The distance was not far away, and the news that the young marshal's army relied on a sneak attack to take the pass was sent to Xianyang, the capital of Qin, at sunset that afternoon.

It is also the luck of the good teacher Zhao Gao, just on the morning of this day, Qin II Hu Hai listened to his flicker, went to Jingshui in the north of Xianyang to worship the god of Jingshui, and temporarily moved to the Wangyi Palace on the bank of the Jingshui River, the news of the loss of Xianyang's last barrier was not reported to Hu Hai in the first time, and Zhao Gao, who did not even dare to report to Hu Hai after the fall of Wuguan, escaped a catastrophe, and was not cramped and skinned by Hu Hai, who was sure to jump like thunder, and was executed by the car crack.

However, even so, the bad news of the loss of the pass immediately caused a huge sensation and panic among the hundred officials of the Qin court and the soldiers and civilians of Xianyang. Why did you suddenly break down without the slightest warning before? What about Wuguan? Where did our Great Qin army go to defend Wuguan? ”

Because of this, many Qin court officials also rushed to Zhao Gao's prime minister's mansion as soon as possible, and asked Zhao Gao about the truth of the matter, the truth of the news of the loss of the pass, but Zhao Gao did not see anyone, just ordered the Qin court lieutenant Xi Teng, who commanded the Xianyang lieutenant army, to prepare to lead the army overnight, and at the same time sent someone to tell the Qin court hundred officials, saying that the news of the loss of the pass is true or not, so that the Qin court officials continue to perform their duties, not to spread rumors at will, and wait patiently for themselves to send someone to verify the situation of the pass.

Only Zhao Gao's son-in-law, Xianyang County, ordered Yan Le to enter the inner courtyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion through the back door, and got the opportunity to meet Zhao Gao, which surprised Yan Le, when they met, Zhao Gao's study was not only sprinkled with bamboo slips and pen and ink inkstones, but his eunuch father-in-law Zhao Gao was also disheveled, disheveled, and his expression was even more gloomy and terrifying. Yan Le was worried in his heart, and while he was busy saluting, he asked cautiously: "Uncle (father-in-law), could it be that the pass has really been broken by the thief army?" ”

"Can there be a fake?" Zhao Gao asked in a hoarse voice.

Although he had been mentally prepared, after finally confirming the bad news, Yan Le still had a feeling like a thunderbolt from the sky, and asked in surprise, "So fast?" Xiang Kang's thief army only took Wuguan more than ten days ago, why did they take it again so quickly? ”

"Chen Qiupifu, who guarded the pass, was greedy for money, accepted bribes from Xiang Kang Xiao'er, defected to the enemy, and cooperated with the thief army to take the pass, so the pass was lost so quickly." Zhao Gao replied in a cold tone.

"Isn't Xianyang dangerous?" Yan Le's voice began to tremble, and he said: "The pass is lost, Xianyang no longer has a dangerous pass to defend, if the Xianyang Lieutenant Army can't stop Xiang Kang's thief army, Xianyang will definitely be finished." ”

"What we need to worry about most now is not whether Xianyang can be saved, but whether our heads can be saved." Zhao Gao said slowly: "The emperor's temper, you don't know, now even if the Xianyang Lieutenant Army can temporarily block Xiang Kang's thief army like the last time they were playing in the water, just by virtue of the fact that we deliberately blocked the news of the loss of Wuguan, the emperor will definitely kill us, and there will be no softness." ”

He Zhao Gao is a grasshopper on a rope, hearing this, Yan Le inevitably trembled even more, and hurriedly asked, "Uncle, what should we do now?" ”

"Son-in-law, do you want to die or live?" Zhao Gao did not answer the rhetorical question.

"Of course the son-in-law wants to live, who in the world doesn't want to live?" Yan Le hurriedly replied.

