Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 221

The distance was not far away, and the news that the Young Marshal had captured Yaoguan by sneak attack was sent to Xianyang, the capital of Qin, at sunset that afternoon.

It was also the luck of the good teacher Zhao Gao. It happened that on this morning, Hu Hai, the second emperor of Qin, listened to his deceit and went to Jingshui in the north of Xianyang to worship the god of Jingshui. He also temporarily moved to Wangyi by the Jingshui River. The news of the fall of Gong and Xianyang’s last barrier, Yaoguan, was not reported to Hu Hai at the first time. Zhao Gao, who did not even dare to report to Hu Hai about the fall of Wuguan, escaped a catastrophe and was not affirmed. The furious Hu Hai convulsed and skinned, and was executed by car cracking.

However, even so, the sad news of the fall of the Yaoguan Pass immediately caused a huge sensation and panic among the officials of the Qin court and the army and civilians of Xianyang. Flying here with long wings? Why did you suddenly take down Gaoguan without any warning? Where is Wuguan? Where did our Daqin army guarding Wuguan go?"

Because of this, many officials of the Qin court also rushed to Zhao Gao's prime minister's mansion immediately, and asked Zhao Gao what happened and whether the news of the gate's fall was true or not, but Zhao Gao didn't see anyone, and he just ordered the commander Qin Ting Lieutenant Xi Teng of the Xianyang Lieutenant Army made preparations to lead the army overnight, and at the same time sent someone to inform the Qin Ting officials, saying that it was not known whether the news of the fall of Gaoguan was true or not, and let the Qin Ting officials continue to perform their duties. Don't spread rumors at will, and wait patiently for you to send someone to check the situation.

Only Zhao Gao's son-in-law, Yan Le, magistrate of Xianyang County, entered the inner courtyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion through the back door and got the chance to meet Zhao Gao. Yan Le was surprised. Brush, ink and inkstone, his eunuch father-in-law Zhao Gao still has disheveled hair, disheveled clothes, and his expression is terribly gloomy and black.Yan Le was apprehensive, and while saluting hurriedly, he asked cautiously: "Uncle (father-in-law), has Yaoguan really been breached by the bandits?"

"Can there be fakes?" Zhao Gao asked hoarsely.

Although he was mentally prepared, Yan Le still felt like a bolt from the blue after finally confirming the bad news, and asked in surprise: "So fast? Xiang Kang's bandit army took Wuguan only ten days ago, how come it is so fast?" So you took Yaoguan again?"

"Chen Qiupi, who guards the Gai Pass, is greedy for money. He accepted bribes from Xiang Kang's son, defected to the enemy, and helped the bandits take down the Gai Pass. That's why the Gai Pass was lost so quickly." Zhao Gao replied in a cold tone.

"Isn't Xianyang in danger?" Yan Le's voice began to tremble, and he said: "Gaoguan is lost, and Xianyang has no natural barriers to defend. If Xianyang's lieutenant army can't stop Xiang Kang's bandit army, Xianyang will be sure." It's over."

"What we need to worry about most now is not whether Xianyang can be kept, but whether our heads can be kept." Zhao Gao said slowly: "It's not like you don't know the emperor's temper. The lieutenant's army can temporarily block Xiang Kang's bandit army just like last time when they were playing in the water, just because we deliberately blocked the news of the fall of Wuguan, the emperor will definitely kill us and will not be lenient."

He and Zhao Gao are grasshoppers on the same rope. Hearing this, Yan Le inevitably trembled even more, and hurriedly asked, "Uncle, what should we do now?"

"My son-in-law, do you want to die or live?" Zhao Gao asked without answering.

"Of course my son-in-law wants to live, who in the world doesn't want to live?" Yan Le quickly replied.

