About half a month later, Mi Rui, Zhang Qigong, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu and their party finally arrived at one of the five capitals of Ba Kingdom, "Jiangzhou".
Jiangzhou is the capital of the Ba family. Among all the Ba people, the Ba family respects the witches who worship ghosts and gods, and has a good relationship with the witch Zhu Rongmai. Through Mi Rui's relationship, Zhang Qigong and Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu
I met the leader of the Ba clan, or the king of the Ba Kingdom, Ba Yi.
This was not the first time that Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu met Ba Jin. In fact, the two had a certain friendship. Therefore, when he learned that Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu was coming to visit, Ba Jin happily ordered his tribe to prepare a banquet to entertain Pingyu Lord.
Xiong Hu.
During this period, Zhang Qigong noticed that Ba Jin was communicating with Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu throughout the whole process and completely ignored him, so he immediately revealed his identity and pretended to be the envoy of Wei.
This surprised Ba Yi, because just as Zhang Qigong guessed, he had indeed mistaken Zhang Qigong for Xiong Hu's subordinate.
"Wei State?"
After taking a deep look at Zhang Qigong, Ba Qi said with unclear meaning: "Could it be that the Wei State in the Central Plains secretly supported the Nanyang Jie people to rob and plunder our Ba people?"
Hearing this, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu secretly sneered, but he still did not forget to fan the flames: "Yes, King Ba, it is the Wei State that kidnapped the people of your country as slaves!"
Although facing the Xiang clan, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu and Zhang Qigong are indeed in the same boat, and they need to work together to tide over the difficulties. However, when the interests of the two countries conflict, Xiong Hu does not hesitate to
He stepped on Zhang Qigong hard.
"Is that so?"
Ba Yi looked at Zhang Qigong with an unkind expression.
In fact, most of the Ba people who were kidnapped by the Nanyang Jie people were Xiang, Fan and other tribesmen living in the north of Badi. Those like the Ba family who lived in the south of Badi did not actually suffer any losses. However,
After all, Ba Yi is the king of the Ba Kingdom. Although the other four tribes are increasingly dissatisfied with Ba's rule, Ba Yi still regards the remaining tribes as his own people, so naturally he cannot accept it.
Facing Ba Jin's unkind gaze, Zhang Qigong calmly glanced at Xiong Hu and said to the latter with a smile: "Mr. Pingyu, Zhang thought that you and I were in the same boat before, so we wouldn't be like this..."
"Heh." Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu smiled lightly and said nothing.
Zhang Qigong didn't care. He turned to Ba Qi and said: "Ba Wang Mingjian, I, the monarch of Wei, can only govern the people of Wei, but not others... The Jie people of Nanyang are not Wei people. They are in your country."
I deeply regret that I have acted so recklessly, but the Jie people are unruly and unwilling to submit to me, the Wei Dynasty, and it will be difficult for our country to restrain them..."
After a pause, he continued: "As for what Mr. Pingyu said, the Wei Dynasty purchased the Ba people captured by the Nanyang Jie people as slaves, which is also one-sided. The Wei Dynasty requires a lot of labor to build the country, and it is not
We will carefully check to see which ethnic group those laborers are from, are they deliberately targeting the people of your country?"
"Do you admit that your Wei State got many young men from our Ba State from the Jie people?" Ba Wei said with a frown.
Zhang Qigong smiled faintly and said calmly: "King Ba also knows that the Jie people are cruel, and we, the Wei Dynasty, are a country of etiquette in the Central Plains. Some are slaves under Jie Zhong, or are slaves in our Wei Dynasty. I feel that I am still in the Wei Dynasty."
Even better, at least we, the people of Wei, will regard the people of your country as "people" instead of... Haha, what do you think? I feel that if it were not for me, the people of Wei, I would believe that the people of your country, the people of Jie
There will be more casualties at the hands of others.”
"..."
Ba Kai's face softened slightly when he heard this, at least his eyes were no longer so hostile, but he still said with dissatisfaction: "I don't agree with your words... I think that just because your country has needs in this area,
The Jie people in Nanyang have repeatedly robbed people from our Ba country. Therefore, my single words cannot completely exempt your country from responsibility."
"Huh?"
Zhang Qigong glanced at Ba Qian a few times in surprise. After all, the truth of "killing only when there is a need" is not something that just anyone can say.
