The white horse stepped forward, and Li Xin looked at the majestic city in the distance.
Behind him were the Qin soldiers from Guanzhong who were excited to return home, and the Haidong prisoners who had already turned numb after the long journey.
Six years have passed since Li Xin led his troops to conquer Liaodong in the 25th year of the Qin Dynasty.
Liaodong has always been a land of bitter cold. In winter, thousands of miles of snow drifts, and the ice is biting. It has always been a place that southerners fear. Even Li Xin, who had conquered the Yan region, suffered from severe pain during his first winter in Liaodong.
Feng Han almost lost his life.
Li Xin gritted his teeth and persisted, standing up from his injury.
The belief that supported him was to achieve meritorious service and live up to the emperor's expectations and Zhao Tuo's support.
Now he has gone through all kinds of difficulties and finally returned with great success. He regained Liaodong, defeated Donghu, conquered Korea, unified Haidong, and expanded several counties for the Qin Dynasty. It can be said that he has made great military achievements and is proud of himself.
Li Xin originally thought that he could hold his chest high and accept his triumphal ceremony with pride.
But when approaching Xianyang, Li Xin couldn't help but become nervous.
In the battle against Chu, he lost more than 100,000 troops, including tens of thousands of Guanzhong disciples, all because of him.
That year, Xianyang was in a state of poverty, and people were wailing constantly. The reason why Li Xin fell into despair afterwards was because he felt guilty about it and did not want to face the elders in Guanzhong.
Now that he has returned with victory, can the Qin people in Guanzhong forgive him for the shame of a former Qin general?
The worries along the way were shattered by bursts of cheers when the army arrived at Bashang and approached Xianyang.
"Great Qin is mighty!"
"General Lee is mighty!"
Next to the general's chariot, Luan Bu, who was following as a trusted aide, was riding on a horse and said happily to Li Xin: "General, the whole city of Xianyang is cheering to celebrate the general's achievements!"
Li Xin nodded.
My eyes are a little blurry.
The scene before him reminded him of the scene when he returned from defeating Yan.
The young man Luan Bu following him reminded him of the young man he once trusted the most.
"Zhao Tuo, I'm back."
…
"The general has returned from a great victory. He has done great things to eliminate the Hu troubles and expand the territory for our great Qin Jian!"
Outside Xianyang City, Prince Fusu, dressed in black robes and high crown, accompanied by hundreds of officials and ministers behind him, welcomed Li Xin's triumphant return.
"It is really Li Xin's honor to welcome the prince personally at his humble beginnings."
Li Xin quickly dismounted and returned the gift.
Then he saw Zhao Tuo standing behind the prince, wearing Xuanduan plain clothes.
Zhao Tuo was also looking at him.
The two looked at each other, staring into each other's eyes, calling each other's name in their hearts.
"General Lee."
"Zhao Tuo."
Li Xin's mouth curved slightly.
This time, he could finally untie his knot and face Zhao Tuo calmly.
Zhao Tuo also laughed.
The wind, snow, frost and cold in Liaodong had changed General Li's appearance a lot, but the light in his eyes let Zhao Tuo know that the heroic Li Xin was back again.
The First Emperor also valued Li Xin's triumph, and even looked forward to it more than Wang Li who defeated the Yueshi.
The reason is precisely Zhang Liang's assassination.
"Zhang Liang, the traitor, has escaped without a trace. I deeply hate him!"
Every time the First Emperor thought of Zhang Liang, he would feel an unquenchable hatred. Even though he had already killed all the families of the former Korean aristocrats who had contacts with the Zhang family, he still could not hide the resentment in his heart.
The culprit Zhang Liang cannot be caught. Of course, none of the Korean royal family who provided assassins for Zhang Liang, Cang Haijun, can escape.
Li Xin did not disappoint him. He led the Qin army to conquer North Korea, destroyed the three Koreas, and avenged him.
The only fly in the ointment is probably Ji Zhun’s self-immolation and Cang Haijun’s suicide.
"These two thieves are cunning. They know that if they are captured alive and brought to Xianyang, I will inflict five punishments on them and die after suffering all the punishment!"
The First Emperor gritted his teeth. Fortunately, although the two felons were dead, there were still other prisoners for him to vent his anger on.
"The King of Korea and his son were friends of the traitor Zhang Liang, and they planned to assassinate him. They killed him and abandoned the city."
"Chief Ma Han intends to protect the traitor Cang Hai and resist our Qin Heavenly Soldiers. I hate him so much that I will tear my car apart to follow him."
"The corpses of Ji Zhun and Zhen Ren Canghai, crush their bones and scatter their ashes, so that no bones remain!"
In a few words, the fate of the monarchs of the small states in the east of the sea was decided, which made the First Emperor feel more comfortable.
Sure enough, only murder and revenge is the best way to relieve stress.
After the pressure was relieved, the First Emperor also generously rewarded Li Xin who had returned from his triumph.
Li Xin's contribution to regaining Liaodong and defeating Donghu has been awarded, and his title has been raised to Dashangzao.
Now the First Emperor has captured and killed the bandit leaders, pacified Haidong, and contributed to the expansion of thousands of miles of territory for the Qin Dynasty. He has made Li Xin the chief of the carriages.
Ranking at the seventeenth level of the Great Qin Military Merit System, he is an absolute high-ranking person.
In the court, Li Xin was extremely excited and bowed down to express his gratitude.
