In the thirteenth year of Duke Lu Huan, the Chu army was defeated by the combined forces of Luo and Lu, and the crown prince Mo Ao committed suicide. The consequences of this defeat continued to ferment - the minor princes who had previously succumbed to the state of Chu successively broke away from the alliance, and the state of Chu slowly lost its leading position in the Jianghan region.

King Wu of Chu convened a large-scale imperial council, and he said: "Defeat is a common thing for a small country, because the strength of a small country is only a small one; However, we must not ignore the big countries, because the big countries are more afraid of defeat than the small countries, so the big countries will only fight the battle that they are sure to win. Mo Ao is the son of Gu, the prince of Chu, and the future king; Now the state of Chu has been defeated by a small state, Mo Ao has committed suicide, and the princes have rebelled.

"The defeat of Valuo is in the Chu State, and the sin is Lonely. If you can't destroy Luo and Lu, don't be ashamed of Chu State, and don't avenge Mo Ao, Chu State will definitely be despised by the princes, and Lone will die without turning a blind eye. You all know how many enemies there are in the Chu State - the whole world, and by that time the Chu State will definitely have no peace and be destroyed by the enemy.

"Wang Ziyun, you are the most likely to inherit the throne now, but this possibility is up to you to fight for it. If you can destroy Luo and Lu in your lifetime, you will be crowned the crown prince; If not, the state of Chu will perish, and it will be meaningless to seal whoever it is. ”

The prince bowed to his father again and said: "I cannot live with the enemy, if I cannot destroy the two countries, the son will go to see Mo Ao day and night." ”

For the next two years, King Wu of Chu lived in a side room of the palace, wearing coarse cloth robes, eating simple food, and removing drum rituals; The ministers followed his example. Monarchs and ministers no longer hold banquets except for major rituals or necessary ceremonies; Many musicians and cooks lost their business and went to other countries to find work.

King Wu of Chu increased his military endowment, and the Chu people accelerated the manufacture of chariots, ships, equipment, and armor. But because the aristocracy lived frugally, they squandered less, and the overall tax was reduced. King Wu of Chu also exempted the service from taxes, so that more young adults could be recruited for long-term military training.

The prince and the officers basically lived in the barracks, and like ordinary soldiers, they did boring and monotonous things such as training, eating, and sleeping every day.

The people of Luo and Lu were terrified, because the state of Chu had never shown such strong hostility and determination to destroy other countries. Feeling that their kingdom was lost, the two monarchs bribed the other princes in the hope that they would be able to mediate.

The Chu people told the mediators that they could consider reconciliation with the two countries as long as Mo Ao could come back from the dead.

Later, because there were too many missions, the Chu people were overwhelmed, so they issued an announcement saying that no matter which country, if the affairs of those two countries were endless, they would be regarded as the enemies of the Chu state; The state of Chu attacked the two countries as soon as they were destroyed. In this way, the princes retreated.

At that time, the state of Chu was not necessarily stronger than the state of Qi, and Luo and Lu together were not necessarily weaker than the state of Ji, but unlike the state of Qi and the destruction of the state of Ji, the state of Chu vowed to use the chariot to level the two countries instead of relying on stratagem.

Three years later, the people of Chu thought that the time was ripe, so they prepared to go out. Before the Chu army left the division, four military exercises were conducted, namely water warfare, field warfare, jungle warfare and siege. King Wu of Chu and his ministers were very satisfied with the process and the result, and King Wu immediately ordered a full-scale attack on Luo and Lu.

In the spring of March, the Chu master learned.

As mentioned earlier, Luo and Lu are located in the triangle where Yanshui and Hanshui meet. The two rivers form a natural barrier between the two countries, and the trumpet area between the upper reaches of Yanshui and Hanshui is rugged and difficult to defend. The two countries built a large number of fortifications at Hornmouth and on the east bank of Yanshui. Lu's Yiyi was built at the confluence of two rivers and was a port city; The harbor was filled with warships, and sailors were stationed along the coast; Clippers patrolled the Han River day and night to prevent the Chu navy from going upstream.

The army of Chu went all the way north. The army is divided into two parts, water and land, and compared with the army, the water army is too weak. There is a pass between the foot of Jing Mountain and the Han River, and through the pass is an open plain. The enemy built a fortress and fortifications at the pass, as well as an improvised port. The Chu army was hindered and had to camp not far from the fortress. In the ensuing siege battle, the Chu army was attacked on both land and water; The sailors of the Chu army rushed to the rescue, but were surrounded by enemy ships several times their size; If it weren't for the temporary change of tactics of the Chu Army to come to the aid of the reinforcements, the sailor division would have been annihilated by the enemy.

But the Chu people had already found a rugged and difficult mountain road to the rear of the fortress beforehand. The commander led two hundred tactical mountain soldiers to the back of the fortress after two days of arduous trekking.

The sergeants lay in ambush in the mountains and forests, waiting for the opportunity to attack. The defenders thought that it was safe for the side of the fortress to turn away from the Chu people, so people entered and exited through the back door every day to chop wood and fetch water.

Early in the morning, the miscellaneous servants went out of the north gate to the mountains to collect firewood as usual, and the Chu people saw that the other side's miscellaneous servants had no soldiers to protect them, so they subdued them one by one. They interrogated the captives and figured out the internal structure of the fortress. So some people changed into the clothes of miscellaneous servants, hid sharp blades, and carried Chai He all the way to the gate. The pretender suddenly attacked as he passed through the gate, killing the soldiers guarding the gate, and the men behind him rushed in. The soldiers rushed all the way, and finally rushed to the south gate and opened it, and the Chu army, which was besieging the city outside, swarmed in, and occupied the entire fortress in a few moments. But at the same time, the enemy's sailors destroyed all the warships of the Chu army, and after taking revenge on the Chu people, the sailors returned to the port of Yanyi against the current.

The Chu army incorporated the remnants of the naval division into the ground forces. In order to prevent the fortress from being recaptured by the enemy, Wang Ziyun left a part of his army to garrison here. The army continued northward, and then the Chu army was stationed along the west bank of Yanshui and on the north side of the horn mouth.

After careful reconnaissance, the enemy scouts confirmed that the Chu army had all been dispatched. The enemy generals felt very strange about this: could it be that the sailors of the Chu State were so weak and vulnerable? So why is there intelligence that the Chu army has been training hard for water combat? Could it be that the enemy is just playing tricks?