A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 104

Chu State, Yingdu, Zhugong.

The miserable autumn rain fell on the ground, and the rain fell on the blue tiles, and then splashed on the ground in a column of water, stirring up thousands of sprays.

In the entire Zhu Palace, there was a massacre, and several eunuchs hurried past carrying a wounded corpse.Everyone bowed their heads and did not dare to be careless.

In the main hall, Chu Hou looked gloomy. Just now he killed an eunuch who entered the door with his left foot first.Ever since he ascended the throne to succeed the monarch, Chu Houjian has always been so moody.He often beat and scolded the eunuchs in the palace, and if he was not careful, he might be beaten to death.

Therefore, all the eunuchs in the palace live in trembling, respectful and cautious every day, and only sigh a little at night, and live another day.

After Chuhou Jian ascended the throne, the state affairs were unstable.The matter of the first king Chu Chenggong made the ministers of the Qing Dynasty suspicious.The state of Chu has incorporated a lot of barbarian habits, advocating the style of witches and ghosts.There are many people who have seen the matter of the first emperor, so rumors are everywhere in the court.

Chu Houjian knew that the situation was not good, so he made friends with officials and officials to appease the government. On the other hand, he sent his teacher Pan Chong to win over some officials and nobles, and gradually took control of the power of Chu. It can be said that he is the most trusted person.

It took the two of them three years, and the Marquis of Chu finally took full control of the court.

At the beginning, he was able to give benevolence and grace, and gave a lot of preferential treatment to the nobles, and the state of Chu soon settled down.Later, they sent envoys to make peace with Qi and Jin, and wanted to deal with Huai together, just like a wise king.

But after completely controlling the court, his nature began to be exposed, becoming more and more irritable, killing people at every turn, and many noble families who opposed him were killed or exiled by him, so a large number of nobles became silent.The court has become the hall of Chu Houjian's words, but under the peaceful court, there are undercurrents surging.

Chu Houjian learned the lesson of his ancestors being hostile by the countries in the Central Plains. After all, with the rise of the Huai country, the Chu country also felt great pressure and wanted to deal with the Huai country first.

The Marquis of Chu made good friends with the countries in the Central Plains, and paid tribute to the Emperor Zhou, and became a minister. The Emperor Zhou gave him sacrificial meat and told him: "Guard the south, quell the turmoil of the Yiyue ethnic groups, and do not invade the countries in the Central Plains."

The state of Chu agreed not to go north again, but in fact the reality forced them to face it, because the four states of Zhong, Cai, Huang, and Jiang had already threatened the state of Chu.Chu State even wanted to form an alliance with Qi State, Jin State and other countries in the Central Plains again to attack Huai State, but Qi State and Jin State did not want to provoke Huai State.

On the contrary, they would rather see Chu and Huai fighting each other.

The idea of ​​an alliance between Chu State and Jin State and Qi State failed, but it also eased their relationship with each other, and then turned their attention to Huai State's allies, Zhong, Cai, Jiang, and Huang.These four countries were not regarded by Chu State at first, and each Fang State had a population of only more than [-], so they were not the opponents of Chu State at all.

But since the founding of Zhongguo, the four countries supported by Huaiguo have quickly moved closer and formed an alliance, and their strength has also increased rapidly.

Now the combined population of the four countries is about 130 million. Although it is far lower than that of Chu, Chu still has other enemies, and it is impossible to deploy all the troops to fight against them.

And the Four Kingdoms Alliance is right next to Chu, so the Marquis of Chu can't sleep at ease.What's more, the Four Kingdoms had enmity with Chu State in the first place, Cai Guoxian was imprisoned in Chu State, Jiang State and Huang State were repeatedly attacked by Chu State, and Zhong State was sealed by Huai State.

Therefore, after stabilizing the government, the Marquis of Chu began to mobilize the national army to deal with Zhong, Cai, Huang, and Jiang.

