PS: Sorry for being late, but it's just a big chapter, and the weight is enough

On the fifth day of the fifth month of the third year of Zhao Hou (486 B.C.), Pingyuan County, Hejian County, Zhao State. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Hejian was originally a land of salt and brine, and there were no major relics of civilization since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and the forces of the Jin, Qi, and Yan Kingdoms did not enter here. During the Spring and Autumn Period, only the Changdi and Qi clans cultivated and grazed here, until the Jin and Qi kingdoms became populous, and the rulers of the two countries began to compete for this area.

The final result was that the Zhao State, which inherited the Jin State, took control of this place, set up Hejian County, accepted war refugees and immigrants from the inner counties, and at the same time divided the people with the title of "Gong Dafu" in various hills as the township monarchs, so that the villagers could establish some small towns here, military colonization, cutting thorns, and clearing land. In a few years, several townships and small towns can be combined into one county and establish rule, Pingyuan County is one of them, and the second county commander of this county is named Xun Mao.

As the eastern border county of Zhao State, there have always been 2,000 garrisons in the plain, and although Xun Mao is a county commander, he also knows some military affairs. However, after the end of spring ploughing this year, he received a secret order from the county town Julu, asking him to assist the Yecheng envoy and the forward, repair the road, and prepare for the arrival of the army!

In the middle of summer, the army came.

Sun Wuzi has been in Yecheng for several years, and on the basis of the old work "The Art of War", he has made a lot of additions to the situation of Zhao Jun, and has made many vague details.

For example, in the combat regulations he compiled for the Zhao army, he suggested that when the army went out, the fighting army should be divided into four groups, the large army, the division of the pawn, the xing army, and the heel army.

The army is the main force, with 30,000 or 50,000 people at every turn. The detachment was responsible for deploying to the left and right of the army, occupying favorable terrain, pursuing the enemy when the battle was victorious, and helping the army to break the rear when the advance was unfavorable. The heel army and the Xing army set out before the main army, a hundred miles away from the main army, clearing the way ahead, and at the same time paving roads and building bridges to prepare for the follow-up troops.

The first to come were the Heel Army and the Xing Army, each with a division of people, led by Dong Brown, the son of Dong Anyu of Xiangbang, who took over the defense and roads of Pingyuan County.

After a few days, the real main force of the Zhao army entered the plain.

The army came from Julu City, two hundred miles away to the west, and Pingyuan County ordered Xun Mao and others to greet each other outside, and looked far away, only to see that the marching team was several miles long, full of smoke and dust, and the army was very prosperous. For a time, all the official roads were occupied by banners, and if you were sharp-eyed, you could see that the Chinese military office erected the Yanri Xuanniao Daxu on behalf of Zhao Guo's office, as well as the "Jiaolong Zhiyi" given by the Son of Heaven to represent the right of conquest, presumably Zhao Hou himself was under it.

In addition, there are countless messengers, bears and tigers, birds and falcons, turtles and snakes...... There are many flags that the three armies should have, and under the banner are chariots and horses, and spears are like a forest.

At the forefront, a large group of knights rode their horses, especially the more than 1,000 "horsemen", they wore red leather armor, draped in crimson battle robes, held iron spears that were more than a foot long, and wore straight-edged ring-headed knives with black scabbards, and some also hung arms and crossbows on the saddle, riding high-headed horses, and the war horses were draped in horse armor.

Although the Zhao clan has been promoting cavalry for more than ten years, most of them are light horses with only saddle sheaths, and horse armor is rare. Due to the limitation of the horse breed and the load-bearing of the horse, although the assault horse is not a complete set of horse armor, it is only a half-horse armor composed of three parts: the face curtain, the neck armor, and the "dang chest" mounted on the chest. But this is also something that the soldiers of Pingyuan County have never seen before, they stand behind Xun Mao, looking at those exquisite horse armor and are rare.

Xun Mao is the head of the Xun family, his Xun Yi finally stood on the side of the Zhao family in the dispute between Zhao and Wei, and was able to protect the clan.

In addition to the assault cavalry in front of him, he still remembered that when he was chasing the Qin army and the Wei army, there was a soldier wearing iron armor in the forward of Tian Ben's commander, which left a deep impression on him, I don't know if he can see it today?

