When I was in Qin Dynasty, I really didn't want to make progress

On the plain north of the river, Li Mu stepped on the corpses of the Qin army to prove to the world the bravery of the Zhao people. In one battle, he completely annihilated the Qin army that had invaded the heartland of Zhao, and the crisis of Zhao was resolved.

However, after completely annihilating the Qin army, the Zhao army was unable to take advantage of the victory to continue attacking the Qin army, or even the Qin State. After all, although Li Mu led the border troops to annihilate the Qin army with equal forces, given the bravery of the Qin army, it was impossible for the Zhao army not to pay a price. Although it did not reach the point of killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred of its own, the casualties of the Zhao army were still over tens of thousands.

Moreover, the reason why Li Mu went south to support was because the Zhao army had suffered a major defeat before. The tragic defeat of an army of 100,000 also resulted in heavy casualties. It can be said that in this battle, in terms of the number of enemies killed and wounded alone, the Qin army did not suffer any loss, and even the overall casualties of the Zhao army were higher than those of the Qin army.

But war is not calculated in this way after all. The Qin army may not have suffered a disadvantage in terms of battle record, but strategically speaking, Qin had already lost.

However, just when the Zhao army was exhausted and in urgent need of repair, the imperial edict from Handan appeared in front of Li Mu. The Queen Mother Zhao actually ordered Li Mu to take a short rest and immediately lead his army to Raoan to fight against the Yan army heading south.

"General, Raoan is the territory of King Chong of Qi. Fighting against the Yan army should be the job of the Qi army. Why did the Queen Mother order us to fight for King Chong of Qi?" The general of the Zhao army, who wanted to rest, complained to Li Mu.

"We just follow orders. The Yan army has limited combat power. We only need 10,000 people to repel them. It won't affect the rest of the entire army." Li Mu said.

But he was also wondering why Queen Dowager Zhao did this?

"I want him to come and beg me on his own initiative." In the Zhao Palace, Queen Mother Zhao murmured to herself. She hated that man.

Chapter 262 Unreasonable

The Queen Mother Zhao ordered Li Mu, who had just experienced a hard battle, to lead the border troops into Raoan to block the Yan army. Not only Li Mu and his border troops were puzzled, but also Guo Kai.

"Queen Dowager, Rao An has been given to King Chong of Qi by the late king. We are sending troops at this time to help King Chong of Qi deal with the Yan army, but we are not sure whether King Chong of Qi will think so. Will our doing so cause misunderstanding from King Chong of Qi?" In the palace, Guo Kai expressed his doubts to Queen Dowager Zhao.

Compared to Li Mu and others who were worried about the reality that the army was exhausted after a long battle and was not suitable for launching another war, Guo Kai was worried that this might cause misunderstanding from King Chong of Qi. It has to be said that the two had the same attitude towards the same thing, but their ideas were very different.

After all, Guo Kai and Li Mu are different people, and it can even be said that they are two completely different people.

"It is already extremely difficult for him to deal with the Qin army alone, so how can he have the energy to deal with the Yan army? If we allow the Yan army to move south, not to mention Rao An, even Linzi will face the threat of the Yan army. As an ally, isn't it natural for us to help King Chong of Qi resist the Yan army?" Queen Dowager Zhao said indifferently.

"I'm afraid that Prince Chong of Qi doesn't think so, and thus let down the Queen Mother's kindness." Guo Kai became more cautious.

Women’s minds are the most difficult to understand, especially women who hold power. Their minds are even more difficult to understand.

The Queen Mother of Zhao did not have her husband. The former king of Zhao, Zhao Yan, was smart, but Guo Kai could still figure out Zhao Yan's thoughts, because no matter how complicated Zhao Yan's thoughts were, he was still a man after all. Following the man's logic, Guo Kai had always done a good job in guessing his master's intentions.

This is also the reason why, although his ability is not considered smart and capable, and his moral character is not noble, he was able to control the position of Prime Minister of Zhao State for many years.

But Queen Dowager Zhao was different. Her completely different way of thinking made it difficult for Guo Kai to figure out her true thoughts, just like now.

