Wu Ju was a smart man, so smart that he thought that his words could generally get away with it, and he could please the King of Chu without causing too much embarrassment.
But what he didn't know was that the ambiguous words he said today would be enough to bring huge disaster to his Wu family in the future.
Of course, these are all things for later.
The Shen Di Meeting was held, and the King of Chu naturally started his performance again.
He stood on the stage and looked at the envoys from various countries under the stage. He should have been extremely happy, but for some unknown reason or whether it was true or false, his face was full of displeasure at this time. .
"Gentlemen! Qingfeng is a traitor to the Qi State, but now he has been granted the title of the Wu State and is now sitting on Zhongli's side!"
"Since you are all gentlemen who respect etiquette, you should know that such arrogant behavior is intolerable in heaven! Therefore, such traitors to Qi should be condemned by the whole world! Qingfeng betrayed Qi The country came first, and now I want to exterminate myself from the whole world."
"I am raising the king's army this time to win over his subordinates! Unexpectedly, some of you have colluded with him over and over again, providing him with sharp weapons and food to trap my army!"
"I would like to ask everyone here, since you have such good relations with Qingfeng, is it possible that you were the instigators of his rebellion against Qi and Jiang?"
Everything must have a reason, and after Li Ran's reminder, King Chu's reason can be described as very "great and upright".
And his last rhetorical question pierced the hearts of all the kings present.
Instigating Qingfeng to regicide and rebel against Qi, no one can carry this big pot. Therefore, when the kings and envoys of the various countries present heard this, they immediately shook their heads in the audience, shouted no, and tried to distance themselves from Qingfeng. The scene seemed very funny for a time.
"By the way! I heard that Xu Zi is also here, right?"
After intimidating the participating princes, the King of Chu immediately got to the point.
When Xu Zi heard this, he immediately stood up and stepped forward to salute.
I saw that Xu Zi was only in his thirties, with a pale face and haggard appearance. It was obvious at a glance that he had been ill for a long time.
"Xu Zi is here."
Xu State is a small country that has never been taken seriously. Because its location is too remote, its presence is not even as strong as that of Ju, Zhu and other countries.
Except for King Xu Yan in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was no other king in the Xu Kingdom who could leave a mark in the history books.
And now Xu Zi obviously does not have the confidence that King Xu Yan had when he was king. Although he was not angry at the king of Chu's name, he even didn't take it seriously. But the rather bleak expression on his face was enough to fully demonstrate the cowardice in his heart.
"I have heard that when our hero Chu raised an army to conquer Zhongli, your Xu State had a lot of capital for it. I would like to take the opportunity of today's alliance meeting to know what is the relationship between you Xu Zi and Na Qingfeng? Why do you need to help like this? For him to go against our country of Chu?!"
King Chu no longer hid anything. After saying this, the atmosphere of the entire venue suddenly changed.
"The King of Chu Mingjian! This is pure nonsense! There is absolutely no such thing!"
"Our country, Xu, only wants to live in peace and quiet, so how can we help a rebellious minister and traitor without causing trouble?!"
Qingfeng has long been identified. At least in this alliance, Qingfeng can only be labeled as a "rebellious minister and traitor".
Of course Xu Zi understood this, so he immediately denied it.
But how could the King of Chu believe his one-sided words? He immediately sneered and said:
"Hmph! If it weren't for your Xu State's secret help, how could his small Zhongli State be the opponent of our Chu State?!"
"No more words! Come on, take down Xu Zi!"
The moment he finished speaking, dozens of Chu guards swarmed in from outside the venue and tied Xu Zi up without any explanation. Suddenly, there was a frightening sound in the venue.
"King Chu! King Chu!"
"No, Your Majesty!"
The first sentence was said by several small countries close to Jin, and the latter sentence was said by several vassal countries close to Chu State.
"Hmph! You should admit it if you do it! Why don't I dare to punish such a repetitive villain?"
"Xu Zi betrayed the alliance and regarded the Song Alliance as nothing. After the meeting, he still went his own way and had no intention of restraining! As the leader of the alliance, I have the right to deal with it!"