After thinking about it, he smiled and said: "If King Ba insists on blaming all the faults on the Wei Dynasty, then Zhang has nothing to say... But once upon a time, I, the Wei Dynasty, especially in the border area
The people of our country were also plundered by other countries like your country. However, our monarch blamed himself and said that all this was his fault. Because our Wei Dynasty is not strong enough. If our Wei Dynasty were strong enough, how could anyone
Dare to hurt the people of our Wei Dynasty?... Haha, our monarch of the Wei Dynasty will never blame others. Our Majesty once said that in this troubled world where the jungle is strong and the strong eat the weak, being weak is a crime, and you cannot blame others. That is,
King Ba.”
"..."
After listening to Zhang Qigong's slightly sarcastic words, Ba Qi frowned, looking a bit thoughtful.
At this time, Zhang Qigong said with a smile: "Both King Ba and Lord Pingyu just said it wrong. I, the great Wei State, am not the Wei State that regards the Ba people as slaves, but the one that... has occupied
The most powerful country in the world covering half of the Central Plains!" After saying that, he smiled vengefully at Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu and asked: "You don't deny it, Lord Pingyu?"
"..."
Ba Jin looked at Zhang Qigong in shock, and then turned his attention to Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu. He was even more surprised when he saw the latter's awkward and weird expression.
Similar to Xiang Bin, the leader of the Xiang clan, Ba Yi was not too clear about the changes in the Central Plains, so in his mind, Chu was still the powerful country that made Ba Gu uneasy.
A country that even Chu could not defeat, Ba naturally could not afford to offend. Thinking of this, the hostility in Ba Hao's eyes immediately subsided.
Seeing this, Zhang Qigong secretly laughed a few times.
Yes, he took the opportunity to show off the powerful power of the Wei State, just to prevent Ba Yi from underestimating him, lest Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu persuade the Ba family to turn to the Chu State in just a few words.
Just when Ba Yi didn't know how to face Zhang Qigong, several Ba girls helped him out. It turned out that a banquet for Mi Rui, Zhang Qigong, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu and others was ready.
Seeing this, Ba Yi quickly revealed what he had done before and extended a warm invitation: "The clansmen have prepared a sumptuous meal. Why don't you wait while we have a drink and talk in detail? ... The great witch, Lord Pingyu, and this Wei
The envoy of the country."
Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu gritted his teeth and glanced at Zhang Qigong, secretly resenting that he had given the spotlight to this guy. However, at this point, he had no choice but to nod, tacitly admitting that Zhang Qigong was also included in the list of honored guests by the Ba family.
——To be honest, he really had the intention to let the Ba family drive Zhang Qigong away. The reason is self-evident.
It was said to be a feast to welcome the wind, but Ba Jin did not invite too many people and only asked a burly man to accompany him.
Zhang Qigong did not know the identity of the other party, but Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu greeted the visitor with a smile: "General Baman, you are well."
"It turns out to be Mr. Chu Shui." The Ba man, who was called Baman, greeted him with a smile.
Zhang Qigong asked Mi Rui and found out that this man named Baman was a warrior of the Ba clan and also served as the general of the Ba Kingdom. His status in their respective tribes was similar to that of Xiang Chai, a warrior of the Xiang clan who was killed by Yougui.
During the banquet, Baman asked Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu with a smile: "Pingyu Lord, I heard that the warriors of the Xiang clan have been killing foreigners crazily in the territory in recent days. Is it related to you?"
Being on someone else's territory, Xiong Hu naturally knew that he couldn't hide it from others, so he nodded helplessly.
Seeing this, Baman asked out of curiosity: "Did Mr. Pingyu really kill Xiangchai of the Xiang family?" He said with a smile and said: "This is really very satisfying. That guy Xiangchai has always acted arrogantly and domineeringly. I should have long ago."
I just don’t like him, but he is very skilled in martial arts... Mr. Pingyu, I wonder which of your warriors killed him?"
Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu smiled with a stern expression at first, until Baman asked about the person who killed Xiangchai, he reluctantly explained: "It was Mr. Zhang's subordinates who killed him."
Seeing Baman looking at him, Zhang Qigong waved his hands and said with a smile: "The people under my command just killed Xiangcai by luck, which is not worthy of praise... King Baman, Lord Pingyu, let's talk about business first.
Bar?"
He didn't dare to summon a fool like You Gui to such a situation. If the Baman opposite saw the hunting spirit, he would definitely sign with You Gui, and the You Gui guy didn't understand the importance, so he killed the Baman with an axe.
, what was originally a good thing has turned into a completely bad thing.
Based on Zhang Qigong's understanding of ghosts, it is entirely possible for that guy to do it.
