General Qin

Xianyang City, Zuo Gengren Xiao's house.

"Well, I wrote to Brother Tu last time, trying to comfort him, but he didn't reply to me. He was probably annoyed with me."

Ren Xiao raised his glass and took a sip of wine, and said helplessly: "Brother Tu, once he determines what the matter is, he won't be able to pull back ten cows. I advise Brother Zhao not to send him any more letters. Firstly, it is of no use, and secondly, it will only make Brother Tu angry. When he finishes defeating Baiyue and has made great achievements, and is happy when he comes back, the previous matter may be over."

Hearing this, Zhao Tuo's bright eyes dimmed slightly.

He was very grateful to Tu Sui.

In the battle to destroy Wei, Zhao Tuo led his army to pursue Wei Bao and Zhou Shi, and defeated the Wei army at the foot of Xingyang City, which was a great achievement. As a result, he was hated by his superior Huan Zhao, who humiliated and bullied him. At that time, it was Ren Xiao and Tu Sui who stood up and defended Zhao Tuo.

Especially Tu Sui, with the suppression of his title, Huan Zhao could only swallow his anger and did not dare to do anything to Zhao Tuo.

Tu Sui admired Zhao Tuo's resourcefulness and courage, and invited him to a banquet in Xingyang City. He did not take pride in his age or title, but treated Zhao Tuo as a brother, acting like a loyal elder brother.

He even later personally wrote the military report of the Battle of Xingyang and gave it to Wang Bi to show his merit for Zhao Tuo. Afterwards, Wang Ben promoted Zhao Tuo to a military rank, which included the contribution of slaughtering Sui.

Zhao Tuo likes such a brother-like figure very much. He and Tu Sui have always had a good relationship.

Who knew that the two would have a disagreement over the conquest of Baiyue, and eventually become estranged from each other.

"At that time, if Brother Tu led an army of 500,000 to conquer Baiyue, he would be repeating history. He would surely lose his troops in southern Xinjiang. Not only would his life be difficult to save, but he would also drag Qin into a quagmire of war that would be difficult to break out of. I opposed it at the time. Saving him also saves Qin."

Zhao Tuo felt a little uncomfortable.

He wanted to explain to Tu Sui after the court meeting, but Tu Sui became angry and not only left quickly, but also refused Zhao Tuo's visits many times afterwards.

Zhao Tuo didn't even reply to the letter he wrote to him, as if he wanted to sever contact with him.

This severance lasted for five years.

Now Tu Sui, as the governor of Changsha, was appointed by the emperor as the deputy general in the expedition against Yue, assisting Feng Wuze in the attack on Baiyue.

Zhao Tuo couldn't help but feel worried when he thought about it.

Because the land of Baiyue is where Tu Sui died.

Even though most of history has been changed by Zhao Tuo, whether it is the generals, military strength or time, it is very different from the original history, but people's character cannot be changed, and it is easy to make the same choices on some issues.

That's why he came to Ren Xiao's house for discussion.

Ren Xiao understood Tu Sui's character and advised him to ignore the matter.

After all, Zhao Tuo couldn't let go. After returning to his mansion, he decided to write a final letter to Tu Sui.

In order to prevent Tu Sui from resisting, Zhao Tuo no longer talked about the difficulties of conquering Baiyue in his letter, but deliberately flattered Tu Sui, and then mixed in some practical suggestions, hoping to help Tu Sui win this war better.

After the letter was sent, Zhao Tuo felt a little tired. He sat on the couch and looked at the sky outside the window.

It was gloomy, as if it was going to rain.

After the emperor decided on the candidates for the generals and the number of troops to conquer Baiyue at the court meeting.

The entire Qin State is like a machine, running efficiently and quickly.

The Taiwei Mansion is responsible for coordinating the troops, deciding the proportion of troops recruited in each county, and deploying various strategic matters.

Zhao Tuo's Shaofu temporarily stopped some unimportant projects, concentrated all efforts, and began to produce more soldiers and armors to be used as substitutes.

To govern Su Neishi Mansion, you need to transport grain and prepare rations for an army of 200,000.

…

All departments are cooperating with each other to prepare for this war.

The official dispatch of troops was scheduled for the end of autumn.

On the one hand, the recruitment of troops must be done after spring plowing, so as not to delay the spring plowing event and ensure that subsequent military rations are available. At the same time, it will also take a certain amount of time to gather soldiers from each county and deploy them to the corresponding places.

