The stars are lonely and the lights in Xianyang Palace are twinkling.
King Zhuang Xiang returned to Zhangtai Palace with a yawning look on his face.
After his soul was injured, he was tired every day, and he managed to hold on until he finished listening to Zhao Huaizhong and his ministers discussing the strategies for the next pursuit and dealing with the five countries.
"Why are you back? You went to see Zheng'er. Tell me what we talked about." Zhao Ji, wearing a black dress, came up to ask.
"Wait...I'll talk to you tomorrow."
King Zhuang Xiang was next to the bed and fell asleep in an instant.
A maid wanted to come up and help him take off his robe, but Zhao Ji waved her hand to stop him, and personally helped King Zhuang Xiang take off his robe and cover him with a quilt.
Then she sat aside with a resentful look on her face, like an unsatisfied middle-aged woman.
She looked at King Zhuang Xiang attentively. In the past few days, the five kingdoms had joined forces to attack Qin. King Zhuang Xiang slept very uneasily.
When the Qin people defeated the five-nation joint army and the news of the great victory came back, King Zhuang Xiang was overjoyed, as if a heavy burden of ten thousand kilograms had been lifted.
At this moment, after he fell asleep, he looked peaceful, his face was as white as jade, his nose was high and his lips were thin. Even in his sleep, the corners of his mouth were still slightly raised, with a happy look on his face.
Zhao Ji looked at King Zhuang Xiang, the resentment on her face slowly melted away, revealing a warm color.
She recalled that when King Zhuang Xiang was held hostage in the State of Zhao, she was just a dancer who was presented to Queen Zhuang Xiang by Lu Buwei. The two of them supported each other in the State of Zhao.
There was once a dignitary of the Zhao Kingdom who wanted to get involved with Zhao Ji. King Zhuang Xiang was in a terrible situation at that time, but he flatly refused and stood in front of Zhao Ji.
Later, the two returned to Qin, and King Zhuang Xiang became the king of Qin. However, he never forgot his deep love, and made her a dancing girl the queen of Qin.
It was just that Zhao Huaizhong suffered a lot at that time and stayed in Zhao State as a hostage.
Until later, Zhao Huaizhong also returned to Qin.
Thinking that her son had shone brightly after returning to Qin, and now he has become the Lord of Qin... Zhao Ji had a bright smile on her face again.
In her half life, she has been a dancer and a queen. She has been treated by King Zhuang Xiang with all his heart. Now she is honored as the Queen Mother of the Qin Dynasty. She has no regrets.
"Your Majesty, no matter whether you can recover in the future or not, Zhao Ji will always be by your side."
She looked at King Zhuang Xiang, her face becoming more and more gentle.
At this moment, King Zhuang Xiang suddenly whispered: "Beat him and attack Wei!"
Zhao Ji was startled, then smiled and guessed that King Zhuang Xiang was still thinking about it in his sleep because he had just gone to see Zhao Huaizhong and didn't know what they had talked about.
Zhao Ji got up and went to the side hall next door to see her daughter Zhao Ying.
The little princess of Da Qin slept peacefully on a small bed in the side hall.
There are six maids taking turns taking care of you in the hall, and the atmosphere is quiet.
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In June, the five kingdoms jointly attacked Qin and were defeated miserably in front of Yougu Pass, and the situation took a turn for the worse.
The five kingdoms fled, but the Qin army pursued them fiercely.
Because they had gone too deep into the Qin territory, the five-nation coalition took a long time to withdraw. They were pursued by the Qin army all the way, and suffered considerable losses.
Wang Jian specially bit Zhao people and pursued them closely. This was Zhao Huaizhong's order.
The Zhao army is so elite that it will definitely be Qin's formidable enemy in unifying the six kingdoms in the future. If he seizes the opportunity, he will naturally bite off a piece of Zhao people's flesh, causing pain to his bones and bones.
The Qin army led by Wang Jian pursued them all the way to the Zhao territory. Later, Li Mu led his army to meet Pang Nuan, and Wang Jian withdrew his troops and ceased the war.
At this time, more than half of the 80,000 Zhao troops who had entered the country had been lost, and more than 30,000 Zhao troops were left to return to Zhao.
And among the more than 30,000 people, everyone was injured, and less than half were seriously injured.
On the other side, Wei and Chu were pursued along the road by Meng Ao, Meng Wu and his son, as well as generals such as Nei Shiteng and Yang Ruihe.
Meng Ao personally led an army to pursue Wei. Longyang Jun was eager to return to Daliang to relieve the king of Wei. Later, he had no choice but to adopt the strategy of cutting off the tail, leaving one third of the soldiers to cut off the rear and lead the rest of the troops to return to Wei quickly.
More than half of the one-third of the soldiers he left behind were captured by the Qin army and sent to Zheng Guoqu to work as coolies.
Anyone who resisted resolutely was executed and beheaded.
This battle also severely damaged the vitality of the Wei people. More importantly, the Wei people had to face the Qi people when they returned.
Meng Ao then raised troops to attack Wei again, forming a pincer attack with the Qi people. Wei was surrounded by enemies from both sides and was in dire straits.
The remaining Chu State coalition forces were in a similar situation. They were pursued by the combined forces of Nei Shiteng and Yang Ruihe, and fought all the way to the Chu border. They fought and fought for many days.
Only Yan and Han suffered little loss.
Chasing them were the young generals who had been released for training, Wang Ben, Meng Tian, and Meng Yi brothers.
