Qin Official

In the Chu Palace in Shouchun, there is a lotus platform with a pool of lotus flowers under the platform. It was June, and the pond under the high platform was full of lotus flowers blooming side by side, and the light fragrance was refreshing.

"We make lotus to make clothes, and gather hibiscus to make clothes. We Chu people love lotus very much. At that time, the last king of Chu often let his concubines wear lotus as clothes and play together in the water."

Cai Ci was walking here and murmured to Fan Zeng who was much older than him behind him: "I remember that thirteen years ago, the Qin army broke into the city. It was also in May and June. As a minister of the King of Chu, I could only witness it. The city was destroyed and the country was destroyed. Princess Ji Mi was unwilling to be humiliated. From the high platform, she jumped down with her beloved raccoon slave in her arms, and died instantly..."

"It's also ironic. Although the country fell, the lotus flowers in this pond have not failed and have grown to this day."

As he spoke, Cai Ci suddenly realized that there was no one around him. When he turned around, Fan Zeng was sitting by the pond, staring at the fish in the pond and smiling: "It's a good place for fishing, no worse than Chao Lake."

Seeing this old man acting like this, Cai Ci stopped beating around the bush and walked back and asked: "Mr. Fan, where did you find that 'great-grandson of King Huai of Chu'? I have been in the palace for many years. He even served as the deputy of Dr. Sanlu, specializing in the family genealogy, but I have never heard of it!"

Cai Ci had been suspicious for a long time. At the end of May, when they had just broken Shouchun, Fan Zeng found an orphan who was sixteen or seventeen years old, saying that he was the "great-great-grandson of King Huai of Chu" and forcibly promoted him to the position of King of Chu. , still called King Huai of Chu.

Cai Ci had some objections to this, but he had no say at the time. Recently, with the black Qin flag falling to the ground and the red Chu flag flying high, all the systems of the former Chu State were restored.

The official system of the Chu State is different from that of Qin, Yan, Qi, and the three Jin Dynasties. This is because the Chu State did not obey the Zhou Dynasty and developed its own system. The official system is more complicated and has unique names. For example, the prime ministers and ministers of Qin and the other five states are called the Chu State. As "Ling Yin".

Fan Zeng strongly recommended Cai Ci for the position of Ling Yin, because Cai Ci was once the "Fang Lord", a noble nobleman who had always been highly virtuous and highly respected, and was the only remaining court official with great achievements. So he promoted him to Ling Yin, and Fan Zeng himself only did a small "" "Zuo Tu" position.

Although he knew that the other person was just using his reputation and had no real power at all, Cai Ci still wanted to ask clearly, otherwise he would never feel comfortable with it.

Facing Cai Ci's question, Fan Zeng only stared at the lotus and said: "I heard that only one lotus seed was planted in this pond full of lotus. After hundreds of years, it became full of colorful lotus. Dare you ask your Majesty? , which one in this pond is the direct descendant of the ancestor of lotus?"

Cai Ci shook his head: "In the past few decades, it has blossomed and changed several times. How can you tell the difference?"

Fan Zeng held up his palms and smiled: "Yes, the so-called direct descendants are difficult to find, but all lotus flowers are descendants of the ancestors. Although they are not the great-great-grandsons of King Huai of Chu, the descendants with the surname Mi cannot be faked..."

In the Chu region, there were not even 10,000 but 8,000 descendants of Mi. Fan Zeng frankly admitted that there was something wrong with the identity of the so-called "great-grandson of King Huai of Chu", and Cai Ci was greatly worried.

Little did he know that Fan Zeng was also in trouble. More than ten years ago, he had hidden a real great-great-grandson of King Huai of Chu, named Xiong Xin, and sent him to his friend Ban Yi. Unexpectedly, the Qin Dynasty issued a migration order, and Ban Yi When Yibei moved to Yanmen, Xiong Xin followed him as a shepherd boy. Fan Zeng had no choice but to find a Xibei product.

Old Man Fan could only say: "Ling Yin feels that now that the harsh winter is over, the most important thing is to find the direct line of lotus? Or try to keep the flowers in the lotus pond blooming longer? At least once the banner of King Huai of Chu was raised, people from all directions Yunji responded, if Ling Yin feels that something is wrong, how about waiting for the restoration of Chu and the destruction of the violent Qin, and then slowly looking for the real descendants of the royal family? "

"The overall situation is the most important thing, and...that's all we can do."