"That's true, but what about Qi Wangchong?" Guo Kai said with a frown. Qi Wangchong was now his biggest client and also his most important back-up plan. If something dirty happened between him and Qi Wangchong at this time, all his previous business efforts would be in vain. Guo Kai, who valued money more than anything else, didn't want to bear such a loss.

“I just want him to misunderstand. I want him to understand that he can get everything he has now, from Yang Chong to King Chong of Qi, because of the support of our Zhao State. Don’t think that you can turn your back on us just because you became the King of Qi.” Faced with Guo Kai’s search for his roots, the Queen Mother Zhao became a little impatient and directly expressed her true thoughts.

"I am taking Rao An back from the Yan army. If King Chong of Qi wants to take Rao An back, it will be very simple. He can just come and ask me for help." Queen Mother Zhao chattered incessantly, causing Guo Kai to look at her sideways.

In the Queen Mother Zhao's quick and somewhat angry words, he heard an emotion that belonged only to a woman.

Guo Kai believes that women will not express such emotions to other women, unless it is a woman targeting a man.

Thinking of this, Guo Kai couldn't help but feel moved. Could it be that there really was some secret between the Queen Mother and Prince Chong of Qi that I didn't know about?

Thinking of the sudden death of King Yan of Zhao, and the fact that a woman could quickly stabilize the situation during the succession of the throne of Zhao, Guo Kai's suspicions never ceased.

He had always suspected that there was some master guiding Queen Dowager Zhao. Only in this way could it be explained why Queen Dowager Zhao sometimes handled things wisely and decisively, but sometimes handled things emotionally, or even very stupidly.

Looking at the beautiful face of Queen Dowager Zhao and her perfect figure that even the loose queen dowager's clothes could not completely cover up, Guo Kai had to admit that the color of her clothes played an irreplaceable role in the Queen Dowager Zhao's transformation from the daughter of a prostitute to the current Queen Dowager of Zhao.

This is a person who can be called a beauty anywhere. To some extent, her experience is as bizarre as that of the Queen Mother of Qin.

And she was just a woman in her thirties. Women at this age...

When Guo Kai thought of this, his thoughts turned to King Chong of Qi.

As a man, even though he could not make an objective evaluation of all aspects of Qi Wang Chong due to the repulsion between the same sex, even after making some concessions, Guo Kai had to admit that Qi Wang Chong was a perfect man.

Young, heroic, powerful and wise. If his status could have lowered Qi Wang Chong's overall strength before, now he can be said to be perfect. There is probably no man in the world who can be more noble than the King of Qi. At most, they are just on equal footing. Currently, the only one who can suppress Qi Wang Chong is Qin Wang Zheng.

Such men have a fatal attraction to women. Men can't help but keep their eyes on the beauties, but the beauties' eyes are also on men like Qi Wang Chong.

This is especially true for the Queen Mother Zhao. She now has everything: status, power, wealth, everything a woman should and should not have. The only thing she lacks is a man, right?

Although Queen Dowager Zhao was the queen dowager of a country, she was still a woman in essence, and she was a young widow in her prime. With so many factors combined, Guo Kai could not help but think more.

Especially in the words of Queen Mother Zhao, Guo Kai could hear a strong resentment.

Queen Dowager Zhao certainly had resentment towards Yang Chong.

When the Qin army was ravaging the State of Zhao and she was trembling under the Qin army's attack, Yang Chong turned a blind eye.

Yes, it is true that the Qin army was also attacking Qi and Yang Chong was facing tremendous pressure, but was Yang Chong really unable to rescue Zhao?

Things are not that simple. Facing the attack of the Qin army, Yang Chong still had enough strength to attack Qin's Dongjun and even caused a bloody storm in Linzi. If Yang Chong was really powerless, how could he have done these two things.

Therefore, in the Queen Mother Zhao's understanding, Yang Chong's behavior was purely to watch someone in danger without helping. In Yang Chong's opinion, he did not take the State of Zhao or her seriously at all.

