In the study in Qufu City, Xiao He was sitting on his knees behind his desk, holding a brush with his head lowered and looking at the bamboo slips. He couldn't help but frown, and then he looked up and looked outside the study.
"Food, millet, thousands of stones! Why is the general? The disaster of ruining the country~!"
Xiao He said to himself full of doubts.
Since the grain and grain conscripted by the Qin State arrived, Xiao He keenly noticed that at this time, the Qin State was also exhausted, the storehouses were empty, and the counties and counties were without grain.
But what puzzled Xiao He even more was why Bai Yan was so eager to start this war and let Qin take such a big risk.
The faster the territory expands, the easier it is for backlash.
"no!"
Xiao He thought of something, stood up quickly, and then walked out of the study, ignoring the bamboo slips piled all around.
On top of Qufu City.
Bai Yan stood in the city road and looked at the Qin army camp outside the city. Even though he was far away, Bai Yan could hear the shouts of the soldiers who were practicing.
"General!"
When Bai Yan heard Xiao He's voice, he turned around and saw Xiao He walking over in a hurry.
Seeing Xiao He, Bai Yan was a little surprised. Since Xiao He was asked to take charge of logistics, Xiao He devoted himself wholeheartedly to it. During this period of time, Bai Yan rarely saw Xiao He unless he went to the mansion.
Why did Xiao He look so anxious today?
"General!"
Xiao He came to Bai Yan, held the bamboo slip in his hand and saluted Bai Yan, and then handed the bamboo slip in his hand to Bai Yan when Bai Yan returned the gift.
"General, look, there are only more than a thousand grains and millets, but they are enough for one county. Xiao He is worried that there is a shortage of grain in the four places of Qin State."
Xiao He watched Bai Yan staring at the bamboo slip, then came to Bai Yan's side, looked at Bai Yan, pointed to the content on the bamboo slip, and said to Bai Yan.
Although Xiao He accomplished nothing in half his life, he did not just stay at home. He studied books from various countries and studied the laws of various countries. Incidentally, behind each incident, Xiao He had seen the formation of famines in various places, as well as what happened.
In troubled times, how to deal with it.
Xiao He had observed these patterns, and every performance of the Qin State in front of him made Xiao He keenly aware of the changes, which were the precursors of Qin State's exhaustion.
"General, once the Qin State goes to war with the Chu State and the war continues for a long time, I am afraid that the Qin State will not be able to steadily send grain and millet. Then the soldiers will be short of food, which will inevitably cause serious trouble and even be exploited by the Chu Army!"
Xiao He said with a serious face, looking at Bai Yan with worry in his eyes.
"I already know this!"
After Bai Yan read the bamboo slips, he returned them to Xiao He, and then looked towards the Qin army camp outside the city.
Xiao He took the bamboo slip and looked at Bai Yan.
At this time, HP also walked up the city road from the stairs in the city and walked towards Bai Yan.
"General, according to the general's instructions, all the old and weak in the army have been transferred to Qi, Pingyang, Yishan Pass, and Xiaobo."
HP raised his hands to Bai Yan and said.
After capturing Qufu, we used the bounties in the city's inventory. Those who deserved rewards have been rewarded. Others who did not receive rewards are very jealous. Now the morale is available, and there is also time for those corps commanders and commanders to practice.
Looking at Bai Yan, HP felt that after following Bai Yan for a long time, he found that Bai Yan and Li Mu had many similarities.
For example, Qi, Pingyang, Yishan Pass, and Xiaozhu are all the fastest roads from the Chu State to Qufu. If the Chu State wants to recapture Qufu, these are the cities that the Chu army wants to capture most, and the general
, but specially sent the old and weak of the army and a small number of strong men to garrison.
Thinking of Bai Yan's original words, "All information is far less deceptive than the eyes, especially the smarter people." HP couldn't help but think of General Li Mu who used a similar method more than ten years ago to deceive people.
The Xiongnu army lured the enemy deeper and surrounded the Xiongnu army.
"Okay, during this time, train these soldiers well and tell them that attacking Chu is their best chance to win titles, servants, fields, and money."
Bai Yan said to HP.
"promise!"
HP nodded,
Xiao He on the side saw that Bai Yan had arranged everything. Although he was worried, he could only suppress his worries in his heart. Since Bai Yan knew, that was fine.
Xiao He, who had never participated in a war before, now followed Bai Yan and was entrusted with important tasks by Bai Yan. Only then did he understand why people said that a hundred thousand soldiers and horses would cost thousands of gold a day.
This battle involving more than 100,000 people is really not something that ordinary people can fight if they want to.
The Chu State is different from the Qin State in this regard. In addition to the Chu State's army, the Chu State also implements a clan military system. In other words, in addition to the royal court, the famous families of the Chu State all have private soldiers in their respective fiefdoms.
