General Qin

In the twenty-fourth year of Qin Wangzheng (223 BC), December.

After trekking all the way, the Qin army, who returned with victory and triumph, finally entered the Hangu Pass and returned to the real Guanzhong Qin.

Two years have passed since Qin State launched the war against Chu.

Excluding the 200,000 Guanzhong Qin troops who accompanied Wang Jian out of the pass, excluding the soldiers who died in battle, and the soldiers who remained in Chu, this time there were a total of 120,000 soldiers who returned to Guanzhong.

Not long after this huge Qin army entered the pass, envoys from Xianyang came here. As in the past, they took away the tiger talisman in the hands of the general Wang Jian and began to dismiss the army at the same time.

How can a good general lead an army of more than 100,000 approach the capital of Xianyang.

Except for the 5,000 elites of Zhao Tuo's tribe who stayed behind on purpose, and wanted to enter Xianyang City to present the "false king's corpse" to win the victory, the remaining more than 100,000 soldiers were all dismissed according to their hometowns.

Just like those soldiers outside the pass, these Qin people in Guanzhong returned home happily with some money rewards issued.

This time everyone has accumulated a large wave of military achievements, and the number of nobles is extremely high. It is estimated that there will be a wave of frenzy in the future.

After disbanding the large army, the general Wang Jian led the way in a chariot, and marched towards Xianyang with all the generals and the army escorting the body of the "false king" from the rear.

Going down this road, Zhao Tuo observed along the way, feeling emotional from time to time.

"In ancient wars, most of the time was spent on this marching road, but there was not much time for actual fighting. No wonder the king will build a chi road in the future."

This time he accompanied Wang Jian to attack Chu, which can be described as a real war between the South and the North. He was in Huaiyang for a while, went to Zhencheng for a while, turned around and crossed the river to Huainan, followed Xiong Qi to Jiangdong, Yuedi, and finally returned to Guanzhong from Yuedi.

Back and forth at least tens of thousands of miles away, even if Zhao Tuo often rides in a car and rides a horse, several pairs of shoes are still damaged under his feet, let alone those soldiers under his command who walk thousands of miles on their feet.

The normal marching speed in this era is thirty miles a day. Converted to the weights and measures of later generations, they can only walk about 12 kilometers a day. You must know that ordinary people in later generations can walk four or five kilometers in an hour. The difference is that in addition to the consideration of load and physical reasons in ancient marches, roads also accounted for a lot of problems.

Qin Guoguanzhong and the Sanchuan Avenue in the east are slightly better. Some of the small roads that Zhao Tuo passed in Huainan and Yuedi were simply not for people to walk. It is extremely fast for the army to walk twenty miles a day.

"Among the major projects after the unification of the Qin Dynasty, the construction of roads is indeed necessary. It is of great benefit to the country and the people. The manpower and material resources spent are not in vain. But other..."

Thinking of this, Zhao Tuo couldn't help looking into the distance worriedly.

There, it is the direction of Mount Li.

The reason why Zhao Tuo thought of the various projects after the unification of Qin Dynasty was mainly because he was on the way to Xianyang. From a long distance away, he could see Qin officials escorting a group of criminals who were being tortured, heading towards the place deep in Lishan Mountain. Go to the huge construction site.

At the northern foot of Lishan Mountain is the mausoleum of the high emperor in Xianyang Palace.

It has been 24 years since the construction began in the first year of Qin Wangzheng.

Every year, there will be Qin people serving corvee and punished prisoners going to build buildings.

However, the current Lishan Mausoleum is still in its infancy, and its scale is not too large. It will be a long time before hundreds of thousands of people gather to repair the tomb.

The place where a lot of manpower is really consumed today is in another place.

"The king's palace has increased again."

"There are so many houses, can we live in them all?"

When the Qin army marched near the Wei River, they stopped temporarily to rest, drink horses and eat food.

Many Qin soldiers looked to the north and yelled in surprise.

There is a large group of magnificent palaces with different styles.

Although they were far away, everyone couldn't see the specific appearance clearly, but because of the distance, they happened to see the huge scale of the palace group in their eyes.

"It is said that every time the king destroys a country, he will imitate his palace and build a corresponding palace in Beiban, Xianyang. Among them, tsk tsk, now that I see it, it really is the best place for pleasure in the world."

After returning from Qi State, Li Shiqi, who had joined the team near Xingyang, walked up to Zhao Tuo.

Looking at the magnificent palace scenery on the other side of the Wei River, he shook his head in admiration, with a sense of envy in his tone.

Zhao Tuo nodded, and said softly: "Your Majesty wants to prepare palaces for the seven kingdoms, and he wants to gather all the best palaces in the world in Xianyang. Now there are three Jin and Yan Palaces in the north of the Weishui River. I want to come to this time. There will be one more Chu Palace."

While Zhao Tuo was talking, worries arose in his heart.

As the saying goes, one must be prepared for danger in peace.

Zhao Tuo had just followed Wang Jian to destroy the state of Chu, fought a big victory and returned to Qin, and was about to receive a generous reward. It seemed that his future was bright.

