Qin Shizhi's Confucian junior master

Chapter 455, adding fuel to the flames

Xiang Yan glanced at Xiang Bo and said with helplessness in her voice.

"We still have a chance to regain the lost land north of Yunmengze. If Liang Er and the 40,000 soldiers are allowed to defend the city, the final result will inevitably be death. Compared with these lands, I hope that these 40,000 soldiers can Come back and add strength to our future counterattack.”

"Commander Father, please think about it carefully. Once this order is issued, Yingdu will definitely not understand Commander Father's order. No matter how much the king trusts Commander Father, he will question the crime. Even"

Xiang Bo's face was very ugly. Although Xiang Bo was not as good as his other brothers in the military, in politics Xiang Bo could see further than others. The Xiang family supported Xiong Qi to become the king of Chu, and Xiong Qi naturally gave the Xiang family great honor. A big tree attracts the wind, and behind these glory are a large number of people who want to replace the Xiang family.

The Xiang family controls the army. No matter how much Xiong Qi believes that Xiang Yan will be on guard, Xiang Yan's strategy of giving up his country and letting Qin take it as he pleases, if there are any more people who want to provoke Xiang Yan, Xiang Yan will be on guard. Commander Yan will definitely be recalled to Yingdu to seize military power.

What worries Xiang Bo even more is the powerful people within the Chu State. In order to stabilize the royal power and compete with Li Yuan for the Chu State's orthodoxy, Xiong Qi suppressed the powerful people in the country under his rule more than once. As the king of Chu, Xiong Qi naturally could not personally suppress these powerful people, otherwise Xiong Qi and the Chu Kingdom would collapse in an instant. Therefore, Xiang Yan became the role of suppressing the powerful people, and he offended countless powerful people. They are all waiting for Xiang Yan to reveal his flaws, so that they can kill Xiang Yan with one blow.

"I understand, but I believe in the king. Qin can have a Ying Zheng who believes in Li Mu, so why can't Chu also have a Chu king who believes in Xiang Yan?" Xiang Yan interrupted Xiang Bo with a wave of his hand.

Seeing that Xiang Yan had made up his mind, Xiang Bo had no choice but to say nothing and could only spread Xiang Yan's order.

After Xiang Bo left, Xiang Yan suddenly slumped and leaned on the chair.

"Your Majesty is not a mediocre person, he can certainly understand my thoughts." Xiang Yan said in a low voice.

Xiang Yan himself is not sure whether Xiong Qi will support Xiang Yan. He can only place his hope on Xiong Qi now. War is never just about fighting on the battlefield, but more importantly, the trust and support between the king and his ministers after the battlefield.

Before Xiang Yan's order was conveyed to Suicheng, it was already known to the capital of Ying. Just as Xiang Bo said, countless memorials on the impeachment of Xiang Yan were all sent to the palace of Chu.

Xiong Qi frowned as he looked at the pile of memorials in front of him demanding that Xiang Yan be recalled for questioning, and the brush in his hand was directly cut off by him. There was fierceness in Xiong Qi's eyes. He had no objection to Xiang Yan giving up the land north of Yunmengze. He also knew that this was the best choice now.

But the reason why Xiong Qi was so angry was because Xiang Yan acted on his own initiative and gave up hundreds of miles of land without even consulting with him, the King of Chu. This made Xiong Qi, the king of Chu, feel a great shame. The decision-making power about a country's land and army was in the hands of Xiang Yan, not him, the king of Chu. How could he not be angry?

"How is the situation over there in Suicheng?" Xiong Qi asked gloomily.

A chamberlain walked out from the shadow of the pillars of the main hall and said to Xiong Qi, cupping his hands.

"King Qi, Suicheng should not have received the news yet. According to the intelligence that was sent back before, General Xiang Liang should be preparing to defend Suicheng to the death!"

Hearing this, Xiong Qi did not speak, his whole person was shrouded in the shadow of the throne.

"Da Sima's order is on the way now. Judging by the time, it will probably be delivered to Suicheng tomorrow, and feedback will be received soon." The chamberlain continued.

"Bastard! When Xiang Liang leads his army to evacuate Suicheng, all the land a hundred miles north of Yunmengze will be given to Qin. Is this the feedback you are talking about?" Xiong Qi suddenly pushed down everything on the table in front of him. Cursed.

Seeing Xiong Qi getting furious, the chamberlain could only bend down and say to Xiong Qi

"It's my servant's fault. Please calm down, Your Majesty! I will send someone to intercept the Grand Sima's order."

Intercept Da Sima's order? Hearing the words of the chamberlain, Xiong Qi's anger became even stronger. He is the king of Chu, and his orders are the king's orders. The order he gave Xiang Liang at the beginning must be to defend Tangcheng and Suicheng to stop the Qin army that Zeng Xi might invade. Now that Xiang Yan has not received the order he promised, everyone thinks that Xiang Liang must withdraw. If he wants to prevent Xiang Liang from withdrawing, he needs to send someone to intercept the order.

