About half a month later, Mi Rui, Zhang Qigong, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu and their party finally arrived at one of the five capitals of Ba Kingdom, "Jiangzhou".

Jiangzhou is the capital of the Ba family. Among all the Ba people, the Ba family respects the witches who worship ghosts and gods, and has a good relationship with the witch Zhu Rongmai. Through Mi Rui's relationship, Zhang Qigong and Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu

I met the leader of the Ba clan, or the king of the Ba Kingdom, Ba Yi.

This was not the first time that Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu met Ba Jin. In fact, the two had a certain friendship. Therefore, when he learned that Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu was coming to visit, Ba Jin happily ordered his tribe to prepare a banquet to entertain Pingyu Lord.

Xiong Hu.

During this period, Zhang Qigong noticed that Ba Jin was communicating with Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu throughout the whole process and completely ignored him, so he immediately revealed his identity and pretended to be the envoy of Wei.

This surprised Ba Yi, because just as Zhang Qigong guessed, he had indeed mistaken Zhang Qigong for Xiong Hu's subordinate.

"Wei State?"

After taking a deep look at Zhang Qigong, Ba Qi said with unclear meaning: "Could it be that the Wei State in the Central Plains secretly supported the Nanyang Jie people to rob and plunder our Ba people?"

Hearing this, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu secretly sneered, but he still did not forget to fan the flames: "Yes, King Ba, it is the Wei State that kidnapped the people of your country as slaves!"

Although facing the Xiang clan, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu and Zhang Qigong are indeed in the same boat, and they need to work together to tide over the difficulties. However, when the interests of the two countries conflict, Xiong Hu does not hesitate to

He stepped on Zhang Qigong hard.

"Is that so?"

Ba Yi looked at Zhang Qigong with an unkind expression.

In fact, most of the Ba people who were kidnapped by the Nanyang Jie people were Xiang, Fan and other tribesmen living in the north of Badi. Those like the Ba family who lived in the south of Badi did not actually suffer any losses. However,

After all, Ba Yi is the king of the Ba Kingdom. Although the other four tribes are increasingly dissatisfied with Ba's rule, Ba Yi still regards the remaining tribes as his own people, so naturally he cannot accept it.

Facing Ba Jin's unkind gaze, Zhang Qigong calmly glanced at Xiong Hu and said to the latter with a smile: "Mr. Pingyu, Zhang thought that you and I were in the same boat before, so we wouldn't be like this..."

"Heh." Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu smiled lightly and said nothing.

Zhang Qigong didn't care. He turned to Ba Qi and said: "Ba Wang Mingjian, I, the monarch of Wei, can only govern the people of Wei, but not others... The Jie people of Nanyang are not Wei people. They are in your country."

I deeply regret that I have acted so recklessly, but the Jie people are unruly and unwilling to submit to me, the Wei Dynasty, and it will be difficult for our country to restrain them..."

After a pause, he continued: "As for what Mr. Pingyu said, the Wei Dynasty purchased the Ba people captured by the Nanyang Jie people as slaves, which is also one-sided. The Wei Dynasty requires a lot of labor to build the country, and it is not

We will carefully check to see which ethnic group those laborers are from, are they deliberately targeting the people of your country?"

"Do you admit that your Wei State got many young men from our Ba State from the Jie people?" Ba Wei said with a frown.

Zhang Qigong smiled faintly and said calmly: "King Ba also knows that the Jie people are cruel, and we, the Wei Dynasty, are a country of etiquette in the Central Plains. Some are slaves under Jie Zhong, or are slaves in our Wei Dynasty. I feel that I am still in the Wei Dynasty."

Even better, at least we, the people of Wei, will regard the people of your country as "people" instead of... Haha, what do you think? I feel that if it were not for me, the people of Wei, I would believe that the people of your country, the people of Jie

There will be more casualties at the hands of others.”

"..."

Ba Kai's face softened slightly when he heard this, at least his eyes were no longer so hostile, but he still said with dissatisfaction: "I don't agree with your words... I think that just because your country has needs in this area,

The Jie people in Nanyang have repeatedly robbed people from our Ba country. Therefore, my single words cannot completely exempt your country from responsibility."

