War is commonplace for the Chu State, and even commonplace for all countries in this era.
There is a question worth mentioning here. That is why people in the world may think that the war in the Warring States Period a hundred years later would be fierce.
But in reality?
In the three hundred years of the Spring and Autumn Period, at least more than four hundred wars occurred, and there were only thirty-eight years of peace without war throughout the year. However, during the Warring States Period for more than two hundred years, more than two hundred wars occurred, and there were eighty-nine years of peace without war throughout the year.
Some people may also say that the scale of wars in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are completely different concepts. The most talked about thing is that more than 400,000 Zhao people were killed in the Battle of Changping. But actually?
You must know that the concept of battle damage has completely different meanings in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the Spring and Autumn Period, killing more people was called cruelty. Moreover, there is no direct interest for the generals on both sides.
But if we want to describe the tyranny of the Chu State, such as the Battle of Bi, it is said that "the fingers in the boat can be carried", and three years later, when the Chu State besieged the Song Dynasty, it was even described as "changing children to eat, and analyzing the corpses." "Cuan", in this way, its cruelty is not inferior to that of later generations.
It can be seen that whether the war is tragic or not depends on the propaganda.
And what about the Warring States Period? Killing more people has become a good thing that can be widely publicized. Because the head represents military merit and title. Moreover, it is also an intimidation to other countries.
It can be said that the murderous nature and false reporting of military merit during the Warring States Period were indeed a side effect of the military merit system.
All in all, the wars in the Spring and Autumn Period, regardless of their scale or pre-war mobilization, were actually no different from those of later generations.
Therefore, this time the Chu State wanted to attack Zhongli with the whole country, but everyone in the Chu State was on tenterhooks. And it seems a little weird.
Is this weird?
No, not surprising.
Because according to the tough character of the Chu people, they have never been afraid of war, and they even like to fight. They like the magnificent scene of sweeping the world on the battlefield and wrapping their bodies in horse leather.
Therefore, to attack Zhongli this time, the King of Chu specially appointed Yin Chuan to be dismissed as commander, general Xie Xie, supervising the army Wu Ju, and raised 50,000 troops to attack.
Some people would say that only 50,000 people are not too many. At the Pingqiu meeting, the number of soldiers used by Jin and Han Dynasty for military parades was as high as 300,000.
Therefore, the mobilization of only 50,000 people is worthy of the Chu people being so worried?
If only 50,000 people were mobilized to attack Zhongli, it would certainly not be worth the fear of the Chu people.
However, in addition to the 50,000 people on the front battlefield of Zhongli, the King of Chu also used almost all the troops that the Chu State could mobilize, and deployed them extensively.
In the Qunshu area of Jianghuai, in order to defend Wu State from another sneak attack, the King of Chu had already dispatched 30,000 troops to garrison Chaoyi.
In the north, in order to prevent Jin from taking advantage of the situation, the King of Chu mobilized 100,000 troops to station in Shen County. Once there was a change in the north, these 100,000 troops could prevent Jin from taking the opportunity to invade the hinterland of Chu.
In addition, there were nearly 100,000 people stationed in various places to deal with Baiyue and Baipu, in order to prevent their barbarians from taking the opportunity to cause trouble.
Coupled with the 50,000 people who are now going to attack Zhongli, Chu's nearly 300,000 troops were dispatched almost at the same time!
And isn't this enough to make Chu people fearful?
So many Chu people and soldiers were invested in war preparations or logistics, which was a huge consumption of resources for the entire country. Therefore, the entire Chu State was naturally caught in an extremely tense atmosphere.
Because everyone knows that this battle is of extraordinary significance to the Chu State. The King of Chu cannot afford to lose, and they, the people of Chu, cannot afford to lose either.
As for the strange atmosphere, it was actually mainly because some conservative nobles in the Chu Kingdom wanted to take advantage of the King of Chu's large-scale military expenditure to engage in corruption.
Corruption by powerful people was a situation that occurred in almost every country during the Spring and Autumn Period.
As for the corruption phenomenon in Chu State, it is particularly serious.
Why is this?
It turns out that this was determined by the special system of Chu State at that time.
For example, those high-ranking officials in Chu State, such as Ling Yin, County Duke, etc., because these positions are not hereditary, therefore, these high-ranking officials in office are likely to be corrupted.
