Xiang Shaolong said: "Your Majesty, the reward is great. This is the responsibility of the minister. Our Great Qin has been the British master in all dynasties. This is God's will for our Great Qin. Now that the land is vast, the resources are abundant, and the population is large, nothing can stop our progress."
Qin Wangzheng was also very excited. This unparalleled achievement was about to happen to him, and his blood was about to burn.
Xiang Shaolong personally led an army of 100,000 troops to the border between Qin and Qi; Wang Jian sent troops to Mobei to intimidate Yan outside the Great Wall; and General Xu Xian was the commander-in-chief of the southern defense against Chu.
Xiang Shaolong was not in a hurry to attack Qi, but instead wrote a letter to Qi Prime Minister Hou Sheng. The main idea was: Da Qin must destroy Qi, but he has always been friends with Hou Sheng and does not want to draw a sword against him. If you can persuade the King of Qi to surrender, you can protect his wealth. If you refuse to surrender, once the war machine is started, it will not stop easily, and no one can guarantee your safety.
At the same time, Qin Wangzheng also sent a letter of persuasion to surrender to Qi Wangjian, saying only: Qi and Da Qin have always been friendly, and they have never joined forces to fight against Qin. As long as they are willing to surrender, they will not treat the king of Qi badly. If he refuses to surrender, Linzi will be captured. , all members of the royal family are going to die. You can also unite Yan and Chu to fight against Qin at the same time, but we must attack Qi first. There is a one-month deadline to reply. If there is no reply within one month, the Qin army will launch an attack. Just take care of yourself.
Qi State has long lost its ambition to strive for hegemony. They are all afraid of the Qin army's arrogance and do not even dare to resist. Yan and Chu were willing to contribute, but Qi was weak and did not even have the courage to fight. The Qin army captured Qi without blood.
The State of Yan was the first to bear the brunt, and the State of Qin was encircling Yan. Yan and Chu faced each other across the Qin Dynasty and wanted to respond. Unfortunately, communication was not smooth, and the Yan country was in a desperate situation, isolated and helpless.
Qin Wangzheng also persuaded Yan to surrender within a time limit. King Yan was willing to fight, but he knew there was no chance of winning. At this time, Qin general Zhang Tang was the prime minister of Yan. Zhang Tang took the opportunity to make a speech, willing to protect the life of King Yan. He was not worried that King Yan would dare to kill him. The stronger the motherland, the safer he would be.
King Yan of Yan had no choice but to surrender, and Prince Dankong had ambitions but was powerless to save his life.
In this way, Yan and Qi were defeated without spending a single soldier.
At this time, only Chu was left among the princes in the world.
Qin Wangzheng did not use the trick of persuading Chu to surrender. The Chu State has a vast territory, a far-reaching strategic strategy that is unmatched by other countries, a large population, capable of civil and military skills, and has the capital to dominate the world. To persuade them to surrender will only bring humiliation to themselves.
Qin Wangzheng was in high spirits and couldn't wait.
Xiang Shaolong tried to dissuade him: "Your Majesty, the land of Chu is vast and the war cannot be ended in a short time. It is very important whether our logistics resources are sufficient. Moreover, although Yan and Qi have recently surrendered, although we are not afraid of their rebellion, we still need to integrate them. need some time."
Qin Wangzheng asked: "Our Great Qin's war capabilities have been developed to the limit. Both economically and militarily, it far exceeds that of Chu State, and the people are richer than ever before. Our advantage over Chu State is obvious. We are now If they stop and develop, they will develop too, and I’m afraid it doesn’t make much sense to wait any longer.”
Xiang Shaolong said: "First, due to Chu State's enfeoffment system and the exclusive power of large families, they are inefficient no matter what they do. Although we are all developing, we will never be able to synchronize. One will wax and wane, and our advantage is only It will become more and more obvious; secondly, we have not yet reached our limit. I have always believed that population is the most important resource of the country. Regardless of men and women, my men in Daqin have basically all used it, but what about women?"
Qin Wangzheng asked: "How to use women?"
Xiang Shaolong said: "First of all, we must encourage childbirth and encourage widows to remarry to increase the population; secondly, we can let women go out of the house and take on the jobs they can afford in society, liberate men, improve the treatment of the army, and bring men Assimilate them into the army and train them. In the end, the war must be fought by the army. The stronger the army, the more certain the war will be."
Qin Wangzheng frowned and said: "Expanding the army and raising the salary will increase the expenses a lot. Isn't this in line with your policy of always focusing on people's livelihood?"
Xiang Shaolong said: "This is a temporary policy to deal with the war, but we must also control the number of troops and make sure that our economic ability can support them. When the war is over, we will not recruit troops. But improve the salary of the troops It is still necessary. If you live a good life with your Majesty, you will not be easily incited to rebel. And I have always been committed to improving people's livelihood in order to accumulate strength for war and increase war potential. Your Majesty, the country should not compete with the people for profit. Properly distribute benefits to the people, and those who have permanent property will have perseverance. The richer the people are, the more stable they will be."
Both Qin and Chu knew that this battle was inevitable, and they both actively prepared for it. The "Cold War" between the two countries began, cutting off all exchanges and preparing for war at any time.
Fortunately, both countries have vast territories and abundant resources, and there is no problem in being self-sufficient. However, the cooperation between Xiang Shaolong and Li Yuan ended and turned into hostility.
National mobilization, regardless of men, women, old or young. Even Ying Ying's Detachment of Women began to recruit female soldiers. She actually met Shanrou and hired her as the chief instructor of the Detachment of Women.
