Chapter 188: The Supreme Little Fatty

  "I've heard that you and Zhuangzi come from the same school of thought. I also like Daoism, but I don't know who is more profound in their learning between you and Zhuangzi?"

  Song Chu smiled and restrained his laughter, "I've always been a superficial learner, I'm not worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as Zhuangzi."

  The prince sighed and said with a face full of envy: "I also like to taste lightly, but unfortunately I am not as free as you."

  Song Chu couldn't help but laugh at this, almost choking on his own laughter, thinking to himself that you haven't even studied anything profound.

  "Your freedom is entirely up to the king. As long as the king is happy, can't you do whatever you want?" Song Chu said.

  The prince honestly said, "Only a beauty can delight Father."

  Song Chu was delighted that this kid was so on the right track, and he himself brought up the matter "That's not necessarily true, I've heard that the Queen is not a national beauty either."

  "Hey, sir is being polite, my mother's beauty shines from afar!" The prince said.

  This annoying kid! Song thought to himself that if this were his own son, he would have to break his legs. Poor King of Shu had wasted so much effort raising him!

  It seems that Song Chu was still very kind on the surface. "Cough, Zi Chao is a beauty beyond compare, and the king has entrusted such an important matter to Your Highness. As long as the beauty enters Shu safely, the king will surely be delighted. At that time, whatever Your Highness wants to do will be just a matter of one word."

  The little fatty rubbed his hands together and said with a excited face, "As the master said, my father said that the master is an interesting person, indeed."

  "Really? King Wang praises me so highly..."

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, a humble word had not been finished, and then he continued to say "However, the queen mother would not like you very much, saying that you are sinister, and at first glance, you are a treacherous and deceitful official."

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, he suppressed his violent emotions and calmly said, "That is because the Queen has not yet deeply understood me."

  Originally, it was the queen who would find beautiful women for the King of Shu. At that time, the King of Shu still had some good intentions. But since Song Chuyi took over the queen's role, the King of Shu has not set foot in the queen's chambers for half a year. How could she not hate?

  Because of Song Chu's intentional or unintentional courtesy. The two "talked with great pleasure" the crown prince felt. After so many years, he finally found a kindred spirit and insisted on taking Song Chu to see the construction of the plank road.

  This kind of thing, Song Chu Yi declined in order to avoid suspicion. As soon as she left, a pigeon immediately flew out of the camp.

  Song Chu looked up at the pigeons flying over his head and curled up a very small arc at the corner of his mouth.

  The King of Shu never truly believed in her, and she knew that there were always people watching, but it was precisely because of this surveillance that she was even more certain that her plan would go smoothly.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the conversation between Yi and the Crown Prince was all nonsense. Not a single sentence mentioned the politics of Qin and Shu, nor did they discuss the affairs of the Shu state in detail. However, what she had changed had already been done. The Crown Prince, in order to please the King of Shu, must have been afraid of messing up this matter, and since the mountain road was difficult to travel, the plank road was crucial, wanting to ensure that nothing went wrong, the plank road would definitely be built more solidly.

  The road is solid, but it's hard to dismantle it.

  Things have come to this, and doing anything else would be superfluous. Song Chuoyi found an opportunity to hand over the map of Shu's terrain that he had been drawing to Sima Cuō, and then brought Baijian with Ji Yu and Ji Bian at the end of July.

  The stalemate between Ba and Chu ended with the withdrawal of Chu.

  Although this war was still a defeat for the State of Chu, the first invasion of Ba land was an encouragement to all levels of the State of Chu. Moreover, in this battle, new talents emerged in the State of Chu, among whom Zuo Qiuming performed the most prominently, and General Xiong You greatly appreciated him.

  Just as Song Chu predicted, Zhang Wu's position as deputy general has finally stabilized.

  The Chu state had hundreds of thousands of troops, and the position of deputy general was not considered high, but at the age of 18, he took up this position, which is also one of the few young talents in the history of the founding of the Chu state.