"As long as you want to live, as long as you want to live, we still have hope of living." Zhao Gao's voice began to be cold, and he said: "Now if we want to live, we have only one last way, on the one hand, we will send the Xianyang Lieutenant Army to reinforce Lantian and temporarily block the Xiang Kang thief army, and give us time, and on the other hand, we will send people to negotiate with Xiang Kang's thief army, and order the Xianyang Lieutenant Army to lay down their arms and surrender in exchange, so that Xiang Kang Xiao'er will agree to tear the ground with us in Guanzhong and become king." ”

"At this time, it may be difficult for Xiang Kang Xiao'er to agree to break the ground with us and be the king." Zhao Gao continued: "But it doesn't matter, we try our best to fight for it, but we can't get it, as long as Xiang Kang Xiao'er promises to you and me, as well as your uncle Zhao Chengfeng, so that we can keep our lives and property, we can also consider accepting it." ”

"What about the Emperor?" Yan Le hurriedly asked, "If we surrender, the emperor will never agree?" ”

"Things have come to this point, the emperor must not stay, he can only hurry up and kill him, and then I can rest assured that as the prime minister, I can lead the hundred officials of the court and the Xianyang army to surrender to Xiang Kang Xiao'er."

Zhao Gao's understatement answer almost scared Yan Le to collapse on the spot, and asked in surprise: "Uncle, you want to kill the king?" ”

"It's not that I'm going to kill the king, it's that you're going to kill the king." Zhao Gao said coldly: "I have already thought of a way, you are the commander of Xianyang County, and you have the right to dispatch and command the soldiers of Xianyang County, tomorrow you will fabricate the news, saying that thieves were found in Xianyang, and then in the name of arresting thieves, take the soldiers of Xianyang County to Wangyi Palace, and then Zhao Cheng will answer you inside, you will join forces to take down Wangyi Palace, kill the emperor and eliminate the troubles forever." ”

Before Zhao Gao finished speaking, Yan Le's face was as white as paper, his whole body was sweating like pulp, trembling and unable to say a word, Zhao Gao glanced at him indifferently and said, "What? Scared? If you don't have the guts, I'll take you to Wangyi Palace to see the emperor tomorrow, explain the matter to him, and then let him send it down, are you willing? ”

Yan Le had the urge to cry and said, "Uncle, isn't this a dead end?" ”

"Now that you know it's a dead end, what else do you have to hesitate?!" Zhao Gao said sharply: "Advancing is also death, retreating is also death, anyway, it's a dead end, why don't you dare to fight?!" As long as things are successful, we can not only live, but also keep our property and land, full of old and young, glory and wealth! Don't you understand such a simple truth?! ”

After thinking about it, he found that he and Zhao Gao really had no way out, in order to fight for the last hope of survival, Yan Le gritted his teeth and nodded vigorously, and said: "What my uncle said is very true, in this situation, we can only gamble, and my son-in-law is willing to listen to my uncle's arrangement." ”

"That's right." Zhao Gao finally showed a little smile and said, "Come, let's carefully discuss how to act and try our best to succeed in one fell swoop." ”

Zhao Gao and Yan Le of course quickly discussed the specific plan of the coup d'état to kill the king, and decided to send Zhao Gao's nephew Zhao Juan as an envoy to rush to Xiangguan overnight to negotiate conditional surrender, and then when Yan Le said goodbye and went back to prepare, Zhao Gao suddenly said: "Virtuous son-in-law, your mother is old, I am afraid that she will not be able to withstand the fright, for the sake of prudence, you will send someone to send her to me to live here for a few days tomorrow morning, and I will arrange someone to take care of her." ”

"Uncle, when is it, you still suspect that your son-in-law ......." Yan Le wanted to directly point out that Zhao Gao was taking hostages, but halfway through the words, Yan Le still swallowed the rest of the words back into his stomach, and said helplessly: "Thank you uncle, early tomorrow morning, my son-in-law will send my mother to ask my uncle to take care of me." ”

Early the next morning, when there was no way out, Yan Le really sent someone to hand over his mother to Zhao Gao as a hostage to be placed under house arrest, and at the same time announced the news, saying that thieves had been found in Xianyang, and urgently assembled Xianyang County soldiers to order martial law. At the same time, following Zhao Gao's dispatch, Qin Ting Lieutenant Xi Teng also hurriedly led the remaining more than 20,000 Xianyang lieutenants south to Lantian to join the Xianyang Lieutenant Army that had previously gone to Lantian to join forces to resist the attack of the young marshal's army.

