Chapter 196 The King of Thought 1

The air is filled with the smell of dry dust. Together with the huge wind, the wind mixed with gravel, it is extremely painful to cut on the face. Xiong Huai, lying on the horse's back, couldn't help coughing loudly, but he couldn't cough anything, but his throat was as hot as a fire.

"Zhao Sui, am I about to die?" Xiong Huai opened her eyes with difficulty and said feebly. Wherever you see it, it is just the yellow sand all over the sky, full of sadness and despair.

He was holding Ma Zhaosui in front of him and turned his head. His hair was half white and his cheeks were deeply sunken, but with a forced smile, he cracked his dry lips and smiled. "Your Majesty, don't say such frustrating words. We have survived the humiliation in Xianyang for so many years. Now we are about to escape from the State of Qin. It's time to be free. You must hold on again, you must hold on!"

"After this wasteland, we will arrive at the river. It's almost there. As long as we cross the river, we will go out of the territory of the State of Qin. No one can treat you as a prisoner.

Xiong Huai shook her head with a bitter smile, "You also said it was fast the day before yesterday. Yesterday, you still said it was fast. It was fast for five days in a row, but there is no end to this wasteland. I really don't want to die in the wilderness like this, and the withered bones turn into dust. I can only be a lonely ghost, but I can't enjoy the incense of my descendants.

Zhao Sui said breathlessly, "I asked the hunter in the mountains before, and he said that this wasteland can walk east for up to six days to the river. We are now the sixth day, and I think it's not far ahead..."

In the middle of the words, Zhao Sui, who was struggling to pull the horse, staggered at his feet and almost fell down. Fortunately, the bear Huai immediately grabbed his hand in time and almost stood up.

Xiong Huai looked at Zhao Sui's already gray hair and dry face, but he was still smiling in order to strengthen his confidence. There was a burst of guilt in my heart. The look of frustration just now disappeared, but said gently, "Let's take a rest first. You're tired."

Zhao Sui hesitated for a moment, but still nodded, reached out and helped Xiong Huai on the horse's back off the horse. He took off the dry wrapping bag on the horse's back and put it on the ground to let Xiong Huai sit down. Then he carefully sat aside.

To be honest, he is indeed tired. Since he escaped from Xianyang, he has helped Xionghuai, the king of Chu, to escape all the way to the east. Unexpectedly, he miraculously escaped the checkpoints of the Qin army and came to this wasteland near the junction of Qin and Zhao. But for more than ten days, he almost couldn't sleep at night and couldn't eat well. With a little wind and grass, he immediately helped the King of Chu to escape in a hurry.

Since the Shang Yang's change of law in the State of Qin, the people have been sentenced to sitting together. No person with an unknown identity is allowed to stay in a residential house, and the violator will be killed for the same crime. Therefore, Xiong Huai and Zhao Sui fled all the way to the east. They could not enter the city. When they met the pass, they avoided it. They just relied on some personal ornaments on Xiong Huai to the people in the deserted village in exchange for food to make a living. He also spent a lot of money to buy an old horse from the wild people in the mountains and forests for the bear acacia with a weak system, which supported it so far.

Xiong Huai sat on the ground and gasped for breath, but saw that Zhao Sui was still straight, and the meticulous arranger had a sour and smelly clothes and buns. Xiong Huai couldn't help laughing and said, "Zhao Sui, Zhao Sui, you are so funny. We have all fallen into this situation. You still have to worry about the crown. You really laugh."

Zhao Sui said solemnly, "It's not right for the king to say so. The so-called 'words and letters, actions, clothes are right, and then I will be solemn." Your Majesty, you are the king of ten thousand times. Even if you are trapped in the Jedi, you should maintain the demeanor of the king, not to mention our subordinates. I am a minister of Chu. I should abide by Chu's rites. It is the daily conduct of scholars and doctors. Why can it be abolished?

Xiong Huai just shook his head with a wry smile and said, "You still have this bad temper. You are always looking for an opportunity to scold me. With the stinky stone Qu Yuan's nature, I look at it all day long. How can I not be bored with you at the beginning? Naturally, I can't listen to your advice.

