"PS: This book is coming to an end, so I have the nerve to ask for monthly votes~~"
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At the beginning of the fifth year of Wei Zhaowu, the situation in the Central Plains gradually became tense. The reason was that after the Wei State completed the autumn harvest in the fourth year of Zhaowu, it had largely made up for the food deficit caused by successive years of war. Although the domestic grain reserves were still insufficient.
To support the war against Qi or against Chu, but from the fact that Sima Shang, the governor of Song County, Xu Li, the governor of Rencheng, Huan Hu, the governor of Suiyang, and others were increasingly active in Song County, it is not difficult to guess that the Wei State was already targeting Chu and Qi.
The country’s war is warming up.
After learning about this, King Xiong Tuo of Chu became more anxious and more anxious about the affairs of Bashu.
At this time, Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu, had already received secret letters from Chu Shuijun and Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu respectively. The former suggested that the Chu Kingdom use the Xiang clan as pawns to completely annex the Ba Kingdom, and then annex the Shu Kingdom;
The latter believed that it would be difficult for Bashu and Bashu to conquer in the short term. Instead of attacking by force, it would be better to assist the Ba clan to defeat the Xiang clan and take this opportunity to form an alliance with Bashu and Bashu to draw Ba and Shu into the "Qi-Chu Alliance".
In this regard, Chu King Xiong Tuo was a little hesitant. After all, Chu Shuijun and Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu both made sense.
After discussing with Prime Minister Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng, Xiong Tuo finally made a decision and decided to take a two-pronged approach. In his opinion, whoever wins in the end, Chu Shuijun or Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu, will be beneficial to his Chu country.
of.
The top priority is to drive the Qin army out of Bashu.
Ever since, under the instruction of King Xiong Tuo of Chu, Chu State began to target Qin's army purposefully.
In fact, around October of the fourth year of Wei Zhaowu, the armies of Qin and Chu had already started a war in the hinterland of the Bajun Basin. However, at that time, neither Xiying Jun Xiong Tao nor Qin General Wang Jian received any domestic response to this matter.
Therefore, both sides still exercised restraint. At best, they only tried to scare each other, but did not actually start a war.
However, in the fifth year of Wei Zhaowu's reign, Xiong Tao, the king of Ying in the west of Chu, and Wang Jian, the lord of Qin Changxin, both received orders from their respective monarchs, which caused the armies of Qin and Chu to begin a real confrontation.
As the war between Qin and Chu gradually expanded, in the end, in order to defeat Qin, Chu State sent his general Doulian, led by Xiang Pei of Xinyang, to lead 100,000 troops to enter Ba State. On Qin's side, King Qin Hui also sent
Yangquan Jun Yingbao led his army to support Wang Jian.
During the fierce fighting between the two sides, the Pakistanis gradually lost control of the country.
The first was the Xiang clan who provoked the war. The tribe was defeated by the Chu general Doulian, resulting in the territory that once belonged to the Xiang clan and the Fan clan being occupied by the Chu army.
During this period, Xiang Bin, the leader of the Xiang clan, begged the Qin army for help one after another, but unfortunately, the Qin army's commander Wang Jian didn't bother to pay attention to Xiang Bin - don't think that Xiang Bin was the only one taking advantage of the Qin army. In fact, Qin general Wang Jian
They just regard the Xiang clan as a knocking brick to open the door of Bashu.
Ignoring Xiang Bin's request for help, the Qin general Wang Jian stormed Langzhong and finally captured the city. Fan Lie, the old patriarch of the Fan clan, died in the battle. His son Fan Bu became the clan leader. Under Bei Gongyu's suggestion, he led the clan.
He fled to Jiangzhou and united with the Ba family.
By the beginning of May, except for Jiangzhou, which was still under the control of the Ba clan, the rest of the Ba Kingdom could be said to have been divided between the Qin and Chu armies.
Ba Yi, who had a good relationship with him, also had doubts about the Chu State.
In fact, this cannot be blamed on Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu. In fact, Xiong Hu wanted to help the Ba family and draw the Ba country into the Qi-Chu alliance. However, the current situation in the Ba country is too chaotic.
The Ba people have completely lost control of this land. Therefore, both Qin and Chu have gradually revealed their ambition to seize the land of Bashu.
Although Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu did not want to see this scene, he could not change the entire situation.
Perhaps because he was ashamed to face Ba Jin, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu left Jiangzhou and came to the "Linjiang" and "Pingdu" areas, where he joined Chu General Doulian and Xiying Jun Xiong Tao.
During this period, Zhang Qigong took the opportunity to persuade Ba Qi that he might ask the Wei army to come to help.
