Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 240
"Ling Yin's remarks are absurd!" Before he finished speaking, Huan Chu couldn't hold back, and stepped forward to retort, "What Zhou Yin committed was a heinous crime of treason. If he hadn't rebelled against Chu and returned to Han, the former king How could the army defeat Gaixia? If it wasn’t for the defeat of Gaixia, the former king would have committed suicide in Wujiang River? Zhou Yin’s crimes cannot be punished, how can they be forgiven lightly?”

Ji Bu also strode forward, bowed his hands to Xiang Zhuang and said, "My lord, please kill Zhou Yin to comfort the old king!"

"The words of the second general and the last general are extreme." Xiang Ta did not look sideways, and said indifferently, "It is a fact that Zhou Yin raised the Jiujiang army to rebel against Chu and return to Han, but the Jiujiang army did not participate in the battle of Gaixia. When the Jiujiang army arrived, the late king had already The army was defeated, so it is inappropriate to place the blame for the previous king's defeat on Gaixia on Zhou Yin alone."

After this pause, Xiang He said again: "Furthermore, General Zhou Yin was able to turn back when he lost his way. At this critical juncture, he brought the Jiujiang Army back to Dachu. I'm afraid that the old families in the nine counties of Chu will be chilled, and the king will be reprimanded for unfair rewards and punishments."

Huan Chu was immediately refuted speechless, playing with knives, guns and halberds, he was not as good as Huan Chu with ten items, but his eloquence was even less than one item with a hundred Huan Chus plus one item, Huan Chu turned his head immediately Looking at Zhongli Mo and Yu Ziqi with eyes asking for help, Zhongli Mo and Yu Ziqi both turned their gazes elsewhere.

How could Zhongli Mo and Yu Ziqi's eyesight fail to see what Xiang Zhuang meant?
At that moment, Xiang He bowed to Xiang Zhuang again, and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, please make a clear decision."

Xiang Zhuang hummed lightly, and said: "What Ling Yin said is reasonable. Although General Zhou Yin once rebelled against Chu, he also caused great harm to Da Chu, but he was able to return when he lost his way, and he was able to bring more than 2 people with him. The disciples of Jiujiang returned to Da Chu, and they have made great contributions to Da Chu, so they should be rewarded, including fifty bolts of silk and fifty yi of gold!"

Zhou Yin hurriedly bowed to the ground, and said gratefully: "I... I am really ashamed."

"Decree, Zhou Yin is still the Great Sima of Great Chu, and also the governor of Jiujiang County, and the [-] Jiujiang Army is still under the command of Zhou Yin." Xiang Zhuang paused, then looked down at Zhou Yin, and said earnestly, " General Zhou Yin, the widow of Jiujiang County will be handed over to you, and you must guard the north gate of Dachu for the widow."

Zhou Yin felt emotional in his heart, bowed to the ground again, and said: "I... dare to repay you with death!"

Xiang Zhuang said to Xiang Qi who was standing in the corner of the hall: "Xiang Qi, you go down and arrange a banquet. Tonight, I will have a banquet in the main hall to reward the meritorious officers and soldiers. By the way, I will also wash away the dust for General Zhou Yin."

"Here!" Xiang Qi bowed, and took his orders.

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When Xiang Zhuang was having a banquet for the officials, Liu Bang's edict also spread to Pengcheng.

Ying Bo stroked the curled beard at the corner of his lips, and asked Kuai Che, "Minister Guo, do you think Jiujiang County should take it or not?"

Kuai Che shook his head without hesitation when he heard the words, and said decisively: "Your Majesty, I think that Jiujiang County cannot be taken!"

"Absolutely can't take it?" Ying Bu frowned, "Why is this? It's rare that Liu Bang gave Jiujiang County a reward to the widow, why can't the widow take it?"

Kuai Che said: "Your Majesty, this is Liu Bang's plan to drive away tigers and devour wolves!"

