Xianyang Palace, the council hall.

The palace people carefully lit the bronze lamp, and then walked out on tiptoe gently, not daring to make a sound during the process, for fear of disturbing the adults in the hall.

The specifications of the court meeting of the Qin State were too large, and it was very inconvenient to discuss political affairs, so Ying Ke discussed with Han Xin and Meng Jian to reduce the specifications of the court meeting, which was limited to the three princes and nine secretaries, as well as some generals who held military power, which greatly improved the efficiency of the imperial court.

Han Xin gently stretched his sore shoulder blades and couldn't help yawning. Looking at Ying Ke on the seat, he saw that her jade-like cheeks were delicate in the light of the fire, but her face was a little tired, and her eye sockets were a little puffy, and her brilliance looked a lot darker.

Feeling that Han Xin was looking at her, Ying Ke turned his pretty face slightly and smiled sweetly at him, and Ying Ke, who was dressed in white plain clothes under the firelight, looked pitiful, which made Han Xin feel embarrassed and smiled.

Everyone in the audience also looked tired, in fact, since the siege of the coalition army half a month ago, none of you here have been able to have a stable life.

In the middle of March of the third year of the second emperor, the allied army of Chu crossed the Hangu Pass, and the troops pointed directly at the city of Xianyang. As the capital of the Qin Empire, Xianyang City's defense is not just a lonely city, but with Xianyang as the center, dozens of peripheral city defenses are densely surrounded. These city defenses were built by the Qin people for hundreds of years, and they were extremely strong, and the Qin State did not abandon these walls, but stationed heavy troops in them, echoing the Xianyang City.

Xiang Yu originally wanted to bypass these walled cities and go straight to Xianyang, but found that it didn't work. These walled cities were like nails, so that the Chu army could not enter with all the troops. The Qin army in the city did not sit in the city, but from time to time the light cavalry stood out and cooperated with the defenders in the walled city to attack and harass the coalition army, which brought a great threat to the flank of the coalition army.

As a last resort, Xiang Yu had no choice but to fight steadily and capture these walled cities one by one, and at the same time, the army was dispatched to guard against the sneak attack of the defenders in the city. In the absence of reinforcements, these walled cities were still stubbornly defended, and every tower, fort and beacon tower was covered with the blood of the Qin people, and finally exhausted and captured by the allied forces that occupied the absolute superiority.

The sacrifice of the Qin army on the periphery was not worthless, they bought the most precious time for Xianyang and their Qin state, and in this more than half a month, the general mobilization in Xianyang City had been completed. Relying on the perfect military service system of the Qin State, a total of 120,000 elite men were recruited in Xianyang City, plus the remaining more than 40,000 defenders before, Han Xin's troops were already considerable.

However, in the face of a huge coalition army of 500,000, the Qin army still seemed quite weak. Because it has been nearly twenty years since the unification of the empire, most of the Qin people of the older generation who have experienced iron-blooded conquests have passed away, while the new generation of Qin people have not experienced too many tests of life and death, and many of them are just new soldiers who have not been on the battlefield, and their quality is far inferior to their parents. This also gave Han Xin a headache, so he could only order the old pawn to bring the new pawn and seize the time to practice more.

The only thing worth gratifying is that Xianyang City has the most perfect city defense fortifications in the world, the city wall is three zhang high and three zhang wide, the corner tower, the enemy platform, and the arrow tower on the city wall are interlocking like scales, and the city stomping wall, the female wall, and the urn city are all available.

In the past, the Shang Jun who designed Xianyang built Xianyang City along the mountain and water, and the Weishui in the city flowed through it, and used it as a moat, and the city was higher than the river to prevent the enemy from diverting water to irrigate the city. In order to prepare for a long-term siege, there are still hundreds of hectares of fertile land and vegetable fields in Xianyang for farming, which greatly increases Han Xin's confidence in holding the city.

What surprised Han Xin even more was that dozens of huge stone throwers were found intact in the Qin army, this kind of siege weapon was created in the Zhou Dynasty, but because it was too cumbersome and inconvenient to use, it gradually withdrew from people's field of vision. However, it is unique to defend Xianyang, and there are mountains in Xianyang City that are convenient for taking stones, so Han Xin asked thousands of people to spend several days moving dozens of stone throwers and a large number of stone bullets to the city wall not far away.