After he thanked the emperor for his kindness and stood up, he tilted his head slightly and looked at the martial lord Zhao Tuo.
"The emperor sent me to conquer Liaodong on the recommendation of Zhao Tuo. When he sent me to conquer Haidong, it was Zhao Tuo who refused the order to lead the troops and recommended me to go down from the southeast of Liaodong."
"The reason why I can stand in the court with pride and pride now is all because he was silently helping me from behind."
"If it weren't for Zhao Tuo, Li Xin today would be nothing more than a drunken drunkard in the mansion."
Li Xinxin whispered.
He knew very clearly about Zhao Tuo's efforts in these matters.
When the court meeting dispersed, and before the evening celebration banquet, Li Xin ignored the important officials who were congratulating him and strode to Zhao Tuo.
"Marquis Wu Gong, I will host a banquet in my mansion tomorrow, waiting for you."
Zhao Tuo was startled and responded with a smile: "The general is hosting a banquet, and Tuo will definitely come."
After the words fell, the two looked at each other and laughed.
Since Li Xin's defeat in the battle against Chu, the gap between Zhao Tuo and Li Xin has been completely repaired.
…
Changsha County, southern border of Qin State.
The governor Tu Sui read and re-read the imperial edict from Xianyang in his hand, his face showed excitement, he got up and walked happily back and forth in the room, and even hummed a popular local tune in Changsha happily.
"My father is so happy. Is it because the emperor agreed to my father's memorial?"
Tu Gang, Tu Sui's second son, walked in and asked.
Tu Sui stroked his beard and laughed: "Of course! The emperor has agreed to the strategy of me and General Feng Wuze. The success this time is thanks to the fact that General Feng and I jointly submitted a letter to propose suggestions, which is more convincing."
"Of course, there are also those Yue people who rebelled. Hahaha, with a little trick, I asked Lord Xiou to translate the Song Dynasty to take the bait and collude with the Yue people in our Changsha County to rebel. Only in this way did I prove that the Qin Dynasty conquered hundreds of years.
It’s more important than ever.”
Tu Gang praised: "My father joined forces with General Feng to conquer Baiyue this time. Given the size of Baiyue, he can be promoted to at least two levels. I heard from people from Xianyang that there are also people south of Baiyue and Southwest Yi.
A big country is called Shendu. It has a vast territory and abundant products. If my father can lead the army to conquer again in the future, he will be granted the title of Marquis just around the corner!"
"Fenghou."
Tu Sui narrowed his eyes and looked slightly gloomy.
He remembered the great court meeting held in July of the 26th year of Qin Shihuang.
The emperor had the intention to attack Baiyue. Seeing that Tu Sui was about to take on an important task, he led an army of 500,000 to attack Baiyue southward and achieve unparalleled achievements.
Just when Tu Sui was most excited and happy, Zhao Tuo, whom he had always regarded as his brother, stood up and expressed his opposition.
It would be fine if Zhao Tuo simply opposed the war, and he wouldn't care too much about it, but Zhao Tuo actually turned around and mentioned the attack on the Hu people in the north, and attracted the support of all the generals in the DPRK.
The final result was that Zhao Tuo led the Qin army of 300,000 men to the northern expedition against the Yuezhi and the Xiongnu, achieved world-shattering feats, and was granted the title of Marquis Lun, with the title of Martial Arts.
He Tu Sui could only feel complicated and asked to come to the south to be the county guard.
This has been nearly five years.
In the past few years, the Qin army destroyed the Yueshi, defeated the Xiongnu, defeated Donghu, surrendered Dongou, and conquered the Haidong Peninsula. In each war, countless Qin generals made meritorious service, were promoted, and enjoyed
Endless glory.
He was the only one who slaughtered Sui and stayed silently in the hot and humid land of Changsha, thinking about how to attack Baiyue all day long.
Zhao Tuo sent a lot of letters along the way. Tu Sui read them patiently at first, but the more he read, the more angry he became.
"Why Yue is hot and humid, full of jungles, smoky and poisonous, making it difficult for the Yue people to encircle and suppress Yue. Didn't Zhao Tuo defeat Yu Yue back then? Didn't Feng Wuze capture Qian Yue and Dong Ou? Why didn't he show up?
Problem? Why can’t it be done until I kill Sui!"
Tu Sui gritted his teeth, and later he refused to read the letters sent by Zhao Tuo, causing his son to burn out, just like he had refused Zhao Tuo's visit in Xianyang.
For a person like him who values loyalty the most, once he decides that the other party is not loyal, he will never be able to get rid of the knot in his heart.
"Just wait. When I, Tu Sui, lead my army to conquer Baiyue, I will stand in front of you, Zhao Tuo, and ask you, is it difficult to conquer Baiyue?"
Tu Sui murmured, turned to stare at Tu Gang, and said: "Prepare paper and pen, I want to write a letter to General Feng Wuze to discuss the strategy of conquering Baiyue!"
…
Fanyang.
The place where the Qin army gathered.
Lieutenant General Yin Tong excitedly walked into a shack and shouted: "General, general! The letter from Changsha County is from the Governor of Tu County!"
Feng Wuze, who was lying upright on the couch, suddenly straightened up when he heard this.
He coughed twice, stretched out his hand and said, "Show me quickly!"
After a while, Feng Wuze put down the letter in his hand.
A blush appeared on his sallow face.
"After fighting Baiyue, we can go back."
"Eight years, I've been here for eight full years!"