In late February, long-lost good news came from Daijun.
Since last September, the four counties of Dai, Yanmen, Jiuyuan, and Yunzhong have quietly begun to gather troops. The only purpose of gathering troops is to take advantage of the chaos to gain control of Feihuxing and Puyinxing, thus completely besieging Zhongshan. In a corner of the plain.
If it were normal, if Zhao Jun wanted to plot Zhongshan from the north to the south, he would have had no choice but to attack the mountain pass built by the Zhongshan Kingdom along the Tang River.
It is certainly difficult to achieve results in a short time, not to mention the Juma Pass, which is said to be difficult for birds to cross, which has become an insurmountable chasm.
However, if Zhao can gain control of Puyinxing, the army can detour eastward from Laishui into the North China Plain, thereby bypassing the Fortress of the Birds. In this way, the threat to Zhongshan's Tanghe defense line used to resist Zhao will be smaller. a lot of.
In this way, the civil strife in Yan State became an important part of Zhao State's plan to destroy Zhongshan. Because more than a hundred years ago, Pu Yinxing had been included in the sphere of influence of the Yan State.
Although the Zhongshan Kingdom took advantage of the chaos to seize the Zijingguan Pass guarding Laishui the year before last, they had not had time to digest the fruits of the war they had just won.
According to the battle report, in order to fight quickly, the 50,000 Zhao army was initially divided into two groups:
Along the way, the governor of Daijun, Lou Xuanqin, led more than 10,000 suspected soldiers, left Lingqiu from Xingding, took the smooth road and went straight to the fortress of the owl, in order to confuse the sight of the main force in Zhongshan;
The main force, led by Lechi, who had a thorough understanding of the terrain, went south along the Laishui River from Feihukou, and took advantage of the chaos to go straight to Zijingguan in order to seize Zijingguan and open up Puyinxing.
Zhao Jun took advantage of their surprise and obvious strength advantage to fight fiercely for more than a month, and finally won a complete victory at Laishui and Hengshan.
The passes at the northern and eastern foot of Hengshan Mountain are now owned by Zhao, including the Sky Grassland and Laishui Plain (Laiyuan Basin) that Zhao Yong never forgets. Lechi also took advantage of the chaos to seize the Zijingguan Pass and the Laiyuan Pass that guarded the Puyin Passage. The hill of poor fish.
...It was already midnight when we returned to Longtai Hall from Beishan Military Camp. Zhao Yong took a look at the battle report, and without taking any rest, he immediately asked the palace officials to summon Su Qin, Wu Guang, Zhao Cheng, Zhao Tian and other close ministers who stayed in the capital to come to the palace to discuss matters.
Although there have been no new battle reports from Wei on the southeastern front line, according to the original plan, once the Qi army is in control, the second step of the strategy must be implemented immediately.
Coupled with the recruitment of the army, time cannot be delayed for a moment.
Regarding the war between the north and the south, the courtiers were also divided into two factions.
Simply because the risk is too great.
Even Zhao Yong himself has been weighing the pros and cons in the past few days.
And this victory in the Northland came just in time.
In Handan's spring, the most common thing is the wind. The breeze blows during the day and the doors and windows flutter at night. It seems like the wind is blowing all the time. Everything has just revived, and the grass and trees have just sprouted. Although the spring breeze is blowing, the constant sound of the wind makes people a little irritated. Even under the dense cover of flowers and trees in the Zhao Palace, the sound of the wind is still unstoppable.
Only in the short period between sunset and nightfall, the wind miraculously stopped, and the world was extremely peaceful.
When the ministers entered the meeting hall one after another, the sun just set, and the wind that was whistling outside the window suddenly became silent.
Zhao Yong walked into the hall, exchanged greetings with the ministers, and then circulated the briefing papers on the paper.
After all the ministers looked at it, their eyes were filled with excitement, and they all worshiped and shouted: "God bless the Kingdom of Zhao."
Pang Nuan then paid his respects and said, "Jingxing, Feihu, and Puyin are all in our Zhao State now. I think we can postpone the war against Zhongshan. We may also gather our troops to unite Qin and weaken Qi."
As soon as these words came out, all the ministers were silent.
