King Chu Wei invited the Xiang clan out of the mountain on the condition that the land of Wuzhong would be sealed as a fief for the Xiang clan, and the Xiang clan could establish a city under Surabaya as a place to govern and lead the town to pacify Baiyue.

With such favorable conditions, the Xiang clan is equivalent to the three major clans of the Chu State in terms of time.

Because, only the three major clans of Zhaoqujing of Chu State can build another city of governance near the capital of Chu State in addition to the exclusive fief. At that time, the capital of Chu was Shouchun, and the next minister was a hundred miles northeast of Shouchun.

The Xiang clan consulted, firstly, based on the feud with the Yue State, and secondly, based on the richness and lofty status of the Wuzhong fiefdom promised by the Chu State, and finally accepted the appeasement of the King of Chu, surrendered to the Chu State, and shouldered the heavy responsibility of pacifying the Baiyue in the southeast and southeastern Lingnan.

In this way, the powerful Xiang clan entered the Chu [***] brigade, making the Chu clan that originally had three families standing side by side have one more family, and the Xiang clan has become one of the four clans.

However, after all, the Xiang clan could not be compared with the three old clans of Zhao, Qu, and Jing of the Chu State.

The three major clans of Zhao, Qu and Jing are all branches and reproductions of the ancient Chu royal family, with deep roots and deep roots, not only the fiefdom is vast, but also always in a dominant position in the court.

The three major clans that have been in power for many years have divided all the power in the court of Chu, and even the king of Chu is helpless.

The people of the Zhao clan generally control the power of Ling Yin and govern state affairs; Most of the Qu clan members are Mo Ao, who controls the military and political affairs of the Chu royal family; Most of the people of the Jing clan are the Great Sima, controlling the customs and defense and lifting [***] affairs.

Among these three clans, Mo Ao's position was originally the highest official position in the Chu State, and it was controlled by the Qu clan for generations, but later King Wu of Chu took advantage of the opportunity of the three major clans to gradually reduce Mo Ao's power, and set Mo Ao and Ling Yin and Da Sima side by side.

Qu Yuan, a famous patriot and great poet in later generations, was a member of the Qu clan of Chu State.

Qu Yuan was belittled by King Chu Huai, not only because the other two clans were jealous of his talent, but also because Qu Yuan had an ambiguous relationship with King Chu Huai's favorite concubine Zheng Sleeve, which caused King Chu Huai's suspicion.

The beauty is often used as a metaphor in "Leaving the Scratch", but it is not just because his surname is noble because of his surname, Qu Yuan's unforgettable Zheng sleeve is probably one of the very important reasons.

The woman who was able to hook up with the king of Chu, and was only exiled without being executed, the power of the Qu clan in the state of Chu can be seen from this.

The Xiang clan entered the court of Chu with military fame, but there was no place for the Xiang clan in the court of Chu at this moment, and the three major families of Zhaoqujing obviously could not give way to the Xiang clan, and even suppressed it repeatedly.

All the Xiang clan can only gain a foothold in the Chu State with their military strength.

The reason why this is so is because whether it is a general who commands the whole army, or a city defense general who leads an army alone, they are all awarded military talismans in wartime to perform their actions, and the Xiang clan does not have any right to speak above the court, so it is difficult to compete with the ministers of the clan who are in high positions and often give orders.

During the Warring States Period, the large armies of various countries came from a variety of sources, and it was never possible for one clan to be independent, and it was very difficult in any country to command the world by virtue of holding military power, let alone a country like Chu that was entangled in many parties.

Therefore, the Xiang clan, which is already nominally counted as one of the four major clans of the Upper Chu State, has never had much say in the court, except for occasionally showing its strength on the battlefield and competing for military merits.

However, in addition to the three major clans of Zhaoqujing, there was also a larger clan than these three clans, the Ruoao clan, and the military and political power of the Chu State at that time was basically in the hands of the Ruoao clan.

However, when King Chuzhuang had just succeeded to the throne, Ruo Ao wanted to replace the royal family and stand on his own, so there was a rebellion, and he was finally suppressed by King Chuzhuang and annihilated the whole family.

But Ruo Ao was not really eradicated. During the reign of King Huai of Chu, Zizhuang, a descendant of the Ruoao clan who was the captain at the time, took advantage of the chaos of King Huai's mediocre government to raise troops in the Dongting area.

At that time, although the state of Chu was still a big and powerful country, it was already a foreign power. Zizhuang's army was like a bamboo, and soon captured all the southern parts of Chu State, and went straight to the national capital Shouchun.

At this time, Xiang Yan of the Xiang clan, that is, Xiang Yu's grandfather, was just a lieutenant of Wu County in Chu State. The more than 20,000 Chu troops led by the main general intercepted and killed Zizhuang's army of less than 10,000 people, but they were defeated.

Xiang Yan rushed back to the Xiang clan, and the He clan selected 8,000 soldiers and handed them over to Xiang Yan solemnly by the patriarch. When the whole country was in turmoil, Xiang Yan did not ask for the king's order, and did not ask for the soldiers, and led 8,000 soldiers to go into battle lightly and began the battle to chase and annihilate the Zizhuang army.

For three years, Xiang Yan led 8,000 Jiangdong soldiers to cross Huaishui, Yueyunmeng, cross Wuling, go down to Xiangshui, enter Dongting, bite the Zizhuang rebels to the death, and after more than 40 battles, large and small, finally annihilated this unusually fierce rebel army cleanly, and presented the head of Zizhuang to the king of Chu.

