Li Mu encountered the biggest difficulty in his military career. He had never encountered such a difficulty even when he was resisting the Huns.
The King of Qi surrendered, but the State of Qi did not surrender.
Given the characteristics of the feudal lords in this era who were independent in their own rule, except for countries with smaller territories such as Han, Wei and Yan, the decapitation operation against Chu, Zhao and Qi would only disintegrate most of the country's strength and would not be able to truly destroy the country.
This was the reason why Wang Jian, Zhu Xiang’s predecessor, had to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops every time he destroyed a country.
Li Xin did not see this clearly when he was destroying Chu. He thought he could win by taking Shouchun, so he only led 200,000 Qin troops straight to Shouchun.
As a result, the Qin army was surrounded and blocked by the troops of the feudal lords of Chu, and was also hit in the butt by the rebellion of Changping Jun from behind. It was like encountering the nine-headed snake of Jingchu in the folk legends of later generations. It suffered heavy losses when attacked from both ends.
When Wang Jian attacked the State of Chu, he mobilized all the troops that Qin could muster and deployed them across the plains of Chu, making it impossible for the Chu army to conduct deep operations.
When he attacked Qi, he deliberately advanced slowly along the border of Qi, giving the King of Qi enough time to gather 400,000 troops from local feudal lords and county governors. Then he bypassed the main force of the Qi army, first broke through Linzi, then broke through the main force of the Qi army, and defeated the effective forces of the Qi army. Only in this way could he defeat the resistance of Qi in one fell swoop.
Even if the King of Qi surrendered, the princes of Qi would not necessarily surrender according to the King of Qi's wishes as long as they had troops in their hands. Instead, they would support the royal family to continue to fight against the Qin State.
For example, after Handan of Zhao State was captured, Prince Jia of Zhao fled to Dai County and continued to fight against Qin State, and persisted for a full six years.
It would be easy for Li Mu to capture Linzi City with the 50,000 men in his hands after the King of Qi surrendered, but he would soon become the target of public criticism.
But even though the King of Qi had surrendered, he turned around and ran away, and he was unwilling to give in.
But if the King of Qi was killed or captured, Qi might enthrone a more wise king, which would create greater obstacles for Qin to destroy Qi.
The best way now is to ask for help from Qin State, and occupy Qi State in one fell swoop while the feudal lords and county governors in various parts of Qi State are still in shock.
But there is a fatal problem.
Qi was separated from Qin by Wei and Zhao to the west and by Chu to the south, making it a complete enclave.
Even if they can barely hold the city with Qi's local resources after the occupation, how can they send more troops
The Qin State was at war with five other states, and it was too difficult to send reinforcements from its homeland; as for sending reinforcements from the south, Southern Qin did not have any seagoing ships that could transport hundreds of thousands of people at once.
He brought 50,000 men with him, and basically sent out all the large ships. In order to leave a way out for these 50,000 elite soldiers, he could not let all the ships leave and go to Nanqin to pick up reinforcements.
In the end, Li Mu decided to take the risk.
The King of Qi had surrendered. Given Li Mu's pride as one of the world's top generals, he couldn't just watch the achievement of destroying a country slip away from his hands.
Linzi is connected to the bay by a river, but just as large ships on inland rivers find it difficult to enter the sea, sea vessels also find it difficult to sail on inland rivers.
Li Mu stationed the ships at the port closest to Linzi, first wiped out the Qi defense forces in the middle of the river, then requisitioned Qi's large inland ships, and sent Qi's royal family, especially the descendants of the King of Qi, and most of Qi's high-ranking officials onto the ships. While sending them to Southern Qin, he also asked Southern Qin for help.
Although the Crown Prince of Qin is not in Southern Qin, Li Si and Han Fei are both talented prime ministers, and Fuqiu and Meng Tian are both able to lead troops. They should be able to make decisions in time.
