Today's Hubei is known as the "Province of Thousands of Lakes". Two or three thousand years ago, the core part of Hubei, today called Jianghan Plain, was simply a lake called Yunmengze; the surrounding hills were mostly The forested mountains and valleys scattered in between are suitable places for human habitation.
The west bank of Yunmengze, between the Yangtze River and the Han River, is the hometown of Chu State. Between Yicheng and Jingzhou today, there are many places called "Ying". In the dialect of Chu people, "Ying" means "京". The vast Yunmengze and its surrounding mountains were the gardens of Chu kings for boating and hunting.
But King Heng of Chu could never forget that horrific day five years ago. At that time, Bai Qi, who was still built by Daliang, attacked Yanying. After being unable to capture it for a long time, he dug water to flood the city. A city with a population of hundreds of thousands was instantly filled with corpses, and no living thing was seen anymore.
Soon, Bai Qi captured Xiling again. Fires broke out in the ancient tombs of Chu kings, and the sacred Xiling was burned to the ground. The Chu army from the capital of Ying came out of the city and attacked the Qin army in an attempt to recapture Xiling. Unexpectedly, the Chu army dispersed before they could engage the enemy. The panicked King of Chu hurriedly boarded the ship and fled along Yunmengze to Anlu. After abandoning the boat and landing, a group of monarchs and ministers of the subjugated country ran all the way to Chengyang in Tongbai Mountain before settling down a little.
The Chu State's homeland between Yan and Ying was completely captured by Qin. The remaining land was the land gradually expanded by the Chu State during hundreds of years of conquests, including the former homelands of Cai, Chen, Wu, Yue and other great powers, as well as There are dozens or hundreds of small countries, large and small, that may or may not be famous. Among these countries, the ones that have been part of Chu for the longest time and have the strongest national power are Chen and Cai. After hundreds of years of integration, Chen and Cai have long been inseparable from Chu. The King of Chu gathered hundreds of thousands of soldiers here and blocked the line from Tongbai to the Yangtze River, barely stabilizing the situation.
The Chen and Cai areas are surrounded by water networks, and the basic conditions are already good. The gap dug by King Wei later connected the communication between Chen, Cai and Daliang. Chen State is backed by the Yangtze River, a land of fish and rice, and faces the prosperous land of the Central Plains to the north. Its commerce is very developed, especially the fish industry and salt industry, which are two major characteristic industries.
After the state of Chen was destroyed by Chu, Chu established a county in Chen. For a long time, Chen County has been an important strategic location of the Chu State. The Duke of Chen County has always been appointed by a powerful person from Chu. The old city of Chen State was not abandoned, but was repeatedly renovated by successive county officials, and the defense system was very complete. After the King of Chu stayed in Chengyang for a short time, he decided to set up a trap in Chen.
The terrain of Chencheng is very special. If other cities needed to dig moats, Chencheng simply built it on a big island in the lake. The island in the middle of the lake is roughly square, with a length and width of about three or four miles. There is a large island to the east of the city, surrounded by several small islands for protection, and connected to the lake shore by bridges on all sides. This kind of wetland structure is similar to Yunmengze, the ancient capital of Chu in Ying, although the scale is not comparable.
At that time, the King of Chu was always on tenterhooks, fearing that the Qin army would break through the Tongbai defense line and that the Wei army would move south from Daliang. Fortunately, the State of Qin quickly changed the direction of its main attack, taking advantage of the new king's establishment and the unstable political situation in the State of Wei, to devote its strength to the war against the State of Wei. This allowed the King of Chu to breathe a little easier.
Since the capital was established in Chen, the King of Chu not only strengthened the defense of Chen City and built an outer city wall along the lake, but also strengthened the city defense of Xiang State in the southeast. Qianxi Terrace, which was half built when King Chu Ping was still Chen Cai Gong, was also used as a defensive position in the southwest, named after Zhanghua Terrace in Chu's hometown. Chencheng, Xiangcheng, and Zhanghuatai stand on three sides, hundreds of miles away from each other, forming an iron triangle that can support each other.
