Jinguan City, the royal palace.

"King Chu, the Zhou people are menacing, with no less than 300,000 soldiers and horses before and after, and the general who leads the troops is cloudless in the east, and it is even more difficult to reach the might.

Our king fought against it for half a year, 100,000 soldiers and horses were lost, and the king of Baishi fell to the enemy.

Now there are only 30,000 remnants of our country, and they retreated to Jianmen Xiongguan to garrison, so as to barely resist the invasion of the Zhou people.

But the Zhou people are powerful, and with a big country and a small country, Hanzhong is really difficult to resist.

Previously, when our king and the king were in Qianyue, they had a northern expedition together and a friendship with the Zhou people.

Now that our country is in trouble, I hope that the king will help and send troops to rescue.

My king is willing to be a vassal to the Great Chu, please be a vassal, and then be a minister for the next generation, and shield the north for the Great Chu. ”

In the West Pole Palace, the envoy from Han China fell to the ground at this time, and pleaded with Lu Yuan with a sad face.

The state of Zhou was menacing, and in just half a year, it broke through the capital of Han China.

At this time, the land of the three prefectures north of Hanzhong had all fallen.

Only the two prefectures of Xichuan in the south, relying on natural hazards such as Jianmen Xiongguan, could barely resist the invasion from the Zhou State.

However, with the strength of the Zhou State and the majesty of the soldiers and horses, even with the Jianmen Xiongguan as a barrier, Han China is still difficult to resist.

If there is no foreign aid, in the face of the overwhelming Zhou army, Jianmen Xiongguan will not be able to hold out for two months.

And without this Xiongguan, the Zhou people drove straight in, I am afraid that if we don't wait for the end of this year, Han China will follow the mistakes of Xichuan and be destroyed in advance.

In the face of such a catastrophe, Qiao Kangquan was naturally unwilling to accept it.

He abandoned his family and business, traveled thousands of miles to Xichuan, and spent countless energy and resources to finally manage the foundation of Han China.

Now that he is asked to give up like this, how can he be willing in his heart?

But if you want Han China to continue, it is impossible to rely on your own strength.

The only way to ask for foreign aid is to invite a powerful enemy who is strong enough to confront the Zhou State head-on, and let it intervene in this great war to contain the raging aggression of the Zhou people.

Looking around, the only force that meets this requirement is Lu Yuan's Chu State.

Therefore, after escaping back to Jianmen Pass, Qiao Kangquan gathered the remnants of the army on the one hand, and only two prefectures were left in the rear to recruit soldiers and horses.

On the one hand, he sent an envoy to Jinguan City, like Lu Yuan, the king of Chu, who stayed here to ask for help.

So there is this scene in front of us.

"Messenger, get up first."

Lu Yuan glanced at the Hanzhong envoy who was prostrating and pleading below, and then said in a solemn tone: "The wolves of the Zhou people who came to the northern border have always been greedy and ambitious.

When he was in front of Yue, he hooked up with Li Xiong in Shu and brazenly invaded Xichuan, causing Wu'an Hou to lose the battle of Pingshu and had to retreat to Tianmen Mansion.

Later, if it weren't for the hard work of Lone and the King of Hanzhong to repel the Zhou people, at this time, the land of Xichuan would have fallen into the hands of the northerners.

Less than ten years after the strike, the Zhou people tore up the contract again and attacked Han China.

Such acts are truly brutal and rude.

The messenger can rest assured that as long as there is a lonely person, he will never let the Zhou people succeed.

You can go and reply to the king of Hanzhong, and ask him to continue to hold on for a few days, and then he will reorganize the Xichuan soldiers and horses, go north to Jianmen, and help him repel the Zhou people. ”

Lu Yuan did not hesitate to assist Han China.

The Zhou people are now beaten to the sword gate.

What is Jianmen Pass?

It is the first pass in the north of Xichuan, the gateway of Xichuan County, and the border between Xichuan County and Hanzhong County.

If the Zhou people are allowed to take this pass, then the north of Xichuan will be without any dangerous barrier.

The Zhou people controlled this pass, and they could send troops south at any time and drive straight to Xichuan County.

At that time, the Zhou people can attack and retreat, and they will firmly grasp the strategic initiative.

If the Chu State wanted to defend against the Zhou people, it would also have to station heavy troops in Xichuan County, resulting in a large number of soldiers and horses being dragged here and unable to move.

With such an important place, it was naturally impossible for Lu Yuan to watch the Zhou people take it away.

Moreover, the remaining Sword Pavilion and Tongchuan two mansions in Han China are also among the ten mansions in Xichuan, and the only two mansions that are not in the control of the Chu State have long been regarded by him as things in his pocket, and he wants to recover the territory.

