In mid-May, Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, led an army of more than 100,000 troops and arrived at the temporary capital of the current Chu State, "Tiger~щ~~lā

"Tiger Fang" is located in the southeast of Shouying, and the distance in a straight line is about 60 miles, but because there is a ridge-like hill between the two, the actual distance between the two cities is far more than 60 miles.

The name Tiger Fang comes from the ancient country "Tiger Fang Country", which is rumored to be an ancient country that is good at bronze smelting.

Of course, this is just a rumor, but it cannot be denied that the Tiger Fang is a very important bronze smelting city in the Chu State, and the bronze products produced by the Tiger Fang account for about forty percent of the country, and many of the bronze equipment of the Chu ** team are also produced here.

Therefore, in general, Hufang is an extremely important smelting place in Chudong of Chu State, and its scale is more than that of the General Administration of Smelting of Daliang of Wei State.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to the praise of the bronze process, the tiger side also has a very complete clay process, and the famous Chu porcelain will not be inferior to the Song porcelain.

However, because the bronze smelting technology of the Chu State is too perfect and breathtaking, the clay process of the tiger side is inevitably covered up by the bronze process.

It is no exaggeration to say that the bronze smelting technology of Hufang County may have reached the peak of its peak as early as a few decades or even nearly a hundred years ago, and at that time, the contemporary King of Chu relied on the sharp Hufang bronze sword to defeat the Song State of the Central Plains, making the Chu State become the overlord of the Central Plains for a period of time, until the rise of the Qi State.

Having said that, in fact, at that time, Chu State was already trying iron smelting technology, but unfortunately, due to the lack of precision in the first generation of iron smelting technology, the forged iron sword was far less solid and sharp than the bronze sword, so the Chu Dong nobles who mastered the peak bronze smelting technology blindly thought that the iron sword was inferior to the bronze sword, and gave up investment in the iron smelting process, so that it later lagged behind the iron smelting process of the Lu State, so it was defeated by the Qi ** team that received the technical support of the Lu State.

Of course, this is just a rumor from the outside world, but in fact, did the nobles of Chu Dong really not understand the truth that bronze is inferior to iron?

This is of course impossible.

Taking a step back, even if the judgment is wrong for a while, when the iron smelting process appears in the Lu State, and the forged iron sword is far better than the bronze sword of the Chu State, the nobles of Chu Dong will still turn a blind eye to this?

Even if you're blind, you can't be so blind, right?

In fact, this is not the case, and the real reason is that Chu has very rich copper mines, but iron mines are much less.

And these copper mines, however, were mostly pinched in the hands of domestic nobles, who not only used these copper mines to mint coins, but also used it to forge bronze weapons and arm armies.

Don't look at it now, it seems that there are more nobles in Korea who control the whole of Korea, but in fact, the state of Chu is the country where the nobles control the lifeblood of the country from beginning to end, and in the state of Chu, it is common for nobles to have private soldiers and control the army. In some places, the local county soldiers were actually equivalent to the private soldiers of a certain prince.

In this case, without the call of the king of Chu, the princes who have fiefdoms will try their best to arm their private soldiers - after all, there is not harmony among the nobles of the Chu State, and it is not too uncommon for the two Yi monarchs to lead their respective armies to fight each other, fight for face or grab territory.

After years of accumulation, the local nobles successively possessed many private soldiers equipped with bronze weapons.

Then the question arises: once iron weapons appeared in the Chu State, what to do with these bronze weapons? What to do with the copper mines that the nobles hold in their hands? Rotten in your hands? Or is it all melted and forged into bronze tripods and other utensils? Or is it minted as a coin?

Moreover, what about the bronze smelting technology passed down from our ancestors?

For all these reasons, the nobles of the Chu State were reluctant to abandon the bronze smelting technology that had actually reached the peak, and still fantasized that bronze smelting could reach a higher level, or find another way to integrate some other metal ores into the copper mine, just like the iron-smelting process.

