At the end of June, the 140,000 Wei-Han and Zhou Three Kingdoms Coalition troops were preparing for an attack in front of Hangu Pass, but the generals at the level of Jun Sima 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 the state of Chu: news of peace with Wei and Han.

At the same time, the Wei king's capital Daliang had also received a battle report from Gongsun Zhu.

Some people may be surprised that the 180,000 Wei army was attacked by the Qin general Bai Qi at Yique Mountain, which happened in mid-April, and now it is the end of June, and the difference between the two is more than 60 days.

The reason is very simple, because Gongsun Zhi did not dare to write this battle report before.

How to write?

Is Xi Wu dead? Attacked by the Qin army? 180,000 Wei troops were beheaded by the Qin army overnight, nearly 100,000?

Gongsun Zhu was not surprised, as long as he dared to send this news back to Daliang, it would definitely terrify the whole Wei State, and even the King of Wei might even send an envoy to the Qin State to cede land and sue for peace, which was what Gongsun Zhu wanted to see.

In his opinion, at that time, Meng Zhong had gradually recovered his disadvantage, and it was even possible to defeat the Qin army in turn, and of course he couldn't drag Meng Zhong back - or rather, he hoped to use Meng Zhong's strength to avenge Gongsun Xi.

Because of this, Gongsun Zhu has always concealed the news of the "fiasco in the battle of Yique Mountain" from Daliang, and every time he routinely sends a battle report to Daliang, he only writes some innocuous things, such as the stalemate between the coalition army and the Qin army, etc.

It wasn't until Meng Zhong and Storm Kite defeated the main force of the Qin army at the "Fox Fox", and then broke through Yiyang with lightning speed, that Gongsun Zhu wrote everything that happened in this battle in the battle report and sent his henchmen to Daliang.

I have to say that it is also thanks to the timely reporting of Gongsun Zhu's war report, because at this time, Wei has learned the bad news of "the fiasco of the Battle of Yique Mountain" and "the death of Xi Wu", the reason for which is nothing more than the Wei soldiers who were defeated by the Qin army in the Battle of Yique Mountain that day and fled, and on the way back to Wei, they also brought the bad news to China, and then spread to Daliang.

As Gongsun Zhu guessed, at that time, Daliang was greatly frightened, and Wei Wei, the king of Wei, was so frightened that he almost convulsed, and then hurriedly sent someone to summon Tian Wen, the minister of state, to discuss countermeasures with Tian Wen.

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

Soon, the court was divided into two factions, one side advocated resuming an army to fight the Qin army, and some even thought of Wei's new ally, the Song state; while the other side advocated submission to the Qin state.

Not to mention, in the era of King Wei Hui, Wei was still quite tenacious, in the face of Qin Prime Minister Zhang Yi's lobbying, in the face of Qin general Wei Zhang's attack, he just bit his tongue and refused to give in to Qin, focusing on reputation over interests, but later with the gradual increase in the number of submissions to Qin, Wei gradually looked down on the "peace" and "submission" these things - if Qin was unprepared, he would attack Qin, and if he lost, he would cut off the land and seek peace, and Wei had come this way over the years.

Therefore, it is not an unacceptable thing to surrender to the Qin State and sue for peace, which is not an unacceptable thing for the Wei State today.

But it is worth mentioning that Tian Wen, as the Minister of State, has not expressed his position on this matter.

The reason is very simple, that is, Tian Wen has an enmity with the Qin State, Tian Wen, who once almost died in the Qin State, hates the Qin State the most in his life, followed by the Qi Wang Tiandi, after all, the Qi Wang Tiandi nominally deprived him of the name left to him after the death of his father Tian Ying, so that he Tian Wen, the grandson of the dignified King of Qi Xuan, has now become a traitor in the Qi State, which makes Tian Wen extremely hated the Qi Wang Tiandi.

By the way, in Tian Wen's "hatred list", Meng Zhong ranked third, second only to Qin and Qi Wang Tiandi.

It is precisely because he hates the Qin State that Tian Wen is still somewhat inclined to the idea of "reconvening the army to resist the Qin army" in his heart, but I have to say that at the moment when Gongsun Xi took away the 180,000 Wei army, the domestic strength of the Wei State is indeed a little insufficient, which makes Tian Wen also feel a headache.

