Xiang Yu, who was sitting upright meticulously, stared at Lu Bu, who was sitting cross-legged in a careless manner with his clothes askew. A trace of emptiness and confusion flashed across his eyes.
Arrogant and rude
Lu Bu was well aware of the benefits of taking the initiative, and after his tentative drink just now, seeing that the stupid king seemed to have been stunned by his drink, he immediately decided to strike while the iron was hot.
Xiang Yu would never have dreamed that there existed such a unique, unruly and wise man in the world who was willing to fight against the monarch.
… Just like Lu Bu would never have dreamed that such a brave and unparalleled hero like himself would have fallen into such a miserable situation where he had to rely on his brain and mouth to survive.
No matter whether he is a wise man or not, he should be more than capable of fooling this reckless man in front of him.
Lü Bu was confident, so he snorted coldly and shouted angrily: "Your Majesty is in a dead end and still doesn't know it, but you only care about fighting against those who dare to speak out! You can't march without strategy, how can your Majesty achieve great things if you neglect the wise and virtuous like this!"
Xiang Yu's eyebrows twitched.
After saying this, he didn't know for a moment whether he should first expose the fact that it was the other party who started the fight first, or first humbly ask for advice on the reason for the deadlock.
Xiang Yu remained silent, but Lu Bu cunningly realized that he had completely seized the initiative.
He pretended to be in great pain and continued to accuse: "The one who came up with this bad plan for the king is either short-sighted or has ulterior motives! If the king follows the plan, he may fail at the last moment. How can Bu not be angry!"
The planner—Xiang Yu was silent.
Lu Bu was still speaking eloquently: "You must know that the reason why the Former Qin II was defeated was that he was unwilling to accept advice and was cruel and inhumane, which angered both people and gods, and the whole world rebelled. Your Majesty is extremely powerful and has an aura that swallows up mountains and rivers. You are a once-in-a-generation hero and talent that makes everyone in the world bow down to you. Recovering the world should be as easy as taking something out of a bag, but you chose to go astray and bring about your own destruction!"
He sighed deeply, looked at Xiang Yu with a look of regret, and said in a sonorous and powerful voice: "If I really want to watch the great cause of the king be destroyed, I will risk my life to make suggestions so that the king will think twice!"
When Xiang Yu heard this, he could no longer bear it.
He had no idea why Fengxian was so angry, but he was still severely scolded.
If he had not just had such a good fight, how could he be willing to swallow the anger of feeling wronged
Xiang Yu clenched his fist tightly, frowned, and said stiffly after a while: "I haven't heard a word from Fengxian about his advice. Why don't you want to listen to him?"
This stupid fish has finally taken the bait!
Lu Bu was secretly delighted, but his face remained righteous. He sneered and asked directly, "Your Majesty, do you know that when Liu Haozi first entered the Pass, he made a three-point agreement with the people?"
Xiang Yu frowned, his expression uncertain: "I have heard my father-in-law mention it before."
But he never took it to heart.
But Lu Bu kept talking: "In order to win the hearts of the people, Liu Haozi not only made three agreements with the elders of Guanzhong, but also abolished the harsh laws of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty and restricted his generals from plundering the people. In this way, he deceived the people of the Former Qin Dynasty and regarded the big-tailed wolf as a righteous army. They were willing to offer cattle, sheep, wine and food. Liu Haozi is just a local ruffian, and he has the courage to act like this. Your Majesty is a peerless hero." At this point, Lu Bu almost got stuck. After a pause, he suddenly had an idea and changed his tone to a heartbroken tone, lamenting: "How could we be outdone by Liu Haozi!"
When Xiang Yu heard Lu Bu praising Liu Bang in a roundabout way, he felt unhappy for some reason, but miraculously he endured it.
He frowned and explained after a while: "Qi people are fickle and disrespectful of loyalty. Their death is not a pity. If they are spared, they may be recruited by Tian Rong and rebel against Chu again."
But Liu Bang was cunning and shameless by nature, so he pretended to be righteous for this.
He looked down upon the fickle people of Qi who were ready to betray their king at any time to save their own lives. He believed that as long as he fought a quick battle and quelled the rebellion, he could return to Chu as soon as possible. Why should he condone the wounds that the people of Qi had brought upon themselves
If we show mercy for the moment and spare the lives of the people of Qi, Tian Heng will certainly be recruited in the future and make a comeback. If they rebel again, he will have to attack them again. The powerful Chu can easily offend us at any time, so how can we deter them
Not only did Lu Bu disagree, he also retorted on the spot: "Your Majesty is wise and brave, far beyond the reach of that rat Liu. You should be more clear about rewards and punishments. Now the people of Qi are afraid of your majesty's majesty, and they have abandoned darkness and joined the light. They have specially hung up the heads of the rebels to show their sincerity and loyalty. Your Majesty should not be angry, but should accept their surrender and reward them!"
