Chapter 9: Impatience can ruin great plans
"Zi Xu, I wonder who you think I should send as an envoy to persuade the State of Chu?"
Helu was very hesitant.
He killed the king and usurped the throne more than a year ago, and he had already won over many talents in his early years!
However, the matter of lobbying the State of Chu was of great importance, and Helu really did not dare to entrust such an important matter to others.
Who can shoulder such a heavy responsibility?
Wu Zixu could have done it, but he had a blood feud with the State of Chu and was resisting in his heart, so he was not qualified for the job.
"We must not be careless in lobbying the State of Chu this time. In order to ask the Chu people for reinforcements, the envoy must be a wise man who is eloquent and has noble morals..."
Good at speaking and having noble moral character?
Looking at Wu Zixu who was keeping a secret in front of him, Helu felt hesitant.
As for the wise man mentioned by Wu Zixu, Helu thought about it and only one person came to his mind:
Ji Zha!
"Zi Xu, are you talking about Ji Zha?"
"Exactly!"
Wu Zixu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Prince Zha is wise and knowledgeable, virtuous and talented, and eloquent."
"In his early years, he represented the State of Wu on several diplomatic missions to the states of Jin, Qi, Lu, Wei, etc., where he was highly praised. People all called Ji Zha a sage, a gentleman and wise man with the legacy of ancient times."
"If Your Majesty can allow Prince Zha to go as an envoy to Yingdu, he will surely achieve success immediately!"
Hearing this, Helu felt very embarrassed.
Why?
Because Helu had some suspicions about Ji Zha!
Ji Zha's reputation for virtue is known throughout the world.
Many people compare Ji Zha with Taibo (Wu Taibo), the founding ancestor of the Wu State.
Taibo was the eldest son of King Tai of Zhou, Gugong Danfu, and the first heir!
But his father Tai Wang intended to pass the throne to his youngest son Jili.
Jili was the father of King Wen of Zhou, Ji Chang, and the grandfather of King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa!
King Tai of Zhou was always depressed about this matter, so Taibo gave up the throne and fled to the desolate Jingman land under the pretext of collecting herbs, and established the State of Wu.
Ji Zha's situation is even more legendary!
Ji Zha's father was King Shoumeng of Wu.
When Shoumeng was old, he encountered the same troublesome problem as his ancestor Gugong Tanfu!
Shoumeng had four sons: the eldest son Zhufan, the second son Yuji, the third son Yimei, and the fourth son Jizha.
Ji Zha was the most knowledgeable , benevolent and wise among Shoumeng's four sons, and was therefore deeply loved by Shoumeng. Shoumeng wanted to pass the throne to Ji Zha, but Ji Zha refused to accept it!
So before Shoumeng died, he called all his sons to his side and instructed his eldest son Zhufan that the throne must be passed on to the younger brother after the elder brother's death so that it would eventually pass into the hands of Ji Zha. Zhufan was moved and responded with tears!
Before the eldest brother Zhufan died, he wanted to make Ji Zha the king, but was rejected.
The second son, Yu Ji, and the third son, Yi Mei, successively became kings of Wu, in accordance with their father's order that the younger brother would succeed the elder brother.
When the third brother Yimei was dying, he summoned Ji Zha to his bedside and wanted to make him the King of Wu, but Ji Zha refused again!
As a last resort, Ji Zha retired to the mountains and rivers, working in the fields all day long to demonstrate his firm will and integrity, which completely dispelled the idea of the people of Wu!
Ji Zha's kindness moved the people of Wu State. They wanted to support Ji Zha as the king like the stars surrounding the moon.
Ji Zha's three times of giving up his country were regarded as a beautiful story at that time!
Later, King Liao of Wu, the son of Yimei, was murdered by Helu. Ji Zha was very sad and went to King Liao's tomb to cry.
Helu had always been very afraid of Ji Zha's fame, so he appointed him to the throne of Yanling, but Ji Zha never accepted the appointment. Because of Helu's suspicion, Ji Zha was left in Wudu, idle at home all day long and without any achievements!