"As long as you want to live, that's fine. As long as you want to live, we still have the hope of surviving." Zhao Gao's voice became cold, and he said, "If we want to live now, there is only one last way. At the same time, we will send the Xianyang Lieutenant Army to reinforce us." Lantian, hold back Xiang Kang's bandit army for the time being, buy us time, and at the same time send people to negotiate with Xiang Kang's bandit army, in exchange for ordering the Xianyang Lieutenant's army to lay down their weapons and surrender, and let Xiang Kang's son agree to split the soil with us and become king in Guanzhong. "

"At this time, it may be difficult for Xiang Kang to agree to break the ground with us and become king." Zhao Gao continued: "But it doesn't matter, we will try our best to fight for it, but we can't. With your uncle Zhao Cheng as Marquis, we can keep our lives and property, and we can also consider accepting it."

"Then what should the emperor do?" Yan Le hurriedly asked: "If we surrender, the emperor will never agree?"

"The matter has come to this point, the emperor must not stay any longer. I can only do it quickly and kill him. Then I can rest assured that as the prime minister, I will lead the court officials and the Xianyang army to surrender to Xiang Kang."

Zhao Gao's understated answer almost made Yan Le collapse on the spot, and asked in surprise, "Uncle, are you going to kill the king?"

"It's not that I want to kill the king, but you are going to kill the king." Zhao Gao said coldly: "I have already thought of the solution. You are the county magistrate of Xianyang, and you have the right to dispatch and command Xianyang county soldiers. Tomorrow you will fabricate news and say yes Bandits were found in Xianyang, and under the pretext of arresting the bandits, they took Xianyang County soldiers to Wangyi Palace, Zhao Cheng will meet you inside, and you will join hands to take down Wangyi Palace, and kill the emperor to eliminate future troubles forever."

Before Zhao Gao finished speaking, Yan Le's face was as white as paper, his whole body was sweating profusely, trembling and unable to say a word, Zhao Gao gave him a cold look, and said, "What? Are you afraid? If you didn't This courage is fine, tomorrow I will take you to Wangyi Palace to meet the emperor, tell him the whole thing, and let him deal with it, are you willing?"

Yan Le had an urge to cry, and said, "Uncle, if you do this, isn't it a dead end?"

"Since you know it's a dead end, then why do you hesitate?!" Zhao Gao said sharply, "Going forward is dead, retreating is dead, anyway, it's a dead end, why don't you dare to fight? ! As long as things are successful, we can not only survive, but also keep our property and land, full of family members, rich and prosperous! Don’t you understand such a simple truth?!”

After thinking about it, he realized that he and Zhao Gao really had nowhere to go. In order to fight for the last hope of survival, Yan Le gritted his teeth and nodded vigorously, saying: "What my uncle said is very true, now this In this situation, we can only gamble, and my son-in-law is willing to listen to my uncle's arrangement."

"That's right." Zhao Gao finally smiled a little and said, "Come on, let's discuss how to proceed carefully and try our best to succeed in one fell swoop."

They are both experts in fighting in the nest. Of course, Zhao Gao and Yan Le quickly discussed the specific plan for the coup d'etat and killing the king, and decided to send Zhao Gao's nephew Zhao Juan as an envoy, and rushed to Yaoguan overnight to negotiate a conditional surrender with Xiang Kang. , and then when Yan Le said goodbye and went back to prepare, Zhao Gao suddenly said: "My son-in-law, your mother is getting old, and I'm afraid she won't be able to withstand the fright. To be cautious, you should send someone to bring her to me tomorrow morning." Stay here for a few days, and I will arrange for someone to take care of her."

"Uncle, what time is it, you still suspect my son-in-law..." Yan Le originally wanted to point out that Zhao Gao was taking hostages, but Yan Le swallowed the rest of the sentence, very upset Reluctantly, he changed his words and said: "Thank you uncle, my son-in-law will send my mother to my uncle to take care of him tomorrow morning."

In the early morning of the next day, when Yan Le had absolutely no escape route, he sent someone to send his mother to Zhao Gao as a hostage for house arrest. At the same time, he announced that thieves had been found in Xianyang, and the Xianyang County soldiers were urgently assembled Hou Ming, at the same time ordered martial law.At the same time, according to Zhao Gao's dispatch, Lieutenant Xi Teng of Qin Ting also hurriedly led the remaining 2 lieutenants of Xianyang to the south to Lantian, and joined the Lieutenant Xianyang's army that had gone to Lantian before to jointly resist the attack of the young commander.

