Bai Qi, who had already eaten and drank enough, finally remembered the question in his heart and asked Zhao Kuo: "Kuo, where are your soldiers hidden?"
That's right, after three rounds of drinking, the relationship between the two has risen to the level of close friends. Naturally, the title of Zhao Kuo changed from the honorific of Ma Fujun to the familiar title of "Kuo".
At this time, Zhao Kuo was obviously more relaxed than before, and his body was already half-leaning. After hearing Bai Qi's question, Zhao Kuo had no intention of sitting upright. He rolled his tongue and swallowed another large piece of meat into his belly, muttering: "Inside the Daliang Mountain."
"Daliang Mountain?"
What is said is unintentional, but the listener is intentional. Even though Bai Qi had already made some assumptions in his mind, he couldn't help but be surprised after hearing Zhao Kuo's answer!
Daliang Mountain, three simple words, but it explains too many things.
Daliang Mountain, east of Danshui, is where the Zhao army gathered grain and grass. You know, after Zhao Kuo arrived at the Shangdang battlefield, he immediately started to attack, and soon the entire army launched an attack on the Qin army's barrier on the west bank of Danshui.
Once the army crosses Danshui, more than 100,000 troops will switch to the east bank and enter Daliang Mountain. My scouts will not know about it. In other words, before Zhao Jun crossed the Dan River to attack the barrier, Zhao Kuo had already secretly hid the more than 100,000 elite Zhao army in the Daliang Mountain.
There is only one possibility to achieve this: as soon as Zhao Kuo arrived at the main camp of the Zhao army in Hanwang Mountain, he began to hide his troops.
In other words, Zhao Kuo had already decided to hide his troops and fight before joining the party.
"Why?" Bai Qi continued to ask.
Of course, what Bai Qi asked was not why Daliang Mountain was chosen. In fact, there were only a few places on the entire battlefield that could hide troops, and Daliang Mountain was obviously the best choice among them.
Bai Qi asked why Zhao Kuo chose to hide his troops in Daliang Mountain from the beginning.
"Because we can't beat him." Zhao Kuo continued to reply briefly: "It's difficult for General Lian Po to lead his troops to defend Wanglu. How about me? It's even more impossible to beat him. What's more, the opponent will most likely be your brother. What's even worse is Yes, I still have to attack, it’s impossible to defeat him.”
Logically speaking, since you know you can't beat him? Shouldn't we devote more troops to find a way to win? Why would they allocate nearly a quarter of their combat power and hide it? Isn’t that even more invincible?
Contradictory?
No, Bai Qi obviously understood what Zhao Kuo said.
Because we can't defeat them, even with the 100,000-strong army, it's better to hide some of our troops and get fewer casualties, which is better than the whole army being annihilated.
But this brings up another question: Why did Zhao Kuo come to fight if he knew he couldn't beat him?
But Bai Qi didn't ask this question. Because Bai Qi already knew the answer - there was no way, it would be impossible if he didn't come. Among them, a lot of credit must be attributed to Bai Qi himself and the State of Qin.
If it weren't for Qin's spies and spies spreading the so-called "Those who fear Qin, Ma Fuzi" day and night, it would not have aroused the fierce public opinion in Handan City of Zhao State, and even the Zhao State's court would not have done so at all. I would think of letting Zhao Kuo take the blame.
It can be said that in the State of Zhao at that time, from the King of Zhao to the people of Li, almost everyone wanted Zhao Kuo to come out, whether it was because they wanted Zhao Kuo to stand up to him, or they were really optimistic about Zhao Kuo's ability. Turn the tide. It even got to the point where Xu Li, the former subordinate of Ma Fujun Zhao She, came to persuade him.
Under such a background, even if Zhao Kuo knew that he would definitely fail here, what choice would he have?
In the waves of history, Zhao Kuo at that time was obviously just an inconspicuous piece of gravel. If he refused to go ashore, he would be trampled to the bottom of the river bed and never be able to stand up.
Thinking of this, Bai Qi couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Zhao Kuo. He was about to raise the wine baron to honor Zhao Kuo, but suddenly he thought that he was the victim! If Zhao Kuo hadn't intervened, how would he be "appreciating the moon" here?
"Those who harm others will eventually harm themselves." Bai Qi couldn't help but laugh at himself.
Zhao Kuo also raised the wine baron at the right time, slightly touched Bai Qi's wine baron which was standing in mid-air, and said: "You and I are both human beings in this mortal world.
It is a common thing to leave oneself to oneself, and all we can do is to be clear of our conscience. "
As he spoke, he raised his neck and poured another cup of rice wine into his stomach.
Xu Li outside the hut was anxious in his eyes. Others didn't know Xu Li, but he knew very well that Zhao Kuo's wound had just burst open in the morning. How could he drink so much wine now? Of course, seeing the two generals chatting happily, Xu Li did not dare to step forward to dissuade him no matter how worried he was.
Listening to Zhao Kuo's philosophical words, Bai Qi couldn't believe that such thorough words came from the mouth of the young man in front of him.
Open-minded, optimistic, young, transparent...
Almost all beautiful words can be applied to Zhao Kuo's head. It's a pity that this person helps Zhao but not Qin!
Thinking of this, Bai Qi raised his neck and drank the juezhong yellow wine in one gulp.
"Why did the Kingdom of Wei agree to participate in the war?" Bai Qi, who put down the wine prince, continued to ask: "With the cowardice of the King of Wei, especially after the Battle of Yique, how dare he be the enemy of Great Qin again?"
Zhao Kuo nodded when he heard this and said: "Of course King Wei didn't dare. But Lord Xinling did! And Lord Xinling knew very well that the land of Shangdang must not fall into the hands of the Qin army. Otherwise, not only the State of Zhao would be in absolute Passively, Daliang, the capital of Wei, will follow in the footsteps of Anyi. Coupled with a little temptation of interests, there is no fear that Lord Xinling will not be tempted. And as long as Lord Xinling is tempted, with his ability, he can always find a way to send troops .”
"A little profit temptation?" Bai Qi asked.
"The land of Hanoi." Zhao Kuo replied simply: "I promise to take the land of Hanoi for Wei after occupying Shangdang."
"What about now?" Bai Qi said a little surprised. First, he was surprised that Zhao Kuo's generosity and land in one county were just a little temptation? The second is that he was surprised that Zhao Kuo was so big-hearted that he dared to agree to take land for other countries without the king's orders.
"Of course it doesn't count now. The Wei army has already retreated, so naturally they are not entitled to enjoy the fruits of victory." Zhao Kuo said with a smile: "How can we compete with Wei for the territory we gained by not obeying the king's orders?"
"Aren't you afraid of the public criticism in the world?" Bai Qi also smiled. Although he didn't care about Zhao Kuo, he admired him in his heart. Such a shameless person who is greedy for land is somewhat similar to the people of Lao Qin.
"First of all, it was a conspiracy, and there is no evidence to prove it. Secondly, Wei retreated too quickly. If he could have persisted longer, the battle would not have dragged on to this point." Zhao Kuo said nonchalantly: "Doing great things without sacrificing your own life. Based on this alone, Wei Guo is not qualified to ask for any benefits."
