Lian Po's battle report reached Handan, and King Zhao summoned Lord Pingyuan to Lord Pingyang that night for discussion.
King Zhao asked: "I have been in the party for many years, but now the battle is unfavorable. What can I do?"
Pingyang Jun said: "I heard that the Qin army took Bai Qi as its general. Bai Qi is a man who can be slaughtered. It is difficult to take him. It is better to make peace."
Lord Pingyuan said: "During the meeting in Mianchi, I observed Lord Wu'an. He had a small head and a sharp face. His pupils were white and black, and he could not look away. He dared to make decisions, saw things clearly, and had a strong will. It can be sustained, but it is difficult to deal with it. Strive for the upper hand. He is an honest man, he is brave and loves his soldiers, he knows the difficulties and endures humiliation, but fighting in the field is not as good as it. Persistence is enough for him."
King Zhao said: "If Lian Po fights, he will lose. He may not be able to handle it."
Lord Pingyuan said: "But if you make him guard the wall, you will lose nothing."
Pingyang Jun said: "Changping is urging troops and food, but Handan is short of food. What can I do?"
Lord Pingyuan said: "You can make Lou Chang the honest deputy. Lou Chang manages the army strictly, punishes harshly and shows little kindness. If he responds with less food, he will surely be able to subdue the people."
Lord Pingyang said: "No way. The soldiers will eat less. If they collapse during the war, they will regret it!"
Lord Pingyuan said: "The king has consulted with Lou Changke."
In the morning of the next day, Lord Pingyuan circulated Lian Po's battle report to the court, and everyone was shocked. Although there was a lot of discussion, no one made any suggestions. After announcing the disbandment of the dynasty, King Zhao left Lou Chang and Yu Qing behind and asked: "The Changping army cannot win the battle, the captain is dead, and I will wear armor and fight against Qin. What will happen?"
Lou Chang said: "There are many generals here, so why bother the king to march in person!"
King Zhao said: "No one in our audience dares to respond, so they will go on their own."
Lou Chang seemed to understand what King Zhao meant. He rolled his eyes and quickly replied: "It's useless. It's better to send an important envoy to concubine."
After hearing this, Yu Qing, who was next to him, took over and said: "Chang Yan's concubine thought that if he did not confer, the army would be destroyed. Wang Qizhi thought, Qin wants to defeat Zhao's army. Isn't that evil?"
King Zhao said: "Qin will not spare any effort and will surely defeat the Zhao army."
Yu Qing said: "The one who controls the concubine is Qin, and Qin will definitely want to defeat the Zhao army. How can it be achieved?"
King Zhao asked: "What are your plans?"
Yu Qing said: "I ask the king to send an envoy to send a heavy treasure to Chu and Wei. If Chu and Wei want to get the king's important treasure, they must join my envoy. If the envoy of Zhao enters Chu and Wei, Qin will doubt the unity of the world, so he will say yes It can be done.”
King Zhao was deeply disappointed. Originally, Lou Chang was expected to go to the front line to command the battle, but Lou Chang directly proposed peace. I thought Yu Qing had any good suggestions for retreating from Qin, but Yu Qing believed that negotiating a peace with nothing would definitely fail, and he had to contact other vassal states first, causing Only with the illusion of unity can it be possible to make peace with Qin.
After hearing what these two people said, King Zhao's ambition froze. He went to Pingyang Jun again and said, "I am going to have sex with Qin, who can I ask?"
Lord Pingyang said: "No one should be more envoy to Qin than Zheng Zhu." King Zhao then ordered Zheng and Zhu to be envoys to Qin.
Lord Pingyuan rushed to the palace to meet King Zhao and said, "Does the king want to have sex with Qin?"
The King of Zhao said: "I will make Qin know the generals of Zhao and their consort, and slow down their army. I will continue to send troops and rations to support the Shangdang! However, Handan is short of rations, please ask the princes for help!"
Lord Pingyuan immediately asked Tian Dan, who was retiring in Zhao State, to be an envoy to the princes. But the nearest state of Qi was the state of Tian Dan's parents. Tian Dan had many political enemies there and could hardly survive, so he was forced to settle in the state of Zhao, and Lord Pingyuan sent others there. The State of Yan and the State of Zhao have never dealt with each other. Unfortunately, it is already good to take pleasure in others' misfortune. The State of Yan is not included in the list of envoys this time.
