When Noble son JiaoShi decided to go back to Linzi, Zou Ji advised him not to bring the army back first, so that Tian Ji and Sun Bin would not use the hatred of the generals of both sides to stir up trouble and cause trouble. General Fei also advocated not to bring an army, saying that if there was any change in Linzi, the army in Dui Du could take care of it. So Noble son JiaoShi returned to Linzi with only General Gao and Wei brothers.
While Sun Bin was capturing Noble son JiaoShi, Tian Guo's soldiers surrounded the guest house where General Gao and Wei brothers were staying, at that time, General Gao and Wei brothers were drinking and eating meat, Wei Zhong was drunkenly messing around and wanted to go out to look for a woman, and just as he was going out, he stumbled in again, he was hit by an arrow on his shoulder, and blood was flowing out of it.
Knowing that the situation was not good, Wei Zhong casually threw out two wine glasses and knocked out the fire and candles in the house.
Outside the house came the shouts of Tian Guo, “General Gao, Wei brothers, Noble son JiaoShi has thrown himself into the net and has been captured by the king, come out and surrender quickly, or else, you will die.”
General Gao was chagrined, this time I'm afraid I've fallen for Sun Bin's trick again.
Tian Guo continued to shout, “General Gao, don't get lucky, the Bin She is surrounded by archers, it's hard for you to escape with your wings, the only way to live is to surrender.”
Wei Bo grabbed a table table as a shield and intended to rush out. General Gao stopped him and said, “It's not possible to charge hard, there are many of them and they have bows and arrows.”
Wei Bo shouted, “Bows and arrows are nothing, the big deal is death.”
Wei Shu s eyes rolled and said, “It is better not to die or not to die ...... Big Brother, look at me.” Wei Shu walked to the door and responded loudly to the door, “Listen to the general outside, it is fine to ask us to surrender, but you must keep your word and save our lives.”
Tian Guo said in a loud voice, “Don't worry guys, I, Tian Guo, have always been true to my word.”
Wei Shu continued, “Then please ask the general for a brief order from the King of Qi and forgive us for our innocence.”
Wei Bo whispered to Wei Shu, “Brother, even if the King of Qi forgives us for our innocence, we can't surrender.”
Wei Shu explained, “This is a delaying tactic on my part.”
The brief order came quickly, and Wei Shu wanted to verify it himself. The general under Tian went to the door of the room and slipped a bamboo slip through the doorway. Suddenly the door opened, and Wei Shu pulled the general in, lifted him up with one hand, held him in front of his body, said “Go” to the men behind him, and rushed out of the binghouse with the general in his arms.
The soldiers in the courtyard were about to shoot arrows, but when they realized that it was their own general in front of Wei Bo, they could not shoot. When the soldiers hesitated, Wei Zhong, who had rushed out of the courtyard, threw a handful of stones, and the torches of the soldiers in the courtyard were knocked away one by one. Wei Zhong threw out another handful of stones, and a dozen soldiers guarding the gate of the courtyard were hit by the stones and fell to the ground.
Wei Bo and the others took the opportunity to rush out of the courtyard. They took advantage of the night color and scaled over the city wall, running a long distance in one breath, and didn't stop until the sky was dark.
Wei Bo panted and said to General Gao, “General Gao, our brothers have never been in such a sorry state ......”
Wei Zhong chimed in, “It's all because you lied about the military.”
Wei Shu said, “You say what to do, our brothers can't come here for nothing.”
General Gao wiped his sweat and said, “I only have three taels of gold on me, so if you guys don't mind it being too little, take it away ...... Or, you guys arrest me and hand me over to the King of Qi, and he will reward you.”
“You do have some backbone,” Wei Bo sneered, ”but you're not worth three taels of gold!”
General Gao wanted to be angry but stopped, saying, “If you guys want to get more rewards, stay and help me rescue the Duke and kill the King of Qi.”
Wei Zhong asked, “Just the four of us?”
General Gao said, “There are still our men in Linzi City.”
