I Won’t Be King in the Spring and Autumn Period Chapter 330, 331 Qingfeng’s Life and Death
Zhu Fang's city was destroyed, Zhongli's country was destroyed, and Chu once again showed its extremely powerful military power to the world.
Just after Li Ran finished interrogating Qing Feng, King Xiong Wai of Chu once again held a banquet in Qianxi to celebrate his achievements. He entertained the soldiers returning in triumph and the courtiers of Chu who followed him.
The banquet was grand and solemn, and the huge Qianxi River was once again filled with music and dance.
Before that, Li Ran had actually met with the King of Chu and told him some information about Qingfeng. Especially about Qingfeng's familiarity and understanding of Wu Yue. Of course, Li Ran also had information about Qi and the Dark Walkers.
They all deliberately concealed it and did not tell the truth.
At the banquet, after three drinks, King Chu's heroic face suddenly showed a look of pride, stained by the color of the wine. He held up his cup and looked at the ministers in the audience and said:
"This battle is all thanks to all the ministers here! Our Chu State has finally cut off the access between Wu State and the countries in the Central Plains. At the same time, it has also destroyed the horn state that Wu State relies on for survival, and expanded our Chu State's territory in the east.
territory. Now! The attack and destruction of the Wu Kingdom is just around the corner!"
"To all the soldiers who are leading the troops to fight Qingfeng on the front line this time, I would like to raise a toast to you!"
Obviously, King Chu had another orgasm.
And his excitement stems entirely from the new round of war he is about to launch.
Now, without Zhongli standing in the way, this will be extremely beneficial to the war to destroy Wu that he will launch next.
It’s no wonder that, as Chu’s mortal enemy, the rise of Wu was like a tiger in Chu’s neighborhood.
After King Xiong Wei of Chu came to the throne, he won all three major wars with Wu. At this moment, King Chu would naturally not miss such a good opportunity.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The ministers raised their cups and drank all the wine in one gulp.
Li Ran was also among them, and when he heard what King Chu said, he felt quite complicated for a while.
Of course he knew the turmoil in King Chu's heart, and now it was clear that he wanted to overthrow the state of Wu.
However, at this moment, he could not find a suitable excuse to persuade the King of Chu to abandon this strategy. After all, the reason why Chu State wanted to attack Zhongli State in the first place was to isolate Wu State.
Now that everything is going smoothly, it seems logical that the King of Chu will raise an army to attack the Kingdom of Wu next.
At this time, Li Ran glanced at Shen Wuyu again, but seeing the hesitation on Shen Wuyu's face, he calmed down a little.
There were dozens of ministers of the Chu State here. He was not sure about others, but he was sure that as long as the King of Chu proposed a strategy to attack the Wu State, Shen Wuyu would be the first to stand up and oppose it.
After all, attacking Wu State is not attacking Zhongli. There is an essential difference between the two things.
Moreover, although Chu State seems to be extremely powerful now, once it wants to go to war with Wu State, it may need to mobilize several times more power than Zhongli. At that time, the entire people of Chu State will once again wear heavy shackles
, and the resentment of the people at the bottom will eventually become a major force in subverting the rule of King Chu.
"Reincarnation Paradise"
Since Shen Wuyu is loyal to the emperor and the country, he will not just watch such a situation happen.
The King of Chu learned the lesson at this time and did not explicitly propose a plan to attack Wu. Instead, after drinking a few drinks, he pretended to ask how to deal with Qingfeng.
"Qing Feng was a traitor to the Qi State. Now he is captured by our Chu State. What do you think should happen?"
Regarding this matter, the King of Chu did not discuss it privately with Li Ran, and this was the first time he publicly raised the issue of how to deal with Qingfeng.
Hearing King Chu suddenly mention this matter in front of the civil and military ministers of Chu State, Li Ran's face suddenly became a little unsightly.
Because he knew that there were quite a few Chu generals present, and most of them had participated in the battle of Zhu Fangcheng. There was no doubt about their attitude towards Qingfeng.
Therefore, the King of Chu directly discussed with these people how to deal with Qingfeng. What else could their answer be?
Just one word - kill!
Sure enough, when the King of Chu finished speaking, the generals of the Chu State spoke up one after another.
"Your Majesty, Qingfeng deserves to be killed!"
"My Chu army suffered heavy losses in order to capture Zhufang City. If we don't kill this man, it won't be enough to calm the anger of the soldiers!"
"That's right! This man Qingfeng is cunning and cunning, and he has caused us a lot of suffering. If we don't kill him, it won't be enough to boost the morale of our army!"
"Yes! Now Zhongli has been set up as our new county of Chu. If we don't kill Qingfeng, how can we deter barbarians like Zhongli?!"
Killing Qingfeng, in the eyes of these generals, has become a topic that does not need to be discussed.
No matter what the reason was, Qing Feng had to be killed.
