The Great Wei Empire in the Warring States Period

Palace of the King of Yue

Si Wu Zhuan, the King of Yue, was depressed because he did not get the Zhanhu Sword. A guard came in and said:"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister is here to ask for an audience!" When Si Wuzhuan heard that it was the Prime Minister, he hurriedly said:"Please invite the Prime Minister in quickly!"——yes!

Si Sheng came in and saw that the King of Yue was very upset now, so he asked:"Your Majesty, what is it that makes the King so upset?" Si Wuzhuan sighed and said,"It's not because of the Zhanhu sword. This sword is the most powerful sword of our Yue Kingdom! Back then, King Gou Jian of Yue wore this sword and dominated the world! Now that sword was about to reach the hands of me, but it was gone! You said I am not upset!"

After hearing this, Si Sheng said:"Your Majesty, since I haven't found the sword yet, I don't want to put the envoy of Qi under house arrest for the time being. After all, the envoy of Qi doesn't know. If our Yue State puts an envoy under house arrest like this, , which will make our Yue country lose its trust in the world. You must know that there is no case of putting an envoy under house arrest in the whole world! If this is the case, we will be criticized by all the countries in the world! I thought that when I found the sword, if it was The envoys of Qi surrendered and captured him, and there are no clues yet, so don't put them under house arrest for the time being, just send someone to follow them secretly!" After hearing this, Si Wuzhuan said:"But if we don't put them under house arrest, , how should we explain to the Wei State? By putting the envoys of the Qi State under house arrest like this, I am also sending a friendly message to the Wei State!"

Si Sheng shook his head and said,"Your Majesty, no! We can even put Qi State under house arrest. Wei will not be grateful to us for envoys from the state. You must know that Wei is the most powerful country in the world. We only put a small envoy from Qi under house arrest. How can we win the favor of Wei? Furthermore, The State of Wei and the State of Chu are allies, but the State of Chu has always wanted to destroy our State of Yue. I think that Wei’s coming to form an alliance with us this time may be a pretense!"

Si Wuzhuan nodded after hearing this and said quickly :"If the prime minister hadn't reminded me, I would have done something wrong! Come on, order the army not to put the envoys of Qi under house arrest! I allow them to come and go freely!"——Your Majesty, Your Majesty!

Tian Zhuo and others were overjoyed after receiving the order from the King of Yue! Tian Zhuo said to Tian Fei:"Hurry up and spread the news outside that the Zhanhu Sword is in the hands of the King of Yue!"——yes!

A few days later, the whole Kuaiji spread the news that the King of Yue had obtained the Zhanhu Sword. This news did not reach the ears of the King of Yue, but it reached the ears of the King of Chu!

It turns out that when Tian Zhuo first spread the news, it was to the businessmen of Chu! As a result, when the merchants of Chu State heard that Yue State had obtained the Zhanhu Sword, they rushed to Chu State without stopping and told the King of Chu that he, the King of Yue, had obtained the Zhanhu Sword.

When the King of Chu heard that the King of Yue had obtained the Zhanhu Sword, he was furious and said:"This Zhanhu Sword was originally the treasure of our Chu State. Qu Boyong, please send an envoy to the Yue State as soon as possible and ask the Yue State to return it to my Chu State. Otherwise, we will wait. Follow our Chu army to attack!"——yes. In fact, the King of Chu did not want the sword, but used this excuse to attack Yue!

So he quickly sent envoys to the State of Yue and asked the King of Yue to return the Zhanhu Sword to the State of Chu!

King Si Wuzhuan of Yue was watching a dance in the palace. Suddenly, a guard ran in and said,"What's wrong with the king? Qu Boyong, the envoy of the Chu State, is here. He wants to see the king!" Si Wuzhuan heard that the Chu State envoy was here. When Qu Boyong came, he thought to himself: What happened to our Yue country? All of a sudden, envoys from the three most powerful countries in the world came to our country. Since the King of Yue was afraid of Chu's national power, he said:"Please invite the envoys of Chu to come in quickly!"

Qu Boyong walked in arrogantly and looked above. The King of Yue said:"The envoy of the Chu State has met the King of Yue. I heard that the King of Yue has obtained the Zhanhu Sword. The Zhanhu Sword originally belonged to the Chu State. I ask the King of Yue to return it to me as soon as possible. Otherwise, our Chu army will Just come and get it yourself!"

Si Wuzhuan was shocked, how did the Chu State know about the Zhanhu Sword? He quickly said:"I, the Yue State, did not get the Zhanhu Sword. When the envoy of the State of Wei gave it to me, he found that the sword in the sword box was missing. He is still looking for it now!" When

Qu Boyong heard this, he realized that it was the sword wanted by the State of Wei. Give the Zhanhu Sword to Yue! He thought to himself: This Wei State is really disrespectful. Instead of giving the Zhanhu Sword to our Chu State, it gave it to the Yue State! I will report it to the king when I return! Xu Boyong said sternly:"King of Yue, I would like to advise the king of Yue to think clearly. If you don't give me the Zhanhu Sword to Chu State, just wait for the arrival of our Chu State army!" After that, he left in a swaggering manner!