He sighed again and said, "It's a pity that I really regret not listening to your advice at the beginning. It's not only humiliating the country, but also becoming a laughing stock in the world."

Zhao Sui looked at Xiong Huai's old face full of regret, and the great truth that surged to his mouth could no longer be said, and the original feeling of resentment in his heart did not disappear.

In fact, Xiong Huai, the king of Chu, has fallen to this point. In the final analysis, he blamed himself. When Xiong Huai first ascended the throne as the king of Chu, it was the time when the state of Chu was at the peak of its affairs. His father, King Wei of Chu, left him a state of Chu, which was strong enough to deter the princes of the Central Plains. Although it may not be the top prince, it was enough to make Qin Qi extremely afraid.

Since the change of the law in Wu, the State of Chu has experienced more than 40 years of hard work by the two generations of kings, King Xuan and King Wei. It not only destroyed more than a dozen small countries such as Chen and Cai, and pushed the land to the original area of Sishui, but also destroyed the State of Yue, which once dominated the central government, and swallowed the land of Wu Yue. For a moment, it became famous and made the princes afraid. However, after Xiong Huai's accession to the throne, he was constantly confused. Zhang Yi, the prime minister of Qin, was conducive to his greed. He claimed that if the State of Chu was cut off from the State of Qi, the State of Qin would give it to the State of Chu with 600 miles of business. Xiong Huai believed that it was true and broke off the alliance with the State of Qi for more than 20 years and fell to the State of Qin. Zhang Yi refused to cash it, but only gave it to him with a land of eight miles. Xiong Huai was furious and took the whole country's troops to attack the State of Qin, but they were defeated in Danyang, Lantian and Zhaoling one after another. The national strength was greatly damaged. The State of Chu was no longer the capital of the great power in those years, and relied on the intervention of the State of Qi to block the Qin army to the south.

After this matter, Xiong Huai not only did not change his past. After Zhang Yi died of illness and ascended the throne, he was bewitched by his favorite concubine Zheng Xiu and his favorite minister Le Shang. He accepted the heavy gift from the State of Qin, and once again broke up with the State of Qi and fell into the arms of Qin. This move aroused the anger of Meng Changjun, who had just become the prime minister of Qi, so he united with the Three Kingdoms of Wei and South Korea to attack Chu, was defeated by Chu Chu Chu Chusha, killed Tang Mei, the general of the State of Chu, and occupied all the important land of Chu in the north of Suraya. At that time, Qin, as an ally of the State of Chu, not only did not send troops to help, but on the pretext that the State of Chu sent troops to take advantage of the fire and occupied the eight cities of Shangyong.

Later, Xiong Huai was deceived by the State of Qin again. Despite the dissuasion of Yin Zhaosui and Zuo Tu Qu Yuan, he insisted on being invited by the King of Qin to go north to Wuguan and the Qin Congress Alliance. The king of Qin did not arrive at Wuguan at all. He only sent a general to ambush in Wuguan, pretending to be the king of Qin. As soon as Xiong Huai entered Wuguan, the Qin army closed the door, hijacked King Huai to Xianyang, and met the King of Qin in Zhangtai. He did not receive him with the salute of the king, but humiliated him as a vassal. Xiong Huai was furious and regretted not listening to Zhao Sui's words. The State of Qin put him under house arrest and threatened him to cede Wu and Qianzhong County to Qin in order to make the best of the two countries. Xiong Huai refused. He only said that the State of Qin deceived me and forced me to cede the land, so he refused to agree. The State of Qin locked him in Xianyang to prevent him from returning to China.

I have to say that Xiong Huai was extremely mediocre when he was the king of Chu, but after being captured, he maintained the spirit of a king. He would rather die than succumb to the State of Qin than let the Qin people threaten and seduce him in every way. He just kept silent. He also asked the envoy of Chu to return to the State of Chu with his secret order. The prince who was hostage in the State of Qi became the king of Chu and would never compromise with the State of Qin. It is also because of this that Yin Zhaosu, the order of the State of Chu at that time, after supporting the new king, willingly came to Xianyang alone to serve Xiong Huai, and had done all the courtesy of his ministers.

