Chapter 1144: Carrying on the Past and Opening up the Future (Thirty-Four)

"Lord Yizheng, today I went to visit the Master of Chu Domestic History again, but he still told me that Huang Shoufu is too busy, and the negotiation with Yizheng will probably drag on for two days!" Huo Xiaolin, the Minister of Rites who followed Wu Qi this time, groaned angrily. He sat down and banged the table, "They are using such tactics just to delay time. If this continues, how many people will be left in the New First Army?"

Wu Qi looked at him calmly, "Are you so angry? Come on, drink a cup of tea to calm down the anger and calm down." Wu Qi pushed a cup of tea in front of Huo Xiaolin.

"How can you be so indifferent about discussing politics? Every day you delay, many people in the New First Army will die!" Huo Xiaolin said anxiously.

"Or, the more eager you appear, the more the other party will drag it on until we can't stand it anymore." Wu Qi said, "Xiao Lin, I advised you not to be anxious, but you don't believe me. Now you've hit a wall, right?"

Huo Xiaolin suddenly lost his temper, picked up the cup, and drank it all in one gulp, "But I'm anxious!"

"If you are anxious, you can't show it on face." Wu Qi smiled: "The king had already estimated this situation when he came, so Jicheng will have some measures to deal with it. Before Jicheng's reaction arrives here, Let’s not act rashly.”

"By the time the news of Jicheng reaches here, the day lilies will be cold." Huo Xiaolin knocked on the table, "You have also seen the miserable situation of the New First Army."

"That's why I forced Qu Wan to provide them with food and medicine."

"How can a thousand kilograms of rice a day and a team of tens of thousands of people help?"

"As long as it lasts!" Wu Qi breathed out, "Add some wild vegetables, tree bark, and the New First Army also has a lot of mules and horses. It won't be a problem to support it for a while. Now that we are not fighting, the consumption will be correspondingly less. A lot. Besides, with the promotion of the Overwatch Council, the news will be delivered very quickly."

"What measures did the king take to discuss politics?" Huo Xiaolin asked curiously.

Wu Qi smiled and said, "The Young Guards Corps has begun to mobilize. If my guess is correct, the vanguard of the Guards Corps has already set off."

"Fight?" Huo Xiaolin was surprised, "Didn't we set the tone and negotiate to resolve it?"

Wu Qi laughed loudly: "Xiao Lin, you are the Minister of Rites, and diplomacy is your responsibility. Mr. Xun is getting older, and he is focused on popularizing education. This diplomacy More and more matters above will depend on you. You have to remember that a weak country has no diplomacy. Diplomacy must be based on a strong military. The Chu people want to delay it in order to increase the price, so we There must be tit-for-tat confrontation. If you don't want to talk, then start fighting. If we pay the price of the new army, then the Chu people will have to pay ten times the price to repay."

Huo Xiaolin nodded, "Dealing with politics, what should we do next?"

Wu Qi picked up the tea cup, took a sip gently, and said with a smile: "It is rare to have the opportunity to appreciate the scenery in the south of the Yangtze River. Since we are here, we can't miss it. I heard that there is a Yuanzi place in Yingcheng that is famous all over the world. What is it called? Garden, let’s go and enjoy it tomorrow.”

"This is really a joy out of hardship! If the domestic congressmen know that we are here to negotiate, but we are drinking flower wine in the garden, I am afraid there will be a huge quarrel!" Huo Xiaolin said with a bitter smile.

"Letting them make noise will really turn the world upside down. As long as we can do the job well, we will be heroes when we go back." Wu Qi said. "Okay, today we will visit the dignitaries of Ying City again and give them gifts. Tomorrow, we will go to the garden and drink flower wine."

Huang Xie has been very busy these days. After the Battle of Pengcheng and the Maowei incident, the Qin-Chu alliance was officially established. Both countries fully realized that it was difficult to withstand the Han army with the strength of one country alone, so they united It is an inevitable choice. Of course, there is countless work to be done. In addition to this, Huang Xie must also keep an eye on the explosives workshop that will be built in Suizhou. This is to prevent the Han or Qin people from being better than the previous ones. Necessary actions, if both of them have this thing, and the Chu people are left behind, Huang Xie can think of the outcome with his ass. Third, hundreds of thousands of troops surrounded the new army in Pengcheng , the daily food, drink and chewing of these troops is not a small amount, and the deployment of logistics and supplies is also something that he must manage.

As usual, King Huai of Chu did not care about things. He only asked about the results. Taiwei Quzhong focused his energy on the whole army. The Chu army had been comfortable for a long time and could not withstand the test of a big war. This time in the Battle of Suizhou, Although the high-level officials of both sides knew it tacitly, the generals and soldiers below were completely unaware of it. This was also to deceive the Han people. Once a fake fight was made, it would be easy for people to see the flaws. This battle is known as the border of the elite of Chu State. The troops clashed with the Qin people and were completely defeated in just a few days. Huang Xie and Qu Zhong were shocked. They originally thought that this would be a long-lasting battle, but they did not expect that Zhou Yu would fight in just a short period of time. He defeated his own army within a few days.

