Chapter 9 Southern barbarian invasion, a neighbor not to be underestimated

"Zuo Zhuan" records that in 710 BC, "Cai Hou and Zheng Bo met in Deng, and they began to fear Chu." The reason why the heads of state of the two countries sat together for a seminar calmly was mainly because both countries felt the threat from Chu State in the south. It is necessary to briefly introduce the history of Chu State. The ancestor of the Chu State is said to be Gao Yang, the grandson of the Yellow Emperor, who is Zhuanxu among the Five Emperors in ancient times.Gao Yang had a grandson named Chongli, who served as "Huozheng" during the period of Emperor Ku (also one of the Five Emperors), that is, the official in charge of fire and candle affairs. For Zhu Rong's.In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Zhu Rong had a descendant named Yu Xiong, who founded the country in Jingmen, Hubei today, and had contacts with the Central Plains.In the reign of King Cheng of Zhou Dynasty, Xiong Yi, the descendant of Xiong Xiong, "shared the affairs of the king with peach arcs and thorns arrows", served the emperor of Zhou with peach wood bows and thorn branches arrows, and exorcised evil spirits and disasters for the emperor. He was named a viscount and established "Chu" For the country, the capital is Danyang, which can be regarded as the first monarch of Chu State.

In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient and information was difficult to communicate. The area where Chu State was located was high and the emperor was far away, and the economy was not developed. Didn't pay much attention either.But the Chu people lived in the barbarian land for a long time, and gradually formed their own unique culture. They believed in witches and ghosts, worshiped prostitution, and were good at fantasizing and contemplating, which was completely different from the Zhou culture in the Central Plains. Politically, the Chu people even placed themselves outside the Central Plains countries.During the reign of King Zhou Yi, Xiongqu, the son of Chu, expanded his influence on a large scale, won the support of the people between Jianghan and Han (Yangtze River and Han River Basin), and expanded his sphere of influence to today's Anhui Province.Xiong Qu felt that he had made great achievements through hard work, and was not satisfied with the title of little viscount pardoned by the Zhou Dynasty. He had the intention of de-sinicizing, and openly declared: "Chu is a country of barbarians. "He made all three of his sons kings in one breath.You must know that the highest title bestowed by the Zhou Dynasty to the princes was only Duke, and King was the unique title of Zhou Tianzi. Xiong Qu named all his sons King, which can be said to be an open rebellion against the rule of the Zhou Dynasty.King Zhou Yi was cowardly, and he didn't bother to take care of Xiong Yi, the king of the mountain, but his son, King Zhou Li, was a well-known tyrant with a very violent temper. Weighed the matter, fearing that King Zhou Li would send troops to the mountains, and a few years later he would take the initiative to cancel the titles of those princes.

When King Ping of Zhou moved to the east, the Zhou family declined significantly, and the Chu people's desire to become king moved again.In 741 BC, Chu Zifen (fen) Mao died, his younger brother Xiong Tong launched a coup, killed Fen Mao's son, and proclaimed himself king. The time when Xiong Tong ruled the Chu State was the time when the countries in the Central Plains began to fight and strife. The princes did not respect the emperor, the officials did not listen to the princes, and the killing of the king and the country continued to happen.However, Chu State is located in the south, away from the center of the war. On the one hand, it strives to develop its economy, and on the other hand, it continues to invade the small vassal states in the Han River Basin.

The phrase "beginning to be afraid of Chu" shows that the Central Plains countries at that time were on guard against and fearful of Chu, a country that was "not my race". A talented and bold monarch like Zheng Zhuanggong would naturally not take the threat of Chu lightly, so He did not hesitate to condescend and condescend, and discussed with the hostile Cai State the plan to prevent Chu (judging from what happened later, the reason why Zheng Zhuanggong focused on Cai State instead of other countries was very far-sighted, so I won't mention it here). To use an inappropriate analogy, the Central Plains area at that time was like a village. The villagers in the village were mainly surnamed Ji, and of course there were a few foreign surnames, so it didn't hurt to call this village Jijia Village.

There is a village head in Jijia Village who nominally manages over a hundred households, large and small.These villagers have been living according to a set of rules called "Zhou Li", and they can basically live in harmony with each other. Even if there is a little conflict, it can be resolved by asking the village chief to come forward.But ever since the village chief moved from the west end of the village to the east end of the village in order to avoid the harassment of wild men outside the village, his prestige has declined.When everyone had conflicts, they stopped going to the village chief to comment. First, they scolded each other, then developed into fighting with fists and kicks, and then developed into gangs and cliques to fight.

