Plan to cut off the nine states

Kou Daogu looked at the knife on Xu Chu's waist, "Can you use it?"

Xu Chu shook his head, "No."

Kou Daogu actually believed it, took two steps forward, and walked in front of Xu Chu, "The news will come soon."

"What news?"

"Hey. The news I just said."

"The Jiangshi Army and the Yizhou Army..."

"The two armies overestimated their own strength and tried to seize the border checkpoints to prevent the tribes from entering the pass and joining the Chanyu, but the Chanyu was well prepared and secretly planned with the tribes to first lure the snake out of the hole, and then attack from both sides, thus achieving a great victory."

"At least they tried?"

"Jin Shengnv and Yin Fu? Well, they tried, what about Master Xu? What have you tried these days?"

Xu Chu looked up at the proud face.

Kou Daogu understood the meaning of the look and replied, "There is only the world in my heart, not the Chinese and the barbarians. Although the Chanyu was born outside the Great Wall, he admires the Central Plains very much. He has appointed me as a saint teacher to teach the twins of the Chanyu and his first wife. When they grow up, they will become wise rulers."

"Teach them how to call father?"

Kou Daogu sneered, "Mr. Xu, are you just sitting here to show off your eloquence?"

"You seem to have something else to say."

"I not only bring you news, but also a piece of advice. Mr. Xu has been persuading people all his life, and it's time for others to persuade him."

Xu Chu smiled, "This That's surprising."

"Mr. Xu is smart and good at guessing what other people are thinking, so I won't hide it and will first tell you what's in my favor: I don't want Mr. Xu to go to see Chanyu alive. Chanyu is ambitious and although he wants you, he may not kill you. Mr. Xu only needs to bow his head to get Chanyu's forgiveness and be entrusted with an important task."

"You come to kill me?"

"I can't kill someone with my own hands, and it will make Chanyu unhappy."

"Use someone else to do it?"

"The King of Shu is a smart man. He would rather send Mr. Xu to Chanyu alive than make a knife for me."

"Then there's only He committed suicide."

"That's right."

"Let me think about it. I have a knife in my hand and I am imprisoned. I will soon be sent to the Chanyu. If I want to save my life, I can only surrender - you see, it is really difficult to make up my mind."

Kou Daogu smiled, but it was gone in a flash. "What about Xiangyang?"

"Xiangyang?"

"The heroes of Xiangyang gathered to fight to the death with He Rong's army - oh, I heard Mr. Xu's hint before, but please rest assured that the King of Jin will not flee Xiangyang. On the contrary, he will defeat the heroes together with the Yizhou army and pledge allegiance to the Chanyu."

"So I am because Committing suicide out of desperation? "

"Yizhou is a place with four walls, it is difficult for outsiders to enter, and it is difficult for you to leave. The Xiangyang heroes only need to send a small number of soldiers to guard the gorge to block the Yizhou army. The only thing is that the heroes don't know the intention of the King of Shu yet, and they are completely defenseless against the Yizhou army. Someone must pass the message. "

Xu Chu had already understood Kou Daogu's thoughts, and smiled and said, "If I commit suicide here, the news will spread to Jingzhou, which will surely arouse the vigilance of the heroes."

"That's right."

"I'm afraid the news won't spread."

Kou Daogu sighed softly and returned Xu Chu's previous words, "At least it's an attempt."

Xu Chu said nothing.

"I will leave for Hanzhou the day after tomorrow, and either bring a living person to see the Chanyu, or bring a dead message to the mission." Kou Daogu turned and left.

Xu Chu sat for a while, untied the knife at his waist, put it on the table, stared at it for a while, drew the knife out of the sheath, and observed it carefully. This is a good knife, but just holding it in your hand makes people feel creepy.

Xu Chu had practiced swordplay for a while. Although he was not proficient, he was not unfamiliar with it. He suddenly stood up and danced with his sword in the open space in the house. He had not practiced for too long, so his routines were already unfamiliar. He needed to recall each move, and his movements were sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

After a round of swordplay, Xu Chu was panting and sweating. He sat on a chair to rest for a while, and suddenly laughed out loud.

