As Zhang Qigong guessed, Lord Chu Shui actually knew very early on that Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu had an intention to harm him.
Despite Chu Shuijun's poor performance when he led the coalition of countries to attack Wei last year, strictly speaking, this monarch did not commit any serious mistakes. Whether it was coercing Wei Guo to join the coalition,
Or trying to make the Wei army and the Wei army fight each other, Chu Shuijun's decision was always in favor of the coalition army.
The only flaw was the two battles with Wei King Zhao Run.
But if you think about it carefully, this fault is not entirely on Chu Shuijun. Who would have thought that the king of Wei, Zhao Run, was a lunatic who would spend everything he had to gain a chance of survival? - In fact, if Wei had been defeated at that time, the situation might have been very different.
Maybe it will change completely.
Of course, the final outcome also illustrates a problem, that is, King Shui of Chu was far less courageous than King Zhao Run of Wei, and his indecisiveness caused the king of Chu to lose the best opportunity to severely damage Wei.
But having said that, despite the mess that Chu Shuijun commanded in the original battle, this does not mean that he has no city and no scheming. In fact, like the Prime Minister of Chu State, Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng, and the current Chuxi Zhi
Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu, Lord Chu Shui also knows exactly what these people are thinking about.
Because of this, after arriving in Pingyu County, he only asked Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu for some grain as dry food on the way to Bashu, and rejected Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's 'good intention' to send someone to escort him - he didn't
He needs a group of guards who are always watching to take his head.
"I'm afraid I'll run into old acquaintances of mine on the way to Bashu this time."
On the way to the west astride his mount, Chu Shuijun chuckled and said to Cang Qing, a witch from the Gonggong lineage not far away.
Upon hearing this, a slightly unnatural look appeared on the witch's pale face. She reached out and touched a very shallow sword mark on her left cheek, and said in an inexplicable tone: "Junhou refers to Mi Rui's group.
A bitch?"
It turned out that after Xiong Tuo became the monarch of the Chu State, Ji Rui begged Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu for help and ambushed Chu Shuijun, Cang Qing and other witches from the same lineage. As a result, Chu Shuijun saw through Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu.
As a trick, he reported the matter to Xiong Tuo, King of Chu.
The King of Chu, Xiong Tuo, considered that he had just ascended the throne and needed the support of the old Chudong nobles such as Lord Chu Shui, so he reprimanded Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu and Ji Rui. This also caused Xiong Hu and Ji Rui to fight
Xiong Tuo's relationship is no longer as close as it once was.
"Without external force, Ji Rui's group of cheap girls from Zhu Rongmai are no match for my Gonggong lineage." Cang Qing said firmly.
This does not mean that the individual strength of Mi Rui and other witches from the Zhurong lineage is far inferior to that of Cangqing and other witches from the Gonggong lineage. In fact, the abilities of these two groups of witches are very similar, but one side believes in the fire god Zhurong, and the other
Believing in Gonggong, the God of Water, there are significant differences in beliefs, nothing more.
As for strength, it's actually about the same.
For example, the current leader of Zhurongmai, Mirui, had dealt with Cang Qing, the leader of Gonggongmai, a few years ago. Mirui was only slightly at a disadvantage. If her sister Mijiang had been there at the time, I believe she would have been defeated in the end.
The one who wants to run away after defeat is probably Cang Qing.
The main reason is the difference in numbers.
Because Gonggongmai once received the support of Chu Shuijun and other Chudong nobles, it developed quite well in the eastern part of Chu State. Today, there are about hundreds or thousands of witches distributed throughout Chu State. However, the Zhurong lineage, because it was once
She is always targeted by the Gonggong lineage. Even now, twenty years later, there are only one or two hundred witches in this lineage.
This was not the worst moment. The worst moment was when Mi Rui learned that the witch village of Zhu Rongmai was attacked by the Gonggong clan and immediately returned to Ba from Wei. At that time, the Zhurong clan
The shrine maidens were killed until only a dozen or twenty were left. After more than ten years of development, the number gradually returned to hundreds.
Therefore, Cang Qing was confident enough to crush Mi Rui, the bitch she hated so much.
