When the State of Qin attacked the State of Zhao, the King of Zhao was stunned for a long time after learning about it.
Apparently the era of King Zhaoxiang of Qin had passed too long, making them forget that Qin had the strength to fight on two fronts.
Now that the six countries have declined, they can be considered strong if they can take the initiative to initiate wars and provide a battlefield.
No one expected that Qin would send troops to attack two countries at the same time.
Originally, the State of Zhao thought that Meng Ao was making a feint attack and was just threatening the State of Zhao not to aid the State of Han.
But when Pang Nuan arrived at the battlefield, Meng Ao had already captured the three cities of Long, Gu and Qingdu. Zhao State then realized that Qin State was serious.
Pang Nuan immediately strengthened the defense line, blocked the Qin army's offensive, and asked King Zhao for help.
Pang Nuan had just come down from the battlefield of Yan State.
No matter how weak Yan was, Pang Nuan had fought all the way to the capital of Yan, and the soldiers must have suffered heavy losses. Moreover, the Zhao army was very tired after the long march.
Seeing the fierce attack of the Qin army, Pang Nuan immediately made the right decision. He withdrew the defense line and did not rescue the attacked city. Instead, he held on and waited for help to avoid giving the Qin army a chance to take advantage of the situation.
Pang Nuan's decision was certainly correct, but he forgot that there were people in the Zhao court who had long disliked him and were waiting to find his mistakes.
Pang Nuan was already over seventy years old when he was reused by King Zhao.
Originally, there were not many people in Zhao who were jealous of his important position.
Pang Nuan's glory will not last for many years. Even if King Zhao trusts him, he will not share the interests of others.
Anyone with a bit of brains in Zhao would befriend a general who had a shallow foundation in Zhao and would die soon.
But there was an exception who was more intelligent, and that was Guo Kai.
The envoy of King Zichu of Qin found Guo Kai and arrogantly told him that the State of Zhao would surely perish before Guo Kai died.
Guo Kai was a scholar of a poor family. Relying on good luck and flattery, he first became a close attendant of King Xiaocheng of Zhao, and then became the confidant of the current King of Zhao.
How to make his family continue to prosper is Guo Kai's biggest concern.
Guo Kai was able to climb to the position of Zhao King's confidant entirely by himself and was able to serve as Zhao's senior minister without any merit. This shows that he was smarter than most people in the world.
So this smart man saw the end of Zhao State early on.
He had been watching Qin recuperate and was hoping that he would not see the end of Zhao before he died.
But now that the Qin army has set foot on the territory of the six states again, he can no longer deceive himself.
There's no way, he's too young and too healthy, and he can live a very, very long time.
Other Zhao officials had reputations and families, and they might still be able to become superiors after the fall of Zhao. But his own honor and disgrace all depended on the favor of the King of Zhao, and he had not made any achievements that would make the King of Qin look up to him. When Zhao fell, he would most likely become a commoner.
After much difficulty in climbing up to become the favorite of King Zhao and enjoying unprecedented wealth and glory, Guo Kai could not sleep or eat well when he thought of his situation after the demise of Zhao.
Now the Qin envoy gave him a chance.
In his early years, Guo Kai never thought that he could become a favorite of King Zhao, so when he was serving as a close attendant to King Zhao, he seized any opportunity to make money.
Qin was the biggest money provider to other countries. Guo Kai received a lot of money from the Qin people and had long been in contact with the Qin envoys.
The Qin envoy first threatened Guo Kai, saying that he would tell King Zhao about Guo Kai taking Qin's money.
Although the King of Zhao knew that the Zhao ministers had taken money from the Qin State, Guo Kai was different from the other ministers after all.
The other ministers either had status and position or were talented and had made great contributions. King Zhao knew that they were not loyal enough but he could only tolerate it.
Guo Kai's current status depends entirely on the favor of King Zhao. Once King Zhao's trust in Guo Kai declines, there will surely be countless Zhao's close attendants of equally lowly status who want to follow Guo Kai's path, and will pounce on him like jackals, tigers and leopards, bite Guo Kai to pieces and replace him.
