At this time, Wang Jian appeared. He was not a military man who knew nothing about politics. Facts have proved that if you are not familiar with politics and diplomacy, not only will it be difficult to understand the overall situation in a war, but you will also be jealous of some people at home, and you will be restricted everywhere. A general naturally wants to control others but does not want to be controlled by others.
At that time, there was an obvious reality in the war between Qin and Zhao: Li Mu was the biggest enemy of the Qin army. As long as this person existed for one day, it would be difficult for the Qin army to advance in the war. For many years, Li Mu had never been defeated, which made the Zhao army's morale high and the Qin army's fear.
Therefore, Wang Jian and the King of Qin discussed the matter. Since explicit tactics were useless, they could only use conspiracy.
When Wei Liao was recommended by Li Si, he came to the King of Qin and formulated a strategy for the King of Qin to annex and establish a country. At the same time, he also stated to the King of Qin the order of unifying the six kingdoms of Shandong. Wei Liao believes that among South Korea, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Qi, and Yan, South Korea is the weakest and the easiest to capture. In order to unify the world, the first thing to do is to obtain the surrender of the three Jins. As long as Zhao and Wei are destroyed, Qin's great cause of unifying the world will be completed. At that time, if Yan, Chu and Qi want to make a difference, they will have to use the mantis as a chariot.
However, Qin Wangzheng was still worried that going to attack Zhao Guoguo without any reason would cause tension in the situation, which might trigger another conspiracy. At this critical moment for Qin to unify the world, there must be no mistakes.
Therefore, Wei Liao once again proposed to the King of Qin that he could let his student Wang Ao go to the State of Zhao and bribe Guo Kai, who had previously attacked Lian Po. As long as this person could be used by the State of Qin, he could defeat the one hundred thousand elites of the State of Qin. division. In addition, General Wang Jian was asked to lead 100,000 troops and declared that he would attack Wei. This would provide a solid backing for Wang Ao's diplomatic activities.
The King of Qin agreed to Wei Liao's request, and Wang Ao then, under Wei Liao's instructions, first came to the State of Wei and tried to sow discord among the three families of Han, Zhao and Wei. He also stated the current situation to the King of Wei: South Korea has long followed Qin's lead, and Zhao also has a good relationship with Qin. If Qin soldiers come to attack the Three Jin Dynasties, they will definitely attack Wei first. How should Wei resist?
When the King of Wei heard that the situation facing Wei was so unfavorable, he asked Wang Ao for advice.
Wang Ao suggested that the Wei State could dedicate Yecheng to the Zhao State. In this way, the Zhao army must divide its troops to guard it. In this way, if the Qin State attacks Ye City, it will not attack the Wei State but the Zhao State. The country became Wei's scapegoat.
The King of Wei was persuaded by Wang Ao in a few words, so he gave Wang Ao the map of Yecheng and the certificate of credence for the cession of Yecheng, and asked him to go to Zhao on behalf of Wei to persuade King Zhao to send troops to defend Yecheng.
After Wang Ao arrived in Handan, he did not go directly to find King Zhao, but found Guo Kai. Wang Ao brought Qin's rich wealth and spent generously, so Guo Kai had to be tempted. Guo Kai took the three thousand gold coins Wang Ao had brought and collected three cities. After understanding what Wang Ao wanted him to do from beginning to end, he rushed to the palace non-stop to admonish King Zhao. There were no wise or virtuous people around King Zhao, so as soon as Guo Kai opened his mouth, the matter was easily accomplished.
In this way, the war between Qin and Zhao resumed.
The Qin army was repeatedly defeated by Li Mu on the battlefield. Qin State traveled thousands of miles to conquer Zhao State. Naturally, it would not be willing to withdraw its troops in vain, nor could it confront Zhao Army for a long time. Therefore, the best way was to give Zhao Army a blow to the bottom of the cauldron. At this time, Guo Kai was reused by Qin again.
Of course, in order to successfully implement this counterintuitive plan, he must first give Guo Kai a lot of money, and at the same time make him feel that he has no worries. In this way, he will help Qin without reservation and wholeheartedly.
Everything went according to plan. Wang Jian of the Qin army arrived at the front line and sent an envoy to make peace with the Zhao army without launching an attack. How did Li Mu know that before this, Wang Ao had already arrived at the camp of the Qin army on the orders of King Qin and Wei Liao, asking them to make peace with the Zhao army; soon after, Wang Ao went to Handan of Zhao to bribe Guo Kai , and asked him to tell King Zhao that Li Mu was currently in a confrontation with Wang Jian of the Qin army. The reason why he had not launched an attack for so long was because Li Mu had received the greatest benefits from the State of Qin. As long as Handan was broken, the King of Qin could make Li Mu a high-ranking official.
Li Mu, on the other side, returned to Handan without knowing what was going on and reported the Qin army's peace request to King Zhao. King Zhao still couldn't figure out Qin's intention, so he didn't agree to Li Mu for a while. However, as soon as Li Mu left the palace, Guo Kai came in and reported to the king that Li Mu had accepted bribes and planned to murder Zhao Guo.