Then, Li Mu asked the Qin army to take over the defense of Linzi City, and distributed the grain in the palace to the hungry people in the city, telling them that if the nobles of Qi State ate the grain, they would all be executed by the nobles if they captured Linzi, and then they would be recruited as reinforcements.
Li Mu also asked Hou Sheng to assist in the city defense and to capture those who were dissatisfied with the King of Qi's surrender, and promised that if Hou Sheng assisted well, he would be rewarded with military merit. When Hou Sheng arrived in Qin, he might even be granted a title.
Hou Sheng was overjoyed and as active as Li Mu had expected.
He knew that he had persuaded the King of Qi to surrender to Qin, and if Qin did not take him away, the nobles of Qi would skin him alive. In terms of destroying Qi, he was now more concerned than Li Mu.
Hou Sheng also persuaded the King of Qi to issue an edict asking all parts of Qi to surrender to Qin in order to prevent these people from rebelling against Qin, which made Li Mu angry and killed the King of Qi.
When the King of Qi saw that all his children and relatives were taken away by the Qin people, he hid in the palace trembling and at a loss, and believed whatever Hou Sheng said.
He issued an edict ordering the entire Qi State to surrender to Qin, and anyone who did not obey the King of Qi's edict would be considered a treasonous traitor.
Li Mu hesitated to speak, then let out a long sigh.
Fortunately, the current King of Qin is Zichu, and the future King of Qin will be Zhenger. Zhenger's prince will definitely be raised by Zhu Xiang, and his future will not be bad.
From then on, he became just a pile of bones in a tomb, and no matter how good or bad the King of Qin was, he could not get angry with him.
He thought again of the King of Zhao in the past and the King of Zhao in the present, and was deeply grateful that the King of Zhao had "sold" himself and Lian Gong to the State of Qin.
Li Mu sighed again. Well, well, at least now he didn't have to worry about the morale of the Qi army.
Even if the Qi army returned, their morale would surely be very low.
After making all preparations, Li Mu closed the city gates and prepared to defend the city.
He had originally intended to scare the King of Qi by attacking the city. But after the King of Qi surrendered, he wanted to take the opportunity to weaken Qi, so he could only defend Linzi City and wait for the Qin army to come to his aid.
This battle must have been very difficult and the losses were heavy.
Li Mu couldn't help but drink a jar of wine to vent his depression.
He always felt that if he had led the Qin army to attack Qi State properly, it would not have been so frustrating and difficult.
When Li Mu asked for help, the feudal lords and county governors from all over Qi finally came to their senses after receiving the news. They began to connect with each other and nominate a leader to attack Linzi together and rescue the King of Qi.
Although the King of Qi said that no rescue was allowed, anyone who listened to him at this time would be a fool.
The Qi army marched towards Linzi. Li Mu stood on the top of the city wall with his hands behind his back, sighing again and again.
He hadn't defended the city for a long time and was upset.
When Li Mu asked Southern Qin for help, he also sent a cavalry team back to Qin to inform the King of Qin of the strange things happening in Qi and let the King of Qin make a decision.
The five countries' internal defenses were weakened due to famine and military deployments, and the cavalry moved forward very quickly.
When Southern Qin sent reinforcements, the cavalry also saw Prince Chu of Qin who was in the army and handed over Li Mu's secret letter to him.
Prince Chu of Qin opened the letter, looked at it for a while, rubbed his eyes, looked at it for a while again, and rubbed his eyes again.
He turned to Lian Po and said, "Lord Lian, Li Mu is playing a joke on me!"
Lian Po's place is the safest. King Prince Chu of Qin lived here when he was in charge of entertaining the troops.
Lian Po cursed, "How could Li Mu write a secret letter to you as a joke? Let me see it."
Qin Wang Zichu handed over the letter.
Lian Po frowned and looked at it for a while, then looked up blankly: "Is this true?"
The messenger cavalryman looked depressed but also happy: "It's true."
Lian Po slapped his head hard and said, "Li Mu must be very depressed."
Qin Prince Chu said cheerfully: "The King of Qi surrendered, why is he so depressed?"