After the Xianyang lieutenant army left, there were only three armies left in Xianyang, including Lang Zhongling's army, Weiwei army and Xianyang County soldiers, of which Lang Zhongling's army and Xianyang county soldiers were respectively controlled by Zhao Gao's younger brother Zhao Cheng and son-in-law Yan Le, only the number of about 10,000 Weiwei troops was not directly controlled by Zhao Gao, and was only responsible for the defense of the palace, and had no right to enter the palace without authorization, which greatly facilitated Zhao Gao's coup d'état.

At this time, after hurriedly cleaning up the battlefield of Yaoguan, Xiang Kang also crossed the Yaoguan with the main force of the young marshal's army, and began to march towards the Guanzhong Plain, and successfully walked out of the Qinling Mountains in the afternoon of the same day, and officially set foot in the Guanzhong Plain of Pingchuan, and the 20,000 Xianyang lieutenant army who rushed to Lantian before could not block the young marshal's army in the mountainous area because there were many roads leading to Lantian in the pass, so they could only continue to guard the camp established outside Lantian City, and did not dare to risk the battle, allowing the young marshal's army to set up a camp on the bank of the Bashui River. Cautiously waited for reinforcements to arrive.

At the same time as the soldiers of the young marshal army set up camp, Xiang Kang also personally led a team of cavalry to Lantian City to explore the enemy situation according to the habit, and then Xiang Kang also quickly discovered that the Xianyang lieutenant army is really worthy of its reputation, and the equipment of the soldiers is excellent, far from the ordinary Qin army county soldiers and county soldiers are comparable, and even above the elite troops of the young marshal army, the layout of the camp is also orderly and orderly, and it is clear at a glance that the garrison in the camp has undergone very strict training, and if it is hit head-on, it will definitely be difficult to break through directly.

But it doesn't matter much, the specific situation of Lieutenant Xianyang's army, Xiang Kang has long been clear through various channels, knowing that although this army is well-equipped, strictly trained, and good at battle battles, its weakness is that it is seriously lacking in actual combat experience.

Having said that, Xiang Kang, who had a cautious personality, still did not underestimate the enemy, and after carefully inspecting the layout of the Qin army's camp, Xiang Kang quickly said to Uncle Zhou, who came with him: "Although we also hope to take the camp of the Tyrannical Qin army head-on, but in order to reduce the casualties of our soldiers, we still have to find a way to lure the Tyrannical Qin army out of the camp for a decisive battle and create an opportunity for field battles, so that we can kill this Tyrannical Qin army at the lowest cost." ”

"It's easy." Uncle Zhou replied quite confidently: "There is no one in the court of the tyrannical Qin court, and the dispatch of troops is more stinky than one move, and they actually divided their last Xianyang Lieutenant Army, the main force of Guanzhong, into two, and divided the troops into the Lantian battlefield. ”

Xiang Kang nodded, and was about to go back to the camp to rest, but unexpectedly, the camp sent a fast horse first, saying that Qin Xiang Zhao Gao sent his nephew Zhao Juan as an envoy to negotiate with Xiang Kang on the terms of surrender. At the same time, many scouts were sent to investigate the movement of the Qin army.

After being brought to Xiang Kang, Zhao Gao's nephew Zhao Juan first complimented Xiang Kang, and then immediately took out the letter written by Zhao Gao to Xiang Kang, proving that he came to negotiate the surrender conditions on behalf of Zhao Gao. ”

"Uncle He is sincere in asking for surrender, and of course he must be as solemn as possible to the right general." Zhao Juan replied with a flattering face.

