"I'd like to see my king, please inform me." Taking three steps and two steps at a time, Lord Pingyuan jumped out of the carriage in a panic and went straight to the palace.
"Yes." The palace guards did not dare to delay. They immediately invited Lord Pingyuan into the palace while arranging personnel to report.
King Zhao, who had been unable to sleep, sat up almost instantly when he heard that Lord Pingyuan was coming at night. King Zhao was surprised and happy at the arrival of Lord Pingyuan.
What surprised me was that Mr. Pingyuan came to see him so late. There must be something urgent. What he was happy about was that his many questions could finally be answered in person.
"Quickly pass." King Zhao ordered immediately.
With that said, King Zhao put on his outer clothes and went to the front hall.
It is only a few dozen steps from the inner hall to the outer hall, but it will take some time for Lord Pingyuan to arrive from the palace gate. It stands to reason that King Zhao can dress up before going. The worst is to make Lord Pingyuan wait. That’s it.
In fact, every time they met, the ministers would wait in the front hall while King Zhao slowly arrived. This was true even when King Zhao had not yet fallen asleep. After all, King Zhao, who arrived later, could still quietly observe the situation in the palace to decide what measures to take later.
This was the case when Dr. Lou Chang came to see him just now.
However, the current King of Zhao could not wait any longer. Rather than being filled with questions, he was filled with worries: Lord Pingyuan must have had a reason for going to ask for troops at night, otherwise he would not have let down his arrogance like this. Lou Chang would not have come to help him in such a hurry...
Then, a scene that broke the rules appeared.
After Lord Pingyuan over there received the king's order, he quickly came to the front hall under the guidance of the eunuch. Looking at King Zhao in simple clothes, Lord Pingyuan was slightly startled, and then he understood in his heart: Shangqing's strategy worked. .
Without saying a word, Lord Pingyuan stepped forward and cried: "My king, my humble ministers are incompetent!"
The crying voice made King Zhao cry and bewildered - has the overall situation been so corrupted? !
"Uncle!" King Zhao helped Pingyuan Jun up and said quickly: "Uncle, what's going on?"
"The humble minister is incompetent! Please ask me, the king, to recruit the generals back to the city quickly. Otherwise, otherwise..." Mr. Pingyuan could hardly speak anymore with trembling words.
"This? Didn't my uncle say a few days ago that there was no need for the general to return to the city?" King Zhao was also a little confused for a while.
"This is the fault of the humble minister. Fortunately, my king has not adopted it. The humble minister really does not know the garrison in Handan. The garrison..." Mr. Pingyuan stopped again at the most critical moment.
"How's the situation with the Handan garrison?" King Zhao was obviously annoyed by Pingyuan Jun's sentence.
Seeing that King Zhao's emotions had been fully aroused, Lord Pingyuan explained: "The ministers were ordered to strictly regulate the Handan garrison and inspect the Handan garrison. Today it is known that our Handan garrison is no longer as elite as it used to be. Not to mention there are many shortages, and many of them are mixed with young and strong people to defend Handan City, I am afraid..."
"I'm afraid it will be defeated by the Yan army soon." Lord Pingyuan sighed heavily.
King Zhao was also stunned when he heard this and said: "How could this be so?!"
Lord Pingyuan immediately replied: "In the battle of Changping, too many soldiers and elite troops were lost, so the general had no choice but to do it." The general in the army said: "I thought that after experiencing bloody battles, although not as good as the elite division, but There is no war in Handan. If you stay in the army and train for a year or two, you will be no different from the elite. I don’t want to..."
"Here, what should I do?" King Zhao was obviously a little panicked, and he no longer looked like he was sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai.
The 30,000 troops in Handan were the source of King Zhao's confidence. With these 30,000 elites, King Zhao dared to calmly dispatch the troops of Zhao Kuo and Daidi. But now, Lord Pingyuan actually told him that these 30,000 troops were not elite at all? !
In other words, once the Yan army comes, Handan City will most likely not be protected?
If we had known this, what else would there be to discuss? Whether it was to replace the land or join the party, we would have sent troops to the nearest location! But now, counting the time, Yan Jun may have entered the territory of Zhao State, and it will be too late to send orders to the nearest Shangdang! Even the time between coming and going is not as fast as Zhao Kuo's Daidi army coming back.
King Zhao understands, and Lord Pingyuan understands even more clearly. It is precisely based on the judgment that it is meaningless to mobilize troops elsewhere at this time that Lin Shangqing and Lord Pingyuan dare to tell such a huge lie to King Zhao!
That's right, it's a lie! The so-called situation of the 30,000-strong army is far less critical than Mr. Pingyuan said.
Due to war problems, there is a shortage problem, but it is far from the extent that it affects combat effectiveness;
Although it is a fact that the young and strong are mixed together, these young and strong have all fought bloody battles with Zhao Kuo, and they are the best among the young and strong. They are waiting to be incorporated into the army in the coming year, even more elite. No less impressive.
It can be said that Mr. Pingyuan used two things that seemed to be facts to derive an absurd conclusion.
But unfortunately, such a conclusion cannot be seen by even an expert. Even insiders dare not comment lightly.
