Only three days after Bai Qi received the news from Xianyang, the Qin general Sima Cuo, who was in the area of Jiangguan and Wujun, also received a letter from Wei Ran, the marquis.

From Wei Ran's letter, Sima Cuo learned that the state of Chu had sent a letter to Xianyang expressing his willingness to surrender, so he immediately ordered the attack on Wujun to be stopped, and handed over the army to the lieutenant general, while he himself took only 3,000 Qin soldiers to Chu Ying, according to the instructions on the letter, to meet Xiong Heng, the king of Chu.

Wujun was not far from Chu Ying, and in just two days, Sima Cuo arrived at Chu Ying with 3,000 Qin soldiers.

At this time, Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, had recalled Zhao Ju, the general who had previously been stationed in Yanyi, and ordered him to meet Sima Cuo with Ling Yin Zilan.

On April 23, the day Bai Qi launched a tentative siege of the other city, Sima Cuo met with Yin Zilan, the commander of the Chu state, and the general Zhao Ju outside the city of Chu Ying.

Seeing that the purpose of the country had been achieved and the state of Chu had surrendered, Sima Cuo naturally would not make any extraneous branches, so when Yin Zilan and the general Zhaoju took the courtiers of the state of Chu out of the city to greet them, Sima Cuo behaved quite humbly and decently, but it did not arouse the disgust of these Chu people.

He said to Ling Yin Zilan and Zhao Ju at that time: "In the next time I was ordered by the king to crusade against your country, it was really a last resort, in fact, the queen mother always had an old love for the Chu country, and before leaving, she also got the queen mother's advice, not to kill Chu people indiscriminately, and to come all the way, I dare not go against the queen mother's will......"

Even if it was for courtiers like Zhao Ju who were full of dissatisfaction with the Qin State, they felt much more pleasant to hear.

I have to say that Qin Wang Yingji's mother, Empress Dowager Xuan, and the courtiers of Chu still have a lot of good feelings towards her.

Especially when Empress Dowager Xuan persuaded the King of Qin to hand over to the Chu State the more than 600 merchants promised by Zhang Yi when he deceived the King of Chu Huai, this was indeed a great surprise to the monarchs and ministers of the Chu State.

And this is also a big basis for Yin Zilan and others to insist that the Qin State has no ill will towards the Chu State, believing that even if the Empress Dowager Xuan married the Qin State, she still misses the old country and will never sit back and watch the Qin State fall to the Chu State.

But Qu Yuan, Zhao Ju, Zhuang Xin and other courtiers did not think so, they felt that the Empress Dowager Xuan could only take care of the Chu State when she had a choice, but if it involved the interests of the Qin State, the Empress Dowager Xuan would definitely still stand on the side of the Qin State, after all, she was already the mother of the Qin State, and her son was the king of the Qin State.

Just like this time, the Qin State suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Yique that broke out because of its attempt to capture Korea, and could only change its strategy to attack the Chu State, didn't Empress Dowager Xuan know about it?

How can it be!

Without the acquiescence of the Empress Dowager Xuan, even if it was Marquis Wei Ran, he would not dare to make a claim.

It is with this in mind that Zhao Ju purely held the attitude of "listen to it casually" when he said something to Sima Cuo, and did not take it too seriously, only Ling Yin Zilan said yes again and again after Sima Cuo finished speaking, and constantly praised the Empress Dowager Xuan.

Under the leadership of Zilan and Zhao Ju, Sima Coo entered Chu Ying and met Xiong Heng, the king of Chu.

At first, Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, was quite afraid of Sima Cuo, and his words and deeds were much more restrained than before, but Sima Cuo also adhered to the etiquette of being a Qin minister and treated Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, quite deferentially, which made Xiong Heng gradually eliminate the worries in his heart.