Even for the sake of the integrity of one county and ten prefectures in Xichuan, Lu Yuan could not let the Zhou people attack Han China.

Therefore, sending troops to aid has long been a matter that has been decided.

In fact, before this envoy from Han China came, Lu Yuan had already ordered the mobilization of the four old forbidden armies outside Jinguan City, and at the same time asked the county government to prepare grain and grass, ready to go north at any time.

With an army of 80,000, even if there are 300,000 people in Zhou, Lu Yuan is not afraid, confident that he can fight the other party with his elite soldiers.

Not to mention, is there an army of 300,000 Zhou people in the north, is that still a question?

Yes, the Han Chinese envoy said that the Zhou people went south this time, and there were 300,000 soldiers and horses.

But there is no need for others to say much about this, everyone can guess that this is just a means for the other party to bluff and boast as much as possible that the Zhou people are strong, so as to intimidate and want to make the Chu State send troops.

For the soldiers and horses of the Zhou people going south this time, through the exploration of the Imperial City's foreign division, as well as the inference of Lu Yuan's many years of experience in leading the troops, there is already a rough number.

Previously, the Zhou people in Hanzhong County had always maintained a scale of 100,000 soldiers and horses.

And this time, taking advantage of the defeat of Xichuan State, Han China lost an opportunity to be a powerful ally, and the Zhou people drew another 50,000 elite soldiers from the north.

In Hanzhong County, the Zhou people still have about 24,000 county soldiers, which is also a good fighting force.

In this way, a total of 174,000 soldiers, led by Dongfang Wuyun, the general of the Zhou people's Nanzhu State, constituted the main force of the Zhou people's southward march.

In addition, in order to transport grain and grass, it is also for siege consumption, and the Zhou people really sent more than 100,000 people in Hanzhong County.

If you count these people, there were indeed 300,000 people that week.

But that's all in the past.

As the Hanzhong envoy said.

In order to resist the southern invasion of the Zhou people, in order to protect his foundation, Qiao Kangquan, the king of Hanzhong, resisted the Zhou people, but he was extremely resolute.

Previously, in the area of Baishi City, the national capital, 100,000 soldiers and horses were gathered, and they did not fight a decisive battle with the Zhou people head-on, but they were bent on defending this heroic city.

Facing a fortress garrisoned by an innate grandmaster with an army of 100,000, even if the Zhou people had three times as many soldiers and horses as Han China, it was not so easy to gnaw down.

The war lasted from March to September this year, and in order to conquer White Rock City, the two sides fought real fires inside and outside the city.

The 100,000-strong army of Han China was killed and wounded in the city.

The army of Zhou was not much better, and it also suffered heavy casualties, losing more than 100,000 soldiers, many of which were elite.

Under such a heavy setback, it is a question whether the original 300,000 troops of the Zhou State can gather enough 200,000 at this time, and there are only 100,000 elite soldiers left at most.

Lu Yuan marched north with an army of 80,000 recuperated and recharged, and then met with the remnants of Han China. In this way, facing the Zhou army, which is not much different in number from himself, but is tired after a long battle, the chances of victory may be greater.

With this strength, he is naturally not afraid of Zhou Guo.

But if he could, Lu Yuan didn't really want to, and he would face Zhou Guo now.

The Zhou State has now recovered the lost land of Hanzhong County, and after all these years of exploration and enterprising, the territory of the whole country has almost returned to the original land of eight counties.

With such a vast territory, even if the land of Yongzhou occupied by the Zhou State was not as fertile as that of other states, the population under its control was by no means less than 30 million.

With such a huge population base, don't look at the fact that there are only 800,000 soldiers and horses in the Zhou State now, but as long as the other party is willing, it can pull out another 200,000 soldiers and horses with sufficient combat power at any time.

And that's just on the side of the low-level soldiers.

After the Northern Expedition, after nearly ten years of cultivation, the quota of the Eight Pillars General of the Zhou State has already been filled one after another.

Even on this basis, by recruiting domestic Jianghu grandmasters and cultivating them themselves, three additional alternate generals were added, and these were all innate grandmasters.

In other words, there are now eleven innate grandmasters of the Zhou Kingdom.

In terms of quantity alone, it is already twice that of the Chu State.

If Zhou Guo was willing, he could send four or five innate grandmasters south at any time and rush to the Hanzhong battlefield to support.

With so many innate grandmasters gathered, even if it was Lu Yuan, it was quite stressful.

It's not that I'm worried that I won't be able to beat the other party.

