Zhu Xiang admits that he is not a good-tempered person. I don't know why others say he has a good temper.
If he had a good temper, would he go to Changping? Would he fight against his dissatisfaction in Guangling City
He didn't want to go to the battlefield to kill people before, but now he has become a famous general and has long abandoned his previous moral bottom line. The King of Wei actually sent Wei Wuji's followers to disgust him, and wanted to continue to use Wei Wuji who was forced to death. Zhu Xiang couldn't stand it.
He volunteered to go to Daliang to cheer for Lord Lian.
Qin Wangzheng was puzzled: "Just waving the flag and shouting? Uncle, aren't you the commander-in-chief?"
Zhu Xiang said angrily, "Zheng'er, what nonsense are you talking about? After sitting on the chair that Xia Tong had sat on for so long, has your brain degenerated into Xia Tong's? Others may not know the true level of my famous general, but you don't know it, do you?"
King Zheng of Qin had already left the impression among the court officials that he was a man of deep scheming and unpredictable moods, but when facing his uncle, his emotions would always fluctuate greatly.
"What do you mean by having a brain like your father's? I'm much better than your father!" Ying Xiaozheng glared at his uncle, "Uncle, if you say that again, I won't let you go to Daliang!"
Zhu Xiang immediately apologized: "Okay, uncle is wrong, how can Xia Tong compare with Zheng'er?"
Ying Xiaozheng then turned back into King Zheng of Qin and ordered Prime Minister Changping Jun to personally escort the grain and grass to Daliang and persuade them to surrender.
I am kind-hearted and cannot bear to see too many casualties.
If Daliang surrenders, I promise to restrain the Qin army from causing trouble in Daliang. The military discipline of Xinping Jun Lian Po is famous for its strictness.
Zhu Xiang endured the discomfort of heavy casualties in the siege, and wanted to witness the end of Wei State with his own eyes. Qin Wangzheng's hypocritical words immediately led people to misunderstand that Changping Jun was heartbroken about the tragic situation that Daliang was about to encounter, and came to save Daliang on purpose.
King Zheng of Qin said that he had a kind heart, but people thought he had the heart of a tiger or a leopard.
King Zheng of Qin said that Lord Xinping had strict military discipline, and people remembered Lord Xinping's brutal massacre of the State of Yan.
Changping Jun obviously knew what kind of people the King of Qin and Xinping Jun were, and he was worried that the city of Daliang would be broken and the people would suffer, so he came to persuade them to surrender.
When Zhu Xiang arrived in Daliang, it happened that Daliang was almost devastated.
When Daliang City was built, five rivers including the Danshui River were relied upon to surround the city and form a natural moat network.
The walls of Daliang City were high and strong, and outside the walls was a dense network of waterways, making it difficult to deploy siege equipment and deploy troops, making it very easy to defend but difficult to attack.
In history, Wang Jian's son Wang Ben did not attack Daliang by force. Instead, he used the natural moat of Daliang City to divert water from the Yellow River and the Honggou Canal to flood the city.
Lian Po discovered this simple method after riding around Daliang City on horseback.
Lian Po was quite puzzled when he saw the weakness of Daliang City.
When he was a general, King Zhaoxiang of Qin was at his most domineering, so he often fought defensive battles and was very good at building fortresses.
Constructing a fortress defense line is similar to selecting a site for building a city, the only difference is the size.
So he couldn't understand why Daliang City was built in a low-lying plain at the confluence of five rivers. Wasn't this designed to attract a water attack? Was there something wrong with the brains of the people who were in charge of building the city
There is certainly no problem in using natural water systems as moats, but firstly, the city must be located on high ground, and secondly, the city must have channels that can drain water even after the river embankment bursts.
There are no beams at all.
Lian Po suspected that the city of Daliang had not been breached because no one attacked it.
Lian Po had heard Bai Qi talk about flooding the city of Chu. Bai Qi accomplished this and sent people to build a canal to divert water to flood the city, which consumed a lot of manpower and material resources.