Ba Jin was certainly not a fool. How could he fail to see Zhang Qigong’s intention in this situation? However, Zhang Qigong smiled and said: “Even without the intervention of Wei Dynasty, King Ba would inevitably surrender to Qin or Chu in the end.
Since you have to surrender no matter what, why not choose my more powerful Wei?"
These straightforward words actually made Ba Qi speechless.
"Let me think about it." Ba Yi said hesitantly.
Zhang Qigong is not in a hurry about this. Anyway, at present, Qin and Chu are fighting fiercely. If Wei intervenes at this time, Qin and Chu may jointly resist it.
In the blink of an eye, it was the summer and autumn of Wei Zhaowu's fifth year, and the armies of Qin and Chu still could not decide the winner or loser in Bajun.
This made Qin and Chu both anxious: after all, according to Chu's estimation, after this year's autumn harvest, Wei might send troops to Qi and Chu; and by the end of this year, the two-year war between Qin and Wei
The armistice and peace talks have come to an end.
This incident caused the war between Qin and Chu to cool down a bit. Some Qin people and Chu people were even considering whether to form an alliance with each other and jointly divide the land of Bashu.
Seeing that the war between Qin and Chu in Bashu gradually stopped, Zhang Qigong also realized this and immediately wrote a secret letter and sent someone to Luoyang to give it to Zhao Run, the monarch of Wei.
After reading Zhang Qigong's letter, Wei Wang Zhao Run was very indifferent.
He is not worried at all about the alliance between Qin and Chu. For example, Qin and Chu are now like two people who are about to starve to death, fighting over a bowl of rice porridge in the land of Bashu. Although Qin and Chu
It is true that the country can share the bowl of rice porridge equally, but the result of this is that neither person is full. Could it be that Wei, a strong giant, cannot defeat two half-starved and half-full people?
Of course, although he was not afraid, Wei King Zhao Run had no reason to 'promote' the Qin-Chu alliance. Therefore, he ordered Le Yi, Zhao Jiang, Qu Cheng, Yan Kui, Xu Li and others in the name of Tiance Mansion,
Let these generals step up their military training and conduct joint exercises.
You must know that Le Yi, Zhao Jiang, Qu Cheng, Yan Kui, Xu Li and others are all generals responsible for "conquering Qi" in Wei's strategy. As soon as these generals take action, the Central Plains will immediately understand Wei
The country’s next plan is to attack Qi!
Since Wei's goal is Qi, then Qin naturally has no meaning in sharing the land of Bashu with Chu. It would be a pain to Chu. After all, Chu not only wants to seize Bashu, but also wants to preserve Qi as an ally.
In desperation, King Xiong Tuo of Chu had no choice but to order Wu Qi, the general of Yue State, to lead the Dongou Army in his country, as well as several troops from Chudong, his State of Chu, to prepare to support Qi State.
As for the main forces under Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei and Shouling Lord Jingyun, Chu State did not dare to dispatch them easily. After all, who can guarantee that Wei State will not attack Chu State?
After all, South Korea is currently under the control of Wei State, which makes Wei State fully capable of attacking Qi and Chu at the same time - of course, the premise is that the food and grass can be eaten.
In July of the fifth year of Wei Zhaowu, Wei generals Zhao Jiang and Le Yi were summoned by Wei King Zhao Run and returned to Luoyang all the way from Hebei.
The purpose of summoning these two men was naturally to attack Qi. After all, among Wei's enemies, Qi was currently the weakest.
In fact, compared to his fourth brother Zhao Jiang, Wei King Zhao Run paid more attention to Le Yi, a demoted general, as the leader of Wei's conquest of Qi, but due to some reasons, he could not do so.
After all, Zhao Jiang is also the general who captured South Korea, and is currently the most prestigious face of the Zhao family. As for Le Yi, although his personal ability is far higher than that of Zhao Jiang, he is still a reduced general. If Le Yi is only appointed
Yi is the commander-in-chief. Firstly, the court cannot trust him. Secondly, Zhao Jiang's face is not good.
But if Le Yi is asked to assist Zhao Jiang, Zhao Run is worried about what Le Yi has in mind.
Therefore, Wei King Zhao Run simply summoned Zhao Jiang and Le Yi to Luoyang.
However, it turned out that Zhao Run was overly worried. Le Yi had no objection to assisting Zhao Jiang. After all, King Yan Zhao Jiang himself was an open-minded and straightforward man, and he also valued Sima Tao, who was also a Korean demoted general.
Regarding the latter as his favorite general means that Zhao Jiang is unlikely to despise the Korean generals.