However, he searched for a while, but he didn't see the shining iron armor in the sun, and he couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

In fact, the Ironclad Army had already passed in front of him, and unlike the Ironclad who only had a thousand in the Battle of Fuli two years ago, the Ironclad Soldiers had now expanded to two thousand five hundred, which was enough to form a huge phalanx. It was only because of the march that the ironclad soldiers did not wear iron armor, but only light armor, and everyone carried halberds and swords, but from the unhesitating pace, you can imagine their wartime demeanor.

In addition to the assault cavalry and ironclad soldiers, there are also 8,000 light horsemen with bows and arrows, and the apprentices with swords, shields, and armor are also stacked on top of each other, with no end in sight. Xun Mao secretly calculated that the total number was probably above 50,000, which was more than the population of the entire county in the plains!

Xun Mao didn't know that in addition to these more than 50,000 people, there were many troops in the Yin of the Great River, those who attacked Gaotang from Weiguo and Yiyi, those who attacked the Great Wall from Qufu, and those who set out from Ju...... This time, Zhao dispatched an army of 100,000, plus the soldiers of Wei and Lu, at least 150,000.

Although he didn't know the overall situation, just looking at the prosperity of the army in front of him, Xun Mao couldn't help but secretly say to himself: "This momentum, I'm afraid that the king will destroy Qi in one battle!" ”

……

Xun Mao's guess was right, Zhao Wuxian, who was under the banner of Xuanniao, did have an attempt to completely end the battle of Zhao Qi in this year.

In retrospect, it has been a year and a half since the dispute between Zhao and Wu Si and the Son of Heaven to Zhixi, and with the defeat of Wu in Lusi, Qi Guo, who has always liked to blame trouble, was really afraid and retreated from the front line.

In the second year of the Marquis of Zhao (487 B.C.), Zhao Wuxian planned to continue to force the Qi State, but because of the long years of war and the failure to rest, there was a famine in some areas of the Zhao State.

However, Zhao is in difficulty, Qi is building the Great Wall, and facing the military encirclement and economic blockade of Zhao and his allies, so why is it not difficult? The diplomatic passivity of foreign countries has led to the white-hot contradiction between the Chen nobles and the Bao nobles at home. Bao Mu, the vice secretary of Qi, was dissatisfied with Chen's abuse of power, so he planned to secretly launch a coup d'état to achieve reconciliation with Zhao at the expense of Chen.

However, Bao Mu and Chen's father and son are not of the same level at all, and in October last year, before the coup was launched, Bao's mansion was surrounded by Chen Heng.

But the strength of the Bao family is not weak, especially the family soldiers are very brave, the Chen family's soldiers have been attacking the mansion for a long time, Chen Qi asked Chen Heng to come forward to make peace with Bao Mu, and agreed to let him leave Linzi with all the family soldiers, clans, and half of the family property.

However, Bao Mu was once again deceived by Chen's father and son, leaving the shelter of the mansion, Bao's soldiers could not stop Chen's attack at all, Bao Mu was tied up and killed outside Jimen, Bao Mu's son Bao Xi was also defeated by Chen on the way to Linzi, and fled to Zhao alone, asking Zhao Hou for help.

Although the Bao family was destroyed, Chen's actions also triggered the betrayal of a group of pro-Bao doctors, and for a while, the Qi country was full of smoke. Zhao also took the opportunity to send troops, Zhao Wuxian first sent Lu Guo Ran Qiu to conquer the Yiyi fortress, and at the same time let the Tiger Society launch a counterattack on Ju State, copying Qi from the east and west, so that the Qi people were tired of coping.

Chen could only abandon Yiyi and Ju and retreat their defense lines to the line of Dahe, Taishan, and the Great Wall, while taking advantage of the cold winter to stop the Zhao army's attack.

Because of the winter, Zhao did not continue to rush deep into Qi, but from this year, with Zhao Wuxian's announcement of the official dispatch of troops to attack Qi, Chen's rule over Qi was also in jeopardy......

……

In early May, the main forces of Zhao had already assembled in Pingyuan County, and on the other side of the river, 20,000 soldiers under the command of Zhao Yi and Yang Hu had also marched from Yiyi to Gaotang and occupied the other side of the plain, making room for the army to cross the river.