Cai Ci's face was uncertain, and he reminded: "But Fan Zuotu must also be careful. The Chu land is so big and there are many nobles and nobles. I am not the only one who has doubts, such as those three families..."

Fan Zeng smiled: "Although the young general took the post of Shangzhu State by himself, Mo Ao may have given it to Long Qie, but many official positions in Xinbang State, such as Grand Sima, Left and Right Sima, Right Disciple, Sanlu Doctor, etc., were all given to Zhao The three families of , Jing and Qu are keeping it."

"I'm afraid they still don't like these positions."

Cai Ci was still worried. First of all, there were not as many responders as they thought, and many counties still needed to be captured by force. Secondly, the government of the Qin Dynasty was far from "collapsed". It was already four months since Heifu's uprising, and almost three months since Xiang Ji's uprising. However, the "Chu State" only occupied Jiujiang County and slightly crossed the Huaihe River to seize Chen County. There are only a few counties, and among the forces, there are already some debates about where the future will develop...

Just as he was thinking about it, a descendant of the Xiang family came to report: "Ya Fu, Ling Yin, and the young general have returned from Shangcai. They are invited to discuss it. People from Chen County happened to come to submit their orders, and they received another letter from Huaiyang. The letters came from people claiming to be Zhang Er and Chen Yu. They heard that the Major General was raising the flag of righteousness to restore Chu, and he sent a special envoy to make an appointment. He is willing to cooperate internally and externally to seize Huaiyang and Chenjun!"

…

"Huaiyang was the capital of the ancient Paoxi family, and was called the ruins of Dahao. In the early Zhou Dynasty, Empress Shun was granted the title of Guiman here, and it became the state of Chen. Chu destroyed Chen and made it a large county. A few decades ago, King Xiang Xiang came from Jiangling. I moved here and thought I was the capital of Chu..."

"Huaiyang is on the verge of a chasm. It is the key point between the north and the south, controlling the suburbs of Cai and Ying, and connecting the roads of Wanliang and Song Dynasty. With fertile fields and flowing water, it is actually the gateway between Chu and the Central Plains!"

The new arrival, Long Qie, was quite knowledgeable. After sitting for a while, he explained the importance of Huaiyang in a few words.

He looked at Xiang Ji: "As for Zhang Er and Chen Yu, whose names I have heard before, they are both from Daliang in Wei State. Zhang Er is from Waihuang Ling. After Lord Xinling, he is the most famous hero in Liang. Chen Yu is more famous in Zhao land, and the two of them are close friends."

"When Qin destroyed Wei, Zhang Er resisted with all his life. A few years after Qin destroyed Wei, he heard about these two famous people in Wei. He bought Zhang Er's thousand gold and asked for Zhang Er's remaining five hundred gold... Unexpectedly, the two of them were actually... Hidden in Huaiyang City."

In the past ten years, the survivors of the Six Kingdoms have really racked their brains to avoid being pursued by the Qin government. Some like Xiang Ji fell into the trap of bandits, some like Zhang Liang fled overseas, and some like Zhang Er and Chen Yu hid in the There were not many people who came to the city, which was enough to prove the courage and insight of the two people. They wrote a letter saying that they wanted to dedicate the city, which seemed to be somewhat sincere and sure.

Xiang Ji is a little interested in Huaiyang. It was the place where Lord Changping fought in the first war. Three thousand people in the city raised their arms and defeated the Qin army. If he could capture it, it would definitely shock the world!

So he said: "My father, Yu Fanjun, Chen Sheng and others who have recently defected from Chen County have also asked me to give them an army to take Huaiyang from the north and capture the Chen area, so that they can go north to the Central Plains!"

Unexpectedly, Fan Zeng disagreed: "Going north to the Central Plains, what are you going to do? To be attacked head-on by the main force of the Qin army?"

Yingbu, who was listening in the audience, said matter-of-factly: "When I go to the Central Plains, I naturally want to kill the violent Qin..."

Fan Zeng glared at him: "The restored Chu State is no larger than a county in Jiujiang and has less than 20,000 soldiers. Even if it goes north, how can it resist Qin's hundreds of thousands of troops?"

He laughed and said: "Fortunately, Heifu is the leader, and he keeps saying that he wants to conquer Jingnan in the north, which attracts the attention of the Qin court. Now all the arrangements and troop deployments in Xianyang are to eliminate Heifu, this big problem. The army They gathered in Nanyang to confront Nanjun, and they didn't care about the 'group of thieves' like us."

