Two days later, the news that "Zhuoxian fell and Ma Kuo died in battle" was quickly sent to Jicheng and reported to Lihou Hanwu.

When he heard the news, Li Hou Han Wu clenched his fists tightly at first, and veins popped up on his forehead. After a few breaths, he let out a long breath and seemed to relax.

Perhaps this is not relaxation, but numbness under despair.

"I understand, just step back."

After sending away the soldiers who came to deliver the message, Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, sat alone in his study.

In fact, before leading his army to the expedition, Ma Kuo had clearly told him that South Korea's chances of winning this battle were extremely slim, unless the coalition forces of various countries broke through South Korea and forced Wei generals Zhao Jiang, Shao Hu, Pang Huan and others to withdraw their troops and return to their homeland. Otherwise, even if he uses up the last of his Korean troops, it will be difficult to withstand the power of the Wei army.

Therefore, Lihou Hanwu did not hate Ma Kuo for losing this crucial war concerning the survival of the country. On the contrary, he sincerely believed that Ma Kuo had fulfilled his duties as a Korean general and tried his best to hold off the Wei army for more than 20 years. day, and died heroically in the final battle. He would rather die than surrender to Wei. He had done well enough, and Han Wu could not ask for more.

"God is not on our side in the end, Korea..."

Li Hou Han Wu sighed sadly.

In fact, both he and Ma Kuo knew each other at that time that Korea had lost its ability to resist the Wei army. The only hope that Korea could survive now lay in whether the coalition forces of various countries could put enough pressure on Wei.

In order to delay as much time as possible until the coalition forces of various countries put enough pressure on the Wei State, Ma Kuo resolutely led his troops to the expedition despite knowing that the battle was almost doomed to failure. In the end, Qiu Ren was defeated. Ren died in battle in Zhuoxian County, and he lived up to the kindness of three generations of Han kings to his Ma family.

After pondering for a moment, Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, summoned his confidant Han Hou and told the latter the news that "Zhuoxian fell and Ma Kuo died in battle." He immediately said to the latter: "Han Hou, I want you to protect the Queen Mother and Xin. You are going to Qi State..."

Han Hou nodded and suddenly asked: "Marquis Li, what about you?"

I saw a look of melancholy on Lihou Han Wu's face, and he shook his head slightly.

Han Hou seemed to understand something and lowered his head and stopped talking.

After a while, Li Hou Han Wu came to the palace with his guard Han Hou and asked to see the Queen Mother Zhou.

After telling the Queen Mother Zhou that "Zhuoxian fell and Ma Kuo died in battle", Lihou Hanwu said to the latter: "Queen Mother, the country is in trouble and Jicheng may not be preserved. In order to prevent traitors from persecuting the king, I am prepared to Send Han Hou to send the Queen Mother and the King to the State of Qi for refuge... Please ask the Queen Mother to summon the King."

The Queen Mother Zhou was frightened when she heard this and said in horror: "The King of Wei has an old relationship with the late king, so I'm afraid he won't kill Ji'er ruthlessly, right?"

Li Hou Han Wu smiled bitterly.

Indeed, based on the virtue and character of Wei Wang Zhao Run, he really would not do anything to the Empress Dowager Zhou and the new monarch Han Ji, an orphan and widowed mother. If the commander of the 300,000 Wei and Yuan coalition forces at this time was Wei Wang Zhao Run, Han Wu didn't have anything to worry about, but unfortunately, King Zhao Run of Wei was not here. On the contrary, there was a poisonous warrior named Zhang Qigong of Wei who instigated the traitor Han Pu, Marquis of Yuanyi, to establish a puppet monarch.

Li Hou Han Wu was very worried that after Jicheng was captured, Zhang Qigong would secretly harm his brother Han Ran's two sons: Han Ji and Han Fei.

"It's better to be cautious."

Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, sighed and said to the Queen Mother Zhou: "The State of Qi and I, Han, have made an alliance, and I believe they will treat the Queen Mother and the King well..."

In fact, when he said these words, he still had concerns in his heart: It is undeniable that the Qi State should take in the Queen Mother Zhou and the new monarch Han Ji, mother and son, for the sake of the alliance, but the problem is that after the fall of Korea, Can Qi resist Wei's revenge?

However, at this time, Han Wu could no longer take care of this. The only thing he considered at this moment was to send the Queen Mother Zhou and the new monarch Han Ji to Qi, which was temporarily safe. At least it was much safer there than in South Korea.