Zheng and Zhu envoys to Qin were very powerful. The news was released many days in advance, claiming that General Zhao and Qin were in harmony. On the day of his mission, Zheng and Zhu worshiped temples and worshiped Taoists, and their etiquette was meticulous. Zhao Xiangpingjun and Anpingjun Tiandan personally presided over the ceremony. At the same time, the envoys to Qi had quietly set off.
Handan is thousands of miles away from Linzi, and the envoy drove for more than ten days to arrive.
It has been six years since the death of King Fazhang of Qi Xiang, and the queen has been almost completely in control of the government of Qi. King Jian of Qi completely inherited the national policy formulated by his parents: be friendly with the princes and focus on developing himself.
The envoy from Zhao arrived in Linzi and met with Prime Minister Qi to explain his intention. Qi Xiang said: "Qi received the favor of the great country and was able to keep his head and be given the old land. He will serve sincerely. Now I am willing to give you one hundred thousand stones to show my sincerity!"
When the Zhao envoy saw that he was only allowed 100,000 shi, he smiled and said: "Our city and Qin are fighting for Changping in Shangdang. Each army has hundreds of thousands of people, and they eat tens of thousands of shi of grain every day. One hundred thousand shi of grain is not enough for one day. I wish Give it again!"
Qi Xiang said: "Zhao and Qin are big countries. The big countries are fighting, and our city dare not interfere. Now I heard that Handan is short of food. Handan, marriage, must be saved. I would like to use 100,000 stones of grain to prepare a meal!"
The Zhao envoy said: "There are millions of households in Handan, and they can eat no less than five or seven hundred thousand stones every day. I would like to give them a lot of money to survive! I heard that the villages and towns in the country are rich, and the rest are given to the city, which is very virtuous."
Prime Minister Qi pondered for a moment and said: "Ji Tu has received a gift from a great country, and he dare not hide anything. If he dares to pay taxes of 300,000 stones to a great country, don't take it lightly! Others dare not hear about it."
Envoy Zhao only wanted 300,000 shi of food. Although it was a small amount, it seemed impossible to get more. Then he returned to his country and resumed his life.
When the envoy from Zhao arrived in Qi, Tian Dan also arrived in Wei.
If you don't take the main road from Handan to Daliang, it's only about 600 miles, which is closer than Linzi. In order to conceal the news of his mission, Tian Dan presided over the ceremony of Zheng Zhu's mission in Handan before setting off secretly, creating the illusion that Tian Dan was still in Handan. Therefore, the journey was relatively close. Although Tian Dan set out a few days later than the envoy to Qi, he arrived almost at the same time.
In order to avoid Nanyang, which had been occupied by the Qin army, Tian Dan took another westward route: after entering the Yellow River from Handan, he landed at Suxukou. After the hired car crossed a section of land to reach Guiling, they boarded a boat and sailed up the Pu River to the famous Huangchi. At the beginning, King Wu Fu Chai made an alliance with Duke Jin here. King Wu changed his royal title and called him "gong", but Duke Jin allowed Duke Wu to also call himself the overlord (Gong Jin had already been the overlord). Now, both Wu Gong and Jin Gong have turned into historical dust. Huangchi has also washed away its luster and returned to plainness. It is a small border town to the north of Daliang, the capital of Wei. The lake where King Wu's hundreds of warships were originally anchored, today there are still fishing boats stopping here, and travelers from south to north also stop here and stay overnight.
Tian Dan, dressed as a businessman, moved into the hotel. The Guanyi of Wei State can receive distinguished guests when no officials are stationed there, but they have to pay enough money. Tian Dan has more than a hundred people and numerous possessions, so there is no problem in living in this small border town. Huangchi is not on a major traffic road, and there are usually not many high-rollers. When they suddenly saw such a luxurious business trip, they were surprised.
Huang Xie sent several followers to drive to Daliang to meet Lord Xinling secretly.
Since Wei Qi was "pursued" by Zhang Lu's false threats and abandoned his official position and fled to Handan, the Wei State has not appointed another prime minister. The king of Wei has temporarily designated Wei Gongzi as the master of ceremonies for national ceremonies. All major military and political affairs are handled by Lord Xinling. Decide in consultation with the ministers.
