typeface
large
in
Small
Turn off the lights
Previous bookshelf directory Bookmark Next

Chapter 213 Competition

The ministers did not speak, the King of Chu looked very ugly and remained silent, and Xiang Liang also stood in the middle without saying a word. The atmosphere in the hall was extremely strange for a while.

In this silence, the various forces are secretly competing:

The ministers of each force were thinking about whether to use force, how much force to use, or if they couldn't stop the Qin army in the end... simply surrender and survive.

King Chu of Chu was somewhat dissatisfied with Xiang Liang's words.

You must know that those Chu soldiers were all his troops. He handed over the troops to the Xiang family because of his trust in the Xiang family. However, Xiang Liang lost more than 30,000 people. Not only did he not have an explanation, but he acted as a matter of course.

But the King of Chu did not dare to take action. After all, the Xiang family is a wealthy family, and currently holds the military power to support the Chu state. If the Xiang family is offended, who will lead the army to stop the Qin army?

Xiang Liang’s idea is much simpler: The situation is like this, what do you want to do? Whether you want to die together or live together, it’s up to you!

After a while, Da Sima Jingtong broke the situation with a dry cough:

"Xiang Liang, I want to ask you, the army retreated to Ruyin, the front line of the city father, but what is your plan to avoid the war because you are afraid of Qin?"

Jingtong is the third clan of the three major forces in the Chu Kingdom: Zhao, Qu, and Jing. At this time, having the weakest Jing clan ask questions will actually reduce the possibility of conflict with the Xiang family.

This also shows that the tacit understanding between the three major forces at this time has almost reached the point of understanding.

Xiang Liang replied neither humble nor arrogantly:

"Ruyin, the father of the city, has always been the two most important enemies in the northern part of Shouchun."

"Our army's stationing in these two places is just to choke the Qin army's choke points so that they cannot go south to attack our capital. How can it be a policy to avoid war in order to fear Qin?"

"Furthermore, I, the Xiang clan, have mobilized 8,000 disciples from the east of the Yangtze River and 10,000 naval troops to march to Ru River to set up defenses."

"May I ask Da Sima, how many more troops will the Jing family send?"

"Da Sima's theory will eventually be considered as too much to punish one's heart!"

Jing Tong was confused for a moment, because the Jing family had not sent out any soldiers so far, so he hurriedly replied:

"Jing's reinforcements are being prepared, being prepared..."

King Chu of Chu now understood what he heard and said secretly:

"Look, the Xiang family sent all their private soldiers to the defense line to resist Qin, which shows the Xiang family's determination to resist Qin."

"On the contrary, these old ministers who are making irresponsible remarks in the palace are just talking and not practicing. They talk nice but don't send a single soldier..."

"It's ridiculous that I'm still in the dark!"

At that moment, King Chu's face darkened as he was carrying the cud, and he asked:

"Clothes, armor, weapons and military rations were all collected before, why haven't they arrived yet?"

Xiang Liang raised his hand and replied:

"All the grain and grass supplies that were sent out previously are in the warehouse and have not entered the Xiang family's fiefdom!"

"If the king has any doubts, he can send a special envoy to investigate at any time."

After a pause, Xiang Liang added:

"King!"

"This battle between Qin and I is weak is related to the survival of Chu!"

"If we cannot gather our national strength to make a long-term plan to resist Qin, Chu will definitely follow in the footsteps of Han, Zhao, Yan, and Wei!"

"But if we plan for a long and fierce battle, the food, grass, baggage and troops will be far from insufficient!"

"This is the general's intention, and this is what I will say at the end."

The King of Chu glanced coldly at the old ministers on both sides, and let out a loud "hum". He was about to get angry but finally endured it.

It is not easy for him to be the King of Chu.

If we punish these ministers at this time, wouldn't that force them to rebel?

So King Chu was so angry that he could only pick it up heavily but put it down gently. He nodded to Xiang Liang and said:

"What the general said is absolutely true."

"But according to what I can see..."

"We were unprepared for the Qin army's surprise attack on the Chu state. The fact that the food and supplies did not arrive was not because all parties failed to send them, but because time was tight and the deployment was poor."

The ministers on both sides nodded in agreement following King Chu's words.

In fact, it has been several months since Xiang Yan came to Wei, and the failure to send out a single soldier is definitely not a problem of "tight time and poor deployment."

Then the King of Chu changed the subject again:

"How about, while the general is here, we can discuss with him the matters of food and troop deployment?"

The ministers couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then they could only answer one after another:

"As it should be!"

"Weichen has this intention!"

"Your Majesty is wise!"



After some discussion, the monarchs and ministers finally unanimously agreed on four countermeasures:

First, he issued the king's order and appointed Grand Sima Jingtong as the special envoy to strictly supervise the clan garrison to move north as soon as possible to belong to Xiang Yan;

Secondly, he ordered Yin Zhaoxie to take charge of the army's support and to fully supervise the collection and transportation of grain and grass in the feudal clan's fiefdoms.

The reason why Jing Tong and Zhao Shi were responsible for the respective affairs was not because King Chu Chu could trust them.

But these two people represent the Zhao family and the Jing family respectively. If these two families agree, the Qu family will naturally not dare not to contribute.

As for the Zhao and Jing clans, if they do not send troops, King Chu of Chu can "delay the military situation" to punish Jingtong and Zhaohe, and then the Jing and Zhao clans will have nothing to say.

Therefore, for the sake of their own lives, Jing and Zhao will do their best to lobby for the three tribes to send troops and food.

So the problem in this area was finally solved. After receiving the news, all tribes followed the order and sent troops and food to Ruyin and Chengfu.

Xiang Liang also rushed back to Ruyin to garrison at night and sent someone to inform Xiang Yan of the situation.

At that time, Xiang Yan was inspecting Rushui fortifications.

As mentioned before, the fortifications on the east bank of Ru River are the weak point of this defense line. Once the Ru River defense line is breached, the Chu army will have to start a land battle with the Qin army, which will not be the leader of the Chu army.

So Xiang Yan was strengthening Rushui's defense line from beginning to end.

However……

The originally required mountain and stone barriers turned into earth and wood barriers.

The original requirement was to be a fortress, but it simply became an earth ditch with an earth wall and crenellations.

The weapons workshop was originally ordered to produce 5,000 arrows per day from the two cities, but after inspection, it was found that it was less than 2,000, and there were many defective products...

No matter how angry Xiang Yan was, Sima did not make any excuses. When he was scolded, Nuonuo responded, but turned around and continued to hesitate as before.

Xiang Yan wanted to punish these officers who did not do their duty several times, but he picked up the command arrow and put it back several times.

There is a saying that "if the law does not rule the masses".

These phenomena are not just one or two in the Chu army, but are common in the entire army.

This is caused by the Chu army's lax military management and ineffective supervision. Everyone is just dawdling around and can get by casually. They have long been accustomed to it and cannot suddenly change.

At this time, if Xiang Yan uses strict laws because of the war, he is afraid that half of the army's officers will be removed. Who will lead the army in the battle?

This is the Chu army, what can Xiang Yan do?

Just when Xiang Yan had a headache, Xiang Liang's messenger came to report:

"General, General Xiang has convinced the ministers, and reinforcements and food supplies are arriving at full speed from all over!"

The big stone hanging on Xiang Yan's heart was only halfway lowered.

Although the Chu army is weak in combat, if there are large armies gathered from various places and there are natural dangers in Ru River, it should not be a problem to block the Qin army.

This chapter has been completed!
Previous Bookshelf directory Bookmark Next