For a moment, Xiong Qi didn't know whether his order or Xiang Yan's order was more effective in the hearts of the ministers and chamberlains in Yingdu and in the hearts of the people of Li.

"I am the king of Chu. The order I gave to Xiang Liang was to stick to Tang City and Suicheng. Do you think Xiang Liang would have withdrawn without my order?" Xiong Qi looked at the servant with a sinister look in his eyes and asked.

The chamberlain was shocked and knelt on the ground, bowed his head and said to Xiong Qi

"Xiang Liang would not dare to evacuate without your Majesty's order!"

Looking at the servant's appearance, Xiong Qi sneered in his heart. He knew that it was useless to ask this servant. He must be the King of Chu in the Chu Palace, but how his orders would be treated outside the Chu Palace was still a different matter.

"What's the news out there?"

"There are a lot of discussions outside about Grand Sima's deployment of troops to abandon the area north of Yunmengze. There are various theories." The chamberlain said with a trembling voice.

"Has this matter spread?" Xiong Qi asked with a frown. Apparently, the matter spread faster than Xiong Qi expected. Although Xiong Qi was dissatisfied with Xiang Yan in his heart, he also knew that if he wanted to fight against Qin now, he could only rely on Xiang Yan. Originally, Xiong Qi was prepared to lift the matter up high and put it down gently and let it pass, but once the matter spread Come on, this matter can't end well.

"Yes." The waiter did not dare to say anything and could only nod.

"What's the most news?" Xiong Qi asked, closing his eyes.

The waiter lowered his head and his face was covered with sweat beads of panic, and his whole body was trembling uncontrollably. Xiong Qi found that the chamberlain did not answer his question, so he opened his eyes and looked at the trembling chamberlain in confusion.

"I asked you a question, why didn't you reply?" Xiong Qi scolded.

"This servant dare not reply to the king's words." The servant said with some crying in his voice.

"Just tell me, I forgive you. If you don't tell me, I will have you dragged out and beaten to death with sticks!" Xiong Qi said coldly.

"Let me tell you straight. There is news out there that Da Sima Yu wants to imitate Li Mu." The servant stammered.

"Bold!!" Xiong Qi slapped the table and shouted angrily.

"I'm scared. This is not what I said, it's just a rumor circulating outside. Da Sima is loyal to the king, so naturally he won't follow Li Mu's example." The servant lay on the ground and shouted.

Xiong Qi's originally calm mood became angry again, his face was gloomy and uncertain. The words of the chamberlain made Xiong Qi have other thoughts in his mind.

"Yes, the majestic Lord Wu An of Zhao State gave up his own country, surrendered to Qin State, and now attacks Chu State for Qin State. People's hearts are fickle, and the world is unpredictable. Who dares to guarantee his loyalty?" Xiong Qi murmured to himself.

Although Xiong Qi's voice was not loud, it was still very clear in the empty hall. When the chamberlain heard Xiong Qi's words, a dark light flashed in his eyes, and then was covered by fear again.

"Summon, let everyone above the doctor in Yingdu come to the main hall in half an hour to discuss matters!" Xiong Qi said. "promise!"

The chamberlain stood up and left the hall, and then began to convey Xiong Qi's will.

Guo Kai's mansion.

Guo Kai and Hun Zhu were sitting in the study, drinking tea leisurely.

"Brother Hunzhu is very powerful. He made Xiang Yan's order directly public to the public, and then sent people to spread the news among the people to instigate the relationship between Xiong Qi and Xiang Yan. As the saying goes, three people make a tiger, no matter what Xiong Qi does If you trust Xiang Yan, you will also doubt Xiang Yan in your heart." Guo Kai said with a smile.

"No, this is not a trap." Hun Zhu shook his head and said, "Before the trap could be launched, the powerful people in Yingdu who had enmity with Xiang Yan started spreading the news one step ahead. Xiang Yan is not easy to get along with in Yingdu. .”

Guo Kai was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said

"It turns out that Xiang Yan helped Xiong Qi suppress many powerful people. The relationships between these powerful people are extremely complicated. Who can say who is not a relative of whom? It is natural for them to deal with Xiang Yan, but Now is the time of national crisis, and Chu State cannot do without Xiang Yan, so it surprises me that they can take action so calmly?"

Hun Zhu glanced at Guo Kai and said in his heart that you are not much better. Wasn't Li Mu forced to rebel by you in the first place? But he continued to say

"No one can tell whether the people and dignitaries in the three areas of Nanjun are from Chu or Qin. To them, it doesn't matter who becomes the king, as long as they can maintain their power."

