After Wu Zixu and Bo Pei returned to China, they often pondered a question together: Since the country of Wu had Sun Wu, it has become more and more powerful, but King Helu of Wu has never mentioned the attack on Chu. What should we do?
Just when they were worried, envoys from Cai and Tang came to Wu for help. They said that Yin Nangwa, the commander of Chu, was leading an army to attack Cai and Tang. They asked the king of Wu to send troops to rescue him quickly. Wu Zixu and Bo Pei heard that
Overjoyed by the news, the opportunity finally came. The two of them got together by chance, and they decided to go to see Helu together and encourage him to send troops to Chu.
As for whether Helu agrees to send troops, I won't comment for now. Let's talk about why Nangwa wants to attack Cai and Tang.
The origin of this war is a bit ridiculous. The initial trigger turned out to be a piece of clothing and a horse.
As early as 510 BC, two princes, Zhaohou of Cai and Duke Cheng of Tang, went to Chu to pay tribute. Zhaohou of Cai had two silver rat skin coats. He paid tribute to King Zhao of Chu with one and kept one for himself. Duke Cheng of Tang had two.
He paid tribute to King Chu Zhao with one thousand-mile horse, and kept the remaining one for himself.
Nang Wa (also known as Zichang) was always greedy for money, and he often blackmailed the princes of the vassal state. He blackmailed all the small princes who submitted to Chu State. Nang Wa soon heard about the tribute paid by Cai Zhaohou and Tang Chenggong, and he was so greedy
Itchy. So he sent people to ask the two princes of Cai and Tang for the silver rat skin coat and thousand-mile horse they left behind. Cai Zhaohou and Tang Chenggong were reluctant to part with it. At the same time, they also looked down on Nang because of his behavior of openly asking for Nang tiles.
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Cai Zhaohou said: "This is the magistrate of a great country. He is so shameless. He doesn't care about his face at all. What do you think we are?"
Tang Chenggong said: "This is not the first time. I heard that almost all the small princes belonging to Chu State have been extorted by Nang Wa."
Cai Zhaohou said angrily: "I won't give it to him. It depends on him."
Tang Chenggong also said: "If Marquis Cai dares to do something, why don't I dare to do it? Let's be ashamed of him. We also let him know that although we are a small country, we are also princes granted by the emperor, and we also have basic dignity."
Cai Zhaohou said: "You are right. This time, we will fight for the small country's princes."
After discussing it, the two rejected Nangwa's men.
Nang Wa felt that he had lost face. He wanted to rectify the two princes of Cai and Tang. At that time, King Chu Zhao was still young, and the power of Chu State was in the hands of Nang Wa. He could do almost anything he wanted. Nang Wa said to King Chu Zhao: "I
I got the news that Cai Guo and Tang Guo secretly colluded with Wu State, and they are preparing to attack Chu State. I saw that as long as these two people are imprisoned, their conspiracy will not succeed."
King Chu Zhao had no decision-making power, so he agreed to whatever Nang Wa said. So Nang Wa put Cai Zhaohou and Tang Chenggong under house arrest in Chu State. This period lasted for three years.
When the son of Duke Cheng of Tang Dynasty saw that his father was not coming back, he sent someone to the state of Chu to inquire about it. The result made him funny and angry. It turned out that it was just for a horse. He quickly sent someone to deliver the thousand-mile horse left by his father to the state of Chu and handed it over to the state of Chu.
The Nangwa.
After Nangwa got Tang's thousand-mile horse, he said to King Chu Zhao: "Tang is a small country and cannot make big waves. Besides, the king of Tang has been imprisoned for three years. He has repented. I think we should let him go."
King Chu Zhao still had no objection. Tang Chenggong was released. Cai Zhaohou also imitated Tang Chenggong and asked people to bring the silver rat skin clothes left behind to the Chu State and give them to Nang Wa. In this way, Nang Wa also released him.
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Cai Zhaohou had a relatively strong character. When he left Chu, he swore: "I will never come to Chu again unless I take revenge."
Because of this, as soon as Cai Zhaohou returned to Cai State, he immediately sent people to Jin State to move troops.
Jin Dinggong listened to the envoy of Cai State and scolded Nangwa for being shameless. Chu State has always been Jin's old enemy. Cai Zhaohou took the initiative to come to Jin Dinggong to attack Chu State. Of course he was willing. But he also knew that Chu State
It's not that easy to fight. What should we do? Jin Dinggong discussed with the ministers a way, that is, report the matter to the emperor, King Zhou Jing, and ask the emperor to come forward and call on the Central Plains princes to jointly punish Chu.
The Jin envoy first went to Luoyi and persuaded King Zhou Jing with his persuasive words. Then he ran non-stop among the princes of the various countries. It took nearly a month to get most of the Central Plains to agree to send troops.
