It was already mid-April when the letter from Sima Shang, governor of the Song Dynasty, was delivered to Luoyang. At that time, King Zhao Runzheng of Wei, Queen Mother Shen, Mi Jiang, Ying Ying and other concubines, as well as Zhao Wei, Zhao Chuan, Wei Yun and Han Ji, Han Fei and his children were having a spring picnic outside Luoyang City.

In these years, Zhao Ying and Zhao Que also gave birth to a son and a daughter for Zhao Run. It has to be said that if we include Han Ji, Han Fei, Wei Yun, Wei Ning and other adopted sons and daughters, Zhao Run can be considered to have a group of children. .

There are a group of children, some older than others. For example, the prince Zhao Wei, Zhao Chuan, Zhao Han and their adopted sons Han Ji and Wei Yun are all over ten years old, and then there are Zhao Xing, Zhao An, and Wei Ning. , Han Fei's batch, and further down are Zhao Ying and a pair of children born to Zhao Que.

Due to the age gap, Zhao Run's sons also have their own circles. The older ones, under the leadership of Prince Zhao Wei, are fishing barefoot in the stream with wooden forks; while the younger ones are fishing in the stream with wooden forks. The others, led by "Shang Jun" Zhao Xing, were digging for earthworms in the mud not far away. Because they were still young, they were ordered not to go near the river.

Seeing these young princes, princes, princes, princesses, and princesses running back and forth, the Huben guards guarding the surroundings were sweating in their hearts. They all opened their eyes wide, not daring to let these people go for a moment. The little lord left his sight.

In fact, it is not necessary. After all, Zhao Wei, Zhao Chuan, Zhao Xing and other Zhao Run's sons have ten Zongwei of similar age around them to take care of them, so nothing will happen to them.

"Tap-ta-"

The sound of horse hoofbeats came from far away. The Huben guards turned their heads nervously and saw Mu Qing, the general of the Luoyang guards, slowly approaching with three rabbits in his hands.

I saw the guards riding behind him, all carrying some game on their horses, such as deer, fox, wild boar, etc.

"Your Majesty, Wei Jiao, Lu Mu and others haven't come back yet?"

After getting off his horse and throwing the prey to the imperial guards for slaughter and cleaning, Mu Qing smiled and walked towards Wei King Zhao Run.

Zhao Run shook his head and then said with a smile: "Looking at you like this, you have gained a lot, right?"

"Hehe... When it comes to hunting, how can Wei Jiao and Lu Mu be my opponents?"

Mu Qing laughed twice and gave the three rabbits to Princess Zhao Chu, Zhao An and Princess Wei Ning.

It can be seen that these three little rabbits must have been carefully selected by Mu Qing. They are not big in size and look quite cute. This makes the three little girls very happy. They gather together and use their fleshy fingers to nudge them from time to time. He poked the three timid little rabbits lightly, making them giggle.

After a while, Wei Jiao and Lu Mu each led a team of imperial guards to arrive. Looking at the prey they loaded on carts, Mu Qing could no longer maintain the pride on his face, because he saw There are even wild deer, bear bears, leopards and other large game on the cart.

"Hey, Wei Jiao and Lu Mu, didn't we agree not to use crossbows?" Mu Qing pointed at Wei Jiao and Lu Mu yelled strangely.

After hearing this, Wei Jiao said angrily: "Which of your eyes saw us using the crossbow?"

Mu Qingsui pointed to the corpse of a bear on the cart and said, "How did you kill this bear without a heavy crossbow?"

Wei Jiao rolled his eyes and said calmly: "We set a bait and led him into a trap. It's that simple."

Mu Qing was speechless.

After a while, under the command of the great eunuch Gao He, the Imperial Guard soldiers peeled off the fur from part of the prey, washed it in the stream, then cut off the meat piece by piece, strung it on bamboo and sent it to Zhao Run and Queen Mother Shen. With the concubines, let them bake it with their own hands.

Oona was the most proficient in grilling techniques, which was not surprising to Zhao Run. After all, she was from the Sheang ethnic group. What surprised Zhao Run was that Mijiang was not far behind in grilling meat. However, this Wei Guo The queen did not know where she got some similar grass and roots, as well as poisonous insects such as scorpions and centipedes, and skewered them on bamboo sticks and roasted them together. This made the other ladies subconsciously stay away from this famous woman. The older sister.

"Queen, scorpions, scorpions and centipedes are not allowed to be eaten..." a young palace maid timidly reminded.