Seeing what Zhang Qigong said, Baman had no choice but to put away the idea of meeting the warrior. After exchanging a look with Ba Jin, he nodded and said: "Then let's go to the business first, as Lord Zhang said."
Then, his eyes swept over Zhang Qigong and Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu.
Seeing this, Zhang Qigong smiled and called Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu: "Pingyu Lord, how about you come first?"
Seeing the malicious smile on Zhang Qigong's face, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu secretly hated him, but he had no choice. After all, in the current situation, he really couldn't drive Zhang Qigong away.
What's more important is that there is no point in driving Zhang Qigong away. After all, I believe this important minister of Wei has already guessed his intention of coming to Bashu.
Therefore, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu simply pretended that Zhang Qigong did not exist, and told Ba Yi and Ba Man exactly what he wanted to do.
That is to say, they hope that Ba will join the "Qi-Chu Alliance" and jointly fight against Wei.
Some people may ask, isn't Chu's goal to capture Bashu? Why did it invite Ba to join the alliance?
In fact, "capture Bashu" was only the last resort of the Chu State. After all, the Ba State had Wu Mountain, the great river and the natural chasm, and the Shu State had the dangers of the Shu Road. How could it be so easy to capture?
Hundreds of years ago, the Chu State gave up its continued attack on the Ba State and changed its mind to expand eastward. In fact, there were related factors - that is, the land of Bashu was easy to defend and difficult to attack.
If the goal can be achieved through diplomacy, why should we resort to war?
What if it takes two years, and instead of defeating Bashu, Chu's troops are restrained, while Wei over there begins to retaliate against Qi and Chu, then it can be said that it is a waste of money.
Therefore, Chu State's current diplomatic strategy is still to negotiate with Bashu and Bashu, trying to bring these two countries into the "Qi-Chu Alliance" as much as possible.
If only one of the two countries is willing to join the alliance, then if Shu joins, it will unite with Shu to attack Ba, and if Ba joins, it will unite with Ba to attack Shu.
As for both countries being unwilling to join, that would naturally be the worst outcome.
When the time comes, Chu will have no choice but to wage war against Bashu and Bashu. Even if it requires human lives, the chasm must be leveled and the two countries captured, laying the foundation for Chu's future war with Wei.
Because of this, even though Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu had realized that Lord Chu Shui had the intention of borrowing a knife to kill someone, he still took the risk and came to Jiangzhou in order to show his greatest sincerity and hope to persuade the leader of the Ba family, Ba Jin.
"...The Chu State wants to unite with our Ba State to resist the Wei State? It seems that Master Zhang is not just talking nonsense when he says that the Wei State is "the strongest in the world"..."
After listening to Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's words, Ba Jin glanced at Zhang Qigong and saw that the latter was pouring himself a drink. He did not feel the slightest emotion because of Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's words, and he couldn't help but feel solemn.
"Then... I wonder what Mr. Zhang's purpose is?" Ba Wei asked Zhang Qigong to test him.
After hearing this, Zhang Qigong did not immediately answer Ba Yi, but asked Ba Yi: "Does King Ba not agree to an alliance with Chu?"
"this……"
Ba Jin frowned and said, "I have to think carefully about things like this."
Seeing this, Zhang Qigong smiled maliciously and said deliberately: "I would like to advise King Ba to agree to form an alliance with Chu... If your country is unwilling to ally with Chu, then Chu will definitely unite with Shu.
Let’s jointly attack and destroy your country... The reason is very simple, because the Chu State needs a large amount of food as military rations, otherwise, in the war with the Wei Dynasty in a year or two, the Chu State will be unable to resist the mighty troops of the Wei Dynasty! ...
… Either unite with Shu to destroy Ba, or unite with Ba to destroy Shu, right, Mr. Pingyu?"
"Zhang Qigong, you bastard!"
Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu cursed in his heart.
In fact, Xiong Hu was not surprised that Zhang Qigong had guessed everything about his Chu strategy. After all, this guy was the right-hand man of King Zhao Run of Wei. However, Xiong Hu never expected that Zhang Qigong would deliberately reveal a few things.
The destined "Wei-Chu War" later in the year served as a warning to Ba Yi.
Of course, after all, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu is not the young bird he was twenty years ago. Although he cursed Zhang Qigong in his heart, there was no clue on his face. He said calmly: "Master Zhang, don't be too proud too early."
, If it weren’t for your country’s conspiracy, I, the great Chu, would have captured your country’s old capital long ago and expelled all the Wei people to Sanchuan County!”
