In the blink of an eye, it was August of the second year of the second year, and although the hottest month of the year had passed, the residual heat in Xianyang City was still unbearable. Fortunately, this year, Hu Hai moved his residence from the sweltering Xianyang Palace to the cool Afang Palace next to Weishui, so he didn't have a hard time this summer.

Afang Palace is located in the west of Xianyang City, close to the west gate of Xianyang City, and is not very far from the city. In addition, the climate here is pleasant, and it is indeed a good place to escape the heat, so the ministers are also willing to come here to work. Zhao Gao also moved Xingyuan here and handed over Xianyang to his son-in-law Yan Le to take care of.

On the throne, Hu Hai let out a long yawn and raised his hand to signal the eunuch beside him. The eunuch understood, and puffed up his chest and shouted; "Trend!"

All the officials under the throne took a step forward.

"Kneel!"

All the officials knelt down in unison.

"Mountain Call!"

"Long live Your Majesty, long live, long live!"

Hu Hai yawned again, and looked at the hundreds of ministers kneeling neatly under the throne with an expressionless face. He has experienced too much of this scene in the past two years, and he has long lost the freshness and excitement of just ascending the throne, but he feels a little tired, and he only hopes to return to the harem as soon as possible to play with the concubines.

There are more than 400 officials kneeling neatly in the huge hall, and today is the day of the great pilgrimage once a month, so the officials with a rank of more than 500 stone in Xianyang City must come to see the emperor according to the regulations. Although Hu Hai did not shout for a long time, the people kneeling on the ground kept their heads down and maintained a standard kneeling posture, and many people did not even dare to come out.

The Qin people's fear of royal power for 500 years has been deeply rooted in their bones.

Among the many kneeling people, there was one person with a white face who stood out from the crowd. Not only did he not kneel, but he stood proudly with his head held high, holding the sword at his waist in his left hand, and his expression was extremely arrogant.

This person is Zhao Gao, the new prime minister of Qin State, who is just like Zhongtian, after overthrowing Li Si, he ascended to the throne of prime minister as he wished and became the head of a hundred officials.

If it is an ordinary person, after being a supreme minister, one person under ten thousand people, most of them will be content with the status quo and think about how to maintain their power for a long time. But Zhao Gao is not an ordinary person, he doesn't want to be under one person, he just wants to be above ten million people.

In the past six months, he has been busy jumping up and down, replacing the key points of the entire Xianyang City with his relatives and cronies, and firmly holding the center of Great Qin in his hands. At the same time, Hu Hai also let Hu Hai continue to add officials to himself, first as the prime minister, and then imitated the Zhou system to worship as the prince, and the sword went to the palace, and the emperor could not be worshipped.

Hu Hai was not a fool, he had already faintly felt that Zhao Gao's attitude towards him was becoming more and more impatient. In the past, Zhao Gao always followed him with low eyebrows and bowed his eyes, and asked for warmth, but later when he became the prime minister, he was busy fighting for power and profit all day long, just telling his cronies and eunuchs to follow Hu Hai closely, but Hu Hai's requirements were still met.

Now it's a little different, just a few days ago, Hu Hai suddenly wanted Zhao Gao to accompany him to Ganquan Palace on a whim, but Zhao Gao resigned on the grounds that he was busy with government affairs, and he didn't let him go. Hu Hai wanted to lose his temper with the emperor, but he was glared at by Zhao Gao and was so frightened that he didn't dare to speak.

Hu Hai was actually smart and clever since he was a child, and he was good at observing words and feelings, so he was able to win the joy of the first emperor. Because he has been arrogant and indulgent since he was a child, and Zhao Gao and others have done everything possible to please him, he has a stubborn personality, but in fact, his essence is not very tyrannical, but more like a spoiled child.

He felt the change in Zhao Gao's attitude towards him, and he was faintly scared in his heart, so he didn't dare to provoke Zhao Gao, and Zhao Gaofan nodded and agreed to any request. usually stays in the harem honestly, and doesn't dare to ask more, for fear of angering him.

Hu Hai's face on the throne turned a little blue, and he looked at the ministers sitting down with some distraction, and he didn't shout for a long time, and his mind didn't know where to go.

