After Wang Jin planted secret guards in Jin, he began to deal with the threat from Chu. Losing Chao State was a major failure for Chu State, especially after losing Chao State, the connection between Chu State and Yue State was interrupted. This made Chu State's purpose of uniting with Yue State to deal with Huai State failed.
The Chu State was unwilling to give up its strategy of allying with Vietnam to resist the Huaihe River, so it once again summoned a large army to attack Chao State and prepare to take Chao State back.
After Xiong Yun, the king of Chu, came to the throne, he worked hard to govern. In three years, Chu's national power became strong, and then he began to annex the surrounding small countries. Most of these small countries are viscounty countries, covering an area of no more than a hundred miles.
In the third year of Chu Yun's reign, the two states were destroyed, and then the Gu state, the Jian state, and even the Xian state, the in-law state of the Huang state, were destroyed.
Within ten years, the Chu State destroyed thirteen countries. It can be said that the country was strong, so it joined forces with the Jin State to attack Huaihe, and was defeated. After ten years of rest and recovery, it was defeated again by the Chao State.
In order to achieve strategic goals this time, Chu State once again recruited 150,000 troops to attack Chao. At this time, there were only 50,000 Huai troops in Chao State. And Chu Hou Xiong Yun personally led the troops.
The man stationed in Chao State was General Chen Yi of Huai State. When he saw the Chu army coming to attack, he immediately ordered the army to return to the city and fortify the walls and clear the country.
The Chu State's expedition to Chao State learned from Huai State's experience in conquering Chao State. The navy directly entered Chao Lake from the Ruxu River. The navy and the Chu army advanced in two directions.
The navy of Huai State and the navy of Chu State fought in Chaohu Lake, with both sides winning or losing.
The morale of Chu State was high because Xiong Yun, the Chu army, personally led the army. The Huai army fought with them in the field, but because there were many enemies, they did not take advantage.
As for sending troops to attack the Chu army's retreat, it would be difficult to do so this time. The Chu army had been defeated so many times and had learned enough lessons to guard its rear route very tightly.
For a time, Chu and Huai were in a stalemate in Chao.
When Wang Jin learned that Chu's army was marching, he immediately ordered Huai to send 100,000 troops to attack Chu. However, just as Huai was preparing to attack Chu, Qi in the north of Huai suddenly summoned a large army and held a military parade in the south of Qi.
After several turmoils, Qi State finally settled down. Once a big country like Qi settles down, as long as the Marquis of Qi doesn't mess around, it will soon regain its national strength. Although its strength is not as good as that of Qi during the time of Duke Huan of Qi, it still has 70% strength.
More than ten years ago, Duke Huan of Huai State defeated the Qi army. After these years, Qi State was recovering and recuperating, but it always wanted revenge.
Since Wang Yue, the Huai State has cultivated and strengthened its national power for ten years, and the strength of other countries has also improved. In addition to Qi, Jin was not to be outdone and summoned Cao, Zheng, and Chen to form an alliance with Song. Although neither Jin nor Qi attacked Huai, and even the armies of the two countries were still one or two hundred miles away from the Huai border, Wang Jin did not dare to gamble.
He had no choice but to send 100,000 troops to Huaibei to confront Qi and Jin. Then he once again conscripted 50,000 soldiers and horses from Han and Wu to aid Chao.
Six years after Wang Jin ascended the throne, Sun Shuao died of illness, and Huai State's internal affairs and military strength began to decline. Although Xu Yong, Gong Yangsheng, Chen Yi and others were assisting him, they could only encourage and support him together. Xu Yong inherited Sun Shuao's flood control skills, but he was lacking in governance.
As for Gongyang Sheng, if his ancestor Gongyang Shuo's talent was one hundred, he could only be seventy-five at most. As for the academy, although there are many talents, there are no such great talents as Sun Shuao.