As for the conflict of interest, that is even more nonsense. Zhao Jiang is from a royal family. He was granted the title of governor of Hanoi and led Shanyang as a fief. He can be said to be an extremely human minister. There is no need for it at all, and it is impossible to be happy with it.
Is there any conflict of interest in chess?
The only worry is that Zhao Jiang has a straightforward personality, but sometimes he is a little conceited, and Le Yi, although usually taciturn, is actually a very subjective person. Therefore, Zhao Run is worried about the relationship between Zhao Jiang and Le Yi.
There were differences in the strategy of attacking Qi.
This is very possible, after all, Zhao Jiang and Le Yi are both people with a strong desire for control - this is not a compliment or a criticism.
A few days later, Zhao Jiang and Le Yi returned to Hebei to prepare for the next war against Qi.
The imperial court was also gradually preparing for the war against Qi. For example, the transport fleets under the imperial household department were transporting strategic materials such as grain, grass, armaments, and war weapons in groups along the river to Julu.
Of course, it was impossible for Qi to turn a blind eye to such a huge battle.
For a time, the state of Qi was in turmoil, and the capital Linzi sent envoys one after another to ask for help from Chu and Yue. They even sent envoys to Luoyang, the capital of Wei, hoping to persuade Wei to stop the war.
But unfortunately, the envoy from Qi State did not even see the face of Wei King Zhao Run. Zhu Jin, the newly appointed Minister of Rites, came forward to negotiate with the envoy from Qi State on behalf of the court.
Zhu Jin, the Minister of Rites, unceremoniously told the envoys of Qi that in view of the fact that Qi had previously assisted Chu in attacking Wei, causing immeasurable losses to Wei, the current war was unavoidable.
Unless Qi surrenders, like South Korea and Lu, and becomes a prefecture of Wei, Wei will stop this war.
The envoy from Qi State was frightened and angry, but did not dare to get angry, so he had to return to Linzi for several days and told Qi King Lu Bai about Wei State's intention.
"That's too much!"
King Lu Bai of Qi was furious after learning about this.
But Tian Tao, Gao Xi, Bao Shu, Guan Zhong and others in the hall remained silent.
They were not surprised that Wei refused to make peace with them. After all, in terms of the current situation in the Central Plains, Wei already occupied half of the land in the Central Plains. No other country in the world could compete with Wei, let alone Wei in recent years.
The Confucian Gongyang School's idea of "great unification" is very popular in the country. Under such circumstances, everyone understands Wei's terrible ambitions.
Annexing other countries and unifying the Central Plains was once an ambition that the kings of the Central Plains did not even dare to think about. But now, with its unrivaled power, the Wei State has become the country most likely to unify the Central Plains.
Although he was no longer optimistic about the fate of his country, Right Prime Minister Tian Tao still persuaded King Lu Bai of Qi: "Your Majesty, please calm down. The top priority is to summon more troops to resist Wei's attack... Although Wei is powerful, I am the leader of Qi.
It’s not like there’s no chance of winning.”
But even though he said this, Right Prime Minister Tian Tao was actually very confused in his heart.
Isn’t there no chance of defeating Wei?
How many chances are there?
One in a thousand?
One in ten thousand?
Don’t forget, the former famous Korean general Beiyan Shou Leyi was also among the Wei generals who attacked his Qi state!
But no matter what, the state of Qi still actively prepared for war and prepared for the upcoming "War between Wei and Qi".
While Qi was actively preparing for war, the autumn harvest season was ushering in the Central Plains.
Last year, the Wei State delayed the spring sowing in several counties due to war, resulting in a sharp reduction of about half of the year's harvest. It could only slightly make up for the country's years of war consumption, but it was not enough to launch a war between Qi and Chu; but this year, in view of Wei's
The country is recuperating, and its grain production has returned to previous years' harvests. Coupled with the grain harvests in South Korea, this is enough for Wei to launch a war with Qi.
However, in view of the harsh winter that would soon follow the autumn harvest, Wei finally gave up its plan to attack Qi.
Waiting for the next year, that is, in the spring of the seventh year of Wei Zhaowu, Wei King Zhao Run announced in the name of Chuigong Palace that he would restart the "Wei-Qi War" as revenge for Qi's assistance to Chu in attacking Wei.
Later, in the name of General Tiancefu Tian, the Wei monarch worshiped King Zhao Jiang of Yan as the "chief commander of the coalition forces of Wei and Han in conquering Qi", and also worshiped Le Yi and Yuanyi Hou Han Pu as deputy generals of the coalition forces. His subordinates included Qu Cheng, Yan
Chu, Xu Li, Ji Kuo, Li Wei, Zhou Kui, Cai Qinhu and many other generals from Wei and Han, together with the Hanoi Army, the Yanling Army, the Hejian Army, the Julu Army, and the Huling Navy Army, totaled 400,000 men.
