At the end of June, the 140,000 Wei, Han and Zhou coalition forces were preparing for the attack in front of Hangu Pass in an act. However, the generals of the Sima-level army knew very well that this battle could not be fought at all.

The reason why the coalition forces did not withdraw their troops was just waiting for news from Chu: news of peace with Wei and Han.

At the same time, the King of Wei, Du Daliang, had also received a war report from Gongsun Shu.

Some people may be surprised that the 180,000 Wei troops were attacked by Qin general Bai Qi at Yique Mountain. This happened in mid-April, and it is now the end of June. The two are more than 60 days apart. Why did Daliang just get the battle report from Gongsun Shu?

The reason is very simple, because Gongsun Shu didn't dare to write this battle report before.

How to write it?

Xiwu was dead? He was attacked by the Qin army? Nearly 180,000 Wei troops were beheaded by the Qin army overnight?

Gongsun Shu was not surprised that as long as he dared to send this news back to Daliang, it would definitely terrorize the whole country of Wei. The King of Wei might even send envoys to cede territory and seek peace from Qin, which was what Gongsun Shu wanted to see.

In his opinion, Meng Zhong had gradually recovered his disadvantages at that time, and might even defeat the Qin army in turn. Of course, he could not drag Meng Zhong back or in other words, he hoped to use Meng Zhong's power to avenge Gongsun Xi.

Because of this, Gongsun Shu kept hiding from Daliang that the "defeated defeat in Yiqueshan" was the news. Every time he sent the battle report to Daliang on routine business, he only wrote some irrelevant things, such as the coalition and the Qin army were still in a stalemate.

It was not until Meng Zhong and Bao Yuan defeated the main force of the Qin army in "Fear of Fox" and then attacked Yiyang with thunder. Only then did Gongsun Shu write down all the processes that happened in this battle in the battle report and send his confidant soldiers to Daliang.

It has to be said that it is also a blessing that Gongsun Shu’s report on the battle was delivered in time, because at this time, the bad news of “the defeat of Yiqueshan in the battle” and “the death of Xiwu in the battle” in the country of Wei was nothing more than that of Wei Shu, who was defeated by the Qin army in the battle of Yiqueshan that day. On their way back to Wei, they also brought the bad news to the country and then passed it to Daliang.

As Gongsun Shu guessed, Daliang was frightened at that time, and King Wei Wei was almost frightened. Then he quickly sent someone to summon the prime minister Tian Wen to discuss countermeasures with Tian Wen.

Tian Wen was also extremely shocked. After all, he never expected that the world-famous "Xiwu" Gongsun Xi would be defeated so easily by the Qin army and even lost his life.

Soon, the court was divided into two factions. One side advocated summoning troops to fight against the Qin army again, and some even thought of the new ally of Wei, Song; the other side advocated surrendering to the Qin army.

Not to mention, in the era of King Hui of Wei, Wei was still quite tenacious. Facing the lobbying of Qin Prime Minister Zhang Yi and the attack of Qin general Wei Zhang, he just insisted on refusing to surrender to Qin, and focused on fame over interests. However, as the number of times of surrender to Qin gradually increased, Wei gradually became indifferent to "seeking peace". If Qin was not prepared, he would attack Qin. If he lost, he would cede land and seek peace. This is how Wei came about in recent years.

Therefore, surrendering to Qin and seeking peace is not an unacceptable thing for the current Wei State.

But it is worth mentioning that Tian Wen, as the prime minister, has not made any statement for a long time.

The reason is very simple, that is, Tian Wen had a grudge with Qin State and almost died in Qin State. The one he hated most in his life was Qin State, followed by King Qi Tian Di. After all, King Qi Tian Di nominally deprived his father Tian Ying of the title he left to him after his death, so that Tian Wen, the grandson of the dignified King Xuan of Qi, has now become a traitor in Qi State, which makes Tian Wen extremely hated King Qi Tian Di.

By the way, Meng Zhong ranks third in Tian Wen's "hate list", second only to Qin and Qi King Tian Di.

Because of his hatred of Qin, Tian Wen still tends to the idea of ​​"summoning the army again to resist the Qin army", but it has to be said that at the moment when Gongsun Xi took away 180,000 Wei troops, the military strength in Wei was indeed insufficient, which made Tian Wen feel a headache.

