"PS: The title "The Last Battle" does not refer to the last battle of this book. Let me state it in advance. "
————The following text————
After a while, Zhao Hongrun came to the military commander's tent.
At this time, in the commander's tent, Nanliang King Zhao Yuanzuo and his general Pang Huan were standing in the tent, chatting in a low voice. When they saw Zhao Hongrun walking in from outside the tent, they and Pang Huan raised their hands and clasped their fists towards Zhao Hongrun: "Prince.
Your Highness."
Although it is not disrespectful, it cannot be said to be intimate.
Zhao Hongrun didn't mind this. In fact, he didn't intend to get too close to the third uncle who had turned against him. After nodding and saying hello, he asked: "Han Wangran sent someone to bring the war."
Book?"
After hearing this, Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, turned around and walked to the table beside him. He took out a letter from a wooden box on the table and handed it to Zhao Hongrun.
"The King of Han probably knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was currently in our military camp, so he sent someone to deliver this letter... No matter how I look at it, this letter of war does not seem to be sent to me." Zhao Yuanzuo, King of Nanliang
He added something aside.
The implication is that he has already read its contents.
Zhao Hongrun glanced at the King of Nanliang and said nothing. After all, this military camp was a military camp for suppressing the rebels. Since Han Wangran delivered the letter of war here, and the King of Nanliang checked the content of the letter, there was certainly no problem.
Slowly unfolding the paper of the letter, Zhao Hongrun saw a few words such as "Farewell in the past" at a glance, and it suddenly dawned on him: King Nanliang was right, this letter was written to him.
The reason is very simple. Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, has never met Han Wangran.
Zhao Hongrun casually sat down in the tent, frowning slightly as he read Han Wangran's letter.
In this letter, or the letter of war, Han Wangran repeatedly emphasized that "the people work together and unite as one", and also said that he would fight to the death with the Wei army outside Handan City. However, in Zhao Hongrun's view, Han Wangran's words were translated into just one sentence
Words: The war faction within South Korea is more powerful than the peace faction.
This is not surprising, considering that South Korea is also a huge country in the north. Let's not say that they are more arrogant than the Qi people, but at least they have a sense of arrogance. Of course, they will not give up the capital Handan so easily.
The question is, how serious is Han Ran about this battle?
"..."
With his eyes closed, Zhao Hongrun tapped his fingers on the table in front of him and meditated secretly.
Although in that war letter, Han Wangran's message to Zhao Hongrun seemed to be forced by the overwhelming power of the domestic war faction. Even if he was the monarch of South Korea, he could not ignore the opinions of his subjects, but it cannot be denied that he was also trying to use words to sway him.
Wei Jun, it seems, he is also inclined to fight this last battle with Wei Jun.
Suddenly, Zhao Hongrun opened his mouth and gave instructions: "Send someone to send a message to Daliang and ask the Metallurgical Bureau to immediately transport the things that I asked them to prepare in advance...by ship immediately to the battlefield here, without any mistakes!"
"Are you...are you talking to me?"
Pang Huan looked around, and finally his eyes fell on Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang next to him, only to see the latter looking at him indifferently.
All right.
Secretly smiling bitterly, the general who was currently suppressing the rebel army cupped his fists and accepted the order: "Yes, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"
After Pang Huan scratched his hair and temporarily left the commander's tent to summon his confidants to deliver the message to Daliang, Nanliang King Zhao Yuanzuo glanced at Zhao Hongrun, who looked solemn, and asked casually: "The prince thinks that Han Wangran may be up to something?"
It has to be said that although Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, is a little older than Zhao Hongrun's father, the king of Wei, Zhao Si, his mind is still sharp and he can grasp the key points at once - if he didn't think that Han Wangran might be in the final battle.
What kind of tricks are you playing? There is no need for Zhao Hongrun to send a notification to Daliang and let the Smelting Bureau transport the materials prepared in advance to the frontline battlefield.
"...What did he ask the Manufacturing Bureau to prepare in advance?"
Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, was also a little curious.