On the 10th of May, a long pontoon bridge had been built by the sappers of the baggage battalion in cooperation with the Zhao Guoda River Boat Division, and the battalions were waiting to pass through their respective barracks in turn. Zhao Wuxian, accompanied by Pingyuan County Ling Xun Mao and others, inspected this place known as "Pingyuan Jin".

"This plain is the last big ferry in the lower reaches of the big river?" Zhao Wuxian asked Xun Mao, who had been the county commander here for several years.

"However, the ferry in the hands of Zhao Guo is only the most downstream of Pingyuanjin, but on the side of Qi State, there is Wudi who can cross the big river north.

"Even if it's not the last, it doesn't matter, Yan Guo promised to send troops to the Wudi Ferry to block the northern border of Qi State."

After that, Zhao Wuxian continued to look at the horse, but saw that the midsummer sun was shining, and the big river was raging, rolling eastward, but compared to other river banks, the water flow here was relatively gentle, and the distance between the two banks was not so far.

This plain Jin, that is, the area of Dezhou and the plain of Shandong in later generations, here controls the shoulders of the Qi country, is the throat of the river, and one of the important ferries on the ancient Yellow River. In history, Qi and Zhao often competed over this. Later, Qin Shi Huang returned from his inspection of Langya, and it was through Pingyuanjin that he went to Hebei. More than ten years later, during the dispute between Chu and Han, it was from this that the general Han Xin crossed the river, attacked Tiandan, and swept the ground.

Those are all afterwords, which are enough to show the importance of Pingyuanjin, but standing here, what Zhao Wuxian thought of was a secretary of the Jin State in front of Yijiazi.

"Xun County Order, after the widow remembers that you are Xun Xi, the head of the Xun family?"

"Only ...... Chen is a descendant of the Xun family. Once upon a time, Xun Mao was extremely proud of his surname and bloodline, but with the fall of the Bank of China and the Zhi clan, the Xun clan with them was also in turmoil, fortunately, the Zhao State did not strangle the future of their Xun clan because of the clan, so he breathed a sigh of relief, but at this moment Zhao Wuxian asked, Xun Mao was still a little trembling, for fear of causing trouble.

"Don't be afraid, although Zhongxingyin, Zhisong, and Zhiyao are guilty, it does not affect the ancestors of Xun, Zhongxing, and Zhizhi to be kind to the people of Jizhou, and they are also kind to the widow's great-grandfather."

He said: "For example, the Bank of China Xianzi is a worthy ruling minister, you know, more than 50 years ago, he died here, and one thing he never forgot before he died was to ...... Qi Qi."

Xun Mao naturally knew that what Zhao Hou said about the dedication of his son to Qi was something that happened in the era of Jin Pinggong.

Bank of China Xianzi, that is, Bank of China Yan, is a powerful minister, once conspired with Luan Shu to kill Jin Ligong, perhaps he will unconsciously comb his life in his later years, or the spirit of the old descendants declines, easy to be troubled by hallucinations and dreams, at that time he has been dreaming of the ghost of Jin Ligong wandering, and in a restless mood, he plans to do something for the Jin State to make up for the crimes of the year.

In 555 B.C., the state of Qi rebelled against the Jin state, and the secretary of the Jin state, Zhongxingyan, joined the kings of Song, Lu, Wei, Zheng, Cao, Ju, Di, Teng, Xue, Qi, and Xiaoyi, and led a large army to cross the river from the plains to attack the Qi state.

While waiting for the army to cross the river, there was nothing to do anyway, so Zhao Wuxian asked Zuo Shi Qiu Ming to come over and describe the situation.

Zuo Qiu Ming saluted Zhao Hou respectfully, and he didn't need history, he only needed to rely on his amazing memory to retell that period of history.

In late October of that year, when the weather was freezing cold, the two sides fought in Pingyin, the Jin army won a great victory, the Qi army was defeated, and Qi Linggong also fled in embarrassment. The war had achieved unexpected results, but the final victory had not yet been obtained, and the Bank of China Xianzi planned to expand the results and completely subdue the Qi people, so the Jin army and the princes' alliance army made a big deal in the territory of the Qi state. Bank of China Xianzi and Fan Xuanzi led the Chinese army to conquer Jingzi; Wei Zhuangzi and Luan Huaizi led the army to conquer Yi; Only Zhao Wenzi and Han Xuanzi's upper army besieged Lu, perhaps because neither of them knew the army, they failed to conquer ......"