With his current strength that the Immortal Dao and Martial Dao are all at the limit, there is not much trouble in dealing with five or six Innate First Realm Grandmasters, and he can even defeat the other party.

But Zhou Guo's side knew that Lu Yuan was fine.

His identity as an immortal cultivator is not a secret in the Zhou Kingdom. It is impossible to win with this sneak attack as it has done in the past.

In this way, it would not be so easy for him to easily kill Zhou Guotian.

And Zhou Guo is inherently not divided, with the number and mobility of the other party, there is no need to confront Lu Yuan head-on.

Each innate grandmaster led tens of thousands of partial teachers, all the way down the Han River into Xiangyang, all the way over the mountains and mountains to attack Xichuan.

These two tricks alone are enough for Chu Guo to drink a pot.

In that way, even if Lu Yuan has extremely strong force, but he really fights each other, kills each other behind enemy lines and destroys each other, and he will lose in the end.

Of course, these are the most extreme options.

As long as the Zhou State and the Chu State do not completely tear their faces and are ready to break everything and start all over again, then these situations will not happen, and all wars will continue to be under control.

But even if it was a war within a controllable range, Lu Yuan didn't want to fight Zhou Guo.

The Zhou State has a population of 30 million, and even if the Chu State now annexes the Xichuan State and plunders some Yi people from the Jianchuan State, the total population is less than 8 million.

The State of Zhou was able to mobilize a million soldiers, and even if the State of Chu mobilized desperately, the soldiers would only be 300,000 at most.

The gap with the two countries, even if the two sides are one-to-one exchange consumption, it is a big loss for the Chu State.

This is the gap in national strength, and it cannot be bridged by relying on one's own strong force.

Therefore, now that he has just opened up a large amount of territory and needs to be digested urgently, Lu Yuan does not want to start a big war with other countries.

Especially the hegemon of the world like Zhou.

And this kind of thinking seems to be not only the state of Chu, but also the state of Zhou in the north, which has just won a big victory, seems to have the same idea.

This can be seen from the fact that after the other party broke through Baishi City, he just went south to the outside of Jianmen Pass, and after tentatively attacking this gate, he did not continue to attack.

The other party didn't seem to be ready to fight a big battle with the Chu State.

Therefore, the harvest of this war was only limited to the recovery of the homeland of Hanzhong County, and there was no sign of further progress.

This makes sense.

After all, not only the Chu State is a group of enemies, but also around China, and there are many strong enemies.

There is Wei in the north and Liang in the east, which are both large countries that are not inferior to Zhou.

In the west of Yongzhou, where the Zhou State is located, there is also a Xiliang State that occupies the land of three counties.

It is also in the southwest of Yongzhou, the snow-capped mountain plateau, which is already part of the outer regions, where millions of snow-capped people live.

The enemy in these two directions can dispatch hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, which can be regarded as a strong enemy of the Zhou State.

With so many enemies entangled, it was not so easy for Zhou Guo to let go of his hands and feet to fight with Chu State.

Of course, the above is just Lu Yuan's speculation based on the information gathered by all parties.

Whether it is specific or not, he has to lead the troops north, and he will know after passing the Zhou people.

……

The envoys of Han China wept when they came, and they were excited when they went, and soon returned to Jianmen Pass with the good news that Chu was willing to send troops.

And it was not long after he left, on the tenth day of the ninth month, that Lu Yuan officially inspected the soldiers and horses outside the Jinguan City and paraded the troops.

In the end, a newly formed forbidden army was left, as well as the county government and county soldiers in Xichuan, with a total of more than 40,000 people staying in the county.

He personally led the remaining 80,000 forbidden troops, as well as the 70,000 people who accompanied him, and led the troops north and drove to Jianmen Pass.

On September 20, Lu Yuan led his army to Jianmen Pass. Qiao Kangquan, the king of Hanzhong, personally went out of the city for ten miles to greet him, and he was treated politely.

The next day, after receiving the news of the large-scale arrival of the Chu army, the Zhou army tested it a little, and after confirming that the enemy was difficult, he immediately sent an envoy to the Chu camp.

"The foreign minister pays a visit to the king of Chu."

In the Chu camp, after being led into the big tent, the envoy of the Zhou people respectfully saluted Lu Yuan.

"Now that you and I are at war, and the messenger is coming to camp at this time, what is the matter?"

Lu Yuan looked up and down the envoy of the Zhou army named Xia Qingxuan, and saw that the other party was an elegant scribe about thirty years old, but under the gentle appearance, there seemed to be a trace of sharpness, and his bearing was quite extraordinary.

