In the spring and February of the eleventh year of Lu Zhaogong (BC531), King Zhou Jing observed the celestial phenomena at night and found that the supernova observed by Pizao last year had moved to the Fenwei (star) era of the Twelfth Star Age, so he asked the doctor Chang Hong: "Now that the stars have visions, I am afraid that something big will happen in the world." Which prince will face the calamity? ”

Chang Hong said: "Cai Guojiao. Twelve years ago, the star was in Fengwei, and Prince Cai killed Cai Jinggong to seize the throne. Back then, some people predicted that within a year of age, Cai Hou would suffer a catastrophe. Now that the year has passed, it will not be more than this year. The state of Chu will seize the land of the state of Cai, but the state of Chu will fight evil with evil, and it will definitely not be able to have the state of Cai for a long time. By the time the star reaches Daliang (two years later), Cai will return to the country, and Chu will encounter a great murderer. All of the above is done by the Heavenly Dao. ”

A few days later, King Chu Ling secretly summoned Xue Ba, Wu Ju, Prince Qiji, Cai Wei and other henchmen into the palace and said to them: "Since the army conference, Cai Guo has become more and more untamed, ignoring Chu Guo's orders, but fighting with Zhu Ji hotly. The state of Cai is an important barrier between the state of Chu and the princes of the Central Plains, and Bugu cannot tolerate the rebellion of the state of Cai from the state of Chu, otherwise it will become a fortress to attack the state of Chu. Now the Marquis of Cai is extravagant, the ministers are depraved, and the people are living in poverty; 'Push the death to survive, and the way of heaven is also (this famous saying is familiar to him)', now is a good time to destroy the Cai Kingdom. What do you think, Masters? ”

The three of them nodded in agreement, and several of them immediately formulated a plan to destroy Cai.

At the end of February, King Chu Ling led his army to Shen County. He pretended to hunt in the surrounding area for a few days, and then sent an envoy to see Cai Linggong with valuable gifts, and asked Cai Linggong to meet him in Shen County.

Cai Linggong readily agreed, but a doctor said: "The performance of the King of Chu is too abnormal. He is greedy and untrustworthy, and he has been dissatisfied with Cai Guo all these years; He should have sent troops to attack our country. Now he has sent generous gifts, and he has said good things to coax the prince and marquis, this is to attack Cai Guo. The minister believed that the prince should not only not travel, but should repair the city walls and actively prepare for war in order to cope with the possibility of war. ”

Cai Linggong disagreed, he said: "The widow has been serving the state of Chu diligently, what reason does the king of Chu have to attack the widow?" If not, why should the widow not go? ”

The doctor said that he just had a premonition of ominousness and had no reason to rely on; He asked Cai Linggong to divinate the bad luck of the trip. Cai Linggong said: "Divination is used to solve doubts, and widows have no doubts and do not need divination. This stubborn unlucky bastard left Cai Guo with a huge guard of honor.

On March 14, Cai Linggong arrived in Shen County. At noon the next day, King Chu Ling set up a banquet to entertain the guests, and Shen Wuyu was ordered to lead two hundred veterans to ambush outside the banquet hall. The banquet scene was grand and warm, and King Chu Ling kept complimenting Cai Linggong, as if he was the overlord of Huaxia; The master frequently persuaded him to drink, Cai Linggong was in a happy mood, and he frequently returned the favor, and he soon got drunk.

Seeing that the time had come, King Chu Ling smashed the cup to send a signal, and the armor soldiers rushed in, killing the unconscious Cai Linggong and his entourage. The Chu people then disarmed the guards of the Marquis of Cai and imprisoned the captives.

King Chu Ling planned to personally persuade Cai Linggong to surrender to the state of Chu, but Cai Wei said: "Cai Hou has been extremely stubborn and conceited since he was a child, and if the king fails to persuade him, there will be no one in the world to continue." So it's better to send Dr. Wu to see him first, and then decide what to do next according to his words. ”

But King Chu Ling was more stubborn than Cai Linggong, he said: "How can there be anything in the world that can't be done? ”

Cai Linggong was brought to King Chu Ling after sobering up, and Cai Wei sat beside King Ling. The two "spirit" monarchs then had the following conversation.

