After losing the battle, he had to go to the King of Zhou for comment. King Zhu Suxi of Runing thought that he was incompetent and would be ridiculed by other princes.
At this time, Zhou Wang Zhu Gongzhen made it clear that he wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight and take advantage of it, so he would not interfere after the two sides fought.
As the saying goes, it is better to seek help from others than to ask for yourself. Because I was very incompetent as the leader of the alliance, this led to the coalition army suffering a disastrous defeat.
Zhu Suxi also reflected on his mistakes in the big tent. It seemed that he had simply underestimated Zhu Gongchang, an old man who still had some connections.
If he can find allies to help him, so can the old man. I heard that he can even play more evil.
He formed an alliance with four county kings, and the old man even formed an alliance with five county kings.
Obviously at this time, the actual effect of friendship is higher than that of alliance.
Although there is formal hypocrisy in both, there is no doubt that personal friendship is stronger than alliance between counties.
At least that's what it looked like, and he actually won the first confrontation, which made Zhu Suxi feel even more depressed.
"It matches! Is there any way to break the old man's sworn brotherhood?"
The characters Yu and Gui matched. As the staff advisor, he was responsible for how to break the enemy's strategy. Zhu Suxi was too lazy to think about it and couldn't figure it out for a while.
"Back to my lord, the strategy of friendship seems to be solid, but it is not indestructible, but..."
The defeat in the first battle put a lot of pressure on Yu Hegui. Fortunately, although King Zhu Suxi of Runing was arrogant, he was not a person who was blinded by the power of others. He lost his temper when he came back and calmed down after smashing some porcelain. .
"Don't hesitate! But it doesn't matter!"
It has come to this point. In order to win the game and save face by the way, Zhu Suxi is willing to listen to any strategy, whether it is a good strategy or a crooked trick, as long as it works.
"Back to my lord, since ancient times, if one's own strength is limited and it is difficult to defeat the opponent, one must find allies to help. If allies are willing to come to help, they only need to use three strategies, namely alliance, sworn friendship, and marriage! Forming an alliance is just like Zhao Zhao during the Warring States Period. The Three Kingdoms of Wei, Han and Wei fought against the Qin Dynasty. An example of the sworn alliance is the Taoyuan Three Kingdoms in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The marriage is like Princess Wencheng marrying Songtsen Gampo. Although Tubo had a strong military at that time, the Tang Dynasty offset it through marriage. There are no such military worries! Marriage is nothing more than marrying outside or marrying inside, it all depends on the royal decree!"
It has to be said that King Yi Feng Zhu Gongchang was wily and resourceful, and fraternity was indeed more appropriate than alliance. However, Hegui also had a countermeasure, which was to use marriage to unite the allies around King Runing more closely.
"...Hmm! It seems feasible!"
Zhu Suxi stroked his beard and pondered for a long time. After thinking briefly, he nodded slightly. Getting married was a good idea. It did make him feel more reliable than a false friendship.
The sworn friendship between the princes is very different from the sworn friendship in the peach garden, and it is not very applicable in many counties. The only way to make allies want to get closer is to get married.
Thinking about it, I have several daughters in their prime who have not yet been betrothed and married. Even if their sons are already married, they can still marry again. If this is not possible, they can use their grandchildren and granddaughters to take over. This way of getting married is useful.
Moreover, both parties are well-matched. At worst, if they give her a larger dowry, the other princes will be able to give themselves a face and will not refuse the marriage.
"Report~! Report to the prince! King Xiuwu and King Zhu Suquan of Anji are visiting!"
"Oh? Please come quickly!"
Xiuwu King Zhu Gongbian and Anji King Zhu Suquan did not go to Zhou King Zhu Gongxu, nor did they congratulate Yifeng King Zhu Gongxu for his great victory. Instead, they chose this time to visit Runing King Zhu Suxi.
Regarding their visit, neither Zhu Suxi nor Yu Hegui could figure it out, but they could test it out during a chat to find out the other party's reasons before making a decision.
"I don't know that the two county princes are coming. I am not welcoming you from afar, and I am disrespectful and disrespectful. I hope you two will not blame me! Come, prepare a table of wine and food. I want to entertain the two county princes!"
At this time, all the people who could come to see him were guests. Of course, Zhu Suxi had to greet him with a smile. At least he could not offend other princes after suffering a defeat, and he would definitely not do anything that would cause public outrage.
"You're welcome, King Runing! I and King Xiuwu brought some supplements and came here to visit, but seeing that King Runing is getting better, I guess I won't be able to use them anymore!"
Although Anji King Zhu Suquan did not directly say that the other party suffered a defeat, the meaning between the lines was this, otherwise there would be no need to bring supplements.
