Plan to cut off the nine states

The soldiers gathered around, took out ropes, and were about to tie up Xu Chu and Chang Yan. Song Qizhu hesitated for a moment and stopped him: "Forget it, Mr. Xu is a sensible person and has an old relationship with me, so there is no need to take it so seriously." Then he said to Xu Chu: "I will send you to Jiangling tomorrow morning. Before that, you are still my guest, please."

Xu Chu smiled and was about to walk towards the tent when Chang Yan beside him said angrily: "Song, you call yourself King of Chu in vain. You act despicably and are worse than a rogue in Luxiang..."

When a soldier drew his sword, Song Qizhu waved his hand and said, "Let him speak."

Chang Yan took a step forward and stood in front of Xu Chu, "You know, the two countries are at war and we don't want to kill the envoys. My young master is an envoy sent by Yiling City. It's okay if you don't treat him with courtesy. You still have to kill him." In exchange for food, it is extremely shameless. My young master still thought you were a person and asked for news about you along the way. Unexpectedly..."

Song Qizhu glanced at the soldiers gathered in front of the tent, and then said to Chang Yan: "'Your young master' is not an envoy sent by Yiling City, but a 'prisoner' sent - Yang Moyu is in the way of the King of Shu Because of his face and power, he didn't dare to touch him, but he didn't dare to offend the Xi family in Jiangling, so he simply avoided seeing him. I don't know who persuaded 'your son' to be the envoy, but the Xi family promised me that as long as I will When 'your son' arrives at Jiangling, he will give me twenty shi of grain, which will be enough for us to eat for a while. Do you think I should do it or not?"

Chang Yan was shocked, "It was Xi Yuanji who persuaded the young master to be the envoy. He is in the city. Why did he go in such a circle?"

"Jingzhou is in chaos, and the King of Shu is sitting upstream. Now no one wants to offend him, so they have to go around in this circle. What else don't you understand?"

Chang Yan was speechless.

Song Tizhu said with a smile: "As for 'your young master' asking about me everywhere, I'm sorry, I haven't heard of it, and I don't care. His inquiries can't bring a grain of food. I, the King of Chu, are useless too." If anyone is willing to exchange the name, it only costs ten stones of food. Are you interested?"

"No……"

"Please ask this 'brother who is fighting injustice' to rest somewhere else."

Chang Yan didn't want to leave, so Xu Chu stepped forward and said, "I won't go to Jiangling until early tomorrow morning. There's no need to argue now."

Chang Yan gave Song Tizhu a hard look and wanted to say a few threatening words, but couldn't find the right words for a moment, so he had to spit on the ground and leave with the soldiers.

The interior of Song Qizhu's tent was as simple as its appearance. There was a bed, a small chair, a few scattered clothes, and nothing else. He gave up the chair to Xu Chu and sat on the bed. "Master Xu really asked about me?"

"Well, I stayed with Shan Yu for a while. When all the heroes sent letters of surrender, only King Song dared to challenge him, so I was a little curious."

"Haha, that was a letter written randomly when I was drunk. I didn't expect that it was actually sent to Shan Yu. What did he say after reading it?"

"At first, the people below seized the letter and did not deliver it. After a while, Shanyu saw it. He was very angry and said that he would send troops to Jingzhou soon to hold you accountable."

"Chanyu can't keep his temper."

"I guess he was pretending to be angry to find an excuse to attack Jingzhou in the future. After all, the Xi family has always been obedient, and Shanyu cannot break into his family's territory for no reason."

"That makes sense." Song Tizhu nodded, "Then it's useless even if I surrender to Shanyu now? He will definitely not accept it."

"At least I won't accept it until I invade Jingzhou."

Song Qizhu sighed softly, showing a bit of disappointment, "If I write to Shan Yu and say that I am going to run out of food, I'm afraid that by the time he leads his troops to invade Jingzhou, you say he won't help me. A little food?"