"If the Chu army goes to Huaiyang at this moment, it will undoubtedly remind Qin Ting to let other people divide their forces to attack. It will share the pressure on Heifu. Major General, Long Mo Ao, the Chu country can do such a thing that harms itself and benefits others. What's the matter?"

Cai Ci echoed: "In the past, when King Wu Fu Chai's country was not stable, he hurriedly went north to fight for hegemony. As a result, the whole country fell. How can we follow suit? Zuo Tu is right. Only by first gaining power and regaining the old land of Chu can the violent Qin be destroyed. .”

Fan Zeng nodded: "Huaiyang is important, but at this moment, Chu State must not be captured! For the current plan, we must capture the land of Dong Chu as soon as possible!"

The so-called Dongchu refers to Donghai County and Kuaiji County in Jiangdong, so there are three places in Zhang County.

Fan Zeng talked eloquently: "Donghai County blocks the Huaihe River from the sea, connects Qiju to the north, and Wuhui to the south. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Fu Chai wanted to connect to China and went out of Jianghuai, so he engaged in this. There were tens of thousands of households in Donghai County, no less than Jiujiang, coupled with abundant food, fertile fields with capital for colonization, and Ark's canal transport, can alleviate the shortage of Chu State."

"And Jiangdong is the place where Chunshen Lord Huang Xie has been operating for a long time. The people of Jiangdong are strong and brave. If they can get their help, Chu's military strength will be doubled! After the major general has captured these two places, he will send a general to the north to capture Surabaya. After the county is connected to Qi and Lu, the power of the Chu State has been established. It is not too late to sit back and watch the two tigers of Qin Ting and Hei Fu fight to take advantage of it!"

Xiang also lost no time in making suggestions: "Young General, Donghai County is also our hometown. When I came here, I heard that Uncle Xiang Xiangzu and Uncle Xiang Sheng were leading the old tribe of Xiang's descendants to fight fiercely with the Qin army. Why not Strike it!"

"That's it."

Xiang Ji stood up and after some deliberations, the future strategic direction of the restored Chu State was finalized.

"Ling Yin, Yafu, and Zhongli Mei stayed in Shouchun to train the 10,000 newly recruited soldiers."

"Long Qie and I will lead an army of seven thousand to Donghai County and cross the Huaihe River to support the Prime Minister!"

"Yingbu, take 3,000 men and raft across the river to capture Jiangdong!"

…

Time flew by so fast that in late June, Cai Ci and Fan Zeng, who stayed behind in Shouchun, received the good news from Xiang Ji:

It took only ten days for him to lead his army eastwards, but under the banner of Chu and Xiang Yan, Xiang Yu had already conquered Yi (Jiangsu Yi). Young heroes from Dongyang County responded (Jiangsu Tianchang) and they successfully crossed the Huaihe River. Engaged with the Prime Minister's rebels.

Xiang Ji also learned that Xiang Juan and the Korean noble Zhang Liang had made trouble in Xiapi and had captured the area.

The rest of the army gathered thousands of people to punish the Qin officials for their rebellion, and there were countless others. The situation in Donghai County was excellent!

But there is also bad news, coming from Surabaya County.

Qin Jia from Ling County, Dong Xuan from Zhi County, Zhu Jishi from Fuli County, Zheng Bu from Qilu County, Ding Ji from Xu County, etc., before and after Xiang Ji raised his army, also took action one after another. They each occupied the counties in their hometowns and joined forces to form one. They attacked Pengcheng with 5,000 or 6,000 men. I don’t know whether they had not received the news of the "restoration of Chu" or had other plans. They openly supported Jing Ju, an old noble of Chu, and called him the King of Chu!

At this time, two Chu kings appeared in the Chu land...

"not good!"

Fan Zeng secretly said something was wrong. Xiang Ji was furious in the letter and wanted to lead his men to attack Qin Jia and Jing Ju in Pengcheng.

But the worst is yet to come.

A few days later, Yingbu, who had captured Guangling County (Yangzhou, Jiangsu), sent Xiang Ta to report: "There is a boat division crossing the river! Chu soldiers cannot cross!"

"Captain? Where did the boat master come from in Jiangdong?" Cai Ci was stunned, but Fan Zeng understood. He calculated the distance and time with his fingers and sighed:

"It's really fast, but we are still one step behind him..."

Sure enough, Xiang Tao said: "Those buildings and ships are under the banner of the Northern Expeditionary Army!"

"It's the Nanhai Navy Master under Hei Fu!"

…

ps: There is only one chapter today