Chapter 12: Xiong Dun Aims for the Top
On Qi Yan's side, the formal alliance began, with homage to the emperor and sacrifices to the gods of mountains and rivers. Finally, all the armies trained together to strengthen the coordination between the armies. When everything was in full swing, Ji Wan had already led the army to the land of Shenlu.
There were many vassal states between Luoyi and Chu, and they all responded to Ji Wan's call and followed the emperor into battle with their armies.
Looking at the mighty army, Ji Wan was very proud. At the banquet, the princes praised him with flattering words, some even more disgusting than those of You Hou and Ji Hou.
"Is Sui Bo here?" Ji Wan suddenly thought of someone, so he asked the attendant. You Hou was a little angry with these southern barbarians, and when he heard Ji Wan's question, he quickly said, "Your Majesty, Sui Bo is guarding Sui State, and he is the first line facing the Chu barbarians. He dare not move lightly, so the five lords of Hanshui did not come."
Ji Wan drank a glass of wine, shook his head and said, "Once my heavenly army arrives, the Chu barbarians will surely surrender upon hearing the news. Why should we be so cautious?"
You Hou nodded quickly and agreed. Han Hou, who was also serving beside him, wanted to step forward and explain the importance of these five countries, but after thinking that if he did, he would definitely mention Luosu, which might even have a counterproductive effect, he simply kept silent.
These five states along the Han River were all established by Luo Su.
At the beginning, Xiong Dun was arrogant and uncontrollable. The princes of Zhennan organized coalition forces to attack Xiong Dun many times, but they were defeated many times and suffered heavy casualties. At that time, Luo Su had already realized that Xiong Dun might be a rare god of war.
Luo Su doesn't know how to command troops, but he knows that this kind of person is invincible on the battlefield. The only way to defeat him is to drag him into a situation that he is familiar with.
So he decisively stopped the calls for another attack on Chu, and asked the generals to build a line of defense that could trap Xiong Dun in Chu, and he would be responsible for the army, population, money and food.
Luo Su's strategy was to see that although Xiong Dun had an elite army, its number of troops was small. Although the entire Chu State had a lot of land, most of it was empty land and had no population. So Luo Su forced Xiong Dun to compete with him in the consumption of money and food. It would naturally not work to use the population and food of one place to fight against the population and food of the whole world.
Finally, this line of defense built by the five countries of Deng, Lu, Yu, Tang and Sui along the Han River appeared. These five countries supported each other and had convenient vision. Once Xiong Dun attacked, they would build strong walls and clear the fields, defend the city, and then seek opportunities to cut off his food supply.
This tactic resulted in the Chu army not daring to cross the Han River to attack. Xiong Dun was disgusted, but it was impossible for him to capture the city with such a small population.
As for why the monarchs of the five countries were so obedient, it was mainly because Luo Su was a strong-willed and somewhat autocratic person. For his orders, there were only two options: execute and thoroughly execute.
The fate of many nobles in the past has proved that if one pretends to obey but actually disobeys, he will be reprimanded by Luosu. If this leads to a great defeat, the outcome will certainly be the loss of the title and the expulsion of the country.
So far, Xiong Dun has not broken through this line of defense, which is why he was overjoyed when he heard that Luo Su had resigned from his post.
Luo Su's method of not charging head-on but stabbing people slowly with a soft knife was simply a natural nemesis for him. Fortunately, he had achieved some results in the south and west over the years, otherwise he would have been so frustrated that he would have vomited blood.
Although the news of Luo Su's resignation had spread throughout the various states, his accumulated prestige was too great, and the five princes still did not dare to leave their defense lines until this time, for fear that Luo Su would return to Luoyi and punish them.
In fact, these people were in a state of panic. They did not dare to leave, but now that Luo Su had left the royal capital, they were faced with the question of whether these five countries still had a need to exist and whether the three ministers in power in the royal capital would still provide them with replenishment of population, soldiers, and food. These were all very realistic issues facing them.
After Ji Wan hosted a banquet for the princes in Shen and Lu, he prepared to go directly south to the Five States of Han River. At that time, the Han River was the only river between the Chu State and the State of Chu. In his expectation, how could Xiong Dun resist an army of 100,000 crossing the Han River?