Xu Chu shook his head.

"Haha, I don't think he will either. I'm really cornered now. As long as someone is willing to give me food and let me recognize him as my biological father, it's fine. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I remember when we met at the beginning of the year."

"That was just over a year ago."

"It's so far away when I think about it."

"Mr. Xu is saying that I have changed too much. Hey, over the past year or so, I am really... hard to describe."

"Is it not as easy as expected?"

"I thought I was going to conquer the country, but I ended up with a mountain on my back, weighing me down so much that I couldn't breathe." Song Qizhu leaned forward and whispered mysteriously: "Mr. Fan tricked me."

"Where do you start talking about this?" Xu Chu was surprised.

"The old guy is timid and doesn't dare to do big things. He just sits and talks and encourages others to take risks. I fell into his trap and fell into the trap."

"Although it is difficult to do things, you will eventually gain something." Xu Chu said with a smile.

Song Tizhu shook his head, "Master Xu saw the opportunity quickly and abdicated immediately when he knew something was wrong."

"In the end, he didn't escape. Instead, he wandered around and failed everywhere. He fell into the hands of the King of Song and had to be exchanged for twenty shi of grain."

"Don't call me 'King Song', call me... just Song Qizhu."

"The world is in chaos, and swarms of heroes have arisen. Some people have moved across states and counties, and some have led troops to plunder for a living. They have no fixed place to live. No one is as trapped as you. Song Qizhu, you used to be known as the 'Thousand Hands', and you are also famous. How can a hero be inferior to an ordinary robber?"

Xu Chu called him by his first name, and his tone became slightly harsher. Song Qizhu breathed a sigh of relief, and then expressed his bitterness, "So Mr. Fan misled me, and others thought I was a closed disciple. In fact, I have been a disciple for many years, but Except for the last year or so, I didn't often stay with him. I went there from time to time and listened, which was quite rewarding. Looking back now, it was not that Mr. Fan's teachings made sense, but that Xiangyang was too young. Only then can I feel like a fish in water. Once I leave Xiangyang, I will be like this now.”

"In that case, why did you leave Xiangyang?"

"Well, when the uprising first broke out in Xiangyang, everything went smoothly. Almost 10,000 people came to seek refuge. When the officials in Xiangyang heard that I raised the flag and proclaimed myself king, they all sent people to congratulate me and asked for money and grain. It was at that time that I wrote a shameless letter to Shan Yu on a whim." Song Qizhu kept shaking his head.

"So you didn't capture Xiangyang?" Xu Chu's voice became more severe.

"Of course not. I have many friends in Xiangyang City. Even the city lord sent thousands of taels of silver as gifts. How could I have the nerve to capture it? Besides, everyone had great ambitions at that time. They all felt that Xiangyang was located in a battleground and could not be defended even if captured. Instead of staying here, it’s better to go somewhere else to attack the city…”

"You went?"

Song Qizhu was much older than Xu Chu. Under his repeated questioning, he showed a bit of embarrassment, like a child who forgot to do his homework. "We went and attacked Hanzhou and indeed captured several cities. Then …”

"Then what?"

"We were celebrating, everyone was a little drunk, and they all asked me to be granted titles. I wanted to be the king myself, and brothers couldn't afford to have no official titles, so I granted a few titles to them. Who would have thought that it would be better if I didn't grant titles? But something happened, and the leader left with his troops the next day, and we couldn't catch him. Later, the governor of Han Dynasty borrowed soldiers from the Xi family, and the city was taken back by him, so I had to lead my troops back to Xiangyang. "Song Tizhu smiled awkwardly.

"The 'friends' in Xiangyang City are unwilling to accept you?"

"I only brought back a few hundred people at that time, and my momentum was greatly reduced... Later I recalled some more people, more than three thousand, to capture Xiangyang City, but failed. I happened to catch up with the chaos here, so I said I would join in the fun. ”

"It is said that you once persuaded all parties to cease the war and deal with the He Rong people together?"