The second is to consider that the terrain in the south is mostly jungle and mountainous, and the climate is hot and humid.

According to the people of Yue who surrendered to Dongou, there is no spring, summer, autumn and winter in Yue, but a dry season and a rainy season. The rainy season is not suitable for fighting. If a large army enters, it will be easily wiped out. Therefore, choosing to enter after autumn, that is, during the dry season, can reduce many problems.

When Zhao Tuo inspected the workshops of the Shaofu and watched the craftsmen working hard to pull the bellows and forge the red-hot iron into various weapons, he couldn't help but sigh: "The national strength accumulated with great difficulty is going to waste again. .”

As Zhao Tuo said, the reason why the First Emperor's expedition to Baiyue was unanimously approved by the court was that even Zhao Tuo and the war-weary Prince Fusu did not object.

Except that the Yue people started the war first.

What's more important is that in the 30th year of Qin Shihuang, there were no new wars or major construction projects in the entire Qin Dynasty. Military service and corvee were not heavy. The people of the world rested for a whole year, and the people's power recovered slightly.

As for the national treasury, there is also a lot of food piled up for consumption in a war.

Compared with the Qin Dynasty in the same period in history, the Qin Dynasty in this time and space started several new wars due to Zhao Tuo's participation, but the actual national power was still stronger than in the original history.

The reason is that the retting method and the curved-turn plow developed by Zhao Tuo many years ago have improved the agricultural production efficiency and grain output of this era. After the unification of the Qin State, they were extended to the whole world, allowing the Qin State to harvest more grain every year. The amount is huge.

It was only because there had been too many wars in the past, and wars on all sides, that Qin's food supply was somewhat unable to hold on.

After a whole year's rest last year, the empire was given a serious boost of blood. In addition, two armies returned this year, bringing back many young men. The recruitment is after the spring plowing, so it will not delay the plowing. I think this year will be a bumper harvest.

In the past, the Qin State relied on Guanzhong and Bashu to continuously go to the east to fight against the six kingdoms, and there was no need to worry about food shortages.

Now there is the entire Jiuzhou world as a production area. After two years of accumulation, it is enough to support a large-scale Baiyue War.

This was probably the reason why the First Emperor launched this war.

I have money.

I have food.

I still have countless armies.

Baiyue, why can't we fight!

This war is inevitable and no one can stop it.

However, the start of this war woke Zhao Tuo out of his enthusiasm for invention.

Technology cannot save Da Qin!

At least the technology that Zhao Tuo can come up with now is not enough to change it.

The increase in food income, the improvement of metal smelting technology, and the emergence of various good things that are beneficial to a powerful country will not only fail to prevent wars, but will also give the First Emperor and the entire Qin generals the confidence to launch wars.

After defeating Baiyue, there will be no new strong enemies around. Perhaps cultivating immortals can curb the First Emperor's desire to fight.

But what about the generals of Qin?

Maybe he would even take the initiative to encourage the emperor to get himself poisoned.

Zhao Tuo closed his eyes.

The image of Qiang Yu spitting in the court hall, dancing and shouting that he wanted to personally lead the troops and wipe out Baiyue appeared in his mind. As well as Xin Sheng, Bai Meng and other veterans all agreed and echoed the gesture.

Even Tu Sui, the reason why he always wanted to attack Baiyue was because of his meritorious service and promotion.

Zhao Tuo thought again of the heroic words he said in front of the First Emperor when he first entered the Qin Kingdom.

A real man lives in the world, and when he is alive, he will be a marquis, and when he dies, he will be the food of the temple.

"It's an ascending passage!"

Zhao Tuo opened his eyes and already grasped the core of the problem.

"Shang Yang's military merit title system tied the entire Qin State to the chariot of constantly waging war. Only through constant battles can the generals' disciples be promoted to titles and meritorious service, and the Guizhou leaders at the bottom have the opportunity to climb up. This is the Qin State's So the core reason for being able to annex the six countries."

"But now that the world has been unified, the shape of the country is different. It must transform from a country that advocates military merit to a country ruled by civilized people. It is difficult to stop the chariot of Qin that has been running for hundreds of years."

Thinking of this, Zhao Tuo felt his head hurt.

To change this situation, we must first create a new upward channel.

Something immediately appeared in his mind.

"Imperial examination?"

Zhao Tuo shook his head again.

It seems unrealistic for the Qin Dynasty to conduct imperial examinations.