From Wei Qi, Tian Dan learned that the main pusher for the alliance with Zhao was Lord Xinling. King Zhao actually hoped to form an alliance with Qin, but he could not defeat Lord Xinling at court, so he had to agree to send an envoy to join the alliance. Legally speaking, Zhao and Wei are allies with a cooperative alliance.
It was only fifty or sixty miles from Huangchi to Daliang. The envoy traveled all night and arrived at Kaicheng at dawn. Several people entered the city and came to Wei Gongzi's mansion to ask for an audience with Lord Xinling.
After Lord Xinling came to court, he heard that Tian Dan secretly sent someone to visit him to ask for information. He immediately notified Zhang Zhen, Mr. Zhongyue, Mr. Guo and other senior guests to accompany him to receive him. After the meeting, the entourage only said that Tian Dan was in Huangchi and wanted to see the young master and the king of Wei, and he wanted to show his favor.
Lord Xinling asked: "I heard that Zhao and Qin wanted to reject Changping, how will they fight?"
The attendant excused himself and said, "This is a major military and state matter that no servant of mine dares to know about."
Since Lord Xinling couldn't ask anything from his entourage, he had no choice but to arrange for Mr. Zhongyue to go to Huangchi to pick him up in person. After seeing Tian Dan, Mr. Zhongyue asked about his purpose. Tian Dan said: "Zhao and Qin want to reject Changping, and it is difficult to decide between male and female. As an alliance, we should work together to achieve the full success. But why do you think you have nothing to do?"
Mr. Zhongyue said: "This is what Mr. Cheng wants. But the King of Wei doesn't allow it. What can I do?"
Tian Dan said: "I would like to see the King of Wei as your master."
Mr. Zhongyue said: "I heard that General Zhao was consorting with Qin. I sent the official Zheng Zhu as an envoy to see him in Nanyang. Since Zhao is consorting with Qin, why should he indulge in Wei?"
Tian Dan said: "Zheng Zhu is in the Ming Dynasty to cover up the secrets of his ministers."
Mr. Zhongyue said: "When the king comes out, the world will look at it. Even if Wei does not come out, Qin will definitely use Wei generals to come out."
Tian Dan said: "That's why it must be done in small ways."
Both of them are smart people, with an eye for color and sound that no one can match. They quickly understood each other's intentions and reached a compromise. Mr. Zhongyue escorted Tian Dan to Daliang. These followers were still pretending to be business travelers, leaving Jishui, going to Xingyang, and entering South Korea to continue their merchant journey. The two sides will reunite at Lord Xinling's fiefdom.
In the afternoon, Tian Dan, accompanied by Mr. Zhongyue, entered Daliang and came to Wei Gongzi's house. He entered directly without announcing. Mr. Xinling was tuning the piano in the hall when he suddenly saw Mr. Zhongyue coming in. He stood up in a hurry and said, "Is Mr. Anping here?"
Mr. Zhongyue took a step back, bowed forward, and pulled Tian Dan in. Tian Dan came in and said, "I, Lord Pingdu, would like to see Lord Xinling!"
Lord Xinling saw that Tian Dan claimed to be Lord Pingdu. Why? Is it a false name or another title? But he did not pursue the matter, but followed the title and said in return: "I, Lord Xinling, Wuji sincerely wish to see Lord Pingdu."
The two sides have met and sat down on each side. Lord Xinling asked Mr. Zhongyue to invite Zhang Ye and others. Tian Dan knew that there were no secrets between Lord Xinling and these close disciples, so he did not stop him.
Only five retainers attended the meeting: Mr. Zhang Ye, Mr. Zhongyue, Mr. Guo, Mr. Jin and Mr. Cao.
Lord Xinling ordered a banquet to be held, and Tian Dan said: "No. Mr. Yue has said that if I enter Wei, even if Wei does not come out, Qin will definitely come out with Wei generals."
Lord Xinling glanced at Mr. Zhongyue doubtfully, and Mr. Zhongyue said: "Although there is no feast, the dust must be washed away!"
Lord Xinling said: "You will not be punished for being so disrespectful to your Majesty!" Mr. Guo went down and ordered the tomb master to prepare a meal according to the standards of the minister.
Lord Xinling asked, "If you come from afar, you must be able to teach me."
Tian Dan said: "I have heard that in the past, Wei and Zhao joined forces, but the young master was more powerful. I dare to ask the young master, if they join forces, is Qin weak but Zhao strong? Zhao is weak but Qin is strong?"
