Linzi, the Meeting Hall of the Han Dynasty Palace.
Liu Jiduan sat on the main throne, while Zhang Liang, Xiao He, Zhong Yuan and Bu Shang were on both sides.
A messenger stood in the middle of the hall, bowed to Liu Ji and others and said: "I pay my respects to the king, the two sages, and the two prime ministers."
Liu Ji waved his hand and said: "No need to be polite, I just want to ask you, how is the battle ahead?"
The messenger cupped his hands and said: "Three days ago, Chu State increased its troops by 50,000, and their morale increased greatly. The commander immediately ordered to shrink the front line and not be able to move out."
"The scouts found out that the Chu State was still adding troops to the battlefield. The commander-in-chief was very worried about this and ordered the young ones to come and ask for help from the king."
Before Liu Ji could speak, Xiao He, who was sitting second on the left, said first: "When Jiang Shang took command before, he claimed that his 50,000-strong army could repel the Chu army. More than half a month later, Jiang Shang not only failed to repel the Chu army, but instead repeatedly
Asking for help.”
"So far, your Majesty has given orders three times to vacate all the soldiers in Qi's counties and counties, and to collect 100,000 and send them to the front line, but he still thinks it's not enough."
"I would like to ask, how many soldiers does Jiang Shang want? Does he want to drain all the soldiers of the Han Kingdom?"
The messenger looked horrified when he heard this, and quickly bowed and said: "Xiang Zuo, please calm down. I was just ordered to deliver the message. I don't know what the commander-in-chief is thinking. If Zuo Xiang wants to know, I will turn around and convey it to the commander-in-chief, so that he can
Reply to you."
Xiao He's fingers turned white when he heard this, and he said with a cold face: "If you don't know clearly, don't ask for help rashly. The Han Kingdom has just been established, and its national power is limited. It cannot withstand his squandering."
After hearing this, the messenger looked at Liu Ji, then at Zhong Youbu Shang, feeling a little at a loss for a moment.
Zhang Liang opened his mouth at the right time and said: "Please retreat first and go down. I will summon you after I have discussed with the king about Jiang Shuai's support."
As if he had been granted amnesty, the messenger bowed and quickly exited.
As soon as the messenger left, Xiao He said with a gloomy face: "Jiang Shang has evil intentions. We should find a way to seize his military power, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."
Zhong You immediately reprimanded: "The Soldier Sage is a well-known powerful person in the world, how can he have evil intentions? Mr. Xiao, you are just a mortal, how can you talk about the Soldier Sage behind his back?"
"If this word gets out and the Soldier Saint is harmed, I will not let you go without him taking action personally."
Xiao He felt extremely humiliated when he heard this, and was about to slap the table and stand up, but was caught by Zhang Liang who was standing beside him.
Zhang Liang grabbed Xiao He and said in a deep voice: "Sage Zhong You's words are a bit excessive."
Zhong Yu sneered and said: "Have you passed? I think that my Confucianism is too lenient, so that some people lack self-awareness and speak nonsense."
In Zhong Yu's view, what he just said was very polite. He invited Jiang Shang. If Jiang Shang has a problem, wouldn't it mean that he doesn't know people well and leads a wolf into the house?
Besides, there are differences between saints and mortals. How qualified is Xiao He, an ordinary person, to judge heaven and humans?
How dare you say that in front of him.
If it weren't for the sake of the Emperor of Destiny, Zhong You would have directly punished Yi Yi, making him what is the Confucian distinction between superior and inferior.
Zhang Liang stood up suddenly after hearing this, looked directly at Zhong Yu, and said in a quiet tone: "Sage Zhong Yu, do you want to guarantee with your life and property that Jiang Shang is fine? If there is a problem with him and the Han Dynasty suffers heavy losses, will you go and explain it to the Confucian sage?
"
Zhong You narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a slightly cold tone: "Are you using my master to suppress me?"
Zhang Liang looked calm: "How can I have the courage? I just want to make things clear. Han cannot bear a big defeat, and Confucianism cannot bear a big defeat of Han."
"The Confucian saints and many Confucian disciples have put in so much effort to establish the country as the Han Dynasty. Could it be that because of an outsider, they don't care about the life and death of the Han country?"
Zhong Yu hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice: "My master, the Confucian Sage, is aware of the fact that the Soldier Sage has defected to Confucianism. There can be no problem with the Soldier Sage."
A sneer appeared at the corner of Zhang Liang's mouth and he said: "Jiang Shang is known as the Soldier Saint. During the Shang-Zhou war, Jiang Shang relied on his ability to lead troops and form formations, and led the Zhou Dynasty to defeat the strong with the weak, and destroyed the Shang Dynasty in one fell swoop."