Lian Po rolled his eyes fiercely: "The King of Qi surrendered, but Qi did not surrender. Although the Qi army did not repair its armaments, it would be troublesome to capture hundreds of thousands of pigs. Now the Qi army has almost no losses, Li Mu is in trouble."
Qin Wang Zichu woke up from his surprise, frowned, and said, "Let Li Mu return?"
Lian Po said, "If it were me, I would definitely turn back. If we want to conquer Qi, we need to send more troops, but it is difficult to do so. Even if we conquer Qi, it will be difficult to defend it, as it is not adjacent to Qin. However, Li Mu is young and energetic, so I am afraid he may not be willing to withdraw his troops."
Prince Chu of Qin sighed, "Yes, we are not on the border. I should issue an edict to Li Mu and ask him to withdraw his troops."
Lian Po said: "Li Mu has his own ideas. It's okay if he doesn't want to surrender. Just open up the road to Qin in the south."
He asked someone to bring the map and pointed it out to Prince Chu of Qin: "There is only a small area between the Huai River and the Yellow River between Qin and Qi. According to Zhu Xiang, the area where the Yellow River and the Huai River meet the sea will be the hardest hit by the locust plague, and it must be sparsely populated. If I were Li Mu, I would definitely split the army of Southern Qin into two groups. One group would take a boat to Linzi for reinforcement, and the other group would go south to attack Chu for reinforcement from land."
Prince Chu of Qin looked at the map and understood Li Mu's intention.
He smiled and said, "Li Mu wants me to gain another kingdom before I pass the throne to Zheng'er."
When Lian Po heard this, he felt very unhappy.
He remembered the "Xia Tong" when he was still in Handan.
Lian Po, as a nobleman, was not as kind to common people as Lin Xiangru.
He originally looked down on Zhu Xiang and also looked down on Zhu Xiang's accountant Xia Tong.
But he was reluctant to admit the talent of Zhu Xiang and Xia Tong after he and Lin Xiangru had several meals at Zhu Xiang's house.
After Zhu Xiang, Xia Tong and Lin Zhi became friends, he gradually regarded them as his sons and nephews, and thought about finding some ways for them to be promoted.
But Zhu Xiang and Xia Tong refused to go to the front line to make merit, which made him so angry that he chased after them and beat them.
At that time, Zhu Xiang and Xia Tong would always climb the tree quickly under the protection of Lin Zhi.
Zhu Xiang was the first to climb up the tree.
Xia Tong was the weakest and the slowest, and he always needed Zhu Xiang to hold his hand and Lin Zhi to support his butt before he could barely climb up the tree.
Then Lin Zhi circled around him under the tree and took the opportunity to climb up the tree.
If Lin Zhi was caught up by him, Zhu Xiang and Xia Tong would get down from the tree obediently, and the three of them would be kicked by him together.
He was much happier teaching the three young men the art of war in Zhu Xiang's home than teaching the younger generation at home.
After Lian Po found out that Xia Tong was Yiren, the Qin hostage, he felt upset for a long time and cursed Yiren for deceiving him.
But when he met Xia Tong in Qin State and saw Xia Tong's cautious and flattering expression, Lian Po's heart softened again.
Never mind, Yi Ren didn’t do it on purpose.
Although Yiren was a hostage of the Qin State and lived a hard life, he was also a noble prince of the Qin State. The fact that he could be ordered around by me like Zhu Xiang and Lin Zhi was enough to show his respect for me. What else could I be dissatisfied with
Xia Tong became Yi Ren, Yi Ren became Zi Chu, Zi Chu became the crown prince and the King of Qin. Lian Po thought Xia Tong would change, but it seems he was wrong.
Lian Po unknowingly developed some feelings of an elder towards the King of Qin, and could not bear to see Zichu's health deteriorating day by day.
But what can he do
Lian Po thought of how Lin Xiangru's health was deteriorating day by day.
