After temporarily stationed in the boiled dates, Zhang Tang asked the Qin envoy to return to Xianyang to report the situation here. The Wei army has set out to rescue Handan, and it seems that the Chu army is also going north to rescue Handan, so Handan will be in danger. Zhang Tang decided to lead his troops to move in the direction of Handan as well, in an effort to join Wang Di. The Qin envoy agreed with him, and he took a few people to merge the boat and returned to Xianyang from Jishui.

The news of the appearance of the Qin army in Zhengcheng had a great shock to the King of Wei: did the Qin people want to attack the empty Liang? He immediately ordered Humu and Jiyang to strengthen their guards, and ordered Jiyang to go out to recover Zhengcheng. A few days later, Jiyang Ling reported that Zhengcheng had been attacked and harassed by the Qin, and that when the Wei army arrived, the Qin had fled without a fight. At the same time, the King of Wei also received a report that the Chu army had entered Qin's Tao County and was cleaning up the remnants of the Qin army in Tao County. A few days later, the border town reported that the Qin people had conquered the boiled dates. The tension on the eastern border made the King of Wei even more worried, and he strictly ordered Jin to not act rashly, and to be ready to rescue Daliang at any time.

In November, the news of the Qin army's re-conscription also reached Handan, and Pingyuanjun was very nervous. At present, there is a shortage of food inside and outside Handan, so we can only rely on the remote suburbs and even the suburban counties that have not yet been affected by the fighting to supply. The food supply of Lian Po's troops could only guarantee one meal a day, and Lian Po did not dare to launch a high-intensity attack on the Qin army again.

On the other hand, the Qin army was also short of food. Grain seedlings, wild vegetables, flowers and fruits, birds and beasts outside Handan City...... All edible items were looted, and the Qin army even began to kill the Zhao people and eat the corpses. The military operations of the Qin army were also greatly restricted, and in fact they had become grain collection teams, and some Qin troops even went out hundreds of miles away to collect and purchase grain. The military market, which used to function as a function, has lost its relevance after a long period of war: almost no merchants dare to come. And the Qin army went out to purchase food, which also caused prices in the surrounding areas to skyrocket.

The Wei army had crossed Zhangshui and occupied Yecheng, and Wang Yi was worried. Originally, Wang Yi also thought that once the war was unfavorable and it was impractical to retreat from Taihang Mountain, he could follow Hu Yang's method and cross Zhangshui from the south and retreat through Hanoi. Now that the Wei army has occupied Yecheng and the road to the south has been blocked, can it really only be withdrawn from the sheep intestine trail on Taihang Mountain? That almost means unbearable casualties!

Xianyang's instructions were to continue to increase troops to Handan and completely defeat the Zhao army in front of him. New reinforcements, estimated at 100,000, will arrive after the New Year. Wang Yi looked at the conscription plan: 30,000 in Guanzhong, 30,000 in Nanyang, 20,000 in Hedong, 10,000 in Shangjun, and 10,000 in Shangdang. It is estimated that these troops will have to enter Handan through Shangdang, or they will have to set foot on the long mountain road. Wang Ji thought a little bitterly. If another 100,000 people come, will this war be ended? The way to end the war should still be in diplomacy! It is impossible to achieve decisive results by relying on this kind of refueling of troops!

After Pi Juan was appointed as the party guard, the new Hedong lieutenant was not familiar with the situation in Hedong, and Hedong Shou Wang Ji and Hedong Cheng Zheng Anping assumed the main administrative responsibility. After receiving the conscription order, Wang Ji gathered all the prisoners in Hedong to the edge of Fencheng, and the grain that had been harvested in Hedong was also made into fried millet in many counties, loaded into baskets, and prepared to be transported to the front line with the troops.