After scaring Guo Kai, the Qin envoy tried to comfort him, saying, "Zhao is already on the decline, and its glory will not last long. Why don't you surrender to Qin as soon as possible?"
Guo Kai was immediately tempted. He pretended to be distressed and said, "I want to surrender to Qin, but will the King of Qin treat me well?"
The Qin envoy laughed and said, "Since Duke Xiang of Qin entered Qin, talented people from all over the world have gathered in Xianyang. The King of Qin naturally looked down on Guo Qing, who had not yet made any achievements. Of course, it's not that Guo Qing is not good enough, but that Guo Qing had no chance to show his talent before."
Guo Kai showed an unhappy expression at first, but after listening to the Qin envoy's supplement, his expression relaxed.
The Qin envoy continued, "But things are different now. Guo Qing is the favorite of King Zhao and has plenty of opportunities to display his talents."
The Qin envoy only said this one sentence and then just smiled at Guo Kai without elaborating.
Beads of sweat appeared on Guo Kai's forehead.
Of course he knew what the Qin envoy meant. This display of talent was definitely not to allow him to assist the King of Zhao.
After leaving behind a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry, silks and satins, the Qin envoy quietly left Handan.
He did not make any demands on Guo Kai, nor did he really threaten Guo Kai with the fact that he accepted bribes from the Qin people.
"Why threaten? Guo Kai is a fool who only knows how to seek personal gain. As long as he is still the favorite of King Zhao, he will be able to quickly lead Zhao to its demise." Lin Zhi sat on a chair with his legs crossed, holding a bowl of medicine in his hand, "The medicine has cooled down, drink it quickly."
Zichu, who was infected with a cold, gave Lin Zhi a resentful look.
Zichu had always been in weak health. After becoming the King of Qin, he traveled everywhere and was sick for a period of time every winter.
After digging out the hot spring, Zichu went there every winter and his health got better. Now that Qin had sent out troops again, the King of Qin could only stay in Xianyang City by himself.
Fighting a war requires the mobilization of resources across the country. Even if Lin Zhi and Cai Ze could do it, King Zichu of Qin could not let them do it.
Zichu and Ying Xiaozheng have the same personality. When they are sick, they never like to take medicine. They would rather take some folk remedies and are even more unwilling to abstain from food.
Who made the medicine too bitter and why do we have to avoid eating too much when taking it
After Queen Dowager Huayang lost her grandson, she began to care about Zichu's health.
She often stared at Zichu's face in a daze, saying that Zichu looked very much like the former king when he was young.
If she were a little fatter she would look more like him.
Zichu knew that the Queen Mother Huayang missed her father deeply and had always hung a portrait of her father in her bedroom, so he allowed the Queen Mother Huayang to look at him to miss her father.
After the Queen Mother Huayang visited the hospital more often, she discovered that Zichu was secretly disobeying the doctor's advice.
The queen mother herself had no special abilities. The only thing King Qin Renwen taught her was to find someone to help her and listen to someone's advice when she wanted to do something.
After thinking for a while, she immediately found Lin Zhi.
Although Xunzi was Zichu's teacher and Cai Ze held a higher official position than Lin Zhi, Lin Zhi was the one who could hold hands with the Qin King Zichu and dance drunkenly in the Xianyang Palace. She believed that Lin Zhi could better persuade the King of Qin to take the medicine.
Sure enough, after Queen Dowager Huayang informed Lin Zhi, Lin Zhi immediately went to the palace with Queen Dowager Huayang's decree and told Prince Chu of Qin that he would not leave the palace until the Prince of Qin recovered from his illness.
Now Lin Zhi personally prepared medicine for Zichu and fed him medicine, and supervised Zichu's daily meals.
Zichu wanted to cry but had no tears. Lin Zhi, why are you learning from Zhu Xiang when there are other things you can learn
He thought that if Zhu Xiang was not in Xianyang, he would not be forced to take the medicine.
