"In this case, the strategist." Tian Dan then continued: "It is a peace with Qin. Whether the Qin army became angry and attacked our coalition camp, or temporarily retreated due to lack of food, it is a peace. In this way, the Qin army The territory of King Zhou's retreat belongs to the three kingdoms of Wei, Chu, and Han. As a result, the main force of Zhao State should not be transferred south, otherwise it will arouse unwarranted speculations from other countries."
"This is indeed the best result of this battle." Zhao Kuo nodded and agreed: "It's just that, even if everything goes as we thought, burning food and forcing Qin, with the strength of the Qin army, we want to use the power of the four kingdoms. It is not easy to defeat the Qin army's tiger and wolf divisions."
"Of course." Tian Dan also nodded and said: "Although the strength of our coalition army has certain advantages, its individual combat power is far lower than that of the Qin army. If they can barely defend the city, they may still have the strength to fight. But even so, I think It is still not easy to defeat the Qin army, and it requires the cooperation of the four countries."
"Don't worry about victory, think about defeat first." Zhao Kuo then waved his hand and continued to ask: "What if this is his next strategy?" When Tian Dan heard this, he naturally immediately replied: "The next one is mine. Although the coalition forces forced the Qin army to a desperate situation, they were unable to withstand the Qin army's counter-attack and were defeated by the Qin army. Not only would the land of King Ji of Zhou be occupied by the Qin army, but Han and Wei would also be at the mercy of the Qin army. Under the front. It goes without saying that our northern Xinjiang army must go south as soon as possible to organize the Qin army to continue to expand eastward, at least to stabilize the front near Luocheng." At this point, Zhao Kuo understood Tian Dan's intention Meaning - just in case, the northern Xinjiang army still needs to be transferred to the south, and it needs to be transferred as soon as possible.
In fact, Zhao Kuo had the same plan in his heart. Although mobilizing troops over long distances will cause a lot of food consumption, and although the army will probably have a long-term confrontation with the Qin army after it is transferred to the south, these losses are not worth it compared with the possible failure of the Luocheng Battle. carry.
Then Zhao Kuo looked at Lord Pingyuan and Yu Qing beside him. Mr. Pingyuan immediately said: "To my king, I want Wei Chen to guarantee military supplies and food. Wei Chen is obliged to do so. However, Wei Chen is asked to analyze the battlefield situation and decide on strategy. This is a bit difficult for Wei Chen."
"The same goes for Wei Chen." Yu Qing also said quickly. Hearing this, Zhao Kuo did not embarrass the two of them. On the contrary, he was a little happy. Whether the two took the initiative to avoid suspicion because they did not want civilian officials to get involved in the military, or they really did not understand the military, from what they said, it was obvious that Zhao Kuo was willing. Accepted.
Zhao Kuo nodded slightly to agree with their words, and Zhao Kuo immediately fell into deep thought. However, Zhao Kuo soon made a decision: "Then according to the original plan, let Li Mu quickly handle the affairs of Northern Xinjiang, supervise the construction of the new city, and immediately lead the army southward."
"As for the strength of the troops, it is enough to lead an army of 100,000 people south. In this way, there should be a total of 250,000 horses in Shangdang County in the south, which is enough to deal with the Qin army and possible Qin reinforcements." Zhao Kuo Then he continued.
"However." Zhao Kuo then continued: "Tian Dan, you need to make it clear to Lian Po and Li Mu."
"Yes." Tian Dan responded immediately.
"First, the only one we can trust is ourselves. Before the main force of Northern Xinjiang arrives, we must treat ourselves as if we only have 80,000 troops. We cannot go head-to-head with the Qin army and cause a lot of losses to our army." Zhao Kuo continued to order.
"Second, even if the main force of Northern Xinjiang arrives, we must remember that we do not ask them to give us a huge victory, but only ask them to delay the Qin army and force the Qin army to retreat. This is our army's responsibility. Victory. Third, and the most important. The overall national policy of the Zhao State, which is to go north then south, and easy things first, then difficult things, cannot be changed. Lian Po, no matter what, will try every means to delay the decisive battle until the end of the year. It is best to do it after the beginning of spring. In this way, no matter what the final result is, our Zhao country can deal with it calmly. Li Mu must build two new cities as soon as possible, and cooperate with Lu Buwei to settle the Hu people and the upcoming Zhou Dynasty. The people of Wang Ji must ensure that the northern Xinjiang is completely stabilized and the grassland is firmly in the hands of Zhao, before they choose the opportunity to move south."
"Yes." After saying this, Tian Dan agreed immediately.
"Okay, since everything that needs to be discussed has been discussed." Zhao Kuo stood up immediately and said to the three people who also stood up: "Let's execute it over there."
"Yes." The three of them responded with fists clasped together.
"That's right." Just when Mr. Pingyuan turned around and was about to leave, Zhao Kuo suddenly stopped him: "Mr. Pingyuan."
"Wei Chen is here." Lord Pingyuan immediately responded with clasped fists.
"I remember, it seems that the Minister of Rites is still vacant." Zhao Kuo asked immediately.
"Yes." Mr. Pingyuan somewhat guessed Zhao Kuo's intention, but still replied calmly.
"Well." Zhao Kuo nodded and continued to ask: "Yu Qing has been this minister for some time." After a brief pause, Zhao Kuo then looked at Yu Qing, who could not restrain his joy, and then continued to give instructions. He said: "In this case, Yu Aiqing has always been diligent and has been acting as minister of ministry for some time. Let's move to the post of Minister of Rites."
"Yes." Mr. Pingyuan, who had already made some guesses, said calmly.
