Chapter 332 It’s only a few hundred dan a month, what a waste of money!

Author: I slept until I woke up in the afternoon

Chapter 332 It’s only a few hundred dan a month, what a waste of money!

No matter what era it is, noble men always want to be coaxed.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, aristocratic men with the power to govern fiefdoms were called nobles, and they held land and soldiers;

In the feudal monarchy era that began in the Qin and Han dynasties, the aristocratic lords who were deprived of the right to govern their fiefdoms were called gentry, and they controlled the inheritance of knowledge and their disciples and officials;

Later, the aristocrats who were completely deprived of their fiefdoms were called consortiums. They controlled the lifeblood of a country by relying on their unparalleled wealth;

Later, people found weapons to suppress these noble lords. At least they were so vulnerable when they were causing chaos in a country.

But in the era before that, these noble men had to be coaxed. Once they deserted, the country would fall into chaos.

The State of Chu is a country built on countless noble lords.

Since the Chu State was self-proclaimed king and lacked authority, it had no choice but to win over the people through enfeoffment in the large territory it occupied in the south.

Among them, the subjects of enfeoffment were often mainly clansmen, followed by meritorious officials, in order to eliminate the residual influence of the conquered nobles on the land. Therefore, a group of nobles from the Chu royal family, headed by the three major families of Qu, Jing, and Zhao, were born.

.

However, transportation in the south at that time was extremely inconvenient, and many lands could even be said to be barbaric. The king of Chu had to enfeoff such vast land on a large scale. As a result, batches of nobles appeared, relying on the power of the Chu State.

It sucks blood from its body to strengthen itself.

When the Chu State was strong, the King of Chu could rely on his power to intimidate these nobles. However, as the Chu State gradually declined, these nobles united to fight against the Chu State, openly opposing the king's orders that were not beneficial to him.

Generation after generation, the kings of Chu have not thought about eradicating this phenomenon, but even if King Chu Mourning and Wu Qi jointly destroyed more than 70 nobles, it was still to no avail. What we ushered in was a crazy counterattack by the nobles. In the end, King Chu Mourning

He died of illness and was executed by Wu Fu.

King Huai of Chu also tried to reform, and he won over the nobles such as Qu, Jing, and Zhao who had the same blood as the Chu royal family. He promoted Qu Gai and Jing Cui to generals and assumed military power; Zhaoyang was appointed as Ling Yin and regent;

Qu Yuan was appointed as Zuo Tu, in charge of foreign affairs.

But in the end, it came to nothing.

At this moment, Chun Shen Jun once again had the urge to carry out reforms to eliminate the disadvantages of aristocratic autonomy in Chu State.

When news came that Han and Wei had suffered heavy losses one after another, it triggered a turmoil among the Chu army.

Chun Shenjun looked at the letters piling up on his desk in front of him, claiming to be sick. The veins on his forehead bulged, as if they were about to burst out.

What does it mean to be seriously ill and unable to march, so that the tribesmen can march with the army with their soldiers and horses?

Without the approval of these nobles, if he could mobilize the soldiers under these nobles to take a step forward, he would not be called Chun Shen Jun, but Chun Shen Hou.

The King of Chu will be very happy that he has solved this problem that Chu has been unable to solve for hundreds of years, but the problem is that he can't do it!

And the most irritating thing was that there were so many letters complaining about illness that he could hardly keep them on his desk!

"You are also from a large clan. Do you know if there is a good doctor in your clan?"

Chun Shenjun looked at the people in the tent, but most of them had their heads lowered, silent, or thinking hard.

Not to mention that they have no way, even if there is a way to temporarily force the nobles to send troops, they cannot say it. No one can bear the revenge of the nobles, not even the King of Chu, let alone them?

Furthermore, how many of the people present are not nobles?

Seeing everyone shaking their heads in silence, Lord Chun Shen's anger became even more intense.

Looking at Lord Chun Shen's terrifyingly dark face, all the generals in the tent lowered their heads consciously, for fear of suffering an unreasonable disaster.

In the end, Lord Chun Shen had no choice but to leave behind those nobles who were unwilling to advance further and led the remaining 200,000 Chu troops north to Quwo.

But the nobles who stayed behind were not without cost. Chun Shenjun personally went to the camps of these nobles and negotiated with them face to face.

The nobles were very confident, knowing that Lord Chun Shen did not dare to attack them, but they did not want to really break up with Lord Chun Shen.

After some wrangling, the two parties reached an agreement.

Chun Shenjun drafted a military order, allowing the 100,000 troops led by this part of the nobles not to go to Quwo but to continue stationed on the south bank of the Xishui River, but they must take advantage of the situation to send troops to attack Nanyang.

And on the south bank of the Xian River, in the Chu army’s camp

The nobles who had been negotiating forcefully with Lord Chun Shen a moment ago suddenly changed their attitude, served fine wines and delicacies, and invited an extraordinary envoy of the Qin State to the banquet.

