The morning sun rose to the treetops, and the entire Xianyang City was bathed in a layer of golden light. Most of the leaves on the branches have been carved off, and the late frost on the tiles has long since melted, and the bleak autumn wind brings out a cold breath, heralding the arrival of winter.

And Xianyang Street gradually became lively, a full carriage drove out of the city gate, the horse's hooves trampled on the bluestone ground, the axle made a "squeak" sound, raised the dust of Miman, and finally disappeared into the distance. When some of the older people saw it, they all knew that this was food and grass for the front line. The start of the shipment of supplies from Xianyang also showed that all the relief points set up at the front had been exhausted, so it seems that the fighting on the front line was not going well.

At this time, in the palace of the Qin King in Xianyang, the ministers of civil and military affairs had already gathered together, because Zheng Guo, the national lieutenant who accompanied the Qin army on the expedition, and brought back the detailed report of the front line, although the two ** part of the time stayed in Nanyang, not on the front line, but basically understood the war on the front line, so they also had to accept the inquiries of Qin Wangzheng and Qin ministers.

I only listened to Zheng Guodao: "The king, now that it has entered October, the minister has personally inspected the Yellow River, and the river has receded nearly half, so at this time, even if our Qin army captures Xingkou, it will no longer be able to divert the Yellow River water to flood Daliang, and can only wait until March of the following year, after the water rises, can we carry out the water attack." ”

Qin Wangzheng nodded and said, "Wei Qing, how is the battle on the front line now, and in March of next year, will we be able to capture Xingkou?" ”

Wei Yu shook his head and said, "Back to the king, I can't." ”

Qin Wangzheng was slightly stunned and said, "Can't?" The courage of our Qin army is known to the whole world, although there is a plateau garrison in Xingkou, but the defenders are mainly based on the Wei army, can it be said that our Qin army is not even as good as the Wei army? ”

Wei Yu said: "Does the king think that the Wei army is weak? ”

Qin Wangzheng was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "Since the widow succeeded to the throne, he has defeated the Wei army several times, seized the Wei land and set up Dongjun, if the Wei army is not weak, how can it be so defeated?" ”

Wei Yu said: "But don't forget the king, before the king succeeds to the throne." The Wei army is led by Xinling Jun, and its combat power is not below our Qin army. ”

When Qin Wangzheng heard this, he also thought about it, and said: "According to Qing's meaning, the Wei army is not not weak, but because the commander of the army is incompetent?" Therefore, under the command of Xinlingjun, he can fight against our Qin army, and after Xinlingjun, Wei has no famous generals, so it is vulnerable. ”

Wei Yu nodded at this time and said: "King Mingjian, the ability of the plateau to use troops is by no means under the king of Xinling, so if this person leads the army, he must not underestimate the combat power of the Wei army." What's more, the Wei army has the responsibility of defending the territory, and everyone has the heart of fighting to the death, Wei Chen saw with his own eyes on the front line, the courage of the Wei soldiers to fight to the death is by no means under our Qin army, so it cannot still be regarded as the Wei army in the past. ”

Qin Wangzheng pondered for a while before he said: "If this is the case, as long as there is a plateau stationed in the Wei State, then my Qin State will not be able to destroy the Wei State?" ”

Wei Yu smiled and said: "What the king said is extremely true, but on the contrary, as long as the plateau is not in the Wei State, it is easy for my Qin State to destroy the Wei State." ”

Qin Wangzheng was stunned again, and finally understood what Wei Yi meant, and couldn't help laughing, and said: "What is the best strategy for Qing to make the plateau not in the Wei State, just say it bluntly." ”

Wei Yu said: "The minister wants the king to order the temporary withdrawal of the army. ”

As soon as these words came out, the ministers present felt a little surprised, and Wang Juan immediately said: "Guowei, my Qin State has been attacking Wei for more than half a year, and the cost is huge, and it has been reported in the previous recitals, and there are more than 75,000 soldiers killed in battle, and it was not easy to hit the city of Daliang, and my Qin State paid such a price, so I retreated lightly, isn't it a waste of my previous efforts?" What's more, withdrawing troops can make Gao Yuan leave the Wei State? ”

Wei Yu said: "The prime minister only knows one, I don't know the other, as far as I know on the front line, the plateau leads the Wei State to seal the seal, but the clan of the Wei State does not want to fall into power, so the plateau has a deep prejudice, but now our Qin army is pressing, and the Wei State is in danger, so the clan of the Wei State has to rely on the plateau to resist our Qin army." If at this time, our Qin army pretends to retreat, make peace with Wei, and make some concessions, then the clan of Wei will never let Gao Yuan stay in Wei again, and will definitely try to drive him away, just like Wu Qi did back then, and as soon as Gao Yuan leaves Wei, our Qin army can immediately make a comeback and take Xingkou directly, even if Gao Yuan returns to Wei, it is already the overall situation, and he has no power to return to the sky. ”

After a pause, Wei Yu said again: "Actually, when I said about retreating, I didn't mean to retreat to Hangu Pass, as long as I retreated to Nanyang to garrison." Moreover, now our Qin army has been fighting in Wei for more than half a year, losing more than 70,000 troops, and its morale is low, so it is better to retreat to Nanyang to rest temporarily, and then attack Wei. In addition, Lord Zheng Yan also said just now that it is the dry season of the Yellow River, so even if Xingkou is captured now, it will have to wait until March next year to irrigate the beams. ”

Qin Wangzheng thought for a while and said, "What do you think of Wei Qing's discussion?" ”