After this battle, the young commander Xiang Yan became a famous general of the Chu State in one fell swoop, and the eight thousand soldiers of the Xiang clan in Jiangdong became the elite journey of the powerful Chu State in one fell swoop. Xiang Yan also controlled the power of Chu [***], and the Xiang clan began to occupy a place in the court of Chu.

This is the origin of the Xiang clan's eight thousand Jiangdong disciples, but Xiang Yan's eight thousand Jiangdong soldiers have all died out with Xiang Yan when they destroyed Chu in Great Qin, and now the eight thousand Jiangdong soldiers under Xiang Yu's command are modeled after Xiang Yan's eight thousand Jiangdong soldiers.

Great Qin destroyed Chu, Xiang Yan began to win many battles, but in the end he was defeated and killed, not only because the national strength of Chu at that time was indeed far from that of Great Qin, but more importantly, the three major clans of Zhaoqujing were afraid that Xiang Yan would get more rights after completely defeating Great Qin.

Therefore, after the state of Chu saw that it was already able to resist Great Qin, it began to repeatedly attack Xiang Yan above the court and dragged Xiang Yan back. In the end, Wang Jian won the battle and completely sent the state of Chu into the abyss.

After the fall of the Chu State, Great Qin slaughtered most of the nobles of the Chu State, and because Xiang Yan was the general of the Chu State at that time, the Xiang clan was the target of Great Qin's severe attack, in order to kill them all. However, the Xiang clan escaped.

Although the three clans of Zhaoqu Jing also suffered heavy losses, Great Qin did not adopt the attitude of killing them all like the Xiang clan.

As the saying goes, a well-skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and the foundation of these three major clans in Chu for hundreds of years can not be completely uprooted overnight, not to mention that later Daqin adopted a pacification policy for Chu and gave the three clans a chance to recuperate, and the three clans have been licking their wounds.

After Xiang Liang raised his army, the three clans quickly came to the door when they got the news. Xiang Liang knew what the three clans were thinking, but he knew better that it would be impossible for the Xiang clan to defeat Great Qin alone.

The Xiang clan needs the connections and wealth accumulated by these three clans in Chu for hundreds of years, and the three clans of Zhaoqu Jing also need the military combat power of the Xiang clan. The two sides tacitly agreed, and naturally got along well.

Strictly speaking, Xiang Yan's death and even the demise of the Chu State are inseparable from these three major clans, and Xiang Liang is also extremely disgusted with these three clans. But Xiang Liang also knows that there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

Now that the incident has started, no one can leave each other between the four great clans now!

When Xiang Yu heard Xiang Liang's words, his mouth opened and he wanted to say something, but he found that he couldn't find the words to refute Xiang Liang at all, so he snorted but didn't speak.

"Report to the General! The three heads of the family have arrived in the mansion and are waiting in the lobby at the moment! "A guard came in to report.

Xiang Liang waved his hand to let the guards retreat, and said to Xiang Yu, who looked unconvinced: "The elder of the three clans has arrived, my nephew will go with me to meet him, and Hugh will say what he said before." Uncle has his own opinions. ”

"Nephew obeys!" Xiang Yu was reluctant in his heart, but he was still very obedient to Xiang Liang's words, and bowed down to answer the order.

Seeing Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu enter the hall, the patriarch of the three clans of Zhaoqu Jing who was waiting in the hall hurriedly bowed and said, "I've seen the general." "Xiang Yu still doesn't deserve the courtesy of these three patriarchs.

Although the patriarch of the three clans lowered his posture, Xiang Liang did not dare to hold it up, and hurriedly bowed and saluted: "I have seen the three clan elders. ”

The four of them exchanged pleasantries, and then sat down separately. Naturally, there is no seat for Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu is still just a junior at this moment, and he can only stand behind Xiang Liang with a sword.

Zhao Tong, the patriarch of the Zhao clan, Qu Ping, the patriarch of the Qu clan, and Jing Jing, the patriarch of the Jing clan, are all old men in their sixties, although the three major clans are now no longer what they were at the beginning, but they have been pampered for a long time, coupled with their compromise with Daqin, the three clans are not like the Xiang clan like the lost dog Dong Hiding Province, so they are all in good spirits and ruddy complexion.

On the way to receive Xiang Liang's invitation to the three patriarchs, they had secretly exchanged Xiang Liang's intentions for this invitation, but the three of them never got the essentials.

The three major clans belonged to the Xiang clan against Qin, but the Xiang clan was very suspicious of these three clans, and after Xiang Liang was appointed as the county guard, many of the clansmen of the three major clans just got an insignificant idle position, let alone meddling in the army.

The private soldiers and domestic slaves of the three major families were all asked for by Xiang Liang under the pretext of being merged into the Xiang army. Although the three of Zhaotong were not angry, they had nothing to do. People are under the eaves and have to bow their heads.

Otherwise, how could the three Zhaotong people, who were the same generation as Xiang Yan, bow down to Xiang Yan's son Xiang Liang first.

After the three of Zhaotong sat down, although they were anxious, they were silent, since they couldn't guess what Xiang Liang wanted to do, they could only see the move.

Xiang Liang looked at the three Zhaotong people who pretended to be calm in the hall, and said with a smile: "Today, the little nephew invited the three clan elders to the house, and there is really a big matter to discuss. Xiang Liang put his posture very low, but he is indeed the junior of the three Zhaotong, and it is understandable to call himself a little nephew.

"Oh? I don't know what the general said about the big thing? The three of Zhaotong looked at each other silently, and Zhaotong asked.

At this moment, facing the powerful Xiang clan, it is obvious that the three clans of Zhaoqu and Jing have formed an alliance.

(To be continued)