"PS: This book will be finished in just a few more chapters. It's quite emotional to recall that it took me two and a half years to write this book. I would like to thank all the book friends who have been with me all the way and have supported this book and the author.
, thank you very much. Finally, please allow me to ask for a monthly ticket again~』
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In fact, the war between Qin and Wei could be seen as early as May of the ninth year of Wei Zhaowu. At that time, Qin's Wuxinhou Gongsunqi stationed troops in Gaoling County in the Hexi Corridor, pretending to be interested in Wei.
The posture of Guo Hexi County's offensive was obvious at first glance. It was to respond to the war between Chu and Wei and to share the pressure for Chu as much as possible, hoping that Chu could block Wei's offensive.
But unfortunately, the current strength of Wei State far exceeds the expectations of Qin and Chu. Even though Wei State has not mobilized the troops on the "Western Front", the Wei troops stationed in Shangshui, Song County, and Qidi alone can
, it was also enough to overthrow the Chu State and shrink the Chu State into Pengli County.
Who is on Wei’s ‘Western Front’?
Sima An in the west of Hexi, Wei Ji in the east of Hetao, or Lian Pi in Hetao - since the end of the last Wei-Qin war, given that the Wei Wujun of General Shaohu is still stationed in Jicheng, South Korea, and the "original central fortress" of Hetao
When Lian Pi was recaptured, the Tiance Mansion moved Lian Pi to be the "Lin Zhong Shou" and asked the latter to garrison the Yuan Zhong Fortress.
After all, Yuanzhong Fortress is the center of the entire Hetao. If this place falls again like it did last time, then Shuofang County, Jiuyuan County, Yunzhong County, Yinchuan County, etc. may not be able to avoid being cut off from the mainland of Wei.
connect.
Therefore, the imperial court wanted a fierce general to guard Yuanzhong Fortress, so it chose "Yuanyunzhong Shou Lian Pi".
As for Yunzhong County, the imperial court reassigned the former Korean general "Gong Zhongpeng" to guard it to prevent the barbarians from the northern grasslands from invading the territory.
Then in May of the tenth year of Wei Zhaowu, the Wei State launched a three-pronged attack on the Chu State. At this time, on the Qin State's side, after completing the spring planting, the Qin Army Commander Wu Xinhou Gongsun Qi began to attack Hexi County.
military actions to increase pressure on Wei.
At this time, Gongsun Qi, Marquis of Wuxin, used troops against Wei mainly to test and see if Wei still had the strength to resist Qin's attack after it had already launched a fierce attack on Chu.
If Wei behaves too passively, Qin may step up its attack on Wei.
Unexpectedly, after learning that the Qin army had entered the territory of Hexi County, the Wei State's performance was simply as bad as the others. Wei Ji, the defender of Hedong, immediately led 40,000 Hedong troops to station in Hexi and joined forces with Sima An, the defender of Hexi.
Immediately, Zhao Xuan, king of Huan, who was stationed in Anyi, also led the Northern First Army, including Taiyuan Shou Lecheng and Yangyi Marquis Han Xu under his command. He led an army of 70,000 and stationed in Fenyin, ready to support Hexi at any time.
On the Hetao side, Zhao Chengyue was guarded by Shuofang, Feng Ting was guarded by Jiuyuan, and Gong Zhongpeng was guarded by Yunzhong. Within the next two months, they all deployed troops to reinforce Yuanzhong Fortress to prevent the Qin army from attacking Hetao.
It is no exaggeration to say that at this time, the Wei State had begun to accumulate heavy troops on the "Western Front", waiting for the Qin Army to start this battle.
After inquiring about this information, Qin General Gongsun Qi couldn't help but feel hesitant.
Seeing this, Wei Jun's "armies on the western front" also stood still.
It's not that he was afraid of Qin and didn't dare to take the initiative to start a war, it's just that it's not necessary. When given the choice, Wei would of course prefer to deal with its opponents one by one, attacking Chu and Yue first, and preferably after the two countries were destroyed.
After a year or two of rest and recuperation, and then using troops against Qin again, I'm sure he'll be able to capture him easily.
To put it bluntly, Wei is now in an invincible position and there is no need to rush to war.
