In early May of the 19th year of Hongde's reign in the Great Wei Dynasty, the Wei army's large forces evacuated southward from Shouying. The first stop was Xiangcheng.
It is undeniable that the Wei army in this battle was a surprise, because the Wei army, which had only about 50,000 infantry when it came, actually had nearly 200,000 infantry when it withdrew from Chu's territory, and those who were willing to defect to Wei
The Chu people in the country number more than a million.
Since ancient times, there has never been an army that can not only fight more and more, but also take away more than a million civilians from the enemy country. What is incredible is that the latter are still willing to follow and leave.
But for some reason, there was no smile on the face of His Royal Highness Prince Su. Instead, his face was tense, and his brows seemed to be filled with all kinds of sorrow.
Perhaps because she was tired of His Highness Prince Su's expression that seemed to be full of worries, Mi Jiang couldn't help but ask: "You obviously won this battle, but you don't seem to be in a good mood?"
"You obviously won this battle...?" Sitting on the horse and staring ahead, Zhao Hongrun murmured and repeated Mi Jiang's words. Then, he shook his head and frowned slightly and said: "It seems like this kind of victory...
…It’s far from what I expected.”
Mi Jiang looked at Zhao Hongrun expressionlessly, and then said with a bit of sarcasm: "I forgot that the original intention of you and King Lu Xi of Qi was to make Chu fall in this battle... Very soon
Are you disappointed?"
Zhao Hongrun didn't care about Mi Jiang's attitude. After all, although Mi Jiang kept saying that the survival of Chu State had nothing to do with her, in the final analysis, Chu State was still her mother country, the country that her father, Runan Jun Xiong Hao, dedicated everything to safeguard.
In front of her, he always wished that the Chu Kingdom would be destroyed, and Mi Jiang felt a little uncomfortable in her heart.
"I'm very disappointed." Zhao Hongrun didn't mean to hide his feelings. He shook his head with a wry smile and said, "This kind of war that ends in an anticlimax is worse than..."
At this point, his voice stopped abruptly. After all, the reason for this situation was because King Lu Xi of Qi was too happy and made a small oversight before he captured the capital of Chu State, Shouying. This oversight not only led to
The coalition's war against Chu had to end, and it also cost Qi King Lu Xi, the Mingjun of Qi, his own life.
Whether it was out of concern for the deceased, or out of respect for King Lu Xi of Qi, or knowing that no matter how much he complained, it would not change the established facts, Zhao Hongrun ended his meaningless complaints.
Looking at his dissatisfied expression, Mi Jiang became slightly angry, because in her opinion, Ji Run had already snatched too many things from Chu State.
"The greedy little man!"
Mi Jiang spat angrily in her heart, but looking at the frowning and sighing expression of the person next to her, she felt a little distressed unconsciously.
All in all, my mood is very complicated.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun did not notice that Mi Jiang was looking at him with complicated expressions, looking both angry and worried. He was thinking about something, something that had puzzled him for a long time.
That is, in the Battle of Shouying and several subsequent wars, the Chu army's resistance was unexpectedly weak, so that the coalition forces easily won those battles.
He felt that in those battles, the Chu army did not show its due strength at all, and it felt like it was letting go.
But think about it carefully, what reason did the Chu army have to let go?
"Is it because of the fall of the royal city of Shouying that the Chu troops lost their fighting spirit to resist?"
Zhao Hongrun couldn't figure this out.
But what he couldn't understand even more was the "Shouying Peace Treaty" signed by both parties after that.
Zhao Hongrun still can't understand. At that time, Chu Fang had clearly noticed that King Lu Xi of Qi might have died. However, instead of taking the opportunity to counterattack, Chu Fang took the initiative to send envoy Huang Er to sue for peace with the coalition forces.
"Why...why not take advantage of the death of Qi King Lu Xi to launch a counterattack?"
Zhao Hongrun really couldn't figure it out, because according to the situation at that time, if the Chu side counterattacked desperately, it might not be possible to regain the lost territory and take back the royal city of Shoying from the hands of the coalition forces.
But Chu did not. Even though it was clear that King Lu Xi of Qi might have died, Chu still sued for peace from the coalition forces and signed the "Shouying Peace Treaty" which was a bit shameful in Zhao Hongrun's view.
The "Shouying Peace Treaty" states that all the land captured by the Allied Forces from Chu in this battle was owned by the Allied Powers:
According to the results of private discussions between the three parties of Qi, Lu, and Wei, a large area of land from Xiangcheng to Zhi County, Qixian, and Wohebei will become the territory of the Lu State. And the eastern coastal cities such as Zhongwu, Donghai County, Haizhou, and Yangling will
It became the territory of Qi State.
At the same time, both Qi and Lu also secured great benefits for the Wuyue leader Shaokang who was not present, and helped Wuyue regain almost the entire Kuaiji County - Kuaiji County, or the Wuyue land in the east of the Yangtze River, was originally owned by the Wuyue people.
As Qi State is now as stable an ally as Lu State, Wei State has also obtained several cities such as Guling, Kuxian, Tongqiu, etc. Although Zhao Hongrun didn't care about these cities in his heart.
After all, these cities are the ones that were swept by the Northern Sichuan Cavalry and the Ranger Cavalry. All the property within them has been moved away, and the local Chu people have also been moved to Shangshui County. There is only an open space left. Why do you want this thing?