Just when King Wen of Wei and Xiangtian Wen of Wei were at a loss, Gongsun Shu's good news was delivered to Daliang in time. At this time, King Wen of Wei and Gongtian Wen of Xue were surprised to learn that after the defeat of Yiqueshan, his 180,000 Wei army not only did not wipe out the entire army, but instead reversed the disadvantage and defeated the main force of the Qin army, and even helped Han regain Xincheng and Yiyang. At this moment, the 80,000 Wei army, the 50,000 Han army and thousands of Eastern Zhou army were holding troops outside Hangu Pass, and they were ready to counterattack Qin.

"This, this...it's actually...haha..."

At the beginning of seeing the good news, King Wei was so excited that he couldn't speak.

You know, he was already ready to pass the throne to the crown prince Wei at that time, and went to Xianyang to apologize to Qin State and beg for peace.

In just one or two days, King Wei felt the feeling of going from mid-air to low, and then from low to mid-air.

After a moment of joy, King Wen of Wei and Xiangtian Wen of Wei gradually calmed down.

To be honest, even though the Wei army did not fail to be wiped out, and it reversed its disadvantages and severely damaged the Qin army, nothing is worthy of happiness about what Gongsun Shu told in the war report.

Nearly 180,000 were killed or injured by the Wei army, and the commander Gongsun Xi died in battle. No matter which of these two incidents is a bad news for the Wei Kingdom, let alone happening at the same time.

Considering this level, the Wei army eventually reversed its disadvantages and defeated the Qin army, which at best only allowed the Wei State to save some face.

Compared with King Wen of Wei, Xue Gongtian Wen's mood was even more complicated, because Gongsun Shu repeatedly mentioned a person's name Meng Zhong in the good news!

After the battle of Yiqueshan, Meng Zhong turned the tide and reversed the disadvantage; the main force of the Qin army led by Qin general Bai Qi was also Meng Zhong, who forced him to a dead end and eventually defeated him with South Korea's Bao Yuan.

In short, Gongsun Shu praised Meng Zhong very much in this good news, which made Tian Wen very uncomfortable.

You should know that Meng Zhong is Tian Wen's "third enemy". His ranking is only after Qin and King Qi. If it weren't for Song Wang Yan's transfer of Xue Yi to Tian Wen as a fief, Meng Zhong would not have thought of staying in Wei. Even for the sake of Xue Yi, Tian Wen's attitude towards Meng Zhong would have only changed from "swearing to kill him" to "be spared for the time being", but this does not mean that he and Meng Zhong had resolved their grudges.

There was no way. In front of Zhao, Meng Zhong took the opportunity to kill more than 400 Tian Wen’s disciples in front of Zhao’s father, Zhao Wang He, and the ministers and nobles of Zhao’s state, which made Tian Wen lose face.

This grandson of King Xuan of Qi has only experienced two shameful things so far, one in Qin State, and the other in Zhao State, in Meng Zhong’s hands.

This hatred made Tian Wen decide to hinder Meng Zhong's career in Wei State, and for this he also hinted at Gongsun Xi, who had a good relationship with him.

But unexpectedly, even though he was willing to disturb him, Meng Zhong still shone brightly in this battle with his own talent, and even became a "person who saved the Wei Kingdom", which surprised Tian Wen and couldn't help but feel a little confused.

"Tian Xiang?Tian Xiang?"

"ah?"

The questioning of King Wei made Tian Wen temporarily escape from his complex thoughts.

Fortunately, King Wei also understood that Gongsun Shu's victory was hasty, and he still had many surprises in his heart at this moment, so he did not care about Tian Wen's rudeness and asked repeatedly: "I just asked the Prime Minister, and now my coalition forces have attacked Hangu Pass. The Prime Minister thought that he should attack Qin State with the flow, or withdraw his troops just now?"

Tian Wen then suddenly realized that after accusing King Wei, he frowned and began to ponder.

After a while, he spoke to King Wei, "King, I think it's better to stop when I see it.... Although the coalition forces won by chance, Xiwu was killed in the battle, and nearly 100,000 were killed or injured by the 180,000 troops, which was also severely damaged in our Wei Dynasty. It is not advisable to continue."

"But the coalition forces are still in Hangu Pass..."