Zhao Cheng pondered for a moment and said: "The Qi State currently has tens of thousands of troops stationed in Yan, and the Jia Mi War is still undecided, so Qin and Wei cannot take care of themselves; Qi's martial arts army is known for its strong military strength. Chu, with the power of our Zhao country, it may be inappropriate to rush to war with Qi. I believe that the first priority should be to destroy Zhongshan, and it will not be too late to unite the other countries and unite them when the situation is stable."
Zhao Yong nodded silently, but glanced at Su Qin.
Seeing the king's gaze, Su Qin immediately signaled, bowed and said: "I think that the words of the great Situ are good. The strength of the Qi army is compared to the weakness of Zhongshan. It is clear at a glance which one is better. A wise man should take advantage of the weakness rather than attack. powerful……"
Zhao Cheng nodded when he heard this and just wanted to say more.
But I saw Su Qin Su'er continued: "However, this may be just an appearance. Zhao now seems to be able to overthrow Zhongshan easily, but in fact it is not. Although Zhongshan was defeated in one fell swoop, I think it is not the best time to overthrow Zhongshan. If our army Continuing to be aggressive is tantamount to forcing Zhongshan Wang Jihe to burn his boat. In the end, Zhao may succeed, but we will inevitably suffer losses for both sides.
While the Qi army seemed strong, its morale was already unstable. According to the words of the people who fled Yan, the Qi army stationed in Yan burned, killed, raped, and committed all kinds of evil. The Qi people who showed their true colors had long been dissatisfied with the Yan people. The reason why the Qi army can continue to occupy the Yan land today is because the Yan people have no Lord. As long as the king sends troops into Yan in the name of Queen Yan and Prince Yan, the people of Yan will definitely respond. Whoever wins the hearts of the people will dominate the world, and the land of Yan will be easily obtained. "Su Qin said slowly.
Everyone looked sideways after hearing this. Zhao Yong couldn't help but nod and praise.
Su Qin's analysis was reasonable and well-founded, and his former style of coordinating the six countries was not diminished at all. He was truly worthy of being the master of Guigu. Zhao Yong suddenly felt that treating him as just a spy leader was a bit overkill.
Zhao Yong then expressed his thoughts: "Zhongshan has lost all its territory. Sooner or later, it will be Zhao's territory. I think it is not appropriate to press hard, so we should take it slowly. But Qi is still our strong enemy of Zhao. If Qi has to occupy Yan for a long time, , it may not be easy to drive them away at that time. Now is a good opportunity, the Yan clan is in my hands, the Qi army is gone, the general trend is with me, I thought I could take the opportunity to unite with other countries to drive Qi and occupy Yan."
The situation in various countries is now becoming more and more complicated, and Zhao Yong feels that the previously formulated strategy needs to be appropriately changed.
Otherwise, Zhao Guo may lose the upper hand in this world-determining battle.
As for Zhongshan Kingdom's strategy, Zhao Yong feels that it is completely possible to adopt the method of gradual encroachment to reduce its resistance.
After all, conquering the enemy without fighting is the way to go.
A carrot in one hand and a stick in the other, slowly wearing down his will instead of causing both sides to lose.
A weak country can only obey a strong country. As long as it gives it a little hope, it can stabilize it. Once you free your hands, you can destroy them in an instant.
On the contrary, if Qi State is not restrained at this time, when Qi State frees up its hands, when Zhao State annexes Zhongshan again, Qi State will be in trouble if it does not stumble.
Now that the king has made a decision and it is well-founded, Zhao Cheng can no longer object. However, he still thinks that it is not wise to go to war with Qi. He has no objections. He was just worried at first.
Naturally, all the ministers also agreed.
Zhao Yong then asked Zhao Tian about finance and military expenses.
Zhao State has expanded its military armaments several times, and now at least 60 to 70% of the annual income has been distributed to the army. And the wars have not stopped in the past few years, especially since the war of annihilation was launched against Zhongshan, the loss of food and fodder has been even more numerous, and the damn Gongshujie's plan to clear the country has not allowed the Zhao army to reap any benefits. Now it's all supported by Lao Di.
If the war is not resolved as soon as possible, it may affect this year's spring plowing.
Fortunately, Zhao's country is in trouble, and other countries are even more in trouble. Now it's up to see who can't hold on first.
