When they heard that the Qin people were leaving Hangu, Lord Xinling and others thought that the Qin people would take the confusing road and leave Xingyang; preparations for the war in Daliang began through various channels. Unexpectedly, after the Qin people left Hangu, they went to Maojin and boarded the ship there. Maojin is the ferry crossing from Shaanxi County to Wucheng. Although Wucheng also belongs to Hedong County, it is located to the south of Shoushan Mountain and is blocked from the Hedong Road in the north of the mountain. It must be climbed over mountains and ridges to reach it. Therefore, when entering Hedong from Qin, one does not cross the river from Maojin, but takes Puban Ferry. This march route confused everyone: Where on earth is the Qin army going?
It took three days for the Qin army to completely cross the river. During these three days, Mr. Guo has been busy adjusting his spy network: his spies are now arranged on the line from Xianyang to Luoyang. The Qin army will not go to Luoyang, but to Hedong. Mr. Guo's spy network immediately loses its target. But Hedong is an emerging place, and the spy network has not yet been established, so there is no time to activate it. Therefore, the movements of the Qin army after passing Maojin can only be provided by the few words of the merchants and travelers: Qin people entered Yuan; Qin people entered Zhiguan; Qin people entered Zhi! At this time, it was only three or four days since the Qin people disappeared from Maojin.
Daliang flew to Nanyang to prepare for battle. But it's too late. There was no need for Mr. Guo to use his spy network. The cities in Nanyang reported to Daliang like meteors: Qin people entered Mengjin; Xingqiu and Huaixian in the east just had time to gather people in the city for defense.
Wen is a large city with a long history in Nanyang. It was originally the Wen Kingdom and was destroyed by the Di people. Later, it was given to Duke Wen of Jin by the King of Zhou, who sent his capable minister Hu Qin to serve as Wen Shou. Later, although Wen was not as prominent as Zhi, he was still a large city with considerable population and wealth. After the Battle of Qifeng, Wen was ceded to Qin in exchange for Qin's withdrawal from Qifeng; after the Battle of Huayang, Qin returned the cities of Jin Nanyang, including Wen, to Wei in exchange for Wei's presence around Chu Nanyang of cities. After such a struggle, the defense of Wen County and the surrounding cities was naturally worrying; but it fell into the hands of the Qin people almost without a battle, which was still beyond the expectations of the Wei monarchs and ministers.
Compared with Wenzhou, Xingqiu and Huai County are far behind. Xingqiu is the former site of the ancient Xing Kingdom. It is called "Qiu". Firstly, it means that the terrain of that place is higher. Secondly, it means that there (used to be) a ruins - Xingguo has long been lost in the long river of history. . Xingqiu, built on the ruins, can only be regarded as a ferry for Wen County to cross the Yellow River. Huaize formed a city because it was located at the mouth of a river with little water. It was a new ferry city. The ferry's commerce is developed, but its combat capabilities and food supply are far behind those of agricultural cities. When Lord Xinling and others heard that only Xingqiu and Huai were left in Nanyang, they all despaired of Nanyang.
But for Mr. Guo, the task has become much lighter. He no longer needs to send spies to Hedong. He has a large number of informants in Nanyang. As long as you send someone across the river, you can get information. He quickly found out that the Qin people were led by the five officials stationed in Daliang with the prince, and that the prison army was almost all composed of the prince's followers as officers at all levels: public officials, public officials, official officials, officials... The low-level non-commissioned officers all came from Hedong. They settled in Hedong not long ago, and their titles were not high. Some of them were even Wei people from Yuancheng and Zicheng. They had just defected to Hedong a few years ago, and now they brought the Qin people back!
From now on, Mr. Guo's people can only enter the area around Xingqiu and Huai, because the Qin army has blocked these two cities, and all roads in Nanyang leading to these two ferries are impassable.
One month has passed in the blink of an eye, and the coldest season of winter has arrived! Lord Xinling knew that the most difficult time for both sides had arrived: whoever could overcome the severe cold of winter and persevere would win. Lord Xinling hopes that at least the city will be better than the wild!
Mr. Guo still continued to send spies across the river to find those informants who stayed in Nanyang. Although most people returned without success, some people still sneaked across the blockade and penetrated into the rear of the Qin army. The spy's report made everyone feel heavy: the Qin people were not in a hurry to attack the city, but entered the towns around the two cities. In a long-term siege posture, it seemed that they were waiting for the food in the city to run out and then opened the city on their own.
After hearing Mr. Guo convey the Qin army's movements, everyone suddenly felt relieved. This is an old trick of the Qin army. They eat the enemy's food in the enemy's territory, and then find an excuse to withdraw from several cities after the local food is eaten up! It was like this in Qifeng, it was like this in Yan Yu, and it was like this in Wu'an... Anyway, when spring is approaching, the Qin army will retreat and go home to prepare for farming, otherwise they will not have anything to eat the next day. Of course, those places that were eaten up by the Qin people will be miserable. There may not even be any seeds left. Spring planting is very difficult and the harvest will naturally be impossible. There should be people who starve to death in the coming year. However, if a large-scale famine is not triggered, death will For some old, weak, sick and disabled people, that is also within the acceptable range.
With one snowstorm after another, time enters the twelfth lunar month. The whole Wei State has begun to discuss how to start peace talks, and if there is peace talks, what places can be given up. The majority opinion is that it is acceptable to cede both Zhi and Wen. As long as only Zhi is ceded, that is victory! As for Yuan? Then don't mention it. In the peaceful atmosphere, even Mr. Guo reduced the number of spies sent to the other side, because the news returned from the inquiries every day was the same: the Qin army was stationed in Yili, and Xingqiu and Huai were guarding the city. Sometimes people in the city came down to collect some firewood, but the Qin army outside the city did not interfere.
