No matter what era it is, noble men always want to be coaxed.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, aristocratic men with the power to govern fiefdoms were called nobles, and they held land and soldiers;
In the feudal monarchy era that began in the Qin and Han dynasties, the aristocratic lords who were deprived of the right to govern their fiefdoms were called gentry, and they controlled the inheritance of knowledge and their disciples and officials;
Later, the nobles who were completely deprived of their fiefdoms were called consortiums. They controlled the lifeblood of a country by relying on their unrivaled wealth;
Later, people found weapons to suppress these noble lords. At least they were so vulnerable in front of a country when they caused chaos.
But in the era before that, these noble men had to be coaxed. Once they deserted, the country would fall into chaos.
The State of Chu is a country built on countless noble lords.
Since the Chu State was self-proclaimed king and lacked authority, it had no choice but to win over the people through enfeoffment in the large territory it occupied in the south.
Among them, the subjects of enfeoffment were mainly clansmen, followed by heroes, in order to eliminate the residual influence of the conquered nobles on the land. Therefore, a group of nobles from the Chu royal family, headed by the three major families of Qu, Jing, and Zhao, were born. .
However, at that time, transportation in the south was extremely inconvenient, and many of the lands could even be said to be barbaric. The King of Chu had to enfeoff such vast land on a large scale. As a result, batches of nobles appeared, relying on the Chu State. It sucks blood from its body to strengthen itself.
When the Chu State was strong, the King of Chu could rely on his power to intimidate these nobles. However, as the Chu State gradually declined, these nobles united to fight against the Chu State, openly opposing the king's orders that were not beneficial to him.
Generation after generation, the kings of Chu have not thought about eradicating this phenomenon, but even if King Chu Mourning and Wu Qi jointly destroyed more than 70 nobles, it was still to no avail. What ushered in was a crazy counterattack by the nobles. In the end, King Chu Mourning He died of illness and was executed by Wu Fu.
King Huai of Chu also tried to reform. He won over nobles such as Qu, Jing, and Zhao who shared the same blood as the Chu royal family. He promoted Qu Gai and Jing Cui to generals, with military power; Zhao Yang was appointed as the commander and regent; Qu Yuan was appointed Zuo Tu, in charge of diplomacy.
But in the end, it came to nothing.
At this moment, Chun Shen Jun once again had the urge to carry out reforms to eliminate the disadvantages of aristocratic autonomy in Chu State.
When news came that Han and Wei had suffered heavy losses one after another, it triggered a turmoil among the Chu army.
Chun Shenjun looked at the letters piling up on his desk in front of him, claiming to be ill. The veins on his forehead were bulging, as if they were about to burst out.
What does it mean to be seriously ill and unable to march, so that the tribesmen can march with the army with their soldiers and horses?
Without the approval of these nobles, if he could mobilize the soldiers under these nobles to take a step forward, he would not be called Chun Shen Jun, but Chun Shen Hou.
The King of Chu will be very happy that he has solved this problem that Chu has been unable to solve for hundreds of years, but the problem is that he can't do it!
And the most irritating thing was that there were so many letters complaining about illness that he could hardly keep them on his desk!
"You are also from a large clan. Do you know if there is a good doctor in your clan?"
Chun Shenjun looked at the people in the tent, but most of them had their heads lowered, silent, or thinking hard.
Not to mention that they have no way, even if there is a way to temporarily force those nobles to send troops, they cannot say it. No one can bear the revenge of the nobles, not even the King of Chu, let alone them?
Furthermore, how many of the people present are not nobles?
Seeing everyone shaking their heads in silence, Lord Chun Shen's anger became even more intense.
Looking at Chun Shenjun's terrifyingly dark face, all the generals in the tent lowered their heads consciously, for fear of suffering an unreasonable disaster.
In the end, Lord Chun Shen had no choice but to leave behind those nobles who were unwilling to advance further, and led the remaining 200,000 Chu troops north to Quwo.
But the nobles who stayed behind were not without cost. Chun Shenjun personally went to the camps of these nobles and negotiated with them face to face.
The nobles were very confident, knowing that Lord Chun Shen did not dare to attack them, but they did not want to really break up with Lord Chun Shen.
After some wrangling, the two parties reached an agreement.
Chun Shenjun drafted a military order, allowing the 100,000 troops led by these nobles not to go to Quwo and continue to be stationed on the south bank of the Xishui River, but they must take advantage of the situation to send troops to attack Nanyang.
And on the south bank of the Xian River, in the Chu army's camp
The nobles who had been negotiating forcefully with Lord Chun Shen just a moment ago suddenly changed their attitude, laid out fine wines and delicacies, and invited an extraordinary envoy of the Qin State to the banquet.
"As Lord Gangcheng expected, Lord Chunshen really asked us to invade Nanyang."
Several nobles bowed and saluted the Qin envoy, showing admiration on their faces.