After hearing the words of Nanliang King Zhao Yuanzuo, Zhao Hongrun said calmly: "I can't say whether Han Ran will play any tricks, but it is always right to prepare for a rainy day. The only thing South Korea can rely on now is the 40,000
If I, the "Daijun Heavy Cavalry", can eradicate this army in this battle... it's not a bad idea."
Having said this, he said to Zhao Yuanzuo, King of Nanliang: "Is the messenger who came to deliver the message still in the camp?"
"Still waiting for our reply in the camp." Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, said.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun stood up and walked to the seat that belonged to Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang. After sitting down, he picked up the brush on the desk and wrote a few lines on the back of the letter of war. Then he blew the ink on it.
, handed it to Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, and said: "Ask the messenger to deliver it to Han Ran, and tell him that my Wei army has accepted it!"
"..."
Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, stared at Zhao Hongrun for a few seconds. After he wanted to say something but stopped, he stepped forward to take the letter, shook his head and walked out of the handsome tent, leaving Zhao Hongrun alone in the handsome tent, thinking deeply.
"...What tricks do you want to play? Han Ran."
Narrowing his eyes, Zhao Hongrun thought to himself.
At the same time, in the palace in Handan City, Han Wangran was standing in the courtyard watching some of his most cherished birds.
If in the past he was hiding his capabilities and biding his time, trying to make people think that he was despondent by raising birds, then now, he is just enjoying this kind of fun.
While teasing his love bird, he was also recalling the events of the past few days.
One thing Zhao Hongrun misunderstood was that Han Wangran had no intention of playing tricks at first. He would not use deception to make the former relax his vigilance and wait for opportunities to turn defeat into victory. After all, it was well known in the Central Plains that so far, he had offended Young Master Wei.
The fate of those who run is often miserable - Han Wangran is not willing to pin the fate of the country on vague and extravagant hopes, for example, hoping that Wei Gongzi Run will be deceived by him or something.
God Han Wangran, in the face of powerful power, any conspiracy is pale and fragile. Only a win-win conspiracy can convince the other party. Because of this, he used a man on the hillside in Julu to convince the other party.
The Wei people's perspective made the best strategic plan for the Wei State, and by the way, they took South Korea off the Wei State's plate, so that Wei Gongzi Run had to adopt his suggestions even though he was clear about his intentions.
.
This is a wise move.
But in this case, why did Han Wangran suddenly send a letter of war to the Wei army?
In fact, the reason was just as guessed by Zhao Hongrun and Zhao Yuanzuo. It was the war faction within South Korea that put pressure on the imperial court.
The reason lies in Han Yang, the Marquis of Dangyin.
Han Yang could never accept begging for peace with the Wei State. Therefore, when he vaguely realized that Han Wangran seemed to have secretly reached an agreement with Wei Gongzi Run, he felt anxious and angry. So while contacting his colleagues, he sent people to spread rumors and tried to use the power to the imperial court.
Pressure, the method of putting pressure on the royal family, forced Han Wangran to order the continuation of the war.
But what no one expected was that something happened during this period that no one wanted to see happen: At first, Han Yang just out of his own dissatisfaction, scolded the Shanggu Shou Ma She who came to visit the prison, but he didn't want to see it happen.
Unexpectedly, Ma She, a veteran minister who was loyal to the country, was scolded by him and became unhappy. When he returned home, he became bedridden and passed away soon after. This made South Korea lose money again in such a critical situation.
A good general.
For this reason, Han Yang, the Marquis of Dangyin, also felt extremely regretful.
But the big mistake has been made, and regret will be of no use. However, this regret has dissipated some of the resentment and obsession in the heart of Dangyin Hou Han Yang. To put it bluntly, after Ma She died of illness one after another, he himself was killed by Han Wangran because of this.
After being deprived of his title, Han Yang was inevitably a little disheartened and simply left Handan with his family.
However, although Han Yang left, the rumors he spread spread among the government and the public.
Originally, only a few people knew about Han Wangran's agreement to "cede Handan in exchange for a truce with Wei", such as the old prime minister Shen Buhai, but Han Yang's move caused a storm in the city and everyone knew about it.
This made Han Wangran feel a lot of pressure. After all, "taking Handan by the Wei army" and "ceding Handan" are two completely different things. If the former is a five-point shame, then the latter is a very shame.
