Chapter 113: Pang Juan's death and the sudden change of the world situation

King Wei of Qi appointed Sun Bin as the military advisor of Qi.

When Pang Juan led his troops to attack the State of Zhao, he sent troops to attack the new capital of Wei, Daliang, forcing Pang Juan to retreat and return to rescue the capital. In this way, he resolved the crisis of the State of Zhao.

This is the famous story of Wei Wei saving Zhao in history.

Sun Bin took the saying "Warfare is the art of deception" to its extreme, and provided a new way of thinking about warfare for many military strategists later on.

Why do we have to fight a war in an honest and orderly manner?

We should be flexible and adaptable, and use clever methods to achieve the effect of making a small win a big and defeating the strong with the weak.

We should plan strategically in the tent and win the battle from thousands of miles away, instead of rigidly fighting against others.

However, this "Besiege Wei to Save Zhao" was not the most amazing thing. The most amazing thing was that when Pang Juan led his troops to attack Han again, Sun Bin used "Besiege Wei to Save Zhao" again.

As the saying goes, all is fair in war. Pang Juan hurried back to rescue and ordered an all-out pursuit, defeating the enemy in one fell swoop.

However, he was ambushed by the Qi army at Maling.

When the Wei army entered the encirclement, the Qi army fired thousands of arrows at them, defeating the Wei army and forcing Pang Juan to commit suicide.

Pang Juan was the only general in Wei State who had the ability to command troops. Pang Juan's death meant that Wei State would begin to weaken step by step from then on and completely withdraw from its position of overlord.

Logically, Qi should have taken advantage of the situation at this time, defeated the Wei army, killed Pang Juan, and made Tian Ji and Sun Bin famous.

With these two famous generals in charge, why worry about not being able to hold on to the position?

But Qi did not.

After the Battle of Maling, the generals and ministers of Qi State fell out. Zou Ji set a trap for Tian Ji to rebel, forcing Tian Ji to flee to Chu State.

Sun Bin was greatly disappointed by this and also retreated to the mountains to live in seclusion.

How could the State of Qi still maintain its reputation as a powerful country after suddenly losing its two famous generals?

As a result, in such a war-torn period, a balance of power briefly emerged, as if everyone's national strength was about the same. Wei, as the strongest country, was also pulled down, and it seemed that there was not much difference compared with everyone else.

Such a rare opportunity in a century was presented to the Qin State.

Of course, Duke Xiao of Qin and Wei Yang were not polite at all. If they didn't seize this great opportunity, would they wait for him to slip away?

The story of the six kingdoms has been temporarily completed here, and the next step is the battle to retake Hexi.

But it was already late, and while Qin Sheng was sending Chu Yian to bed, he took the latest manuscript paper and read it in amazement, reluctant to put it down.

Qin Sheng knew a lot of things, but he was a general after all, and his interest in other things was not as great as his interest in military strategy.

Sun Bin's campaign of besieging Wei to save Zhao is a prime example of the use of all possible tactics in war, and it is worthy of being recorded in history books and highlighted in the battle.

War is a matter of deception.

Qin Sheng repeated this sentence silently in his heart. This sentence actually exists in this world, but there are not many generals who can really use it to the extreme.

The reason why Sun Bin was able to successfully besiege Wei and rescue Zhao twice and annihilate Wei's most elite troops and Pang Juan was actually partly due to his understanding of Pang Juan.

Pang Juan was rigid in his use of troops and did not know how to adapt. He seized Pang Juan's weakness and made countermeasures, thus successfully achieving his goal.

Chu Yian looked at the light in Qin Sheng's eyes and felt that at this moment Qin Sheng seemed to have truly become what a person of this age should be like.

In her impression, Qin Sheng has always been mature, sharp-minded and suspicious, but also very considerate of her emotions.

But he was only seventeen or eighteen years old.

How mature can people of this age be?

If it weren't for the situation, Qin Sheng would have been the most ambitious young man in the world.

