Chapter 293: King Xi of Yan: I was just watching the fun, how did I become the protagonist?

After Han Fei's diplomatic mission to Chu, a steady stream of grain and supplies began to flow from the treasuries of Qi to the north of Zhao. Among the massive transportation, there was a fleet sailing north from Linzi. However, few people noticed this small fleet. After all, the northern border of Zhao was severely hit by disasters, and it was natural for supplies to be transported to the north of Zhao.

But in the process, someone noticed something unusual about one of the convoys.

"A fleet carrying 100,000 shi of grain and fodder departed from Qi State and stayed in Rao'an for three days?" In the Xianyang Palace, King Zheng of Qin, who was busy preparing for the war to annihilate the country, selected a piece of information that did not seem to be very important from the massive amount of intelligence on Luowang.

"Reporting to the king, the intelligence shows that it is indeed true. As for the reason why the Qi fleet stayed, the people of Qi claimed that several of the ships had malfunctions." Zhao Gao, who was in charge of intelligence, replied. King Zheng of Qin had limited energy and naturally looked at Luowang's intelligence selectively. Therefore, King Zheng of Qin had limited understanding of many things, and he still needed his ministers to supplement his limited understanding. At this time, Zhao Gao was playing such a role.

"Do you think so?" King Zheng of Qin asked back.

"There must be something wrong when things are abnormal. I'm afraid things are not that simple." Zhao Gao answered cautiously.

In the Qin State, although Zhao Gao was not the most powerful person, he was the person closest to King Zheng of Qin. In this respect, even King Zheng of Qin's biological mother, Zhao Ji, could not compare to him. Therefore, Zhao Gao had a clear and realistic understanding of how to serve his master. Although he did not realize how important the things recorded in the intelligence were, since King Zheng of Qin asked so, there must be something behind it.

"Yes, there must be something wrong when things are out of the ordinary. I have learned a lot about the treachery of Qi Wang Chong over the years." Qin Wang Zheng pondered.

"There is still too little intelligence about Qi. Zhao Gao, mobilize some of Luowang's intelligence personnel currently in Zhao to go to Qi. The recent movements of Qi must be reported to me in detail. Zhao is already devastated, and it is not difficult to destroy it. Now the biggest problem in destroying Zhao does not lie with Zhao itself, but with King Chong of Qi and Qi." said King Zheng of Qin.

"Yes." Zhao Gao responded.

"And there are Wei and Chu." King Zheng of Qin pondered. Zhao has Qi behind it. If Qin wants to destroy Zhao, it must ensure that Qi cannot interfere.

But how to ensure that Qi would not take action during the Qin army's attack on Zhao? According to Qin's strategy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby countries for decades, in this situation, it is natural to win over Qi. However, Qin Wang Zheng did not want to use this method now, because he knew that this method might be useful against the King of Wei, the King of Chu, and the King of Yan, but it would be useless against King Chong of Qi.

King Chong of Qi was too smart and was definitely not someone who could be deceived by a little profit.

In this case, Qin State only has one choice, that is to start from Qi State's neighbors. Among Qi State's neighbors, Yan State is vulnerable, Zhao State and Qi State are now in close contact, so the only ones left are Wei State and Chu State.

Therefore, what Qin had to do was to lure Wei and Chu into action, and induce the two countries to send troops to contain Qi, or at least to prevent Qi from having the energy to interfere in Qin's war against Zhao.

Soon, a convoy drove out from Xianyang. The convoy was divided into two routes in the newly established Yingchuan County of Qin State. One route went eastward towards the defense line of Daliang City of Wei State, and the other route went southeast, which was the direction of Chu State.

When the State of Qin sent envoys to the States of Wei and Chu, more and more information about the State of Qi was sent to the desk of King Zheng of Qin through Luowang.

After continuous collection and analysis of intelligence, a fact gradually emerged before the Qin monarch and his ministers.

"King Chongyi of Qi is in the State of Yan. I thought I had thought highly of him, but I didn't expect that I underestimated him in the end." said King Zheng of Qin.

Intelligence sent back by Luowang showed that Qi's army had begun to assemble on a large scale, and more and more armaments were being sent to Zhao's northern border through various channels. The purpose was self-evident.

But it was precisely because he knew Qi's intention that King Zheng of Qin was surprised. Although Yan was weak, it was also a big country. It was not so easy to conquer it. Moreover, through this incident, King Zheng of Qin also realized one thing, that is, King Chong of Qi's appetite was not limited to Qi. King Chong of Qi was the same person as him, and his real goal was the world.

