Turning to the King of Chu, he said, "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, we should write a reply immediately. This will buy us time and help win back the morale of the army. At the same time, we should send someone to contact the Mohists and ask them to come up with another plan..."
"Wait!" A young military officer stepped forward. "My lord, we've already tried the Mohist mechanical arts, and they're still useless. In my humble opinion, we should take a gamble!"
"A desperate gamble?" Zhen Xiong sneered. "With just our current forces?"
"It's better than surrendering!" the general exclaimed excitedly. "Our Chu state has always been the leader of the six states, yet now we must bow down to Qin?"
"Enough!" the King of Chu finally spoke. "Gentlemen, things have come to this point; there's no need for further arguing. Someone, bring paper and pen; I need to write a reply to the King of Qin."
"Your Majesty!" the ministers asked in unison, "How do you intend to respond?"
"Let me think about it," the King of Chu said, rubbing his temples. "This letter is of utmost importance; not a single word can be written incorrectly."
Silence fell over the hall. Xiong Qi pondered for a long time on the dragon throne before finally speaking, "Write it like this..."
But just then, another scout burst in.
"Report! Something terrible has happened! The governor of Nan Commandery has sent a messenger saying they want to surrender to the Qin state!"
"What?!" everyone exclaimed.
Nanjun was an important territory of the State of Chu. If it surrendered to the State of Qin, it would not only lose its military support, but also shake the morale of the army.
"This..." The King of Chu dropped the pen from his hand. "What should we do..."
He looked at the imperial edict in his hand, then at the worried ministers, and for a moment he didn't know what to do.
Zhen Xing noticed his hesitation and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, things have come to this point; we must make a decisive decision!"
......
In the Qin army camp, Ying Zheng awaited the King of Chu's reply. However, he clearly wouldn't give Chu much time to consider.
"Pass down the order," he said to Wang Jian. "Three days from now, the entire army will launch an attack!"
"promise!"
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