The State of Chu officially declared war on Wei. This matter was no small matter.
It is undeniable that in recent years, the Wei and Chu states have not committed any crimes. But in the final analysis, the local war in Yingshui County is just the arbitrary decision of Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu Yangcheng, and does not represent the entire Chu state's influence on the great nation. Wei's attitude.
After all, according to the information obtained by the detailed investigation in Chu State, Chu State still regards Qi State in the east as its most powerful enemy. After all, when the three kingdoms of Qi, Lu, and Song allied forces attacked Chu State, Chu State hated Chu State. Feeling deeply ashamed, he later invited Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu Yangcheng, to join forces with Emperor Wei to attack the Song Dynasty.
If the hatred between Chu State and Wei State is mostly limited to the hatred between Chu Yangcheng King Xiong Tuo and Wei Emperor, then for the entire Chu State, Qi State is Chu State's sworn sworn enemy. After all, the latter presides over The Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms once almost forced the King of Chu to move the capital, which was a great shame and humiliation.
But having said that, after all, the Wei State is a big country with four counties. If it can take a piece of meat from this rich country, the Chu State will not absolutely refuse.
After all, Wei, Song, Lu, and Qi are the four countries bordering Chu. Song has been destroyed, and Lu, a medium-sized country, has always been a vassal and ally of Qi. Once a war breaks out, Chu will The country will surely welcome the Qi and Lu coalition forces.
Comparatively speaking, today's Wei State is not as powerful as Qi and Lu. This will undoubtedly be a relatively easy breakthrough for Chu State to fight for hegemony northward.
After all, it's better to make friends with distant people and attack closer to home. If Chu State wants to continue to expand its territory, it can only look to Wei State or Qi State.
Now, although it is not clear what happened, it is a fact that the Chu envoy's team was attacked in the hinterland of Wei. This gave many important ministers in Chu who were inclined to external expansion an excuse to send troops to attack Wei.
In a country like Chu, where the princes and nobles control the direction of the country's destiny, the will of the nobles is fully reflected. When the King of Chu declared war on Wei, this huge war machine immediately began to operate, and many people like Yangcheng poured out at once. Chu princes and nobles such as Jun Xiongtuo gathered forces on the south side of Ying River and launched an offensive against Wei.
Since it is an all-out war between Chu and Wei, it cannot be limited to one place. According to the information obtained by the Wei Military Department, Chu's offensive against Wei can be divided into two aspects.
The first is the Yingshui battlefield, including the Yangzhai-Weifenxingsai-Xingshan section of the Great Wall used by the Wei State to resist the invasion of the Chu State, and the intersection of the Yingshui tributaries in the east to Chendi. This large area of the border between the two countries will be reduced to For the battlefield.
The second one is the battlefield of Wei and Song counties. Another prince of the Chu State, Gu Lingjun Xiong Wu, burned the war to the Song County that the Wei State gained from conquering the Song State, in an attempt to annex the territory of the lost Song Dynasty to the Chu State. territory.
As for Xiong Sheng, Lord of Liyang, who was deployed heavily on the border between Lu and Qi, this was just to prevent Qi and Lu from attacking Chu while they were declaring war on Wei.
To be honest, it is possible to launch a war with Wei and Qi at the same time with the strength of the Chu State. But even so, the Chu people will not be stupid enough to face two powerful enemies at the same time. As long as the King of Qi stands by and watches, Liyang Lord Xiong Sheng The heavy troops deployed across the border are nothing more than decoration.
One urgent military report after another was sent to Daliang, Wei State almost without stopping.
Although the soldiers on Wei's frontier guarded the Yangzhai-Weifenxingsai-Xingshan border, Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu Yangcheng, borrowed a boat to bypass Wei's Xiongguan, crossed Yingshui, and The war has lessened to the territory of Wei State.
Changping and Chenling were lost one after another, and further north was Yanling, which was the hinterland of the Wei State. Once Yanling was lost, it meant that the Wei Dynasty lost the geographical advantage of Yingshui.
