Plan to cut off the nine states

Xu Chu had a splitting headache, but he still had to maintain a calm expression on his face and smile from time to time. Under no circumstances could he show any confusion or uneasiness in front of the guards.

"Go and summon Tian Jiang." Xu Chu said.

Tang Weitian said in surprise: "The person who killed General Song?"

Xu Chu nodded.

"He must be tied up and more guards must be called..."

"No need to trouble, no need to suspect anyone, no doubts about employing people. Now that Tianjiao has been pardoned, he can no longer be treated as a prisoner."

The other guards in the tent all showed signs of injustice.

All the young men captured in Dongdu were conscripted into the army, including Tian Jiang. Most of the Wu soldiers were in the front, and only about a hundred guards remained behind. They always stayed with the King of Wu, although his decision was never raised. I objected, feeling somewhat dissatisfied.

Xu Chu said to the guards: "If you want to gain his power, you must first gain his heart. My pardoning other Dongdu people will not win the hearts of Luozhou soldiers as much as pardoning the field craftsmen."

The guards understood this and no one said anything.

Tang Weitian quickly called Tian Jiang over.

Tian Jiang was dressed as a soldier, but he was not equipped with weapons. After entering the tent, he just handed over his hand and refused to show respect to the King of Wu like ordinary soldiers.

Xu Chu looked at Tian Jiang and suddenly couldn't remember the purpose of summoning this person. After a while, he said: "Master Fei's whereabouts are unknown. Have you heard about his whereabouts?"

Tian Jiang shook his head, "How can a prisoner be more informed than the King of Wu?"

"Some people say that Mr. Fei is probably following Queen Mother Luan. Mr. Fei keeps his word."

"Of course, Mr. Fei does what he says. What's even more rare is that he doesn't care about success or failure, he only asks about right and wrong. There are very few people like him in the world."

"'Don't care about success or failure, just ask about right and wrong.' When Mr. Fei thinks like this, it already means that he will never succeed."

"The King of Wu is successful because of confusion and conspiracy. The more successful the King of Wu is, the more unlucky the people around him will be!"

The guard shouted, but Tian Jiang was unmoved and insisted on finishing.

Tang Weitian stood behind Tian Jiang, reaching out and holding the stick, waiting for an order or a look from King Wu.

Xu Chu smiled, feeling so tired that he didn't even have the energy to get angry.

"You guys step back, I want to have a few words with Zhuangshi Tian alone."

"Grand Governor..." Tang Weitian was extremely worried.

Xu Chu waved his hand, and his conversation with Sun Yalu almost exhausted his last bit of energy.

Tang Weitian had no choice but to follow the guards out of the tent and went outside. They looked at each other and felt that King Wu was behaving strangely, but no one wanted to say anything.

There were only two people left in the tent, and Tian Jiang still looked arrogant.

Xu Chu sat sideways on a chair, looked at Tian Jiang, and suddenly felt envious, "You never regret."

"I regret that I did too many stupid things when I was young. I regret that I didn't wake up earlier and caused my mother to suffer a lot. I also regret that I couldn't help Mr. Fei to defend Dongdu. If I could have taken action that night when King Wu came to negotiate alone. , things may take a turn for the better.”

"'Regardless of success or failure, just ask right and wrong', Tian Zhuangshi can't do it, at least you regret it." Xu Chu said with a smile.

Tian Jiang sighed, "I'm not Mr. Fei, I'm just an ordinary citizen."

"You are not ordinary, and your so-called regrets are not true regrets, because you still do things the same as you did when you were young. You move forward bravely and are good at exploiting the opponent's fear, so as to give full play to your three-point strength."

"It just looks like ten points." Tian Jiang sighed again, "A country can be changed easily, but a true nature cannot be changed. This is my nature. King Wu saw through this, so he was fearless and dared to see me alone."

"In terms of skill, even with your three-point strength, I can't beat you."

Tian Jiang took a step forward, raised his arms, hesitated for a while and then clasped his hands together, "The King of Wu has been kind to me, but I have never repaid him. Instead, he has repeatedly opposed the King of Wu. The King of Wu does not take it seriously, even if I kill him Song Xingcai, King Wu also exempted me from death. "

"I do this for a reason."

"King Wu wants to reassure the people of Luozhou. Even people like me can be pardoned, and others will naturally not be retaliated against. I understand this, but I still thank King Wu. If it were someone else, such as King Ning, who would arrest I will ask for help that day, and I can’t wait until the day when I can be useful.”

"Prince Ning... Ning Baoguan is somewhat similar to you: he moves forward bravely, knows how to exploit the fears of others, and has no hesitation in his heart. He must get what he wants, regardless of the consequences."

Tian Jiang thought for a while, "It's indeed similar. He and I just want different things. What Prince Ning wants is to be the best among ten thousand people and dominate the world."

"Where's Tian Zhuangshi?"

"What I want is... what I want is a 'name'. When I was in my teens or 20s, what I wanted was a 'hero's name.' Now what I want is..." Tian Jiang didn't know what to say.

"Like Mr. Fei, who 'doesn't care about success or failure, only asks about right and wrong'?"

"The mountains stand tall and I am satisfied if I score one point. The word 'success or failure' still has a great attraction for me."

"Okay, since you are so determined, I will give you a thousand soldiers and you can take them back to the Eastern Capital."

Tian Jiang was completely stunned, "King Wu..."

"Someone told me - he was probably just lying to me, but I can't help but be careful - he said that Dongdu is empty, and Ning Baoguan might lead a sneak attack."

"It has been some time since King Ning led his troops to the east. If he led his troops back to the vicinity of Dongdu, wouldn't King Wu notice it at all?"

