Plan to cut off the nine states

No one knows how Princess Fangde traveled all the way from Yuyang to Xijing, but several prisoners confessed that they did see the princess in the city.

That was half a month ago, when He Rongjun had just occupied Puban, and a large number of the Avatar Army fled back to Xijing - some said they were ordered to return to the capital - so the city gate was very chaotic, but it was not chaotic enough to allow people to enter and exit at will. Everyone has to show a voucher, which may be a piece of paper or a board with their name and ownership written on it.

That afternoon, a small group of people suddenly came. They didn't have any tickets, but their attitude was very tyrannical. They wanted to meet the Golden Saint as soon as they opened their mouths.

During the dispute, someone accidentally said the words "Princess Fangde" and "King Wu's wife", which immediately caused a commotion. Many people came to watch. Several prisoners - according to their own claims - saw the princess in person. Although the descriptions are different, one thing is the same: the princess is a little girl, she looks no more than fifteen or sixteen years old.

The unexpected guests were quickly picked up and never seen again.

Shan Yu was particularly concerned about one detail, so he called Xu Chu and said to him: "The descending army still remembers the title of 'King of Wu', you should be happy."

"It's just two words. If the Chanyu sends me to the city, they will still be able to shoot arrows."

"I have enough attackers, so I don't need to send you into battle, but I have ordered people to send a message to the city to tell them that the 'King of Wu' is in my He Rong army."

"Chan Yu really thinks highly of me."

"Haha, I knew it would always be useful to take you with me." Shan Yu put away his smile, "Why did Princess Tiancheng escape here? She is a dignified princess and should go to the imperial court - there is indeed news that she was favored by Huanyan The princess was hiding, but I didn’t have time to verify it, but unexpectedly she appeared in Xijing in the blink of an eye. Xu Chu, you are quite capable. The only connection between the princess and the Xijing rebels is you, right?"

"The Tiancheng Imperial Court had planned to form an alliance with the Avatar Army, which can be regarded as a connection."

"Well, but after receiving assistance from He Rongjun, this plan has been cancelled. The World Coming Army should be very angry. How could they accept Princess Tiancheng?"

Xu Chu thought for a while, "Maybe the princess didn't know anything, threw herself into a trap, and was killed by the Golden Saint."

"Haha, in that case, the princess is lucky."

The Chanyu summoned the elders of his tribe and all the generals from the Central Plains and promised a heavy reward: whoever captured the princess alive would be rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver, and whoever killed the princess would be rewarded with 5,000 taels, and the whole family would be exempted from military service.

The siege suddenly had a very clear goal, and the battle became more intense. The armies of the three states scrambled to be the first, and they did not stop even after nightfall. They took turns dropping bombs and scaling the city to prevent the defenders from resting.

Xu Chu had nothing to do.

That evening, he came to Zhang Shiyu and asked for a drink.

Zhang Shiyu was surprised, invited him to sit down, and said with a smile: "It's rare that you come to see me. I still have some wine here. It is a collection of Dongdu. It was transported to Yecheng and then to Yuyang. Now it has arrived in Xijing. Come to you In my words, wine is not wasted.”

The wine was indeed good, with a rich and mellow taste, but Xu Chu's mood did not improve for a long time.

Zhang Shiyu said: "Are you worried about my sister?"

"Princess? Well, I'm worried about her, I'm worried about you, I'm worried about the Shishi army in the city, the three-state army outside the city, I'm worried about everyone in Kyushu and the He Rong people who come from afar."

Zhang Shiyu was stunned for a while and said with a smile: "You worry more than me, the emperor. Come on, have a drink. After you get drunk, you won't worry about anything. I have read some Buddhist scriptures, and when I think about it recently, I feel quite My experience is that everything in the world is false, and all suffering comes from mistaking falsehood for reality and falsehood for truth..."

"Aren't you worried about the princess?"

Zhang Shiyu took a deep breath and shook his head, "I'm a little worried. Chanyu is not going to marry her now, but to kill her and bury her with He Rongpingshan. My mother will be very sad if she learns this news. But. What can I do? It’s up to my sister.”

There was only one attendant serving the wine in the tent. Zhang Shiyu didn't pay attention to him. He raised his finger and pointed at Xu Chu and said with a smile: "My sister was a little instigated by you, but mainly she caused trouble by herself and offended people who shouldn't be offended. . Oh, what if she had honestly married He Rong Pingshan or Shan Yu and helped Tiancheng form an alliance with He Rongbu? She would not be in this situation, and I would be better off in front of Shan Yu. Everything is doomed, my sister is not so lucky, and I am not so lucky to drink.”

Zhang Shiyu could think of everything about himself. Xu Chu had nothing to say and drank in silence, one cup after another.

Zhang Shiyu drank more slowly, suddenly remembered something, and asked with a smile: "Xu Chu, let me ask you, what did you think at the beginning, that you thought you could prevent my sister from marrying to He Rong with just your words? Even Huanyan is not so confident.”

Xu Chu put down his wine glass with a bitter smile on his face, "Some things are as I expected, and some things are not as expected."

"What kind of answer is this? The more you listen, the more confused you become."

"The Chanyu entered the fortress with all his strength, and his momentum was strong, but the rear was extremely empty. I thought someone would attack his nest and force him to return to the outside of the fortress."

"Prince Jin? Haha, he doesn't dare. He wants to form an alliance with the He Rong tribe."

"I also thought that the people of He Rong were accustomed to life on the grasslands. Not long after the Chanyu took the throne, if he led his troops into the fortress before winning the hearts of the people, it would definitely attract opposition and even civil strife. But I guessed wrong again. There are people in He Rong's tribe. Opposing Shanyu was not enough to stop him from marching into the Central Plains."