Not long after, King Qin, the father-in-law of Wei King Zhao Run, returned and learned from the letter from Wu Xinhou Gongsun Qi that "Wei State was actively accumulating heavy troops on the Western Front" and frowned involuntarily.
He said to Zhao Ran, the chief concubine who had returned to Xianyang at this time: "Is Wei really so strong and powerful? Even if it attacks Chu on one side, there is still room for war with Qin?"
Zhao Ran, the chief concubine, smiled bitterly and didn't know how to answer.
During this period, there were still envoys from Chu State coming to Xianyang, the capital of Qin State, along the route "Western Chu - Ba State - Hanzhong - Qin State", seeking help from Qin State and urging Qin State to The country started a war with Wei on the western front as soon as possible to reduce the pressure on Chu on the eastern front.
But after July, there were no more envoys from the Chu State. Firstly, the Chu State was busy moving its capital to Pengli, and secondly, because Wei General Wu Ji had blocked the river area in Xiying County. This basically cut off the connection between Ba and Chu. This not only made it difficult for Ba's grain to be transported to Chu by water, but also made it impossible for Chu's envoys to go to Qin for help via Ba.
It is not good news that the envoys sent by the Chu State for help are no longer seen. This may mean that the Chu State has been overwhelmed by the Wei army.
Therefore, after careful consideration, King Hui of Qin decided to launch an attack on Wei immediately. This was not only to respond to Chu and reduce the pressure on Chu, but also to strike first. After all, King Hui of Qin was not an indecisive monarch. Of course, we understand a truth: if we don't take advantage of the fact that Wei is at war with Chu, and wait for Wei to defeat Chu, Qin will face the more powerful Wei army.
Instead of waiting for Wei to free up its hands to attack Qin after the fall of Chu, it is better to take the initiative to attack. At least in this way, the number of Wei troops that Qin needs to face will be greatly reduced.
In September of the tenth year of Wei Zhaowu, the King of Qin ordered Wuxinhou Gongsunqi, Yangquanjun Yingbo, Weiyangjun Yinghua, and other Qin generals such as Wangling and Wanglu to formally launch an attack on Wei. Wuxinhou Gongsunqi attacked. In Hexi, Yangquan Jun Yingbao will attack Sanchuan, and Weiyang Jun Yinghua will attack Hetao. At the same time, three battlefields, "Hexi", "Sanchuan" and "Hetao" will be opened.
For this decisive battle, the Qin State mobilized the whole country, issued a royal edict calling on the people in the country to join the army, and successfully recruited hundreds of thousands of servants.
These recruited servant armies are actually the same as the Chu State's grain-recruited soldiers. Most of them are composed of domestic civilians. The only difference is that the Chu State's grain-recruited soldiers sold their lives because their families were in a difficult situation and could not feed their families. 'To the country, it is difficult to guarantee the morale and fighting spirit of the soldiers recruited with food. However, these servants of the Qin State volunteered to join the army. After all, the Qin State is a country based on military merit. If the civilians in the country want to improve their social status, they can It can only be achieved through military exploits, which makes the servant army recruited by the Qin State generally have high morale and desire to win. With a little training and a set of armaments, they can immediately form combat effectiveness.
The only hidden danger is that the population of Qin State is far less than that of Wei State today. Hundreds of thousands of young men were recruited for the decisive battle with Wei State. If all these young men died on the battlefield, then even if Qin State was not on the battlefield, Defeated by the Wei army, this country may not be able to sustain itself for long.
It is worth mentioning that although at the call of King Qin Hui, all Qin people in the country enthusiastically joined the army, there was considerable controversy within the Gaoyang Ying clan over their "campaign against Wei".
The most typical example is the banishment of Lantian Jun. This king of Yi, who immediately became rich with all kinds of rare jade after the trade between Wei and Qin, did not support him. Qin State used all its national power to fight against Wei State. .
If Xiong Hu, Lord Pingyu, is the Chu person who best understands Wei's strength, then Lantian Lord Yingban is the Qin person who best understands Wei's strength.
After learning that King Qin Hui had decided to go to war with Wei State, Lantian Jun Ying Hui ran to Xianyang to persuade his brother Ying Hui to banish him.
