Of course Sun Wu knew that his appearance in today's battle would definitely bring some trouble to Li Ran.
After all, if the King of Chu gave him a large reward, it would run counter to Li Ran's intention to distance himself from the Chu State.
But before he could speak, Li Ran waved his hand slightly towards him, motioning for him to sit down.
Then he heard Li Ran talk to him very plainly:
"Tonight's battle was a beautiful one. For Chang Qing, this is your chance to become famous all over the world."
When Sun Wu heard this, he was shocked and wanted to stand up and kneel down to express his feelings. However, he saw Li Ran reaching out to stop him:
"Changqing, you don't have to be like this... You don't have to feel ashamed because of my brother. Changqing's future achievements will definitely be much better than my brother, who is hiding in a dark corner and playing tricks."
Yes, this title alone is enough to influence Chinese civilization for thousands of years. Why is Li Ran compared to Sun Wu?
"gentlemen……"
"Don't worry, just listen to what I have to say."
When Sun Wu heard this, he felt that Li Ran's words seemed to have a different taste than before. Therefore, he couldn't help but feel a little anxious. He thought that what Li Ran said was an irony out of displeasure.
But Li Ran continued to speak very calmly:
"No matter how the King of Chu bestows rewards on you, Chang Qing, you can accept it. There is no need to refuse. This is what Chang Qing deserves. And isn't this what Chang Qing has been pursuing all these years?"
"When you are born as a human being, you must have some pursuits. It's just that everyone has their own ambitions, so everyone's pursuits are different."
"So don't worry about Brother Wei. If Brother Wei wants to keep a distance from Chu State, hehe, Brother Wei still has a way."
Li Ran thought very clearly, and he had absolutely no reason to stop Sun Wu from moving towards a broader future.
"Mr. Wu Jinji's teachings!"
When Sun Wu heard this, he immediately fell to the ground and kowtowed heavily to Li Ran.
He knew in his heart that Li Ran was untying himself so that he could let go.
"Oh! What is this for?"
"You and I should be treated as brothers, how can we accept such a great gift from the elder as a brother? Get up quickly! Get up quickly!"
Li Ran hurriedly helped him up.
"It's just... Wu is still worried that Mr. Wu will be coerced by the King of Chu because of Wu's achievements today..."
"It doesn't matter, if the King of Chu wants to award you a reward, I will not object to it, but if he wants to award it to me, then I will have ten thousand reasons to refuse. Haha, those thoughts of the King of Chu,
As a brother, how can you not know?"
In fact, at this time, Li Ran was not worried that Sun Wu's reward would affect him. What he was worried about now was actually something else.
And the reason why he looked so solemn when facing Wu Ju just now was actually for this reason.
Now that Zhufan has been defeated, Shu Jiu will fall into the hands of the Chu people sooner or later.
And if the Chu State takes advantage of the victory to pursue it, it will definitely fight with the Wu State.
Therefore, of course, he, Li Ran, had to get involved in the war between the Chu State and the Wu State, a country with the surname Ji.
Although he could resign to the King of Chu, saying that this was a violation of their original agreement.
But at this point, he had already participated in Wu Ju's battle against Wu King Zhu Fan. Wouldn't it be a little too pretentious to mention the previous agreement again?
But what if he doesn't refuse in this way? What about the Zheng State? What about the Jin State? Can Zichan, Yang Yangui and others really solve this matter for him in their respective countries?
"Then what's your plan, sir?"
After hearing this, Sun Wu immediately frowned.
Of course he also knew that the relationship between Wu and Jin was a strategic alliance. Once Li Ran participated in Chu's war against Wu, Li Ran's relationship with the Central Plains countries would become quite delicate.
Coupled with the relationship between Jin and Zheng, Li Ran's tainted effect will be transmitted to Zheng sooner or later.
Li Ran heard Sun Wu ask this, but he could only shake his head, sighed sadly, and did not answer, but his face was covered with a layer of gloom.