But after several great defeats, the national strength of the State of Chu has been greatly damaged, and it has lost the key place in the north that has been operating for more than a hundred years. He had to turn the momentum and concentrate on the southern barbarians in the south. He no longer went north to compete with the six Central Plains. From then on, his position among the princes plummeted, and he was no longer the strong enemy of Qin and Qi to dominate the Central Plains.

Speaking of this escape from Xianyang, I have to say that it is a miracle. So far, Xiong Huai and Zhao Sui have been incredible when they think about it. Xiong Huai was detained in Xianyang for three years. At first, Qin hoped to exchange his identity as the king of Chu for Chu land. Later, when he saw that Xiong Huai refused to give him land, a new king was established in Chu. The old king had lost his previous value, so his interest in him was greatly reduced. But because the relationship between Qin and Chu has been broken, he is unwilling to let him go. He just imprisoned him in a mansion in Xianyang and intends to let him live in it for the rest of his life.

I have to say that when I saw the poor unlucky king of Chu, when Zhao Sui served Xiong Huai, he found that the guards in the house were getting more and more relaxed, so he moved his mind to escape. So he tried his best to buy out a pawn. With his cooperation, he climbed out of the dog hole in the middle of the night and fled east with Xiong Huai. It was really a fluke. The general in charge of guard saw that the King of Chu had escaped. Because he was afraid of being blamed, he did not report it. Instead, he took his men to chase him to relieve his guilt.

By the time the matter could not be concealed, Xiong Huai and the two had already escaped from Xianyang and ran all the way to the east. After learning about this, the Empress Dowager Mi was furious and filled the guarded generals. At the same time, she ordered the whole country to lock the way back to Chu in the south and southeast to prevent them from fleeing back to Chu.

Zhao Sui is also a smart person. He knows that the State of Qin will definitely focus on checking on the way back to Chu, and he will almost throw himself into the net when he went south. He persuaded Xiong Huai to listen to his opinion and change his way to the east, hoping to return to Chu through Zhao or Wei. It was because of this that the two people narrowly escaped and came here.

It's just that the two of them are not familiar with Qin Di at all. They just know that they fled all the way to the east. They have narrowly escaped the Qin army's investigation several times, but they plunged into this wilderness. They have not seen people passing by for a few days. Now they are on the verge of cutting off water and food.

Xiong Huai sat for a while, but couldn't stand the thirst in his throat. He couldn't help stretching out his hand and asked Zhao Sui, "Is there any water? I'm already thirsty."

Zhao Sui hesitated for a moment, then nodded and escaped from a skin bag from his waist, handed it to Xiong Huai, and did not forget to tell him, "Your Majesty, there is only such a small bag of water left. You can save some drinks, otherwise if we haven't come out tomorrow, I'm afraid it will be a little trouble."

Xiong Huai hurriedly took it, opened the mouth of the bag and looked up to drink. Halfway through the drink, she remembered what Zhao Sui said. She quickly stopped her thirsty desire and put away the water bag. I remembered that it seemed that I had not seen Zhao Sui drinking water all day, so I handed over the water bag and said, "Drink some, too."

Zhao Sui forcibly removed his eyes staring at the water bag and shook his head dryly and said, "I can still hold on. Let's leave these to the king."

Xiong Huai was persuaded again, but Zhao Sui just shook her head and refused. Xiong Huai had no choice but to bluff; "Zhao Sui, as the king of Chu, I ordered you to drink water. At present, you are the only one I can rely on. If you fall down, who else can escort me back to the State of Chu?"

The tip of Zhao Sui's nose was a little sour, but his eyes were dry and could not shed any tears, but most of them silently lowered his head and took the water sac, and put it on his mouth to carefully wet his lips with a smile. The smile on his face twitched and said, "Okay, let's go back to the State of Chu and go home. I will go back to the State of Chu with the king and go home!"

"Go back to Chu and go home." Xiong Huai read these two words silently in his mouth, and suddenly raised his head to look at the far south. His eyes showed hot eyes, clenched his fists and muttered.

"Go back to Chu, go home, let's go home!"