Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 219

On the road leading from Shanyin to Qiantang, teams of Chu cavalry armed with long spears are escorting thousands of old and young women and children to migrate to the north.

Sad cries sounded from the crowd from time to time. Many old people and women would stop walking and look back at their hometown with sad eyes, weeping sadly. Only those young and innocent children walked back and forth among the crowd Shuttle, laughing happily from time to time, or just a baby in the swaddle, ignorant of this.

After half a month of careful preparation, Xiang Zhuang finally mobilized enough troops, and then with a force of thunder, he dealt with the hostile clan forces in Beiliu County of Kuaiji County. About 100 clan forces were uprooted, and nearly ten thousand The strong men were sent to Liyang in the north of the Yangtze River to guard the border, and nearly [-] old and young women and children were forcibly moved to Moling to farm.

Moling is near Nanjing in the later generations, and is located in the core area of ​​the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In later generations, it was a famous land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River. The most prosperous and prosperous place in Jiangdong, and then moved the capital from Wuzhong to Moling.

The first batch of immigrants were the clansmen, young and old, from Beiliu County, Kuaiji County.

In the not-too-distant future, the remaining clan forces in the six northern counties of Kuaiji County will gradually disperse and migrate to various counties in Wu County and Danyang County. These clan forces must unconditionally move out of the original land, and then disperse and resettle in new regions.

Xiang Zhuang knew very well that if he wanted peace in the backyard, he had to uproot the clan armed forces. Xiang Zhuang would never allow these clan armed forces to develop and grow. Time is bound to pay a greater price.

Just like Sun Wu in history, it took a lot of effort to pacify Shanyue, but it also exhausted the national power. From then on, he was no longer able to attack the Central Plains in the north. Xiang Zhuang didn't want to repeat the mistakes of Sun Wu, so he had to grab Jiangdong The clan armed forces will kill it in the bud before it takes shape.

Of course, the food needs to be eaten one bite at a time, and the road needs to be taken step by step. At this stage, Xiangzhuang can only attack the hostile clan forces. As for those clan forces that have been wooed and temporarily isolated, they still mainly use them to appease them. It's not unacceptable to even let them sit for a limited time.

For example, now, if Xiang Zhuang wants to forcibly remove hundreds of hostile clan forces, he must obtain the acquiescence of other clan forces. This is actually a transaction, otherwise why would people listen to you?
Today's Xiang Zhuang has become very proficient in playing political tricks to win over one faction, isolate one faction, and suppress one faction. If the old military master Wei Liao knew it, he should have closed his eyes with a smile on his face.

Sophisticated political skills soon brought other unexpected benefits to Xiang Zhuang.

The night before Xiang Zhuang was about to leave Shanyin, an uninvited guest suddenly came to his temporary abode. This person was surnamed Qu and his name was Bucai, but this Qu was not that Qu. The children of a small clan, and they are still born in concubines, but they are good at doing business and have accumulated a lot of wealth.

"The villain Qu Bucai, see the king!" Seeing Xiang Zhuang, Qu Bucai hurriedly paid respects.

"Qu Bucai?" Xiang Zhuang stared at the person who was coming, and said calmly, "Get up quickly."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Qu Bucai bowed again, then got up and respectfully stood beside him. To be honest, Qu Bucai himself did not expect to be summoned by the King.

Xiang Zhuang asked thoughtfully, "You just came back from Dongou?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the villain sold two boats of raw silk to the Eastern Ou Kingdom half a month ago, and just returned to Shanyin yesterday."

"Oh, you sold two shipments of raw silk to the east?" Xiang Zhuang asked with great interest, "Are you in the raw silk business?"

"Uh, that's not true. The villain doesn't specialize in the raw silk business. The villain is also in the business of tea, pottery, woodware, cloth and even ironware."

Xiang Zhuang nodded, and said again: "When you were in Dongou, did you see the Dongou army gathering?"

"En." Qu Bucai nodded, and said, "Siluo, the king of Dongbai, issued an edict that each township should produce a hundred to 500 strong men, and each county should produce a thousand to 5000 strong men, and the villain should leave Dongou Kingdom. At that time, at least ten thousand people had assembled in the city of Dongou! Also, the king of Dongou was asking his prime minister to raise money and food everywhere, and the villain's two boats of raw silk were requisitioned."

Xiang Zhuang frowned, and said again: "Do you know how many strong men the Eastern Ou Kingdom can recruit?"

"It's really hard to say." Qu Bucai looked embarrassed, and said after a long while, "However, according to the estimation of a villain, the population of Eastern Ou Kingdom is about 30, and it should be easy to summon [-] strong men. "

"Fifty thousand strong men?!" Xiang Zhuang was slightly taken aback, and said, "Will there be a war with the Minyue Kingdom?"

"Eastern Ou Kingdom and Minyue Kingdom are of the same clan, but the relationship has always been bad, and wars are common." Qu Bucai nodded, then shook his head and said, "But this time the King of Eastern Ou summoned a large number of young men, it should be It’s not about fighting with the Minyue Kingdom, because the grain and grass prepared by the Dongou Kingdom are all sent to the north, and the villain is worried that they will be disadvantageous to Da Chu, so he rushed to report.”