However, this was without external intervention. What makes Cang Qing feel quite depressed is that the connections between the two sisters Mi Jiang and Mi Rui are really terrible. In Chu State, there are Chu King Xiong Tuo and Lord Pingyu.
It’s okay for Xiong Hu to protect their sisters. In the Wei Kingdom, Mi Rui’s sister Mi Jiang, that bitch’s sister, actually married the monarch of the Wei Kingdom, Zhao Run, and became the mistress of the entire Wei Kingdom.
This is one of the reasons why the Gonggong lineage has restrained a lot in killing the witches of the Zhurong lineage since the rise of the Wei state - they were worried that they would go too far and provoke Mi Jiang, the Wei state
The queen's revenge.
Don't think that these witches, who are regarded by the people as servants of gods, really have any magical power. In the end, they are still just mortals. No matter how outstanding their sword skills are, they cannot withstand the powerful crossbow of Wei.
For example, during the attack on Wei last year, in order to help Chu Shuijun escape from the battlefield, some of Cang Qing's sisters were shot to death by the crossbows of the Wei and Lu armies.
"What if there is no external force?"
Of course Chu Shuijun understood the implication of Cang Qing's words, and said with a smile: "The main target of the Wei State at present is probably the State of Qi, and they probably don't have the leisure to come to this land in the west. The external force you mentioned
, I think there is only Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu..."
Having said this, he breathed out slightly, and the expression on his face became sinister.
Some people may find it strange that Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu has designed to kill him again and again, but a vicious person like Chu Shuijun is actually indifferent to this?
In fact, of course not, Lord Chu Shui was just worried about the consequences of killing Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu.
Who is Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu?
Even though they have gradually become estranged from each other, they are still one of the most trusted people of Chu King Xiong Tuo. Under the orders of the latter, he governs the huge Chu West. If he dares to kill Xiong Hu, Xiong Tuo will never spare him.
You know, now Chu King Xiong Tuo has gradually secured his position as the king of Chu. Like the Xiang family, Jing family, Huang family, including the Xiong family in Chudong, their conflicts with Xiong Tuo may be due to interests.
The differences between the two countries have gradually weakened, and now they are facing a huge threat from Wei State. This has allowed Chu King Xiong Tuo to gradually take control of the entire country, even if he loses Chu Shuijun, who used to be the bridge of communication with the Xiong family nobles in Eastern Chu.
, and it won’t have too big an impact.
Maybe the only thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the revenge of the witches from the Gonggong lineage - but to be honest, if Chu King Xiong Tuo orders the witches from the Gonggong lineage to be treated favorably, witches like Cang Qing may not be able to do so because of Chu Shui.
To take revenge for your death.
In the final analysis, the union between Chu Shuijun and Gonggongmai Witch is just a combination of interests, not a true superior and subordinate.
In a word, just because Chu Shuijun is not strong enough now, he can only be cautious and swallow his anger.
"Why did it end up like this?"
Riding a horse on a rugged desert road, Chu Shuijun recalled it indifferently.
He did not support Xiong Tuo from the beginning. The reason is very simple, because Xiong Tuo is too subjective. For a monarch with this character, you can refer to Wei Wang Zhao Run, that is, a monarch who is completely uncontrollable. Therefore, he once chose Xiong Wu, Lord Guling.
Firstly, it was because Xiong Wu, Lord of Guling, was born to the daughter of the Ji Lian family and was closely related to him. Secondly, it was also because Xiong Wu was a man of great ambition and talent, so it was easy to grasp him.
But unexpectedly, Lord Guling Xiong Wu died in Suiyang of Wei State in last year's war and was killed by Wei General Bo Xile. This not only completely disrupted Lord Chu Shui's plan, but even caused some Ji's death.
The Lian family, the Ji family, the Lian family, and the Huang family turned to Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu.
The reason is very simple, because the person these people were loyal to died, and these families had no choice but to turn to Chu King Xiong Tuo.
It can be said that Chu Shuijun strongly recommended Gulingjun Xiong Wu as the head coach of the partial division. Not only did it not achieve its goal, but it had a bad influence. It was simply stealing the chicken but losing the rice.
At the moment, he no longer cares about fighting for power in Chu State. He urgently needs to make himself more valuable in order to retain a place in Chu State.