Zhao Gao saw that Hu Hai would be distracted at this time, his face was a little unhappy, and he coughed heavily several times. Hu Hai woke up from the fugue at this time, and hurriedly said, "Everyone, please get up, please get up." ”

"Your Majesty," the hundred officials stood up in a hurry, and the older ones beat their legs and complained, and the hall was a little chaotic. Zhao Gao coughed heavily again, and then quieted down.

Hu Hai looked at the black head under the seat, and his heart was a little hairy. Few of them were familiar, thinking that they were all promoted by Zhao Gaoxin, so he stood up and stretched out his hand with a smile and said; "Ladies and gentlemen, do you have anything to tell me?"

There was silence in the audience, and no one stood up to reply. Hu Hai stretched out his hand and stood there, neither sitting nor standing, his face was a little embarrassed.

At this time, Zhao Gao turned around and gave Zhuang Qing, the imperial historian beside him, Zhuang Qing understood, so he stood up and said loudly; "Your Majesty, since Prime Minister Zhao Cheng became an official, he has been honest and diligent in his affairs, and all officials are conscientious and diligent in political affairs, so there is nothing to do with Your Majesty's personal judgment. General Zhang Han has killed all the traitors on the front line, and all parts of the Kanto region have heard the wind and surrendered, and the world is just around the corner. ”

"With such a great prosperity in the world, Your Majesty can rest assured that he can live in the palace to be a happy emperor and enjoy the joy of the world, isn't it happy? Tedious matters can be left to the prime minister, and His Majesty does not need to bother. ”

Hearing that Zhuang Qing was so explicit in seizing power for Zhao Gao, there was a commotion among the hundreds of officials in the palace. Hu Hai on the seat didn't notice it, laughed, and said with a smug face; "That's good, that's good, I, Daqin, can live in peace and stability for a long time, thanks to the prime minister and you."

Zhao Gao took a step forward, bowed slightly, and said with a smile; "Your Majesty has praised it falsely, it is all thanks to your destiny, and my Great Qin can become strong again."

Zhao Gao shouted loudly; "Your Majesty is blessed." All the officials bowed down and echoed in unison.

Hu Hai laughed again and said, "In this case, is there nothing to do, I still have to rush back to play water polo with the palace people." ”

ZHAO Gaodao; "Your Majesty, please stay, the minister has a strange thing to pay tribute to Your Majesty."

Hu Hai had an interested look on his face. "Oh?"

Zhao Gao stretched out his hand and patted it lightly three times, and there was a gentle hoof sound outside the palace door, and a little eunuch led a sika deer into the hall slowly.

Hu Hai looked at the sika deer curiously, although this deer was tall and fit, but there was nothing unusual about it, so he said with a smile; "Prime Minister, I see that this deer is very ordinary, no different from those in Lin Yuan, where is there anything strange about what you said."

Zhao Gao bowed, raised his head and said seriously; "Your Majesty, you are wrong, this is the strange horse that my Great Qin Shimin found in the West Hundred Miles of Shangtai County, Longxi, when I found it, the whole body of the horse was snow-white, and there was no trace of flaw in the hair all over the body, and the three elders in the township all took this as auspicious, which means that God bless my Great Qin, so I came to present it to Your Majesty."

Hu Hai was taken aback, stepped off the throne and circled around the sika deer with wide eyes, laughing heartily; "Prime Minister, your old eyes are dizzy, this is obviously a good stag, I used to follow my father to go to Shanglin Yuan many times to hunt, how could I not recognize it."

Zhao Gao's face was full of seriousness, without any joke, and said; "Your Majesty, don't make fun of the old minister, this is obviously a rare white horse, how can it be a deer."

Seeing Zhao Gao's solemn face, Hu Hai immediately hesitated, thinking if it was really his mistake, and stared at it for a long time, feeling more and more strange in his heart.

"If Your Majesty can't confirm it, I think so, there are four hundred and fifty-six courtiers of my Great Qin in this hall, it is better to let them distinguish and distinguish, so that they can know whether the old minister is wrong or Your Majesty is mistaken."

Hu Hai nodded and said; "That's fine."