At this time, Wei Wangjun and Xue Gongtian Wen were pleasantly surprised to learn that his Wei 180,000 army was not wiped out after the defeat of the Battle of Yique Mountain, but reversed the disadvantage, defeated the main force of the Qin army, and even helped Korea recapture Xincheng and Yiyang, and at this moment, the surviving 80,000 Wei troops were together with 50,000 Han troops and thousands of Eastern Zhou troops outside the Hangu Pass, putting on a posture of preparing to counterattack Qin.

"This, this...... Actually...... It's ...... Haha......"

At the beginning of seeing that good news, Wei Wang Yun was speechless with excitement.

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

In just one or two days, Wei Wangyun's mood experienced the taste of going from mid-air to trough, and then from trough to mid-air.

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

To be honest, even though the Wei army was not completely annihilated, and also reversed the disadvantage and inflicted heavy losses on the Qin army, there was actually nothing to be happy about as far as Gongsun Zhi told in the battle report.

The 180,000 Wei troops were killed and wounded nearly 100,000, and the commander Gongsun Xi was killed in battle, no matter which of these two incidents occurred, it was bad news for the Wei State, let alone happening at the same time.

With this in mind, the Wei army finally reversed its disadvantage and defeated the Qin army, which at best allowed the Wei state to save some face.

Compared with Wei Wangyun, Xue Gongtianwen's mood was more complicated, because Gongsun Jian repeatedly mentioned a person's name in the good news - Meng Zhong!

After the battle of Yique Mountain, it was Meng Zhong who turned the tide and reversed the disadvantage; The main force of the Qin army led by the Qin general Bai Qi was also forced to a dead end by Meng Zhong, and finally defeated it together with the Korean Storm Kite.

All in all, Gongsun Zhu praised Meng Zhong a lot in this good news, which made Tian Wen very uncomfortable.

You must know that Meng Zhong is Tian Wen's "third enemy", ranking only after Qin and Qi Wang Tiandi, if it weren't for Song Wang Yan transferring Xue Yi to Tian Wen as a food town, Meng Zhong wouldn't want to stay in Wei at all - and even if it is for Xue Yi's face, Tian Wen's attitude towards Meng Zhong has only changed from "swearing to kill" to "sparing him from death", but this does not mean that he and Meng Zhong have resolved their grievances.

There was no way, when Meng Zhong was in Zhao State, in front of Zhao's father, Zhao Wanghe, and the courtiers and nobles of Zhao State, he took the opportunity to kill more than 400 Tian Wen's guests, which made Tian Wen lose face.

This dignified grandson of King Xuan of Qi has only experienced two disgraces so far, once in the Qin State, and the other time, that is, in the Zhao State, in the hands of Meng Zhong.

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

What he didn't expect was that even though he had the intention to interfere, Meng Zhong still relied on his own talent to shine in this battle, and even faintly became the "person who saved the Wei State", which made Tian Wen stunned and couldn't help but be a little dazed.

"Tian Xiang? Tian Xiang? ”

"Huh?"

Wei Wangyun's inquiring voice temporarily freed Tian Wen from his complicated thoughts.

Fortunately, Wei Wangjun also understood that Gongsun Zhu's good news was sent in a hurry, and there were all kinds of surprises in his heart at this moment, so he didn't care about Tian Wen's faux pas, and asked repeatedly: "The widow just asked the minister of state, now that our coalition army has attacked Hangu Pass, the minister of state thinks that he should attack Qin State by the way, or withdraw his troops?" ”

Tian Wen suddenly thought about it after confessing to the king of Wei, frowning and pondering.

After a while, he opened his mouth and said to Wei Wangyun: "Great King, the minister thinks that it is better to accept it when he sees it. …… Although the coalition army won a lucky victory this time, the Xiwu was killed in battle, and the 180,000 army suffered nearly 100,000 casualties, which was also a great injury to our Great Wei, and it was not suitable to continue. ”

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

"This time, my Great Wei helped Korea defeat the Qin army, and recaptured the two cities of Xincheng and Yiyang, and has done enough for Korea, and besides, according to the Gongsun Army General said in the good news, more than half of the 100,000 troops under the command of the storm kite have been killed and wounded, and the minister does not think that he still has the idea and confidence to counterattack the Qin State...... Killing under Hangu Pass was probably just to demonstrate to the Qin State. ”

"Hmm......"