After all, Chu King Xiong Tuo is by no means a kind person. Once he completely loses his value, he will immediately abandon him and use his head to improve the relationship with Xiong Hu and Ji Rui - this is something Chu Shuijun firmly believes.
This trip to the land of Bashu was where Chu Shuijun was preparing to make a comeback.
Not for Chu State, but for himself.
Speaking of the land of Bashu, although Chu Shuijun did not know much about this land, he was not too unfamiliar with it. At least, he was very aware of the internal disputes in Ba.
Originally, assisting the royal family of the Ba Kingdom, the "Ba Clan", was also a good choice, but the problem was that the Ba Clan had a good relationship with the Zhu Rongmai Witch, which forced Chu Shuijun to give up.
To put it harshly, if Ji Rui's gang of Zhu Rongmai witches killed them in front of the Ba family, the Ba family might not even frown, but if they hurt a Zhu Rongmai witch, the Ba family might
will regard them as enemies.
In this case, Chu Shuijun will certainly not choose the Ba clan. He plans to choose one or more of the other four tribes: "Fan clan", "Qing clan", "Xiang clan" and "Zheng clan".
Temporary shelter.
As far as he knew, in the country of Ba, the two clans of "Fan" and "Xiang" were the most powerful. However, he would have to see the specific situation before making an evaluation.
In the end, Chu Shuijun chose the "Xiang clan" not because of anything else, but because the territory of the Xiang clan was the only way to go west into Bashu from "Wujun" in the westernmost part of Chu State.
The Xiang clan lives in the mountains in the west of Wushan and the river basin in the south of the mountain. The cities under its jurisdiction include "Yufu", "Wushan", "Pingchang", "Dianjiang" and so on. This land is in "Ba"
In the Chu War, it served as the front line, but in the Bashu War, it belonged to the rear.
In view of the fact that there have been few wars between Bach and Chu since more than 200 years ago, and then there was the Bashu War that lasted for more than a hundred years, therefore, the Xiang clan suffered the least losses in this war, and therefore developed the fastest.
.
Because the capital of the Xiang clan was in "Dianjiang (Linjiang)", Chu Shuijun headed towards Dianjiang. "Note: According to the data, the five capitals are all along the river, so the author tentatively divides Dianjiang into the five
One of the capital cities, the other two cannot be found.』
Soon, Chu Shuijun ran into the soldiers of Ba Kingdom.
Different from the soldiers of the Central Plains countries, the soldiers of Ba country still have the custom of making armor from animal skins, rattan branches and other materials. They soak animal skins, rattan branches and other materials with oil, and then expose them to the hot sun for several times.
After this, they were woven into armor, which was both light and able to withstand bows and crossbows.
Of course, it doesn’t mean that the Ba Kingdom doesn’t know how to use metal ores to make armor like the Central Plains. It’s just that because of the geographical relationship, heavy armor is not popular here. After all, the mountains in Bashu are rugged and there are countless streams. If you wear a
Fighting the enemy with heavy armor, he might be out of breath from exhaustion before even seeing the enemy's shadow.
Therefore, the armor of the soldiers of Bashu and Shu generally used light and strong materials.
In fact, the copper smelting technology of Bashu and Shu is not inferior to that of Chu, and they have even been trying to smelt iron ore for a long time.
Due to the language barrier, these warriors of the Xiang clan, who did not know whether they were patrolling or hunting, had some conflicts with the witches on Chu Shuijun's side, but in the end, Chu Shuijun successfully led these soldiers to the mat.
Jiang met "鱳(le)", the leader of the Xiang clan, or in other words, Xiang Bi.
After learning that Chu Shuijun was the king of Chu State, Xiang Bin held a banquet in honor of the former.
During the banquet, Chu Shuijun saw the Ba people's love for "dollars (gold)". No, Chu Shuijun saw too many gold products such as bowls and chopsticks, vegetable basins, candlesticks, etc.
The richest nobleman in Chu State is even more luxurious.
In fact, even Xiang Bin, the leader of the Xiang clan, had his hands full of gold objects.
Having said that, it feels quite inconsistent to see a Westerner who is still wearing animal skin clothing and has tattoos (totems) on his face, arms and other places covered with gold objects.
