Marquis Wei Ran's mind was not on the plank road, but on whether and how to trade the three cities of Jidong occupied by Zhao Congqi.

Zhao asked Qin to cede the three cities of Taiyuan, this transaction was not trivial, Lin, Lishi and Qi were all outpost positions obtained by Qin in Zhao, and it took a lot of effort to attack them at the beginning; The chat, photography and Linglu are mainly important in terms of goods; It is quite difficult to decide how to weigh the trade-off between one with more current profits and the other with greater long-term benefits. If in terms of the difficulty of attacking and defending, Lin Lishi and Qi lost and if they want to recapture it, although they must be carefully planned and mobilized strong forces, there is a possibility of seizing; Under normal circumstances, there is no possibility of capturing Liao, Shi and Linglu; Due to the huge threat to Zhao in the three cities of Taiyuan, and the rebound of Zhao is also very huge, in order to defend against Lin, Lishi and Qi, it is necessary to rely on the protection of Qin, and it is difficult to protect itself by relying only on the strength of the three places themselves; And Liao, Shi and Ling Lu are not much of a threat to Zhao, correspondingly, the three cities themselves can protect themselves, and can even provide protection for Tao, Gang, and Shou Sanyi.

Now the question has turned to the question of how to evaluate the strategic position of Taiyuan and Tao.

Between Luliang Mountain, Huo Mountain and Taihang Mountain, it is a plain alluvial of the Fen River; In the middle of it, the mountains on both sides are close to each other, becoming a mountain valley, which naturally divides this plain into two parts, the upstream is Taiyuan, and the downstream is collectively called Hedong. Different from the low mountains and low flats in the east section of the Luliang Mountain, the mountains around Taiyuan are relatively steep, and the Lishishui River Valley that flows out from the stone becomes an important passage to cross the Luliang Mountain from the west into Taiyuan, and the Lin next to the Lishi is the west gate of Taiyuan.

Ten years ago, the Qin army took Lin and Lishi, which was actually related to Wei Ran. At the time of the joint attack of the five kingdoms, Wei was closest to Qi and Song, and most of the Song land was occupied by Wei, and Qin and Wei had contradictions, so Qin and Han united and returned to prepare to attack Daliang. After getting the news, Wei Xiangtian Wen said that Zhao and Yan were mobilized, and 200,000 allied troops came to the rescue. It was Wei Ran, the commander of the Qin army at the time, who led a division that had been tired from a long battle, and was naturally not the opponent of the cutting-edge Yan and Zhao coalition forces, and was forced to retreat. But when he arrived in Lincheng, the allied Han army suddenly turned its face, and Wei Ran fell into the dilemma of being attacked on three sides. In order to force Zhao to retreat, Bai Qi led his troops to attack Zhao State, and even went down to Lin and Lishi. At the same time, Qin sent an envoy to sue for peace and gave up all the land he had gained. both soft and hard, in exchange for the Yan and Zhao families' dismissal; And one of the conditions for the strike is that coach Wei Ran cannot return to China. As a result, Qin dismissed Wei Ran from his position as Qin Xiang and let him go to Zhao. Although Zhao Guo did not embarrass him and worshipped him as his prime minister, Wei Ran was deeply ashamed!

In order to save Wei Ran, Bai Qi captured the Zi clan in the second year and Qi in the third year. Because of this, Bai Qi was able to be promoted to Daliang. The king of Qin lost no time in asking Zhao for peace and launched the Michi Meeting, which was exchanged for Wei Ran's return to China and immediately restored his phase.

But this battle, with a strong utilitarian nature, can be said to be completely for the rescue of Wei Ran. After Wei Ran returned, only three of the six cities he had occupied. These three are still under Zhao's strong oppression, struggling to support. For ten years, these three cities were like a thorn in Wei Ran's heart. And now to give up these three cities has once again stirred up the thorn that has been dormant for many years.

Wei Ran kept reminding himself not to be disturbed by emotions. He sat on the seat, his eyes slightly closed, and he breathed in.

