Even if these are put aside, the Zhuo family and the Guo family will support Zhao Guo unconditionally.
The two families now enjoy both prosperity and loss with the Zhao State. Without the Zhao State, no country can give them such a superior business environment, and no country will grant them a title, even a middle-level title.
More and more people came up. After the Zhuo family and the Guo family, the other two wealthy businessmen in Zhao, the Bai family and the Duanmu family, also sent people to donate money and food. The amount was only slightly less than that of the Zhuo family and the Guo family.
In addition to major merchants and wealthy nobles, many ordinary people also came forward to donate money and food.
"Prime Minister, we know that the State of Zhao is not short of money and food. This is just a little bit of our thoughts. The king said that the State of Zhao is not the State of one person, but the State of Zhao of everyone. We did not have the opportunity to contribute before, so this time let us Please do your best for Zhao State." A man said loudly.
"In the past, Zhao Kingdom had a series of exorbitant taxes and levies during wars. But since the king came to the throne, even if the front line is still fighting, the government has not allocated any taxes. I don't understand the big reason, but I know that if the Qin people are allowed to If they come in, we will never live a good life. Even for ourselves, we have to drive the Qin people away." Another man said.
"Yes, we will drive the Qin people out even if we try our best." Everyone responded one after another, and the sound shocked the world.
Yan and Zhao have many generous and tragic people since ancient times. They usually keep silent and only know how to work hard and pay silently. However, when the Zhao country is in danger, no one flinches.
They didn't know how many troops there were in the city, how long Handan's food and grass could last, or even how many enemies there were outside the city.
But they know that the king is not here, and Zhao needs them to stand up and protect him!
Therefore, they stood up without hesitation!
Looking at the passionate men in front of him one after another, Lin Xiangru's silent heart started beating loudly. He never thought that the food problem that had been bothering him would be solved in this way.
He finally understood why Zhao Kuo said that Zhao people were the backing of his reforms and his strongest supporter.
The power of each of these ordinary civilians is insignificant, but when they come together, the power they create is immense.
They are the strongest and most powerful backing of Zhao State, the last and most powerful line of defense of Zhao State. As long as they are still there, no matter how many enemies there are, they are all chickens and dogs, vulnerable to a single blow!
"General, did you hear anything?" Outside the city, Yang Duanhe said somewhat uncertainly.
"What's the sound?" Wang Ling asked doubtfully.
"It seems to be coming from inside the city, and it seems that they want to drive us out." Yang Duanhe said.
"Hahahaha, there are at most a few thousand defenders in Handan City now. How can we drive us out? How about those strong men who just put down their hoes and picked up their spears? Defending the city may be of some use. I will kill as many as I dare to leave the city. Wang Ling said nonchalantly.
He had no expectations for capturing Handan. If Handan was captured so easily, Zhao would have been destroyed long ago. Who else would it be for him?
But he never thought that he would be defeated by a group of newly recruited strong men.
Compared with the strong men in Handan City, he was more worried about Lian Po cutting off his food supply.
"The general always has a bad premonition." Yang Duanhe looked around to make sure there was no one around and whispered.
"...Do you feel this way too?" Wang Ling's expression darkened.
Human beings are born with the instinct to avoid danger. When you subconsciously sense danger, your body will react in some way to remind you.
The spiritual sense of a strong person in the extraordinary realm is far sharper than that of ordinary people.
If only one person feels that there is danger, it may be an illusion, but if two people feel this way, it basically cannot be an illusion, but there is real danger.
"The general also felt it? How about... let's retreat." Yang Duanhe said worriedly.
After receiving the order from King Qin, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that he and Wang Ling were abandoned sons. He did not feel at all that he and Wang Ling were attacking Zhao.
What can be the result?
"If we retreat without the king's order, both of us will be beheaded." Wang Ling said solemnly. He didn't want to attack Handan, but it was difficult to disobey military orders.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen. Zhao has no soldiers and generals, so it is impossible to defeat us. Even if Lian Po cuts off our food routes, we can still retreat." Wang Ling patted Yang Duanhe on the shoulder.
"I hope so." Yang Duanhe sighed deeply.
"Send the order, go all out to build siege equipment, and start attacking the city early tomorrow morning." Wang Ling ordered.
…
Zhao Jun did not waste time after capturing Rangcheng. The next day he led his army to the outside of Xicheng and surrounded Xicheng.