In other words, for them, if they are not greedy today, they will have no chance to be greedy tomorrow. This account is indeed calculated by everyone.
For example, Xiong Renwu, the Ling Yin of the Chu Communist King, openly asked for bribes from Chen's envoys. And Ling Yin Nangwa who appeared in later generations during the period of King Chu Zhao was even more powerful in corruption.
Therefore, with the large-scale use of troops by the King of Chu, domestic combat readiness resources were greatly mobilized, and these corruption phenomena naturally resurfaced, colluding with each other to commit corruption.
As a result, a very strange phenomenon appeared. On the one hand, the King of Chu was carrying out the great cause of opening up territories, while the dignitaries below were trying their best to create clever names and plunder the people's wealth.
Therefore, it is conceivable why, even though Xiong Wei, the King of Chu, has made such great contributions to the Chu State, his subjects never pronounce a single word of him, even Behind his back, he was directly labeled as "violent and outrageous".
Of course, these are all things for later.
His eyes continued to return to the battle between Chu and Zhongli.
The movements of the Chu people were extremely fast, so after the 50,000-strong army was assembled, Xie Ba, Xie Xie and Wu Ju immediately led the army to kill Zhongli in a mighty manner.
However, the difficulty of this battle is far beyond everyone's imagination.
Although there is a good general like Wu Ju who has been on the battlefield for a long time, the battle on the front line is still extremely unsatisfactory.
After the Chu army crossed the river, they immediately surrounded Zhufang City and attacked back and forth for nearly a month, but they failed to achieve an inch!
The war ahead was frustrated, and Wu Ju had no choice but to return to Yingdu and plead guilty to the King of Chu in person.
"Hmph! It must be that old man Chuan Ba who refuses to go all out, which is why Zhu Fang City will be unable to be captured for a long time!"
When the King of Chu heard the result, he became angry.
He was not very fond of the Chun family to begin with, and even felt a little disgusted with them.
The reason why Xie Bo and Xie were allowed to lead the army this time was actually just to appease the conservative nobles in the country. In order to show the tolerance of his new king of Chu. So that they can abide by their duties during this period and not cause any trouble.
However, he did not expect that letting these two people lead the army would lead to such a result. At this moment, the 50,000-strong army would be trapped in the quagmire of Zhongli's war, unable to advance or retreat.
Why is this so?
it's actually really easy.
Although Qingfeng is a bit down and out, how can he be an ordinary person? After all, he is a person who has seen big events. When he was making waves in Qi State, King Xiong Wei of Chu didn't know where to crawl!
Therefore, when he learned that the Chu State sent troops to attack him, he was not idle. On the one hand, they sent a lot of people to lobby everywhere and asked the countries in the Central Plains for supplies. On the other hand, they asked the Wu State for soldiers.
Therefore, Zhu Fangcheng suddenly became an unbreakable military fortress.
In addition, the supply line of Chu State is thousands of miles long, so who can bear it after a long time?
As for people like Chuan Xie and Chuan Xie who were born into noble families, they were not good at fighting in the first place. Therefore, after attacking the city, not only did they not gain an inch, but they also lost many Chu people's lives in vain.
The King of Chu originally thought that using these two old guys would appease some conservative forces in the country. But he never imagined that these two people would actually bring him such big trouble. Now the Chu army was in a dilemma on the front line, and the war was once in trouble.
And now as the war intensifies, the domestic situation has naturally become increasingly unoptimistic.
So he couldn't help being furious, and cursed Chuan in front of the ministers, and Chuan vented on these two old men.
Fortunately, Wu Ju was a smart man. Of course he knew that these were the words of the King of Chu out of anger, so he hurriedly advised:
"Your Majesty, please don't get angry. The war on the frontline is tense at this time. Your Majesty is the king of a country, so you must not lose any inch."
This sentence can be regarded as clarifying the important points for the King of Chu.
Chuan Bo, no matter how bad Chuan Xie is, they are also the leading conservative forces in the country. How can you, the King of Chu, scold them like this, so embarrassing for those conservative hereditary nobles?
As Han Feizi said: A wise king does not show his anger. If he shows his anger, his ministers will commit crimes and act lightly, and the master will be in danger. (Translation: A wise king cannot show anger to others, or be angry but not act, because this will make the ministers act more rashly and secretly think about how to kill the king, then the king will be in danger)