The only thing that worried the Qin people was that if the coalition forces did not attack Xianyang, they would cut off Xianyang from the outside world after making a detour through the city, so that Xianyang would become a completely isolated city. Although the national military system is good, it cannot last, and once it lasts, the production and cultivation of the Qin people will inevitably be greatly weakened.

This is exactly where Han Xin is worried, you must know that the Qin State still has three counties of Hanzhong and Bashu in the south, and there are still three counties of Beidi, Longxi and Shangjun in the northwest, these counties were originally not very close to the imperial court because of the civil strife in Xianyang, and now once it is cut off from Xianyang, then the Qin State will really only have Xianyang as a lonely city.

This is also the main purpose of Ying Ke's meeting today, all kinds of signs show that Xiang Yu seems to have noticed this weakness of the Qin people, and is bypassing Xianyang to attack the city in the rear, wanting to completely isolate Xianyang.

Ying Ke sat on the throne, looked around everyone, and saw that all the ministers and generals were tired, so he said softly; "Ladies and gentlemen, it's dinner time, why don't we eat first."

After speaking, he patted his palms, and the palace people who had been waiting outside for a long time walked through the hall like butterflies among flowers to serve food and wine.

This meal is not exquisite, but it is rich, and it is needless to say that the generals, even the civil officials are devouring it. You must know that after the implementation of food control in the Qin State, since they did not have to go to the city wall in person, as representatives of the hundred officials, they also took the lead in shrinking clothes and dieting, and most of them showed their faces in the past month.

The only thing that seemed special was Prime Minister Meng Jian, who was still sitting upright, and the chopsticks in his hand were only shallow a few times before he put them down and stopped eating. Sitting there frowning and pondering, obviously thinking about the countermeasures for today's court meeting.

Meng Jian is fifty-three this year, born in the same year as the First Emperor, he was originally pure-hearted and did not like meat, so the food control during this period did not have much impact on him. Meng Jian was born in the most powerful Meng family in the old Qin family, the ancestor of the Meng family is Baili Xi, his son Baili Shi is the general of the Qin State during the Mu Gong period, defeated the Jin State, the overlord of the Central Plains at that time, in the Battle of Kunshan, laid the foundation for the hegemony of Mu Gong, so he was named the Shangzhu State, and the family glory was unstoppable for a while. Because of the word Meng Ming, also known as Meng Ming, later generations took the surname Meng as the family surname.

Meng Jian's talent is just a Chinese asset, and at the end of the first emperor, he was worshiped as the head of the Jiuqing, and was in charge of the rituals of the temple, although his status was prominent, but there was no doubt that he was idle. Meng Jian was not conspicuous during the star-studded period of the First Emperor, the former minister Lu Buwei, and the later Li Si, which one was not a talent from the heavens and latitudes, so Meng Jian had always been indifferent to Mingzhi and did not expect power, but he did not expect that the radical changes would push him to the peak of the power center of Great Qin.

Of course, he knew that this so-called head of a hundred officials and a reversal of power was just a symbolic meaning. There is the eldest princess of the prison country, and Han Xin, who was worshiped as a general because of the big victory, neither of which he can deal with. In fact, his power has also been taken away out of thin air, you must know that now the Qin State is a national military system, that is, when the generals are in power, he, the prime minister, is a bit like a big steward of logistics, which inevitably makes him feel a little disappointed.

Lost to lost, his loyalty to Qin remained strong, even though he didn't like Han Xin very much.

As the leader of the old Qin family, the theory of pure bloodline has been deeply rooted in his head, and even the Wang family and the Meng family are hostile to outsiders who have served the Qin State for generations, not to mention Han Xin, a hairy boy whose identity is unknown but jumped to the pinnacle of power out of thin air.

But he also understands that the current situation of the Qin State that may overturn at any time can only be barely supported by Han Xin's talent, so although he usually does not smile at Han Xin and often looks at him coldly, he still unswervingly puts the interests of the Qin State first in major matters.

This is also the most important reason why Han Xin proposed to make him prime minister, he needs a person who is knowledgeable and has high prestige among the Qin people to support him.

Seeing that the food in front of everyone's table had almost been cleaned, Meng Jian coughed heavily a few times, and all the civil officials understood, so they put down the scraps in their hands one after another. The generals were not so conscious, except for Wang Qi, the others were still munching on cigarettes, and the atmosphere in the hall was a little embarrassing for a while.

This is Han Xin snorted softly, and all the generals will understand, and hurriedly wipe their hands and sit down, their unified expressions look a little funny.

