Before Zhu Xiang's battle report arrived, Prince Chu of Qin had already received news of the defeat of the Chu general Xiang Yan.
The Chu army was defeated and reached the Huai River. People on the other side of the Huai River were pointing fingers. It would only take a few days for the King of Qin to hear about it.
When King Zichu of Qin first learned the news, he was still laughing at Cai Ze and Lin Zhi for Li Mu's excessive indulgence of Zhu Xiang. Zhu Xiang must have wanted to defend the city, so Li Mu and Xiang Yan started fighting.
Cai Ze said solemnly: "Your Majesty, don't lie. Wu Chengjun is not such a person. If Guangling City cannot be defended, he will definitely persuade Zhu Xiang to surrender."
Lin Zhi smiled and said, "We finally controlled the entire river channel. Now the Qin army is retreating north. If I were him, I would not want it. Guangling City is just opposite Wu County. The Qin army has a strong fleet and can be stationed in Guangling City. I just want to see if the Chu people dare to come and fight."
Prince Chu of Qin insisted, "It must be that Zhu Xiang heard the news of Xiang Yan's massacre of the city and couldn't bear to see the people of Guangling being slaughtered, so he persuaded Li Mu. With Li Mu's character, he would give up Guangling City if he gave up other cities. Don't we know Li Mu's character? He is the most indulgent to Zhu Xiang."
Cai Ze said solemnly: "Your Majesty, Wu Chengjun is very mature and cautious, and will not let Zhu Xiang mess around in major matters."
Lin Zhi continued to laugh and said, "Xiang Yan just pulled together the generals of Chu to fight against each other. He called himself a famous general, which is really ridiculous. But he was defeated as soon as he met Li Mu."
The three of them were chattering there, completely forgetting that Xunzi was there.
Xunzi was also the prime minister, so he also had to attend this meeting.
Xunzi glanced at the three younger generations who were disrespectful and neither a king nor a subject (Cai Ze: I am innocent!), and closed his eyes.
Forget it, I'm too lazy to care, and I can't care either. If I don't see it, I won't be annoyed.
After Zhu Xiang left Xianyang, Prince Chu of Qin became much more serious.
Although he would occasionally have small gatherings with Cai Ze and Lin Zhi, there was always a difference between the monarch and his subjects. The three of them were smart people and knew where the boundary was.
But now when talking about Zhu Xiang, Prince Chu of Qin returned to his old ways and did not act like the King of Qin at all.
Cai Ze and Lin Zhi too!
Xunzi closed his eyes and dozed off.
After King Zichu of Qin, Cai Ze and Lin Zhi boasted for a few days that "Li Mu of our Qin is still the best", new news came.
"What?! Li Mu is still in Nanyue, and it's Zhu Xiang who is leading the Guangling people to defend the city? The Qin army has less than 5,000 soldiers, and it's led by a young general like Meng Tian?!"
Prince Chu of Qin first stood up suddenly, and then fell backwards.
The attendants around him immediately supported the King of Qin and called for the imperial physician.
After Qin Wang Zichu's body shook twice, he calmed down and quickly ordered people to investigate what was going on.
Zhu Xiang doesn’t even dare to go to the battlefield, how can he defend a city
Another day passed, and Prince Chu of Qin received more detailed news.
The three leaders of the Qin State held another small meeting, but this time they did not dare to invite Xunzi, for fear of angering him.
Zichu crossed his hands and held his chin: "Zhu Xiang defends the city, Zheng Er chases the enemy, what do you think?"
Cai Ze said: "Remove Li Mu's title of nobility."
Lin Zhi said: "Let Li Mu go back to Xianyang and be scolded."
Zichu took a deep breath: "Li Mu is still in Nanyue, what can he do? Aren't Zhu Xiang and Zheng Er the ones who should be scolded?!"
Cai Ze said: "Based on my understanding of Li Mu, he definitely had a hand in this matter."
Lin Zhi rolled his eyes: "Perhaps Zhu Xiang wanted to defend the city, so Li Mu helped him think of a way to defend the city, and took Zheng'er with him to gain some military merit."
Zichu said, "But the intelligence said that Zhu Xiang defeated Xiang Yan's 200,000-man army the next day and pushed the Chu army back more than a hundred miles. The reinforcements led by Zheng'er only intercepted the Chu army halfway."