Naogui Nao, but after all, they are still people from the same village. They basically speak the same language, and their customs and habits are also roughly the same. There is no major problem in the transportation and communication between each other.Although everyone didn't get along very well, if the savages from outside the village came to grab the livestock, the nearby families could always help each other and work together to drive the savages away. Internal conflicts and external conflicts were treated differently. I don't know when, a stranger's house appeared in the forest outside the village.The family's dress, language and customs are different from those in the village. They like to pretend to be gods and ghosts, and they are brave and aggressive.According to knowledgeable people, the ancestor of this family was originally a friend of the village head's family. The village head even gave him the title of a land protector and asked him to colonize the mountains in the south. Later, his family mixed with the savages in the mountains. At the same time, over time, they also developed the living habits of savages, such as cutting hair and tattoos, drinking blood, and even eating human flesh...the list goes on and on, all in all, it is quite scary!

What's even more frightening is that this family didn't take the village head seriously at all (although everyone didn't take the village chief seriously, but I didn't think it was a big deal), and they were not satisfied with being a landguard on the mountain. , always thinking about how to go into the village to do bad things, and the dozen or so households outside the village were threatened by that family, so that the few well-respected families in the village began to think about how to deal with him. In 706 BC, Xiong Tong personally led an army to invade the country of Sui in the east of the Han River.The surname of Sui Guoji is a descendant of the Zhou royal family and the largest vassal state east of the Han River.

The reason why he chose this time to attack Suiguo is probably related to the fact that King Huan of Zhou was beaten by Zheng Guoren in Ruge a year ago and fled. The emperor can't even take care of himself, so how can he take care of Suiguo?Xiong Tong thought so. The army of Chu State was stationed in the flawed area of ​​Sui State. Xiong Tong sent his doctor Wei Zhang to Sui State to express his sincerity in developing the friendly relationship between the two countries. Like Zheng Zhuanggong, Xiong Tong always pays respects first and then fights. Suiguo sent doctors and young divisions to the camp of the Chu army to negotiate with Xiong Tong.

Here, the Chu military camp discussed countermeasures all night.The doctor Dou Bo made a self-criticism and said: "We have been trying to expand our power east of the Han River for many years, but we have not been able to do so. The main responsibility lies with ourselves. We always rectify our armaments, show off our power, and use force to oppress these small countries. These small countries are very afraid, and they will join forces to deal with us, there is no way to defeat them one by one. Sui is the largest country among the Eastern Han countries, if it is arrogant, it will definitely create barriers with other small countries, and we will have a chance to take advantage of it.” He said It is suggested that Xiong Tong show the old, weak, sick and disabled troops to the junior division, so that the junior division will have the illusion that the Chu army is vulnerable.

Another doctor, Xiong Shouqiebi, immediately raised his objection: "I'm afraid this approach won't work. If there is someone like Ji Liang in Suiguo, if we can fool the young master, I'm afraid we won't be able to fool Ji Liang." Dou Bo is easier to deceive than a fool who also believes in being favored, but he has another idea: "Let's take a long-term view, the young master is very favored by the Marquis, and one day the Marquis will listen to him." Xiong Tong's original plan was to negotiate peace first, and threaten with force if they failed to reach an agreement.After listening to Dou Bobi's suggestion, he thought it was very reasonable, and ordered to hide all the elite soldiers, and only sent some old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers to welcome the young division listlessly.