A moment later, Han Ji, the new king of Korea, who was only more than ten years old, came to his mother's palace accompanied by two chamberlains. When he saw his uncle Lihou Han Wu in the palace, with a solemn look on his face, he couldn't help but feel stunned.

"The Queen Mother and Your Majesty, please leave immediately."

Li Hou Han Wu said to the Queen Mother Zhou.

Queen Mother Zhou nodded.

On the same day, after Li Hou Han Wu left, Queen Mother Zhou immediately asked the maids in the palace to pack up their belongings and prepare to take Han Ji and Han Fei's two sons to Qi State.

On the seventh day of October, the allied forces of Wei and Yuan approached Jicheng, causing people in Jicheng to panic.

At this time, Jicheng had only a thousand troops left after all the attacks. It was simply a fool's dream to rely on these troops alone to resist the nearly 300,000 Wei and Yuan coalition forces.

In the afternoon of that day, three Wei armies, namely the Wei Wu Army, the Suppression Army, and the Yanling Army, were the first to arrive at the gates of Jicheng City. Soon after, Han Pu, the traitor of South Korea and the Marquis of Yuanyi, also arrived at the royal capital with tens of thousands of Yuanyi troops.

According to the usual practice, Shao Hu, the Wei general who served as the deputy general of Zhaojiang, King of Yan, came to Jicheng in person and advised Jicheng to surrender.

At this time, the prime minister of South Korea, Zhang Zhang, led a group of ministers and officials to watch on the city. When he saw the Wei and Yuan coalition forces approaching one after another, Zhang Zhang sighed sadly, and then turned his head. Look at Lihou Han Wu.

In fact, not only the open space, but also many people on the city wall were peeking at Lihou Hanwu at this moment. Many of them may even wish that Lihou Hanwu would immediately agree to the advice of the Wei general Shao Hu under the city and surrender the city.

After all, in their opinion, the current Jicheng could not withstand the offensive of the Wei army outside the city. Instead of making unnecessary sacrifices, it was better to obey the destiny and surrender to Wei.

In full view of everyone, Li Hou Han Wu spoke slowly and said to Shao Hu at the bottom of the city: "General Shao Hu, can you wait for one more day? I, Jicheng, will definitely give you an answer tomorrow."

Shaohu hesitated for a while, but finally accepted it.

When he ordered the entire army to withdraw, Wei General Pang Huan frowned and asked: "Shaohu, why did you agree to such a rude request? You should know that the city in front of you cannot stop our army's offensive at all... …Why wait until tomorrow?”

Upon hearing this, Shao Hu replied: "Since the victory has been decided, why bother to be aggressive?... In Zhang Duwei's words, our army should try our best to win over the people and not make more Koreans hate us, the Wei people..."

"In order to annex South Korea in the future?"

Pang Huan thought for a while and said nothing more.

Seeing the Wei army slowly retreating outside the city, Li Hou Han Wu's tense face relaxed a little, and the walls of the city seemed to be open. The faces of Han Kui and other Korean officials also looked better.

Although the outcome that Korea was about to face might not change, the Wei army still gave them some face, and did not immediately order an siege to break through the capital of Korea.

"Zhang Xiang."

Li Hou Han Wu turned to Zhang Kai and said: "Tomorrow's affairs... will be left to Prime Minister Zhang."

Zhang Kai was stunned when he heard this, and asked in surprise: "Marquis Li, what about you..."

Having said this, he saw the firm gaze of Li Hou Han Wu, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and bowed his hands and said: "I obey."

In full view of everyone, Li Hou Han Wu led a group of guards down the city wall and returned directly to his mansion.

He summoned all his wives and concubines and his youngest son Han Xin to the inner room, and sent someone to summon his eldest son Han Chi.

That night, Han Wu ordered the chef to prepare a sumptuous meal, and the family enjoyed the meal happily.

Han Wu's youngest son, Han Xin, was only a few years old and naturally did not understand the ways of the world. However, Han Wu's wives and concubines, including his eldest son Han Chi, saw something from this family banquet.

Because of this, one of the concubines could not help but sob in a low voice, and was scolded by Han Wu's principal wife.

This little episode inevitably ruined the atmosphere of the family dinner.

After dinner, Han Chi, the eldest son of General Lihou Han called to the study and said to him: "Chi'er, when the Wei army enters the city tomorrow, you take my father's head and give it to Wei General Shaohu. This is what my father will do today." Promise his 'answer'."

Han Chi's expression suddenly changed when he heard this, and he couldn't help but persuade: "Father..."

