Chapter 38 Lord Xinling: A Warring States Hero

In 249 BC, the prince Yingchu ascended the throne as the king, which is the historical King Zhuangxiang of Qin. Mrs. Huayang was honored as Queen Mother Huayang, and Xia Ji, the biological mother of King Zhuangxiang of Qin, was honored as Queen Mother Xia. Lu Buwei was appointed as the prime minister, granted the title of Marquis of Wenxin, and had 100,000 households in the city. He became a hot figure under one person and above ten thousand people. To everyone's surprise, this Weiguo businessman who has been doing business in the Sanjin area for decades seems to be very familiar with changing careers and engaging in politics.As soon as he came to power, he launched an annexation war without hesitation. First, he destroyed the small country of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty with its capital in Gong, and then sent a general Meng Ao to attack South Korea. The homeland was merged to form Sanchuan County.

As a result, Daliang, the capital of Wei State, was under the direct threat of the Qin army. In 248 BC, Zhao and Wei jointly attacked Yan.The Yan State sent envoys to Qin and dedicated the ten cities of Hejian to Lu Buwei as a feudal city, so Qin State sent troops to attack Zhao.Under the leadership of Meng Ao, the Qin army was as powerful as a broken bamboo, and took thirty-seven cities including Yuci, Xincheng, and Langmeng. In the same year, Qin attacked Wei again, capturing Gaodu (now Jincheng, Shanxi Province) and Ji (now Jixian County, Henan Province). In 247 BC, Qin General Wang Lu led his army to attack South Korea, occupied Shangdang again, and established Taiyuan County there.

In the same year, Meng Ao attacked Wei and approached Daliang. Facing the aggressive offensive of the Qin army, the generals of Wei State were helpless.When King Anxi of Wei panicked, he thought of Lord Xinling who lived in Zhao State.He sent someone to send a sincere letter to Lord Xinling, imploring Lord Xinling to return to China to preside over the overall situation of the war against Qin. At this time, Lord Xinling had lived in Zhao State for ten years.After reading the letter from King Wei Anxi, he threw it aside expressionlessly without making any reply. He has always been concerned about the war situation in Wei State, and he is also willing to take up arms and fight for Wei State.But he was very worried. In order to rescue the Zhao country, he stole the tiger talisman and killed Jin Bi, which greatly offended King Wei Anxi. Now that he goes back like this, will King Wei Anxi settle his score after autumn?

Based on his understanding of King Wei Anxi, this possibility is very high. In order to prevent the disciples from dissuading him, he issued an order: Anyone who dares to report to the envoy sent by the king of Wei will be executed! This order is actually a bit redundant.Because most of his disciples followed him to betray Wei to Zhao, and they were afraid of being punished if they went back, so they kept silent on this matter. Only the two Mr. Mao and Mr. Xue who like to hang out in sensual places stood up and said: "The reason why you are respected in Zhao State and you are famous among the princes is because of Wei State. Now Qin State is attacking Wei State. It is already very critical, but you are here thinking about the past and the future, hesitating. If the Qin army breaks through the beams and flattens the ancestral temple of Wei, what kind of face will you stand between heaven and earth?"

Before he finished speaking, Lord Xinling's expression changed drastically, and he ordered his subordinates to quickly pack up their carriages and horses and set off to return home. At that time, in the spiritual world of the Chinese people, the ancestral graves were torn up and the ancestral temples were destroyed, which was worse than the sky falling.In the face of this matter, any personal grievances, such as being wise and safe, are not worth mentioning. Lord Xinling returned to the State of Wei and was warmly welcomed by King Anxi of Wei.When the two brothers met, they didn't say anything. They hugged and cried for a while, which was considered to be the end of the past.Seeing this, all the people present covered their faces and wiped away their tears, thinking in their hearts: After all, they are brothers!

