Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 116

"We can capture him in one battle!"

"Isn't this a bit risky?" Yan Ju was much more realistic: "We must learn from Zhao Kuo's lesson."

“Wang Jian is not good at attacking, so we will feign weakness to lure him into attacking our camp.”

"Then we will use cavalry to flank them from both sides, and another army will launch a surprise attack on the Qin army's supplies after Wang Jian leaves the camp!"

Yan Ju clenched his fist and waved it: "With such a multi-pronged approach, Wang Jian will surely be destroyed."

"That's a viable method," Zhao Cong nodded...

After verbally annihilating Wang Jian's Qin army more than ten times along the way, the two finally arrived at their destination.

Before the royal decree could even be revealed, Li Mu, having removed his armor, approached the military camp gate with thirty personal guards, giving the two no chance to speak:

"I know why you two have come. Mu has already sorted out the affairs of the army and placed them in the central camp."

"Our army has been launching a fierce offensive against the Qin army in recent days, and it only recently stopped. Wang Jian is unlikely to launch an attack in the short term. You two generals can take this opportunity to familiarize yourselves with the army's formations."

"Mu is all alone, and his private wealth in Handan City has probably been confiscated. That was originally given to Mu by the King, and now that it has been taken back, Mu has no objection."

"Mu only wants to leave Zhao Jun and become a wandering swordsman."

"The guards behind Mu all regard Mu as their father. They are willing to leave with me. I hope the two generals will not stop them."

Having said that, Li Mu calmly walked out of the military camp without waiting for Zhao Cong and Yan Ju's reaction. Thirty personal guards followed behind him, no longer wearing Zhao army armor, but still marching in military steps.

Zhao Cong and Yan Ju came to the army not only to take over military power, but also to escort the 'traitor general' Li Mu to Handan.

Behind them stood a thousand horsemen, but sensing the bloodshot eyes of hundreds of officers and junior officers in the Zhao army camp, the two wisely refrained from obstructing or arresting the freely departing Li Mu...

Choking back a sob, Zhao Cong stepped into the military camp's central tent amidst pairs of lifeless gazes.

Li Mu walked about a hundred steps out of the military camp and was not stopped for a long time. He closed his eyes and sighed.

He did not look back at the Zhao army camp he had commanded.

Of the soldiers in the camp, who knows how many will survive this war...

Li Mu was not surprised that he was succeeded by General Zhao Cong, as Zhao Cong was the only member of the imperial clan who understood military affairs.

But Zhao Cong hadn't made any progress over the years, and he even trembled with fear at the sight of the soldiers he was about to take command of. How could he possibly be a match for Wang Jian...

Even if I stayed, I wouldn't be able to change the fate of those soldiers...

Twenty miles outside Zhao Jun's camp, the Hall Master was followed by Lü Chen, Yan Shen, and Yan Bing, who had left the camp ahead of time.

The battlefield battles of the past few days left Lu Wei with a lingering smell of blood.

With a smile on his face, Hall Master Lu watched as Li Mu walked toward him as promised. He remained motionless until Li Mu was five steps in front of him, at which point he bowed and clasped his hands in greeting: "Hall Master, Li Mu, a disciple of the Farmer's School, has arrived."

Having planned for several years, and even though he knew long ago that the man in front of him would eventually belong to him, Lu Wei still couldn't hide his joy at this moment. He laughed loudly three times, stepped forward, and lifted up the general.

His ambition was blatantly obvious:

"General Li Mu is the great-grandfather of this hall master!"

Jiang Ziya, also known as Jiang Taigong, is also called Taigong Wang!

Chapter 138 On the Eve of the Assassination of Qin

Upon learning that the bright red banner bearing the inscription "Lord Wu'an" had been torn down in the enemy camp, Zhao Jun calmly waved for the scouts to retreat.

"General, Li Mu has been dismissed. Should we take this opportunity to launch an attack on the Zhao army's camp?"

Some of the generals under his command immediately became impatient. Li Mu's fierce attack a few days ago had had some effect: it had put a lot of pressure on the Qin soldiers and their morale had dropped considerably.

Even among the high-ranking generals of the Qin army, not all of them knew beforehand that the Qin state was determined to eliminate the enemy general through a counter-espionage plot.

Now that we've suddenly received this good news, of course we should seize the opportunity and vent our low morale with a victory.

