As the saying goes, a fool will gain something after a thousand worries, and a wise man will lose something after a thousand worries. Fan Ju's wishful thinking did not work this time. Because he only knew the original Zheng Anping, he stood up for his friends, and his loyalty was rare in the world. It is expected that after so many years of training, his bravery and strategy must have improved. He did not expect that in the past few years, apart from being complacent and enjoying wealth and wealth, Zheng Anping's real ability to lead troops and engage in politics had not improved at all.
Fan Ju originally thought that as soon as Zheng Anping arrived in Handan, and with the cooperation of the 400,000-strong army located in Handan, it would not be difficult to capture the exhausted and remnant Zhao army that had lost troops and generals in recent days. Unexpectedly, at this time, seeing that the balance of war began to miraculously favor Zhao, the other countries began to prepare for action.
Two famous incidents occurred during this period, one was Mao Sui's self-recommendation, and the other was Lord Xinling stealing amulets to save Zhao. The former, led by Pingyuan Jun of Zhao State, went to Chu State with more than 20 followers. Mao Sui showed his talents through this mission to the Chu State, and finally got the King of Chu to agree to join the vertical alliance advocated by the Zhao State. Under the leadership of the Chu State, various countries began to form alliances one after another. Among them, Wei State dispatched 80,000 troops, and Chu State dispatched 100,000 troops, and soon broke through the Qin Army's defense line outside Handan. Since the Qin army did not expect that any country would dare to help Zhao when Qin was at its peak, its strategic focus was naturally placed on attacking Handan City. Caught off guard, the situation faced by the Qin army took a turn for the worse.
King Qin Zhaoxiang was completely anxious, and at this moment, a word came from Bai Qi: "If the king could have listened to my Bai Qi's strategy earlier, how could he have ended up like today?" In the eyes of King Qin, Bai Qi was not only a little helpless, but He did not pay attention to Qin's war situation, but instead took pleasure in his misfortune when the whole country was grieving.
Bai Qi didn't realize at all that his situation was bad, so he still went his own way as before, and sneered in his heart: Zheng Anping is just a fool, how can he fight? If the king leaves him, the Qin army will inevitably be defeated; but if the Qin State loses Fan Ju, it is just one less talkative person, which will only benefit the country without any harm.
Bai Qi is a general with outstanding military exploits. His strategic vision is as sharp as that of few others. Just as he was saying these words, the Qin army on the front line was facing the greatest danger since the expedition. The Qin Army's 400,000 main force was completely defeated. Only the 20,000 Qin Army led by Zheng Anping was still fighting hard under Handan City and was surrounded by the coalition forces of Wei, Chu and Zhao.
There was no other way. Faced with the critical situation of life and death for the Qin army, King Qin decided not to beg Wu Anjun in vain. He directly issued an edict and appointed General Bai Qi to go to the front for rescue.
At this time, Bai Qi really wanted to go to fight. He studied the art of war every day in those days, became familiar with the geography inside and outside Handan City, and thought about Lian Po's tactics. He hoped that he could have a real showdown with Lian Po in his lifetime. However, before that, he wanted to get Fan Ju to step down, otherwise once he returned from success in the future, he would still be unable to withstand Fan Ju's slander, and he would still be thankless for his efforts.
Bai Qi tried to use this method to measure the value of himself and Fan Ju, but unexpectedly, this was also challenging King Qin Zhaoxiang's bottom line. However, King Qin Zhaoxiang still did not deal with Bai Qi, because Bai Qi was still a key piece that could be used in his chess game. Now that the chess piece did not obey his command, King Qin Zhaoxiang said angrily: "My dear, no matter you are really sick or pretending to be sick, I force myself to ask you to do this even if you are lying on a stretcher. The general of the Qin army attacking Handan. If you have made a contribution, your wish will be fulfilled, and I will not treat you badly. On the contrary, don't blame me for being ruthless."
After all, Bai Qi was also a powerful figure in the Qin State. Not only did he make great contributions to the Qin State, but he also grew up with King Qin Zhaoxiang. King Qin Zhaoxiang treated him like this, which really did not give him face. A bloody man would not be willing to submit under the coercion of others. Therefore, Bai Qi once again showed his character of being soft-hearted and not hard-hearted, and said harshly to King Qin: "I know that if I go on this trip, even though I will have no merit, I can absolve myself of the guilt; if I don't go, even if I don't Although he is guilty, he will inevitably be killed. However, I would rather not take command and be killed by the King of Qin than be a humiliating general. Please be aware of it."
Finally, King Qin walked away with a look of loneliness in his back, while Bai Qi still looked at the eastern sky unruly. He seemed to know that perhaps this time, he had made King Qin Zhaoxiang completely lose his trust and expectations for him, and he might He may be exiled, he may be abandoned, he may be killed... In short, in this life, he will never be able to repeat the glory of the past. The nightmare of the Six Kingdoms will definitely end from this moment, and Qin's dream of unifying the world can only be left to future generations to complete. Because even if Bai Qi wanted to kill the enemy, he was unable to save his life.