Xiang Yu's expression was unpredictable and he did not make any comment.
At this time, Lu Bu was thinking about what he had seen along the way, and he couldn't help but recall that even the cunning old thief Cao, who failed to avenge his father and took his anger out on the people of Xuzhou, massacred the city and had difficulty moving for a long time, with bruises all over his head.
Even the cunning old villain Cao fell into this trap. How good can this brainless, strong and reckless man be who killed surrendered civilians like crazy
Wait.
Then Xuzhou...isn't it Pengcheng at this time
Lu Bu was stunned.
The people of Pengcheng, who were once protected by the King of Western Chu, were brutally slaughtered hundreds of years later because of the old villain Cao's anger, and had no one to turn to for help.
Lu Bu sighed, and there was some real emotion in his voice: "Lu Bu led his army southward and saw that the Three Qis were vast and populous, but because of Tian Rong's tyranny and inhumanity, he lost the support of the people, and the Three Qis were like a pile of loose sand, which was easy to break. However, if the king massacred the city and killed the prisoners, it would kill the people of Qi and they would know that they would die if they surrendered. They would be forced to hold on and fight to the death."
Xiang Yu pondered quietly, then nodded slightly, signaling Lu Bu to continue.
Lu Bu's eyes rolled, knowing the principle of "one stick and one sweet cake", he praised the other party subtly: "Your Majesty, when you ordered your soldiers to fight to the death in Julu, you must have known that when people are in desperate situations, they are destined to go all out to survive. Although our army is strong and invincible, if Qi is full of enemies and everyone is a soldier, fighting for their lives to survive, it will be difficult to conquer. With this worry, if we advance, we will be in danger of being attacked from all sides, and if we retreat, we will give up halfway and return home in despair. We are caught in a dilemma, just like being stuck in a quagmire, and the outcome is unpredictable. It is not your intention to suffer the consequences and lose soldiers in vain!"
Xiang Yu tapped the low table with his knuckles, listened attentively to Lu Bu's explanation of the interests involved, and fell into deep thought.
After Lu Bu finished making up all this, he was completely at a loss for words. Seeing that he had no idea what this fool was thinking, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and was happy to take a break.
He poured himself a bowl of soup without hesitation, and without caring that the soup was cold, he gulped it down.
Xiang Yu's ears moved slightly, catching the sound of water pouring, and his eyes moved silently and fell on Lu Bu again.
He suddenly spoke, his tone mixed with emotion: "According to Fengxian's opinion, what should we do?"
Lu Bu was suddenly questioned, and cursed in his heart that he was so troublesome even though he was called a wise man. However, he had to wipe the wet corners of his mouth and wipe the water stains on his new pajamas without any regret.
Xiang Yu's eyebrows jumped when he saw this.
Lu Bu had no idea what Xiang Yu was thinking. He seriously recalled the nagging at Chen Gongtai that year and pieced together the fragments from his vague memory.
Got it.
After all, he was quite quick-witted. After roughly sorting out the situation, he said in a serious tone, half fooling and half suggesting: "In my opinion, Your Majesty might as well send a lobbyist to persuade the governor of Qi to surrender tomorrow, and give him a title or reward, and keep a capable Chu general as his deputy to jointly defend the city with you and provide supplies. As for those surrendered soldiers, instead of raising them and wasting food, it is better to select some of the best and strongest to be incorporated into the army, and let the rest go back to their families and quickly farm... Your Majesty can fight again without worry. You should also send people to publicize this matter so that the people of Qi will know that Your Majesty is tolerant of surrender. In this way, it is possible that the generals in the cities ahead will surrender without a fight, and even take the initiative to offer Tian Heng's head in order to save their lives, so that Your Majesty's way to quell the rebellion will be unimpeded. It is the best strategy to defeat the enemy without fighting."
There is a difference between close and distant relatives. Compared with the loyalty of the people of Chu, the fickleness of the people of Qi cannot be fully trusted.
But what's suspicious about just asking them to supply some food and fodder
If Xiang Yu had not forced conscription and was willing to release some of the prisoners of war, then the insatiable and endless demands of Tian Rong would have made the Chu army, which was known for its killings, seem more merciful.
According to what Lu Bu saw along the way, in order to fight against the powerful army of Chu, Tian Rong had to forcibly conscript men who were under the age of 23 or over the age of 50 or 60, who were not supposed to perform military service, into the army and serve as soldiers.
This is why the Qi army seemed to be very powerful, but in fact they were in groups of three or five, without even a decent uniform, with disorderly steps and charging randomly.