Wang Jian nodded silently, not to agree with the opinion, but to indicate that he had heard it. Then, he looked at the three figures sitting closest to him:

Meng Tian, ​​Wang Ben, and Li Xin.

The three immediately understood, with the oldest, Wang Ben, speaking first.

He was not young, and a general of the same era as Li Mu. He had a deep understanding of this greatest enemy of the Qin army:

"Li Mu's sudden and fierce attack a few days ago was illogical. He must have known his fate and that's why he took such an extraordinary action."

Wang Ben knew about the divisive tactic: "General, Li Mu has just withdrawn, and the morale of the army must be in disarray. We can fight!"

"Absolutely right!" Li Xin nodded in agreement. He was a prominent figure among the young and strong officers of the Qin army, known for his bravery. He had been able to accept the three-month stalemate for the sake of the overall situation, and he was unwilling to miss this excellent opportunity to attack.

"We can send a detachment to probe first." Meng Tian's suggestion was conventional. He didn't actually think the general would launch an attack at this time, but most of the generals were eager for battle, and in order to unite his colleagues, he outwardly agreed to the idea of ​​going to war.

"I understand your opinions," Wang Jian slammed his hand on the table, and the officers and soldiers immediately straightened up and obeyed his orders: "But you must hold out for another two months, and no one is allowed to go into battle without authorization during these two months!"

...

Although Wang Jian was old, he was not lacking in courage. He had his reasons for choosing to continue the stalemate with Zhao's army for two months.

First, while Qin had a clear understanding of the Zhao court, its view of the Zhao army remained shrouded in mystery. Whether Li Mu actually accepted his dismissal safely is unknown.

This Lord Wu'an was capable of inciting an army to defy the orders of the Chancellor of Handan...

Secondly, even if Li Mu is dismissed, the Zhao army's formation is still intact, and the officers and soldiers at all levels are still the same group of people as before. The news of Li Mu's dismissal will surely fill these people with resentment.

If the Qin army attacks now, this resentment will be vented on the Qin people, which will instead lead to a rapid strengthening of unity between the newly arrived Zhao army commander and his lower-ranking officers.

Even if Qin were to win, the heavy losses of veteran soldiers would be extremely detrimental to its subsequent campaigns against other states.

The Qin army's target was not just the State of Zhao, so the commander-in-chief could not focus solely on this one battle.

If we simply hold our camp and let Zhao Cong, the commander of the Zhao army, familiarize himself with the military formation, conflicts will inevitably arise between the superiors and subordinates, creating rifts within this large army.

Wang Jian had already obtained information about Zhao Cong. Before leading his army to attack Zhao, he knew that Zhao Cong was his final opponent in the attack on Zhao, so he had a lot of knowledge about him.

Zhao Jun has always been fierce and brave. If this fierceness is used up in internal strife, the pressure on the Qin army will be greatly reduced!

...

Lu Wei led Li Mu and the others, detouring through the Yan Kingdom, but did not enter Ji City. Instead, they followed the border and successfully entered the Qi Kingdom.

Upon arriving at the Daze Mountain area, Li Mu exclaimed, "How wealthy the people of Qi are! If the six states could unite, even the mighty Qin army would be powerless to advance eastward!"

The veteran was habitually thinking about strategies to defeat the Qin state: his entire life had been spent either fighting against wolves in the borderlands or confronting the Qin army.

As for the occasional campaigns against Yan, they did not leave a deep impression on Li Mu.

"Although the people of Qi are wealthy, the prime minister in the court, Hou Sheng, is no less than Guo Kai."

The head of the hall smiled as he introduced the state of the Qi court, which he knew little about, but a single sentence, "no less than Guo Kai," was enough.

As expected, Li Mu fell silent upon hearing this.

Why is it that in the courts of the six kingdoms of Shandong, treacherous officials always hold power...?

The king is incompetent...

It has been a long time since Lu Wei last returned to Dazeshan. That was two years ago when he escorted aid supplies into Zhao.

Having been away for two years, he wasn't entirely at ease handing over power to Lü Qing. It wasn't that he suspected Lü Qing now, but rather that if someone held power for too long, suspicion would naturally creep in.

Unless, of course, the person holding absolute power is himself.