At that time, the king of Lantian was banished and said to the king of Qin: "Now Wei has annexed South Korea and conquered Qi, Wei, Lu and other countries. It has millions of soldiers and a cloud of good generals. It is unstoppable. Now that the king is sending troops to Wei, he is actually seeking disaster. road."
Seeing the boastful Lord Lantian being banished, King Qin was quite speechless.
How could he not know that the banished Lord Lantian was the biggest 'traitor' of his Qin state? Ever since the discord between Qin and Wei, this guy has been harassing him from time to time, saying that the war between the two countries had seriously affected his jade business. Such losses.
Fortunately, Lord Lantian Ying Ban was the younger brother of King Qin Hui, and Ying Ban was mediocre in talent and had no ambitions. Otherwise, just because this guy had deceived people before the war, King Qin Hui would have punished him.
Perhaps because he was tired of Lantian Jun's nagging persuasion, King Qin interrupted angrily: "If you can persuade Wei to make peace with me, Qin, I will listen to you!"
The implication is that if Lantian Jun cannot convince Wei Guo to banish him, then get out of here quickly so as not to be an eyesore in front of him.
But to King Qin's surprise, after hearing this, Lantian Jun Yingban blinked his eyes and said mysteriously: "Your Majesty, although I can't persuade the State of Wei to resolve the war with me, Great Qin, but you, Your Majesty, can."
"Ignorant?... Come and listen."
King Qin was stunned for a moment, a little curious in his heart.
It has to be said that although King Hui of Qin is also a rare wise king in the history of the Qin Dynasty, seeing his son-in-law King Zhao Run of Wei annexing Han, Qi, Wei, Lu and other countries, he is inevitably a little frightened. Of course he wouldn't mind hearing about Wei's method of resolving the war.
Seeing that King Qin Hui had given permission, Lantian Jun Ying relegated him and said: "Your Majesty, what the Wei State hates is that you betrayed the alliance with the Wei State and went to war without declaring it. As long as you abdicate and support the crown prince (Ying Sui). ) succeeded to the throne..."
"..." King Qin was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Lantian Jun in disbelief.
The palace attendants nearby were also dumbfounded.
"What do you mean, you want me to take the blame and abdicate? Support the crown prince?" King Qin regained his temper and said with a half-smile: "Like this, Wei will give up revenge on me, the Qin Dynasty?"
"Well……"
Perhaps because he didn't notice the expression on King Qin's face that was about to explode, Lord Lantian thought about it seriously, then shook his head and said seriously: "No."
"Then what nonsense are you talking about!"
King Qin grinded his teeth fiercely.
Seeing this, Lord Lantian hurriedly added: "However, if the king can appoint Shaojun's son as the crown prince, it may be possible to extinguish the anger of the Wei people."
"Shaojun? Son of Ying'er? Zhao Xing?"
King Qin asked back three times, looking very surprised. For a moment, he didn't understand why Lord Lantian mentioned his beloved grandson.
"Exactly." Lan Tianjun bowed his hand.
What he was talking about was Zhao Xing, the son of Qin Shaojun Yingying.
From the perspective of Lantian Jun Yingzhu, his nephew, the current crown prince of Qin State, Ying Zhu, had always been weak and sick, and might have died at some point. Even though he had been married for many years, he still had no heirs.
In this case, why not promote good things and adopt Ying Ying's son Zhao Xing to Ying Sui, and then make Ying Sui the monarch of Qin and make Zhao Xing the prince of Qin.
Zhao Xing is the son of King Zhao Run of Wei, and his son has inherited the title of Qin. How can King Zhao Run of Wei send troops to attack Qin again and seize the inheritance of his own flesh and blood?
Like this, Qin and Wei may be able to get back together.
Seeing Lord Lantian win the banishment with an expectant look on his face, King Qin was quite speechless.
He must admit that the mention of Lantian Jun's banishment is indeed very feasible. After all, his only son Ying Sui has indeed had no heirs due to his health. If he accepts his sister Ying Ying's son Zhao Xing as his stepson, given that Zhao Xing does have the blood of his Gaoyang Ying family in his body. In previous years, he would have been qualified to inherit the throne of Qin. - In this regard, it generally makes sense.