"Yes! I am relieved to see that King Runing is in good health. The Northland is no better than the Central Plains. The temperature is much lower. You must take care of yourself!"
Xiuwu King Zhu Gongbian also found a very timely reason and never mentioned the conflict between the two camps.
"Haha! You two have good intentions, so I am naturally very comforted. But if you two are entrusted by the ceremonial king to force me to beg for mercy, then don't mention it!"
Before losing all the chips in his hand, Zhu Suxi had absolutely no intention of bowing his head and admitting defeat to that old man. As long as he caught up and turned defeat into victory, it would be a matter of course.
"King Runing has misunderstood! Although the two of us have no grudges against King Yi Feng, we are not lobbyists entrusted by King Yi Feng. To be honest, King Yi Feng united with the original King Wu, King Yanling, and King Heyin , King Yiyang, and King Linru are quite powerful. But the two of us happen to have a rift with King Yanling and King Yuan Wu, and the reason is similar to King Runing!"
Xiuwu King Zhu Gongbin went to Anji King Zhu Suquan because of his conflict with the original Wu King.
The latter could not reconcile with King Yanling, and King Yuan Wu and King Yanling both joined forces with King Yifeng, so they had no choice but to come to King Runing.
"What King Xiuwu said is true! The result of the fight for the Rakshasa people that day was not the damage to King Runing and his troops. Although we wanted to make up for it afterwards, we were worried about the power of the former King Wu and King Yanling, so we could only temporarily choose Forbearance, come here to discuss with King Runing!"
Because during the battle, seven of Anji King Zhu Suquan's men were injured by King Yanling's servants. One of them died of serious injuries and just died today. This made Zhu Suquan very angry.
Before the fleet docks again and replenishes its manpower, one of these servants will be dead and one less, and if they are injured and unable to work, they will be a real burden.
Zhu Suquan could take care of these injured servants, but it was very uncomfortable to keep this anger in his heart, and he felt the same as King Runing.
But the victim had already joined forces with King Yi Feng and five other princes. With the strength of himself and King Xiu Wu, they couldn't defeat each other at all. Only then did they come up with the enemy of King Yi Feng's coalition - King Runing.
"You two know that this king went to see King Yi Feng to argue with him. Instead of admitting his evil deeds, that guy actually criticized him and asked me to apologize to him. This king is really angry. I think that the former King Wu, King Yanling and King Yi Feng became Just like a raccoon dog, he is by no means an ordinary person, right?"
Zhu Suxi thought about it briefly and realized that the two opposite parties had been bullied and were planning to join forces with him. It seemed like a very good opportunity.
Everyone is the victim, and at least it is more practical than the previous alliance with the other four princes, which seemed to be in harmony but not in harmony.
"That's right! King Yuan Wu and King Yanling indulged their subordinates, and their evil deeds are definitely no less than those of King Yi Feng!"
Zhu Suquan had found a close friend. Ever since the incident, King Yanling's camp had been on alert. It seemed that he had a guilty conscience and was afraid of retaliation.
After suffering a loss, Zhu Suquan had the intention to do this, but when he heard that Prince Yanling had joined forces with Prince Yi Feng and other county kings, he had no choice but to resort to the rat weapon.
However, there is a time limit for swallowing one's anger. After hearing that King Runing and others had a problem with him, Zhu Suquan's thoughts became vivid. He told King Xiu Wu Zhu Gongbian that the latter had similar plans, so they came together to test.
"My king previously formed an alliance with four other princes, but the total number of troops sent by the four countries was only eighty, which was a drop in the bucket. This led to the previous defeat!"
Zhu Suxi also wanted to know the sincerity of these two people in advance. He could not just rely on his words and then send twenty or thirty people to deal with him when the time came for real swords and guns.
"King Runing, you can rest assured that we are truly joining forces this time. As long as it involves sending troops, our two families can send fifty people together!"
Xiuwu King Zhu Gongbian knew Zhu Suxi's strength, so he came to see him and replaced him with a fellow clansman who had no strength. Even if he had this plan, it would be in vain.
"That's right! That's right! If there is no sincerity, how can we call it an alliance?"
Anji King Zhu Suquan also recognized this number. The number of troops was too small to fight a war, so it was better to just huddle in the camp.
"It's not that I don't trust you two, it's just that the previous incident really chilled me. If you two are really sincere, can you agree to get married?"
It was enough to be played by those four once, and Zhu Suxi had to admit that he was unlucky.
This time, you have to be prepared, and you won’t be played by your allies again.
For the sake of kinship, I have to work hard no matter what.
"oh?"
"..."