After the Xianyang Lieutenant Army left, there were only three armies left in Xianyang: the Langzhong Lingjun, the Weiwei Army, and the Xianyang County Bing. Only the Weiwei Army, which numbered around [-] people, was not directly controlled by Zhao Gao, and was only responsible for the defense of the palace city, and had no right to enter the palace without authorization, which greatly facilitated Zhao Gao's coup d'état.

At this time, after hastily cleaning the battlefield of Gaoguan, Xiang Kang also crossed Gaoguan with the main force of the Young Marshal and began to march towards the Guanzhong Plain. The [-] Xianyang Lieutenant Army who rushed to Lantian could not block the Young Marshal's army in the mountainous area because there were many roads leading to Lantian from Yaoguan. The young marshal army set up a camp by the Bashui River, and waited carefully for the rear army to come for reinforcements.

At the same time when the young generals set up their camps, Xiang Kang also personally led a team of cavalry to investigate the enemy's situation under Lantian City as usual, and then Xiang Kang also quickly discovered that the Xianyang Lieutenant's Army really lived up to its reputation, and the soldiers were well equipped, far from The ordinary county soldiers of the Qin Army are comparable to the county soldiers, even higher than the elite troops of the Young Marshal Army. If you beat it, it will definitely be difficult to break through directly.

But it doesn't matter much. Xiang Kang has already figured out the specific situation of the Xianyang Lieutenant Army through various channels. He knows that although this army is well-equipped, strictly trained, and relatively good at battles, its weakness is that it lacks actual combat experience. In the Battle of Playing Water, even in the face of the mob under the command of the second stalk commander Zhou Wen, they only took a defensive position, temporarily blocking Zhou Wen and buying Zhang Han time to form an army of criminals. In the end, it was Zhang Han who beat Zhou Wen away, which is very typical. The silver-like pewter tip is not useful.

Having said that, Xiang Kang, who has a cautious personality, still did not underestimate the enemy. After carefully inspecting the layout of the Qin army camp, Xiang Kang quickly said to Uncle Zhou who came with him: "Although we are attacking head-on, we still hope to take down the violent army." The camp of the Qin army, but in order to reduce the casualties of our soldiers, we still have to find a way to lure the Tyrant Qin army out of the camp for a decisive battle and create opportunities for field battles, so that we can kill this Tyrant Qin army at the lowest cost."

"It's easy." Uncle Zhou replied quite confidently: "There is no one in the court of the violent Qin Dynasty. It is worse to dispatch troops to move one move than one move. They even split their last main force in Guanzhong, the Xianyang Lieutenant Army, into two." , Divide the troops into the Lantian battlefield, as long as we quickly find out the enemy's situation, or surround the points for reinforcements, or break them down one by one, it will certainly not be difficult to create opportunities for field battles."

Xiang Kang nodded, and when he was about to go back to the camp to rest, unexpectedly, a fast horse was sent first from the camp, saying that Zhao Gao, the Minister of Qin, had sent his nephew Zhao Juan to negotiate with Xiang Kang on the terms of surrender. Hearing that he was overjoyed, he patted his horse and hurried back to the camp, and immediately summoned the negotiating envoy Zhao Gao sent overnight.At the same time, more scouts were dispatched to investigate the mobilization of the Qin army.

After being brought in front of Xiang Kang, Zhao Gao's nephew Zhao Juan first complimented Xiang Kang, and then immediately took out a letter written by Zhao Gao himself to Xiang Kang, proving that he came to negotiate the terms of surrender on behalf of Zhao Gao. Kang was stunned when he saw Zhao Gao's handwritten letter, but when he looked carefully, he found that Zhao Gao had stamped his prime minister's seal on the letter. Xiang Kang was even more surprised and said: "Mr. Zhao is really sincere this time. He even stamped his prime minister's seal on the letter, so solemn?"

"My uncle sincerely asks you to surrender. Of course, you must be as solemn as possible to the right general." Zhao Juan replied flatteringly.