For some things, if there is never any hope, there will be no such thing as disappointment. The same is true for Queen Dowager Zhao.

The relationship between countries is based only on interests. It is unreliable to talk about feelings. Queen Mother Zhao certainly knew about this, but Yang Chong was different.

Whenever she thought of Yang Chong, Queen Dowager Zhao always felt aggrieved. It was not that she took the initiative to approach Yang Chong. She was the queen dowager of a country. If she wanted to satisfy her own desires purely, she had too many ways. Although Zhao was not the most populous country, it was not difficult for her to select a few perfect male lovers in all aspects.

So she really had no need to take the initiative to provoke Yang Chong. In fact, it was Yang Chong who took the initiative to provoke her.

The sweet words he spoke in the bedroom that time were deeply imprinted in Queen Mother Zhao's heart, arousing her thoughts that had long regarded men as tools rather than living people.

It was Yang Chong who made her see hope and feel the warmth she had never felt before. It was also Yang Chong who made her see hope and gave her more expectations.

However, as much hope as Yang Chong had given her at the beginning, so much disappointment in Yang Chong she is now.

If she were an ordinary woman, facing such disappointment, she might just give up, but Queen Dowager Zhao was different. There was a great wildness in her beautiful body. Because of this wildness, she was unwilling to accept her fate. She dared to give up everything to gamble. On the other side of her, there was great pride. Without pride, how could wildness be born?

So when she realized that Yang Chong might have been lying to her, she was angry but not disappointed. There was another more powerful emotion dominating her in her heart, which was to conquer that man.

The less Yang Chong cared about her, the more she wanted Yang Chong to surrender to her skirt.

So even though she knew that the Zhao army was very exhausted after the great victory over the Qin army, she still wanted Li Mu to send troops to attack the city that did not belong to her at all. She wanted to snatch Raoan City from the Yan army. Then, if Yang Chong still wanted Raoan City, he would have to come and beg her obediently.

When Queen Dowager Zhao thought of that scene, she couldn't help but feel excited. She had already imagined the scene of stepping on Yang Chong. That scene made her excited, even to the point where she could hardly control herself.

Guo Kai, who had been secretly observing Queen Dowager Zhao's reaction, saw her reaction at this moment and felt that he was getting closer and closer to the answer.

Because the current Queen Mother Zhao looks like a pure woman, and women like to act on their emotions. Using this reason to explain the Queen Mother Zhao's behavior, everything can be explained.

A woman's impulsive behavior caused a storm hundreds of miles away.

The Yan army, which was attacking Raoan and was about to capture the city of money in front of them, had already shown excitement from top to bottom. Their hopes for promotion and wealth lay in this city.

However, just when the Yan army had seen victory in sight and the dawn of victory was about to arrive, more than 10,000 elite Zhao cavalry led by Li Mu suddenly appeared in Raoan. They launched an attack on the Yan army without warning.

The Yan army never won against the Zhao army.

For the Yan army, although the Qin army was powerful, it was too far away after all, and the two sides had very few opportunities to fight. But it was different for the Zhao army. Zhao was a neighbor of Yan, and the two countries had fought many times in the past years. As for the results, the Yan army was naturally defeated every time.

It can be said that the Yan army’s fear of the Zhao army was greater than their fear of the Qin army.

Especially the Zhao troops led by Li Mu. Although they had suffered heavy losses after a great battle, they were still taking advantage of the victory over the Qin army. Their combat power was almost as strong as it was at its peak. The Yan army, which was only thinking about stealing home, could not be a match for such an elite force that had fought hundreds of battles.

The Yan army almost collapsed at the first blow, and fled frantically under the attack of the Zhao army. However, how could a person's two legs outstrip the four legs of a war horse? In this battle, 60,000 to 70,000 Yan soldiers were killed and fled all the way back to Yan State, barely blocking the offensive of the Zhao army with the help of Yishui River and the Southern Great Wall of Yan State.

If the Zhao army had not been through a long and bitter battle and really needed a rest, it is possible that the Yan army would have to fight a national defense battle in this battle.

