Cars rattled and horses rustled.
The majestic Hangu Pass still stands among the mountains in the distance, and teams of iron cavalry are running wildly in the direction of the pass under the dazzling sunlight.
Behind the cavalry were huge infantry phalanxes.
Hundreds of thousands of Qin troops have returned to Hexi under the leadership of Wang Lu.
However, seeing Hangu Pass intact in front of him, Wang Hao, the commander-in-chief of the army, was not happy at all.
As early as when Wang Lu's army had just penetrated deep into Hedong and before entering Hexi, the Zhao army attacking Hangu Pass had already received the news. At the same time that the Qin army reoccupied Pingshan City, Sun Gu had already led the Zhao army's cavalry out of the Hexi boundary.
Hurrying quickly and slowly, the Qin army who came back for reinforcements still missed.
Of course, this is a completely normal thing. Even Wang Lu thought of the predicament during the march.
But even if Wang Hao thought of the situation at this time, he had to lead his army to come back for reinforcements, because Zhao Jun never gave Wang Hao a choice from the beginning to the end.
This is a naked conspiracy.
It should be said that only from the land of Zhou Wangji where Wang Hao evacuated, the Zhao army under Hangu Pass would also evacuate Hangu.
As for the passive Qin army, it was actually very difficult to accurately grasp Zhao Jun's whereabouts and then block it. Naturally, it is not unexpected that such a situation of "return without success" occurs.
Soon, the Qin army entered Hangu Pass again.
Once again, the Qin army failed to return to their hometown with the joy of victory; once again, they returned to the pass with regret and loneliness.
Without victory, there would be no promotion to the title, and without promotion to the title, it would mean that the family's hard life would continue.
Because of this psychological burden, the entire Qin army became more depressed the closer they got to Hangu Pass.
In the long run, I am afraid that the entire Qin Army and even the Qin State will be greatly affected.
In fact, the important condition for maintaining the stability of the Qin State is the continuous victory of foreign wars. Only continuous victory can bring continuous benefits to Qin. Only with a steady stream of benefits can the Qin State, which is at the bottom, get a little respite from the fiery life.
It is said that the Qin State fell due to tyranny. In fact, the tyranny of the Qin State was not reflected in punishments such as gouging out ears, cutting off tongues and noses, but was more about the exploitation of the people at the bottom.
The essence of the farming war model is to seize the last life-saving food from the poor people and use it as a threat to force the people to do things in the direction set by themselves.
How could it be possible to take out the benefits that had already been collected by the royal family and nobles? Therefore, the gains from foreign wars became the only source of materials that could make up for the survival of the people of Qin.
The system of farming and warfare allowed Qin's national power to rise rapidly, and its victory in foreign wars fed back this model. Therefore, with the joint efforts of the people of Qin, the snowball grew bigger and bigger, and everyone seemed to be interested in making profits. However, the nobles only made profits, while the people just lived.
Temporarily stabilizing the status of slaves, all the old Qin people gradually ignored the essence of Qin's law and the essence of exploitation.
Once the Qin State's foreign war is frustrated, it will inevitably lead to a series of turmoil. Once the situation is turbulent, it will inevitably affect the changes in the ruling class. For example, the battle between Yan and Yu back then directly defeated the arrogant Marquis Rang. dust.
As for later, when the First Emperor unified the six countries, the war was no longer possible, and he could no longer obtain more benefits from other countries. Naturally, the ancestor dragon died and the land was divided.
Obviously, after a defeat, what the Qin army urgently needed was rest and psychological counseling, even if it was just a slogan!
However, Wang Lu now no longer cares about so many "minutiae".
There are too many things pressing on him now.
The most important thing is that the next generation of core generals he left to the Qin army, Meng Ao, are still waiting for his reinforcements in Yiyang City in Zhou Wangji!
If he wants to move his troops further east, the defense system of Hangu Pass must be reorganized, and the direction of Zhao's army must be clarified as soon as possible. Hedong and Hexi
The two counties will also have to rearrange their forces, and even the forces in Guanzhong, Shuzhong and even Yanying will have to be adjusted accordingly.
None of this required his participation, as the general of Great Qin, and he even had to make specific suggestions.
It can be said that with Zhao Jun's move in Hedong and Hexi, the entire Qin State's military deployment system needs to be re-calibrated. With so many things going on, no wonder Wang Hao failed to notice the atmosphere problem in the army.
Of course, the Qin army is the most powerful army in the world, and a temporary defeat will not defeat this steel-like army.
The army immediately entered Hangu Pass. After Wang Hao explained the defense in detail, he did not stop at Hangu Pass any longer. With fifty personal soldiers, one man and two horses, he bolted towards Xianyang.
Even as the general of Great Qin, Wang Lu still did not have the right to change the entire Qin military deployment.
Returning to Xianyang, he met the King of Qin, and only the King of Qin could make the final decision.
Fortunately, news was received from Meng Ao of Yiyang along the way that Zhao Jun was busy consolidating other areas of Zhou Wangji and had no intention of marching to Yiyang.
It’s good to be busy!
Just as Wang Lu was rushing back to Xianyang with his soldiers, Daliang, the capital of Wei State, became lively again.
It turned out that the news that the Qin army had withdrawn from Zhou Wangji's territory had spread throughout Daliang unknowingly. Of course, the contribution of Zhao's secret guards is indispensable here.