"A plan to drive away tigers and devour wolves?" Ying Bu said puzzledly, "The Prime Minister said that Liu Bang wanted to get rid of the three evil wolves, Jin She, Zhou Yin, and Li Zuoche, but this is not right. Aren't Zhou Yin, Jin She, and Li Zuoche all part of Liu Bang's trilogy, and why did Liu Bang use the widow's hand to get rid of the three of them?"

"Your Majesty is wrong." Kuai Che shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Zhou Yin, Jin She, and Li Zuoche are just three housekeeper dogs, not worth mentioning. What Liu Bang really wants to get rid of is you, Your Majesty, or Xiang Xiang." Zhuang!"

"Xiang Zhuang?" Ying Bo suddenly asked, "How come I forgot about this?"

As soon as Kuai Che reminded him, Ying Bu woke up suddenly. Jiujiang County was originally one of the nine counties of Chu, and Xiang Zhuang also drove a nail into Jiangbei. Obviously, Xiang Zhuang was bound to win Jiujiang County. If Bu hastily intervened in the disputes in Jiujiang County, he might start a full-scale war with Chu, which Yingbo didn't want to see.

At that moment, Yingbo asked again: "Prime Minister, what should I do now?"

Kuai Che said: "Your Majesty, why don't you send the imperial edict of the Han Dynasty to Wuzhong, and give it to the King of Chu for review, to show that your Majesty has no intention of messing with Jiujiang, and then take advantage of the situation to propose an alliance between the two."

"Okay." Yingbo said happily, "That's it."

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A few days later, Liang Wang Pengyue also received a secret letter from Jin She and Li Zuoche. At that time, General Zhang said that the military adviser Zhao Yan and the general Liu Kou were summoned to the palace overnight to discuss matters.

Zhao Yan, whose name is Zijin, is from the same hometown as Zhang Liang. It is said that the two of them once studied under Huang Shigong at the same time. Zhao Yan was recommended to Peng Yue by Zhang Shuo more than half a month ago. Impressed by the other party's profound knowledge, plus Zhao Yan's familiarity with military books and strategy, Peng Yue immediately worshiped Zhao Yan as his military adviser.

On Peng Yue's desk, there were two volumes of wooden slips, which were the letter of surrender sent to Dingtao just now by Jin She and Li Zuoche, and these two volumes of surrender letter had just been circulated by Zhang Shuo, Zhao Yan and Liu Kou.

At that moment Peng Yue asked the three of them, "What do you think?"

The Prime Minister Zhang Shuo and the military advisor Zhao Yan were silent, but the General Liu Kou said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, what is there to hesitate about? Jin She and Li Zuoche are rare generals. There are tens of thousands of soldiers, they are willing to surrender to Daliang, that is the blessing of our Daliang, how can your majesty reject them?"

Peng Yue said: "But Jin She and Li Zuoche are generals of the Han Dynasty after all. If I accept them, will the king of Han lose face? And what will the heroes of the world think of me?" I really care about what others think of him, because Liu Bang has been kind to him, so I am a little hesitant.

"It doesn't matter." The Prime Minister Zhang said, "As the saying goes, a good bird chooses a tree to live in, and a good minister chooses a master to do things. Isn't Zhang Liang, an important minister under Liu Bang's tent, also the prime minister of Korea in the past? King Han Xin of Qi was even in front of Xiang Yu's tent at first. A guard, isn’t he now a vassal king who split the soil and claimed the king? Jin She and Li Zuoche are willing to return to Liang, and the King of Han has nothing to say.”

Peng Yue said: "So, the return of Jin She and Li Zuoche to Liang really has nothing to do with you?"

Zhang said: "Of course this matter has nothing to do with the king, and if Jin She and Li Zuoche really return to Daliang, the princes of the world will only praise the king's virtuous name, so that the heroes of the world will rush to return."

Peng Yue was still a little unsure, and asked Zhao Yan, "Military Master, what do you think?"