The King of Zhao was shocked. Li Mu was too bold. He only told himself that the Qin army wanted to make peace with the Zhao army. However, he did not mention anything about his arbitrarily advocating for the appointment of an official to the King of Zhao and his own benefits.
So King Zhao decided to send an envoy to find out what was going on. The envoy was also afraid of entering the Zhao army camp, and was accidentally killed by Li Mu. Looking again, the Qin envoys entered and exited the Zhao camp with great fanfare. It seemed that what they said was true. So the envoy reported the situation to King Zhao truthfully.
Guo Kaisui suggested to King Zhao that he use the position of prime minister as bait to call Li Mu back and replace Li Mu with Zhao Cong. The Qin army and Li Mu must not reach a consensus and take advantage of it.
At this time, King Zhao was already destitute. Guo Kai was his confidant and he spoke eloquently, so King Zhao accepted Guo Kai's suggestions without hesitation. King Zhao immediately appointed Zhao Cong of the clan and Yan Ju, who had defected from Qi people, to replace Li Mu and Sima Shang. "If the general is outside, your life will be compromised." At such a critical moment, changing generals will inevitably damage morale. The bloody lessons of the Changping Battle are still fresh in my mind. For generals to face ever-changing battlefield situations, the most important thing is to have independent authority to act. For the sake of the country and its people, Li Mu had no choice but to temporarily refuse to accept King Zhao's transfer order.
In fact, Li Mu also knew how Lian Po ended up and how miserable Le Yi was. The Kingdom of Zhao has many famous generals and heroes everywhere, but the traitors are in danger and the wise are in danger, and the King of Zhao is ignorant and incompetent. How can I change this situation by myself? Maybe this time, not only will it be difficult for me to save Handan, but I won't even be able to save my own life.
When King Zhao saw that Li Mu was unmoved by his orders, he discussed with Guo Kai to secretly lay out a full set of weapons to capture Li Mu and kill him. Sima Shang was also implicated and was abandoned by King Zhao. At such a critical juncture of life and death, Zhao State beheaded its generals, which was really a misfortune for the country. If treacherous ministers are in power and the master is foolish, they will bring about their own destruction.
Just three months after Li Mu was killed, the Zhao army was defeated by Wang Jian's fierce attack. The Dongyang area (about today's Xingtai area in Hebei Province) was occupied by the Qin army. General Zhao Cong died in the battle, and deputy general Yan Ju fled to Handan. In 227 BC, Handan was captured by the Qin army, and the princes could not save it. King Zhao and Yan Ju were both captured.
However, the State of Zhao was not completely destroyed at this time, and Gongzi Jia was lucky enough to escape to Daidi (now northeast of Yu County, Hebei Province) and proclaimed himself king. However, Dai was very weak and Gongzi Jia did not do much, so he could not stop the Qin army from unifying the world. Under the attack of the Qin army, the Dai Dynasty quickly perished. From then on, the Zhao Kingdom disappeared both in name and in reality. This year was the twenty-fifth year of the Qin Dynasty (222 BC). There was still one year left before Qin unified the world and destroyed the six kingdoms.
A generation of general Li Mu died like this, which was far from his wish to die on the battlefield during his lifetime. Zhao State's servants did not believe it and destroyed the Great Wall, thus accelerating its own defeat.
Of course, historical records may differ on the specific cause of Li Mu's death. "Warring States Policy: Qin Policy Four" says that Qin counselors suddenly weakened and traveled north to Yan State, and Zhao killed Li Mu; "Warring States Policy: Qin Policy Five" said that Han Cang, another treacherous official of Zhao State, was bribed by Qin State. In the end, he became the real culprit who murdered Li Mu; "The Biography of Women" mentioned that King Zhao's mother was connected with Chunping Jun, the Duke of Zhao Ping, and was bribed by the State of Qin to let King Zhao kill Li Mu; there is another theory , came from Sima Qian, and believed that the queen mother of King Zhao was a singer. Because she was favored, her son became the crown prince, and Gongzi Jia was deposed from the crown prince's position. Prince Qian (King of Zhao) was fatuous and had bad conduct. He favored treacherous ministers and suppressed the virtuous, and finally killed Li Mu.
In any case, it can be seen that Li Mu was a stumbling block on the road to unification of the Qin State, and the Qin State would not be happy if he did not get rid of it. At the same time, the internal affairs of the Zhao State had been seriously corrupted, and he had become an Adou who could not be supported. Li Mu was able to win repeatedly when the enemy was strong and we were weak, and he was worthy of being one of the famous generals of the Warring States Period. In addition, Li Mu achieved a brilliant victory in the early battle against the Huns.
On the other hand, the traitor Guo Kai went to Qin after the fall of Zhao. He was also self-aware and believed that a young man like him would not be reused because of the great power of the King of Qin, so he took the initiative to take leave and go home.
Guo Kai returned home, took out the countless hidden gold, loaded it on more than a dozen carts, and headed all the way to Qin with great joy. Unexpectedly, a group of bandits appeared on the way, and they were killed and looted.
Maybe it was the intentional arrangement of King Qin, maybe it was the work of Li Mu's old subordinates, but none of it mattered anymore. The treacherous minister Guo Kai got the result he deserved.
