Vol 2 Chapter 2299: The Conflict between Chu and Wu, the Age of Emperors

Chapter 2299 The Conflict between Chu and Wu, the Age of Emperors

Chapter 2295: The Conflict between Chu and Wu, the Age of Emperors

Cao Cao was a monarch who was good at accepting advice, but this time even though the vast majority of civil servants opposed it, he decided to act arbitrarily once and still decided to become king.

 The reason is the same as Fan Li said, if you don't become king, you have no chance of winning.

In the eyes of the civil and military officials of the Wei State, if Cao Cao did not dare to proclaim himself king due to the pressure of the Qin Dynasty, this also shows that even Cao Cao himself did not have the confidence to protect the Wei State, so how could he make his subordinates have confidence in him?

Of course, this does not mean that after Cao Cao becomes king, he will have a better chance of winning against Qin, but becoming king can at least inspire people and at the same time strengthen his own belief in persevering to the end.

Since Cao Cao has decided to become king, the matter of marriage cannot be so urgent. He still needs to see Da Qin's reaction before making a decision.

 After all, if Da Qin regrets the engagement after all the betrothal princesses have been given away, wouldn’t it be even more embarrassing for Wei?

Daji had even tried on the princess uniform. When the marriage delegation was about to leave Xuchang, Cao Cao suddenly stopped them. Everyone was confused, but they did not obey orders.

After calling off the peace mission, Cao Cao immediately sent a message to Song and Wu, agreeing that the three countries should respect each other's kings, and proposed that the place of honoring the king be set in Shouchun.

The issue of honoring the king was first initiated by the Song Dynasty. Since Zhao Kuangyin took the initiative, Cao Cao would naturally accept his sentiments, and it was reasonable to set the location in Shouchun.

The three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Wu met in Shouchun City, the capital of the Song Kingdom, and proclaimed themselves kings together. At the same time, they invited their ally Daqin to come and watch the ceremony.

As soon as this news came out, the whole world was shocked.

Ying Hao had just proclaimed himself emperor, and the three allies of Wei, Song, and Wu were all going to proclaim themselves king. Was this agreed upon by Great Qin in advance and agreed upon in advance? Or was it not just the Qin Dynasty that agreed with the spontaneous actions of the three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Wu?

If it’s the former, then the alliance of the four kingdoms of Qin, Wei, Song and Wu will remain as solid as a rock, and the age of emperors will come to an end.

But if it's the latter, can Ying Hao, who aspires to unify the world, tolerate the three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Wu becoming kings? Will the relationship between the four countries collapse and trigger a new round of war between the countries?

No one knew about this, but they all turned their attention to Luoyang in a tacit understanding, quietly waiting for Da Qin's next reaction.

　　————————

The capital of Chu State, Changsha County, Linxiang City.

Linxiang City was too close to the Kingdom of Wu, so it was obviously not suitable for the capital. However, Liu Xiu chose this city as his capital. It was not because he wanted the emperor to guard the country's gates, but because he had no better choice.

Chu State borders many forces, including Shu State in the west, Wu State in the east, Qin and Song Dynasties in the north, and Nanyang natives in the south. Except for the ally Shu State in the west, so it is relatively stable, the other three parties are hostile. power.

Surrounded by many forces, such as Jiangling City in Nanjun, Xiling City in Jiangxia, and other large cities, although they were larger than Linxiang City, they were closer to hostile forces, so they were not as suitable as Linxiang City as the capital.

Of course, since Liu Xiu dared to set his capital in Linxiang City, he was not afraid of Wu's army coming. After all, the Chu State, which owned Jiaozhou, Jiangxia, and half of Jiujiang County, had formed a three-sided siege on Wu State. If the Chu State did not attack the Wu State, Sun Jian would have to burn incense. How could he dare to provoke the Chu State?

 In the palace, the civil and military ministers of Chu State were arranged in two columns on the left and right.

 The civil servants include Deng Yu, Pang Tong, Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue, Liao Li, Liu Ba, Han Song, Liu Xian, Li Mi, Lu Kang, Hong Rengan, Zhufu Yan...