The situation is not urgent. After coming out of Ganquan Palace, it was as if the matter was in the past. The officials of Taoyi were asked to stay in Xianyang for a few days, waiting for the outcome of the deliberations, and to evaluate the merits. In the court discussion in the past few days, only the achievements of Tao Yi after the completion of the report were discussed, and most of the ministers thought that it was not enough to promote the head of the left house, so the stove could only lead Tao Shou as a guest secretary. The matter of exchanging cities was only conveyed in a small range among officials at the level of princes and princes, and even the left and middle guards were not heard, mainly because they could not make up their minds. After a few days of thinking, everyone agreed that Gongzi Yu should go to Xianyang in person to talk about it, and then act on camera. It stands to reason that this matter should be over, but Wei Ran just can't take his mind off this matter.

The slips that needed to be handled by Wei Ran were carried in a basket. This is already a document that has been picked up by the scribes and must be handled by Wei Ran himself, and those unimportant conventional documents have been handled by the scribes of Cao themselves, and only a summary has been prepared, written on a few pieces of Jane, and it is just reported in.

Wei Ran used a red pen to review the documents, some of which he could deal with directly, and some of which needed to be submitted to the King of Qin for approval after the court discussion. He parted one by one. Then, he took out the document of Hanzhong Shou and wrote it very simply: "When the minister hears that the king wants to praise the oblique, please use the Hanzhong to praise and the king to govern the oblique, and it will be in the middle way, and the matter can be half done." ”

Wei Ran thought that the matter of complimenting and slanting was handled by Huayangjun and Wu Anjun, so he transferred the document to the two people.

Dealing with a basket of paperwork has come to the time of the person. He packed up the papers, turned off the lights, did not ask his wife and concubine to accompany him, and spread a quilt and pillow on this mat by himself, and lay down to sleep. His mind returned to the matter of the city's trade. There were two voices in his heart, one of them telling him to hurry up and complete this deal; Another voice reminded him that it was a trap! No one can convince anyone.

The next day's court meeting agreed on the merits of the officials of Taoyi, Tao Cheng made the Jin Jue as the doctor, and Tao Wei had already promoted the two knights as the public doctor, and the current merits were not enough to be assessed as "Ying", so he was not promoted to the knight for the time being; The Yi of Gangshou Eryi was promoted to the rank of Jue and was not changed.

At the end of the court, several princes left behind to discuss matters. Regarding the matter of Gongzi Xuan, everyone thinks that there is no need to discuss it at present, let the people of Taoyi go back, let Gongzi Xuan enter Xianyang, meet with King Qin, and then negotiate. Wei Ran agreed, and after he went back, he issued a merit book, and when the Taoyi officials entered the palace to receive the book, they secretly informed the two of them about it.

Then, Wei Ran said casually: "Hanzhong Shou is willing to send Hanzhong soldiers to help repair the plank road, and it has been transferred to Huayang and Wu'an." ”

Qi Rong's eyes lit up and said, "Who came up with this strategy?" ”

Wei Ran said: "How about this plan? ”

Qi Rong said: "This plan is worth it! Praise and oblique to repair the plank road, meet in the middle road, it will cost half! ”

Wei Ran said: "Is this plan feasible? ”

Qi Rong said: "It is feasible! ”

Wei Ran looked at Bai Qi again, and Bai Qi said: "Hanzhong has become an inner county, and there is no place for soldiers to use it. ”

Wei Ran said: "That is the case, the two monarchs are presented to the king, and the court will discuss it on the next day, that is, please send a military talisman!" ”

Qi Rong said: "The talisman has been issued, who can receive it?" ”

Wei Ran said: "Tong praises and obliquely, and has been entrusted to Qinglu." The talisman should be led by Elu. ”

Bai Qi said: "Lu is disabled and sick, so he can lead the troops." Sima Jin, the public attendant, has been with Keqinglu for a long time, and the general leader is his pawn, and the guest is Laiyan. You can lead the army to Hanzhong. ”

Bai Qi said very surely, and the others had no objections, and the matter was settled: Sima Jin personally went to Hanzhong to lead the army to build the Baogu Road, which ran in the opposite direction with the Xiegu Road and ran through it in the middle.