Sima Jin also came to Hedong with his own pro-battalion to establish a headquarters, and Bai Qi's pro-battalion soldiers also arrived in Hedong on their front and back feet. With Sima Jin's personal participation, Bai Qi's pro-battalion soldiers were appointed as officers of the 20,000 Hedong prisoners. The population of Hedong has a complex source, including the remnants of the old Wei State and the Qin sinners who migrated over; The Koreans of the former Pingyang, after losing contact with their homeland for many years, became Qin people for no apparent reason, violated Qin laws, and were also punished, and they were still inexplicable; Most of the residents of Nam Duong in Hanoi are from the Sanjin Dynasty, mainly merchants and craftsmen. Comparatively speaking, the Qin people who migrated over were more able to abide by the Qin law, and the proportion of prisoners was smaller, and most of the prisoners were Jin. Of the 20,000 men, only 2,500 commanders were obviously insufficient, and more than 1,000 men were drawn from the knights of Hedong to enrich the ranks.

At the end of October, Sima Jin reported that the troops in Hedong had been reorganized. Immediately the Xianyang direction sent instructions: due to the urgency of the battle in Handan, the Hedong Army did not have to wait for the follow-up troops to arrive, that is, the captain Zheng Anping was ordered to be the general, and he went to Handan first, and all of them were under the control of Wang Yi! Zheng Anping divided the 20,000 people into three divisions: 5,000 people in the front were the forwards, 5,000 people in the rear were the rearguards, all of them were combat troops, and the 10,000 people in the middle were pulling the fried millet from the livestock requisitioned from the counties in Hedong, and set foot on the Taihang Mountain Road from the shore of Fenshui. Due to the large number of livestock pulled and the large number of fried millet loaded, it took Zheng Anping and his entourage nearly a month to reach Shangdang.

Half of the people of Shangdang Yi went to Handan. Due to the lack of labor, the entire territory of Shangdang was barren, and the grain harvest was very poor. In addition, due to the shortage of women, the production of fried millet is far from satisfying the demand.

In the past year, Li Bing, the captain of the party, did not know how many people had between the party and Handan, first supporting Wang Ling, and later supporting Wang Di. He led a convoy of 10,000 transports countless baggage to the front line. After Zheng Anping arrived with his army, he met with Pi Juan and Li Bing. They have worked together in Hedong and are old colleagues, so they are naturally embarrassed to see each other today.

Pi Wan tried his best to balance the two tasks of supporting Handan's war and the party's production, but it seemed that neither was difficult. Xianyang once again recruited 10,000 soldiers from the Shangdang, but where could the Shangdang still have 10,000 soldiers to recruit? In the end, Zheng Anping said: "The 10,000 soldiers led by the party captain are also levies!" So Zheng Anping handed over the livestock to Li Bing and asked him to transport them to the front. He left his troops in Shangdang to rest, and he went down the mountain to Handan with Li Bing, reported to Wang Di, and asked for combat missions.

Ten days later, Li Bing and Zheng Anping sent fried millet to Wu'an, and the morale of the Qin army was greatly boosted, and the voices of long live were everywhere, attracting the Zhao army in Wu'an City to also look and see, and realized that it should be the reinforcements of the Qin army. The city of Wu'an is on the verge of running out of food. Because Li Chong saw the opportunity early, relying on the tacit understanding of mutual non-aggression with the Qin army, he implemented the system of one solar eclipse as early as a few months ago, and women and children even only had a half-solar eclipse. Since there is no combat mission, even if there is a solar eclipse, it can barely support it.

As the autumn harvest gradually passed and the cold winter came, Li Chong's heart was also sad. Originally, Handan was close at hand, and he deserved a better supply; But the fact is that the reinforcements of the Qin army are coming, and the Zhao army must also worry about their own food. After nearly a year of fighting, Handan not only did not produce new grain, but the stored grain had already been eaten up, and even wild vegetables had to be dug up! Even if all the Qin troops are annihilated under Handan City, how will they live next year?