Only King Yue was left with a shocked look on his face. The prince on the side said to King Si Wuzhuan of Yue:"Father, why don't you invite the envoys of Wei and Qi to come to the court tomorrow morning and explain clearly? In this case, the envoys of Chu will also come to the court. I have nothing to say!" After listening to his son's words, Si Wuzhuan nodded repeatedly and said,"Okay, just do what I asked you to do!"

The next morning

, Tian Zhuo and Pang Mao walked into the Yue Kingdom Palace together. Tang, Hanmao felt a little confused when he saw Tian Zhuo's calm and calm expression! When Pang Mao entered the court, he unexpectedly saw Qu Boyong, the central official of Chu State, also there, and Qu Boyong looked at him with a cold face.

When Tian Zhuo saw it, he was overjoyed. Now that Qu Boyong is here, there will be something good to watch!

Qu Boyong saw him coming, but Qu Boyong didn't say hello. When Pang Mao stood next to Qu Boyong, Qu Boyong deliberately took a few steps away from him. Pang Mao felt a little confused. Why does it seem like his allies don't want to be next to him?

When the King of Yue saw that the three envoys had arrived, he quickly said:"Everyone, not long ago, the envoy of the State of Wei gave me a sword. When the sword was given to me, there was only An ordinary sword. Is the Wei envoy right?"

Pang Mao didn't know what was going on, so he said without thinking:"Exactly, what's going on with the King of Yue?"

Qu Bo stood beside him. When Yong heard this, Pang Mao admitted it, and said angrily to Pang Mao:"Pang Mao, your Wei State has obtained the Zhanhu Sword, why don't you return the Zhanhu Sword to my Chu State!" When

Pang Mao heard this, he hurriedly Said:"I showed the sword to the envoy of Qi State, but when I gave it to the King of Yue, I found that the sword was missing. If you want to ask, you should also ask the envoy of Qi State!"

But Qu Boyong didn't seem to hear what he said. After hearing only the following sentence, Qu Boyong said angrily:"Pang Mao, our King of Chu only heard that the sword was in the hands of the King of Yue. Since it was given to the King of Yue by your Wei State, then... Please ask the King of Yue for that sword and return it to Chu State!"

Then Qu Boyong said to the King of Yue above:"The King of Yue and I, the King of Chu, have said that if our Chu State does not get the Zhanhu Sword for one day, then I will use Chu's army to directly attack the capital of Yue!"

Si Wuzhuan had long been alarmed by the quarrel below, and when he heard Qu Boyong speaking to him, he said to Qu Boyong:"Envoy of Chu, you don't want to That's too presumptuous, this is the territory of the Yue Kingdom!"

When Qu Boyong heard that the King of Yue was getting excited, he sternly said:"King of Yue, your Yue Kingdom is no longer the Yue Kingdom it used to be. You'd better return that sword. We, the State of Chu, and our King of Chu, can ignore the past grudges, otherwise, your ancestral temple in Yue State may not be preserved!"

Pang Mao on the side saw that things seemed to be getting out of control, so he advised:"Qu Boyong, that sword might have been stolen by an envoy from Qi State, and it might have gone to Qi State!"

Qu Boyong turned to Pang Mao and said:"Pang Mao, since you still think that our Chu State and your Wei State are allies. If so, then when our Chu State attacks the Yue State, we will ask your Wei State to send troops to attack the Yue State together with our Chu State!"

Pang Mao saw that Qu Boyong still didn't believe it, and he couldn't say that the sword was still in their Wei State. In the hands of the state, he could only keep saying:"That sword is in the state of Qi!"

When Qu Boyong heard that the sword was in the state of Qi, he turned to look at Tian Zhuo and said:"Is the sword of the envoy of the state of Qi really in your state of Qi? ?"

Tian Zhuo pretended to be innocent and said:"Envoy from Chu State, I don't know what you are talking about. All I can say is that since it is a gift from Wei State to the King of Yue, if it cannot be found, , we can only ask Yue or Wei for it! What does it have to do with our Qi State? Besides, our Qi State doesn’t want that broken sword! And there is no clue that our Qi State stole it!"

Xu Boyong felt that it made sense, and turned to look at Pang Mao and said sternly:"Pang Mao, where is that sword?"

At this time, Pang Mao was also suffering and couldn't tell, and it couldn't be said that they used a trick to deliberately let Yue Let's cut off diplomatic relations with Qi. If we do, Chu will also ask Wei for the sword, and Yue will hate Wei for lying. It's a dilemma! But he also said that in Qi State, but there are no clues to show that Qi State stole it. Now Wei State stole it by stealing it!