Daliang City has its own water diversion river, so it just needs to be directed a little.
Lian Po was amused by what he saw.
He originally thought that it would be very difficult to attack the capital of another country. When he besieged the capital of Yan, he saw that the walls of Yan were strong, so he surrounded it but did not attack it. He asked the King of Yan to send someone to negotiate.
Who knew that the feat of conquering Daliang could be accomplished with just a little effort
So Lian Po sent people to surround the city gate of Daliang to guard against reinforcements, and at the same time sent civilians to prepare to flood Daliang city, and did not send anyone to attack the city.
When Zhu Xiang arrived, Lian Po was waiting for a rain.
A good general can easily predict the weather. Now the weather is gloomy, Lian Po guessed that it will rain soon. Although Daliang City can be flooded now, it will be easier if it rains.
Seeing Zhu Xiang coming, Lian Po yelled, "What are you doing here?"
There must have been countless floating corpses when Daliang was flooded. How could a weak coward like Zhu Xiang bear to see it
Zhu Xiang said: "The King of Wei sent Wuji's followers to disgust me. I want to see the fall of Daliang City for Wuji!"
Lian Po slapped Zhu Xiang on the back and almost knocked him to the ground.
He cursed loudly: "I think Wei Wuji doesn't want to see Daliang fall! Go back!"
Zhu Xiang stood up straight and tried to rub his back which was hurt by Lian Po's slap, but he couldn't. He said miserably: "Mr. Lian, don't worry, I have defended the city before, this little blood can't scare me."
Lian Po folded his arms and sneered: "I'm going to flood the entire Daliang, can you watch?"
Zhu Xiang: “…”
He said, "Yes!"
Lian Po pouted and said contemptuously, "I don't think you can do that. Go and persuade the king to surrender first. Just say that I am going to flood Daliang City. If the king of Wei does not surrender, the whole city of Daliang will be buried with him. If the king of Wei refuses to surrender, you can go back."
Zhu Xiang said: "I..."
Lian Po frowned: "I am the general, I have the final say in military affairs!"
Although he was already 19 years old, according to the era of calculating age by virtual age, he was already 40 years old. But in front of Duke Lian, he was still the timid young boy. Just like the young King of Qin was still the irritable and angry Ying Xiaozheng in front of him.
According to Lian Po's instructions, Zhu Xiang sent an envoy to persuade the King of Wei to surrender in his name, telling him that the Qin army was ready to flood Daliang City as soon as it rained. If the King of Wei did not surrender, all the citizens would be drowned.
If the King of Wei had not been disloyal and unrighteous, Qin would not have attacked Wei; if the King of Wei had not refused to surrender, the city of Daliang would not have been flooded.
If many innocent Wei people were drowned in this battle, it would be the King of Wei's fault.
On the contrary, Changping Jun is now outside the city. This is Daliang City's last chance. As long as the King of Wei surrenders, everyone can survive.
These words were not taught by Zhu Xiang.
The person who accompanied Zhu Xiang to Wei State this time was Zhu Xiang's die-hard fan Meng Yi.
He had been hiding for a long time because of shyness, but now he can finally stand beside Zhu Xiang and help Zhu Xiang with things.
Although he was an internal official of the King of Qin, he was not only a favorite minister in the King of Qin's dream, but also the son of Meng Wu and the younger brother of Meng Tian. He wanted to follow Zhu Xiang to hone himself, and the King of Qin immediately agreed.
Meng Yi was eloquent and shameless. He not only pushed all the faults of the war onto the King of Wei, but also spread the news when he entered the city.
Changping Jun begged the King of Qin for a long time before he got a glimmer of hope for the Wei people in Daliang City.
This glimmer of hope came just before the rain started.
If it rained, Changping Jun would drive back to Xianyang. The Wei people in Daliang City did not want to be rescued, so they could not blame others and should die in Daliang City with the foolish King of Wei.
