Chapter 8: The Battle to Destroy Wei
Lian Po: In the end, he fell into the hands of a despicable and shameless villain like Guo Kai. It was so aggrieved!

Li Mu: Alas, he and Yue Fei are really unlucky. Meeting such a monarch, they can't escape death no matter what they do.

Sima Shang: Alas...

Yue Fei: Twelve gold medals were issued in succession. How is the Northern Expedition going?
The Qin Dynasty generals looked at the First Emperor with eager eyes. They thought their Majesty was the best. It would be very frustrating if they met a monarch like King Zhao or Zhao Gou.

【The third target of Qin's annihilation of the six states was Wei. Destroying Wei first would help Qin concentrate all its efforts to annihilate Chu.】

The kings of Chu: I don’t know how the kings of Wei feel now, but they feel very uncomfortable hearing this.

Kings of Wei: ...

Only the monarchs of Qin: Hahahahahaha~

[After the Three Families divided Jin, the first monarch of Wei was Wei Wenhou. He took the lead in implementing social reforms, made important use of civil and military officials from the scholar class such as Li Li and Wu Qi, and initiated the reform movement during the Warring States Period, making Wei the most powerful country in the early Warring States period.

After his son Wei Wuhou succeeded to the throne, he listened to slander and dismissed Wu Qi from his post, which made the knowledgeable people in Wei State disheartened and left, and Wei State suffered repeated defeats in the war against Qin.

After King Hui of Wei ascended the throne, he moved the capital to Daliang, built water conservancy projects and dug the Hong Canal, created a system for selecting "Wu Zu", ordered Hui Shi to formulate laws, and implemented social reforms in Wei again, which once again became strong.

However, in the later period of King Hui of Wei, Wei suffered disastrous defeats in two battles with Qi at Guiling and Maling, and its military strength was greatly damaged, from which it could never recover.

After that, Prince Wu Ji of Xinling became a monopoly of power, and talented people were no longer valued in Wei, so Wei suffered a series of defeats in the military struggle with Qin, especially during the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin.

[The talent supply base of the Warring States Period - Wei State.]
[The ones I know of are Shang Yang, Sun Bin, Gongsun Yan, Zhang Yi, Fan Ju, and Wu Qi. Four of them went to Qin, one went to Qi, and one went to Chu.]
[Wei: It was me who helped Qin conquer the six kingdoms and unify the world!]
Wei Wenhou Wei Si: He was distressed. No matter how much he did, it was no match for his descendants' lack of ambition. He felt very bad.

At this time, the Qin State was politically corrupt and the Qin people were very disappointed with the Qin King. Now they could take advantage of the situation to destroy the Qin State, but there would be no such opportunity in the future.

But... alas, powerful countries such as Zhao and Chu are eyeing Wei covetously. If Wei sends troops against Qin, they will definitely take advantage of the opportunity.

As for the union of the princes of the world, Duke Wen of Wei did not hold any hope at all, as it was impossible for all countries to be united.

But he was unwilling to let this opportunity go in vain.

Difficult.

[During the period when Lu Buwei served as the prime minister of Qin, the Qin army successively captured some important strategic locations and cities of Wei, and the situation was very unfavorable to Wei.

After King Zheng of Qin came to power and severely damaged the military strength of Zhao, Wei was intimidated by the use of force and was forced to offer part of its land to Qin.

After the destruction of Han and Zhao, Wei was unable to contend with the Qin army. Destroying Wei would be beneficial to the destruction of Chu.

In 225 BC, King Zheng of Qin sent Wang Ben, son of Wang Jian, to attack the State of Wei, and the capital of Wei, Daliang, was surrounded.

Wang Ben used water attack to divert water from the river to flood the city of Daliang.

A heddle is an irrigation canal that draws water from the Yellow River.

After three months of water siege, the walls of Daliang City were completely eroded and collapsed. Under the catastrophic disaster, King Jia of Wei had no choice but to leave the city and surrender, and the State of Wei was destroyed.

[Sima Qian used "massacre of Wei" to describe the flooding of Daliang City. The flood must have drowned many people of Wei.]
[No matter what kind of war it is, the civilians are the most innocent.]
[When a country prospers, the people suffer; when a country perishes, the people suffer.]
Many people under the sky nodded. Yes, as long as there is a war, ordinary people like them will suffer the most.

