Lord Xinling and his party soon arrived at Ye, where Wei's 100,000-strong army was stationed. They were speechless all the way. Lord Xinling soon saw Jin Bi, took out half of the military talisman in his hand, and put it together with the other half in Jin Bi's hand without any error.
However, Jin Bi was still very strange in his heart. When he first led the army, the King of Wei gave a special order to let him lead the Wei army well. He must not rescue Handan without authorization, and must not fight the Qin army without authorization. Now the King of Wei has not mentioned a word, and has not even issued an edict. Only Lord Xinling came here with half of the military talisman. Could it be that the king was unaware and allowed Lord Xinling to steal the military talisman? Let’s give it a try first.
So, Jin Bi looked at the big man next to Lord Xinling, Zhu Hai, and felt a little surprised. Then he asked: "Thanks to the king's favor, Jin Bi led 100,000 elites of Wei State to wait on the border. The current situation changes and adapting to the situation is an important task for the rise and fall of the country. I saw the young master coming today and he only had a bicycle. I'm afraid it's unreasonable. Why is this? If the young master can't explain the reason, how can I dare to give the young master military power without authorization? Woolen cloth?"
When Lord Xinling heard this, he knew that this Jin Bi was really extraordinary, and he didn't know how to deal with it for a while. Looking around the military camp, there were actually all armored men. As soon as General Jin Bi issued an order, they would swarm forward. It seemed that Jin Bi had already taken precautions against Lord Xinling.
Seeing that the matter could not be resolved, at the critical moment, Zhu Hai's eyes widened with anger, and he pulled out a 40-pound iron awl from his sleeve with a "whoosh". After turning it around in a circle, he slammed it at Jin Bi. Jin Bi did not expect that this unknown man would dare to attack him in the midst of an army of 100,000 people. Caught off guard, Zhu Hai smashed him into a pile of meat.
Seeing this, the officers and soldiers in the army drew their swords one after another. Lord Xinling was so anxious that he shouted to everyone and said, "Here are the military talismans. Jin Bi disobeyed the king's orders and plotted evil, intending to harm us. I have punished him on the spot. I believe that everyone will be punished for Jin Bi's rebellious behavior. They don't know anything about it, so as long as you swear to follow me to the death and follow the king's orders to rescue Handan, then not only will you have no fault, but you will have merit."
In fact, everyone had heard of Lord Xinling's reputation a long time ago. Even if they had doubts this time, because the duty of a soldier was to obey, they could only obey Lord Xinling. Moreover, regardless of their merits or demerits, they will not be implicated. Jin Bi is dead now, so as long as they can make meritorious deeds, there will be no problems. They had long wanted to take revenge for what the Qin army had done in the past.
Lord Xinling successfully became the commander of the 100,000 Wei army in Yecheng. He knew that this time the Wei army was going to face the elite troops of Qin. The Wei army was not as powerful as the Qin army. On August 9th, the Qin army would be wiped out. In order to prevent Wei from being left with no one in his family in the future, Lord Xinling ordered the entire army: "Fathers and sons, if they are both in the army that is going out for this expedition, they must be killed." His father returns home; if his brothers are all in the Wei army, his brothers are allowed to return home; if he is an only son and has no brothers, he is also allowed to return home to support the elderly and raise children."
After hearing this military order, unless they were forced to return home, ordinary soldiers were willing to stay. Even those who had been loyal to Jin Bi were willing to stay and serve Lord Xinling to the death. In the end, Wei State selected 80,000 elite warriors with high morale and determination to die. Although the number is far less than that of the Qin army, their morale is high and everyone participates in the battle with the determination to die, so their combat power is greatly improved.
Sure enough, these 80,000 Wei troops descended from the mountain like tigers and attacked the Zhao army from both inside and outside. Before the Chu army arrived, they defeated the Qin army and the siege of Handan was lifted.
King Zhao and Lord Pingyuan were grateful for Lord Xinling's great kindness, so they went to the outskirts of Handan together to greet Lord Xinling. King Zhao bowed to him again and again, bowed his head and thanked him and said: "From ancient times to the present, there are not a few virtuous people in the world, but those like the young master can be said to be unprecedented." After hearing this, Lord Xinling felt his own All the hard work was finally in vain. Even Lord Pingyuan, who had insulted him, personally carried his quiver to guide Lord Xinling.
Lord Xinling was grateful for all of this. However, his eyes were looking towards the far south, where Hou Ying was located. From now on, I am afraid that it will be difficult for me to return to Wei State. At the same time, Hou Ying may have been facing north and committed suicide for a long time.
