Although he had doubts, now that the matter had come to this, Lord Xinling could only bite the bullet.
Nodding silently, Lord Xinling said: "In that case, I will go to Handan for the Wei Dynasty."
"That's great!" King Wei immediately said overjoyed.
Of course, the reason why Lord Xinling agreed so happily was because he actually had his own Xiao Jiujiu - it would be best if he could change the land. Even if he couldn't change the land, he would never let Zhao Guo have any anger towards him.
This is the bottom line and the most fundamental reason why Lord Xinling agreed to King Wei's request.
He knew that if he didn't go and someone else went, not only would he not be able to exchange the land, but he would even suffer the wrath of Zhao Guo.
Today's Wei State can no longer withstand the hardships.
Immediately, he bid farewell to King Wei, and Lord Xinling returned to his residence to prepare to leave.
In fact, there was nothing to prepare. After simply telling the old housekeeper that there was no need to collect food and grass, Lord Xinling set off towards Handan with hundreds of people and the gifts prepared by the king of Wei.
In order to be as prepared as possible, Lord Xinling even sent a lot of spies to inquire about the current situation in Handan.
When he heard that Lian Po had been ordered to return to Handan, Lord Xinling suddenly became more confident.
General Lian Po is obviously Lord Xinling's best "friend" in the Zhao court. What's more important is that the two of them got to know each other very well through several cooperative operations.
Immediately, Lord Xinling, who was still on the road, placed the first stop of his trip to Handan at the residence of General Lian Po.
Of course, the return of General Lian Po was a normal thing for the Zhao Dynasty. After all, the war was basically over. In addition to Lian Po, the commander-in-chief of the Shangdang armies, there were more than 100,000 elite troops on the front line. Li Mu is here.
As the saying goes, there is no room for two tigers in one mountain. Although Li Mu will definitely obey Lian Po's dispatch, the problem is that the generals under Li Mu may not obey the orders of the generals under General Lian Po!
This is also the reason why Li Mu locked his troops tightly in Luo City. He was afraid of any discord between the two armies.
As the news came from Qin Guo Xizuo, Wang Lu's army finally arrived at Hangu Pass. The battle came to an end, and Zhao Kuo's Wang Ming also arrived at the front line.
Lian Po led his troops, while Li Mu stayed in the territory of Zhou Wangji to consolidate his defense system.
Because the war had been going on for several months and winter was about to begin, Lian Po was accompanied by nearly 180,000 troops led by Zhou Qi, Sun Gu and others.
Yes, Zhao Kuo only left Li Mu with a mere 90,000 troops.
It seems that this is quite a lot of troops and horses, but you have to know that Qin State still has 50,000 troops in Yiyang!
And Li Mu's tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, the sphere of influence he wants to control is the territory of Shangdang and Zhou Wangji, which is nearly two counties. Even just like this, among the 70,000 soldiers and horses, more than 30,000 are soldiers stationed in Shangdang County.
In other words, in the land of Zhou Wangji, the number of troops stationed by Zhao State will not exceed 60,000.
It can be said that in terms of local military strength and combat power, Zhao State is almost on par with the Qin Army.
To be honest, not only did Li Mu not understand such an arrangement, but even Lian Po frowned.
In their minds, at least 80,000 troops should be stationed in the land of Zhou Wangji alone to complete the suppression of the Qin army's combat power. In Shangdang County at the rear, at least 70,000 to 80,000 troops should be left in reserve. . After all, the Qin army may come back at any time. The position of King Zhou Ji is too important, and he must have enough troops to defend and support him.
However, out of trust in Zhao Kuo, the two of them followed orders without hesitation.
In fact, Zhao Kuo's idea is also very simple. Sixty thousand troops are enough to suppress the Qin army trembling in the corner. What the Qin army urgently needs to solve now is the problem of its domestic troop deployment.
At least in a short period of time, it will be difficult to cause any further disturbances. Even if the Qin army unexpectedly increases its troops and launches any sudden attack, the 60,000-strong army will still be enough to defend Luo City for a period of time.
As for the 60,000-strong army, such a force with only a slight advantage would be less likely to irritate the now somewhat sensitive Qin army. If there are too many troops, it will put too much pressure on the Qin army stationed in Yiyang City.
Under heavy pressure, the Qin army may violate the rules of the battlefield and forcefully continue to increase its troops in Yiyang, a place where birds can't shit, in winter.
Obviously, sixty thousand is a good number and a just right number.
In this way, the originally bustling land of Zhou Wangji fell into tranquility again with the withdrawal of the Qin and Zhao armies. After Li Mu worked hard in Luo City, Handan City became completely lively.
Because in the battle with Qin, the army did not actually play much role. It was more about the victory of the strategy. There were no prisoners or corpses, so naturally there was no ceremony to sacrifice prisoners.
As for the battle to destroy the country on the grassland, first of all, it was a fight against the barbarians, which basically didn't give much publicity. Secondly, as the commander-in-chief Li Mu was still in Luo City, of course there was no way to hold a prisoner sacrifice ceremony.
Therefore, according to Zhao Kuo's order, the returning army began to disperse and return home one after another along the way.
When they arrived outside Handan City, Lian Po's army only had tens of thousands of troops left. After pulling these troops to the military camp outside the city, Lian Po returned to Handan with a hundred soldiers to report on his duties. .
But even so, Lian Po was still welcomed by the people from Handan.