Wei Shu asked, “You mean Zou Ji?”
General Gao shook his head, “No, we are just using him.”
Wei Zhong asked again, “Then who is it?”
General Gao said, “The people the Duke left behind when he left Linzi are all diehards who are willing to work for the Duke.”
Wei Zhong asked Wei Bo, “Big brother, do you say stay or not?”
Wei Bo had his own calculations in his mind and said to General Gao, “Since you have some backbone, we'll stay.”
General Gao knelt on the ground and kowtowed, “On behalf of the Duke, I thank you all!”
When the Empress Dowager heard that Noble son JiaoShi had been captured by King Xuan, she came to King Xuan in a rage, pointing at him and cursing, “Pi Jiang, how dare you deceive your mother, your brothers, and the world! By doing so, you have dishonored your ancestors, who will not forgive you!”
King Xuan of Qi calmly said, “Empress Dowager, my son is doing this precisely for the sake of my ancestor, not only will my ancestor not blame you, but he will also praise my behavior.”
The Empress Dowager grunted coldly, “You used trickery to treat your own mother and your own brother, how could the ancestor approve of such behavior?!”
King Xuan of Qi said, “Empress Dowager, the state started by our ancestors cannot be divided by anyone; the descendants of our ancestors should not betray the state; Noble son JiaoShi betrayed the state and became an enemy of Qi, and since the Empress Dowager did not allow my son to kill him, my son had to use a trick to trick him into coming back and making him comply. I did this to maintain the stability of the country and not to disobey my mother's order, does not my ancestor still disapprove of me?”
The Empress Dowager was speechless, and after a few moments said, “The old woman will not listen to your sophistry; the old woman has only one word to say: you are not allowed to kill Noble son JiaoShi!”
King Xuan of Qi retorted, “Empress Dowager, my son never wanted to kill Noble son JiaoShi, it was precisely because I didn't want to kill him that I used a ruse to capture him alive ......”
“Say no more,” the Empress Dowager interrupted King Xuan of Qi, ”as long as you don't kill Noble son JiaoShi, that's enough!”
The Empress Dowager left, and King Xuan of Qi let out a long breath. Zhong Li Chun came out from the inner room and said to King Xuan, “The empress dowager is too rude and unreasonable to the king; if the king tolerates this kind of irrationality, she will surely gain an inch!”
King Xuan of Qi said, “I have already captured Noble son JiaoShi, and the Empress Dowager will not be able to save Noble son JiaoShi even if she gives an inch.”
King Xuan of Qi underestimated the Empress Dowager and Noble son JiaoShi. Noble son JiaoShi, who was imprisoned, did not eat or drink, and fought to the death, but had to see the Empress Dowager. King Xuan of Qi did not want to agree to Noble son JiaoShi, but he was worried that if JiaoShi really starved to death, he would not be able to explain to the Empress Dowager, so he agreed to let the Empress Dowager and JiaoShi meet.
When the Empress Dowager saw Jiao Shi, he was lying on a broken mat in the prison, his hair was disheveled, his eyes were slightly closed, and his face was emaciated. The Empress Dowager walked up to Noble son JiaoShi, looked him up and down and asked, “Are you ...... my son JiaoShi?”
Noble son JiaoShi struggled to get up, looked at the Empress Dowager, and said sadly: “Mother, it is me, I am JiaoShi ......”
Tears immediately flowed down from the eyes of the Empress Dowager, she stretched out her trembling hand to caress Noble son JiaoShi's haggard face and said, “JiaoShi my son ...... how did you become like this ...... mother can not recognize you ......”
Noble son JiaoShi shed tears and choked, “My son is ...... thinking of mother ...... thinking of ...... looking forward to mother... ...looking forward to ......”
The empress dowager's hands tightly embraced Noble son JiaoShi, her face has been old tears, crying, “Mother will not leave you ...... never leave you again ......”