"This time, our Great Wei helped Han defeat the Qin army and regained the two cities of Xincheng and Yiyang. We have done enough for Han. Furthermore, according to Gongsun Jun General's statement in the good news, more than half of the 100,000 troops under Bao Yuan's command were killed or injured. I don't think he still has the idea and confidence to take the opportunity to counterattack Qin... It was probably just to fight to Hangu Pass to Hangu Pass to demonstrate to Qin."

“Um…”

King Wei stroked his beard and pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "What Tian Xiang said is so great that I can't ask for more. Since that's the case, I immediately sent someone to Hangu Pass and asked Gongsun Shu to lead his army back to the country."

"The king is wise."

Tian Wen bowed and bowed.

Given that he had won the battle at least, King Seung of Wei was not in a hurry to recall Gongsun Shu and his Wei army back to the country, but instead ordered the people to be appeased. After all, the Wei soldiers who had fled from the battlefield brought back the news of their defeat, which led to the danger of everyone in the country. King Seung of Wei naturally wanted to send people to appease him.

Otherwise, it would be ridiculous if the Chinese people mistakenly thought they were defeated and fled to other countries in fear.

What surprised King Wei was a little bit unexpected was that after only two or three days, that is, in early July, the envoy of Qin arrived at Daliang, the capital of Wei, and begged to see King Wei.

It has to be said that this Qin envoy is not simple. He is the son of Queen Mother Xuan of Qin and the younger brother of King Ying Ji of Qin, "Jingyang Jun Ying Fu", who almost took the position of King Qin.

In today's Qin State, Queen Mother Xuan's party is extremely powerful, and the most famous of them are the "Four nobles", namely the brother of Queen Mother Xuan's adoptive father, "Ranghou Wei Ran", the half-brother of the same father, "Huayang Jun Mi Rong", as well as her two other sons, "Jingyang Jun Ying Fu" and "Gaoling Jun Ying Ju".

In front of these four people, Xiang Shou, who was just a relative of Queen Mother Xuan's family, could not be called the powerful and noble of Qin. Of course, this was closely related to Xiang Shou's personal relationship with King Huai of Chu. He was a minister in Qin who advocated goodwill to Chu.

King Wei Wang did not dare to be negligent about Ying Fu, the king of Jingyang. When he learned that the former had come to ask for a meeting, he immediately sent someone to summon him, but did not dare to be negligent.

The reason is very simple. In the face of Qin, King Wei was somewhat confident, especially in this war, losing 100,000 troops and commander Gongsun Xi, so that even if he finally won the battle, King Wei did not dare to anger Qin too much.

You should know that in the past, the problem of food and grass in Qin was its biggest shortcoming, but since the Qin general Sima Cuo captured Shu, Qin's biggest shortcoming has been made up, and even if a war lasted for a year or two, it will be supported. Therefore, if there is no need, King Wei did not want to completely anger Qin.

It is worth mentioning that when King Wen of Wei summoned the King of Jingyang Ying Fu, Xue Gongtian Wen was also there.

The man named Ying Fu, the king of Jingyang, had met this man in his early years.

Thinking back then, the reason why Tian Wen rushed to Qin as prime minister was because he and Jingyang Jun Ying Fu were "hostages to each other". That is, Qin first sent Jingyang Jun Ying Fu to Qi as a hostage and stayed for a full year. A year later, Qi sent Tian Wen and Jingyang Jun Ying Fu to Qin together to serve as prime minister of Qin, but he did not expect Tian Wen would almost die in Qin.

However, Tian Wen's hatred for Qin would not involve Ying Fu, the king of Jingyang. The reason is that Ying Fu is a man of modest character. He likes to play and enjoy himself on weekdays, but he does not easily make grudges with him. To put it bluntly, he is just a playboy who is keen on enjoyment. He basically does not interfere in the government affairs of Qin, so there is no question of any holiday.

"King of Wei, Duke Xue."

In the palace of Daliang, Jingyang Jun Ying Fu, as an envoy of Qin, bowed ceremonially to King Wen of Wei and Xue Gong Tianwen, and then explained his purpose: "I am here at the order of the king today, hoping to get a standstill with your country and make an appointment with each other to not invade each other... In order to show sincerity, our Qin Dynasty is willing to return "Zhenxian (Xiangcheng)" to your country."

Qian County is the city that Qin State sent famous general Sima Cuo to seize from the Wei State the year before yesterday.

