As he spoke, Yao Jia took out a map and pointed out to the monarchs and ministers of Zhao State the location where Qin intended to return the twelve cities of Zhangnan to Zhao State.

Although these twelve cities are not big cities, they are not a small place together, with a radius of almost more than 300 li and a population of nearly 500,000. Moreover, the Zhanghe River is less than two hundred miles away from Handan, and now the Zhao State has only three or four footholds on the south bank of the Zhanghe River, and it is difficult to hold the south bank of the Zhanghe River, so it can only rely on the Great Wall on the north bank of the Zhanghe River to defend Handan.

If the Qin State can really cede the twelve cities of Zhangnan to the Zhao State, then connecting with the several footholds of the Zhao State on the south bank of the Zhanghe River can form a defense line with a depth of nearly 100 miles on the south bank of the Zhanghe River, and form a Handan double insurance with the Great Wall of Zhangbei, both in terms of strategic depth and room for maneuver, which is of course a great thing for the Zhao State. But every minister present was thinking in their hearts, it was so difficult that the Qin State really changed its nature, and Zhenjing really wanted to cede the twelve cities of Zhangnan to the Zhao State?

At this time, Li Mu said: "The king, when Zhang Yi made Chu, he promised Chu to negotiate in the land of six hundred miles, so that Chu and Qi broke off the alliance, but after Chu made people reject Qi, Qin took the opportunity to send troops to attack Chu, but instead seized the land of six hundred miles in Hanzhong of Chu State, forcing Chu State to move its capital to avoid Qin. ”

Yao Jia said with a smile: "Wu Anjun's worries are not unreasonable. However, this envoy sent to Zhao this time, and has been ordered by the king of Qin, as long as the two countries negotiate peace, Qin can deliver the twelve cities of Zhangnan to Zhao, and the envoy will be responsible for handling the delivery matters, and after the delivery is successful, the envoy will leave Zhao and return to China. If Zhao State cannot recover the twelve cities of Zhangnan, please behead the envoy to punish the envoy for the crime of deceiving the king. ”

Zhao Wangqian was also stunned, but immediately smiled and said: "Okay, since Qin has such sincerity, the widow naturally can't refuse the kindness of King Qin, and the widow has made up his mind to negotiate peace with Qin." ”

When Guo Kai heard this, he hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, "The king is wise." ”

And Guo Kai's henchmen also knelt on the ground one after another, and said in unison: "The king is wise." ”

Li Mu, Shi Chong and others originally wanted to persuade Zhao Wangqian to take a break for a while, first send Yao Jia to the pavilion to rest, and then negotiate well before making a decision, but Zhao Wangqian had already spoken, and Guo Kai took the lead and said: The king is wise. I couldn't change it anymore, so I had to follow the other officials and bow down together, saying: "The king is wise." ”

Yao Jia smiled slightly, and lightly high-fived, only to see ten large boxes carried in by twenty attendants from outside the hall, each box was filled with rare treasures, and behind the big box, and Tingting, walked in ten young women wearing light gauze and colorful clothes, all of them were born with natural beauty, charming and moving, and there were actually two of them with white skin like jade, blonde hair and blue eyes, tall figures, concave and convex, compared with the Central Plains women, there is another moving style.

Yao Jia smiled and said: "My king, this is a special gift from my king to the king, in addition to the national ceremony, to show my king's respect for the king." He pointed to the two blonde beauties and said, "These two women are still the daughters of the Baidi tribe, which are extremely rare in the Central Plains. ”

The Baidi tribe is a branch of the Di tribe, which was originally mainly distributed in the northern part of ancient Yongzhou (now northern Shaanxi). After the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, it has always been a major disaster in the northwest of the Zhou Dynasty, and the women of the Baidi tribe have always been known for their tall figures, white skin like jade, and a few have blonde hair and blue eyes, which are very famous among the nations. However, after the founding of the Qin state, the Baidi tribe could not resist the attack of the Qin state, and divided into two branches, one moved westward, while the other merged into the Rong tribe. Therefore, there are fewer and fewer beauties of the Baidi tribe. And the blonde and blue-eyed Baidi beauties are very rare.

Zhao Wangqian was originally good at fishing, although there were many beauties in the palace, and there were also many beauties from other countries, but there were not many beauties in Qin, because they were beauties of the Bai Di tribe and had never seen them, plus Qin Qian repeatedly showed goodwill, and returned them to the twelve cities of Zhangnan of Zhao State, which also made Zhao Wangqian completely lose his guard against Qin, so at this time, Zhao Wangqian's heart was itchy, and he just wanted to bring these ten beauties into the harem immediately, and enjoy them carefully, so as to repay the taste of the legendary Bai Di beauties.

If it was at the court meeting of Zhao State, Zhao Wangqian would have thrown off his sleeves and immediately turned back to the harem, and Zhao Wangqian did not do such a thing in the past. But now, after all, in front of the envoys of the Qin State, Zhao Wangqian can't help but be a good man, so he has to say patiently: "Since it is the kindness of the King of Qin, then the widow will be disrespectful, Guo Xiangguo." ”

Guo Kai hurriedly said: "The minister is here." ”

Zhao Wang Qian said: "You will set up a banquet on behalf of the widow, entertain the envoys of the Qin State well, and retire from the dynasty." After finishing speaking, without waiting for the ministers to speak, they left the throne in a hurry and walked towards the harem, and the inner servants also brought these ten beauties of the Qin State into the harem with great interest.

