Xianyang Palace.

It was already winter, and snowflakes fell from the sky, the earth was covered with silver, and the wheels of the carriage were pressed against the snow, and two deep ruts appeared, but after a moment, they were covered by the fluttering snow.

This is the first snowfall since the beginning of winter in Guanzhong.

In the midst of this heavy snow, a carriage hurried into the Xianyang Palace Gate.

The person sitting on the carriage is not someone else, but it is Lu Buwei, who has been recently recognized as being the three giants of Qin, along with Yangquan Jun Mi Chen and Gangcheng Jun Cai Ze.

The expression on Lu Buwei's face was very serious, but he was thinking about something in his heart.

To be honest, Lu Buwei has actually been a little unhappy recently.

Since secretly forming an alliance with Cai Ze, Lu Buwei has begun to find ways to defeat Mi Chen.

But the problem is that veterans of the three dynasties like Mi Chen have strong support in the palace, and they really can't be able to overturn them at will if they want to.

Moreover, Lu Buwei was very clear in his heart that although the prince had great trust in himself, the prince was actually hesitant and concerned about whether to remove Mi Chen.

So Lu Buwei actually lied to Cai Ze that day because the incident of overthrowing Mi Chen could not be regarded as the instructor of the prince.

But what made Lu Buwei feel more at ease was that Cai Ze was the one who was most distant from the prince among the three giants, so Cai Ze could not get close to the prince and expose his lies.

But there is no airtight wall in this world. If you want to bring down Mi Chen, you still need to work harder.

As long as Mi Chen can be defeated, Lu Buwei will become the censor among the three ministers. If he finds a way to get rid of Cai Ze, then the entire Qin State will be the world of Lu Buwei.

By that time, hum...

As Lu Buwei thought about it, a smile quietly appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Lu Buwei stepped into the main hall of Xianyang Palace. What surprised him was that there were only three people in the main hall of Xianyang Palace today except himself.

The prince, Mi Chen and Cai Ze.

This made Lu Buwei feel nervous immediately.

Did something big happen?

Speaking of which, whether it is Lu Buwei, Mi Chen or Cai Ze, these three giants are actually quite busy, and the time they can gather together is just a court discussion.

Now that the prince has specially summoned the three of them, there should be something very important to announce.

Lu Buwei did not dare to neglect and bowed respectfully to the prince in front of him: "I have seen the prince."

The prince looked at Lu Buwei in front of him and smiled very much: "Lu Qing doesn't have to be too polite, please sit down."

The prince of Qin now seems to be more accustomed to the role of such a superior than before, and he is more like a real King of Qin.

Of course, in Lu Buwei's opinion, the prince was actually far worse than his grandfather, King Qin Ji, and even his father, King Qin Zhu.

But it is precisely because of this that Qin State has room for Lu Buwei to operate, and it has to be said that this is a good thing.

After Lu Buwei sat down, the prince cleared his throat and slowly spoke, "There is one thing he wanted to let the ministers know, that is, a few days ago, an envoy from Wei had just secretly arrived in Xianyang and received my reception."

"Envoy of Wei?" As soon as the prince's words fell, the three important officials of Qin around him showed surprise expressions on their faces, especially because of the expression on Lu Buwei's face.

You should know that the diplomatic system of Qin is actually in the hands of Lu Buwei. Why did the Wei people have secret envoys to visit Lu Buwei but didn't know?

But this time was obviously not the time to pursue the matter, and Lu Buwei had no intention of thinking about this because he had heard the next sentence of the prince.

"I have decided to form an alliance with Wei State in secret. As long as I find an opportunity, I will send troops together to attack Zhao State!"

As soon as the prince finished speaking, the three important officials of Qin State looked different.

To be honest, this result is not too unexpected.

Now that the Qin State wants to compete for hegemony, it is a must-have choice to go east.

If Qin wants to go east to the Central Plains, he must first take back Hedong County and Hangu Pass in the hands of Zhao.

If these two places cannot be obtained, then the Guanzhong of Qin will always be threatened by Zhao's Bingfeng and will be in a very passive position in the entire strategic situation.

So for Qin, defeating Zhao was an urgent issue.

Moreover, since the three families divided Jin, the wars of hegemony on the mainland have become more and more intense. Wei, Chu, Qi, and Qin have appeared one after another. Until now, Zhao, there will be a new hegemony every few decades.

But the problem is that the rise of the new overlord of Zhao State is really too fast!

In just five years, the people of Zhao seized the Hedong and Guhan passage from Qin, Gao Tang from Qi, Yecheng and Chengqiu from Wei, the former land of Lu and half of Huaibei from Chu, Wuyang and Fenmen from Yan, and even defeated the Linhu people, and captured the two counties of Hetao and Shuofang.

In just five years, the territory of Zhao State expanded almost twice as much as before the Battle of Changping!