Obviously, the people of Handan have not adapted to the habit of winning, even though Zhao Kuo has won too many wars since Zhao Kuo came out.
But no matter what, it is always a joy to expand territory. Even the people of Handan finally tasted the fruits of victory. Among other things, the prices of cattle and mutton sheep were completely driven down by Zhao Kuo!
The appetite is secondary, but the large influx of cattle is really a big deal.
With more cattle, more wasteland can be reclaimed, and with more fields, wouldn't this life be good?
It can be said that although Zhao State has frequently engaged in foreign military affairs in the past few months, in order to settle the people of Zhou Wangji, Zhao State even emptied the entire treasury.
But the Zhao State at this time is completely different from the Zhao State five years ago when it also emptied its treasury.
All the people of Zhao State believed that the difficulties were only temporary, and the faces of all the people of Handan showed their trust and expectations for the Zhao State court led by Zhao Kuo.
Even during the most difficult time of the Battle of Los Angeles, this trust was still not lost.
This can be seen from the population growth in various places. There are even many wealthy households who have offered to donate money and food. This was almost unimaginable five years ago.
With this cohesion, not to mention that the loss of Luo City was just part of the strategy, even if the Qin army really occupied the land of Zhou Wangji, Zhao Kuo could still find a way to take it back.
This is Zhao Kuo's confidence.
Of course, Mr. Pingyuan finally gradually understood what "people's desires" mean from the shock of this scene.
So, from the city gate to the palace, which was only a few miles away, Lian Po and his followers, including the two lieutenants Zhou Qi and Sun Gu, walked for more than an hour.
When they finally arrived at the palace gate, they saw Zhao Kuo leading all the civil and military officials waiting outside the palace gate.
Seeing this, Lian Po quickly got off his horse and came to Zhao Kuo in three steps and two steps at a time.
"I have met my king!" Lian Po knelt down on one knee and clasped his fists with his hands, and said gratefully: "The humble minister is late, and if he keeps my king waiting for a long time, he will definitely die."
"What are you talking about, General Lian Po!" Zhao Kuo smiled and helped Lian Po up, holding Lian Po's big hand with both hands, and said: "General, for the foundation of Zhao, he shed his blood, fought on the battlefield for a long time, and is surrounded by dangers. Now, there are dangers everywhere. I'm just waiting for the general below the palace gate in a shady place, so what's the hindrance?"
Lian Po looked at the beads of sweat on Zhao Kuo's forehead. It was obvious that the king had been waiting for him here for a long time.
I originally thought that the king was still in court, and I was a little late, so that I could wait until the court was over before entering the palace to meet the king alone. Therefore, Lian Po naturally moved forward slowly and leisurely, but he didn't want the king to do so. Shang actually has been waiting for him at the palace gate.
Although Lian Po had been fighting for the country for decades and had countless achievements, the late king had never treated him with such care, let alone waited for him in the sun for an hour.
Immediately, Lian Po was so moved that he blamed himself and choked up: "My king!"
The Pingyuan Lord on the side obviously didn't think it was a big deal, and immediately struck again: "In order for the general to enjoy the support of the people of Handan City, my king specially arranged the reception place at the palace gate, not the city gate."
"My king, this..." Lian Po was so moved again that he didn't know what to say.
At the age of Lian Po, the so-called fame and wealth are no longer in his eyes. All he wants is "respect".
Obviously, Zhao Kuo not only gave, but even gave too much.
"General Lian Po definitely deserves this honor for opening up territory for our great Zhao and bringing in more people!" Zhao Kuo immediately clapped Lian Po's hands and said to everyone.
Immediately, Zhao Kuo looked at Lian Po again and said, "General, please follow me into the palace and talk to me about the battle of Luo City in detail."
"Yes." Lian Po agreed immediately.
In this way, Zhao Kuo took Lian Po into the palace hand in hand.
On the third day after Lian Po arrived in Handan, Lord Xinling, who was hurrying slowly, finally arrived outside Handan City. Of course, in order to save time, Lord Xinling separated from the large army and came from Handan in a light vehicle. Naturally, he did not inform the corresponding diplomats of Zhao State.
Looking at the majestic city wall, Lord Xinling didn't feel much emotion in his heart. After all, the towers in their Daliang City were equally majestic and tall. But seeing the happy smiles on the faces of the people in the city really touched Lord Xinling's heart.
Obviously, in Daliang, the capital of Wei State, Lord Xinling had not seen such a smile for a long time.
Trying to calm down and try not to think about other things, Lord Xinling immediately ordered someone to drive a carriage to General Lian Po's house.
It can be said that Lord Xinling is indeed a bit brave. As a foreign minister, he went to find the general of Zhao State blatantly.
This is of course inconsistent with etiquette, and even if Lian Po wasn't old and loyal to Zhao for all to see, such behavior would be easily criticized.
Of course, the reason why Lord Xinling did this was not only because of the situation, but more importantly, Lord Xinling wanted to make General Lian Po remember what happened back then - Lian Po back then was also so helpless. With scruples, he broke into the residence of Lord Xinling and asked him to persuade the King of Wei to send troops to rescue Changping.
Back then, I went to the palace overnight to persuade the King of Wei, and even stole military talismans to rescue Zhao.
This time I am in trouble and I have to turn to Zhao Guo for help. Brother, how can you stay out of it...
Some people died, but not completely...