However, the Yan army had never been the main force on the battlefield, so its defeat did not cause much turmoil. Instead, the annihilation of 100,000 Qin troops in the heart of Zhao was the event that truly shocked the world.

One hundred thousand Qin troops, that's one hundred thousand. Even if there are not a hundred thousand, there are at least fifty thousand families behind them. The annihilation of a hundred thousand Qin troops means that at least fifty thousand Qin families have lost their pillars, and their lives will inevitably have problems.

At the same time, the Qin State would have to spend a huge amount of resources to provide relief to the families of those who died in battle.

These are not the most important things. More importantly, this battle severely hit the power of Qin State. This battle almost broke the undefeated record of Qin State. After this battle, many people must have thought: Maybe the Qin army is not invincible.

Do not underestimate this change. This change in people's mindsets may evolve into a greater trend. A small breeze may breed into a huge storm.

"How lucky Zhao is!" When the news of the Qin army's defeat reached Xianyang, King Zheng of Qin, who should have been angry, sighed like this.

It's not that he wasn't angry, it's just that he knew he couldn't be angry at this moment. Anger would impact his rationality and make him make the wrong decision.

And now, what he needs most is reason. Since the Qin army has already been defeated, it must not be defeated again because of his anger.

"Your Majesty, now that Zhao has been defeated on the battlefield, we should also retreat from the other battlefields. If we wait until the Zhao army recovers and joins forces with Northern Qi, I'm afraid Dongjun, Henei and other places will no longer belong to our Qin State." Xiong Qi advised.

In Dongjun, Qin pulled Wei into the battlefield and pushed the tide of the war back, but now the Zhao army has freed up its hands. Once the Zhao army joins forces with the Northern Qi army, with the battle records of Qi Wang Chong and Li Mu, if these two people take action together, I am afraid no one in the world will be able to stop them.

A small defeat may not cause serious damage, but if small defeats continue, they will accumulate into big defeats and even undermine a country's national strength.

It was for this reason that Xiong Qi wanted to persuade King Zheng of Qin to stop the loss in time.

"If we retreat now, Qi and Zhao will only become more aggressive. Chu and Wei will see this and think that Qin is strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and will start to have inappropriate thoughts. If the momentum of Qi's alliance with other countries reappears, it will be a huge trouble for us," King Zheng of Qin analyzed.

"So, at this time, we must not retreat. We have already lost on the battlefield, and we cannot lose our national strength again."

As King Zheng of Qin said this, he had already made up his mind in his heart.

Chapter 263 I Give King Qin a Dignity

Faced with the disastrous defeat on the front line, King Zheng of Qin did not choose to retreat. He knew very well that the more this was the time, the more Qin could not retreat.

Losing on the battlefield didn't matter. The annihilation of 100,000 Qin troops would not cause any serious damage to the Qin State. However, once the Qin State retreated and let other countries see that the Qin State was not invincible, the series of chain reactions that would be caused would be something that the Qin State could not easily bear.

The Qin State had gone through countless wars to achieve its current national strength. If it retreated, all its previous efforts would be wasted.

So after learning that Huan Xi's Qin army had been completely wiped out in Zhao State, Yang Chong did not feel relieved at all. He knew Qin Shi Huang very well. He was a proud man. When such a person faced failure, whether he would admit defeat directly or cause a greater backlash were two different matters.

So Yang Chong never dared to let his guard down.

Sure enough, the front line soon received intelligence that Qin Wangzheng had left Xianyang. What did his leaving Xianyang at this time mean? Yang Chong had already thought of it.

Soon after, further information appeared in front of Yang Chong.

King Zheng of Qin personally visited Luoyi, opened the Luoyi armory, and mobilized troops from Guanzhong to join the war.

"Is King Zheng of Qin getting anxious?" In Xinzheng City, Wei Zhuang, who learned about the changes in Luoyi, couldn't help but express such doubts.

