The King of Chu deliberately made peace with Chuan Fengxu, but in fact he just wanted to tell Li Ran not to hurt the harmony between them because of the temporary dispute at that time.
The subtext of their words was that King Chu was actually a broad-minded person and would never blame Li Ran for his rude remarks.
In other words, he still hopes that Li Ran can continue to give him the last plan he promised before.
The King of Chu's "vomiting after eating" operation may be because he did it too deliberately, so it made Li Ran even more disgusted.
Obviously, he did not cross Fengxu, and the dispute between him and the King of Chu was not about personal interests.
Can this be compared?
What he couldn't stand was the King of Chu's immorality and the atrocities committed by Jueren Sheji.
How can he agree with this kind of style?
Therefore, even though the King of Chu acted superbly with Chuan Fengxu at the banquet, he just watched with cold eyes and said nothing.
This made King Chu a little unhappy.
He originally thought that although he could not calm Li Ran's anger by coming out like this, he could at least ease the relationship between them and Li Ran, and each could give the other a step up.
But he didn't expect that Li Ran didn't notice it at all, and didn't even mean to express it.
You, Li Ran, want to be a human being. Do you think that because he is the King of Chu, he has no self-respect?
Humph, I’m giving you face, right?
Showing off in front of the crowd?
After the banquet was over, the King of Chu stopped talking and deliberately ignored Li Ran. Without even saying hello, Li Ran was allowed to leave.
…
The King of Chu felt satisfied with the destruction of Chen State, and the compromise and appeasement of the Central Plains countries further fueled the King of Chu's arrogance, and his ambitions became more and more inflated.
He even vaguely felt that even without Li Ran's help, he could still achieve immortality!
So, after a short rest, King Chu decided to take advantage of the strong morale of the army to conquer another city!
But this time, the King of Chu targeted the Cai State, which was surrounded by their Chu State!
Cai State borders Chen State and Chu State, and now that Chen State has been destroyed, it is obvious that Cai State has been directly dumped.
Of course, it is difficult to be alone.
As mentioned before, from the beginning of King Wen of the Chu Kingdom, through the successive kings such as King Cheng, King Zhuang, and King Gong, no fewer than dozens of countries, large and small, were annexed by the Chu Kingdom.
Nowadays, there are only a few larger vassal states left in the surrounding area. Most of them were previously either dependent on the Jin State or subordinate to the Chu State and struggled to survive.
Now, with the Lai State, Zhongli State and Chen State being destroyed one after another.
The territory of Chu State has been greatly expanded in the hands of Chu King Xiong Wei. It has already far exceeded the territory when he took the throne.
And within the hinterland of this huge territory, only a slightly larger vassal state like Cai State still survives.
And who is the King of Chu? Can he accommodate others sleeping peacefully on his side of the bed?
Cai Guo’s territory must also belong to the few!
Just do it!
At this time, Guan Cong appeared again.
In fact, it can be said that the reason why Guan Cong was able to appear again at this time was precisely because of Li Ran.
If Li Ran hadn't completely fallen out with the King of Chu now, he might not have been able to get the job of making plans.
Now, under the influence of Li Ran, the King of Chu is also very aware of the importance of the so-called "outwitness", and also knows the importance of the so-called "justice" when raising troops to fight.
These days, it’s really important to fight with someone who has a good reputation.
Therefore, he had to find someone to discuss how to make a good example when attacking Cai Guo?
Therefore, he immediately called Guan Cong, and Guan Cong also got straight to the point and directly offered his advice:
"Your Majesty, this matter is not difficult. The current Marquis of Cai is a man who killed his father and usurped the throne. This is a great evil. Why don't you use this reason to attack? First invite Marquis Cai to Chu to tell the whole story. If Marquis Cai comes, you will directly capture him. , send troops to destroy Cai. If Cai Hou does not come, it means that Cai Hou is guilty, and then the king can justifiably send troops to conquer Cai!"
Speaking of which, we still need to dig into Cai Guo’s scandals.