With so many civilians sneaking in, the Qi army, which once had some strength, has fallen to the point where it is not even as strong as a few vagrant soldiers. How could it be a match for the Chu army, which has strict military discipline and is experienced in many battles
Instead of keeping a group of people who eat for free and have bad morale, it is better to let them go home. This not only saves food and increases production, but also gains a good reputation. Why not do it
Although Lu Bu hated the hypocritical behavior of Big Ear Liu and believed that he was a hypocrite, he had to admit that the people were indeed deceived and obeyed him and loved him very much.
Xiang Yu frowned and thought again and again.
He had previously ordered the massacre of the city and the killing of prisoners, although he did have other considerations, but he was mostly driven by anger.
Because he just had a fight with a man of equal strength for the first time in history, and it was with Fengxian, his favorite general recently...
It actually dissipated the lingering anger, allowing him to calm down and seriously think about the meaning of these words.
Seeing that he was still hesitant, Lu Bu was extremely anxious. He suddenly remembered that the other party had forgiven Zhang Han and accepted his surrender, so he pushed him again with all his strength: "Those who accomplish great things should not be fussy about trivial matters, and those who accomplish great things should be more open-minded and not care about personal grudges or old grudges. Zhang Han once killed your uncle, which is a blood feud. Your Majesty is able to consider the overall situation and accept his service, treat him with courtesy, and make use of his abilities. Your Majesty can even forgive the hatred of killing your uncle. With such a heroic spirit of letting go of past grudges, how could you be reluctant to tolerate the insignificant Qi people who are just wavering and afraid of death?!"
This is indeed the most difficult point for Lu Bu to understand.
Logically speaking, Zhang Han, the Qin general who killed Xiang Liang with his own hands and hung his head up, was Xiang Yu's undisputed number one enemy, and even Ying Ziying was several levels away from him.
If Xiang Yu really was a person who could not tolerate any sand in his eyes and acted on impulse, then no one could persuade him and he would have to kill Zhang Han to vent his anger.
However, Xiang Yu listened to the advice of others and saw the disadvantages of the princes' troops being scattered and having little food, which made them unsuitable for a long war. He swallowed his great hatred and accepted Zhang Han with tolerance and treated him with courtesy, which he has not changed to this day.
Since he is someone who can consider the overall situation and put aside old grudges, why is he so stubborn this time and wants to pick a fight with the people of Qi, with whom he has no grudge against them, and has to fall into the fire pit of massacring the city and killing prisoners, and losing the support of the people
As soon as these words were spoken, Xiang Yu's pupils suddenly contracted, as if he could see the road ahead clearly.
Once he was lost in thought, he was unaware of the passage of time.
By the time he finally figured it out and thought that Fengxian was right, and that although killing prisoners and massacring the city might give him temporary pleasure, it would leave endless troubles and should not be done lightly, there was already a glimmer of hope.
Xiang Yu moved his stiff body slightly, and the forgotten pain suddenly hit him, making him gasp.
He subconsciously looked at the inexplicably quiet culprit, but was surprised to see that the injured man had fallen asleep with his head tilted on the low table, his eyes tightly closed, and an uncomfortably frowned brow.
After all, he had traveled day and night and tried his best to get here, and he had just had such a fierce fight, so his physical strength was greatly consumed.
Plus, he had to work so hard to squeeze out the poor inspiration in his head, and came up with a long string of words that almost cost him his life, which made him exhausted both physically and mentally.
Seeing that Ying had resolved the matter and seemed to have successfully deceived Hanzi, he felt relieved and unknowingly went to meet Zhou Gong.
Such an awkward sleeping posture really made Xiang Yu stunned and burst into laughter.
Not to mention that he had just figured out some key points and needed to make major changes to the decision. He would definitely summon his confidants to discuss the matter and make careful plans.
Just considering Fengxian's loyalty, which was such that he would rather risk his life than betray his superiors and offer advice, he should be greatly rewarded. How could we allow him to lie on the ground and sleep miserably
Xiang Yu's mind moved slightly, and without thinking, he picked up the sleeping Lu Bu and put him on the couch.
Due to years of marching and the painful lesson he learned at Xia Pi, where he was tied up while sleeping, Lu Bu has always been a very light sleeper.
Whenever someone approaches, he will be alert immediately and take out the weapon under his pillow to fight the enemy.
However, at this moment he was more exhausted than ever before. He fell down and fell into a deep sleep.
Even though Xiang Yu turned him over to the couch, he was unaware of anything and was still sleeping soundly.
Xiang Yu had no desire to sleep at this time. After sitting and thinking for a while, he walked out of the main tent and ordered his personal soldiers who had been waiting in agony all night and now looked horrified for some reason without any expression: "First call the doctor, and then invite Yafu and Long Ju."
After giving the order in a concise and to the point manner, Xiang Yu returned to his tent indifferently.
—He had no idea that there were two extremely eye-catching purple bruises on his face, crisscrossing each other, enough to scare the unsuspecting soldiers to death.