But in fact, whether it is Shu or Ba, the people in Bashu are not as barbaric and backward as the people in the Central Plains imagined. There are even some cannibalistic legends spread because of this. In fact, most of these are just rumors.
It is not that there are cannibalistic tribes, but they do not really like cannibalism. In addition to lack of food, it is only due to certain customs.
For example, in some tribes, they will give the heart of a dead warrior to a young man, thinking that after eating the heart of that warrior, the young man will become as brave as the latter; another example is the old shaman.
, they will leave instructions before their death to let their successors swallow their brains to express the inheritance of wisdom.
As for the rest of the body of the warrior and the shaman, his clansmen will respectfully bury them.
Therefore, this is not a real preference for cannibalism, but just some customs and cultures, but these customs and cultures are unacceptable to the Central Plains.
Take Xiang Bin, the leader of the Xiang clan, for example. He knows the languages and characters of Chu, Jie, and Shu. He is definitely not a native of a backward and barbaric land.
And this also facilitated his communication with Chu Shuijun.
While entertaining Chu Shuijun, Xianglin finally asked Chu Shuijun: "I don't know what your envoy from the Chu State has to do."
Xiang Lin was relatively polite to Chu Shuijun. After all, the Ba people were driven from the east of Wushan Mountain to the west by the Chu people hundreds of years ago. In the few rare Chu-Ba wars that followed, the Ba people only
It can rely on Wushan, big rivers and other natural barriers to fight against the powerful Chu State.
"I heard that your country did not defeat a country called Wei?" Xiang Bin added casually.
Chu Shuijun was stunned for a moment, and then said calmly: "This is only temporary. I, the great Chu, will eventually defeat Wei in the future."
"Hmm." Xianglin nodded, picked up the gold cup and took a sip of wine.
He did not question Chu Shuijun's answer, because the Ba Kingdom was located in the west and had little information. They did not know that the current Central Plains was dominated by the Wei Kingdom, and they still thought it was the era when the Chu Kingdom was strong.
It’s no wonder, after all, the Wei State will not exchange goods with the Ba State. The only connection between the two is the "Bajun invaders" of the Nanyang Jie tribe who are now acting as the minions of the Wei State. Although the Chu State has a relationship with the Ba State,
There is a certain amount of trade, but I believe that the people under Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu will not deliberately reveal the news about the Central Plains to the Ba State - could it be said that their Chu State was defeated by the Wei State?
In the impression of the Ba people, the Chu State was very powerful and invincible.
Just like the Wei people after the "Battle of Shangdang", their attitude towards South Korea changed. It was not until Wei defeated South Korea several times that the Wei people gradually got rid of their fear of South Korea.
Seeing that Xiang Bin did not refute him, Chu Shuijun knew that these people were staying in a corner and were not aware of the changes in the Central Plains.
He said sternly: "I am here to discuss important matters with the leader on the orders of our king of Chu."
"Is it important?" Xiang Bin frowned slightly.
"Yes." Chu Shuijun said seriously: "I, the Great Chu Lord, hope that you can support me, the Great Chu, to defeat Wei."
After hearing this, Xiang Lin couldn't help but be a little surprised and asked: "Is that country called Wei really so powerful that even you Chu people can't defeat it?"
"In fact, since Wei Gongzi Run appeared, I, Da Chu, have never won..."
Chu Shuijun breathed out secretly and said calmly: "Actually, it's not that Wei is too strong, but because Chu lacks food..."
"Oh." Xiang Bin nodded suddenly, holding up the golden cup and looking at Chu Shuijun with a half-smile and asked: "So your country hopes to trade grain with our country, Pakistan?"
"Yes, a lot of food." Chu Shuijun nodded, and then added: "At least enough food to feed two million soldiers for a year!"
"Cough, cough, cough."
When Xiang Bin, who was drinking, heard this, he choked and coughed repeatedly.
He wiped his mouth and looked at Chu Shuijun in horror, unable to believe his ears.
How much food does the other side need? Enough to feed two million soldiers for a year?
Even if we use up all the grain reserves in Bashu, we may not be able to get it, right?
Seeing Xiang Bin's horrified expression, Chu Shuijun secretly smiled in his heart.
