Summoning the world to be one

Chapter 471 Xiang's Future

Chapter 4 Seventy: Xiang's Future
In the 23rd year of Qianyuan, on August [-]th, General Dong Zhong of the Zhao Army accepted the surrender of [-] Chu troops headed by Generals Chen Feng and Jiang Zi of the Chu Army in Luxian County, and sent troops to escort Chen Feng and Jiang Zi after accepting the surrender. Zi and other generals of the Chu army went to Pengcheng, while [-] soldiers of the Chu army stayed in Lu County to be recruited by the Zhao army.

In the 23rd year of Qianyuan, on August 23th, Li Rubing, the commander-in-chief of the Zhao army, marched eastward and gathered 25 elite soldiers under Dong Zhong in Lu County. On August [-]th, the [-]rd year of Qianyuan, he surrounded Xiapi City The battle is about to start.

At the same time, the 23 Zhao army under Leyun in Peijun launched a fierce attack on the remaining land of Peijun after learning that Li Rubing had broken through Pengcheng. Hong County, the last city in the east, went northward, broke through several cities along the way, and joined forces with Li Rubing's main force at Xiapi City on the ninth day of September. Finally, the main force of the 30 Chu army that went south to attack Chu joined forces at Xiapi City .

When Le Yun's troops arrived at Xiapi City, Li Rubing had already launched a fierce attack on Xiapi City for ten consecutive days, but still failed to shake Xiapi City by half a point, but it was not without progress. Ten days of hard work Of the 2 Chu troops in Xiapi city, there were less than [-] left, and more than one-third of them were wounded. Zhao Jun also dropped more than [-] corpses under Xiapi city. The casualties on both sides were very tragic. .

In the 23rd year of Qianyuan, on September [-]th, after a month of onslaught, the Zhao army finally succeeded in knocking on the gate of Xiapi City by virtue of its huge advantage in strength, and wiped out [-] Chu troops, Yu Zilong and Zhang's brothers. He died in battle, and Zhao Jun himself suffered more than [-] casualties, which shows the tragic situation of the battle.

After the capture of Xiapi City, the Zhao army was in urgent need of rest due to continuous operations and heavy casualties, so Li Rubing led his troops to garrison Xiapi City, and continued to march after the army rested.

At this time, an army of soldiers and horses appeared outside Guangling City, the prefecture of Guangling County. The number of soldiers was less than 3000, and there were a large number of old and weak women and children inside. In order not to be discovered by the Zhao army, they did not dare to take the main road, and marched along the trail along the way. In addition, there were many old and weak women and children in the army, so the marching speed was very slow. After more than a month, they finally came Arrived at Guangling City on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

When Xiang Quan arrived at Guangling City, the gates of Guangling City opened wide, and a teenage boy in brocade clothes, surrounded by elite soldiers of the Chu Army, walked out slowly. When he saw Xiang Quan, The boy in brocade clothes couldn't wait to trot up, came to Xiang Quan, and asked anxiously: "General Xiang, Pengcheng has really fallen, is the father really in heaven?" This boy in brocade clothes is Xiang Jing, the third prince of Chu, Since Chu Kingdom recovered Guangling County, he was sent by King Xiang Kuang of Chu to guard Guangling. Since it was far away from Pengcheng, although he had heard about what happened in Pengcheng, he didn't know much about it.

Faced with Xiang Jing's question, Xiang Quan lowered his head and said with tears in his face, "Yes, Your Highness, Pengcheng has fallen, and the King brought His Royal Highness, Fan Xiang and many little princes and wives in the palace to burn themselves on Bawang temple."

"Ah! Li Rubing, I will never die with you!" Although he had already been mentally prepared, Xiang Jing was still very sad when he heard the sad news, and shouted to the sky, wanting to die with Li Rubing.

