Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 271 Not a vase
It was only after he was bullied by the same method of tit for tat that Xiang Kang really realized how disgusting and disgusting he was in the middle of a scheming. Even if he could see the enemy's vicious intentions at a glance, he knew that Li Shang would never rebel easily However, because Li Shang's elder brother Li Shiqi was controlled by the Western Chu army, Xiang Kang was still secretly worried, for fear that Li Shang would be moved by family affection and do something stupid.

Not daring to be careless, Xiang Kang also used the excuse that there were nomadic invasions in Longxi, so that the Han army in the Chencang area entered a state of combat readiness, ready to raid and take down the old road at any time, so that the main force of the Han army could quickly go south to Hanzhong and Bashu to suppress the rebellion.

Fortunately, Li Shang finally made the right choice, truthfully explained what happened to Xiang Kang, and also publicly stated that he would rather sacrifice his brother than betray Xiang Kang's loyalty. In addition to setting an example of loyal ministers, Li Shang also allowed Li Shang, who was most familiar with the situation in Hanzhong, Bashu, to continue to sit on the southern line to protect the southwestern rear of the Han army.

However, the contest between Xiang Kang and Xiang Yu under the table was just the beginning. During Zhang Liang's journey to the south, Zhao Guo sent envoys to Xianyang to contact Xiang Kang, and demanded that Xiang Kang give up on Shangdang County in an ultimatum tone. Territorial claims, as well as sending troops to help Zhao's army pinch Zhang Han, Sima Xin and Dong Yi's coalition of three kings, otherwise Zhao will break off the alliance with the Han army and form an alliance with Xiang Yu instead.

Xiang Kang knew very well that Zhao Guo was unreliable at all, and he knew that if Zhao Guo didn't want to use himself to keep Daijun, he would definitely break off diplomatic relations with him without hesitation and fall into Xiang Yu's warm and broad embrace instead.In order to retaliate with an eye and use Zhao Guo to continue to contain the coalition forces of the three kings in Guanzhong, Xiang Kang deliberately ambiguously ordered Chen Hui to be his plenipotentiary representative to go to Julu to negotiate face-to-face with Zhao Guo, and secretly instructed Chen Hui to delay the negotiation time as much as possible so that Zhao Guo's attitude of not being sure whether to defend Daijun with all his strength also made Zhao Guo bear the anger of Xiang Yu's persecution and threats.

After Chen Hui sent out, not long after, the agents of the Han army under Chen Ping sent an urgent report, saying that they discovered that Xiang Yu had secretly contacted Ziying and incited Ziying to lead the rebellion of the old officials of the Qin court who refused to submit to the Han army. At the same time, Ziying also concealed Xiang Yu's letter, obviously harboring ulterior motives.

Of course, Xiang Kang would never hesitate to deal with such evils of the Qin court as Ziying. In a rage, Xiang Kang immediately sent someone to search Ziying's mansion. The old officials of the court did not know when they wrote the secret letter to Ziying, the letter encouraging Ziying to rebel against the Han Dynasty and restore the country. Xiang Kang became furious when he heard the report, and for the first time he had the heart of killing and surrendering, intending to kill Ziying directly once and for all.

Tang Bing, Duke of Dongyuan, one of Shangshan Sihao, resolutely stopped Xiang Kang's impulse, and persuaded: "King of Han, Ziying deserves to die, but he beheaded Zhao Gao, the giant traitor of Qin State, and saved the Guanzhong land from the flames of war." Don't worry, I took the initiative to lead the tyrants of the Qin Dynasty to surrender to you. I have made great contributions to the people of Qin and won the hearts of the people. Now the king's territory is full of the old land of Qin. If Ziying is executed, it will definitely disappoint the old people of Qin. Once and for all, but the gains outweigh the losses, King Wanwang acted calmly."

"Your Majesty, the hearts of the people can be used but not lost." Xiahuang Gong Cui Guang also persuaded: "Ziying has made mistakes, and he has made meritorious deeds. If he is killed easily, he will lose the popularity of the people of Qin. Instead of killing him, it is better to make his crimes known to the public and let Qin The local people all know that he did not hesitate to let the people in Guanzhong suffer for the sake of restoration, and they were disappointed in him. Then he was spared the death penalty and kept under strict supervision to show the magnanimity of the King of Han, so as to win the hearts of the people of Qin. All the old ministers of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty who were rebellious during the restoration of Ying were killed, so as to serve as an example to others."

