In June of the same year, because it was the height of summer, the scorching heat in the northern Zhao Kingdom was difficult to get rid of, and the ice stored last year was gone, which was the most difficult time. In the Changle Palace www.biquge.info Yecheng, Zhao Wuxian was wearing cool silk, sitting on the couch, frowning and watching the performance of the battle report sent by the southern front, while Ji Huan peeled the cool oranges sent by Huainan and put them into his mouth.

Although the two are over forty years old, their relationship is still as harmonious as before, even if there are more Xi Shi and Kong Tongzhu in Zhao Hou's harem, Ji Huan's love has not diminished at all.

It is no wonder that some people secretly said that in the past two years, Changqiu Palace has faintly overwhelmed the posture of Changxin Palace, if it weren't for Mrs. Le's concentration on medicine and Taoism, giving countless favors to the people of Yecheng and winning the hearts of the people, if it weren't for Zhao Wuxian who looked very satisfied with the crown prince and often took him with him to cultivate him when dealing with military affairs, Zhao people would have thought that the position of Mrs. Zhenglin would soon change hands......

This kind of idea became more and more hot as Xu Jun and Zhao Yan grew up day by day.

But no matter how people outside speculate about the upcoming "battle for succession", everything in the second palace of Changle Weiyang is harmonious on the surface, especially when Zhao Hou is in Yecheng, the two palaces are even more peaceful, and the brothers are kind and respectful.

After all, both sides understand that Zhao Hou's current mind is completely in the south.

In May, the fourteen cities of Huainan surrendered without a fight, and the cities of Qunshu east of Dabie Mountain were all replaced with the banners of the Zhao army, and almost every city had 500 to 2,000 Zhao soldiers stationed. At the same time, Zhao Guo's boat division, which had never been trained together, also went south to Guangling and was stationed in the Jiangbei Water Village to train as soon as possible.

The Yue people were convinced that Zhao's boatmen could not pose any threat to Jiangdong, and after burning the Huainan ships, they sailed across the river. Zhao Wuxian also knew that the landlubber sailors of the Zhao State were now forcibly fighting in the river, purely to send heads to the Yue people, so after occupying Huainan, he made Qu Ao and Xu Cheng's 50,000 troops not to advance, and seized the time to train the boat division and strengthen the rule of Qunshu.

In mid-May, on the northern front against Chu, Zhao's 100,000 army began to exert force!

In the choice of the commander of this Chu army, Zhao Wuxian gave up the always steady Mu Xia and ordered the post to become the commander......

Now, more than a month has passed, and Zhao Jun's military operations in Chu have achieved results, reading the note sent back by Postcheng asking for reinforcements and food, Zhao Wuxian couldn't help but complain to Ji Huan: "When I chose the commander of the Southern Expedition, I thought of Mucha and Postcheng. Ask them how many armies are needed to destroy Chu. Mucha replied that a total of 200,000 troops and 400,000 men were needed to transport grain. And Youcheng told me that as long as 50,000 people were in Huainan to contain the Yue State and provide assistance on the flank, he could destroy the Chu State with 100,000 troops......"

"In the end, the prince chose the post."

Ji Huan smiled, she knew that Zhao Wuxian had always disliked the harem to interfere in politics, and now she said this to her, just a complaint out of trust, she didn't need to give an answer, she just needed to smile and listen quietly, how to deal with the military and politics, her husband had a certain number in his heart.

Sure enough, without waiting for Ji Huan to react, Zhao Wuxian spread his hands: "However, I felt that Mu Xia was angry, and Zhao Guo couldn't make up the army and people he wanted in a short period of time, so he didn't use him, and let the young and brave Yucheng go and give it a try......"

Two years ago, the state of Chu had already abandoned Manshi, Zhanhan, Xibutang and other places, moved its people empty, concentrated its troops, and concentrated its troops in Luyang-Yexian-Dongbutang-Zhaoling on the line of Huanshui and Yingshui. The first line of defense was constructed.

At the end of May, after Youcheng arrived at the front line, he thought that the defense of Chu in the area of Luyang and Yexian was very heavy, so he asked 30,000 soldiers to attract the Chu general Gongsun Kuan, and 70,000 people aimed the spearhead of the attack at Zhaoling.

His decision was right, the battle of Zhaoling, although the remaining Chu army swore to defend to the death, but after all, they were outnumbered, and a big hole was broken, and the post was driven straight in, and successively broke through the cities of Dun, Shen, and Hu between Ying, Ru and Ershui, and even the younger brother of Ye Gong Shen Zhuliang was defeated and killed.

After the victory, he was overjoyed, thinking that after a great turmoil, the Chu State really had no combat effectiveness, so he began to make a detour to the west, intending to conquer Shangcai first and outflank the Chu army stationed in Luyang and Yexian.