 The generals include Cen Peng, Feng Yi, Gai Yan, Wei Wentong, Gan Ning, Wang Bodang, Chong Heihu, Cui Ying, Jiang Xiong, Ma Yuan, Ma Wu, Ma Cheng, Wei Zhang, Zeng Guofan...

It can be said that it is a gathering of elites and talents.

Liu Xiu looked at the ministers below and said in a deep voice: "My dear friends, what do you think of that traitor Sun Jian who dares to pretend to be king and is determined to send troops to attack me?"

 “I object.”

 “I object.”

 …

 When they learned that Liu Xiu was going to send troops to attack Wu, the ministers below expressed their opposition one after another. After taking turns to persuade Liu Xiu, Liu Xiu gave up the idea.

 In fact, Liu Xiu was just pretending. After all, he was a clan member of the Han Dynasty. He would not be able to support anyone not named Liu who became king and emperor. This was the most basic political correctness.

In addition, after the Battle of Xiangyang, the Shu-Chu coalition suffered a disastrous defeat. Compared to Shu, Chu's losses were not large, but not small. The current main task is to recuperate and completely destroy Wu's strength alone.

Liu Xiu's attitude towards the State of Wu is that if he does not send troops, he will be in peace. Once he sends troops, he will destroy the State of Wu. Otherwise, he will kill the snake but suffer the consequences.

Liu Xiu was not angry about Sun Jian's appointment as king, but was actually a little happy. This also meant that Qin and Wu might part ways because of this.

Chu wants to annex Wu. The biggest obstacle is not Wu or the invincible Sun Wu, but Qin.

It is impossible for Qin and Wu to watch Chu annex Wu. They don't even need to send troops directly. Chen Bing only needs to express his attitude on the border, which can contain Chu's large number of troops and prevent Chu from attacking Wu with all its strength.

There is no conflict of interest between Qin and Wu, and the relationship between the two countries is as solid as a rock. Liu Xiu has been having a headache on how to drive a wedge between the two countries. Unexpectedly, Sun Jian dared to claim the throne now. I guess Great Qin will not be indifferent, right?

Thinking of this, Liu Xiu couldn't help but look forward to it, and even wished that Qin and Wu would break up immediately.

But think about it again, even if Qin and Wu fall out, Chu will still be unable to conquer Wu before it recovers, and if Sun Wu is not solved, even if it conquers Wu, it may not be a sure win.

 At this thought, Liu Xiu couldn't help but feel discouraged, and felt envious and jealous of Sun Jian.

　　Why did such a talented commander never have a chance to meet Liu Xiu?

Except for being tricked by Tao Qian and captured by Zhu Yuanzhang, Sun Wu had never lost a single battle.

Facing opponents such as the Jiangdong princes, Shanyue rebels, Japanese pirates, and the Chu army, Sun Wu was so fierce that he won every battle and won consecutive battles without encountering an opponent.

Famous generals from the Chu State, such as Deng Yu, Gan Ning and others, basically suffered defeats at the hands of Sun Wu. Even if Liu Xiu personally led the army, he could barely remain undefeated.

 Therefore, before the threat of Sun Wu is resolved, even if the Chu State attacks Wu in three ways, it may not be able to destroy Wu in one battle.

 In this regard, Liu Xiu also thought of many ways, such as assassinating Sun Wu, but he never succeeded. Sun Jian attached great importance to Sun Wu's safety.

Since the assassination failed, Liu Xiu could only hope to recruit a commander who could rival Sun Wu, but it was not that easy to recruit. Anyway, this genius commander has not yet appeared.

Liu Xiu decided to make preparations to attack Wu first, and at the same time wait for the new commander to appear. If the new commander did not appear after preparations were made, he would personally lead the army to contain Sun Wu.

No matter how powerful Sun Wu is, he can only block one Chu army by himself. If the other two Chu armies win, they can still annex Wu.

Of course, this method involves gambling. After all, Liu Xiu is not absolutely sure that he will not lose when facing Sun Wu. If he loses, the situation will not be optimistic.

“My lord, as Chi You took the initiative to withdraw his troops and Liu Yu returned to Chengdu with a great victory, the internal fighting in Shu has reached an extremely fierce level. Do we, the great Chu, want to intervene?”

The master's father Yan Jin said that he was also a civil servant recently recruited by Liu Xiu. He was very capable and deeply trusted by Liu Xiu.