The voice of the guard came from outside the door, "Mr. Xu, do you need anything?"

Xu Chu walked to the door, "I have a sword from the King of Shu, please return it to the original owner on my behalf."

"That won't work, we..."

Xu Chu walked to the window, swung the sword several times, and cut a gap. Seeing that the blade was as new, he couldn't help but praise "good sword", and then threw the sword out of the gap.

The guards outside were a little panicked, and no one said a word for a long time.

Xu Chu returned to his original place and sat down, muttering: "I must stay alive."

The cold wind blew in from outside, and Xu Chu found his cloak and wrapped it tightly around himself.

After the second watch of the night, Gan Zhao came in person, carrying the knife he had given to Xu Chu before, and the scabbard was still on the table in Xu Chu's room.

Xu Chu did not sleep, and placed the oil lamp on a corner of the table, and placed the scabbard horizontally in the middle, facing it in deep thought.

Gan Zhao did not bring any guards, and stood at the door and waited for a while, then took a few steps forward and threw the knife on the table.

Xu Chu turned his head and smiled, "This is the sword of the King of Shu."

"It is no longer mine if it is given away."

"It is no longer yours if it is given away. The King of Shu thought clearly about a knife, why was he confused about Yizhou?"

"Hey, I know it." Gan Zhao sat opposite, "No matter what, I have to explain a few words to Mr. Xu."

"I understand the King of Shu's thoughts."

"Mr. Xu does not understand, you only have Jiuzhou in your eyes, not my Yizhou, you don't know how chaotic the situation in Yizhou is, there are many contradictions between the Hakkas and the natives, and between the Hakkas of all kinds. When Mr. Xu guided me to Yizhou, he only talked about the geographical advantages, but did not mention the harmony between people."

"I really don't know."

"As the king of Shu, I am not stable, and marrying the daughter of King Yidu is also a mistake. The Zhang family does not have many supporters in Yizhou, and marrying her will not help me very much."

"That's not my advice."

"I know, I'm just complaining. If Mr. Xu had followed me, it might have prevented me from making mistakes. I should marry an indigenous noblewoman, and the situation would be much better."

"There are many ways to form a marriage, and it doesn't necessarily have to be the King of Shu himself."

"I have only a few children, and they are all very young. Even so, we have decided to get married, but we will have to wait a few more years before we get married." Gan Zhao's face suddenly showed a bit of enthusiasm, "I don't ask for much, just two years. , at most three years... No, no, two years is enough. I will be able to establish myself in Yizhou, eliminate internal troubles, and have enough energy to send troops to conquer the Central Plains. "

"Is the King of Shu still ambitious?"

"Although Yizhou is dangerous, it will never be able to survive alone. I understand this truth. But we can't take too many risks and have a sure-fire strategy."

"A foolproof solution?"

"It must be a foolproof strategy. I will lead the troops out of Yizhou here, and Shanyu will break the siege of Hanzhong over there."

"General Iron is still holding on?"

A trace of anger flashed across Gan Zhao's face, "Tie Yuan had the opportunity to return to Yizhou, but he refused to obey the order and is now trapped in a tight siege. If he doesn't care about his death, it will make it difficult for our Yizhou soldiers to return to their homeland. His crime is unforgivable." ”

When Gan Zhao was bewitched by Che Quanyi and sent guest soldiers to fight, he had no intention of letting them all come back. When the internal disputes continued, he missed this army again.

"If the Chan Yu wins in Xiangyang and becomes unrivaled from now on, how long can Yizhou be safe?"

"I only need two years. If it doesn't work, one year is enough."

"By then Shanyu has occupied the Central Plains, who will the King of Shu ask for the throne?"

"Xiangyang, Dongdu, Stone City, Guangling City... there will always be people who will block it for a while. As long as the Chanyu has not completely occupied all nine states, Yizhou will still have a chance."

Xu Chu couldn't help but smile bitterly, "This is indeed a foolproof strategy."

"Mr. Xu thinks so too?" Gan Zhao didn't notice Xu Chu's expression.