What can he do
"I see that Xiang Yan's troops besieging the city have decreased a lot. Perhaps Wang Jian has already started to attack Chu." Lian Po said, "He has insulted me for a long time. I should also show him some strength. When I defeat him, the five-nation alliance will surely collapse. Then I will attack Wei and open the road between Qin and Qi."
Qin Wang Zichu said, "Okay. Lord Lian, be careful."
Lian Po said proudly: "Xiang Yan is just a mere figure. Even Zhu Xiang can defeat him."
King Qin of Chu laughed.
Zhu Xiang, who was still farming in Guanzhong, sneezed violently.
He muttered to himself, "Who is saying bad things about me? Zheng'er? Xia Tong? Or all of them?"
He rubbed his nose, straightened up and looked to the east.
I don’t know what the battle situation is like on the Qin border.
After Qin Prince Chu received the news about Li Mu, although there was no need to let Xianyang know, he also sent a copy to Crown Prince Zheng to let him know how depressed his teacher was.
Prince Zheng scratched his head and thought of Prince Jian of Qi in his dream.
The me in my dreams is such a passionate person.
If it were my father, he would definitely treat King Jian of Qi well in order to divide the internal forces of Qi and soften the resistance of the people of Qi.
What could be more humiliating and painful for the people of Qi than treating a king who made them so disgusted
If the people of Qi felt disgusted with the King of Qi, then their sense of belonging to Qi would probably fade a lot.
But if I were to make the decision myself, the King of Qi would still starve to death. Prince Zheng pinched his chin.
I am the emperor now, can't I do as I please with such a small matter? Anyway, I am in power and Qi dare not resist, so why should I let someone I hate live
Prince Zheng shook his head and said to himself, "But if my father treats the King of Qi well, I will not be able to disobey my father's orders. Alas, Tian Jian got it easy."
He was depressed for a while that he couldn't starve the King of Qi, whom he hated, and then he smiled and said, "Teacher must be missing Bai Gong very much now and wants to chat with him."
Prince Zheng still remembered that when Bai Gong was living in his own home, he would from time to time mention his depression facing Zhao Kuo during the Battle of Changping.
If his uncle had not appeared, Bai Gong would have killed the prisoners.
Although Bai Gong often killed countless soldiers on the battlefield, killing the enemy and killing prisoners are two different things.
If he deceived the Zhao army into surrendering and then killed them in the end, his reputation would be a small problem. The most serious problem would be that Qin had lost its credibility, and no matter who it attacked in the future, it would be difficult for the enemy to surrender to Qin.
The Battle of Changping by Zhao army is a lesson for us.
Fortunately, his uncle came up with a solution and saved him from the dilemma.
The teacher is now in a dilemma, I really sympathize with him.
"If only I were in Southern Qin now, this would be a great opportunity to lead the army in person." Prince Zheng muttered.
After he personally led an expedition, although he repeatedly told himself "enough, enough, don't take any more risks", he was always eager to do something when he had free time.
He was Li Mu's only disciple, and was taught by Lord Lian and Lord Bai. If he were not bound by the position of crown prince, he would have become a famous general, right
Which young man doesn’t have the ambition to become a famous general
Prince Zheng shook his head and sighed, then said to Cheng Jiao, who was swinging his feet while doing math problems: "Cheng Jiao, you have to work hard. When you are a few years older, I will let you go to the military camp..."
Cheng Jiao couldn't believe it, and said sharply: "Brother! Cheng Jiao didn't provoke you! He didn't provoke anyone!"
Prince Zheng: “…”
Prince Zheng said with a straight face: "Listen less to your uncle's stories. Your words are becoming more and more strange."
Cheng Jiao threw away his pen, lay on the ground, rolled around, and howled without shedding tears: "I don't want to go to the military camp, I don't want to suffer, I am your only brother, and my elder brother is so powerful, shouldn't I be able to enjoy myself!"
Prince Zheng gritted his teeth and said, "No! Get up!"
Cheng Jiao rolled over and over: "No! No! If you don't agree to me, I won't get up!"
