Wandering Sword Seller's Life in the Qin Dynasty

The Prime Minister Zhang Kaidi died of a sudden attack of anger.

In a short period of time, South Korea lost its backbone, leaving only the outcome of surrendering Kaesong.

However, Qin's attack on Zhao was not so smooth; earlier, they were blocked by Li Mu for a long time.

It was for this reason that the Qin state treated this war with great caution.

Ultimately, it was because there had only been two wars of annihilation, and there wasn't much experience to draw upon.

In order to more securely destroy the Zhao state, the Qin state used every cunning and treacherous means.

Previously, he had used a counter-espionage tactic, bribing Guo Kai to help the Qin state eliminate Li Mu.

Since Guo Kai is so useful, of course we should use it more often.

Therefore, with only Handan remaining in the Zhao state, the Qin state chose to escalate its efforts, sparing no expense to tempt Guo Kai into persuading Zhao Qian to surrender.

If the King of Zhao were to surrender, the Qin state would take Handan without bloodshed and easily destroy the Zhao state.

After meeting with the Qin envoy, Guo Kai immediately went to see Zhao Qian.

He wanted to persuade Zhao Qian.

However, this time, it failed, which was unusual.

"Surrender to Qin? Absolutely not!"

Zhao Qian was a weak-willed person who had never had any opinions of his own, but this time, his attitude was unusually firm.

"If we surrender to Qin, wouldn't the ancestral lineage of my Zhao state be severed? And I would become a ruler of a fallen kingdom. This is absolutely unacceptable!"

Zhao Qian's voice was sharp, and he was quite agitated.

He could not agree with Guo Kai's proposal.

"Although the Qin state is powerful, didn't the Prime Minister say before that our Zhao state still has hope..."

"Back then, when the State of Wei attacked our State of Zhao, they even reached the outskirts of Handan. In the end, however, they had to withdraw their troops because the State of Qi had conquered Wei..."

"Now, although the Qin state is powerful, if the Zhao state were to perish, would it really be a good thing for the Wei and Chu states?"

"The Prime Minister previously stated that envoys had been sent to Wei and Chu to request assistance. Now that Handan is in dire need, they will certainly not stand idly by..."

Zhao Qian also gave his reasons for not being able to surrender, and he mentioned Guo Kai quite a bit in his words.

This made Guo Kai feel like he had shot himself in the foot.

Previously, because the situation was uncertain, he naturally spoke in a positive light in order to appease Zhao Qian.

There's no need to worry about Qin's growing power. Wei and Chu won't stand idly by and watch Zhao be destroyed. The crisis in Handan is nothing serious. It's not like this hasn't happened before. Handan has been besieged more than once throughout history, but these crises have always been easily resolved.

Stealing the tally to rescue Zhao; besieging Wei to rescue Zhao!

Don't ask why the State of Zhao is always being rescued; you should ask which countries are willing to rescue the State of Zhao.

It was precisely because Guo Kai had been instilling this idea in Zhao Qian that, even in this critical situation, Zhao Qian believed that there was still a glimmer of hope for the Zhao state.

They would rather close the city and defend it to the death than surrender.

After all, if we keep waiting, there's a chance that things might change and a turning point might come.

After realizing what had happened, Guo Kai was about to explain to Zhao Qian that he had been deceiving him all along, that Zhao had no hope whatsoever, that he had not sent any so-called envoys, that those envoys were all fake, and that Zhao would not send any reinforcements at all...

However, he stopped himself from saying it.

He had heard what Zhao Qian had said earlier.

Zhao Qian did not want to be the ruler of a country that would perish.

Although this young King Zhao was a useless person, he was not entirely a puppet controlled by him, and he had his own ideas on some matters.

If you tell the other person that you are destined to be the ruler of a fallen kingdom, they might not know what they will do.

Choosing to fight to the death with oneself?

After thinking it over, Guo Kai decided against telling Zhao Qian the truth.

He dared not gamble.

After all, people are capable of anything when they are in dire straits.

Despite Zhao Qian's previous utmost respect and obedience, Zhao Qian was still a young man. If he knew that he had been deceiving him all along, he might become furious and attack him directly.

This is the royal palace, even though his tentacles have already reached into the palace and he has many eyes and ears.

However, there were still quite a few imperial guards who were loyal to Zhao Qian.

It would be unwise to turn against Zhao Qian at this point.

After leaving the palace, Guo Kai's headache flared up again.

This made him extremely distressed, and he grew even more resentful of the thief who had stolen his many treasures. If the thief hadn't stolen his treasures, he wouldn't have been angry, nor would he have contracted this headache.

But now is not the time to worry about these things.

