After the court meeting ended, Ji Shu and Zhou Yu still stayed in the main hall and discussed several important matters with Sun Ce before leaving together. From the beginning to the end, Ji Shu did not reveal Zhang Song's situation to Sun Ce.
In Ji Shu's view, Sun Ce's courtesy to talents is almost the ultimate. It is unrealistic to expect him to treat him as super-standard as Liu Bei. Ji Shu also cannot explain his own unpredictability.
The worst outcome would be to send someone to intercept and kill him!
A dangerous light flashed in Ji Shu's eyes, but his thoughts were interrupted by Xu Tu.
"Master, we're home."
Ji Shu walked out of the carriage and slowly walked into the mansion. However, before he could sit down and take a sip of tea, a servant suddenly came in to report to Zhang Song and ask for an audience.
"Please come in, Mr. Zhang Song, and bring out my best tea."
Ji Shulin watched the servant leave expressionlessly, but the corners of his mouth were slightly raised. He definitely couldn't command Sun Ce, but Ji Shu didn't mind using his highest standards to entertain and win over Zhang Song.
After thinking about this, Ji Shu walked out of the room again and went to the yard to greet Zhang Song.
"Brother Zi Qiao, meet again? Have you had lunch? I'll let the kitchen arrange a table."
Sure enough, Zhang Song benefited a lot and kept smiling on his face.
"Ji Lingjun, you're welcome. Just two simple dishes are enough. I have something important to discuss with Lingjun."
"Brother Zi Qiao, why are you so polite? Just call me Zi Yuan."
After that, Ji Shu arranged for the servants to go to the kitchen to serve food, then took Zhang Song's arm into the room and sat down.
Naturally, the guests and hosts had a great time here, and after they had finished eating, Zhang Song suddenly said.
"Brother Ziyuan, I have something to ask alone."
coming.
Ji Shu felt happy, but his face remained calm.
"Ouch?"
Ji Shuping asked after retreating from the servant.
"Brother Ziqiao, please speak."
Zhang Song was not polite and stared at Ji Shuzhi with sharp eyes and asked.
"Chu is a big country, Shu is a small country. This time, Zhang Ren took advantage of the war between Chu and Xu Han to attack Jingzhou. Although he didn't succeed, he also caused a lot of losses. I was prepared to be humiliated on this mission. As a countermeasure, all the Chu officials in the court want to tear me apart, why does Brother Ziyuan treat me so well?"
Sure enough, I became suspicious.
"Hehehe."
Ji Shu chuckled, looked at Zhang Song confidently, and said.
"The Han Dynasty lost its deer, and the whole world expelled it. Those dozens of princes were finally driven out of the Six Kingdoms, but Zi Qiao, you have to know that there is only one winner in the world."
"All the ministers hate you, but it is not you who hates you, but the country of Shu. My elder brother can tolerate you, but it is not you who tolerates you, but the world. As for my thoughts, oh, what I said before, every word I said from the bottom of my heart, Zi Brother Qiao really doesn’t know?”
"The competition in the world is becoming increasingly fierce. Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo fought several battles to devour each other and become the number one prince in the world. After many calculations, Sun Chu, Cao Wei, and Dong Qin could not do anything to anyone, but Chu State swallowed Liu Han. Qin State swallowed Zhang Lu, who do you think will be the next one to destroy the country?"
Ji Shu looked at Zhang Song thoughtfully, the answer was self-evident.
Can Liu Zhang really avoid the disaster of war by staying in a corner?
Little did he know that he had already become fat in the eyes of other princes.
"The Kingdom of Shu is already in danger, and Liu Zhang is cowardly, how can he be compared with my elder brother? A good bird chooses a tree to roost on, and Zi Qiao is a great talent, so he should make a choice."
At this point, Ji Shu stopped.
There was only a long silence between the two.
Zhang Song stared at Ji Shu for a long time. Every word Ji Shu said today was not what he had in mind. If it weren't for their different identities, he would have turned him into a confidant.
After thinking about this, Zhang Song stopped making pretense and said with his hands in hand.
"Good! The kings and ministers of Chu State are united and have the atmosphere of a prosperous age. Your Majesty, can you introduce me to the King of Chu in private again?"
Ji Shu had been waiting for this sentence for a long time, and it was not in vain that he had spent the past few days. He immediately took Zhang Song's hand and asked people to arrange carriages and horses before entering the palace.
······
There are not many people who can enter and exit the palace at will to meet the King of Chu, and Ji Shu happens to be one of them.
This time it was arranged in a side hall, and there were no ministers in the hall. There were only five people, Sun Ce, Ji Shu, Zhou Yu, Pang Tong, and Zhang Song. Zhou Yu and Pang Tong were notified by Ji Shu to enter the palace at short notice. Ji Shu and Zhang Song, who set off a little later, just entered the side hall and everyone was seated and waiting.
Sun Ce couldn't help but look curiously at Zhang Song, whom he had just met in the morning, and asked.
"I heard from Ziyuan, sir, are you willing to submit to the Chu Kingdom?"
Zhang Song saw that everyone's eyes were on him, and he immediately took out a thick roll of neatly folded animal skin from his arms and held it in his hand.
"The whole heart of my subordinates lies here, and the king will know it as soon as he sees it."