"Your Majesty, Qi has now become our greatest enemy. No matter what King Chong of Qi's intentions are, we only need to do one thing." Lord Changping spoke as King Zheng of Qin was muttering to himself.

"Yes, if King Chongruo of Qi wants to attack the State of Yan, then what we have to do is to hold him back. We can fully utilize the power of the States of Wei and Chu." Li Si also spoke.

"Your Majesty, if King Chong of Qi wants to take over the State of Yan, then let him take it. In the past, the State of Qi also conquered the State of Yan, but afterwards it became difficult to rule and had to retreat. The same is true now. Regardless of whether King Chong of Qi can conquer the State of Yan or not, the military strength of Qi will be dispersed, and this is our opportunity. If all 400,000 Qi soldiers are in Qi, it would be extremely difficult to deal with Qi. But when the 400,000 Qi troops are distributed in Qi and Yan, it will be much easier to defeat two Qi armies of 200,000 people." Wang Jian, who is currently the number one man in the Qin army, expressed a different opinion.

"General, do you mean to allow the Qi army to act as it pleases in Yan?" asked King Zheng of Qin.

"Yes, what the king is worried about when he destroys Zhao is Qi's intervention in the war. If Qi attacks Yan, it will not have any extra forces to intervene in the war, and the king's goal can be achieved. As for Wei and Chu, I think it is not appropriate to let them contain Qi. Once King Chong of Qi realizes that attacking Yan is not a good idea, he will most likely give up the plan to attack Yan. If that happens, what we will have to face in the future is the Qi army fighting on our home ground." Wang Jian suggested.

The Qi army that took the initiative to attack was certainly troublesome, but what was even more troublesome was the Qi army fighting on its own territory. Right now Qi had an army of 400,000 people. It was hard for Wang Jian to imagine how many troops Qin would need to send to take down Qi if the Qin army destroyed it in the future?
In any case, Wang Jian could not think of a way to defeat the Qi army of 400,000.

Therefore, the only way was to lure the Qi army to take the initiative to attack, just like King Min of Qi back then. It seemed that the Qi army was at its strongest, but it planted the seeds of crisis of its own destruction in one victory after another.

During the discussions between the Qin monarch and his ministers, the plan against Qi gradually took shape.

Rather than curbing the attack of the Qi army and letting it retreat to its homeland and become difficult to defeat, letting it come out on its own initiative is undoubtedly a better option.

As for the question of whether Qi would increase its strength after conquering Yan, the Qin monarch and his ministers were not too worried. Although Qi was a big country, it was still inferior to Qin in strength. If the two countries had a head-on confrontation, Qi would not be its opponent.

At the moment, the Qin army needs to do only one thing, and that is to attack and destroy the State of Zhao as soon as possible.

In the planning of the whole Qin State, countless Qin people came out of their homes and formed a huge army from Taiyuan in the north to Sanchuan County in the south, from Xianyang in the west to Dong County in the east, and headed towards Zhao State. While Zhao State was still busy with disaster relief, the Qin army had already divided its troops into two routes, north and south, and attacked Zhao State.

"The Qin people are really despicable. They finally launched an attack at this time." In Wu'an City, Li Mu, the general of Zhao State, had already received the news when the Qin army began to gather on a large scale. As a Zhao person, he could condemn Qin's behavior, but as a general, he felt that such behavior was really unnecessary.

Attacking the enemy when they are weak is the key to military strategy. As for fighting a war of benevolence and righteousness, anyone who said so since Duke Xiang of Song was a fool.

Although the Zhao monarch and his ministers, represented by Li Mu, were helpless, they could only mobilize troops from all over the country to fight against the Qin army when the Qin army was about to launch an attack.

During this process, the people of Zhao were suffering, but the mood of a neighboring country was completely different.

"Okay, this time I want to see what Zhao can use to fight against the Qin army." In the Yan Palace, King Xi of Yan, who had been worried about the lack of news from Crown Prince Yan Dan in recent days, finally received good news. Zhao, the enemy of Yan, was in trouble this time.

King Xi of Yan did not think that Zhao would have an optimistic chance as the Warring States Period had just experienced a major earthquake and did not know how much strength it had to resist the attack of the Qin army.