After thinking about it for a moment, considering that he, an outsider, chopped up Ziying who had made great contributions to all the people in Guanzhong, and would indeed arouse the resentment of the people in Guanzhong who had been saved by Ziying, Xiang Kang decisively accepted Shangshan Sihao's persuasion, and first took Ziying with him. The ironclad evidence of the foreign enemy's internal response and external cooperation was made public, and then Ziying's death crime was pardoned in the name of Ziying's meritorious service in leading the crowd to surrender.In addition, several old officials of the Qin court who secretly colluded with Ziying were executed in public on the streets of Xianyang, and chickens were killed for monkeys to warn those old officials of the Qin court who had illusions.

The matter was not over yet, on the second day when people were killed on the streets of Xianyang, Zhang Liang finally sent someone to send an urgent report, telling Xiang Kang that he had successfully appeased Li Shang, but before Xiang Kang was happy, Wang Ling, a general of the Han army who joined the Young Marshal Army in Nanyang before, came to Xiang Kang again, and confessed to Xiang Kang with tears streaming down his face, saying that Xiang Yu had captured all his family members in Peixian County to Pengcheng, and wrote to threaten him. The traitor defected to Chu, acted as an internal response to Xiang Yu, and presented the letter secretly handed over to him by Xiang Yu's envoy.

Xiang Kang really had no other choice this time, he could only hold Wang Ling up in person with tears streaming down his face, comforted Wang Ling with good words, and thanked Wang Ling for his devotion and loyalty to him. Weeping together with Wang Ling, and in the end, like Li Shang, Xiang Kang could only continue to reward Wang Ling heavily on the spot, and thank Wang Ling for his great sacrifice with a title.

Fortunately, Wang Ling is a very politically minded general, so he resolutely declined Xiang Kang's kind reward, and said clearly: "Your Majesty, I must not accept your reward. In our army, the family members are still in Huaihe River." There are thousands of generals and soldiers in Si. If everyone is rewarded like his subordinates, not only will you not be able to bear it, but our army will also be ruined soon. Since General Xin Chengjun Li Shang took the lead in sacrificing his brother, let This humble minister has come to take this head and decline your reward."

Hearing this, Xiang Kang was of course overjoyed, but he hypocritically insisted that Wang Ling must be rewarded. Wang Ling insisted on refusing, and you pushed me to make way. Xiang Kang repaired the steps and said loudly: "King of Han, General Wangling refuses to confer rewards, and he is a national scholar! If the King of Han respects General Wangling as a national scholar, he must act as a national scholar of the whole Wangling General! Please take back the order, so that no outsiders will come here. Laughing at General Wang's hypocrisy behind his back, trading his family for glory and wealth!"

Xiang Kang was stunned when he heard the words, and then under the persuasion of Shangshan Sihao, he withdrew the reward given to Wang Ling by the donkey under the slope, which not only saved the title, money, food and food, but also sold a favor to Wang Ling— —This king did this in order to fulfill your reputation.At the same time, Xiang Kang praised in his heart: "These four old guys really don't just look at good-looking political vases, they really have a little bit of real talent and learning."

Both Xiang Kang and Wang Ling did the right thing. He insisted on rejecting Xiang Kang's kindness. After the news spread quickly, many of the Han soldiers whose relatives and relatives were still in Huaisi no longer harbored illusions. After the threat, he could immediately get Xiang Kang's reward and compensation, and people's hearts were no longer fluctuating. At the same time, after Li Shang learned of this, he immediately wrote a letter to refuse the extra reward Xiang Kang gave him, and offered to help Xiang Kang to strictly control Han. The reward discipline of the army is not mentioned later.

Closer to home, after swearing that he would never forget Wang Ling's achievements and loyalty, Wang Ling had just left when Xiang Kang kicked over the case in front of him, and shouted extremely angrily: "Shameless villain! Specially take other people's wives and children I'm not that shameless for making threats!"

"This is indeed a troublesome matter." Chen Ping also frowned and said: "Your Majesty, you raised your troops in Huaisi, and most of the family members of the backbone of the army are in Huaisi. If the King of Western Chu still refuses to give up and insists on doing this , Our internal hidden dangers will definitely continue. After all, it is impossible for everyone to be as public and selfless as the two generals Li Shang and Wang Ling, and not accept the trick of being blackmailed by the King of Western Chu. "

"Is there any way to deal with it?" Xiang Kang asked casually.

Chen Ping shook his head and said helplessly: "No, unless we can take back the land of Huaisi as soon as possible and save our soldiers' families, these hidden dangers will only exist forever."

Xiang Kang refused to give up, and after thinking about it, he said: "How about this? Directly declare in the form of a letter that anyone who dares to kill the family members of our Han army will flee to the ends of the earth in the future, and we will definitely kill them all!"