"Thank you so much, my king!" Yu Qing on the side was very excited when he heard the news, and immediately clasped his fists with both hands.
From a minister to a minister, this is not just a matter of being promoted from a deputy to a senior official.
This is more like Director Qi ascending to the deputy provincial level. Once he is promoted, he breaks away from the provincial cadres and becomes a cadre directly under the central government. Not only can he participate in the decision-making of various provincial affairs, but his upper limit will also be raised again. Pull high.
The same is true for Yu Qing. Although it is only a short step from minister to minister, the level of power and status are completely different.
The simplest point is that after becoming the minister, his direct reporting target is no longer the cabinet, but Zhao Wangkuo.
Of course, everyone knows that being diligent or being in charge of the ministry for a long enough time is not the reason for Yu Qing's promotion to the position of Minister, nor is it even a necessary condition.
What matters is not your usual study and effort and doing your daily tasks well, but your responsibilities and being able to step up at critical moments. Only then can your superiors look at you with admiration.
Obviously, Yu Qing's few words today fully demonstrated his maturity, wit and strategy, and naturally caught Zhao Kuo's attention.
Naturally, promotion has become what it should be. Of course, Yu Qing's promotion was not a big event for Zhao's court, and it did not cause any waves at all.
Not only because of the Battle of Luocheng, nor because of the troubled times in the court, but more importantly, because it was only a matter of time before Yu Qing came to power.
In terms of ability, Yu Qing has demonstrated his ability very well in the two events of winning the official Lou Chang and Zhao Kuo's enthronement ceremony; in terms of connections, from the late Shangqing Lin Xiangru to the current chief minister Lord Pingyuan praised him very much, and even because of organizing the enthronement ceremony, Yu Qing often brushed his face in front of Zhao Wangkuo.
More importantly, in the Ministry of Rites, there was only one minister, Yu Qing, and he had not been transferred to the position of minister for five years. This situation was obviously to pave the way for Yu Qing's rise to the top.
After five years of experience, Yu Qing has already arranged enough people of his own under the Ministry of Rites. Arranging more people to serve as ministers will not affect Yu Qing's authority, let alone compete with Yu Qing.
According to Lord Pingyuan's original plan, he wanted to arrange for a highly respected person, such as Tian Dan, to serve as Minister of Rites.
Of course, people like Tian Dan are not busy with the cabinet affairs yet, so how can they take care of the trivial matters of the Ministry of Etiquette? Therefore, it is more of a name, and the actual person in charge is Yu Qing.
And when Yu Qing's age gradually comes up, he can be straightened out legitimately. Obviously, Mr. Pingyuan still values this talent left by Lin Shangqing.
What Zhao Kuo did today was just to slightly disrupt the progress of Lord Pingyuan and advance it by several years.
And this is what Yu Qing deserves based on his ability. However, there are tens of thousands of people with lofty ideals in the world, and there are countless people who are more talented than Yu Qing, and there are also countless people who are more qualified than Yu Qing. Yu Qing can reach the center of the Zhao Kingdom at less than forty years old. There is no doubt about his ability, but his ability is not in doubt. The path traveled is almost impossible to replicate.
The so-called wise man knows his destiny, and the gentleman sees his opportunity, that's all. As Lord Pingyuan and others left, Sun Gu of the Yulin Guard and Zhao Ping of the Dark Guard were finally brought to Zhao Kuo.
"There's only one thing." Zhao Kuo said straight to the point.
"Yes." The two people sitting in front of Zhao Kuo straightened up and listened attentively.
"The coalition forces are currently not going well on the front line." Zhao Kuo continued: "The front line is preparing to burn the autumn grain near Zhou Wangji, forcing the Qin army to take the initiative to attack due to lack of food." Hearing this, the two looked at each other and seemed a little confused. .
Obviously, neither of them knew the king's intention of telling them this. Could it be that he wanted them to explore the whereabouts of Qiu Liang?
It seems that the scouts in the army are enough for this matter, and there is no need to take action yourself. Zhao Kuo did not give in, and immediately continued: "The matter of burning food will be carried out by the coalition forces. However, burning food is easy, and it is not known whether the Qin army will be short of food, but the survival of hundreds of thousands of people in the Zhou Dynasty is broken."
"Arrange your people to go to the city of Zhou Wangji. Whether it is building an inn or working as a merchant, in short, you must break into the people of the city near Zhou Wangji as soon as possible." Zhao Kuo continued to order: " After the coalition forces burned the grain and the people were in turmoil, they led the people to come to Shangdang County in our Zhao Kingdom." Listening to Zhao Kuo's words, the two of them were even more horrified.
Sun Gu took a sip of saliva and said: "My king, as far as I know, although the territory of Zhou Wangji is not big, it is one of the most prosperous places in the world. The people may be hundreds of thousands. Our army We are still in the war, if..." Before Sun Gu finished speaking, Zhao Kuo waved his hand and said: "These few people have already discussed with Lord Pingyuan and others. Your task is to bring all the people together. Take it to Shangdang County, Mr. Pingyuan has already made arrangements for the rest of the matter, and will write it down and hand it over to you."
"Yes." After hearing this, Sun Gu naturally did not dare to say more, and then agreed with Zhao Ping.
"My king, how many people do you want to bring?" After agreeing, Zhao Ping seemed to have not fully understood Zhao Kuo's intention, and then asked again.
"The more the merrier." Zhao Kuo immediately replied: "Tell the people who were affected by the disaster that they are from Zhao."
"Yes." The two looked at each other again, and then both said.