Speaking of this, Xun Mao looked at Zhao Hou with some trepidation, but saw that Zhao Wuxian was not angry at Zuoqiu Ming for mentioning his ancestors, but smiled a little helplessly, Zhao Wenzi was polite and polite, and he was indeed not very good at conquering cities.

Zuo Qiu Ming did not pause and continued: "After that, the coalition army marched to the periphery of Linzi, the capital of Qi, cutting down trees on a large scale, and the army set fire to Yongmen and the outer cities to the west and south of Linzi to humiliate the Qi people and force them to surrender. “

"However, the State of Qi persevered, and took advantage of the cold winter to greatly delay the offensive of the Jin State, and after the siege of the city for more than a month without any signs of surrender in the city, the princes and the doctors of the Jin State could not stand the long exposure of the army, and retreated one after another."

"This dispatch of troops failed to completely subdue the Qi State, firstly because of the insistence of the Qi State, and secondly, because the Chu State took the opportunity to sneak attack the Zheng State, but the most important reason is that the body of the Bank of China Xianzi cannot hold on."

"At that time, the son of the Bank of China had a sore on his head, and as soon as the army returned to Dahe, he became critically ill, and died after appointing Wu as the heir of the Bank of China......"

Zhao Wuxian sighed, and Xun Mao also looked sad, after all, this was the past of his family's relatives.

Fan Xuanzi was buried for the Bank of China Muzi, but the dead body still refused to close its eyes, and its teeth were clenched, and it was impossible to put Hanyu in. Fan Xuanzi somehow stroked the corpse with his hand after washing. He said: 'After the death of the lord (the title of the subordinate to the superior), how dare we not treat Zhongxing Wu as if we were serving you!?' ‘“

However, the corpse did not react. , still can't look away, Luan Huaizi next to him said: "Isn't the marshal unwilling because he didn't completely complete the mission of Vaqi? So, Fan Xuanzi stroked the corpse again and said: "After the death of the Lord, if we can't continue to crusade against the Qi Kingdom, there is a river as proof!" Sure enough, the corpse finally closed its eyes, loosened its teeth, and took the jade into its mouth......

After Zuo Qiu Ming finished talking about this past and said goodbye and left, Zhao Wuxian was silent for a long time, and praised with his palm: "Bank of China is really a big husband, and his worries about state affairs outweigh family affairs, but it is a pity that Bank of China Yin and others failed to inherit this tradition, otherwise, why would the widow do anything on behalf of Jin?" ”

Xun Mao didn't dare to speak, and knew that he didn't have the right to speak at this time.

Zhao Wuxian had already followed this past and focused the attention of the surrounding soldiers on him, and he said loudly: "After that, the Jin Kingdom began to decline, and it was no longer able to crusade against the Qi State. ”

He untied the two pairs of jade tied together with vermilion silk threads around his waist, stood by the river and prayed: "The Bank of China dedicated the heroic spirit of the son, the Chen clan of the Qi State, stealing the national government, forcing the Gongguo and Gao, and expelling the famous ministers After Bao and Yan, the retreat relied on the dangerous terrain, relying on the large number of people, turning their backs on Zhuxia, colluding with barbarians, bullying and abusing the people. Now the kid has no mercy, and will lead the princes to the crusade, willing to win and make contributions, exterminate the Chen family, capture the Marquis of Qi and ask for the guilt, so that the wish of the Bank of China to sacrifice the son to kill Qi will be realized, and the gods will not be disgraced. Otherwise, Wuxian will never dare to cross the river and return, this situation is pleased, and I implore the gods to judge! ”

After saying that, Zhao Wuxian sank the jade into the water, pointed his sword forward, and shouted: "Cross the river!" ”

"Cross the river! River! "On the plain Jinkou, on the big river, 50,000 Zhao soldiers shouted in unison, they will cross the big river and open the prelude to the conquest of Qi.

Historically, this matter was at a critical moment when the Chen family was dictatorial and stole the Qi State, and the death knell rang for the Jiang clan of the Qi State.

And now, the death knell will also ring for the Chen father and son!

(To be continued.) )