In Ji Wan's opinion, his ancestor King Wu was able to defeat the Shang army with a smaller force at Muye and conquer the world in one battle, and King Su was able to defeat the rebels in one battle on the banks of Luo River and then conquered the entire eastern countries with great ease. He was the emperor of Bang Zhou and the descendant of the two kings. Wouldn't it be easy for him to defeat a mere southern barbarian prince?
When the army arrived at the five states of Han River, they stationed in the three states of Deng, Lu and Yu to rest and prepare for the subsequent crossing of the river to fight.
Xiong Dun, who had been waiting for Ji Wan in Chu for a long time, heard the news that Ji Wan had arrived and immediately sent an envoy to inquire about the importance of the tripod.
Upon hearing that an envoy from the State of Chu wanted to see the emperor, Ji Wan, You Hou, Ji Hou and others thought that Xiong Dun was afraid of the emperor's army and wanted to make peace, and they were quite proud.
Ji Wan received the envoy of Chu in Deng Bo's palace. He was protected by a group of burly guards and accompanied by several important princes. The envoy of Chu was a tall man, and there was no trace of fear on his face.
The envoy entered the palace without any greeting, but just bowed slightly, "Foreign minister Jinglin, my king..."
Before he could continue, the Marquis of Handan jumped out angrily and shouted, "How dare you, a traitor? Xiong Dun is only a viscount, how dare you usurp the throne in front of the emperor? Do you think I dare not kill you?"
Ji Wan's face turned pale in an instant. He didn't expect Xiong Dun to be so ignorant of his own life. The heavenly army had arrived and his death was imminent, but he still dared to speak so shamelessly.
He had even begun to consider Yuki Erhou's original strategy.
Facing the angry rebuke of the Marquis of Handan, the Chu minister Jing Lin remained unafraid and continued calmly: "My king asked the emperor of Zhou whether the great tripod of Chu or the nine tripods of Luoyi was heavier?"
"bass!"
“Bang!”
This time, it was not just the Marquis of Handan, almost everyone was glaring at the envoy from the State of Chu, and the Emperor Ji Wan was completely unable to control his anger.
"Xiong Dun! You're looking for death!"
"You traitor, go back and tell Xiong Dun to wait. I will tear him into pieces or tore him apart by five horses!"
The only sound in the hall was Ji Wan's angry voice. He drew out the guard's sword, slashed fiercely on the table in front of him, and roared, "Send troops immediately! I will immediately execute Xiong Dun in the most cruel way."
Although the Marquis of Handan was angry, he still had his reason. Upon hearing Ji Wan's order, he quickly advised: "Your Majesty, please don't do this. Our army has been marching for days and is exhausted. If we cross the river and fight like this, we will surely be defeated!"
But Ji Wan was so angry that he didn't want to hear such words. He immediately shouted at Yuji Erhou: "Aren't you going to obey my orders?"
The two marquises Yuki also felt that they could not send troops, but they did not dare to disobey Ji Wan's order, so they could only order the troops to attack.
Seeing that things were unstoppable, the Marquis of Handan felt cold all over. Only then did he understand why Luo Su had to leave. It turned out that he had already seen through Ji Wan's character.
Even if I persuade him this time, what about next time?
If Ji Wan doesn't change his character, he will definitely fail miserably!
no!
We can't just sit there and wait for death.
Marquis Handan forced himself to calm down. The emperor's six armies could not all die here. He wanted to bring as many people back alive as possible.
He remembered the list of nobles that Luo Su had left for him, all of whom were nobles from the Luo Hou lineage. Now if he wanted to conspire for big things, he could only rely on them.
He quickly began to recall the names on the list and prepared to start contacting them immediately. He believed that anyone with a bit of common sense would be shocked to hear Ji Wan's order.
Don’t ever think that Ji Wan is too stupid. If you read more history, you will find that there are many great figures who are even dumber than him. IQ is not hereditary, which may be the fairest thing in the world.
(End of this chapter)
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