King Wei stroked his beard and pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "What Tian Xiang said is extremely true, the widow can't ask for more. Since this is the case, the widow immediately sent someone to Hangu Pass and asked Gongsun Zhi to lead the army back to China. ”

"The king is wise."

Tian Wen bowed his hand and bowed.

In view of the fact that the battle was won, the king of Wei was not in a hurry to recall Gongsun Jian and the Wei army under his command to the country, but first ordered to appease the people, after all, the Wei soldiers who had fled from the battlefield brought back the news of the defeat, causing everyone in the country to be in danger, and Wei Wangjun naturally wanted to send someone to pacify.

Otherwise, it would be ridiculous to have won the war, but the people of the country mistakenly thought that they had lost the war and fled to other countries in fear.

To the slight surprise of Wei Wangqi, only two or three days later, that is, in early July, the envoys of Qin arrived at Daliang, the royal capital of Wei, and pleaded to see Wei Wangyun.

I have to say that this envoy of Qin is not simple, he is the son of the Empress Dowager Xuan of Qin and the younger brother of King Yingji of Qin, "Jingyang Jun Yingfu", that is, the prince of Qin who almost sat in the position of King of Qin back then.

In today's Qin State, Empress Dowager Xuan's party is powerful, the most famous of which are the "Four Gui", that is, Empress Dowager Xuan's half-father's brother "Marquis Wei Ran", and her half-brother "Huayang Jun Rong", as well as her other two sons, "Jingyang Jun Yingfu" and "Gaoling Jun Yingkui".

In front of these four, Xiang Shou, who was just a relative of Empress Dowager Xuan's mother's family, couldn't talk about the magnates of Qin at all - of course, this had something to do with Xiang Shou's close personal relationship with King Chu Huai, and he was a courtier in Qin who advocated goodwill with Chu.

For Jingyang Jun Yingfu, Wei Wangyun did not dare to slack off, and when he learned that the former came to ask for a meeting, he immediately sent someone to summon him, and did not dare to slack off.

The reason is very simple, that is, in the face of the Qin State, Wei Wangjun is still more or less confident, especially in this war, he lost 100,000 troops and the commander Gongsun Xi, so that even if he finally won the battle, Wei Wangjun did not dare to provoke the Qin State too much.

You must know that in the past, the Qin State, the problem of grain and grass was its biggest shortcoming, but since the Qin general Sima Coo's capture of Shu, Qin's own biggest shortcoming has been made up, even if a battle lasts for a year and a half, it can also support the ground, so if it is not necessary, Wei Wangjun does not want to completely anger the Qin State.

It is worth mentioning that when Wei Wangqian summoned Jingyang Jun Yingfu, Xue Gongtian Wen was also beside him.

Jingyang Jun Yingfu this person, Tian Wen had already met this person a few years ago.

I think that back then, the reason why Tian Wen rushed to Qin to serve as the minister of state was because he and Jingyang Jun Yingfu were "hostages of each other", that is, Qin first sent Jingyang Jun Yingfu to Qi as a hostage, and stayed for a year, and a year later, Qi sent Tian Wen and Jingyang Jun Yingfu to Qin together as the minister of Qin, but he didn't expect Tian Wen to almost die in Qin.

However, Tian Wen's hatred for Qin State will not involve Jingyang Jun Yingfu, the reason is that after all, Yingfu's personality is quite modest, he likes to play and have fun on weekdays, but he is not easy to grudge with him, to put it bluntly, this is just a gentleman who is keen on pleasure, and basically does not interfere in the affairs of Qin State, so there is no festival.

"King Wei, Duke Xue."

In the palace of Daliang, Jingyang Jun Yingfu, as an envoy of the Qin State, bowed to Wei Wangjun and Xue Gongtian Wen without losing etiquette, and then clarified his intention: "Today, I came here on the orders of the king, hoping to make a truce with your country, and make an appointment with each other not to invade each other." …… In order to show sincerity, I, Daqin, am willing to return "Yanxian (Xiangcheng)" to your country. ”

Pan County, that is, the city that the Qin State sent the famous general Sima Cuo to seize from the Wei State the year before last.

