"Your Majesty, urgent report from the south!"

On March 16, while King Zhao Run of Wei was practicing calligraphy in the study room of Ganlu Hall, Gao Kuo, the Zuoduwei of Tiance Mansion, hurried into the hall and reported: "Your Majesty, Shen Yu sent someone to send a battle report. It is said that on the second day of the third month, King Pingyu of Chu Xiong Hu ordered his general Xue Le to lead tens of thousands of troops to attack Shangshui..."

After hearing this, Zhao Run paused with the brush in his hand, and then continued to write on the paper, asking: "How many casualties are there on both sides?"

Gao Kuo replied: "The two sides fought fiercely for several days. Our army lost two camps, but the casualties of the soldiers were only more than 2,000, while the Chu army's casualties were probably more than 30,000..."

Hearing such a disparity in the number of casualties, Zhao Run showed no trace of joy on his face. He frowned and asked, "What happened to the two abandoned camps?"

Gao Kuo replied: "It's mainly because the crossbow arrows consume too much."

"Oh." Zhao Run then relaxed his brows, put the brush in his hand on the pen holder, walked out from behind the desk with his hands behind his back, and said: "Regardless of the cost of casualties, just to consume our army's crossbow arrow reserves and soldiers' Energy...that guy Xiong Hu is really not making progress."

After that, he asked Gao Kuo: "You just said there was an urgent report from the south... I guess you didn't just receive the battle report from Shang Shui, right?"

"Yes."

Gao Kuo nodded and said: "In addition, I also received two secret letters from the Green Crows. The first secret letter is about "Guling"..."

"Guling?"

Zhao Run was stunned for a moment, then frowned and asked: "The Qu family?"

"It's those white-eyed wolves who have not been raised well." Gao Kuo nodded and said: "In early March, Xiong Wu, Lord of Chu Guling, led his army to "Yixiang" and approached Guling. In response, the Qu family of Guling There was no movement. No one was sent to inform Shang Shui or Yang Xia to raise their guard, nor did they send troops to stop Xiong Wu. I thought that the two might have reached some tacit understanding in private..."

"Are the Qu family following Xiong Wu?"

Zhao Run chuckled and shook his head, disapproving of Gao Kuo's indignant look.

The "Qu clan" they refer to is also the clan of the "Qu clan named Mi" who failed to compete with the Xiong clan for the kingship. They are also the clan of "Qu Ping, Lord of Xiling", one of the first three pillars of the Chu Kingdom.

At that time, the Qu family failed to launch a rebellion in the Chu Kingdom. Not only did they fail to seize the throne of the King of Chu from the Xiong family, but Qu Ping, the Lord of Xiling, one of the Three Pillars, was not used by the King of Chu for the rest of his life and fell into a river in depression. And die.

At that time, the old Chu King Xiong Xu wanted to exterminate the Qu family, but Zhao Run considered that keeping the Qu family might cause some trouble for the Chu country, so he issued a righteous announcement and used words to bully Xiong Xu. The Xiong clan finally forced the old Chu King Xiong Xu and the Xiong clan to kill the Qu clan to avoid being attacked and annihilated by Wei in terms of virtue.

As a result, the old Chu King Xiong Xu gained a good reputation as "tolerant", and Zhao Run also achieved his goal, which was to save the Qu family.

In fact, Zhao Run later suggested that the former king Zhao Si give the Qu family an enclave that was handed over to him by the Chu State to the Wei State, that is, the land south of Suiyang and north of Xiangcheng, so that they could thrive. ——At that time, Wei State had not yet recovered Song County. This enclave was a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Song County and Chu State and was difficult to defend. Therefore, Wei State considered giving up after weighing the pros and cons.

To be fair, Zhao Run has no grudges against the Qu family. He did this purely to disgust the Chu State and create some trouble for the Chu State.

No, later in the "Five-Party Campaign to Defeat Wei", the Qu family in Gulingyi stood together with Wei and resolutely resisted Chu's attack on Wei.