The three areas of Nanjun were originally part of the Chu State, but they were captured and occupied by the Qin State for decades. The people in the three areas of Nanjun were already Qin people. Now they were occupied by Xiong Qi and established the Chu State, and became Chu people again. After these back and forth changes, these dignitaries and common people no longer care about Qin and Chu, they just want to live a stable life.

"These wallflowers." Guo Kai said.

Hun Zhu did not speak, but asked

"Have you obtained the list of Zhao Di's participants in the rebellion?"

"I got them all. Originally, Xiong Qi was not willing to give them all to me, but I can only tell him that Chen Ping and Li Xin are in charge of Zhao Di now. If there is not enough power, most people are not willing to get up. Whatever happened, Xiong Qi had no choice but to hand over the list to me." Guo Kai said with a smile, taking out the list from his arms.

Hunzhu took the list and glanced at it twice, and then put it away after making sure that it was no different from the people who had been found so far.

"I will pass on the list and the latest military information of Chu State tonight. Brother Guo only needs to wait for Master Wang to arrive in Yingdu in exchange for his freedom." Hun Zhu said.

Guo Kai just smiled bitterly and said nothing, and the steward's voice rang outside the study.

"Sir, someone is coming to the palace. The king has summoned ministers above the level to come to the palace to discuss matters!"

Hun Zhu and Guo Kai looked at each other, both of them knew that this was Xiong Qi's preparation to deal with Xiang Yan.

"Brother Guo has to take care of Xiang Yan."

"Don't worry, I know in my heart that Xiang Yan will definitely become the second Lian Po." Guo Kai said confidently.

Hun Zhu naturally believed in Guo Kai. After all, Guo Kai's kills against famous generals were still very high, especially the more famous generals, the less likely they were to survive in Guo Kai's hands.

Guo Kai smiled, arranged his robes, and headed towards the Chu Palace, while Hun Zhu left Guo Kai's mansion with the news, preparing to send the information out.

Half an hour later, inside the Chu Palace.

Xiong Qi sat on the throne of King Chu, looking at the ministers below without saying a word. The ministers also remained silent. Everyone knew what was going to be done at the court meeting, but no one dared to speak rashly.

Looking at the silent ministers, Xiong Qi glanced at a doctor. After receiving Xiong Qi's signal, the doctor stood up and said

"Your Majesty, I have heard a lot of rumors recently. I wonder if your Majesty has heard of them?"

The ministers raised their eyelids and focused their attention on this doctor. They understood that after today, the survival of the entire Chu State depends on this moment.

"What's the rumor?" Xiong Qi asked pretending to be stupid.

"It's about the transfer order sent by Da Sima to transfer the troops stationed in Suicheng. Rumor has it that Da Sima is going to let his son Xiang Liang take away the 40,000 troops stationed in Suicheng and go to Jingling to abandon our Chu Kingdom Yunmeng. There are hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers north of Ze!" said the doctor.

"Isn't that reasonable? Orders for troop deployment are issued by the court. Who would dare to mobilize troops at will without my permission?" Xiong Qi slapped the table angrily and said.

Seeing Xiong Qi's appearance, Guo Kai moved his eyes back and forth between Xiong Qi and the doctor, and began to think about Xiong Qi's true thoughts about Xiang Yan.

"I think this matter is ridiculous. Government and military orders should be issued by the court. Although Da Sima is fighting on the front line against the Qin State, the matter of mobilizing troops to abandon Suicheng and hundreds of miles of Chu State's territory should also be reported to the court, and the court will make a decision. Okay. If you issue such an order without authorization and give away the territory of our Chu State, it is no different from treason. I believe that Da Sima is loyal to the Chu State. These orders must be false, but after all, this matter is of great importance, and The influence is profound and has shaken the foundation of our country of Chu.

Therefore, I suggest that Da Sima be recalled to confront him face to face to dispel these rumors. "A minister walked out and said.

As soon as this minister finished speaking, another minister also stood up and said:

"I think it is even more ridiculous. Now is the time when the country is in crisis. The Grand Sima was personally conferred by the king and has the right to command the soldiers of the three armies of our Chu Kingdom. Now that the war on the front line is changing rapidly, the Grand Sima's decision must be the most in line with the war situation. And now we are facing a powerful enemy. If we recall our commander, the morale of the Dangyang defenders will be in chaos. How to deal with the Qin army?"

With the start of these two people, the factions in the entire Chu court soon became clearly divided. People led by powerful people advocated recalling Xiang Yan and letting Xiang Yan explain clearly. If it is true, he will be punished. If it is false, he will be punished. He leads troops. The opposition believed that Qin could not recall him at present, and at the same time sent people to stabilize Xiang Liang.

(End of this chapter)