If Lord Chun Shen knew that the tough nobleman who had not been polite to him just now was so respectful to a Qin secret envoy, I don't know how he would feel.
However, this Qin secret envoy is indeed admirable in terms of identity, qualifications and abilities.
He is Cai Ze, Gangchengjun of the Qin State. He served as prime minister after Fan Ju during the period of King Zhaoxiang and was famous for his eloquence skills.
Half a month ago, Cai Ze was sent to Nanyang by Lu Buwei. With the help of Luo Wang, he secretly sent an envoy to the Chu camp. However, Cai Ze's destination was not Chun Shenjun's Chu army camp, but the camps of the nobles.
However, nobles are also divided into factions.
There is the clan sect headed by the three great clans of Qu, Jing, and Zhao who are of the royal family of the Chu Kingdom. There is the martial arts sect headed by the three great clans of Xiang, Ji, and Zhong who have established their clans through military exploits. The rest is the Zhuhe sect.
The clan faction and the martial arts faction agreed that they wanted to conquer the Qin State, at least to regain the western territory of the former Chu State, while the Zhuhe faction was unwilling to send troops to fight and lose the family's strength.
Therefore, the first people Cai Ze found were the nobles of the Lord Harmony Faction.
Cai Ze persuaded the Zhuhe faction to confess his illness, and guessed that Lord Chun Shen would ask the nobles of the Zhuhe faction to invade Nanyang, so these nobles became more convinced of Cai Ze.
Cai Ze chatted, laughed, and drank with the nobles of the peace faction at the banquet. After drinking for three rounds, Cai Ze couldn't help but joked: "Let me tell you, what's the point of fighting with your life?"
"You are not the confidants of the King of Chu. If you win, most of the rewards will go to the nobles of the clan sect and the reckless men of the martial arts sect. But what about you?"
"The salary is only a few hundred stones a month, why are you trying to kill yourself!"
"It's not Chun Shenjun's group who deceived the king! What's the use of fighting? It's better to listen to music, enjoy dancing and be happy!"
All the nobles and generals of the Zhuhe faction also agreed, but the leading few showed hesitation: "However, Lord Chun Shen wants us to invade Nanyang, what should we do?"
Cai Ze patted the head of the Dou family on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Since I predicted the current situation, I naturally have a way to deal with it."
"Prime Minister Lu knows that it's not easy for you, so after communicating with the king, he decided to make a deal with you."
"The State of Qin will temporarily cede the three cities of Chuisha, Rang, and Deng counties. If your troops surround them for three to five days, the defenders in the city will withdraw on their own and hand over the cities."
The noble generals' eyes lit up and they all looked at Cai Ze.
"Three cities? Are King Qin and Lu Xiang really so generous?"
Cai Ze smiled slightly: "Of course."
"It's just that, isn't this a bit too sorry for the king and Chun Shenjun?"
The nobles of the Lord Peace Sect still have some conscience in their hearts.
Cai Ze shook his head and began to analyze seriously.
"Let me ask you, what are the conditions for Chun Shenjun to let you stay?"
"Invade Nanyang."
"You have captured three Nanyang cities. Does this count as an invasion of Nanyang?"
"This is overachieving."
Cai Ze asked in reply: "Then what else can I feel sorry for Mr. Chun Shen?"
"As for the King of Chu, there will be dozens of boxes of jewelry left in each city." Cai Ze squinted his eyes and took a sip of wine with a smile. "The King of Chu's attack on Qin is nothing more than profit."
"You can't get the city, but you can present more than a dozen boxes of the jewels you got to the King of Chu. Isn't this equivalent to fulfilling the purpose of the King of Chu sending troops?"
"Is this still called sorry for the King of Chu?"
Cai Ze's words made all the leaders and faction nobles stunned for a moment. It seemed to make sense, but why did this truth sound weird?
"Moreover, our army will leave two thousand armored prisoners in three cities. You can report to the King of Chu and Lord Chun Shen to behead two thousand Qin army soldiers. How great a feat is this?"
"At that time, the King of Chu, as the joint commander, will see that the six-nation coalition has been defeated continuously, but you have defeated the Qin State, so he will definitely reward you heavily and increase the fiefdom."
"Think about it, King Chu is happy, Lord Chun Shen is also happy, I, Great Qin, are also happy, and you yourself are also happy. Isn't this happy for everyone?"
"But don't forget that when you withdraw your troops in the future, you will return the three cities to Qin."
"good!"
"Come here, take these dishes away from me, slaughter three animals, and hold a Tailao banquet for your husband!"
Seeing the ecstatic expressions of the nobles, Cai Ze also smiled as he no longer felt guilty about being prepared to fish in troubled waters and lie about his military exploits to King Chu and Lord Chun Shen.
The nobles of the Peace faction have consciences, but there are really not many of them.
(2707 words)
(End of chapter)