And this is indeed the case. Just after he successfully seized the command of Wei's 100,000-strong army, Hou Ying committed suicide in Beixiang. It was Hou Ying who came up with Lord Xinling's idea to steal the military talisman, and Zhu Hai was also introduced to Lord Xinling by Hou Ying. Hou Ying was naturally afraid that the King of Wei would pursue him; moreover, Hou Ying expected that Lord Xinling would definitely be able to defeat the Qin army when he went there. But he must not return to Wei State again. As the old saying goes, "A scholar dies for a confidant." Since his confidant, Lord Xinling, has gone and he himself is getting old, he can only die to comfort the pain of missing him.
On the other hand, King Wei was furious after hearing that Lord Xinling had stolen military talismans, killed general Jin Bi, and mobilized troops and horses without authorization to become the enemy of Qin. News spread in Daliang City that as long as Lord Xinling returns to Daliang, King Wei will punish him severely. In fact, the King of Wei did not really want to punish Lord Xinling. Now that the Qin army has retreated and Zhao is not destroyed, Wei will also be safe for a while.
But the King of Wei was afraid that the Qin army would turn around and attack Wei. Therefore, the King of Wei put all the blame on Lord Xinling, so that the Qin army could not find a reason to attack Wei.
After being persuaded by King Zhao and Lord Pingyuan, Lord Xinling, who had no choice but to pretend to shirk for a few days, took advantage of the situation and stayed in Zhao. Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, Lord Xinling has been in Zhao for ten years.
In the past ten years, King Zhao and Lord Pingyuan had always been grateful to Lord Xinling, so they negotiated to give Lord Xinling five cities as his fiefdom. When Lord Xinling heard about this, he was also very happy and felt a little uneasy in his heart.
Lord Xinling didn't know that he had fallen into a dangerous situation.
Fortunately, there was a diner under his sect who saw Lord Xinling behaving like this, so he said to Lord Xinling bluntly: "Some things can not be forgotten, but some things must not be forgotten. My wife is kind to the young master, and the young master must not forget her." ; The young master also has kindness to other people, I hope the young master can forget it. The young master despised the edict of King Wei and captured Jin Bi's 100,000 troops to rescue the state of Zhao. The young master made great contributions to the state of Zhao, but to the state of Wei Especially for the King of Wei, the young master is not a loyal minister, and the things he does are naturally not in the interests of the state of Wei. However, the young master is proud and thinks that he has made great contributions. He secretly believes that what he does is unreasonable."
When Lord Xinling heard this from his diners, he suddenly felt ashamed and blamed himself. When others asked him why he was like this, Lord Xinling said that he had sinned deeply. On the one hand, he was sorry to the State of Wei and the King of Wei, but on the other hand, he had made no great contribution to the State of Zhao and still enjoyed such respectful treatment. King Zhao invited Lord Xinling to come and have a drink. When Lord Xinling said this, he felt embarrassed and awarded five cities to Lord Xinling. He only gave Cha (now the north of Baixiang County, Hebei Province) as the son's "Tangmuyi". Soon after, Lord Xinling handed over 80,000 Wei troops to the State of Wei, and expressed his guilt to the King of Wei. The King of Wei knew that his intelligence was not as good as that of Lord Xinling. Without him in the State of Wei, other countries would not take care of the State of Wei. The King of Wei also expressed many times that he hoped that Lord Xinling could return to Daliang and his past mistakes could be wiped out. Wei also awarded Lord Xinling the title of Xinling.
Lord Xinling accepted Xinling unceremoniously, but was in no hurry to return to Wei.
On Zhao Guo's side, he was not idle either, and continued his style of raising soldiers. At this time, Lord Xinling happened to hear that there was a great talent in the State of Zhao named Mao Gong, who was a hermit among gamblers. There is also a man named Xue Gong, who is hiding in the house of a pulp seller and also has extraordinary talents. In addition, the two are actually good friends who often play together.
Generally, if a person with great talent becomes a hermit, it is either to truly live a leisurely life, or to temporarily retire in order to find his true talent and show off his talents. They all have one characteristic: they don't easily meet others. The same goes for these two people. They have always hidden themselves from Lord Xinling. It's just that Lord Xinling doesn't know what these two people are thinking, but no matter what, he must work hard to follow these two people.
So, Lord Xinling secretly inquired about their residence, and when they invited them to go out for fun, Lord Xinling also joined them. The two of them saw that Lord Xinling had extraordinary conversation, open-mindedness, cherished talents, and was not ashamed to ask questions, so they fell in love with Lord Xinling. Lord Xinling also admired their talents and free and easy temperament. For a while, these three people became good friends. friend.