The remaining 10,000 Wei and Han coalition forces attacked Qi.
When the news came, the world was shocked.
In the same month, after receiving the military order from Luoyang, Zhao Jiang, the commander-in-chief of the Wei-Korean coalition, marched out of "Xindu", Wei general Qu Cheng led Yanling troops out of "Qinghe", Le Yi led his troops out of "Bohai", and Yan Huang led the "He"
The "Jian Shui Army" left the Haihe River and joined the Huling Navy Army in Beihai. Han Pu, the Marquis of Yuanyi, left Jicheng and several armies moved in full force and rushed towards Qi State.
In April, Wei generals Zhao Jiang, Le Yi, Qu Cheng and others took the lead in attacking Qi's Pingyuan city. Although Qi general Tian Wu led his army to intercept them, they still could not stop the fierce Wei army.
In late April, Wei generals Yan Kui and Li Qi led the Hejian navy and Huling navy respectively from the North Sea to the eastern part of Qi State. Yan Kui attacked the coast of "Beihai County", and Li Qi attacked the "East Coast".
"Lai County", Qi State was attacked from both sides, both on land and at sea.
At the same time, Ji Wu, the governor of Lu County and the former general of Lu State, also led his troops out of Mount Tai.
Xu Li, the defender of Rencheng in Song County, also led his army to the east at this time, inserting himself into "Langya County" with the intention of cutting off the connection between Qi and Chu.
In May, Wei generals Zhao Jiang, Le Yi, and Qu Cheng captured Qi's Pingyuan city. After that, Zhao Jiang garrisoned "Jinan", Le Yi, and Qu Cheng garrisoned "Le'an" and forced the advance again.
Qi State.
At this point, Qi State completely lost control of Jishui.
And this means that Wei can transport grain, grass and strategic materials from Jishui to the front line.
Faced with the crisis, King Lu Bai of Qi had no choice but to send an envoy to urge reinforcements from Chu.
After receiving news of Qi's request for help, King Xiong Tuo of Chu ordered Diyang Jun Xiong Li, Yue General Wu Qi and others to organize troops to go to Qi.
It's not that Xiong Tuo is perfunctory. In fact, he also wants to send Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei, Shouling Jun Jingyun and others to lead the main force of Chu State to support Qi State. The problem is to align Zhao Jiang, Le Yi and others in Wei.
At the same time that the war broke out between the two countries, in Song County of Wei State, Sima Shang, the governor of Song County, and Huan Hu, the governor of Suiyang, also led their troops to attack the border between Song County and Chu State respectively. This was clearly a warning to Chu State not to meddle in other people's affairs.
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Think about it and you will know that if Chu sent Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei and Shouling Jun Jingyun to support Qi, then Wei generals Sima Shang and Huan Hu would immediately lead their troops to invade Chu.
You must know that after absorbing many Chu people, the army under Sima Shang's command has already reached 50,000. Although the combat effectiveness of these soldiers from the Chu State cannot be guaranteed at present, don't forget that Sima Shang still has many soldiers under his command.
The new heavy cavalry, including the former Shangshui Youma and Daijun heavy cavalry, totaled seven to eight thousand people.
This heavy cavalry alone was enough to make Chu State wary of Sima Shang.
Needless to say, Suiyang guarded Huan Hu. This person and the soldiers under his command were the ones who had defeated Xiang Mo and Xiang Pei. It is no exaggeration to say that Huan Hu’s army, coupled with Chen
With hunting's force, these two men were even more difficult to deal with than Sima Shang.
Coupled with Shen Yu and Wu Ji from Shangshui County of Wei State, Wei State is actually fully capable of starting a war with Chu State immediately - again on the same premise, as long as there is sufficient food and grass.
It has to be said that since Wei State defeated South Korea, Wei State has already been in an invincible position in this battle; on the contrary, if Han Wangran and Lihou Han Wu are still there, and South Korea has not been defeated by Wei State, even if it is as powerful as
The Wei State would probably not dare to attack Qi State with such a high profile.
For now, the only chance of victory for the "anti-Wei side" is that Qin also joins the Qi-Chu alliance, and Qin and Chu start war against Wei at the same time.
In this case, Wei will fall into a three-front war situation. Although it will not be at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, in terms of food and grass, it will probably fall into a similar situation to Qin and Chu. After all, it is launching a full-scale war against two big countries at the same time.
