In the 20th year of the Qin Dynasty (227 BC), the border between Yan and Zhao was established.
"When Nai Gong becomes rich, we must make paper!"
Zhao Tuo's face was full of grief and anger, and he limped out of the hay pile. The hand that had just thrown away the wood chips was still trembling slightly.
At this time, the sun was setting in the west, and golden rays of light were cast from the sky, covering the earth with a gorgeous veil. The wind blew through the mountains, blowing the fallen leaves, and it also cooled Zhao Tuo's heart.
He looked at the motorcade stopped not far away and couldn't help but sigh.
"It's better to survive first."
Zhao Tuo was originally a nobleman of the Zhao Kingdom. His father once advised Li Mu and offended the powerful minister Guo Kai, so he was imprisoned and died, bringing disaster to his family.
Zhao Tuo fled in embarrassment and contracted a serious illness on the way. Although he recovered from his illness when he woke up, he also had a different soul.
Today's Zhao Tuo's body is still original, but his soul comes from more than two thousand years later and traveled through time due to an accident.
When Zhao Tuo first arrived, he was surprised when he learned his name from memory.
"Zhao Tuo, is he the Zhao Tuo who lived for more than a hundred years?"
As an "internet history enthusiast" in his previous life, he didn't dare to say that he knew much about the Nanyue King who divided Guangdong and Guangxi in the late Qin Dynasty, but he had heard of his name.
"No, Zhao Tuo in history was a Qin general. He became the deputy commander-in-chief of the Southern Expedition to Baiyue a few years after the unification. He should be a Qin national. I am a remnant of the Zhao Kingdom who was more than ten years old. It would be good if I was not killed in history.
How is it possible to climb to that position?"
"There are eight thousand people with the surname Zhao in the world, if not ten thousand."
"Yes, it must be the same name!"
Zhao Tuo used logic and rational analysis to eliminate his own unrealistic "fantasies".
"It is now the 20th year of the Qin Dynasty. The State of Zhao has been destroyed, and the State of Wei should be the next to perish."
"Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yanqi, well, remember this is the order of annihilation."
Zhao Tuo muttered, suddenly feeling a little chilly. He looked up and found a burly man standing on a small slope not far away, with his sword in his forearm, staring at him coldly.
He quickly lowered his head, pressed down his lower clothes that were rippled by the wind, and walked towards the convoy.
"Tuo, hurry up and eat. When the Yan people finish eating, we will be on our way."
"駧" means dinner. Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the ancients used to eat only two meals a day, breakfast was "饔(yōng)" and dinner was "駧".
A thin, black young man was sitting next to the carriage eating, calling Zhao Tuo over.
Zhao Tuo's eyelids twitched. The two of them were wearing short clothes on top and skirt-like bottoms on the bottom.
Inside the lower garment is the "kù", which is worn on both thighs and is a primitive form of trousers.
But what makes people speechless is that this kind of pantyhose is crotch-open. It's okay to sit on your knees on weekdays. But once you spread your legs and sit on the pantyhose, the view of your crotch will be unobstructed, which is very unsightly.
"Heng, if you don't get up, be careful if someone sees you and punishes you."
Zhao Tuo walked over and kicked the skinny black young man's feet as a kind reminder.
This young man's name was "Heng". It is said that when his mother gave birth, he was born sideways, so he was called "Heng".
Like Zhao Tuo, Heng was also recruited by the team yesterday. He grew up in the countryside and does not understand formal etiquette.
Although Jiju is more comfortable than kneeling, it cannot be used on the stage, and in the eyes of some people, exposing the bird is tantamount to provocation.
I heard that there was a knight-errant in Yan who saw someone sitting in a wine shop drinking wine. He felt so insulted that he drew his sword on the spot and blood spattered three steps.
When Zhao Tuo reminded him, he jumped up, got up from the ground, and changed to a kneeling position.
Seeing this, Zhao Tuo calmly picked up the bowl filled with food from the carriage.
"I miss my beloved chicken stewed with mushrooms, potato braised pork ribs, beef tofu, stinky and spicy snail noodles..."
Zhao Tuo expressionlessly picked up a ball of rice and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it with a series of "crack" sounds.
"Tuo, this dry rice needs to be soaked in some water to make it taste better." Heng reminded him.
"I know!" Zhao Tuo gritted his teeth and chewed.
The so-called "dry rice" is dry food made from steamed rice and exposed to the sun. It can be eaten when people travel long distances and can fill their stomachs, but the taste is not worth mentioning.