"Zi Xu, please go on my behalf and persuade Ji Zha to go on a diplomatic mission to the State of Chu."
Helu really had no face to face Ji Zha!
Wu Zixu was very calm and said, "Why bother? Your Majesty can just issue an imperial decree and order Prince Zha to go as an envoy."
"Given the character of Master Zha, he will definitely not refuse!"
"good."
Helu chose to believe Wu Zixu.
"In addition, please send people to reinforce the city defenses and defend it strictly. More than half of your old subordinates have been killed or injured. All the soldiers and civilians in the city can be deployed!"
"I am afraid that people's hearts are unpredictable. Many officials and people in Wudu are biased towards Qingji, so that the generals and soldiers turned against him when the battle started."
"Therefore, I ask the king to open the treasury and store the money and food to reward the soldiers in order to stabilize the army and boost morale!"
"good."
Helu nodded slightly and agreed.
As Wu Zixu said, human hearts are unpredictable!
At the moment, Helu could only use money and food to bribe soldiers to work for him.
Otherwise, he couldn't guarantee whether someone would turn against the Qingji army and take the opportunity to cause trouble on the day when the Qingji army attacked the city!
…
Outside the city of Wu.
Spears and swords are like forests, and flags cover the sky!
The soldiers of the Qingji Army, wearing scarlet battle uniforms, stood across the wilderness, roaring loudly, and the sound shook the earth.
Qingji was standing on a chariot, leaning on his sword, with a look of high spirits between his brows!
The capital city of Wu covers a vast area. The walls on all four sides are built with rammed earth bricks. The walls are about three meters high and are surrounded by a moat with gurgling water.
The eight city gates were tall and thick, and were tightly closed at this time.
Although Qingji's army carried a lot of siege equipment such as battering rams, ladders, and wooden curtains, it was not easy to capture the impregnable Wu capital city !
Therefore, for this city, Qingji wanted to capture it by strategy rather than by force.
The cost of a violent attack is too high, and for Qingji, it seems unnecessary!
"Ji Guang, you are a traitor who killed the king and usurped the throne. You have the guts to commit treason, but why are you hiding in the city and not daring to come out and fight?"
"Listen, soldiers on the city wall. You are a beautiful woman, why do you become a thief? Aren't you afraid of God's punishment for helping the thieves to commit atrocities like this?"
"I advise you to lay down your weapons and surrender immediately. My master will forgive your mistakes!"
"Ji Guang, you are a coward, a coward, a rebellious villain! The kings of our Great Wu have always been kind and benevolent people. Why did you emerge as an unkind, unjust, mean and ungrateful person..."
At Qingji's command, a group of soldiers with loud voices stood at the foot of the city and started shouting and cursing.
Apart from persuading him to surrender, they also insulted Helu, who killed the king and usurped the throne, and obtained the country in an illegitimate way!
Sending Zhuan Zhu to assassinate King Liao of Wu and usurp the throne was Helü's dark history and could not be refuted , so Helü stayed in the palace and did not come out to suffer the humiliation.
But when the soldiers on the city wall heard such shouting and cursing, they felt ashamed, angry and very aggrieved!
But they find it difficult to refute.
If Helu had not opened the treasury earlier and distributed all the money and food, the army might have mutinied long ago and been swayed by Qingji's army's words of persuasion to surrender!
"hateful!"
Even so, Prince Fuchai, who had been guarding the city wall, could not hold back his explosive temper.
Fuchai stared at the enemy soldiers who were shouting and cursing at the foot of the city, and said with gritted teeth: "Come on, open the city gate for me, I want to go down and kill all these crazy people who are spewing shit!"
"Wait a minute!"
Wu Zixu, who was standing aside, quickly stopped the soldier who was going down to deliver the message.
"Da Sima, why are you stopping me?"
"Sir, a little impatience can ruin a great plan. Please be patient for now. When the time comes, you will be able to vent your anger."
