At the same time as Zhao Guoqiu's harvest, the busy work of the plan was also in full swing.

Shangji, that is, the annual performance evaluation of local and central officials by the Zhao government.

In these performance appraisals, many officials with excellent performance will be promoted, and many officials with poor performance will be demoted or even dismissed, and most officials will not advance or retreat, and they will barely mix up a "middle and upper" evaluation.

After the end of the count, the lively New Year's Day has arrived.

After New Year's Day, it is a snowy winter.

For Zhao and even the entire land of China, this is a rather peaceful second half of the year.

Perhaps because the big war in the first half of the year made all the countries a little tired, so in the second half of the year, except for the sporadic clashes between Qi and Chu on the border, which almost broke out into a big war, the other countries did not make any changes.

It was in this atmosphere that the spring of 255 BC arrived.

On this morning, under the chairmanship of Zhao Dan, a very important meeting was being held in Longtai.

Normally, in such a meeting, the Zhao State decided the direction of Zhao's attack in the next year or even years.

However, the atmosphere of this meeting was different from previous years.

Zhao Dan shook the information in his hand, and said to the seven ministers of Zhao State in front of him with a serious face: "Zhuqing, according to reliable information, the State of Chu has betrayed the widow and secretly formed an alliance with the State of Qin. ”

As soon as Zhao Dan said this, the ministers of Zhao State present couldn't help but be a little surprised on their faces.

You must know that in the past five years, Chu has sided with Zhao in almost every war, and it can be said that it is one of Zhao's most reliable allies.

In the past few wars, although Chu lost more than won the war against Qin in the southeast, each time it contained a considerable part of Qin's troops and helped Zhao relieve a lot of pressure.

In a certain subconscious, many of the ministers of the Zhao State present had even regarded the Chu State as their "own people", so they would be so surprised after hearing the news of the betrayal of the Chu State.

Yu Xin, who was the first to make an alliance on behalf of the State of Zhao and the State of Chu, couldn't help but ask, "King, this news ...... Is that really true? ”

Zhao Dan nodded very affirmatively, and said solemnly: "This news is top-secret news from the Hu Yiwei branch of the Chu State, and it is absolutely true. ”

As soon as they heard Zhao Dan's words, the ministers of Zhao State all quieted down.

Hu Yiwei's organization, with the passage of the past few years, has gradually become more and more famous, and it has begun to have the capital to wrestle with the secret intelligence organization of the Qin State led by "Hou".

In the past few years, the two sides have not known how many times they have met in the open and in the dark, and in general, they have their own gains and losses.

Since it is top-secret intelligence from Hu Yiwei, it must be wrong.

In fact, Zhao Dan sold a pass here, and did not tell the real intelligence channel Lu Buwei.

Yu Xin was very unhappy when he confirmed the news, and immediately said to Zhao Dan: "Great King, this Chu State dares to betray the alliance and secretly collude with the Qin State, and the minister thinks that he must send troops to teach him a lesson, otherwise, if all the countries of Han and Wei Qi follow suit, this will be very unfavorable to Da Zhao." ”

At present, Zhao is not only two allies, Korea and Wei, in fact, Yan and Chu also made an alliance with Zhao, and Qin and Qi have made peace with Zhao, and they also recognize Zhao as the boss.

From this point of view, Zhao Guo is really a well-deserved "leader of the martial arts alliance".

Of course, in these years, the kings of various countries actually do not pay much attention to the spirit of the contract, and any covenant contract is torn up.

But now this diplomatic alliance system is very beneficial for Zhao, that is, it can ensure that Zhao will not be attacked by other countries.

If such a system is destroyed, it is very likely that the "Six Kingdoms Attack Zhao" will appear, and Zhao will definitely not be able to withstand this situation.

In fact, until the end of the Warring States period in history, the six states of Shandong were united not without the strength of a war with Qin.

It's a pity that the Qin State has a strong national strength, and secondly, there are natural dangers such as Hangu Pass, and the six countries of Shandong are not united, which led to the miscarriage of Hezong again and again.

But now Handan of Zhao is located in the plain, and there is no natural danger at all, in terms of geographical location, it is much worse than Qin, and the family background is not as thick as that of Qin under the rule of Qin Shihuang at that time.

Therefore, the maintenance of the diplomatic alliance system was even more important for Zhao.

As soon as Yu Xin's words came out, he was immediately recognized by Lian Po.

The old general waved his arms and said to Zhao Dan very imposingly: "The king, the minister also thinks that he must teach Chu a good lesson to set an example!" If the king agrees, the ministers are willing to drive the king! ”

Don't look at Lian Po, who is about to be sixty, but the old general's momentum is not lost at all, and his desire to fight is very strong.

Zhao Bao hesitated for a moment and said, "King, I just contacted Yiqu a few years ago, just so that the Yiqu people could cooperate with the army to attack the Qin State at the beginning of spring after the year. Now, if the target is to change to the state of Chu, won't the actions of Yiqu be in vain? ”

The provocation of the Yiqu people was a strategy set by Zhao Dan last year, after all, it had also allowed the Qin State to recuperate for two years, and it was time to harvest the Qin State again, so as not to let the Qin State recover again.

Lian Po said disapprerovingly: "Hey, what's the matter, conquer Qin and Chu at the same time!" ”

Zhao Dan frowned, and directly rejected Lian Po's proposal: "No." ”

Although Qin Chu had formed an alliance, Zhao Dan felt that he should try not to do such a thing as a two-front war.

Concentrate the advantage to defeat one side first, and then deal with the other side, this is what Zhao Dan likes, and it is also the method that Zhao Guo has used in the past few years.

As soon as Zhao Dan denied it, then no one would mention the two-front war.

There is only one question next, should the main direction of attack be placed in Qin or Chu?

Around this, the ministers of Zhao State engaged in a heated debate.

Yu Xin, Lian Po, and Li Bo supported the first attack on Chu, while Zhao Sheng, Zhao Bao, and Pang Xuan supported the first attack on Qin.

So of course, Zhao Dan set his eyes on the last important minister of Zhao who had not yet expressed his position: "Zheng Qing, you can also talk about your opinion." ”

Zheng Zhu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Zhao State and a great pedestrian, touched his beard under his chin and groaned for a moment, and finally spoke: "My lord, in fact, the minister thinks that this Handan defense battle really shouldn't have happened a second time. Otherwise, it will have an impact on the prestige of both the king and the Zhao state. ”

As soon as Zhao Dan heard Zheng Zhu's words, he immediately understood what he meant.

I don't want to fight the defense of Handan, but I don't want to use the main force to conquer Qin Guanzhong again.

Obviously, Zheng Zhu is also more inclined to fight Chu first.

Zhao Dan thought about it carefully and felt that Zheng Zhu's words did not seem to be unreasonable.

The siege of the capital is indeed very much affecting the prestige of the country and the morale of the people.

And if the capital is breached, wouldn't it......

The last time the defense of Handan was fought, it was Wei and Qi who formed a coalition to attack together.

This time, if Zhao Dan does not put the main force in the direction of the Central Plains, then in the most extreme case, there may be a situation where the three kingdoms of Chu, Qi and Wei will attack together, and Handan will be really dangerous.

So after thinking for a while, Zhao Dan made a decision very happily.

"Since this is the case, then all the ministers will go down first to make a plan, and after the beginning of spring, they will take the Chu State as the target of this expedition!"