However, Lord Pingyuan did not agree very much with all this. He said to his wife: "At the beginning, I heard that my wife's brother Xinling Lord was unparalleled in the world. Now it seems that Lord Xinling ignored his status and gambled. To hang out with apprentices and pulp sellers, Lord Xinling is too frivolous."
When his wife heard this, she realized that this was really the case. So, she informed Lord Xinling of Pingyuan Lord's views on Lord Xinling, hoping that he would turn around immediately. Unexpectedly, Lord Xinling was also rude and said tit for tat: "At the beginning, I heard that Lord Pingyuan was a virtuous man. That's why he turned his back on King Wei and led an army all the way to rescue Zhao. He also achieved Pingyuan. However, when Pingyuan Jun went out to play, he only acted boldly and did not seek to be a real scholar. When Wuji was still in Daliang, he heard about these two wise men. After arriving in Zhao State, , I have always been afraid of not being able to see them, Wuji went out to play with them, and even worried that they didn’t want me to go with them, today Mr. Pingyuan actually thinks this is a shameful thing, and he can’t play with us.”
My hometown is not safe
After this incident, Lord Xinling felt that if he stayed in Zhao State any longer, he would only cause trouble. Then he packed up his clothes and prepared to leave Zhao State and go somewhere else. During this period, the State of Qin heard that Lord Xinling was in the State of Zhao and that there was no one available to the King of Wei, so he sent troops many times to attack the State of Wei. The army of the State of Wei suffered repeated defeats. The King of Wei also felt the seriousness of the situation. If Lord Xinling did not return to Wei, Qin would definitely eat away at Wei's great rivers and mountains bit by bit. Therefore, the King of Wei sent an envoy to invite Lord Xinling to return to his country. However, Lord Xinling was afraid that this was King Wei's plan. After tricking him back, he would kill him. In order to prevent the diners from admonishing him, Lord Xinling issued a strict order: "Anyone who dares to serve as an envoy for King Wei will die." .”
For a while, all the diners under Lord Xinling were silent about this matter. Only Duke Mao and Duke Xue, whom he met in Zhao State, spoke out and remonstrated with each other: "The reason why the young master is valued in Zhao State and he is well-known among the princes. , because of the Wei State. Today, the Qin State attacked the Wei State. The Wei State was in a panic, but the young master ignored it. The Qin army conquered Daliang and destroyed the ancestral temples and tombs of the previous kings of the Wei State. How can the young master have any face in the future? Can you gain a foothold in the world?"
After hearing this, the young master decided to return to Wei. Lord Pingyuan also came to Lord Xinling's house at this time, and apologized, hoping that he could stay. Moreover, after hearing about this incident, half of Lord Pingyuan's retainers were willing to leave Lord Pingyuan and follow Lord Xinling. , just hope he can stay.
But Lord Xinling has made up his mind, Lord Pingyuan's incident is just a trigger, and the words of Duke Mao and Duke Xue are the key to making him make up his mind. Neither Pingyuan Lord nor King Zhao could keep him, and soon Lord Xinling drove back to Daliang, the capital of Wei.
When the King of Wei heard that Lord Xinling was willing to return to Wei, he was so happy that he went to Daliang City to welcome him in person. When King Wei saw Lord Xinling, he cried with joy. Lord Xinling had not returned to his homeland for many years, so naturally he burst into tears. Soon, the King of Wei appointed Lord Ling as a general to command the Wei army. As a result, Lord Xinling became one of the few people who was both a noble and wielded real power.
However, Lord Xinling did live up to expectations, relying on his extraordinary talents in politics, diplomacy, and military affairs to frequently save Wei from disaster. In the 30th year of King Anli of Wei (247 BC), the Qin army once again attacked and occupied Wei's land. Lord Xinling knew that it would be impossible to resist the powerful Qin army by relying solely on Wei's army. So he sent envoys to other countries to ask for help. These countries knew that Lord Xinling was the commander-in-chief of Wei's army, and their confidence in the joint resistance against Qin greatly increased. As the threat from the Qin army grew stronger, they sent large armies to rescue Wei.
During this period, Lord Xinling led the armies of the five eastern countries except Qi to break the defense line established by the Qin army in Ji County on the northern front, and attacked the Guancheng (now Zhengzhou, Henan) area on the southern front. The threat of the Qin army to Daliang, the capital of Wei State, was eliminated. The Qin army was defeated all the way, especially on the northern front. Since then, the defense lines of Yique, Wenxian, Xingqiu and Jixian that the Qin army had worked hard for many years were broken. However, on the southern front, the coalition forces' attack on Guancheng made little progress. Since the Qin army guard who was guarding the city happened to be from Wei, Lord Xinling wanted to recruit him to surrender, so he went to the father of the guard Guancheng, Shuigao, and asked him to persuade his son to surrender. Unexpectedly, this man was a stubborn person and would not agree with Lord Xinling's view. He believed that surrendering to Kaicheng was not betraying the country but surrendering to the enemy. Lord Xinling tried his best to remain unmoved. In the end, Lord Xinling only He could threaten him, either to make his son surrender or to kill him.
