It can be imagined how anxious King Qin was after the 200,000-strong army of Qin and Zhao each faced off in Changping for three years. At this time, the State of Qin received a military report saying that the State of Zhao was already stretched thin on military rations. Because the State of Zhao had experienced severe drought every year for the past three years, the country's food reserves were seriously insufficient. Qin has no worries in this regard for the time being, because it has the support of Shuzhong, a strategic rear area, but it is unknown how long this advantage can be sustained. At this time, what Qin was most afraid of was not the endurance competition, but the assistance from other countries to Zhao. In that case, it would be difficult for Qin to resist.
Just when King Qin Zhaoxiang was frowning and didn't know how to advance or retreat, Fan Ju brought him exciting news: "Your Majesty, the strategy we adopted before to continue fighting with Zhao was actually not wrong. According to Zhao's flying The envoy from Yan reported that King Zhao Xiaocheng was very angry because of Zhao's lack of food. In order to force Lian Po to go to war as soon as possible, King Zhao actually threatened him with reducing the army's food supply. "There will be no military orders outside the country," Lian Po saw. King Zhao is still going his own way and can't stand his ground. A few days ago, General Wang Lu sent a large number of spies to inquire about Zhao Jun's grain and grass situation, and found that Zhao Jun's granary has recently accumulated a large amount of grain and grass. This is completely unreasonable. "
"From this point of view, Lian Po must have deliberately shown our army that there is plenty of food and grass, so as to make us mistakenly believe that Zhao Guocun has the determination and strength to confront the Qin army for a long time. This is a heart-attacking strategy that can make The Qin army is afraid of war. If we think the opposite way, we will find that the food and grass supplies in the Zhao army camp have probably bottomed out. However, this does not mean that the Zhao army will give up on Changping. According to spies According to the report, the Zhao army in Changping seems to be starting to plow the fields on the spot to reduce its dependence on the country's food and grass."
King Qin Zhaoxiang sighed: "Zhao's lack of food is indeed exciting news for Qin. All the ministers should know the current situation of Qin and Zhao. Generally speaking, Qin has an advantage over Zhao. Because Qin Not only does it own the fertile Weihe Plain in Guanzhong, but it also has the newly occupied land of Bashu, the land of abundance, and it also dominates Jianghan, the land of natural treasures. Its cultivated land area exceeds one-third of the world, its population exceeds three-tenths of the world, and its wealth exceeds one-tenth of the world. Six, it can be said to be full of stamina. However, Changping, where the Zhao army and the Qin army faced off, is closely connected to the Zhao state. Zhao’s army and logistics supplies can quickly enter the battlefield. However, the Qin state’s supply line is too long, and it must be The Wei River carries grain, and flows eastward into Hehe and Luo, then to Shangdang, and then to Changping. Although Qin's national power is strong, it cannot withstand such long-term huge consumption. In addition, Lian Po, the commander-in-chief of the Zhao army, has great patience. He adopted the strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the country, so that our army was full of blood and murderous intent, but could not take advantage of it. According to my opinion, as long as Lian Po is around for a day, I am afraid that the Changping War will be difficult to achieve. Turnaround."
Fan Ju could become a major political force in the Qin State and had been at the peak of power for many years. Naturally, he would not give the King of Qin a fact without giving him a solution. In fact, Fan Ju had already thought carefully before this. When he saw King Qin asking him for advice, he immediately offered advice: "The king's thoughts just now reminded me (this was to show face to King Qin), and made me feel like A strategy, but I don’t know if it is feasible? I can only ask the king to make a decision.”
When the King of Qin heard what Fan Ju said, he suddenly became very excited and asked Fan Ju to say nothing.
Fan Ju's so-called clever plan is to use time. The Qin army used this ingenious strategy to defeat the enemy many times.
There are five main ways to use space, namely rural, inner, reverse, dead, and living. If the five strategies are used at the same time, the enemy will not be able to figure out the rules of the other side, thereby achieving the effect of defeating the enemy. The countryside refers to using the enemy's fellow villagers as spies; the enemy's officials are used as spies; the enemy's spies are used by us; and the dead refers to creating and disseminating false information through our spies. Pass it on to the enemy and lure the enemy into being fooled. Once the true story is exposed, our spies will inevitably die. The living person is the one who can come back alive after reconnaissance to report the enemy's situation.
From this analysis, it seems that the strategy used by Fan Ju later should be a combination of anti-time and death-time, and it did not let the matter be exposed. At that time, King Zhao did not understand Lian Po's unyielding strategy, and even gradually became dissatisfied. Such a clever strategy, in the eyes of some ignorant people, turned out to be a wrong behavior of passively avoiding war and wasting Zhao's money, food and supplies. When Lian Po was loyal and dedicated to Zhao, someone actually suggested that King Zhao temporarily change his general. However, although King Zhao is ignorant, he knows that apart from Lian Po, it is really difficult for Zhao State to find famous generals who are the pillars of the country. Therefore, although the traitor repeatedly slandered him, King Zhao still did not make up his mind to replace Lian Po.