Ying Ke on the seat felt funny, and couldn't help but laugh out loud, and then found that everyone was looking at her, and her face couldn't help but be hot. Hurriedly clapped his hands and motioned for the palace people to remove the table to avoid embarrassment.

Meng Jian's face was a little not good-looking, and he opened his mouth to reprimand with a calm face; "You are all generals of the Qin State, how can you be as unbearable as a hungry ghost reincarnated." After speaking, he squinted at Han Xindao; "General Han, you have to teach your subordinates more, so as not to damage the prestige of my Great Qin.

Most of the generals pursed their lips when they heard this, their faces were disapproving, and Han Xin said with a smile; "What the prime minister said is very true, it is indeed the last general who has neglected to teach, and he will definitely persuade more in the future."

Meng Jian saw that Han Xin had given him enough face as a prime minister, so he also gave up, and when he won, it can be seen that Han Xin was a little unhappy when he was bullied by this old man, and snorted; "The prime minister is too trivial, General Han and they work hard day and night, and they are conscientious and conscientious for my Daqin, and today is a rare opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief, so why do you need to take care of any manners."

When the generals heard that Yingke could come forward to defend them, they couldn't help but smile, and Zhao Wuji looked at Meng Jian triumphantly, with no respect in his eyes.

Meng Jian firmly believes in the way of 'monarchs and ministers, fathers, fathers and sons', and dared to speak out against Ying Ke's displeasure, so he hurriedly stood up and apologized: "What the eldest princess said is very true, it is the old Meng Lang." ”

"Prime Minister, please take a seat, there is no need to be so polite." Ying Ke motioned for Meng Jian to sit down, and then said loudly; "I convened everyone here today to discuss how to control the affairs of the counties of Longxi. Since my ascension to the throne, all the county guards have shirked their busy government affairs and have been reluctant to enter the court for a long time, and I think the meaning of waiting and seeing must be well known to everyone. Now that Xianyang has almost become an isolated city, the control of these counties has been weakened even more, so the prime minister and the general proposed to convene a court meeting to discuss countermeasures. ”

After Ying Ke finished speaking, he looked at Meng Jian and said; "Prime Minister, please speak first."

Meng Jian shook his head and said; "I am not proficient in military affairs, so it is more appropriate to let General Han say it."

Han Xin nodded, and then he didn't shirk it, and said in a deep voice; "Everyone should know how dangerous the situation is now, although there are 160,000 troops in the city, most of them are newcomers, and self-protection is still insufficient, if you want to defeat the strictly guarded Xiang Yu army, it is undoubtedly a fool's dream, so we must have foreign aid to have the possibility of winning."

"Although our Great Qin still has hundreds of thousands of troops in Lingnan, and there are still remnants of the Northern Army in Northern Xinjiang, these are far from quenching the thirst of the near. The crisis in Xianyang City is at the moment, and it is certainly unrealistic to expect them thousands of miles away, so we must rely on Guanzhong's own strength. Now there are only six counties that the imperial court can control, namely the two counties of Hanzhong and Bashu in the south, and the three counties of Longxi, Beidi and Shangjun in the north, of which the three counties in the northwest still have nearly one million Qin people, and if they are all mobilized, it is not difficult to gather 100,000 troops. ”

"And the hard thing is ......," Han Xin said, pausing here and looking at everyone fiercely; The difficulty is who we should send to borrow these counties. ”

Shangjun was originally the camp of the Northern Army, but it belonged to the land west of the river and was close to Guanzhong. Because the main force of the Northern Army was almost wiped out in Julu, the Zhao Army went all the way north to capture Yanmen, cutting off Shangjun and the remnants of the Northern Army, and Zhao Gao took advantage of the situation to take Shangjun, so Han Xin would take these three counties as one.

After listening to Han Xin's words, everyone was silent, thinking about their own thoughts in their hearts. In the end, it was Meng Jian who spoke: "The imperial historian Bai Pang is a person from Hanzhong, and his mother family is the Bashu clan, I think he will definitely get twice the result with half the effort if he takes over the three counties in the south." General Han, your subordinate Huangfu Gui is also a person from Hanzhong, Bai Pang is a civilian official after all, and it is more appropriate for many military affairs to be taken over by military generals, what do you think, general? ”

Han Xin nodded hurriedly; "What the prime minister said is very true, and it coincides with my thoughts, so it is best to be accommodated in this way. It's just that Hanzhong is relatively remote, and most of the people in the land of Bashu are not interested in Daqin, so we can't expect them to be of much help to the situation in Xianyang, so we can only contain Xiang Yu's army in the south and prevent them from moving south. ”

"At the moment, the most important thing is the candidate in the north, that is where our hope of victory lies, Prime Minister, you have been in the court for a long time, and your understanding of the courtiers is far above me, and I hope you can recommend a candidate."