"Return to Pan County?"

After listening to the words of Jingyang Jun Yingfu, Wei Wangyun felt incredible in his heart, after all, according to Gongsun Zhu's battle report, this battle he coalition army and Qin army actually did not say that it was more dominant, after all, the coalition army killed and wounded 160,000, while the Qin army's casualties were about 100,000, although the Qin State lost the two cities of Xincheng and Yiyang in this battle, but the Wei army also lost the famous general Gongsun Xi because of this battle, so in general, this is actually a five-five situation.

But he didn't expect that the Qin State was willing to return Fan County as a price in exchange for the Wei State agreeing to make peace with him, which Wei Wangyun never expected before.

He quietly hinted at Tian Wen with his eyes.

Tian Wen understood, pretending to be curious, and asked Jingyang Jun Yingfu: "Tian doesn't understand, your country didn't actually lose this battle, but why didn't you hesitate to return the city and make peace with my Great Wei?" ”

In fact, the reason is very simple, it is nothing more than that after the "Battle of Yique", Empress Dowager Xuan felt that Wei and Han were very tricky, so she was ready to make peace with Wei and Han temporarily, and first use troops against Chu, after all, Chu has been very chaotic in recent years, and the king of Chu Xiong does not govern government affairs, and only knows how to eat, drink and have fun all day long, so he has a very stiff quarrel with "Qu Ping" and other courtiers, and Chu is not peaceful in the country.

Compared with Wei and Korea, which united to defeat his Qin army, it was naturally easier for Chu to attack.

As the biological son of Empress Dowager Xuan, Jingyang Jun Yingfu certainly knew that Qin's next move was to use troops against Chu, but obviously, he would not tell Wei Wangjun and Tian Wen the truth, but explained: "The original attack on your country's Fan County was the idea of the national lieutenant Sima Cuo...... In fact, the royal brother, the queen mother, and the marquis did not support him, but it was a pity that ...... Since Sima Coo's capture of Shu, his reputation in my Great Qin has become more and more high, and sometimes even the royal brother and queen mother have to sell face to Sima Coo......"

Hearing what he said, he obviously put all the blame on Sima Cuo.

Hearing this, Tian Wen secretly sneered in his heart.

It is undeniable that Sima Cuo was indeed the patriarch of the three dynasties of the Qin State, and his merits were prominent, most notably because he had a debate with Minister Zhang Yi about the national policy of the Qin State.

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

In Zhang Yi's view, as long as Wei could be subjugated to Qin, Qin would be able to move eastward into the Central Plains and seek hegemony.

But Sima Cuo disagreed, in his opinion, the more he Qin forced Wei and Korea, the more it would cause the Central Plains countries to be frightened by his Qin State, instead of spending huge energy on this matter, it was better to send troops to seize Shu, Tho, and Ba, and occupy this land that the Central Plains countries would not pay attention to.

During this period, Sima Cuo put forward the proposition that "to get Shu is to get Chu", and advocated that after obtaining Shu County, that is, the county land that includes the three kingdoms of Shu, Tho, and Ba, Shu County could suppress Chu State. [PS: At this time, the capital of Chu was Ying, which was later Jiangling. 】

At that time, Shu and Ba were attacking each other, and both countries were asking Qin for help, and after careful consideration, King Qin Hui finally adopted Sima Cuo's suggestion.

In the end, Sima Co captured Shu that year.

The following year, at the request of Zhang Yi, the Qin State sent Sima Co to capture the Ba State, and by the way, even the Tho State was also captured, and then the Qin State established Shu County on this land.

In less than two years, the Qin State completely occupied the three countries of Shu, Ba, and Tho, greatly expanding the territory, and I have to say that this is beyond the reach of the Qin State in attacking the Central Plains - the Qin State spent decades and spent countless manpower and material resources to seize the land from the Central Plains countries, and there is not as much land as Sima Cuo has conquered in these two years.

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

Marquis Wei Ran is the first powerful minister of the Qin State today.