"It is a sure-fire strategy to deal with Shan, but it is a sure-fire strategy to defeat the King of Shu."

Gan Zhao showed displeasure, "Mr. Xu only wanted to repel He Rong's tribe and didn't care about the lives of others. Tieyuan and Lou Yu listened to your words. What was the result? The heroes of Xiangyang also listened to your words. What was the result? Mr. Xu always talks about the "big trend", so why do you want to go against the trend? "

“If you follow the trend, you will die; if you go against the trend, you will survive.”

"Hey, I heard that 'those who follow the rules will prosper, and those who go against the rules will perish'."

"When a single man prospers, all heroes perish."

"There is no Chanyu, but there is also this king and that king. What's the difference? If the Chanyu really conquers all the states in the world, I can only obey the destiny and leave the title of King of Shu. That's enough."

"The Chanyu not only wants to occupy all the states, but also wants to divide the world. If the people of the Central Plains are concentrated in Wufu, if they can work together, He Rong's tribe will definitely not be an opponent. The Chanyu knows this very well, so he will never become an emperor of peace. He will always drive the states to war against each other..."

"If everyone obeys the destiny like King Jin and me, Shanyu will have no excuse for war."

"For example, if the Yizhou natives are fighting against each other and the Chanyu wants to intervene, what will the King of Shu do? Should he comply with the destiny and lead the wolf into the house, or should he refuse 'help' and give the Chanyu an excuse to go to war?"

Gan Zhao didn't answer.

"There are outstanding people in the Central Plains, but there are always those who are unwilling to 'accommodate the destiny'. Today, all the heroes have died, and new ones have risen."

Gan Zhao stood up, sheathed the knife and held it in his hand, "Since Mr. Xu doesn't want it, I'll take it back. I came to visit tonight. I wanted to hear Mr. Xu's opinions, but Mr. Xu just wanted to persuade me to take risks - - I had no foothold in the past and had no more than a thousand soldiers under my command. I felt that everything Mr. Xu said made sense. But that doesn't work now. As long as I can resolve the civil strife in Yizhou, I can maintain stability for at least ten years. I won't do anything risky. Thinking about it carefully, it seems that Mr. Xu is only useful when there are dangers. He can survive from desperate situations and cannot make further progress. The so-called dangerous man cannot be a good minister. "

Xu Chu stood up to block the way, held his sword willingly, and said coldly: "I have finished speaking."

"When will the Shu army leave the gorge?"

Gan Zhao thought for a while and said, "Mr. Kou will take you on the road the day after tomorrow. The Shu army will also board the ship and set off on the same day."

"How many days will it take to reach Jingzhou?"

"It takes at most two days to go down the river. In winter, the water is shallow and dangerous, so it will take an extra day."

"The King of Shu and the King of Jin have set a date?"

"On the date set by Shan Yu, King Jin and I will launch the attack on the same day."

"King Shu, please wait one more day."

"Um?"

"It only took one day, and when Shan Yu asked about it afterwards, he said, 'The water is shallow and dangerous in winter.'"

"There's no need, since..."

"I was thinking about the King of Shu because I knew that the King of Jin would definitely stand still that day and leave the Shu army to fight alone. He Rong's army would not be able to come to support for a while. The Shu army would be defeated and the King of Shu would become the common enemy of the nine states."

"Prince Jin doesn't have the guts, and Shan Yu watches him very closely."

"If I am wrong, the King of Jin will take action as scheduled to contain the heroes in Xiangyang, and it will be beneficial for the King of Shu to wait one more day."

Gan Zhao said silently, "One day... the Shu army will attack Yiling City directly after leaving the gorge. Yiling and Xiangyang are at least three days' journey away. It will take a day and a night to work hard. If I am one day late, the King of Jin will not know. Jin The king is standing still, and I can’t immediately tell what the meaning of this day is.”

"At least it won't hurt the King of Shu. This is my last advice to the King of Shu."

Gan Zhao thought for a while, pushed Xu Chu away, and walked out of the room without giving any answer.