"Such characters, despite being of similar strength, were unable to repel the Chu army. Instead, they were in a stalemate for more than half a month. Sage Zhong You actually thought it was okay?"
"I dare to ask the sage Zhong You, is it because the general of the Chu army is too strong, or is it because the military sage has not led troops for too long, so he is rusty?"
"Sage turned a blind eye to such an obvious self-respect for raising bandits?"
Zhong You was shocked when he heard this, but he still said stubbornly: "Maybe the Soldier Saint has other plans, but he just didn't say it out loud. It would be too arbitrary to conclude that there is something wrong with him based on this alone."
Zhang Liang took a step forward and said, "Don't sages know that we should nip problems in the bud?"
Zhong You snorted coldly: "Then can you accuse someone of innocence by guessing?"
Zhang Liang took a deep breath, bowed to Liu Ji and said, "I ask the king to move to the Henan camp. If anything happens, with the protection of Cao Shen's hundreds of thousands of troops, the king can still make a comeback."
The fortune teller spoke up at the right time: "Zhang Liang, what do you mean?"
Zhang Liang said calmly: "Literally, if there is a problem with Jiang Shang, the king will be the first to bear the brunt. I cannot take this risk and gamble with the king's wealth and life that Jiang Shang is a loyal minister."
Zhong You slapped his hand heavily on the armrest and said angrily: "You have the final say when it comes to the Kingdom of Han? If you want to take the King of Han away, you can take the King of Han away with you?"
Zhang Liang said without showing any signs of weakness: "It's not the sage Zhong You who has the final say. If the king wants to leave, who dares to stop him?"
A coercion of the heavenly realm suddenly erupted, covering the entire meeting hall. Zhong You didn't say a word, but directly expressed his attitude with actions, I dare.
The atmosphere was extremely tense.
The fortune teller stretched out his hand and patted Zhong You gently, and said in a low voice: "It's just a matter of discussion, senior brother, why should you be angry? A battle with the Chu State is related to the life and death of the Han State. It is only human nature for Prime Minister Zhang to be worried."
Zhong You said coldly: "Worry is not the reason for his arrogance. Without Confucianism, how could there be Han? He feels that Confucianism cannot do without him, so he dares to challenge my Confucianism?"
Zhang Liang said calmly: "I can't bear to be called a sage by Zhong You. If I act for the Han State all my life, it would be presumptuous in the eyes of the sages. I would like to resign as the Right Chancellor of the Han State and devote myself to the mountains and rivers."
, I will not interfere in state affairs from now on."
Zhong You's face changed slightly, and he was about to speak, but the fortune teller scolded him first: "Xiang Zhang, be careful. It won't do you any good to anger the Confucians."
Zhang Liang took a step back and remained silent.
Bu Shang's face improved slightly and he said to Zhong You: "It's not unreasonable for Prime Minister Zhang to be worried. Brother, ask yourself, when the Bingsheng promised to lead troops to go on an expedition, did you think he would easily repel the Chu army?"
"With the power of the Sage of War, and facing the defeated general Di Xin from the past, how could it be possible that there would be no progress in the stalemate for half a month, but instead he would repeatedly ask for help?"
Zhong You felt irritated and said, "What can we do? Remove the Soldier Saint from his post and send someone else?"
"Can we send more troops to stop the Chu army? I'm afraid that as soon as the soldiers retreat, the Han country will be defeated, and the entire Qi region will be defeated by the Chu army."
"Zhang Liang, Xiao He, don't you two claim to be extremely resourceful? Since you suspect that Jiang Shang has a problem, what do you think we should do?"
Zhang Liang and Xiao He exchanged glances, and then Zhang Liang said in a deep voice: "I have three strategies to solve this matter."
"First, form an alliance with Western Qin as quickly as possible and pay a certain price in exchange for Western Qin sending troops to repel the Chu army. Once the Chu army retreats, immediately take back Jiang Shang's military power, and the problem will naturally be solved."
"Second, the war with the Chu State ceased. The two parties signed an agreement and turned the hostility into friendship. From now on, they will not invade each other and live in peace."
"Third, let the South Vietnamese repel the Yuzhang Chu army as soon as possible and march to Jiangdong. If there is a fire in Chu's backyard, the army will naturally retreat."
"This war was originally caused by Buddhism's desire to destroy Chu. It was only because Confucianism and Buddhism had good relations that the Han State came to help. Now the Han State and the Chu State have fought fierce battles one after another, causing great losses in national power, but South Vietnam is dragging its feet and refusing to work hard."
The fortune teller thought Zhang Liang's analysis was quite reasonable. He nodded slightly, turned around and asked, "What do you think, senior brother?"
Zhong You said solemnly: "I will send someone to negotiate with the Buddhists. As for the alliance with the Western Qin or the truce with the Chu State, I can't make the decision. I have to ask the teacher for instructions."