"Your Majesty, what the guest said is absolutely right. I second your opinion!"
"I am willing to fight!"
"Your Majesty, please send more reinforcements to attack Chu!"
After Bo Yu took the lead, the ministers and officials in the court immediately responded and asked Qingji to send more troops to Shudi and attack Chu with all the troops in the country to avenge Chu's last attack on Wu.
Seeing this, Zixi was speechless!
Regarding the attack on Wu last year, Chu was indeed not fair.
After all, Wu and Chu had just signed a non-aggression pact, and then Chu turned around and mobilized its troops to launch a massive attack on Wu. Such betrayal and changing of face so quickly were truly shocking.
However, the Chu army that attacked Wu was completely wiped out, losing 80,000 soldiers!
Zuo Sima Shen Yinshu had already drawn his sword and committed suicide.
It was the State of Chu that suffered the loss. How could Bo Hun have the nerve to say something like "avenge the previous humiliation"?
It's so shameless and brazen!
What surprised Zixi even more was that everyone in the Wu court was in favor of war!
Even Ji Zha, who had always upheld the principle of peace, remained silent at this time, as if he had tacitly approved Wu's plan to send more troops to attack Chu.
"King Wu, please listen to what I have to say!"
Zixi had no choice but to bite the bullet and bow to Qingji on the steps, saying: "The previous attack by the State of Chu on Wu was indeed unacceptable. This was the fault of the State of Chu."
"Then, the armies of Chu and Wu are now facing each other in Shudi, neither of them can make an inch of progress. Wu can send more troops, but Chu cannot?"
"The population of Chu has already exceeded three million, while the population of Wu is less than one million. If a long war breaks out, how can Wu defeat Chu?"
"Besides, since the King of Wu inherited the throne, Wu has been at war every day, causing people's livelihood to decline, the number of young and strong people to decrease sharply, and the people are suffering terribly!"
"If the King of Wu insists on fighting again, I'm afraid the country of Wu will be in dire straits!"
It has to be said that Zixi's eloquence is quite remarkable.
Although Qingji tried hard to hide the problems in all aspects of Wu State, Zixi was still able to detect them and persuade Qingji with advice.
Therefore, Qingji might as well take advantage of the situation and ask with a gentle look on his face: "Mr. Shen is really eloquent, which is rare in the world."
"Now that Chu is willing to sign a peace treaty, is it sincere?"
Sincerity refers only to the conditions for Chu's negotiations or peace talks.
Zi Xi naturally knew this, so he immediately said in a serious tone: "King Wu, according to my king's opinion, Chu and Wu should each take a step back."
"Chu recognizes the three riverside cities of Que, Yongpu and An currently occupied by Wu. But Wu must return the nine cities of Shudi and the tens of thousands of Chu soldiers who were captured before!"
“…”
Qingji was speechless .
In the huge court of Wu State , all the ministers could not help but fall silent. There was complete silence!
Afterwards, Bo Yu, who had recovered from his shock, immediately pointed at Zi Xi and shouted, "Is this Chu's sincerity? This is ridiculous! Absurd!"
"The three riverside cities of Que, Yongpu and An, including the nine cities of Shudi, are already in the possession of Wu. Why should Chu recognize the ownership?"
"How dare you ask the Wu Kingdom to release tens of thousands of prisoners of war and cede the Shu territory? This is simply ridiculous!"
"I have never seen such a shameless act in my entire life!"
Bo Yan's words expressed the inner thoughts of all the kings and ministers of Wu, including Qingji.
If the Wu army that was attacking Chu was in danger and Wu was unable to fight again, it might surrender and return the Shu area and the three riverside cities of Que, Yongpu and An that it had already captured to Chu.
What's more, Qingji might even release some Chu prisoners of war.
However, the current situation is that the State of Chu is in civil strife and smoke of war is everywhere!
Zixi came to Wudu to negotiate peace on behalf of the State of Chu, which could be said to be a request for peace.
In this case, how could Zi Xi dare to brazenly ask Wu to return the nine cities of Shu and release more than 50,000 captured Chu soldiers?
Absolutely not!
Therefore, after Zi Xi put forward such conditions, the ministers and officials of the State of Wu present were all excited and stood up to criticize Zi Xi.
"Your Majesty, the Chu people have no sincerity in negotiating peace and stopping the war. Please send more troops to Shudi immediately to teach the ignorant Chu a lesson!"
"If the Chu people refuse to obey, then beat them into submission!"
"I second the motion!"
All the ministers asked for war, claiming that they wanted to teach the State of Chu a lesson.
In fact, they were inclined to stop the war between Wu and Chu.
However, all the ministers and officials had to play a double act with Qingji in front of Zixi, one playing the white cop and the other the red cop.
Zi Xi knew he was in the wrong, so he had to swallow his anger and said, "If the King of Wu thinks it is not possible, our Chu State can still cede Chang'an to Wu."
"Hmph, let alone Chang'an, even if we add a Zhaoguan, it's impossible!"
Bo Heng glared at Zi Xi and said hatefully.
Qing Ji on the stage smiled slightly and said, "Sir Shen, in my opinion, the State of Chu has no sincerity in negotiating peace and stopping the war."
"In that case, Master Shen may as well go back and tell the King of Chu that the nine cities in Shudi and the three riverside cities of Que, Yongpu and An were captured by our Wu soldiers after great sacrifices and bloodshed. We must not give them up easily!"
"As for the captured Chu soldiers, I can exchange them with Chu, or I can show mercy and release the officers and generals, but it is absolutely impossible for me to return all the surrendered soldiers to Chu!"
After hearing this, Zixi finally understood Qingji's thoughts more or less.
Qingji is a person who won’t release the eagle until he sees the rabbit!
Don't even think about letting him give up any benefits he has already gained.
Zi Xi had no choice but to take his leave temporarily, write down what he saw and heard today in a memorial, and have someone send it to Yingdu as soon as possible!
…
Big prison.
At this moment, Wu Zixu was sitting on a pile of hay, closing his eyes in deep thought. He was in tattered clothes and in a depressed spirit. His lonely look could not be concealed no matter what he did!
Wu Zixu had been thrown into prison for more than a month. During this time, Qingji only visited him once, but he was not satisfied.
Wu Zixu wrote several more essays on governing the country and the army to prove his talent and foresight to Qingji, but they all seemed to fall on deaf ears and received no response!
It was as if Qingji had forgotten the existence of Wu Zixu. He neither issued an edict to execute him nor entrusted him with any important tasks.
This more or less made Wu Zixu feel uneasy and tormented!
With a creaky sound, the prison door suddenly opened.
When Wu Zixu opened his eyes, he saw a stranger with a white face and no beard, dressed like a servant, and obviously a eunuch in the palace.
He was a eunuch sent by Qingji to convey the oral order.
Was Wu Zixu executed or entrusted with an important task?
At this moment, his heart couldn't help but tighten.
"Wu Yuan, the king has ordered you to go hunting with him tomorrow!"
Hunting?
Wu Zixu was completely stunned.