On the morning of the second day, King Zhao dressed in a brand-new royal costume and rode a carriage of horses, starting from the Purple Smoke Palace and crossing the familiar avenue. The wheels were babbling, the flags were waving, and King Zhao was surrounded by guards to the main hall of the palace, only to be helped out of the car by the palace supervisor, and then stepped on the dozens of high steps in front of the main hall of the palace.

The vermilion wooden pillars, the golden drape, and the ...... symbolizing power on the high platform in the center have extraordinary significance for King Zhao today.

From the Purple Smoke Palace where he lives to the main hall of the palace, how many times have he repeated this path, and he used to be so calm and natural. But today, King Zhao is solemn and full of emotion.

Sit in the center, and the ministers stand on either side. Through the main hall and through the vermilion carved gate, King Zhao knew that beyond the court, there were thousands of miles of rivers and mountains......

Retracting and pondering, King Zhao said in a deep voice: "Today, the country is in great trouble, causing the society to fall into danger and almost destroy the country!" The restoration of the state of Chu is in sight and it will see the light of day, all thanks to the power of the secretaries! The fault of losing the country, the sin lies in the widow, and the merit of restoring the country belongs to the secretaries. ”

When the ministers saw that King Zhao had such a mind, they were all encouraged by him. King Zhao continued: "In the court today, the widow decided to discuss only two major matters: one is to reward meritorious deeds; The second is to reward Master Qin. ”

The ministers who followed the king of Chu this time mainly included Zixi, Ziqi, Wang Sunyin, Douxin, Douchao, Zigu, Song Mu, Yuanyan, Zhong Jian, Shen Baoxu, etc. Everyone unanimously agreed, Zixi contributed the most, followed by Shen Baoxu.

So King Zhao issued an edict and rewarded him according to his merits. Ren Zixi is Xiangguo (Ling Yin), and the sub-period is Zuo Yin. Because Shen Baoxu has great merit, he wants to worship as the right Yin. He also ordered Xiang Guozixi to preside over the reward of Qin Shi, and was responsible for collecting taxes to enrich the treasury.

However, Shen Baoxu refused to accept the appointment of King Zhao, and played King Zhao and said: "The courtiers weep and ask for Qin Shi, for the sake of the king and Sheji. It's not for my own benefit. The enemy has retreated, the king can restore the country, and the minister's will has been completed, what luxury does the minister have? ”

King Zhao did not allow Shen Baoxu's request, and sent envoys to Shen Baoxu's house three times. Bao Xu's wife was very puzzled and asked her husband: "Mr. worked hard, begged for the teacher, and suffered a lot. Today, the state of Chu can be determined, and Mr. has made great contributions! It is also common sense to be rewarded according to merit. Why should the gentleman be insistent? ”

Bao Xu said: "Madame doesn't know something. At that time, for the sake of my friends, I did not leak the conspiracy of the soldiers, and the private arsonists fled, causing the Chu State to have today's disaster! Is it not my sin to this day? There is a sin of this first. I am ashamed to receive this honor. ”

Mrs. knows that Bao Xu is a pure and good person. It is no longer forced. Bao Xu carried his family with him. Leaving Yingdu, living in seclusion in the mountains, never out.

King Zhao couldn't look for Shen Baoxu everywhere, so he had to give up. In order to praise Bao Xu's merits, King Zhao personally wrote four words: "The Gate of Loyal Ministers".

King Zhao then changed his position to Wang Sun as the right Yin, and said to the ministers: "When you are in the clouds." Encountering thieves, Wang Sun blocked the widow because of the widow, and the widow did not dare to forget it! There are rewards for all the ministers who follow him. They all entered the knighthood and issued an edict to reward Douhuai.

Zi Qi said: "Dou Huai is dissatisfied with the king and wants to do something disobedient, but the king does not take his guilt, which is already a great grace to him, why does the king reward him?" ”

King Zhao said: "Dou Huai avenges his father, it is a filial son's act, can he be a filial son, can't he become a loyal minister?" Besides, his father Dou Chengran has made great contributions to the country, and the first king lost power, and the widow should make up for it. ”

So King Zhao ignored his previous suspicions and let Douhuai be the doctor.

One day, King Zhao went to the court, and the guards outside the court came into the palace to report, saying that the doctor Lan Yinxuan had come to see the king. King Zhao remembered that when he fled to Chengjin that day, Dou Xin met Lan Yinxuan and told King Zhao that he was here, but Lan Yinxuan refused to carry him.

Every time King Zhao thought of this, he hated the root of his teeth, but when he thought about it, they were all fleeing for their lives at that time, and there was a reason for it, so he didn't want to pursue the matter, and he didn't want this guy to fall into the net.

