Chapter 44: Cutting the Land (Additional chapter for the leader to open his eyes and see the world for the second time)
After Luo Ren returned to Luo State, he became angrier and angrier. He fell ill again and poisonous sores developed on his old wounds. He was actually dying.
This was something Ji Zhao had not expected. He had never seen two family heads leave within a month.
In a trance, Luo Ren saw a noble man standing in front of his bed, "Prince Su, ancestor, Ren finally sees you, are you going to die?"
He was speechless and just wanted to have a good cry.
"I have a magical item that can cure your illness, but this is a mental illness. If you can't adjust, it will relapse."
Ji Zhao originally wanted to use the medicine talisman to save his life directly. He was still very good to his descendants, but he found that Luo Ren had a physiological disease caused by heart disease. Even if he was cured this time, he would fall ill again soon.
Unexpectedly, Luo Ren shook his head and said, “King Su, don’t use the divine object on Ren.
Twenty years ago, Ren led the Luo clan members in a bloody battle in Ying State. Countless clan members died there, and many of their bodies could not even be found. Ren had a high fever at that time, but later he suddenly recovered. It was you who saved Ren at that time.
Now that things have come to this, I am really unfilial and have caused you so much trouble.
Back then, Ren Yibang Zhou's glory inspired his people, but in the end, this was the outcome.
This time when I returned to the country, I met the young guards who were guarding the palace.
Most of them were children of tribesmen who had died twenty years ago. Seeing them now reminded him of the past. Ren had broken his promise and even dared not talk to them.
Bang Zhou failed to prosper, and Ren should have died in Ying State that year."
Ji Zhao could see that although Luo Ren had a smile on his face, there was no light in his eyes. This meant he had already decided to die. He was too ashamed to face his clan members. This was the influence of the Luo family's tradition, where they were very clear about what they loved and hated.
Ji Zhao always let things take their course as long as it didn't threaten the family inheritance. Seeing King Su leaving and Luo Ren crying, he forced himself to stand up and kneel.
He remained in a kneeling position and died!
"My Lord!"
"Haotian, King Su, does this mean that God no longer loves the Luo family?"
All the people sitting beside the bed were crying loudly. Two kings died in a short period of time.
The funeral of the previous one had not yet been completed, but the funeral of this one had already begun, making everyone feel like the sky was falling.
Especially the words that Luo Ren said before his death, which made all the royal family of Luo State feel the same. If they counted carefully, which family did not have descendants who died in the two promised countries back then?
The king died of grief and anger, which made the royal family of Luo State have no good feelings towards the royal family. When this news spread, the sensation it caused was even greater than that of Prince An killing his brother.
Wang Zian's face turned pale. "How could this happen?"
He knew that he would never be recognized by the Luo Kingdom, and the crime of fratricide would always be on him.
But his son can. He will do all the dirty work. After his death, the relationship between the royal family and the State of Luo will eventually ease. But now that Marquis Luo died of grief and anger, I am afraid that he will not pay tribute to the Zhou Dynasty for a hundred years.
What about the country of Bang Zhou?
The inheritance of the throne of Luo State naturally had a sequence. Luo Yang, the eldest son of Luo Ren, had already reached adulthood. He took charge of his father's funeral and went to the ancestral temple to worship King Su and the ancestors of all generations, becoming the eleventh king of Luo State.
Although Luo Cheng and Luo Ren passed away one after another, the political legacy they left to Luoyang was still very rich, and his ability to govern a country was no problem.
The first thing Luoyang did after taking office was to renovate the clan system and Zhou rituals, engrave words on bronze pillars, and then set them up in the city of Zhaodu for all the people to see.
This move was equivalent to expressing to the whole world the dissatisfaction of the State of Luo with the Zhou Emperor of Luoyi. It was just short of pointing at him and calling him a thief who trampled on the patriarchal law and did not abide by the Zhou rituals.
All the princes in the world came to Luo State to mourn, and Chu State naturally sent envoys of condolence to Luo State as well.
Luo Yan had just received the news of his father's death, and then he received the news of his brother's death. Now, some people in the State of Chu who had initially blamed him began to sympathize with him. It was really tragic.
Luo Yan, who was originally preparing to lead the army to attack the Zhou royal family, resigned from his duties as general to the Duke of Chu and wanted to take his wife and children to Luo State to attend the funeral.
The Duke of Chu agreed to his request and allowed him to take the Chu delegation with him. Although Chu was hostile to the Zhou royal family, since Luo did not stand with the Zhou royal family this time, there was no need to offend Luo.
Besides, Luo Yan is the true descendant of the Luo family, and his children are all the direct descendants of the Luo Kingdom. Ji Zhao's ancestors can bless and protect them, so it is unreasonable not to worship King Su.
A large number of Chu troops went up the river, and all the troops of Shen and Sui stayed in the city and did not dare to go out to fight in the field.
Luo Zhongshu was originally struggling over whether or not to help the Zhou royal family, but when he heard that his nephew had died of grief and anger, he was completely devastated.