, as few as a few thousand people, and as many as more than 100,000.
Not to mention the three clans of Qu Jingzhao, just like the Xiang clan and the Huang clan, they all use the taxes from the territory to raise private soldiers from their respective clans. The number of private soldiers depends entirely on the size and prosperity of the territory.
This is why when previous kings of Chu wanted to send troops to other countries, they often had to rely on other nobles and provide benefits to those nobles. Even when they competed for the new king of Chu, they completely relied on the support of other nobles.
Although Xiao He is just an ordinary scholar and belongs to a declining branch of the Xiao family, Xiao He still has heard about the past when Xiong You seized the throne. It seems that Xiong You was able to defeat Xiong You and Li Yuan at the beginning.
, giving up a lot of fiefdoms, allowing some nobles to betray Xiong Fuchu at the most critical moment.
Although Xiong You and Li Yuan were later killed, this incident was still very sensational.
"General, what's wrong, Lord Yao Jia of Qi State, ordered someone to send the news!!!"
Xiao He was about to say goodbye to Bai Yan and leave. Suddenly, a soldier hurried over and handed a roll of bamboo slips to Bai Yan.
Xiao He was a little confused when he heard the news that it was Qin Shangqing Yao Jia.
"General, what happened?"
HP looked at Bai Yan's frown, couldn't help but be curious, and asked softly.
After Bai Yan read the bamboo slips, he handed them to HP and Xiao He.
"What, someone actually dares to assassinate Prime Minister Qin in Qi State!"
Seeing the bamboo slips, HP and Xiao He looked at the bamboo slips in shock, and then looked at each other.
Bai Yan turned his head and looked at Busy.
"Hey, go and call Ban Ding over!"
Bai Yan gave instructions softly to Mang, who had been following him all day.
Qufu is not far from the State of Qi. The assassination of Prime Minister Qin will undoubtedly affect the decision of the King of Qi and even the entire State of Qi. Bai Yan knows this truth and Yao Jia also knows this truth, so Yao Jia immediately ordered
This matter was sent to him at the border.
"promise!"
You cupped your hands in front of Bai Yan to receive the order, then turned around and left.
"General, do you want to send troops to guard Yangguan?"
HP looked at Bai Yan and asked.
"No, stay still for now..."
Bai Yan looked solemn and pondered for a few moments, but he still shook his head and asked HP to train his soldiers first. There is no need to worry too much about the Qi army in Yangguan.
Half an hour later.
As HP and Xiao He left, Ban Ding followed Zhang and came to Bai Yan.
After meeting Ban Ding, Bai Yan did not go around the bush and directly showed Ban Ding the news sent by Yao Jia.
"Chu State?"
Ban Ding's first reaction when he saw the news was that he was shocked. The prime minister of Qin, Wei Zhuang, was actually assassinated. After the shock, Ban Ding immediately thought of Chu. At the moment, there were only Chu and those in Qi.
The nobles who were against Qin were most likely to do these things.
"But with the retinue and accompanying Qin soldiers guarding it, and the Qi State also being wary of this matter, the Chu State would have no chance even if it took action!"
After Ban Ding mentioned the country of Chu, he immediately shook his head and softly denied his guess.
It's not the Chu State. If the Prime Minister of Qin was so easy to kill, the Chu State would have taken action long ago. Then the only possibility is that the Qi State...
Thinking of this, Ban Ding looked at Bai Yan.
"I want to see Nong Yue immediately!"
Bai Yan also understood what Ban Ding was thinking, so he did not hesitate to tell him the purpose of asking Ban Ding to come over. He was going to the border to meet the Chu general in person.
Wei Zhuang was assassinated, no matter whether it was done by those anti-Qin people in Qi State, the result will be that the forces of Qi State will be forced to rebel against Qin, and then the King of Qi will also be worried about being implicated, so he will form an alliance with Chu State
Against Qin.
Before these things happen, Bai Yan must take advantage of the gap to prevent these things from happening.
"General, don't worry, Ban Ding will leave for Yangguan immediately to arrange a meeting for the general!"
After hearing what Bai Yan said, Ban Ding agreed without any hesitation.
Ban Ding also knew at this time how dangerous this incident was to the Qin army between Qi and Chu.
………………
Two carriages were driving slowly on the official road. Looking at Qufu City far away in front of them, the middle-aged man in front of the first carriage had a nervous expression on his face.
"Who are you? Where are you going?"
Several cavalry officers guarding the city gate were checking the people entering and leaving the city gate. When they saw the carriage approaching, they looked over and saw the nervous look of the middle-aged man. They immediately realized something was wrong and became vigilant.
"I am a Korean, and this trip is to the Qi Kingdom! The carriage is full of female relatives of the clan. I hope you will be accommodating!"
