That Cao Qi smiled, but there was no trace of panic on his face, and he said with a calm expression: "Why is Brother Sima so nervous, is it true that old friends have been missing for a long time, and they are not welcome to come to visit you?" ”

This Cao Xin and Sima Xin are indeed old friends, when he was young, Sima Xin traveled all over the world, and when he came to Surabaya County, he got acquainted with Cao Qiao, the then Qi County Prison. The two were of the same age and had similar temperaments, so they became friends. Later, Sima Xin returned to Xianyang, relying on the family's shadow, and soon sat in the seat of Liyang Prison. Sima Xin originally thought that he would never have anything to do with this friend who met Pingshui in this life, but because of a case, he unexpectedly received a letter from Cao Yao.

A man named Xiang Liang was arrested in Liyang for befriending rangers, and according to the laws of the Qin State at that time, selfishly befriending ranger thieves with bad intentions was punishable by death.

Because of the letter of plea from his old friend Cao Xin and the one hundred taels of gold sent by the Xiang family, Sima Xin was moved and did the most important bending of the law for personal gain in his life. Xiang Liang's felony was lightly hooked, but replaced with a private gathering, and finally it was over.

After Xiang Liang raised an army against Qin, Sima Xin knew that the death row prisoner he secretly released back then was actually the famous general of Chu today, and he was terrified in his heart, for fear that the imperial history would know about his crime of colluding with thieves to exterminate the clan. He didn't put his mind at ease until Xiang Liang died, originally thought that no one would mention this matter again, but unexpectedly Cao Ji suddenly came to the door today.

Although Cao Yao's face was full of relaxation, Sima Xin did not relax at all, but said unhappily; "Cao Ji, you and I are our own masters, and now we are in a game of life and death, if you still remember the old feelings and don't want to harm me, then leave quickly, lest I be suspicious of my general."

Cao Ji shook his head and sighed regretfully; "An old friend came to see him on purpose, but Brother Sima had an expression of rejection thousands of miles away, which is really sad, sad!"

Sima Xin was said by him, and it was difficult to say what he said, and he heard Cao Ji say it again; "Brother Sima, do you remember what happened thirteen years ago?"

Sima Xin sank his face and said slightly angrily; "Cao Ji, I was willing to help you when you were a friend, if you want to blackmail me with this matter, it will be too decent."

Cao Ji laughed; "Brother Sima, you're too worried, not only am I not here to blackmail you, but I'm here to repay the favor."

"Repay the favor?" Sima Xin was stunned and looked at Cao Xin in confusion. Cao Ji nodded and continued; "How about I give Brother Sima a rich and famous?"

Sima Xin was stunned, but immediately understood, and snorted coldly; "You just came to be a lobbyist to persuade me to surrender to Chu, I advise you to die of this heart. The Sima family has been favored by the country for generations, and the general has the grace of knowing me, and I, Sima Xin, will not betray Daqin and betray the general no matter what. ”

Cao Ji shook his head and said disapprenowningly; "Who let you betray Zhang Han, we just want to give you, Zhang Han, and the entire Qin army a way to live, so as not to lose their lives and 200,000 Qin troops to die in another land."

Sima Xin's face showed anger and said; "Your words are too early, although my Qin army has suffered a small setback, but the main force still exists, if the Chu army wants to eat us, I'm afraid it will not be easy."

Cao Zhi did not deny it, but nodded; "It's not easy for us to destroy you, but it's only a matter of time. Didn't you ask Xianyang for help, and the result? was rejected by Hu Hai and Zhao Gao. Think about the remnants of your Qin army, defeated, and have no help from outside, and then look at our Chu army, the morale is high and the desire to fight, the princes are all obedient to the orders of my young master, and there is a steady stream of reinforcements coming, which is stronger and which is weak, do you need me to say more? ”

Sima Xin exclaimed; "How do you know that Xianyang refuses to send troops?"