Xiuwu King Zhu Gongbian and Anji King Zhu Suquan couldn't help but look at each other after hearing this. They had not thought that King Runing would come up with this strategy before, and at this moment they were still thinking about whether this move was feasible or not.
Marriage means getting closer, and the relationship between the two parties will become closer, there is no doubt about it. As for whether the three marriage alliances could defeat the coalition forces of King Yi Feng, the two princes were not sure.
"You two don't need to do this. Later, I will invite the four kings of Suiping, Neixiang, Yingchuan and Haiyang who were allied with me to come. If you mention this strategy in public, you will know who is If you are sincere, who is lying?"
It is said that true gold is not afraid of fire. The method of marriage is fierce fire. When the time comes, you will know who is scrap metal when it is burned.
A county king who does not sincerely form an alliance is of no use against the enemy. However, if his own side wins, he will jump out to fight for the victory.
So what's the use of such allies?
It’s better to kick him out as soon as possible!
"That's fine!"
Xiuwu King Zhu Gongbian also temporarily agreed. He also wants to see the attitude of other princes towards marriage before deciding whether to deepen cooperation with King Runing.
King Runing is the most powerful person among many county kings. Even if he is newly defeated, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, otherwise he and King Anji would not come to inquire about the situation.
Although the number of people who arrived for the first time was small, King Runing still had many subordinates waiting to board the ship in the Ming Dynasty. If they were all shipped, the current loss would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket for King Runing.
The principle of Zheng's fleet transportation is to first follow the men and horses of the two vassal kings, King Zhou and King Chong, and then the many princes. On average, each family only gets a few hundred boarding slots.
Although it arrived in the Northland late this year, there should be another shipment in the plan. By then, it will be clear who has more people and horses, but it will take nearly two months to get the results.
King Xiuwu and King Anji had many children of the right age who were not betrothed, so there was no difficulty in getting married. The concern was whether other princes would also agree to use this method to consolidate multilateral relations within the group.
Not long after, the four county princes came one after another. When everyone arrived, Runing King Zhu Suxi reiterated the previous marriage proposal.
The four new princes did not have much objection or resistance to the marriage plan, because rejecting this plan at this time would be tantamount to offending King Runing, and they would give up the possibility of joining forces with everyone.
After leaving home, he had only two choices, either to seek asylum from King Zhou, or to defect directly to the camp of King Yi Feng's coalition. If he wanted to wait and see, the only result would be to be beaten by both sides.
So after careful discussion among the seven county kings, they unanimously agreed on this method of getting married. Considering that they had just arrived in the Northland and had a real fiefdom, it was a double happiness here.
Two daughters from each family would be married to the sons of the two county kings respectively. This would form a more solid in-law alliance, which was much stronger than the previous verbal agreement.
Before the second group of personnel arrived in the North, if they wanted not to be bullied by King Yi Feng's coalition forces, they could only adopt this method. At least they would not be unable to save the main camp.
Even if they had to make every effort to guard against the enemy's trajectory, observe the opponent's movements, and were unable to send people out to fish and hunt, the seven families could still raise money to buy fish and meat from the King of Zhou and others.
With the financial resources of the princes present, it is relatively easy to survive just one winter. After next spring, Zhou Kingdom will be in a different situation.
Even if King Yi Feng and other villains can be proud for a while, they will never be proud for the rest of their lives, let alone dominate the Zhou Kingdom. If this is the case, the King of Zhou will not allow it.
Everyone is also very clear about King Zhou's thoughts, but King Zhou does not use his power to bully others or bully the weak. Currently, there is only one enemy locked in the big tent.
The biggest problem is that not all the seven camps are next to each other. Only the Neixiang King and the Yingchuan King live next to each other, and the others are separated by other counties.
Some are even next to one of the enemy's families, and the situation is not optimistic.
It would be easier to handle if the situation was intertwined, but now it is lined up.
The farthest camp of King Haiyang is twelve miles away from King Runing.
Judging from the distance alone, they were not far away, but most of the people in their hands were infantry.
Once something happens to one of them, it will take a while for reinforcements to arrive.
"Why don't we surround Wei and rescue Zhao?"
Yu Hegui thought of a compromise. As long as one camp was attacked, other allied forces far away from the incident could attack the nearest enemy camp.
"This is a very good idea!"
If you hit my allies and I can't reach them, I'll hit your base!
This is currently the best, easiest, and most helpless option.
King Haiyang planned to ask King Zhou for instructions to move his camp to King Runing.
The worst case scenario is that we don’t need the territory we decided on before. Self-protection is now a problem. Are you still thinking about Shenzi’s territory?
After defeating King Yi Feng's group, it would be natural for them to vomit out some better-located land.