The middle-aged man was obviously Baoding of the Bao clan. Baoding and the Bao clan were almost killed in the past, but fortunately Bai Yan secretly rescued him. Later, under the arrangement of Bao Yu, he has been hiding in the Chu Kingdom.
And if Bao Yu were to be here now, I'm afraid Bao Yu wouldn't even be able to imagine why Bao Ding would come to Qufu at this time.
"Female family?"
When the cavalry officer in his twenties heard Baoding's words, he walked toward the carriage with a Qin sword in doubt, and then opened the curtain.
When he saw that in the first carriage, in addition to a white-haired old man, there was also a woman, a young woman, he suddenly looked surprised.
"Come down!"
The soldier spoke and then walked towards the second carriage.
In the second carriage, there were surprisingly three women, one of whom was holding a child.
The cavalry officer looked at the two carriages and saw that these people seemed to be preparing to move, so he asked all the women to get down.
"General, we are indeed going to Qi State. We hope that the general will be accommodating."
Baoding was worried about the safety of his wife, concubines and daughter, so he quickly took out seven or eight coins from his arms and quietly handed them to the cavalry soldiers.
Seeing this, the soldiers took the money and did not refuse it. However, seeing that the carriage was full of items, the soldiers had to carefully search the items on the carriage to avoid mistakes. When a soldier got up, he saw that except for clothes, there was nothing else.
, then got off the carriage and prepared to let go.
Because it was decided to move house, there were a lot of things, and there were two carriages, so the inspection was quite time-consuming. This also resulted in many carriages of common people and nobles waiting inside and outside the city.
Qin attacked Chu and Qufu was occupied by the Qin army. This was enough to break the comfort of Qufu in the past, as well as the number of people and nobles coming and going.
"That woman is really a beauty. There are not many beauties like this in Qufu!"
"No, I just don't know the origins of these people, but it seems that they are not much better. Maybe they can be obtained with a little trick."
"Brother Tu, if you are interested in that woman, we will naturally not snatch her away, but if there is a chance, the other two beautiful women will be given to us. Although they are older, their appearance is quite attractive!
"
Apart from the common people who were coming and going, they looked curiously at the female relatives of Baoding. Next to the three carriages in the city, several nobles in silk clothes looked at Baoting and couldn't help but talk softly.
If Bai Yan were here, he would definitely see that the women being talked about by those gentry disciples were all the same women who laughed at him for his free time when he was at the Bao family's residence.
When Bai Yan followed Bao Yu and went to Bao Mansion under the pseudonym Jing Mo, the next day, these women were still in the pavilion, in front of Bao Yu, and laughed at Bai Yan for going to Bao Mansion to have a free meal, and for having the guts to confront Bao Yu when he was incompetent.
Tuo has a delusion that Bai Yan is not worthy of Bao Tu.
Compared to the last time Bai Yan saw these women coming out of prison in the tyrant house, although these women were not in such a miserable condition now, they were not much better.
In troubled times, there is no status, and many times things cannot be decided by oneself.
"go in!"
After seeing that there was nothing unusual, the soldiers nodded and let Baoding and others enter the city, but they couldn't help but look at Baoding.
Even in Qufu City, it is rare for them to see young women as beautiful as Bao Yu. Among them are either the daughters of high-ranking gentry or the wives and concubines of people they cannot afford to offend. Like Bao Yu, they are dressed in commoners.
It is abnormal to have such a beautiful appearance.
"Thank you! Thank you!"
Baoding felt the ill intentions of those clan members and felt chills all over his body. What he had always been most worried about was that his wife and daughter were being targeted by those clan members not far away.
Suddenly, there was the sound of cavalry.
Several cavalry officers who were originally guarding the city gate turned to look. When they saw General Huipu leading his cronies out of the city, the soldiers all knew that General Huipu was going to the Qin army's camp, so they gave way one after another.
"General!"
"General!!"
Not only the soldiers guarding the city gate, but also all the people around, as well as the arrogant and domineering nobles just now, all lowered their heads when they saw HP's arrival, and carefully stepped back to make way.
When Baoding saw this, he thought that he would need to rely on his daughter's beauty to regain wealth and status in the future. For this reason, he declined so many people's marriage proposals in Chu State in order to marry the most beautiful daughter to Baoding.
country.
Right now, here in Qufu, there is absolutely no room for failure with my daughter.
After thinking about it, and recalling the conversation between the clan members, Baoding suddenly felt his heart change, and he quickly stepped forward, knelt on the ground, and blocked the path of the cavalry and the Qin general.
Bao Ding's behavior not only shocked everyone, even Bao Lao, who was supported by Bao Tong, looked at Zhongzi Bao Ding in confusion.
I'm not feeling well, and I may not be able to code until after one o'clock in the morning. Sorry, the update may be unstable these days.
Thank you to the book friends for your monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. Thank you for the rewards. Thank you!