Cao Ji smiled mysteriously and said; "You don't have to ask, and I can't answer. It's just Brother Sima, I can assure you that if you abandon the tyrannical Qin and submit to my Great Chu, you will not be the first, and you will never be the last. ”

Sima Xin's face was shocked, and he hesitated again and again, but he still lowered his head gloomily and said; "Brother Cao, you don't have to persuade me anymore, my Sima Xin is also a dignified history, and it's a big deal to die on the battlefield with the general."

"You go, I won't embarrass you."

Cao Ji smiled slightly, he had already seen the wavering in Sima Xin's heart, and he remembered what Fan Zeng had said before leaving; Anyone has a price, and all of them have not wavered, but the price is not high enough.

Cao Yao's seductive voice sounded; "What if you can let Brother Sima make you king in Guanzhong, and divide it with Zhang Han?"

Sima Xin shook violently, his pupils dilated instantly, and his face showed an incredible expression.

The temptation to call him king was too great for him to refuse. Sima Xin's breathing gradually became short, and it took a long time to calm down and say; "Brother Cao, you don't have to tease me, I think that Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Liang was killed by us, even if Xiang Liang can let us go, he will never let go of the general."

Cao Ji said with a smile; "You also underestimate the young master of my family, he is a hero, aiming at the world, if he can't even let go of such a little personal enmity, how can he be worthy of controlling the heroes and commanding the world!"

Sima Xin also makes sense when he thinks about it carefully, Xiang Yu is a person who attaches great importance to his promises, so he has never heard of him regretting anything, so he thinks it is credible. Suddenly, I couldn't help but feel a little moved, and after thinking about it carefully, I shook my head and said: "General, he won't surrender, I have followed him for many years and know his character very well." ”

"What if you're cornered?" Cao Ji looked at his eyes and asked in a forced tone.

"What is a desperate situation?"

"Hu Hai and Zhao Gao refused to help, but wanted to kill Zhang Hanzhu and his clan!"

Sima Xin was taken aback and said; "How is this possible, no matter how stupid Zhao Gao is, he will never move the general at such a time."

Cao Ji smiled lightly and said; "I don't know if he will do this, but we just need to make Zhang Han feel that Zhao Gao did this."

"What do you mean by that?"

Cao Ji's eyes flickered, and he smiled a little gloomy; "Aren't you going to Xianyang to ask to see Hu Hai, according to the rules set by Zhao Gao, if you don't have a lot of money to meet him, you will never be able to see him easily. If you can't even see him, then it's impossible to see Hu Hai. ”

"Zhao Gao's eyes are empty, if you pretend to be arrogant and arrogant, so that he doesn't like you, he will hang you up and reject you. At that time, you can tell your entourage that Zhao Gao refuses to meet you and wants to kill you, and then flee out of the city. Zhao Gao will definitely be suspicious when he sees you fleeing suddenly, and he will definitely send someone to chase you, and then you can tell Zhang Han that Zhao Gao sent someone to chase and kill you. ”

Cao Ji's smile was a little sinister, and he said: "At that time, Zhang Han must be very chilling, there is our army like a tiger in the front, and Zhao Gao, a hungry wolf who wants to devour him, do you think he will have other choices?" ”

Sima Xin was a little dumbfounded and said, "Brother Cao, did you come up with all these schemes?" ”

Cao Ji smiled and said; "Of course not, I was just asked to say this, these ideas were conceived by our Shangqing Fan Zengfan, he has a very high status in my Chu country, and even General Xiang respected him as his father a few days ago."

Sima Xin sighed and said; "The person who can come up with such an interlocking scheme must be a genius. You Chu have a peerless fierce general like Xiang Yu, and you have a strategist like Fan Zeng, there is no reason to be invincible, it seems that my Great Qin is really exhausted! ”

Cao Ji laughed; "Then Brother Sima, what do you mean is to agree?"

Sima Xin didn't nod, but said; "There are three prerequisites, and I will only try if you can do it."

"Please."

"First, in addition to me, there is Dong Peng in the Qin army, his status in the army is not lower than mine, and the general also has deep trust in him. If you want to say that the general is moving, this man must be taken. Although he fought bravely, he had a fatal weakness, that is, he was too greedy for women, and he was punished by the general for this. ”

Cao Ji nodded and said; "Okay, I remember, thank you Brother Sima for reminding me."