Meng Jian's face froze, and he shook his head helplessly after pondering for a long time; "I don't have the right person in mind." After speaking, looking at the full hall of people, I couldn't help but sigh a little, there were so many talents in the past when the first emperor was there, there were Wang Jian and Wang Ben father and son, Meng Tian and Meng Yi brothers, and there were Li Si, Wei Yi, and Wang Xuan's generation, where did you think that it would fall into today's situation where no one is available.

Everyone in the court looked at each other, but no one spoke, Han Xin had already guessed when he looked at everyone's expressions, and couldn't help but sigh secretly, and looked at Wang Qi with some help.

When Wang Qi saw Han Xin looking at him, he hurriedly stood up and said with a sad face; "General, don't look at me, I can't afford this heavy responsibility. I'm just a general acquaintance with the Taishou of the Three Counties, and I've met once, and although most of them are my grandfather's subordinates, they don't have any friendship with me. If you send me, they will not embarrass me for the sake of the royal family, but it will be extremely difficult for them to surrender their military power. ”

Han Xin was silent for a long time and said slowly; "These three counties are the key to my Great Qin's victory, if we can't bring reinforcements, then it will be a dead end for us to be trapped in Xianyang sooner or later. Otherwise, if you find a way to hold out for January, I will personally carry the edict of the Son of Heaven to transfer troops......"

Before Han Xin finished speaking, the generals already wanted their heads like rattles, and even Meng Jian couldn't help but be moved. Han Xin's going to the north alone was undoubtedly abandoning the power of the DPRK, and it was obviously a life of nine deaths, which made him a little moved, so he stood up and dissuaded; "The general's move is inappropriate, now Xianyang City is in danger, if you are not there, who can guarantee that you can hold on for January, so this matter must not be."

Han Xin said helplessly; "But if the reinforcements don't come, we will sit back and wait." As soon as the words fell, a loud voice suddenly sounded; "Actually, my Great Qin may not be unavailable."

Han Xinshun went to the prestige, and when he saw that it was Gongsun Hong, he said in a hurry; "Gongsun Lord, do you have any candidates to recommend?"

Gongsun Hong stood up and arched his hand, looking as usual; "I know one person in Xia Zhengzhi, this person is brave and good at fighting, has broken countless enemies, was once the leader in my Great Qin army, and his prestige is still above Wang Ben and the Montessori brothers."

Han Xin and Ying Ke both widened their eyes, their faces were full of disbelief, and it could be seen that Gongsun Hong's expression didn't look like a joke, so Ying Ke asked in a trembling voice; "Lord Gongsun, my Great Qin still has such a general, where is he?"

Gongsun Hong bowed down and said; "Back to the eldest princess, what the lower official said is true, that person is ......" Before he could finish speaking, Meng Jian suddenly shouted; Gongsun Hong, shut your mouth, have you forgotten the strict orders issued by the emperor, do you want to resist the decree and disrespect? ”

Gongsun Hong faced Meng Jian's shouting, but he did not back down at all, but raised his head and said loudly; "Prime Minister, it has come to the point of the country's survival, my Daqin is about to die, and you are still stuck in those ridiculous ways of monarchs and ministers? I think even if His Majesty the First Emperor were standing in front of us now, he would be bold enough to use this person. ”

"I want to ask, is the emperor's testament important, or is my Great Qin's Jiangshan Sheji important?"

Meng Jian opened his mouth, his face was a little pale, and he seemed to be engaged in a fierce ideological struggle. Ying Ke and Han Xin also stopped talking, just looked at the two of them quietly, their hearts were full of doubts, but they were not good at asking questions. Some of the courtiers had already guessed who Gongsun Hong was talking about, but they didn't say anything, just looked at Meng Jian.

Meng Jian hesitated for a long time before gritting his teeth and saying slowly; "Okay, if this person can really take on this important responsibility, then the old man has no objection, please ask the eldest princess to make a decision."