After Hu Yang explained his intention to send troops to Handan, Bing Cao did not reproach him, but gave advice to Hu Yang. Hu Yang said: "What Bing Cao saw, he secretly agreed with me." Will the plan be settled? “

Bing Cao asked rhetorically: "How long can you live in Handan?" ”

Hu Yang didn't know what he meant, and said: "Ji Wu'an's food, you might as well menstruate for months." If only Zhao Hao and others are attacked, the ministers should break it. If you don't think that he will lead all Zhao's troops to attack, please defend the month. ”

Bing Cao said: "Sincerely, when I am now, I have three plans." Defend the city, gather the crowd and practice, rely on the iron of Wu'an, complete the armor and complete the army, after a month, the one above this count. Roll up the flag, crisscross Handan, break through its suburbs is to seize the pass, this plan is also. Follow the original road, climb the mountains and return to Qin, under this plan. “

Hu Yang said: "The two strategies in the middle are what the ministers want." However, the minister has not calculated, and he has taken the pass, where is his place? Where should we go to it? ”

Bing Cao said: "Out of the water and down, it is through the water, Ye also." Passing through Ye to the south, the river also. Going down the river, you can pass through the Ji, but into the pottery. Tracing the river, it passes through the realm of Wei and Han and leads directly to Luoyang. In the opinion of the ministers, the slow will return to Luo and return to Xianyang; If you are in a hurry, you will enter the pottery, and the guest stove will have soldiers. ”

Hu Yang said: "The minister is respectful!" ”

Bing Cao said: "Gongzi has been diving in Zhao for a long time, and he has won Zhao's affection. Now in the middle of the more, willing to bring back. ”

Hu Yang said to Gongzi: "The minister has the help of Gongzi, how fortunate is it!" ”

Gongzi resigned: "I am not weak and weak, I am afraid that I am tired of the army, but I am fortunate to be with you." There are five children, who know a little about Zhao Qing, or those who can use it, they should be ordered! The stranger is the youngest, thirteen years old, with a small body, and looks like a child. The trip to the four places is also, and many of them are carried to cover up people, so there are a lot. But those who have a village guide can be deserved! ”

Hu Yang said: "The ministers either garrisoned troops in Wu'an, or moved troops to the outskirts of Handan, or drove troops between Fuzhang, wandering. Disturb the son, the son is not guilty! ”

Gongzi said: "But the military is the most important, don't think about it." ”

After discussing with Gongzi and Bing Cao, Hu Yang summoned the officials above the rank of public doctor in the army and decided on the next move. Because the news of Gongzi Xuan, Bing Cao and others arriving in the army was not suitable for publicity, several of them did not attend the meeting. At the meeting, Wang Di and Sima Jin divided the labor: Wang Ji was mainly responsible for the vigilance of the county seat of Wu'an, and collected grain, people, livestock, and other necessary people, money, and materials from all possible settlements in Wu'an; Sima Jin was mainly responsible for guarding the valley mouth to the east, and collecting iron tools from the south to build weapons such as spears and swords. While completing the vigilance, the troops should be reorganized, training should be strengthened, the wounded and sick should be treated, and everyone should recover their strength and prepare for the next battle. Bing Cao returned to the outskirts of Handan, continued to observe the movements in Handan City, and provided dynamic news at any time. Gongzi left behind the two eldest sons, and sent the three younger sons back to listen to the instructions of the soldier Cao. Hu Yang also sent Zheng Anping and Chen Si and other soldiers who were familiar with Cao and Gongzi to travel back and forth between Handan and Wu'an to pass on information. Be prepared for the long run.