At this time, Wu Ju also followed the trend, cupped his hands towards the King of Chu and said:
"Your Majesty, what the generals said is true."
"Qing Feng has done so many evil things that it's hard to describe them all. This man deserved his death, and it's no longer right for him to be spared his life!"
"Now that the overall situation has been decided, this person cannot be kept. We can only kill him in sacrifice to my master!"
As the general of the Chinese army in this battle, he certainly did not want to see Qingfeng alive.
After all, when he first attacked Zhu Fangcheng, he was fooled by Qing Feng. If Qing Feng were alive, it would be a humiliation for him. So in all fairness, how could he allow this person to continue to live?
When the King of Chu heard the sound, he nodded slightly, then slowly turned his gaze to Li Ran, and asked in a pretentious manner:
"What do you think, sir?"
Although he did not discuss this matter with Li Ran in advance, he still had to seek Li Ran's opinion when making decisions.
It's just that it was placed after the ministers expressed their stance.
This shows how well the King of Chu now understands Li Ran.
He knew Li Ran's attitude, he also knew that Li Ran knew his attitude, and Li Ran also knew that he knew that Li Ran knew his attitude.
Therefore, this operation obviously forced Li Ran to give up his consistent attitude on this matter.
Following the King of Chu's gaze, all the important ministers of Chu State present also fixed their gazes on Li Ran.
Of course they also wanted to know Li Ran's views on this.
Moreover, they all knew that Li Ran obviously had more say in this matter than they did.
"I think Qingfeng should not be killed..."
Li Ran's answer was concise and firm.
He had promised Qingfeng to save his life, so he would not break his promise at this moment.
Everyone was shocked when they heard the sound and frowned in silence.
They knew that Li Ran must have a unique reason for saying this. Because it was basically the same every time like this.
When King Chu saw this, he was stunned for a moment, but then he immediately smiled and said:
"Oh? Why is this?"
Li Ran stood up, bowed to the King of Chu, and said eloquently:
"At that time, the king of Tan State was rude to Duke Qi Huan, and Duke Huan of Qi later launched an army to destroy Tan. The battle only lasted a few days, and Tan's army was defeated. Tan Zi, the king of Tan State, fled to Ju State, but Duke Huan of Qi did not drive him out and kill them all.
"
"After that, Tan Zi was able to multiply in Ju Kingdom, and its veins still exist today."
"Since your Majesty takes Duke Huan of Qi as an example, he should follow suit and treat others with kindness. Only in this way can he leave a good example of benevolence and generosity for future generations of Chu kings."
"Only in this way can the world know from now on that Chu people are not all barbarians. In the future, talented people in the world will flock to join us, and then the great cause of the Chu country will be worry-free!"
It is indeed too easy to kill Qingfeng. For the King of Chu, it was just a word.
But just this word "kill" may have a very important and far-reaching impact on the huge Chu State.
The so-called "Don't do evil for small things" probably means this.
——
Chapter 331_Prince Qiji’s Advice
A promise that Li Ran would never forget.
Since he agreed to Qingfeng, he must try his best to prevent him from dying in Qianxi.
Therefore, when facing the King of Chu's inquiry, he once again used storytelling to persuade him.
And when his words fell, the doubtful expressions on the faces of the Chu State ministers dissipated slightly, and many people even couldn't help but nodded slightly in agreement, including Shen Wuyu.
Years of wars have depleted the people of Chu State. Now the people are resentful and the territory is very uneasy.
At this juncture, killing Qing Feng seemed like a trivial matter. But the consequences of killing Qing Feng were something that the Chu State could not bear now.
After all, Qing Feng was a traitor to the Qi State, and the Chu State killed him without a word. What would the Qi State think? What would the princes of the world think?
If the King of Chu kills Qingfeng without authorization, it will be equivalent to completely overturning the previous oath of the Guo Di Association. This will inevitably cause another dispute with the Central Plains countries, or even directly enmity with them.
At that time, the Chu State will directly face internal and external troubles.
Shen Wuyu had always been opposed to the King of Chu being so militaristic, so at this time, Li Ran advised the King of Chu to learn from Duke Huan of Qi and be tolerant to others, which immediately won his favor.
However, there are only a few people with understanding like him.
The vast majority of Chu people probably still look at people by their nostrils. They don't care what the consequences will be after killing Qing Feng.
In their eyes, since Qingfeng had caused them to lose their troops and killed so many of their brothers in vain, then this man deserved death, and there was no other room for negotiation.
And Wang Zi Qiji also grasped this point, so what he said next can be said to be extremely inspiring.
Just when the King of Chu listened to what Li Ran said and thought that Li Ran's statement was not bad, Prince Qiji stood up and walked slowly to the center of the banquet.
He knelt down with his hands in hand and said loudly with his head in his mouth:
"Your Majesty, I think what you said is inappropriate!"