The preparations made by the Guodi Society before became extremely useful at this time.
After all, Chu State is the leader of the alliance, and since your Xu State is helping Zhongli State, it means betraying the Song Alliance. As the country of Chu, as a minor country, it naturally has the power to deal with it.
Thus, amidst Xu Zi's feeble struggle, the climax of this alliance came.
King Chu looked at Xu Zi who had been tied up, with a ray of anger emerging from the corners of his eyes, and said in a deep voice:
"I am giving you face by inviting you to come. Therefore, I can also give you some face by inviting you."
"If anyone dares to help Qingfeng in the future, this will be the fate of Xu Zi today!"
Humiliation, naked humiliation.
As the king of the same country, he, the king of Chu State, is obviously higher than them.
The attitude of asking you to say sorry after hitting you in the face is exactly the same as that of a certain second-generation driver from later generations who hit someone with a car.
This time, not only Xu Zi, but also King Chu severely humiliated everyone present.
Zichan and Xiangxu looked at each other and shook their heads.
Zichan whispered:
"The King of Chu's move may cause trouble."
Xiang Xu nodded slightly at this time and replied in a low voice:
"It's none of our business, and nothing we say will help."
Xiang Xu seemed quite smart at this time. He knew very well that if he was as effective at this time as he was when he promoted the annihilation of troops from the north to the south a long time ago, then he might have to stay in Chu for the rest of his life.
The kings of all the countries were also filled with righteous indignation. However, they were on other people's territory at this moment, so they could only suppress the anger in their hearts, and they could only secretly curse King Chu Xiong Wei for not having a good death.
After all, both Xu Zi and them came to participate in the alliance in compliance with the Song Alliance agreement.
But now the King of Chu has openly detained the king of Xu State! And I want to use this to scare the monkeys!
If God doesn't take care of him, is there any justice? Is there any royal law?
In this way, the Shen meeting ended in an extremely embarrassing atmosphere.
As soon as the alliance ended, Zichan and Xiang Xu immediately found Li Ran.
They feel that only Li Ran can solve this matter now.
"Xu Zi was invited to come, and he should be treated generously. But now the King of Chu has done the opposite and detained Xu Zi here. This is definitely not the royal way."
"Ziming should find a way to persuade the King of Chu."
"Yes, although the world is in chaos, the way of heaven still exists. The king of Chu is so chaotic and unruly, it will eventually lead to a big disaster in the future!"
The starting point of Zichan and Xiangxu is actually not complicated. After all, the situation of the country they were in was not much different from that of Xu State.
Therefore, if Chu State can treat Xu State like this today, will Chu State be able to treat Song State and Zheng State like this in the future?
From his point of view, what King Chu did was obviously knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger.
In fact, Li Ran did not go to the alliance meeting today. After all, this Shenzhi alliance meeting was a bit too sensitive given his current status.
But how could he have imagined that King Chu would actually be able to do such a thing when the alliance was formed as a matter of course? Therefore, Li Ran was shocked when he heard the news:
"What? Is Xu Zi still fine now?"
he asked hurriedly.
Unexpectedly, Zichan and Xiangxu both shook their heads, expressing their ignorance.
When Li Ran saw this, he said angrily:
"The alliance should be a harmonious thing, but why did it become like this again?!"
His original intention was to let the King of Chu unite the other countries and take this opportunity to isolate Zhongli.
Unexpectedly, the King of Chu finally came forward directly and attacked Xu State directly, forcing other countries to isolate Zhongli State!
This really good hand was beaten to pieces by him, what kind of trouble is this!
——
Chapter 287_Obviously hand over military power
Li Ran really couldn't understand what kind of trouble King Chu was going to make.
It was originally a peaceful and smooth alliance, but he was forced to make it happen like this!
You directly detained Xu Zi in front of so many kings of Shangguo. Isn't this equivalent to a direct slap in their face?
