When Han Fei saw Wu Cheng's actions, he originally thought that at most, Guo Huai not only failed to capture Tianquan County, but also lost a lot of troops. However, he never expected that Guo Huai's 200,000 troops would be captured. The tens of thousands of Zheng's remnant soldiers in Tianquan County were defeated. Not only did Guo Huai and Meng Da die, most of the senior generals in the army also died in unknown ways. According to the battle report, they were killed by a kind of explosive. Gewu will be blown up to death! "
Han Fei sat on the chair and gasped with anger. Wu Cheng carefully picked up the battle report that he dropped to the ground and asked him softly, "Commander, the loss of these two hundred thousand troops is not a small matter! Do you want it?" Report to the Emperor that he knows?"
Han Fei tapped his index finger on the table quickly, and after thinking for a long time, he said: "Don't report it to the emperor for now. When I mobilize the army to conquer Tianquan County and capture Su Chengxuan, I will report it to the emperor together. Even if It’s probably because you’ve made it through!”
After Han Fei finished speaking, Wu Cheng did not respond. He held the battle report in his hand and stood silently beside Han Fei.
Han Fei gave him a strange look, "Does the military advisor have anything else to do?"
Wu Cheng shook his head, "Commander, I'm thinking about it. We can't take the credit for others!"
Han Fei straightened up from his chair and stared at Wu Cheng, "Military advisor, please tell me clearly. Whose fault is it? Whose fault is it? He, Guo Huai, is also one of my subordinates. I won't take the credit for him." What can we do if we pass?"
Wu Cheng smiled secretly, "Commander, when we sent out troops to attack the State of Zheng, neither Guo Huai nor Meng Dake were your subordinates. It was because someone in the court was afraid that you would make too much contribution after conquering the State of Zheng, so they sent people to pick peaches." Yes, if my guess is correct, Guo Huai was recommended to you by the First Assistant. As for Meng Da? His Majesty and Princess Yannian jointly recommended it to you, right?"
Han Fei nodded thoughtfully, "You are right, these two people were indeed recommended to me by them!"
Wu Cheng clapped his hands lightly, "Commander, isn't this right! When you attacked Zheng Guo, you didn't plan to choose these two people to be your vanguard officers, so the emperor and the chief assistant can't say anything about you The commander's vision is not good, but the person they recommended is indeed not good, so I think this matter must be reported to the emperor. I am afraid that someone with bad intentions in the future will say that your commander made a mistake by fully reporting the loss of these 200,000 horses. The second crime of deceiving the emperor is not that the commander-in-chief is incompetent in commanding troops and fighting. After all, commander-in-chief, you have led your troops to attack the entire territory of Zheng State, except for the small Tianquan County. You originally relied on a few recommenders. In order to save face, I wanted to give the great achievement of capturing Emperor Su Chengxuan of Zheng to Guo and Meng in vain, but these two were too stupid. Not only did they lose 200,000 horses, but they even got involved themselves. I believe that by then The emperor and the chief minister have nothing to say to you!"
Han Fei's eyes lit up, he stood up from the Grand Master's chair, and slowly walked around the room with his hands behind his back.
Wu Cheng bowed and followed him like a follower. After a while, he said to Wu Cheng who was following him: "Military advisor, the memorial to the emperor should try to put the responsibility for this defeat on Guo Huai. Guo Huai was the main general in the attack on Tianquan County this time, and he made the mistake of underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly. Secondly, Meng Da just died in battle with Princess Yannian shortly after their wedding. Princess Yannian must be heartbroken, and Meng Da was a deputy general. It cannot be justified both emotionally and rationally. When the time comes, Princess Yannian will cry and make a fuss in front of the Emperor, and the Emperor will get angry and blame us for not protecting his horse, which will be a loss rather than a gain!"
When Wu Cheng heard this, he nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, "The commander-in-chief is wise, I will go and write the memorial according to the commander-in-chief's wishes and send it to Yecheng, the capital of Chu, to present it to the emperor.
In the name of Han Fei, Wu Cheng wrote a memorial to Chu Emperor Xiong Ze and asked the postman to rush it eight hundred miles away. In just two days, the memorial was placed on the dragon case of Chu Emperor Xiong Ze in front of everyone. In front of the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs, Xiong Ze threw the memorial sent in the name of Han Fei, the commander-in-chief of Xinyang Joint Dudu and the marshal who attacked Zheng Guo, to the ground of Gongcheng Hall. Prince Xiong Guang picked up the memorial and read it again, and then silently He handed it to Prime Minister Shi Lei who was standing beside him.
Shi Lei briefly glanced at the memorial, and his whole body was suddenly agitated. He walked to the dragon case and knelt down in three steps. How could I expect that the vanguard officer who was sent to attack Zheng was so useless and lost 200,000 soldiers and horses of Chu State in vain? I deserve death for my crime, please punish me!"
Xiong Ze, who was sitting behind the Dragon Case, had a serious face at this time. The civil and military officials standing in the Hall of Success were so frightened that they did not even dare to express their anger. Xiong Ze waited for a long time before slowly calming down the anger in his chest, and directed at Shi Lei, who was kneeling in front of his case, waved his hand.
"Shi Aiqing has done great work for the country. What crime is he guilty of? I hate that Guo Huai was so greedy for power that he caused such huge losses to the Chu country. This is unbearable. Even if he died in battle, he will never be spared. Come and convey my will." , put all three members of Guo Huai’s family on death row and be executed on a certain day!”
As soon as Xiong Ze's imperial edict came out, Prince Xiong Guang, Prime Minister Shi Lei, and all the standing ministers in the Hall of Success were stunned. This is too cruel. This person has already died in the battle. If you want to punish three other clans again, you can say that thousands of people and ten thousand people died fighting for your old Xiong family. Although Han Fei's memorial attributed all this defeat to him, it is just a matter of personal ability, and he What does family have to do with it? But now that Xiong Ze was angry and worried about his own head, no one dared to come forward to plead for Guo Huai's family.