King Chu Ling: "You don't have the right to ask why, you just have to answer Bugu: can you order the people to lay down their arms and open the city gate to welcome Bugu into the city?" If you can, you can keep your sacrifice to the ancestors; Otherwise, you will use your blood to provoke the drum, and then lead the heroes of Chu to level your country! ”

Cai Linggong said: "You are a villain who usurped the throne by deception!" How did you swear allegiance to the Chu royal family and Jia Ao in the temple? You certainly don't remember, because you've lied so much! The widow doesn't believe a word of what you say. Uncle Cai's descendants will never be greedy for life and afraid of death, even if you kill the widow, the ghost of the widow will still be sacrificed, and you don't need to pretend to be gracious. ”

King Chu Ling said: "Bugu admires your courage, but your decision has no meaning except to cause disaster to the Cai State and death to the Cai people. Why don't you think about the people of Cai, but drag them to accompany you to the funeral? ”

Cai Linggong said: "When the widow is captured, he loses the right to rule the country, and the widow has no right to decide the life and death of the people, and can only choose his own fate." If the people want to live, they will naturally open the gates and welcome you, the tyrant, into the capital. ”

King Chu Ling had no choice but to take him down and turn his head to discuss countermeasures with Cai Wei.

Cai Wei was originally from Cai Guo, and his father, Gongsun Xi, was an official of the Sima Administration. Cai Wei caused a big disaster in China a few years ago, and Cai Linggong didn't treat him for his crime in terms of Gongsun Xi's face, but just exiled him; Cai Wei then ran to the state of Chu.

King Chu Ling asked, "No, Gu knows that he is wrong. Who else can persuade Cai Hou to change his mind? ”

Cai Wei said: "The king can know his mistakes, but Cai Hou can't. There is no way, let's go out immediately, lest Cai Ren prepare. ”

King Chu Ling was not reconciled, and sent people to persuade Cai Linggong, but the result was in vain. King Chu Ling finally died, and he ordered the prince to abandon his illness and gather an army.

On April 7, the Chu army held a swearing-in meeting, and King Chu Ling executed Cai Linggong at the meeting site, smearing his blood on the war drum, which was called "Provocation Drum"; Linggong was accompanied by seventy warriors in the guard who refused to surrender. Seventy warriors were taken to the high platform one by one to be beheaded, and each one had no fear on his face, and died with awe-inspiring righteousness and generosity. Halfway through the ceremony, a strong north wind suddenly blew, and dark clouds instantly obscured the sun; At that time, even the bravest Chu ** soldier couldn't bear to continue to look at the cruel and bloody scene.

After the ceremony, Prince Qiji and Cai Wei led the Chu army to march towards Cai State.

After the news reached the Jin Kingdom, Han Qi asked Shu Xiang: "The Chu people have no way, can they succeed?" ”

Uncle Xiang said: "Of course you can!" Cai Hou plotted to kill the ancestor (twelve years ago, Cai Linggong killed him because of his father Jing Gong's adultery with his wife), and lost the hearts of the people, and God wanted to take his life under the pretense of the hands of the Chu people, how could he not succeed? But I've also heard: 'You only get one chance to succeed by fraud, and there will be no second chance.'" Three years ago, the king of Chu protected Gongsun Wu in his crusade against Chen, declaring: "Our army has come to fight the rebellion and stabilize Chen." Chen Ren believed it and opened the door to welcome the Chu army; As a result, the state of Chen became a county of the state of Chu.

"Now the king of Chu has gone even further, and he has actually booby-trapped the monarch of a country and surrounded the state of Cai; The atrocities in the world are the most committed by the King of Chu. Although he was lucky enough to get Cai Guo, he was bound to suffer a catastrophe and could not survive for two years. In that year, Xia Wei defeated the Youwei clan and perished, and Shang Wei defeated Dongyi and perished. Compared with Xia and Shang, the state of Chu has a low position, and the monarch has repeatedly committed atrocities, which is more tyrannical than the Emperor, how can he not be punished? Heaven seems to be helping the king of Chu to do evil, but in fact it is preparing to punish him in order to aggravate his sins. ”

Han Qi asked again: "How will my country respond?" ”

Shu Xiang shrugged his shoulders and said, "We can't go against God, and besides, whoever helps is helping sinners." ”