Shangcai was originally a big city, and when he was the king of Chu Ling, he was able to give a thousand times of endowment, with 5,000 soldiers, and the Chu State had ruled here for a long time, and the people of Yi thought they were Chu people, and the resistance was very fierce. At this time, the three armies of Ye Gongshuai Shen, Xi and Zuoguang from the south arrived, which were the three most elite armies of the Chu State, which had been trained for a long time in the process of counterinsurgency, and their combat effectiveness was far superior to that of the local defenders of the Chu State.

The two armies faced each other between Rushui, but the Zhao army finally suffered the loss of unfamiliar terrain and long-distance supplies, and the Chu army crossed the river to attack the Zhao army barracks, and then feigned defeat to lure the Zhao army to pursue, and suddenly let go of the dam used to block the water flow upstream when the Zhao army was flowing through the Ru River, and the Rushui was turbulent, and the Zhao army suffered thousands of casualties.

The battle was unfavorable, coupled with the difficulty of supply, so Postal Cheng took the main force, retreated to Shenyi, and confronted the Chu army with Rushui.

At this time, Youcheng began to regret that he only brought 100,000 soldiers and horses. The total strength of the Zhao army this time was 150,000, 50,000 in Huainan, and now they were restrained by the Yue people and could not provide him with much help, and the Chu people on the other side of the Rushui River also came from all over the country to stop the Zhao army from advancing with a decisive heart, and the mourning army was victorious, and the two sides were equal.

The forests and hills here are all over the place, and the role of the cavalry cannot be played, and the Chu people also deliberately avoid a frontal decisive battle, but launched endless attacks on the Zhao army from various forest paths, so that their supplies suffered losses, a month has passed, relying on these cards in his hand, there is no good way to break the deadlock, so he has to bite the bullet and ask Yecheng for reinforcements, he knows very well that the mobilization force of Zhao State has only used half of it, as long as Zhao Hou sends another 100,000 people, he can throw the whip and cut off the Rushui, and force the Chu people to give up the territory with the momentum of ten thousand jun!

Now, this note has been passed back to Yecheng, making Zhao Wuxian's face not look good.

"Why don't I want to go south with all the strength of my country? But do you know that the Zhao State has fallen into a strange circle over the years, and its territory has become larger and larger, but the available troops have not increased much. ”

Since the Battle of Zhongshan five years ago, the territory actually controlled by Zhao has expanded like a balloon, Zhongshan County, Yunzhong County, Shanggu County, Guangling County, Luoyang, Yingchuan County, Weinan County, Yongjun County, Huainan County, ...... The territory of nearly ten counties has grown, but it cannot provide a source of troops in a short period of time. Because those counties have either not completed the organization of households, or the people are nostalgic for the old country and cannot be loyal to the Zhao state. This means that not only should these counties not be expected to provide personnel for Zhao, but also tens of thousands of troops loyal to the central government should be sent to defend them, especially the border counties, which require twice as many troops as the inner counties.

As a result, Zhao Wuxian was surprised to find that the standing army he could use at hand was not reduced, and the burden of those garrisons should also be borne by the inner county......

Therefore, after fighting the Qin State last year, after leaving the troops of the two armies there to defend, according to the custom, the county soldiers dispatched during the conquest of Qin would rotate and rest for a year, so the standing army and conscription troops of Hebei, Jibei, Jinan, Ludi, and Huaibei that he could use at hand were only 150,000, and all of them were given to Youcheng and Qu Ao.

Now it seems that it is difficult to completely destroy the Chu State with these 150,000 people alone, and even the hinterland of the Chu State is a little difficult to attack. I have to say that although he has experienced a great chaos, Ye Gong Shen Zhuliang is really a hero, and Chu Wang Zhang is also bold, so that Ye Gong can also serve as Ling Yin and Sima at the same time, and the military and political power is monopolized, plus the nobles of Chu are united because of Bai Sheng, so what Zhao Jun is facing is not a Chu State that is divided and scattered, but a Chu State that is unprecedentedly united in order to avoid the disaster of the country!

"It's because I was lucky and underestimated the ambition of the trapped beast of the Chu State." He criticized himself, but said proudly:

"But I believe that the general trend is better than manpower, no matter how good the outstanding people, no matter how sad and angry the mourning soldiers, they can't compete with the crushing of my Zhao country's momentum!"

……

After thinking about it, Zhao Wuxian raised the case, and he decided to take Mucha as the commander again, and re-recruit the 100,000 soldiers who should have been rotated for a year to reinforce the post!

At the same time, he also had to personally dispatch to Xinzheng to ensure the delivery of grain and baggage!

Zhao's administrative efficiency was very high, and a decision was made in June, and by the end of July, the conscripts in Hedong, Taiyuan and other places had been drawn and were ready to assemble in Luoyang.