The Taoyi officials were called into the Prime Minister's Mansion, obviously to receive the roster, and secretly accepted the Qin Prime Minister's face-to-face instruction. Without much delay, the two left Hangu Pass and reconvened the five hundred people in Shaanxi County to return to Taoyi together. This time, the pedestrians who came back did not accompany them, but a new pedestrian was sent by the Pawn Mansion.

Both Qi Rong and Bai Qi circulated Hanzhongshou's report and agreed that Hanzhong would send troops to repair the plank road. On the same day, a messenger was sent and ordered Sima Jin to enter Beijing as soon as possible to receive the order. The next day, Qi Rong and Bai Qi submitted Hanzhong's report to the court, and everyone praised Hanzhong's behavior of keeping the general situation and taking the overall situation into account. The king of Qin issued a military talisman and ordered Sima Jin to go to Hanzhong to transfer troops; During his absence, he was temporarily represented by a public doctor.

Sima Jin entered Xianyang two days later, received the talisman from Qi Rong and Bai Qi, and marched back to Hanzhong.

After Sima Jin left, although the doctor who took over the post did his best, his ability was limited, maybe he was a tiger general who charged into battle, but he was very bad at building bridges and roads, Zhang Lu had to send Mang Wei to assist him, and he was happy to hand over all the things to Mang Wei. Zhang Lu was still coughing and wheezing, running forward and backward on the construction site, while Gai Nie followed. Sima Jin is gone, Gai Nie is not happy, without Sima Jin's sword at night, one of the great joys of life is gone.

However, the troops heading to Taoyi were left in the middle of the road, and the Wei guards would not let them go. Pedestrians went to negotiate and were ordered to enter the Liang to meet the King of Wei directly. A few days later, Tao Cheng accompanied the pedestrians back to Xianyang, saying that the king of Wei believed that such a frequent exchange of soldiers and soldiers was too much of a threat to Wei, and that he had to declare customs in advance and obtain permission to pass. The pedestrian argues that the Marquis of Wei had invited the king of Wei to communicate between Qin and Taoyi, and the Wei state did not interfere. After several negotiations, the two sides reached a compromise, and the king of Qin sent a prince as a hostage, so that they could rest assured that they would pass.

This is just about to fall asleep and someone sends a pillow. The king of Qin immediately agreed, and let the prince be the hostage beam, and the entourage reached as many as 100 people. King Wei knew that he had miscalculated, but he had no choice but to arrange a pavilion for the prince in Daliang and wait carefully. The 500 people of Taoyi stayed for nearly a month before continuing their journey to Taoyi.

When Gongzi Yu entered Xianyang, it was already early summer. After he arrived at the Yellow River from Jishui, he did not actually return to Handan, but only delayed for a few days on the road before coming west along the Yellow River. Abandon the boat to Luoyang and land on the shore, and enter Xianyang through Hangu Pass. Since arriving in Luoyang, Gongzi Yu has sent people to travel one day early every day to report his itinerary. I went one way and another and arrived in Xianyang unhurriedly.

After settling down at the inn, the pawn came to visit. checked the festival charm and reconfirmed the identity of Gongzi Xuan. The situation was fed back to Wei Ran, and Wei Ran was inexplicably excited, and made an appointment with Gongzi Yu the next day.

The negotiations went exceptionally well! Gongzi Yu said that in order to avoid a misunderstanding by the King of Qin, he was willing to stay in Qin as a hostage until all the transactions were completed.

It is as if all doubts have been resolved and all concerns have been removed. Gongzi Yu's performance showed everyone that King Zhao was sincere about this transaction and that there was no conspiracy in it.