Chu State, Yingdu, Zhu Palace.
The miserable autumn rain fell on the earth. The rain fell on the green tiles, and formed water columns and splashed on the ground, stirring up thousands of water splashes.
The entire Nagisa Palace was filled with mourning as several eunuchs hurried past carrying a body covered in bruises. Everyone bowed their heads and did not dare to be careless in the slightest.
In the main hall, the Marquis of Chu looked gloomy. Just now he had struck down an eunuch who had entered with his left foot first. Ever since he ascended the throne and succeeded the throne, Chu Houjin has always been so moody. He often beat and scolded the eunuchs in the palace, and if he was not careful, he might be beaten to death.
Therefore, all the eunuchs in the palace lived with fear and caution every day. Only after nightfall would they sigh a little and live another day.
After the Marquis of Chu ascended the throne, the state became unstable. The affairs of the late emperor Chu Chenggong shocked the ministers and officials. The State of Chu originally incorporated many barbarian customs and advocated the style of witches and ghosts. There were many people involved in the affairs of the late emperor, so rumors spread in the court.
Chu Houjin knew that the situation was not good, so he made friends with the ministers and officials to appease the government. On the other hand, he sent his teacher Pan Chong to win over some ministers and nobles, and gradually took control of the power of Chu State. Pan Chong and Pan Chong forced the late emperor to death. It can be said that he is the person he trusts the most.
It took the two of them three years for Chu Hou to finally take full control of the court.
At first, he was able to give benevolent favors and give many preferential treatment to the officials and nobles, and the Chu Kingdom soon settled down. Later, he sent envoys to make peace with Qi and Jin, hoping to jointly deal with Huai, acting like a wise king.
However, after taking full control of the court, his true nature began to be exposed, and he became more and more violent, killing people at every turn. Many families of ministers who opposed him were killed or exiled by him, so a large number of ministers and officials became silent. The court has become Chu Houqian's hall of speech, but under the calm court, there is an undercurrent surging.
Chuhou learned the lessons of his ancestors who were hostile to the Central Plains countries. After all, with the rise of Huai State, Chu State also felt great pressure and wanted to deal with Huai State first.
The Marquis of Chu made good friends with all the countries in the Central Plains, and paid tribute to the Emperor of Zhou and declared himself a minister. The Emperor of Zhou gave him sacrificial meat and told him: "Guard the south, quell the unrest of the Yiyue tribes, and do not invade the countries in the Central Plains."
Chu State agreed not to go north. In fact, the reality forced them to face it, because the four kingdoms of Zhong, Cai, Huang, and Jiang had threatened Chu State. Chu State even wanted to form an alliance with Qi State, Jin State and other countries in the Central Plains again to attack Huai State, but Qi State and Jin State did not want to provoke Huai State.
On the contrary, they wanted to see the Chu and Huai states fighting.
The idea of an alliance between Chu and Jin and Qi failed, but it also eased their relationship with each other. Then they turned their attention to Huai's allies, Zhong, Cai, Jiang, and Huang. These four countries were not initially considered by the Chu State. Each country had a population of only more than 300,000 and were no match for the Chu State.
However, since the founding of Zhongguo, the four countries supported by Huaiguo have quickly moved closer and formed an alliance. Later, their strength also increased rapidly.
Now the combined population of the four countries is about 1.3 million. Although it is far lower than that of Chu State, Chu State has other enemies, and it is impossible to mobilize all the troops to fight against them.
Moreover, the Four Kingdoms Alliance was by Chu's side, so the Marquis of Chu could not sleep at ease. What's more, the four countries had enmity with Chu. The ancestors of Cai were imprisoned in Chu, Jiang and Huang were attacked by Chu many times, and Zhong was granted the title of Huai.
Therefore, after stabilizing the government, the Marquis of Chu began to deploy large armies in the country to prepare against Zhong, Cai, Huang, and Jiang.
After the Four Kingdoms of the Huai River managed the upper reaches of the Huai River, there was no raging Huai River, and there was Anfeng Pond that could irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile farmland. The four countries had abundant food, and their strength was no longer what it used to be. The Marquis of Chu also felt threatened by the alliance of Zhong, Huang, Cai, and Jiang, and wanted to pull out these four nails.
