Zhan Taiqi touched his long gray beard and couldn't help but sigh that today's Confucianism is really full of talents. Fu Nian, Ziyou, Yan Lu, and Shen Shiyu will all be the mainstays of Confucianism in the future.
"I'll go to Qu Jingzhao's family and Master Fu Chu, and I'll take care of Li Yuan." Zhan Taiqi said.
The current literary style in Chu is directly related to the original Zhan Tai Ming Dynasty who came to Chu to promote Confucian culture. Now most of the families of the officials in the Chu Kingdom are directly or indirectly related to Zhan Tai Ming Dynasty, including today's Qu Jingzhao The three families also have many disciples studying in the Zhan Tai family. As the largest Confucian surname in Chu, the Zhan Tai family has extraordinary influence. Therefore, the three families of Qu Jingzhao will definitely think deeply about Zhan Taiqi's words.
Master Shen was a native of Yan State and was considered an outsider Confucian scholar in Chu State, and Li Yuan was also a native of Zhao State and came to Chu as an outsider, so it was most appropriate for Master Shen to lobby Li Yuan. As for Yan Lu, Yan Lu It represents that Xiaoshengxianzhuang is located in the Chu region. After all, in addition to the Confucianists in the Chu region, Chu Mo should not be underestimated.
The founder of the Chu State was Deng Lingzi. Deng Lingzi inherited Mozi’s merits and devoted his life to acting as a mercenary. To be a mercenary, you need to maintain extremely high force and strong armaments, so the disciples of Chu and Mo have always They are all good players in the world. The relationship between the Xiang family and Chu Mo is very close. Chu Mo participated in the production of most of the Chu army's armaments. If the situation is not maintained, Xiang Yan and Changping Jun will think of using Chu Mo to deal with the Confucians.
In order to prevent Chu Mo from attacking Confucian disciples, Yan Lu led the Confucian knights to Chu State as a deterrent.
"With this information provided by senior brother, I'm afraid they will take the initiative without our lobbying, but we cannot let them kill Changping Lord directly. Our goal is three points of the Chu Kingdom." Yan Lu pointed to the last sentence of Ziyou's letter The words said.
The two of them looked at each other and saw that what Yan Lu was pointing at was a saying that was circulated around Yunmengze. Although Chu had three families, Chu would definitely die if Qin was destroyed. Ziyou meant that since there were three families in Chu, Chu should also have three kings.
"This sentence should be closely related to Chu Nan Gong." Zhan Taiqi said with a smile. Yunmengze is the place where Chu Nan Gong lived in seclusion. The fact that this sentence can be spread around Yunmengze is definitely related to Chu Nan Gong. relation.
"This sentence has nothing to do with us, it's just a sentence." Yan Lu said.
After the three people discussed some specific matters, they began to act separately, preparing to implement the plan to split the Chu State.
In Shu County, Chen Mansion.
Chen Shu knelt in front of the third elder with a very respectful expression, while the third elder looked impatient. Ever since Ziyou asked the merchants in the city to donate money and materials, he went out to suppress the bandits, but Ziyou had no money or food. Chen Shu was so angry that he couldn't leave the city to suppress the bandits. Chen Shu made sure that everyone had paid the money and food. After all, who among the merchants and wealthy people in Shu County would dare to be short of money.
Chen Shu knew that Ziyou was trying to make money, but there was no way. He didn't want to be taken advantage of, but now it was getting closer and closer to Xiang Yan's dispatch of troops. The 30,000 defenders of Chengdu had received money and food. After that, everyone's morale was high. Bandits who lacked equipment fought with these soldiers. It would be better if the entire army was not wiped out.
The third elder couldn't wait any longer on the mountain. The daily consumption of more than 5,000 people was a large amount, and some tribes were wavering and wanted to retreat when they saw the delay in starting a war, so he came to Chen Mansion to look for it. Chen Shu.
"Didn't we agree that we should go out of the city to suppress the bandits three days ago? Why hasn't there been any movement yet?" the third elder asked angrily.
"Your Highness, I forgive you. The special envoy Ziyou used insufficient money and food as a reason to refuse to send troops. There is nothing I can do about it." Chen Shu gritted his teeth and said. If he could control 30,000 people, why would he hesitate to directly declare himself the king? Now, will I still suffer humiliation here?
"I don't care what method you use, they must be sent out of the city to suppress the bandits the day after tomorrow. There are still four days before Chu State sends troops. If Chengdu receives the news, we will have failed." The third elder said coldly.
"No! I will definitely find a way." Chen Shu said. There is only one way now, which is to unite the businessmen under his command to put pressure together, and then mobilize the public opinion of the people to put pressure, but he is not sure whether this method will be effective.
