The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"Your Majesty!"

In mid-September in Shouchun, Huainan, as the autumn wind blew, the lotus leaves in the pond began to wither, just like the fate of the Chu State.

On the terraces of the Chu Palace surrounded by the lotus pond, Xiang Yan's eyes were filled with anger: "It is disrespectful to King Kao Lie to let such rumors spread in the country. I hope the king can stop it!"

"Why do you have to do this, Shangzhuguo?"

King Fuchu of Chu did not wear a ceremonial robe, but only a Chu-style long gown with a high belt. The sleeves of the long gown were nearly twice as wide as those in the Central Plains Qin. The high crown on top was even more exaggerated, nearly one and a half feet high. He stood up gracefully, helped Xiang Yan up, waved his wide sleeves, and asked the palace maids who were singing and dancing to retreat. He glanced at the wizard wearing a Weimao crown next to him, as well as the left and right disciples, left and right Sima and others present, and smiled:

"My friends, what rumors are there in the country? Why doesn't Bu Gu know?"

"We don't know either."

Everyone tried their best to pretend that they didn't know. In doing so, they were undoubtedly much smarter than Xiang Yan.

But Xiang Yan's temperament meant that he could not turn a blind eye to this matter. The old general bowed again and said, "Many people in the country are spreading the story of 'flowers on the tree', which is about the life stories of Chunshen Jun, Li Yuan, Li Hou and King You of Chu. Has your Majesty ever heard of it?"

King Fu Chu's face froze and his eyes moved away.

Xiang Yan got angry when he talked about this matter. This rumor suddenly spread this year, but it was about an old story more than 30 years ago.

They said that when King Kaolie of Chu fled from Qin and returned to Chen Ying to succeed to the throne, he only gave birth to daughters and no sons. Ling Yin Chunshen Jun Huang Xie was worried about it, so he looked for a woman who was suitable for bearing a child to present to King Kaolie of Chu, but she never gave birth to a son.

Finally, Li Yuan, a Zhao man who had the help of Chunshen Jun, presented his sister to the palace of the King of Chu. Soon after, he had a son named Xiong Han, who was made the crown prince by King Kaolie of Chu. This was later King You of Chu...

However, the rumors exaggerated that the crown prince born by Li Yuan was not the biological son of King Kaolie of Chu, but the son of Chunshen Jun Huang Xie! Even his brother, the later King Ai of Chu, Xiong You, was the illegitimate offspring of Huang Xie and Queen Li!

The rumors also mentioned how Chunshen Jun sought a daughter for King Kaolie of Chu, how Li Yuan wanted to present his sister but was worried that he would not be favored if he did not give birth to a son, and finally offered her to Huang Xie in a desperate attempt to catch her. After the girl became pregnant, Li Yuan asked his sister to persuade Chunshen Jun to present her to the palace on his behalf by saying, "I am blessed to have a son, and your son will be king, and Chu will have everything."

All of this was said with details, which is what is called "flowers blooming on a tree".

Even after the death of King Kaolie of Chu, Li Yuan ordered his retainers to set up an ambush at Jimen to kill Chunshen Jun Huang Xie, saying that it was because he was "fearing that Chunshen Jun's words would leak out and become more arrogant, so he wanted to kill him to silence him."

This story has been widely circulated in the market recently, and the common people and scholars are talking about it with relish, but it is full of loopholes in the ears of wise men such as Xiang Yan.

Xiang Yan, who has experienced these things, knows very well that although Chunshen Jun Huang Xie is getting more and more confused as he gets older and is accidentally killed by Li Yuan, he at least assisted the King of Chu in moving east, allowing Chu to expand during the Qin-Zhao dispute period, destroying Lu and the princes on the Si River, and managing Jiangdong, allowing Chu to revive for a while. He is also a famous minister of a generation. How could he do such a thing to deceive the king?

As for the fact that King Kaolie of Chu could not give birth to a son? It is even more ridiculous. Now the Ling Yin of Chu, Changping Jun Xiong Qi, who was sent by the King of Chu to Jiangdong to train troops, is not the eldest son of King Kaolie!

"There are such absurd rumors!"

King Chu Fuchu stopped laughing, pretended to be furious, looked at the ministers, slammed the table, and shouted: "Why didn't anyone tell Bu Gu?"

All the ministers were speechless, only Wu Ling, who was favored by the king of Chu, stood up, twisting his hands full of the fragrance of orchids, and whispered: "It seems that this is the case, but..."

He smiled cunningly: "The rumors in the market are also somewhat reasonable. In my opinion, there is no need to ban them rashly. Now that the Qin army has begun to prepare to attack Chu again, at this time, it is more important to prevent people from talking than to prevent rivers. The incident of King Zhou Li must not be repeated."

"Wu Ling's words make sense. It is not good to forcibly ban people from discussing. It is better to open it than to block it."

King Chu Fuchu's face relaxed, and he said indifferently: "Leave the rumors to Zuotu, and Shangzhuguo should focus on military affairs!"

Xiang Yan was silent. It was obvious that the person who spread the rumor wanted to prove that King You of Chu and King Ai of Chu both came to the throne illegally, but the current King Fuchu of Chu, although he was the illegitimate son of King Kaolie of Chu and a palace maid, was of good family background!

In this way, the act of King Fuchu of Chu killing King Ai of Chu and Li Yuan with his followers four years ago and regicide and self-establishment became a rectification of the original source...

