Back to the Warring States Period as Zhao Kuo

I have to admit that Zhao Kuo's development over the past few years when he was prime minister is completely unexpected, and the number of people who freeze to death and starve to death due to snowstorms every year is also greatly reduced.

But for Zhao Kuo, this is obviously not enough, because Zhao Kuo hopes that everyone can at least have enough food and clothing.

If you want to do this, the first thing is to unify the country.

Only when a unified dynasty can be established, can the power of the country be mobilized to the greatest extent to support those who have suffered from snow disasters.

Moreover, most of Zhao's financial expenditures are actually concentrated on the army today, which is also because of the continuous war and there is no way to do it.

If the whole of China can be unified, even if it is to expand abroad, it will not need to spend so much military expenditure, and it will be able to spend more on the development of internal politics and people's livelihood.

This is the disadvantage of not having a system. In many cases, Zhao Kuo can only concentrate on one aspect, and other aspects can only come gradually.

But now it can be said that the road is tortuous, but the future is already very bright. There are only three countries left, and Zhao Kuo can completely complete the great cause of unifying the world.

With such a mood, Zhao Kuo also walked into the hall and sat down slowly.

Soon, all the others arrived, and then King Zhao appeared.

After the routine ceremony was over, King Zhao said, "The reason why we called everyone together today is to discuss which country we should attack next.

If you have any comments, feel free to speak up. "

After Zhao Wang's voice fell, everyone present looked very calm, obviously everyone had already thought of this.

Many people turned their attention to Zhao Kuo and Li Mu.

If it was before, since Lian Po has been dismissed now, Zhao Kuo, in the entire Zhao Kingdom Hall, can express his opinion on the military.

After Zhao Kuo finished speaking, everyone could only agree with Zhao Kuo's opinion, as if the demise of South Korea was like this.

But the situation is different now, because Zhao Kuo now has a new opponent, and that is Li Mu.

Considering that although Li Mu is only Zhao Kuo's subordinate, he has also been a victorious general for a long time in the past, so theoretically speaking, it is indeed possible for Li Mu to have a paper talk with Zhao Kuo here. sex.

Zhao Kuo's expression was very calm, and he opened his mouth to the King Zhao in front of him and said, "I want to tell you, my lord, that the old minister thinks that Qi should be destroyed first.

Today's Qi State is too close to our Handan. If Qi State is not destroyed, the safety of our eastern side of Handan cannot be guaranteed.

Only after the Qi State is destroyed, can we go south or west with peace of mind to remove the threat from the two countries of Qin and Chu. "

For Zhao Kuo, the logic of his current dispatch of troops is actually very simple, that is, whoever approaches Handan will be attacked.

On the one hand, this method of warfare can ensure that Zhao Guo can mobilize enough elite forces to attack. After all, everyone knows that it is most convenient to mobilize troops in the capital.

From another point of view, this can in turn ensure the safety of Handan.

Because Handan is not as dangerous as Guanzhong in Qin State. Handan is located in the northern part of the Central Plains north of the Yellow River. Whether it is Qi State or Chu State, it is very easy to cross the Yellow River and hit the city of Handan.

Compared with the current national strength of Zhao State, as the most powerful country in the world, Zhao State does not need to take such risks.

After all, once someone beats him to the city of Handan, Zhao Guo will probably fall apart instantly and be taken advantage of by others.

The current state of Zhao is already very powerful. If you do anything, you only need to advance steadily to the past, and you can steadily destroy other countries without any risk at all.

After hearing Zhao Kuo's analysis, the hall suddenly fell into silence.

Zhao Wang also nodded again and again, thinking that what Zhao Kuo said was indeed very reasonable.

This also made King Zhao curious, how would Li Mu refute Zhao Kuo?

Not only King Zhao, but the Zhou brothers also looked at Li Mu with curiosity, obviously looking forward to it.

As for Zhao Kuo's side, they were also staring at Li Mu, but the expressions of the three people on Zhao Kuo's side were very calm, as if they were waiting for Li Mu's move.

Li Mu also stood up, took a deep breath, and spoke slowly.

"My Majesty, I think what Wu Xinjun said is indeed very reasonable. We should first attack and destroy Qi."