After Wang Jin, there was a gap in high-end talents in the Huai Kingdom. As for using the Recruitment Order, Wang Jin also used it. Unfortunately, the Recruitment Order did not recruit anyone above eight stars this time. The two people recruited were rated as six stars. .
A talent of this level is more than enough to govern a country, but it is far from enough to serve as prime minister.
In this case, Wang Jin had much less leverage. Gongzi Min had already garrisoned Xiapi because he wanted to guard against Qi and Jin. In the end, Wang Jin could only let Gong Yangsheng lead the army to the expedition.
Gong Yangsheng's army gathered together and soon came to Chao Kingdom. However, because of the strength of the Chu army, Gong Yangsheng did not dare to march rashly. Instead, he coordinated with the Huai army in the Chao capital to fight against the Chu army.
Chu Hou Xiong Yun originally wanted to take advantage of Gong Yangsheng's unsteady footing to send troops to defeat the Huai army, but Gong Yangsheng used his troops extremely prudently. Although there was no clever plan, they were used to defend the troops flawlessly. This is why Wang Jin sent him to the front. reason for coming
.
In the art of war, victory is achieved through righteousness and harmony. But most of the time, the two armies fought with upright troops. The Chu State did not use any showy tactics this time, but attacked with upright troops, not giving Huai a chance at all.
Gongzi Min is good at winning by surprise, but in the face of this grand method, not only can Chuqi fail to win, but he can easily be seized of opportunities.
When the Huai army came, the two armies faced each other, and small groups of troops were sent to fight every day. The two sides have been in a stalemate for more than three months.
When the Chu army came from afar, although there was the Yangtze River waterway to transport grain and grass, the cost of an expedition of 150,000 troops in March was extremely staggering.
But up to now, Chao Kingdom has still not been captured. The land of Chao Kingdom currently occupied, as long as the Chu army retreats, Huai Kingdom will soon be able to recapture it.
Xiong Yun was very unwilling to retreat. Qu Hong, the official of the Chu State, saw the embarrassment of the Chu Hou, so he wrote: "It has been three months since you have been on an expedition. The army has consumed a lot of food and fodder, but there is no progress. Why not withdraw the troops first?" "
"Qu Qing, Gu also knows this, but the army conquered March, but failed to achieve anything. How can we appease the army when we return, and at the same time it will damage the prestige of the Chu state!" Xiong Yun said with some distress.
"Your Majesty sent troops to resolve the connection between the Chu State and the Yue State. Now the Huai State is on tight defense. Our army cannot seize the Chao State, but we can take another route." Qu Hong said, pointing to another one on the map. nation.
"Shu Guo!".q.
"The State of Shu is located in the south of the Yangtze River, and is very close to the State of Yue. Since we can't capture Chao State, we might as well capture the State of Shu! This way we can not only connect the State of Yue, but also acquire land. The achievement of destroying the country is enough to show the strength of the Chu State. Moreover, This time the Huai State and our Chu State are fighting, and they are at a disadvantage, which has already made the world know that our Chu State is not as good as Huai!"
Huai Kingdom: Not as good as Huai? ? ?
Xiong Yun thought for a moment and immediately agreed: "Then attack Shu State!"
Shu Guo: Let me take a look. Why are you being beaten?
"It's just that this time our army was in confrontation with the Huai army and we retreated rashly. What should we do if the Huai army makes a surprise attack?"
"Your Majesty, you can place a few big drums in the camp and hang the goats on the drums. The goats will panic, their hooves shake, and the big drums will sound. The Huai army will definitely think that our army is still in the camp."
Xiong Yun immediately ordered his men to hang the sheep on the drum, put many flags in the camp, and then quietly retreated under the cover of night. The Chu army withdrew from Chao State, and the army went south and invaded Shu State. Shu State was destroyed.
Although Gongyang Sheng was surprised to find the sound of military drums in the camp of the Chu State, he thought that the Chu State was up to some conspiracy, so he became more and more cautious. However, there was no movement for two days, and he did not notice it until the third day. Chu State has evacuated.