Ji Shu took the animal skin with both hands and spread it on Sun Ce's table. It was suddenly divided into many small pieces of animal skin. On each sheet, the terrain directions, passes, cities, rough deployment of troops, and mountain trails are drawn in great detail, covering all counties in Sichuan.
The moment Sun Ce saw this picture clearly, his eyes couldn't help but open wide.
"This! Could this be the terrain map of Shuchuan and the troop deployment of the Shu army?"
Looking at the excited Sun Ce, Zhou Yu and Pang Tong's eyes couldn't help but light up. If this picture is true, when war breaks out with the Shu State, the Shu State will lose its geographical advantage to a great extent, and if the Chu State strikes first, it can also gain a certain first-mover advantage in its deployment.
At this time, Zhang Song opened his mouth and said.
"Since I have surrendered to the Kingdom of Chu, I have three things to report to your Majesty."
"This picture is based on the information I collected in the past three years by visiting famous people, visiting famous mountains, chatting with villagers and garrison troops, and then compared and corrected it with the intelligence collected by the Zhang family, and finally drew it. This is my wife I didn’t know that the existence of this map could be enough to assist the king in his expedition to Shu.”
"Right now, there are three kinds of chaos in the Shu Kingdom, and one kind of chaos makes the people unstable. The land annexation by wealthy families is serious, and the people's livelihood is declining. People with lofty ideals have already united and sent a letter to Liu Zhang on the bus, but Liu Zhang ignored it. The wealthy families are getting richer and richer, and the common people are getting poorer and poorer. Scholars from poor families without money and bribes have no way to become officials. Although there is no disaster in Shu, the evil intention has already been laid."
"The two disturbances caused the soldiers to be unstable. A month ago, the Qin State captured Hanzhong, and the tiger and wolf troops were spying on Shu. Zhang Ren defeated Jiangling and offended the Chu State, among other disasters; and in the borders of Yunnan County, the chieftains of various tribes in the Southern Barbarians did not obey the king's law. There were frequent turmoils, and General Huang Quan led 30,000 troops to Yunnan to quell the chaos for many years without success, which was an internal disaster. The two disasters combined, the actual number of troops Shu could mobilize was very small, and the military was afraid of war, and it had already become strong on the outside but weak on the inside."
"The Three Chaos were caused by civil and military discord. The princes viewed Liu Zhang as living in Shu and not fighting for the world, and thought that Liu Zhang was weak and incompetent. In fact, this was not the case. For many years, Liu Zhang used civil servants to check and balance the generals, and used foreign scholars to suppress the local gentry, and firmly controlled the power in his hands. What Liu Zhang lacked was not the means. He was just content with enjoying himself and had no ambition to conquer the world. He was short-sighted. How could the feudal princes let go of the thousands of miles of fertile land in Sichuan? Because of Liu Zhang's checks and balances over the years, the civil servants and generals of Shu had already There are many contradictions, and the handling of General Zhang Ren this time has pushed the contradictions to the highest point."
Sun Ce and others' eyes flickered, and they fell into deep thought while listening.
Even Ji Shu couldn't help but be shocked. Zhang Song revealed the situation of Shu to everyone in just a few words. Before that, he had only been planning Zhang Song's Shuchuan layout, which was like abandoning the bear's paw and taking the fish. He glanced at everyone with a blush on his face, but fortunately, others didn't know his little thoughts.
Just listen to Zhang Song continue to speak.
"Finally, not only my ministers, but also Fa Zheng and Fa Xiaozhi also intend to submit to Chu. Before my ministers left, Fa Zheng offered a plan: When the king talks to his ministers about the peace talks between Chu and Shu in the future, he can We ask the King of Shu to kill Zhang Ren and send his head to Jianye before we can negotiate peace."
"Zhang Ren is the head of the military attache and is very loyal to Liu Zhang. If he is killed by Liu Zhang, you can imagine the morale of the army will be shaken! When the Chu army sends troops to Shu again, it will be overwhelming. If Liu Zhang doesn't kill him, then Chu will also get it. It is a legitimate excuse to attack Shu. As long as Yong'an is captured, we can take a long road to bypass Jiangzhou. At that time, the king will send an elite force to rush into the city of Chengdu. With his ministers and Fazheng as internal support, they will be able to defeat Chengdu in one battle. Capture Liu Zhang. In this way, all Shu will return to Chu."
Speaking of this, Zhang Song frowned.
"Since I am determined to submit to the Chu Kingdom, what I reported to the king is absolutely true. However, I still have one concern in my mind."
"Fazheng did not have the intention to surrender as early as the minister. It was the minister who discovered it before he left and came up with the strategy to attack Shu. It is said that he did not expose the subordinate to Liu Zhang, so he should have sincerely surrendered, but this person is strange. I feel a little uneasy in my heart. How to decide, please ask the king to make a plan."
After saying this, Zhang Song bowed and bowed.
Upon seeing this, Sun Ce quickly stood up and stepped forward to help Zhang Song up.
"Sir, you are truly a national scholar! Whether we can get the land of Sichuan depends on God's will, but I am lucky to have a national scholar like you, sir, to serve me."
After saying that, Sun Ce bowed to Zhang Song.
