Unfortunately, the development of the situation convinced King Chu of his words.
No matter how the Chu army spread the news that this was a conspiracy of the Qin army, they still could not prevent the Chu people from exodus.
One aspect of this is that the nobles of the Chu State usually do not treat the Chu people as human beings and exploit them to death, including the King of Chu, so the Chu people choose not to believe what they say.
This is exactly what the saying goes: "You will always have to pay back if you come out to fool around."
Then Shen Bing pushed the propaganda war to another climax: launching a wave against Chu soldiers.
The propaganda war against the soldiers of the Chu army was very simple. It only needed to be propagandized among the people, and there was no need to send leaflets directly to the military camps...knowing it to the people was almost equivalent to knowing it to the soldiers.
The policy is as follows: As long as the soldiers of the Chu army are willing to surrender, those who are willing to join the army will join the army, and those who are willing to cultivate land will be given fields and treated equally with the common people, and they only need to perform regular service according to Qin law.
The soldiers of the Chu army had a strong idea in their minds: The Chu country was probably going to be destroyed. If they continued to stay in the Chu army's camp, they would either die in battle or be captured by Qin. Then there would be no such favorable conditions.
So if we don’t drop it now, when will it be updated?
What's more, many of them are in the period of military service, but Chu's military service is not stipulated and implemented by Qin laws like Qin's military service...
In fact, there is not much difference between the Qin State and the Chu State in terms of service, because although the Qin State's service is based on a rotating system, due to the lack of troops for consecutive years of conscription, and the fact that they can be temporarily recruited during wartime, the actual service time is much longer than the regular service.
The key is that the Qin code has twenty military merit systems but the Chu state does not.
After working hard in the Qin army and performing meritorious services, one still has a title and can be assigned a land and house based on the title. However, in Chu State, one only works hard for the princes and nobles, and only receives pitiful rewards for meritorious service.
There are even many cases where nobles impersonate them after they have made meritorious deeds...
Now that the soldiers of the Chu army had this opportunity to surrender to Qin, they would not let it pass easily.
So every now and then a group of soldiers would disappear.
Needless to say where he was going, he went to Huaibei to join the Qin army.
At this time, it was not King Qi of Chu who organized the court meeting, but the nobles took the initiative to ask the court meeting to discuss how to solve this problem.
But after many discussions, no one came up with a clear answer.
When King Qi of Chu and Xiang Yan were alone, King Qi of Chu sighed:
"With the current plan, we seem to have only three options to take."
"The first is to take a preemptive strike and gather all the troops from across the country to attack first."
King Qi of Chu actually had this idea out of helplessness, because if the state of Chu continued like this, it would only get worse and worse, so it would be better to sit here and wait for death than to take advantage of the fact that the state of Chu still has the strength to fight.
Xiang Yan thought for a while and replied:
"The Qin army's morale is at its peak as they wait for work, but our army is a scattered patch of sand with all the tribes separated from each other. At this time, attacking Qin will not only fail to win, but will lose even faster."
King Chu Qi also thought so. He nodded and continued:
"The second is to steal the method of making fertilizer from the Qin army."
The destructive power of this retting fertilizer is too great, and the main reason is that there is no need to rest the fields.
In this case, even if the Chu aristocrats were exempted from taxes, they would not be able to compare with Qin's output, so the tax reduction would be meaningless.
If you still want a balance between Qin and Chu, you can only obtain retting technology.
But Xiang Yan thought about it, shook her head again and said:
"The Qin army must also know the importance of this method of making fertilizer, so they will never reveal it easily."
"We want to find out this method, but I'm afraid it will be even more difficult."
After hesitating for a moment, Xiang Yan asked doubtfully:
"Your Majesty, the third way is..."
King Qi of Chu replied:
"Bow your head and proclaim yourself to me, and seek to survive in the east of the Yangtze River like the city of Anling."
Xiang Yan was stunned for a moment, and then fell into silence.
Although Xiang Yan does not want to make this choice, judging from the current situation, it seems that this is the best choice.
Because the demise of Chu State is inevitable.
This is not because there is not enough food and fodder for the troops, but because the troops are inferior to others.
Under this premise, any struggle is meaningless, and in the end it can only end in defeat, death, and loss of family and family.
But if, like King Qi of Chu, he seeks autonomy in Jiangdong with the existing power of Chu State... he may end up in a corner.
But Xiang Yan thought about it and still thought it was inappropriate:
"My subordinates think it's impossible."
"The reason why Anling City can survive in the world is because Anling City has no chance of making a comeback."
"But our army has more than 100,000 soldiers and hundreds of thousands of people in Jiangdong."
"How can such a scale make King Qin feel at ease?"
King Qi of Chu replied:
"The King of Qin really can't feel at ease."
"But if the land of Huainan can be taken without bloodshed, how can the King of Qin not take it?"
"One day, even if the King of Qin finds an excuse to point his troops to Jiangdong... we can retreat into Baiyue and rely on the terrain to deal with it."
"Jiangdong is the land of Heze, why does the King of Qin need to fight for it?"
Xiang Yan thought it was right.
The Chu State faced this problem before when it destroyed Yue:
Jiangdong's water network is densely covered with jungles, and the terrain determines that attacking requires a heavy price, but there is not much benefit after capturing it.
So what's the point of fighting this battle?
Why not recruit people and let them govern themselves?
Hence the Xiang family of Chu State.
The situation today is similar, except that the original Xiang family has become King Qi of Chu.
Xiang Yan is actually a very loyal person.
It should be said that this is a common characteristic of the Xiang family. The Xiang family was originally under the control of the Wu State. After the Yue King Gou Jian destroyed the Wu State, the Xiang family never surrendered. Although they failed to restore the Wu State, they avoided Zhenze and held on until the Chu State destroyed Yue...
…That’s why he accepted Chu’s recruitment.
In fact, there is a principle of "natural selection of the fittest".
Because if a small clan like the Xiang clan is not united and loyal, it will easily fall apart and dissipate into other clans without even a shadow being seen.
The reason why the Xiang family has been able to develop for hundreds of years and even compete with Liu Bang for the world in the future is because of its unity and loyalty.
Xiang Yan in history also committed suicide because of the defeat of Chu State... At that time, he could have taken the Xiang family's children and fled to Jiangdong.
But loyalty does not mean foolish loyalty. If King Qidu of Chu was considering whether to comply with the situation and retreat from Jiangdong and become a minister, then Xiang Yan would no longer insist.
He just reminded King Chu Qidao:
"I have no objection to this, but I hope that your Majesty will consider two things carefully."
"First, are the nobles in Huainan willing to surrender? Where will they go after surrendering?"
"Secondly, our ministers are requesting a change of life. Your Majesty is of royal blood. Can King Qin tolerate you..."
What Xiang Yan said is very pertinent.
Especially the second point... If Xiang Yan was just trying to survive for himself, then he wouldn't even mention this point at all and would just pretend not to know.
King Qi of Chu thought for a while and replied:
"If the nobles do not surrender, the Qin army will deal with it."
"As for me...if this continues like this, how can we be happy?"
"After the weather falls, there will be time to breathe and a glimmer of hope."
"From now on, whether I live or die, it all depends on Xiang Qing!"