Chapter 100 The Five Kingdoms Attack Song, Dissension Between Wu and Qi
After the order to recruit troops from all over the country was issued, three delegations left Yingdu at the same time after the King of Chu and Xiang Cheng discussed it.
The first delegation went to Qin State, inviting Qin State to attack from the east. Chu State was willing to attack from the Nanyang Basin, cut off Jin’s retreat and food supply, and assist Qin.
The second delegation went to the State of Jin, angrily denounced the Zhou emperor, and at the same time tested the attitude of the Jin monarch and his ministers towards the northward migration of the Chu people. If successful, they could also alienate the already tense relationship between the royal family and the nobles in Jin.
The third delegation went to Zheng State to meet the King of Zhou, and deliberately used harsh words to give advice, which was to anger the King of Zhou and make the military advice of Chu State seem more reasonable. He would not listen to the kind words, and for the sake of the destiny of Zhou and the country, as a loyal minister of Zhou, he would use a knife to give advice. There was no problem with that, since he was not trying to seize the throne of the King.
The State of Chu was making frequent moves, and the neighboring States of Wu and Ying were the first to discover it. Ying was a small country and quickly sent the news to Luo, while the reaction in Wu was huge.
Wu State, Gusu City, is the most prosperous city in Jiangdong. The city walls covered with a little moss make this city with a history of only more than 100 years appear very ancient and heavy.
There are crisscrossing rivers and numerous lakes in Gusu City. The quietly flowing river water is like a winding jade belt with emerald beauty. Under the irrigation of the rivers, it has the most fertile land in the entire Wu State. Even farmers can get food as long as they sow seeds in the spring.
This is the most important area for the Wu State, and the dense water network is very suitable for the operation of Wu's ships, which can make Wu State always invincible. This was the main consideration of Qingji when he chose the site.
In the Wu palace, the king and his ministers all frowned at the news of the Chu movement.
The confrontation between Wu and Chu lasted for hundreds of years, and even the rise of this country was to check and balance the increasingly powerful Chu.
This goal reached its peak during the period of Qingji and Sun Wu. After one battle, the State of Chu was defeated and there was no mention of moving north for decades.
However, after the death of Qingji and Sun Wu, the State of Wu once again lost ground in the competition with the State of Chu and suffered a lot of losses.
Although it was harmless, the people of Wu were naturally resentful. The people of Chu wanted revenge, and the people of Wu also wanted to achieve the achievement of conquering the capital of Chu again.
After reading the intelligence, Prime Minister Wu pondered and said, "Your Majesty, according to the news from the merchants who have been dealing with the State of Chu, and the intelligence we have gathered in recent days.
The State of Chu did not simply mobilize tens of thousands of troops, but at least two hundred thousand troops. It seemed that the Chu royal court wanted to declare an all-out war with our country.
Should we withdraw the troops sent to Song State first and focus on dealing with the attack from Chu State?"
The reason why Wu sent troops to Song was that Luo Zhi, after careful consideration, finally partially agreed with Luo Qing's idea.
It is indeed urgent to strengthen the power of the royal family and Luo State. Now that Song State has given a good excuse, it would be unreasonable not to use it.
However, Luo Zhi also invited the State of Wu to join. Luo Zhi hoped that after dividing the State of Song, he could restrain the resistance of the State of Song and at the same time have the strength to deal with the emergence of the State of Chu.
If you want to win a quick victory, you need a decisive force. The five countries of Zhou, Zheng, Luo, Qi and Wu that attacked Song were the decisive force that Song could not resist.
After hearing what Prime Minister Wu said, Marquis Wu pondered and said, "All-out war? Is that so stupid?
Didn’t the State of Chu learn from its previous failures?
They could only wander around the Jianghan Plain forever, and if they wanted to go north, they had to ask the State of Jin for permission.
Even if Chu had an army of 500,000, would they dare to send all of them east of the Yangtze River?
There are 50,000 strong men in Gusu City, and if tens of thousands of strong men are drawn from the State of Wu, it will be enough to temporarily resist the State of Chu.
Song has fertile land, a large population, and a strategic location. If it falls into the hands of Qi, how will Wu be able to compete with Qi in the future?"
There was no alliance between Wu and Qi. The exchange of interests between the two sides was completed through Luo. However, as the lands of Wu and Qi were connected, conflicts naturally and inevitably began.
If Qi really took over the lands of Song and Chen, Qi and Wu would be bordering each other, and the outbreak of war would only be a matter of time.
But the Prime Minister of Wu thought that was wrong. “Your Majesty, although Wu has conflicts with Qi, Luo is an ally of both Wu and Qi. Given Luo’s strength, his support will determine the outcome of the war.
Once a full-scale war broke out between Wu and Qi, Luo would intervene, so the conflicts between Wu and Qi would at most be minor.
But the fight between Chu and Wu was endless.
If a person's skin is slightly injured and bleeds a little, don't worry about it, because you just need to wait for it to heal on its own.
But if it is an illness that may harm one's heart, one must not allow it to worsen, otherwise death will be the only outcome.
Chu is the biggest threat to Wu. If we make a mistake, Wu will be in an irreparable situation. Please consider this, my Lord."
