Xu Cheng recuperated at home for two or three months, during which King Wu sent people to condolence several times, all with many rewards. When spring was approaching, King Wu sent someone to visit Xu Cheng again, only this time he also brought a document.

"King Wu is ready to crusade against the Qi State again." Xu Cheng said in the back room, there were only three of us inside.

"You have to go to war again? If you are not fully healthy, can't you ask King Wu to say that you are not going? Sui'er was particularly worried about Xu Cheng's body.

"The king's order is hard to disobey! I'll take care of my body. We have to discuss the war in the next two days, and we have to go and prepare for it, and we will leave tomorrow. Xu Cheng patted me on the shoulder, "We failed in the last naval battle, and King Wu was unwilling, and this time we will definitely increase our efforts to attack the Qi State." ”

I speculated: "King Wu may join forces with other countries to engage in land warfare this time, because he knows that the naval battle is a loss, and he lost part of his military strength in the last naval battle." ”

Xu Cheng and I drove the carriage to the court for several days, and there were already many ministers gathered inside, and the king of Wu sat in the south of the main hall, and when he saw that everyone had come, he said straight to the point: "The last naval battle hit our Wu country very hard, and the more the widow thought about it, the more unwilling he became, and he was ready to start a war with the Qi country again, and he was ashamed of it." I called everyone here today to discuss this matter, and I don't know what Zhong Aiqing thinks. ”

"The minister thinks that the Yue State should be eliminated first, so that our Wu State can prosper, and the Qi State does not need to be in a hurry to pay attention to it now."

A minister who seemed to be full of wealth should be able to say: "The minister doesn't agree either!" First of all, the customs of Qi and Wu are different, and the language is not comprehensible, even if we get the land of Qi, we can't get along with the Qi people, and we can't serve the people of Qi. And Wu and Yue border each other, the roads are connected, and the customs are the same, the language is the same, we get the land of the Yue country, we can get along with the Yue people, and the people of the Yue country can be served.

The minister heard that now King Goujian of Yue does not pay attention to the taste of eating, does not pay attention to the color of dressing, lies on the salary and tastes the gall, gets close to the people, mourns the dead, and comforts the sick, he is the disease of your henchman King Wu! Just like Pan Geng said, as long as the chaotic people like Yue Guo are eliminated, the Wu State will prosper. And the State of Qi is not harmful to the State of Wu, and the army of the State of Qi is still relatively strong, even if it defeats the State of Qi, it is just a field of stones, what is the use? ”

The minister spoke impassionedly, and when he looked at Wu Wangfucha, his face became ugly, and his eyes were full of anger.

"The minister agrees to this crusade against the Qi State." Another minister spoke, "King Wu can't listen to Wu Zixu's words. The minister thinks that the reason why your order does not work in the Central Plains is precisely because of the Qi and Jin countries. If the king attacked the state of Qi and defeated it, and then moved his troops to the border of the Jin state, the Jin state would definitely bow down to his orders. In this way, the king has subdued two countries in one fell swoop, so that your orders will definitely be implemented in the countries of the Central Plains, and you will be able to dominate the Central Plains! ”

King Wu suddenly smiled, "What Dazai Yao said is extremely true, and the widow has this intention. ”

Wu Zixu said: "If the heavens want to destroy the Wu Kingdom, let the monarch win the battle." If the heavens don't want to destroy the state of Wu, the monarch will not be able to win the battle. ”

"Don't say much! This Qi country is bound to fight! King Wu's tone was filled with an indisputable meaning.

When this man named Wu Zixu heard this, he immediately got up and picked up his clothes, strode out of the court, and said indignantly: "The court of Wu must be full of thorns!" ”

"Absurd!" Wu Wang Longyan was furious.

After discussing with each other, they retreated.

On the way, Xu Cheng asked me: "Brother-in-law, what do you think of this war?" ”

"I think that Wu Zixu's analysis is very reasonable, and I have been observing King Wu's expression just now." I leaned close to Xu Cheng's ear, "King Wu is in a hurry, and he is stubborn and self-serving, and the Kingdom of Wu will be destroyed in his hands sooner or later." ”

It's another spring, and everything is beginning to wake up, including the demons hidden deep in the heart, and this spring is destined to be turbulent.

In order to retaliate against the attacks of the previous vassal states, the State of Qi took the lead in sending troops to attack the State of Lu, and unexpectedly, the old overlord of the Central Plains, the State of Qi, was defeated by the army of the State of Lu. A few months later, King Wu led his army to join forces with the Lu army to attack the state of Qi, and before that, the king of Wu sent Wu Zixu as an envoy to the state of Qi.