If the State of Chu also gave birth to a Zhao Hongrun, then he would tell these nobles bluntly: Don't dream, the bronze smelting technology of the State of Chu is already the peak of bronze smelting, and it can no longer be improved.

But it's a pity that the nobles of Chu don't understand this truth, and they still cling to bronze smelting.

Not to mention, in the process of improving bronze smelting one after another by the craftsmen of the Chu State, there are really some gains, such as the gorgeous red copper and red copper, but unfortunately, in addition to the appearance of these things, they are actually not used for fart, and the Chu State is at most used to forge copper tripods or utensils, and sell them to other Central Plains countries at a high price.

And it is precisely because the nobles of the Chu State have always refused to give up the bronze smelting process, which makes it possible to abound in the eastern part of the Chu State, such as the "Tiger Fang", and the "Tiger Fang" is the largest of them.

Therefore, since the "Qilu, Wei and Yue Four Kingdoms Invasion of Chu" Chu State lost the royal city of Shouying, the Chu King Xiong Xu transferred the royal frame to the Tiger Fang, in an attempt to use the Tiger Fang's perfect copper smelting technology and equipment to build armaments, expand the army, and recapture Shouying.

It's just that I didn't expect that when the Chu State ended the civil strife of the Qu family, was ready to recapture Shouying, and even took the opportunity to counterattack the Qi State, civil strife suddenly broke out on the Wei side, so at that time, the King of Chu Xiong Xu discussed with some Chu Eastern nobles - first destroy the Wei State that had faintly replaced the Qi State as the overlord of the Central Plains!

After all, Shouying can be recaptured at any time, but the heaven-sent opportunity to severely damage the Wei State and even destroy the Wei State is not available at any time.

It's just that I didn't expect that it backfired, and the Wei State withstood the pressure with "one enemy and five", and actually defeated the million-strong army of Shouling Jun Jingshe in turn, and almost all the army was wiped out.

Stealing chickens and rice did not lead to heavy losses, but instead of severely hurting the Wei State, it caused heavy losses to its own side, which is very embarrassing.

Of course, for the vast and densely populated Chu State, the loss of a million troops in a battle is not a big problem, at most, it is to postpone the time to recapture Shouying, and miss the opportunity to take advantage of the internal turmoil in Qi to counterattack the Qi State.

In contrast, Shouling Jun Jingshe killed himself on the bank of the Chushui River, and Diyang Jun Xiong Shang died in the Yongqiu of Wei State, which is the most painful thing for Xiong Xu, the king of Chu, - a battle actually lost two "Three Pillars", this is good, plus a Xiling Jun Qu Ping, who committed suicide by throwing himself into the river in anger, all the "Three Pillars" of Chu State died.

And just when Xiong Xu, the king of Chu, had a headache about which three people to take the place of the "Three Days Pillar", someone suddenly came to report that Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, led an army of more than 100,000 troops and came to eastern Chu.

Hearing this news, the nobles of the Chudong Xiong clan couldn't help but be a little flustered, although the vast majority of them were content with pleasure and ordinary ability, but they were not stupid, how could they not guess the purpose of Xiong Tuo, the monarch of Xuancheng, who led the army this time? ——When Chu Dong was at his weakest, Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, led more than 100,000 troops to Chu Dong, wouldn't his thoughts be revealed?

And among these, the most ugly face is none other than Jingyun, the eldest son of Shouling Jun Jingshe, and Yang You, the deputy general.

After all, Yang You personally experienced the days when Pingyujun Xiong Hu did not save Shouling Jun Jingshe when he saw death, and Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu was the cousin of Xiong Tuo, who had a very good relationship with Xuancheng Jun.

In the tense atmosphere of Hufang, Xiong Xu, the king of Chu, led a group of ministers and nobles to climb the tower of Hufang City and watch the army of Xiong Tuo, the king of Hucheng, who was black and oppressive outside the city.