After a few words of greeting, Sima Cuo made his intentions clear: "The king of Chu is above, and the foreign minister Sima Cuo came to promise marriage on the order of the queen mother this time, hoping that the king of Chu can marry the daughter of the Ying clan as a wife, so that Qin and Chu can marry Qin and Jin in the future." ”

Yes, unlike the letter Bai Qi received, Sima Co received two missions from Xianyang, one of which was that even though Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, married the daughter of the Ying clan and reached a marriage; The second is to organize the Qin-Chu coalition army to prepare for the future crusade against Wei and Han.

Regarding Sima Cuo's proposal, Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, naturally would not refuse, nor did he dare to refuse, so he immediately agreed.

Seeing this, the smile on Sima Cuo's face became even stronger, and he said with a smile: "Jingyang Jun will come to your land in the near future, and he will be in charge of the marriage at that time, and I hope that Yin will ...... with him at that time."

The Jingyang Jun in his mouth is Jingyang Jun Yingfu, the younger brother of the same father and mother of Qin Wang Yingji.

As soon as she heard this, Ling Yin Zilan hurriedly said: "Sima Guowei, please rest assured, I will definitely receive Jingyang Jun well in the next day and carefully discuss the matter of the king's marriage with him." ”

Sima Cuo smiled and nodded, and then chatted with Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, Ling Yin Zilan, and the ministers of the Chu State present, which made the atmosphere present much more lively.

He was not in a hurry to propose the matter of "forming a Qin-Chu coalition army", after all, according to the instructions of Empress Dowager Xuan and Marquis Wei Ran, he first had to complete the matter of Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, marrying the daughter of the Ying clan, so that the relationship between the two countries would be eased a little, and then he would logically propose the formation of the Qin-Chu coalition army with the temptation of "dividing the land of Wei and Han equally", which could be called justified.

What's more, after the Battle of Yique last year, the Qin State ceded the city and repaired the armistice between Wei and Han, and it has only been more than half a year, so it is not good to say that it is not good to do it to Wei and Han immediately, so it is safe to make the king of Chu Xiong Heng marry the daughter of the Ying clan, and then to tempt the Chu State to form a Qin-Chu coalition army, run in with each other for a few months, and wait for the spring of next year to do it to Wei and Han, which can be called safe.

At least that's what Sima Cuo thinks.

Thinking about it, he never expected that at this time, his deputy general Bai Qi had already started a war with Fangcheng of Wei......

However, after chatting happily with the monarchs and ministers of Chu for a long time, Sima Cuo gradually felt a little strange.

Because in Wei Ran's letter, Bai Qi will meet him in Chu Ying and meet Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, together, but the fact is that he has already rushed to Chu Ying, but Bai Qi has not yet arrived - what about this guy?

Thinking of this, Sima Coo's mistake found an opportunity and asked Chu Chen Zhaoju: "Doctor Zhao, I heard that it was Doctor Zhao who garrisoned Yanyi before, and Bai Qi, the general who blocked my Qin State, I don't know where Bai Qi is now?" Zai Xia has no other meaning, just because as far as Zai Xia knows, Bai Qi should meet with Zai Zai Chu Ying and meet the King of Chu together. ”

Zhao Ju knew Bai Qi's movements, and said truthfully when he heard this: "Back to Sima Guowei, a few days ago, the white army of your country suddenly withdrew the troops under his command, and there has been no news since then. ”

"Huh?"

Sima was stunned when he heard this, feeling a little inexplicable.

Bai Qi suddenly withdrew his troops from Hanshui, apparently because he received a letter from the Marquis Wei Ran, and learned that the State of Chu had surrendered to him and the State of Qin, but he withdrew his troops until Chu Ying joined him, what was the reason for this?

"Could it be that Bai Qi is in some trouble?"

As soon as he thought about it, Sima Cuo put this ridiculous guess behind him.

Who is Bai Qi?

That's the young generation of his Qin country's heroes!