"Huh?"

Zhang Qigong glanced at Ba Qian a few times in surprise. After all, the truth of "killing only when there is a need" is not something that just anyone can say.

After thinking about it, he smiled and said: "If King Ba insists on blaming all the faults on the Wei Dynasty, then Zhang has nothing to say... But once upon a time, I, the Wei Dynasty, especially in the border area

The people of our country were also plundered by other countries like your country. However, our monarch blamed himself and said that all this was his fault. Because our Wei Dynasty is not strong enough. If our Wei Dynasty were strong enough, how could anyone

Dare to hurt the people of our Wei Dynasty?... Haha, our monarch of the Wei Dynasty will never blame others. Our Majesty once said that in this troubled world where the jungle is strong and the strong eat the weak, being weak is a crime, and you cannot blame others. That is,

King Ba.”

"..."

After listening to Zhang Qigong's slightly sarcastic words, Ba Qi frowned, looking a bit thoughtful.

At this time, Zhang Qigong said with a smile: "Both King Ba and Lord Pingyu just said it wrong. I, the great Wei State, am not the Wei State that regards the Ba people as slaves, but the one that... has occupied

The most powerful country in the world covering half of the Central Plains!" After saying that, he smiled vengefully at Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu and asked: "You don't deny it, Lord Pingyu?"

"..."

Ba Jin looked at Zhang Qigong in shock, and then turned his attention to Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu. He was even more surprised when he saw the latter's awkward and weird expression.

Similar to Xiang Bin, the leader of the Xiang clan, Ba Yi was not too clear about the changes in the Central Plains, so in his mind, Chu was still the powerful country that made Ba Gu uneasy.

A country that even Chu could not defeat, Ba naturally could not afford to offend. Thinking of this, the hostility in Ba Hao's eyes immediately subsided.

Seeing this, Zhang Qigong secretly laughed a few times.

Yes, he took the opportunity to show off the powerful power of the Wei State, just to prevent Ba Yi from underestimating him, lest Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu persuade the Ba family to turn to the Chu State in just a few words.

Just when Ba Yi didn't know how to face Zhang Qigong, several Ba girls helped him out. It turned out that a banquet for Mi Rui, Zhang Qigong, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu and others was ready.

Seeing this, Ba Yi quickly revealed what he had done before and extended a warm invitation: "The clansmen have prepared a sumptuous meal. Why don't you wait while we have a drink and talk in detail? ... The great witch, Lord Pingyu, and this Wei

The envoy of the country."

Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu gritted his teeth and glanced at Zhang Qigong, secretly resenting that he had given the spotlight to this guy. However, at this point, he had no choice but to nod, tacitly admitting that Zhang Qigong was also included in the list of honored guests by the Ba family.

——To be honest, he really had the intention to let the Ba family drive Zhang Qigong away. The reason is self-evident.

It was said to be a feast to welcome the wind, but Ba Jin did not invite too many people and only asked a burly man to accompany him.

Zhang Qigong did not know the identity of the other party, but Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu greeted the visitor with a smile: "General Baman, you are well."

"It turns out to be Mr. Chu Shui." The Ba man, who was called Baman, greeted him with a smile.

Zhang Qigong asked Mi Rui and found out that this man named Baman was a warrior of the Ba clan and also served as the general of the Ba Kingdom. His status in their respective tribes was similar to that of Xiang Chai, a warrior of the Xiang clan who was killed by Yougui.

During the banquet, Baman asked Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu with a smile: "Pingyu Lord, I heard that the warriors of the Xiang clan have been killing foreigners crazily in the territory in recent days. Is it related to you?"

Being on someone else's territory, Xiong Hu naturally knew that he couldn't hide it from others, so he nodded helplessly.

Seeing this, Baman asked out of curiosity: "Did Mr. Pingyu really kill Xiangchai of the Xiang family?" He said with a smile and said: "This is really very satisfying. That guy Xiangchai has always acted arrogantly and domineeringly. I should have long ago."

I just don’t like him, but he is very skilled in martial arts... Mr. Pingyu, I wonder which of your warriors killed him?"

Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu smiled with a stern expression at first, until Baman asked about the person who killed Xiangchai, he reluctantly explained: "It was Mr. Zhang's subordinates who killed him."

Seeing Baman looking at him, Zhang Qigong waved his hands and said with a smile: "The people under my command just killed Xiangcai by luck, which is not worthy of praise... King Baman, Lord Pingyu, let's talk about business first.

Bar?"

He didn't dare to summon a fool like You Gui to such a situation. If the Baman opposite saw the hunting spirit, he would definitely sign with You Gui, and the You Gui guy didn't understand the importance, so he killed the Baman with an axe.

, what was originally a good thing has turned into a completely bad thing.

Based on Zhang Qigong's understanding of ghosts, it is entirely possible for that guy to do it.

Seeing what Zhang Qigong said, Baman had no choice but to put away the idea of ​​meeting the warrior. After exchanging a look with Ba Jin, he nodded and said: "Then let's go to the business first, as Lord Zhang said."

Then, his eyes swept over Zhang Qigong and Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu.

Seeing this, Zhang Qigong smiled and called Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu: "Pingyu Lord, how about you come first?"

Seeing the malicious smile on Zhang Qigong's face, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu secretly hated him, but he had no choice. After all, in the current situation, he really couldn't drive Zhang Qigong away.

What's more important is that there is no point in driving Zhang Qigong away. After all, I believe this important minister of Wei has already guessed his intention of coming to Bashu.

Therefore, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu simply pretended that Zhang Qigong did not exist, and told Ba Yi and Ba Man exactly what he wanted to do.

That is to say, they hope that Ba will join the "Qi-Chu Alliance" and jointly fight against Wei.

Some people may ask, isn't Chu's goal to capture Bashu? Why did it invite Ba to join the alliance?

In fact, "capture Bashu" was only the last resort of the Chu State. After all, the Ba State had Wu Mountain, the great river and the natural chasm, and the Shu State had the dangers of the Shu Road. How could it be so easy to capture?

Hundreds of years ago, the Chu State gave up its continued attack on the Ba State and changed its mind to expand eastward. In fact, there were related factors - that is, the land of Bashu was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

If the goal can be achieved through diplomacy, why should we resort to war?

What if it takes two years, and instead of defeating Bashu, Chu's troops are restrained, while Wei over there begins to retaliate against Qi and Chu, then it can be said that it is a waste of money.

Therefore, Chu State's current diplomatic strategy is still to negotiate with Bashu and Bashu, trying to bring these two countries into the "Qi-Chu Alliance" as much as possible.

If only one of the two countries is willing to join the alliance, then if Shu joins, it will unite with Shu to attack Ba, and if Ba joins, it will unite with Ba to attack Shu.

As for both countries being unwilling to join, that would naturally be the worst outcome.

When the time comes, Chu will have no choice but to wage war against Bashu and Bashu. Even if it requires human lives, the chasm must be leveled and the two countries captured, laying the foundation for Chu's future war with Wei.

Because of this, even though Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu had realized that Lord Chu Shui had the intention of borrowing a knife to kill someone, he still took the risk and came to Jiangzhou in order to show his greatest sincerity and hope to persuade the leader of the Ba family, Ba Jin.

"...The Chu State wants to unite with our Ba State to resist the Wei State? It seems that Master Zhang is not just talking nonsense when he says that the Wei State is "the strongest in the world"..."

After listening to Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's words, Ba Jin glanced at Zhang Qigong and saw that the latter was pouring himself a drink. He did not feel the slightest emotion because of Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's words, and he couldn't help but feel solemn.

"Then... I wonder what Mr. Zhang's purpose is?" Ba Wei asked Zhang Qigong to test him.

After hearing this, Zhang Qigong did not immediately answer Ba Yi, but asked Ba Yi: "Does King Ba not agree to an alliance with Chu?"

"this……"

Ba Jin frowned and said, "I have to think carefully about things like this."

Seeing this, Zhang Qigong smiled maliciously and said deliberately: "I would like to advise King Ba to agree to form an alliance with Chu... If your country is unwilling to ally with Chu, then Chu will definitely unite with Shu.
To be continued...