Zhao Gao walked to the middle of the big point, stretched out his hand and clapped his hands; "Ladies and gentlemen, our Emperor is too young and does not have a lot of experience in seeing people and things, so he will clearly distribute the deer and the white horse. Why don't you help your Majesty to distinguish between those who think they are white horses and those who think they are deer, and those who think they are deer, stand on my right. ”

Zhao Gao's henchmen had already received Zhao Gao's guidance, so they strode to Zhao Gao's left without hesitation. The smarter officials present had already seen Zhao Gao's sinister intentions, where was the choice to distinguish between Lu and Ma, and it was Zhao Gao's choice to take the opportunity to distinguish between friend and foe.

Nearly half of the hundred officials stood on the left, and most of the rest stood silently in place, although they wanted to keep their integrity from colluding with Zhao Gao, they did not have the determination to die. There were only a few standing on the right, and some hesitated and then stood back in the middle.

Zhao Gao laughed and looked at Hu Haidao proudly; "Your Majesty, what do you think?"

Hu Hai stood in front of Zhao Gao, still opening his mouth to deal with the hehe smirk, but he was extremely scared in his heart. He sensed it, and he, the emperor, seemed to have lost its effect.

Although Zhao Gao's eyes were full of smiles, they made Hu Hai feel a chill to the bone, and his teeth trembled. He suddenly wanted to turn around and leave, and go back to the harem that belonged to him, and that was where he was supposed to go. As for the rest, just take it to Zhao Gao.

******

After defeating Xiang Liang, Zhang Han moved his army to Puyang, where he rested for more than ten days.

Han Xin was worshiped as a general because of his merits, and Zhang Han removed the old and weak from the thousands of remnants of the soldiers under him, and added thousands of people, and gathered 10,000 people into a battalion, with Han Xin as the main general. Although it is still 10,000 people, Zhang Han is a veteran soldier who has added it to him, and the equipment is also configured according to the main battle corps of Great Qin, and the stragglers he brought before naturally cannot be compared with it.

Since Zhang Han's army defeated Zhou Wen in June of the first year of the second year, it has been more than a year since he fought the rebels in the south and the north, and the soldiers have long been exhausted. So Zhang Han originally planned to rest in Puyang for February, but the unexpected news from the north disrupted the original plan.

A group of Zhao cavalry, led by a man named Li Liang, came to Puyang to surrender Zhang Han and brought shocking news.

Wu Chen died, and he was killed by this Li Liang.

Since Han Xin defeated Liying and went south, the land of Hedong and Shanxi became a borderless land, and Wuchen re-dispatched a large army, with Li Liang as the general, and Izumi continued to manage the land of Hedong.

This Li Liang was really unlucky, he originally thought that Hedong was a borderless land, and he would not encounter any strong resistance, so he swaggered north to receive Jinyang City, but he did not expect to encounter a team of Qin cavalry in the north of Jinyang City.

This group of cavalry was extremely elite, and Li Liang's 3,000 forwards were annihilated with less than 1,000 men, Li Liang was furious, and personally led 30,000 troops to take revenge, but unexpectedly encountered a large army of the Qin army further north. The Qin army covered the sun with its flag, and there was a murderous atmosphere from afar.

Li Liang's ability to fight may not be anything, but his ability to escape is first-class, as soon as he saw the huge momentum of the Qin army, he immediately guessed that it was the powerful northern army that went south, and immediately left his 30,000 army and turned around and ran.

Thanks to his cleverness, he was able to pick up a life from the tiger's mouth of the Northern Army, and the 30,000 soldiers under his command were not so good, and became the first appetizer of the Northern Army after it went south, and was crushed into powder in the Jinge Iron Horse.

After Li Liang fled back to Jinyang, he immediately gathered his subordinates and fled south with an army of 50,000 people, discarding all the heavy grain and grass. It wasn't until he ran through the Jingcheng Pass that he slowed down, and slowly gathered the remnants of the chasing soldiers.

Jingcheng Pass is the most important pass in the Great Wall of Zhao Dynasty, it is the necessary place for Handan, the capital of Zhao, to pass through the land to the east of the river, built on the top of the mountains and ten thousand blades, and is a famous place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The Jingcheng Pass was narrow, and Li Liang's 50,000 defeated troops were so blocked, which made the pass even more chaotic, and the sound of pushing and noisy was endless. Li Liang didn't care at all, he was worried about how to deal with Wuchen.

