Back to the Warring States Period as Zhao Kuo

Just when King Qin was racking his brains to think about how to deal with this matter, he suddenly felt his brain go blank and he lost consciousness.

With a bang, everyone looked in the direction of the source of the sound at the same time, just in time to see King Qin fainted on the ground.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

"Father!"

The next moment, chaos broke out in the Qin Kingdom Hall.

This court meeting has reached a deadlock.

The only good news is that King Qin finally regained consciousness under the day and night treatment by the doctors of Qin State.

After experiencing the hematemesis incident, the old Qin King's health was obviously getting worse day by day, so in this scene that required all-out thinking, his body could no longer hold on.

After waking up, King Qin made a decisive decision.

"Yinghou, you go to Yinjin City as an envoy and tell Lord Wu Xin that Daqin will stop fighting!"

Chapter 636 The locust disaster in the east of the river made Wu Xinjun suffer a dumb loss

Handan.

Lin Xiangru leaned on the wooden couch behind him and rubbed his temples a little tiredly after finishing the day's government affairs.

As an internal history, Lin Xiangru is in charge of all Zhao's finances, food income and expenditure. Every time Zhao's foreign wars are held, Lin Xiangru is in charge of logistics in Handan.

This year, in the State of Zhao, Zhao Kuo first launched the Northern Expedition against the Xiongnu and Donghu, and then Le Cheng launched the war against Wei, and then Zhao Kuo went west to defend against Qin, a total of three wars.

Moreover, two of the wars are now being fought simultaneously in the east and west of Zhao State, which puts even more pressure on Lin Xiangru.

Looking at the mountains of paper documents on the table, Lin Xiangru showed a wry smile: "Fortunately, Wu Xinjun invented paper. If it were bamboo slips, I would be exhausted to death."

Lin Xiangru stood up and was about to go home when suddenly an official rushed in, panicked and almost fell over.

Lin Xiangru frowned, but his good self-cultivation prevented him from bursting out. Instead, he asked calmly, "What's the matter so anxious?"

The visitor hurriedly said: "Mr. Wen Xin, something is wrong. The governor of Hedong just ordered someone to write a letter, saying that the plague of locusts has broken out!"

"what!?"

Lin Xiangru's face changed drastically, and after a few seconds he asked, "Is this true?"

The official took out a document and said: "Mr. Wen Xin, please take a look, this is an emergency document written by the Governor of Hedong himself!"

Looking at this document, Lin Xiangru felt dizzy for a moment.

The main crop planted in Hedong is wheat, and it is already the end of summer, and it will be the harvest season of wheat soon.

When the locust plague broke out at this time, the harvest of Hedong this year will be gone. How will the people of Zhao Guo in Hedong County live this winter?

More importantly, Hedong is close to Xihe County, the current battlefield between Qin and Zhao, so it naturally became the logistics base for the Zhao army led by Zhao Kuo to supply grain and grass on the western battlefield.

But now that Hedong County can't protect itself, how can it supply Zhao Kuo's troops with food and grass?

Lin Xiangru came back to his senses: "Hurry up, prepare the chariots and horses immediately, the old man will enter the palace immediately to meet his drivers!"

An hour later, the sky had become completely dark, but King Zhao's palace was still brightly lit.

The Empress Dowager's pretty face was frosty, and she said coldly: "The locust plague has not happened for so many years, why did it suddenly come this year?"

It would be fine if it was just a mere locust plague, but now Zhao Guo is fighting on two fronts, and the impact of this locust plague will be infinitely magnified.

So the Queen Mother was very angry, very angry.

Zhou Shaofen stood up. As a lieutenant, it was Zhou Shaofen's duty to supervise all officials.

Zhou Shaofen said: "Returning to the Queen Mother, according to the minister's information, it may be caused by the locust plague in Qin State last year, not because the local officials did not respond effectively."

After Zhou Shaofen finished speaking, everyone froze.

Such things as locust plagues rarely occur in normal years, and are usually accompanied by wars.

The year before last, Zhao Guo invaded Guanzhong and ceded Xihe County. Li Mu burned countless cities in Guanzhong, directly causing Qin's Guanzhong headquarters to almost collapse.

In the second year, that is, last year, a plague of locusts broke out in Guanzhong of Qin State, and once spread to Xihe County of Zhao State.

Then this year, the locust plague struck again, not only in Xihe County, but also in Hedong County, which is separated from Xihe County by the Yellow River.

After listening to the queen mother, she was speechless and angry: "What are these local officials doing? There are already signs of signs, why don't they prevent and kill them in time?"

