General Qin

When Zhao Tuo walked out of the hall, it was already dark.

There are stars all over the sky, and a half crescent moon stretches across the sky.

But the moonlight tonight seems a little hazy.

He turned around and saw the figure kneeling in front of the case slowly getting up.

The candlelight flickered, and as the light and shadow swayed, the emperor's movements seemed a bit bloated and slow.

It is now the thirty-second year of Qin Shi Huang.

The emperor is forty-four years old.

The once tall and straight body, after half a lifetime of hard work, has become increasingly tired and slightly stooped.

The sequelae of the injury to Peng Cheng's vertebra caused every movement he made to reveal a slight disharmony in his limbs.

In the past few years of cultivating life, the lack of exercise is reflected in the fat around the waist and abdomen.

"Time is not forgiving."

"No matter how wise or wise you are, one day you will grow old."

Zhao Tuo sighed softly in his heart, somewhat understanding why many kings would pursue the illusory way of immortality once they get older.

Then, he thought about the conversation with the emperor just now.

"My southern border needs you."

With a cold and tense expression, he spoke something like a request.

This was the first time that the First Emperor had lowered his posture so low in front of Zhao Tuo.

Zhao Tuo was not only not moved, but also horrified.

The king lowered his profile and invited his ministers to go to war.

This is not the first time such a scene has appeared in Qin.

Just what he knew, there were two times.

The first time was more than 40 years ago, when King Zhaoxiang of Qin sent Qin General Wang Ling to attack Handan of Zhao State. As a result, he was defeated by the Zhao army. The Qin army lost five captains and tens of thousands of casualties.

Faced with the defeat, King Qin Zhaoxiang wanted Bai Qi, Lord Wu'an, to go to Handan to preside over important events so that Qin could turn defeat into victory. Unexpectedly, Bai Qi refused on the grounds that Handan was not easy to attack and the princes were about to rescue him.

The King of Qin had no choice but to let Wang Ling replace Wang Ling as a general and go to Zhao to take charge of the affairs. As a result, he was defeated by the coalition forces of the princes. The King of Qin was furious and tried to force Lord Wu An, but Bai Qi refused.

The King of Qin sent Yinghou Fan Ju to invite him, but Bai Qi declined again, claiming that he was seriously ill.

Please once, please twice, please three times...

In the end, Du You gave him the sword, and a generation of famous generals died with hatred.

Compared with the fate of Wu'an Jun Bai Qi, Wucheng Hou Wang Jian's choice was much wiser.

At that time, Li Xin was defeated and Qin Wangzheng came to Pinyang in person to invite him. Wang Jian, like Bai Qi, declined first because of illness.

Qin Wangzheng said directly: It's over, general, don't say anything more.

Wang Jian was so frightened that he quickly agreed, and then obediently led his troops on the expedition. In the end, he retired with great success and died in his hometown.

Now Zhao Tuo is facing the same situation.

Feng Wuze and Tu Suizheng were greatly defeated, losing tens of thousands of troops and horses, and Changsha and Dongou were even threatened by the Yue people.

In such a critical situation, the First Emperor summoned Zhao Tuo and said, "Southern Xinjiang needs you."

This is the lowest gesture a king and father-in-law can make towards his ministers and son-in-law.

Agree, it’s Wang Jian.

Rejection is nothing.

Zhao Tuo couldn't be stupid when it came to choosing one of the two options, so he agreed on the spot.

Upon hearing the satisfactory answer, the Emperor's cold face relaxed and a smile appeared on his lips.

As a master of the art of war, Zhao Tuo decided to use this opportunity to gain more benefits for himself, knowing that he could not change the situation at hand.

Just like when Wang Jian led his troops on an expedition, he kept asking the king for land, which not only appeased the king, but also made profits.

As a junior brought out by Wang Jian, Zhao Tuo also inherited this advantage.

After decisively agreeing to the emperor's request for an expedition, he took the opportunity to put forward several conditions of his own.

The result was just as he thought.

The First Emperor only wanted Zhao Tuo to march to the south, and if he agreed to this matter, everything else was a small problem.