The young master came to Chuying, chatted with Xiong Tong about the international situation, gossiped about the folk customs of the two countries, and then went back.When he came, he walked slowly, and when he returned, he rushed to report the situation to Suihou. "Hurry up, hurry up... Hurry up and send troops to attack the Chu army's camp." When seeing Suihou, the young master said out of breath, without wiping off his sweat. "Master, do you mean...to send troops now...?" Suihou stroking the back of the master, he stammered and asked, not very sure about this suggestion. "That's right, I went to see it. The Chu army is full of old, weak, sick and disabled. The Chu generals are full of wine bags and rice bags. What's even more funny is that Xiong Tong, who saw me with two demons in his clothes." Hugging a woman with a body, she is completely disrespectful. Please give an order to mobilize the whole army to wipe out the Chu army in one fell swoop!" the young master said excitedly. Suihou was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth from ear to ear, he jumped up and said, "Okay, let's annihilate the Chu army in one fell swoop, and let all countries see the combat effectiveness of the army!" "Wait a minute." The doctor Ji Liang who had been standing silently by the side said suddenly. "The opportunity is too late, the time will never come again. Is there anything you can't say until the battle is over?" the young master said dissatisfied.For Ji Liang, who is known as a think tank, the young master always has a kind of natural resistance - his round cake-shaped face is not heroic, and there is not much wisdom, but he speaks slowly and old-fashioned. pour cold water on. Ji Liang ignored the young master, and said to Marquis Sui with his hand outstretched, "Please wait a moment to send troops. In my opinion, Chu State deliberately put out some old, weak and disabled soldiers to lure us into being fooled." "Nonsense!" The young master's face was distorted, and he jumped up to Ji Liang and asked, "Are you saying that I am lying? Am I going to betray the lord?" Sui Hou just stood there motionless, waiting for Ji Liang's long speech. "Please think about it, these years the Chu army has been invincible across Jianghan, and the so-called momentum is like a rainbow. How could it be possible that they are all old, weak, sick and disabled?" Seeing Suihou thoughtful, he continued, "Since ancient times, a small country has been able to defeat a big country because the small country has the way and the help, and the big country has little help. Do you know what the way is? The way is to be loyal to the people and gain the trust of the gods. As a monarch, you must think more and do more for the people. The thing that is beneficial to welfare is loyalty; if you don’t tell lies when presiding over the sacrifice, you are trustworthy.” When Su Hou heard this, he was still at a loss, so he simply sat down, “Now the people are not full, but you always think about it. To express yourself, to preside over the sacrifices and always like to exaggerate and deceive ghosts and gods, with such a character, you actually want to use the weak to defeat the strong, and defeat the Chu people, I... I really don’t know what you think!" Ji Liang said at the end , clenched his fists, stomped his feet, with a look of hating iron but not steel.The young master quickly took a few steps back. Suihou jumped up excitedly, blushed to the neck, and argued forcefully: "I always use the fattest animals and the most abundant grains to sacrifice to the gods. Tell me, how did I deceive the ghosts and gods?" Ji Liang sighed: "Do you know that the will of the people is the will of ghosts and gods. Therefore, a sage king must try his best to fill the stomachs of the people so that they can live and work in peace, and then dare to put fat animals and delicious food on the altar. The five grains, the sweet wine, and the peace of mind thank the gods for blessing the weather, the country is prosperous and the people are safe, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the government and the opposition work together. In this way, the society is harmonious, the gods are also blessed, and the work is smooth. Now the people are half-hearted, ghosts and gods have no masters, and you are rich alone , He Fuzhi has it. I advise you to rectify the internal affairs as soon as possible, and unite with the neighboring brothers and countries to deal with Chu, so as to avoid disaster." Sui Hou was stunned for a while, looked at the young master, then at Ji Liang, and said dejectedly: "The doctor is right, I have learned." Xiong Tong waited in Xiadi for two days, but he didn't see the army coming to challenge him, so he sighed: "It seems that this Ji Liang is indeed a thorn in our side." Dou Bobi comforted him and said, "Take things slow, we have plenty of time, and we will not fight for the day and night." The Chu army died down and returned to the country.Of course, this expedition was not completely useless. Before Xiong Tong left, he sent someone to deliver a message to the Marquis, to the effect that I, Xiong Tong, are a barbarian. Now that the princes do not respect the royal family and invade each other, the world is in chaos. , I have no other skills, only some shabby warriors, and I want to use them to intervene in the politics of the Central Plains. Please convey my intentions