Li Shimin deeply agreed with this. He had come out of the chaotic times at the end of the Sui Dynasty and knew how hard it was for the people.

[The fourth target of Qin's conquest of the six states was Chu.

Chu was another powerful enemy of Qin in its annexation of the six kingdoms.

Several generations of Qin kings have repeatedly deployed large numbers of troops and paid a huge price for this. 】

[“The road ahead is long and arduous, but I will search for it up and down.” Qu Yuan was from the State of Chu.]
[During the Chu-Han contention, Chu had the strongest presence among the six kingdoms at the end of the Qin Dynasty.]
[Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Western Chu!] [If we divide by territory, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, is also a Chu citizen!]

[It seems that the Chu State at the end of the Qin Dynasty had a strong presence. (dog head)]
Qu Yuan looked up.

"Although there are three households in Chu, Qin must be killed by Chu."

Everyone in the Qin Dynasty couldn't help but think of this Chu folk song. Although the final winner was the Han Dynasty, the remaining forces of the Chu State should not be underestimated.

"Go check." Ying Zheng gave the order promptly.

The Chu State had the surname Xiang, and they were most likely descendants of Xiang Yan.

In a courtyard in Sishui County, the young Xiang Ji threw down the bamboo slips in his hand and said excitedly to his uncle: "Uncle, it's Chu! It's Chu!"

Xiang Liang glanced at the scattered bamboo slips and said angrily: "I'm not deaf, you keep the bamboo slips."

This brat just doesn't want to read and learn to read.

But he was very worried in his heart. The name he prepared for his nephew was Yu, so the King of Western Chu was most likely his nephew.

With Tianmu revealing this, the Xiang family is in danger!

Liu Bang smacked his lips and said, "King Xiang seems to be quite popular."

Zhang Liang shook his head and said nothing. Although the King of Western Chu was brave but not wise, he had an extraordinary temperament. It was not surprising that some people liked him, but being an emperor still had many shortcomings.

[During the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu was a large southern country with abundant resources. It had long contended with Jin for hegemony over the Central Plains. It was a powerful country with vast territory and strong influence.

In the early years of the Warring States Period, Chu's territory was still the largest among the "Seven Kingdoms of the Warring States Period".

Around 391 BC, King Dao of Chu relied on Wu Qi to implement reforms in Chu, which once enriched the country and strengthened the military.

After Wu Qi's reforms failed, the three royal aristocratic families of Qu, Jing and Zhao jointly controlled the military and political power of the State of Chu, causing political corruption in the State of Chu, and resulting in successive defeats in foreign wars and the loss of cities and territories.

During the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Bai Qi won a series of victories in the war against Chu, causing serious losses to Chu's territory and military.

But Chu was still a great power in the East and still had considerable military strength. 】

[“The strongest country in the world is either Qin or Chu, and vice versa.” “If you succeed horizontally, you will be the emperor of Qin; if you succeed vertically, you will be the king of Chu.”]
Xiang Ji curled his lips. The tyrannical Qin State destroyed his Chu State. In the future, he would definitely destroy Qin and restore Chu State.

[Therefore, when Han, Zhao, and Wei had not yet been conquered, Qin would not rashly launch a war to destroy Chu, lest several countries unite to attack Qin.

After destroying Wei, the Qin State was invincible and in high spirits, and was about to launch a full-scale attack on the Chu State.

King Zheng of Qin attached great importance to this war and summoned many Qin generals to discuss plans.

Qin was enjoying a period of prosperity, and Li Xin confidently declared: "With only 20 men, we can pacify Chu."

Veteran general Wang Jian said: "We must have 60 men."

Li Xin was young and brave, and King Zheng of Qin admired him very much.

When I heard Wang Jian say he wanted an army of 60, I felt that he was a little out of control.

The King of Qin appointed Li Xin and Meng Wu to lead an army of 20 to attack Chu in the south.

Wang Jian saw this and asked the King of Qin to let him retire and return to his hometown, Dongxiang, Pinyang.

(End of this chapter)