At this time, the Qin army was divided into two parts. Bai Qi led tens of thousands of Qin troops to garrison in Xicheng, and Sima Cuo led the remaining Qin army to garrison in the middle. The two cities were not far apart and were at the horns of each other.
Qin Wangji was also analyzing the city.
In addition, there are 10,000 troops in Wuguan.
The coalition army was also divided into two parts. Pang Nuan and Bao Yuan led their troops to attack Yuzhong, while Zhao Kuo led the remaining army to attack Xicheng.
After successive setbacks, the Qin army all retreated in the city. No matter how provocative and insulted the Zhao army was, the Qin army refused to leave the city to fight, forcing the Zhao army to attack by force.
Xicheng is not a big city and has no moat. Even so, it is not easy to attack. The Zhao army made no progress after attacking for several days.
At this time, Zhao Kuo was discussing with the generals about attacking Xicheng. At this time, a guard quickly broke in from outside.
"Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from Handan." The guard said, cupping his fists.
Zhao Kuo took the letter and opened it. His expression suddenly changed, and a terrifying aura spread from his body.
"Qin Wangji!" Zhao Kuo looked ferocious, slapped his palm on the table and said through gritted teeth. The table instantly cracked into a pile of sawdust.
"Your Majesty, what happened?" Le Yi asked quickly.
"The Qin army is attacking Handan." Zhao Kuo said in a deep voice.
"What!" Everyone stood up in shock, with disbelief written on their faces.
The Zhao army fought successively and successfully, and the Qin army was defeated and retreated steadily. The whole army was immersed in the joy of victory. No one thought that the Qin army would attack Handan at this time.
At this moment, there are only two ways in front of Zhao Kuo, one is to withdraw the troops. More than a year of hard work by the three Jins fell short. Although Qin lost hundreds of thousands of troops, Guanzhong is still there, Bashu is still there, and Nanjun is still there.
These places did not suffer military disasters, and the vitality of the Qin State was not damaged at all.
After a few years, hundreds of thousands of troops can be recruited again to threaten Zhao.
The other is to continue to attack Qin, but his mother, wife and children are all in Handan, and the families of most of the generals in the army are also in Handan. The library, academy, paper mill, printing factory, etc. are all in Handan.
Once Handan is lost, Zhao will suffer an unprecedented blow.
Just like when Qi State besieged Wei to rescue Zhao, Pang Juan ostensibly had two choices, but in fact he only had one choice. He knew it was a trick, so he could only follow the pit dug by Qi State.
The reason why Zhao State was stronger than Wei State at this time was that Zhao Kuo was not in Handan City, but in the army.
This gave the State of Zhao a real choice of two, rather than the same choice as the State of Wei, which had only one.
But no matter which choice you make, it's a difficult one.
"Your Majesty, how about... let's withdraw our troops." Jia Yan said bitterly. The war has reached this point and there is only one last step left. No one wants to withdraw at this time.
Several of their generals were even discussing the rewards after the war, what titles they could be promoted to, and how they could be willing to withdraw their troops.
But all the generals in the army knew that there was not a single legion in Handan City.
Their parents, wives and children are in Handan!
"His grandma's!" Yan Xiong punched the table, making a big hole in it, and cursed, "Next time I see King Qin Ji, I will definitely twist off his head and use it as a urinal for the king."
The other generals were silent and their morale dropped.
The previous high suddenly fell to the bottom.
"No, we must not withdraw our troops! If we withdraw at this time, we will fall into Qin's scheme, and our efforts for more than a year will be in vain." Le Yi stood up, holding the hilt of the sword tightly with his right hand, and looked at everyone's faces with sharp eyes. Sweep.
"The city of Handan is high and the pond is deep, and the prime minister is a man who knows the military. The Qin army will definitely not be able to capture it for a while. Besides, the Qin army crossed Hanoi to attack our Zhao country, which means that their food routes are not safe. Don't forget , General Lian Po is still in Shangdang, and as long as he goes south to Hanoi, he can cut off the Qin army's food route. By then, the siege of Handan will naturally be lifted."
"What we have to do now is not to withdraw our troops and return reinforcements, nor to become demoralized, but to defeat the Qin army, enter the Pass in the shortest possible time, surround Xianyang, the capital of the Qin State, and treat others with their own medicine!"
When the five kingdoms attacked Qi, the Yan State was only one step away from destroying Qi State, and ultimately failed.
For this reason, Le Yi remained silent for twenty years.