『Return to Xian County?』

After listening to the words of Ying Fu, the King of Wei was quite incredible. After all, according to Gongsun Shu's battle report, the coalition and Qin army were actually not sure whether this battle was the superiority. After all, the coalition and the Qin army suffered 160,000 casualties, while the Qin army suffered about 100,000 casualties. Although Qin lost two cities, Xincheng and Yiyang in this battle, the Wei army also lost the famous general Gongsun Xi because of this battle. Therefore, in general, this is actually a situation of 55.

But unexpectedly, Qin was willing to return the county to the return of Wei County as a price in exchange for the agreement to make peace with him, which was something King Wei never expected before.

He quietly hinted Tian Wen with his eyes.

Tian Wen understood and asked Jingyang Jun Ying Fu curiously, saying, "Tian didn't understand that your country did not lose this battle, but why did he return the city and the Great Wei Yanjie?"

In fact, the reason is very simple. After the "Yique Battle", Empress Dowager Xuan felt that Wei and Han were very difficult, so she planned to temporarily make peace with Wei and Han, and first use troops to Chu. After all, Chu State has been very chaotic in recent years. King Xiong Heng of Chu did not govern government affairs and only knew how to eat, drink and have fun all day long. For this reason, he had a very quarrel with his ministers such as "Qu Ping", and the Chu State was not peaceful because of this.

Compared with Wei and Han, who united and defeated his Qin army, it was naturally easier for Chu to attack.

As the biological son of Queen Mother Xuan, Ying Fu of Jingyang, of course, knew that Qin's next action was to use troops to Chu, but obviously, he would not inform Wei Wang and Tian Wen of the truth, but explained: "The attack on the Pan County of your country was Sima Cuo's proposal... In fact, Wang, mother, and Marquis Rang did not support him, but unfortunately... Since Sima Cuo captured Shu, his reputation in our Qin has gradually increased. Sometimes, even if Wang and mother have to sell their face to Sima Cuo..."

Hearing what he said, it was obvious that he had pushed all the responsibility to Sima Cuo.

Hearing this, Tian Wen sneered secretly.

It is undeniable that Sima Cuo was indeed a veteran of the three dynasties of Qin and had great achievements. The most famous one was that he had a debate with Prime Minister Zhang Yi about the national policy of Qin.

At that time, Zhang Yi believed that the key to "breaking the deadlock" was Wei and Han, that is, by constantly attacking Han, Wei was afraid and forced Wei to surrender to Qin.

In Zhang Yi's view, as long as Wei can surrender to Qin, Qin can advance eastward to the Central Plains and seek hegemony.

But Sima Chou disagreed with this. In his opinion, the more Qin forces Wei and Han, the more it will cause the Central Plains to be frightened by Qin. Instead of spending huge energy on this matter, it is better to send troops to seize Shu, Zhu, and Ba, and occupy this land that the Central Plains countries would not pay attention to.

During this period, Sima Cuo proposed the idea that "if you get Shu, you will get Chu", and advocated that after obtaining Shu County, it would include the county territory of Shu, Zhu and Ba, Shu County could suppress Chu State. [ps: At this time, the capital of Chu State was in Ying, which was later Jiangling.]

When Shu and Ba were attacking each other, and both countries asked Qin for help. After deep thought, King Hui of Qin finally adopted Sima Cuo's suggestion.

In the end, Sima Cuo captured Shu Kingdom that year.

The following year, at Zhang Yi's request, Qin sent Sima Cuo to capture Ba, and by the way, Lian Zhu also captured it. Then Qin established Shu County on this land.

In just less than two years, Qin completely occupied the three countries of Shu, Ba and Zhu, greatly expanding its territory. It has to be said that this was the land that Qin State had spent decades to attack the Central Plains, and spent countless manpower and material resources to seize from the Central Plains countries. It was not as much land that Sima Cuo had captured in the past two years.

Because of this, Sima Cuo's status and prestige in Qin State were greatly improved, but even so, it was impossible to reach the level of Wei Ran, the Marquis of Rang.

Ranghou Wei Ran is the most powerful minister of Qin.

Therefore, as Ying Fu, the king of Jingyang, said that the Qin State's attack on Panxian in Wei's two years ago was Sima Cuo's arbitrary decision, and Tian Wen did not believe such words at all.
To be continued...