None of Zhao Guo's ministers opened their mouths to speak.

In this era, there are no chemical pesticides and large-scale machinery. Human beings can basically do nothing when facing overwhelming locusts.

Even if you beat dozens or hundreds of locusts to death with a stick, the number of locusts that can cause a plague of locusts is uncountable. The dense swarms fly over like the tide, and eat up everything they touch by the way.

How to prevent it?

There is no way to prevent it.

Seeing that no one answered, the Empress Dowager became even more angry, and said coldly: "Why, is there no one from the Qing family who can share the worries of the old woman and the king?"

Lin Xiangru took a deep breath and stood up: "Queen Dowager, I think the only solution for now is to negotiate peace with Qin."

When Lin Xiangru finished speaking, everyone was startled.

Pang Nuan said almost subconsciously: "This is absolutely impossible!"

Lin Xiangru snorted and said coldly, "Why not?

Now the supply of grain and grass in Handan is already very embarrassing, and it is not enough to supply more to Xihe County at the same time!Without food, how can we fight this battle?

Anyway, Wu Xinjun's side is only a subsidiary direction, and the people of Qin will not think about fighting us to the death, just negotiate a peace and cede a few cities to them! "

Pang Nuan stared at Lin Xiangru, and said with a sneer, "Mr. Wen Xin, you seem to be thinking about Da Zhao on the surface, but in fact you are still thinking about your political struggles, right?

You simply want to damage Wu Xinjun's reputation, right? "

If Zhao Guo takes the initiative to make peace at this time, it means that Zhao Guo is showing weakness.

Zhao Guo showed weakness when Zhao Kuo led the army, which undoubtedly dealt a blow to Zhao Kuo's prestige.

Lin Xiangru chuckled, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and said to Pang Nuan, "This old man is dedicated to the country, and I don't have the kind of idea you Pang Qing said! If Pang Qing, you have other ideas, you can conjure up a large amount of food out of thin air and transport it to Pang Nuan." Xihe County, that old man will take back the words of the peace talks just now!"

Pang Nuan: "" How can something like food be conjured out of thin air?

Now, no matter how wise Pang Nuan is, he has nothing to say.

The queen mother turned her eyes slightly, and her heart moved.

It would be great if a peace can be negotiated and Zhao Kuo's prestige can be slightly damaged!And now this is the objective situation of food shortage, no matter how upset Zhao Kuo is, he can only hold back!A smile appeared on the corner of the queen mother's mouth, and she glanced at Mr. Pingyuan: "Mr. Pingyuan, what's your opinion?"

Mr. Pingyuan is also an old fritter, his eyes turned around for a few times, and then he said slowly: "The old man thinks that Mr. Wen Xin's words are still very reasonable.

Now negotiating peace with Qin State is at best ceding a few small cities to Qin State, and they can call back at any time.

It is still necessary to focus on the overall situation, and stabilize Qin State first. "

The Empress Dowager laughed and said, "Then let's do this.

Pang Qing, you are a great leader in charge of diplomacy, the old woman ordered you to leave for Xihe County immediately, and preside over the peace negotiation with Qin with Mr. Wu Xinjun!As long as the cession does not exceed five cities, then there is no need to report to Handan, it is up to you and Lord Wu Xin to decide! "

Looking at the sluggish Pang Nuan, the Empress Dowager, Lord Pingyuan, and Lin Xiangru showed meaningful smiles at the same time.

This time, everyone finally joined forces to make Zhao Kuo dumb!

Chapter 637 The Excellent Cooperation between Xianyang and Handan

Pang Nuan was worried, and returned to the mansion, sighing.

"Why is the world always targeting Wu Xinjun?"

Pang Nuan was a little helpless.

One of Pang Nuan's confidantes said: "My lord, since Lord Wu Xin has betrayed everyone, why don't we choose another family?"

Pang Nuan snorted heavily, and said: "It's nonsense! This old man has never been the kind of person who can abandon his allies and show no loyalty in his life. Don't bring up this matter in the future!"

Pang Nuan thought for a while, and suddenly smiled: "The old man has nothing to do with this matter, but it doesn't mean that Wu Xinjun has nothing to do with this matter.

Come on, go and inform Wu Xinjun's mansion immediately, and let them send a message to Wu Xinjun on the front line! "

In this regard, Pang Nuan's confidants obviously also have different opinions: "Now that the general trend has come, what else can Wu Xinjun do?"

Pang Nuan's mood began to improve, and he stroked his beard and laughed: "You guys don't know anything about Wu Xinjun's ability!"