Zichu swallowed the bitter medicine with difficulty, stuffed candied fruit into his mouth, and said incoherently: "We have planted the seeds in Guo Kai's mind that if he does not listen to Qin, he will fall out of favor with the King of Zhao. Even if he knows that Qin may not fulfill its promise, he dare not gamble."
Lin Zhi had the medicine bowl taken away, and ordered the cook to make some barbecue for the King of Qin to satisfy his craving. Then he said, "If he tells the King of Zhao what the Qin envoy said, and together with the King of Zhao gives Qin false information, your Majesty can give him an official position after the destruction of Zhao."
Guo Kai today is like Lou Chang in the past.
Lou Chang was a favorite of King Xiaocheng of Zhao. He also took a lot of money from the King of Qin, provided intelligence to Qin, and hindered Zhao several times.
But Lin Zhi did not despise him.
Because Lou Chang was just not capable enough. The King of Zhao knew that he had accepted money from Qin, and he often discussed with the King of Zhao how to give Qin false information and to obtain Qin's information from Lou Huan.
But Lou Huan was more skilled and led Lou Chang into a trap.
If Guo Kai could be like Lou Chang, he would be worthy of King Zhao's kindness to him.
Zichu swallowed a few candied fruits and drank a glass of water before his distorted expression became calm: "If he tells King Zhao about this, I won't be able to see him again after Qin destroys Zhao."
Hearing Zichu calling himself "I" in private, Lin Zhi knew that Zichu was angry.
He was very helpless: "Your Majesty, why do you have the same temper as Zheng'er?"
Zichu rolled his eyes at Lin Zhi and cursed, "You forced me to drink the medicine, but you think I am the King of Qin!"
Lin Zhi said, "Of course you are. Look, I have the imperial decree of Queen Mother Huayang in my hand. If you were not the King of Qin, why would I need this? I would just find a few people to hold you down and force-feed you drugs."
Zichu angrily threw the cup at Lin Zhi.
Lin Zhi dodged sideways and looked at the fragments on the ground and said, "Be careful, this porcelain is very valuable. One piece of porcelain can bribe a high-ranking official of the six countries."
Zichu said nothing and continued to pick up anything within his reach and throw it at Lin Zhi.
Lin Zhi dodged them all.
When Cai Ze came to see the King of Qin with the documents in his arms, his face darkened when he saw the mess on the ground.
Prince Chu of Qin and Prime Minister Lin Zhi immediately sat up straight with serious expressions and got into work mode.
The palace servants immediately rushed out from their hiding places, quickly cleaned the floor, and brought a chair for the prime minister.
"After Meng Qing requested to fight, veteran generals such as General Wang He and General Sima Jin also requested to fight." Cai Ze was too lazy to pay attention to what the two were doing before and got straight to the point.
Qin Wang Zichu was puzzled: "Wang He? Sima Jin? Didn't they just get sick?"
Cai Ze said: "It was precisely because of the illness that they wrote a petition together, asking to return to the battlefield."
Cai Ze pinched his brows and said, "When Meng Qing went to the battlefield, he told them that he didn't have much time left and didn't want to die at home. They seemed to be moved."
Prince Chu of Qin was silent.
After a while, he sighed and said, "Go ahead. How can I not fulfill the old general's last wish?"
So King Zichu of Qin issued an edict, appointing Wang He as deputy general of Meng Ao and Sima Jin as deputy general of Lian Po, to escort the logistical supplies to meet up with Meng Ao and Lian Po.
At the same time, Bai Qi asked Crown Prince Zheng for help.
Facing the dissuasion of Crown Prince Zheng and Lord Changping Zhu Xiang, Bai Qi said calmly: "Li Mu and Wang Jian still have many opportunities to go to the battlefield. I only have this one chance. Do you want Lord Wu'an Bai Qi to remain unknown for more than ten years after the death of King Zhaoxiang of Qin?"
Crown Prince Zheng and Lord Changping remained silent, so he ordered Lord Wu'an Bai Qi to be the chief general and prepare for the war against Southern Chu.
(End of this chapter)