In fact, Cai Guo, like Chen Guo, was also a country that did not achieve much in the history of the Spring and Autumn Period.
But if you want to trace back Cai Guo's status, it is quite surprising.
The founding ancestor of Cai State was none other than Cai Shudu, the son of King Wen of Zhou and the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou. She is the descendant of the serious clan member surnamed Ji.
Therefore, Cai Guo could actually be regarded as a relatively important feudal state in the Western Zhou Dynasty for a long time.
But what? In the end, Cai State did not become a truly great country like Jin and Lu. It has never been as noble as Zheng Guo.
On the contrary, after a long period of baptism, Cai Guo has been in a state of decline since Cai Aihou. What's even more terrible is that Cai Guo's ups and downs were all related to women.
Let’s start with a story about Mrs. Xi.
It is said that back then, Cai Aihou married a princess of Chen State, and his wife's sister, Mrs. Xi, passed by Cai State when she returned to Chen State to visit relatives. Cai Aihou said that Mrs. Xi was his sister-in-law, so she should treat her as his sister-in-law. Therefore, Mrs. Xi was retained.
Who is this lady?
Mrs. Xixi is one of the four legendary beauties of the Spring and Autumn Period. It is said that she has an unparalleled appearance, with endless splendor, eyes like autumn water, and a face like peach blossoms.
So as the brother-in-law, Marquis Cai Ai was completely fascinated after seeing Mrs. Xi! I immediately planned to take it as my own and have a sister serve the same husband together!
However, this kind of behavior depends entirely on strength, especially if Xiguo is a vassal state that is serious after all. If you play like this, there is no doubt that you will offend Xiguo in the end?
This Marquis of Cai Ai might just want to bully Xi Guo. After all, he couldn't bully Chu State, but Xi Guo thought he could still manipulate him at will.
However, although Xiguo obviously can't beat you, he still has some brains. Therefore, the king of Xiguo was furious and hurriedly sent a message to Chu State, who was King Wen of Chu at that time.
It was made clear that Xiguo was willing to help Chu and attack Cai.
At this time, Chu State didn't know where to expand Chu State's territory. When you heard about such a good thing, why didn't you act quickly? So, he immediately sent troops with Xi Guo to attack Cai Guo, defeated Cai's army in Xindi, and captured Cai Aihou.
Since then, Cai Guo's power has declined.
Here, we can actually mention Mrs. Xi again.
Regarding the saying "women harm the country", in fact, it is completely different from person to person, especially in Mrs. Xi's case, it is particularly obvious.
Although Cai Guo was weakened because of Mrs. Xi, this cannot be blamed on Mrs. Xi.
In fact, Mrs. Xi herself is actually a very charming and legendary woman.
After King Chu Wen captured Cai Aihou, Cai Aihou deliberately talked about Mrs. Xi's beauty in order to retaliate against Xihou.
After King Chu Wen heard what Cai Aihou said, he couldn't help but be curious. So, he came to Xiguo in the name of traveling. The king of Xi State entertained King Chu Wen, and when King Chu Wen insisted on meeting Mrs. Xi, he was also moved by her beauty.
The next day, King Wen of Chu held a banquet in honor of the Marquis of Xi, and took the opportunity to capture the king of Xi by force, and Xi was destroyed. And he asked Xihou to serve as a soldier guarding the city gate, intending to kill him after humiliating him.
After hearing the news, Mrs. Xi decided to commit suicide by throwing herself into a well to protect her husband. In the end, King Chu Wen was impressed by Mrs. Xi's perseverance and spared Xihou's life. As a condition, Mrs. Xi married King Chu Wen.
But the story of Mrs. Xi did not end there. After she married King Chu Wen, the woman even gave birth to a son for King Chu Wen.
This son became famous later as the first Chu king to drink from the Yellow River - King Chu Cheng.
Later, Mrs. Xi was calm, measured, resolute and decisive in dealing with the "Ziyuan Rebellion" of the Chu State, and ultimately made great contributions to the centuries-old foundation of the Chu State.
(End of chapter)