Chi You's grand expedition to Shu ended in failure, and it was still due to lack of food.

Of course, in addition to this, there is a secondary reason, that is, in a battle, Chi You was injured by Xing Tian and Liu Er.

This injury made Chi You realize that this expedition to Shu could not be successful. In addition, he was running out of food and grass, so he decisively retreated. Chi You was sure that the Shu army would pursue him, so he set up an ambush halfway, defeated Xing Tian's pursuing army, and calmly retreated to the southern barbarians.

Although Liu Yu did not defeat Chi You, in the eyes of the people of Shu, being able to support the ferocious Chi You to retreat was also a great victory.

Liu Yu was also well versed in propaganda. After winning, he vigorously promoted the victory, which also greatly increased his prestige in the court.

Liu Yu returned to Chengdu with a great victory. After gaining military exploits, his political capital was naturally stronger, and many people in the Shu Kingdom had already turned to Liu Yu.

Although Chen Ping was very capable, he was only a minister, not a monarch. As he said, no matter how hard he tried, he still could not stop Liu Yufang from growing stronger.

In today's Shu Kingdom, the power of the Shu royal family has gradually declined, replaced by the rapidly growing Chengdu royal family.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is just a matter of time for the Chengdu Wang Faction to completely replace the Shu Wang Faction. The difference lies in whether the two factions will go to war.

After hearing what Master Fuyan said, a strange look flashed in Liu Xiu's eyes, and he sneered: "This Liu Yu is really tolerant. Now that he has taken all the advantages, he still doesn't use force to seize power. I really underestimated him at the beginning." ”

After the founding of the Southern Han Dynasty, although Liu Yu was named King of Chengdu, it was just a means for Liu Ji to force him to leave Chengdu. As a defeated dog, Liu Xiu naturally did not take Liu Yu seriously, but he never expected that Liu Yu would have A day of change.

"Liu Ji is no longer here. Chen Ping alone may not be able to defeat Liu Yu."

Liu Xiu's eyes were full of deep color, and he said in a deep voice: "In this internal struggle in Shu, I, the Chu State, do not want to get involved. Let's just treat Liu Yu as a good friend."

Shu is Liu Xiu's most important ally against Qin, but the period of joining forces with Liu Ji was obviously not pleasant for Liu Xiu.

 Liu Ji was too ambitious and suspicious, and always tried to trick his ally in every possible way.

If Shu and Chu could truly trust each other, I am afraid that the Qin army in Jingzhou would not be able to wait for Yue Fei to return, and the battle in Jingbei would have two completely different endings.

Liu Ji only hopes that Liu Yu will not be as short-sighted as Liu Ji, otherwise the revival of the Han Dynasty will really just be a castle in the water.

"My lord, the spies in Luoyang recently sent back news that Liu Bei's two sworn brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, faked their surrender and defected with their advisor Shan Fu. Da Qin has sent a large number of manpower to hunt them down. Do we, the Chu State, want to rescue them? Otherwise they will I’m afraid it will be difficult to escape from Da Qin,” Kuai Yue said.

Liu Xiu's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this. The Chu State was not only in urgent need of talented commanders, but also in urgent need of top generals.

After all, the Wu Kingdom not only had Sun Wu, but also Sun Ce, the little overlord, and the three brothers of the Li family, Li Hu, Li Lu, and Li Yang, who appeared out of nowhere but achieved great success as soon as they were born.

The three brothers of the Li family are each extremely powerful. With the three men joining forces, even Chong Heihu, known as the most powerful general in the Chu Kingdom, was almost killed by the three men's combined attack.

If Cui Ying and Jiang Xiong hadn't taken action in time, Chong Heihu might have died on the spot.

Liu Xiu finally got a war-god-level warrior like Chong Heihu, but he was not willing to let him die on the battlefield so quickly, so he did not dare to fight Wu Guo. Mingjin.

 In the past, the Chu State was not as good as the Wu State in terms of its generals, but now it cannot even compare with its powerful generals, so there is such a strange phenomenon.

Chu's national power is obviously stronger than that of Wu, and it is surrounded by Wu on three sides. Logically speaking, it should be crushed directly. However, in the war with Wu, it was restrained everywhere, so it was naturally eager to recruit more. A fierce general.