Sima Xin continued; "Second, most of the three of us have families in Xianyang, if you want us to be obedient, then you must ensure the safety of our families, which is a prerequisite."

Cao Ji thought about it for a while, and said briskly; "No problem, we will use Xianyang's manpower to rob your relatives, but because of the limited manpower, they can only be your flesh and blood relatives."

"Third, I hope that your Chu army will increase its offensive efforts, and you must make the general feel breathless, so that he will feel that he is really in a desperate situation."

A smile appeared on Cao Ji's face and said; "This is no problem, then it's decided, I'll go back and wait for your good news, Brother Sima."

Sima Xin looked up to the sky and sighed; "It's come to this, I can only try my best to save the lives of these more than 200,000 Qin soldiers, okay, then I'll do my best."

A mocking smile appeared on Cao Ji's face, but it quickly flashed, and he turned to worship to the end with admiration on his face, and said; "I have thanked Brother Sima here on behalf of the common people of the world, and I hope that he can get along with my Dachu when you become the king of Guanzhong one day."

Sure enough, as Fan Zeng expected, Sima Xin was not received by Zhao Gao after coming to Xianyang, let alone meeting the second emperor. Sima Xin begged to see him outside Xianyang Palace all day long, and those Yulin guarding the door did not get Zhao Gao's orders, where did they dare to let Sima Xin enter the palace.

Sima Xin didn't know it, he still begged outside the Xianyang Palace all day long, and even his deputy envoys and entourage couldn't stand it anymore, and persuaded him to go back. Zhao Gao heard that Sima Xin did not come to see him, but disdained several invitations from his cronies, which was obviously looking down on his face as Prime Minister Zhao Cheng, and he couldn't help but be annoyed, and his teeth itched with hatred.

Sima Xin ran into a wall in Xianyang Palace for a few days, and as if he had opened his mind, he turned to the Prime Minister's Mansion to ask to see Zhao Gao. Zhao Gao heard the doorman report that he came to visit empty-handed, and his attitude was arrogant, he was immediately furious, and he endured it so that he didn't let the servant beat Sima Xin out of the stick, but he didn't see it behind closed doors.

Sima Xin wandered in Xianyang for seven days, but he couldn't see him, so he said to his entourage; "Now that the military situation is so critical, Daqin is already in danger, but Zhao Gao ignores us, it seems that he is killing us, let's run for our lives quickly."

When everyone heard Sima Xin say this, they all looked scared, and nodded in agreement. Sima Xin and the others took advantage of the night to gallop out of Xianyang and fled for their lives all the way east. Zhao Gao couldn't help but be surprised when he heard that Sima Xin had fled, and he didn't understand why he wanted to flee, so he hurriedly sent his pursuers to chase Sima Xin.

Sima Xin had already expected that Zhao Gao would send someone to chase after him, so he chose another way to escape, but there was no danger along the way. On the contrary, seeing that Zhao Gao sent people to chase them all the way, he told his entourage that Zhao Gao was sending people to chase and kill, and all the entourages thought so.

After Sima Xin returned to the Thorn Plain, he 'truthfully' told Zhang Han about the cold reception he had received in Xianyang, as well as the rumors that Zhao Gao wanted to replace Zhang Han in Xianyang, and that Zhao Gao wanted to kill him.

Zhang Han listened to Sima Xin's mournful voice, and was silent for a long time, and two lines of old tears slowly fell. His heart was extremely sad, he was angry, very sad, but more than that, there was a deep chill in his heart. He dedicated his life to this weakened and broken empire, but he was treated like this, in exchange for such a wordless ending!

He thought of death, thought of fighting for death, he wanted to lead the army out of the city and fight Xiang Yu to the death, even if it was a burning jade!

Zhang Han's crazy thoughts were stopped by Dong Fei and Sima Xin, who persuaded each other bitterly, saying that now the Qin army was demoralized, and self-protection was still insufficient, and they were afraid that they would be wiped out under Xiang Yu's onslaught like the northern army in less than a day.