On the other side, Xiong Wu, Lord of Chu Guring, also sent his army to attack Song County and defeated Xinling and Huacheng. The only good thing was that the important city of Suiyang was still in the hands of the Wei generals, nailing it like a nail. In front of Guling Lord Xiong Wu, the prince and grandson of the Xiong clan of Chu State inevitably hesitated: should he spend a lot of energy to conquer Suiyang, or should he ignore Suiyang and directly attack the hinterland of Song County.
But no matter what, the current situation is extremely unfavorable for Wei.
After all, the Chu State is very arrogant, so they don’t have to consider the attitude of Qi State, but Wei State has to consider their strong enemy South Korea in the north, and carefully consider whether South Korea, the old enemy in the north, will take advantage of Chu State’s attack on Wei State. Send troops to annex Wei's Shangdang County in Hebei.
The news spread, and the whole Daliang was in turmoil. It was not known whether it was the trick of the Chu State or the ambitions of the Wei Dynasty, which spread the rumor that the Chu army was about to attack Daliang, causing people in Daliang to panic. Even the ministers in the DPRK couldn't help but panic about it.
Although Emperor Wei promptly banned the spread of rumors in the city and asked the Ministry of Justice to lead soldiers to strictly investigate the sources of the rumors, which finally curbed the spread of the rumors, it still seemed to be of no avail.
Now, it is meaningless to discuss who attacked the Chu envoy team. What needs to be considered is how to face Chu's attack. Should we fight or not?
To this end, Emperor Wei once again invited all the ministers who participated in the discussion last time to the Chui Gong Hall.
Some people may think that this kind of discussion is very ridiculous. It is clear that Chu State has invaded the country, but we still have to consider whether to fight? Of course we will fight!
But in fact, this is not an easy decision to make.
You must know that the territory of the Wei State is only about a quarter of the Chu State. The size of the territory determines the number of citizens and the source of troops.
The territory of Chu State is vast, four times that of Wei State, and the total number of domestic troops is several times that of Wei State. Therefore, they can go to war with Wei State with an army of more than 200,000 and don't care about the consequences of fighting this war. No matter how many Chu soldiers were sacrificed, the Wei State could not do it. Once the Wei State sacrificed too many soldiers in this war, there is no doubt that the powerful enemy South Korea in the north would come to take advantage of it.
What a mistake...
Sitting on the dragon chair, Emperor Wei rubbed his forehead tiredly.
He originally wanted to use Princess Yulong's marriage with Chu to improve the relationship between Wei and Chu, so that people like Chu Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo would reduce the threat to Wei. However, he did not expect that this move would instead Some people can take advantage of this.
Seeing the noisy courtiers in the palace, Emperor Wei felt very annoyed.
To be honest, Emperor Wei didn't want to go to war with the behemoth Chu State, because Chu State's territory was too vast and its population was too large. Even if more than ten or two hundred thousand soldiers were killed in a year's campaign, it would not be fatal to Chu State. , but for the Wei Dynasty, if more than ten or two hundred thousand troops were killed in a year's war, it would be a disaster.
If in the end even South Korea in the north joins in, it may even lead to the country's subjugation.
"Don't argue any more!" Emperor Wei stopped the quarrel among the ministers in the palace distractedly. After taking a long breath, he said in a deep voice: "I called you here to discuss a countermeasure together, not
I want to see you waiting here to quarrel!...Li Huan, you are the Minister of War, you speak first!"
"Yes." Li Huan, Minister of the Ministry of War, knelt down in the banquet and cupped his hands towards the emperor, saying in a deep voice: "I think that the Wei Dynasty does not have the national strength to start a full-scale war with Chu..."
Upon hearing this, Yu Ziqi, the right prime minister of Zhongshu, couldn't help but said with disdain: "Li Shangshu, don't you mean to ask for peace?"
Seeing being interrupted, Li Huan, Minister of the Ministry of War, frowned. However, because Yu Ziqi was the Minister of Zhongshu and a member of the Inner Dynasty, his status was not inferior to those of the Ministers, so it was difficult to get angry. He had to ask patiently: "Yu Youcheng,
In your opinion, if we, the Wei Dynasty, declare war with Chu, what are our chances of winning?"
"..." Yu Ziqi frowned and remained silent.
Although he didn't want to admit it, he had to admit that with the national strength of Wei State, it was still very difficult to deal with the entire Chu State.