The reason is very simple: Just tell me if there are any shortages of staff and if there are any young people! have? Will this have any impact on combat power? It has no influence. Okay, I will abdicate in favor of others, and you will command the defense of Handan. If you win, you will be the new general. If you lose, how about taking the three tribes down together?
What's more, today's general system has already turned to Zhao Kuo in all directions, that is, Pingyuan Jun's line. Whether it is King Zhao or Lou Chang, there is no trace of suspicious information at all.
So, aren't you going to come back as a general? Now I'm more anxious than you! It depends on whether you still want Handan City.
Obviously, King Zhao's performance did not exceed Lin Shangqing's expectations. Maybe King Zhao was not very broad-minded, but precisely because of this, he was more nervous about the safety of himself and his power than anyone else.
If you want to save your life and the honor of King Zhao, Handan City must not be lost!
"Conscription! Conscription!" King Zhao seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and quickly looked at Lord Pingyuan.
Lord Pingyuan lowered his head in shame, clasped his fists and said: "The humble ministers are incompetent. Although we have tried our best to recruit troops, but during the Changping War, countless families in Handan were destroyed to relieve the disaster. Now everything is ruined, and there are few young people among the people. Since the recruitment, we have not been able to recruit troops." There are only three thousand people, which is a drop in the bucket in terms of city defense."
"Ah!" King Zhao saw that the life-saving straw he had just grasped sank into the water before he could hold it firmly, and he couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart.
Then King Zhao seemed to have thought of something again, and asked with a hint of hope in his anxious tone: "If all the strong slaves in Handan City can be organized into an army, will they be able to fight?"
"Small! I finally waited until you said this yourself!" Mr. Pingyuan felt happy in his heart.
Without hesitation, Mr. Pingyuan hurriedly struck while the iron was hot and said: "Jiannu, when the farm is busy, it is farming, and when the farm is slack, it is guarding the courtyard. Although there is no military training every three days and every five days, but after all, I have practiced for each family, which can be regarded as He has seen bows and horses and knows military orders, which is much better than ordinary young men.
Among the large families in our Handan City, there are as many as a thousand people and as few as a hundred people. The total number cannot be less than twenty or thirty thousand. If they can form an army, the defense of our Handan City will be greatly improved. "
After saying that, Lord Pingyuan glanced at King Zhao again, then clasped his hands and said: "It's just that the minister is incompetent. Tonight, the minister has visited 17 aristocratic families in Handan City and 16 important ministers. Pingjun and General Lianpo sent almost all their servants and kinnus to their residences, but no other household was willing to hand over even part of their kinnus."
"Now, including the 700 people in Weichen's mansion, there are only more than 2,000 people." Lord Pingyuan sighed deeply as he spoke.
"In other words, among the remaining twenty-nine families who are important ministers in the court." King Zhao was obviously gritting his teeth when he spoke: "No one is willing to do their part for our Zhao country?!"
Of course, King Zhao knew that Lord Pingyuan's words could not be false, especially as Lou Chang came first to prove it. Looking at Lord Pingyuan and his gray hair, who stood silently, King Zhao felt half sad and half angry.
It saddens me that Pingyuan Jun is still worried about state affairs at such an old age, and is still running around for state affairs at night, even if he is rejected by more than ten or twenty households, he still has no complaints;
What makes me angry is that the court of the dignified Zhao Kingdom is actually filled with people who are living on their own. Seeing the national crisis approaching, they still only care about their own one-third of an acre of land. Is it really short-sighted or has something else in mind?
King Zhao had to be suspicious!
For a time, the huge hall fell into silence, and only the heavy breathing caused by the continuous rise and fall of King Zhao's chest echoed for a long time.
After a long time, King Zhao finally calmed down his bad mood and said to Lord Pingyuan: "Thank you for your hard work, uncle."
"How dare you say it's hard for me to not be able to relieve my king's worries!" Lord Pingyuan said still humbly.
Hearing Lord Pingyuan's answer, King Zhao's heart felt hot again, and he immediately asked: "Now that the country is in such danger, can uncle do anything?"
Lord Pingyuan paused slightly, but finally said: "I would like to receive the king's order to forcibly recruit healthy slaves from important ministers and nobles to protect the safety of Handan."
"Forced conscription?" King Zhao clicked on these two words.
Of course Mr. Pingyuan also knew what King Zhao was worried about. It was nothing more than the collective opposition of his ministers. For this, Pingyuan Jun and Lin Shangqing were obviously well prepared.
"It's not a completely forced conscription." Lord Pingyuan calmly said the final draft: "It can be said that the king's order is as good as the morning court. My king personally made it clear that it is powerful, and ordered the ministers to voluntarily accept the conscription. As long as noon tomorrow, everyone can The able-bodied slaves who voluntarily accept the levy will be redeemed by our king with the captured items after the war; if there are any deficiencies, they will be levied by force again, and slaves who are levied by force will not be redeemed."
When King Zhao heard this, he also nodded. This was a good idea - courtesy first and then fighting. He even promised to capture and redeem them. If there were still people who were unwilling to accept the levy, it was because they simply did not want to be Zhao's ministers. Since he is not a minister of Zhao, there is no harm in conscripting him by force.
"Yes!" King Zhao ordered decisively.
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