Even the Koreans, who are so sincere in this country, are not willing to accept this fact.
No, in less than twenty days, many people from the Han family alone who were Han Wangran's uncles or even great-uncles came to present themselves. On the one hand, they expressed support for Han Wangran, and on the other hand, they
Strongly opposed to ceding the royal capital in exchange for an armistice with Wei.
These people firmly believe that South Korea still has hundreds of thousands of available troops, and there is absolutely no need to humble themselves and ask for peace with the Wei State. The worst is to perish together! - Anyway, it is absolutely impossible for the Wei State, which is about to secure its position as the "Hegemon of the Central Plains", to compete with them.
The fish is dead and the net is broken.
Regarding this matter, Han Wangran complained privately to the old Prime Minister Shen Buhai.
"...These people are confident that "Wei will never choose to fight to the death", but they have never considered that we, Korea, still have threats from Qin... If we lose too many in the war with Wei
How can we resist South Korea with our military strength?”
After hearing these complaints, the old prime minister blinked his eyes and said with a somewhat surprised smile: "Your Majesty is far-sighted and far-sighted..."
Han Wangran snorted, shook his head and said: "In the end, my opponent is that Wei Gongzi Run... That day, I used the position of a Wei man to persuade Zhao Run in a way that seeks the best interests of the Wei State.
Run was still reluctant to accept it, and finally accepted my suggestion with great reluctance..."
"It's not surprising." The old prime minister stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Wei Gongzi Runzhirui is outstanding and arrogant. Of course he will not be willing to accept the enemy's suggestions... Doesn't this prove that he has been compared to you, the king?
Is it done?”
Han Wangran smiled, and then said seriously: "I think so too, so it can be foreseen that the arrogant Wei Gongzi, although he has to accept my suggestion after analyzing the pros and cons, will definitely give me Dahan
Create some trouble for, say, Qin."
After a pause, Han Wangran took a long breath and said melancholy: "I was at least 80% sure about persuading Wei to cease the war. As a result, what Han has now, Wei also has... and even
, they now even have their own river
If we can't control the Hetao in the west, we won't have the intention to destroy our country; secondly, both Wei Wang Zhao Si and Wei Gongzi Zhao Run can be called wise monarchs, and they won't resort to military violence and do things that are useless to the country.
War...as long as we are willing to respect
The Wei State is the overlord, and if Handan is ceded to quell the Wei State's anger towards our country, the Wei State will not kill them all... But the Qin State is different. The Qin State's national strength is backward, and in recent decades, it has relied on war to support war to maintain its livelihood.
, despite their help in Wei in recent years
With the help of the Qin people, the domestic economy has improved slightly, but I believe that its weak national power cannot maintain the country's army. Therefore, in the eyes of the Qin people, our country is just a piece of fresh fat. Compared with the Wei State, the Qin State has only a few talents.
It’s a true insatiable desire.”
As Han Wangran said, if he is still somewhat sure about the truce with Wei, then he is really helpless with Qin, because Qin's national policy requires this country to go to war with foreign countries and plunder foreign goods.
way to feed the domestic army, and among the forces currently bordering Qin, some have been equally divided with Qin over the years.
The "Xiqiang" in the autumn colors include the "Linhu" who have just lost the Hetao area to the Qin and Wei coalition forces and have already fled to the northern plateau, and the Wei State, which is currently the most powerful in the Central Plains and has a marriage alliance with the Qin State.
, and South Korea, which is about to lose in this war and is far richer than the Xiqiang - which force do you think the Qin Congress will choose as the target of its attack?
Old Prime Minister Shen Buhai nodded happily and helplessly.
Since it is said to be a complaint, it is destined that this conversation between Han Wangran and Shen Buhai will not change the current situation in South Korea: the domestic war faction still demands that the war with Wei continue.
In desperation, Han Wangran had no choice but to obey these people. After all, South Korea is also a country based on aristocrats and aristocratic families. In some cases, even if you are a king, you have to compromise with the aristocratic forces in the country - this is not the case in any country in the Central Plains.
There is nothing unusual about a country.