These later famous generals of the Qin Dynasty, who were still a little immature at this time, led their armies to pursue each other. Yan and Han teamed up to rush out of the Qin territory, and the losses suffered were relatively light.
The Yan State was actually a double agent in this conspiracy.
Prince Dan secretly colluded with Da Qin, but his alliance with the Five Kingdoms was not a lie.
He wanted to see which side would win and take advantage, so he would fall to that side.
If the Qin people are really defeated, Prince Dan will lead his army to attack Qin, but if the coalition forces are unfavorable, Prince Dan will be prepared to secretly defeat Qin, such as holding back, withdrawing the troops first, to show his attitude, etc.
So when he saw that the coalition forces were about to collapse in the battle of Yougu Pass, he immediately evacuated with the Koreans and had no intention of fighting the Qin army.
Things are not over yet.
After the five countries returned home, they also experienced continuous changes.
First, the five kingdoms later learned that it was the Qi people who attacked Wei in the back, leading to the defeat of the allied forces, and they were all furious. Later, on the initiative of Prince Dan, they gathered the power of the five kingdoms to jointly attack Qi.
This has also happened in history.
The Five Kingdoms' attack on Qin failed, and the reason came back to find out that the Qi people did not participate. In this world, they also stabbed the Wei Dynasty in the back, which accelerated the defeat of the coalition forces.
So the five countries took their losses out on the Qi people.
Of course, there are also traces of Zhao Huaizhong's secret operation. Among the few letters he sent out at the beginning, one was for Prince Dan.
The State of Yan has always been sandwiched between Zhao and Qi. Turning the gun against the Qi people will be of great benefit to Yan.
It happened that Qi people attacked Wei, resulting in the failure of the alliance, which provided Prince Dan with the best reason.
In the letter, Zhao Huaizhong vaguely reminded Prince Dan that he could take the opportunity to attack Qi.
At the right time, before the Wei people were attacked by Qi, Crown Prince Dan came over with his proposal, and Wei Wu responded with joy. The other countries also agreed because of the failure of the alliance, so they joined forces to attack Qi.
The people of Qi were forced to withdraw their troops from Wei to cope with the attack of the Five Kingdoms.
Zhao Huaizhong's continuous operations were beneficial to Da Qin in that if the Wei people wanted to free up their hands to avenge the Qi people's attack, they had to appease Da Qin first.
Otherwise, if Qin and Qi cooperate, Wei will be attacked from both sides and collapse.
So before attacking Qi, the king of Wei was forced to offer his city to negotiate peace with Qin, and proposed to cede Chaoge, Jidi and other four cities in order to appease Qin's anger and make a truce with the Qin people.
At this time, Zhao Huaizhong sent an order to Meng Ao to stop attacking Wei.
Throughout June to mid-July, the seven kingdoms were in chaos and attacked each other.
Later, Qin State withdrew and became a third party, sitting back and watching other countries fight.
The so-called vertical and horizontal combinations, turning hands to form clouds and covering rain, are generally like this.
At this time, after the Qin people obtained the city presented by the Wei people, the front end of the country's border was deeper and deeper into the Wei territory. Although the war ceased, it always maintained a great deterrent to Wei, echoing Qi Yao, making the Wei people always worried.
It is said that in early July, there was a sound of sadness in the palace of the King of Wei, and it seemed that the King of Wei was crying.
Wei Wu felt great regret at this time.
I regret that I should not have joined forces to attack Qin, which caused Wei to retreat again and again, resulting in heavy losses.
By mid-July, Xianyang is extremely hot.
In the Qin Palace, two Qin financial officers, Shaofu and Zhili Neishi, came together to find Zhao Huaizhong.
The expressions of the two old men were exactly the same, both were frowning and their facial features were almost wrinkled together.
After paying homage to Zhao Huaizhong, Zhili Neishi first said:
"Your Majesty, we must not fight any more. We don't have any money left in our hands anymore. We are really empty."
The young master nodded like a hen poking rice, and echoed: "If the fight continues, all the ministers of Da Qin will be begging on the streets to survive in the second half of the year.
Even in the palace, one has to scrimp on food and clothing, and it is difficult to even have a full meal."
"Is it so miserable?" Zhao Huaizhong laughed.
After crying for poverty, the two old ministers changed their approach and said sternly: "Your Majesty, despite the construction of water conservancy projects for many years, still continues to wage war with other countries, and the national treasury is consumed like water. In fact, he is lavishing troops and weapons, regardless of the country's foundation. This is
It is a sign that the country will be in chaos.
If the people do not have enough to eat, great disaster will occur."
These two veterans were members of the Great Qin clan, and even though they were close relatives, they were still Zhao Huaizhong's uncles, so they were quite dependent on their elders and dared to say anything.
The two used both soft and hard tactics, fully expecting to make Zhao Huaizhong change his mind.
Unexpectedly, after the two of them finished speaking, Zhao Huaizhong said calmly: "The five countries are newly defeated and attacking each other at this time is a rare opportunity. Some battles must be fought.
Even if we suspend water conservancy repairs, cut down on food and clothing, and go begging on the streets with the young master and the internal history, we will still be beaten."
The mentality of the two veterans exploded instantly. They looked at each other and complained secretly.
How can we deal with this great king who is incompetent and completely different from his father, King Zhuang Xiang?
Zhao Huaizhong glanced at the two of them and breathed a sigh of relief: "But the internal history and the young master don't need to worry. The war will continue, but we, Da Qin, don't have to pay for it ourselves."
The two old ministers were stunned and said in unison: "What does your Majesty mean by this?"