Lu Bu had just been talking incessantly, but Xiang Yu remained silent, still deeply lost in thought about what he had said.
Until Lu Bu suddenly expressed his willingness to accept the long rope, he was silent for a long time, and then suddenly came to his senses. Before the other party, who was so happy, almost made a decision for him, he said without hesitation: "No."
His rejection was so decisive that the ambitious Lu Bu was stunned.
Facing Lu Bu's puzzled look, Xiang Yu frowned slightly and explained in an inexplicable way: "What Fengxian said does make some sense. Zang Tu acted on his own initiative and killed the former king. He should not be let off lightly. However, this matter is a strife among the Yan people. I only need to punish Zang Tu, deprive him of his throne, and then appoint another capable person to be the king of Yan. Why take the land of Yan? What's more, the tyranny of Qin has just ended, and the people have suffered greatly. It is time for all countries to return to their thrones and cultivate the people. It is not appropriate to start a war again rashly."
Lu Bu was stunned and speechless, his eyelids twitching and the corners of his mouth twitching.
What kind of bullshit is this
If he hadn't seen with his own eyes how this foolish king, who spoke sweet words, took advantage of the opportunity of enfeoffment to drive the hapless Wei Bao to Hedong and half-heartedly conferred the title of King of Western Wei on him, in order to take away part of Liang land... he would have almost believed the other party's lies.
It wasn't just the Wei leopard who was taken advantage of: all the royal families of the old six states that did not contribute were forced to move to remote places, and Han Guang, who was killed by his subordinates, was just one of them. Xiang Yu was also openly biased. After personally occupying all the best territories, some good places were either distributed to the princes who were friendly with the Xiang family or directly to the Chu generals.
It is so unfair that even a blind person can see it.
The princes' armies are swallowing their anger at the moment only because they are afraid of the strength of the Chu army. How could they truly submit
To go by what he himself said, instead of pretending to be good and taking advantage of others, it would be better to be determined and raise the banner of justice to take back the land one by one.
Then force them to counterattack one by one, and finally take them all into the pocket.
Otherwise, why would they divide the great Qin into dozens of pieces? Wasn't it to weaken the power of the princes so that they could defeat them one by one
But what on earth is going on in this foolish king's head
Lu Bu's heart skipped a beat and he suddenly felt a chill.
Although his mind was still hazy, he intuitively felt that there must be a huge mistake in his original understanding.
There is indeed a major loophole in Xiang Yu's words.
If they were worried that the people of Chu were ruling Yan in an improper way, would the people of Yan be willing to obey the King of Yan appointed by the King of Chu
The princes were willing to submit to his enfeoffment, not because the King of Chu was the most reasonable! Rather, they were simply afraid of the might of the Giant Deer and knew that the Chu army had the strongest fist. If the nobles were so aware of the current situation, what about the ordinary people who were facing the yellow earth and the sky
To seize the world, one must grasp the greater good and control the people's hearts, but one should never be obsessed with the greater good and be manipulated by the people.
The State of Chu had the strongest army and held the banner of righteousness. No one in the world could compete with it.
You can just suppress them by force, seize their land, and then take the trouble to win over the people.
As long as they have food in their stomachs and can still have hope for the future, the people would not care whether the king above them is a eunuch from Yan or a person from Chu.
As for how to be gentle...
That is the job of the staff, and it has nothing to do with Lu Fengxian.
But looking at Xiang Yu's behavior, he did not have such long-term plans at all. It seemed that he was really satisfied with being the King of Western Chu.
Lu Bu narrowed his eyes slightly, and the suspicion in his eyes became more and more intense.
Was it that Xiang Yu was too arrogant, looking down on the cold and miserable Yan area and unwilling to get involved, or was he really so naive that he went around saying he had no intention of swallowing up other countries, but ended up deceiving himself instead of others
Lü Bu tried to hold back his anger, but couldn't hold it back any longer. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he asked in a shocking tone, "I dare to ask, Your Majesty, do you still remember what I said in Kuaiji that year, 'He can replace me'?"
Xiang Yu was caught off guard by the question, and his pupils constricted as he stared at Lu Bu!
How could he forget the wild words he uttered when he was young and frivolous in Kuaiji County and witnessed the First Emperor's carriage
But apart from his deceased uncle Xiang Liang, very few people in the world knew about it. Even though he had some close confidants accompanying him in the past, most of them died in the great defeat of his uncle.
Although he had achieved success and fame at this time, he never deliberately publicized his original words.