Since a fight with the Wei army was unavoidable, Han Wangran simply thought about it.
As for the outcome of this battle, to be honest Han Wangran didn't really care.
He could accept the defeat. Anyway, he decided to fake defeat from the beginning and transfer Handan to the Wei State to fulfill the agreement he made with Wei Gongzi Run that day. If he defeated...hey, that would be interesting.
Of course, Han Wangran knew very well that it would be extremely difficult to defeat the Wei army when Wei Gongzi Zhao Run and Wei Nanliang King Zhao Yuanzuo had already joined together.
But having said that, no one can guarantee that South Korea has no chance of winning this battle, right?
At least, he had a very powerful "Daijun Heavy Cavalry" in South Korea, so powerful that even the Wei army did not dare to confront it head-on.
When he thought of that Daijun heavy cavalry, Han Wangran could not help but feel a mixture of love and hate in his heart.
I remember that after he regained power, he had reviewed the expenditures of the treasury in recent years. When he found out that Lihou Hanwu had spent such an astronomical amount of money to build the 50,000 generations of heavy cavalry, he was simply dumbfounded.
Because this amount of money is more than their annual tax revenue in South Korea, and it is much more. It is so much that Han Wangran feels a little cramped in his heart.
What's even more annoying is that according to Acting Governor Sima Shang, the heavy cavalry still needs maintenance. For example, the armor is damaged, the horses are injured, etc. According to rough statistics, the cost of maintaining this heavy cavalry once is enough to make Korea useless.
Have to rebuild an infantry force.
Therefore, after a fierce ideological struggle, Han Wangran decisively added the remaining 40,000 generations of heavy cavalry to the sequence of the "last battle", hoping that this heavy cavalry would be able to fight in this final battle.
Reflecting the strength corresponding to its value, it gave South Korea some hope of turning defeat into victory; of course, it doesn't matter if it cannot defeat the Wei army, just take this opportunity to reduce the number of this heavy cavalry.
Even if Han Wangran feels heartbroken to spend such a large amount of money to build heavy cavalry, even if he loses one person, it is better than letting him bleed this army again and again, right?
Of course, the premise is that Wei Gongzi Run on the opposite side accepts his invitation to fight.
Just when he was thinking wildly, the messenger he sent hurriedly came to the palace holding a wooden box. He knelt on the ground, lowered his head and raised the wooden box above his head with both hands, and said seriously: "Your Majesty, Wei Jun is sending
Here comes the reply."
Han Wangran perked up after hearing this, opened the wooden box, and took out the letter inside - in fact, it was just the letter of challenge he sent, but someone added a sentence behind the letter of challenge.
"See how I cut off your thoughts..."
As he slowly read the words behind the declaration of war, Han Wangran's expression became a little subtle.
He had to admit that what Wei Gongzi Run said back then was very correct: It is a blessing to have an opponent who can guess one's thoughts, but it is also very annoying.
"Oh."
Shaking his head and holding the letter of war in his hand, Han Wangran said seriously: "Invite Ma Kuo, Zhao Cong, and Yan to gather in the palace, and then send them outside the city to summon Qin Kai, Sima Shang, Le Yi, and Xu Li.
!”
"yes!"
The waiter nearby responded and left.
On that day, Han Wangran summoned the generals of the army in the palace and told them about this "last battle."
After some discussion, Qin Kai, Sima Shang, Le Yi, Xu Li and other generals returned to the army and began to make full preparations for this last battle.
The generals knew very well that this would be their only and last chance to change the fate of the country. If they could win this war, they might be able to persuade the young king to give up his previous plan to sue for peace with Wei at the cost of ceding Handan.
Decide.
Later, South Korea and Wu'an also opened their arms warehouses and distributed a large amount of newly minted armaments, as well as manufactured arrows, crossbow bolts, etc., to each army to supplement the consumption of each army.
As for the Wei army, in just ten days, they also relied on huge warships to transport many war supplies to the battlefield along the rivers in South Korea.
It is worth mentioning that before this, there was a war between the fleets of Wei and South Korea in the river. Although Wei did not have the concept of a naval army at all, it relied on many huge warships and powerful mechanisms.