Zhang Han closed his eyes painfully and said; "Then what can we do, the food and grass in the city can only last for three months at most, if we can't avoid the battle, we won't be able to escape the annihilation of the whole army."

A trace of greed flashed in Dong Fei's eyes, and he lowered his head and said in a trembling voice; "General, why don't we ask the Chu army for peace!"

Sue for peace! The words Dong Peng sounded in Zhang Han's ears like thunder, he was stunned for a long time, and his raised hand was slowly put down.

Dong Peng took the opportunity to persuade sadly: "General, the country's strength has been eroded to this point, and everyone in the world knows that Great Qin is exhausted, why should we die for this empire that has abandoned us?" Even if you don't think about yourself, you should think about the more than 200,000 brothers who have followed you all the way from Xianyang to death, have you ever had a trace of complaint? At this time, you have to let them die on the battlefield with you for their own selfishness, general, how can you bear it! ”

Dong Fei's words completely moved Zhang Han, and made him start to seriously consider the matter of making peace with Xiang Yu. For this man who fought a hundred battles in the south and fought in the north and fought all his life, making the decision to make peace undoubtedly requires great courage. From the undefeated to the losing streak that year, playing in the water, Daliang, Dingtao and then Julu, Xiang Yu seems to have become his nemesis, he is almost about to succeed, almost about to reverse the will of heaven, but in the end he still fell short.

Even so, he Zhang Han still didn't think about betraying the Qin State, if the imperial court could give him a little support and comfort at this time, he would definitely fight with Xiang Yu with his life. But the court had nothing but an edict to him. Zhao Gao had already played with the second emperor in applause. So what should be the fate of his Zhang Han? The country is no longer a country, what if it wins, what if it loses? He was just a pawn at the mercy of Zhao Gao. If you win, you won't get the shade seal you deserve, and you will likely be suspicious of the emperor and follow in the footsteps of Li Si, and if you lose, you won't die in the hands of Xiang Yu, and if you return to Xianyang, you will die without a place to be buried.

Regardless of victory or defeat, his fate is the same, he only understood at this moment that the entire Great Qin has been completely rotten from top to bottom, even if he wins more battles and destroys more rebels, the new rebel army will soon raise the rebel flag again, and Daqin is already terminally ill and hopeless!

Mourning is greater than heart death, at this moment, Zhang Han's heart is really dead, he began to think about himself, for the soldiers who followed him from birth to death.

The snow fell quietly in early spring, and the earth was already white overnight. The white snowflakes fell on the city, on the treetops, on the empty fields, gently covering the unburied corpses, covering up all the blood and carnage in this world.

Zhang Han quietly looked at the white field, did not move for a long time, the snowflakes fell on his helmet, fell on the gray hair under the helmet, and gradually condensed into a white layer.

Looking at the river that had frozen over, Zhang Han suddenly remembered the young man who had urged him to fight, and he didn't know where he was at this moment, whether he was alive or dead. In him, Zhang Han saw his past figure, pinning his unfulfilled wishes, maybe, maybe there will really be a miracle.

"General, they're coming." Dong Peng's words sounded, interrupting Zhang Han's thinking, and he looked intently, dozens of horsemen were walking slowly in the distance. On the first black mount was a seven-foot man, although his clothes and armor were worn and his hair was simply tied up, but he was full of momentum. Zhang Han couldn't help but be awe-struck, and sighed in his heart that this feather is so young, it seems that he is really old.

The Chu people stopped their horses after walking more than twenty steps in front of the Qin people, and Xiang Yu and Zhang Han looked at each other quietly in the air, who had not opened their mouths to speak first. Zhang Han tried his best to straighten his waist, as if he wanted to maintain his last dignity, but Xiang Yu raised his head and said nothing, he couldn't see joy or anger on his face, he just looked at Zhang Han.

Finally, Zhang Han lowered his arrogant head, dismounted and knelt down on one knee in front of Xiang Yu, and said in a low voice; "The guilty minister Zhang Han see the general."

The snow is still falling quietly, but an era has since come to an end!