However, Mi Jiang said solemnly that these were all edible, which frightened the young palace maiden into turning pale.

Looking at this scene, Zhao Run secretly shook his head and immediately grilled the meat skewers in his hands while chatting with his mother, Queen Mother Shen, instructing her on how to grill these meat skewers.

While the big family was having a picnic happily, several cavalrymen suddenly rushed in from a distance, but they were immediately intercepted by the Huben guards led by Yan Shun and Tong Xin.

I saw the leading cavalry whispering a few words into Yan Shun's ear, and then took out a letter from his arms and handed it to the latter.

When Yan Shun saw the words "Your Majesty Sima Shang" written on the letter, he did not dare to delay, and immediately came to Zhao Run with the letter and whispered: "Your Majesty, Sima Shang, the governor of Song County, sent someone to deliver an urgent message. "

Zhao Run paused slightly while grilling the meat skewers, and then handed the meat skewers in his hand to Zhao Que beside him: "Quie'er, go ahead and grill it for me...Mom, I'll come as soon as I go."

"The emperor can do as he pleases." Queen Mother Shen certainly knew that it must be a major event in the court and nodded immediately.

Taking Yan Shun aside, Zhao Run reached out and took the letter from the former, opened it and looked at it.

From the side, the eunuch Gao He immediately brought a small stool over: "Your Majesty, please sit down."

Sitting on a small wooden stool, Zhao Run frowned and read the letter from Sima Shang, the governor of Song County. He saw what Sima Shang said in the letter that the Chu State seemed to want to use Song County to train its troops.

"Training troops?...Training troops in this way?"

Zhao Run felt a little incredible.

Although even well-trained recruits must go through the baptism of the battlefield before they can be called a qualified soldier, there is no problem in sending the recruits to the battlefield to undergo training.

However, according to Sima Shang's description, Chu State's behavior this time was completely without considering any consequences. It fought with the Wei army of Song County day after day, as if it was forced to use a lot of human lives to train an elite force. This is the same as Traditional military training methods run counter to this.

It should be understood that those sacrificed are also living human lives, not props that can be sacrificed arbitrarily. Are the soldiers trained by the Chu State in this way really outstanding soldiers who can shoulder heavy responsibilities?

The normal military training method, while training soldiers, also focuses on cultivating the soldiers' sense of belonging to their own army and their persistence in victory, just like the Shang Shui Army, which has not lost a single defeat in twenty years, which makes the Shang Shui Army top and bottom. Everyone is willing to sacrifice their lives to maintain undefeated victory, and they are convinced that there is no enemy in this world who can defeat them.

However, Chu's military training method seems to only focus on training soldiers how to save their lives on the battlefield - the same is to save their lives. Like the Shang Shui Army and other Wei soldiers, they will only consider defeating the enemy to save their lives.

, and the Chu soldiers trained in this way may only care about saving their lives on the battlefield in the end.

Because the soldiers of the Chu army trained in this way have no sense of belonging and honor to their own army at all. Everyone only thinks about how to survive on the battlefield. An army trained in this way, even a single soldier

No matter how outstanding their strength is, they cannot be called qualified soldiers and can only be called a rabble.

"Xiong Tuo would allow such a thing...is it because he was cornered?"

Frowning, Zhao Run felt a little weird.

This time, Wei State has no intention of asking Qi and Chu for war compensation. I believe that the deep meaning of this is also understood by Qi and Chu themselves.

Therefore, Zhao Run did not doubt that Qi and Chu had guessed his idea of ​​sending troops to attack Qi and Chu two years later.

Under this premise, Chu State actively prepared for war and stepped up training of the army for the war two years later. Zhao Run could understand this, but Chu State's way of training troops surprised Zhao Run.

When he thought of Sima Shang asking about his countermeasures in the letter, Zhao Run thought for a while and ordered the eunuch Gao He: "Gao He, get the pen and ink."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The eunuch Gao He followed the instructions and hurriedly walked to a nearby carriage, got pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and also asked someone to bring a desk over.

After Gao He laid some paper on the table, Zhao Run quickly began to write a reply to Sima Shang, the governor of Song County.

Although Sima Shang felt as if he was facing a formidable enemy regarding Chu's military training method, Zhao Run was not worried. After all, in his opinion, the soldiers trained by Chu in this way were just a group of soldiers on the battlefield.

He was so selfish that he would hardly consider joining hands with Tongze to resist the enemy's soldiers, and it was not a concern at all.