Lian Nu and Wei's fleet still opened up the waterway with an almost overwhelming advantage, leaving the Korean generals on the opposite side, Julu Shouyan Crepe, helpless - the gap between the warships of the two sides and the weapons loaded on the warships was too big.
There is no way.
On June 21, the first batch of warships from Wei State entered Qishui along the river, and then landed in the Qixian area.
The Shanyang Army, who had already received the news and were waiting here, temporarily acted as civilian husbands and unloaded all the war necessities on the ship to the shore, and then loaded them into tractors, preparing to transport them to the front line of the battlefield.
"Are these things parts of a catapult?"
In the process of inspecting the transportation situation, King Zhao Jiang of Yan watched curiously as his soldiers transported huge components off the ship one by one, and he was very surprised.
Because he discovered that these disassembled parts, which looked like catapults, were extremely huge, so big that King Yan Zhao Jiang could not imagine whether there was a city wall in the world that could withstand such a city-destroying weapon.
Unfortunately, due to the confidentiality system, the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau who followed the fleet to the battlefield refused to disclose the contents of the cargo. Even if King Zhao Jiang of Yan asked him personally, the craftsmen only responded in embarrassment.
The apologetic smile made King Yan Zhao Jiang more and more curious.
A few days later, the Shanyang Army successively transported these war supplies to the Shangshui Army Camp in the "Cixian" area.
Immediately, under the curious attention of countless Wei soldiers, the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau who came with the fleet assembled the huge components one by one.
During the assembly process, the Wei soldiers who were watching were simply stunned, because they had never seen such a huge trebuchet. Let’s not talk about anything else, just that the basket was thrown, and it was more than enough for two or three soldiers to sit in it.
"Your Highness, does he want to completely destroy Handan?"
"This is too cruel..."
The Wei soldiers and generals looked at each other in shock.
They bet that even Daliang, the capital of their Kingdom of Wei, would never be able to withstand such a huge trebuchet. It is not difficult to guess that Handan, the capital of South Korea, would definitely not be able to withstand it either.
The problem is, if you use this thing to throw a few huge rocks, Handan City will definitely become a ruin. Is this... a pity?
After all, if Handan becomes the territory of the Wei State in the future, the Wei State will definitely station heavy troops in this capital. Will it be rebuilt by then?
On the sidelines, what Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, was thinking about was another question: With such a huge stone trebuchet, it is natural that the stone projectiles thrown must be huge. Then the question is, who has so much strength?
, carry such a big bomb into the throwing basket?
Or is this thing just to scare the Koreans in Handan?
For a time, the Wei army generals were full of doubts, and everyone was speculating on the role of those huge trebuchets. Unfortunately, the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau remained silent about this, which made all the army generals
I feel itchy and unbearable.
In fact, in addition to trebuchets, the Smelting Bureau also transported many other war weapons this time, such as improved martial arts chariots, even tortoise-shell chariots, and many repeating crossbows. Unfortunately, these war weapons
It's far less impressive than those huge riprap trucks.
By mid-July, the preparations for the war between Wei and South Korea were almost in progress.
The two sides had a tacit understanding and gradually pushed their troops to the plain between Handan and Ci County - let's call it the "Handan Plain" - to make final preparations for the war.
The so-called final pre-battle preparations, to put it bluntly, are the arrangement of defensive positions. After all, there are so many armies of the two countries involved in this decisive battle. On the Wei Army side alone, there are Shangshui Army, Suppression of Rebellion Army, Shanyang Army, Nanyan Army and
The private armies under the command of nobles such as Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Hou Zhao Tan had at least more than 200,000 troops.
South Korea was not to be outdone. After deploying troops and recruiting troops, it also piled up 200,000 troops.
In a situation where 400,000 troops are often in a stalemate, this war zone must be divided into areas in detail. After all, it is impossible for one person to take care of the entire battlefield with the naked eye.
"...Come on, Han Ran, as I said before, let me cut off your last thought!"
While observing the battlefield in advance, Zhao Hongrun looked at the continuous Korean defensive positions in the distance opposite and said secretly in his heart.