Xiang Quan comforted Xiang Jing: "Your Highness, now is not the time to be sad, Zhao Jun will soon hit Guangling, so we need to discuss a countermeasure now, otherwise Guangling City will repeat the mistakes of Pengcheng." Now It's not a time of grief, Zhao Jun's going south this time is to completely destroy Chu State, Zhao Jun can't be satisfied just taking down a Pengcheng, so it's only a matter of time before they reach Guangling.

Came to the palace in Guangling City. This palace was built in the heyday of Chu State. live.

The side hall of Bawang Hall in Guangling Palace, all the palaces in Guangling Palace have the same name as Pengcheng Palace, and the main hall is also called Bawang Hall, but the specifications of the main hall are relatively high, so Xiang Jing usually handles government affairs in the side hall.

Xiang Jing sat in his seat, and after having the people who came with Xiang Quan settle down, he entertained Xiang Quan and his party in the side hall.

"Your Highness, in order to avoid Zhao Jun's eyes and ears, I can only walk a small path or a mountain road along the way, so the news is a bit blocked. I don't know how the current situation in the Central Plains is?" After drinking for three rounds, Xiang Quan asked Xiang Jing Starting from the situation in the Central Plains.

When Xiang Jing heard Xiang Quan's question, he winked at his general Zhu Bing and motioned him to answer. After Zhu Bing understood, he said to Xiang Quan: "General Xiang, since the fall of Pengcheng, the Zhao army has An offensive was launched against other parts of our Great Chu. A month ago, the general Chen Feng and the hussar general Jiang Zi led [-] elite soldiers to surrender to the Zhao army. The entire Pei County has also fallen into the hands of the Zhao army. Xiapi has been besieged for nearly a month, and I am afraid it is not far from breaking the city! "

"That is to say, only Guangling is still a piece of pure land in the four counties of Chu State..." After listening to Zhu Bing's words, Xiang Quan sighed and said that the four counties of Chu State, Pei County, and Pengcheng County have already been destroyed. It fell into the hands of Zhao Jun, and Xiapi County is not far away, and there is only one Guangling County left. Thinking of what Fan Ting said to him before leaving, Xiang Quan felt that Fan Ting's suggestion was the Chu royal family The last way out, now if you want to keep the blood of the Xiang family, you can only seek refuge in Deng Guo.

"General Xiang, now only Guangling County is left in my Great Chu. Now Guangling County and the soldiers and horses brought by General Xiang have a total of more than [-] soldiers and horses. How should I fight Zhao Jun in the future? Let General Xiang give you an idea." !" When Xiang Quan was about to persuade Xiang Jing to join Deng, Xiang Jing spoke first.

Hearing Xiang Jing's words, Xiang Quan couldn't help shaking his head, which made Xiang Jing very puzzled, so he asked, "What does General Xiang mean by this? Could it be that Xiang Jing is too young to take on important responsibilities?"

Xiang Quan shook his head and said: "Your Highness, I don't mean that, I just tell Your Highness the truth, the eldest prince heir, the fourth prince was captured and killed by Zhao Jun in Peicheng, and the second prince was in Xiapi City. Under the control of Yu Zilong, once the Zhao army breaks through the city, I am afraid it will be more or less ominous. Most of the rest of the people will follow the king to burn themselves in the Overlord Hall. Now there is only one person left. It doesn't matter if it continues, what's important is that the Xiang clan needs to preserve their blood, so continue!"

"What does General Xiang mean?" This made Xiang Jing even more puzzled. We are talking about how to fight against Zhao Jun, but what are you talking about about the preservation and continuation of blood?

Xiang Quan said: "Your Majesty's will for my ministers is to use Guangling County as a bargaining chip to merge into Deng State, seek Deng State's asylum, and preserve the blood of my Xiang family!" Fan Ting originally said this to him, but Although Fan Ting is the prime minister, he is only a courtier, so if Xiang Quan tells Xiang Jing that this is what Fan Ting meant, Xiang Jing may not pay attention at all, so Xiang Quan can only directly move out Xiang Kuang and tell Xiang Jing that this is Xiang Kuang's meaning.