Then King Zhao commanded the guards, "Go and tell him that you dare to ignore the widow that day, and do not want to be in the same boat." Is this what a courtier should do? Thou sinful man who did not flee far away, but today dare to come to see the widow, is thou not thrown into a snare? ”

Lan Yinxuan pretended to be a guard, and said: "The king has been a country for ten years, and he is no longer an ignorant teenager, he is in charge of politics, he is corrupt and immoral, he has lost the heart of the country, and the people of the country are resentful. This is a mistake that the king did not let anyone notice. This time, our country was defeated by Baiju, and Yingdu fell into the hands of the enemy, so that the king lost his country and lost his home. The ministers abandoned the king that day, but hoped that the king would be vigilant. Today, the ministers came to see if the king had repented. If the king does not reflect on his own loss of the country, but only resents the minister's sin of not carrying it that day, it is not a pity for the minister to die! The minister is only sorry for the temple of Chu's sect! ”

Xiangguo Zixi knew Lan Yinxuan's remarks, thinking that King Zhao had just returned to the country and all industries were waiting to be prosperous, the most important thing was to unite people's hearts, so he persuaded: "Although Lan Yinxuan is suspected of quibbling, the minister asks the king to forgive his sins, indicating that the king will not forget the lesson of this failure." The king has just returned to the country, and the people's hearts are to be determined, so please allow the king. ”

King Zhao then announced that Lan Yin Xuan had entered the Hajj, and pardoned him for the sins of being a light monarch and reinstated himself as a doctor.

The ministers were very happy to see that King Zhao was so magnanimous.

It is said that after Zixi rewarded Qin Shi, King Zhao personally went to the east gate of Yingdu and sent Qin generals Zibo and Zihu to lead the army back to China. After completing this major event, King Zhao began his own statecraft.

As a Xiangguo, Zixi has made a careful guess about the current general situation in the world, but he is not optimistic about the current situation in Chu.

First of all, among the subject states, during the reign of Nangwa, due to Nangwa's corruption and immorality, there were not a few subject countries that turned away from the Chu State, resulting in the basic collapse of the protection system of the subject states on the periphery of the Chu State. And between the big powers, although the Qin State helped this time, the alliance between Qin and Chu was not reliable. Shen Baoxu's courtwork account for a lot of personal charisma, rather than being built on the basis of the necessary strategic alliance between the two countries.

And the other princely powers, when the Chu State suffered, none of them helped, causing the Chu State to stand alone against the enemy, if there was no Qin Division out of the customs, the consequences were indeed unimaginable. Wu's growing national strength was a lingering nightmare for Chu.

After some careful consideration, Zixi set his melancholy gaze on the melancholy prince of the southern state of Wu, the Yue Kingdom.

One day, Zixi and King Zhao sat in the council hall of the apse of the Ziyan Palace, Zixi said: "The minister thinks that now the Zhou family is getting weaker and weaker, and the former princes and powers will compete for the overlord under the slogan of 'respecting the king'. Later, with the emergence of more powerful vassal powers, there will be annexation wars between princes, and it will no longer be just for hegemony. Our Chu State has just experienced a great calamity, and the struggle between Wu and Chu will continue. Wu's national strength is now on the rise, and the minister thinks that he wants to resolve the current crisis. It is necessary to ally with the Yue State and restrain the Wu State. ”

King Zhao knew that the Chu State had been newly defeated, and the national strength had been greatly damaged, and if there were no other princes to contain the Wu State, it would indeed be difficult to win with the power of the Chu State and the Wu State alone:

"Now that the country of Yue and the state of Wu are turning against each other, it is just right to take advantage of the fear of the country of Wu and we can form an alliance with the country of Yue. Then communicate with the great powers such as Jin, Qi, and Qin, first strategically isolate Wu, and then slowly try to destroy Wu. ”

Zixi said: "The minister thinks that we should first formulate a planned diplomatic strategy to unite with Vietnam to control Wu. And as an alliance, it is dominated by the marriage of princes. Why didn't the king marry the Yue Kingdom? ”

King Zhao said: "However, the widow is still young, and it is difficult to marry with the Yue Kingdom." ”

Zixi said: "Princess Ji Mi is old. The minister heard that Goujian, the son of the king of Yue, is sixteen this year, and he can be matched. ”

King Zhao shook his head and said, "The widow loves his sister alone, and he can't marry far away from another country." The widow thought that she would follow all the way away, share the joys and sorrows with the widow, and suffered a lot, how could the widow bear to marry her far away? ”

Zixi said: "The king is bad! For the national plan, personal gains and losses should be subordinated to the overall situation of the country. The Yuechu Alliance is the most important strategic move at present, please think twice! ”

King Zhao pondered for a long time and sighed: "Let the widow think about it first. But this matter is very important, and the widow needs to return to the queen mother to understand and see what the queen mother means. ”

Zixi saw that King Zhao was unhappy, and it was not easy to say any more, so he took his leave. King Zhao went to the Qiuqian Palace to see the Empress Dowager Meng Huan. (To be continued......)