Xiang Kang blinked his eyes, and asked suddenly: "Mr. Zhao, since your uncle sincerely asked to surrender, why did he still send the Xianyang Lieutenant Army to station in Lantian to prevent our army from entering Xianyang? Why didn't we wait for our troops to come to Xianyang, and then go to Xianyang?" Negotiate and sign an alliance under the city?"

"Don't blame the right general. My uncle can't do anything about it. He has to give an explanation to the court, so he sent an army to Lantian to garrison." Zhao Juan hurriedly explained for Zhao Gao, and said: "But the right general, don't worry. As long as you agree to my uncle's small conditions, my uncle guarantees that all the Guanzhong troops will lay down their weapons and surrender."

"Zhao Xiang has this confidence?" Xiang Kang asked curiously: "Zhao Xiang is not afraid that the second emperor Hu Hai of the Tyrant Qin will not agree to allow the Tyrant Qin army to lay down their weapons and surrender?"

"This..." Zhao Juan, who didn't know the inside story, couldn't answer, so he could only say: "Please rest assured, General You, since my uncle has made this promise, he is naturally sure to keep it. Letter, of course you can leave it up to the right general."

Xiang Kang blinked his triangular eyes again, and then smiled and said: "Okay, let's start then, Prime Minister Zhao, how does he want to surrender conditionally?"

Zhao Juan breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly explained the shameless conditions for Zhao Gaoxiang and Xiang Kang to become kings in Guanzhong, and then carefully observed Xiang Kang's reaction. What surprised Zhao Juan was that after Xiang Kang made some calculations, Unexpectedly, he said: "I can consider the conditions proposed by Zhao Xiang, but this matter is too big, I have to discuss it with everyone, please go down and rest, Mr. Zhao, and give you an answer after we discuss the results."

He also said that Xiang Kang could really agree to become king in Guanzhong with Zhao Gao, Zhao Juan hurriedly saluted and thanked Xiang Kang, and happily followed the young commander and soldiers to the guest tent to rest.As a result, as soon as Zhao Juan left, Zhou Zeng and Chen Ping, who were accompanying the negotiation, immediately asked Xiang Kang in a very strange way: "General You, why did you agree so readily? The old thief Zhao Gao proposed to break up with you in Guanzhong." The soil is king, and it is clear that you are asking for a price, why did you immediately agree to consider it?"

"This matter is not important anymore." Xiang Kang shook his head and said, "If my predictions are correct, there will be earth-shattering changes in Xianyang City soon, and we must take advantage of the time we still have to prepare in advance. Only then can we take advantage of this opportunity to reap the most benefits."

"An earth-shattering change is about to happen in Xianyang? What change?" Zhou Zeng hurriedly asked.

"The old traitor Zhao Gao wants to launch a coup and directly kill the emperor Hu Hai who tyrannized the Qin Dynasty." Xiang Kang replied word by word.

After all, he is not a time traveler. Hearing Xiang Kang's words, there was an uproar in the young commander's tent, and Chen Ping, who was as resourceful as he was, couldn't help but asked in surprise, "General You, how do you know that old thief Zhao Gao is going to do this?" ?”

"Two points can prove that Zhao Gao wants to do this." Xiang Kang raised two fingers and said, "First, the letter written by the old thief Zhao Gao is not only his own handwriting, but also stamped with his prime minister's seal. , This clearly shows that he no longer cares about the future, and is not worried that we will stab Hu Hai with his letter, and take his head through Hu Hai's hand."

"Secondly, Zhao Gao promised that he would make the Guanzhong army lay down their weapons and surrender to us." Xiang Kang said again: "If he didn't make up his mind to kill Hu Hai, he would not dare to make this promise. Since he dared to praise Haikou, then It means that he is going to kill Hu Hai, so there is no need to worry that Hu Hai will object."

After all, he is a smart person. After hearing Xiang Kang pointed out two important joints, Chen Ping immediately came to his senses, and said, "The right general is wise! That's right, since Zhao Gao dared not leave any retreat for himself, he made it clear Promising to let the Tyrant Qin army lay down their weapons and surrender is enough to show that he is preparing to launch a coup, kill Hu Hai directly, or imprison him, and then lead the Tyrant Qin court to surrender to us as the prime minister of Tyrant Qin. Apart from this, there is no Any explanation!"