After Shanrou returned to Qi, she got married and had children. She taught swordsmanship to noble women on weekdays. Qi State surrendered, and her husband-in-law was a noble of Qi State. He followed the royal family to Xianyang, where he was discovered by Ying Ying and recruited into his army.
In fact, this female soldier was not valued by the King of Qin, but she was regarded as her darling by Ying Ying.
Xiang Shaolong did not discriminate against this female soldier. He remembered the story of a famous woman who served as a soldier, so he copied the Yuefu poem "Mulan Ci".
The story is very touching and makes people cry. Goddess Qin was once again impressed by Xiang Shaolong's talent. Ji Cainv has extraordinary martial arts skills and has the urge to join the army. Fengfei even made it into a song and dance. Xiang Shaolong suggested to Feng Fei that the story could be processed and adapted into a drama or musical, which would be more conducive to dissemination.
The continued popularity of "Mulan Ci" has a little bit off the rhythm. The momentum of women joining the army is rising. This is not Xiang Shaolong's original intention. He has to warn Ying Ying not to blindly expand, but to strictly select and control military expenditures, but there is no crackdown. Her positivity.
Xiang Shaolong once again presided over the massive infrastructure construction. The construction of Qin Zhidao and Chidao, which were ancient highways, made Qin's roads extend in all directions, making it easier for materials to be quickly sent to the front line.
A layman talks about strategy, and an expert talks about logistics. Without logistics, no matter how brilliant a strategy is, it is just a castle in the air.
Xiang Shaolong strives to balance economic and military development, and is deeply afraid that blindly developing the military will bring down the country.
Zhao Mojuzi Yan Ping has developed greatly in the Qin State in recent years. With the strength of the Qin State, his power has become stronger and stronger. Although Chu Mojuzi Fudu had the Juzi Order, he had to surrender to Yan Ping and secretly defected to him long ago. Qin State, stayed in Chu State as a spy to seek a greater future for Mo Zhe.
As the arms race deepened, Chu's economy became worse and worse, and it went further and further down the path of militarism.
This was beyond Xiang Shaolong's expectation. At the beginning, he really didn't think about using an arms race to bring down Chu's economy.
Now Xiang Shaolong doesn't want to start a war. Chu's feudal system is so similar to that of the Soviet Union. The ancients did not understand the importance of economic development even more than the Soviet Union did, causing their economy to collapse even faster.
Chu also knew that its national strength was no longer enough to support so many troops, and was even more eager to start a war than Qin. However, with the weakening of central power and the ulterior motives of each subordinate lord, they did not have the courage to take the lead in launching an attack.
There is information from Chu State every day, and Xiang Shaolong is always aware of the latest developments in Chu State.
Qin Wangzheng was also shocked by this method of war. Even before he did anything, Chu State was already in chaos.
Xiang Shaolong further said: "Your Majesty, the Chu State is blindly expanding its army. The people can no longer afford to support this army. A great chaos is not far away."
Qin Wangzheng asked: "What will they do to disrupt the law? When will we send troops?"
Xiang Shaolong said: "Now their military-civilian ratio is seriously imbalanced, and the people are suffering unspeakably. If the people don't rebel, sooner or later his various princes will become independent, and will not follow the central government's orders, but will turn to fight on their own. Even if they can unite, they will not be able to unite. Compared with the unified command of the central government, the combat power is incomparable. Alas! The Chu State was originally blessed by nature, but it is a pity that success is divided into enfeoffments, and defeats are also enfeoffed."
Qin Wangzheng also saw the disadvantages of blindly expanding the army. Civil strife in Chu State was inevitable. Instead, he slowed down military development, fearing that he would embark on this path if he was not careful.
However, Qin State showed a posture of starting war at any time. Chu State did not dare to slack off at all. Although it was clearly overwhelmed, it still gritted its teeth to expand its army and did not dare to relax its military.
Finally, in 230 BC, riots broke out in many places in the Chu region, instigated by Qin spies. Lords from various places declared their independence one after another and no longer obeyed the orders of the King of Chu.
The Qin Dynasty raised 800,000 troops, with Wang Jian as the commander-in-chief. Huan Jue, Yang Duanhe, Wang Ben, and Meng Tian were divided into four groups to the south. , Xiang Shaolong was based in Xianyang, in charge of logistics supplies.
An army of 800,000 was an unimaginable number in this era. Those vassals of the Chu State that were close to the Qin State came to the King of Qin one after another, wanting to surrender to the Qin State, counterattack the Chu State, and still cede territory to the king after destroying Chu.
King Qin didn't even think about it and replied directly: Surrender and protect your wealth. If you don't surrender, you will die without a complete body. I still want to cede the land and become the king, but there is no way.
A few vassal kings chose to surrender, but there were still many people who were reluctant to give up their power and chose to resist. However, they also knew that it was difficult to survive alone, so they turned to support the King of Chu.
Therefore, the Chu State, with Li Yuan as its commander and Xiang Yan as its general, managed to gather an army of 300,000 to fight the Qin army.
The four armies were overwhelming and surrounded Shouchun. Wang Jian was not in a hurry to attack the city. He just surrounded Shouchun completely and divided his troops to continue fighting in other places.
The Battle of Shouchun became the most brutal battle of this era. Shouchun was besieged for half a year, with no ammunition or food. General Xiang Yan died in the battle, and the royal family set themselves on fire in the palace. When the city was destroyed, Shouchun became lifeless and became a dead city.
The battle to destroy Chu lasted for one year, and in 229 BC, the world was finally unified.
After sweeping through the six kingdoms, King Qin felt that the king could no longer express his achievements, so he changed his name to emperor and called himself the First Emperor. The Central Plains officially entered the imperial era.
