Xianyang, Qin Palace.

Although the officials of the Qin State had already arrived at this time and stood on the main hall of the palace, all the officials bowed their heads and were silent, and the entire hall was silent.

Qin Wang Zheng sat on the throne in the middle and high position, swept his eyes to His Royal Highness, and said lightly: "How should I deal with it now, I don't know which Aiqing has a good plan to teach the widow." ”

At this time, the battle report of the front line has been transmitted to Xianyang, the Qin army has suffered defeat on both fronts, on the Jijing line, Jijing has gained and lost, and the 100,000 army is less than 10,000 people, and Yanjing has all fallen into the control of the army, and is close to the Yishui bank of the village, although the war report said that the general Wang Jian was lost and trapped in Jijing City, life and death are unknown, but Qin Wangzheng and the officials of Qin are very clear, Wang Jian must be more than auspicious. And the Dai army can kill Yi Shui at any time and advance south. Although it was better on the front line of Jingcheng, it was also defeated by the Dai army, and more than 100,000 troops were dismantled before and after, and now it has retreated to Jingcheng to garrison.

Originally, this time the war was carried out very smoothly at the beginning, and the Qin army only took less than two months to successfully occupy Jijing and destroy the Yan State, and on the Jingcheng line, it also successfully suppressed the Dai army and basically completed the pre-war goal, so the Qin government and the opposition were also optimistic at that time, thinking that this time the army had been completed, and the war would soon be over. But no one thought that since then, the situation has deteriorated, and the Qin army has been losing a thousand miles, losing consecutive battles, not only accompanying all the early victories, but also taking into many areas that already belong to the Qin State.

For this war, the Qin State invested a total of more than 400,000 troops, and now for this reason, the total number of troops lost has exceeded 200,000, it can be said that since more than 30 years ago, Wei Gongzi Xinling Jun Wuji organized a joint column, led the five-nation alliance to attack Qin, and once fought the Qin State to retreat to Hangu Pass, Qin State is still the first time to suffer such a big defeat on the battlefield, and it is the general Wang Jian who died, which is definitely a heavy loss for the Qin State. Although the Qin army was defeated by Li Mu in the Battle of Wei and the Battle of Jingcheng, and the general Huan Qi was killed, the loss of troops in these two battles did not exceed 100,000, and Huan Qi's ability and qualifications were not enough to compare with Wang Jian.

In the battle of Daliang, the Qin army also lost more than 150,000 troops, but after all, that battle was won by Qin, whether the final army was defeated or defeated, but the result was that Daliang was lost, Wei was destroyed, and it was worth it to conquer a strong city like Daliang and pay such a price.

But this time it was different, because no matter from that point of view, the Qin army was defeated, and it was defeated very badly, which was a rare defeat for the Qin State, and there was no controversy.

Now the rest of the Qin army has all retreated to Zhao, stationed in Jingcheng and Handan, and although the Dai army has also suffered a lot of losses, but there are still strong enough troops to launch an attack on the Qin army, and at the same time, in the overall overall situation, it is also beneficial to the Dai army, because it is now Jing Cheng is alone, caught in the middle of the Dai army, although there are still about 120,000 troops stationed, but it is still very dangerous. If there are no reinforcements, Jing Cheng may be difficult to preserve.

But after the battle of Daliang, and this battle to the present, Qin in just two or three years, the loss of more than 300,000 troops, almost the same as the number of people killed in the first battle of Changping, although Qin is the largest country in the world, with a population of more than 20 million, but such a loss, still makes Qin a little unbearable, and then the front line to send reinforcements, it is indeed a little difficult, after all, thinking of reinforcements to hold Jingcheng, without more than 100,000 troops, it is useless. And if you want to defeat the Dai army and turn the situation around, you must at least send out no less than 200,000 troops.

Of course, with the population of Qin, it is not impossible to gather more than 100,000 or 200,000 troops, but the recruitment, assembly, training, and marching of the army will take at least four or five months to reach Jingcheng. And by that time, I'm afraid that Jing Cheng has already been lost.

In addition, more strict than the army is the military supply, grain and grass material collection, the original design of this battle time was six to eight months, now it has been nearly five months, so if you want to send reinforcements, then the remaining military supplies, grain and grass materials are definitely not enough, originally for this war, Qin has increased a tax, fortunately, there is not much, and the people of Qin are relatively rich, so it did not cause much turmoil. And only another tax increase can be carried out, and no one dares to say whether the people of Qin can bear the increased taxes without complaint.

In fact, all the ministers knew that this battle could no longer be supported, and it must be stopped as much as possible, but if this was the case, the ministers of the Qin State were somewhat difficult to speak; Second, I don't know how to stop at that step, give up Jingcheng, or even give up Handan, and whether the Dai army will take advantage of the situation to march, if the Qin army withdraws, the Dai army does not stop, but takes advantage of the situation, it will not be easy to do. Therefore, after Qin Wangzheng asked, no one answered for a while.