However, what Zhao's secret guards did not expect was that they had just carried out the first step of the plan, and many details were still spreading information about the Qin army's retreat. Wei, who had already received the news, Wang, however, wanted to take over all their jobs at the first opportunity.
Yes, when he heard that the Qin army was retreating, King Wei didn't believe it at first, but he still ordered the troops stationed on the border to send scouts to the land of King Zhou Ji.
The scouts also quickly brought good news to King Wei: the Qin army had really retreated.
Although the scouts did not detect why the Qin army retreated, the flags of Zhao State flying everywhere will not deceive others, and the Zhao army traveling around will not deceive others.
King Wei, who got the exact news, was a little confused for a moment!
King Wei was puzzled - how did Zhao win? You know, Lord Xinling has just returned to Daliang with more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, and it was learned from his mouth that the Qin army has already arrived at Zhi City, Lian Po is trying his best to resist it, and Zhao is trying every possible means Move troops and food.
How come in the blink of an eye, in just over ten days, the situation was reversed? !
Did Zhao Jun hide his troops there again? Just wait until the Qin army is tired from fighting with our Wei army, and then attack with one sentence?
But that’s not right either! After all, according to Lord Xinling's description, the Qin army defeated our Wei army without spending much combat power at all! In an instant, they followed and attacked Zhi City. There were a full 200,000 Qin troops. Even if the Zhao army hid their troops, the Qin army could not retreat without a fight!
With the king of Wei's mind, it was obvious that he could not imagine how the Zhao army forced the Qin army to retreat.
Simply put, King Wei was somewhat self-aware of himself. Since he couldn't figure it out, he didn't think about it.
Why the Qin army is gone is really not important to Wei. What is important is that with the Qin army retreating, Zhou Wangji's territory will be freed up!
According to the agreement before the war, Zhao State will not take any land!
Doesn't that mean that our country, Wei, can get this piece of fat meat from King Zhou Ji without any effort?
Yes, almost the moment it was confirmed that the Qin army would withdraw from Zhou Wangji, King Wei had already thought of Zhao Kuo's promise, and there was no need for Zhao's craftsmen to bother to remind him.
Of course, King Wei is obviously not a fool. In today's era, any country that still respects trust has long been swallowed up to the ground.
Although King Zhao said this before the war, and even recorded it clearly in his credential, Zhao Guo refused to acknowledge it, so what can you do. After all, it can be said that Wang Ji's land was regained this week, and it can be said that it is almost the credit of the Zhao family.
What's more, Han Zhiguo, who also signed his credentials, was even able to sell the alliance to Qin. Zhao broke the agreement and then
what is the relationship?
However, when Zhou Wangji placed this fat and oily piece of meat in front of King Wei and refused to let him catch it, he felt itchy in his heart. It was simply inhuman treatment.
Licking his lips, King Wei suddenly had an idea in his mind.
"Come here." The king of Wei immediately called the eunuch and said: "Immediately send an order to the prime minister to force the Zhao army to retreat from the Qin army and occupy the Ji of the King of Zhou. Send a letter to the king of Chu, inviting him to send his envoys and the envoys of the few people to go together. Handan, celebrate the victory over Qin."
"Yes." The eunuch promised immediately.
The good news is that the King of Wei was not completely brainless. He did not think of going directly to Zhao to ask for territory. He also called on Chu, who also contributed money and effort but got nothing;
The bad news is that King Wei's thoughts are so obvious that there is no need to speculate. The so-called "celebration" is false, but forcing Zhao to fulfill the covenant is true.
But, does the Chu State have that much courage?
More importantly, is Zhao Guo afraid?
Not to mention Wei and Chu, even if King Wei calls all other countries, as long as Qin is not among them, will Zhao Guo be afraid?
However, King Wei did not just contact Chu State to make preparations. ..
In fact, issuing letters of credence and contacting Chu to coerce Zhao was only one of King Wei's purposes. More importantly, King Wei needed to create an established fact.
It is an established fact that Wei State has issued territorial claims to Zhao State.
Under this established fact, any amount of excuses are meaningless. Instead of trying to fight both sides, it is better to go with the flow.
For the sake of the overall situation, his brother, Lord Xinling, had to bite the bullet and ask Zhao for the land of Zhou Wangji.
Immediately, the King of Wei ordered the eunuchs to bring Lord Xinling to the palace.
Because of two consecutive defeats in battle, Lord Xinling no longer had any possibility of threatening King Wei's status. Although he could not let him go, King Wei actually treated Lord Xinling better and better.
The reason is very simple. King Wei knew that his ability was not as good as his younger brother.
Whether it was suppression or distrust before, to put it bluntly, it was half jealousy and half fear. Now that these two battles have been defeated, although Wei has lost a lot of national power, King Wei's throne has indeed become more stable.
Now that there is such an important thing in front of him, the first thing that King Wei thinks of is still Lord Xinling. In the huge Wei State, whenever big things happen, the only one the King of Wei can rely on is a small Lord Xinling. This also shows that the talents of the Wei State are now withered.
Of course, judging from Lord Xinling's ability to borrow food and roads from Lian Po, Lord Xinling's relationship with Zhao is indeed unusual, and he is the most suitable person to be the leader of this matter.