"Congratulations, brother king. It seems that the Qin army is bound to win this war. Zhao has bullied our Yan many times. If Zhao doesn't die this time, who will?" Yan Wangxi's younger brother Yan Chunjun was also very happy at this time. There are many joys in the world, and watching one's enemies get into trouble is undoubtedly at the top of these joys.

"It would be best if Zhao State is destroyed. This time I will just watch the fun. It feels really good. I can watch our enemies go to destruction without doing anything." King Yan was gloating. He and his Yan State had been bullied by Zhao State many times over the years. This time he could finally hold his head high.

Just as Prince Xi of Yan and Yan Chunjun and others were celebrating, Yan Yi, the general of the State of Yan, came to the palace with a box.

"What is this thing that the general brought?" Seeing the treasure box that Yan Yi was holding, King Yan became interested.

"Reporting to the king, I bought this treasure box from a merchant from Qi. According to the merchant, there is a rare treasure in the box. Even this box alone is worth a thousand gold." Yan Yi handed the treasure box to the eunuch beside King Xi of Yan and said in a flattering tone.

"Hmm? Is that so? Now that the general says so, I am interested." King Yan smiled happily. Since it was a treasure, it should belong to him, after all, he was the king.

"Your Majesty, please look. There is a puzzle on the front of the box. Only when the pieces are put together by rotating them together can the box be opened. The moment the box is opened, Your Majesty will see a big surprise." Yan Yi said.

"What surprise?" After hearing what Yan Yi said, King Yanxi became even more curious.

"Please do it yourself, Your Majesty. If the surprise is announced in advance, it will not be a surprise anymore." Yan Yi said.

"General, don't talk big. If the king opens the box and doesn't see any surprise, you will be charged with deceiving the king." Seeing Yan Yi and King Yan chatting enthusiastically, Yan Chunjun couldn't help but feel a sense of crisis. In Yan State, he would not allow anyone to challenge his position as the most favored and powerful minister of Yan State.

"How dare I deceive the king? You just need to open the box yourself." Yan Yi said.

"I can't wait any longer." King Yan said with a smile. Then, under Yan Yi's guidance, the puzzle pieces on the front of the box were constantly adjusted, gradually forming a complete picture.

"Interesting, the full picture of the puzzle is actually Jicheng. What should I do next?" After King Xi of Yan adjusted the last piece of the puzzle to the appropriate position, the picture on the front of the box had taken shape, but the box had not yet been opened.

"My lord, please look here. We just need to press this mechanism." Yan Yi pointed to the center of the puzzle.

"Is it here?" Prince Xi of Yan stretched out his finger and pressed the position pointed by Yan Yi. He pressed lightly and found that it was indeed the mechanism. Prince Xi of Yan then exerted force and the mechanism was pressed down. Only a crisp sound was heard from inside the treasure box, followed by the sound of gears turning.

Amid the sound of gears turning, the four sides of the treasure box blossomed like lotus flowers. It was magnificent, but what Prince Xi of Yan saw was not beauty, but horror. Not only Prince Xi of Yan was horrified, but also Yan Yi, Yan Chunjun, and everyone in the hall who looked at the object placed in the center of the treasure box.

It turned out to be a human head made of clay. If it were just that, it might make King Xi of Yan furious, but it would not frighten him. However, King Xi of Yan was frightened at this time because the appearance of the human head was exactly that of King Xi of Yan's son Yan Dan.

The human head was fake, but whoever dared to make this fake head into the shape of Yan Dan and give it to King Xi of Yan would be seeking death in the State of Yan.

But what King Xi of Yan felt at this moment was not anger, but panic.

It has been a long time since his son fled from Qin, and there has been no news of him since then. Although King Xi of Yan is not a kind father, he still has some basic concerns about his son. He is also quite worried about Yan Dan.

But there was indeed no news from Yan Dan. Even though King Xi of Yan was worried, he could only tell himself that no news might not be bad news.

But now Yan Dan seems to have news, and it doesn't seem to be good news.

King Yan was horrified to see a letter at the bottom of the box. Without caring about anything else, he quickly took the letter in his hand. When he opened it, he saw a line of clear handwriting on it: I'm sorry, I was too heavy-handed and Yan Dan's body is no longer found. Now, as a token of my apology, I can only give this clay sculpture of a human head to King Yan to ease his longing for his son.

Signed: King Chong of Qi.

(End of this chapter)