"Hahaha." Zhang Qigong laughed twice and retorted sarcastically: "While we, the Wei Dynasty, are at war with South Korea and the elites are not in the country, you, the people of Chu, united with Qi and other countries to mobilize a total of 1.5 million troops.
, but in the end, they were defeated by the monarch of our country with more than 300,000 domestic righteous people, and they were killed to the point where they abandoned their helmets and armor and fled in panic... Hahaha, to be honest with Mr. Pingyu, Zhang was also lucky enough to be by our lord's side at that time, and saw it with his own eyes.
Witnessing my lord's heroic appearance is really...tsk tsk, it's a pity that Lord Pingyu has never seen it in person." At this point, he seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and said in a pretentious way: "Oh, that's right, Lord Pingyu.
It was not on that battlefield at that time, because at that time, Lord Pingyu had been defeated by Wu Ji, our fierce general in the Wei Dynasty, and fled back to the country."
"...Bitch!"
Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu was so angry that green veins sprouted from his forehead, but he didn't know how to refute. After all, he was indeed driven away by Wei General Wu Ji at that time.
Watching Zhang Qigong and Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu mocking each other, Ba Qi and Ba Man looked at each other.
After a while, Ba Yi expressed his attitude cautiously: "Two envoys, our Ba country does not want to get involved in the disputes in the Central Plains. Regardless of Chu or Wei, if the two countries have mutual exchanges with our Ba people, our Ba people will naturally
Welcome. But if the two countries covet our country, the Pakistanis will not sit still and wait for death."
"...It's all this bastard's fault!"
Glancing at Zhang Qigong, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu cursed secretly, then raised his hands and said to Ba Jin: "Prince Ba, please think carefully... I, Xiong Hu, always hope to establish friendship with your country, but it is undeniable that there are indeed some black sheep in our country.
, For example, Lord Chu Shui, this person has united with the Xiang clan. I have heard that the Xiang clan is disobedient to the Ba clan. If this person deceives the monarch of our country, I will drive our Chu soldiers to attack the Ba clan.
I'm afraid the ending is not what you or I want to see..."
"Absolutely awesome!"
Zhang Qigong interrupted Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's words and said with a smile: "Pingyu Lord, your country's "two-pronged approach" really opened Zhang's eyes. At this moment, Zhang suddenly began to suspect that Chu Shuijun was really
Do I want to kill you, or do you actually have a tacit understanding between you two and are you just pretending to be mysterious?"
"..."
Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu glared at Zhang Qigong in a depressed manner. Of course he knew that Zhang Qigong was just deliberately provoking trouble. If the timing was not right, he would have wanted to punch that damn face with his fists.
However, due to the qualities of a great nobleman of the Chu State, he still suppressed his anger and sneered: "Master Zhang, please don't slander me. If Lord Chu Shui really wants to kill me, with Master Zhang's intelligence, can you still not see it? Mo?
If you say something ridiculous, it will lower Xiong Hu’s evaluation of Mr. Zhang.”
"Hehehehe..."
Zhang Qigong pretended to be profound and sneered a few times.
In fact, Xiong Hu's guess was correct. Zhang Qigong was just talking nonsense. His purpose was just to interrupt what Xiong Hu, the Lord of Pingyu, had just said, and to make Ba Jin doubt the Chu State and Lord Pingyu, Xiong Hu. - He couldn't look at Ba.
Was Kai persuaded by Xiong Hu because of the stakes?
Due to Zhang Qigong's troubles, the banquet was ultimately unsatisfactory.
Later, Ba Man asked Baman to settle down Mi Rui, Zhang Qigong, and Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, so Baman settled these people into his family mansion.
After confirming the place of residence, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu couldn't bear it any longer. He didn't care about the presence of Mi Rui, or the ghosts and black crow murderers under Zhang Qigong. He, who was already over fifty years old, picked up
Xiu Xiu pretended to beat Zhang Qigong violently and cursed the latter.
Zhang Qigong avoided it early and said with a smile: "Lord Pingyu, please calm down. I am a native of Wei. How can I sit back and watch as the prince persuades Ba to turn to your country?"
Seeing Zhang Qigong speak so straightforwardly, Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu was slightly startled, but his anger subsided a bit.
He frowned and stared at Zhang Qigong, and asked in confusion: "Zhang Qigong, what is the purpose of your coming to Bashu?" He looked Zhang Qigong up and down for a few times, and continued: "Just now at the banquet, you only focused on stirring up trouble, without doing anything.