Lan, the eldest disciple of King Heng of Chu, served as Ling Yin when he was pregnant with the king, and his second brother Xie was named Huang Gong. After the King of Chu fled to Chengyang, Huang Xie came immediately to meet the brothers. The Huang State was also an ancient state that was annexed by Chu. Although it was not as powerful as Chen and Cai, it could not be ignored. Huang Xie was a close relative and had cultivated Huang County deeply. King Chu Heng immediately made him a left disciple. Huang Xie volunteered and traveled around various countries in the name of a businessman, running various local businesses of the Chu State. On the one hand, he spied on the intelligence of various countries and prepared for sudden attacks. On the other hand, he provided material support for the construction of the Chu State. With the preliminary completion of the defense system of Chen, Xiang, and Zhanghua cities, Huang Xie returned to Chen City.
Last year, Hu Yang led his troops out of Fangcheng, which really shocked the state of Chu. The King of Chu moved to Zhanghuatai and personally supervised and guarded the area. Fortunately, Hu Yang did not have many troops and quickly moved north again, causing a false alarm. And then there was a battle in Huayang City, and all the countries were shocked: the Qin people used a small number to attack a large number, and killed more than 100,000 Wei and Han coalition forces (the news of the Zhao army sinking into the river was not heard by Chu State), once again showing its invincible posture. The ministers of the Chu State judged that the diplomacy of various countries will face a major change, and replacing vertical and horizontal alliances with joint horizontal ones may become the mainstream of diplomacy.
Just at this time, the King of Han came to report.
When the King of Han learned last year that the Han army had been cooked by the Qin army invited to rescue him, he was furious and died. However, at the time of the war, South Korea did not declare mourning, and still maintained the country's operations in the name of the prince supervising the country. Until the Qin army retreated, South Korea sent envoys to report the funeral to various countries. For a time, Wei Gongzi Xinling Jun Wuji, Chu Gongzi Huang Gongxie, Qin Gongzi Jingyang Junfu, Zhao Gongzi Pingyuan Junsheng, Qi Gongzi Anping Jundan, Yan Gongsun Chengan Juncao successively came to Zhengcheng on behalf of their respective kings, and came to Zhengcheng on behalf of their respective kings. The king of Han mourned. Lu and Wei were not kings, so they could only send envoys to pay tribute and offer sacrifices. There are banquets every day in Zheng City, and the seats are full of distinguished guests. After a public discussion among the ministers, the posthumous title was "Xi": Although he did nothing, he was kind and amiable. The day of burial is set on the first day of August in the Mid-Autumn Festival.
When Huang Xie returned to Chu State, the King of Chu sent someone to stop him halfway and ordered him not to return to Chencheng but to go straight to Zhanghua Terrace, where the King of Chu wanted to receive him. In the pedestrian mansion in Zhanghuatai, Huang Xie hurriedly washed away the dust and began to climb the high platform that he had to rest three times to get up. King Heng of Chu and Ling Yin Zilan were waiting for him.
After the three brothers saw each other, they sat down. The King of Chu said: "You have to rest your words and entrust Han with your affairs."
Huang Xie briefly introduced the matter of condolences and said: "I went to the Zheng Temple to express my condolences. Han was not disrespectful. The ministers discussed it and the king was given the posthumous title of 'Xi'."
Zilan said: "It's just like him."
Huang Xie said: "However, I was confused by the fact that Qin, Zhao and Wei were far away from each other, but they arrived at the same time and hung there for several days. When I arrived, they all left."
The King of Chu said: "Is there anything you can't say about it to me, Chu?"
Huang Xie said: "The four kingdoms of Qin, Zhao, Wei, and Han formed an alliance at the end of the year, and the jade sank in the river, which is known to the world. But the alliance also has the saying, 'We are friends when we go in and out, we help each other when we are sick, and we support each other in sickness.'. And so. It’s a big discrepancy.”
The king of Chu asked: "Where did this article come from?"
Zi Lan said: "The sentence comes from Mencius' well ground." Then he cleared his throat and recited: "The countryside and fields are in the same well, and friends come and go, watch and help each other, and support each other in illness, then the people will live in harmony. There are wells in every square, and there are nine wells. One hundred acres; of which it is public land, and each of the eight families privately owns one hundred acres, and they all support the public land."
The King of Chu said: "The alliances of the ancients were all represented by siblings, brothers, and relatives. Today, the alliance of the four kingdoms is represented by the countryside, which is true."