Wang Ji and Sima Jin have a clear division of labor, and they themselves are both people with strong executive ability, so they quickly arranged their actions and training plans. Wang Yu sent people to each city and assigned the lord of each town to be responsible for collecting grain and straw, and every five and ten days, and transported it to the camp on time; When manpower or other temporary supplies are needed, they are also apportioned to each eupon. Sima Jin sent people to the smelting furnaces and iron shops to explain the weapons and other items he needed, and he had to pay them on time. If there is a delay at the beginning, immediately send someone to find the gathering of the city, behead the lord of the city, assign a new lord of the city, and double the levy. The news spread, and the cities shook!

Wang Yi organized a siege drill under the city of Wu'an County, the banner was unfurled, and the county town of Wu'an was shocked three times a day. had to stand still, arrange to defend the palace, and did not dare to send troops out of the city. Sima Jin was even more interesting, recruiting boats up and down the river to practice water warfare. Although the current dry season, the water level is not high and cannot be navigated, but it also makes Zhao Jun, who camped by the river, worried and unpeaceful. The land training only trained the banners, golden drums and formation changes, and the location was sometimes three or five miles outside the Zhao army's camp, so that the Zhao army could see it clearly.

Ten days later, there was no news from Zhao Yingzhong. Due to the high barrier of the Zhao camp, only the golden drums in the camp could be heard, and they were probably also training, but they did not see the movement of the Zhao army. After more than ten days of day and night construction, the camp of the Zhao army has been extended to the confluence of two waters. Sima Jin did not take any special measures, but only extended the cordon to the north. Wang Yi demanded that if the Zhao army was found to have crossed the river and entered Juyi, the original Yi and the surrounding Juyi must beat the drum as a trumpet. But there is nothing else to say about those who beat the drums; If the Zhao army is found and the drum is not sounded, it will be regarded as a collaborator with the enemy, and the whole city will be beheaded. But this ban was never enforced, because no Zhao army crossed the river.

However, the news came from Bingcao that Handan was recruiting soldiers on a large scale. This aroused Hu Yang's vigilance, and he asked Bing Cao to pay attention to whether these troops had been sent to the valley to reinforce Zhao Hao. The result was no. These Zhao soldiers are trained outside Handan City, and the subjects of each training are not exactly the same, it should be recruit training, not like a fake. Sent people to infiltrate the valley mouth, and found no signs of Zhao Hao's large-scale increase in troops. The information obtained from the outside was consistent with the information obtained by Sima Jin Mingsen's secret agents, indicating that Zhao Hao had no intention of concentrating more troops to fight the Qin army.

This made Hu Yang a little uncertain: what was Zhao Hao's intention in doing this? He went deep into the important land, but in Wu'an, he could collect grain, husbands, and even weapons at will. Wu'an's relatively closed environment had much less defensive pressure than the unsealing; Wu'an's numerous juyi can provide sufficient grain, and he only has 20,000 Qin soldiers now, which is less than the logistics pressure of 100,000 Qin soldiers when he opened the seal; Although it was the middle of winter, the soldiers were able to live in the houses of the residents, and there were braziers in good condition; The women in the garment are responsible for washing and sewing their own clothes, and even sleep at night, and if they ask for it, they can also find a woman to warm the mat. It's almost the same as at home! But these losses were all borne by the Zhao State, and the Qin State did not suffer any losses. According to Hu Yang's idea, the Zhao army should concentrate its forces as soon as possible and pressure the Qin army to leave Wu'an and withdraw from the outskirts of Handan, which is in the interests of the Zhao state. But Zhao Jun's current style of play is to let Qin Jun rest and recuperate, and he is not in a hurry. Do they want Qin Jun to give birth to a baby in Wu'an and become a native of Zhao?

Zhao Hao found that there was already a Qin army stationed in Wu'an! When the news reached King Zhao, it was like a thunderbolt from the sky, shocking the entire Zhao court. King Zhao quickly summoned Shangqing Lin Xiangru, Lian Po and Yu Qing, and without any hesitation, the three unanimously suggested that even though the New Year was approaching, they must quickly assemble an army, one to defend Handan, and the other to annihilate the Qin army. The two ruling royal clansmen, Pingyuanjun and Pingyangjun, were asked to prepare for battle immediately.

