Three hundred and seventieth chapters the accomplice of the traitor
After resting for a period of time, Qin began to gather troops in Yunzhong.
At this time, due to years of war, all countries except Qin had lost the ability to initiate war. The princes were living in harmony with each other, and the initiative in the war fell completely into the hands of Qin. The countries could only
It can passively conduct defensive battles and can no longer take the initiative to attack any country. However, the Qin State was not affected by the war at all. It became stronger as the war progressed, its national power continued to rise, and its mobilization ability became stronger and stronger.
After Qin ended the war with Zhao and Wei, it could quickly gather its soldiers to prepare for the next war. However, Qin's old rival Zhao was in dire straits at this moment. King Zhao passed away and all the domestic grain reserves were lost.
It was consumed in the war last year, and the autumn harvest has not yet come... In order to deal with the threat of Qin, Zhao had no choice but to collect grain from the people. This is Fu. Fu not only asks for food, but also shields and horses.
, vehicles and other war materials.
Within four years, the State of Zhao had collected taxes from the people eleven times. They had raised the tax rate to the highest level and no longer cared about the lives of the people... The people of the State of Zhao were in dire straits, especially after the death of King Zhao Yan.
, the senior leaders of the Zhao State no longer implemented the light tax policy left by Xiaocheng Wang Dan, and transferred all the pressure caused by the war to the people without caring. In the Zhao State, mourning was everywhere, and there were bandits everywhere.
Ordinary officials rushed into people's homes and took away all their belongings.
It can be seen that the method formulated by Liao to deal with the Zhao State was quite successful. It was only by continuously consuming the national power of the Zhao State that it forced the Zhao State into a desperate situation. The desperate situation that the Zhao State is facing now is longer than the original one.
Even in peacetime, it is even more dangerous, and it also makes people despair. They resort to violence, or in other words, they are forced to resort to aggression.
Outside the township, there were many tall and burly warriors standing, guarding the gate, holding weapons in their hands, their eyes were so cold, but inside the township, the cries were loud, and it was extremely chaotic, as if
It was like thieves rushing into the countryside. The officials were walking on the road, knocking on the door frantically. The people inside the door hugged each other, trembling, and looked at the swaying door.
This knock on the door was the sound of death. When the officials kicked open the door and rushed into the courtyard, the men stood in front of them and begged, but the officials just read out the news from Handan indifferently, because
In war, taxes must be collected from the people... Taxes are far more terrible than taxes. Taxes are collected regularly, once a year, but taxes are different. As long as there is a shortage of war materials or food, the government can collect them again and again.
Keep collecting gifts.
The food that the family would need to survive until autumn was naturally within the scope of the recruitment. After warning them of the fate of those who resisted, the warriors began to collect the food this time. They began to plunder and take away everything in the courtyard.
If the owners of the courtyard express strong hostility, they will be put to death according to the law. Heart-rending cries can be heard in every household.
The officials carried the trophies and proudly left the battlefield and headed to the gate. There were many carriages parked here. They put the supplies on the carriages and then transported them to Handan.
When the knight arrived here, he happened to see the officials pushing a group of men who were unwilling to cooperate and asking them to dig a hole outside the village. The purpose of this hole was clear to the knight passing by. He got off his horse.
, the entourage behind him also followed him one after another. Seeing him coming, the officials who were busy stopped, faced the knight, and leaned down to salute. It was as if at that moment, he transformed from a beast into a beast.
A gentleman.
Or maybe they have always been like this.
Li Mu looked at his husband, his wife, and his son who were crying... They were all blocked by the warriors in the countryside. He frowned and looked at the leading officials. In such a scene, he
It wasn't the first time he saw this... Previously, he saw several deserted villages and people fleeing in all directions. He thought it was the Qin people who came to kill them. However, he later learned that this was all because of the officials' confiscation.
The reason for the gift.
"If you take away all their food, how will they survive until the autumn harvest? You are forcing people to kill!" Li Mu said angrily. Although the leading official did not recognize him, he saw him
He knew that he could not afford to offend, so he said helplessly: "This is an order from Handan, which requires all places to collect enough food to resist the Qin people... If we fail to complete the order, we will be killed, what do you think?"
What should I do?"
"Besides, if we don't collect food, how can we resist the Qin people?"
Li Mu looked at the situation around him and couldn't help but sigh: "Even if the Qin people came... they wouldn't have caused such a tragic situation."