The turmoil in Zhao State gave King Qin hope. He was very excited when he heard that Lian Po might be replaced. However, how to make King Zhao make up his mind has become the biggest problem. You know, if Zhao is really desperate and needs to change generals on the battlefield, there will be at least two people who can pose a certain threat to the Qin army. The first is King Leyi of Yan'an, and the other is Qi Anping and Jun Tiandan.
Of course, King Qin did not hesitate to hand over this problem to his own think tank Fan Ju. Fan Ju lived up to his expectations and immediately came up with a plan: as long as the Qin State could do something, he would spread rumors in the Zhao State that Lian Po was secretly having an affair with the Qin State. The ultimate goal is to bring down Zhao State. On the other hand, it is necessary to determine a candidate for the general who is beneficial to our Qin State. While making the king of Zhao willing to replace General Lian Po with this person, we must also ensure that our army can successfully defeat him. In this way, great things can be expected in the Changping War.
Of course, this person eventually became a household name. He was Zhao Kuo, the son of Zhao She who was famous for his ability to talk on paper. Because although the other two people are indeed talented, they are outsiders after all. The suspicious King Zhao will not use them easily.
When King Qin heard that the recommended person was actually Zhao Kuo, who was already famous, he couldn't help but feel his heart sink. You know, everyone in the world knows that Zhao Kuo is skilled in military tactics, even slightly better than Zhao She who once defeated the Qin army. In the Battle of Maiqiu, Zhao She used Zhao Kuo's strategy and was able to win in one fell swoop. Later, Zhao She also adopted Zhao Kuo's opinions many times in the battle with Yan, and finally defeated the Qin army. Lose money. It can be seen from this that Zhao Kuo is not a vain person, but has extraordinary talents.
In fact, it would be biased to describe Zhao Kuo simply as "talking on paper". King Qin's concern is the best recognition of Zhao Kuo's talent. What can better reflect your own value than the attention of your enemies? However, it is one thing for a person to have talents, and another thing is whether he can stand alone.
Although Zhao Kuo served as his father Zhao She's staff many times, he never had the experience of leading troops to fight alone or dealing with the overall situation on his own. Compared with Lian Po, this man is young and has little knowledge. When fighting the Qin army, he will definitely not be willing to stand firm. As long as Zhao Kuo is caught with this small weakness, it will be enough to make him fatal. In addition, although King Zhao is incompetent and ignorant, he will never rashly let an unknown person with no talent lead the army.
Coincidentally, Zhao Kuo and King Zhao had a close personal relationship in their early years, and King Zhao knew very well about his talents. In King Zhao's mind, if all the ministers had not elected Lian Po as their commander-in-chief, and Zhao Kuo had little experience in leading troops, Zhao Kuo would have probably replaced Lian Po long ago. Zhao Kuo also criticized Lian Po's tactics in Changping. What he wanted was for the Zhao army to take the initiative and fight the Qin army, which coincided with King Zhao's ideas. In this way, King Zhao's ideological foundation was firmly established.
On the other hand, Zhao Kuo went on many expeditions with his father and gave him advice. He established a high prestige in the hearts of the people and the army of Zhao State. He was known as "Ma Fuzi". He was compared with his father Zhao She and was hailed as the future of Zhao State. general star. With the recognition of King Zhao and such a strong mass base, Zhao Kuo has become the best candidate for coach recognized by the whole country. As long as Qin takes the opportunity to spread rumors in Zhao, Lian Po will definitely be replaced.
However, in order to ensure the safety of this war, Fan Ju recommended a person to the King of Qin, Lord Wu'an of Great Qin - Bai Qi.
The plan was decided, and Qin's powerful intelligence system was quickly put into operation.
These days, although Bai Qi is free at home, he is not just idle. Bai Qi has been paying attention to the Changping War, thinking hard every day about how to defeat the enemy. It's a pity that Lian Po made Changping as impregnable as a castle, leaving Bai Qi, the God of War, unable to attack. Of course, this does not mean that he does not have some ideas. If Bai Qi can replace Wang Lu, the battle situation will definitely be much better than now. It's just that Wang Lu and Wu Anjun have a very close personal relationship. In order not to disgrace his friend, Bai Qi has been unable to bear it.
So the King of Qin went to invite him in person. When you give an order, both Wang Lu and Bai Qi will obey it obediently.