Xiang Jing was stunned. He was just a teenager. Except for being taken to Linzi in his early years, he had not suffered any major hardships in his life. Even in Linzi, he was protected by his father, Xiang Kuang. So life is relatively smooth, and suddenly faced with such a disaster of subjugation, he was at a loss for a while. Before, he thought that it would not be easy to continue to fight Zhao Jun, but now Xiang Quan asked him to bring the entire Guangling County to join Deng Guo , which left Xiang Jing at a loss as to what to do.

At the critical moment, the general Zhu Bing broke the embarrassment and asked Xiang Quan directly: "General Xiang, the last general did not question General Xiang's words, let alone whether this is what the king meant, even if it was, Deng Guo did not He will definitely go to war for us and Zhao Guoda, if Deng Guo really cares about us, he will not stand still until now, and sit back and watch Zhao Jun attack me Dachu!"

Hearing Zhu Bing's words, Xiang Quan smiled sadly and said, "Your Highness, General Zhu, of course Deng Guo doesn't care about us, but Deng Guo cares about Guangling County. The Yangtze River faces each other. Since Jiangdong entered the Deng Kingdom, it has always been the most stable rear of the Deng Kingdom. The Deng Kingdom will never allow Jiangdong to be threatened in any way. Once the Zhao Kingdom occupies Guangling County, it can directly threaten Jiangdong. How could Deng Guo sit back and watch Guangling County fall into the hands of Zhao Guo? If I guessed correctly, I am afraid that Deng Guo's soldiers and horses in Huainan have already made some moves!"

Hearing Xiang Quan's words, both Xiang Jing and Zhu Bing nodded silently, and Zhu Bing said: "According to the report from the spies, Deng Guoyong Pingwei has moved to the border of Guangling, and the defenders on the border are still asking His Highness whether to take action, but His Highness I am concerned about Deng Guo, so I just asked the frontier army to take precautions, but it is said that Deng Guo's general Yue Fei has arrived in Huainan, and his movements are unknown."

"That's right!" After listening to Zhu Bing's words, Xiang Quan had such an expression, and then said to Xiang Jing: "Your Highness, Deng Guo's ambition for Guangling County has been clearly revealed. Attitude, they will not come to rescue us, they can only come and go to Guangling County. If His Highness does not make any decisions, Guangling will soon face the north-south attack of Zhao Jun and Deng Jun. If we fall into the hands of Deng Jun Okay, but once it falls into the hands of Zhao Jun, I am afraid there will be no chance of survival. Even if it falls into the hands of Deng Guo, it will not be easy. Since the result will not change in any way, why not choose a better one? What about the future?"

Xiang Quan's words made Xiang Jing and Zhu Bing completely silent. Yes, the result will not change. Whether it is desperate resistance or seeking refuge in Deng Guo, the final result is nothing but subjugation of the country, but taking the initiative to seek refuge in Deng Guo In China, they can still get preferential treatment, and maybe they will be appointed officials and knights, but if they resist to the death, at best, they will be captured by Deng Jun, and at worst, they will die at the hands of Zhao Jun. How should we choose? Is it already clear at a glance.

After a long time, Xiang Jing and Zhu Bing looked at each other the same way, then Xiang Jing sighed and said: "It seems that I really have no strength to recover, that's all, then obey the king's wishes and preserve the blood of my Xiang family. , General Zhu, immediately send someone to Huainan to meet Yue Fei, tell Yue Fei what His Royal Highness means, and tell him that the Zhao army is marching very quickly, and the city of Xiapi will be destroyed sooner or later, and there is not much time left for him and us Guangling , I hope he can seize the time!"

"Here!" Zhu Bing replied, swearing to the death is integrity, and taking refuge in Deng Guo is to save one's life. Faced with the choice between integrity and life, all the Chu people present chose life.

(End of this chapter)