Chapter 204 Late Letter
The wheels of time have crushed numerous bones, as well as chariots, flags, and numerous spears.
In the spring of the sixth year of King Yong's reign, when the winter plum blossoms were beginning to fade and the ice and snow had not yet melted, Yong's 30 cavalry, led by generals Meng Tian and Li Xin, divided into two groups and marched directly to the northern city of Chu.
The Chu army was caught off guard and lost the three cities of Pingyu, Shenqiu and Yanying.
Meng Tian and Li Xin then joined forces and met the Chu general Xiang Yan who was coming.
Xiang Yan followed Yong's army and pursued it for three days and three nights.
The Yong army was underestimating the enemy because of its winning streak. Xiang Yan launched a sudden attack and defeated the Yong army. He occupied two of their camps, killed seven captains, and provoked the drums with blood.
Li Xin fled back with the remaining soldiers.
When the news came, the whole country was shocked.
This was the biggest defeat Yong had suffered since he launched the unification campaign.
It was easy to defeat South Korea; although it was difficult to defeat Zhao, the strategy was correct and it only took a few days; Wei was difficult to conquer, but it quickly fell apart after Wei Ji died.
But in Chu State, millions of armored soldiers cannot be underestimated.
Indeed, he underestimated the enemy.
Zhao Zheng sat calmly in the admonishment hall, listening to the various discussions of the courtiers.
"Wang Jian should be sent," they said.
"Our army is tired and should rest where it is." Someone else said.
"Or, wait a few years before attacking Chu?"
Zhao Zheng raised his eyes and looked at the person who said this.
Tingwei Li Tonggu.
Li Tonggu has always been a supporter of the annihilation of various vassal states, but this is the first time he has said such cowardly words.
"Why did Li Tingwei say this?" Zhao Zheng asked loudly.
There was an immediate silence in the palace. The courtiers looked at Li Tonggu cautiously and listened nervously to what he said.
Li Tonggu knelt down and saluted: "Your Majesty, I have heard that in war, you should take advantage of the weak and avoid danger. Those who can win wars in ancient and modern times all follow this principle. Now the Yan and Qi countries have not been defeated, but they are going to the difficulties. Attacking the powerful Chu State, I think it is inappropriate."
"Then according to Wei Ting's opinion, should we attack the Yan State or the Qi State?" Zhao Zheng's lips curled up slightly, with a hint of a smile.
Li Tonggu thought for a moment and said resolutely: "I think that we must first attack Qi with all our strength, and then go north to capture Yan. After that, take a short rest and then take advantage of the victory to pursue Chu."
Zhao Zheng nodded and said nothing, and the courtiers in the palace agreed.
Li Wenzhou, who was standing behind the imperial case, looked stiff and carefully paid attention to the monarch's expression.
"Qi Kingdom..."
Zhao Zheng tapped the imperial case with his fingers and shook his head slowly.
"Did you know that the main force of Wei State is now hiding in Qi State?"
"It is precisely because of this," Li Tonggu said, "that the remaining evil should be eradicated to avoid long nights and dreams."
There was a coldness in Zhao Zheng's eyes. Before he could refute it, he heard Li Tonggu chasing after him and said: "We know that the Queen cannot bear the main force of the Wei State to be wiped out, and also know that Your Majesty does not want to have any discord with the Queen or with the Qi State..."
"Bold!"
Before Zhao Zheng could speak, one of the courtiers scolded Li Tonggu sharply, interrupting Li Tonggu's words.
That was Feng Jie, the imperial censor.
Feng Jie raised his eyebrows and scolded: "As a minister, I have made irresponsible remarks, and I ask Li Tingwei to be reprimanded for his transgression."
Li Tonggu was interrupted and looked at Feng Jie in shock and confusion.
You old man, have you lost your mind?
Feng Jie raised the wat board high and kowtowed.
Seeing this scene, the courtiers in the palace who originally agreed with Li Tonggu suddenly fell silent.
They all know what kind of person Feng Jie is.
Once upon a time, the uncle of the wife of a courtier's son committed the crime of raping a common girl, and somehow Feng Jie found out about faced the emperor every day, admonishing his uncle for trying to show off his family ties to the courtiers, and he only gave up after the courtiers were demoted from their posts and investigated.
In fact, the uncle who broke the rules did not know the courtiers at all, but often boasted about his distant relatives.
Now they don't dare to bear the crime of transgression.
Li Tonggu kowtowed and explained: "I mean Your Majesty..."
"Bold!" Feng Jie's voice became even louder, "As a minister, Li Tingwei actually wants to refute His Majesty. I ask you to remonstrate Li Tingwei's crime of contempt for the court."
Okay, two sins.
Li Tonggu gritted his teeth and swallowed back the rest of his words.
His Majesty Yong Guo was unusually magnanimous. Although Feng Jie refused to give up, Zhao Zheng still said a few words for Li Tonggu, and the matter was settled.
Zhao Zheng also explained why Chu should be destroyed first.
"It has always been the policy of our country, Yong, to make distant friends and attack closely. The Yan State is in the bitter cold land of the northeast, and the Qi State is close to the sea. Linzi, the capital of Qi, is further away than Shouchun, the capital of Chu. Now our ever-victorious army of the Yong State should attack the strong enemy first. , and then attack the weak country. Although this battle is defeated, it can only serve as a warning to the soldiers in front of the battle. Wang Jian will return from Dang County tomorrow, and I am ready to—"
Zhao Zheng looked at the courtiers with cold eyes, stood up slowly and said: "The imperial commander personally marches to Huanglong!"
