Plan to cut off the nine states

When Xu Chu refused to offer advice, the Chanyu would often laugh it off. When Xu Chu really spoke, the Chanyu would darken his face and ask He Rongpingshan, "Have any outsiders been interacting with him these days?"

"No, the only people who often talk to Xu Chu are his followers. The emperor will occasionally look for him. There is no one else. My men keep a close eye on him."

Shan Yu then looked at Xu Chu, "Since no one has delivered the news to you, how do you know that King Liang is no longer in the city?"

Xu Chu smiled and said: "Guess."

Shan Yu then laughed and said, "How accurate is your guess?"

"Guessing others will get 60 or 70 points. Guessing the king of Liang will get 9 out of 10."

"It is said that you have a good relationship with Prince Liang."

"We have known each other for many years, studied together, assassinated people together, escaped together..."

"Prince Liang once served as an assassin with you?"

"Yes, he and I are both the masterminds."

"But he is rarely mentioned in rumors."

"Because he escaped from the capital before the assassination happened."

"And you insisted on staying."

"Exactly."

Shanyu smiled again, this time it was not contempt, but a little serious.

Kou Daogu felt that he had to speak to stop him, so he took a step forward and said: "Chanyu, be careful. Once Xu Chu enters the city, he will never come out again. He has experience in defending the city..."

Shan Yu raised his hand and said to Xu Chu without letting Kou Daogu continue: "The King of Liang escaped. Who is guarding Ye City now?"

"It must be Huaizhou veteran Sheng Xuan."

"So King Liang fled with his own people and left the Huaizhou people to defend the city? Well, he is a smart man. Are you familiar with Shengxuan?"

"I'm not familiar with him. I should say I've never met him before."

"Then why are you persuading him to surrender the city?"

"Shengxuan is not defending the city for King Liang, but for Huaizhou. However, the situation in Huaizhou is critical now. I am confident that I can persuade General Sheng to surrender the city of Ye. There is only one request. Shanyu must allow them to return to Huaizhou."

"What's the crisis in Huaizhou?"

Xu Chu pointed to his mouth, "Here I am."

Chanyu laughed and said to He Rongpingshan: "He is going to fabricate false news with just one mouth and trick the Huaizhou army into offering the city to the south. What do you think?"

"I'm even more worried that he can deceive Shanyu with just one mouth. Moreover, we He Rong people are obviously sure to seize the city, so why let the Huaizhou people go south? Wouldn't it be better to eliminate them in one fell swoop to avoid future troubles."

"What you want is to fight and make meritorious deeds, not to win the world." Although Shan Yu favored He Rongpingshan, he did not take his suggestion too seriously, and turned to Xu Chu, "Mr. Kou is right to remind you that as soon as you enter the city , I’m afraid he won’t come out to see me again.”

"I can save my life by saying a few useful words every day, but I have to be frightened after entering the city. As Hingshan said, He Rong's tribe will definitely be able to break the city. Why should I sacrifice my safety for danger?"

Hearing that Xu Chu only called him "Pingshan", King Zuo Shenwei glanced at him coldly.

Shan Yu thought for a moment and said, "You didn't want to offer any advice today, so why did you suddenly change your mind? Just to save the lives of the people in Yecheng?"

"Because I just thought of this plan, and I hope to leave a deep impression on the Shan Yu, so that when someone slanders me in the future, the Shan Yu will at least come to me to ask questions because of his talent, and will not order his execution immediately."

Shan Yu smiled and said: "Mr. Kou, Xu Chu is talking about you."

Kou Daogu cupped his hands and said: "Xu Chu treats a gentleman with a villain's heart. Although I have a grudge against him and want to see him killed, I will never use public affairs for personal gain or use military affairs to avenge myself."

Shan Yu nodded, "For this reason, I can tolerate saying and doing wrong, and I will never tolerate intentional deception. That's it for today, we'll discuss it again tomorrow morning."

In the early morning, Xu Chu was sleeping soundly when he was woken up and went to meet Shanyu.

Shan Yu slept even shorter, but showed no sign of fatigue. He was full of fighting spirit and was talking to a group of Lord He Rong.

Xu Chu stood aside and saw that the emperor was also there. Zhang Shiyu obviously didn't understand why he was summoned and looked slightly nervous.

Chanyu paused his lecture and said to Xu Chu: "You can go to the city later to persuade them to surrender. I can let them return south as long as they offer the city immediately. But I can't wait until dark. I must give an answer before noon. Once noon passes, I will Order to attack the city. Regardless of whether the surrender is successful or not, as long as you come back on time, I will pardon you. If you refuse to come back, I will replace you with someone else and become the Tiancheng Emperor."

Although he had often been depressed and frustrated since he became emperor, Zhang Shiyu had never thought of giving up the throne. He was shocked when he heard this, especially since he really had a younger brother in He Rong's camp. He immediately said: "Chanyu, this matter It has nothing to do with me—I don’t even know what it is.”

But the Chanyu didn't look at the emperor at all, and only spoke to Xu Chu: "Go, it's settled."

Xu Chu nodded, "Before noon."

Zhang Shiyu became more and more surprised, "Xu Chu, you... please explain it to me, I really don't..."

Xu Chu said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. In any case, I will be back before noon."

"What if the city detains you?"

Xu Chu thought for a while, "After all, the throne belongs to your Zhang family. I don't think Shan Yu will be handed over to someone with another surname."

What Zhang Shiyu cared about was not the emperor's surname, and he couldn't help but be even more frightened. He didn't know what to say for a while. When he woke up a little, Xu Chu had left, and the Shanyu spoke to the adults again. He was left aside and kept interrupting. No chance.

