In the 35th year of Qin Shi Huang, just after the second rooster crow in the first month of October, three important ministers were summoned by the confessors to the outside of the Jieshi Palace to wait to meet the emperor.

They are the right prime minister Li Si, the imperial historian Mao Jiao, and the Shaofu Yao Jia. The three of them are all old ministers, they have reached the age of the Mandate of Heaven and the ears are smooth, their beards are gray, and the sixty-eight-year-old Yao Jia is even bald on the top of his head, but fortunately, he is covered by a crown and hat......

The emperor probably just got up, and there was still a while to arrive, and the three people in the hall had in their sleeves the notes written by staying up late yesterday, standing separately, a few steps apart, very angry, Li Si was preoccupied, Mao Jiao looked up at the stars, and only Yao Jia yawned from time to time.

Yao Jia was originally a Wei person, born in the "World Prison Gate", his father was the prison guard who guarded the city gate, similar to Li Si's early experience, low status, but quite talented, Li Shi Wei, Zhao, but was scolded as "Liang Zhi thief, Zhao Zhi chases the minister", the reputation is very stinky.

It wasn't until he entered Qin and served Qin Shi Huang that Yao Jia found a master worthy of loyalty.

Yao Jia finished yawning, found that the atmosphere was awkward, looked at Li Si, then at Mao Jiao, and suddenly smiled: "Prime Minister and Imperial Doctor, the last time we were called together like this and waited for Your Majesty, it was more than 20 years ago, when the three of us were Lang officials, right?" ”

Li Si and Mao Jiao thought about it, it was really like this, in addition to Li Si's smooth sailing and rising by Qin Shihuang's side, Mao Jiao and Yao Jia have been released for a long time.

Mao Jiao angered the emperor by speaking out, and Yao Jia jumped up and down too actively in the poisoning of Han Fei and acted as a knife for Li Si. Qin Shi Huang regretted afterwards, although it was not good to kill Yao Jia to vent his anger, but he also supported him far away, responsible for envoys to various countries, and also made a county guard after unification, until the old ministers withered in recent years, Jiuqing lacked people, the emperor remembered him, and was retransferred back to the central government to serve as a young man.

It's just that when the three old colleagues get together again, the relationship is long gone, Li Si and Mao Jiao have political discord and often argue in court - this is also the court balance set by Qin Shi Huang, Yao Jia and Zuo Prime Minister Feng Qujian are close.

But now, it is not the time to quarrel, Yao Jia said: "The southern expedition is blocked, and it is an eventful time, and I hope that the three of us can be like back then, not to mention working together in the same boat, at least to endure each other for the country." ”

"It's nature."

Li Si and Mao Jiao both bowed their heads, but they didn't think so, and Mao Jiao even raised his guard. Don't look at Yao Jia's beautiful words, but he harmed people, but he was not polite at all, this person had a close relationship with Li Si, Han Fei was killed by these two people in conspire back then, he didn't want to follow in his footsteps.

After waiting for another half a moment, Qin Shi Huang was late, the emperor's complexion was not very good, and he occasionally coughed twice when he spoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen, continue with yesterday's discussion!"

……

After learning the news from the south yesterday, the ministers looked at each other, except for Heifu's little premonition, they didn't expect this to be the result!

But the witty Yao Jia immediately jumped out very interestingly, desperately smeared Tu Sui, and threw all the sins on the head of the dead general, saying that he was incompetent, and the three armies were affected, and the ministers seconded it one after another.

At that time, Mao Jiao listened to it, and only felt extremely ironic, half a year ago, when Tu Sui killed Xioujun and the situation in the south was good, the ministers were full of praise for him, and can Tu Sui really be blamed for this? Qin Shi Huang hoped to pacify Baiyue in the first month of the new year, but the edict was urgent, and Tu Sui could only take risks......

But there is no way, Qin Shi Huang is a god in the world, he will not make mistakes, so the mistake can only be the general below, and the person who recommended Tu Sui - Li You.

Li Si also had to stand up and ask Qin Shi Huang to severely punish Li You and remove him from his post and put him in prison!

"I'll leave it at that."

Qin Shi Huang was not interested in this kind of self-deception, he wanted the result, the result!

The only thing the emperor cares about is whether this battle can still be fought, how to fight it, and by whom?

This is also a question that the ministers were ordered to think about last night, and the emperor is anxious, and he will give him an answer today!

