"Report to the Prime Minister that Peng Ze has fallen."

When someone reported this news to Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng, the Prime Minister of Chu State, Xiong Sheng, who was planning military expenditures in the house, suddenly changed his face in shock.

You must know that the "Chaisang-Pengze Defense Line" is the last line of defense of the Chu State. If this line of defense is captured by the Wei army, the Chu State will be unable to resist the attack of hundreds of thousands of Wei troops.

Because of this, even people like Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng turned pale when they heard the bad news, and cold sweat broke out on their foreheads.

After a long time, Liyang Lord Xiong Sheng calmed down a little and asked: "Where is Shouling Lord?"

The soldiers who came to report clasped their fists and said: "According to what the wounded soldiers who fled back to Pengli said, Lord Shouling wanted to die in the city, but after being stopped by his subordinates, he was tied to a warship and crossed the Daze by boat.

However, the specific whereabouts are unknown at the moment, most of them are in the water village on the south bank of Daze."

"call--"

Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Lord Shouling Jingyun was not killed in this war, nor did he surrender to the Wei army. This was a great blessing among misfortunes. Otherwise, Chu State would have lost another outstanding general.

However, when he thought of the fall of Pengze County, Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng couldn't help but feel despair. After waving his hand to dismiss the soldier, he leaned back on his seat and sat paralyzed, murmuring to himself: "God really wants to

Are you going to kill me, Dachu?"

I don't know how long it took, but he suddenly realized something. He took a deep breath to cheer up, then stood up and walked out of the house.

Yes, now is not the time to be negative. He should immediately report this bad news to his monarch Xiong Tuo of Chu State and discuss countermeasures.

The palace where King Xiong Tuo of Chu now lives was the original palace of Peng Lijun Xiong Zheng.

Although it is said to be a prince's mansion, the palaces and pavilions inside the mansion are also magnificent, just like a small palace.

It’s no wonder, after all, the Pengli area is originally a place rich in grain in the Chu State. Compared with most places in the Chu State, it is quite prosperous. As the king of this feudal city, the wealth that Peng Li Jun Xiong Zheng had in the past is not as good as that of the past.

Juyang

Jun Xiong Li is inferior - of course, compared to the extremely selfish Ju Yang Jun Xiong Li, Peng Li Jun Xiong Zheng is considered to be the more patriotic among the Xiong family of Chu State. At least in the wars in Chu State over the years, this Yi Jun always responded

The order from the royal capital.

To be precise, the Xiong clan who are still in the Chu State are basically loyal and patriotic. As for the others, they surrendered to the Wei State long ago when the Chu State moved its capital to Pengli, including Ju Yangjun.

Xiong Li’s nephews.

Walking quickly to the main hall of the palace, Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng suddenly stopped because he saw that the door of the palace was closed, and there seemed to be a conversation coming from inside the palace.

"Except for the king, who is in the palace?" Xiong Sheng, Lord of Liyang, asked the soldiers guarding outside the palace.

A soldier replied in a low voice: "The prince is in the palace."

"Prince Xiong Xin?"

Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng was slightly startled.

Immediately, he heard the voice of Prince Xiong Xin coming from the palace: "Father, please think twice!"

Before he finished speaking, Chu King Xiong Tuo's roar came again from the palace: "Get out! Get out!"

"..."

Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng frowned slightly, but before he could say anything, he saw the palace door creaking open, and immediately, Prince Xiong Xin walked out with an ugly look on his face.

"Prince." Xiong Sheng saluted with his hands and fists.

The Prince of Chu, Xiong Xin, seemed not to have expected that Liyang Lord Xiong Sheng was gathering outside the palace. He was startled, and returned the gift with a stern look to Liyang Lord Xiong Sheng, and then left in a hurry.

Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng looked thoughtfully at the leaving figure of Prince Xiong Xin, and then walked into the palace.

In the palace, King Xiong Tuo of Chu was sitting sternly behind the king's desk, with his left hand on the ground and his right hand resting on the knee of his propped up right leg. After hearing the sound of someone walking in, he cursed: "Ignorant man

I’m not telling you—”

Just when he said this, he realized that the person coming was Xiong Sheng, Lord of Liyang, so he breathed out a sigh of relief and said, "It's the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, please come and sit down."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Xiong Sheng, Lord of Liyang, expressed his gratitude with his hands in hand, and walked to the seat on the left side of the hall to sit down, but did not speak for a long time. He probably felt a little embarrassed because he had witnessed the dispute between the monarch and the prince.

In the end, it was King Xiong Tuo of Chu who was the first to speak: "Has the Prime Minister ever bumped into that Zhuzi?"

Of course Xiong Sheng understood that the "Shu Zi" in Xiong Tuo's mouth refers to the prince Xiong Xin. After a slight hesitation, he said: "Uh... I just happened to bump into the prince."

Xiong Tuo nodded and said with a wry smile: "Let the Prime Minister laugh."

After that, before Xiong Sheng asked, he took the initiative to explain: "That Zhuzi wants to persuade me to surrender to Wei..."

"..."

Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng suddenly raised his head and looked at Xiong Tuo, but stopped talking.

After hesitating for a few times, he calmly changed the topic and said, "Could it be that both the king and the prince have learned about the loss of Pengze?"

"Hmm."

King Chu Xiong Tuo nodded.

It was precisely because he learned about the fall of Pengze County that Xiong Tuo's son Xiong Xin came to persuade his father to surrender to Wei.

