Chapter 149: Apparent Promotion, Actual Demotion
The people of Zhao were far less numerous than those of Qin, and even their weapons were not as sharp as those of the Qin army. After the Battle of Changping, Zhao lost a large amount of territory.
The Qin State became stronger and stronger as the war went on, while the Zhao State became weaker and weaker. The kings of Zhao in all generations had been holding a grudge in their hearts. Now that the Zhao State had finally gained the upper hand, King Qian of Zhao felt elated.
After hearing this, I felt that there was some truth to it.
Zhao Wangqian raised his hand and said with a smile: "OK!"
"Your Majesty is wise."
"Congratulations, Your Majesty—"
Li Mu felt something was wrong, but he couldn't find out what was wrong for the time being.
After achieving his goal, Gao Sheng sat down next to Guo Kai. Seeing that Li Mu was still staring at him, he smiled and bowed to Li Mu.
He whispered to Guo Kai, "The Prime Minister is right. It seems that General Li doesn't trust me. The plan between you and me might change because of him."
Guo Kai raised his wine glass, covering half of his face, with a look of contempt. "What are you afraid of? It's enough that the king trusts us. After the banquet, I will discuss with the king to take back the army from Li Mu. Without his army, what can he do?"
The strength of Qin has been greatly reduced and it no longer has the power to attack Zhao. It is impossible for the king to allow Li Mu to continue to control the Zhao army.
Guo Kaixin said, "Wu'an Jun! Wu'an Jun! You'd better pray that your ending is better than Bai Qi's! After all, you are a former minister of Prince Jia."
If Li Mu was not more loyal to Prince Jia than to the State of Zhao, he really would not have been able to persuade King Zhao.
Gao Sheng offered Guo Kai a glass of wine and said respectfully, "I would like to wish the Prime Minister all the best in advance."
At a banquet, Li Mu had no appetite.
He left the Zhao Palace, looked at the starry sky, and sighed continuously.
Not long after he left the palace gate, a eunuch caught up with him, bringing orders from King Zhao.
"Li Qing has driven the tyrannical Qin army out of our borders, allowing the people to sleep peacefully and alleviating my worries. This is truly a great blessing for our country. However, the soldiers are suffering and the people are in dire straits. We should not have stationed troops at the border for too long. General, you have worked hard and have made great contributions, and you should also cultivate yourself. I hereby enfeoff you as Lord Wu'an, grant you a fief of 10,000 households, and grant you the Marquis of Wu'an Mansion, with residence in Handan."
Li Mu took the imperial edict sent by the eunuch and was unable to recover for a long time. This imperial edict seemed to be praising him, but in fact it not only took away his power to command the army, but also trapped him in Handan and prevented him from returning to Yanmen County.
Li Mu's face looked extremely ugly, and he clenched the cloth tightly in his hands, almost wanting to tear it into pieces.
Guo Kai staggered out and happened to see Li Mu standing at the palace gate, stunned. He smirked and said, "General Li, oh my! Look at my mouth!"
He raised his hand and patted his mouth, smiling, "Now I should call you Wu'an Jun. Have you received the king's order?"
"Why, you seem unhappy? The king is also thinking about you. Swords have no eyes, and Wu'an Jun is old after all. If he is injured, it will be a loss for our Zhao State."
"Besides, the hundreds of thousands of troops you forcibly recruited all need to eat. Lord Wu'an, you don't know the situation at home. If you keep feeding these people, we won't have enough to eat! Your Majesty has no other choice."
Li Mu's eyes were filled with anger. "You asked the king to do this? Do you know that this puts the State of Zhao in danger?"
Guo Kai snorted, "I knew you'd say that! Wu'an Jun is afraid that without the threat of the Qin army, the king will no longer use you, so he has been exaggerating the Qin's fighting power!"
"You are talking nonsense!" Li Mu was so angry that his face turned blue and his fists creaked.
He didn't expect that his loyalty to Zhao State would be met with suspicion from the King of Zhao.
"To tell you the truth! The king thinks these people are useless, and as for you, you are even more useless!" Guo Kai turned away, and Gao Sheng, who followed behind him, saluted Li Mu and left, but he looked back at him when he left.
The night wind blew by, and Li Mu felt cold all over.
"General." The deputy general reminded him that it was difficult for him to accept the king's choice, but this was the king's order and they could not disobey it.
Li Mu gritted his teeth and said, "If it was Young Master Jia—"
"General, please be careful with your words!" The deputy general interrupted Li Mu, looked around, and made sure that no one else around heard it, then he breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Mu smiled bitterly. He knew very well that this should not be said, but the fact was indeed so. Prince Qian was stubborn and short-sighted. He even usurped the throne of Zhao. He should not have been the king.
At this point, Li Mu had no choice but to return to the military camp with his deputy general.
In the Zhao military camp, after a few days of recuperation, he felt much better. Although he could not walk yet, he had no problem sitting up and eating and drinking.
Ah Zhu was holding the food box, his face still grumpy. He opened the box and said impatiently, "Eat it yourself!"
The box contained ordinary bean rice and a bowl of vegetable soup, but today there was also a piece of pancake. The pancake was made of wheat flour, and although it contained some bran, it was already delicious.
Ah Zhu took his portion out of the box and ate it with big mouthfuls, boasting, "This pancake was given to our Zhao army by the general after our Zhao defeated the Qin. If you didn't live here now, you wouldn't be able to eat such delicious food!"
Qu Ji took a bite of the cake. It tasted average, but for him who had been eating bean rice for several days, it was indeed delicious.
Listening to the sounds of singing and dancing outside, Quji couldn't help but ask, "What are they doing outside?"
Ah Zhu rolled his eyes at him. "You're so ignorant! Of course we celebrate! But since you Qin lost, you can't celebrate. Our king has issued a decree for a three-day national celebration!"
Qu Ji was filled with questions. Was such a celebration really necessary after simply defeating the Qin army? Wasn't the King of Zhao worried that Qin would take advantage of this opportunity to attack again?
He couldn't help coughing a few times and took the water that Ah Zhu brought him. "Thank you."
"Hmph!" Ah Zhu regretted it as soon as he poured him some water. He didn't like this person, so why should he be so devoted to him?
In order to prevent himself from eating too much, Azhu simply held his bowl and squatted at the door to eat.
The door was suddenly opened from the outside, and Ah Zhu, who was squatting in a small ball at the door, was almost kicked down. He held his bowl and sat down on the ground, staring blankly at the person who suddenly came over.
As if reacting, Ah Zhu exclaimed, "General, why are you here?"
His voice was extremely excited and his eyes seemed to be shining.
The old military doctor knocked him hard on the head and said, "Just eat. Why are you squatting at the door? Aren't you afraid of people stepping on you?"
Ah Zhu was laughing foolishly, not caring about the old military doctor's scolding at all. Instead, he stared at Li Mu and circled around him like a little bird.
Li Mu touched Ah Zhu's head, forced a smile, and said gently, "Ah Zhu has grown up a lot, but I'm not here to see you today. You and your master should go out first. I have something to say to him."
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