Zhao Yan stroked his willow beard, and said: "If Jin She and Li Zuoche come to surrender sincerely, the king may accept it, and without any effort, he can gain a county for nothing, plus tens of thousands of elite soldiers, so why not Why don't you do it?" After saying this, Zhao Yan said again, "I'm just a little confused, why did Jin She and Li Zuoche suddenly have the idea of ​​returning to Liang?"

"What's so strange about this? Zhou Yin, Jin She, and Li Zuoche attacked Liyang first, so how could Xiangzhuang give up? Now they feel the pressure of the Chu army, and the King of Han is far away in Guanzhong, beyond his reach. Now The only one who can save them from the crisis is our Daliang country." Liu Kou curled his lips with disapproval.

For Zhao Yan, Liu Kou really looked down on him. Isn't he just a scholar who is good at talking and talking, and he is really qualified to be Liang Jun's military adviser because he has read a few military books and can tell a few allusions?It needs to be known that the military division is not a false position, but a key official position in the entire Liang army, second only to the king of Liang and the general, and even Hu Zhe can't get the job, why is this kid?
Zhao Yan smiled lightly and said: "The general is right. Jin She and Li Zuoche may have felt the pressure of the Chu army and thought of returning to Liang. However, the king still needs to deal with it carefully to avoid being caught by Jin She, Li Zuoche Li Zuoche took the opportunity to be dragged into the muddy waters of Jiujiang, our Daliang Kingdom is in the midst of a waste of time, so it is really inappropriate to go to war."

Peng Yue couldn't help nodding his head when he heard the words. Zhao Yan had already made his words very clear. There was no problem in accepting the surrender of Jin She and Li Zuoche, but Liang Jun must not be easily involved in the disputes in Jiujiang County. Otherwise, for the For Liang Guo, it is very likely that good things will turn into bad things. In the end, if you don't get Jiujiang, you will lose your troops and generals.

Zhang Shuo, the prime minister of the country, said deeply, "Your Majesty, I think what the military division said is not unreasonable."

Peng Yue said immediately: "President of the country and military adviser, don't worry, I already know what to do."

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Almost at the same time that Peng Yue received the letter from Jin She and Li Zuoche, Xiang Zhuang also received the secret letter from Zhou Huan.

Due to the long distance, Liu Bang and Zhang Liang didn't know about some specific events happening in Jiujiang, let alone Zhou Yin's secret contact with Xiangzhuang, so they stayed behind in six counties while ordering Jin She and Li Zuoche to surrender to Pengyue Zhou Huan also received the same edict. Zhou Huan didn't dare to neglect, so he hurriedly condemned the envoy to send the edict to Wuzhong.

Xiang Zhuang immediately summoned Bailixian, Zhou Yin, Wu She and others overnight to discuss countermeasures.

Zhou Yindao: "Your Majesty, this is Liu Bang's plan of two tigers competing for food. His intention is nothing more than to stir up disputes between my Great Chu and Liang Guo. He Liu Bang wants to profit from it!"

"Two tigers competing for food?!" Bai Lixian shook his feather fan and said, "I'm afraid it's three tigers competing for food."

After this pause, Bailixian said again: "If Liu Bang issued another edict to assign the entire Jiujiang County to Yingbu, then Jiujiang County would immediately become the source of disputes between Chu, Liang, and Huainan. If you are not careful, it will lead to years of melee among the three kingdoms, Liu Bang is very scheming."

I have to say that Zhang Liang's strategy of the three tigers competing for food presented to Liu Bang is indeed very simple and clear. Not to mention counselors like Kuai Che, Zhao Yan, and Bai Lixian, even Xia Shuo and Zhou Yin's eyesight It is also insightful, but as Zhang Liang said to Liu Bang, the simpler and clearer the strategy, the more incomprehensible it is. It is one thing to know that this is a strategy of three tigers competing for food, but it is very difficult to successfully resolve it. It's another matter.

(End of this chapter)