But the question is, will Wei Guo agree to such a thing?
You must know that the current situation in the Central Plains is no longer the era of dozens of countries. Now Wei has swallowed up all the countries and unified them for many years. Maybe after this year, even Chu and Yue may be conquered by Wei. The annexation made the Central Plains completely occupied by the Wei State, with only the Qin State bordering the Wei State.
In this case, would Wei King Zhao Run agree to let his son Zhao Xing go to Qin to become the crown prince?
As Lantian Junying said himself, if Wei King Zhao Run agrees to this matter, then Wei will not be able to use troops against Qin in the future, otherwise it will not sound good if it is spread that "the father seizes the son's inheritance".
Under this situation, Wei and Qin may stand side by side in the world. Of course, this will not have much impact on the Qin State, but for the Wei State, isn't this a disguised form of "raising a tiger to create trouble"?
Therefore, King Qin did not think that his son-in-law Zhao Run would agree to this proposal.
Of course, even if the mention of Lantian Jun's banishment is likely to be rejected by Wei State, why not try it?
What if Zhao Run, the king of Wei, got confused for a moment and agreed to this matter? If this matter was really promoted, this would be a guarantee for his country of Qin.
As for the choice of envoy, the King of Qin took a look back at the banishment of Lord Lantian and decided to send this guy to Wei.
Let's not say whether it succeeds or not, at least send this annoying guy to the Wei State, lest this guy affect the decisive battle between Qin and Wei.
Yes, even if King Zhao Run of Wei agreed to adopt his son Zhao Xing to Prince Ying Sui of Qin as his stepson, King Qin would still have to continue the war in front of him.
Because this is the last chance for his Qin State, or in other words, the last chance for the Qin State in his generation.
If the Wei State cannot be severely damaged this time, then the Qin State may also be unable to avoid being annexed by the Wei State. The reason why he sent Lantian Jun Ying to be banished as an envoy to the Wei State was to prepare for this matter.
Around mid-October of the 10th year of Wei Zhaowu's reign, Lord Lantian arrived in Luoyang, the royal capital of Wei State, by boat.
Upon learning that Lord Lantian Ying was banished, Wei King Zhao Run immediately sent someone to invite Ying banished to the palace and held a banquet in honor of the latter.
Even though the relationship between Wei and Qin is becoming more and more tense now, this does not affect the interpersonal relationship between Lantian Jun who has always been close to Wei and his banishment in Wei.
During the banquet, Lantian Jun Yingban said to Wei Wang Zhao Run and Qin Concubine Ying Ying: "Brother Wang is old and wants to support the crown prince to succeed him. However, the crown prince still has no heirs. I am afraid that after ascending the throne, he will not be able to make the people of the country feel at ease." , so the king brother wants to choose a son to adopt as the prince Sui, "Shang Jun" Zhao Xingnian is fifteen years old, the King of Wei and Qin Concubine are willing to adopt him to the prince Sui as his step-son, who can inherit the foundation of our Qin Dynasty in the future."
After hearing these words, King Zhao Run of Wei and Concubine Ying Ying of Qin were both stunned.
After a while, Ying Ying chuckled and said half-smilingly: "My father-in-law is really determined to give up..."
Next to him, King Zhao Run of Wei also smiled and said nothing.
Just as Qin Wang Hui guessed, his son-in-law Wei Wang Zhao Run would certainly not agree to such a thing, and even Qin Wang Hui's daughter Ying Ying would not agree to it.
Although Lan Tianjun's banishment was very well described, saying that "the elder brother (Zhao Wei) is in charge of Wei, and the younger brother (Zhao Xing) is in charge of Qin", in fact, it is a way to bring disaster.
Shu and Ju are examples of this.
The original ruler of the Kingdom of Ju was a blood brother with the monarch of the Kingdom of Shu of that generation, but what happened next? After three generations, the relationship between the Kingdom of Ju and the Kingdom of Shu became increasingly distant, and instead became quite close to the Kingdom of Ba.
In recent years, in order to get rid of the control of Shu, the monarch of Ju State actually believed in the promise of Qin State and even helped the Qin army attack Shu State. As a result, the commander of Qin Army Wang Jian first destroyed Shu State and later destroyed Ju State. country, and directly destroyed these two countries.