Qu Zhong devoted almost all his energy to the training of the army, and Huang Xie naturally took on all the rest.

He raised his head from the mountains of papers piled up on his desk, stretched out his hands to rub his temples, and patted his cheeks to make himself appear more awake.

"Chief Assistant, General Zhao Shucheng has asked to see you. He has been waiting outside for half an hour." The waiter beside him whispered.

"General Zhao is here, why didn't you tell me?" Huang Xie snorted coldly, "Please invite General Zhao in quickly."

"yes!"

The door opened and Zhao Shucheng stepped in. Huang Xie stood up from behind the case and said, "General Zhao, you are really negligent. This is because the people below are ignorant."

Zhao Shucheng said with a smile: "The first assistant is too polite. The first assistant has many things to do every day. It doesn't matter if Shu Cheng waits for a while. I came today mainly because I am a little confused about a few things, so I came to discuss with the first assistant."

"Oh? If General Zhao can come in person, I'm afraid it's not a big deal." Huang Xie raised his eyebrows. "General Zhao, please sit down, come and serve tea!"

"Chief Assistant, it has been three days since Wu Qi arrived in Yingcheng. His deputy, the Minister of Rites, Huo Xiaolin, was impatient. He ran to the Nei Shi several times a day, eager to start negotiations with us, but Wu Qi was an old god. You don't seem to be in a hurry, I'm afraid there's something fishy here."

"What's the trick?" Huang Xie said with a smile: "Wu Qi is an old fox. He has been in power in Wei for many years. He naturally knows that haste makes waste. He wants us to think that he will not fight at all, and Han will not fight at all. But his deputy revealed his intentions! Ignore him and leave him alone for two more days."

"Chief Assistant, I thought so at first, but today I received an urgent report, and I felt a little uneasy, so I made this trip." An uneasy look flashed across Zhao Shucheng's face.

"whats the matter?"

"The Han Kingdom is undergoing a large-scale mobilization. The Young Guards Corps has assembled. Its vanguard has left Jicheng and is heading towards Pengcheng. The leading general is Guo Laowen, the chief assistant of the Young Guards Corps. This is a whole An army with as many as 20,000 cavalry troops can reach Pengcheng in less than ten days if they march at full strength," Zhao Shucheng said.

"What did you say?" Huang Xie stood up suddenly, "Did the Young Guards move?"

"Yes, the entire four armies of the Young Guards are an army of more than 100,000 people. If they go south with all their strength, there will probably be a war between Han and Chu that will affect the fate of the country. I am now worried about Wu Qi and Huo Xiaolin. People team up with each other just to confuse us. We want to cool them down and wait for a while, but we don’t know if they think the same way?"

"They don't want the New First Army, which has tens of thousands of troops!" Huang Xie said angrily.

"Master Chief Assistant, do you think Gao Yuan will care about these tens of thousands of troops?" Zhao Shucheng took a deep breath, "Even if we order an immediate attack now, with the combat effectiveness of the New First Army, we can still fight with us. For several days, it will be difficult for our troops in Pengcheng to leave the battlefield quickly. Once they are stuck by the enemy, it will be terrible. More importantly, the country is not ready for a national war! This You also saw the Battle of Suizhou. Our so-called elite border guards had little room to fight back under Zhou Yu's attack. Unlike the Han and Qin armies who have been fighting for years, we have been at ease for too long."

Huang Xie stood up a little distractedly and paced back and forth in the room. Yes, what Zhao Shucheng said makes sense. Does Gao Yuan definitely care about the tens of thousands of people in the New First Army? It was him who sacrificed his life in Suizhou. Didn't the soldiers there not even blink? In order to achieve larger strategic goals, the soldiers who died were just numbers on the account books.

"Sir, the Young Guards Corps is the most capable force in the Han Dynasty. It has two cavalry corps and a cavalry force of up to 40,000 people! We cannot be careless."

"Do the people of Qin know the news?"

"Zhongli has been gone for two days. Now I wonder if they got some information, so they can run faster than a rabbit. Chief Assistant, if we fight, can we really expect the Qin people to help us? They can only I’m afraid you’ll be looking at it with a smile on your face!” Zhao Shucheng said.

Huang Xie walked around the room upset. "What did Qu Taiwei say?"

"Qu Taiwei said that our army is not ready to fight a big war now, not only psychologically, but also militarily. This cannot be compared with Han Dynasty. We will need at least a year to fight. Make preparations," Zhao Shucheng said.

"One year!" Huang Xie took a deep breath. It is extremely difficult to guess the mind of the young king of Han Dynasty. Since he raised his army, he has been invincible in every battle and invincible. Within ten years, he became the king of a country. Such a person must be extremely conceited. This defeat in Pengcheng was his first real defeat. It cannot be ruled out that this person launched a conspiracy just to save face. A big battle to regain his lost title of Undefeated God of War.

Thinking of this, he turned around and said to the waiter behind him: "Tell the internal history immediately to arrange for me to meet Wu Qi." (To be continued)