What? The previous King of Wei was the incompetent one
I am from Qin and can't tell the difference.
Meng Yi did not give the King of Wei a chance to consider. He arrogantly explained his purpose, threw the blame on the King of Wei, and immediately left Daliang City, without giving the Wei ministers any chance to debate with him.
As soon as Meng Yi left, Daliang City fell into chaos.
The State of Wei once had hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers. Its military strength was much stronger than that of the weak, helpless and pitiful Qin State in the early Warring States Period. It was the strongest country in the early Warring States Period.
Now the "legacy" left behind by Wei when it was strong has been destroyed by Bai Qi, the Marquis of Wu'an.
The elite troops of Wei and Han were all defeated by Bai Qi, the Marquis of Wu'an.
Elite troops cannot be replenished by waiting for a new generation of young and middle-aged people to grow up.
Bai Qi's annihilation war not only caused the extinction of their generals, but also caused them to lose a large number of sophisticated weapons and armor.
Wei and Han were both good at making sophisticated weapons and armor. However, as their land was reduced and their population was lost, they were unable to make new weapons and armor. Even if they could gather enough young and strong men, without the training of veterans and soldiers, and without enough weapons and armor, they would be nothing more than a mob.
When Wei Wuji was still alive, they could rely on his reputation and bravery to boost the morale of the Wei army and let the nobles of Wei State donate generously to raise military funds.
The King of Wei doesn’t have this ability now.
Although there were still a large number of cities in Wei that had not been captured, Lian Po only attacked Daliang City. However, the King of Wei did not expect the feudal lords and governors of other cities to send troops to rescue him, and could only pin his hopes on Chu, Zhao and Yan.
He believed that at least Zhao would come to rescue him. Wei and Zhao were really in a relationship of mutual dependence!
But the Qin army actually used water attack, and before the attack, they notified the entire Daliang city that they were going to use water attack. The King of Wei's holding out and waiting for help became a joke.
The people in the city were in a panic, and many wanted to escape.
Some ministers of the Wei State also kept persuading the King of Wei to surrender quickly and not drag everyone down with him.
Wei also had loyal ministers who advised the King of Wei not to learn from the shameful King of Han and King of Qi, making all the people of Wei as ashamed as the people of Han and Qi.
The monarch is supported by the people, so he should die with the country when the country is destroyed.
After saying this, the iron-willed minister immediately committed suicide in the court, becoming the first to die for his country.
King Zeng of Wei was so frightened that he almost fell sick.
Because some of his ministers died for his country, King Wei, who had originally intended to surrender, became hesitant and didn't know what to do.
Another minister advised that although Daliang was under siege, Wei still had many cities. Why didn't the King of Wei flee and go to other cities to continue resisting Qin
King Zeng of Wei slapped his thigh and said, "That's right! Why didn't anyone mention this earlier? If they had mentioned it earlier, I would have run away long ago. How could I have been surrounded by Lian Po?"
King Zeng of Wei couldn't help but resent the court officials, asking why they didn't persuade him to leave when Qin declared war.
The court officials were speechless.
Obviously, Lian Po would surround whichever city the King of Wei was in.
Daliang was the strongest city, so the King of Wei stayed there to wait for help. If it was any other small city, the King of Wei would have been captured long ago.
With the military strength of Wei State, except for Daliang, all other cities would be easily destroyed.
The real purpose of the person who made the suggestion was just to get the King of Wei to open the city gate so that his family could survive. As for whether the King of Wei could escape or not, he, who was "captured by the Qin State", had no control over it.
So the King of Wei and his ministers, after shedding a few tears for those who committed suicide for their country, immediately opened the city gates and ordered the defenders to drive the citizens out of the city gates to attract the attention of the Qin army. The King of Wei and his clan members mixed in with the crowd and escaped.
The gates of Daliang city were wide open, and countless citizens were trampled to death, while countless others fell into the water and drowned due to the crowds.
(End of this chapter)