He should have been riding a horse and parading through the streets like other teenagers, joking around as he pleased, instead of getting himself involved in those conspiracies and tricks at such a young age.

Chu Yian lowered his eyelashes, got up, went to bed and covered himself with the quilt without disturbing Qin Sheng.

Qin Sheng read for an unknown amount of time before he finally pushed the door open reluctantly and asked someone to deliver the manuscript he had written tonight to Qingshan Bookstore.

Looking at the dark shadow going away, complex emotions flashed in Qin Sheng's eyes.

The content of tonight was beyond his expectations. Not only him, but also the entire court and even the entire Dashun would have unusual impacts.

Especially the emperor.

The situation of Dashun was actually not much better than that of Wei. Wei only had General Pang Juan, and Dashun only had the Qin family.

The lack of young military commanders had become apparent many years ago, but after so many years, Dashun still had not produced two generals who could rival the Qin family.

There are a few people with outstanding abilities, but they are far from the level of the Qin family.

This is also the reason why successive emperors have had a love-hate relationship with the Qin family.

He wanted to completely eradicate the Qin family, but he didn't dare.

Today's script was delivered to the emperor's desk. Seeing the ending of the Wei Kingdom, I wonder what the emperor would think.

Qin Sheng turned around and went back to his room, lying down on the couch and fell asleep.

Except for a few courtyards where candles were still lit, the other courtyards in Duke Qin's Mansion were completely silent.

The owner of Qingshan Bookstore ordered someone to engrave the words as soon as the storybook was delivered.

This has become the norm in Qingshan Bookstore. It happens every night, causing many people in the bookstore to confuse day and night.

Everyone worked hard all night and finally put enough books on the shelves of the bookstore when the roosters crowed. They also urgently printed the next batch and sent them to other places.

As soon as the book was put up there, it was immediately bought and sent to the emperor's desk.

The emperor came out of the morning court and saw the latest script and opened it to read.

He seemed to have gotten used to this rhythm.

Attending court, leaving court, reading storybooks, thinking, reviewing memorials, discussing matters with others, handling state affairs, and inquiring about the national situation.

He felt that he was very busy, so he got up very early and went to bed very late every day.

In terms of diligence, he is definitely no less diligent than the previous emperor, and is even far ahead.

But the Dashun Dynasty has always been lukewarm. It can't get up, the army can't get up, and the national strength can't get up. This made him doubt what the point of doing this was.

Amidst such self-doubt, the emperor opened "The Great Qin Empire" and began to read.

Then I saw the conversation between Zou Ji and King Wei of Qi.

There is also a famous saying of King Wei of Qi: "Any minister or commoner who can point out my faults to my face will receive a high reward. Anyone who writes a letter to remonstrate with me will receive a medium reward. Anyone who can slander me in the marketplace and let me hear it will receive a low reward."

This shocked him.

It's okay for a minister, but as a king, he actually allowed the people to come to him and point out his faults...

Not only will there be no punishment, but there will be a huge reward.

This made the emperor feel unprecedented panic. Has the emperor outside... already reached this point?

Being so humble, aren't you afraid that any bad words recorded in history books will affect your reputation?

He suddenly thought of Duke Xiao of Qin. When he had just met Wei Yang, Wei Yang had actually talked about this issue. What was Duke Xiao of Qin's answer?

He said that a ruler who allows his country to perish and his people to suffer, who does not deal with state affairs and solve problems but instead focuses on his own empty reputation and fame, is this the way to be a ruler? Is this the way to govern a country?

The reason why so many wise rulers in history have left their names in history is that they are smart, willing to endure hardships, and good at thinking.

Instead of thinking about what you should do to leave your name in history.

If you focus all your attention on how to leave a name for yourself, how are you different from those who are just trying to gain fame and reputation?

The emperor sat behind the desk for a long time without coming back to his senses. He had been holding the latest version of "The Great Qin Empire" in his hand. He used so much force that deep wrinkles appeared on the paper and he almost scratched it.