In Jinling City, Wang Kan was sitting under a tree playing chess with others. Not long ago, the secret guard sent back the news of the battle in the Central Plains. The result surprised everyone.
At that time, everyone felt that the result was nothing more than that both Wei and Qi would suffer losses, and either Wei would win or Qi would win. But when the news came that Qi had won a great victory and Wei's army was almost wiped out, the entire Huai State was shocked.
The Wei State is not weak. If the 200,000 Wei soldiers in the country fight against the Huai State, the Huai State will have to pay tens of thousands of casualties to win. This time Qi State was able to encircle and annihilate Wei State's 100,000 Wei soldiers with such weak casualties.
This made Wang Kan, who originally wanted to take advantage of the turmoil in the countries to go north to reap benefits, become hesitant. The states of Bangzhou and Zhou have always been wary of the Huai State. Once the Huai State's national power moves north, it cannot be resisted by just one country. Only multiple countries can form an alliance.
Originally, Wang Kan planned to take advantage of the heavy losses suffered by the Central Plains countries to go north, but Qi's victory made him hesitate. The general trend of the world is like a mess, and the whole body can be affected by one move, and he is like a chess piece in it.
So Wang Kan sighed softly and said: "All living beings in this world are just like the chess pieces on this chessboard. Those who can leave their names in history are larger chess pieces, and even some princes are just chess pieces." Just chess pieces.”
"Who can truly control themselves? The vast majority of people are just fish in this river. Why do you need to worry, Your Majesty? The world is so big, and Huai is also one of the chess players." The person playing chess with him was none other than Zhuangzi.
Zhuangzi did not want to be an official, so Wang Kan asked him to be a scholar in the academy, let him read the classics in the academy and the collection room, record the articles he wrote, and added Zhuangzi to the list of scholars. Among hundreds of families.
During this period, Zhuangzi debated with scholars from other schools in the academy and wrote many wonderful articles.
The news of Qi's victory over Wei shocked everyone. After Qin received the news of Wei's defeat, he immediately dispatched a large army and once again invaded the land west of Hexi.
The Qin State was very confident this time. After leaving heavy defense forces in Shu and Xi County, 200,000 Qin troops marched eastward again. In fact, Qin was also surprised after receiving the news that Wei's entire army had been destroyed.
Wei fell into an ambush and was surrounded and annihilated by Qi, but Qi's casualties were far lower than those of Wei. This incident made Qin feel a little uncomfortable.
Originally, the Qin State wanted both Qi State and Wei State to suffer losses, and he would benefit from it. However, the current situation is that Qi State has won a great victory, and because of sitting on the mountain and watching tigers fight, the relationship between Qin State and Qi State was not good. not so good.
South Korea was excited to gain lost ground, while Wei State was defeated all the way. While raising an army to rely on the dangers of mountains and rivers to stop Qi State, it sent envoys to Qi State to sue for peace.
Zhao and Yan were also frightened. Envoys were sent to Qi State to congratulate him.
Qin took advantage of Wei's defeat and launched a massive attack. This time, no other country came to save Wei. In the war with Qi, the 100,000 Wei army was wiped out. At this time, there were only more than 50,000 Wei soldiers left in the entire Wei state.
How could more than 50,000 Wei soldiers resist Qin's 200,000 troops? In addition, Pang Juan also died in the valley, and Wei no longer had a general to lead the army in battle.
The Qin State's 200,000 troops invaded the Hexi area like a tide. The cities were captured one after another, and the Wei soldiers were defeated and defeated.
Continuous defeats demoralized Wei. Qin soon occupied a large amount of land and re-captured Anyi. Seeing this situation, King Wei had to send an envoy to ask for peace from the Marquis of Qin, and agreed to cede most of the land west of Hexi.
Gongsun Yang helped Qin regain a large area of Xihe land. The Marquis of Qin was very happy, so he awarded Shang land to Gongsun Yang. Therefore, Gongsun Yang was also called Shang Yang.
After seizing most of the land in Hexi, Qin gained a large area of cultivated land and population. However, after Wei lost most of the land in Hexi, its national power was greatly reduced. Coupled with successive defeats, Wei's strength has fallen to the bottom.
At the same time, Gongsun Yan, who was originally a minister in Wei State, also resigned directly and left for Qin State. Gongsun Yan was rewarded for his mission to the Western Chu State, but after several strategies he offered, they were not recognized by the King of Wei and could not be reused. In addition, he believed that the reward given by the King of Wei was unfair.
Therefore, after seeing that Wei was defeated, lost the land in Hexi, and had almost no hope of rising, he directly resigned from his official position and went to Qin.
The Marquis of Qin valued Gongsun Yan's service very much, and after a thorough examination of him, he appointed him as a general.
After the Qin State took away most of the land in Hexi, it began to eye Hangu Pass. At this time, Wei State had no power to stop Qin State, and the same was true for South Korea. At this time, it can be said that Qin has the best opportunity to seize Hangu Pass.
Since its establishment during the reign of King Xuan of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Hangu Pass was initially used to block Rong Di. After the fall of Rong Di and the rise of Qin, it became an important place blocking Qin's eastward march.
For more than three hundred years, the Qin and the Jin have fought for Hangu Pass dozens of times without success. But this time, the Qin people are finally going to take control of this majestic pass.
After experiencing the Rebellion between the Two Kings, South Korea's national power was weakened and it did not dare to fight with Qin. Even Han Wangzhao had already surrendered to Huai in order to gain Huai's support, but he only wanted to wait until he had secured his position as King of Han. To get rid of the influence of Huai State, or to balance Huai State's influence, so instead of asking for help from Huai State, he asked Qi State for help.
In fact, South Korea has been reduced to a small country in the struggle for hegemony among the princes. Now the influence of Huai State and Qi State in South Korea is basically equal, maintaining a fragile balance.
But this fragile balance was quickly broken by Qin Guodong.
South Korea was unable to reach the Qin State, so in desperation, it gave the land near Hangu Pass to the Huai State, and also gave Xu land to the Huai State. Ask Huai State to help resist Qin State.
After Wang Kan discussed it with his ministers, he felt that he could agree. The Qin State should fight with the Western Chu State to the west of Hangu Pass. As for the Central Plains, Wang Kan had regarded it as a forbidden land of the Huai State. Naturally, Qin was not allowed to take a bite.
Immediately dispatched a large army from Nanyang to the north to take over the land around Hangu Pass and Xu State.
After acquiring Hangu Pass and the land of Xu State, Huai State had already surrounded Zhou Wangji. Luoyi now only has less than two hundred miles of land left, and it is surrounded by Huai Kingdom and South Korea.
After the Huai State obtained Hangu Pass, they quickly fought with the Qin State at the Hangu Pass. With the Tengjia Army and catapults in hand, and the terrain of the Hangu Pass, the Huai State only used a mere five With a thousand people, the Qin State suffered a bloody blow in front of Hangu Pass and suffered heavy losses. The strategy of going east out of Hangu Pass was interrupted by the Huai State.
(End of chapter)