Zhao Wuxian also took the Yulin army out of the south gate of Yecheng, on the bank of Zhangshui, when the ministers saw him off, Zhang Mengtan promised to do his best to provide Zhao Hou with baggage and a steady stream of troops, but he couldn't help but admonish worriedly:

"The ambition of the prince to rule the world, how can the ministers not know? But Sun Tzu also said that if you are no longer in service, you will not be able to eat for three years. In the past five years, the princes destroyed Zhongshan, broke Donghu, divided the Zhou room, collected the Yan State, destroyed the Zheng State, and broke the Qin State. ”

He persuaded bitterly: "Junhou, five years and six battles, although the Zhao State is rich, the people are exhausted. On the bright side, although the tax was not increased, but the indirect tax on wine, grain, and salt was increased again and again, and the merchants complained, and the people were also a little displeased. And the newly surrendered Zhongshan, Zheng, and Qin lands, there are also many rebels who cherish their homeland, or go into the mountains to become cowards, or secretly wait for Zhao to be in turmoil, and the internal affairs are undecided and raise troops abroad, which is unwise. A total of 250,000 troops went on a long-distance expedition, and the loss of national strength was enormous. If this war lasts for many years, the country will be in danger! Even if the Zhao army finally forcibly broke through Rushui and occupied the Chu State, there would be turmoil in the rear. If the war is unfavorable and the prince repeats the story of King Zhou Zhao's southern expedition, then the Zhao State, which finally unified the Central Plains, is afraid that it will fall apart in the middle stream like King Zhou Zhao's wooden boat! ”

Zhang Mengtan is the confidant who helped Zhao Wuxian start a business, which is equivalent to his Xiao He and Zhang Liang Generally speaking, they will quietly help Zhao Wuxian take care of everything, and Zhao Wuxian rarely sees him so worried.

In order to carry out strategic deception, Zhao Wuxian once played the image of a domineering monarch who was stubborn and self-serving, but at this moment, Zhang Mengtan's words spoke to his heart, he used the post instead of Mu Xia, and refused to go to the south with the whole country's army, isn't this his worry?

"Xiangbang, this is the words of the old man to seek the country."

When there was no one around, Zhao Wuxian confided to Zhang Mengtan: "The widow has heard a saying that half of those who travel a hundred miles are ninety. The closer a thing is to success, the more difficult it is, the more cautious it must be. It's just ......"

He looked at the southern sky, and his chest was full of spirit.

"Although Lone is known as the lord and the regent of Zhou Tianzi, the essence of today is that there is no son of heaven above, no uncle below, the princes compete for strength, and the winner is the king!"

"Zhao is strong in the north, and there are two out of three parts of the world, and the south is tired and weak, and Yu Yue is entrenched in Jiangdong, which is a good opportunity for the Zhao family. The reason why the widow hesitated for a long time and still sent the country's troops to the south was because the opportunity could not be lost, and it would never come again. This time, let go of the state of Chu, and after the king of Chu and Ye Gong diligently repaired their politics and treated their people well, they would inevitably rise again. Therefore, even if the widow can't destroy Jing Chu in one battle, he must cut down half of the Chu country, which has the strength of three or four thousand times! After letting them lie down, they can't get up again! ”

He patted Zhang Mengtan and reassured him: "But the widow also promised that after winter, no matter where the army advances, whether it is smooth or not, the widow will stop fighting, so as to avoid the disaster of working outside and the country in turmoil." ”

"Prince...... In this case, the ministers wish the prince and the marquis all invincible! Zhang Mengtan calmed down a little and bowed down.

"The affairs of the front line, there are widows and generals, and the stability of the rear will be handed over to the ministers and ministers!"

With that, Zhao Wuxian drank all the liquor that his courtiers had drunk for his heroic deeds, lifted the fiery red sky, and walked towards the army on the south bank of Zhangshui.

The three thousand forest guards, plus the tens of thousands of horses gathered here from Daibei and Handan, for a time, the horses' hooves were obtained, and they could not be broken in the solemn and strict order in the array; The military flag hunting can't hide the murderous spirit under the sky.

Zhao Wuxian rode in a red chariot, with a flower mat as a curtain and a shark skin as a suit, and four well-trained black horses, with copper hooks and iron bridles, riding in front of the army.

From Zhang Mengtan's point of view, the middle-aged prince who was born in Huafa, Yongrui was not defeated more than 20 years ago, the moon was dark and the wind was high, and they took only 500 people to set off from Taoqiu and set off towards Zhenyi, the country......

"Drumming! Played. ”

Zhang Mengtan, who has always been steady, actually had the urge to burst into tears, and he couldn't wait to steal the encouragement of the orchestra officials in person and act for Zhao Hou.

"Play "Xiao Ya. Picking! ”

The army marched south, and to their accompaniment was an impassioned war song:

"Stupid and barbaric, the big state is the enemy. Uncle Fang, the elder, is strong. Uncle Fang took the lead and was ugly. The car is like thunder, like thunder. Uncle Xianyun Fang, conquer the Xuanli, and the barbarian Jing will come to power! ”