The empress dowager could not wait a moment longer, she wanted King Xuan to release the suburban division immediately, let the suburban division live by her side, take care of him, and protect him. When she saw King Xuan, she said to him, “Wang's son, if you still have me as the empress dowager in your eyes, release the suburban division immediately!”
King Xuan of Qi felt bad, but quickly calmed down and said, “Empress Dowager, Noble son JiaoShi kills the king and rebels, endangering the country's grain, his crime should not be pardoned, my son does not kill him, it is already a very lenient, if you let him out, what state law is there for Qi to speak of?”
The Empress Dowager said, “I don't ask about the law of the land, I only ask about my family's love, since you are the elder brother of Jianshi, you should raise your hand and let him out!”
King Xuan of Qi said with a straight face, “My son is not only the elder brother of Noble son JiaoShi, but also his king. As an elder brother, I have already treated him with all the kindness and justice I can; as a king, I must not allow a traitor to go unpunished!”
The Empress Dowager's face was sulky as she coldly said, “So you are refusing to release Jiao Shi?”
“Yes, if I release Noble son JiaoShi, I will not be able to account for it to the court officials, to the people of the country, and to the state.”
“Well then, you put the old woman in prison too, and the old woman will be with Jiao Shi!”
King Xuan of Qi was stunned and said, “Empress Dowager, this can never be ...... done You are trapping your son in an unkind and unfilial place.”
“Then release Jiao Shi. If you don't release Jiao Shi, the old woman will go into the prison to accompany him!”
King Xuan of Qi had no choice but to ask Sun Bin to give him an idea. Sun Bin advised to let Noble son JiaoShi out, King Xuan of Qi hesitated, “After Noble son JiaoShi comes out, he definitely won't stop, he still wants to rebel ...... If he escapes to Wei, it won't be easy to catch him again ...... ”
Sun Bin smiled slightly and said, “After Noble son JiaoShi comes out, the king pretends to be helpless against the empress dowager, and doesn't pay attention to what Noble son JiaoShi does, he thinks that there is an opportunity to take advantage of it, so he won't leave Linzi, and once the king catches him, he can once again put him in jail, so the empress dowager will have nothing to say.”
When General Gao got the news that Noble son JiaoShi had been released from prison, he immediately brought the three Wei brothers to see JiaoShi. Jiao Shi was grateful to the three brothers for their loyalty even when he was down and out, and arranged for the three brothers to live in his own royal residence, and even found beautiful women for them, and instructed the three brothers to do as they were told, and never go out to cause trouble without authorization, so as not to jeopardize his grand plan.
Noble son JiaoShi went to see Zou Ji after arranging the three brothers and forgave him for not being able to recognize Sun Bin's conspiracy and asked him to continue to secretly contact with the dynasty's Dafus to help him control the dynasty and stabilize the country someday.
Duke Noble son JiaoShi wants to move, Tian Ji can't help but worry, he said to Sun Bin: “Zou Ji sent someone to relay to us that Noble son JiaoShi's usurping heart is undefeated, General Gao is secretly gathering his old troops, the Wei brothers have already returned to Linzi, and they're going to assassinate the King ...... Mr. We can't just wait but we should try to stop it! Noble son JiaoShi to act recklessly.”
Sun Bin said, “Nowadays, waiting is the best action.”
“I'm worried that if we let them get away with it in a moment of negligence, the consequences will be unimaginable ...... Sir, we should find an excuse to arrest the assassin.”
“He will find the assassin again.”
“Then force the assassin to open his mouth and confess, with the assassin's confession, we can also put Noble son JiaoShi in jail again.”
“The Empress Dowager will also force the Great King to release him.”
“According to you, there is nothing we can do to Noble son JiaoShi?”
“To capture him, indulge Noble son JiaoShi, let him do it himself, and get rid of him when he does.”
“I always worry ...... that this is too risky ......”
“To win the whole victory, sometimes you have to take risks.”