Xiang Kang blinked his eyes and suddenly asked, "Zhao Gongzi, since your uncle is sincere in asking for surrender, then why did he send Lieutenant Xianyang to garrison Lantian to block our army's advance into Xianyang?" Why don't you wait for our troops to come to Xianyang and then negotiate and sign an alliance under the city? ”

"General Right, don't blame, my uncle can't help it, he has to give an explanation to the imperial court, so he sent an army to Lantian to station." Zhao Juan hurriedly explained for Zhao Gao, and said: "But General You, don't worry, as long as you can agree to the small conditions proposed by my uncle, my uncle will guarantee that all the Guanzhong troops can lay down their arms and surrender." ”

"Zhao Xiang is sure of this?" Xiang Kang asked curiously: "Zhao Xiang is not afraid that the second emperor Hu Hai of the tyrannical Qin will not agree, and the tyrannical Qin army will not be allowed to lay down their arms and surrender?" ”

"This ......." Zhao Juan, who didn't know the inside story, couldn't answer, so he could only say: "Please rest assured that General You, since your uncle has made this promise, he will naturally be sure to do it, if my uncle doesn't believe his words, of course I can listen to General You's fate." ”

Xiang Kang blinked his triangular eyes again, and then smiled and said, "Okay, then let's start, how does Zhao Xiang want to surrender conditionally?" ”

Zhao Juan breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly said Zhao Gao's shameless condition that he wanted to be the king of Guanzhong with Xiang Kang, and then carefully observed Xiang Kang's reaction, and what made Zhao Juan overjoyed was that after Xiang Kang thought about it for a while, he actually said: "I can consider the conditions proposed by Zhao Xiang, but this matter is too big, I still have to discuss it with everyone, please Zhao Gongzi go down to rest first, and wait for us to discuss the results, and then give Gongzi you an answer." ”

also said that Xiang Kang could really promise to tear the soil with Zhao Gao in Guanzhong and claim the king, Zhao Juan hurriedly saluted Xiang Kang and thanked him, and happily followed the young marshal and sergeant to the guest tent to rest. As a result, as soon as Zhao Juan left, Zhou Zeng and Chen Ping, who were accompanying the negotiation, immediately asked Xiang Kang in an extremely strange way: "General Right, why did you agree so quickly?" The old thief Zhao Gao proposed to fight you in Guanzhong to claim the king, and it was clear that he was asking for a price, why did you immediately agree to consider it? ”

"It doesn't matter anymore." Xiang Kang shook his head and said: "If my expectations are correct, earth-shattering changes are about to occur in Xianyang City, and we must take advantage of the time we still have to make preparations in advance, and then we can take this opportunity to reap the most benefits." ”

"Xianyang is about to undergo earth-shattering changes? What's changing? Zhou Zeng hurriedly asked.

"The old thief Zhao Gao wants to launch a coup d'état and directly kill the emperor Hu Hai of the tyrannical Qin." Xiang Kang replied word by word.

After all, he is not a traverser, hearing Xiang Kang's words, of course, there was an uproar in the young marshal's military tent immediately, and the resourceful Chen Ping couldn't help but ask in surprise: "General Right, how do you know that Zhao Gao's old thief wants to do this?" ”

"Two points can prove that Zhao Gao wants to do this." Xiang Kang raised two fingers and said: "First, the letter written to me by the thief Zhao Gao is not only his own handwriting, but also stamped with his prime minister's seal, which clearly shows that he no longer cares about the back road, and is not worried that we will stab his letter to Hu Hai and ask for his head by Hu Hai's hand." ”

"Second, Zhao Gao promised that he would make the Guanzhong army lay down their arms and surrender to us." Xiang Kang said again: "If he hadn't made up his mind to kill Hu Hai, he would definitely not dare to make this promise, since he dared to boast about this Haikou, it means that he is ready to kill Hu Hai, so he doesn't have to worry about Hu Hai will object." ”

After all, he is a smart person, after listening to Xiang Kang point out two important joints, Chen Ping immediately came to his senses, patted the case and said: "The right general is wise!" That's right, since Zhao Gao dared not leave him a way back, and clearly promised that he would let the tyrannical Qin army lay down their arms and surrender, it is enough to show that he is ready to launch a coup d'état, kill Hu Hai directly, or imprison him, and then lead the tyrannical Qin court to surrender to us as the prime minister of tyrannical Qin. Other than that, there is no explanation! ”