How did Fengxian know what he said in the past
Being stared at by those mysterious and deep pupils without saying a word, Lu Bu was not afraid at all, and even glared back at them. He raised his voice fiercely and asked again: "Your Majesty, have you completely forgotten your ambitions and plans for hegemony in the past? Are you really going to give up the world that is within your grasp and just stay in a corner?!"
At the end, there was a hint of genuine pain in Lu Bu's tone with anger in his eyes.
Damn it!
If this foolish king was really stubborn and didn't have the ambition to dominate the world and swallow up all the countries, then his plan to first destroy the Central Plains countries and then deal with Liu Bang who was hiding in Bashu would have been shattered!!!
This was the first time that Xiang Yu was questioned so aggressively by his subordinates. Apart from being shocked and puzzled, he strangely did not feel angry at the offense to his dignity.
Although Fengxian was furious, the reason why he was so anxious and angry was ultimately because of his sincere loyalty to him.
Only then can one be so fearless and speak out honestly and frankly.
Thinking of this, even though Lu Bu was still glaring at him angrily, the flame of anger that had just begun to emerge in Xiang Yu's heart miraculously extinguished itself.
He frowned slightly, as if he was stumped by a question, slowly withdrew his gaze, and fell into a stiff silence.
The more silent he was, the more desperate Lu Bu became.
… How could God be so blind
This foolish prince was so lucky that the biased and evil God almost fed him a mouthful of food. However, this fool, in order to show his noble temper, vomited out the food because it was too raw!
On the other hand, he worked very hard, but after a few days of hardship, he was beaten up, ran around in a dusty state, and lost his life in a cowardly manner.
After waiting for a long time without hearing a word from Xiang Yu, Lu Bu became discouraged.
Never mind.
Expecting this foolish king to come to his senses is probably as difficult as hitting him in the head.
It would be better for him to return to the camp and find his brother Han, and tell him about Xiang Yu's absurd plan, so that the other party can re-plan his top priority plan of killing Liu Bang.
Thinking of this, Lu Bu was filled with regret.
It was also his own fault that he had misjudged Xiang Yu and mistook him for the young self who was not thoughtful enough and inevitably ran into obstacles everywhere. He had to force himself to be more tolerant from time to time.
Oh.
Lu Bu sneered silently - now it seems that Xiang Yu's brain is not even one tenth as clever as he was back then!
After all, he is used to being unlucky, and he has a resilience in his bones that is unmatched by ordinary people. The more setbacks he faces, the more courageous he becomes.
Even though he was angry at Xiang Yu for not being grateful for the blessings he had and for wasting all the opportunities he had, he still quickly cheered up.
—The more this evil God wanted to harm him and prevent him from getting what he wanted, the more he had to fight his way out of this desperate situation, which made that evil God so angry that he died.
After a moment of distraction, Lu Bu quickly regained his spirits and decisively decided to give up trying to persuade this foolish king and quickly go look for his reliable ray of hope—Brother Han.
If he stayed in this hall with the other party for a while longer, he might lose his temper and attack Xiang Yu.
Although he had already thought of "not conspiring with the stupid king", it was not convenient for him to just say "I will take my leave first", so he said to Xiang Yu, who still had no expression on his face but was definitely in a daze, "Well, Bu was not thoughtful enough."
No matter what stupid move Shangguan made, since the other party was determined to have his own way, he might as well give him a way out to ease the situation a bit and then make his own plans.
Xiang Yu's scattered pupils gradually gathered, and he looked at Lu Bu with a hint of doubt, whose attitude suddenly changed and whose face looked sincere.
Lu Bu pretended to be enlightened, changed his previous anger, and said as if talking to himself: "If the king really occupies Yan territory, it will inevitably make the princes wary and unite to regard Chu as an enemy and jointly attack. Although our army is the most powerful in the world and has the most famous king in charge, it is essentially an isolated army with no support. As the saying goes, a rabbit bites when it is cornered, and a dog jumps over the wall when it is cornered. If those mad dogs attack together, even if the Chu army is invincible and the king is unparalleled in power and bravery, I am afraid it will be difficult to support it..."
Although Xiang Yu did not sense the hypocrisy in Lu Bu's words, as he listened, he felt more and more uncomfortable and his brows furrowed more and more.
How come he acted uprightly and abided by the old agreement of dividing the land and dividing the kingdom, but Fengxian said that he was afraid of that mob
He endured it again and again, but in the end he could not hide his strange displeasure, and said angrily: "I have never been afraid of fighting!"
