Chapter 1103: Success in the East and Success in the West (Ninety-Six)
A shocking loud noise in Kangping City not only shattered the hundreds of meters of walls and the will to fight in Kangping City, but to a greater extent, it also resounded in the hearts of all the people in power in the two remaining countries on this continent. Suddenly, rumors spread all over the sky, and the most common rumor was that the king of the Han Dynasty, Gao Yuan, was favored by heaven. Therefore, when the Han army faced the impregnable defense of Kangping City, heaven sent divine punishment and shocked the sky. The city wall of Kangping City was knocked down, allowing the Han army to break through the hundreds of kilometers of chain defense carefully built by Qu Zhong, the Taiwei of Chu State.
As soon as Kangping City was broken, the central link of the chain defense suddenly ceased to exist. The originally elastic chain defense instantly turned into a stiff dead snake, being beaten everywhere. The Nanye commanded by Meng Chong drove straight into the center, and Bai Yucheng On the left, Zhang Hongyu on the right, smashed this defense line of hundreds of kilometers to pieces. Nearly 100,000 Chu troops were defeated and retreated all the way to the Daba Mountains. Taking advantage of the steep terrain here, they regained a foothold, but By this time, they had lost thousands of square kilometers of land.
The Chu State was located in the south, with a vast territory of nearly one million square kilometers. When the Qin State was defeated by the Han State in a row and its vitality was greatly weakened, they seemed to be the only big country that could compete with the Han State, but this time they faced a head-on collision. , still ended with Chu State's defeat. The loss of thousands of square kilometers of land would not make Chu State lose its vitality, but it would greatly damage Chu State's self-confidence.
That loud noise made the entire Chu country lose their minds. The hot weapon was used in the war for the first time, and it played a huge role that even Gao Yuan had not thought of, not only in the war, but also in the spirit. .
When no one understood the cause of the loud noise, more people attributed it to heaven's punishment, thinking that God was punishing the Chu State. This understanding made the entire Chu State not strong in the first place. His fighting spirit suddenly dropped several notches. The voice of negotiating peace with Han suddenly resounded throughout the Chu State.
Although it is the season of crisp autumn and sunny weather in Ying, the capital of Chu State, the whole city is mired in gloomy clouds. The whole city seems to be filled with a dead air, not only the Chu State's court, but also the Chu State's common people.
The detailed story of the defeat of Kangping City has been spread throughout the city. Discussions of heavenly punishment are spread in every corner. Everyone speaks carefully. Everyone is thinking that if one day, this kind of heavenly punishment falls on Yingcheng, What will be the result? Is Yingcheng capable of withstanding such a natural punishment?
"What kind of heavenly punishment!" Qu Zhong was furious, "Those who spread such remarks should be immediately arrested and thrown into prison to disrupt the morale of our military and our people."
"How to arrest?" Huang Xie frowned. Although the two pillars of the Chu State, one civilized and one military, were shocked by the loud noise in Kangping City, they were the first two people to wake up. "I'm afraid there are only ten people in Yingcheng. There are nine people in the country who are spreading this story, and until the truth is revealed, the discussion of heavenly punishment will probably not stop."
If King Huai of Chu is the most leisurely and wealthy king in the world, then Huang Xie and Qu Zhong are undoubtedly the two busiest people in Chu State. When encountering an unreliable king, Chu State still Sitting in the south, it has maintained a deterrent against Qin for decades, so that Qin, which was originally so powerful, did not dare to use troops against Chu. It was also forced to send hundreds of thousands of troops to the Qin-Chu border to prevent Chu from defeating them. A target relies on two ministers, one civil and one military.
After hearing Huang Xie's words, Qu Zhong sighed and sat down dejectedly. As Huang Xie said, until the court did not produce convincing evidence to prove that this was not a punishment from heaven, any excuse would be useless. Persuasive.
"What is the king doing now?" Qu Zhong looked at Huang Xie. In the past few days, Qu Wan and a group of generals were called back to Yingcheng from Daba Mountain. Qu Wan's spirit was almost completely destroyed in this battle. , although he was fine physically, he suffered a huge psychological blow, and it was doubtful whether he could fight in the future. There were other generals like him, who all witnessed that incident in Kangping City. A Huihong explosion. Qu Zhong has been summoning these people these days, trying to learn more details from their personal experiences, but he has no time to pay attention to what King Huai of Chu is doing.
"The king summoned witches to perform magic in the palace!" Huang Xie spread his hands and said with a wry smile. The Chu State is located in the south. A long time ago, witches played a very important role in the country, but with the development of the times, these People have lost their previous status, but I am afraid that with this discussion of divine punishment, these witches will take the opportunity to cause trouble.
Qu Zhong was dumbfounded, "No way, what kind of bullshit heavenly punishment is this? It's clear that the Han Kingdom has come up with some shocking weapon. How can the Han Kingdom stop using this kind of weapon through witchcraft?"
Huang Xie sighed, "The king finally mustered up some ambition, but he suffered such a heavy blow. He always needs some psychological comfort. Just use the method of recruiting witches. In short, it is impossible to interfere with the government."
"Don't underestimate it. I'm going to warn these witches later and not to cause trouble, otherwise my knife will not recognize people." Qu Zhong said with murderous intent.