The first point Zhao Tuo put forward was that Baiyue was difficult to fight, and a fight might be protracted. He hoped that the emperor would not push him in this war and allow him to do what he wanted freely.

The First Emperor was very anxious in his expedition to Vietnam, especially after the defeat, he was eager to avenge his humiliation. Zhao Tuo was afraid that the war would be complicated, and if he had not conquered Yue territory for several years, the First Emperor would be unable to bear it and issue an edict to urge him, or even carry out micro-management intervention.

This was exactly a taboo in military warfare, so he had to make it clear in advance.

The First Emperor pondered for a moment, then nodded and said: "In matters of military warfare, you are a good general, and the battles on the front line will be done as you say. I will not rush you."

Zhao Tuo's second condition was that he hoped that the emperor would pay attention to the engineering and agricultural studies that he had been instigating for more than a year, and not to neglect or ignore them after he left.

He also described to the emperor in detail the benefits of these two schools once they were successfully popularized.

"This is a good thing that will benefit our country, Qin, and I should take it seriously."

The First Emperor made the promise, and Zhao Tuo took advantage of the situation and proposed the establishment of a medical school.

With the two schools of engineering and agriculture at the beginning, and the example of Feng Wuze, the First Emperor readily agreed to this, and promised on the spot that he would imitate the two schools and study medicine in the future, and appointed the imperial physician Xia Wuqie to be in charge. .

Zhao Tuo was very satisfied with this.

After business, he hesitated and made a personal request to the emperor, and got the emperor's promise.

"The emperor has promised me. In this way, Xianyang will have nothing to worry about, and I can go on the expedition with peace of mind."

Zhao Tuo withdrew his gaze and thought of the promise made to him by the First Emperor. The stone hanging in my heart finally fell down, and even my walking steps became much lighter.

…

In the palace, Qin Shihuang stood up from his desk and moved slightly to relieve the fatigue and fatigue of sitting for a long time.

His eyes were fixed on the retreating figure outside the hall, and a smile spread at the corner of his mouth.

"Zhao Gao, what do you mean by the martial arts prince asking me at the end to stop patrolling the world?"

After hearing the emperor's words, Zhao Gao raised his eyebrows.

The emperor is showing off to himself.

Zhao Gao saw through it without saying anything, and said with a smile on his face: "The Marquis of Wu Gong naturally loves and protects Your Majesty with all his heart. He was worried that Zhang Liang and other thieves had not been eliminated, and that there would be another disturbance when Your Majesty visited the world, so he expressed his concern to Your Majesty. Please. I just hope that your majesty will sit in Xianyang and rule the world. In this way, the martial arts prince can be on the front line and fight for our great Qin with peace of mind."

Zhao Gao said this, and in his heart he very much agreed with Marquis Wugong's suggestion.

It's so safe to stay in Xianyang. It would be terrible if something unexpected happened again when we went out.

The last Pengcheng spine attack left a great psychological shadow on Zhao Gao. He wished that the emperor could stay in the palace all his life and never go anywhere.

The First Emperor nodded and said: "Yes, Zhao Tuo has the intention to protect me. In the past, when I asked Wang Jian to attack Chu, he took the opportunity to ask for money, property and house, for fear that I would not meet his needs. But now Zhao Tuo goes out to fight, and he wants nothing more from me. Official affairs and battles are all about keeping my safety in mind."

"This son is a good minister and a good son-in-law."

…

The urgent military situation from Fujian and Yue was spread throughout the mansions of Taiwei, Prime Minister and others that night, and all officials knew that things were about to change drastically.

Sure enough, the next day, the First Emperor held a meeting to discuss the situation in Vietnam.

"The Yue people defeated our army through deceit, and now they are inciting the Yue people in Changsha to plot rebellion and attack our vassal state of Dong'ou, violating our great power of Qin."

"I will send a general to kill him!"

At the court meeting, the First Emperor appointed Zhao Tuo as general on the spot, and he was to go south in three days to command the Qin army in Changsha and Lujiang.

At the same time, the Taiwei Mansion will begin to urgently recruit soldiers and transfer grain, which will arrive in the south around this year's autumn harvest.

The battle to conquer Vietnam will begin again!