When hearing these words, most of the people in the hall were stunned.

Obviously, under such circumstances, they did not expect that Li Mu would actually support Zhao Kuo's opinion.

But the next moment, Li Mu's words made everyone suddenly enlightened again.

I saw Li Mu continue to speak: "I hope to be the commander of the Qi army this time, so that I can destroy Qi for the king. I don't know what the king thinks?"

After Li Mu's words, the Zhou brothers' frowns immediately relaxed.

The corner of Zhou Shaofen's mouth twitched slightly, and even showed a smile. At this moment, Zhou Shaofen had the urge to applaud Li Mu.

Li Mu's intention is actually very simple, that is to say, he also knows that absolutely no one can compare with Zhao Kuo in terms of talking about war on paper, so Li Mu will not compare with Zhao Kuo directly, and he will compete with Zhao Kuo for this command of the general.

As long as Li Mu can become the main general who will destroy Qi this time, even if Zhao Kuo did propose a strategy, Li Mu will still get the real credit.

In this way, Li Mu can maximize his strengths and avoid his weaknesses, neither confront Zhao Kuo head-on, but also make Zhao Kuo gain nothing, and at the same time, Li Mu himself can get enough credit.

High, really high!At this moment Zhou Shaofen even wanted to applaud Li Mu.

Zhao Wang also came back to his senses at this time, smiled and nodded slightly.

At the beginning, Zhao Wang was actually a little worried that Li Mu would not be able to beat Zhao Kuo, but now it seems that Li Mu's performance can be said to be very perfect, even more unexpected than Zhao Wang.

This is the courtier that King Zhao really hopes to get!King Zhao looked at Zhao Kuo, because he knew that Zhao Kuo would not let it go.

Sure enough, Zhao Kuo immediately said: "The general's words are wrong. Since it is the strategy I proposed, the whole strategy is naturally the one I am most familiar with, so I think it is the most reliable to let me take the lead. .”

Zhao Kuo had to make Zhao Wang and the Zhou brothers feel that he and Li Mu were still in a fighting relationship between political enemies, so of course he wanted to compete with Li Mu for the position of chief general.

In fact, at this time, Zhao Kuo was very clear that he would definitely not be able to compete with Li Mu for the position of chief general, but what Zhao Kuo wanted was precisely this result.

Now Li Mu belongs to Zhao Kuo's dark game, the more credit Li Mu makes, the happier Zhao Kuo will be.

After the two quarreled for a few words, King Zhao finally coughed and spoke slowly.

"I think this strategy is indeed proposed by Wu Xinjun, but, after all, Wu Xinjun is also a senior who has made a lot of contributions, so we should give others a chance.

The widow has already decided, let General Li Mu be the commander in chief to destroy the Qi State, and lead the army to attack the Qi State in the spring of next year! "

As soon as King Zhao said this, a smile appeared on Li Mu's face, and he stood up to thank King Zhao.

On the other side, although the Zhou brothers said that there was nothing wrong with the two of them this time, they still showed a very happy expression on their faces.

For them, being able to see Zhao Kuo eating turtles is the greatest happiness.

As for Zhao Kuo, who is the focus of everyone's attention, although he looks very unhappy on the surface, in fact Zhao Kuo is also secretly proud of himself in his heart.

This time, it can be said that everyone is very happy.

Chapter 1010: Li Mu Sends Troops to Attack Qi

Zhao Kuo quickly returned to his mansion and had a meeting with his confidants and allies.

At the meeting, Zhao Kuo also said with a very calm expression: "The current situation is that we must cooperate with him to destroy the Qi State. As long as the Qi State is really destroyed, we can officially start."

Although Zhao Kuo didn't say what the formal action was, everyone present at the scene understood at once. The consciousness came over was obvious, that is, Zhao Kuo planned to launch a coup d'état.

After hearing the news, everyone present showed excited expressions on their faces. For them, they had been waiting for this day for a long, long time.

Zhao Guo immediately began to gather troops and various supplies, and of course it was impossible to hide from other countries in this situation, which immediately made people in the other three countries full of vigilance, because they were not sure Which country will Zhao Guo fight next?

The winter has just passed, and spring will come soon, followed by the hot spring plowing season.