"Otherwise, what else can you do? You can't beat me, so I have to say big words to let people know that I am still the King of Chu. If someone really takes it seriously, I can take the opportunity to order some food."

"You can't even support three thousand people?"

"I don't know what's going on. When I was a hero in Xiangyang, I helped thousands to eight hundred people. I didn't expect it to be so difficult to feed the soldiers."

"How did you rely on helping people who asked for help in the past?"

"I have hundreds of acres of land at home, and my friends borrowed it from each other. But after my incident, there were fewer and fewer friends. No one cultivated my land, and now it is all deserted - Mr. Fan misunderstood me. , without his encouragement, I would still be a heroic man, fighting between the heroes..."

"Song Qizhu, do you still remember the doubts you sought answers to when you last met with Mr. Fan?"

"Why is it that people's hearts are not enough, and the more they get, the more resentment they have?" Song Tizhu murmured, with a look of shame on his face, "I do have a lot of resentment, but I haven't gained anything."

"Even the Chanyu knows your name. Isn't this a reward? At least in Jingzhou, people call you 'King of Chu'. Isn't this a reward?"

"Young Master Xu, there is no need to flatter me. I know everyone calls me 'Song Chu Jiao'."

"Even so, it's still a gain."

"In the past, I was known as the 'Thousand-Hand Song', and my reputation spread to the Eastern Capital..." Song Qizhu was angry and still felt that he had lost more.

"Okay, even if what you said is right, Mr. Fan is dead, who are you complaining to?"

"It's up to you, you're right in front of me anyway."

"Then what?"

"Then I'll exchange you for food tomorrow, and we'll last one day at a time."

"What's next?"

"Later... there is an old machete who used to be a bandit in the mountains. Now he has become big and has captured several small towns. He has always wanted to recruit me as his son-in-law. I don't agree. If it doesn't work out, just go and join him."

Xu Chu found it both irritating and funny, "I always thought I had some ability to recognize people, but I was completely wrong about you."

"Who did Master Xu think I was?"

"A true hero who overcomes difficulties and dares to think and do."

Song Qizhu thought for a while, nodded and said: "Then you are indeed wrong, very wrong. I am not a real hero, not even a hero. I used to have some reputation in Xiangyang, but it was actually because of my father's stay. family fortune and popularity.”

Xu Chu stood up and said, "Rather than sit here and listen to your complaints, I would rather go to Jiangling as soon as possible. Please send someone to take me on the road early tomorrow morning. The sooner the better."

Song Qizhu was not angry at all, and said with a smile: "I am as anxious as Mr. Xu, because I will be hungry tonight. I am waiting for twenty shi of food to start the stove."

Xu Chu strode out of the tent and was immediately surrounded by soldiers and taken to a nearby tent.

Xu Chu did not resist. When he got to the tent, he said to Changyan: "From now on, you must never say again that I predict things like a god. If I make such a mistake, I am not even as good as an ordinary person."

Chang Yan said in surprise: "What did the man named Song say to make the young master so angry?"

"Oh, it's just my imagination... Let's go to Jiangling City. Sooner or later, I'll go. In fact, if Xi Yuanyi asked directly, I would go too. Take care of your luggage, what's inside is very important." Xu Chu handed over Mrs. Tie Zhi's The letter is hidden inside.

"The box of jewels sent by General Tie is still in Yiling City." Chang Yanzhi was heartbroken.

"It's okay..." Xu Chu was about to tell Chang Yanzhi something, when a man walked in from outside and said, "Mr. Xu, how are you?"

Chang Yanzhi was originally sitting, but he stood up suddenly, "Dai Pohu, you... why are you here?"

This man was Dai Pohu who had tried to assassinate someone in Siguo Valley. "I'm from Jingzhou, and I have nowhere to go, so I had to go back to my hometown. Ha, I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it."