Of course he knew that the Ba Kingdom might not be able to obtain this huge amount of food and grass. He just wanted to take the opportunity to demonstrate and prove that the Chu Kingdom still had the strength to dispatch at least two million soldiers, lest the Ba people in front of him have other ideas.
After a long time, Xiang Bin opened his mouth and asked in shock: "Gui, why does your country need so much food? Is it just to start a war with that country called Wei?"
Chu Shuijun did not directly answer Xiang Bin, but began to smear the Wei State, saying that the king of Wei, Zhao Run, was debauched, tyrannical, and immoral. He even pointed out the matter of the "Nanyang Jie Clan", that is, the Wei State ordered the Nanyang Jie people to attack
Ba successfully made Xiang Lin’s impression of Wei extremely bad.
This is no wonder, after all, when the Nanyang Jie tribe invaded the Ba Kingdom, the Xiang clan was the first to suffer.
Even though the Jie clan has fewer people than the Xiang clan, the former can also obtain the weapons and armor eliminated by Wei through the Sichuan-Luo Alliance and the Sichuan Bei Alliance. This makes the Xiang clan unable to gain anything from the war with the Nanyang Jie clan.
Cheap, withstanding the plunder of the latter day after day.
"Although this battle is related to the survival of our great Chu, it is also related to Bashu. If our great Chu is defeated, with the greed of King Wei, the Wei State will take advantage of the situation and invade Bashu. When the time comes, I am afraid that the combined efforts of Bashu and Bashu will not be able to defeat the Wei State."
Chu Shuijun said alarmingly.
Xiang Bin thought for a moment after hearing this.
To be honest, he was not too willing to intervene in the war in the Central Plains. The fight between Wei and Chu had nothing to do with his Xiang clan.
But the hidden danger of the Nanyang Jie tribe forced him to think about the threat from Wei.
After thinking about it, he frowned and said, "I can help you defeat the Wei State, but now our country of Ba is also constantly fighting internally, and I can't influence the decisions of other parties..." At this point, his eyes narrowed.
He turned around and said with a smile: "However, I do have an idea. I don't know what your Majesty's wishes are."
How could Lord Chu Shui not guess what Xiang Lin was thinking? After all, this was exactly the purpose of his coming to Dianjiang.
However, he still pretended not to know and asked: "Please tell me, chief."
Xiang Bin pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Ba Jin, the current leader of the Ba family, is just a coward who is greedy for pleasure. He is not worthy of being the king of Badi. If you can support my Xiang family to defeat Fan
"Clan", "Clan", "Zheng", to replace the Ba clan, I will definitely help your country in the war with Wei."
"Just what I wanted!"
Chu Shuijun was secretly happy when he heard this, but his face remained calm. He deliberately frowned and thought for a long time before reluctantly agreeing.
On that day, Chu Shuijun reached an agreement with Xiang Li of the Xiang clan, and Xiang Li also wrote down a contract in accordance with Chu Shuijun's request. Chu Shuijun's people traveled day and night to the Chu Kingdom's royal capital Shouying and handed it over.
To Xiong Tuo, King of Chu.
After reaching an agreement, Chu Shuijun deliberately said to Xiang Bin: "Chief, in fact, I, the great Chu, did not just send you to come to Badi. My political enemies also sent a team to Badi. If I hadn't guessed,
If he makes a mistake, he will choose to negotiate with the Ba family... For the sake of the Xiang family, it would be better for this person to disappear, what do you think?"
Xiang Lin took a deep look at Chu Shuijun, and finally he nodded slightly: "Don't worry, your Majesty, the warriors of my Xiang clan will help you and me get rid of those hidden dangers."
After receiving Xiang Lin's promise, Chu Shuijun secretly sneered.
Although it was inconvenient for him to take action to get rid of Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu, Mi Rui and others, if someone from the Xiang clan took action, it would have nothing to do with him.
Even if King Xiong Tuo of Chu learns of this in the future, will he give up cooperating with the Xiang clan because of Xiong Hu, Ji Rui and others?
Oh, no, it can't be said to be cooperation, because the Xiang clan is just a pawn in his Chu Shuijun's chessboard.