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In 507 BC, which was the 14th year of King Zhou Jing, Jin Dinggong, in the name of the emperor King Zhou Jing, sent a message to all directions, calling on the Central Plains princes to unite and jointly attack Chu. The Central Plains princes all hated Chu, so this call was quickly received.
Everyone responded. On the appointed date, a total of eighteen princes came. The eighteen princes were Jin, Qi, Lu, Song, Cai, Wei, Chen, Zheng, Cao, Xu, Ju, Zhu, Dun, and Hu
, Teng, Xue, Qi, Xiaozhu. Some of these small vassal states were once vassals of the Chu State, and they were all blackmailed by the Chu State's order Yin Nangwa. They also wanted to take this opportunity to vent their anger.
As the leader of the alliance, Duke Dinggong of Jin led everyone to join in bloodshed to form an alliance. Liu Juan, the special envoy of King Zhou Jing, made a speech on behalf of the emperor. Liu Juan enumerated the various crimes of Chu State that disrespected the royal family, bullied the princes, and disrupted the world, and encouraged everyone to work together. For a time,
, morale is high.
Afterwards, Jin General Xun Yin, the allied commander appointed by Jin Dinggong, came up to the stage. Although Xun Yin was a general's son, he had never fought any hard battles. He was just a hereditary general. He looked at the banners of the eighteen kingdoms.
, the lineup was huge, and his heart immediately swelled. Xun Yin said with great momentum: "Now, there is an edict from the emperor above, and the princes from all countries are gathered together. This time we work together to deal with the Chu State, we have no worries about victory."
Xun Yin's speech received another wave of plaudits. The Eighteen-Nation Allied Forces set off confidently.
Cai Zhaohou was the advocate of this large-scale military operation. He volunteered to be the vanguard of the princes of the Eighteen Kingdoms. Along the way, he opened roads in the mountains and built bridges across the rivers. He spared no effort. The princes all praised him for his bravery.
However, in Xunyin's eyes, Cai Zhaohou is not important at all. Firstly, Xunyin is a bit arrogant, and secondly, Cai State is too small. Although Cai Zhaohou is the king of a country, he is also a pioneer officer under him. Therefore, Xunyin always faces Cai Zhaohou.
Pretending to be aloof, this made Cai Zhaohou feel very uncomfortable. However, Cai Zhaohou was not stupid. He knew that he had to rely on Jin to deal with Chu, so he could only swallow his anger.
But Xun Yin still had another problem. Like Nang Wa of Chu, he loved petty gains. Since he was the commander-in-chief and Cai Zhaohou was the vanguard officer, the two of them would inevitably discuss the march together. The more they talked, the more problems they would have.
Just came out.
One day, Xun Yin and Cai Zhaohou were chatting. Xun Yin asked about Nang Wa. Cai Zhaohou couldn't help but tell Nang Wa again about blackmailing him. He thought Xun Yin would be as indignant as him after hearing this, but unexpectedly,
Xun Yin said, "I will lead an army to help you conquer Chu. What will you do to thank me in the future?"
When Cai Zhaohou heard this, his eyes widened in shock. He did not expect that Xun Yin, like Nang Wa, was a greedy person. But he could not refuse, so he said vaguely: "Don't worry, the general will definitely do this during this trip."
Something was gained.”
Xun Yin said with a smile: "I heard that Marquis Cai gave precious silver rat skin coats to the kings and ministers of Chu. Why don't you give one to us in Jin? We came all the way to help you conquer Chu, and Marquis Cai's thank you gift is natural
You won’t be lighthearted, right?”
Cai Zhaohou said: "There are only two pieces of silver rat skin clothes, and they have been given away. I surrendered to the Jin State because I hated Nangwa for bullying the vassal country and blackmailing us. If the general promotes the style of overlord and helps the weak princes, the Chu State will be destroyed.
When the time comes, I will use my entire Cai Kingdom as a thank you gift. Isn’t this a big gift?"
Cai Zhaohou spoke in a high-sounding way, but Xun Yin could hear that he was actually politely refusing Xun Yin's request. Xun Yin felt embarrassed and the expression on his face became stiff.
Through this conversation, Xun Yin lost favor with Cai Zhaohou.
The Eighteen-Nation Allied Forces walked slowly for ten days and arrived at Zhaoling in the Chu State. Going further, they went deep into the Chu State. That night, the army stationed in Zhaoling, burying pots and making rice, preparing to move forward the next day.
Unexpectedly, that night there was a strong wind, thunder and lightning, and heavy rain. It rained all night. At dawn the next day, the sky was still overcast and the rain continued. At this time, the sentry horse came to report that the river ahead was overflowing and the road was blocked.
Passage.
