not be concealed, at this moment, he bowed to the ground and said: "Minister Zhang Yi is willing to serve the state of Chu and do his best to help the state of Chu dominate the princes." The minister brought Su Qin's letter and asked the king to look at it. ”

Zhang Yi only later showed Su Qin's letter to the king of Chu, obviously unwilling to touch the light of his senior brother, he was still in the stage of arrogance at this time, confident that with his own ability, he could break through the world, so he disdained to take out Su Qin's letter to the king of Chu first to increase his weight.

The king of Chu let out an "oh", waved his hand, and asked the eunuchs around him to go to the court to take the letter presented by Zhang Yi and present it. King Chu took a cursory look at it, and the smile on his face became even stronger, because he felt that it was a good move to keep Zhang Yi.

Xiong Shang, the king of Chu, said: "I have other political affairs today, Mr. Zhang Yi may wish to take a rest in the high-ranking official residence of Chu for the time being, and wait until the widow has finished dealing with the political affairs in his hands, and then talk to Mr. in detail." ”

Zhang Yi heard that Xiong Shang, the king of Chu, intended to listen more carefully to his own policies for governing the country, and of course he was overjoyed in his heart. He hurriedly bowed down and bowed again, thanking the king of Chu.

Subsequently, the king of Chu ordered Jingchi to lead Zhang Yi and arranged him in the official house in the west of Yingdu City. Zhang Yi's wife Yao Yue waited outside the palace for more than an hour, and when she saw her husband finally coming out of the palace, she still had a smile on her face, and guessed: "He must have been very happy when he saw the King of Chu, otherwise how could he be so happy." ”

The husband and wife came to the upper house of the official house, and saw that the arranged residence was a small courtyard, which was planted with strange flowers and plants unique to the south, fragrant, and the houses in the upper house were all made of hard nanmu, which was ventilated and bright, comfortable and pleasant.

After Zhang Yi and his wife settled down, Zhang Yi introduced to his wife a brief experience of meeting the king of Chu, when Yao Yue heard that the king of Chu intended to listen to Zhang Yi's advice in detail, and might reuse him, she was so happy that she smiled like a child, she saw her husband's future to get ahead, and her husband's joy was naturally transformed into her joy.

Zhang Yi and his wife lived in the upper house for two days full of joy, waiting for the summons of the king of Chu, who knows, the king of Chu did not send an edict to summon Zhang Yi, but the state of Chu ordered Yin Zhaoyang to send someone to find Zhang Yi.

That person was the steward of Ling Yin's Mansion, and he was ordered by his master Zhaoyang to send Zhang Yi an invitation card and invite him to the dinner held in Ling Yin's Mansion that night. Zhang Yi accepted the invitation and agreed without hesitation. Because he had already calculated that only by befriending this high-ranking and powerful Zhaoyang could he gain a firm foothold in the Chu State.