At this stage, there are generally no wars, because the farmland requires labor, but after the end of spring plowing, a large number of young and strong farmers will join the army and begin to enter the battlefield, and the war officially breaks out from here.

After a spring plowing season that can be said to be sleepless for other countries, Zhao's army officially assembled in Handan City.

When Zhao's army officially assembled in Handan City and set off, the other three countries were surprised at the same time.

For the other three countries, they originally thought that this time they would either fight Chu or Qin.

Because these two countries have always had some grievances with Zhao Guo, and at the same time these two countries are relatively powerful among the remaining three countries.

But when Zhao's army crossed the Yellow River eastward under the leadership of Li Mu and formally entered the territory of Qi, everyone came to their senses. It turned out that the target of Zhao's attack this time was actually Qi.

This is something that the Qi people themselves did not think of.

In the Palace of the King of Qi in Linzi City, when the King of Qi heard the news, he was stunned.

After several seconds, King Qi couldn't help but jumped up and started yelling.

"Are these Zhao people crazy?

Sure enough, he didn't do anything well, and he didn't provoke them at all. Why did they come to attack the widowed country of Qi? "

It is obviously impossible for anyone to answer King Qi's words.

But at this moment, King Qi urgently needed someone to vent his anger on, so he immediately turned his attention to Hou Sheng, and said to Hou Sheng viciously: "Hou Sheng, haven't you always been very good with Zhao Kuo, come and get along with Zhao Kuo." Let me explain, what is the situation now?"

When Hou Sheng heard what King Qi said, he was also stunned.

At this time, Housheng actually felt that he was wronged, because in Housheng's view, most of the money sent by the Zhao people was used as tribute to the King of Qi, and the treasures and beauties sent by the Zhao people, It is all handed over to King Qi to choose first, and only after King Qi is in a good mood can he leave a little soup for Hou Sheng.

So to put it bluntly, the reason why Qi State has not participated in the war in the past so many years is mainly because Zhao State used money to buy King Qi.

King Qi is enjoying and enjoying himself now, but when someone comes to attack him, he transfers this contradiction to Hou Sheng, and wants to use Hou Sheng to vent his anger. Isn't this killing a donkey?

But Hou Sheng is not a fool, he knows the current situation, if he wants to shirk responsibility for himself, it is tantamount to confirming that King Qi is responsible, which is absolutely impossible.

So Hou Sheng thumped directly, knelt down on the ground with a thud, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty Mingjian, it is indeed the old minister who is guilty.

When Zhao Guoren sent gold, silver and jewels, the veteran only thought that with these gold and silver jewels, he could make the King happy, but he didn't expect that this was actually Zhao Guoren's plan to slow down the army.

Now that the Zhao people are calling, it is indeed the negligence of the old minister, and he asked the king to punish the old minister, and the veteran has absolutely nothing to say. "

After hearing these words of Hou Sheng, King Qi's expression also moved slightly involuntarily, and fell into deep thought.

For King Qi, he actually attaches great importance to Hou Sheng. After all, Hou Sheng is his own uncle, and King Qi also knows that Hou Sheng is absolutely impossible to betray him, because Hou Sheng has a very good reputation in Qi's political arena. If he loses the protection of King Qi, he will be killed by others in minutes.

And what Hou Sheng said just now is also correct. Most of the things that Hou Sheng collected came from the State of Zhao, and they were all tributes to King Qi for enjoyment. After being reminded, King Qi was somewhat embarrassed to continue to blame the queen. won.

So King Qi turned his attention to Kuang Liang, the Grand Sima of the State of Qi, and said, "Grand Sima, tell me how we should solve this problem now?"

For King Qi, the Great Sima who once defeated Zhao Guo's army has undoubtedly become the last support in his heart at this moment.

Kuang Liang thought about it seriously for a while, and then said: "My lord, I feel that at this time, if we want to rely solely on the strength of our Qi country, it is actually difficult to do right with the people of Zhao country. We must Immediately send envoys to unite with Qin and Chu, only by uniting the forces of the three countries can we completely defeat Zhao's plot to destroy our Qi."

In fact, Kuang Liang saw the whole situation very clearly. The current Zhao country has destroyed three countries in a row. It is the strongest country in the history of China in terms of power and population.

