Chapter 470: Xiang’s future

On August 14, the 23rd year of Qianyuan, the general of the Zhao army, Dong Zhong, accepted the surrender of 30,000 Chu troops, led by the Chu army generals Chen Feng and Jiang Zi, in Lu County. After surrendering, he sent troops to escort Chen Feng, Jiang Zi and other Chu generals to Pengcheng, while the 30,000 Chu soldiers stayed in Lu County to accept the incorporation of the Zhao army.

On August 20, the 23rd year of Qianyuan, Li Rubing, commander of the Zhao army, promoted his troops eastward, and gathered 100,000 elite troops under Dong Zhong in Lu County. On August 25, the 23rd year of Qianyuan, the 25th year of Qianyuan, and the battle of Xia Pi was about to break out.

At the same time, after learning that Li Rubing had broken Pengcheng, the 100,000 Zhao army of Leyun's troops in Pei County launched a fierce attack on the remaining land in Pei County. On the 23rd year of Qianyuan, on the first day of September, he captured Hong County, the last city in the eastern part of Pei County, and went north, breaking several cities along the way. On the ninth day of September, he met with Li Rubing's main army at Xiapi City. Finally, the 300,000 Chu army that advanced south to attack Chu met with Xiapi City.

When Leyun's troops arrived at Xia Pi City, Li Rubing had launched a fierce attack on Xia Pi City for ten consecutive days, but he still failed to shake Xia Pi City, but there was not no progress. After ten days of hard fighting, there were only less than 20,000 Chu troops in Xia Pi City, and more than one-third were injured. The Zhao army also threw more than 30,000 corpses under Xia Pi City, and the casualties on both sides were very tragic.

On September 20, in the 23rd year of Qianyuan, after a month of fierce attack, the Zhao army finally successfully knocked on the gate of Xia Pi City with its huge strength, and wiped out 30,000 Chu troops. Yu Zilong and Zhang brothers were killed in battle, while the Zhao army suffered more than 70,000 casualties, which shows how tragic the battle was.

After capturing Xia Pi City, the Zhao army urgently needed rest due to continuous combat and huge casualties. So Li Rubing then led his troops to station in Xia Pi City and continued to advance after the army rested and recuperated.

At this time, a soldier appeared outside Guangling City, the capital of Guangling County. The number was less than 3,000, and there were a large number of elderly, weak, women and children. This soldier was Xiang Quan's troops who fled from Pengcheng. They advanced east and south. In order not to be discovered by the Zhao army, they did not dare to walk the road, and they followed the path along the road. In addition, there were many elderly, weak, women and children in the army, so the marching speed was very slow. After more than a month, they finally arrived at Guangling City on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

Just when Xiang Quan arrived at Guangling City, the gate of Guangling City was wide open. A teenager in the brocade was slowly walking out surrounded by elite Chu soldiers. As soon as he saw Xiang Quan, the brocade boy could not wait to trot up and came to Xiang Quan, and asked anxiously: "General Xiang, Pengcheng is really lost. Is your father really Bintian?" This brocade boy was Xiang Jing, the third prince of Chu. Since Chu recovered Guangling County, he was sent by King Xiang Kuang of Chu to guard Guangling. Because he was far away from Pengcheng, he had heard of everything that happened in Pengcheng, but he didn't know clearly.

Facing Xiang Jing's question, Xiang Quan lowered his head and said with tears of sorrow: "Yes, Your Highness, Pengcheng has been lost. The king took His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, Fan Xiang, and many little princes and wives in the palace to burn themselves to the King's Hall."

"Ah! Li Rubing, I am irreconcilable with you!" Although I was mentally prepared, Xiang Jing was still very sad when he heard the bad news suddenly and whistled to the sky, wanting to irreconcilable with Li Rubing.

Xiang Quan comforted Xiang Jing: "Your Highness, it is not a time of grief now. The Zhao army will soon attack Guangling, so we need to discuss countermeasures now, otherwise Guangling City will probably repeat the mistakes of Pengcheng." Now is not a time of grief. This time the Zhao army goes south to completely destroy Chu. Just attacking Pengcheng cannot satisfy the Zhao army, so it is only a matter of time to attack Guangling.

When I came to the palace in Guangling City, this palace was built at the heyday of the Chu State. Later, after suffering, the state of Chu State recovered Guangling County, and after regaining Guangling County, it used this palace as Xiang Jing's residence and lived by Xiang Jing.

The partial hall of the Baligned Palace in Guangling Palace. All the palaces in Guangling Palace have the same names as the Pengcheng Palace. The main hall is also called the Baligned Palace, but the main hall is relatively high in specifications, so Xiang Jing generally handles government affairs in the partial hall.

After Xiang Jing sat in his position and let the people who came with Xiang Quan, he entertained Xiang Quan and his group in the side hall.

"Your Highness, in order to avoid Zhao's army, I can only walk a small path or mountain road along the way, so the news is a bit blocked. I wonder what the situation in the Central Plains is now?" After drinking for three tours, Xiang Quan asked Xiang Jing about the situation in the Central Plains.

When Xiang Jing heard Xiang Quan's question, he winked at his general Zhu Jian and signaled him to answer. After Zhu Jian understood, he said to Xiang Quan: "General Xiang, since Pengcheng fell, the Zhao army has launched an offensive against other parts of our Great Chu. A month ago, General Chen Feng, General Chen Qi, led 30,000 elite troops to surrender to the Zhao army, and the entire territory of Pei County has also fallen into the hands of the Zhao army. Now the Zhao army has been besieging Xia Pi for nearly a month, and I am afraid it is not far from breaking the city!"