Pang Nuan learned from He Guanzi. Although He Guanzi's lineage is not as good as Guiguzi's lineage in vertical and horizontal ways, it also has its own skills of knowing people.

In Pang Nuan's view, Zhao Kuo was not besieged once or twice by Zhao Guojun and his ministers, but every time he was able to retreat completely and even started the road to counter-kill.

What does this mean?

It shows that Wu Xinjun's ability has far exceeded Zhao's level.

Everyone thought Wu Xinjun was on the second floor, but Pang Nuan firmly believed that Wu Xinjun was actually on the fifth floor.

This is the most fundamental reason why Pang Nuan made such a rebellious hint to Zhao Kuo at the banquet some time ago!In Yinjin City, Xihe County, Zhao Jun's camp.

"My lord, something is wrong!"

Xu Li walked into Zhao Kuo's study in a hurry, and reported to Zhao Kuo: "The news that Handan just arrived, because of the locust plague in Hedong County, the Queen Mother has ordered Pang Nuan to come here to negotiate peace with the people of Qin as a peace envoy!"

Zhao Kuo raised his eyebrows slightly: "Negotiate peace?

interesting. "

Li Mu, who was in the study, was also stunned when he heard the words, and then he was very angry: "The gathering of our army's soldiers is an excellent opportunity to counterattack Qin, how can we negotiate peace with the people of Qin at this time?"

Zhao Kuo tapped his finger on the table slightly, and said lightly: "Hedong County is the granary behind our army. Now Hedong County is suffering from locust plagues, and Xihe County was also suffering from locust plagues last year. It means that our army's military supplies will soon be exhausted. .

From this point of view, it is reasonable to negotiate a peace. "

Xu Li reminded: "Master, judging from the situation in Handan, it is very likely that we will be targeted again this time."

Zhao Kuo laughed: "Uncle Xu, haven't Benhou been targeted less often?

No problem. "

Li Mu took the initiative to invite Ying: "Master, as long as you give me [-] Chi You troops, I will take the Yiqu people south to Guanzhong, and I will definitely show the Qin people another good look!"

Zhao Kuo pondered for a while, but still rejected Li Mu's proposal: "No, since the queen mother has decided to negotiate a peace, we can't start the war again. That is an out-and-out act of disobedience!"

Li Mu said somewhat unwillingly: "Then we can only watch the group of people in Handan slander the reputation of the lord in vain?"

Although Li Mu is not politically sensitive, the intention of Handan this time is too obvious, anyone can see it at a glance.

This is the out-and-out suppression against Zhao Kuo!Zhao Kuo smiled slightly and said, "Uncle Xu, are Qin Guoyi and the envoy Fan Sui arriving soon?"

Xu Li was about to speak when suddenly there was another knock on the door.

"Wu Xinjun, the Qin Guoyi peace mission has arrived!"

Zhao Kuo nodded, and then suddenly couldn't help laughing out loud: "Speaking of which, this time it was really an unintentional trick.

The people of Qin State also want peace talks, and Handan also wants peace talks. They all think that as long as there are peace talks, the Marquis will suffer. Interesting, really interesting! "

Sitting on the carriage, Fan Sui watched the gate of Yinjin City slowly close behind him, feeling a little uneasy.

What is the next road?

Under the "escort" of a group of Zhao Guo soldiers, Fan Sui's carriage crossed half of Yinjin City, and soon came to an unremarkable mansion in the city, which was the temporary official residence of General Zhao Kuo.

As soon as he entered the lobby, Fan Sui saw Zhao Kuo.

Zhao Kuo greeted Fan Sui with a smile: "Yingwai, long time no see!"

Fan Sui couldn't help but tremble.

The experience of meeting Zhao Kuo last time left a lot of psychological shadow on Fan Sui.

The strength of this Wu Xinjun is not only reflected in the battlefield.

Fan Sui bit his bullet and said, "Wu Xinjun, long time no see."

Zhao Kuo nodded, and said playfully, "Yingwai, is it possible that King Qin has figured it out and is going to cede Xianyang to Da Zhao when you come this time?"

Fan Sui was stunned for a moment, then immediately regained his composure, and said with a smile: "Mr. Wu Xin was joking, this time the Marquis is indeed here to discuss peace.

But that's just because I, the King of Great Qin, can't bear to see people burn to death.

If Lord Wu Xin and the Empress Dowager of your country agree, the Zhao State only needs to return the five cities of Xihe County to Daqin, and then the peace negotiation this time can be successfully concluded. "

Negotiations are all about paying back the money on the ground, which can be seen from Fan Sui's words.