Zhou Zeng, Li Shiqi, Zhou Shu and others also woke up one after another, and all agreed with Xiang Kang's judgment, and then Li Shiqi said excitedly: "If this is really the case, then the situation will be too favorable to us, we just need to wait patiently for a few days, and wait for Zhao Gao's old thief to kill the tyrant Hu Hai, and the tyrannical Qin court will be in chaos, even if the Guanzhong army of the tyrannical Qin refuses to obey his order to lay down their arms and surrender to us, it will definitely be in chaos, and it will be easier for us to break the enemy." ”

Zhou Zeng was calmer, and after a little calculation, he said: "General Right, are we any wishful thinking?" After all, Hu Hai is the king, Zhao Gao is the minister, and it is a great rebellion to kill the king with a minister, so he may not be sure of success, what if Zhao Gao misses? ”

Considering the butterfly reaction caused by his coming to this era, Xiang Kang did not dare to rule out this possibility, nodded and said: "Uncle Ya's words also make sense, we must also prevent the failure of Zhao Gao's coup d'état, and we must make certain preparations in advance." ”

"General Right, otherwise." Chen Ping proposed: "We will not give Zhao Gao any reply for the time being, and wait patiently for the development of the situation in Xianyang, if Zhao Gao becomes a cocoon, we will take advantage of the turmoil of the violent Qin army, and first defeat the Xianyang Lieutenant Army in Lantian, so that Zhao Gao will no longer have the capital to bargain with us, and force him to accept the conditions we offer and surrender to us." If Zhao Gao's coup d'état fails, we will destroy Qin according to the original plan, and at the same time contact Zhao Gao's henchmen in the DPRK and China, and persuade them to act as an internal response for us, they are afraid of being implicated by Zhao Gao, and they will definitely not refuse, so we can also seize the opportunity to take advantage of the chaos to destroy Qin. ”

As soon as Xiang Kang heard that he was in the middle of it, he immediately nodded in agreement to adopt it, and then said in his heart: "Zhao Gao, don't let me down, you'd better kill Hu Hai directly like in history, so that it is most beneficial to me." ”

Muttering, Xiang Kang also suddenly remembered the last Qin prince who killed Zhao Gao, and suddenly discovered that if Ziying led the hundred officials of the Qin court to surrender to him as the king of Qin, he would definitely be able to justify it a lot, and it was very likely that the Guanzhong Plain would be passed on, but considering that the time was in a hurry and the variables were too great, Xiang Kang could only put this matter aside for the time being, and did not covet such a good thing too much.

The real consideration of Xiang Kang's decision-making ability is still to come, although Chen Ping's suggestion to wait and see what happens, but the plan did not change quickly, and on the morning of the next day, the scout of the young marshal army suddenly flew back to the camp to report to Xiang Kang, saying that Qin Ting Lieutenant Xi Teng led more than 20,000 lieutenant troops to Lantian and was preparing to join the Qin army that had come to Lantian before. As a result, hearing this news, including Uncle Zhou, they all urged Xiang Kang to send troops immediately, taking advantage of the opportunity that the Qin army had not had time to join the division to launch a decisive battle, so as not to prevent the Qin army from successfully meeting the division, ordering unification, and increasing the difficulty of the young marshal's army winning the decisive battle.

The difficult choice was put in front of Xiang Kang, on the one hand, the temptation of taking the opportunity to fight a decisive battle, and on the other hand, the possibility that Zhao Gaozheng would become a Qin army and that the Qin army was about to be in chaos. In the end, Xiang Kang hesitated, and took out a Qin Banliang, ready to buy a hexagram against the sky, and asked the ghosts and gods to decide their own tactics, but after Qin Banliang was thrown into the sky, Xiang Kang flew the copper coin again, and shouted: "Go to the damn heaven to buy a hexagram!" Anyway, it's gambling, and I decide how to bet myself! No troops! Let the Tyrannical Qin army join forces! Wait for news from Zhao Gao's side! ”

"General Right, have you thought it through?" Uncle Zhou reminded: "If this bet is lost, it will be more difficult for us to defeat the lieutenant army of Tyranny Qin." ”

"But if we win the bet, the lieutenant army of Tyrant Qin will be no different from the Tuji tile dog." Xiang Kang replied viciously: "It doesn't matter if you lose the bet, it's all about fighting anyway, it's just the difference between easy and difficult!" ”