, naturally more troops need to be mobilized.
But it is a pity that Qin's current focus is still on attacking Bashu, and it does not care about the life and death of Qi and Chu. After all, in Qin's view, as long as they capture the land of Bashu, they can greatly alleviate the domestic food shortage.
Embarrassed, he had enough food and grass to start a war with Wei.
As for Chu State, King Xiong Tuo of Chu thought for a long time and finally made a decision that was quite cruel to Qi State, that is, to abandon Qi State.
The reason is very simple, because Qi State has no danger to defend at present. Even if Chu State pays a heavy price to help Qi State repel the Wei army, so what? It won’t be long before Wei State can still come back. After all, today’s Wei State,
In fact, it covers the territory of the former Wei State, South Korea, Wei State, Lu State and other countries. Its recovery ability is far from being comparable to that of Qi and Chu.
However, out of an alliance, or with the purpose of prolonging the "War between Wei and Qi" as much as possible, King Xiong Tuo of Chu sent Xiong Li, Lord Diyang, and General Wu Qi of Yue State, with a few hundred thousand troops to support.
To be honest, this small amount of troops is not enough to relieve the siege of Qi. At best, they can only play with the Wei army under Xu Li's command in Langya County, and may even be defeated by Xu Li. After all, Xu Li
He also has a mixed cavalry force under his command.
Of course, giving up Qi State means that Chu State must seize Bashu. Otherwise, after Wei State conquers Qi State, Chu State will be unable to resist Wei State's attack.
Because of this, when the Wei State launched the Alignment War, Chu King Xiong Tuo also ordered Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, Xiying Lord Xiong Tao and others who were in Bashu to indicate that the latter should no longer take into account the previous agreement with the Ba clan.
, defeat the Qin army as soon as possible and occupy the entire territory of Bashu.
And this made the war in Bashu become more intense.
In July of the seventh year of Wei Zhaowu, Qi's Donglai County was captured by the Huling navy led by Wei general Li Ji. At the same time, Wei general Yan Kui also landed from the north of Beihai County and massively captured coastal cities.
On the Langya County side, Wei general Xu Li fought against Chu's Di Yangjun Xiong Li and Wu general Wu Qi, one against two.
Taking into account the Zhao Jiang, Le Yi and other Wei armies who were gradually approaching Linzi, it is no exaggeration to say that the Qi State was already on the verge of life and death.
In August, Wei generals Zhao Jiang and Ji Wu joined forces to capture "Chang County", while Le Yi, Qu Cheng and Yuanyi Marquis Han Pu jointly captured "Boxing" and "Bochang", which made Linzi, the capital of Qi,
It has been completely exposed to hundreds of thousands of Wei and Korean coalition forces.
Under this situation, King Lu Bai of Qi had no choice but to order all the domestic troops to return to Linzi to defend Linzi, trying to build a final line of defense in Linzi City to resist Wei.
Seeing this, Wei general Zhao Jiang wanted to attack Linzi immediately, but his deputy general Le Yi believed that Qi was on the verge of life and death and might have to fight to the death. However, his Wei army was already running out of food and fodder. If he rushed to attack in a hurry, he would probably
The Qi people will catch the flaw, so it is better to stand firm first and wait for the next batch of food to be transported to the front line before attacking Linzi.
Zhao Jiang deeply agreed.
After all, it's only August, and there are still three months before winter begins. Within these three months, can't the three to four hundred thousand Wei-Korean coalition troops under his command still be unable to capture Linzi City?
No need to rush at all.
As a result, Zhao Jiang ordered his troops to seize the cities and counties near Linzi and encircle Linzi.
At this time, since Qi State had abandoned Beihai County, Wei general Yan Kui captured "Weifang" effortlessly, and together with Li Ji's Huling navy, completed the eastern part of the "Linzi siege network".
From early September to late September, Wei's fleet continued to transport grain and grass to the front line along the Jishui River.
Seeing that the time was ripe, King Zhao Jiang of Yan ordered the entire army to besiege Linzi.
In what may be the last war of Qi State, Qi State's Left Prime Minister Zhao Zhao, accompanied by Qi King Lu Bai and other Qi State Dukes, climbed to the top of Linzi City and looked at the mountains and plains outside the city with complicated expressions.
The Wei army, and the countless "Wei" flags fluttering in the wind.
"...If I become the king by mistake, hey! I will raise an army to destroy Han, Chu, Ba, Qi and other countries, dominate the world, and unify the Central Plains!"
Zhao Zhao's ears seemed to resound with the heroic words said in a joking tone by his eighth brother who was more than 20 years old when he was bidding farewell to him.