After all, in the view of Prince Xiong Xin, with the current situation of Chu State, it is extremely difficult to defend the existing land from Wei State's attack. Since it is impossible to protect the country anyway, why not follow the general trend of the world and

What about surrendering to Wei?

It’s not like his Xiong family has no connections in the Wei State. You must know that the monarch of Wei State, Zhao Run, is his cousin Xiong Xin, and the Queen of Wei State, Mi Jiang, is his aunt - this pair of people has the most status in the Wei State.

How could the most powerful couple not be able to preserve the wealth of the Xiong family?

It is no exaggeration to say that as long as Xiong Tuo nods to surrender to the Wei State, he will immediately become a great nobleman of the Wei State, and he will also be a great nobleman at the level of a relative of the emperor.

"The heroes of our ancestors may not necessarily have good descendants. Our Xiong clan is really worse than the last generation..."

Sighing, King Xiong Tuo of Chu stood up, walked to the window with his hands behind his back, looked at the scenery in the garden outside the window, and sighed: "A long time ago, our ancestors drove the Ba people to Wushan, and then conquered Chudong and conquered such a huge territory.

, leaving it to future generations, it’s a pity that the future generations are not filial..."

"..."

Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng remained silent.

Both of them knew that in fact, the Chu State was once very powerful. Even the Chu State thirty or forty years ago was actually still powerful. Otherwise, how could it have the ability to compete with Qi State for the hegemony of the Central Plains?

It’s just that compared to the nobles of Qi State, the nobles of Chu State are mostly self-interested. When they found that not only could they not gain benefits in the "Qi-Chu War", but they would also gain an unknown amount of wealth, the domestic nobles no longer supported the country and Qi.

The country fought against each other, so that Qi won the final victory in the "Qi-Chu Hegemony".

After that, the "Xiong Civil War" broke out in the Chu State due to Runan Jun Xiong Hao, causing Chuxi and Chudong to kill each other. Although at that time, Runan Jun Xiong Hao committed suicide because he did not want the civil war to expand.

But Chu Dong still eliminated some of the more radical civilian generals under Runan Jun Xiong Hao.

It can be said that the old aristocratic forces of Chu State, including Lord Chu Shui, Lord Ju Yang Xiong Li, former Lord Diyang Xiong Shang, etc., dragged down the country time and time again, which made Chu State repeatedly miss opportunities.

In this regard, Wei King Zhao Si was more ruthless than Chu King Xiong Xu.

When Zhao Si of the Wei State came to the throne, the Wei State was also a royal family, and the aristocrats controlled the country. However, through the "Civil War in Daliang" and the "Nanyan Tragedy", King Zhao Si of Wei eradicated some of the royal family and aristocratic forces with thunderous power.

, although these two things are not glorious things, it is undeniable that they have greatly weakened the royal family and nobles in Wei State.

Although in the second half of his life, King Zhao Si of Wei had greatly restrained himself, causing the royal family and nobles to once again hold the court hostage, but even so, the situation was much better than that of Chu.

By the time Wei King Zhao Run succeeded to the throne, the nobles in the Wei Kingdom were already suppressed by the court supported by this monarch. Even the clan was basically ignored by the court, which made Wei King Zhao Run have to do the opposite.

Support the Zhao family to prevent the Zhao royal family from being defeated by the nobles represented by the imperial court.

Precisely because the royal family and aristocratic forces in the Wei State were suppressed to such an extent, the royal order of the monarch Zhao Run became the only voice of the Wei State. Therefore, the Wei State was able to launch the "Six Years of Wei-Han Confrontation" and let the entire Wei people

The belt-tightening supported the country to compete with South Korea, and ultimately succeeded in bringing down South Korea's economy, forcing South Korea to fight against Wei.

Compared with King Zhao Run of Wei, King Xiong Tuo of Chu had too little time. In fact, after he ascended the throne, King Xiong Tuo of Chu also secretly weakened the nobility's control over the country and gradually took back their rights. As long as he was given another twenty years, he would not

, give him another ten years, Xiong Tuo can make Xiong Tuo the only voice in the Chu Kingdom.

It is a pity that Chu State did not have ten more years at that time.

"Prime Minister, in your opinion, can our country of Chu be able to protect the country from being overthrown by the Wei army this time?" Xiong Tuo asked Xiong Shengdao coldly.

"Well--"

Xiong Sheng, Lord of Liyang, felt a chill in his heart. He secretly looked at Xiong Tuo who was standing at the window several times, struggling in his heart.

"It's okay to just say it."

Xiong Tuo turned around and looked at Xiong Sheng.

Looking at Xiong Tuo, Liyang Lord Xiong Sheng hesitated for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said truthfully: "If Pengze can be recaptured, the country will be protected. If not, I'm afraid... the country will be overthrown."

He said something nonsense.

But what I didn't expect was that after hearing what he said, King Xiong Tuo of Chu nodded and said with a smile: "That's right! ... If Pengze is lost, then retake Pengze. It's far from the time to go to Wei."

The country is just begging for mercy!"

After that, he walked behind the king's case, took off his sword from the wall, and walked towards the palace door.

Seeing this, Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng was shocked and asked quickly: "Where is the king going?"

Xiong Tuo, who had walked near the palace gate at this time, looked back at Xiong Sheng, looked calm and said confidently: "Take back Peng Ze!"
To be continued...