The soldiers descended to all counties, first of all, all over Handan. Handan had already requisitioned twenty or thirty thousand people, and now they were all confronting the Qin army in Wu'an; Now it is going to be levied again, and the number of people is even larger, and there are difficulties in all places. But King Zhao didn't care about those, one out of ten in each county, and 10,000 households in Handan City were drawn first; 300,000 households in the surrounding area, another 30,000 were drawn; The strong men requisitioned from other counties are still on their way one after another. Pingyuanjun and Pingyangjun each levied 10,000 men from their fiefdoms and gathered around Handan. All the soldiers were under the leadership of the general Shangqing Lian Po, and the king of Zhao did not intervene.

Bing Cao's entry into Wu'an is fashionable and calm, and when he comes out of Wu'an, there are fierce winds and waves: weeping women and men with sad faces everywhere, old people holding hands and children holding their clothes. Bing Cao was shocked.

Returning to his residence in Yizhong, the Guo retainers pulled Bing Cao to a remote place and said, "Mr. shouldn't come back." Zhao and Qin Zhan, Mr. is in danger! ”

Bing Cao smiled: "The minister is a distant relative of the Cao family, and he came to defect, and now he sees the chaos, so he leaves first, so don't affect Mr." Don't worry, sir. But if you say that Cao's distant relatives, don't say anything about others, there will be no disaster. ”

Looking at Bing Cao's confident expression, the retainers didn't know what to do. Bing Cao asked his retainers: "But in a few days, the mutation is like this?" ”

The retainer said: "Since Mr. left, the Prime Minister issued an order, and he went to Handan. It is limited to 10 days. When it is the New Year, it is the middle of winter, and the recruits are worried, and the residents are worried. New Year's Day can be transformed into joy and sorrow! ”

Bing Cao asked cautiously, "Is there anyone going to Mr.'s house?" ”

The retainer said: "My family is full of people, there is no evasion in the previous battle, and it is worth a battle, so I can escape!" "It's embarrassing.

Bing Cao comforted his retainers a few words and said, "Benyi is a strong man, would you rather be spared gold?" ”

The retainer said: "When things happen suddenly, the fatwa clearly states that it must be released, and do not avoid it with money." ”

Bing Cao thoughtfully, with a few words of comfort, said goodbye.

It can be said that so far, Hu Yang's biggest purpose of sending troops to Handan has been achieved: to disrupt the lives of Handan people and make them afraid! Anyone who dares to oppose the Qin people will end up like this. He called the three little sons to his side and let them secretly spread the rumor that the Qin people went out of Handan to avenge the dishonesty of the Zhao State. It has been half a year since these sons arrived in Zhao State, and each of them has their own partner group, and after chatting with someone for a while, they spread the word, and they don't communicate with each other.

The next day, Bing Cao said that he was going to Handan to see the goods, and took the stranger to Handan. Yu Tuguo saw that business was sluggish, everyone closed their homes, and only people were in a hurry on the road.

Handan twin-city structure. Unlike other kingdoms where the palace city is in the royal city, the royal city of Handan and the city of Handan are diagonally opposite. The reason for this layout is because when Zhao built the capital of Handan, Handan City was already very prosperous and wealthy, and the people were dense, and there was no place to build a palace, so Zhao could only build his own royal city outside Handan City.

Handan City is an old city, and naturally the people living in it are ordinary people, merchants and craftsmen, and even peddlers and pawns. Zhao Wangcheng was outside the residence of the nobles of Zhao State. The city of Zhao Wangcheng is divided into three districts, each separated by a city wall: the northern district is the aristocratic district, where the dignitaries and nobles probably lived; The western area is the royal palace, which is naturally the area where King Zhao lived; There are two palaces in the eastern district that are far away from each other, and they are the places where King Zhao worked and held ceremonies. There is a large square in front of the palace, which can gather 10,000 people.