At this time, Guo Kai turned to everyone and said: "My lords, the king has ordered to retreat from the court, so everyone will disperse." Then he saluted Yao Jia and said, "Lord Yao, please go to the Prime Minister's Mansion for a while, so that the Prime Minister can entertain your Lord on behalf of my king." ”

Yao Jia also smiled and said, "So you have to disturb Guo Xiangguo." ”

―――――――― dividing line――――――――― dividing line―――――――― "what?" Does the Qin State really plan to cede the Twelve Cities of Zhangnan back to the Zhao State? After listening to Li Mu's speech, Gao Yuan was also very surprised, and almost didn't believe his ears.

Li Mu also smiled bitterly and said: "I don't believe that Qin has such good intentions, but Yao Jia is very clear, and he will not return to Qin after the delivery of the twelve cities of Zhangnan, so it doesn't look like a fake." ”

Gao Yuan was also a little confused, and at this time, he couldn't figure it out, what was Qin Guo's plan, was it so difficult that he really wanted to make peace with Zhao Guo? There doesn't seem to be such a thing in history, after the Qin State destroyed Korea, the second one destroyed the Zhao State. Although I have been in this era for more than four months, on the whole, the general trend of history has basically not changed, and there should be no such extraneous branches.

Li Yinghong said: "Could it be what Mr. Chun Yu said, now that the Qin State has just won the Korean land, it needs to stabilize the dìng, and it also needs to guard against the Chu State; Moreover, the two counties of Longxi and Beidi have been in drought for months, hundreds of thousands of hungry people, and the Empress Dowager Huayang died of illness again, these three reasons add up, and it is normal for the Qin State to want to rest for a few years. ”

When Li Mu heard this, he also pondered for a moment, and said, "Gao Yuan, what do you think?" ”

Gao Yuan shook his head and said, "If it's just these three reasons, I don't think it's a legitimate reason. Korea has indeed just perished, but there is not much territory left in Korea itself, and it is not too difficult to manage, and the appointment of Changping Jun and Han Teng by the Qin State to garrison the Han Land is enough to ensure the stability of the Han Land, as for worrying about the Chu State, it is even more nonsense, although the Chu State is not like the Qi State to blindly show favor to the Qin State, but in the past few decades, it has always been unenterprising, and it is a corner of peace, if the Qin State takes the initiative to fight the Chu State, the Chu State may strive to resist, but the Chu State will never take the initiative to attack the Qin State. ”

Li Mudao: "Then what about the drought in Qin? Isn't it a good reason to be difficult? ”

Gao Yuan said: "It is true that the Qin State was affected, but the territory of the Qin State is several times that of my Zhao State, even if there are two counties affected, the impact on the Qin State is not great." And since the completion of the Zhengguo Canal, the entire Guanzhong region has become a fertile field, almost no disaster year, plus the Qin State already has the rich land of Bashu, so only two counties have been affected, with the wealth of the Qin State, it can also be fully handled, and it will never hinder the action of the Zhao Dynasty. On the contrary, the impact of this drought on our Zhao State is far greater than that of Qin State, and if I am the ruler of Qin State, I will not let go of this opportunity. As for the death of the Empress Dowager Huayang, it will not be a reason to prevent the Qin State from sending troops. ”

Li Mu also nodded, although according to the Zhou etiquette, no soldiers are allowed to be used during the mourning period, but firstly, the etiquette is now broken, and no one takes etiquette seriously, and although Qin is the first power in the world, it has never been a state of etiquette; Second, in the art of war, there is also a saying that "the enemy country is mourned, then the army will be killed", when the enemy country takes advantage of the mourning, the country that observes the ceremony has to stand up to the battle, so over time, it has also formed a "mourning clothes dyed ink" ceremony, and the conquest can also be held during the mourning period. Therefore, the death of the Empress Dowager Huayang will definitely not be able to stop the attack of the Qin State.

Ning Qi said: "Will there be such a possibility, the next target of the Qin State is not the Zhao State, but the Wei State or the Chu State, so they will make peace with our Zhao State and stabilize us first." ”

Gao Yuan shook his head and said: "I don't think so, because now among the countries, only our Zhao State is the only one capable of confronting the Qin State, and only the Zhao State has the ability to organize a joint defense against Qin, so except for the already extremely weak South Korea, the Qin State will first have to deal with the Zhao State, if the Qin State gives up the Zhao State now and goes to attack other countries, it will only give the Zhao State a respite, restore its strength, and then compete with the Qin State." Or organize a joint rebellion against Qin again, in case the Qin State accidentally loses one or two games, maybe the previous achievements will be in vain. Moreover, the first time that Qin destroyed Korea, it was to cut off the connection between the north and the south and prepare for the attack on Zhao. ”

Li Yinghong was a little puzzled, and said, "Then why does the Qin State want to make peace with our Zhao State?" Do you want to return the twelve cities of Zhangnan to us Zhao State? ”

Gao Yuan said: "I think there are only two possibilities, one is that there are other important things within the Qin State that we don't know about, which affected the plans of the Qin State, and we have to negotiate peace with our Zhao State." However, this is unlikely, because now Qin's internal affairs are stable, civil and military, and Qin Wangzheng is in his prime, and his power is stable, so it is unlikely that something serious will happen that we don't know; Then the second possibility is that Qin wants to use this peace negotiation to stabilize our Zhao State, so that we can relax our vigilance, and then launch a surprise attack on Zhao State. ”

Li Mu nodded and said, "Only this reason makes sense." However, as long as we can still maintain our vigilance against Qin, we must continue to fight and prepare to resist Qin's attack, so that we can respond to all changes with the same change, which is the best way for us to deal with it now. ”