Prince Zheng: "Cheng Jiao! Do you want to be beaten?"
Cheng Jiao rolled over as hard as he could, then stood up and ran: "Grandmother, Grandma! My brother is bullying me! Help!"
Cheng Jiao ran to the palace of Queen Dowager Huayang and Queen Dowager Xia.
Queen Dowager Huayang and Queen Dowager Xia lived together when they were old. They had no friendship when they were young, but now they have a deeper relationship.
Especially after the destruction of the Kingdom of Han, Queen Dowager Xia had much less to worry about and became closer to Queen Dowager Huayang.
If Cheng Jiao runs fast enough, he can find two foreign aids at a time!
Prince Zheng ran after him: "Stop!"
Cheng Jiao's not-too-short legs kicked as fast as he could, and he shouted as he ran, with all his lung capacity: "Grandmother! Grandma! Help!"
The Queen Mother Huayang and the Queen Mother Xia opened up a small vegetable garden in front of the palace, where they grew vegetables and raised silkworms to pass the time when they had nothing to do.
When the two heard Cheng Jiao's powerful roar, they couldn't help but smile kindly.
Queen Mother Huayang smiled and sighed, "Cheng Jiao is always sickly when he is with me. Xue Ji is the one who takes good care of the child."
Queen Mother Xia laughed and said, "When I raised the Lord, he was always sick. I don't know how to raise a child either."
She remembered how thin Yiren looked back then.
The former king named the child "Yiren" because he did not like the child very much, because Yiren had been thin since childhood and did not look like the martial prince of Qin.
She gave up on Yiren after he was chosen as a hostage of the State of Zhao, also because he was too thin and... young.
The frail child, who was only twelve or thirteen years old, would probably die of illness soon. She could only pretend that she didn't have the child early on so as not to be sad.
Compared to children, yourself is the most important.
She didn't expect that this child was so capable. Even though she didn't contribute much, she could become the empress dowager. She should have been satisfied with the wealth and honor in front of her.
I realized it too late and caused a lot of trouble to other people.
Fortunately, Yi Ren was very powerful, and the trouble I caused did not affect him.
The Empress Dowager Huayang, who used to be dressed gorgeously, now wears only cotton clothes and a wooden hairpin, looking like a commoner.
She wiped the sweat off her face and said, "Go and save Cheng Jiao quickly. If you go too late, Cheng Jiao's butt will burst open."
Listening to Empress Dowager Huayang's "vulgar words", Empress Dowager Xia smiled and said, "Okay."
They put down their work and walked out of the palace to protect Cheng Jiao.
Cheng Jiao opened his arms and rushed towards them. The crown of the crown of the crown was crooked and his face was livid.
The other palace maids jogged behind Crown Prince Zheng, not daring to run too fast or too slow. They wanted to laugh but didn't dare to. Their expressions and movements were very distorted.
Queen Dowager Huayang and Queen Dowager Xia couldn't help but grin.
"Come, Cheng Jiao, hide behind the Great Mother."
"Zheng'er, forget it. Cheng Jiao is still young."
Prince Zheng roared at Cheng Jiao who was hiding behind Queen Mother Huayang: "He is not a child anymore! When I was his age, I was already the head of a county!"
Cheng Jiao hid behind Queen Dowager Huayang and stuck his head out to make faces at his elder brother.
What does your being the head of a county have to do with me? Not at all.
Crown Prince Zheng rolled up his sleeves and played the game of "Eagle Catches Chicken" with Cheng Jiao around Queen Dowager Huayang and Queen Dowager Xia.
Queen Mother Huayang and Queen Mother Xia smiled and spread out their arms to protect their little grandchildren who were jumping around behind them.
Although the crisis on the Qin border had not been resolved, Li Mu was frowning and Wang Jian was on high alert, but the Xianyang Palace was filled with laughter.
Except for Prince Zheng, no one laughed.
He was so angry that his face turned red and his fists clenched so hard that they made crackling sounds.