To persuade Ba Yi to surrender to Wei...what are you here to do?"
Zhang Qigong was stunned for a moment, then smiled slightly.
It is true that at the banquet that Ba Jin entertained them just now, he did not have the intention to persuade Ba Jin to defect to his Wei State, but this was just because he felt that the current time was not suitable for his Wei State to 'come forward'.
"...Perhaps this is an opportunity for Xiong Hu to lower his guard against me."
With a slight movement in his heart, Zhang Qigong said with a smile: "Hahaha, if I say that I came here specially for Master Mi Rui, I'm afraid Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu won't believe it... That's all, it doesn't matter if I say it anyway, I
Just tell the truth to Mr. Pingyu." After that, he put away his smile and said seriously: "Zhang
I came to Bashu this time just to destroy Qin’s intention to capture Bashu, and meeting the king was just a coincidence. But for Zhang, whether it was Qin or Chu, Zhang could not
Do you understand, Mr. Pingyu, if you just sit back and watch as you try to win over either Bashu or Bashu?"
"Qin?"
Xiong Hu, Lord Pingyu, changed his expression. He never thought that besides Chu, there would be a Qin country staring at the fat land of Bashu.
He stared at Zhang Qigong in surprise for a long time, and then asked tentatively: "Does the Wei State not covet Bashu...?"
"Hehehe." Zhang Qigong laughed twice and said: "My Wei Dynasty has abundant grain production, so what use does Bashu have? Don't worry, the target of our Wei Dynasty's next military expedition will always be your Chu State."
"When you say that, I'm not 'at ease' at all..."
Having said that, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu did breathe a sigh of relief.
Nowadays, there is another Qin State coveting Bashu. If there is another Wei State, it is definitely not what Chu State wants to see.
"really?"
Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu asked again: "Isn't Qin your ally of Wei?"
"Wasn't Chu also an ally of Wei?" Zhang Qigong said with a hint of ridicule, and then revealed: "Like Chu, Qin is now our enemy of Wei. Coincidentally, Qin is now
The situation of Bashu is the same as that of Chu State... To be honest, for Bashu, it will eventually be defeated by Qin State or Chu State.
If it is captured by Qin, our great Wei may attack Qi and Chu first. If it is captured by Chu, our great Wei may attack Qin first... What is the difference? Even if one of them is captured
So what if we can capture Bashu? I believe that at that time, we, the Wei Dynasty, would be able to capture all the land except Bashu..."
Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu took a deep look at Zhang Qigong and suddenly said: "So, Mr. Zhang actually doesn't mind helping me, Xiong Hu? Anyway, as the gentleman said, your country can also attack Qin first, right?"
"Assist Xiong Hu?... Well, first help Xiong Hu reach a tacit agreement with the Ba clan, instigate him and the Xiang clan, Chu Shuijun to kill each other, and then instigate the Chu State to fight with the Qin State. Well, this is indeed true.
Not bad.』
Thinking of this, Zhang Qigong said with a smile but not a smile: "It's exactly what Mr. Pingyu said!"
Hearing this, Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu was overjoyed. If Zhang Qigong in front of him didn't cause trouble and could even help him, why should Lord Chu Shui worry?
"High-five me!" he said seriously.
Zhang Qigong did not shirk, and high-fived Xiong Hu as an oath.
Sure enough, during the meeting with Ba Shu the next day, Zhang Qigong did not interfere any more. He even revealed to Ba Xi the news that "Qin was preparing to attack Bashu" as requested by Xiong Hu. Shocked, Ba Xi immediately sent people to Hanzhong.
"Ju Guo" for verification.
At the same time, Zhang Qigong's deputy Bei Gongyu had also arrived at the Jie tribe in Nanyang, and obtained a secret letter written by Zhang Qigong from the hands of the two Black Crows.
When seeing this secret letter, Bei Gongyu felt very puzzled.
It's not that he was puzzled by Zhang Qigong's instructions to secretly lobby the Fan clan, but that Zhang Qigong asked him to be careful in his letter, so as not to let "Lord Mi Rui" see through his intentions.
"Ci Rui...could she be the 'silly girl' that His Majesty mentioned when I came here? It's strange, why did Captain Zhang think that woman would see through his plan?"
Holding the secret letter in her hand, Bei Gongyu was puzzled.
Is the silly girl that the monarch of the Wei Kingdom calls him worthy of being as vigilant and cautious as Captain Zhang, who is far more intelligent than him?
"Well, after completing Captain Zhang's instructions, I have to go and see what happens..."