"Go ahead and do it. When Shu is re-established, you can inherit the glory of your ancestors, become the prime minister of Shu, and continue the Chen family's relationship with Shu." said the third elder.
"No! Thank you for your favor, Your Highness." Chen Shu bowed his head and said. Although Chen Shu said words of gratitude, his eyes looking at the ground were full of coldness. His target was never the prime minister, but the people of Shu. king.
Soon Chen Shu invited Qu Yi to Chen's mansion.
"Brother Chen, I don't know why you summoned me to your house?" Qu Yi looked at Chen Shu and asked.
Chen Shu looked at Qu Yi, with a troubled look on his face, and sighed and said
"To be honest, I came to Brother Qu to suppress the bandits. The special envoy has been saying that he will suppress the bandits, but he has not sent out troops for a long time. I am impatient. The goods from the last time of the Chen family caravan are still in the bandits' possessions. In my hands, this is related to the Chen family’s income for the past six months. Can I not be anxious?
It’s not just me, many businessmen can’t wait. They donated money and food to suppress bandits. Now the army has not taken any action, and everyone is worried that their money and food will be corrupted. "
Qu Yi looked at the worry on Chen Shu's face, smiled and said
"I also know that Brother Chen is anxious about the safety of the goods, but without the king's edict on the suppression of bandits, we cannot mobilize the army. Now we can only wait for the king's edict."
Although the county lieutenant has the power to mobilize troops and horses, the manpower mobilized this time is the 30,000 defenders of Chengdu. There are too many people. They can only mobilize with the permission of the court, otherwise they will be rebelling.
Looking at Qu Yi's look, Chen Shu knew that he couldn't pay the money, so he turned into a smiling face and said to Qu Yi
"Brother Qu, please help me find Master Wang to be accommodating. The goods that were robbed before are very important to the Chen family. These are some books we collect on weekdays. Brother Qu, please help me transfer them to Master Wang. .”
As he spoke, the steward and two guards carried up a box of bamboo slips. Looking at the box with at least twenty volumes of bamboo slips, Qu Yi was stunned. The more than twenty volumes of books should be half of the Chen family's heritage. .
"This is really a generous move, Brother Chen." Qu Yi clicked his tongue and said.
"These bamboo slips are useless if I keep them here. It is better to give them to Master Wang. Master Wang is a great Confucian sage. He will definitely spread the knowledge recorded in these bamboo slips to the world." Chen Shu said with a smile on his face. , but in fact Chen Shu's heart was bleeding. These books were collected by countless people in the Chen family. They were the Chen family's heritage. Now that they were to be sent away all at once, he must feel distressed.
"Forget it, I'll go and ask Brother Chen." Qu Yi said with a smile.
"Of course, Brother Qu, please bring the specialties of Beidi County brought back by these caravans." Chen Shu asked the steward to bring another box and said.
When Qu Yi opened the box, his eyes were immediately dazzled by the gold inside, and he immediately closed the box.
"Brother Chen, what are you doing?" Qu Yi looked at Chen Shu and said helplessly.
"When the caravan passed by Qu's house, the old lady was worried that you would not be able to live well here, so she asked me to bring it to you." Chen Shu lied without hesitation.
"Forget it, I won't stay any longer. Master Wang just happened to call me over." Qu Yi said with a smile.
"Then I won't keep Brother Qu." Chen Shu said.
Watching Qu Yi's leaving figure, Chen Shu's heart was bleeding, and the coldness in his eyes was getting stronger. In order to calm down, he could only keep telling himself in his heart that when the Kingdom of Shu is restored, these things will be restored by themselves. Get it back several times.
When Qu Yi arrived at the post house, he asked people to place books and gold in front of Zi You. Zi You picked up a volume of books and took a look at it, and then looked at a box full of gold.
"It seems they can't wait any longer. Xiang Yan is about to send troops. Where are Hanzhong and Wang Ben?" Ziyou asked.
"Sir, according to the news from Xianyang, the Hanzhong army should have arrived at the ambush location two days ago, and General Wang Ben should be mobilizing troops in Lantian." Mo Ya said.
"Well, in that case, we don't need to delay any longer. Tell the people in Chengdu that the king's edict has arrived, and we will prepare to go out of the city to suppress the bandits tomorrow." Ziyou said with a smile. Originally, they had been delaying the day of suppressing the bandits in order to speculate. When Xiang Yan sends out troops, Shu County must launch a rebellion on the same day as Xiang Yan sends out troops. Only in this way can the internal and external cooperation be completed quickly without alarming the Qin State.
Now that Chen Shu had given up half of the Chen family's information in exchange for going out of the city to suppress the bandits, it showed that they were in a hurry. Now that Hanzhong's army had arrived at the ambush place, they no longer needed to hold them back and could take action.