Even later, when Shouling Jun Jingshe defeated Yongqiu and tried to withdraw to Chu from the direction of Guling and Pingyu, the Qu family in Guling also had the same attitude as Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu, and treated Shouling Jun Jingshe

Shouling Junjingshe treated Chu's request for help as if nothing had happened, but Shouling Junjingshe had no choice but to withdraw the Chu army across Song County, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of defeated troops. Shouling Junjingshe finally committed suicide on the banks of the Chushui River out of shame.

But this time, the Qu family in Gulingyi seemed to have got together with Xiong Wu, the Chu prince who failed to compete with Xiong Tuo for the throne, and ignored the kindness of Wei to them. No wonder Gao Kuo scolded them for "not being able to support them."

Familiar white-eyed wolf".

However, Zhao Run didn't care about this. Although his Wei State did help the Qu family back then, in the final analysis, Wei State's purpose of helping the Qu family was not pure. Therefore, he did not expect that the Qu family would be like that.

Treat Wei Guo like his benefactor.

Of course, since the Qu family chose to join the Chu State, the Wei State would not need to show mercy to them in the future.

In comparison, what surprised Zhao Run even more was Guling Lord Xiong Wu - even he did not expect that this Chu prince who failed to compete with Xiong Tuo for the Chu king's seat would actually become the leader of Chu's attack on Wei.

The commander-in-chief of the Song Dynasty.

Although Zhao Run has also heard that although Xiong Wu failed in his fight for the throne with Xiong Tuo, because his mother is the queen of the old Chu king Xiong Xu, and the Ji Lian family of her uncle's family is not small in the Chu country, so

Even if the fight for position fails, it is not difficult to save one's life.

But even so, Zhao Run really didn't expect that Xiong Wu would be appointed by Xiong Tuo as the commander-in-chief of the attack on Song County.

Zhao Run really couldn't understand what Xiong Tuo was thinking? He would actually give such an opportunity to his former political opponent...

"...or is it that Xiong Tuo wants to use my help, Da Wei, to completely eradicate Xiong Wu?"

After thinking about it, Zhao Run felt that this possibility was not impossible.

After all, Xiong Tuo and Xiong Wu are half-brothers, and as the king of Chu, even if he hates Xiong Wu in his heart, he can't be too cruel to execute him - unless Xiong Wu commits an unforgivable crime.

.

But on the other hand, if Xiong Wu died in the hands of the Wei people, it would have nothing to do with Xiong Tuo.

"If this is true, then Song County will have a chance to let Chu..."

Thinking of this, Zhao Run told Gao Kuo: "Immediately go find out the details of Xiong Wu's troops, see where these troops come from, and who are under their command... After you find out clearly, come and report immediately!"

"yes!"

Gao Kuo responded and retreated.

About four or five days later, Gao Kuo hurried to Ganlu Hall again.

It turned out that it was the Green Crows who were dispatched to the Song County area and sent news about the details of the army under Guling Lord Xiong Wu.

As Zhao Hongrun guessed, this time Guling Lord Xiong Wu was ordered to attack Song County. The only supporters behind him were the Ji Lian family, the Ji family, the Lian family, the Huang family, the Jiao family, and other families.

Almost none of the Xiang family, Jing family, etc. appeared in Xiong Wu's army.

After listening to Gao Kuo's story, Zhao Hongrun nodded secretly: If nothing unexpected happens, Xiong Tuo appointed Xiong Wu to attack Song County. This is just killing someone with a borrowed knife, that is, using Xiong Wu's strength to weaken Wei's military strength in Song County.

In turn, it also used the help of Wei to weaken the success of Xiong Wu and his group.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun sneered and shook his head.

He felt that since inheriting the position of King of Chu, Xiong Tuo has become more and more cunning, and is no longer the reckless and upright young man he used to be.

"Then...how should we deal with Xiong Wu's army?"

He walked to the desk with a map of the Central Plains spread out in the center of the study, placed a lifelike blue soldier chess piece carved in the shape of a long gunner in the area of ​​"Guling", and then moved his gaze to the eastern part of Song County.

"Huling", look at Huling, then look at Guling, look at Guling, and then look at Huling.

"strangeness……"

Zhao Run felt a little strange, because the area of ​​Song County was not too small. If Xiong Tuo really appointed Xiong Wu to attack Song County - no matter what the purpose - he should ask Xiong Wu to lead his army across Suishui, from

It is appropriate for "Pei", "Pi" and others to launch an offensive in the eastern areas of the Song Dynasty.