Li Si responded and said, "The king, the minister thinks that the words of the national captain are reasonable. A temporary halt to the war will still be beneficial to our Qin State. In fact, this battle against Wei seems to be a battle between our Qin army and the Wei army led by the plateau, but in fact, it is not, our Qin State is fighting with the five countries of Wei, Chu, Qi, Yan, and Dai at the same time. Therefore, it is difficult to capture the beam, which is also reasonable. ”

King Qin said: "I wish Wen Tingwei to explain in detail." ”

Li Si said: "Daijun is personally led by Gao Yuan, needless to say, and although the Xiang clan of Chu State is a private person to send troops to aid Wei, it must have been tacitly approved by the court of Chu, once Wei is in danger, Chu may not send a large army to aid Wei again." Although Qi and Yan did not send troops, they provided grain and grass materials to the Wei, Chu, and Dai armies, and the actual help was not under the dispatch of troops. ”

After a pause, Li Si said again: "At the beginning of the year, on the birthday of the King of Qi, the envoys of the five countries gathered in the Qi State, but at that time the negotiations were not successful, we thought that it was a successful separation of the Wei State, but now it seems that in fact, the plateau has reached an alliance agreement with the envoys of various countries in secret, Wei, Chu, and Dai sent troops, and the Chu State discussed to aid Wei in the name of private soldiers, and Qi and Yan came out of the matter, and used the power of Wei to resist our Qin State, so it seems that from that time, the plateau has been arranged to resist the Qin army attacking Wei, it seems that this person is not only good at using troops, And also good at vertical and horizontal strategies, flexible, not sticking to the form. And although our Qin State is strong, it is also extremely difficult to take the power of one country and the power of the enemy five countries, so if you want to destroy the Wei State, you must first break the alliance of the five countries. ”

Qin Wangzheng thought for a while, nodded as well, and said, "Qing has a good point, so how does Qing think to break the alliance of the five countries?" ”

Li Si said: "First of all, we should take Chu as a breakthrough, during the boycott, our Qin State can use Chu to aid Wei as an excuse to send troops to attack Chu State, but there is no need to go deep into Chu State, as long as we can win a few small battles on the border and capture a few cities, it is enough to shock Chu State, and then send people to Chu State to buy off the ministers, so that they will not dare to send troops to aid Wei in the future." ”

Qin Wangzheng said with a smile: "Qing is worthy of being a Chu person, it is really a three-point wood, so how to deal with the Qi State, and also send troops to attack Qi?" ”

Li Si hurriedly said: "No, the State of Qi is different from the State of Chu, it has always been friendly with my Qin State, and this time the State of Qi assisted the State of Wei, all of which were carried out by merchants, the State of Qi is different from my State of Qin, and the business ** is extremely powerful, even the monarch of the State of Qi and the powerful ministers of Housheng do not dare to offend the merchants." And now the Qi State has enabled Anping Juntian Kezang as the Great Sima, this person has always advocated the joint resistance to Qin, and after serving as the Great Sima, although he changed his course and advocated friendship with our Qin State, he was really forced by the general trend of the Qi State and had no choice but to do it himself. This aid to the Wei State officially supported him. If our Qin State sends troops to attack Qi State again at this time, I am afraid that it will just give Tian Kezhang enough excuse to persuade Qi State to completely make our Qin State an enemy, Qi State is close to Wei State, once we fully support Wei State, it will make it even more difficult for our Qin State to attack Wei, so at this time, our Qin State must not attack Qi State, and the behavior of Qi State merchants cannot be stopped, just ignore them. ”

Qin Wangzheng pondered for a while before he smiled and said, "Okay, then ignore Qi Guo for the time being." ”

Li Si said: "In fact, even if the merchants of the Qi State help the Wei State, it has nothing to do with the overall situation, according to the minister's opinion, the Yan State is the target that our Qin State should work harder." ”

When Qin Wangzheng heard this, he was also quite curious, and said with a smile: "Yan Guo has always been weak, what use can it be." ”

Li Si said: "Although the Yan Kingdom is weak, it is close to the Dai County, and if you want to enter Qi from the Dai County, you must pass through the Yan Kingdom. I heard that Daijun made a kind of Daijun paper, which can be used for writing, and is quite popular in Qi, so Daijun trades food and materials with Qi, and the plateau wants to rescue Wei, it must also pass Guò Yan, once Yan and Daijun turn against each other, not only can cut off the trade route between Daijun and Qi, make it difficult for Daijun to maintain, but also prevent the plateau from aiding Wei, which is a plan to kill one stone. ”

When Qin Wangzheng heard this, he also nodded again and again, and said, "Yes, it seems that Yan Guo is really useful." ”

Li Si then said: "And Yan Wangxi is mediocre and short-sighted, but he thinks he is wise and martial, great and happy, and he forgets his righteousness, two years ago, the Dai army had defeated the Yan army, we can just take advantage of this, so that people lobby Yan Wangxi, only say that the Qin Dynasty fights, Yan State can just take advantage of it, if you can take the opportunity to attack the county, not only can you avenge the defeat of the army, but also make the strength of Yan State greatly increased, with Yan Wangxi's intelligence, you will definitely send troops to attack the Dynasty, so that Wei State crowds out the plateau, Chu State withdraws troops, The Yan State betrayed the alliance, and the Five Nations Alliance collapsed, and at that time, my Qin State sent troops to attack Wei again, and it would be able to fight down. ”

Qin Wangzheng couldn't help laughing and said, "Okay, then withdraw the army." ”