Zhou Zeng, Li Shiqi, Zhou Shu and others also woke up one after another, and they all agreed with Xiang Kang's judgment, and then Li Shiqi said with great excitement: "If this is the case, then the situation is too favorable for us. We just need to Wait patiently for a few days until the old thief Zhao Gao kills the tyrant Hu Hai, and the Tyrant Qin court is in chaos. Even if Tyrant Qin's Guanzhong army refuses to obey his order and surrender to us, the army will definitely be in chaos. We will try to defeat the enemy again. It’s even easier.”

Zhou Zeng was relatively calm, and after a little calculation, he said: "General You, do we have some wishful thinking? After all, Hu Hai is the king, Zhao Gao is the minister, and if the minister kills the king and commits treason, he may not be sure of success. What if Zhao Gao fails? ?”

Considering the butterfly reaction he caused after coming to this era, Xiang Kang did not dare to rule out this possibility, nodded and said: "Uncle Ya's words are also reasonable, we must also guard against the failure of Zhao Gao's coup and make certain preparations in advance. "

"General You, how about this." Chen Ping suggested: "We will not give Zhao Gao any answer for the time being, and wait patiently for the development of the situation in Xianyang. Defeat the Xianyang Lieutenant Army in Lantian, so that Zhao Gao will no longer have the capital to bargain with us, and force him to accept our terms and surrender to us. If Zhao Gao's coup fails, we will destroy Qin according to the original plan while contacting Zhao Gao’s party members in the court persuaded them to act as internal support for us, they are afraid of being implicated by Zhao Gao, and they will definitely not refuse, so we can also seize the opportunity to take advantage of the chaos to destroy Qin.”

As soon as Xiang Kang heard that it was in his heart, he nodded and agreed to accept it, and then said in his heart: "Zhao Gao, don't let me down, you'd better kill Hu Hai directly like in history, this is the best for me."

While muttering, Xiang Kang suddenly remembered the last Prince Ying of Qin who fought against Zhao Gao, and suddenly realized that if Ziying led all the officials of the Qin court to surrender to him as the King of Qin, it would be a lot more legitimate, and it would be decided in Guanzhong Pingyuan is very possible, but considering the short time and too many variables, Xiang Kang can only put this matter aside for the time being, and did not covet such a good thing too much.

The real consideration of Xiang Kang's decision-making ability is yet to come. Although Chen Ping's suggestion of "wait and see" has been adopted, the plan has not changed quickly. In the morning of the next day, the scouts of the Young Commander suddenly flew back to the camp to report to Xiang Kang. It is said that Lieutenant Xi Teng of Qin Ting is leading more than 2 lieutenants to Lantian, and is preparing to join forces with the Qin army who came to Lantian before.After hearing the news, Uncle Zhou urged Xiang Kang to send troops immediately, taking advantage of the opportunity before the Qin army joined forces to launch a decisive battle, so as to prevent the Qin army from successfully joining forces, unifying orders, and increasing the difficulty of winning the decisive battle for the young commanders.

Difficult choices are placed in front of Xiang Kang. On the one hand, there is the temptation to wait for the opportunity to fight decisively, and on the other hand, the possibility that Zhao Gaozheng will change hands and the Qin army will be in chaos.Finally, under hesitation, Xiang Kang took out a Qin Banliang, ready to buy divination from the sky, and asked ghosts and gods to decide his own tactics, but after Qin Banliang was thrown into the sky, Xiang Kang shot it away again. He gave out copper coins and shouted, "Go to hell and buy divination from the sky! Anyway, it's a bet, I decide how to bet! No troops! Let the Tyrant Qin army join forces! Wait for news from Zhao Gao!"

"General You, have you thought it over clearly?" Uncle Zhou reminded, "If we lose this bet, it will become more difficult for us to defeat the Tyrant Qin's lieutenant army."

"But if we win the bet, the lieutenant army of the Qin Dynasty will be no different from the local chicken and tile dog." Xiang Kang replied fiercely: "It doesn't matter if we lose the bet. We are going to fight anyway, just make it easier." It’s just the difference from the difficult point!”

(End of this chapter)