The battle to conquer Zhu Fang City failed, and the King of Chu could not help but be furious.
However, after some persuasion from Wu Ju, the King of Chu immediately understood. Getting angry at this time was obviously of no use. The most important thing at the moment was how to capture Zhu Fang City.
At this time, Guan Cong also entered the hall to report, and saw him step forward with his head in his mouth, and then fell to the ground with a plop:
"Meet the King"
"Free gift"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"Why are you here to report something important?"
"Yes! I have learned that the State of Wu has been making frequent moves in the past few days, sending troops one after another to attack our army's baggage."
The purpose of Chu's attack on Zhongli was to cut off the communication between Wu and the Central Plains countries, and thus completely cut off the Central Plains countries' support for Wu.
So, can Wu Guo watch Chu State do this?
After Zhufan died, his younger brother Yuji came to the throne, the second son of King Wu Shoumeng.
What needs to be explained here is that King Wu Shoumeng had four sons in total, and his favorite was his youngest son Jizha, so he originally wanted to pass the throne to Jizha.
But what did Jizha say?
To use a very noble and upright sentence: He is a noble person, a pure person, a moral person, and a person who has escaped from vulgar taste.
The position of the most obsessed king in the world was like dirt in his eyes, and he didn't even want to take another look at it.
Therefore, his father wanted to pass the inheritance to him before his death, but he refused to accept his excuse.
The former king Zhu Fan had already said that if he died, he would be passed on to Ji Zha, but Ji Zha would still accept the excuse.
Now, Yuji, who had just ascended the throne, and Yi Mei, who ascended the throne more than ten years later, both wanted to pass the throne to him, but he never accepted it.
He even wanted to slap his butt and go into seclusion!
There are countless stories of brothers fighting for power and throne in Chinese history, but it is indeed extremely rare for someone like Jizha to humbly give up the throne several times.
After Zhufan, the reason why he passed the throne to Yuji was actually because he wanted Yuji to continue to pass the throne on, and he would not stop until it passed to Jizha.
It’s also worth mentioning here that if you think Ji Za’s actions are completely without reason?
That's not the case.
Because Wu Taibo (also known as Taibo), who the Wu people considered to be the founder of the country, ran from Shaanxi to Wuyue in one fell swoop in order to humbly give way to his younger brother Ji Li (the father of King Wen of Zhou Jichang).
Therefore, this can be regarded as a kind of family inheritance virtue.
Okay, let’s get down to business.
Now that Yuji has ascended the throne as the King of Wu, when he heard that Chu State had the courage to rush thousands of miles to attack Zhongli's main city, he did not take him seriously as the newly enthroned King of Wu at all! Who can bear this?
Therefore, when Zhufan died in battle and the morale in the country was extremely low, Yuji chose a roundabout method to deal with Zhu Fangcheng's defenders.
Hey, my country, Wu, is not stupid. Your country, Chu, is powerful now, right? Then go and fight! Anyway, I will just follow you, poke you from time to time, and ask you if you are afraid? !
When the enemy advances, we retreat, and when the enemy retreats, we advance, using virtual reality to delay the enemy.
From this, it is not difficult to see that King Wu Yuji is indeed different from his elder brother. He was considered a smart man. He did not immediately reinforce Zhu Fangcheng, but instead responded to Zhu Fangcheng in the cheapest but most deadly way.
When the King of Chu heard that Wu Guo was actually causing trouble for him at this moment, he suddenly became angry again and was about to get angry again, but who knew that Guan Cong had not finished speaking.
"In addition, I have received reliable information in the past few days. Since our army attacked Zhu Fang City, several foreign ministers, including the Ji family of Lu State and the Hua family of Song State, have been secretly passing through Xu State. Provide military supplies to Zhongli's front line."
"Therefore, our army of Chu State actually only has 50,000 people to fight against the Three Kingdoms. This is really difficult to reach the sky."
As mentioned before, the State of Wu used the Zhongli State as a springboard, so it was able to maintain communication with the countries in the Central Plains, obtain a large amount of material support from them, and develop and strengthen its own power.
Therefore, now that Chu State is going to attack Zhongli State, of course the Central Plains countries will not just watch and do nothing.
But on the other hand, after all, Chu State is now the nominal leader of the world. Therefore, small countries like Lu and Song naturally did not dare to directly send troops to confront Chu, so they chose a relatively tactful way to provide material assistance to Zhongli.
This resulted in 50,000 people from the Chu State under Zhu Fang City. It looked like they were fighting Qingfeng, but in fact they were fighting several alliances of forces composed of the Qing clan.
Can this be defeated?
As a guest, Li Ran was not qualified to listen to such important military information, but in order to show his magnanimity and tolerance, the King of Chu kept Li Ran with him.
Li Ran didn't pay much attention at first. After all, attacking Zhongli State was extremely difficult. It was understandable that he was now in a dilemma.