Today, the three Jins have defeated the Qin army all the way and are about to invade Guanzhong. Le Yi must not watch the scene repeat itself.
If he missed it this time, he didn't know if he could wait until the third time.
"I hope you are right, we cannot retreat at this time." Wei Wuji also stood up.
"Not only can we not withdraw our troops, we must immediately block the news and prohibit anyone from spreading it. We must immediately send troops to attack Xicheng and recruit Li Mu to go south." Tian Dan also stood up to express his support for Le Yi.
If Handan is already in danger, the Zhao army will be captured by the Qin army if they don't return reinforcements. Tian Dan supports the retreat without hesitation, but now Handan is still far from being captured.
Not to mention that Zhao also had two famous generals, Li Mu and Lian Po, as well as their legions.
Don't say that this Qin army is rootless. The food route may be cut off at any time.
But the Qin army would not be able to capture the city of Handan unless they had an internal response within the city.
Tian Dan was very good at observing and thinking. When Le Yi was conquering Qi, he realized that the protruding axle of the carriage would affect the escape, so he ordered the two protruding axles to be sawed off and wrapped in iron sheets.
When the Yan army came over, other people scrambled for roads to escape. Because the carriages collided with each other, the axles broke and the carriages were damaged. Many people were captured, but Tian Dan escaped successfully.
Whenever there is a new government decree in the State of Zhao, Tian Dan will observe the evaluation of the people of the State of Zhao on the government order and the impact of the government order, and then compare it with the previous states of Zhao and Qi.
Tian Dan had deep feelings for Qi Guo and had no feelings for Zhao Guo. The bigger reason why he helped Zhao Guo was because of Zhao Kuo.
Therefore, when he looked at the State of Zhao, he looked at it more from the perspective of a bystander, and therefore he could see more different things than other officials of the State of Zhao.
It can be said that Tian Dan watched Zhao State develop from a poor country after the war to a wealthy country like Qi State, and then quickly surpassed Qi State.
He knows Zhao Guo's potential better than anyone else.
It is true that Handan does not have a large army, but Handan can recruit at least 50,000 strong men, and Yecheng can recruit at least 30,000 strong men, not including other cities.
The Kingdom of Zhao was the place where the Four Wars were fought, and it was full of martial virtues. Even the young men who had just been recruited would never be afraid of war.
He also knew what kind of popular support Zhao Kuo had in Zhao State and what kind of status he had in the hearts of civilians.
During the Battle of Jinyang that year, the people in the city were united. Even though the flood was about to submerge the city, no one rebelled. They all chose to follow the Zhao family and defend Jinyang.
This is the power of people's hearts.
Since ancient times, as long as the country fails its people, even if the people die in battle, they will never let the country down.
Today's Zhao State is far better than Jinyang back then.
When others heard that the Qin army had reached Handan, they were all worried about whether Handan would be captured by the Qin army. Even Zhao Kuo and Le Yi were very worried.
Only Tian Dan had no worries from beginning to end.
He didn't know who came up with this plan, but he knew that the person who came up with this plan had absolutely no idea what kind of support King Zhao and the Zhao government had in the hearts of the people.
When everyone heard this, their eyes lit up instantly. The Great Wall Army was all cavalry. They were much faster than them, and their strength was guaranteed. It would definitely not be a problem to defeat the Qin Army.
At first, everyone was still worried about the safety of their families and wanted to withdraw the troops, but now they are basically relieved.
Even if they withdraw their troops, they won't be able to reach Handan for a while, so they might as well hand it over to the Great Wall Army.
They continued to fight against the Qin army and earn meritorious service.
Thinking of Qin Jun, everyone's faces gradually turned cold, and murderous aura emanated from their bodies!
The culprit of everything is Qin!
"No one is allowed to tell anyone what happened today." Zhao Kuo stood up and swept his cold eyes over everyone's face. The aura of the king spread, and everyone did not dare to look at him and lowered their heads.
"No." The generals said, clasping their fists.
"In addition, please pass on the order. Starting from tomorrow, we will launch an all-out attack on the city. We will break through Xicheng and Wuguan within half a month, and surround Xianyang. Treat others with their own methods." Zhao Kuo said in a deep voice. .
Although Handan was not at risk of being captured by the Qin army, Zhao Kuo was not happy because of this. A sense of depression always lingered in his heart. Only by defeating the Qin army, killing the King of Qin, and surrounding Xianyang could he be relieved. Depressed atmosphere.