It was obvious that this matter was indeed a bit difficult for him.
…
As the Chu army launched a massive attack, the Wu army stationed at Shujiu had no power to resist.
Within three days, the city of Shujiu was broken. The Chu army not only recaptured Shujiu, but also took this opportunity to move the king of Shujiu to the capital of Chu, Ying, completely annihilating Shujiu and directly conquering Shujiu.
Incorporated into the territory of Chu State.
This also corresponds to what Wu Ju said when he ordered his troops. Although Shujiu is not his Chu State's land, it will eventually become his Chu State's land. In fact, it all sounds the same.
As for the State of Wu, because it had directly lost the key stronghold of Shu Jiu, the State of Wu no longer had any advantage when facing the State of Chu. King Zhufan of Wu had no choice but to lead the Wu army to retreat decisively and destroy most of it.
The whole group was broken into pieces, and they started a guerrilla fight with the Chu army in the Jianghuai area.
When it comes to understanding war, King Wu Zhufan is definitely ranked high.
Although the Wu State has lost the opportunity now, in terms of their control over the Jianghuai region, especially the connection between Qunshu and the Wu State, they actually do not have no chance at all.
Zhufan knew this very well, so instead of feeling upset about losing Shu Jiu, he devoted himself more actively to dealing with Chu.
The Jianghuai area is full of high mountains and rivers. It is home to various states and the Wu Kingdom itself. It also has a large number of boat soldiers. These boat soldiers were originally useless for such a large battle between the two armies.
Useful.
But now it plays a very crucial role in the guerrilla war between Wu and Chu.
Whenever the Chu army was about to wipe out one side, these boat soldiers would always appear in time, pick up the Wu infantry on the boat, and then retreat calmly.
Therefore, even though Wu Ju tried every means to pursue and intercept them, he was still unable to catch up with these boat soldiers who could freely come and go in the Jianghuai River Basin. Therefore, this also gave him a headache for a while.
…
One day, Li Ran finally received a reply from Zichan.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In fact, this letter should have arrived long ago.
Just because Li Ran traveled around with the Chu State camp and changed his residence almost every day, this letter was naturally a long time late.
Zichan didn't say much in the letter. After all, he also knew that Li Ran was being targeted by the King of Chu, and he had no choice but to do many things.
However, he also indirectly reminded Li Ran that the strategic alliance between Jin and Wu was the most critical line of defense for maintaining the stability of the world.
Once Wu State is unable to contain Chu State in the south, the situation in the entire Central Plains will become very dangerous.
He also mentioned in the letter that Zhao Wu, the commander-in-chief of Jin's army, and the marquis of Jin were dissatisfied with Li Ran's follow-up to Wu Ju's expedition to Wu.
Even Yang Yangui, who had always had a good relationship with Li Ran, was implicated because of Li Ran's incident, and became the target of public criticism in the Jin court.
Therefore, Zichan wanted Li Ran to grasp the balance carefully, not only to save his own life, but not to destroy the balance of the current situation.
In fact, how could Li Ran not know what Zichan said? If he really has such ability now, then why should he be asking for trouble now?
So, he quickly replied to Zichan with another letter...
Then, he summoned Sun Wu and discussed countermeasures together.
"Sir, call me?"
"Oh, Chang Qing, the reason why I called you here is because I want to advise you on how to end the confrontation between Wu and Chu as soon as possible?"
After hearing this, Sun Wu knew it very well. If Wu and Chu fought fiercely here for a day, Li Ran would not feel at ease.
Moreover, Sun Wu knew very well that there was actually a subtext behind Li Ran's words, which was: how to make both sides stop fighting at the minimum cost.
"Sir, in my opinion, if you want to end the war with Wu as soon as possible, you might as well..."
Sun Wu suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and then a look of solemnity appeared on his face.
Seeing this, Li Ran couldn't help but frown and said:
"Are you sure?"