But when he heard that "Ji's family from Lu State" was also involved, he immediately cheered up.
After all, he had not heard from Shusun Bao for a long time after coming to Chu State. Therefore, he knew nothing about the domestic affairs of Lu State.
Now, Ji Sun Yiru would actually get involved between Chu and Zhongli again, so of course he immediately became more vigilant.
In line with the principle that the enemy of his enemy is his friend, Li Ran's mind started to spin rapidly again.
However, this military matter was not something he could just think of and come up with.
Now that Sun Wu was not around, he naturally couldn't come up with any better solution for a while.
When the King of Chu heard that the Ji family of the Lu state and the Hua family of the Song state were secretly helping Qingfeng behind his back, he immediately cursed them regardless of their image, and even the king who led them was stinked. .
People with a temperament will inevitably lose control of their emotions.
It's just that scolding is followed by scolding, and troubles are made. The war on the front line is tense, and it is obvious that just relying on words is not enough.
King Chu knew that the matter could not be delayed any longer, so he immediately turned his attention to Li Ran.
"Sir, what do you think should be done now?"
When Li Ran heard this, he thought to himself: I am not Doraemon, but I can give you a helping hand every time?
"Back to your Majesty, Zhu Fang City is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Chu army has to rush thousands of miles to attack. It is difficult to supply. Coupled with the intervention of foreign forces, this battle will probably be a disaster..."
"I...I can't think of a better way at the moment."
As Li Ran spoke, he just sighed, shook his head and spread his hands, saying that he was powerless.
When King Chu heard this, he immediately let out a sigh of disappointment.
"Your Majesty, the only plan for now is to stabilize the frontline position first and then find a solution."
The opinions given by Guan Cong were quite satisfactory. The frontline soldiers must not be defeated. Both soldiers and material supplies must be in place in time, and Qingfeng must not take advantage of it.
King Chu nodded upon hearing this, and immediately made arrangements again.
…
After the court meeting, Li Ran returned to Xiangyuan, and at this time he happened to receive a letter from Zichan.
The letter was full of concern, and its general meaning was:
He just asked Li Ran about Chu's attack on Zhongli. Did Li Ran participate in it? If Li Ran does not participate, then let Li Ran continue to sit on the sidelines and do not get himself involved again.
However, when Li Ran finished reading the letter, he seemed a little indifferent for a moment.
Of course he knew what Zichan meant. After all, if he didn't help the Chu State, he would be helping the Wu State, and if he helped the Wu State, he would be helping the Jin State. And helping the Jin State was equivalent to reaching a reconciliation with the country named Ji in the Central Plains. For Li Ran, this is a good thing that can prove his innocence.
However, what Li Ran is thinking about now is something else.
That's Ji Sun Yiru, and Hua Clan from the Song Dynasty. What kind of medicine are these guys selling?
——
Chapter 265_The best way to have both ends of the world
The Chu State rushed thousands of miles to attack Zhongli. The gap in hard power between the two sides was quite obvious. However, due to the infiltration of Lu State, Song State and other Qing clan forces behind Zhongli State, the Chu State army actually failed to achieve an inch of success outside Zhu Fang City. Instead, they had to Faced with the danger of being counterattacked at all times.
The King of Chu asked Li Ran if there was any way to save the current situation. In fact, Li Ran certainly has a way.
But he is also very conflicted.
Because he helped Chu State defeat Wu State and forced Wu King Zhufan to death, Li Ran had already put himself on the opposite side of the Central Plains countries.
Even the monarchs and ministers of many countries have directly nailed Li Ran to the pillar of shame of Zhou State with the surname Ji.
If he helps the Chu State to capture Zhongli this time, or even kills Qingfeng, wouldn't that mean he is extirpating himself from the sect?
You must know that although Qingfeng is not named Ji, he is still named Jiang after all.
If you were to fight for the Qi State as a person with the surname Ji, it would be easy to talk about it. But you are now helping Jingman to defeat Qingfeng. What is the difference between your defeating him and helping the King of Chu to defeat Wu?
First, he helped Chu State fight against the country named Ji, and now he helped Chu State fight against the country named Jiang. Even if Li Ran had 10,000 reasons and was full of words, he might not be able to explain it clearly.
This is the reason why Li Ran was unwilling to offer advice to the King of Chu in the court.
But on the other hand, when he heard that the Ji family of the Lu state and the Hua family of the Song state were secretly helping Qingfeng, he had a very strong hunch: Qingfeng might be able to pry open the family behind the Ji family and the Ji family. The key to huge interest groups!
It is not surprising that Lu and Song, as allies of Jin, supported Wu. However, the terms "Ji's family of Lu" and "Hua's family of Song" are too abrupt.
They were just ministers from other vassal states, why would they think of helping Qingfeng?
What's more, a person who escaped from Qi State was already notorious in Qi State. Why would outsiders like them risk the disapproval of the world and help him?
