Returning to the camp and gathering the remaining soldiers, the Qin army lost more than half of its troops after two battles, and there were still many wounded soldiers lying on the ground groaning.
Yanping was ready to accept the rebuke from the king and Lu Buwei. He also broke a record for the Qin State that had been founded for hundreds of years. Two battles in two days lost 100,000 soldiers, and both occurred at night. , they were all defeated by their opponents’ tricks.
Although Meng Ao had no merit in this battle, he had not committed any crime. He was the only relaxed person in the entire camp.
In fact, after Yanping's first battle report was sent to Xianyang, it was detained by Lu Buwei. He did not want his recommended commander-in-chief to lose the battle, thinking that he would win back a victory in a short time, and then he could use the victory report. Instead of failure.
Who would have thought that he would receive the second battle report the next day. Full of joy, he opened the envelope and took a look, and was immediately dumbfounded.
It's not a good news, it's just a news of mourning.
Immediately afterwards, Meng Ao also sent a letter, which described the details of the two defeats in more detail. Although there was no personal emotion in the words, Lu Buwei still learned the main reason for the failure. reason.
The general is incompetent. Facts have proved that he is a guy who only knows how to use troops on paper and rhetoric. Being the leader in military and political debates does not mean that he can win on the battlefield.
Paper could not cover the fire. Lu Buwei had no choice but to report these situations to Ying Zheng and the ministers. The entire Qin State was in an uproar. Everyone was accustomed to winning the battle. Although they were defeated at the hands of Ji Jie in the first two times, they were not the same. It was a small defeat worth mentioning. Everyone subjectively believed that as long as the Qin army opened up its posture and fought with it, the Zhou Dynasty would not be an opponent at all.
But now, it is Da Qin who is not the opponent.
The young man Ying Zheng sat on the throne, and the one sitting next to him was Zhao Ji. She had been participating in the court proceedings as the Queen Mother for a long time.
When Ji Jie issued his first appeal, neither Zhao Ji nor Ying Zheng supported the use of troops against Zhou Dynasty, but the military and political power was not in their hands, so they had to agree in the end.
Upon hearing the news of the Qin army's defeat, Zhao Ji was happy but did not show it on her face, while Ying Zheng looked young and mature, with no expression of joy or anger.
"Our army is defeated, do you ministers have anything to say?" Ying Zheng asked.
A group of ministers looked at each other, and finally their eyes fell on Lu Buwei. They always followed Lu Buwei's lead, so how could they have their own opinions, especially when the policies formulated by Lu Buwei were wrong.
Lu Buwei took a step forward and said: "Our army has suffered a new defeat. The defeat was not because the generals were incompetent and the soldiers were not brave enough, but because Ji Jie was too cunning! After a comprehensive analysis of General Yanping's use of troops, if he had fought against ordinary enemy generals, he would have won a great victory now. , what a pity!”
Of course, Lu Buwei would not admit that he was wrong in front of everyone, and he began to find excuses for himself.
"I suggest increasing troops!" Lu Buwei continued: "The prosperity of the Great Zhou Dynasty has seriously threatened the stability of the Qin State, and has become an obstacle to the Great Qin's unification of the world, so it must be uprooted! Otherwise, not only will the great cause of unification not be completed, There is also the possibility that Ji Jie will destroy the country and destroy the species, please think twice!"
The ministers are accustomed to acting according to the wind. After Lu Buwei finished speaking, they all said loudly: "We agree with Lu Xiangguo's proposal and implore the king to order more troops!"
Ying Zheng hesitated to speak, thought for a few seconds and said: "No one has any objection to the increase of troops. It's just what kind of troops to send, how many troops to reinforce, and who to appoint as the commander-in-chief. These still need time to be discussed carefully. That’s it for today, everyone should go back and think about it, we’ll discuss it another day!”
Ying Zheng did not want to send troops to continue to be the enemy of the Zhou Dynasty, and it seemed inappropriate to refuse directly, so he used the "delay" method.
Zhao Ji was very pleased that he had made such a decision, and added: "What the king said makes sense. Da Qin has been defeated by Ji Jie several times. If it cannot win next time, the morale of the army will definitely drop to the extreme. Fighting , we must win. If we are not 100% sure, we might as well retreat. At least the number of casualties will not continue to increase!"
Before these were confirmed, the Qin army on the front line retreated thirty miles and relied on high walls and deep ditches to defend the border towns. No one was allowed to fight.
…
After Lu Buwei returned home, he went directly to the back garden dungeon, where Sima Jing had been imprisoned for more than ten days.
"Master Xiangguo, I am really unjust..." Sima Jing still said the same old saying. In order to get him to confess, Lu Buwei ordered not to feed him. Now he has been hungry for several days and can only crawl to the prison door to complain. He can't stand at all. Can't get up.
Lu Buwei's eyes flashed with malice and he said: "You said you were wronged, I can believe you for the time being. As long as you can complete the task I assigned, I will let you and your family go! If you can't complete it, Maybe you can escape, but your family will die!"
Sima Jing knew that Lu Buwei had taken control of his family, so he could only nod his head and said: "Even if I die, I will still complete the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister. You tell me, I will go up to the mountain of swords and the sea of fire!"
Lu Buwei squatted down with his nose covered, and whispered a few words to Sima Jing's head.
Judging from Sima Jingqing's gloomy expression, this mission must not be easy.
After speaking, Lu Buwei stood up, looked at him with slightly dull eyes and said, "This is your only chance of survival. I hope you can grasp it firmly. Of course, you can also choose to refuse, but you and your family will never see each other again." It’s time for the sun tomorrow!”
Sima Jing nodded numbly and said: "I will do it!"
"Okay, I will let you go now!" Lu Buwei said with a smile: "Let you have a good meal, take a bath and rest for a day, and set off tomorrow!"
…
In the Zhou army camp, all the soldiers were celebrating their victory happily. They suffered less than 10,000 casualties in exchange for 100,000 enemies being wiped out. One to ten, this battle will become a classic battle and go down in history.
Ji Jie smiled and rejected Ji Jian and Zhao Ling's invitation to drink together, and turned back to the tent to find Sima Xueran.
"Why don't you have a drink with everyone to celebrate?" Sima Xueran asked.
"If I drink every time I win a battle, I think it won't be long before I'm drunk to death!" Ji Jie said with a smile: "We will win more battles in the future! Soldiers are different, He always rushes to the front and does not hesitate to shed blood and sacrifice, so they should celebrate!"
"It seems that you are still a very open-minded coach!"
"That's right! By the way, have the Qin government and the public made any recent moves?"
Sima Xueran picked up the intelligence information that had just been compiled, handed it to him and said: "It is certain to increase the number of troops, but it is not yet determined when they will come. With Ying Zheng and Zhao Ji mediating for you, Lu Buwei wants to do it in a short time It should be impossible to send reinforcements from within!"
Ji Jie shrugged and thought to himself, this is really great. I will have time to go back and deal with the big trouble Cao Qidao.
In fact, Cao Qiudao was also thinking of ways to deal with him!