Chapter 498: King Tiandu of Qi is no longer able to hold on to his position!

Chapter 498: King Tiandu of Qi is no longer able to hold on to his position!

At this moment, Gao Yao slowly stood up and clasped his hands together to salute Jiang Lu. Jiang Lu also stood up and returned the salute, and walked out the door with Gao Yao. Along the way, the two chatted and laughed, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

When they reached the gate of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Jiang Lu bowed to Gao Yao again and said goodbye. Gao Yao smiled and watched Jiang Lu leave until his figure gradually disappeared at the end of the street corner, then he turned around and returned to the mansion. However, at the moment of turning around, the gentle smile on Gao Yao's face suddenly disappeared without a trace, replaced by a touch of coldness and determination.

Gao Yao took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Someone come! Immediately send a message to General Zhang Han and tell him that he can mobilize the troops. Remember not to delay the opportunity and don't keep the other side waiting for too long!" As soon as he finished speaking, a personal guard responded and took the order and left.

For Gao Yao, everything that just happened was naturally based on his acting skills. The purpose was naturally to trick Jiang Lu. The rest was to let things ferment slowly. After Jiang Lu went back, everything would naturally have its results.

As for the things from now on, they can be handed over to Xiao He and others. Gao needs to take a good rest for a few days and prepare for the voyage.

At this time in Cangwu County, where Qi Wang Tian Du was, the situation was quietly undergoing a series of subtle and unexpected changes. The title of "Qi Wang" did not originally belong to Tian Du, and the person who was truly qualified to hold this title should be Tian Dan.

Tian Dan was a descendant of the royal family of Qi during the Warring States Period. After the Qin State destroyed Qi, he moved to Di County with his cousins ​​Tian Rong and Tian Heng. However, how could Tian Dan, who had great ambitions, be willing to be buried? Finally, he found a perfect opportunity and resolutely killed the magistrate of Di County. He took this opportunity to raise his arms and call for an uprising, and then proclaimed himself the King of Qi. After that, he led his soldiers to fight bravely all the way and successfully seized and pacified the former territory of Qi.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Just when Tian Dan was in high spirits, Zhang Han stepped forward and was ordered to quell the rebellion. The rebels led by Chen Sheng were no match for Zhang Han. Facing the fierce offensive of the Qin army, they could only retreat step by step. After defeating Chen Sheng, Zhang Han marched to Linji without stopping and besieged Wei Ju, the King of Wei, in the city. Seeing that the situation was extremely critical, Wei Ju hurriedly sent his general Zhou Fu to rush out of Linji City and send distress signals to Qi and Chu respectively.

After receiving the news, Tian Dan decided to send troops to help without hesitation. He personally led the army and led the troops with the Chu general Xiang Ta to follow Zhou Shi to Wei to rescue. But who could have expected that the cunning Zhang Han would use a sinister trick.

He ordered his soldiers to hold bamboo sticks in their mouths at night, and under the cover of darkness, launched a surprise attack on the Qi-Wei coalition without anyone noticing. Unfortunately, Tian Dan and his men were completely unprepared and eventually suffered a disastrous defeat at the gates of Linji City. Not only did they lose countless soldiers and generals, but even Tian Dan himself and General Zhou Fu were unfortunately killed in the battle.

After Tian Dan was killed in the battle, his cousin Tian Rong suppressed his grief, gathered the remaining subordinates of Tian Dan, and hastily retreated eastwards. After going through untold hardships, he finally escaped to the Dong'e area. At this point, this thrilling battle came to a temporary end.

At this critical moment, before Zhang Han could further demonstrate his outstanding talents, he received an imperial edict requiring him to return to the court as soon as possible. The court was preparing to welcome Fusu back to stabilize the court. As a result, the situation became complicated, and Tian Rong was lucky enough to escape.

At the same time, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan proposed a plan to the court: to enfeoff the kings. This also led to Tian Du being awarded the title of King of Qi by mistake.

In this enfeoffment, Tian Du became a lucky person, and was inexplicably canonized as the King of Qi. Not only that, the court generously assigned the two counties of Cangwu and Dongting, which were adjacent to the southern border, to Tian Du. But problems followed. The span of the southern and northern regions was very large, and the geographical environment and cultural customs were very different, which made the power that Tian Du could actually control extremely limited, and his appeal to the territories was greatly reduced.

More importantly, Tian Du was originally a general of Qi State, not a royal noble. Such an identity background undoubtedly brought many hidden dangers to his rule in an era that emphasized bloodline and orthodoxy. However, fortunately, the southern border area has a unique geographical location and complex situation, and the news that the imperial army is about to march south has spread like wildfire, which puts the rebels originally active in Cangwu County and Dongting County into an awkward dilemma.

The huge army of the imperial court was about to pass through the two regions. With the meager strength of the rebels, it was like hitting a rock with an egg to confront them head-on. It was not feasible to seek refuge with Gao Yao, because he was neither willing nor courageous. As for other princes, it was unknown whether they were willing to accept him. This created a strange situation - Tian Du, who was originally appointed by the imperial court, became another feasible path.

For the rest of the rebels, if they chose to surrender to other princes at this time, it would mean that they would have to hand over all the control in their hands. But if they turned to Tiandu, the situation would be very different. Tiandu was in a situation where there were few soldiers and talented generals, so those who came to surrender would definitely be given more attention and appointments.

In other words, the people regarded Tian Du as a solid shield, allowing him to face the sharp edge of the imperial army. Because of this, the imperial army naturally would not take the initiative to attack Tian Du, so that this mighty team was able to pass through Dongting County and Cangwu County openly and almost without any hindrance. Although Tian Du was the dignified King of Qi, the people under his command were indeed of mixed quality and it was difficult to unite.

Now Tian Rong, a descendant of the royal family of Qi, has also come to Dongting County. This makes Tiandu at this time completely in a situation of internal and external troubles. On the outside, the Southern Border Army has almost surrounded the entire county owned by Tiandu. Tiandu, with only 50,000 troops, dares not fight at all. On the other hand, it is difficult for Tiandu to command all the troops.

Tian Rong's arrival made it impossible not to accept him. If he didn't accept him, it would be obvious that he was not worthy of the title of King of Qi. But if he accepted him, now that the imperial court had been destroyed and Fusu had died, his position as King of Qi was already unstable. Now with Tian Rong's appearance, Tian Du was worried that he would not be able to keep his position as King of Qi. Being unstable was only one aspect. If Tian Rong really had any ill intentions, Tian Du knew that he would be killed for sure.