Seeing that no one answered, King Qin said: "The current situation is clear to all the secretaries, my Qin army has been defeated, and it is powerless to recover, so in the next step, should we collect troops to boycott the war, or send troops to reinforcements, if we collect troops and strike the war, and attack on behalf of the army, how should we deal with it, and if we send troops to reinforce, how to transfer troops and send generals, and raise materials, I don't know what the ministers think." To solve the worries of widows? ”

When asked about this step, the officials could no longer be indifferent, and Li Si was the first to come out and say: "Great King, the minister thinks that my Great Qin should withdraw his troops and stop the war, and he can't send troops to reinforce anymore." ”

Qin Wangzheng nodded and said, "Can Qing think so?" ”

Li Sidao: "Now that Jijing has been lost, my Qin army has been defeated, the wounded soldiers have lost their generals, and their morale is low, and the new victory of the Dai army is flourishing, so at this time, it must not be lightly twisted, and my Qin State has suffered two major wars in a row, and now the national strength is insufficient, the treasury is empty, and it is difficult to bear another war." After a pause, Li Si said again: "What's more, now that the two countries of Chu and Qi are active and in contact with each other, I am afraid that they want to take advantage of the fire to rob, if the plateau can take advantage of the situation, it is not difficult to organize another joint column, and although the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Wei are dead, the remnants of the three kingdoms have not given up, waiting for the opportunity to move, intending to avoid the restoration of the country, if I Qin State forcibly wants to fight with it, I am afraid that the consequences are not willing to imagine, not only can not defeat the Dai army, even the land of the Three Jin Dynasty may be gained and lost, and the work of several years will be destroyed." Therefore, at this time, we should make concessions for the time being, first hold on to the land we occupy, and then seek other things. ”

Qin Wangzheng was stunned for a moment, and said, "Are the two countries of Qi and Chu in contact with each other?" ”

In the middle of the Warring States period, since the weakening of the Wei State, the Zhao State has not yet risen, and the Qin State has gone through the Shang Dynasty reform, gradually become rich and strong, basically Qin, Chu, Qi three-legged, among the three countries, any two countries together, will cause a great threat to the other country, because it is Qin, Qi are located at the west and east ends, and Chu is located between Qin and Qi, so Qin and Qi are trying their best to pull the Chu State, or destroy the relationship between the Chu State and the other party, the so-called "Helong" and "Lianheng" are actually produced in this era. is mainly between these three kingdoms, and the rest of Han Zhao and Wei Yan are just playing the role of soy sauce.

In the game of the three kingdoms, in the end, it was the Qin State that was superior, first appointed Zhang Yi's strategy, successfully separated Qi Chu, seized the 600 land in Hanzhong of the Chu State, imprisoned the King of Chu Huai, and then defeated the Chu State three times, forcing the Chu State to change its capital three times, making the Chu State completely weakened; Subsequently, the Qin State, together with Han Zhao Weiyan, formed a five-nation alliance to attack Qi, and defeated the Qi State to almost the end of the country.

From then on, the state of Chu could only be in the south and rely on the formation of a column with other countries to be able to fight against the Qin state; Although the national strength of Qi gradually recovered, it adopted the national policy of showing favor to Qin, and although it also maintained friendship with other countries, it no longer participated in the joint alliance, so the two countries of Qi and Chu never joined forces again.

Although the strength of Qi and Chu is not comparable to the three-legged era of Qin State, after all, it is also a skinny camel bigger than a horse, and the population of Chu can be compared with Qin State, and Qi State is close to the sea and land, and the people are engaged in commerce and salt production, so the national strength is rich, and it is not under Qin.

If there were only two countries of Qi and Chu, Qin would not feel too much pressure, because although the national strength of these two countries is strong, the military strength is not strong, and there are no famous generals in charge, after all, national strength will eventually be transformed into military power. But now that Daijun has risen strongly, he has not only completely inherited the strong military power of Zhao, but also has a great tendency to surpass, and the plateau is majestic, not only proficient in the art of war, not under Li Mu, and his ability to govern the country is not bad at all, and without the shackles of the Zhao royal family, he can show his strength completely without scruples, which is the most headache for Qin.

In addition, the relationship between the plateau and Qi and Chu is quite good, and when dealing with the relationship with Qi and Chu, the plateau has wisely chosen to take the route of the ministers, and Tian Kezang of Qi and Xiang Yan of Chu have established a good friendship, and they have not focused on the monarch, in fact, this is also the usual diplomatic method of Qin, which also shows that Gao Yuan's diplomatic means are more pragmatic and flexible.

With the strong national strength of Qi and Chu, coupled with the strength of Daijun, if these three countries join forces, then they can indeed pose a huge threat to Qin, and now the land of Han, Zhao and Wei is not stable, and turmoil may occur at any time, and it cannot be guarded against. If such internal and external cooperation is made, with the strong national strength of the Qin State, I am afraid it will be difficult to deal with it.

Therefore, when Qin Wangzheng heard that Qi and Chu were in contact with each other, he couldn't help but be shocked and immediately opened his mouth to ask.

At this time, he took the liberty of coming out and said: "Back to the king, a month ago, the state of Chu took Yin Xiangyan as an envoy to serve as the state of Qi, and the state of Qi then took the great Sima Anping Juntian Kezang as an envoy to visit the state of Chu, and the person who threaded the needle in it was called Zhang Liang, who was originally a Korean, and is now serving as a minister in the county. ”