Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

A fierce battle only lasted half a day, but a chase took a full day and night.

The next morning, Chu Ning was washing up when Zhao Yu came to report, "Your Highness, General Ma is back."

Chu Ning put the silk scarf he had washed his face with into the basin, and smiled: "Gather all the generals to discuss matters in the front hall!"

"Yes!"

An hour later, all the generals gathered in the meeting room.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" All the generals bowed in unison.

Many generals were shocked by Chu Ning's sudden appearance and have not yet recovered.

Chu Ning looked at the excitement of the generals in the hall and couldn't help but smile and said, "Generals, there is no need to be so polite."

He turned to look at Ma Chao and asked, "The casualties of this battle must have come out. General Ma Chao, please tell us about it."

Ma Chao, who was named, stood up and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I have captured several Qin soldiers and learned that the Qin army indeed has 100,000 soldiers in this battle!"

"However, the main force is only 50,000 people, and there are 20,000 county soldiers and 30,000 able-bodied men."

"In this battle, 20,000 county soldiers were completely wiped out, and half of the 30,000 able-bodied men were killed or wounded, while the other half fled."

"I led my army to chase after the main force of the Qin army. The enemy left 10,000 soldiers behind to cover their retreat. I wiped them out completely, leaving only 40,000 main forces of the Qin army."

"Our army suffered more than 5,000 casualties in this battle!"

There were 100,000 people, but only 40,000 were left in the end!

The Chu army suffered only 5,000 casualties.

This is of course due to the advantage of cavalry over infantry, as well as the advantage that the Qin army had no intention of fighting.

Of course, what is more important is that they did not encircle and annihilate the main force of the Qin army, and were unable to cause effective damage to the cavalry.

Although Chu Ning knew that the casualties in this battle would not be too great, he was still somewhat overjoyed to hear that only 5,000 people were lost:

"It seems that General Ma Chao trained the Liangzhou cavalry very well. Under such a battle situation, they only lost 5,000 people!"

"You fought well in this battle. I will definitely reward you for your merits."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Ma Chao's face was full of surprise.

After a pause, Ma Chao said sternly: "Your Highness, now that Wei has been defeated and most of its troops have been destroyed, the Han army will surely occupy Wei after resting. Should our army take the opportunity to seize the city?"

Their goal was not to defeat the Qin army. Their real goal was to occupy the Wei city and expand their strength.

They didn't actually gain much from defeating the Qin army in Maple Leaf City.

On the contrary, the State of Wei was on the verge of extinction at this moment, and many cities were unguarded, which was a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Even Chu Kuang couldn't help but his eyes lit up when he heard this, and he took the initiative to stand up and shouted: "Prince, if we send out troops now, we will definitely be able to occupy most of the cities of Wei!"

"is it?"

Chu Ning chuckled: "If we send troops now, we can indeed capture many cities of Wei State, but what about after that?"

In the surprised eyes of the generals, Chu Ning smiled and said, "Will the Han army easily let our army occupy these cities?"

"The Han army has worked so hard to capture the city, they will definitely not let us occupy it easily. At that time, they will definitely join forces with the Qin army and attack our army together."

"Once the Han and Qin armies have an excuse to send troops, no matter how powerful our army is, it will be impossible to compete with the two dynasties at the same time."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience fell silent.

Although they didn't want to admit it, they had to admit that what Chu Ning said made sense.

Seeing the silence in the audience, Chu Kuang couldn't help but ask: "Are we just going to watch Wei's fat piece of meat fall into the hands of the Han Dynasty?"

"of course not!"

Chu Ning slowly stood up, looked outside the hall, a firm look on his face, and said in a deep voice:

"I came here to resolve this matter."

"On the way here, after hearing that Wei was defeated, I immediately sent a letter to the Emperor of Han, asking him to fulfill his promise and cede the two states of Wei to our dynasty!"

This is the benefit of the Chu army blocking the Qin army in Maple Leaf City, and it is also the agreement that Chu Ning had made with the Han Dynasty Emperor Liu Che long ago.

All the generals knew this.

But when he heard that there were only two states, Chu Kuang was immediately unhappy.

"Wei State is vast, even larger than our Chu State, with a total of ten states. We only want two states. Isn't that too little?"

As soon as Chu Kuang opened his mouth, the other generals immediately echoed him.

"Yes, Your Highness, the two states are too small. I am willing to lead the army to occupy two more states!"

"Our army has repelled the Qin army twice in Maple Leaf City. We have made great contributions. Even if we are to reward them based on their merits, we should not be able to get only two states!"

"That's right, two states are too little. We must occupy four states, no, we must occupy five states!"

"The Han army has just fought a great battle and has suffered heavy losses. We should beat them back and take over the entire Wei Kingdom while they are still exhausted!"

Some thought that the two states had too little land, while others believed that they had made the greatest contribution by blocking the Qin army and should be given more land.

Some even wanted to go to war with the Han Dynasty directly, defeat the Han army, and incorporate the entire territory of Wei into the territory of Chu.

As a general, who doesn't want to achieve great things?

Now that the opportunity is right in front of them, they certainly don't want to miss it easily.

Once you miss this opportunity to make merit, you don’t know when you will be able to make merit again in the future.

Chu Ning looked at the excited generals and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

Morale is available!

This is what he wants!

Only by arousing the competitive spirit of the soldiers on the front line can the next things be handled easily.

"Generals!"

As soon as Chu Ning opened his mouth, all the generals quieted down.

Chu Ning glanced at everyone and said calmly, "Of course I want to take over all the cities of Wei!"

"But we should not break our promises. Since we have agreed on two states, we will only take two states."

Upon hearing this, the generals were immediately disappointed.

If they only take the two states, then they will have nothing to do next. After all, it was agreed in advance, and the Han army will definitely not stop them from occupying the two states.

If there is no conflict, they will have no chance to make merit!

Chu Ning took in everyone's expressions and suddenly chuckled: "However, generals, there is no need to worry."

Amid the astonishment of the crowd, Chu Ning said calmly, "It was Sima Yi who betrayed Cao De and led to Cao De's defeat."

"Now this man has declared himself king, calling himself the King of Gaoling. He has gathered the remaining soldiers of Wei State, as well as soldiers from various places and counties, and has occupied four states of Wei State."

"I predict that the Han Dynasty will fight Sima Yi next. At that time, our army can take the opportunity to attack the four states governed by Sima Yi!"

"I and the Emperor of the Han Dynasty agreed to occupy only two states of Wei, but there was no agreement that we could not occupy the four states governed by Sima Yi!"

"Now that the Wei Kingdom has perished, the four states belong to Sima Yi!"

After these words were spoken, everyone came to their senses.

It turns out that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had planned this all along.

Everyone looked at each other, with great respect for the prince in their hearts, and then they bowed and saluted, shouting in unison:

"His Royal Highness is wise!"

Chu Ning chuckled, looked out of the palace, and muttered to himself: "Next, it depends on whether Liu Che knows what's good for him and voluntarily hands over the two states!"