to the royal family and give me a noble and worthy title. The so-called honorable title is naturally to make him king.Suihou sent someone to report Xiong Tong's request to the royal family, but the royal family flatly rejected it. As mentioned earlier, in ancient times, transportation was inconvenient, information was difficult to communicate, and people's work efficiency was not high. Communication between Chu and the Central Plains was even more difficult.It has been more than a year since Sui Hou fed back the royal family's reply to Xiong Tong. When Xiong Tong learned that his request was rejected, he was furious: "The ancestor of the widow, Xiong Xiong, was the master of King Wen of Zhou. The ancestor Xiong Yi was only made a viscount by King Zhou Cheng, and ruled the south. Now the barbarian tribes are all subject to the widow. But the royal family refuses to recognize the status of the widow, no matter what, the widow is impolite and respects himself as a king!" From then on, Xiong Tong was no longer the son of Chu, but the king of Chu.Because his posthumous title after death was "Wu", he was also known as King Wu of Chu in history. In 704 BC, King Wu of Chu led an army to attack the Pu tribe south of Jianghan, and merged Pudi into the territory of Chu State, which further increased the strength of Chu State. In the autumn of the same year, the proud King Wu of Chu held a meeting of princes in Shenlu, inviting the monarchs of the Han River Basin to discuss cooperation plans.According to research by historians, this meeting can be called the first meeting of princes in the history of the Spring and Autumn Period, far earlier than Qi Huangong's "Nine Union Princes", and can be regarded as a symbolic event of Chu's dominance of the Han River Basin. However, Huang Guo in southern Henan and Sui Guo in Handong did not send representatives to the conference. This was also a silent protest against Chu's dominance.Faced with such blatant non-cooperation, King Wu of Chu also took action as a matter of course. While sending Xie Zhang to Huang State to exert diplomatic pressure, he personally led the army to crusade against Sui State for the second time. Also for not going to the meeting, Huang Guo was blamed and followed the country to accept troops. On the one hand, it was because Huang Guo was too far away and located in the Central Plains. The eastern countries will be big", and if the country is big, if the country submits, the other small countries will have to submit obediently. This time, the Chu army was stationed between the Han and Huaihe Rivers to rest and wait and see how Suiguo would respond. Ji Liang was quite clear about the purpose of the Chu people here: the Chu people didn't come here to destroy Suiguo, they just hoped that Suiguo would submit to Chu and set an example for the countries in the Han River Basin.After comparing the strengths and advantages and disadvantages of the two sides, he made a suggestion to Suihou: the state of Chu used the excuse of not going to the meeting to crusade against the state of Sui. Pray for immunity from punishment.If the people of Chu are justified and not forgiving, it will not be too late for us to fight. In the history of China, whenever a country was at a critical juncture, there would be two different voices: those who advocated the war and those who advocated peace.Generally speaking, the main fighters are impassioned, fearless, and wish to start war as soon as possible;Ji Liang is the main peace faction. He knows that the fighting power of Chu State is so strong that he is unwilling to see the two countries go to war unless they are forced to.However, the young master, who is deeply trusted by Suihou, is an out-and-out main fighter. The next time Sui Hou was about to send troops, but he was dizzy and demoralized by Ji Liang Yitong's long speech. This time, he must not let him point his nose in the face and say that we don't know how to govern the country and cannot be protected by gods.Therefore, I made a completely opposite suggestion to Suihou: "We must fight quickly, or we will lose the Chu division!" This is the original words recorded in "Zuo Zhuan". If translated into modern language, it would be: "We must fight quickly, otherwise, we will never find a better opportunity to destroy the Chu army!" The implication is that he is afraid that the Chu people will run away before the fight like last time. Perhaps Suihou was annoyed by Chu's aggressive aura, or perhaps he still had a heart for Ji Liang's criticism, and decided to make a show to show this fat man who only knows reason, so he followed the advice of the young master , pulled the whole army out of the city, and fought a field battle with the Chu people. Originally, the Chu people came from afar, and the logistics and rear line were stretched very long. Even if the followers of the country wanted to fight, they could wait for work at leisure, hiding behind the solid city defense facilities to consume the strength of the Chu army, and waited until they were exhausted. Fight hard, maybe there is still a little chance of winning.However, in the eyes of the young master, the Chu army is still as weak as it was seen a few years ago, and there is no need to rely on the city defense facilities to win. Both wise and brave, so he adopted a proactive strategy, hoping that a battle will determine the outcome. Even if things develop