With only one horse and nothing else, Chang Yan was not allowed to follow him. He Rongpingshan sent Xu Chu out of the camp and came to the front of the formation. "The city has been informed that an envoy will go to negotiate. I don't know if they are willing to accept it." Anyway, after noon, the city will be attacked, so you don’t have to take any chances, and the same goes for the people in the city. "

"Sorry, I want to influence your meritorious service again. In fact, if you want to get rid of your status as a slave, there is another way..."

He Rongpingshan raised his hand and patted the horse hard as a "send off". He didn't want to listen to a word Xu Chu said.

He Rong's department was fully prepared this time, and tall siege equipment had been erected on the position - built by people from the Central Plains, some of whom were craftsmen sent by the Tiancheng court. After all, the two sides were still "allies".

The position was not far from the city gate. Xu Chu quickly came to the door and was about to speak when someone from the city shouted loudly: "Are you the envoy of He Rong?"

"Exactly."

"Just you?"

Xu Chu looked back and said, "That's right."

"You wait a moment."

The city gate refused to be opened easily, but a large basket hung from the city.

Xu Chu had no choice but to dismount, carefully get into the basket, shake the rope, and signal the people above to pull it.

When they arrived at the top of the city, more than a dozen soldiers immediately surrounded Xu Chu. Seeing that Xu Chu was dressed like a scholar, they did not get too close. An officer came closer and asked doubtfully: "Are you from the Central Plains?"

"Um."

"Why...forget it, tell me your name."

"Take me to see the city guard commander immediately."

"You have to report it first."

Xu Chu turned around and pointed not far outside the city, "The He Rong people attacked the city at noon. There are less than three hours left. Do you think they need to report it? Take me to see the general immediately. You can't afford to delay the news I brought. rise."

The officer had already seen He Rongren's erect instrument, so he naturally had no doubts. His face changed slightly and his tone became much gentler, "Please follow me."

In fact, someone had been waiting under the city wall for a long time, waiting for the arrival of He Rong's envoy. When they saw Xu Chu, they didn't ask much and immediately led him to a nearby military camp.

A veteran general was sitting in the hall, with generals lined up on both sides, and there was silence.

Xu Chu stepped forward, cupped his hands and said, "Your Excellency must be General Sheng Xuansheng."

"It's me, Your Excellency..." Sheng Xuan was a little surprised to see a scholar.

"I'm Xu Chu..."

As soon as the answer came out, there were constant sounds of surprise in the hall. Xu Chu took two more steps forward and said to the stunned Sheng Xuan: "I brought news about the strong-armed Shanyu..."

"Are you really the 'King of Wu'?" Sheng Xuan asked.

"General Sheng, do you want to confirm my identity first, or do you want to listen to He Rongren's suggestion first?"

"Uh... listen to the proposal first." Sheng Xuan still looked shocked.

"The defenders surrendered and handed over Yecheng. The He Rong Ministry opened a road and allowed you to return to Huaizhou. Give your answer before noon. After noon, the He Rong people will attack the city and there will be no chance." Xu Chu handed over. , turned to leave.

Sheng Xuan hurriedly stood up and chased after him, "Wait a minute, I haven't made it clear yet."

Xu Chu stopped, turned around and said, "That's it, nothing more."

Sheng Xuan smiled and said: "It's just a message, it seems you don't need to take action personally."

"He Rongren didn't know much about the situation in the Central Plains and thought I could win General Sheng's trust, so he ordered me to come. But I really have nothing to say, I'm just passing on a message."

Sheng Xuan put aside his doubts for the time being, "Then I have no choice but to refuse. There are still 100,000 soldiers in the city. They have enough food and grass for three years, and there are hundreds of thousands of people who can be requisitioned. It may not be enough to defend other cities, but it is more than enough to defend Ye City. We also Don't worry, the He Rong people can just attack the city."

"General Sheng is not in a hurry, and Huaizhou is not in a hurry either?"

"Huaizhou is at most worried about our safety, but is not worried about anything else. There is still a natural chasm between the war and Huaizhou."

"The chasm in the north or the chasm in the south?"

"Master Xu is joking, the one that separates the Huai and Hebei states is of course the natural chasm in the north."

"So, General Sheng doesn't know yet?"

"Know what?"

"King Ning of Wuzhou led his troops across the river and entered Huaizhou. Guangling City is in urgent need of General Sheng and his troops to go back for rescue."

Guangling City was the administrative seat of Huaizhou and was once the fiefdom of King Guangling. However, King Guangling stayed in Wuzhou all year round and did not go home much.

Sheng Xuan's face changed slightly, he looked at his subordinates, and then said to Xu Chu: "Where did your Excellency's news come from? We received the envoy from Huaizhou the day before yesterday and asked us to defend Yecheng and not retreat even half a step."

Xu Chu smiled slightly, "Situations often change only overnight. Please allow me to ask: Where is King Liang?"

Sheng Xuan's face became more and more confused, "Prince Liang...you want to see Prince Liang?"

"Yes, if you can see it."

"Okay, I originally wanted to talk about it later. Since your Excellency asked, let's go see Prince Liang now. After all, he has the final say in the city." When he said the last three words, Sheng Xuan's tone changed slightly, obviously Not too seriously.

Xu Chu was slightly shocked. It turned out that he had guessed wrong. King Liang did not escape at all. This was not like Ma Wei's behavior, and it also made his persuasion more difficult.

"General Sheng should have taken me to see King Liang from the beginning." Xu Chu pretended to complain.

Sheng Xuan made an invitation gesture and led the way, "You can't blame me. It's because Prince Liang himself doesn't want to see outsiders, but you should not be considered an outsider."