"In other words, Guangling is still a pure land in the four counties of Great Chu..." After hearing Zhu Ye's words, Xiang Quan sighed that the four counties of Chu, Pei County, and Pengcheng County had all fallen into the hands of the Zhao army, and Xia Pi County was not far away, with 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 last way out for the Chu royal family. Now that he wanted to preserve the bloodline of the Xiang clan, he could only surrender to Deng State.

"General Xiang, now our Chu is the only one left Guangling County. Now Guangling County has more than 10,000 troops and horses brought by General Xiang. How to fight against Zhao's army in the future? Please ask General Xiang to have an idea!" When Xiang Quan was planning to persuade Xiang Jing to surrender to Deng State, Xiang Jing took the lead in saying.

Hearing Xiang Jing's words, Xiang Quan couldn't help but shake his head, which made Xiang Jing very puzzled, so he asked: "What does General Xiang mean? Do you think Xiang Jing is young and unable to take on the heavy responsibility?"

Xiang Quan shook his head and said, "Your Highness, I don't mean this. I will tell you the truth. The eldest prince's son, the fourth prince was captured and killed by the Zhao army in Peicheng. The second prince was in Xiapi city and had long been controlled by Yu Zilong. Once the Zhao army broke through the city, it would be very bad. Most of the rest burned themselves to the King's Hall with the King. Now only His Highness is left. Before I left, the king told me that it doesn't matter whether the Great Chu can continue. What's important is that the Xiang clan needs to preserve bloodlines and continue!"

"What does General Xiang mean?" This made Xiang Jing even more puzzled. How do we talk about fighting against Zhao Jun, but what are you talking about to preserve and continuate bloodlines?

Xiang Quan said: "The king's will give his ministers is to use Guangling County as a bargaining chip to incorporate into Deng State, seek the protection of Deng State, and preserve the bloodline of our Xiang clan!" This was originally what Fan Ting said to him, but although Fan Ting was the prime minister, he was just a minister. So if Xiang Quan told Xiang Jing that this was Fan Ting's meaning, Xiang Jing might not pay any attention, so Xiang Quan could only directly move Xiang Kuang and tell Xiang Jing that this was 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 never suffered any major suffering in his life. Even in Linzi, Xiang Kuang, his father, was protected, so his life was relatively smooth. He suddenly faced such a disaster of national destruction and was at a loss for a moment. It was not easy to think that it would be difficult to continue to confront the Zhao army, but now Xiang Quan asked him to take the entire Guangling County to surrender to Deng State, which made Xiang Jing not know what to do.

At the critical moment, the general Zhu Jie broke the embarrassment and asked Xiang Quan directly: "General Xiang, General Xiang is not questioning General Xiang's words. Let's not say whether this is the king's meaning. Even if Deng State may not have a great fight for us and Zhao State. If Deng State really cares about us, he would not have remained silent until now and watched the Zhao army attack our Great Chu!"

Hearing Zhu Ye's words, Xiang Quan smiled sadly and said, "Your Highness, General Zhu, Deng State will certainly not care about us, but Deng State cares about Guangling County. Guangling County is located in the south of the Yangtze River and is across the Yangtze River from the East Road of Deng State. Jiangdong has always been the most stable rear of Deng State since entering Deng State. Deng State will never let Jiangdong be threatened. Once Zhao State occupy Guangling County, it can directly threaten Jiangdong. How could Deng State sit by and watch Guangling County fall into the hands of Zhao State? If I am not wrong, I am afraid that Deng State's troops in Huainan have already taken action!"

Hearing Xiang Quan's words, Xiang Jing and Zhu Yan nodded silently. Zhu Yan said: "According to the spies' response, the Yongping Guard of Deng State has moved troops to the border of Guangling. The border guards are still trying to take action against His Highness. However, His Highness is concerned about Deng State, so he just asked the border troops to take precautions. However, it is said that Deng State's general Yue Fei has arrived in Huainan and his movements are unknown."

"That's right!" After hearing Zhu Yan's words, Xiang Quan looked like this indeed, and then said to Xiang Jing: "Your Highness, Deng's ambitions for Guangling County have been revealed. Given Deng's previous attitude, they will not come and go to Guangling County. If Your Highness does not make any decision, Guangling will soon face the north-south attacks of the Zhao army and the Deng army. It would be fine if we fall into the hands of Deng army, but once we fall into the hands of Zhao army, we may have no chance of survival. Even if we fall into the hands of Deng, it will not be easy. Since the result will not change, why not choose a better future?"

Xiang Quan's words made Xiang Jing and Zhu Jian completely silent. Yes, the result will not change. Whether it is to resist desperately or surrender to Deng, the final result is nothing more than the destruction of the country. However, if they take the initiative to surrender to Deng, they can still be treated preferentially and may even be granted titles. However, if they resist to the death, the better result will be captured by the Deng army, and the worse result will be to die at the hands of the Zhao army. How to choose is clear at a glance.

After a long time, Xiang Jing and Zhu Fang looked at each other, then Xiang Jing sighed and said, "It seems that he is really weak in turning things around. Forget it, then follow the father's will and save the bloodline of my Xiang clan. General Zhu, you will immediately send someone to Huainan to meet Yue Fei, tell Yue Fei what I mean, and tell him that the Zhao army marched very quickly, and Xia Pi City will be broken every night, leaving him and our Guangling with him, I hope he can seize the time!"
Chapter completed!