"As Lord Gangcheng expected, Lord Chunshen really asked us to invade Nanyang."

Several nobles bowed and saluted the Qin envoy, showing admiration on their faces.

If Mr. Chun Shen knew that the tough nobleman who had not been polite to him just now was so respectful to a Qin secret envoy, I don't know how he would feel.

However, this Qin secret envoy is indeed admirable in terms of identity, qualifications and abilities.

He was Cai Ze, Gangchengjun of the Qin State. He served as prime minister after Fan Ju during the reign of King Zhaoxiang and was famous for his eloquence skills.

Half a month ago, Cai Ze was sent to Nanyang by Lu Buwei. With the help of Luo Wang, he secretly sent an envoy to the Chu camp. However, Cai Ze's destination was not Chun Shenjun's Chu army camp, but the camps of the nobles.

However, nobles are also divided into factions.

There is the clan sect headed by the three great clans of Qu, Jing, and Zhao who have the blood of the Chu royal family, there is the martial arts sect headed by the three great clans of Xiang, Ji, and Zhong who have established their clans through military exploits, and the rest is the Zhuhe sect.

The clan faction and the martial arts faction agreed that they wanted to conquer the Qin State and at least regain the western territory of the former Chu State, while the Zhuhe faction was unwilling to send troops to fight and lose the family's strength.

Therefore, the first people Cai Ze found were these nobles of the Harmony Faction.

Cai Ze persuaded the Zhuhe faction to confess his illness, and guessed that Lord Chun Shen would ask the nobles of the Zhuhe faction to invade Nanyang, so these nobles became more convinced of Cai Ze.

Cai Ze and the nobles of the peace faction were chatting and laughing at the banquet, drinking and having fun. After drinking for three rounds, Cai Ze couldn't help but joked: "Let me tell you, what's the use of fighting with your life?"

"You are not the confidants of the King of Chu. If we win, most of the rewards will go to the nobles of the clan sect and the reckless men of the martial arts sect. But what about you?"

"The salary is only a few hundred stones a month, what are you trying to do with your life?"

"It's not Chun Shenjun and his gang who have deceived the king! What's the use of fighting? It's better to listen to music, enjoy dancing and be happy!"

All the noble generals of the Zhuhe faction also agreed, but the leading few showed hesitation: "However, Lord Chun Shen wants us to invade Nanyang, what should we do?"

Cai Ze patted the head of the Dou family on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Since I predicted the current situation, I naturally have a way to deal with it."

"Prime Minister Lu knows that it is not easy for you, so after communicating with the king, he decided to make a deal with you."

"The State of Qin will temporarily cede the three cities of Chuisha, Rang, and Deng counties. If your soldiers surround them for three to five days, the defenders in the cities will withdraw on their own and hand over the cities."

The noble generals' eyes lit up and they all looked at Cai Ze.

"Three cities? Are King Qin and Lu Xiang really so generous?"

Cai Ze smiled slightly: "Of course."

"It's just that, isn't this a bit too sorry for the king and Chun Shenjun?"

The nobles of the Lord Peace Party still have some conscience in their hearts.

Cai Ze shook his head and began to analyze seriously.

"Let me ask you, what are the conditions for Chun Shenjun to let you stay?"

"Invade Nanyang."

"If you capture three Nanyang cities, does that count as an invasion of Nanyang?"

"This is an overachievement."

Cai Ze asked back: "Then what else can I feel sorry for Chun Shenjun?"

"As for the King of Chu, there will be dozens of boxes of jewelry left in each city." Cai Ze squinted his eyes and took a sip of wine with a smile, "The King of Chu's attack on Qin is nothing more than profit."

"You can't get the city, but you can present more than a dozen boxes of the jewels you got to the King of Chu. Isn't this equivalent to fulfilling the purpose of the King of Chu sending troops?"

"Is this still called sorry for the King of Chu?"

Cai Ze's words made all the leaders and faction nobles stunned for a moment. It seemed reasonable, but why did it sound weird?

"Moreover, our army will leave two thousand armored prisoners in the three cities. You can report to the King of Chu and Lord Chun Shen to behead two thousand Qin soldiers. How great a feat is this?"

"At that time, as the joint commander, the King of Chu will see that the six kingdoms' coalition forces have been repeatedly defeated, but you have defeated the Qin State, so he will definitely reward you heavily and increase your fiefdoms."

"Think about it, King Chu is happy, Lord Chun Shen is also happy, I, Great Qin, are also happy, and you yourself are also happy. Isn't this happy for everyone?"

"But don't forget that when you withdraw your troops in the future, you will return the three cities to Qin."

"good!"

"Come here, take these dishes away from me, slaughter three animals, and hold a Tailao banquet for your husband!"

Seeing the ecstatic expressions of the nobles, Cai Ze also smiled as he no longer felt guilty about being prepared to fish in troubled waters and lie about his military exploits to the King of Chu and Lord Chun Shen.

The peaceful nobles have a conscience, but there are really not many of them.

(2707 words)
Chapter completed!