At the beginning of May, when the state of Wei was rejoicing to welcome the triumphant victory of its armies, in the state of Chu, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, led an army of 100,000 on his way to the east of Chu.
Pingyu County goes east, and after passing "Fanyang", it enters the fief territory of "Xiang family", including "Bi", "Xinqi", "Xinyang" and other cities.
Of course, this "Xiang family" refers to the "Runan Xiang family", and the "Runan Xiang family" is the source of most of the "Xiang family" descendants in Chu State, but just like the "Xiong family", Zeng Zhi There were many branch families in Kaiye Mao, but according to the Xiang family genealogy, "Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei" and "Ruyin Jun Xiang Rong" should be regarded as the main family of the Xiang family.
The "Jiujiang Xiang Clan" from which the veteran general "Xiang Yan", as well as the generals "Xiang Mo" and "Xiang Juan" brothers were born, should be regarded as a branch of the Runan Xiang family.
But having said that, it cannot be denied that the momentum of the Runan Xiang family is not as strong as that of the "Jiujiang Xiang family". After all, Xiang Mo and Xiang Juan, the two general brothers, are enough to defeat "Ruyin Jun Xiang Rong" and "Xinyang Jun". "Jun Xiangpei" and others were thrown far away.
When the army of Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, passed through Xinyang, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, seemed to have not yet returned to the county. The county soldiers in the city were watching the army of Lord Xiong Tuo of Yangcheng from a distance, but they did not dare to move forward. Come.
When approaching "Xiyang", Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, saw a group of people galloping towards them from a distance, estimated to be about two thousand people.
The leader is a man, sitting astride a war horse. Although his hair and beard are slightly white, he is still full of energy.
Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, immediately waved his hand to signal the entire army to stay put. A truly complex expression flashed across his eyes as he looked at the visitor, including shame, relief, and joy.
After a while, the veteran came to Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo, got off his horse, and knelt on the ground: "Young Master!"
At this time, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, had already dismounted from his horse, walked a few steps to help the veteran up, and said with emotion: "Master Xiang Gong, you are well."
This veteran named "Xiang Gong" will never be unfamiliar to Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, because he was the old subordinate of his uncle Xiong Hao, Lord of Runan. Back then, Lord Xiong Tuo of Yangcheng was framed by the King of Wei and was defeated. When he was in Song County, it was Xiang Xi, the son of Xiang Gong, the Lord of Xiyang. Xiang Le and Xiang Le were married to him, but they didn't expect that they would die in the hands of "Youma from Dang County".
From then on, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, did not dare to contact Xiang Gong, Lord Xiyang, anymore because he was ashamed of himself.
After being helped up by Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng, Xiang Gong, Lord of Xiyang, looked at Mr. Chu who was more stable than before. He smiled happily and lowered his voice and asked, "Master, are you going to Chu Dong?"
Naturally, Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng, would not hide anything from this veteran. He nodded and said solemnly: "Although I am a little disrespectful to Mr. Jingshe, his defeat is the opportunity for me to seize power!"
Xiyang Jun Xiang Gong stared at Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo intently and asked seriously: "Young master, have you awakened?"
"Awakening?" Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo chuckled, and then said with an incomprehensible expression: "When I held Master Xiong Hao's head in my hands and personally delivered it to Shouying and handed it over to those people from Chu Dong, I felt like I have already realized...my uncle is too kind, but I, Xiong Tuo, am cruel and ruthless!"
Xiyang Jun Xiang Gong looked deeply at Xiong Tuo, then turned around and summoned a young general, introducing him: "This is my third son Xiang Xing. His martial arts skills are not inferior to those of his two brothers. He can serve as the vanguard of the young master!"
Hearing this, the young man named Xiang Xing immediately knelt down on the ground, cupped his fists and saluted: "Xiang Xing, I have seen the young master!"
Looking at the young Xiang Xing, Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng, couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
After coming to his senses, he nodded heavily.
Anything else said at this time would be a burden. Xiyang Jun Xiang Gong’s meaning was already clear: his father and son would follow Xiong Tuo to seize power in Eastern Chu!
"Set off!"
After looking at each other with Xiyang Lord Xiang Gong, Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo waved his hand vigorously and ordered the army to set off again.
When the army approached "Ruyin", someone had already reported to "Ruyin Lord Xiang Rong" that Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, led the army to enter.
Ruyin Lord Xiang Rong frowned and said to his confidants: "There are rumors on the front line that Shouling Lord Jingshe's million-strong army was defeated. At this time, Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo came to Chudong with an army of 100,000 people. I'm afraid he has no good intentions."
But even so, Ruyin Lord Xiang Rong did not dare to stop Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo and his army from crossing the border. After all, for this war, Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei deployed several troops of the Runan Xiang clan. Originally, they were He planned to make great contributions in this war so that the "Xiang family" could replace the expelled "Qu family" and become the new force of the "Three Pillars". However, he never thought that Shouling Junjingshe's million-strong army would actually He was defeated in Yongqiu of Wei State.
But now, there are only a few county soldiers left in the Runan Xiang family's fiefdom. How can they resist the 100,000-strong army of Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo?
"Can we just let Xiong Tuo flaunt our borders?" his confidant asked with a frown.
Hearing this, Ruyinjun Xiang Rong also frowned.
Just as he was thinking about countermeasures, someone suddenly came to report: "Your Majesty, Lord Xiang Gong of Xiyang, summoned the county soldiers in the city an hour ago and went out of the city to join Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng!"