Shaofu Yao Jia took the lead in speaking: "Your Majesty, the minister made a plan last night, because the counties in the world implemented calculations, and collected brown sugar as an official camp, so Shaofu was full of coins!" ”

As soon as Mao Jiao heard this, he knew that Lao Yao, a ghost, was taking credit for himself, and when he first became the Shaofu, Yao Jia did two major things: the official camp of the calculation and brown sugar, and the merchants were all over the wilderness, and at the same time, they also made the Shaofu accumulate countless wealth.

As a Qi person, Mao Jiao, who was deeply influenced by the Guan Zi merchant as an agricultural assistant, was naturally very disgusted by this kind of killing chickens and taking eggs, but he was very helpless, Lishan, North and South, the Great Wall, and the Western Regions needed money everywhere.

But I heard Yao Jia say again: "As for the grain, since Canghaijun has been given the head, the northern expedition has stopped, if the grain from the Central Plains is transported to the south, the grain is also sufficient, and the troops can be sent to fight again!" ”

For the emperor, this is undoubtedly good news, if you want to save the defeat and save the face of the imperial court, it is not enough to punish the relevant personnel, but also need to turn defeat into victory!

"In this case, I will levy a batch of conscripts from various counties and go south to reinforce, I hope that before the summer of this year, the hundred Yue will be restored!"

Half a year, this is the psychological limit of Qin Shi Huang.

At present, the follow-up news from the south has not yet arrived, and Qin Shi Huang only thinks that this is just the accidental death of the main general, just like the sudden death of Yang Duanhe last year, and it does not affect the overall situation of the Eastern Crusade.

The emperor, who had never been to Lingnan, could not imagine how erosive the situation in the south was, the 10,000 people of the Cangwu army had died and completely lost their combat effectiveness, and the Guilin army was also in a difficult situation, so they could only barely hold their strongholds. The Chu Emperor in the army felt that the Qin Taijun deliberately sent them to death, and their attitude was very negative, and there was a possibility of mutiny at any time......

At the same time, Dongou and Luo Yue and South Vietnam also began to unite, bound to drive the invaders out of their homeland.

Because of the lag in the news, the three important ministers did not feel that there was anything wrong with Qin Shi Huang's expectations.

Even if he is as calm as Mao Jiao, there is no clear understanding, yesterday Qin Shi Huang engraved on the stone: "The terrain is established, Li Shu has no line, and the world is salty." Men enjoy their domains, women cultivate their careers, and everything is orderly. This is equivalent to announcing that after fighting Baiyue, you will have to rest with the people.

Mao Jiao saw hope, and since he could not persuade Qin Shi Huang to stop the Lingnan War, he had to hope that the battle could be resolved quickly.

It's just a few small barbarian tribes, as long as the generals are partyed, the Great Qin Heavenly Soldiers are not devastated? This is the blind confidence of the Celestial Empire, and the predecessors have done so, and the future generations will repeat similar mistakes countless times.

It must be played, and it must be clean and neat, and it will be done in half a year, so there is only one problem left:

Who goes?

"The minister recommends one person!"

Mao Jiao immediately said: "Jiaodong Shou Heifu, once commanded the army to recruit Yuzhang, built Nanchang City, fought hard, knew the situation in the south, and Heifu is known for knowing the soldiers, although the Huns are not the first merit, but they act steadily, quite the style of a general, and they will be set in March, helping the son to destroy the sea, all have merit, and can be the main general!" ”

Qin Shi Huang pondered for a moment and looked at Li Si:

"What does the prime minister think?"

Li Si had his own speculation in his heart, two years ago, when Qin Shi Huang decided to use troops against Baiyue, two notes were placed in front of his case, Heifu and Tu Sui both recommended themselves as generals, and finally the emperor was attracted by Tu Sui's "two years of Pingyue" and chose him as the main general.

As a result, Tu Suijun was defeated and died, which was a big disappointment.

This matter has a very good sense of déjà vu, and it is almost the same as when Li Xin and Wang Jian successively attacked Chu!

At this time, the appointment of Heifu as the main general was undoubtedly a disguised admission that the emperor's decision back then was wrong. The current Qin Shi Huang is not the Qin Wangzheng of Corporal Lixian back then, and it is almost impossible for the emperor to admit his mistakes......

"Cutting Yue is different from destroying Chu, it's not that without Heifu, there will be no one to replace it."

But Li Si thought about it carefully, the huge Qin Dynasty, except for Heifu, really couldn't find a more suitable general: Wang Ben and Ye Teng were both ill, Li Xinyuan was in the Western Regions, and Meng Tian was guarding the northern frontier, and these two goods were not good at fighting in the south, and they had been defeated miserably before.