Wei brothers live in the king's mansion, watching beautiful women dancing, eating meat and drinking wine in big bowls, living a very cozy life. But every day so, can not help but be a little tired, they are wild used to people, can not leave the house, and then good wine, and then beautiful women, there is no flavor, they decided to go out on the street.
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Linzi street, traffic, bustling, pedestrians of all colors, goods stalls colorful. Wei's three brothers walked in the market, dazzled, linger, they regret that they should not listen to Noble son JiaoShi, in the house for nothing to hold so many days.
At this time, Sun Bin's carriage happened to pass by the street, and the people greeted Sun Bin respectfully. The three brothers have never seen Sun Bin before, they heard that the person sitting on the carriage is Sun Bin, they all crowded forward to measure Sun Bin.
Sun Bin inadvertently glanced at the three brothers with different images and their murderous gazes were deeply imprinted in his mind.
Ever since he saw Sun Bin, Wei Bo was thinking, why don't you assassinate Sun Bin first and kill him, as usual, you will be famous all over the world. He told Wei Zhong and Wei Shu about his idea. Wei Shu didn't agree because Noble son JiaoShi didn't let them act without permission.
“He's afraid of Sun Bin, I'm not.” Wei Shu expressed his disdain.
Wei Shu voiced his concerns, “We're employed by the Duke, if he doesn't order us to do it, we just won't get a heavy reward if we kill Sun Bin.”
“Hmph, if we kill Sun Bin, I'll go to the Duke to ask for a reward, and if he doesn't give a heavy reward, I won't let him go.”
“Big brother, it's better to tell the Duke.”
“Tell him and we won't be able to kill him.”
“Third brother, do it,” Wei Zhong also agrees with killing Sun Bin, he said to Wei Shu, ”After all, killing is more enjoyable than sleeping with a woman.”
A crooked moon hangs in the quiet night sky, people are asleep, the streets and alleys are so quiet and defenseless.
Wei's three brothers climbed over the wall of Tian's mansion, followed the roots of the wall, quietly came to Sun Bin's place, gently opened the door and entered the house. Inside the house there was a person sitting behind the table, he was leaning over the table, already asleep, the light from the candle on the table was shining on him, the clothes he was wearing was exactly the one Sun Bin wore on the street during the day.
Wei Bo walked over to the man and sneered, “Mr. Sun, don't sleep, it's time to hit the road ......” he said and pushed the man. Wei Bo felt something wrong, reached out and grabbed the man s collar, pulled him up from a few to see that it was a dummy. The three brothers said that it was not good, turned around and slipped out of the house.
The three brothers did not meet any obstruction in the courtyard of Tianfu, and escaped. They fled back to the king's mansion in one breath, full of puzzlement.
Wei Zhong gasped and said, “Someone must have revealed the news.”
Weibo shook his head, “Impossible, only the three of us know about this.”
“Sun Bin probably doesn't even know that we're going to kill him,” Weishu said after pondering for a moment, “If he knew, he would have already planted ambushes inside and outside the courtyard.”
Weibo nodded, then said, “However, if he didn't know, why did he set up a dummy inside the house?”
Weishu said smartly, “That dummy has been in his house all along, the real person has another place to live, it's called a precautionary measure.”
Wei Zhong said, “It makes sense ...... Unfortunately, the third brother did not think of this beforehand.”
“What do you guys say, is this matter told to the Duke or not?” Weibo inquired.
Weishu said, “Can't tell him, if we tell the duke, he is bound to think about it and hesitate to make a move against the king of Qi, in this way, we don't know how much longer we have to wait.”
Wei Zhong held the opposite opinion and said, “We should tell the Duke, we have already alarmed Sun Bin, Sun Bin is bound to strengthen his precautions, if the Duke doesn't know about this and acts rashly, it will be difficult to accomplish anything.”
Weishu said, “If Sun Bin strengthens his own precautions, he is bound to neglect the precautions of the king's palace, won't we be more sure if we go to kill the king of Qi?”
Weibo thought Weishu had a point.