"To the east is the Supreme Garden. There are few people inside and outside the garden. Scouts rarely go there to check. This is my mistake."

"I can lead the troops back, but I feel that King Wu seems to be making a fuss out of a molehill, which will not do you any good."

"Would it make me look indecisive?"

Tian Jiang nodded, "The general was killed, and the Luozhou soldiers had no choice but to accept King Wu's surrender. They felt quite reluctant. King Wu was right to send the entire army to the city. At least the Luozhou soldiers could believe that King Wu had not laid a trap... "

"Hey, that's my reputation, right?"

"The reputation of being cunning and clever is originally the same. Depending on whose mouth it comes out, King Wu can't have just one reputation without the other."

"Please continue."

"King Wu had already done the right thing. Suddenly he sent a thousand men back to the capital, and then asked a prisoner who had just been pardoned to lead the troops. Outsiders would be suspicious. It doesn't matter what you are suspicious of. Just suspicion will attract countless people. Rumors, these rumors may not be beneficial to King Wu."

"I've taken all of this into consideration."

Tian Jiang was silent for a moment, "In this case - I am willing to accept the order. I don't need a thousand soldiers, but only five hundred. There are too many people for me to carry, but I will choose these five hundred people myself."

Xu Chu was slightly surprised, "Tian Zhuangshi is very familiar with the Luozhou soldiers? Or do you want to choose someone from the more than 800 prisoners?"

More than 800 people in Dongdu were imprisoned together with Tian Jiang and were pardoned together. At least they had some friendship.

Tian Jiang shook his head, "I will not take any of those people. I will only pick the Luozhou soldiers who surrendered. My reputation is somewhat beneficial. The King of Wu knew my name when he was the son of the general. There are also a few Luozhou soldiers who have heard of me." With the words 'die to death', it shouldn't be difficult for me to find them and gather five hundred people."

"If Ning Baoguan is really hiding near Dongdu and has not fought with the Huaizhou people, then he has at least 6,000 people." Xu Chu reminded.

"I'm not going to defeat King Ning, but to defend the city. It's useless to have more soldiers. Five hundred is enough." Tian Jiang knew it. He was not a general. He was barely able to lead five hundred soldiers. The more soldiers he had, the more chaos he would have.

"Okay." Xu Chu wrote the order in his own hand and stamped it with the king's seal.

Tian Jiang stepped forward to receive it and took a quick look at it. "If I am a step late, there is nothing to say. How many soldiers will I take with me? How many soldiers will I bring back? If I arrive in time, Dongdu is really attacked again. I will do my best to defend the city." . Everything is fine. I will send someone to deliver a message to King Wu every half day. If something unexpected happens, I may not be able to send someone out of the city. If King Wu cannot see the messenger, he will understand what is going on. "

"Tian Zhuangshi has thought carefully."

Tianjiang turned and left without saying another word.

As soon as Tian Jiang left, Tang Weitian immediately poked his head in. Seeing that King Wu was fine, he withdrew and said to the other guards: "If the Governor needs to be alone for a while, he will definitely come up with a clever plan to defeat the enemy. He does this every time."

The guards nodded.

Xu Chu didn't enjoy the solitude for too long. It was getting dark, and Tan Wuwei came again. He entered the tent without bowing, stood with his sword in hand, and stared at the King of Wu without speaking.

Xu Chu didn't speak either.

The two looked at each other for a long time, and Tan Wuwei sighed: "I thought King Wu had figured it out, but it turned out that I was even more confused. I misjudged the person and actually changed the master. Alas, how can I have the face to see King Jin in the future?"

"You don't have a position in our army yet, King Jin won't know..."

"Prince Jin doesn't know, but I feel guilty."

"If King Jin cares about such a trivial matter, he is not worthy of being your lord, let alone fighting for the world."

Tan Wuwei thought for a while and nodded, "That's right. But King Wu... has come to this point, why did he suddenly have different intentions?"

"I just sent five hundred people back to Dongdu, just in case."

"Who to guard against?"

"Ning Baoguan."

"Did any scouts see Ning Jun?"

"No, I'm just guessing."

"Regardless of whether Ning Baoguan really intends to attack Dongdu, even if he does come back, it doesn't matter. Let's give Dongdu to him temporarily. After defeating the Jingzhou Army, it will be easy to take back Dongdu."

"Ning Baoguan knew that he could not defend the Eastern Capital, so he would definitely kill and plunder."

Tan Wuwei thought that King Wu had something to say. After waiting for a while, he said in confusion: "The more people killed in Ning Baoguan, the easier it will be for King Wu to regain the eastern capital. Why do you care about such a trivial matter?"

"This is no small matter."

Tan Wuwei stamped his foot a few times, "Heaven and earth are unkind, and the emperor's virtue is worthy of heaven and earth. He should also treat the common people with an 'unkind heart'. How could King Wu be so soft-hearted for a moment?"

"Soldiers, do you have any ideas?"

"Not yet, but there will be soon. Qingcheng Chu means 'to be born after being put to death'. King Wu suddenly sent five hundred people back to the east capital - it doesn't matter how many people, even if only one is sent back. People will also worry the soldiers of Luozhou, not to mention the family members of the descending army are also in the city. Once they have the heart to care, who is willing to fight? If they all want to go back, who can stop them? "

Xu Chu was silent. He was as good at eloquence as he was. He was speechless at this time.

"It's just a few casualties of Dongdu people, but the King of Wu can't bear it? At least half of the army in the front will be lost. Thousands of Wu soldiers were burned to death due to the King of Wu's mistakes. The King of Wu even forced two Wu generals to death. , how could you be so cruel then?"

"Actually... I haven't been able to bear it." Xu Chu said lightly, and a heavy weight suddenly fell from his heart.