However, Zhao Tuo was very content. Before joining the team, he was almost starving to death. Being able to have something to eat was already a great blessing.
It’s just this fleet…
Zhao Tuo raised his head and looked at the flag of Yan State flying on the car not far away, and suddenly felt his head hurt.
After he traveled through time, because he was afraid that Zhao Xiang Guo Kai would send people to eradicate him, he fled all the way and struggled to survive in the village.
After finally suffering the destruction of the Zhao Kingdom, he was about to join the Qin Dynasty, which had a bright future. However, before he left, he heard the news that the Qin Wangzheng whom he "admired" came to Handan in person.
Qin Wangzheng killed dozens of aristocratic families in Handan overnight, and killed all those who had old enemies with his mother's family. Among them, two families were related to Zhao Tuo, and were even related by marriage.
At the same time, because Gongzi Jia ran away to proclaim himself king, Qin State was going around to seize all the princes of Zhao State and many nobles of Zhao State.
This frightened Zhao Tuo. In this severe situation, he did not dare to take the lead and could only follow a group of refugees who did not want to surrender to Qin and ran towards the direction of Yan.
Countries have been fighting for years, spending countless amounts of food and grass, and the people have been extremely poor. In addition, in the past two years, in addition to military disasters, Zhao has also experienced successive earthquakes and great famines.
Zhao Tuo couldn't find any food at all while escaping, so he could only eat bark and grass roots like everyone else. His clothes were so torn that he couldn't even cover his body. Every time he closed his eyes, he felt like he wouldn't be able to wake up tomorrow.
Refugees around me kept falling.
It is common to see people exchanging their children for food and devouring corpses.
Just when Zhao Tuo was about to starve to death, the dawn of survival appeared.
Several Yandi rangers appeared nearby, looking for a charioteer who could drive!
"I'm familiar with this job!"
Zhao Tuo was overjoyed. As a member of the aristocratic class, he had practiced the Six Arts of a Gentleman since he was a child.
Etiquette, music, shooting, imperial control, calligraphy, and numbers.
Among them, "shooting" and "royalty" are compulsory courses for men of the Zhao family, especially the art of driving and driving horses, which is a craft passed down from the ancestors.
Although he didn't want to expose his identity, he was almost starving to death, so Zhao Tuo didn't care much and hurriedly applied.
He and "Heng" were recruited into the convoy and were provided with clothes and food, so they survived.
"Tuo, have you seen the yáo chariot in front of you? I heard from those knights that the nobleman sitting on the yáo chariot is the envoy sent by King Yan to Qin. King Yan has been frightened by the people of Qin Yes, this time I want to dedicate the land of Dukang to Qin in order to make a peace treaty!"
"I heard that the Yan people also beheaded the Qin general Fan Yuqi who defected to them, and wanted to give it to the King of Qin together."
He came over and whispered in Zhao Tuo's ear the news he had gathered.
Zhao Tuo took a deep breath and continued chewing his rice.
"Bah! When our Zhao people fought desperately with the Qin people, these Yan people were beating us from behind. Now that our Zhao country is destroyed, they are wagging their tails like dogs to the Qin people, begging for the kindness of the King of Qin!"
Heng Yue became more and more angry as he spoke, and the rice he chewed in his mouth spit out.
His face was filled with distress, and he quickly bent down to pick up the scattered rice grains one by one and stuffed them into his mouth again.
Zhao Tuo sighed, he knew why Heng was so angry that he was still scolding the country of Yan while eating the food given by the Yan people.
Qin and Zhao have been enemies for generations, and every Zhao family has a blood feud with Qin.
Especially in the Battle of Changping more than thirty years ago, Qin general Bai Qi killed 450,000 Zhao soldiers in a trap, which was called a national tragedy. Heng's grandfather died in that battle.
Seven years ago, the Qin army attacked Pingyang, killed Zhao general Hu Zhe, and beheaded 100,000 Zhao soldiers.
Heng's father, the Zhao soldier who taught him driving and horsemanship, was also among them.
Blood feud from generation to generation made Heng Zai prefer to go to Yan State after the death of Zhao State, rather than become a subject of Qin State. There are many people like him, and this is the source of that refugee group.
As for why they didn't go to Daidi to seek refuge with Gongzi Jia, who was proclaimed king, it was because that place was a target of the Qin army and there was no food for the common people to eat.
If you go to Yan State, you may still have a chance to survive.
Listening to Heng's indignant words, Zhao Tuo smiled bitterly in his heart: "The land of Dukang... Fan Yuqi's leader... This is Jing Ke's assassination of Qin!"