As for the younger generals, Feng Zheng and Wang Li did not perform brilliantly and could not be trusted by the emperor, and as for his son Li You, Li Si knew that he was not up to the task......

And there is one thing that people are very concerned about, Qin Shi Huang also asked Heifu to enter the palace yesterday to inform him of the news and discuss the military affairs of the south together, but he was not summoned today.

"Could it be that the best candidate in His Majesty's heart is still Heifu, deliberately trying to let him avoid him?"

Considering Qin Shi Huang's determination to "set the Yue in half a year", Li Si had a plan.

Whether you agree or disagree, there are risks, even if you say something "Heifu is young, if you make meritorious contributions, I am afraid it will be difficult to reward", it is not pleasing to please, this kind of eye medicine, or leave it to the ministers.

Since it is difficult to stop, it can only find another way.

So Li Si simply recommended another person, a person who was destined to be opposed by Mao Jiao, and it was difficult to compete with Heifu in terms of qualifications and merits:

"The old minister thought that Jiaodong Lieutenant Ren Huan could also be a general, Ren Huan had followed the old general Wang to destroy Chu, stationed in Huiji, incorporated Chu Yuezhou Division, skillfully crossed the land, and then went north to serve as Jiaodong Lieutenant, Lou Boat Dongdu, transporting grain, his merit is no less than Wei County Shou, and Jiaodong Boat Division can immediately go south to Jiangdong and preside over the overall situation......"

Mao Jiao really objected: "Prime Minister, Huiji and Xiou are thousands of miles apart, how can Ren Huan preside over the overall situation?" And although Ren Huan is good at water warfare, as far as I know, the land of Xiou and Luo Yue is dense forests and deep mountains, and there is no place for building boats, even if you go south, I am afraid it will be useless. ”

Qin Shi Huang still didn't show his attitude, and his eyes swept to the third person: "Yao Jia? ”

"I think it's ......"

As an old comrade-in-arms who cooperated to kill Han Fei, Yao Jia immediately understood Li Si's intention of recommending Ren Huan, this is to retreat as advance!

He smiled and said: "What the Prime Minister and the Imperial Doctor said are all reasonable, why doesn't Your Majesty take Heifu as the main and Ren Huan as the deputy?" With the Pingyue policy offered by Heifu in the past, the land and water are advancing simultaneously, and the military rations are transported by the boat division, so that Lingnan can be determined for half a year! ”

This is Li Si's real intention, recommending Ren Huan, after this matter spreads, he can be grateful to Ren Huan, and can make him and Heifu feel guilty, the boat master controls the lifeblood of food, and it will not let the Southern Army dominate.

In just a few words, the three of them had already fought back and forth several times, and outside the hall also said that they would work together, and after a while, the intrigue began again.

But this has nothing to do with the overall situation, Qin Shi Huang bowed his head and said to the confessor: "Summoning the Jiaodong County Guard!" ”

Sure enough, Qin Shi Huang didn't call Heifu today, just to let him avoid suspicion, as early as when the bad news came from the south, the candidate in the emperor's heart had already been decided!

The three of them didn't know that last night, Qin Shi Huang coughed up blood again, and both his body and patience were exhausted.

It's time to use the long-sharpened knife of slaughtering cattle!

What he needs is a quick battle to shut everyone's mouths like a cow!

……

Not long after, Heifu has already ridden to the Jieshi Palace, he is not in a hurry, the action of the upper steps is slow, outside the hall first took off the frost-stained mink fur, and then untied the sword, handed it to Lang Wei, took off his shoes at the door of the palace, only walked in a small way in his footclothes, and worshiped His Majesty:

"Chen Heifu, I have seen Your Majesty!"

Qin Shi Huang has no nonsense:

"Heifu, I want to order you to be the main general of the Southern Expedition, and before the summer, pacify Baiyue! Is it possible? ”

"With the trust of His Majesty, I am willing to be ordered to go south immediately, and I dare not delay for a moment!"

This attitude is very interesting, the three ministers in the palace, Li Si is preoccupied, Yao Jia touched his beard and smiled, Mao Jiao was very pleased, he had high hopes for Heifu, if Heifu can take charge of the southern expeditionary army, it will also help the future prince to be established......

But unexpectedly, Heifu said again: "But after half a year, Heifu doesn't dare to bully the king......"

He raised his head and said helplessly: "The minister can't do it!" ”