Sun Bin didn't sleep this night, he's been playing chess with Tian Ji. He had a premonition during the day from the terrible glances of the three brothers that they might strike at night. Only after the three brothers left did he tell Tian Ji about their assassination. Tian Ji complained to Sun Bin, “Why didn't you tell me beforehand about such a big event? So that I could lay an ambush in the courtyard and capture them alive to get rid of the trouble in my heart.”
Sun Bin laughed, “That's precisely why I couldn't tell you, I didn't want to alarm Noble son JiaoShi because of this, I'm going to keep indulging him so he can do it early.”
“If you don't get to do it this time, they'll come back ......” Tian Ji glanced at Sun Bin, ”This time if you hadn't gotten a premonition in the middle of a chance, I'm afraid you'd already be dead... ...Must get rid of these assassins, they're too dangerous!”
“Getting rid of the assassins is bound to scare away Noble son JiaoShi, if he escapes to Wei again, getting rid of him will be much harder.”
“Then what do you say, the assassins will come at any time, once they are negligent, it's too late to regret.”
Sun Bin smiled slightly and said, “Don't worry, Great General, I've already thought about it, let's leave Linzi and go to my fief Bochang to live ...... This is safe, isn't it?”
Tian Ji nodded and said, “OK, tomorrow you will leave, I will stay in Linzi.”
“You can't stay, you have to go too.”
“Who will protect the king if I go?”
“I just want Noble son JiaoShi to feel that we have no intention to protect the Great King, so that he will do it as soon as possible and we can get rid of him as soon as possible.”
The news of Tian Ji and Sun Bin's departure from Linzi was soon known to Noble son JiaoShi, and he felt that the opportunity to rise up had arrived, but he had to find out the reason why Tian Ji and Sun Bin had left Linzi, so as not to fall into the trap again. He asked Zou Ji to investigate the matter, Zou Ji soon found out, Zou Ji said to him, “Last night someone sneaked into Tian's house, assassinated Sun Bin unsuccessfully, and was discovered by Sun Bin afterwards ...... He and Tian Ji left Linzi, it must have something to do with this.”
Noble son JiaoShi said, “Do you mean to say that they are afraid?”
Zou Ji shook his head and said, “Sun Bin and Tian Ji are by no means timid and fearful of death, the reason why they left is that there is another reason ...... Tian Ji and Sun Bin want to establish an everlasting career in Qi, and in order to build a career, they must make Qi's dynasty stable, so they are bent on getting rid of the Duke. However, the great king is afraid of the empress dowager and is soft on the duke, and they had shown their disheartened intention in front of many Dafus, unwilling to intervene in the struggle for the throne ...... last night, they met assassins again, and they must have thought that it was too unworthy to die so much at the hands of assassins, so they might as well leave Linzi, which is a place of wrongdoing, for the time being.”
Noble son JiaoShi nodded his head, “Mr. Zou said reasonable ...... However, as far as I know, no one in Linzi city wants to kill them, and no one dares to kill them.”
“Didn't the Duke want to kill them?”
“But I didn't go for it.”
“Your Excellency, do you not believe me.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It's said that the people who went to the Tian residence last night to assassinate Sun Bin were three people ...... besides the Wei brothers, who else could those three be?”
“It couldn't have been the Wei brothers, they wouldn't have acted without my orders.”
Zou Ji sighed and said, “The duke does not believe me also should be, who let me trick the duke to Linzi, nearly killed it ......”
Noble son JiaoShi was busy saying, “Mr. Zou, don't misunderstand, I'll find the Wei brothers to confront them face to face.”
Zou Ji pretended to be indifferent: “Forget it, it's not worth being so serious over such a small matter.”
Noble son JiaoShi said indifferently, “This is by no means a trivial matter, if the Wei brothers are not assassins, Sun Bin's departure from Linzi is most likely a conspiracy.”