Therefore, in the fifth year of the Chu Marquis's tribulation, the Chu State sent out an army of 50,000 people to attack the Huang State in October of that autumn on the grounds that the Yellow people would not return to Chu Gong. Soldiers and horses, with Wang Zhong as commander, went south to rescue Huang.
The Marquis of Chu sent Qu Wan with an army of fifty thousand to attack Huang. The army marched straight in, but Huang could not stop it and retreated to the capital. The Chu army besieged the city. Wang Zhong led his army to come to the rescue and showed the enemy that he was weak. He failed to win in three battles and the Chu army was arrogant.
The armies of the four countries retreated in formation, strengthened their walls and cleared the country, and asked for help from the Huai Kingdom.
In November, everything is withered, the wilderness is full of withered grass, and the weather is freezing. Most of the Chu troops are from the south and cannot tolerate severe cold, so they often collect wood for warmth. In order to collect firewood, Qu Wan stationed his camp in the forest of Nanshan Mountain. At this time, everything was withered, the forest was full of fallen leaves, and the branches and vines were dry.
That night, the north wind suddenly rose. Wang Zhong led his army to launch a night attack from the north. All five thousand elite troops were wiped out by bunches of grass. They took advantage of the darkness to attack the Chu army's camp and set fire to it in the wind.
At this time, the grass and trees were withered and yellow, the sky was dry, and the north wind was blowing. The wind helped the fires spread, and the fires continued. The Chu army's camp was burned, and the soldiers were in chaos. Wang Zhong took the opportunity to launch an attack. Cai's army came from the west, Jiang's army came from the east, and Zhong's army came from the north. With the combined efforts of the three armies, the Chu army was defeated and fled south.
Wang Zhong led his army in pursuit, but the Chu army was defeated. Most of the soldiers were killed and wounded and fled. All the vehicles, boats and supplies were abandoned in the wild. The army broke down thirty camps and tents. The Chu army suffered over 10,000 casualties. Qu Wan only escaped with his life.
The Chu army retreated in embarrassment, suffering heavy casualties. When they retreated into the territory of Chu, only less than 10,000 of the 50,000-strong army remained. Qu Wan saw that there were only a few defeated soldiers left in the 50,000-strong army, and he suddenly felt that he had no shame to return to Chu, so he committed suicide by the river.
The Chu army suffered heavy losses, and the allied forces of the Four Kingdoms followed closely behind. They took the opportunity to enter the territory of Chu. The Chu army was defeated in consecutive battles. The four countries invited the Chu army to send troops. Seeing that the Chu army was defeated, Suihou led his army to join.
When the Marquis of Chu heard that the army suffered a disastrous defeat, he quickly mobilized the main army of the country, with Pan Chong as general, and led the army to support. The two sides fought at Lishan. The war was at a stalemate, and the Chu State summoned its subordinate states to come for reinforcements. The Huai State army arrived. The Chu army relied on Lishan to form a formation and defend the country.
The attacks by the armies of the six countries were ineffective. Seeing the stalemate, the Chu State was afraid that the Huai State would attack from the east and attack from the northeast, so it sent envoys to sue for peace and cede the two hundred miles west of Sui State and 200 miles south of Huang State. The two sides stopped their troops.
Zhong, Huang, Cai, Jiang and Sui divided the land equally.
Although the Chu State was defeated, its bones and muscles were not damaged, but the hatred between the two sides was getting bigger and bigger. Although Sui Guo had benefited at this time, he was afraid of being retaliated by Chu State later, so he formed an alliance with Zhong, Huang, Cai, and Jiang.
On the other side, the State of Huai sent Ji Yue to secretly discuss with the princes, asking him to help the prince of Chu, Xiong Yun, return home. Xiong Yun has now grown up since he escaped from Chu State. Thinking of this, Suihou immediately decided to support Xiong Yun in returning to Chu to compete for the position of Chu Hou and disrupt the Chu Kingdom.