Faced with Prime Minister Wu's loyal words, the Marquis of Wu hesitated. He paced in the hall and said, "Prime Minister, let Doctor Wu Qing stay in Song State and transfer 50,000 troops back. Chu State really has to be on guard. If 200,000 troops really come to attack, 100,000 troops may not be able to resist."
Seeing that the Marquis of Wu had adopted his suggestion, Wu Xiang was delighted and said, "I will go and inform him immediately."
…
On the thousands of miles of territory of the three kingdoms of Zheng, Song and Chen, there are now armies of seven countries, namely Zhou, Zheng, Song, Chen, Wu, Luo and Qi. The armies of the five countries have surrounded Song and Chen.
However, the situation was not as good as expected, because the armies of Luo and Qi could still cooperate temporarily, but the armies of Wu and Qi actually started fighting directly because of looting the cities of Song.
This is only the first city, and chaos has already begun to occur internally. This is not a problem between Qi and Wu, but a common problem among all countries.
It was impossible for the State of Luo to be in charge of every detachment of the army, so it could only try its best to restrain both sides, while the Zhou emperor and the State of Zheng faced the most elite main force of the State of Song head-on.
In the Song army camp, news of the invasion of Song by the three kingdoms of Luo, Qi and Wu has arrived. Duke Song's hands are shaking a little, but a hint of ferocity appears on his face as he says, "The three kingdoms of Luo, Qi and Wu are not easy to provoke. Only the King of Zhou is incompetent and Marquis Chan of Zheng is incompetent. Defeat the Zhou-Zheng coalition, break out, and then lead the army south to defeat Ying and make peace with Chu. This is the only way to survive."
The King of Zhou and Marquis Chan of Zheng did not know that they had been identified as soft persimmons by the Duke of Song. Their news was a little slow, but they still received the news that the three kingdoms had sent troops.
Ji Bai smiled somewhat complacently and said, "I am the lord of ten thousand chariots, a person favored by heaven. Even though my territory is not as big as that of a big country, big countries like Qi and Wu are also following me. This is the dignity of the emperor."
Ji Bai suddenly felt that becoming famous among the nations was much more refreshing than staying in Luoyi. "Marquis Zheng, the armies of Song and Chen must be in a panic now. Send out troops. Defeat the main force of Song before my subjects defeat the detachment of Song. I believe that other nations will be in awe of me."
Zheng Houchan was somewhat reluctant. After all, once the three kingdoms of Luo, Qi and Wu defeated the troops stationed in Song, they would surely win. There was no need to take risks now.
But facing the enthusiastic emperor, he thought about it and felt relieved, "Song and Chen only have a few hundred thousand troops, while Zhou and Zheng have two hundred thousand troops. It is impossible for them to lose."
Here, the King of Zhou suddenly had an idea and wanted to realize his grand plan. Luo Zhi led the army and broke through three cities of the State of Song. The resistance of the Song people was still very strong.
After Ji Zhao ascended to the throne, he focused his main attention on the barbarians. In order to eliminate the rebellious psychology of the people of the previous dynasty, he allowed them to retain their customs and culture as long as they respected the Zhou rites. Unexpectedly, it has become the obsession of the Song people until now.
Under such circumstances, the battle was naturally extremely brutal, with countless corpses lying everywhere. The royal family members of Luo State were still able to restrain themselves, but ordinary people could only barely control the looting of property, avoid direct massacre in the city, suppress the Song people in the city one by one, or directly serve as cannon fodder.
The armies of Wu and Qi were both bloodthirsty. When they entered Xiaocheng, Qi broke in from the east gate and Wu broke in from the south gate. The soldiers of both sides began to loot.
When two or three Qi people came out of the house with their valuables, they found a group of Wu soldiers also coming in, so they shouted: "Wu people, we found this first, you can go somewhere else."
This group of Wu soldiers had seen nothing but treasures that had been rummaged through along the way, and were feeling aggrieved. When they saw the treasures in the hands of the Qi people, they looked at each other and immediately rushed forward.
"Wu Manzi!"
"ah!"
Following a few screams, the Wu soldiers happily put the treasures into their arms, but this scene was seen by the Qi soldiers outside the door.
When the Qi soldiers heard that Wu soldiers had killed Qi people, they immediately wanted revenge. Word spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred, until thousands of people started fighting in the city.
The generals of Qi and Wu were surprised and asked, "Is the resistance of the Song people in the city so fierce? Why didn't they appear when we were defending the city?"
When the news came and the two entered the city, they saw corpses of Wu and Qi people everywhere, with bright red blood flowing on the ground and expressions of indignation on their faces. When they counted carefully, the number of corpses lying on the ground was several times higher than the casualties in the previous siege.
What made the two men most sad was that, for such a good mission to search the entire city, naturally the elite troops had to go first, so those elite troops who could bear heavy armor also suffered considerable casualties.
The generals of Qi and Wu who were in charge of the siege spontaneously distanced themselves from each other, with murderous intent in their eyes as they stared at each other. A clear gap appeared between the two sides, and this situation occurred in almost every city that was conquered by the joint forces.
…
The Five Kingdoms attacked Song, and Qi and Wu made an agreement to attack Xiao with 10,000 people.
Xiao was defeated, and three hundred people died. Qi and Wu said: They are weak.
They entered the city and searched for money. They fought over the money and more than a thousand people died. Song said: "They are strong." - "Humorous Collection"
(End of this chapter)
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