Immediately, Zhao Run thought that Xiang Mo, Xiang Pei, Jing Yun, Xiong Li and other kings of Chu State had not yet taken any action, and Zhao Run guessed: Xiong Tuo should have sent another army to attack Song County.

, this army is probably the army that Xiong Tuo really places his hope on.

"...The Huling navy cannot move for the time being."

Muttering to himself, Zhao Hongrun looked at Song County on the map, thoughtfully.

In his opinion, no matter how stupid Xiong Wu is, he will not be used as a spearman by Xiong Tuo. Since this guy has received the order to attack the western part of Song County, he must have his own ideas.

Either they are working hard but not contributing, or they want to take advantage of this war opportunity to reorganize their forces, accumulate troops, and accumulate strength to wait for an opportunity to regain the throne from Xiong Tuo in the future.

The former doesn't matter, but if it's the latter, Zhao Run is a little worried that Song County's garrison won't be able to stop Xiong Wu.

After all, in addition to the local army of Song County, the only people stationed in Song County at this time were the private armies of Gaoxianhou Lu Xin, Liuguang Hou Zhao Gang and other domestic nobles. Their combat capabilities were really mediocre.

For the sake of caution, Zhao Run believes that an additional army should indeed be sent. However, the problem is that the only three armies of Wei that have not yet received orders are Sima An's Hexi Army, Bosile's Jiejiao Cavalry, and Wei State.

The Hedong Army was jealous.

Among them, Wei Ji's Hedong Army, after General Shaohu led Wei Wu's army to draw troops from the Hetao area and went to Hanoi County, immediately took care of the defense of the Hetao area; while Sima An's Hexi Army also divided its troops to assist Hedong after Wei Wu's army left the Hetao area.

The army defends the Hetao.

Therefore, to be precise, the tens of thousands of Jiejiao cavalry led by Bosile were the last troops that the Wei State could mobilize.

"...We still don't have enough troops. One versus four is really too much."

After baring his teeth and taking a breath, Zhao Hongrun felt a little headache.

To be fair, if Qin had not existed, he was at least 80% sure that with the existing military strength of Wei, he could beat Han, Qi, and Chu until they could not take care of themselves. However, Qin's attitude was ambiguous, so that he had to

Reserve at least 100,000 troops to prevent Qin from defecting.

This is by no means an unfounded worry of Zhao Run. In fact, last year, after South Korea declared war on Wei, Zhao Run asked the Ministry of Rites to send an envoy to Qin, hoping that Qin would step up its attack on South Korea. In fact, whether the Qin army could

Defeat Li from Yanmen County

Harmony, this is not important in Zhao Run's opinion. What is important is that he wants to ensure that Qin really puts its troops into the battlefield with South Korea, instead of accumulating troops to attack Wei at the most critical time in the future.

A stab in the back.

It is undeniable that the Wei-Qin alliance is very reliable, but it is based on the cooperation of all the countries in the Central Plains. If the Wei State has gradually revealed the terrorist power that can annex the countries in the Central Plains, even if it is Zhao Run, he will consider whether

Wei should be weakened. After all, if Wei is strong enough to unify the Central Plains, then Qin will not be far away from being annexed by Wei.

It was precisely because he thought of this that Zhao Run was very worried about Qin's attitude.

However, what made him a little annoyed was that Qin's ambiguous attitude seemed to be evolving towards the situation he was most worried about. Gongsun Qi, the commander-in-chief of the Qin army stationed in Hetao and Xihe, still blocked Yanmen County but refused to attack it.

, it seems that Qin is also hesitating on which side they should stand in this war.

"If Qin could fully support it, this battle would be much easier to fight..."

Zhao Hongrun thought secretly.

Thinking about this, he couldn't help but think of the officials from the Ministry of Rites who were on a mission to Qin again more than ten days ago. He very much hoped that Tang Ju could persuade Qin.

If Qin cannot be persuaded, Zhao Hongrun also hopes to at least ensure that Qin will not turn against him. Otherwise, the variables in this battle will be too great.
To be continued...