It was said to be a war, but in fact no weapons were actually used.
Just when Wei was about to send an envoy to sue for peace, Huailing sent an envoy to report to Daliang: Qin had abandoned Xingqiu and would concentrate all its efforts on attacking Huai. Lord Xinling urgently asked Mr. Guo to send someone across the river to check. Before the spy came back, he got the news that Xingqiu had been captured.
Two days later, Xing Qiuling returned to Daliang with several retainers to report that the Xing people had been trapped for a long time and had only one food for more than ten days. After the Qin people left, the Xing people went to the city to look for food in the wild, but were killed by the Qin people. They turned around. Seeing the Qin army coming back, the city hurriedly beat drums to call the police, but those Xing people who left the city were unwilling to return to the city to defend themselves even if they heard the drums. The soldiers guarding the city saw that almost no one came back, and they didn't know what was going on. Should he continue to open the city gates and wait for people to enter the city, or should he close the city gates and defend the city? During the hesitation, the Qin army entered in large numbers.
Lord Xinling, Wei Qi and Jin Bi were all silent after listening to Xing Qiuling's story. Xing Qiuling is also a member of the clan and lives in the north of Daliang City. No one here has the right to take any punitive measures against him. Lord Xinling said: "Xing Ling abandoned the city to defend the country and returned to the country. The ministers and others were rude and will report it to the king. I would like to order him to return home and wait for it."
Xingqiu ordered him to bow down and say: "I lost my position and violated the law of the country. I will treat the offender as such. Even if I die, I will not have any grudges!"
After letting Xing Qiuling go home, everyone looked at Jin Bi. Jin Bi said without any hesitation: "If Xingqiu is lost, Huai will not be saved." Three days later, news came that Huai County surrendered under the pressure of merchants, and Huai Ling absconded and disappeared.
After occupying Zhi, Wen, Mengjin, Xingqiu and Huaihou, Wei's influence in Nanyang was basically wiped out. But what is interesting is that the Qin army did not touch the Korean cities in Nanyang. The monarchs and ministers of Wei were very puzzled by this result and did not know what to do. Now that the war is over, there is no room left to cede territory.
The King of Qin also assigned the newly acquired land to Hedong County, and transferred the county governor Wu'an Jun Baiqi to be the governor of Hedong. Li Bing was appointed as the governor of Shu County. He led his troops to capture Xingqiu and Huaihou, and the five officials and other followers who followed the prince were dismissed and returned to their posts. On the recommendation of Wu Anjun, they all held different positions in Hedong County. Hedong County became the focus of the entire Qin State for a while. Except for internal history, it was the most powerful county.
The newly captured cities were quickly reorganized into households. With the strong suppression of Wu Anjun and the strong promotion of Zhang Lu, Qin law was implemented in the newly occupied areas.
Seeing that the Qin people did not retreat after occupying Nanyang, they set up officials behind them to implement Qin's laws. The whole state of Wei began to feel a little hairy. I originally thought that the Qin people would leave after eating the food in Nanyang, and Wei would only need to clean up the mess left by the Qin people. Now, the Qin people did not leave, and the Wei people couldn't even clean up the mess. The Qin people helped them clean up, and the Wei people were dumbfounded. Only then did Lord Xinling vaguely realize that Hou Ying's judgment was accurate and that Qin's occupation of Nanyang might have serious consequences. Nanyang is definitely not something that can be summed up by the word "bianyi".
The occupation of Xingqiu and Huai by Qin did not reduce the Wei people's enthusiasm for the New Year. Ordinary Wei people still buy new year's goods, visit relatives and friends, and kill pigs and sheep as usual. Since salt is extremely cheap this year, wealthy families pickle a few extra kilograms of meat or fish; ordinary families can also add some salted plums to their dinners.
All cities south of Zhiguan in Hedong County are allowed to celebrate the New Year as usual. The calendars of Wei, Han, and Zhao are the same. The cities and towns are basically not divided according to the country and exchange what they have. The entire Nanyang area is also immersed in a festive atmosphere, and the war that has just been extinguished seems to be a distant past.
On the day of the beginning of spring, Lord Xinling held a banquet for the guests and declared that he would become a master to learn the art. All the ministers and clan members came to the house, and even the King of Wei sent envoys to offer him gifts as a master. Wei Gongzi's mansion was full of joy and decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations.
Lord Xinling drove the car himself, with Mr. Zhongyue as the right-hand man. He brought his family and followers with him and drove to Yimen. Hou Ying had been notified by Lord Xinling that he would become a disciple in the future. He was waiting in the Yimen Guardhouse that day. Except for those on duty, all the Yimen soldiers gathered inside and outside the guardhouse, not to mention the young men.
When the car arrived in front of the guard house, Lord Xinling got out of the car, holding a slip in his hand. A retainer behind him came to the door holding a plate with six bunches of dried meat.
Lord Xinling personally said in a loud voice: "Young Wei family Wuji, Mr. Muhou is so virtuous that he has the virtue to cultivate himself. He stands under the gate and wall. I am willing to teach you day and night!"
A young man ran out of the courtyard and said, "Sir, your Majesty listens to false praise in vain, and you really don't deserve it. I'm willing to resign!"
Lord Xinling said: "Sir, you are of great virtue, and Wuji has been promised by God. This sincerity can be compared to the sun and the moon. I admire you, sir, with hunger and thirst. Fortunately, don't abandon Wuji because of his lack of virtue. You must learn from it and correct it." Of."
After a while, the young man ran out again and said: "Sir is here!"