to this point, as long as the army is commanded properly, the battle situation will not be too bad.Ji Liang knew the customs of Chu people very well, and suggested to Suihou: "Chu people respect the left, the king of Chu must be on his left army, and his left army must be an elite army. Please avoid their fronts and lead the main force to attack their troops. The army on the right. The army on the right of Chu is weak and will surely be defeated. At that time, if we concentrate our forces on attacking the army on the left, we should be able to win." Ji Liang's tactic of avoiding the truth and just pretending to be false is the same as Zheng Jun's defeat of Wang Jun in the Battle of Ruge, and it should be said to be a good strategy. However, the young master gave him a hard look, and said in an almost hysterical tone: "What are you talking about? Are we still afraid that the people of Chu will fail? In this battle, we just want to avoid the truth and make a big splash Fight against the people of Chu, so that they dare not go to Handong to play wild!" Not only did he disagree with Ji Liang's tactics, but he also insisted on deploying the main force on the opposite side of Chu's left army, so as to face it head-on. Sui Hou was shocked by the young master's grandiose words, so he stood firmly on the young master's side, unwilling to listen to Ji Liang's big and small reasons. The two armies encountered each other at Suqi.As expected by Ji Liang, the accompanying army who had not fought for many years was no match for the Chu army at all. Facing the left army of Chu State, the accompanying army was even beaten to the ground and defeated. The result of the war: Sui Hou fled, and even his army chariots were taken away by the Chu people; the young division was captured and died in the Chu army's formation; the Chu army won a complete victory. Sui Hou ran fast, his attitude changed even faster, and he sent people to Chu Ying to admit his mistake and seek peace overnight.King Wu of Chu wanted to take advantage of the situation to destroy Suiguo, so Dou Bobi stood up again (hitting, he admonished; killing, he also admonished, the leader in the Spring and Autumn Period was really hard to be), and advised: "God borrowed With our hands, we can remove the scourge of the young master for them, and Suiguo will not perish for a while." King Wu of Chu thought that the original intention of the war was to kill chickens and monkeys, since Suiguo intends to take the lead as an example, why not do it?So he followed Dou Bobi's suggestion, formed an alliance with Suiguo and returned. The so-called alliance is actually turning Suiguo into its vassal. The alliance between Chu and Sui laid the foundation for Chu to dominate the Han River Basin.Since then, King Wu of Chu has launched a series of offensives, gradually bringing the small vassal states in the Han River Basin under his control. In 701 BC, that is, the year when Zheng Zhuanggong died, Qu Xia, the general of the Chu army, led his army to the east of Han, and used force to coerce the two small countries of Er and Zhen to form an alliance with Chu. In 700 BC, King Wu of Chu personally led a large army to crusade against the country of Gong. The people of the country closed the city and could not leave the city. The offensive of the Chu army was once blocked.After several twists and turns, Qu Xia found the opponent's weakness, and said to King Wu of Chu: "The country of Jiang is small, and the people of the country are impetuous and not good at strategy. Please send woodcutters to cut firewood outside the city, and lure him out of the city to attack." King Wu of Chu obeyed. At Qu Xia's suggestion, the people of the state of Chu sent troops to attack as expected, and captured more than 30 people of the state of Chu on the first day.Early the next morning, the Jiang army, who had tasted the sweetness, rushed out of the city again and drove the woodcutters from Chu to the mountains. As a result, they were ambushed by the Chu army and were defeated.King Wu of Chu took the opportunity to send someone to put pressure on Lord Hang, forcing him to sign an alliance with Chu State and become a vassal of Chu State. In 699 BC, Qu Xia led an army to crusade against the Luo State on the shore of Pengshui.Dou Bobi sent the army out on behalf of the King of Chu, and on the way back he said to his coachman, "Qu Xia is bound to fail this trip, you can see how he is already floating in the air with his high-spirited appearance, how can he lead the army calmly in battle? The more he thought about it, the more worried he became. He ran to King Wu of Chu overnight and said that Qu Xia didn't have enough troops, so he must send reinforcements as soon as possible. King Wu of Chu laughed it off and didn't take it seriously.Back in the palace, he even told his wife Deng Man about it as a joke. Deng Man became anxious when he heard this, and said to King Wu of Chu, "You have misunderstood what Doctor Dou Bobi meant. He didn't mean that Qu Xia had not enough troops, but he was telling you that as the king of a country, you should use integrity to appease the younger brother. People, set an example to educate officials at all levels, and use strict laws to restrain generals who lead troops to fight. Qu Xia has won consecutive battles over the years, and his self-confidence is inflated. He is easy to act arbitrarily and make mistakes