Cheng Jiao, just wait! I don't believe that Grandmother and Grandma can protect you forever!
In the State of Chu, Wang Jian waited for the reinforcements sent by Xiang Yan and easily defeated them.
Unless Xiang Yan personally led the troops to make him take him seriously, in his eyes, the other Chu generals were just like the words in the story told by Zhu Xiang, "like clay chickens and dogs, to be sold at a stake in Seoul."
After the reinforcements were defeated, Wang Jian saw that Xiang Yan was slow to return, so he attacked Xiang Yan's fiefdom, captured Xiang Yan's clan members, and raided Xiang Yan's homes for valuables and to reward the troops.
After holding a three-day banquet using the food stored by the Xiang family, he piled the remaining food outside the city and left it for the hungry people to scramble for it. Then he leisurely returned to Qin with the captured Xiang family members.
Wang Jian somewhat admired Xiang Yan for disregarding his own fiefdom for the sake of the State of Chu.
The fact that he could do this made him different from ordinary Chu nobles, and I could admire him for it.
I just wonder if Xiang Yan would regret it when he came back and found that all his clansmen had been captured and all his accumulated property had been swept away.
I hope the King of Chu will compensate Xiang Yan and not let down the general who cares about Chu. Wang Jian shook his head with a gloating smile on his face.
His goal was perfectly achieved and he had no intention of continuing to attack the State of Chu.
Qin was now extremely short of food and could not sustain the consumption of attacking Chu. Even if Chu was conquered, with so many wastelands and starving people, Qin did not have enough food and manpower to help recover.
It seems that there will be no extreme disasters this year, and the five countries should be able to recover a little.
After the number of hungry people in the five countries has been reduced, the cost of governance will be lower when Qin attacks the five countries again.
Wang Jian served as Li Mu's deputy general for several years, and was allowed to be assigned government affairs that did not belong to the general by Zhu Xiang at will, so he also gained some experience in governance.
With the military power of Qin, it would not make much difference whether the armies of the five countries were stronger or weaker. Qin wanted to unify the world, not just leave it alone after conquering it, so the cost of governance was the most important.
Although Wang Jian coveted the achievement of destroying Chu, he also knew when to advance and retreat.
But after he learned about Li Mu's experience, he felt unbalanced.
I have given up on destroying Chu, why do you want the credit for destroying Qi? After Qi was conquered, it was more difficult to govern than Chu!
When he learned the details of Li Mu's experience, he rubbed his face for a long time before the gloating smile on his face disappeared.
Well, he really didn’t want to laugh, it was just that Li Mu was so unlucky.
It doesn't matter if we don't have the credit for destroying Qi.
Hahahahahahaha.
Wang Jian smiled and volunteered to the King of Qin, expressing his willingness to lead troops to attack Wei and open up a road from Qin to Qi.
Prince Chu of Qin sent him to Southern Qin as soon as possible to replace the general who was attacking the Chu army and to help Qi by attacking Chu. When Lian Po was free, he would attack Wei.
When Wang Jian hurried along the Huai River to take over the position of commander of the reinforcements, Li Mu had already defended the city for ten days.
He counted the battle damage and sighed.
Although he had only lost more than 200 soldiers, and the rest were temporary recruits from the city, the Qin army under his command totaled only 50,000, and he also sent 5,000 people to escort the captured Qi nobles back to Southern Qin.
Li Mu had been in Qin for such a long time, but he only suffered such heavy losses when he attacked Southern Qin more than ten years ago.
He remembered Bai Gong’s joke, “Zhao Kuo is truly the greatest enemy I, Bai Qi, will ever encounter in my life.”
He now also wanted to say, "King Jian of Qi is truly an enemy that I, Li Mu, will never find in my life."
Fortunately, Fuqiu and Meng Tian arrived from the sea with their troops in time to alleviate his urgent need.
It's so difficult.
Li Mu had never fought such a difficult battle.
(End of this chapter)