"What if North Korea is added?" Li Huan, Minister of War, asked.
"..." Yu Ziqi frowned even more tightly.
You must know that the only country in the world today that can face two countries at the same time is Chu, which has the most vast territory. Even Qi, which Chu regards as its strongest enemy, needs the help of its vassal ally Lu to defeat Chu repeatedly.
Seeing that Yu Ziqi was silent, Li Huan, the Minister of War, said with emotion: "It's not that I don't dare to fight, but that I can't fight... Unless we, the Wei Dynasty, win a great victory and intimidate Han, even if we expel the Chu army, there will still be
To welcome the army of South Korea, rather than being attacked by Han and Chu and shaking the foundation of our great Wei Dynasty, it is better to seek peace from Chu State now."
"Seek peace without fighting?" Zhongshu Zuo Chenglin Yuyang asked with a frown.
"A fight is necessary, but it cannot arouse the Chu army's anger. It just shows to the Chu state that Wei Dynasty is determined to defend its territory..." At this point, Li Huan, the Minister of War, turned to the emperor and suggested: "Chu Yangcheng
Jun Xiongtuo, all he wants is Song County. As for Song County, Your Majesty also knows that the people of Song Dynasty are still worried about the subjugation of the country.
Huai, there are people who have repeatedly plotted to cause rebellion with the intention of restoring the country. However, the former Song Dynasty surrendered to Nangong. This person used the excuse to protect himself and support his troops. Although there is no clear evidence, I do not trust this person... I think it is better to cede Song County.
Some of the cities far away from our Wei Dynasty were given to the Chu State, and the Song people's dissatisfaction with our Wei Dynasty was passed on to Chu."
"Song Dynasty..." Emperor Wei's eyes were struggling. After all, conquering Song Dynasty was the most proud thing for him after becoming emperor. How could he give up so easily?
Seeing the hesitation on the emperor's face, Li Huan, Minister of War, advised in a low voice: "Song is almost completely exposed under the eyes of Chu, and it borders Lu. In the past, although Lu was not in harmony with Song, there was still unity.
The Three Kingdoms Covenant between Lu and Song is here. Your Majesty joins forces with King Xiong Tuo of Chu Yangcheng to attack and destroy the State of Lu. Obviously, the King of Qi also hates me, the Wei Dynasty. This
Over the past few years, I have instigated the Lu people to cause trouble in the Song Dynasty and instigated the Song people to be dissatisfied with the Wei Dynasty. I thought it would be better to cede the cities bordering the Song Dynasty and Lu to the Chu State, so as to reduce the Song people's hatred towards the Wei Dynasty.
The dissatisfaction was transferred to Chu. Secondly, the state of Chu cut off the connection between Qi, Lu and the Song Dynasty, which may reduce the influence of the two countries on the Song Dynasty."
"That's true." Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, also said: "The Song State surrendered General Nangong, relying on the fact that the Wei Dynasty needed to rely on him to govern the Song Dynasty, and reduce the Song people's dissatisfaction with the Wei Dynasty. They have been away from the imperial court in these years.
All I know is that I ask for military pay and armaments from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War every year, and I refuse to let go of the military power in my hands. I am afraid that if I keep this person, he will become a disaster in the future. It is better to use the hands of the Chu State to eradicate him...
With the Chu State’s national system, they cannot allow anyone who is not a bloodline of the Xiong family to hold power, let alone the military power… It is absolutely impossible for Nangong to switch to the Chu State.”
"But it is also possible that he will defect to Qi." Xu Guan, the left minister of the Ministry of War, said.
"Probably not." Hearing this, You, the Minister of Rites, shook his head and said: "In the past, Nangong surrendered to the Wei Dynasty and forced the King of Song to abdicate. This has long been despised by the people of the Song Dynasty. Your Majesty used Nangong to govern the Song Dynasty in the first place with the help of the people of the Song Dynasty.
His identity will not cause the people of Song Dynasty to be too resistant to our Wei Dynasty. Secondly, they also know that this person cannot win the hearts of the people... He has betrayed his master once. If he betrays our Wei Dynasty again and turns to the King of Qi, I believe the King of Qi will not