In October 257 BC, as the war on the frontline worsened, King Qin Zhaoxiang also completely gave up on Bai Qi. After the edict was issued, Lord Bai Qi Wu'an's title was abolished and he became a soldier. This is fine. Bai Qi started as a small soldier and ended as a small soldier. It can be regarded as a complete reincarnation.
However, this may just be his own state of mind. In the eyes of others, how similar is it that Qu Yuan was demoted and was eventually thrown into the Miluo River, and Bai Qi was demoted and exiled to the bitter cold in the northwest? But the difference is that Qu Yuan had unlimited talent and was able to express his dissatisfaction and resentment among the green mountains and green waters. And what about Bai Qi? Kong has the ambition to have a peak showdown with Lian Po to eliminate the evil villains in the court, and then destroy the Zhao Kingdom to unify the world. However, at this moment, he was exiled by the King of Qin because of his stubbornness and intolerance. Therefore, Bai Qi simply chose to admit his illness and not leave, hoping that one day, King Qin would see his loyalty and change his mind.
In fact, didn't King Qin Zhaoxiang's heart turn over and over again? In the past, I was only thinking about the long-term future of Qin and preserving my position as king. Who would have thought that the Qin army would face such a defeat today, and the root cause of everything was Bai Qi. This man is the pillar of the Qin State and the most dangerous place in the Qin State. If the Qin State lacks him, the great cause of unifying the world will be delayed for countless years. But if the Qin State has him and does not impose restrictions on him, it is very likely that the Qin State will change hands in the future.
Therefore, King Qin Zhaoxiang chose to continue to trust and reuse Fan Ju. Only in this way can the military group headed by Bai Qi think that it was because of Fan Ju that King Qin treated their god of war in this way. Once he no longer poses any threat, or the war situation in Qin gradually improves, Fan Ju's political career will come to an end. But right now, the time is far from ripe.
In November of this year, Zheng Anping, who was recommended by Fan Ju, was finally cut off from food and grass, and after many failed attempts to break through, he resolutely chose to surrender to Zhao. King Zhao was very generous this time and made Zheng Anping Lord Wuyang. The three-year Battle of Handan ended with Qin's defeat and Zhao's victory. However, in this war, Qin's strength was only temporarily damaged due to its deep foundation and strong national strength, while Zhao was unable to recover.
At this time, Qin's military group finally found Fan Ju's weakness and prepared to seize this to attack Fan Ju. Since Shang Yang's reform, the Qin State has formulated the law of continuous sitting. According to this, if Fan Ju is not good at appointing people, he should accept the three clans (referring to the three clans of father, mother and wife). However, King Qin Zhaoxiang wanted to rely on Fan Ju to fight against Bai Qi at this time, so he only ordered, "Anyone who dares to speak out about Zheng Anping's affairs will be guilty of the same crime as Zheng Anping." Not only did he not punish Fan Ju, he also increased his rewards.
At this time, the Qin military group really saw the partiality of King Qin. They were originally dissatisfied with Fan Ju, and King Qin's actions undoubtedly aggravated this conflict and dispute. Fan Ju has realized the danger of his situation, and in order to protect himself, he can only choose to strike first.
However, one wave of upheaval came after another. Just after Zheng Anping's incident calmed down, another close confidant of Fan Ju, Wang Ji, the governor of Hedong County, also had problems.
It turned out that after the allied forces of Wei and Chu led by Lord Xinling defeated the Qin army besieging Handan, they pursued the victory non-stop. The army soon attacked Fencheng (today's Linfen, Shanxi), the seat of Qin's Hedong County. This time, the main force of the Qin army directly chose to retreat without fighting and retreated to Hexi. Leave the mess to Wang Ji. The Qin army made it clear that they were targeting Fan Ju, so they could retreat. However, Wang Ji was the governor of one side and shouldered the heavy responsibility of protecting the territory against the enemy, so he could not retreat easily. Once Fen City is lost, Fan Ju will be implicated. It is expected that this time, no matter how much the King of Qin protects him, he will not dare to violate the laws of the country and go against the entire Qin State.
On the Xianyang side, King Qin Zhaoxiang really had no choice. Seeing that the Qin army did not obey orders at all, they actually retreated directly from Handan to Hexi. If it was just suspicion before, now, with all the facts in front of you, all of this must be due to Bai Qi's influence. They were all Bai Qi's old subordinates. Seeing that Bai Qi was humiliated in vain, they fought against him.
But they actually took Qin's fundamental interests as a child's play, which the King of Qin would never tolerate. In anger, King Qin directly ordered that no matter how sick Bai Qi was, even if he was sleeping on a stretcher, he had to leave Xianyang and go to the place where he was sent.
Bai Qi was originally planning to stay in Xianyang to wait for changes, but he could no longer bear the King of Qin sending people here and urged him every day. So, Bai Qi packed up his luggage, took a few followers, and walked quietly to the west gate of Xianyang. Unexpectedly, the entire west gate was filled with Qin troops, and their choking sounds gathered and infected the entire Xianyang. Some of those people were known to Bai Qi, but most of them were unknown to Bai Qi. In their hearts, Bai Qi is the undefeated God of War, worthy of their worship.
The great God of War in their hearts was actually sent to the frontier by the monarch. What a great tragedy! But is this kind of sadness rare in China’s thousands of years of history?