of underestimating the enemy. You must personally admonish him and restrain him well His behavior can prevent this kind of mistake from happening. Do you really think that the doctor is talking crazy to you because he doesn’t know that the troops have already left?” King Wu of Chu was startled, and scolded Dou Bobi secretly: "You bastard, just speak up if you have something to say, why are you still playing charades with me?" He quickly sent people to chase Qu Xia's army, but failed to catch up. As Deng Man said, Qu Xia was self-willed and did not listen to anyone's opinions, and even issued an order to his subordinates: "Those who raise opinions will be punished!" When the troops arrived at Yanshui, they crossed the river in a mess .The Luo army and the local Nanman tribal armed forces attacked on both sides and defeated the Chu army.Qu Xia felt ashamed to see others, so he ran to the mountain alone and hanged himself.The escaped general of the Chu Army imprisoned himself in Zhifu, waiting for King Wu of Chu to send him down. King Wu of Chu lamented: "This is all my fault." He pardoned them all. As a leader, one who dares to take responsibility when major mistakes occur, does not push back or blame others, is a good leader. During the period when King Wu of Chu ruled Chu State, Chu State continued to grow and develop in the Han River Basin. Although it did not touch the Central Plains, it continued to bully the small southern countries and became a local hegemony. However, Qu Xia's failure to crusade against Luo State dealt a great blow to King Wu of Chu. It can also be seen from this incident that under the rule of King Wu of Chu, although the state of Chu has risen, its power is still limited. After a military failure, it takes a long time to recover. In 690 BC, the Zhou royal family summoned Suihou to Luoyi to investigate the Chu son Xiong Tong's self-proclaimed king. They believed that Suihou had played a role in fueling the flames, and severely criticized it unceremoniously. In all honesty, Sui Hou's punishment was not worth it at all. If the Zhou royal family could manage Xiong Tong, they could take care of it themselves. Why blame him, a prince of a small country?Taking a ten thousand step back, Suiguo fought a war with Chu State at any rate, but the royal family of Zhou did not even dare to send a condemning envoy to Chu State. Over there, when King Wu of Chu learned that Suihou was going to Luoyi to pay homage to the emperor, he thought it was because he, the king of Chu, was not taken seriously, and in a fit of anger, he raised his troops to attack Suiguo again.Suihou is not human this time. After ten years of sharpening his sword, the purpose of King Wu of Chu's move was not only to destroy Suiguo, but also to annex the Eastern Han Kingdoms in one fell swoop.For a while, the countries in the Jianghan River Basin were trembling, for fear that Zhu Rong's torch would burn their heads. On the eve of the expedition, King Wu of Chu suddenly said something strange to his wife Deng Man: "I suddenly felt shaky in my heart." Deng Man listened and didn't speak for a while.The husband and wife were relatively silent, feeling that something was about to happen.After a long time, Deng Man said with tears in his eyes: "Your Majesty's destiny has been exhausted. If the water cup is filled with water, it is easy to shake out. It is the nature of nature. This is the spirit of the ancestors of the Chu Kingdom calling you! If the battle goes smoothly, If the entire army returns, even if you die in the army, it will be a blessing to the country." When the army went out to fight, Deng Man should not have said such unlucky words.King Wu of Chu lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then said, "Since it's the destiny, what's the benefit of me avoiding it?" Some scholars believe that the idea that the country is the most important and the king is the least, has been reflected in Deng Man's words.And I admire this woman very much, who is strong, gentle, passionate, righteous, and rational; I also admire King Wu of Chu. high moral standing. The Chu army set out to attack Suiguo according to the original plan. Before half of the journey, King Wu of Chu fell ill suddenly and died under a mang tree.This year is the fifty-first year of his reign.The news of his death was concealed. Under the leadership of Ling Yin Douqi and Sima Quzhong, the Chu army continued to advance, opened roads when encountering mountains, built bridges when encountering water, accelerated their marching speed, and went straight to the city of Suiguo. Overwhelmed by the unstoppable momentum of the Chu people, the Sui people did not put up any resistance, and took the initiative to seek peace from the Chu people, once again forming an ally with Chu.Sima Quzhong met with Marquis Sui as a representative of the King of Chu. Not only did he not let Marquis see the slightest sign that King Wu of Chu was dead, but he also pretended to make an agreement with Marquis Sui that the monarchs of the two countries would hold talks on the banks of the Han River next year. After doing this, the Chu army began to return to the country in a victorious squad. After all the troops crossed the Han River, Dou Qi and others announced the news of the death of King Wu of Chu. With such a king, such a queen, such generals, and such soldiers, it is difficult for the country not to be strong.