Of course, the premise is that Song County cannot let these soldiers develop a climate. If Song County is defeated again and again in front of these Chu soldiers, and these Chu soldiers gradually develop a persistence for victory, the result may be something else.

One thing.

Therefore, in response to Chu's military training method, the Wei State must take corresponding measures.

This target was not only to let these Chu soldiers taste defeat, but also included a corresponding gentle strategy - that is, to let Sima Shang find a way to absorb the deserters of Chu.

Thinking about it, with Chu's cruel military training method, it would be absolutely idiotic to say that there were no deserters from the beginning to the end. If Song County could absorb the escaped soldiers of Chu into their ranks, in the long run, Chu's army would

The weaker the country, the stronger Song County. Maybe in the end, there is no need for Zhao Run to send other troops. The soldiers and horses of Song County alone are enough to defeat Chu State.

In his reply to Sima Shang, Zhao Run briefly listed several ways to instigate rebellion and recruit Chu soldiers to surrender, and asked Sima Shang to refer to them as appropriate.

After writing the letter, Zhao Run called several Qingya people and ordered them: "Send someone to deliver this letter to Changyi and give it to Sima Shang."

"yes!"

Several Green Crows received the letter and left with fists in their hands.

Looking at their leaving figures, Zhao Run was thoughtful.

He was not thinking about things in Chu, but in Bashu.

In early February of this year, Zhang Qigong first set out for Qiandi, and then detoured to Nanyang. Under the introduction of Wei general Bo Xile, he made contact with the Jie people in Nanyang.

Unlike those Jie people in Sanchuan County who were willing to integrate into the Wei State, the Jie people in Nanyang, the losing side in the "Weichuan Battle", were mainly composed of members of the Jie and Ling tribes at that time, and still held their original beliefs.

The only difference between the customs of herding sheep and robbing their neighbors is that these Jie people did not dare to invade the Wei State. After all, it is said in the world that Wei King Zhao Run is famous for protecting shortcomings and retribution: anyone who dares to kill a Wei person will be punished.

Be prepared to be attacked by endless Wei soldiers to destroy the country and overthrow the tribe.

Just like now, anyone with some discernment can see that Wei will retaliate against Qi and Chu in one to two years. In revenge, Qi and Chu gathered an allied force to attack Wei, resulting in the death of countless Wei people.

of hatred.

They did not dare to offend the Wei State, so the Nanyang Jie people's plundering targets were only Bashu in the west and Chu State in the southeast.

In view of the fact that troops under the command of Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu were stationed in the western part of Chu State, the Nanyang Jie tribe mainly looted in Bashu. The things they plundered included grain, silk, gold, ore, women, slaves, etc.

From time to time, the Nanyang Jie people would engage in ulterior private trade with Wei through the Sichuan-Luo Alliance and the Northern Sichuan Alliance. For example, slaves were the labor that the Ministry of Industry relied on when launching various large-scale projects in recent years, 70% of which were slaves.

They were slaves, and among these slaves, slaves from Bashu accounted for a large proportion.

Of course, considering the reputation of the Wei State, the Wei State court would not recognize the use of slaves, and instead called them slave laborers, who only had food and accommodation but no wages.

I remember that in early April this year, Zhang Qigong had successfully hired a group of Jie people from Nanyang, and was going to take this group of rebellious Jie people to Bashu to stir up trouble and disrupt Qin's strategic plan to conquer Bashu.

However, what he didn't expect was that Zhang Qigong learned one thing from the Nanyang Jie people, that is, the Chu State seemed to have an interest in Bashu.

The specific situation is still unknown, because Zhang Qigong has not yet sent a letter to describe the specific situation. In his last letter, he only stated that Chu State seemed to have similar intentions to Qin State.

Zhao Run was not surprised by this, because when Xiong Tuoshang was in Chuxi as the king of Yangcheng, he tried every means to strengthen relations with the Ba people, and then used a small country in Bashu as a springboard to enable Chuxi to intervene in the chaotic Bashu.

place.

Nowadays, Chu State is actually facing the same dilemma as Qin State, that is, it has troops but no food.

Under such circumstances, it is not unusual for King Xiong Tuo of Chu to set his sights on the land of Bashu.

"Oh, if both Qin and Chu want to capture Bashu... then it will be fun."

Zhao Run thought with great interest.

"Father——"

Not far away, the shouts of Zhao Wei, Zhao Chuan and other sons came. Zhao Run turned around and was surprised to find that the sons were holding a big fish in their arms, which seemed to have just come from the stream.
To be continued...