But when he saw the continuous group of palaces on the north bank of the Weishui River, as well as the palaces that were still being newly built and the mausoleum on Mount Li, he still couldn't help feeling a sense of crisis in his heart.

Zhao Tuo, as a beneficiary of the Qin Army's meritorious service, has long been tied to this country.

Facing possible changes in the future, he has only one choice.

Baoqin!

Although the state of Chu is now destroyed, the ghosts of Jingchu have not left, and there are still countless Chu people in that land who want to overthrow the rule of the Qin people. The Three Jins and Yan land, and even the Qi land that will be conquered in the future, there will also be many adherents of the six kingdoms who always want to expel the Qin people and restore the old state.

This is one of the external causes of Qin's death in history.

But within Qin, apart from institutional issues. The abuse of people's power by the rulers and the wanton construction of various large-scale projects are also an important reason for the eventual subjugation of the country.

In the future, the sentence that the world has been suffering for a long time is really not just talking.

Zhao Tuo is now in a high position in the Qin State, and if he wants to save his life and keep his wealth and power for a long time in the event of a very likely future change, he must try his best to change that ending.

In Zhao Tuo's view, among the various large-scale projects of the Qin Empire in history, such as the straight road, the Great Wall, and even the Lingqu in the south, these are at least beneficial to the country and have merits.

Only building huge mausoleums and a large number of palaces is a waste of people's resources.

Just like those Qin soldiers asked, will the king finish living in so many palaces?

A large number of palaces and palaces look magnificent, but for the entire country, they are actually harmful but not beneficial.

Now, Qin Wangzheng has begun to have a momentum of large-scale projects. Although it wasn't too much, it made Zhao Tuo very worried.

Today, you Qin Wangzheng dared to build the palace of the Six Kingdoms.

Tomorrow you dare to make an Efang Palace.

The construction of one project after another was launched, leaving the common people in the head of Guizhou with no time to breathe.

If things go on like this, how long will Qin be able to last?

Once Qin was over, he, Zhao Tuo, had to follow suit.

"I have to persuade the king!"

"But not now."

Zhao Tuo had the heart of persuasion, but he also knew very well that today's others are soft-spoken, regardless of their repeated great achievements, they are actually rootless grasshoppers, and they can only have some status in the Qin State because of the appreciation of the king. If Qin Wangzheng is angered by admonishing at will, Zhao Tuo can be abolished with a single sentence from the other party.

Just like Fusu in history, his own son persuaded him, and he was sent to the border.

So Zhao Tuo not only couldn't persuade him, he even had to follow the king's wishes, and at most came up with some curve-saving strategies.

If he wanted to strengthen his voice, he had to climb up again.

"It shouldn't be a problem for me to be promoted to two ranks based on my contribution to destroy Chu this time. But it's not enough if I want to have a say in the court and have a say in state affairs. My title must go up."

Thinking of this, Zhao Tuo turned his head to Li Shiqi and asked, "Mr. Li, you have a good understanding of Qi State since you have served Qi this time. If Qin State destroys Qi State, in your opinion, it will be difficult or easy?"

Hearing Zhao Tuo's question, Li Shiqi laughed and said, "The people of Qi haven't fought for more than 40 years. Everyone is slack, and they can't even stand in line. How can they be the opponent of Qin's elite in a hundred battles. In addition, The first time they sent troops, they were defeated by the general in Zhencheng, and they were already in awe of the general in their hearts."

"If those evils of the Four Kingdoms are still in Qi, maybe we should pay attention to them, but now those people have all been expelled by King Qi and fled to Yandai and Jingchu. There is no serious trouble in Qi. It’s within reach.”

Speaking of this, Li Shiqi lowered his voice again and said: "I have already investigated the situation in Linzi clearly. As long as the general leads the army to attack Qi, I can use my sharp tongue to persuade the king of Qi to surrender, so that the general can get All done."

Zhao Tuo nodded.

In history, Qi State faced the Qin army approaching the city and directly surrendered the whole country. The difficulty should be very low.

In this time and space, although Hou Sheng, who advocated surrender, was assassinated by the remnants of the four countries, Qi also suffered a major defeat in Zhencheng, and his arrogance was directly extinguished. Thinking about it, as Li Shiqi said, if Qin destroys Qi, it will be easy to capture .

In today's world, the five countries are all destroyed, and the only ones that have not been planted with the black Qin flag are Dai, Liaodong and Qi.

The country of Dai is weak, and Liaodong is remote.

The only one that is big, fat and delicious is Qi.

"The main general who destroyed Qi in history was Wang Ben."

"This time, I will take the initiative to ask for orders and take this task from Wang Ben's hands."

Zhao Tuo raised his head and looked at Xianyang City in the upper reaches of the Weishui River. His eyes were full of confidence and firmness.

"I, Zhao Tuo, will be the coach of Mie Qi!"

"Historical Records The Benji of Qin Shihuang": Every time Qin broke down the princes, he wrote and released his palaces. It was written in Xianyang on Beiban, south of Wei, from the east of Yongmen to Jing and Wei, and the palaces and houses belonged to Zhou Pavilion. The bells and drums of the princes and beauties were obtained to fill them.