"Uncle, you really have good intentions!"
Looking around at the new graves, Qingji couldn't help but sigh to Ji Zha.
It was not until nightfall that Qingji led his group back to the King of Wu's Palace.
Qingji, who was originally in a very heavy mood, gradually felt relieved.
According to Wu's current situation, there is absolutely no benefit in continuing the war against Chu!
Qingji could not waste the national strength on wars of foreign expansion, but he was unwilling to give up the Shu area and cities along the river that he had already conquered.
"I am determined to negotiate peace with the State of Chu, but not now."
Qingji looked at Ji Zha, Sun Wu and Bo Hun who were sitting on the steps, and said slowly: "As Bo Hun said before, the time to negotiate peace with the Chu people is not yet ripe!"
"If we propose peace talks now, it will be tantamount to asking for peace, which will certainly be seen as a disadvantage. Therefore, we must force the State of Chu to take the initiative to propose peace talks!"
Hearing this, the three important ministers present could not help but look at each other, and they were all puzzled in their hearts.
"I wonder if the king has any plans?"
Ji Zha asked in confusion.
"The Chu State was originally just a small country, but after hundreds of years of wind, frost, rain and snow, it finally became a great country that dominated the south!"
"Since King Wu of Chu, Chu has successively annexed Jiang, Liu, Dongliao, Jiang, Shu, Zong and other countries, and inspected the troops in the suburbs of Zhou to ask about the importance of the tripod."
After a pause, Qingji changed the subject and continued, "However, the reason why Chu expanded so rapidly, apart from the fierce nature of the Chu people and their large numbers, there is another very important reason!"
"That is, every time the Chu people conquer a country, they will preserve its ancestral temple and not abolish the sacrificial rituals. For countries that do not resist, they will even appoint them as feudal lords of a place, and they will simply become vassal states!"
"Therefore, the Chu State is now full of feudal lords."
"The feudal lords are to the King of Chu as the princes are to the Emperor of Zhou!"
"The difference is that most of the princes and nobles who were granted land by the Chu State did not dare to disobey the King of Chu!"
"However, I have heard that in recent years, in places far from the heartland of Chu, there have been repeated civil unrest, or even riots by feudal lords, some attempting to secede and establish their own regimes."
"In short, the feudal lords and nobles of Chu have become too powerful to be eliminated. We may be able to start from this and create some trouble within Chu."
Upon hearing this, Ji Zha and three other important ministers could not help but nod their heads slightly to show their agreement.
If Qingji hadn't reminded them, they would have forgotten that the State of Chu had such a crisis and such a weakness!
Since King Wu of Chu, Chu's external expansion momentum was very rapid, until it was defeated by Jin in the Battle of Yanling, and the hegemony of Chu was hit.
After the Peace Conference, the State of Chu did not conquer another country for many years, and was even suppressed by its neighbor to the east, the State of Wu!
During the reigns of King Ling of Chu and King Ping of Chu, the power of the aristocracy in Chu had become too powerful to be eliminated.
King Ling was killed in a coup during the process of reducing the power of the princes. During the reign of King Ping of Chu, nobles from all over the country divided up the royal power, causing the pace of Chu's expansion to stagnate.
Today, the State of Chu is satisfied with its existing territory, and it is difficult for the country to mobilize more resources to compete with the State of Wu!
This is a very cruel reality.
Even though the Chu State had a vast territory, a large population, and hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers, all the troops that could be mobilized were distributed among the feudal lords in various places, and there were basically very few left!
Now that the State of Chu has lost 80,000 soldiers, all its fighting spirit has been wiped out. Many people have long been dissatisfied with the State of Chu and are determined to restore their homeland. Among them there must be many feudal lords of different surnames .
And this is the drawback of the feudal system implemented by the Chu people in the country!
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Ji Zha praised him highly, saying, "Your Majesty, I have learned that the people of Yong, Luo, Deng, Shen and other countries that were annexed by the Chu people often rioted and tried to drive out the Chu troops and restore their rule."
"As for Yun State to the west of Chu State, it has been fighting with the Chu army in the mountains for many years, and it is difficult to separate them. However, its land is further encroached by the Chu people. I believe Yun State cannot refuse this opportunity to strike back at Chu State!"
"If possible, Your Majesty should mobilize the princes of Chu State in Juchao, Liu, Yingshi, Jiang, Huang and other places adjacent to our Wu State, because the Chu State's army will attack Wu, and most of the soldiers it recruits are young and strong people in these places."
"If the Chu people recruit soldiers again, I'm afraid it will provoke a civil uprising!"
"If the feudal lords of various regions in Chu could revolt together, I am afraid that the people of Chu would have no choice but to seek peace with our Wu State in order to suppress the rebellion in the country as soon as possible!"
Hearing this, Qingji nodded and said with a smile: "My uncle's plan is very much in line with my opinion!"
…
The time came to 512 BC, the end of the first month of the second year of King Qingji of Wu.
According to Qingji's order, the Wu army led by Sun Ping, which was attacking Chu, had stopped attacking Qianyi and retreated to Shudi to confront Shen Zhuliang's Chu army!
As his own troops were not at an advantage and were much smaller than those of the Wu army, Shen Zhuliang did not dare to go into battle easily.
The battle situation remained at a stalemate.
On the other hand, under the operation of Ji Zha and Bo Yun, a large number of Wu spies began to spread rumors in Juchao, Liu, Yingshi and other places in Chu, inciting local people to resist Chu's conscription order!
After all, with the bloody example of the loss of 80,000 soldiers in the past, the Li people, who had no strong sense of belonging to the State of Chu, naturally had no intention of going to the battlefield to die .
The feudal lords in various parts of the Chu State had their own plans in mind. It was impossible to forcibly conscript young men, so the most they could do was send some of the old and weak to Qianyi in an attempt to get away with it.
After all, the Chu State had occupied these places for so many years, and the local people had almost no sense of belonging to their homeland, and the feudal lords and nobles did not dare to act rashly.
However, it is still possible to pretend to obey the King of Chu's edict while secretly disobeying it!
As for places farther away from the heartland of Chu, rebellions broke out one after another in Luo, Yong, Shen, Jiao and other places.
This was not instigated by the State of Wu, but rather an attempt by feudal lords and nobles from all over the country to restore their homeland. It was purely their own behavior!
They rely on the fact that the emperor is far away and they have nothing to fear!
To the west of Chu, Yun State was also invading Chu's border.
The Tang State, a country within a country surrounded by the Chu State, spontaneously sent troops to respond to the Wu Army's offensive in the east when it heard that the Chu Army had lost 80,000 soldiers and the Wu Army was launching a large-scale attack on Chu!
For a time, smoke of war rose from all parts of the Chu State, and the border was in a state of emergency.
For the State of Chu, the rebellions in various places and the invasions by the States of Yun and Tang were only minor issues. Their real enemy was the Wu army!
Even so, there was chaos within the State of Chu, like a single spark that could start a prairie fire.
Anyone with a discerning eye knows that external wars can be postponed, but internal rebellions must be suppressed!
If they are not careful, the State of Chu will fall into endless civil strife and pay an even more tragic price for it!
Therefore, after some discussion with her ministers, Queen Mother Meng Ying decided to send Zixi as an envoy to Wudu to negotiate peace with Qingji.