How can you ask people to live with you in the future? Isn't this just looking for trouble?
After hearing this, even Li Ran couldn't help but become concerned.
What kind of situation Chu State will face in the future is secondary to Li Ran.
The most important thing is that if the Chu State detained Xu Zi, the Chu State was unable to conquer Zhongli, which ultimately led to his failure to successfully capture Qingfeng. So wouldn't all of his hard work be in vain?
Moreover, it is said that this alliance was brought about by himself! For him, this means that the old wounds have not healed, but new ones have been added!
"Ziming, I'm afraid it's you who have to talk about this."
"Xu Zi is also the king of a country, but now he is detained in Chu State. How is this unbecoming?"
Zichan frowned and looked at Li Ran.
That's right, not to mention that this is the Spring and Autumn Period, even if it was placed later in the Warring States Period, this kind of behavior can be called immoral.
Just like when "Zhang Yi bullied Chu", when King Zhaoxiang of Qin detained King Huai of Chu in Qin, how could he have thought that his domineering and domineering behavior would not only make Qu Yuan famous throughout his life, but also make all Chu people famous. Everyone woke up, thus laying the root of their own disaster.
However, in less than a hundred years, Qin was finally destroyed by Chu. It’s hard for you to say, isn’t this the fault of King Qin’s “domineering” behavior?
So, is this kind of behavior advisable? It is obviously undesirable in the eyes of future generations.
Of course, these are all things for later.
At that time, everyone knew that only Li Ran's intervention could turn the matter around.
Li Ran nodded when he heard the sound, and immediately turned around to meet with King Chu.
After he left, Xiang Xu looked at Zi Chan thoughtfully and said:
"If the King of Chu insists on having his own way, wouldn't Xu Zi be in danger?"
Li Ran's suggestion was indeed very important to King Chu.
But the King of Chu detained Xu Zi in front of the envoys from the Central Plains countries. At this time, Li Ran wanted to persuade the King of Chu to let him go with just his words. It might be a bit difficult for Li Ran.
It would be better if he could be persuaded.
But what if Li Ran's advice is of no avail?
"Hey... If this is really the case, then we can only leave it to fate."
Zichan's answer was quite negative, which was also the helplessness of the small country.
After all, as the saying goes, small countries have no diplomacy.
If Jin were here today, the situation might be different. After all, the influence of a big country is definitely much better than that of small countries like them.
But in this current situation, even the Jin State cannot count on it.
The words were divided into two parts. Li Ran met with the King of Chu, and the King of Chu was also celebrating today's detention of Xu Zi.
After all, this was the first time that the Chu State had openly exercised the power of an alliance leader, and it was so unscrupulous that no one objected.
Now above the main hall, the King of Chu was discussing with his ministers how to march towards Zhongli.
The purpose of this Shendi meeting was to coerce these small countries to attack Zhongli together. Since they are all here, they naturally have to wait for Chu to defeat Zhongli before they can go back.
But what followed was a very serious question.
Chu State marched together with other states. How should this military power be exercised?
If the Chu family monopolizes military power, then these small countries will definitely not agree.
After all, King Chu's behavior at the Shen Di Meeting had already caused dissatisfaction.
But if other countries are allowed to disperse and command their own troops, then the King of Chu, who has always been accustomed to being tyrannical, must be very unhappy.
When the King of Chu saw Li Ran coming to see him, he hurriedly came down from the stage to greet him, grabbed Li Ran's hand and asked:
"Oh, sir, you are finally here! Come up with a solution for me quickly. How can we get all the countries to voluntarily hand over their military power?"
Yes, the King of Chu was so direct and did not consider the second method at all. The only thing he thought about now was to let the envoys of the various countries hand over their military power and let the Chu State become the real leader of this battle!
Li Ran came to persuade the King of Chu to let Xu Zi go, but when he saw the King of Chu being so enthusiastic towards him in front of all the ministers, he was speechless for a moment.
"Since it is a coalition of princes, only one person can exercise military power. And this attack on Zhongli is presided over by our Chu Kingdom, so naturally this military power should be owned by our Chu Kingdom's generals!"
