Chapter 499: Tian Du is under pressure and wants to surrender!

Chapter 499: Tian Du is under pressure and wants to surrender!

At this time, Tian Du had already tried all the methods that could be used, but he still could not come up with a good and effective solution. In his opinion, there seemed to be only one way to go - to contact Gao Yao and express his willingness to surrender to him.

The reason for making such a decision instead of choosing other princes is the geographical location. Tiandu is located close to the southern border, so he naturally has a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the southern border. He knows that the prosperity of the southern border is not an empty talk, especially in terms of military strength, which is simply so powerful that it is astonishing. Whether it is sophisticated weapons and equipment, sufficient number of troops, or the superb military qualities of the soldiers, they all crush the uprising army from all sides under his command and the miscellaneous army composed of soldiers from the original counties.

In fact, Tiandu's situation was not an isolated case, and many princes faced similar difficulties. Not only were they extremely short of food and other supplies, but they were also in a state of embarrassment in all areas.

One of the reasons for this situation is that the feudal system implemented by the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan is seriously irrational. Yi Xiaochuan's feudal system is roughly based on the model of the 18 princes enfeoffed by Xiang Yu in the late Qin Dynasty, but in actual operation, a considerable number of people do not have the corresponding strength and ability to take on the important tasks assigned to them at this stage.

This seemingly meaningless enfeoffment could actually become a fatal factor at certain times. Although on the surface, it seemed to give people a certain degree of help and status, allowing some people to take this opportunity to emerge and rise quickly; at the same time, a considerable number of people lost their lives due to this enfeoffment system.

After all, these people were originally able to be enfeoffed as princes because Xiang Yu rose to power after the uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty, and even had a tendency to dominate the country. He led a group of people to attack Xianyang. The enfeoffed princes all had a certain amount of military strength, authority, and reputation. However, when the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan enfeoffed them, most of these people did not have the ability and prestige to match them. Some of them were even generals in other people's uprising armies, and suddenly became kings. This king was like a butcher's knife.

Take Xiang Yu in the original history for example. The feudal system he implemented was extremely subjective. It is no exaggeration to say that he was simply arbitrary and willful, and completely presented a "one-man show". Xiang Yu distributed land based on military merit, and regarded whether or not to follow him into the pass as the basic standard for judging the size of military merit. However, this was only his personal standard, and it was not recognized and accepted by all the rebel generals.

For example, Tian Rong, the prime minister of Qi, and Chen Yu, the general of Zhao, were not granted the title of vassal kings because they had never entered the pass to participate in the war. However, they believed that they had made great contributions in the long struggle against the rule of the Qin Dynasty, so they were full of resentment and dissatisfaction about this enfeoffment. In fact, there were many generals who were resentful, far more than just Tian Rong and Chen Yu.

Xiang Yu's purpose of enfeoffment was to resolve disputes among the princes, but in fact, he was not accepted by everyone because of his own way. As soon as he completed the enfeoffment, Tian Rong of Qi drove away Tian Du, King of Qi, attacked and killed Tian An, King of Jibei, and later killed Tian Shi, King of Jiaodong, and proclaimed himself king of the Three Qis. Chen Yu of Zhao also drove away Zhang Er, King of Changshan, restored Zhao Xie, King of Dai, to King of Zhao, and proclaimed himself King of Dai.

In Yan State, Han Guang, the former King of Yan, occupied the territory and refused to go to Liaodong. Zang Tu fought with him and killed him in Wuzhong, and occupied Liaodong. Not long after, Liu Bang, the King of Han, secretly passed through Chencang from Hanzhong, defeated Zhang Han, the King of Yong, Sima Xin, the King of Sai, and Dong Yi, the King of Di, and occupied the Guanzhong Three Qin. Peng Yue also never stopped fighting for Liangdi. Xiang Yu wanted to stabilize the world by enfeoffment, but in fact it triggered a new round of competition among the princes.

In addition, in order to absolutely implement his will in the enfeoffment and reduce disputes and troubles during the formulation of the plan, Xiang Yu excluded others from participating in the opinions and took the lead alone. He did not use some form of consultation or alliance to transform his ideas into the will of the people through compromise and discussion with the leaders of the various armies. According to the natural unity of power and responsibility, the responsibility for stabilizing the political order of the world after the war fell on his shoulders alone. Therefore, even his most loyal vanguard general, Ying Bu, the King of Jiujiang, repeatedly gave up the responsibility of helping to suppress the rebellion.

It has to be admitted that Xiang Yu, a fierce general, showed his personal heroism to the fullest in the matter of enfeoffment of the kings. The consequences of his actions are also obvious. Since then, the various princes have been caught in endless disputes, the situation in the world has been turbulent, and eventually even overthrown. Even Xiang Yu himself was defeated because of this decision.

What about the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan? Although he knew the development of history, he had only a vague understanding of the deep logic and the chain reactions that might be triggered. He also insisted on following the princes that Xiang Yu had originally appointed. This undoubtedly exposed a fatal weakness in the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan's character - overconfidence.

He seemed to have never seriously thought about what would happen if he failed. He always maintained a conceited attitude. But it was precisely this blind conceit that indirectly prompted the rebels in various places to fight each other and not be subordinate to each other. In some counties, there were actually four or five rebel teams of varying sizes at the same time. The chaos of the situation can be imagined.

Moreover, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan decisively stopped Zhang Han from continuing to attack Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. This action, to some extent, also became an important factor leading to the final outcome.

Today, the world is in chaos, and the relationship between the princes has become extremely complicated. When people have not yet grasped power, they may be able to live in peace; but once they have power, they seem to become a different person, with desires and ambitions rapidly expanding. They shout for the sake of the world, for the restoration of the country, and for the people, but in fact they are just exploiting the people in a disguised way.

After all, if there is not enough money and food, how can we feed so many soldiers? And if we can't even guarantee the supply of soldiers, how can we go to the battlefield and defend our country? In this way, this vicious cycle of lack of money, food and soldiers will continue to intensify and worsen.