"To be honest, the strong-armed Chanyu is much more powerful than the previous Chanyu. He keeps marching and hangs a piece of scented bait not far in front. When someone bites his mouth, he hangs another piece to lure you to keep moving forward... …”

Xu Chu smiled and said, "You think quite clearly."

"I understand, but I still have to be willing to bite it. Shanyu has already asked me to go back to Yuyang, promising that after I capture Xijing, I will spend the winter in Yuyang, just for this 'fragrant bait', I can't wait to hurry up now I want to break through the walls of Xijing, and I even hope that... my sister's matter will be over as soon as possible, and there will be no resentment between me and Shan Yu. "

Zhang Shiyu spoke very sincerely. He didn't drink much, but the drunkenness on his face was even more obvious. "Is there anything else you haven't guessed yet?"

"Chanyu left Jizhou and Bingzhou behind. I thought there would always be someone among the heroes who would covet the land and seize the opportunity, putting He Rongjun in a dilemma. But I was wrong again. King Liang, King Ning, the Sheng family, the Xi family... They all seemed frightened.”

"More than just being scared, the families you mentioned, as well as other heroes, have sent people to deliver letters of surrender. King Ning made a good start, but now everyone is trying to win Shan Yu's acquiescence, and they are fighting each other."

Xu Chu heard about it, and his heart sank a little more every time a letter of surrender came.

Of course, the letter of surrender does not mean true surrender, but it is enough to show that the situation in the south is chaotic. The heroes are eager to obtain even false recognition, and no one can spare their efforts to cut off He Rongjun's retreat.

By the time Chanyu opened the road from Qinzhou to the outside of the Great Wall, the entire north was within the range of He Rong's cavalry, and there was no way back.

"I thought that the people of the Central Plains were forced to serve the Shanyu. They had to risk their own lives every time they attacked the city, resulting in huge casualties. Some people would be dissatisfied and rebel because of this. As a result, the people of the Central Plains seemed to be more loyal than the He Rong people."

Zhang Shiyu immediately thought of himself, and his face became even redder, but he did not think he was wrong, "There is no way, the Shanyu punished him harshly and rewarded him heavily, and he did what he said, and you have seen that the people participating in the discussion now , the generals of the Central Plains have accounted for 20 to 30%, everyone... Who else can we defect to after the rebellion? "

"That's why I'm worried." Xu Chu took a swig of wine.

"Oh, this is all destined. Maybe one day Shanyu will suddenly get sick and die? Maybe...maybe God will let Shanyu become the co-leader of the Nine Provinces." Zhang Shiyu sighed, his eyes red, "As long as I can Keep the title of emperor, I have nothing else to ask for, or the next best thing is to leave me a throne."

Xu Chu smiled and said: "Yes, you are the kind of emperor that Shanyu likes best."

Zhang Shiyu curled his lips, "I heard your sarcasm, but I don't care, really, I don't care. Because I am not the only one who bows to Shanyu. You bowed your head, Huanyan bowed his head, and King Jin also bowed his head. Yes, he led the Jin army to join Shanyu yesterday. You didn't see him getting married to Shanyu. In the end, he called Shanyu 'uncle'."

"I didn't see it."

"I'm sitting next to Shan Yu, and King Jin is kowtowing to me, but everyone knows who is his master." There was a trace of resentment in Zhang Shiyu's tone. He immediately put down his wine glass, comforted himself, and then He smiled and said, "Why do I care about this kind of thing? If it weren't for Shan Yu, King Jin wouldn't even kowtow to me, but would just take my life."

The more the wine drank, the colder it became, and the more we talked, the colder it became. Zhang Shiyu could barely pull himself out and felt that the current situation was already very good, but Xu Chu fell deeper and deeper into drunkenness.

Zhang Shiyu sat next to Xu Chu and advised: "You are a good person, but from the day you abdicated, you have been useless. You care about the people of the world, but the people of the world will not care about you..."

Xu Chu turned around and said, "You are wrong. I don't care about the people in the world. I care about myself guessing and making mistakes over and over again. I thought I understood the general trend, but in the end the general trend changed, and not a step was what I expected."

"Haha, give up a little pride and just be an ordinary counselor. Come, drink."

Xu Chu shook his head and didn't want to drink anymore.

Zhang Shiyu patted him on the shoulder, his eyes suddenly brightened, "There is something that might make you a little happier."

"Um."

"Not to mention that all the heroes in the world have sent letters of surrender, but there is actually one who sent not a letter of surrender, but a letter of war, declaring that if the Chanyu did not immediately lead his troops back to the outside of the fortress, hundreds of thousands of He Rong's cavalry would attack them all. Buried in the Central Plains."

"Who is it? Why haven't I heard of it?"

"Because the letter of challenge was not sent to Shan Yu at all, everyone thought that this man was a madman, so they beat the envoy and threw him out - the envoy was lucky, if the letter of challenge was seen by Shan Yu, his life would not be saved."

"Who is it?"

Zhang Shiyu patted his head and said, "I don't remember it. I heard people talk about this joke occasionally."

"Since this person dares to issue a declaration of war, he must be a hero, right?"

"Today is not what it used to be. Now the number of 'heroes' is several times greater than before, and they dare to claim the title of king even if they occupy a county seat. I remember that the envoy came from Jingzhou."

"Jingzhou? The Xi family?"

"How can the Xi family have such courage? Not only has his family sent a letter of surrender long ago, but the tribute is also richer than other families. It's not the Xi family, it's... it's..." Zhang Shiyu couldn't remember it.

The attendant standing by the side said: "It seems that his surname is Song, and he calls himself King of Chu. What is his name Zhu?"

"Song Chuzhu?" Xu Chu blurted out.