Therefore, last year Lu Wei wrote a letter asking Lu Mu, who was engrossed in the study of mechanical arts, to come out and share the financial power of Gonggong Hall.

Lu Qing was always mature, and he understood the purpose of Lu Tangzhu's actions, so he cut off his power without complaint.

Originally, Lu Ye also had some responsibilities, but she was transferred to the Wei Kingdom branch as the head after a short time, so Amu had to work even busier...

This caused him great distress. On the one hand, he couldn't disobey his boss's orders, and on the other hand, the time he could concentrate on studying mechanical arts became fragmented and extremely inefficient.

Upon seeing Lu Wei return, Amu was overjoyed. After handing over the power, he immediately retreated back to the research chamber in Bailu Rock.

In the past two years, he initially wanted to create a flying mechanical beast similar to the Vermilion Bird of the Mohist school based on his boss's description, but the preliminary research work alone made Lu Mu despair and immediately give up the idea.

The Vermilion Bird Mechanized Beast is one of the four mythical beasts invented by Mozi, the founder of the Mohist school. Its exquisite technology remains a pinnacle of Mohist mechanical arts even after hundreds of years.

Even the tiny Suzaku wooden kite used for transmitting intelligence is beyond the ability of anyone to replicate its structure.

Amu's advantage lies in the endless supply of mechanical arts books provided by the Hall Master. This knowledge surpasses any mechanical arts inheritance in the world, but what he can learn from them still depends on his personal efforts.

After realizing that building flying mechanical beasts was too far-fetched, Lu Mu calmed down. With his time too fragmented, he devoted himself to further developing the mechanical ox he had imitated based on the blueprints, and to improving the defects in the mechanical ox pointed out by his disciples during their use.

This certainly delayed his research on the second mechanical beast on the blueprints: the mechanical rooster, but it undoubtedly made Amu's foundation in mechanical arts much more solid.

The crowing rooster is a small mechanical beast that can automatically sense real time and is capable of telling time at any time. In this era, it is also a significant creation. Its parts are very small and numerous, making the mechanical crowing rooster much more complex than the mechanical ox.

In the art of the twelve zodiac animals, the ox and the rooster are especially important to disciples of the farming family.

...

Only a few high-ranking members of the Gonggong Hall knew Li Mu's true identity. In public statements, Li Mu used the alias Li Bairen and was a newly recruited subordinate of Lu Wei in the Wei Kingdom.

Upon learning of Li Mu's identity, Lü Qing hurriedly wanted to abdicate and hand over the position of chief steward to the renowned Lord Wu'an, becoming his deputy.

When Li Mu was young, he served as the Chancellor of Zhao for a period of time. In that era, it was not uncommon for the positions of general and chancellor to change frequently. It would not have been difficult for him to take charge of managing a Gonggong Hall, but Li Mu, unsurprisingly, decisively rejected the proposal.

He joined the Farmer's Clan and volunteered to start as a disciple of the One-Star Pearl Grass Sect, refusing to be placed in a high position right away.

Lu Wei agreed to his general's request, which was actually of no concern to him: even if Li Mu was a one-star disciple, he and the other high-ranking officials would not use him as a one-star disciple.

There's still plenty of time. He can advance one rank per year, so it will only take five years for Li Mu to become a six-star disciple.

When I become the leader of the Knights of the West, it would be most appropriate for Li Mu to take over the position of head of the Gonggong Hall.

His prestige was such that neither Lü Qing nor Lu Shan had any objections, and his own martial arts skills had enabled him to thwart Luo Wang's assassination attempts multiple times in the army, making him a master in the martial arts world.

As for Li Mu's current role, the Hall Master has chosen to send him with his thirty personal guards to Yan Gui Ridge to train elite disciples together with Lü Chen and the Yan brothers.

This training period with fewer than two hundred soldiers was a relaxing time for Li Mu, who had just withdrawn from a major battle involving hundreds of thousands of people.

The three young soldiers all knew Li Mu's identity and had even studied under him, so they were extremely excited about this arrangement.

The thirty guards who came from Zhao's army can all become middle-level managers in the farmhouses in the future.

The strength of Gonggong Hall completely overwhelms the other five halls.

------

The news of Zhao Jun replacing his general and removing Li Mu quickly spread from Handan to the other five states.

The Qin state laughed heartily, the Wei state remained calm, and the Qi state indulged in decadent pleasures.