Finally, Qu Boyong said to Pang Mao:"Pang Mao, are you going to tell me? If you have given the sword to the king of Yue, then it is okay for our two countries to attack the country of Yue together!" At this time, Pang Mao Mao also had nothing to say and could only say:"We, the State of Wei, are allies with the State of Chu, and we should help each other in attack and defense!" As soon as the King of Yue above heard that the State of Wei was going to attack with the State of Chu, the State of Yue turned to him. The two men said:"Two envoys, please leave the country of Yue as soon as possible. If you don't leave, don't blame me for being rude!" When Qu Boyong heard what the King of Yue said, he snorted and turned around to leave. Pang Mao could only I can follow Qu Boyong and leave!

Only Tian Zhuo, the Qi envoy, was left in the court. Tian Zhuo quickly said to Yue King Si Wuzhuan:"Yue King, you have seen it now, right? A country like Wei that doesn't keep its word, Yue King, how can you What about handing over the country to Wei for alliance? Now Wei is deceiving you! It is estimated that before long, Chu and Wei will attack together. You Yue people, why not form an alliance with our Qi State? In this way, Yue will also It's easy to deal with!"

The King of Yue had long heard the quarrel between the two men and was impatient. He also heard that Wei's envoy Pang Mao had promised Chu to attack their Yue country together, so he was also furious and said to Tian Zhuo:"I am willing to form an alliance with the State of Qi to attack and defend each other together!"

Tian Zhuo added:"Since the State of Yue has not given the sword to the King of Yue, I, the State of Qi, agree to give the King of Yue fifty chariots, one thousand sets of armor, and five hundred war horses. Come and help Yue!"

When Si Wuzhuan heard that Qi had sent so much equipment, he said happily:"I, Yue, will accept it. I hope the envoys of Qi will tell Duke Qi that our country, Yue, is willing to obey Duke Qi. For the leader!"——The Yue minister below quickly shouted:"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

Tian Zhuo returned to the post house. When Tian Fei saw Tian Zhuo coming back, she quickly asked:"Brother, is the matter done?"

Tian Zhuo smiled. He smiled and said:"The matter has been done, it is indeed the strategy of the military strategist! My dear brother, please quickly ask people to make dozens of scarecrows, and you are leading two sheep, hoisting the sheep, and placing drums underneath. Those scarecrows, we need to Wear clothes for them and light up lamps everywhere! Bribe a few people from Yue State and ask them to light the lamps for us every night. We will leave secretly this afternoon and return to Qi State via a small road! Tian

Fei asked in confusion:"Brother, why are you leaving the Yue State now?"

Tian Zhuo said:"I guess the Wei envoys came this time not only to form an alliance with the Yue State, but also to kill. If the two of us don't run quickly, it will be too late! Didn't you see that Pang Mao also brought a swordsman with him?"——yes.

At night, Pang Mao became more and more angry, so he said to Wei Wei:"Brother Wei Wei, please quickly lead people to the post house and kill all the Qi envoys! If the Qi envoys run away early, If so, then you should ambush them halfway!"—yes!

Wei Wei secretly came to the post house where the envoys of Qi lived. He heard the sound of drums coming from inside and thought to himself: Are they not asleep yet? The entourage on the side asked:"Sir, should we kill them quickly?"

Wei Wei shook his head and said:"No, since the other party is not asleep yet, this means that the other party is still vigilant, wait!"

As a result, after waiting all night, Wei Wei heard the sound of drums coming from inside, and he felt puzzled in his heart. He said to the followers on the side:"Hurry up and let me go into the house and take a look!"——yes! Several followers immediately rushed into the house, only to find that only a few Yue people were inside. Wei Wei heard that there was no shouting of killing inside, so he quickly came in.

Seeing that there were only a few Yue people inside, those few Yue people were frightened when they saw Wei Yu and others coming in aggressively with swords. Wei Yu led his people to search around the house. They didn't find the ministers of Qi, so they asked:"Where did those envoys of Qi go?" A Yue man said tremblingly:"Sir, those envoys of Qi left a few days ago." Wei Yiyi Hearing the shouting:"Fell into a trap!" The anger in his heart could not be released, so he drew his sword and killed those Yue people!

After returning, Wei told Pang Mao everything. Pang Mao also looked shocked, and then asked:"You mean they have run away?"

"Exactly, Brother Pangmao, I didn't expect that Tian Zhuo could be so powerful in his tricks! Wei? said.

Pang Mao shook his head and said:"The person who came up with this plan is definitely not Tian Zhuo!" When Wei

Wei heard that it was not Tian Zhuo's plan, he asked again:"Whose plan was it?" Pang

Mao murmured:"The person who came up with this plan must be Sun Bin. Only Sun Bin in the entire Qi Kingdom can come up with such a strange plan. I didn't expect that he used a fish in troubled waters and a golden cicada to escape from its shell, and he made us play around!" This Sun Bin is indeed the most dangerous enemy of our Wei State! Then he said to Wei Wei:"There is nothing wrong with staying in Yue State now. Go back and tell the general!""

Wei?" then said,"Why don't you intercept and kill them on the way?" Pang Mao lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said:"Sun Bin is so good at tricks, we can't kill that Tian Zhuo!""——yes!