Li Chong shook his head bitterly, thinking, this is all the fault caused by those short-sighted and negative people who bewitched King Zhao. If you negotiate peace with Qin Jun as soon as possible, even if you give him six cities, it will be better than abolishing Handan! Handan is the foundation of the Zhao State, it is rotten at all, how good can those branches and leaves be? Pruning in time to save the capital, they don't understand such a basic truth!

That night, Li Chong sent an envoy to the city to report the news of the arrival of Qin reinforcements in Wu'an.

Zheng Anping visited Wang Di overnight and reported to him that the fried millet in Hedong had arrived, and that 20,000 reinforcements from Hedong were now stationed in Shangdang, and asked Wang Di to instruct him how his troops should be used. Wang Yi said: "Wu'an, Handan's essentials, and the foundation of our army." If you can protect Wu'an, the party will be unharmed, and Handan will be restless. The land of Wu'an is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and if it is important, it will not be able to enter. May the general lead 20,000 troops, but guard the mouth of Wu'an, respond inside and outside, and do not order to be cut off. The five doctors are here, but they will attack Wu'an and besiege Handan! So Zheng Anping returned to the mouth of the Wu'an Valley and surveyed the terrain in detail. After Li Bing distributed the fried millet to the armies under Handan City, he returned to Shangdang with Li Bing and led reinforcements to hold Gukou.

At the same time that Zheng Anping arrived at the city of Handan, a guest also came to the royal city of Handan. He was personally brought by Ye Ling, and his name was Aragaki Yan. Ye Ling said that Aragaki Yan was the general of Wei, and the king of Wei sent an envoy to Handan. Due to the frequent infestations of the Qin army outside Handan City, Ye Ling and Aragaki Yan both came lightly in micro-suits.

Wei Jun is in Yecheng, and this person has Ye Ling's introduction, which is naturally true. Hearing that the Wei State had sent a general, Pingyuan Jun immediately summoned him. I thought it was a plan to bring the Wei army to march, but I didn't expect that Aragaki Yan actually came to bring a message to the king of Qin: "Qin Yi and Zhao are not on good terms, so the king of Yiyi is destined to do so." In the past, Qin and Qi fought for the emperor, and they have returned to the emperor; Today, Qi is weak, but Qin is the only one in the world. Qin so besieged Zhao, not necessarily greedy for Handan, and wanted to seek to be the emperor. Zhao Cheng sent an envoy to respect the king of Qin as the emperor, and Qin Bixi was overjoyed and went to the army. ”

Hearing that the King of Qin proposed a new peace proposal, there was no need for the Zhao State to cede the land, but to respect the King of Qin as the emperor, Pingyuan Jun immediately came to see the King of Zhao and informed him of the matter. Pingyang Jun was overjoyed when he heard this, and said: "Things are harmonious! This must be difficult to support, but cover up the ears with lies! In response, the soldiers will retreat, and Handan's predicament will be solved! With Qin as the emperor, why is it difficult! ”

King Zhao said: "I will also discuss it with the ministers!" ”

In the early morning of the next day, Pingyuan Jun brought up the matter, and the King of Qin had already given up the proposal to let Zhao Xiancheng, as long as Zhao respected the King of Qin as the emperor, the Qin State could withdraw its troops!

As soon as Zhao Chen heard that he could make peace with Qin Yuan without sacrificing the city, he seconded the proposal and agreed. Although a few people proposed, "Serve Qin as the emperor, and cover the humiliation of Zhao!" But more voices retorted: "In the past, Goujian used to serve the king of Wu and dominate the world, but he thought he was the emperor!" ”

For several days, the ministers were divided, but the opinion in favor of peace seemed to be in the majority. Pingyang Jun strongly advocated agreeing to the request of the King of Qin and making peace. If it weren't for the fact that there was no Qin envoy in Handan City, Pingyang Jun couldn't wait to swear an oath immediately! But King Zhao seemed to be unwilling and kept silent.