With the examples of Shu and Ju in front of him, Zhao Run will never let his Wei leave hidden dangers, so that the future war between Qin and Wei will turn into a fight between his fellow Zhao family members.
There are no two days in the sky, and the people have no two masters. There can only be one king in the world. The current generation is Zhao Run, and the next generation will probably be the prince Zhao Wei. Zhao Run will never support "Shang Jun Zhao Xing" to become the Qin State again. monarch, otherwise even if the brothers do not have any conflicts, their descendants will definitely kill each other for the benefit of their own country.
Zhao Run has seen too many things like this.
Because of this, Zhao Run finally rejected Lantian Jun's proposal to be relegated.
Seeing that the persuasion failed, Lord Lantian was relegated and had to return to Qin with disappointment.
By the spring of the eleventh year of Wei Zhaowu, the war between Wei and Qin had become increasingly fierce.
On the other side of the Hetao, Qin general Weiyang Jun Ying Hua faced Wei general Lian Pi head-on, and the two sides launched a fierce battle in the vast Hetao area.
Although Wei general Lian Tuo himself had won many battles, several Wei generals such as Zhao Chengyue, the defender of Shuofang, Feng Ting, the defender of Jiuyuan, and Zhongpeng, the defender of Yunzhong, did not get any advantage in the war with the Qin army, so that The battle situation came to a stalemate for a while.
Knowing that the war in Hetao was not going well, King Huan Zhao Xuan sent Taiyuan to guard Lezheng, and Yangyi Marquis Han and Xu led their troops to support Lian Pi.
It is worth mentioning that although Chenggong came as reinforcements, Lian Pi had no good feelings towards this former deputy general. It was only because they were both serving as generals in Wei that he reluctantly suppressed his attitude towards Chenggong. hostility.
It has to be said that although there is a gap between integrity and success, it is undeniable that both of them are outstanding generals. Even without verbal communication, they can understand each other's strategic intentions, just like Le Yi on the Eastern Front and Tiantan, which greatly weakened the Qin army's advantage in the Hetao area.
At this time, in Hexi County, Qin General Gongsun Qi faced the Wei armies of Sima An in Hexi, Wei Ji in Hedong, and King Huan Zhao Xuan. It was difficult to break the situation in a short time.
As for Sanchuan County, Yangquan Jun Yingbao faced Wei's Anping Marquis Zhao Tan.
Previously, Zhao Tan did not have many troops under his command, but after the farce of the "Luoyang Civil War" a few years ago, Wei King Zhao Run overtly promoted and secretly reduced the military power of Pang Huan and others. After that, regardless of the opposition of the court nobles, he This "anti-rebel army" was sent to the western part of Sanchuan County and handed over to the command of Anping Marquis Zhao Tan.
After all, Anping Hou Zhao Tan was also a member of the Zhao clan who was quite good at leading troops.
In this way, the battlefields between Wei and Qin were temporarily in a stalemate, and in general, Qin, which devoted all its national power to attack Wei, had the upper hand.
However, Wei King Zhao Run was not in a hurry about this. After all, he had received the news of "Yue King Shaokang's surrender" at this time, and had already mobilized troops from the 'Eastern Front' to the 'Western Front'. He only had to wait for the Wei troops on the Eastern Front to arrive on the Western Front. I believe that I will be able to defeat Qin's army.
In July of the eleventh year of Wei Zhaowu, Shen Yu, the Wei general on the "Eastern Front", obeyed the order of Tiance Mansion and led his troops to Xiying County to support Wei General Wu Ji in challenging Qin's Changxinhou Wangjian.
At this time, the king of Xiying, Xiong Tao, had already gone to Luoyang to meet with the king of Wei, Zhao Run, and expressed his intention to surrender to the state of Wei. After the king of Wei, Zhao Run, comforted Xiong Tao, he asked Xiong Tao to rush back to Xiying County immediately to assist Wu Ji in defeating Qin. Army, captured Bashu.
Also around July, before Shen Yu led his Wei army to withdraw from "Changsha", Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, returned to Xiying County.