He had promised Qin that he would persuade Zhao Qian to surrender, but things had not gone as planned, and he had to do something.

"When the facts are set in stone, many things are no longer up to you."

Guo Kai immediately had an idea.

So, in the following period, he began to actively contact the generals in the city, promising them wealth and honor, and assuring them that even after the fall of the Zhao state, they would still be able to enjoy wealth and honor.

It must be said that such methods are effective.

In recent years, the State of Zhao has been plagued by treacherous officials, and Handan City has been particularly hard hit. Most of these generals were close to Guo Kai and were naturally not good people either. Seeing that the State of Zhao was about to be destroyed, they were also filled with fear and unease.

Now Guo Kai has taken the initiative to find them and given them a blank check. Even though nothing has been delivered yet, it's still much better than having no idea what the future holds.

In an instant, many people sided with Guo Kai.

There have also been some changes in the deployment of troops within the city.

They would surrender as soon as the Qin army arrived in front of Handan.

At that point, even if Zhao Qian did not want to be the ruler of a fallen kingdom, with the Qin army entering Handan, he would have no choice but to surrender.

Xu Qing has not yet left Handan.

On the surface, he was traveling around Handan, but secretly he was also observing Guo Kai's movements.

He immediately guessed what Guo Kai was thinking.

"Zhao Qian was truly a pitiful man!"

“What’s so pitiful about him?” Jing Ni said disdainfully. “Zhao Qian bears a great deal of responsibility for the state of Zhao’s current predicament. If he hadn’t taken away Li Mu’s military power and ordered Li Mu’s death, the state of Zhao would not have been destroyed so quickly.”

“You can’t say that!” Xu Qing defended Zhao Qian, saying, “Zhao Qian was also misled by Guo Kai. In the end, he’s just a young man who hasn’t seen much of the world and doesn’t have any opinions of his own. We should be understanding of him.”

Then, his tone changed again, "Zhao Qian is so pitiful, yet Guo Kai still refuses to give up. In the past few days, he has been constantly contacting the city's garrison, presumably planning to surrender the city without Zhao Qian's knowledge. At that time, Zhao Qian will become Guo Kai's pledge of loyalty."

"That won't do!"

“Mandarin ducks are always paired up. Guo Kai and Zhao Qian share both glory and fortune. Right now, Zhao Qian is so unfortunate. How can we let Guo Kai taste any sweetness?”

"He should have been a pair of star-crossed lovers with Zhao Qian!"

Jing Ni couldn't quite understand Xu Qing's thoughts.

But after that, Xu Qing disappeared briefly.

Jing Ni didn't know where Xu Qing had gone, but she wasn't too worried about his safety.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing quietly infiltrated the royal palace.

For him, having previously accompanied Guo Kai into the Zhao Kingdom's palace and thoroughly investigated its layout, infiltrating it again was not a difficult task.

He originally had no interest in Zhao Qian, Guo Kai, or the like.

But seeing Guo Kai's frequent actions these past few days, I suddenly felt sorry for Zhao Qian.

Therefore, he decided to help Zhao Qian.

……

Inside his palace, Zhao Qian was suffering from insomnia all night because of the predicament of the Zhao state.

Even his beautiful and favored concubine was driven out.

At this moment, he needed to calm down and think about how to break the deadlock.

But clearly, with his limited mental capacity, it was difficult for him to come up with a way to save the State of Zhao.

Night fell heavily, thick and heavy.

A ghostly figure silently stepped into the outer perimeter of his palace.

Chapter 236 Night Meeting with Zhao Qian, The Death of Guo Kai

Why is the King of Zhao so worried?

A deep voice suddenly rang in Zhao Qian's ears.

Upon hearing this sudden voice, Zhao Qian was startled, and then a sharp voice immediately came from his mouth, "Guards! Protect the Emperor!"

However, what he didn't notice was that as he spoke, a layer of mist rose in his bedchamber.

The thick fog enveloped all the doors and windows, and even sound was forcibly blocked out inside.

They called out for a long time, but no one came.

Zhao Qian trembled slightly, forced to look at the mysterious figure that had suddenly appeared in his palace.

The other person was so tall, and on his face he wore a bronze mask. In the dim candlelight, the bronze mask gleamed with a cold light, making him look even more terrifying.

"Stop shouting, no one will come to save you."

Seemingly feeling that Zhao Qian had been calling for help for a long time without anyone coming to his rescue, Xu Qing, who had put his bronze mask back on, couldn't help but remind him of this cruel reality.

"Who...who are you?"

Hearing these cold words, Zhao Qian finally came to his senses.

He mustered his courage and asked the other person.

At the same time, his gaze was fixed on a shelf not far away.