"Very good, Qu Bucai, you've done a good job." Xiang Zhuang stroked the beard on the corner of his lips, and suddenly had an idea that this Qu Bucai was not only good at business, but also good at observation and analysis. Can a master of intelligence help him spread trade routes in various countries, and then use the trade routes to collect intelligence?
Seeing Xiang Zhuang groaning silently, Qu Bucai couldn't help but feel a little drummed in his heart, wondering if he was lying about military affairs to claim credit, right?At that moment Qu Bucai said tremblingly again: "Your Majesty, villain, everything the villain said is true, and there is absolutely no lie. If Your Majesty does not believe it, you can send someone to Dong'ou Kingdom to verify."

"No need, I believe you." Xiang Zhuang paused for a moment, then said, "Qu Bucai, do you want to expand your business?"

"I think, of course I want to. The biggest wish of the villain in this life is to do business in every corner of the world and accumulate much more wealth than Tao Zhugong..." Qu Bucai replied without thinking, and then his heart burst into tears. Surprised, he said in a nonchalant manner, "My lord, the villain is just talking, just talking, ha ha."

Xiang Zhuang couldn't help smiling, this Qu Bucai, obviously changed his words because he was worried that he coveted his wealth, but he underestimated Xiang Zhuang, Xiang Zhuang immediately said: "Qu Bucai, you don't have to worry that the widow will covet you The wealth, on the contrary, I will help you to pave the way for you in the Central Plains countries, but..."

Qu Bucai's eyes lit up first, then his heart skipped a beat and he pricked up his ears.

Xiang Zhuang paused, and then said: "However, you also have to do one thing for the widow, that is, to collect information from various countries in the Central Plains, and then secretly send it back to Jiangdong. How about it? Would you like to make this deal with the widow?"

Qu Bucai rolled his eyes, and then fell to the ground: "It's a villain's blessing to be able to serve the king."

"Get up." Xiang Zhuang smiled and said, "Go back first, and someone will come to you at that time. If you need anything at that time, you can ask them. Go."

"The villain will leave." Qu Bucai bowed again, then got up to leave.

As soon as Qu Bucai left, Hu Yanzhengde rushed in, bowed and reported: "Your Majesty, the Baili Army Division is here!"

As soon as the words were finished, Baili Xian had already hurried into Xingyuan, bowed to Xiang Zhuang and said, "My lord, there are changes in Jiangbei!"

"Oh?" Xiang Zhuang returned the salute, then solemnly invited Bai Lixian to take a seat, and said, "Zi Liang, what's the matter?"

Bai Lixian flicked his sleeves, entered the table calmly, and replied: "A few days ago, I received an urgent report from General Mengji, saying that Zhou Yin, Jin She, and Li Zuoche who are entrenched in Jiujiang County are secretly gathering troops. The intention is unknown!"

"Huh?" Xiang Zhuang said awe-inspiringly, "Zhou Yin, Jin She, and Li Zuoche are also gathering troops?!"

"What?" Bai Lixian asked in astonishment, "Your Majesty, are there other families also gathering troops?"

Xiang Zhuang nodded, and said solemnly: "I just got the news that Si Luoyao, king of Dongou, is also gathering an army!"

"Si Luoyao, the king of Dongou?!" Bailixian gasped when he heard the words, and said in horror, "Your Majesty, in this way, this matter is by no means simple. Maybe someone is secretly fueling the flames, except Zhou Yin, Jin She, Li Zuoche and Dongou King Si Luoyao, I am afraid that Hengshan King Wu Rui, Huainan King Yingbu and Minyue King Si Wuzhu are also gathering troops!"

"Nine times out of ten." Xiang Zhuang nodded, and said in a deep voice, "It's really like a mountain rain is about to come, and the building is full of wind!"

"The mountain rain is about to come and the wind fills the building?" Bailixian nodded, and said again, "My lord, if this is the case, then I, Da Chu, must make plans as soon as possible, otherwise, when these princes call at the door at the same time, then I will be in trouble." The hostile forces that have just been suppressed will surely make waves, and by then our army will be in a desperate situation of internal and external difficulties and enemies from all sides."

Xiang Zhuang nodded, then turned his head and shouted: "Huyan, Jinxiang, quickly present the map!"

"Here!" Huyan Zhengde and Jin Xiang agreed loudly, and moved a screen into the hall, unfolded a map and hung it on the screen.

Xiang Zhuang and Bai Lixian immediately got up and stood in front of the screen.

Bai Lixian pointed to the map and said, "Your Majesty, among the princes around Jiangdong, nothing is more threatening than Wang Yingbu of Huainan. The Huainan army crossed the Wujiang River from Guangling County to the south, and within ten days they could reach the city of Wuzhong! Threat! The youngest is King Si Wuzhu of Minyue, and if the Minyue army wants to enter Jiangdong, it will take at least three months, and they have to pass through Damo County in the south of Kuaiji County."

"Wu Rui, the king of Hengshan, can't be underestimated." Xiang Zhuang patted the map, and said in a deep voice, "Wu Rui sits in Hengshan and Lujiang counties, with a territory of thousands of miles, a population of one million, and no less than 20 people in armor. Famous generals in the world, once the Hengshan army attacks with all its strength, it will be difficult for the widow to personally raise the army to resist."

(End of this chapter)