  The war between Qin and Korea did not escalate into a large-scale conflict due to Zhang Yi's intervention, and the State of Qin only suffered some loss of property. However, this repeated display of weakness towards neighboring countries gradually eliminated the King of Shu's vigilance.

  Mid-December.

  The King of Shu arrived at Jie Meng Guan for inspection, and the snow that rarely fell in Shu suddenly started to fall. The King of Shu was momentarily excited and ordered a grand hunting event with thousands of people, and also wrote a letter to Ying Ji.

  The Xiangyang City in severe winter had been covered by heavy snow, but the main hall of the Xiangyang Palace was boiling because of this letter from the King of Shu.

  The officials below were in an uproar, some indignant and others worried, as if a pot of dumplings was boiling over, with the debate being extremely heated.

  On the main seat, a figure in black attire sat quietly like a statue. When they were almost all tired of arguing, he slightly moved his body and asked, "What do you think, my ministers? How should we respond?"

  "That secluded Shu king is actually so arrogant and rude. If Your Majesty goes, what face will Great Qin have left?" someone indignantly said.

  As soon as the words fell, there were many echoes, and in the great hall, sleeves flew up, and with a loud noise, they bowed down in unison, saying "Your Majesty, think thrice."

  It's no wonder that the ministers were outraged, and the contents of Shu Wang's letter roughly said: I held a military exercise in Bao territory, if you're interested, come take a look, I'll make time to meet with you.

  But there are also those who oppose it: "Such provocative words, how can we not go?! If we don't hear or ask, will the Great Qin have a face?! I am willing to lead the army and conquer Shu in one move!"

  This big talk was dropped, and no one wanted to pick it up for a long time.

  "Gentlemen, let's discuss this further tomorrow morning. I will also think it over carefully tonight." Yíng Zhōu stood up.

  All officials bowed and saw him off respectfully.

  After breakfast, Wang Xi immediately ordered someone to invite Gongsun Yan and Zhang Yi to the study.

  "See you later." The two of them bowed simultaneously.

  Ying Ju was watching a game of weiqi when he heard the sound and looked up. "No need for formalities, gentlemen, please sit down."

  Gongsun Yan and Zhang Yi each took their seats. Then, Wang Ji said, "Zui Hou and Zhangzi, take a look at this game of chess. What's the solution?"

  Gongsun Yan looked down and said, "A tiger in a cage, only by breaking the cage can it escape."

  "How can we break the law?" asked Weng Xi.

  "The plank road is almost complete, and the Shu king is provoking us again. This is a heaven-sent opportunity. Your Majesty should endure humiliation and meet with him to confuse his mind. Moreover, when the ruler goes out, there must be an army escorting him, which can be used to conceal our military movement." Gong Sunyan said decisively.

  Gongsun Yan didn't even know that Song Chuyi existed, so he wasn't aware that this was not a heaven-sent opportunity, but rather something created by someone.

  But his words made Ying Ji's heart trust Song Chuyi's ability even more.

  Winning a game, he saw Zhang Yi copying his hands staring at the chessboard for a long time without saying a word, and then said "Zhangzi is silent, isn't there another opinion?"

  "No, what Master Rhinoceros said is exactly what I wanted to say." Zhang Yi hesitated for a moment and continued, "But looking at this board of leftover chess pieces, the moves are scattered and disorderly, it doesn't seem like a real game. Could it be that you intentionally tested us?"

  A faint smile flickered across his cold and stern face.

  Gongsun Yan hesitated for a moment before saying, "Zhangzi has good eyesight, but you should know that the emperor's intention is no longer on this."

  "Yes, the intention is not here. Xishou thinks that the King of Shu has also set up such a desperate move to ask you about another case?" Zhang Yi smiled and said.

  Indeed! The Qin state has been showing weakness to the surrounding countries, and the King of Shu might be intentionally testing them, waiting for any unusual movement from the Qin state.