Today, Zhao State is no longer inferior to Qin State in terms of its land area.

More importantly, according to the previous laws of the overlord, each overlord must be at least 20 years before it will gradually become prosperous and decline.

But the Zhao State is now so powerful in just five years. If there are another twenty or thirty years, I am afraid that other vassal states will be destroyed by Zhao State?

The power of Zhao State was the most understood by the Qin people in the entire China. After all, the strength of the Zhao army was fully demonstrated in front of the old Qin people in Changping, Hedong and Guanzhong.

Therefore, Qin was the one who was beaten the most and was the country that was most afraid of Zhao.

The old Qin people can fail, but they will never admit defeat!

Whether it is the current crown prince of Qin or the whole Guanzhong family, all the old Qin people are looking forward to, that is, to return all the shame given by Zhao people one day to the same thing!

After a full moment, Mi Chen, the leader of the three important officials, took the lead and spoke first: "The prince plans to start a war next spring?"

The prince of Qin, who was sitting in the upper head, shook and said in a deep voice: "No, I am just temporarily forming an alliance with Wei. As for when the war begins, this is exactly what I want to discuss with the ministers."

Cai Ze thought for a while and said, "Crown Prince, it is better not to start a war immediately, as the old minister said."

The prince's eyes moved to Cai Ze and said in a deep voice: "Why?"

It can be heard that the prince was actually not very satisfied with Cai Ze's answer.

This is actually understandable. After all, the prince is only twenty-six years old this year. He inherited the throne when he was young this year, so he must be ambitious and prepared to make a career.

More importantly, everyone knows that the prince was actually just a concubine's son before, and he was completely unpopular. He was able to become the legitimate son and eventually succeed to the throne by adopting him to the name of Mrs. Huayang.

There are actually many doubts about such a monarch in Qin.

Many people are not optimistic that this young monarch who has almost never received much orthodox royal education can turn the tide and lead the Qin State to rise again.

The young prince knew these noises clearly.

Therefore, he urgently needed to prove himself, prove that he was worthy of the position of the prince and king, and prove that he had the ability to lead Qin to revival.

To prove all this, first of all, he needs a war.

A war that can win!

For such a monarch who longs for victory, any act of opposing war is actually quite harsh in his ears.

Although Cai Ze saw the prince's dissatisfaction, since he had already said it, Cai Ze naturally had to continue speaking.

"Prince, according to last year's inventory, the treasury has begun to bottom out due to years of wars, and there is no extra food and money to support the war that will be launched soon!"

As a master of the inner history of Li, Cai Ze's function is to take charge of grain, food, money and goods. The Qin State treasury itself is the subordinate institution of the inner history, so Cai Ze naturally knew this.

"What?" the prince was slightly stunned, and then said, "I can't even afford to support a war?"

"Yes." Cai Ze nodded and said, "Prince, don't forget the losses caused to the Qin Dynasty when Zhao people entered Guanzhong last time. Not only did a large area of ​​Guanzhong fail to harvest and famine, but our treasury was also emptied! Those damn Zhao people did not leave us even a piece of food!"

When Cai Ze mentioned this, all the Qin monarchs and ministers present couldn't help but feel embarrassed, and then this embarrassment turned into anger.

The prince punched the table in front of him: "One day, I will make the people of Zhao pay the price! Gangchengjun, I want to know one thing, that is, how long will it take to have enough food and supplies to support the year-on-year war!"

Cai Ze thought for a while and said, "This depends on the harvest next year. If the harvest is sufficient next year, then the soldiers of the old Qin people can embark on the journey as early as the spring of the following year."

"The next year?" the prince snorted heavily and said, "This means I have to wait for more than a year?"

Lu Buwei judged the situation and felt that it was time for him to speak: "The prince is actually not just a matter of food and food. Nowadays, there are not many qualified soldiers among the old Qin people."

Generally speaking, if an army continues to win, it will definitely pay less casualties than the enemy, and it will definitely use more soldiers than the enemy.

However, Qin State suffered several major defeats in recent years, and a large number of soldiers either died in battle or became prisoners of the enemy (mainly people from Zhao), which made the issue of Qin's military source begin to become prominent.

The prince glared at Lu Buwei and said, "I remember that I had just carried out a round of recruitment a while ago?"

Lu Buwei nodded and said, "Crown Prince, this is exactly the problem I want to talk about. Although a round of recruitment has just been carried out, the training of the soldiers also takes time, and now it is a cold winter, and the training cannot be carried out at all. At least it will not be possible to start training after spring plowing. If the troops were sent to attack Zhao State at that time, I am afraid the recruits would have no time to train."

After a pause, Lu Buwei continued, "And I think that even if Qin and Wei join forces, they may not be the opponent of Zhao. After all, Zhao has many allies. It is better to ask the prince to be patient and wait until the soldiers are trained and the food supply is sufficient before attacking at the best time."
Chapter completed!