Xia Qingxuan arched his hand and solemnly replied: "King Chu, the foreign ministers are here to negotiate peace with your army and strike a truce. ”

Lu Yuan's expression moved: "Peace? ”

Although he had already guessed about Zhou Guo's choice, he was still a little surprised that the other party was so neat and neat.

"Yes, it's peace."

Xia Qingxuan nodded, and then said calmly: "This time, our army went south only to recover the lost land in Hanzhong, and had no intention of competing with the Chu State. Now that the three lost prefectures of Hanzhong have been recovered, and the goal of our country has been achieved, it can be described as a complete achievement.

And between the state of Chu and the state of Zhou, there is actually not much contradiction.

I, the state of Zhou, am satisfied and do not want to continue the war. The king of the two counties must also recuperate.

In that case, why should you and I fight again, and stop the army and negotiate peace, isn't it beautiful? ”

When these words fell, Qiao Kangquan, the king of Hanzhong, who was sitting on the side of the tent, suddenly turned ugly.

The state of Zhou recovered the lost land, and of course it was satisfied.

But when the other party was happy, it was the pain of Han China losing most of the territory of the three prefectures.

It's just that now Han China, which only has two provinces left, is as strong as small countries such as Huichuan and Nongdong in the southwest, with less than 300,000 people and no more than 30,000 soldiers.

With this bit of strength, there is no bargaining chip.

Even if the Zhou people came to negotiate peace at this time, intending to make the territory of Hanzhong they occupied now an established fact, Qiao Kangquan could only watch and couldn't say anything.

In fact, the Zhou people didn't take him seriously at all.

Han China, which previously owned half of the county, still has some value to woo.

But now that the turtle has retracted back to Xichuan, only Han China, the land of Erfu, is left, so it is really dispensable.

Even in the eyes of the Zhou State, Han China, which was like duckweed in the wind at this time, might be directly annexed by the Chu State in a month or two and completely destroyed.

In this way, what value does such a force with imminent demise care about?

Not only Zhou Guo, but in fact, even Lu Yuan didn't take Han China much seriously.

The land of the two provinces that the other party now occupies, he must take it back.

Han China, which has been weakened to the present day, no longer has the value of being a barrier buffer between Zhou and Chu, and Chu no longer needs each other.

Compared with.

Taking the Sword Gate Pass, the gateway to Xichuan, into his own hands would be of greater value and significance to Lu Yuan.

Otherwise, if he handed over the Xichuan Portal to such a weak Han China, he was really worried about when the Zhou State would once again be overwhelmed and enter Xichuan in one go.

If that's the case, it will hit the Chu State seven inches at once.

In order to prevent this kind of thing from happening, he naturally had to put an end to this matter as soon as possible.

But that's all about to be done later.

And for now, it is better to negotiate peace with Zhou Guo as soon as possible and end this war that neither side is willing to fight.

Therefore, after Lu Yuan heard Xia Qingxuan's words, a smile suddenly appeared on his face: "What the envoy said was very lonely. Chu and Zhou ......"

Then, a dialogue that was harmonious but hidden, tough and compromised, went back and forth in the tent.

Until the twilight of the near future, after several hours of negotiations, Xia Qingxuan and Lu Yuan finally reached a relatively unanimous understanding on the various principles and details of the peace talks.

So after seeing that the goal was achieved, Zhou Qingxuan quickly said goodbye and left.

After sending him away, the atmosphere in the big tent suddenly relaxed, and it was not as tense as before.

On the side of the generals of the Chu State, most of them were a little happy.

has been out to fight for more than two years, even if they are these fierce generals who are happy to hear the battle, they are somewhat like Lu Yuan, and their hearts are a little tired.

And at this time, it is naturally happy not to start a war with a great enemy like Zhou Guo, and not to bear the huge pressure of death.

The only thing that is contrary to the surrounding atmosphere is Qiao Kangquan, who has been completely betrayed and has become a loser who can no longer lose.

It's just that he is no longer willing to be angry in his heart, and in the face of Zhou Chu, who is a behemoth that he can't resist, he doesn't dare to express any dissatisfaction.

Even the look on his face must show a stiff joy, try to dissolve himself in the crowd, and appear less conspicuous and prominent.

But even so, after Xia Qingxuan left, Lu Yuan still looked at him at a glance, and then said with a smile: "King of Hanzhong, now that Chu Zhou has called off the army and negotiated peace, the war in the north has subsided, and Han China is already worry-free."

At this rare moment, Lone happens to have something to discuss with you.

For example, the transfer ......"

When Lu Yuan said the last two words, his tone suddenly increased, and his expression became solemn.