"Your Majesty's actions will only harm your soldiers' families." Cui Guang immediately issued a warning, saying: "If Your Majesty does this, the King of Xichu will definitely understand that you care about your soldiers' families very much, and will use your soldiers even more. The family members made a fuss, and even deliberately forced his soldiers to kill your soldiers' family members, so that his soldiers have no way to retreat, and they can only resolutely fight against you!"

After hearing Cui Guang's analysis, Xiang Kang, who rarely came up with a bad idea, quickly shut up, not daring to give Xiang Yu the opportunity to rectify himself.Tang Bingze said: "King of Han, the best way to deal with your soldiers' families is to ignore them and deliberately ignore them. Only in this way will the King of Western Chu feel that they are useless and forget their existence." , to give you a chance to rescue them in the future, Your Majesty."

Xiang Kang nodded helplessly, and admitted that this is the only way that is more reliable at present, and then, Xiang Kang, who was disgusted during this period of time, became angry again, and the evil turned to the gall, and said viciously: "This time As for the time, we absolutely can’t forget about it like this. My elder brother is playing tricks on me, and if I don’t retaliate immediately, he will only think that I’m afraid of him! The envoy sent by Sima Yang, what’s the situation now? How is it?"

"According to the king's order, he is still locked up." Chen Ping replied: "But the people below reported that he had asked to leave and return to Luoyang several times."

"Hurry up and discuss how to use this idiot to make a fuss, and in turn drive a wedge between my elder brother and the people around him." Xiang Kang said more fiercely: "My elder brother has arranged such a careful separation plan this time, he must be determined to win. , now that his plan has failed, we just need to seize the opportunity to release fake news immediately, making my elder brother think that there is a mole around him, and inform us of the secret first, which will make him fail. With his bear temper, he will definitely win Let's kill people!"

Chen Ping, who had the same taste as Xiang Kang, applauded, and immediately said: "My lord, let's just come here with a big one this time, and directly attack the most trusted confidantes of King Xichu, and try to cut off one of his important wings directly."

"Then who are you going to attack?" Xiang Kang immediately asked, "Cao Jiu? Fan Zeng? Or Huan Chu, Ji Bu, the fierce generals under my elder brother's command?"

(Xiang Bo wiped off his cold sweat, "Amitabha, fortunately this master is not qualified.")
Chen Ping made some calculations, and quickly said: "How about Fan Zuoshi? The minister believes that with Fan Zuoshi's personality and previous methods of doing things, it is absolutely impossible to arrange such a careful and vicious plan to propose a plan to the King of Western Chu. It must be someone else."

"In this case, why don't we try to release the news, saying that Fan Zuoshi was jealous that others were smarter than him, and secretly sent someone to inform us, so that we knew that General Li Shang was wronged early in the morning, so we were honest with General Li Shang , Cracked the divorce plan of King Xichu, King Xichu must be furious when he heard about it, even if he didn’t attack Fan Zuoshi, he would definitely alienate him from now on, without Fan Zuoshi to advise him in the military, we will do it again in the future It will definitely be much easier when fighting against the King of Western Chu."

It was rare for Xiang Kang not to immediately adopt Chen Ping's proposal. After hesitating for a moment, Xiang Kang also said: "It's not safe enough. I know Fan Zuoshi's talent and ability very well. He just disdains the despicable tricks of robbing dogs, but he may not be incapable of arranging them." Without such a thorough plan, if he really set up the divorce plan this time, then our hard work will be in vain."

Without God's perspective, Chen Ping did not dare to completely rule out this possibility. He could only frowned and said, "Then who should we attack? Cao Jiu? He and Fan Zuoshi have always been close, so it is impossible for Fan Zuoshi to betray the king of Western Chu because of jealousy? Huan Chu, Ji Bu..."

When Chen Ping was thinking about the target of revenge, Shangshan Sihao, who was also in the hall, had finished discussing in a low voice, and then Tang Bing came forward and said with a smile: "My lord, can you let us bad old men say a few words? The four of us Although I am old, but now I am eating your salary, I still hope to serve you a little bit, and repay your kindness."

"Mr. Dongyuan, please speak freely without hesitation." Xiang Kang said with a busy smile, "Xiao Wang didn't take the initiative to ask for your opinions, because he was worried that the four of you are highly respected and don't like Xiao Wang's tricks to harm people."

"There are only high and low stratagems, no distinction between high and low." Wu Shi said with a smile: "We four bad old men all believe in Huang-Lao's teachings. Huang-Lao's teachings not only never exclude stratagems, but the ancestor Gui Guzi is also a generation of sages. All of my disciples are famous for their strategies, and we old men are helping you to set up an enemy, the king, in order to live up to what we have learned in our hearts."