Li Mu still stopped these officials, and speeded up, rushing towards Handan. If he continued to collect like this, he would not have to wait for the Qin people to attack, and the Zhao country would be destroyed... Many thieves have begun to appear in various places.
As the situation worsened, a bigger rebellion would break out sooner or later. The people on the road were fleeing, fleeing in large numbers towards the direction of Qin. However, the experiences of the people made Li Mu feel a little shaken.
During these days, Li Mu always felt that he was the guardian of Zhao State, and he must protect Zhao State... He did repel the invading Qin State, but the people of Zhao State did not suffer from this.
After living a good life, their lives have become increasingly difficult. Now, there is almost no way to survive... Is this what I want to see? Is this my achievement in guarding the Kingdom of Zhao?
Li Mu's mind went blank.
When he arrived at Handan, King Zhao did not go out to greet him. He did not even send anyone to greet Li Mu. Li Mu led the knights to Handan, and the situation in Handan was not much better... everywhere
There were soldiers patrolling back and forth, as well as carriages that kept coming and going. The carriages carried food and various items. Each carriage carried the lives of dozens of people.
Li Mu walked into the city and rushed towards the palace. When he arrived at the palace, the warriors outside the palace recognized him and hurriedly bowed to him. Li Mu asked them to go and report... After a while,
When these warriors came out, they looked at Li Mu with some embarrassment. After hesitating for a while, they said, "Your Majesty is not feeling well... He said that if you have anything important to do, you can go to Prime Minister Guo."
Li Mu looked at the warriors in front of him, and then looked at the palace behind them. The new King Zhao did not like him. No, he hated himself very much. Li Mu already understood this in his heart. He fought for Zhao for ten years.
After several years, in the end, nothing seemed to be accomplished. The people were still suffering, but the king had openly expressed his dissatisfaction with himself. Li Mu was silent for a moment and left the palace.
He led people to Guo Kai's mansion.
Guo Kai was taking people to count the food supplies sent from various places. Li Mu suddenly barged in. Guo Kai stood up with a smile and walked quickly to Li Mu, "Wu An Jun? When did you come back?", he asked.
As if he was very happy to see his old friend, Li Mu just looked at him coldly and asked: "Why did you do this? With one order of yours, tens of thousands of people were killed..."
The smile on Guo Kai's face gradually solidified. He took the seal of the Prime Minister from his waist and threw it directly to Li Mu.
"Okay, then you can handle these things... The Qin people are preparing to attack Yanmen, and there is not a grain of food in the treasury... Then it's up to you... You can think of a way to resist the Qin people.
", Guo Kai turned around, left here without looking back, and walked directly into the inner room. Li Mu looked at the seal in his hand, gritted his teeth, threw the seal on the ground, and then left the courtyard.
.
Guo Kai stayed in the inner room, listening to his confidants report on Li Mu's situation.
Guo Kai couldn't help but laugh, "Okay, very good, Li Mu's end has come."
The next day, King Zhao summoned his ministers to discuss important matters. Li Mu finally met the new king. King Zhao was young and could not govern personally, so Li Mu was responsible for all affairs. King Zhao sat on top and couldn't help but
He yawned, showing no dignity as a king, while Guo Kai frowned and angrily accused Qin of his crimes. Later, Guo Kai expressed his concerns about the current situation.
The Qin State continued to gather soldiers in Yunzhong, fearing that it would soon launch an attack on Yanmen and other areas. If Yanmen fell, Handan would be fully exposed to the Qin people. By then,
Qin could even bypass the Great Wall of Zhao to attack Handan, but Handan's most important defensive measures would not be able to work. What was even more critical was that Zhao had no food and could not even recruit soldiers to fight.
We can’t let the soldiers bring enough food to fight, right?
All the officials were worried, but the young King Zhao was still immersed in his own world and didn't care at all what Guo Kai said.
Guo Kai finally looked at Li Mu, and he said seriously: "Wu Anjun does not agree with my method of gathering food... Since you do not agree, then I will not continue to gather food... However, you must have the confidence to defeat
The Qin people in the clouds... If you can't defeat them, please don't oppose my order. I am doing this for the sake of Zhao... Without enough food, how can we deal with Qin's invasion?"
Li Mu frowned and said, "I will definitely defeat the Qin people... Please don't forcefully collect food like this again... You have forced more people to death than the Qin people."