But this Shi Lei is different. He and Guo Huai are sons and daughters. Although most of the three Guo Huai clans were killed by those with the surname Guo, his daughter Shi Mei married Guo Huai's son Guo Hao and gave birth to two children. Nephew, if you kill Xiong Ze, won't all four of my daughter's family be killed? This is not possible. Even if I risk my life, I have to save my daughter and her family of four!
Seeing Xiong Ze angrily standing up from the dragon chair behind the Dragon Case and preparing to retreat from the court, Shi Lei shouted, "Your Majesty, I have a secret I want to report, please grant me your permission!"
Xiong Ze had no choice but to stop and asked coldly with a long face, "What else can I do, Aiqing?"
Seeing Xiong Ze's appearance, Shi Lei guessed that he would not be able to get anything good today, but thinking about the lives of his daughter's family, he still felt determined and risked his life. At worst, he and his daughter's family would be chopped down by Xiong Ze.
''Your Majesty, I have the courage to ask Your Majesty to pardon the death penalty of Guo Huai's family! "
"Oh, don't Guo Huai's family deserve to die?"
"Your Majesty, although Guo Huai is guilty of being greedy for merit and rushing forward, please think about it, there are soldiers who don't want to make meritorious service, unless they are greedy for life and afraid of death. Please think about it, your Majesty, if you kill Guo Huai's family, what will happen to the people ahead in the future? Who dares to charge into battle, how can we win the battle if all of them cower?"
Xiong Ze was obviously moved by Shi Lei's words. He went back and sat down behind the Long case again. He stared at Shi Lei and asked: "Then according to Aiqing's opinion, this Guo Huai not only did not commit any crime, but also made meritorious deeds." ?”
"Your Majesty, I feel that Guo Huai's whole family must not be killed. The urgent task now is how to mobilize the Chu army to destroy Zheng's remaining soldiers in Tianquan County in one fell swoop, and annex Zheng's territory to Chu. within the country.”
"Ai Qing means that Han Fei's more than 200,000 soldiers and horses can't destroy Su Chengxuan's tens of thousands of defeated soldiers?"
"I would like to ask Your Majesty to think about the time when Han Fei attacked Zheng. It was so overwhelming that the main force of Zheng's army was wiped out in more than a month. But now Zheng's army can defeat Guo Huai with only tens of thousands of remaining soldiers." The 200,000-strong army was defeated overnight. Presumably there must be experts behind the scenes to help them. Wei Chen just saw in the memorial a kind of explosive device used by Zheng Jun. A loud bang can cause several casualties. There is also General Mengda, who is a peerless master and holds the treasure of the sacred mountain, but his body can be wiped out after a ray of red light. I feel that all this is the work of this expert, please think twice."
At this time, Prince Xiong Guang also walked out of the train and bowed in front of Xiong Ze's case. "Father, I think the words of the Chief Assistant are reasonable. Please think again."
Xiong Ze thought for a moment, waved his hand, and someone came to prepare an order for me, "I order Han Fei, the envoy of Xinyang Joint Dudu, to lead the Xinyang Pass garrison and the soldiers and horses stationed in Zheng State to form the first route army and attack Tianquan County. Order The President of the Black Armored Army led Shi Biao to defeat the 30,000 Black Armored Army. They immediately set off from the Chu State's new city station and headed north to the Tianquan County of the Zheng State. This was the second route army. He ordered Daxingtai Shangshu to order He Fan to defeat the 20,000 Yulin Army and the Chu State's Yecheng. The army stationed at Wusheng Pass, consisting of 30,000 men and 50,000 men, formed the Third Route Army and attacked directly at Tianquan County. The three armies totaled more than 300,000 people. They defeated Tianquan County with the overwhelming power of Mount Tai. Except for Su Chengxuan and his son, , not a single person is allowed to be left alive, to avenge the 200,000 Chu soldiers who died in Tianquan!"
The imperial eunuch finished recording Xiong Ze's imperial edict and showed it to Neng Ze to read it over. There was no problem. Neng Ze picked up the jade seal on the dragon case and slapped it on!
"Your Majesty, please have mercy on Guo Huai's family!" Shi Lei was still worried.
"The death penalty can be avoided, but the living crime cannot be forgiven. Let their family move out of Yecheng and return to their original place. Their descendants will never be able to serve as officials!" Xiong Ze said impatiently.
Shi Lei's previously worried heart finally dropped, and he kowtowed quickly to thank him. Xiong Ze didn't even look at him, and turned his sleeves to enter the harem.
With the strong assistance of Su Xingran and Lu Jun, Chen Xiaomu produced 30,000 kilograms of explosives in just half a month. At the same time, he also loaded hundreds of jars of black oil directly from the black oil pit. Lu Jun held the black oil in his hands. It's called explosives. I really can't imagine how powerful it can be. Tianquan, a small county town, is particularly short of supplies. Chen Xiaomu had no choice but to use the old method, tearing apart some old tents in the army and using them to bundle explosives. In order to use the trebuchet to throw the bags farther, all the bags were bundled in ten-pound bags in the past. This time, they were all packed into five-jin bags. There were 5,800 explosive bags, leaving two thousand for the defenders. The 25,000 soldiers borrowed from Lu Jun brought 3,800 bags. The remaining 1,000 kilograms of explosives were tied by Chen Xiaomu into ten large explosive bags of 100 kilograms each, ready to blow up Daling. Used on river ice walls.
When everything was ready, the three groups of people from Chu State were getting closer and closer to Tianquan County.