After learning this news, the Qi army gathered in the upper reaches of the Wen River in Mount Tai, arranged the main force in the territory of Qi, and relied on the Great Wall to meet the enemy head-on. After a long journey, the combined forces of Wu and Lu traveled north from Suzhou to a place four or five miles away from Ailing. In May, the Wu-Lu coalition army first conquered Bocheng, and then stationed in Yingcheng. Later, we walked for about a day into Wuli Xiazhai, west of Ailing, where we would engage in a final battle with the Qi army.

The strength of the Wu-Lu coalition army and the Qi state was comparable, with about 100,000 troops each. The army of Qi was led by Guoshu in the middle army, Gao Wupi led the army, and Zonglou led the army, while King Wu divided the army into upper, lower, and middle armies, which were commanded by Dafu Xu Menchao, Prince Gu Cao, and Zhan Ru. In addition to this, the king of Wu himself directly controlled one of the most advantageous troops as a reserve for the Wu army.

Xu Cheng's wound did not heal, so King Wu asked him to serve as the deputy general of the army to assist Xu Menchao.

King Wu was ready to let Lu take the lead in Shusun Zhouqiu, so he asked Xu Menchao to lead the army to lure the enemy forward. Gongsun Hui, the general of the Qi army, led the Chinese army to fight against the Shang army commanded by Xu Menchao, and the national secretary helped Gongsun Hui on the side and defeated the Shang army of Wu State, and Xu Menchao, Xu Cheng and others fled. The Qi army won the first battle, and their entire army was in high spirits and let out bursts of cheers.

King Wu couldn't help laughing, "Let you be happy for a while." "That's right, this is exactly his strategy, in the first battle, he deliberately showed weakness to Qi Guo, obviously, Qi Guo took the bait and played into his arms.

In the second battle, King Wu still ordered Xu Menchao to go to meet him, and the Qi general Gongsun Hui decided to fight again because he had defeated Xu Menchao.

"When you wait for your subordinates to be defeated, you dare to come and send them to death?" Gongsun sneered at Xu Menchao with a swagger, and let out a smug laugh.

After Xu Menchao saw Gongsun waving his troops, he pretended to run away, and Gongsun waved immediately chased after him, "Wait for the young general, take your life!" ”

At this time, Lu intercepted Gongsun Zhouqiu halfway and fought with him, Xu Menchao turned around to help Shusun Zhouqiu, "Gongsun Hui, Gongsun Hui, you are too carried away!" Yesterday I tried to defeat you, and today I will take your life! In the shadow of the sword and sword, Xu Menchao beheaded Gongsun Hui, and the Chinese army of Qi saw that the dragons were leaderless, and immediately fled.

In the second battle, the Wu-Lu coalition won.

Qi gradually couldn't bear it, decided to attack the whole army, King Wu ordered the upper, lower, and middle armies to meet the battle, the two sides fought for a long time, it was difficult to distinguish the victory and defeat, but you can feel that the soldiers on both sides are exhausted. At this moment, I suddenly heard the sound of the cymbals on the side of the Wu army, and the sound of gold was loud, and I saw that Wu Wangfu sent his relatives to lead the most elite 30,000 troops of Wu State, and shouted: "Kill!" The soldiers of the Wulu coalition army also echoed and shouted "kill", and the sound resounded through the sky, which stimulated the fighting spirit of the soldiers for a while. King Wu led the reserve army to kill from the left side of the battlefield in three ways, isolating the Qi soldiers in three places, so that the Qi army could not take care of each other from the enemy.

The 30,000 elite soldiers of King Wu have long been ready to go, this dispatch, 10,000 horses galloping, like a torrent of fierce beasts, the heavens and the earth are shaken, the battlefield is dusty, wrapped in an overwhelming force, and suddenly rushed towards the Qi army, the Qi army is already exhausted, how can it resist this sudden 30,000 tiger and wolf army? After a while, I saw the battle flags of the Qi army falling one by one, and one of the soldiers was killed. Although most of the soldiers of the Qi army tried their best to resist, after all, they were cowardly and lacked skills, and they did not reserve the rear strength, so they could only be swallowed up by the Wulu coalition army little by little.

The last battle flag of Qi was cut down, and the war was finally over, only to see the corpses of Ai Ling all over the field, blood flowing, and most of the 100,000 troops of Qi were killed and captured except for a few who fled. Not only captured the general of the Chinese army of Qi State, Guoshu and the doctors Gongsun Xia, Lu Qiuming, Chen Shu, Dongguo Shu, etc., but also obtained 800 chariots and more than 3,000 armor.

After the war, the state of Qi hurriedly offered a large number of gold and silk property, and asked for peace with the Wu-Lu coalition army. The Battle of Ailing finally fulfilled his ambition to dominate the Central Plains.