Noble son JiaoShi sent someone to call the Wei brothers and asked them about the assassination of Sun Bin, the Wei brothers denied it in one voice. Wei Zhong said to Noble son JiaoShi: “Duke, we don't go out of our house these days, how can we possibly assassinate Sun Bin?”
Noble son JiaoShi said, “Going is going, I won't blame you guys.”
Wei Shu said, “If you didn't go, you didn't go, we're not afraid of Duke's blame.”
Zou Ji stepped aside and said, “Who are you if not you? No one else has the guts.”
Wei Zhong said, “Though we have the guts, our guts will never be taken out without the Duke's order.”
Zou Ji said, “Do you dare to swear?”
Wei Shu said perfunctorily, “There is no need to take an oath for this trivial matter.”
“You guys don't dare.” Zou Ji intentionally provoked them.
“What's there to be afraid of, I swear ......” Wei Shu drew his sword and pointed to the sky, ”If I, Wei Shu, go to assassinate Sun Bin, I will die in ...... ”
Wei Bo, who hadn't said anything, snatched the sword from Wei shu's hand and said to him very seriously, “You can lie about other things, but you can't lie about swearing to the sky.” He turned to Noble son JiaoShi and said, “Your Excellency, we did assassinate Sun Bin last night, it's just a pity that we didn't succeed, if this disrupts your Excellency's deployment, we are willing to be punished.”
The Duke immediately showed a joyful face and said, “Not only will I not punish you, but I will also reward you!”
The three brothers all looked at Noble son JiaoShi in disbelief.
Noble son JiaoShi said, “Sun Bin and Tian Ji were scared away by you, taking the throne will be like a bag of tricks!”
Wei Bo suddenly got excited and said, “Duke, let's go kill the King of Qi today.”
Noble son JiaoShi said triumphantly, “No, we won't kill him; we'll surround the palace with our troops and force Pi Jiang to surrender the throne, which will save us a lot of trouble afterwards.”
Noble son JiaoShi and General Gao, along with the Wei brothers, led the old troops that General Gao had gathered and surrounded the royal palace. General Gao was as strong as a bull as he shouted to the palace guard general standing on the palace wall, “Please tell the king that if the king does not accede to the duke's request, we may have to attack the palace.”
The palace guard general responded, “General Gao, the great king said that even if he dies, he will not give up the throne to the rebels.”
“Then we are sorry.” With a sword raised in General Gao's hand, a dozen rebels embraced the huge log battering ram and slammed it into the palace gate.
With a bang of the palace gate, a black mass of archers emerged from the palace wall, and an overwhelming rain of arrows shot one after another towards the rebels under the palace wall, catching the rebels off guard, they were in great disarray.
The rebels have not yet recovered their senses, behind them resounded again the rapid drums of war, shouting and killing is even more alarming.
General Gao realized that they had been tricked once again. He pushed aside the soldiers driving the car and fled in person, followed by the Wei brothers. General Gao's men were in chaos, fleeing in all directions.
Noble son JiaoShi failed to escape, and he was trapped under the palace wall by Tian's soldiers. The archers drew their bows and arrows to aim at Noble son JiaoShi, who was standing on the king's carriage.
The archers drew their arrows and aimed at Noble son JiaoShi, who was standing on the king's carriage. A volley of arrows flew past and Noble son JiaoShi was hit by the arrows and fell out of the carriage.
Noble son JiaoShi never thought he would die, he struggled to get up and went to see the Empress Dowager.
Only to hear Tian Guo's order, “Kill him! Don't live.”
The weapons in the soldiers' hands stabbed at Noble son JiaoShi at the same time.
Note: “To capture, first let loose” is the 16th of the 36 stratagems, which means: in order to destroy the enemy in a more favorable way, intentionally indulge the enemy temporarily, so that the enemy will let down his guard, and then wait for the opportunity to take action to annihilate the enemy. Sun Bin used this stratagem to indulge Noble son JiaoShi in order to root out the rebel forces and destroy him when he rebelled. To find out what happens next, please read the next installment: “Borrowing a Body to Return a Soul”.