Therefore, as Jingyang Jun Yingfu said, the Qin State's attack on Wei State's Fanxian County the year before last was just Sima Cao's arbitrariness, and Tian Wen did not believe this kind of thing at all.

Of course, if you don't believe it, Tian Wen will not debunk Yingfu in person, after all, this is not good for him or Wei State.

In contrast, he wanted to know more about the purpose of the Qin State before deciding to make peace with him, the Wei State, which obviously still had the strength to continue the war.

After thinking about it, Tian Wensu said to Jingyang Jun Yingfu in embarrassment: "Jingyang Jun, it's not that I don't give you face, and it's definitely not that my Wei State intends to provoke your country, but when Wei and South Korea formed an alliance, they agreed to be one with each other and advance and retreat together." This time, our Wei army fought with your army, and it was definitely not to be an enemy of your country, but South Korea sent people to ask for help, and when it came to the alliance of the year, the king could not lose his word, so he had to send troops to help......"

Listening to Tian Wen's words, Jingyang Jun Yingfu blinked, and he was also secretly sneering in his heart.

It is undeniable that he is a gentleman, but this does not mean that he is ignorant, in his opinion, the "alliance between Wei and Han" mentioned by Tian Wen is open to discussion - the alliance between these two countries must exist, but the relationship between them is not as decisive as it was back then.

Otherwise, when he Qin attacked Wei County the year before last, why didn't the Korean army send reinforcements to the rescue? And when he Qin attacked Wushi in Korea last year, why didn't Wei send reinforcements?

In order to persuade Wei Wang Yun and Xue Gongtian Wen, Jingyang Jun Yingfu immediately said: "On the Korean side, my Great Qin has also sent an envoy, I believe that I will be able to persuade King Han to make peace with my Great Qin, this King Wei and Xue Gong can rest assured, my Great Qin will never ask your country to turn its back on the allies." ”

"The Korean side also sent an envoy?"

Tian Wen was even more surprised when he heard this.

In this case, he gradually believed in the sincerity of the Qin State.

The question is why did Qin do this?

『…… Could it be that in this battle, the losses of the Qin army were actually very large?"

Tian Wen secretly guessed.

In fact, the reason why Qin decisively made peace with Wei and Han was that this "Battle of Yique" was indeed the key.

If, in this battle, the Qin general Bai Qi can defeat the combined forces of Wei and Han, then Qin will definitely attack Wei and Han and seize the cities of both countries; But unfortunately, this battle Qin State only fought a draw, although it killed a Gongsun Xi, but it spit out the two cities of Xincheng and Yiyang, which had already been eaten in their mouths.

And the most important thing is that the most important general Bai Qi of the Marquis Wei Ran was frustrated in front of the Wei and Han coalition forces this time, a young man who was only in his early twenties and could capture and kill Gongsun Xi on the battlefield and behead 160,000.

Don't look at it at the moment, Sima Cuo's fame is beyond Bai Qi's ability to catch up, but you must know that Sima Cuo is already an old man who is nearly half a hundred years old, and Bai Qi is only in his twenties, Wei Ran concluded that the rise of his Qin State is in this young man.

Therefore, when he learned that Bai Qi was frustrated, the first reaction of the Marquis Wei Ran was not to overestimate Bai Qi, but to think that it might not be the time to use troops against Wei and Han, so he changed his mind and prepared to attack Chu first.

Subsequently, Tian Wen tried Jingyang Jun Yingfu many times, but unfortunately he couldn't find out any truth.

As for whether to make peace with Qin Guoyan, Wei Wangjun finally agreed - what if he didn't agree? Do you want to fight with Qin again? Completely anger the Qin State?

If you can reconcile with Qin Guoyan in the county, you can at least ensure peace for a year or two.

In mid-July, Gongsun Zhu, who was in Hangu Pass, received an order from Daliang to lead the Wei army back to Wei.

In the past few days, Storm Kite also received an order from Xinzheng, ordering him to lead the army to evacuate from Hangu Pass and garrison the army in Yiyang, and he himself returned to Xinzheng to fulfill his life.

As a result, the Wei and Han coalition forces, which pretended to be preparing for an attack in front of Hangu Pass, slowly withdrew from the front of Hangu Pass without fighting a single battle.

This war is finally over.