"We have no choice. King Qin Zheng absolutely cannot retreat now." Han Fei said. He could guess what King Qin Zheng was thinking. After all, he was also a man who almost became the king's teacher. Since King Qin Zheng appeared in Xinzheng, he had developed a great interest in the young king of Qin. In the past few years, he had collected a lot of intelligence about King Qin Zheng, and naturally deduced a lot of information about King Qin Zheng from the intelligence.

Although Han Fei could not say that he fully understood King Zheng of Qin, he was one of the people who knew him best. Therefore, while Han Fei felt surprised as to why King Zheng of Qin appeared in Luoyi, he quickly figured out the logic behind it.

"So is he going to go up against Yang Chong this time? No, it's Qi Wang Chong?" Wei Zhuang said coldly, but his expression showed that he was looking forward to watching the fun. Of course, he wanted to watch Yang Chong's fun.

"The one we know is Yang Chong. As for Qi Wang Chong, who has ever seen him?" Han Fei rolled his eyes. When he talked about Yang Chong, there were complicated feelings in his heart.

The person who used to hang out with him in Zilanxuan became a general of Korea without noticing. The person who used to brag with him became the King of Qi without noticing, and his boasts became reality. But what about him? He is still struggling in Korea, just for his own goal.

"That's your brother-in-law." Wei Zhuang's words were as sharp as his shark-tooth sword.

Sure enough, as Wei Zhuang said this, Han Fei's face changed. He knew what Wei Zhuang was talking about. The fact that Han Yu took Hong Lian to Dong'a might be hidden from others, but not from Han Fei. After all, he was not only the Sikou of Han, but also Hong Lian's brother. How could he not know that his sister was about to be engaged?

Besides, Honglian herself is a girl who can't hide her thoughts, especially in front of Han Fei.

As an elder brother, Han Fei should certainly bless his sister's upcoming marriage, especially since Yang Chong is a perfect match for any woman in the world. However, reason is reason, and reality is reality. What reason does Han Fei not understand? But understanding does not necessarily mean that one can really see through it.

It's normal for brothers to hate their brothers-in-law!

Facing Wei Zhuang's playful look, Han Fei was upset but did not forget to fight back: "In fact, in my opinion, Wei Zhuang, you are more suitable to be my brother-in-law."

"Woman? Ha!" Wei Zhuang sneered. A woman is nothing. She can only affect the speed at which he draws his sword.

"Let's get back to the topic. Based on our understanding of Yang Chong, would he directly confront the aggressive King Zheng of Qin? Given his character, he is capable of doing such a thing." Han Fei brought the topic back to the original point.

"No." Facing Han Fei's hesitation, Wei Zhuang gave an affirmative answer.

"Why not? He is a very arrogant person. There are not necessarily only people he is afraid of in this world, but there are also things he is afraid of." Han Fei asked back.

"He was able to work under Ji Wuye, he was able to take the initiative to seduce that woman Zinu, and he was able to please King Zhao. Don't these things prove it? As long as he could guess why King Zheng of Qin came to Luoyi from Xianyang, he would not have directly confronted him." Wei Zhuang said. Although his ability to analyze problems might not be better than Han Fei's, his understanding of Yang Chong was better than Han Fei's.

As for the reason?

When Han Fei met Yang Chong, he was already quite powerful, but when Wei Zhuang first met Yang Chong, Yang Chong was still very weak. Wei Zhuang had a more comprehensive understanding of Yang Chong, and he would not be emotional about Yang Chong, which was something Han Fei could not do. After all, Yang Chong was now Han Fei's 'future brother-in-law'.

"A real man is one who can bend and stretch!" Han Fei said helplessly. He understood this truth, but he just couldn't do it. Does this mean that he will never be able to achieve the same success as Yang Chong in his lifetime?

“A dragon can be big or small. It can soar in the sky or hide in the abyss.” Wei Zhuang said.

"Can you do it?" Han Fei asked.

"I can't and I won't do it." Wei Zhuang's answer was still simple.

"What's the reason?" Han Fei asked.

"What I hold in my hand is a sword, and I would rather break than bend it." Wei Zhuang replied.

"You have a sword-like bone, but don't I also have a proud bone?" Han Fei sighed. This is his good friend!