He paused, and buried his face in the back of his clasped hands: "Bringing Zheng'er to gain military merit, and Zheng'er ran to the Huai River?!"
Cai Ze said: "The information is passed on by word of mouth and may be false. Wait for Zhu Xiang's letter. He will explain everything in the letter."
Lin Zhi sneered, "But he must have really defended the city, and Zheng'er really rode his horse across half of the Chu territory and ran to the Huai River."
Zichu cried out in pain and felt dizzy again.
Cai Ze asked, "Why didn't your Majesty issue an imperial decree for Lord Changping to return to Xianyang to explain?"
Lin Zhi spread his hands: "Changping Jun has made great contributions, what else is there to explain? Changping Jun should be invited back to Xianyang to accept the reward. It is better to issue an imperial edict to Zheng'er and scold him. The prince disregarded his own safety and personally pursued the enemy. This matter deserves to be scolded."
Zichu took a deep breath and said, "It's time to call Zheng'er back and give him a good scolding! Why did he have to learn from Zhu Xiang when there are so many other things to learn from!"
Zichu immediately issued an imperial edict, ordering the prince to return to Xianyang to be scolded.
Not long after his edict was issued, Zhu Xiang's battle report and personal letters arrived.
In the battle report, Zhu Xiang and Li Mu jointly described a plan to leave Guangling City to build a military port, win over the hearts of the Chu people who were driven out on the north bank of the Yangtze River, use Guangling City as a stronghold, and gradually bring the Yangtze River waterway back into the Qin territory.
Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng each wrote about their own experiences of leading troops into battle, answering the doubts of the Qin court and the public about the shocking achievements of Changping Jun and the Prince.
After quickly reading the battle report, Zichu had a preliminary understanding of the war and then opened Zhu Xiang's letter.
Zhu Xiang didn't even say hello at the beginning, but started to scold Zichu.
Xia Tong, what son did you give birth to?! Did you know that Zheng'er ran away to the Huai River?! He was only fourteen years old!!
Zichu: “…”
Zichu: "Damn it! Zhu Xiang, how dare you scold me?!"
Lin Zhi squeezed over and said, "Let me see, let me see... Uh, shameless, when did Your Majesty raise Zheng'er? How can it be Your Majesty's fault that Zheng'er has become a bad boy?"
Zichu continued to read the letter written by Zhu Xiang. After a few glances, he put the letter on the table and gulped down water to quench the anger in his heart.
You didn't think highly of Zheng'er, but you wrote to me to scold me? Zhu Xiang, do you have any shame
Zhu Xiang used half a page of letter paper to express his emotions, scolding Zichu and Li Mu, and also scolding Lin Zhi who led Ying Xiaozheng astray. Then he said why these three did not learn from Cai Ze, and that none of them were reliable, and Zheng'er was raised astray!
Cai Ze kept coughing dryly, and couldn't stop smiling.
Lin Zhi held his forehead and sighed exaggeratedly: "Are we too good to him? Are we too good to him? Your Majesty, quickly send someone to arrest Changping Jun and put him in jail. I can't stand it anymore!"
Zichu continued to gulp down the water.
It makes me so angry!
Zichu drank a bellyful of water and went to the toilet once before he finished reading the rest of the letter.
After Zhu Xiang scolded his bad friend for corrupting Ying Xiaozheng, he told him everything that was not written in the battle report.
Xiang Yan not only massacred the civilians in several cities where the Qin army had resisted, but also helped the King of Southern Chu implement the order of internal migration, forcing the Chu people on the north bank of the Yangtze River to move north.
However, the King of Southern Chu only forced the Chu people to migrate northward without making any arrangements for their future life.
Zhu Xiang guessed that the King of Southern Chu had just established a new country and was short of money and food as well as soldiers. He probably planned to first collect the money from the Chu scholars who migrated north to buy land and property, and then use the helpless refugees as soldiers and laborers to fill the needs of corvée and military service in the newly established Southern Chu State.
The nobles of Southern Chu could also take this opportunity to make a fortune and gain money and slaves.
The Jing and Zhao clans led the rebellion, and although they successfully established the Southern Chu State, the nobles suffered heavy losses and were in urgent need of recovery.