Whether he relied on only a sword and followed his uncle's orders to kill Yin Tong first and then dozens of guards; or he was troubled by the King of Chu, despised by Song Yi, beheaded him directly, and then hunted down his son and took the lead in fighting against the powerful Qin; or he led the Chu army to burn his boats in Julu and made a name for himself in the world...
What he feared least in his life was a fierce battle where his life was at stake!
However, Lu Bu had an expression that said "It's okay, I know what's going on". Although he changed his mind readily, even someone as slow-witted as Xiang Yu could see through his perfunctory attitude.
Xiang Yu suddenly became angry and wanted to lose his temper several times, but seeing Lu Bu's tightly pursed lips and stubborn look, he finally held back.
"Forget it, Fengxian, let's go back to the camp first."
Xiang Yu frowned and swallowed his anger for the first time in his life. He just raised his hand and drove the culprit out.
Lu Bu, who had no idea that he had unintentionally provoked his opponent, was naturally more than happy about this.
Taking in Lü Bu's cool and somewhat urgent back, Xiang Yu inexplicably felt that the air in his chest... seemed to become even more blocked.
As if he sensed Xiang Yu's angry gaze, or as if he realized that he had lost his temper just now and was afraid that he might have offended this foolish king too much, Lu Bu suddenly turned around, raised his eyes calmly, and said with a tone of infinite regret, "I don't know, such a handsome man as Your Majesty is rare to see in a thousand years. Why are you hesitating for no reason? Apart from Your Majesty, who else is worthy of this beautiful country?"
—I am the most suitable one!
Lu Bu sneered in his heart and added this sentence silently, but his face remained indifferent and expressionless.
After deceiving the stupid king, he quickly slipped away to find Han Xin.
Xiang Yu had no idea of the arrogant addition he secretly made in his heart.
Suddenly hearing such a heartfelt sigh, his expression changed slightly. He couldn't help but be moved by the sincerity and loyalty in it.
Because of this, the inexplicable evil fire that had been burning in him before, as well as the unhappiness caused by Fengxian's suspicion that he was "afraid of the war among the princes", also quietly dissipated without a trace.
Xiang Yu pondered alone for two whole incense sticks, and finally called a group of trusted advisers led by Fan Zeng to discuss the matter together.
Just when Xiang Yu changed his mind temporarily and wanted to have a good fight with Zang Tu who acted on his own initiative, the turbulent princes also raised their armies one after another, fighting each other for territory.
As Han Xin expected, Tian Rong, the Qi general who was excluded from the fiefdom because he refused to follow Xiang Yu to attack Qin, found it difficult to swallow his resentment.
Without waiting for the Chu army to react to Zang Tu's affairs, he took the lead in raising troops, arrested Tian Shi, one of the Three Kings of Qi who had been enfeoffed by Xiang Yu, and then launched a large-scale attack on Tiandu.
However, Tian Rong was a powerful man in Qi. Together with his cousin Tian Dan and his younger brother Tian Heng, he was one of the first troops in Qi to rise up against Qin. The three of them personally led the troops to pacify Qi, and Tian Dan took the opportunity to proclaim himself the King of Qi.
If Tian Dan had not been killed by Qin general Zhang Han when he sent troops to rescue Wei, giving Tian Jie the opportunity, Tian Rong would not have been forced to support his cousin Tian Dan's son Tian Shi as king.
He had a violent and stubborn temper, and believed that he had made the greatest contribution in Qi. In the past, he refused to lead troops to Julu because he resented Xiang Liang for not killing Tian Jie, and later lost his title because of this. How could he be willing to accept this
Although Tian Rong was impulsive, he also knew that he could not carry out a rebellion alone.
He was even more aware that Xiang Yu's seemingly fair but actually advantageous behavior must have caused many dissatisfied people in the princes' armies. So before formally launching the rebellion, he first wrote a letter to incite Peng Yue, who was born a bandit, did nothing in the anti-Qin war and also lost his title. Then he responded to the request of Chen Yu, who broke up with his good friend Zhang Er, did not make all the efforts to save Zhao, and was only dissatisfied with the title of a marquis, and gave him military support.
If they joined forces with the three to launch a rebellion, even a tyrannical Xiang Yu would be doomed to lose his fighting spirit as he had to divide his troops into three routes and was exhausted from dealing with the situation. This would give them a chance of winning.
On the day after Xiang Yu received the military report that the three forces had united to rebel against Chu, Lu Bu, who was still busy pestering Han Xin to make new plans, was hit by a royal order that surprised and delighted him.
—"Ling Bu led the Guanzhong Army to attack Tu and capture Yan, and set off today."