Your Majesty wants to personally conquer? The courtiers immediately fell to their knees.
"No... Your Majesty, you can't..."
However, the king of Yong State flicked his sleeves and he had already moved away.
"I heard it was defeated."
Wei Jiang Mangmao saw Jiang He and eagerly told her the news he had just learned.
Jiang He was looking at a piece of white cloth with black writing on it, and when he saw him coming in, he put the white cloth away with a calm expression.
"Is Yong Guo defeated?" she asked news of the defeat of the Yong Kingdom's vanguard troops has spread throughout the country.
This incident inspired the Chu State, and the envoys of the Chu State even went to the palace of the King of Qi to tell the King of Qi the the one hand, it made King Qi believe that Yong State would soon be defeated by Chu State, or the country might be the other hand, I also hope that the King of Qi can deal with Jiang He to avoid disharmony between Qi and Chu.
"How to deal with it?" I heard that the King of Qi spread his hands and said, "She brings 30 troops, and our Qi country only has more than 30 troops. Otherwise, you, the Chu country, can help take care of her."
King Qi is not a fool.
His son Jiang Ben reduced taxes and helped with land reclamation, which resulted in a lot of grain in the treasury this year.
But these stored grains cannot be sold to the enemy Yan State, let alone Yong State, which may attack at any time. It would be great to sell them to people like Wei State.
Those golden cakes are so delicious.
So when Jiang He knew that Mang Mao was coming, he naturally talked about Yong's defeat.
"It's just two fortresses lost," Jiang Heshi said casually, "Maybe it was a clever trick to lure the enemy deeper."
When it came to the art of war, Mang Mao did not dare to argue with Jiang He.
He had suffered so much from Jiang He, and he even remembered how she used tricks to force the King of Wei to abdicate in the Wei court.
Mang Mao asked tentatively: "But when will we attack Chu to avenge my majesty and the young master?"
"Don't be in a hurry." Jiang He said with a smile, "You have enough to eat."
It is indeed enough, even better than when I was in injured soldiers also received good medical treatment. Although the military situation was not encouraging, there was no need to worry about military chaos.
Jiang He took out a large bundle from under the desk and handed it to Mang Mao.
Mang Mao's eyes widened when he saw the pattern on the I opened the bag and took out the letter, my eye sockets were already wet when I touched the familiar handwriting on it.
"Your Highness..." He suddenly felt a little unbelievable.
"It's a letter from home," Jiang He said. "The person who sent the letter said that everything is fine at home, so you can rest assured."
Mang Mao was overwhelmed with tears in his eyes and nodded hurriedly.
Being able to deliver letters in, the servants in his own house definitely don't have this ability.
It must have been Jiang He who sent someone to his home.
"Go read the letter." Jiang He saw his excited expression and said warmly, "Don't be idle these days. Train your troops and horses carefully and select [-] elite light cavalry soldiers. They will be of great use in the future."
Mang Mao bowed in response and retreated. As soon as he walked out of the tent, he couldn't wait to open the letter.
Letters from home are worth ten thousand dollars, especially letters from home during this time of national collapse.
Jiang He in the camp was also reading the "letter".
In fact it cannot be called faith, it is dipped cloth.
Zhao Zheng likes to write with full ink, and it often takes a long time to dry after usually puts it aside after finishing writing, always looking calm and composed.
But this time he used a dipped cloth, obviously panicking.
There were only six words in the letter.
——"Don't kill the Wei royal family."
This letter should be written after the "Kill all the male members of the Wei royal family" letter.
Zong Jun said that the letter was taken away by Chen Nanxing and burned.
So they were in the military at that time and they got a blank letter.
Zongjun limped and came all the way. In addition to the gold cakes she urgently needed, what he brought was this dipping cloth.
In his heart, he must have thought that the reason why he took Wei Jun away from Qi State was because he did not see this letter.
This letter contains Zhao Zheng's regret.
Regret that you broke your promise and try to make amends.
In fact, when Jiang He saw the letter that wanted to kill all the men in the Wei royal family, he was indeed a little angry and said that he would let her make her decision, but he still thought that she would be merciful to Wei Guo, so he wrote to Meng Tian in private.
They husband and wife actually need to be so secretive.
But Jiang He is in Qi State now, but it is not because of that letter.
But Zhao Zheng had already made the decision to kill the main army of Wei from the beginning.
In Jiang He's view, their family members were now Yong people and there was no need to kill them.
This was an inevitable disagreement between her and Zhao Zheng.
I'm afraid Zhao Zheng has already thought that she would lead the main force of Wei to attack Chu.
Be a pawn of Yong's army and a stepping stone for Yong's army.
It's best to die clean, lest the situation changes.
But she won't.
She was once entrusted by someone to treat the people of Wei well.
Jiang He opened and folded the dipping cloth.
She imagined Zhao Zheng's urgency in writing the letter at that time, and imagined why he changed his 's really not easy for someone like him.
Jiang He felt heartbroken and sour. Her eyes moved away from the scrawled handwriting and landed on a map hanging on the wall.
It has been three years since my father died.
It's not easy for someone like her to endure it for three years.
Now the old and new grudges are together, and the king of Chu is burdened with cud. Can you afford it? She values every one of her soldiers and makes good use of them.
Only in this way can the gate of Shouchun City be opened as early as possible.
To avenge the enemy and unify Kyushu.
(End of this chapter)