"Oh? What does Ji brother have to say?"
King Chu followed the words and asked.
Then, I heard Prince Qiji say:
"As the generals said, killing Qingfeng has three benefits for Chu."
"First, our Chu army took a long time to capture Zhongli, and we lost troops and generals one after another. After this battle, although our Chu army's muscles and bones were not hurt, it also slightly dampened the spirit of our Chu people! Therefore, Qingfeng will not be killed.
, it is indeed not enough to inspire military morale! It is not enough to inspire the determination of our Chu men to conquer Soochow!"
"Secondly, Qingfeng is a rebellious official of the Qi State. If he can be executed in front of the princes, it will also serve as a warning to the monkeys, so that the countries in the Central Plains will be impressed by the power of Chu and not dare to provoke me again.
Chu State. In this way, it will be of great benefit to our Chu State in destroying Wu in the future."
"The third and most important point is."
"Qingfeng has been in Zhongli Kingdom for a long time. If he does not die, those remnants who remain in Zhongli Kingdom may have the opportunity to cause trouble. At that time, it will also disturb our peace. There may even be secret communication with other countries in the Central Plains.
To threaten our Chu State's control over Zhongli. If we want to cut off the delusions of those remnants as soon as possible, Qingfeng must die!"
At this point, these three reasons have been very detailed, and every word is clear, every sentence makes sense, and there is no far-fetched meaning.
When the ministers of Chu State heard this, they nodded in agreement again.
Compared with Li Ran's more long-term, or somewhat "retreating" rhetoric, Wang Ziqiji's remarks are obviously more in line with their vital interests and easier for them to agree with.
People are all realistic.
What you tell them about benevolence and reputation is not as convincing as telling them about immediate benefits.
This is like the people of later generations who can only feel at ease when they see the numbers on their bankbooks. Everything else can be called "retreat".
Although the years are long and everything seems to be constantly evolving, it seems that "human nature" has never fundamentally changed.
"Besides... there is one more thing. Brother Chen is still a little confused."
Wang Ziqiji did not finish what he said. He deliberately paused when he made the last point in order to give everyone a space to imagine.
"Oh? What else is there?"
King Chu looked at him and asked.
Prince Qiji suddenly turned his gaze to Li Ran and said calmly:
"I heard that my husband had a long talk with Qingfeng, and while he was talking to Qingfeng, the Zuojun camp was tightly sealed."
"What I don't understand is, what happened to make Sir care about this person so much? In my humble opinion, the reason why Mr. Qingfeng is so excused and begged for mercy today is because Mr.
Did you reach some consensus when talking with Qingfeng?"
"Sir, please speak clearly."
Prince Qiji's attack round ended, and the right of action was handed over to Li Ran again.
His attack method is also very direct. He lays out the established facts, but only briefly describes them, leaving a lot of room for people's imagination.
This kind of rhetoric, which is similar to "framework" but also specious, can be said to be very insidious, and it can often hit the target with one hit.
But what he didn't know was that the fact that Li Ran went to talk to Qingfeng was approved by the King of Chu.
Therefore, after his words fell, Li Ran not only didn't see any waves on his face, but he didn't even want to respond directly.
Because Li Ran knew that in this situation, silence is better than sound.
The King of Chu was also very aware of dignity, so he immediately smiled and smoothed things over for Li Ran and said:
"Haha, brother Ji, you don't know something."
"Sir, it was my idea to go talk to Qingfeng."
"Qingfeng is a traitor to Qi State, so if someone else were to ask about certain things, I'm afraid he wouldn't tell the truth."
"And the gentleman was born in Luoyi and served as an official in the state of Zheng, so it is the most suitable candidate for him to talk to him."
At this time, the King of Chu was trying to smooth things over for Li Ran. Although he had the intention of protecting and favoring Li Ran, it did not mean that he agreed with Li Ran's previous remarks.
However, compared with Qingfeng's life and death, it is obviously more important to prioritize resolving internal differences and misunderstandings.
When Prince Qiji heard this, he couldn't help being stunned at first, but soon, a ghostly smile suddenly appeared on his face.
"Haha, may I ask, sir, what information did you get from Qing Feng?"
He asked simply and directly.
"Oh, it's nothing important. It's just something related to the Kingdom of Wu."
"Oh? If that's the case, why not take this opportunity to ask sir to speak for us?"
Prince Qiji refused to give up and insisted on Li Ran telling him the reason.
When King Chu saw this, he frowned and frowned, obviously unhappy.
My majestic King Chu is already speaking for Li Ran. How come you, my younger brother, are not so ignorant?!
Although the King of Chu felt this way, he also knew that if Li Ran was not allowed to explain why he came at this moment, I am afraid that he would not be able to step down today.
Therefore, he had no choice but to acquiesce to Wang Zi Qiji's "messing around".