Looking at this well-armoured and well-trained army, the faces of everyone in Hufang City were not very good-looking.

Don't look at the "Xuanyi Army" under the command of Xuancheng Jun Xiong Tuo, the weapons and armor of the soldiers seem to be a little old, but everyone knows that these weapons and armor are the equipment of the Wei army that Xuancheng Jun Xiong Tuo obtained from Ji Run, the son of Wei, even if it is eliminated equipment, it is not comparable to the bronze weapons and leather armor of Chu.

What's more, it is rumored that Xiong Tuo, the monarch of Xuancheng, also purchased a batch of hand crossbows eliminated by the Shang Shui Army and the Yan Ling Army from Wei Gongzirun.

For the Chu ** team, which is generally equipped with leather armor, this is a big killer.

Not to mention that Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, used the war horses purchased from Pakistan to create a cavalry.

After being silent for a while, Xiong Xu, the king of Chu, stood on the city tower and shouted to Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng under the city, and asked, "Wu'er, why did you attract heavy troops here?" ”

At this time, Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, sat on the war horse, and heard the shouting of his biological father, who did not have much family affection in the city tower, and smiled quietly: "Father, the son heard that Lord Jingshe was unfortunately defeated, so he hurried to protect the king, and my father quickly ordered someone to open the city gate." ”

Seeing this, the ministers and nobles around Xiong Xu, the king of Chu, were dissuaded one after another, and Xiong Wu, the king of Guling, was even more anxious and sweaty.

"Don't be gullible, the king!"

"Father, Xiong Tuo is uneasy and kind!"

"Your Majesty, don't open the gates!"

As if he had heard the words of the nobles of the princes and nobles in the tower of Hufang City to dissuade Xiong Xu, the king of Chu, Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, snorted coldly and said angrily: "Who dares to slander this son and separate the relationship between my father and my father and son?!" …… Father and the king are temporarily avoided, and today the sons and daughters want to clear the king's side and punish the treacherous evil! ”

After that, as he waved his hand and pointed at Hufang City, tens of thousands of crossbowmen raised their crossbows and aimed at the city gate tower, startling the ministers and nobles on the city tower, and even Xiong Xu, the king of Chu, was tightly protected by the soldiers and soldiers with shocked eyes.

At this time, the veteran general Xiang Yan said to Xiong Xu, the king of Chu: "King, you can first send the "Tiger Army" in the city out of the city to meet the battle, and then send someone to ask General Xiang Yan to lead the army to King Qin. ”

In this regard, Xiong Xu, the king of Chu, turned a deaf ear.

As a last resort, he would never mobilize the general Xiang Jiao who was stationed at the "Zhaoguan", because once Xiang Jiao was mobilized, Shaokang, the leader of Wu Yue who regarded the Chu State as an enemy, would send the "Dongou Army" to take advantage of the situation.

Back then, there was Xiling Jun Qu Ping who commanded the war and defeated the Dongou army, but now? At present, there is still an army of more than 100,000 people on the side of Chu Dong that still has combat effectiveness, and only the general Xiang Jiao remains, in this case, how dare Xiong Xu, the king of Chu, easily mobilize Xiang Jiao?

He had to admit that the timing of Xiong Tuo's son was really good, just when Chu Dong was at his weakest, even if it was another month or two, Chu Dong would be able to pull up another army.

Of course, in fact, Chu Dong did not completely lose the ability to resist, in fact, as long as Chu King Xiong Xu gave an order, Chu Dong's army could still make up tens of thousands of regular troops, and then temporarily recruit some grain and soldiers, and an army of more than 100,000 or even nearly 200,000 would be roughly formed.

The question is, is it really going to get to this point?

“……”

Looking at the city straddle the war horse, the high-spirited son Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu, Xiong Xu fell into deep thought.

He knew very well that his decision would be related to whether the unstarted civil war between Chuxi and Chudong more than ten years ago would break out today.

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