He ordered all Ying soldiers not to go into battle and to allow the Chu army to pass through. He even went out of the city himself to deliver food and fodder to the Chu army.
So when the Chu army arrived at the royal capital, they were facing only the Zhou-Zheng coalition force!
It is true that those who are in the right will have many supporters, while those who are in the wrong will have few, and those who do evil will eventually destroy themselves!
The Chu army stationed directly at the foot of Mount Song, which was not even far from Luoyi!
The Zhou royal army and the Zheng army were defending against a sudden attack by the Chu army at the foot of Mount Taishi.
"Prince An, how can a man who killed his brother rule the world?
Will God bless a thief like him?"
The Crown Prince of Chu cursed the Zhou army directly.
Ji An and Duke Zheng got together to discuss how to drive away the Chu army. Neither of them wanted to fight the Chu army at all.
Especially Ji An, he knew that the royal army was strong, but he had not yet been able to control the army. If he went into battle rashly and something unexpected happened, he could not tolerate that.
The Duke of Zheng then said to Ji An, "Your Majesty, the Chu army has accused you of killing your brother. This is nonsense. You must have been deceived by a traitor.
As long as you express enough sincerity, I believe the State of Chu will be able to understand you.
Queen Mother Chu Mi missed her hometown and returned to Chu. She is your biological mother, and you should be filial to her. It is better to hand over the sovereignty of Tang to Queen Mother Wang as a place for her to live in her old age. "
The Duke of Zheng was about to give a vassal state of the Ji clan to the State of Chu, but Ji An actually thought it was a good idea. Anyway, Tang would be annexed by Chu sooner or later, so there was nothing wrong in giving it away now.
"When the time comes, I will allocate a piece of land in the royal capital to Marquis Tang as compensation. I believe Marquis Tang will be willing to do so."
After discussing a countermeasure, Ji An quickly sent people to the Chu army camp, and Xiong Dan wanted to drive the king's envoy out directly.
The messenger hurriedly shouted, "Prince, the king is willing to use Tang as a place for the queen mother to support her, to show his filial piety."
Xiong Dan's face changed several times, but he finally brought the messenger into the tent.
The outcome between the royal family and the State of Chu once again shocked everyone in the world.
The royal family's military strength is not weak. Duke Xuan of Luo has been managing the army for so many years, selling the blood of Luo State and sucking the blood of the princes, and using all means to train a strong army for the royal family.
Why did they cede land without fighting?
They naturally didn't know what Ji An was thinking. He was a conspirator and didn't trust the troops trained by Duke Xuan of Luo at all.
In this regard, Ji An really understood the essence of being invincible without fighting. He used the Tang land, which he thought was unimportant, in exchange for the withdrawal of Chu troops. He used an acceptable result to prevent unknown serious consequences.
Luoyang no longer cared about these things. He now understood why his father died of grief and anger, because the price paid by Luo State over the years was too high!
"It has been nearly three hundred years since the founding of Luo State. The number of the royal family in Luo State's genealogy, including the side branches of the side branches, and all the old, weak, sick and disabled people added together, is only 30,000 now?
I heard that in the early years of King Yi, there were 3,000 brave warriors in Luo State, who were composed purely of the sons of the royal family!"
Luoyang asked in disbelief. His uncle sighed, "The strength of Luo State has been recovering over the years, but the casualties of the royal family's children are too great. In addition, for some reason, the royal family's children have given birth to very few illegitimate children, which has led to a lack of population replenishment for the royal family."
Luoyang had never heard his father talk about these things, and never thought that Luo State had paid such a huge price for the prosperity of Bang Zhou.
"Luo State must shrink its front line. We can no longer allow the royal family's children to join the army on a large scale. Let them all come back to have children. With such a small population, how can we expect the soldiers to rebuild the country?"
"Sir, if we allow the sons of the royal family to retire, we will have to give up a lot of land."
The royal family, noble family, and common people of Luo State were the main force in joining the army, especially the children of the royal family of Luo State, who received military training from an early age and were the backbone of the Luo State army.
"Give up some of it for now. Population is the most important thing for a country. Just hold on to the important positions. When the population recovers, we can take them back at any time."
Such a large-scale strategic shift requires not only notifying the domestic nobles, but also notifying traditional allies such as Qi, so that they can be prepared.
With the great changes in the royal family and the Kingdom of Luo, the entire Zhuxia world slid towards the unknown.
…
When King Xi ascended the throne, the State of Chu attacked him, but he did not dare to fight and ceded land to bribe Chu. Without power, authority, or courage, how could he not be defeated? - "Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Zhou"
I won’t mention Luoyang’s attributes, he is just a transitional character.
The Duke of Jin killed the king and the King of Xi murdered his brother, the Duke of Zheng shot the King of Huan in the shoulder and the King of Chu forced the king to cede land. Brothers, which one do you think has a greater impact on the emperor's authority?
(End of this chapter)
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