Xun Yin took a bamboo hat and got on a chariot and left the camp. The ground was covered with mud and water, and the chariot and horses were stuck in the mud water and it was difficult to extricate themselves. Xun Yin ordered the army to continue stationed in place and wait for the rain to pass before leaving again. Unexpectedly, this
It rained heavily and sometimes lightly, but it kept raining for seven days. The Eighteen-Nation Allied Forces stayed in Zhaoling for seven days.
During this period, an accident occurred. Liu Juan, the military governor sent by Emperor Zhou, fell ill. He was very ill, his face was pale, but his whole body was hot. He could not get out of bed or sit in a car.
Liu Juan's illness made the entire army panic. He was the representative of the emperor, and his fighting spirit was related to the advancement and retreat of the entire army. Liu Juan himself could not protect himself, so he had no intention of supervising the army. The coach Xun Yin was also very discouraged, and he would
There will be some complaints. Some people from various princes also gradually become moody.
Only Cai Zhaohou was impatient, but he had no decision-making power and could only look at the sky and call for help.
Fan Yang, the general of the Jin army, also asked Cai Zhaohou for something, but he was also rejected. Therefore, he did not have a good impression of Cai Zhaohou. Seeing that the morale of the army was fluctuating, Fan Yang came to Xun Yin and said: "It will rain for days and nights.
I don’t know when it will stop. More and more people are getting sick. The army is gradually running out of food and grass, and the teams transporting food can’t keep up. If we attack Chu like this, we will lose half of it before we can fight. I think we can still
Withdraw."
Xun Yin was originally not happy with Cai Zhaohou, but was completely shaken by Fan Yang's instigation. The two discussed it, and then asked someone to release the news: heavy rain had hindered the supply of food and grass, and Jin already wanted to withdraw its troops. Other princes heard the news
, were all discouraged. The vast majority of these small princes came with the mentality of taking advantage. Seeing that they had to pay a higher price, they all retreated. Some people publicly expressed their desire to withdraw their troops.
Two days later, Xun Yin persuaded Liu Juan and announced the withdrawal of troops. On the same day, the princes of the eighteen countries dispersed.
Cai Zhaohou was very angry. Everyone had dispersed, so he had no choice but to take his troops back to Cai State. Along the way, he became more and more angry as he thought about it. He not only hated Xun Yin and others for their greed and speculation, but also hated God for not being kind. I even hate myself for not being lucky enough.
Two days later, the soldiers and horses of Cai State arrived at the border of Shen State. Shen State was a vassal state of Chu State. Cai Zhaohou thought that this time the princes of the Eighteen Kingdoms gathered, almost all the princes of the Central Plains, large and small, were present, but this small Shen State actually Dare to ignore it. Cai Zhaohou felt that Shen Guo only had Chu State in his eyes, and there was no emperor and no princes in the Central Plains. He just happened to hold his anger, so he used Shen Guo as a punching bag. Cai Zhaohou ordered to divert to Shen State, carried out a surprise attack, and Shen Guo was killed. The country was destroyed.
The news that the princes of the Eighteen Kingdoms "Feng Tian attacked Chu" originally frightened the Chu people, especially Ling Yin Nang Wa. He knew that the cause of the matter was related to his extortion of vassal states. What Ling Nang Wa did not expect was that within two days, Nang Wa would In ten days, the majestic Eighteenth Allied Army dispersed the birds and beasts.
The Chu people didn't know the inside story. They only knew that it rained heavily and hindered the coalition's attack. The Chu people thought that God was helping them. Their courage grew again.
Therefore, when the news that Cai Zhaohou destroyed Shen State reached Yingdu, Chu Zhaowang, Nangwa and others decided to attack Cai State.
Nangwa personally led the troops to attack Cai. He knew very well that it was Cai Zhaohou who instigated the attack on Chu by the eighteen kingdoms. He then thought of Tang Chenggong, and he felt that Tang Chenggong must also have the same grudge against him as Cai Zhaohou. It just so happened that the Tang State It is a neighboring country with Cai State. Therefore, while Nangwa was attacking Cai State, he also sent a force to attack Tang State.
Since the Eighteen Kingdoms led by Jin had just disbanded in their attack on Chu, Cai and Tang did not dare to ask for help from Jin, so they sent envoys to Wu for help.
Let’s talk about Wu Zixu and Bo Pi. After they learned about the situation of the Eighteen Kingdoms’ attacks on Chu, they came to a conclusion completely opposite to Nangwa’s—Chu State had already rebelled against its relatives, and the opportunity to attack Chu State finally came. They believed that, This alone was enough to convince King Wu Helu.
Sure enough, Helu's attitude was different this time. After listening to Wu Zixu and Bo Pei's embellished stories, he immediately said to his neighbors: "Quick, go and invite Sun Wu."