This shrinking was really tough. Seeing that the matter could not be improved, he committed suicide directly, and the war on the southern front reached a deadlock.
At this moment, in the Hanoi area, the coalition forces still surrounded the Qin army. Although the Qin army is in an unfavorable situation, its combat power and morale are still there. If reinforcements arrive and they cooperate inside and outside, they will definitely turn defeat into victory. Therefore, in order to achieve a quick victory, Lord Xinling personally braved the rain of flying arrows and stones to charge the enemy, which disrupted the Qin army's camp. In desperation, the Qin army, led by Meng Ao, broke out to the west again. The coalition forces still did not miss the opportunity to beat up the drowned dog, and chased them all the way to Hangu Pass (now north of Lingbao, Henan).
The Qin army knew that the coalition forces were so powerful at the moment that they could not directly face their attack, so they imitated Lian Po and hid behind closed doors. No matter how much the coalition forces scolded the formation, they could not fight. After several months passed, the army withdrew when they saw that they could not conquer Hangu Pass and that the food and grass could no longer support them.
However, through this joint operation of the various countries, the Wei State regained the land of Daliang in the Guandong region. Lord Xinling was also worshiped as Prime Minister for his merits. The King of Wei also awarded Lord Xinling five cities. However, although this alliance severely damaged the Qin army, it had no major substantive effect on Wei and other six eastern countries, and the entire east would be on standby under the Qin army's more powerful offensive. . Of course, in this alliance, all countries saw the military ability of Lord Xinling, and he was able to dominate the world through this. It is said that at that time, many countries sent envoys to learn the art of war from Lord Xinling. Lord Xinling naturally refused all comers and even wrote a book, "The Art of War by Mr. Wei". In the "Book of Han·Yiwenzhi" of later generations, when discussing military situationists, there are twenty-one chapters of "Wei Gongzi", which shows the profound influence of Lord Xinling on later generations.
Since then, because of Lord Xinling, Qin State slowed down its pace of invasion to the east. The King of Qin knew that if Mr. Wei was not eliminated, he would always be a serious problem for Qin. Therefore, Qin once again used its best alienation tactics to overthrow Lord Xinling. In order to have a complete plan, the King of Qin launched an all-round attack this time.
On the one hand, the King of Qin sent people to Wei with countless gold and silver treasures to bribe the retainers of General Jin Bi who was killed by Lord Xinling. So, these people slandered Lord Xinling, saying that he had been away for ten years. Although he was now a general of the Wei State, the generals of other countries seemed to obey his orders. The princes and countries only heard that there was Lord Xinling in the Wei State. But I haven't heard that there is a king of Wei in the state of Wei. Moreover, I heard that Lord Xinling was preparing to establish himself as king in the southern part of Wei State. The princes were afraid of Lord Xinling's power, so they all expressed their willingness to support Lord Xinling.
On the other hand, the King of Qin also sent an envoy to the State of Wei. Instead of going to see the King of Wei, he went to see Lord Xinling. Along the way, he created a great momentum and all countries knew about it. When the envoy arrived at Lord Xinling's place, he pretended to ask Lord Xinling whether he had become the king of Wei. Although Lord Xinling defended himself in every possible way, the three of them became tigers. Rumors were flying all over the place for a while, and everyone thought that he intended to make himself king. The King of Wei no longer trusted him, and Lord Xinling was eventually deposed, and Qin's alienation plan succeeded again.
Lord Xinling knew that it would be difficult for him to stand up from now on, so he excused himself from going to court because he was ill, and instead drank and had fun with his guests all day and night. Due to the loss of his official career, Lord Xinling was depressed and indulged in sensuality. Four years later, he finally died of illness due to excessive damage to his body. In the same year, King Wei also died.
Since then, the state of Wei has been in decline, while the state of Qin has been advancing rapidly.
Lord Xinling's deeds will always be remembered by history. After Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, became the emperor of the Han Dynasty and conquered the world, he would sacrifice to Lord Xinling every time he passed by Daliang. In the twelfth year of Emperor Gaozu's reign, five families were assigned to guard the tomb of Lord Xinling to worship Lord Xinling for generations.
Sima Qian also discussed in "Historical Records: Biography of Mr. Wei": "All the princes in the world also like scholars. However, Lord Xinling, who is a hermit in a cave, is not ashamed to submit to him, so that's why." Good moral character is highly valued.