Huang Xie said: "However, what I am confused about is that the ancient alliance text contains the emperor's words. If it is not for a deep intention, it is appropriate to follow the story. Now we abandon the old story and use Mencius' metaphor of the alliance in the countryside. Where is the meaning?"
The three of them were silent for a moment, seeming to comprehend the meaning of these words. Zi Lan said: "Brothers and relatives, as a matter of human relations, there must be no distinction between high and low, closeness and distance. Friends in the countryside, however, have high and low status, but no closeness and distance."
Huang Xie said: "I am also deeply afraid that they will form an alliance to attack the foreigners. Qin, Zhao, Han, and Wei are allies; Yan, Qi, and Chu are different. If you take four countries and attack one country, who can do it?"
The king of Chu was shocked and said: "If they attack the enemy, Qi and Yan are both far away, but I, Chu, are the closest, so I will be left without a leader and be attacked by him?"
Huang Xie said: "This minister is deeply worried."
Zilan said: "Chu and Qin must marry and kill each other. When the previous king was in Japan, Zhang Yi proposed a series of alliances, and the ministers agreed. However, Qu Zi was so excited that he repeatedly refused to agree, and was overthrown again and again. The new king of Qin was established. He is the son of a Chu woman. The former king, as a Chu native, personally went to make peace with her, but was killed. It is heartbreaking to think about it! The king made an alliance with Qin, but Qin fiercely raised an army, destroyed my homeland, and destroyed my royal tomb. The hatred is irreconcilable."
Huang Xie said with some confusion: "Chu has not lost to Qin, but how can Qin's enemy Chu be like this?"
The King of Chu said: "Zi Xie has not yet entered Qin, so I don't know how brave and fierce the Qin people are!..." He was probably recalling the unsatisfactory circumstances when he was a hostage in Qin, and his tone was full of hatred.
Huang Xie said: "I traveled to various countries and left Qin alone, so I thought it would invade. Unexpectedly, there was no invasion in the past five years. Instead, they entered Wei repeatedly. The recent ones went deeper into the suburbs of Liang and settled in Qifeng for a long time; In the battle against Huayang, Han and Wei were given the leadership. In the former, when the Qin people left Fangcheng, they also went to Han and Wei, and they were not from Chu. All these things should be sought. Would Qin rather abandon Chu and go to China? Alliance with China Are we going to attack Chu Ye together? I invite you to go to Qin to speak to the King of Qin."
The king of Chu said: "In the past, when Chu and Qin were getting married, I held the prince as a hostage to Qin. If we can make peace with Qin now, would I rather cherish the prince?"
Zilan said: "But now, Qin is not alone. Now the state of Chu has just been settled, and its military is not prepared. Even if Han and Wei are newly defeated, and Qi's strength is not strong, Chu is not its enemy. Han and Wei take our Nanyang The land, I have regained the Qi land as far as Lu, and everything is in chaos. If Gou gets a shout, the princes will rise up, and Chu will fall!"
The King of Chu said: "The people's livelihood is not easy, and disasters will never come. We must not be lazy in our vigilance and fear. Victory cannot be guaranteed. A hundred defeats of Zhou will lead to death without heirs. People's livelihood depends on diligence, and diligence will not lead to shortage. This is the teaching of the previous king." I am a man of few virtues, but I am willing to follow them."
Huang Xie said: "The king and Yin sleep hard and sleep all night, and work together in the morning and evening. I dare to ask the next one. I would like to go to Qin to speak to the king of Qin. If the king of Qin withdraws his troops, Han and Wei will be defeated and have no strength to fight again; Qi, after the country is subjugated, will sit down Looking at the world, there is nothing we can do. If Chu Dan has been together for ten years, he will surely revive."
Zilan said: "Zi Dan went to Qin and tried his best to make peace with Qin, so that Chu could prosper for ten years. If Chu cannot recover, I am willing to take Zilan's head!"
The king of Chu said: "I have been in power for more than twenty years, and I have a deep hatred for Qin. In the past, I was a hostage and was humiliated by Qin. My father and the king died in Qin! But my son rested, but he had a gap in Qin's size. I dared to abandon the old grudges. I regard Qin as my relative."