"Okay, then you can take the soldiers from Handan to Yanmen to resist the Qin people."
"The number of soldiers in Handan is only more than 40,000...and if Qin goes out to fight, the number will probably be no less than 100,000..."
"Forty thousand is forty thousand..." Li Mu said, he really couldn't watch the people of Zhao State endure such a disaster... and the final result was that Li Mu led Handan's 40,000 army,
Going to Yanmen, many people felt that Li Mu was bound to be defeated. How could 40,000 people resist Qin's 100,000 troops? On this day, the queen was very happy. She felt that this was Guo Kai's plan to let
Li Mu took a small number of soldiers to the battlefield to die.
It's a pity that Guo Kai has never thought about it this way... The 40,000 soldiers in Handan were infiltrated by Guo Kai. They were full of spies from Qin and Guo Kai's confidants. How could this army be buried with Li Mu? Guo Kai
Of course Kai was reluctant, so Guo Kai immediately ordered Sima Shang and deputy general Tian Yue to follow Li Mu to resist Qin's attack. The best generals in the country all came to Yanmen.
At this time, Qin was still training its soldiers and was not in a hurry to go to war.
This made Li Mu a little surprised. He himself didn't understand why Qin gathered soldiers in the clouds but didn't come to attack... Of course, Qin's purpose was not to attack Zhao, they were just cooperating with Guo Kai
, Their purpose was Li Mu. Li Mu began to train his soldiers and observe the movements of the Qin army. After a while, reinforcements from Handan arrived. They were said to be reinforcements, but in fact they were only more than a hundred people.
But it was Guo Kai's confidant Yan Ju who led the reinforcements here.
Li Mu, Sima Shang, Tian Yue and other generals were sitting in the camp, while Yan Ju stood in front of them and read out King Zhao's order... King Zhao asked Li Mu to hand over the army to Yan Ju and then return to Handan... Yan
Before Yan Ju could finish speaking, Sima Shang interrupted him. Sima Shang was always irritable. He stood up abruptly, walked to Yan Ju in a few steps, and then said, "What merits do you have, can you succeed Wu An?"
Jun?"
"Your Majesty is young, these must be orders issued by Guo Kai on behalf of Your Majesty!"
Sima Shang grabbed Yan Ju's arm and asked viciously: "Tell me, why did Guo Kai issue such an order?"
Yan Ju looked at him. Although he was scared, he still pretended to be calm. He said: "I have never seen Prime Minister Guo before I came. I was sent here by the Supreme Lord. These orders were written by the Supreme Lord himself."
...He didn't even allow me to tell the Prime Minister..." Sima Shang took the order and looked at it carefully for a moment before he laughed and said: "It's true, this handwriting does look like it was written by a naughty boy.
!”
Li Mu glared at Sima Shang, and then said: "Guo Kai was the one who sent me to go on the expedition. Since he asked me to go on the expedition, there is no need to send anyone to replace me. I think this is the order of the Lord, who is young...
Not to mention the important affairs of the country... Besides, the general is on an expedition, so he does not have to accept the king's orders." Li Mu then stood up and said to Yan Ju: "Go back to Handan, find Guo Xiang, and tell this matter.
he..."
Li Mu had already decided in his heart that this was King Zhao's willful behavior.
Yan Ju smiled awkwardly and then said: "Mr. Wu An, please don't blame me. I dare not disobey your Majesty's orders..." Li Mu shook his head and said, "I won't blame you.
...It's not your fault."
Sima Shang snorted coldly and then sat down.
Tian Yue felt something was wrong. Guo Kai was in charge of domestic matters. Even if this was an order secretly issued by King Zhao, Guo Kai shouldn't be unaware of it, right?
After Yan Ju left the camp, Tian Yue sat next to Li Mu and told Li Mu what he was thinking. Li Mu was thoughtful, but he didn't understand what was going on. Qin had not launched an attack for a long time, and King Zhao
This order is so weird...
After Yan Ju left the camp, he did not leave Yanmen and continued to stay here on the pretext of rest. After a few days, Yan Ju quietly summoned the middle-level generals in the army in the name of King Zhao.
After gathering together, Yan Ju took out the Wang Ling and said seriously: "Li Mu and other generals are unwilling to carry out the orders of the Lord. Please help me catch them. Anyone who disobeys the orders will be regarded as a traitor."