To fight against such a country, it is obviously not enough to rely solely on the Qi State occupying the Jiaodong Peninsula. It is necessary to unite Qin State and Chu State together to be able to have the power to fight against Zhao State.

After listening to Kuangliang's report, King Qi also nodded again and again, and said repeatedly: "It's very reasonable, I will immediately send someone to discuss it with the monarchs of the other two countries. The people of the country are rampant in the territory of our country of Qi.

Hou Sheng, you are in charge of this matter. If you can't even do this kind of thing well, then the widow will directly chop off your head and feed it to pigs, understand? "

Wang's words have reached this point, Hou Sheng naturally nodded repeatedly, not daring to say anything wrong.

Although it is true that Hou Sheng does not have the ability to govern the country, he is actually useful in diplomacy. Otherwise, it is impossible to say that relying on the trust of the King of Qi alone will be able to do so firmly in the position of the Prime Minister of Qi. for many years.

After scolding Hou Sheng again, King Qi relaxed his expression again, looked at Kuang Liang in front of him and said, "Great Sima, although Qin and Chu should have a good chance to send troops to help us this time. , but, after all, the 20 troops led by Li Mu are about to arrive in Linzi, so how do you view this matter?"

For King Qi, of course he hopes to be rescued by Qin and Chu, but there is a very obvious problem in front of him, that is, Qi should at least withstand the arrival of reinforcements from the other two countries. Zhao's offensive.

If you want to achieve this, then for now, King Qi must rely on Kuang Liang.

Sure enough, the next moment, Kuang Liang immediately said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, the old minister is willing to lead all the troops of our Qi State to fight against Li Mu. It cannot be said that he will definitely be defeated, but at least he can be blocked outside Linzi City and wait for him." With the arrival of reinforcements from the other two countries."

For Kuang Liang, his current strategy is actually very conservative, because there is an obvious fact that Zhao Guo is indeed too powerful now, and it is impossible for Qi Guo to confront Zhao Guo head-on.

Since it is impossible to confront directly, the only solution is of course to stick to it and wait for help.

If the reinforcements from Qin and Chu arrived, the power of the three countries might still be weaker than that of Zhao, but at least they would have the power to compete with Zhao.

He also has no opinion at all about the Qi kings that Kuang Liang said, he nodded repeatedly, and said repeatedly: "Then do this, the widow will give you the soldier talisman immediately, and all the troops in the entire Qi country will belong to you." Commander, as long as you can keep Qi, you can say anything."

If after the demise of the other three countries before, the king of Qi can see it clearly, if the country of Zhao country does not want to fight, it will be fine. Qi people must not have any luck in this situation.

After receiving the full support of the King of Qi, Kuang Liang also left the palace immediately, and began to mobilize Qi's soldiers, horses, manpower and material resources intensively.

Then this time Kuangliang's preparations for war were actually very unsuccessful.

The military system of Qi State is completely different from other countries. The soldiers of Qi State are mercenaries. They have money to spend when they are fighting, and they are disbanded when they are not fighting. .

This kind of military force system once brought a lot of glory to Qi State when Qi State was strong and prosperous, but in this era, it has caused that if Qi State wants to fight, it must first take some money from the treasury. Only a large sum of money can pay these soldiers, and then the soldiers are willing to fight on the battlefield.

But the problem is that King Qi is a guy who likes to enjoy. If he wants to enjoy, he must pay a lot of money. The money is spent like running water, which makes Qi's treasury very empty.

With a very empty treasury, how could there be a large sum of money to pay the soldiers so that the soldiers would be willing to fight on the battlefield?

So this caused that when Kuangliang was recruiting troops, it was clear that Zhao's army had begun to approach Linzi non-stop, but the number of recruited troops in Linzi was still pitifully small.

As a last resort, Kuang Liang had no choice but to take a large part of his family property and distribute it to the soldiers, and promised that as long as Zhao Kuo's army was defeated, there would be more rewards. An army of 15 people.

After this point in time, finally the army of Qi State could set off to the west to meet the 20 Zhao State army led by Zhao State Li Mu.

About tens of miles west of Linzi, there is a city called Changguo.