But as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he felt that his questions were a bit unnecessary.
——
Chapter 244_Methods to end the war
What exactly does Sun Wu mean?
In fact, it is simple to say.
If you want to quickly end the fierce battle between Chu and Wu, there is only one way to go - decide the winner as soon as possible!
The Wu people are absolutely unable to control them. The only bargaining chip they have is the Chu army.
Therefore, the only plan for now is to give Chu a "big victory".
In this way, the Chu army will naturally return to the court and end the war with Wu.
Otherwise, with the current guerrilla strategy formulated by King Wu Zhufan, Wu and Chu could fight in this area for several years without a truce.
Because, since it was a guerrilla war, Wu State did not invest much troops. Moreover, relying on the relationship between Qunshu and Wu State, the Wu Army had a mass base after all. Only relying on those boat soldiers to support them, the Wu Army's guerrilla war losses
Naturally it is very small.
Therefore, the Wu State does not need to care about the heavy burden brought to the country by successive years of war. On the contrary, such battles can still contain the Chu State or even bring it down.
And what about Chu State?
The King of Chu had just ascended the throne, and he had gained the throne unfairly. Now he needed a reasonable excuse to divert domestic conflicts about the succession of the throne.
As the saying goes, "respect yourself if you stay with the invaders", and the ongoing war with Wu is obviously a very suitable reason.
Therefore, the King of Chu will be meeting for a while, and perhaps he hopes that he can continue to consume like this with the Wu State. Anyway, with the stronghold of Shujiu now, he will be able to be self-sufficient sooner or later, so the next supply schedule is very important for him.
As far as I'm concerned, it becomes a trivial matter.
It was just a game of hide-and-seek with Wu Guo in the Jianghuai area. At most, Wu Ju would suffer more.
Therefore, once the two countries cannot decide the winner, there is really no problem in fighting for several years.
So what happened in the end? Qun Shu's people's livelihood was in ruins, and they became a back-and-forth with each other. And Li Ran's "reputation" would be ruined sooner or later.
Now the only way to end this war is for one of the parties to win completely. Only in this way can Li Ran withdraw from this war.
"It's just that if this happens, sir, I'm afraid he will be more severely criticized by the Jin State..."
Sun Wu also understood that once Wu was defeated, Li Ran would definitely be blamed by Jin.
"Then... what if Wu takes the initiative to withdraw its troops?"
Li Ran thought of another possibility.
"Is it possible... to capture Zhufan alive so that Zhufan can retreat on his own initiative?"
If the Wu State took the initiative to withdraw its troops and gave up competing with the Chu State for territory in the Jianghuai area, the war between the two countries would not continue.
But obviously, if you want to do this, it is definitely not that simple.
When Sun Wu heard this, he immediately became interested.
"Sir, if you say this...it's not wrong!"
Sun Wu thought about it and suddenly had an idea.
"Oh? What do you want, Chang Qing?"
Li Ran asked hurriedly.
Just listen to Sun Wudao:
"Wu and the Wu people have fought against each other several times. According to Wu's experience, in any big battle, and it is a big battle that they think they are determined to win, Wu Wang Zhufan will definitely appear in person, and even rush to kill them.
At the forefront.”
"The Battle of Shujiu is the best example."
"Well, King Wu Zhufan was quite dissatisfied with the Chu army before, so he personally led the troops to the forefront several times. If he hadn't been protected in the valley and escaped, I'm afraid he would have been captured by now.
He was captured by the Chu army."
At this point, Sun Wu immediately paused and did not continue.
But even if he didn't say anything, Li Ran already understood.
As Sun Wu had been on the front line, he naturally knew the fighting habits of the Wu people.
Didn’t King Wu Zhufan like to charge into battle the most? Didn’t he like to take full control of the inevitable battle?
Then why not give him a chance? To lure him into the trap?