After the Huai River Four Kingdoms managed the upper reaches of the Huai River, there was no raging Huai River, and there was an Fengtang that could irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land. The four countries were full of food, and their strength was not what it used to be.Chu Hou also felt the threat of the alliance of Zhong, Huang, Cai, and Jiang, and wanted to pull out these four nails.

Therefore, in the fifth year of the Marquis of Chu, the State of Chu, on the grounds that "the yellow people will not return to Chu Gong", sent an army of [-] troops to conquer the State of Huang in October of that year. Thousands of soldiers and horses, led by Wang Zhong, went south to rescue Huang.

The Marquis of Chu sent Qu Wan to lead an army of [-] to attack Huang, and the army drove straight in. Huang Guo could not stop it, and retreated to the capital, and the Chu army besieged the city.Wang Zhong led the army to rescue, showing the enemy a weakness, and lost three battles, the Chu army was arrogant.The armies of the four countries retreated in formation, fortified the walls and cleared the country, and asked the Huai country for help.

In November, everything withered, the wilderness was full of withered grass, and the weather was freezing. Most of the Chu soldiers were from the south and could not tolerate the severe cold, so they gathered more firewood for warmth.For the convenience of collecting woodcutters, Qu Wan stationed his camp in the forest of Nanshan Mountain. At this time, everything withered, the forest was full of fallen leaves, and the branches and vines were dry.

It was night when the north wind suddenly blew up, and Wang Zhong led his army to launch a night attack from the north. All five thousand elites were swept away by grass, and they attacked the Chu army's camp in the dark, and set fire to it along with the wind.

At this time, the grass and trees were withered and yellow, the sky was dry and the things were dry. Just as the north wind was howling, the wind helped the fire to break out everywhere, and the fire continued. The camp of the Chu army was burned and the soldiers were in chaos.Wang Zhong took the opportunity to launch an attack. Cai Jun came from the west, Jiang Jun from the east, and Zhong Jun from the north. Under the combination of the three armies, the Chu army was defeated and fled all the way south.

Wang Zhong led his army in pursuit, the Chu army was defeated, most of the dead and wounded fled, and the vehicles and boats were all abandoned in the field. The army smashed [-] camps in a row.

The Chu army retreated in embarrassment, with heavy casualties. When they retreated to the territory of Chu, there were less than ten thousand of the fifty thousand troops left.When Qu Wan saw that there were only a few remnants and defeated generals left in the [-]-strong army, he immediately felt that he had no face to return to Chu, so he killed himself by the river.

The army of Chu State suffered heavy losses, and the Allied Forces of the Four Kingdoms followed closely behind, taking the opportunity to enter the territory of Chu State.

When the Marquis of Chu heard that the army had suffered a disastrous defeat, he quickly mobilized a large army from the middle of the country, with Pan Chong as the general, leading the army to support them, and the two sides fought in Lishan.The war was at a stalemate, Chu State summoned the subordinate countries to come to help, the Huai State army arrived, and the Chu army relied on Lishan to form an array and defend, fortified the wall and cleared the field.

The armies of the six countries failed to attack. Seeing the stalemate in the war, Chu State was afraid that Huai State would attack from the east and attack from the northeast, so they sent envoys to seek peace, ceding the west of Sui State and two hundred miles south of Huang State. Both sides stopped fighting.

Zhong, Huang, Cai, Jiang, and Sui divided the land equally.

Although the state of Chu was defeated, its muscles and bones were not damaged, but the enmity between the two sides was getting bigger and bigger.Although Sui Guo had benefited at this time, he was afraid of being retaliated by Chu State afterwards, so he formed an alliance with Zhong, Huang, Cai, and Jiang.

On the other hand, the Huai State sent Ji Yue to secretly negotiate with Suihou, asking him to help Chu's son Xiong Yun return to the country.Since Xiong Yun escaped from Chu State, he is now an adult.Sui Hou thought of this, and immediately decided to support Xiong Yun to return to Chu, compete for the position of Chu Hou, and disturb the Chu State.

(End of this chapter)