"Yes, I will tell Lieutenant Sima immediately." Qu Yi said, Qu Yi's eyes flashed, this time it was not about suppressing bandits, but about counterinsurgency. With this counterinsurgency, he was able to win the title of Commander-in-Chief. After being promoted to the court, he can also go home to visit his family.
"Go ahead."
Qu Yi left. Ziyou couldn't help but smile when he looked at the books and gold on the table. Ziyou's eyes flashed with coldness as he looked in the direction of Shushan.
As Qu Yi left, Chengdu's garrison began to mobilize. The movements of the troops in the barracks attracted the attention of the whole city. For a time, the whole Chengdu knew that the army was going to suppress the bandits. Chen Shu listened to the reports from his subordinates. , and slammed the tea cup next to him to the ground.
"Damn it, I know what a great Confucian scholar is and what is famous in the world. To put it bluntly, they are all the same. It's just that one wants money and the other wants books." Chen Shu said fiercely with veins on his forehead popping out.
"Master, be careful what you say," the steward reminded.
After hearing the steward's words, Chen Shu calmed down. This was a critical moment and there couldn't be any surprises.
"How is the situation on the mountain?" Chen Shu asked.
"Young master has summoned about five thousand people. They are going to be divided into two groups. One group is preparing to ambush the Qin army, and the other group takes the opportunity to attack Chengdu. When the time comes, we need to incite the rich and merchants to take the city with guards." said the steward.
"Prepare according to what he said. Let him serve as king for once. This will be worthy of the Shu royal family's trust in my Chen family." Chen Shu said, stroking his beard.
"Yes." The steward then went down to prepare various matters.
Zhang Liang and the third elder on Shu Mountain also received the news, and the originally unstable people's hearts stabilized. Looking at more than 5,000 stragglers, Zhang Liang was still a little uneasy. Although the combat strength of these 5,000 men was not a problem, he still felt uneasy in his heart. There was an uneasiness lingering that was hard to explain.
"Mr. Zhang Liang, why don't we just send everyone to ambush and annihilate the Qin army in one fell swoop before attacking the city?" The third elder looked at Zhang Liang and asked.
"The Qin army is not a fool. The bandits will definitely not send all the troops to suppress it. There will definitely be some left behind. If news comes that the entire army in front has been annihilated, the remaining defenders will rely on Chengdu to deal with us and be able to drag the defenders to the surrounding cities. If we don't want military support, it's better to take advantage of the opportunity to capture Chengdu while the army is out. With Chengdu as a stronghold, we can hold on until the Chu army arrives." Zhang Liang said helplessly.
Sometimes Zhang Liang really wanted to run away. These people praised them for being brave and foolhardy.
"I see, I'll leave the ambush to you, sir, and I'll lead the people to attack Chengdu." The third elder said.
"No problem, be careful in everything. If anything goes wrong, be sure to calm down." Zhang Liang advised.
"I understand. This matter is perfect. How could something unexpected happen? Sir, just wait for me to win Chengdu." The third elder said nonchalantly. In his opinion, his victory was just around the corner.
the next day.
Chen Shu watched Sima Xin leading the army out of the city, and nodded to the steward on the side. There were 30,000 defenders, and Sima Xin led 25,000 people out. There were still 5,000 defenders left in the city. There are not as many merchants and wealthy people as them.
Sima Xin was riding a horse with a mighty army behind him. The deputy generals on the side were escorting the captured Yu Yuan guards. The two of them had many wounds on their bodies and their faces were pale. They seemed to have suffered a lot of punishment.
The two pointed the way in the prison car. Sima Xin rode his horse and looked at the canyon ahead to signal the army to stop.
"Is this the right place?" Sima Xin asked.
"Yes, general, our base is only ten miles away after crossing the canyon." said a Yu Yuan guard.
After guard Yu Yuan finished speaking, he lowered his head and pretended to be very remorseful. Sima Xin looked at the other party with disdain in his eyes. Even without Ziyou's reminder, he would not have allowed the army to pass through this canyon. , this is an excellent ambush location.
Sima Xin looked at the deputy general. The deputy general nodded to Sima Xin. Then the entire army began to change. The army of 25,000 people was suddenly divided into two parts. Under the puzzled eyes of the guard Yu Yuan in the prison car, the deputy general led Following a group of well-equipped soldiers, they headed towards the hillsides on both sides.
At this time, Zhang Liang, who was ambushing in the mountains, was waiting for Sima Xin to lead the army into the trap. Their ambush location was not in the valley, but in the circular mountain col after leaving the valley. Looking at the Qin army that had not appeared for a long time, Zhang Liang The uneasiness in my conscience reached an extreme.
(End of chapter)