Yique battle, killed the famous general Gongsun Xi of Wei, defeated the famous Korean general Tyrant Kite, can be said to be famous in one fell swoop, although it was finally defeated by a general called Meng Zhong of Wei State, but it still did not affect Bai Qi's courage - Bai Qi broke through the 300,000 Wei and Han coalition forces in one fell swoop with only 130,000 troops, killed 160,000 enemies, lost 90,000 themselves, and captured and killed the famous general Gongsun Xi, which is called defeat?

How to look at it, the most is a draw!

This young man will have a headache, and Sima Cuo does not believe it.

He felt that Bai Qi must have been delayed because of something.

Therefore, after bidding farewell to Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, after Sima mistakenly stayed at the post house in Chu Yingcheng, he immediately sent someone to contact Bai Qi.

The soldiers he sent came to the area of Yanxian where Bai Qi had garrisoned before, and asked the local Chu people about the whereabouts of Bai Qi's army, only to learn that Bai Qi went straight to the north.

After learning of the soldier's return, Sima Cuo was shocked.

Because as far as he knows, the cities of Chu north of Hanshui have basically been captured by Bai Qi, so what did Bai Qi do when he led his army straight to the north?

"Are you going to attack Wancheng?"

In Sima Cuo's impression, Wancheng was on the march route of Baiqi.

Thinking of this, Sima Cuo was shocked, although he didn't know why Bai Qi went to attack Wancheng, but in his opinion, now was not the time to start a war against Wei and Han.

Therefore, he immediately sent several teams of Qin soldiers and ordered them to go north to find the traces of the Bai Qi army.

It took three days before Sima Cuo received the news.

The good news is that Bai Qi did not attack Wancheng, and the bad news is that Bai Qi is planning to attack Fangcheng in Wei.

"This kid really dares to disobey domestic orders and start a war with Wei without authorization?"

Sima Cuo was shocked and angry, and hurriedly ordered his guard Ding Bao: "Ding Bao, you immediately take my soldier to see Bai Qi, and order Bai Qi to immediately stop the attack on the other party's city, withdraw his troops and return to Hanshui." …… Also, tell him to come to Chu Ying to see me immediately! ”

"Whoa!" Ding Bao took the Fu Jie, immediately bid farewell to Sima Cuo, and rode to the Bai Qi army in a chariot.

At the same time, Bai Qi was still planning to attack Fang Cheng.

Thanks to the temptation of the other city a few days ago, he already had a rough estimate of the garrison of the other city, and with the nearly 70,000 Qin soldiers under his command, he was fully capable of taking this city.

So, after returning to the army that day, Bai Qi ordered the whole army to build siege equipment, such as siege ladders, rushing cars, and so on.

A few days later, the military camp built by Zhong Xu and Wei Yuan was basically completed, and the siege equipment such as engineering ladders and rushing cars was also built by the sergeants and soldiers, which was enough to attack Fangcheng.

Seeing this, Bai Qi summoned the three generals of Zhong Xu, Wei Yuan, and Tong Yang, and said to them with a smile: "A few days ago, I made an oath in Fangcheng City, and the next time Bai raised troops to Fangcheng, he would definitely break through the city. ”

Hearing this, the three generals Zhong Xu, Wei Yuan, and Tong Yang couldn't help but rub their hands.

Also, all the soldiers of the Qin army who participated in the Battle of Yique gritted their teeth with hatred against Meng Zhong, and Zhong Xu, Wei Yuan, and Tong Yang were also eager to take revenge on Meng Zhong for the hatred during the Battle of Yique last year.

However, at this moment, a soldier suddenly entered and announced: "Bai Shuai, Ding Bao, the guard of the national captain, has come and begged to see Bai Shuai." ”

"Lieutenant?"

Bai Qi was stunned, and then remembered that it should be referring to Sima Cuo.

Sima Cuo is now in his Qin State, and he holds the position of national lieutenant. [PS: National Lieutenant, equivalent to Tai Lieutenant, the first official in charge of military and political affairs. 】