"That's all, these are just trivial matters. What do you think of the raging peace talks in the court?" Huang Xie asked.
"I'm afraid we can't hold it anymore this time." Qu Zhong sighed, "We can only negotiate for peace temporarily, and then we can discuss it in the long term. I just don't understand why our ministers just can't see it. The Han Kingdom is another Qin State." country, and it is more aggressive than the previous Qin State. The peace negotiation can prevent the Han State from plotting against our great Chu. Now the Qin State has been beaten to the ground by the Han State, and there will no longer be a challenge to the Han State in a short time. Capital, if Gao Yuan’s next target is not us, then I will write the name upside down.”
"Da Chu has become accustomed to ease over the years. Everyone regards war as a fearful path. But what everyone doesn't understand is that sometimes you can avoid it even if you want to avoid it. If you shrink your head and be a tortoise, you will only be beaten. , Although this defeat of Kangping City scared some people, I think it will eventually wake up some people. If Chu does not rise up, I am afraid that when the Han Dynasty has accumulated enough strength and comes with another army, Da Chu will be in danger of annihilation." Huang Xie said.
"This failure will also be a good opportunity!" Qu Zhong pondered for a moment, "Master Chief Assistant, this time the two of us must cooperate sincerely to rectify the Great Chu Dynasty."
"We have always cooperated very happily. I think you are trying to lure the snake out of its hole this time?" Huang Xie suddenly laughed.
"Those who know me are the chief ministers. If this war led by the two of us fails, someone will inevitably jump out and use the peace negotiation to attack our prestige and thereby increase their own strength. So, let's Let's just sit back and watch them, wait until they are almost done dancing, and then attack them in one fell swoop. Da Chu needs to rise up. We don't need to live comfortably and enjoy ourselves, and guard the disabled. We need people who are motivated and have a sense of crisis to enter the court."
"Then we must first obtain the king's support."
"If you and I work together, you still don't know the king's temper?" Qu Zhong laughed.
Huang Xie said with a smile: "Although the king indulges in pleasure and does not want to make progress, he is not a confused king. He is shrewd in his heart. It is precisely because he knows that we are loyal and capable that he lets us two People control the government, so don’t go too far.”
"I understand, it is precisely because the king is such a person that I dare to take drastic measures." Qu Zhong laughed and said. "Chief Assistant, you and I are both people who have passed the fate of destiny. This time, we have to fight with the King of Han. It would be interesting to compete against a rising star like Gao Yuan."
"The descendants are terrible!" Huang Xie shook his head and said: "In just ten years, this man created an unprecedented miracle. Starting from a small soldier, he created a huge country, swallowing Yan, destroying Qi, and conquering Wei. Han, the Qin State was beaten to a halt, and this time it beat us to the point of despair, and I am afraid there will be no successors."
"Too sharp is not necessarily a good thing. If it is too sharp, it will break easily. His sharp edge will force the other two major powers in the world to join forces to deal with him. If Chu and Qin join forces, how long can Han survive?"
"How easy is it to unite Chu and Qin?" Huang Xie sighed: "Both countries have their own agendas, and it is not easy to cooperate sincerely. Taiwei, after the Han army reached Daba Mountain, they stopped moving forward. In fact, in my opinion Come on, although we are in danger of mountains and rivers in Daba Mountain, it can be said that we are already a group of defeated soldiers. If the Han army attacks in a large scale, it will be difficult to defend or not, but why did they stop again? "
"They also have a lot of domestic problems!" Qu Zhong said: "In a short period of time, Gaoyuan swallowed up the land of Qi, Wei, and South Korea, turning half of Zhao into a vassal. Integration and reorganization is not easy. However, if such high-intensity external military pressure is maintained, the national strength of the Han Dynasty may not be able to bear it, and the king keeps doing some surprising things, I am afraid there will be a lot of internal pressure."
"Speaking of this, I am very interested. Some information has come from over there in the past two days. Do you know what other things this king has done?"
"I have been paying attention to Kang Pingcheng's affairs during this period, and I have not paid attention to anything else. What else has he done?"
"He established several new yamen, one of which was called the Supreme Court. As the highest judicial body in the country, from top to bottom, the prefectures and counties were called intermediate courts, and the counties were called junior courts. The power of trial was transferred from counties to counties. The middle part was peeled off. That's fine, but there was another thing that shocked me to the extreme. Do you know what it was?"
"First there is the Grand Council, then the Senate. The Grand Council is in charge of legislation and reviewing national policies. Its power can override their political halls. Now it is the Senate that is responsible for hearing and deciding cases. What new tricks does it have?"
"He established a central bank, which will no longer use gold, silver, and copper as currency throughout the Han Dynasty, but will issue banknotes. Now the first batch of banknotes have been released and are being exchanged in Jicheng and Tianhe County. One to one ratio!" Huang Xie stared at Qu Zhong, "Do you know what this means?"
Qu Zhong looked at Huang Xie in confusion.
"This means that Gao Yuan will exchange worthless paper for gold and silver in the hands of ordinary people. This means that he will accumulate astonishing wealth in a very short period of time." Huang Xie said every word.
Qu Zhong's body was shaken, and he leaned forward and looked at Huang Xie, "Gao Yuan is not a stupid person, why did he commit such a self-destructive act?"
"This is exactly what I don't understand." (To be continued)