Since the Ji family of the Lu state and the Hua family of the Song state have to help each other to celebrate the title at this time, there is only one possibility. The three of them were originally a group, or in other words, they belonged to the same interest group!
When Li Ran was in Zhengyi, when he was dealing with Shu Niu and Feng Duan, he had guessed that there must be another wave of people hiding behind the Ji family of Lu and Shu Niu. And among this wave of people, there must be people from Qi.
Let's think about it again: Qing Feng originally ran away from Qi State.
Is this a coincidence?
Therefore, if he could take this opportunity to capture Qing Feng, he would very likely be able to extract some extremely important information from Qing Feng's mouth.
And this is the point where Li Ran is conflicted and entangled now.
On the one hand, he was always thinking about what Qin Guoyihe said to him that the "interest group" represented by Shu Niu might become his enemy.
Now that he has the opportunity to capture his allies alive, the temptation is not small for Li Ran. Therefore, there is no reason why Li Ran should not contribute.
But on the other hand, his relationship with the Central Plains countries has become very bad at this moment. Once he helps the Chu Kingdom to conquer the Jiang surname, he will be annihilating himself from Ji Zhou. Then, in the future, there will be no one else except Chu. a place of shelter.
Even though he has always been full of wisdom and tricks, he can't help but feel a headache and upset about this at this moment.
This is like a monk falling in love - "In this world, I can have both peace and harmony, and I will live up to the Tathagata and live up to you." Now this dilemma puts Li Ran in a dilemma.
Li Ran also shook his head helplessly, stood up and walked to the window. Outside the window was the cold winter howling in the north wind, and the world was filled with chills. There were no birds, no blue clouds, only a gray world that continued to extend until his field of vision. The end.
After entering Chu, Li Ran seemed to have returned to the same situation as when he was in Qufu, always being led by the nose.
This is how he was forced to accept the commission of the king of Chu, this is how he was forced to help Chu and Wu in the battle of Qunshu, and this is how he offered advice and planned the battle of Chaoyi.
In the end, he contacted the county magistrate of Ye County, but he was forced to do so and could not refuse.
Things in the world are impermanent and turn around a thousand times, but in the end it seems to be back to where it was at the beginning.
This made Li Ran quite sentimental for a while.
He thought he had the ability to control everything about himself, but in the end he discovered that he could not even accurately control his own thoughts and had to follow the wheel of history.
Crying, making trouble, or hanging, it seems that nothing can change the original appearance of this world. His arrival does not seem to add any different brilliance to this world.
"Ah...why?"
Li Ran couldn't understand it for a while.
He has obviously done enough, but why is the world still like this? Not even a ripple from what he did?
Could it be said that everything he did was still so insignificant?
Or is it that his original intention was wrong from the beginning?
At this moment, he no longer wanted to be led by the nose like a puppet on strings, but he was powerless to change this situation at this moment.
Self-doubt will only make him more discouraged, and he will completely lose the confidence to "fight for the crossing".
You must know that his original aspirations were completely different from those of everyone in this era. What he is "fighting to cross" is not just one river, not one day and one night, but for the future.
But if everything he does is meaningless, then what is the meaning of his existence...
While Li Ran was engaged in a complex and dangerous ideological struggle alone, Chu Dang's very rough voice suddenly sounded in Xiangyuan.
"I'm just too strong. It's just a broken well. What are you yelling about?"
"Get out of my way!"
Chu Dang has had nothing to do these days, mainly because he doesn't have any fights. A guy like him who feels uncomfortable if he doesn't fight all day always likes to find something to do for himself.
But he looked tall and thick, as if he didn't have any intentions, but he knew in his heart what kind of place this place was. Coupled with Li Ran's daily restraint on him, his behavior has become much more restrained.
This was the first time that he was yelling like this today.
Li Ranzheng didn't know how to make a decision, and he was so disturbed by Chu Dang. He suddenly became angry, frowned for a moment, opened the door and walked out.
I saw that in the garden, a well in the corner was torn apart and collapsed to the ground.
Chu Dang was holding a pair of buckets in his hands and was surrounded by several guards. The situation was clear at a glance.
The guard asked Chu Dang to "please confess", but Chu Dang shouted that it was just a well and could be repaired.
Li Ran stopped immediately when he saw this scene, feeling angry and funny for a moment.
What's funny is that in this era, there was actually a crime of damaging public property, and the public property was nothing more than a well.
What's annoying is that it's just a well. As Chu Dang said, the wellhead collapsed. It's just a matter of repairing it. How big a deal is it?
"This well was dug for people's use. How can it be said that it's not bad? I just broke the mouth of the well because I was too strong. I just repaired it! How come there are so many gossips?"
"If you ask me, you Chu people are a bit stingy..."
Chu Dang is still self-aware, knowing that he made a mistake first, and he does not dare to be too presumptuous with his words. He just looks like a wronged child, and his mumbling appearance makes him more cute.