The arrival of Xiong Tao brought the goodwill of Wei King Zhao Run to the Chu people in Xiying County, which greatly boosted the morale of his former generals, including other Chu people in Xiying County.
At the same time, with the help of Xiying Jun Xiong Tao, Wei General Wu Ji's control over Xiying County became more and more stable.
Before deciding to counterattack Ba, Wu Ji privately discussed with Xi Yingjun Xiong Tao to see if he could instigate a rebellion against Chu general Dou Lian. After all, Wu Ji understood that the Qin army under the command of Qin General Wang Jian had not yet officially captured Ba. Doulian is willing to surrender to the Wei army, and his Wei army may be able to easily invade Ba, or even seize Ba.
Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, nodded and said, "I'll take care of this matter."
On that day, Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, wrote a letter and sent his confidants to sneak into Wu County to contact Chu General Doulian.
Knowing that he was a confidant of Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, Chu General Dou Lian summoned him to his tent. At this time, Xiong Tao's confidant immediately handed the letter to Dou Lian.
In this letter, Xiong Tao told Dou Lian that the Chu State had been beaten by the Wei army and was forced to retreat in Pengli County, losing the ability to counterattack. In addition, Xiong Tao also trumpeted the benevolence of Wei King Zhao Run and persuaded Dou Lian to "take Ba Ba with him". country and surrendered to the state of Wei".
At this time, Dou Lian knew that his Chu State had been completely defeated, and he sighed sadly.
After careful consideration, Doulian decided to surrender to Wei. Following the advice of Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, he cooperated with Wei General Wu Ji inside and outside to attack the Qin army.
Come to think of it, even Wang Jian did not expect that Chu general Dou Lian would switch sides, so that Wu Ji and Dou Lian cooperated to kill him and were defeated. He had to abandon the defense of "Wu Commandery" and "Defeng Pass" and led the remaining soldiers to escape. To Langzhong.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wu Ji led the Wei army to invade Ba. With the cooperation of General Dou Lian, the Wei army easily occupied two riverside cities, Linjiang and Pingdu.
At this time, Wang Ben, Wang Jian's son, was stationed in Langzhong. When he learned that his father was defeated due to the betrayal of Chu general Doulian, he was shocked and angry. He quickly led reinforcements to come to help, and met Wang Jian on the way.
After receiving reinforcements, an extremely angry Wang Jian led his army to Pingdu, preparing to intercept the Wei army.
Bei Gongyu was in Jiangzhou at this time. When he heard that the Wei army had invaded Ba, he said to Ba Man and Fan Bu: "Rebel Qin and surrender to Wei today!"
Since Ba Wangkai had originally planned to surrender to Wei, Ba Man and Fan Bu did not hesitate and immediately gathered a crowd to attack the Qin army in Jiangzhou City. They immediately turned against Qin and led 20,000 tribesmen to attack Wang Jian from behind.
In front of him were Wei generals Wu Ji, and on the right were Baman and Fan Bu. Wang Jian was attacked from both sides and had to retreat to Langzhong.
A few days later, Wei general Wu Ji led his army to attack Jiangzhou. Baman and Fan Bu opened the city and surrendered.
After receiving help from Ba Man and Fan Bu, Wu Ji's army grew even stronger, reaching as many as 100,000.
However, because there were only 20,000 elite merchant soldiers among the 100,000 troops, and the rest of the soldiers were mixed, so when Qin General Wang Jian led hundreds of thousands of Qin troops to come back a few days later, the Wei army was still unable to resist, and could only defend Jiangzhou and Pingdu. Linjiang, Yufu and other cities withstood the Qin army's full-scale attack.
It was not until around October that Wei general Shen Yu led an army from Changsha to Ba, and the situation changed.
After receiving tens of thousands of Wei troops under Shen Yu, Wu Ji began to counterattack. He ordered his generals such as Xiong Tao, Dou Lian, Ba Man, and Fan Bu to lead their respective armies to regain the entire territory of Ba. However, he himself He joined forces with Shen Yu and faced the hundreds of thousands of Qin troops under the command of Qin General Wang Jian.
By the late autumn of the eleventh year of Wei Zhaowu, the Wei army had basically occupied the entire territory of Ba, and only "Langzhong" was still in the hands of the Qin army.