The 80,000 troops before the expedition have now returned less than 50,000, and they have lost all the land east of the river. Wuchen has a tyrannical temperament and is extremely suspicious, Li Liang expected that there would be no good fruit to eat when he went back this time, and the loss of his official position and demotion was small, so he was afraid that he would not be able to save his life.

Li Liang was thinking about the bleak prospect in a daze, when he suddenly saw that the army in front of him was stagnant, but crowded there to block the way, so he stepped forward and asked a lieutenant: "What's going on in front, why is it blocked here." ”

As soon as the captain turned around and saw that it was Li Liang, he hurriedly nodded and said; "Returning to the general, there is a noble lady in front of her, who said that our horses had rammed her carriage, and that she was whipping the soldiers."

Li Liang was in a bad mood, and when he heard this, he was immediately furious, and rushed forward with his own soldiers to break away from the crowd, only to see an obese noble lady with more than a dozen generals blocking the middle of the road, just blocking the way of the army. The noble lady held a whip in her hand and fell fiercely, screaming on the ground, but a thin soldier was whipped and rolled on the ground and begged for mercy, and the more than 1,000 soldiers next to him just looked at it coldly, and no one stepped forward to help.

Li Liang was furious and yelled: "Stop." ”

The woman heard someone shouting behind her back, and she didn't stop, but she sneered and said, "Finally, there's a talking dog,"

Li Liang was furious, drew his sword and pointed it at the noblewoman, and roared; "Who the hell are you talking about, believe it or not, Lao Tzu cut you down."

More than a dozen generals around him drew their swords to protect the noble lady, but the noble lady was not afraid, still looking at Li You with a sneer, and her attitude was extremely arrogant.

"Do you know who I am? I am the sister of your King Zhao. My younger brother is the king of Zhao, and the entire Zhao country belongs to him the biggest, aren't you his subordinates, isn't that his dog, am I wrong?"

Li Liang's heart was shocked, he opened his mouth and bowed down and said in frustration: "It turned out to be Her Royal Highness the eldest princess, and the last general was rude." I am Li Liang, the general of the Zhao State, and I have returned from the expedition to Hedong on the orders of the King of Zhao. It's a complete misunderstanding here, and I hope that the eldest princess has a lot of them, so don't worry about these little soldiers. ”

The eldest princess didn't appreciate it, she still looked at Li Liang with her waist crossed, and said coldly; "Is a faux pas enough? You're right, I really shouldn't have to deal with these little soldiers, it's a loss of identity, and I should be looking for you as the leader. ”

Li Liang saw that she refused to sell her face, so he had to suppress his anger and said in a low voice; "Then the eldest prince wants to be humble and what to do to calm his anger."

"It's simple." The eldest princess raised her head, her face was full of triumph, and she smiled; "Since it was your soldiers who soiled my carriage, then you, the leader, should go and wipe me clean."

The corners of Li Liang's mouth twitched, and he hesitated for a long time before slowly walking to the front of the car, kneeling down and wiping the body with his hands. The eldest princess laughed proudly when she saw Li Liang's groveling appearance.

"What a bullshit general, he's just a dog under my brother."

This time, Li Liang couldn't hold back any longer, and with a roar, he pulled out his sword and cut off the head of the eldest princess with a 'flutter'. More than a dozen generals on the side were stunned for a moment, and Li Liang's personal soldiers were the first to react, and rushed up to hack more than a dozen people to death.

Since he had already killed Wuchen's sister, Li Liang did not stop doing anything, and immediately took his army back to Handan, rushed into the palace and hacked Wuchen to death. Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhang Er and Chen Yu fled north to Xindu in a hurry under the escort of the pro-army, where they supported Zhao Xie, a descendant of the Zhao royal family, as the king of Zhao, and regathered their troops to kill Handan. Li Liang was defeated, so he abandoned the city and fled south to surrender to the Qin army.

After Zhang Han learned the news, he felt that this was a rare and good opportunity, so he ignored the fatigue of the soldiers, waved his army to the north quickly, and at the same time passed a letter to Wang Li, who was in Jinyang, asking him to come to Julu County to meet peace.

PS: The electricity went out again overnight, alas!