"A few days ago, the news came from Shu Jiu that the Chu army was robbed three times along its grain road. It seems that Zhufan personally led the army in each of them."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "It seems that it is not difficult to attract Zhu Fan."
After Li Ran heard this, a smile immediately appeared at the corner of his mouth:
"If we can capture Zhufan alive and force him to retreat voluntarily, this battle will naturally not continue, and we will be able to escape intact."
The method was available and feasible, so the two agreed. But in the end, Li Ran emphasized one more point:
"But we must not let Zhufan make any mistakes!"
Yes, capturing Zhufan alive and forcing him to retreat is the best result.
But once Zhufan has something wrong, firstly, when Li Ran faces the Central Plains countries, he will jump into the Yellow River and he will not be able to wash it out. Secondly, this seed of hatred of the Wu Kingdom will sooner or later be a source of disaster.
"So, this matter can only be handled by you, Chang Qing."
"Promise, Wu Dingran will live up to your trust!"
The only person Li Ran can trust now is Sun Wu.
Afterwards, Li Ran immediately turned around and left the camp, and came to the camp of Wu Ju's general, saying that he had a way to capture Zhufan alive.
Of course, he would definitely not tell Wu Ju the real intention of capturing Zhufan alive and forcing him to retreat.
Wu Ju was naturally very happy when he heard that Li Ran could capture Zhu Fan alive.
After all, this battle had taken him several months, and it was freezing cold at the moment. The Chu army and the Wu people kept dealing with each other, but he still couldn't make any progress, and his morale became very low.
txsw
If Zhu Fan could be captured alive, it would not only end this battle, but also allow him to make great contributions to Wu Ju. Therefore, he couldn't wait for Li Ran to speak more clearly.
Li Ran immediately explained the entire plan that had been agreed upon before, and specifically emphasized that the last part of the plan could only be left to Sun Wu.
"Oh? Why can we only let Sun Wu go?"
Wu Ju couldn't help but feel a little vigilant, and couldn't help but frown and ask.
After all, if he hadn't been there in person, the credit for capturing Zhufan alive would naturally be much lighter to him.
"Haha, the doctor should also know what Chang Qing is capable of, right? I would like to ask, who among the doctors can take on such an important task now?"
Indeed, just thinking about it makes you realize how difficult it is to capture Zhu Fan alive.
But among the current Chu army, besides Sun Wu, who else can do this?
Wu Ju thought about it carefully and agreed.
After all, Sun Wu's ability is there. Whether it was the battle between his grandson Wu Yuan and Sun Wu, or the previous battle of Shu Jiu. Sun Wu was first-class in terms of both his personal ability and his ability to command troops.
If this matter had happened to anyone else, he would really be a little worried.
After some thought, Wu Ju immediately made up his mind.
"good!"
"Then let Chang Qing accomplish this unparalleled feat!"
"How many men does he need?"
Wu Ju immediately asked again.
Li Ran was extremely calm at this time and stretched out five fingers.
"Five thousand is enough."
These days, he has been following most of the Chu army to encircle and suppress Wu soldiers. Naturally, he also knows the current strength of Wu army.
The Chu army of 5,000 was able to lure Zhufan to fight in person.
"Hmm... when are you going to take action?"
"In twenty days."
It turns out that twenty days later will be the birthday of the first king of Wu State, which is also the memorial day of Wu King Zhufan’s biological father. The reason why Sun Wu chose this day to act was to anger Zhufan and give Zhufan a situation where he had to personally lead
The reason why soldiers go to war.
"Okay! This is a great plan! Let's do it!"
After Wu Ju heard this, he couldn't help but burst into laughter, and his face showed a rare look of joy.
Yes, when faced with the military success that was readily available to him, he had no reason to refuse at all.
But he was not dazzled by joy. When he happily agreed to Li Ran's request, the smile on his face gradually became unpredictable.
"Haha, if this happens, I won't dare to be greedy for credit. And my name will definitely be known to everyone in the world... Hahaha."