The death of Li Yuan was the result of the joint efforts of the Xiang family and the three clans of Zhao, Jing, and Qu. But an action to drive out the evil people around the king was finally used by Fuchu and turned into regicide, which they did not expect.

Although it was common for the princes of Chu to kill the king and establish themselves as kings in the Spring and Autumn Period, this was the first case with the strengthening of the royal power in the Xuan and Wei eras, which really shocked the court and the public.

That year, Qin had just defeated Handan and destroyed Zhao, and captured King Qian of Zhao. For a century, the only strong enemy of Qin was Chu and Zhao. Zhao had already perished, and Chu was about to face a disaster. The country relies on the eldest king. Since the dead king cannot be resurrected, Xiang Yan and the three clans of Zhao, Jing, and Qu can only hold their noses and respect Fu Chu as the king, hoping that he can take up the banner of resisting Qin.

In the first few years, King Fu Chu of Chu was very cooperative and integrated various forces in the country. When the Qin general Li Xin attacked with an army of 200,000, he appointed Xiang Yan to fight a rumbling defense battle, and relied on Changping Jun Xiong Qi to turn against the Qin in Chen Ying, and finally reversed the situation and achieved an unprecedented victory for the Chu army against Qin!

The people even compared this battle with the counterattack of Jingchu against the Zhou Dynasty five hundred years ago, which caused King Zhao of Zhou to drown in the Han River!

The Xiang family rebuilt Jingchu! They all promoted it like this.

Xiang Yan's reputation was unparalleled at the time; Changping Jun was also ranked as Ling Yin and was loved by the people.

However, King Fuchu of Chu was somewhat uneasy. As soon as the Qin army retreated and Chu State just had a chance to catch its breath, he began to let his cronies occupy various important positions in the court, consolidate power, and did not hesitate to send people to spread rumors and slander the life of the previous king.

King Fuchu of Chu was afraid that Xiang and the three families of Zhao, Jing, and Qu would depose him as if they had supported him to succeed to the throne. In the warm spring breeze of Huainan, he could not rest, and always felt the shadow of the axe swaying on his neck.

"There is no axe at all!" Xiang Yan wanted to tell his king that at this moment, what was needed was to abandon all old grudges and unite the nobles and common people of the entire Chu State to resist the enemy, rather than to prove his legitimacy by inferior means for the sake of old things...

"In this case, then... this old minister will no longer ask about this matter."

Xiang Yan suppressed his dissatisfaction and anger, and the upper pillar of the country bowed his head. This time the Qin army came with a fierce force, even worse than last year, and Chu State could not be in chaos again!

He pretended not to have heard those rumors, and turned to talk about today's business: intelligence from Wei!

"Your Majesty, the commander of the Qin army has already known that it is Wang Jian!"

"Wang Jian!?"

As soon as these words came out, the king and ministers of Chu State suddenly lost the mood to enjoy the autumn scenery. They all looked at each other and felt timid...

Xiang Yan also felt emotional. He remembered the young official he met in Xianyang Palace when he went to Qin State to pay respects to the ancestral temple with Chunshen Jun 30 years ago. Wang Jian and Xiang Yan met and talked, and they felt vaguely that they might become enemies.

However, for 30 years, they could only hear about each other's outstanding achievements from afar, but they always passed by each other. Who would have thought that they would finally usher in a day of confrontation!

"This battle is related to the survival of Chu State!"

Xiang Yan didn't know how many times he had said this. Since when did Chu State have to win every battle and not lose?

However, the opponent Wang Jian had the tiger talisman that the King of Qin had secured with all his troops. Even if there were some doubts, he had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians at his disposal, and the victory that Qin had accumulated for more than a hundred years to rely on.

What did he have?

Looking at the ministers who forgot their worries during the short breath and resumed singing and feasting on the terrace. Looking at the king who was determined to discredit the previous king and looked terrified when he heard the golden drums approaching, Xiang Yan could only sigh.

"I only have an army composed of fear and suspicion!"

...

In late September, the 600,000 Qin troops, under the command of Wang Jian, gradually approached the front line of the Qin-Chu border. The Chu State also hurriedly mobilized and began to deal with this catastrophe that was delayed for a year...

And Hei Fu and other Nanjun soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant Li You, also gathered with the soldiers of Ba, Shu, Hanzhong, and Nanyang to Shangcai and Yangcheng! The deputy general who led this army was Meng Wu!

Shangcai was Li You's hometown, and the place where Hei Fu and his men had fought was not far from here.

Before the army was about to enter the Shangcai camp, Hei Fu rode his horse to the side, pointed to the east, and said to his coachman Sang Mu, the five hundred commanders Dongmen Bao and Li Xian, the personal guard general Xiao Tao, the messenger Ji Ying, and Gong Ao, who had become a general of Yan County but always liked to hang out with them, "It's over there! One hundred and fifty miles away!"

Following Hei Fu's whip, everyone looked to the east. Even if their gazes would be infinitely extended, they would eventually be blocked by the solid defense line built by the Chu army in Pingyu City...

After Pingyu, it was Yingyang! The battlefield they would never forget, the place where hundreds of comrades had shed their blood and shed their heads.

"Huaimu, and the other two, we've been waiting for a long time!"

Heifu's eyes were firm, as if he had penetrated a space of more than a hundred miles and saw the simple cemetery filled with Qin swords.

"This time, I'll take you home!"