?
Wei State had uncultivated wasteland in Sanchuan County, so why did it need these enclaves? "Note: Enclaves are land that is not bordering the mainland."
Even though these cities seemed to be bordering the Song Dynasty of Wei State, to be honest, Zhao Hongrun never considered Nangong, the surrendered general of Song State, as one of his own.
Therefore, before solving the problem of Nangong, it is impossible for Zhao Hongrun to develop these cities. After all, the territory of Guling Lord Xiong Wu is sandwiched between the territories of Song County and Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu. If something happens, Shangshui County
There was no time to rescue him.
What's more, Zhao Hongrun's own Shangshui County has not yet developed well, so he has no energy to develop these cities.
Of course, it would be a good idea to leave these cities to the imperial court so that the imperial court would gain a reputation in the eyes of the people in the country.
In addition to ceding territory, the Chu State also agreed to pay a large amount of compensation. As Mi Jiang said, the Wei army had robbed many things from the Chu State, so much that Zhao Hongrun felt something was wrong: Why was the Chu State so generous?
?
He instinctively felt that there must be some conspiracy involved.
It's a pity that he couldn't come up with a clue after much deliberation, so he finally had no choice but to let it go.
But it is undeniable that his judgment was not wrong.
In fact, when they learned about the fall of the royal city Shouying, the top ministers of the Chu State, including Lord Shouling Jingshe, General Xiang Mo, Lord Diyang Xiong Shang, etc., who were shocked to hear this, quickly came to the "Tiger Fang".
Because after losing Shou Ying, King Xiong Xu of Chu moved to Hu Fang.
In the city guard's mansion in Hufang County, when Xiong Shang, Lord Diyang, saw Xiang Yan, he was so grumpy that he grabbed the veteran general by the collar, because as far as he knew, it was precisely because of Xiang Yan's choice when guarding the city.
It was through stupid tactics that the Wei army captured Shouying, which directly led to the coalition forces capturing their capital of Chu.
In contrast, Shouling Junjingshe, who arrived in Hufang County at the same time as Xiong Shang, had a much more steady attitude, because he highly doubted that Xiang Yan, an experienced veteran of the Xiang family, would actually commit such a crime.
negligence.
Just when Xiong Shang questioned Xiang Yan fiercely, Chu King Xiong Xu explained the reason to him and Jing She, and told them that it was his idea to make the capital fall, and Xiang Yan was just following his orders.
This answer left Jing She and Xiong Shang stunned.
After all, they never imagined that Chu King Xiong Xu would be willing to make such a huge sacrifice.
You must know that having the royal city captured by another country during his reign is simply a great shame for a king. Even if he dies in the future, he will inevitably be stigmatized as incompetent.
In this regard, King Xiong Xu of Chu had a very indifferent attitude, perhaps because he had already guessed that King Lu Xi of Qi had died.
He had been fighting with Lu Xi for half his life and regarded the latter as his lifelong enemy. Now that Qi King Lu Xi passed away, he, Xiong Xu, had become indifferent to the outcome between them.
Jing She and Xiong Shang looked at each other. After all, when they were preparing to question Xiang Yanxing, they never expected that it would be this reason.
But having said that, even Shouling Junjingshe, who had not had a harmonious relationship with King Xiong Xu of Chu in the past, had to admit that the king of Chu in front of him had made perhaps the wisest decision in his life.
.
"In this case, there is no need to take the opportunity to counterattack." Jing She sighed with some emotion.
After all, when he came, he had already contacted the surviving Chu troops nearby and was preparing to organize a counterattack to recapture Shouying. But now after listening to Chu King Xiong Xu's explanation, he suddenly felt that Shouying would be better off in the hands of the coalition forces.
Why?
Because it is easier to incite the people's hatred of the coalition forces.
But Chu King Xiong Xu shook his head, because he felt that if the Chu State released too much water, the coalition forces would definitely notice it.
After all, Qi's Tian Dan and Tian Bao, as well as the juniors Ji Zhao and Ji Run who are gradually emerging, are not easy to fool. If they see through this matter, although it will not affect Chu King Xiong Xu's plan,
It will eventually cause some trouble.
After all, these people will not sit back and watch the possibility of Chu State prospering again.
In May and June, the Wei army was busy withdrawing to the territory of Wei State, and at the same time taking away those Chu civilians who were willing to defect to them, while Qi General Tian Dan settled in Shouying and renovated the city, as if planning to build Shouying into a city.
Similar to the fortress in Pi County.
After all, everyone knows that the battle between Qi and Chu is far from over.
At the same time, the Chu State also started taking corresponding actions.
First, King Xiong Xu of Chu spread the news, blaming the fleeing nobles as the fundamental reason for the fall of the royal city Shoying.
Originally, the nobles in Chu Kingdom only thought that King Xiong Xu of Chu was looking for a scapegoat. However, as more and more nobles were killed and their property confiscated, these nobles gradually felt that something was wrong.
Because if you just want to find a scapegoat, there is no need to kill so many people.
The angry nobles thought that King Xiong Xu of Chu was crazy. They felt that it was time to select an outstanding king from among the sons of King Xiong Xu of Chu to become the new king of their Chu country.
Xiong Sheng, Lord of Liyang, Xiong Wu, Lord of Guling, and Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, these young princes of Chu gradually became the center for all forces in Chu to seek refuge and win over.