"Yes! The combined troops brought by these countries are no more than 10,000 people, and our Chu country has 50,000 people. How can they get the position of commander of the coalition army!"
"After two days, Brother Wang just declares it directly. Why do we need to discuss it with them?"
The opinions of the ministers of Chu State were surprisingly unanimous, but Prince Qiji was even more "domineering". When he finished speaking, his disdainful eyes glanced at Li Ran twice.
Obviously, Wang Ziqiji did not want Li Ran to intervene in this matter again.
Seeing this, Li Ran also knew it well.
At the meeting of Shen Di, the King of Chu had lost his "name of benevolence". If he forced the other countries to hand over the command of the army, it would only make the countries hate Chu even more.
By then, even if Zhongli's country is defeated, these small countries that were originally willing to rely on Chu State will no longer have any goodwill. In the future, if the Chu State wants to form an alliance to seek hegemony again, it can only be a dream.
Of course, King Chu's "tyranny and cruelty" can also reflect the "respect and respect" shown by his prince before he abandoned his illness.
Therefore, this will certainly make the character of Prince Qiji more favored by other countries.
In terms of ruining his brother's reputation, Wang Ziqiji was very deliberate and did everything possible.
Li Ran smiled and said disapprovingly:
"Haha, what's so difficult about this? If your Majesty wants to gain military power from all the countries, why should you worry so much? But there is a plan that will not only make the countries hand over their military power voluntarily, but also convince them!"
When the King of Chu and all the Chu officials heard this, they all cast surprised glances, and Prince Qiji immediately frowned.
"Oh? Sir, do you have any good ideas?"
There is no doubt that King Chu asked hurriedly.
At this time, Li Ran continued to reply:
"When the army is marching, the king can keep silent about this matter. When it reaches the front line and the army is deployed, the king can order people to ask which country is willing to be the vanguard."
"In fact, everyone knows that the vanguard has always been the most dangerous, and Zhufang City is a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Therefore, as soon as this question comes up, all countries will definitely retreat and refuse to act as a vanguard. By then, everyone will just want to be a vanguard. I watched from the sidelines, conserved my strength, and even took the opportunity to take advantage."
Although the countries in the Central Plains have unanimous opinions on the issue of Chu, they are also extremely selfish when facing the interests of their respective countries.
To put it bluntly, the vanguard is just cannon fodder, and which king is willing to send his troops forward to be cannon fodder? What's more, he still serves as cannon fodder for their Chu State.
"Haha! Sir, you are really pleased!"
After Li Ran finished speaking, some of the Chu Guoqing doctors in the hall suddenly woke up.
But when he saw one of them, he immediately cupped his hands towards the King of Chu and said:
"Your Majesty, what Mr. Ziming said is absolutely true."
"If we want them to hand over their military power, they will have to start internal strife and disputes. Once this question comes up, the kings of various countries will probably avoid it. And then our country, Chu, can use this as an excuse. Take back all the military power of all the countries and let us, the State of Chu, unify and dispatch them!"
After all, not all of the ministers and officials under the King of Chu were aristocratic wealthy families who only knew corruption and seeking personal gain. There were still some smart people among them.
The speaker, named Shen Wuyu, is the smartest among these people.
Shen Wuyu was originally from the Fan family, so he was also called "Fan Wuyu". (This "Fan family" has nothing to do with the Fan family of Jin State)
After hearing this, all the ministers were suddenly enlightened, and they all nodded in agreement.
King Chu was even more happy and shouted:
"Color! Color! Color!"
"Okay! Just do as the teacher says!"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
original:
In Xia, Chuzi, Caihou, Chenhou, Zheng Bo, Xu Nan, Xuzi, Tengzi, Dunzi, Huzi, Shenzi, Xiaozhuzi, Song Shizizuo and Huaiyi met in Shen. Chu Zi holds Xu Zi. ——"Spring and Autumn Period·The Fourth Year of Duke Zhao"