"..." Ruyin Lord Xiang Rong opened his mouth when he heard this and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
He was not surprised by this, because his clan uncle, Xiyang Jun Xiang Gong, was an old subordinate of Runan Jun Xiong Hao more than ten years ago. To be precise, at that time, more than half of the Xiang clan in Runan The disciples are all under the command of Xiong Hao, Lord of Runan, waiting for orders.
But after Runan Jun Xiong Hao committed suicide, these Xiang clan princes became a piece of loose sand. Some, like "Xiyang Jun Xiang Gong", regarded Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo as the successor of Runan Jun Xiong Hao, and they still Overtly and covertly loyal; and more Xiang clan princes were attracted by the Xiong clan nobles of Chudong and became the "monitors" to isolate Chuxi and Chudong - monitoring the actions of Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng. .
For example, Ruyin Lord Xiang Rong and Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei.
Runan Jun Xiong Hao's idea of "improving the status of common people and restricting the rights of aristocrats" is very dangerous, especially for the decadent Xiong clan of Chudong.
It is undeniable that the thoughts of Runan Jun Xiong Hao will indeed make the Chu Kingdom become stronger by leaps and bounds, but at the same time it will also seriously shake the status of the aristocracy, damage the interests of the aristocracy, and even break the centuries-old "family tradition" of the Chu Kingdom. The concept of blood supremacy.
And Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, was the successor to Xiong Hao, Lord of Runan.
This kind of dangerous existence should have been eradicated as soon as possible, but because of the old subordinates like "Xiyang Jun Xiang Gong" who were still loyal to Runan Jun Xiong Hao, and because Runan Jun Xiong Hao sacrificed his own life at that time, In exchange for Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, to take his place, the Xiong clan of Chudong failed in the end.
As Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, said himself, he was different from his uncle, Xiong Hao, Lord of Runan. He was a ruthless person. In order to preserve the inheritance left to him by his uncle, he killed countless people.
"Now that things have happened, we can only close the city gate and let it happen..."
Just after saying this, Xiang Rong, Lord of Ruyin, thought for a moment, and finally said melancholy: "That's it, open the city gate!"
When the confidants heard this, they were surprised and said: "Your Majesty, if you open the city gate, wouldn't that mean..."
"I know in my heart that you don't need to teach me!" Ruyinjun Xiang Rong scolded irritably.
"……yes!"
So, when the army of Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo passed by Ruyin, the city gate of Ruyin County was wide open.
This is a message of goodwill, which means that Ruyin Lord Xiang Rong has no objection to "Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo led his army to seize power in Eastern Chu" - at least he has maintained neutrality.
Seeing this, not only Xiyang Jun Xiang respectfully stroked his beard and nodded slightly, but even Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo was also happy in his heart.
After all, Ruyin Lord Xiang Rong is the head of the "Runan Xiang Family". Although for now, the former is definitely not the opponent of Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo, but if he insists on resisting, Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo will also feel it. Very tricky.
Fortunately, Ruyinjun Xiang Rong is a smart man.
After that, Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo continued to move towards Chudong. Along the way, the old subordinates of Runan Lord Xiong Hao joined the team one after another with their soldiers, ranging from hundreds to thousands. Gradually, Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo's team gradually grew.
By the time he led his army to reach the territory of Shouying, he had about 140,000 to 50,000 troops, so he alerted the Qi general Tian Dan who was stationed in Shouying.
It has to be said that even though they came here to seize power, seeing that the flag of Qi was still erected on the capital city of their country, whether it was Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo or Xiyang Lord Xiang Gong and others, they felt quite uncomfortable. taste.
In fact, if the remnants of the Xiao family had not caused chaos in Daliang, the capital of Wei, and allowed Chu to see the hope of defeating Wei, Chu would have planned to order Shouling Junjingshe to recapture Shoying, the capital of Wei. After all, one of them was The Qi State was in decline after losing King Lu Xi of Qi. The other was the Wei State, which was becoming increasingly powerful and vaguely showing itself as the overlord of the Central Plains. The Chu State would naturally choose to seize the opportunity to severely injure the Wei State, or even destroy it in one fell swoop.
In comparison, what is Tian Dan? Without Qi King Lu Xina and other virtuous kings, Qi is destined to be weak and has nothing to fear!
But I didn't expect that this time Shouling Junjingshe led a million troops to attack the Wei State, and Wei was even besieged by South Korea, Qin State, Sanchuan, Nangong and other forces at the same time. Under such an advantageous situation, Shouling Junjingshe She was unexpectedly defeated, and almost all of his army of one million troops was wiped out.
It is no wonder that Lord Shouling Jingshe felt shameless and returned home, and committed suicide in shame by the Chushui River.
When they were far past Shouying, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, looked indifferently at the royal capital in the distance that was still in the hands of Qi State. At this time, on the tower of Shouying, Qi General Tian Dan also looked at it with a frown. He looked at the army in the distance and recognized the flag of that army.
"Yangyi Army? Young Master Tuo?... Could it be Young Master Chu Xiong Tuo?"
Touching the beard on his chin, Tian Dan frowned and murmured: "At this time, he led a large army to come here. Could it be that he wants to seize the opportunity to seize power?"
Of course Tian Dan also understood that this might be a good time for Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, to seize the throne. After all, when Lord Shouling Jingshe led the defeated army back to Chu River, Tian Dan also added insult to injury and severely punished the Chu army. One blow.
"If Chu Gongzi Xiong Tuo seizes the power, he will definitely take back Shouying to increase his power. I'm afraid this city will not be able to be saved by then..."