Unexpectedly, the famous Shangshan Sihao would be so open-minded. Of course, Xiang Kang was overjoyed, and hurriedly saluted Shangshan Sihao to thank him, and respectfully asked for advice.Only then did Tang Bingye say: "Your Majesty, based on the humble opinion of the few of us, in the face of such an opportunity, whether you, Your Majesty, and Chen Hujun are planning to alienate Fan Zeng or Cao Jiu, the cronies of the Western Chu King, or the Western Chu King's The powerful general Huan Chu or the Chu army are always throwing away the basics and chasing after the waste, because the small loses the big."

"Fan Zeng and Fan Zuo Shi are indeed talented, and he is the king of Western Chu's powerful help." Mr. Luli Zhou Shu said: "But in the opinion of an old man, his intelligence and ability are still far inferior to you and Chen Hujun, the King of Han, and they are not enough at all. For fear, there is no need to list him as your chief enemy. As for Cao Jiu, Huan Chu, and Ji Bu, they are either mediocre, or reckless and brave. Let the king of Western Chu appoint other sages."

"So now that you have this opportunity, Your Majesty, you must go straight to your heart and get rid of your real serious troubles for Your Majesty with the help of King Xichu!" The detached appearance of an expert outside the world.

"My real serious trouble?" Xiang Kang was extremely curious, and hurriedly asked: "Four gentlemen, in your opinion, who is my real serious trouble?"

"Do you feel, Your Majesty, that Emperor Chuyi's bear heart is more harmful to you than the few civil and military confidants of King Xichu?" Wu Shi said with a smile: "Although Emperor Chuyi has no soldiers and no power, he is just the king of Western Chu. However, as the co-lord of the world elected by the princes outside the pass, he can not only entrust the princes in a legitimate manner, but also use the reputation of the emperor to order the princes of the world to crusade against non-subjects."

"With Emperor Chu Yi in hand, the King of Western Chu can use the honor of the Son of Heaven to ennoble your ministers at any time, separate the King from your military and martial arts just like General Li Shang, and let the King of Western Chu use military tactics to make you famous. The king obeys the order." Zhou Shu chimed in and said, "So if Emperor Chu Yi is not eliminated, you will be an enemy of the world for a day, and the princes outside the pass, whether they want to or not, must at least fight against you in terms of reputation. Under the banner of Emperor Chuyi, I am hostile to you, the king, and let you be the enemy with every eye, and you will be helpless!"

Xiang Kang nodded slowly, and Tang Bing said again: "If you can use this opportunity to design the king of Western Chu to be extinct from the world, then the situation in the world will become extremely beneficial to you, my lord. First of all, there is no If you set up the banner of Emperor Chuyi, the King of Western Chu has no orthodox name to command the world. The second is that the throne that the King of Western Chu canonized is not as legitimate as the one that Emperor Chuyi canonized. The third is that the King of Western Chu will treat you in the future. Using troops, not only is there no name for the troops, but also the princes outside the pass can find various excuses to refuse, so they don’t have to be forced to be enemies with you, Your Majesty.”

"In addition, there are two more important points." Wu Shi continued: "One is that if the King of Western Chu kills Emperor Yi of Chu, the hearts of the princes of the world will be scattered. Your Majesty, you can fight as much as you want, divide the princes of the world, and crush the King of Western Chu in one fell swoop. The daydream that trapped you to death in the pass. The second is that when your majesty has the strength to send troops outside the pass in the future, it will be a famous teacher, and the name is justified!"

"Your Majesty, the King of Western Chu is your cousin." Zhou Shu said with a smile: "Beating a brother with a brother is a petty crime, which will inevitably attract criticism, but revenge for Emperor Yi is a matter of course, and it is difficult for people in the world to support it." .”

Xiang Kang listened attentively, and after Shangshan Sihao had finished speaking, Xiang Kang sighed and said to Chen Ping: "Mr. Chen Ping, after hearing what Dongyuan Gong and Mr. Luli said, do you have any questions?" Didn't you realize that both of us are still too young, and our horizons are really too small?"

"I also feel the same way." Chen Pingran nodded, and said, "Compared with the four seniors, Duke Dongyuan and Mr. Luli, the structure of this servant is really too small."

Xiang Kang didn't speak anymore, just bowed his hands to Shangshan Sihao to thank him, and then said in his heart: "It's really not a political vase, with the help of these four seasoned old foxes, I will definitely be able to relax a lot in the future."

(End of this chapter)