The Chu people who migrated inland were their blood bags.
Zhu Xiang wrote to Xiang Yan and Nan Chujun, hoping that they would let the people of Guangling go and give them a chance to live, but neither Xiang Yan nor Nan Chujun replied.
Zhu Xiang wrote to Li Mu again, asking if he could defend the city. Li Mu asked Zhu Xiang to defend the city for ten days, publicize the benevolence of Lord Changping and the tyranny of Lord Xiang Yan and Lord Nanchu, and then he would lead troops to relieve the siege, so that Guangling City would have no worries.
"It turns out that Li Mu had already arrived in Wujun, and it was actually Li Mu who led the troops." Cai Ze breathed a sigh of relief. "He didn't show his presence because he didn't want to dilute Zhu Xiang and Zheng'er's military achievements."
Zichu said in dissatisfaction: "Zheng'er's military achievements in chasing the enemy are nothing, but Zhu Xiang's military achievements are all his own. What is Li Mu's contribution?"
Cai Ze said: "So Li Mu did not reveal his presence and pretended to be still in Nanyue."
Zichu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Li Mu did a good job."
Lin Zhi couldn't help scratching his head: "So, it wasn't Li Mu who repelled Xiang Yan, but Zhu Xiang who really repelled... No, defeated Xiang Yan's army of 200,000 with only 20,000 defenders?! Zhu Xiang is so good at leading troops?! Your Majesty, come over, let me see how he fights!"
Zichu was almost pushed off the chair by Lin Zhi.
He stood up speechlessly, gave his chair to Lin Zhi, who had now completely forgotten that he was a subject, and then pushed Cai Ze out of the chair.
Cai Ze: “?”
What's wrong with you two!
He walked silently to Lin Zhi's original seat and sat down.
Lin Zhi and Zichu put their heads together, marveling at the thought.
"I didn't expect Zhu Xiang to know how to defend a city. These three lines of defense are really impressive."
"The three lines of defense were not used at all, and they also hindered the attack of the city's defending troops. Is Xiang Yan so incompetent?"
"Zhu Xiang said Xiang Yan was very powerful, but every time he tried to gather the chaotic troops, he was interrupted by the running Nan Chujun. There was really nothing he could do."
"Hahaha, Zheng'er said the same thing. Xiang Yan had already organized his troops when he retreated, but Nan Chujun was unable to control his chaotic army and broke up Xiang Yan's troops."
"Yes, Nan Chujun's army mistook Xiang Yan's army for Qin's army, and there was serious internal strife. Tsk tsk, Xiang Yan is so miserable."
"It seems that Xiang Yan still has some ability, but he underestimated the enemy. He shouldn't have brought Nan Chujun to the battlefield."
Lin Zhi and Zichu became more and more proud as they talked, as if they were the ones who won the battle.
Cai Ze was distracted while holding the teacup.
He wanted to ask, are Zhu Xiang and Zheng Er still going to scold? If they are not going to scold, can he go back to sleep
I have been busy with government affairs these days and have only slept two or three hours a day.
Lian Po was stationed on the border between Qin and Chu to cultivate land, and learned about this earlier than Xianyang.
He even sent people to go east along the Huai River and cross the river to gather information.
When Lian Po read the information he had found out, he tore out several strands of his beard.
"Didn't Zhu Xiang refuse to go to the battlefield no matter what? He actually took the initiative to go to the battlefield?"
Lian Po muttered a few words, then seemed to be crying and laughing, holding the jar of wine and facing west, drinking all night without sleeping.
"You're right again. I didn't expect Zhu Xiang to be a talented general."
"If I had known earlier, I would not have gone against you and would have fully supported Zhu Xiang's entry into the government. Why am I so stubborn?"
Lian Po thought of the past.
When Lin Xiangru hoped that Lian Po would join him in fully supporting Zhu Xiang in entering the officialdom, Lian Po always gave a perfunctory response.
Firstly, he couldn't stand Zhu Xiang's reluctance to go to the battlefield. Secondly, Zhu Xiang was still young, not even twenty years old, so there was no need to be so anxious and he should be trained more.
"Alas, you are always right. But this time I can't apologize to you again."
(End of this chapter)