As if he guessed his son's thoughts, Han Wu raised his hand to stop his son, shook his head and said: "My father has failed your uncle's dying instructions, how can I live in shame? As for surrendering to Wei... My father never bent the knee back then. Not today either."

Han Chi hesitated before speaking, and asked in a choked voice for a long time: "What else does father have to ask you?"

Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, pondered for a moment and said to his eldest son Han Chi: "There are many unwillingnesses in my father's life. There is no need to list them in detail. For now, the only worries in my heart are Shanggu and Yuyang. I ignored the dissuasion of Lord Wei Qing Ma Kuo and transferred him. If the foreign tribesmen in the grassland hear the news, the guards in the two places may take advantage of the situation and take advantage of the situation... When you see Shaohu tomorrow, be sure to remind him, no, please ask him to send troops to garrison Shanggu and Yuyang. In this way, Then my father will be able to rest in peace even under the Nine Springs."

"Yes..." Han Chi responded with a sad face.

After that, Li Hou Han Wu warned Han Chi for a while before asking the eldest son to leave the study.

That night, Han Wu ordered his servants to bring some jars of wine, and then he sat alone in his study, drinking and recalling his life.

He thought of his father Han Wangjian, his brother Han Wangran, and all the interesting things about the close relationship between the two brothers when they were young.

As he said, he had a lot of unwillingness and regrets in his life, but the one he couldn't let go of the most was his adopted brother Han Ran.

Once upon a time, he had always thought that his younger brother Han Ran was playful and ignorant, but he had never thought that this younger brother was far more talented than him, which made him regret it. If he could have stood by his younger brother Han Ran and brought down Kang Gong Han Wu, Will this country change as a result?

Everyone in the world believed that Han Ran was not as good as King Jian of Han and not as good as King Zhao Run of Wei, but Han Wu did not see it that way.

You must know that the king of Wei, Zhao Run, was deeply favored by Zhao Si, the first king of the Wei state. He took charge of the army when he was only fourteen years old. Since then, his status in the Wei state has skyrocketed. Han Wu has always believed that the Wei state can be as strong as it is today. On the one hand, Of course it was because of the great talent and strategy of King Zhao Run of Wei, but more importantly, it was because Zhao Si, the first king of Wei, paved the way for his son.

However, Han Ran is not as lucky as Zhao Run. Although he is a monarch, he has been restricted by Kang Gong Han Hu, Zhuang Gong Han Geng and Han Wu. At this time, Zhao Run has completely controlled the entire

Wei State.

Even after that, the words of Wei King Zhao Run were like heaven's decree in Wei, and no one dared to disobey them; as for Han Wangran, even when Han Ran passed away, there were still many big nobles and noble families in the country who did not recognize these words.

The monarch obeys the yin and yang and disobeys the yang.

Therefore, Han Wu believed that his younger brother Han Ran was just unlucky and was born in Korea, a country with many aristocratic families. If he had been born in the Wei Kingdom, he would not necessarily be inferior to Zhao Run.

Unknowingly, the sky outside the window gradually became brighter.

At this time, Han Wu realized that he was drinking and reminiscing about the past, and the whole night had passed unknowingly.

He slowly stood up and took his sword.

The origin of this sword is not simple. It was a sword made by his father Han Wangjian when he was the king of Korea. After his death, his brother Han Wangqi took it as his companion sword in memory of his brother.

King Han Qi passed away, and Han Wu took control of Korea. This sword fell into Han Wu's hands again.

"Qiang"

Pulling out the sword, Han Wu looked at the blade with a sad expression.

It's not that he is afraid of death, he just has no face to face his father Han Wangjian.

When the world mentioned the Han Wang Jian, they all compared it with Qi Wang Lu Xi, thinking that these two monarchs were the "two heroes" of the Central Plains at that time. Even Xiong Xu, the late king of Chu, did not have this honor.

Many people believe that if King Jian of Han had not collapsed in Zhongdao, King Lu Xi of Qi might not have been able to dominate the Central Plains at that time.

However, as the son of such a heroic lord, Han Wu carefully recalled his life, but found that he had made no contribution to the country. Even in the end, he ignored the persuasion of Wei Qing Ma Kuo and sent Shanggu and Yuyang to the last two places.

The garrison was transferred to Zhuo County, causing the safety of the people in the two counties to be ignored.

Taking a deep breath, Han Wu placed the blade across his neck, and then slowly closed his eyes.

"...This may be the only thing I can do now...for the subjects of this country..."

"laugh"
To be continued...