Naturally, Liu Xiu was extremely disgusted and even hated Liu Bei. After all, he killed Liu Xie, the orthodox emperor of the Han Dynasty, which not only confirmed the prophecy of "Liu, the one who destroyed the Han Dynasty", but also gave Ying Hao a reason to stand up for himself on behalf of the Han Dynasty. This also made His goal of reviving the Han Dynasty became even more elusive.

However, Liu Xiu didn't hate Liu Bei's two righteous brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei at all. They were both heroes who took righteousness first.

It was obviously better to join the Qin Dynasty, but because of the word "righteousness", they embarked on the road of no return against Qin without hesitation. What the Han Dynasty needs most is this kind of determined person.

"Well, the two warriors Guan and Zhang are extremely brave, so they naturally want to help. If they can all submit to our Chu state, they will not be so passive when facing Wu in the future." Liu Xiu said.

At this moment, Pang Tong stood up and said: "But my lord, could this be a trap by Da Qin? Even if Guan Yu doesn't care about his own life? Doesn't he even care about the lives of Guan's family? My subordinates suspect that there may be something here. Fraud.”

Hearing this, Liu Xiu looked thoughtful. After thinking for a while, he smiled and said, "Mr. Pang is too worried. If Guan Yu really cared about his family, he would not have gone against Ying Hao in the first place.

Ying Hao is good at everything, but he treats his heroes a little too kindly.

　　When Sima Yi rebelled, Ying Hao did not do anything to the Sima family, and now he will not do anything to the Guan family either.

Perhaps Guan Yu dared to surrender and rebel based on this. "

Pang Tong subconsciously wanted to refute, but was speechless. After all, in this era, there are too many people who don't care about their family. Sima Yi and Kong Peng, didn't they all rebel regardless of their family's life and death, so it doesn't matter if there is one more Guan Yu.

 Evidently Liu Xiu was not the only one who had such an idea. Liu Yu was also the same, and he had already sent Wang Yue to rescue Guan Zhang.

The defection of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Shan Fu was naturally the result of Ying Hao's intentional actions.

When Zhang Feicai came out, his anti-Qin heart was not firm. After all, even he himself felt that the death of his eldest brother Liu Bei was a relief.

Ying Hao saw that Zhang Fei did not take the bait, so he asked Xu Shu to guide him indirectly, and told Zhang Fei what Liu Bei said before his death.

When Zhang Fei learned that Liu Bei was still begging for mercy for him and Guan Yu before his death, he was moved and burst into tears. Only with grief and anger did he strengthen his anti-Qin heart.

 Knowing that Zhang Fei was still determined to rebel against Qin, Guan Yu followed the trend and agreed to defect with Zhang Fei and Xu Shu. However, he did not know that Xu Shu was also an undercover agent like him, but Xu Shu knew that Guan Yu was the No. 1 Xuan Zi.

As for Zhang Fei, Liu Xiu and Liu Yu, who were truly anti-Qin, I would never have imagined that there were only three people who defected, and two of them were actually undercover agents.

In order to make this drama more realistic, after Guan Yu defected, Ying Hao ignored the dissuasion of the generals and directly beat Guan Sheng to the end.

This also made the Guan family full of resentment towards Guan Yu, and directly announced that Guan Yu would be expelled from the Guan family tree.

With the assistance of the Guan family, and the fact that Zhang Fei was sincerely anti-Qin, Guan Yu's false surrender and rebellion seemed extremely real, which is why both the Shu and Chu states were rushing to seize the opportunity. rescue.

Just when the attention of all the major forces was attracted by the mutual respect of kings among the three kingdoms and the defection of Guan and Zhang, another bombshell came out from Da Qin.

Emperor Qin Yinghao used Zhang Yi as his envoy to go to Shouchun and sent congratulations to the three countries respectively. The alliance between the four countries remained unchanged.

Not only did Great Qin not oppose it, but it also supported Duke Wu of Wei, Song and Song Dynasties to proclaim himself king. This was something that most people did not expect. It also greatly disappointed Liu Xiu, Zhu Di, Liu Yu, Li Shimin and others who were waiting for the Four Kingdoms Alliance to split.

 The age of emperors is also coming.

 (End of this chapter)