King Wei Anxi granted Lord Xinling the great seal of the general on the spot, and asked him to command the national army. Lord Xinling's return undoubtedly greatly improved the morale of Wei's army and civilians, and also changed the forces in the world that were originally on the sidelines.King Chu Kaolie followed Chunshenjun Huang Xie's suggestion and decided to organize a joint vertical alliance to unite the princes of the world to fight against Qin's invasion.King Zhao Xiaocheng also accepted the suggestion of his favorite minister Jianxin, and actively planned to join forces with Chu and Wei to fight against Qin.Therefore, with Chu, Zhao, and Wei as the main body, plus Yan and Qi, a new joint vertical alliance was formed.King Chu Kaolie served as the leader of the alliance; Lord Chunshen was responsible for contacting the princes and coordinating relations; Lord Xinling was publicly elected as the commander of the allied army, leading the five-nation coalition to launch a counterattack against the Qin army led by Meng Ao.

The two sides fought in the area outside the river.The coalition army not only surpassed the Qin army in numbers, but also obviously had stronger morale than the Qin army. In addition, Lord Xinling commanded well, and quickly broke through the Qin army's defense line, beating Meng Ao and fleeing. The coalition forces took advantage of the victory to pursue to the Hangu pass, but Meng Ao was unable to retreat.The survivors of the Three Jin Dynasties in Taiyuan County took the opportunity to revolt and drive away the officials of the Qin State, echoing Lord Xinling. In retrospect, this was also the third time Hangu Pass was attacked by coalition forces during the Warring States Period.The first time was in 318 BC when Gongsun Yan organized the Five Kingdoms to attack Qin.The second time was in 298 BC, when Lord Mengchang launched the three kingdoms of Qi, Wei, and Han to attack Qin, stationed troops in Hangu Pass for two years, and then sent troops into the pass, forcing Qin to cede land for peace.This time, Lord Xinling planted his flag under the Hangu Pass again. Although he failed to conquer this great pass, it still made Qin people frightened. Because of this, Lord Xinling shocked the world and was hailed as the "God of War" by the world.

At that time, counselors from all over the world came to present their own art of war to Lord Xinling. Lord Xinling pointed out them one by one, and ordered his disciples to sort them out, and compiled a copy of "Mr. Wei's Art of War".It is a pity that this book has not been handed down to the world, and future generations can only imagine it out of thin air. Qin State, needless to say, regarded Mr. Xinling as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh. The scary thing about Mr. Xinling is not only that he uses soldiers like a god, but also that he has a strong personality.It goes without saying that the people of Wei State treat him like a god. The princes of the world are like a mess. As long as he raises his arms, he can put aside his differences and unite to deal with Qin.Lord Xinling's reputation is even more prosperous than that of Lord Mengchang back then.

However, Lord Xinling's charismatic personality is also his fatal flaw, especially when his opponent is not someone else but Lu Buwei who is good at insight into the world. The former businessman Lu Buwei had such a belief: "Since there is money in the world, there has been no injustice." While ordering Meng Ao to strictly guard the Hangu Pass and not go out to fight, he took out a large sum of gold (he is now It is much wider than before, and it costs more than 10,000 taels if you make a move), and someone took it to Wei Guo for activities. Of course, this sum of gold was not to buy Lord Xinling, this was beyond Lu Buwei's imagination.After the spies he sent infiltrated into Wei State, they quickly joined forces with Jin Bi's retainers, the only small group in Wei State that held a hostile attitude towards Lord Xinling.

Not long after, some disturbing news reached the ears of King Wei Anxi. "Young Master (referring to Lord Xinling) has been in exile for ten years, and now he is in control of the military, and the generals of all countries follow his command. The princes of the world only know that there is a young master, but they don't know that there is King Wei." "Young Master has long been disobedient. The reason why he agreed to return to the country to fight against the war is to seize this opportunity to establish himself as a king. The princes of the world are afraid of the power of the Young Master, and they are ready to support him together."

"It is said that even the king of Qin sent secret envoys to the young master's army, expressing his intention of reconciliation to the young master. As long as the young master becomes king, the state of Qin is willing to coexist peacefully with the state of Wei and rule the world together." King Wei Anxi said from the bottom of his heart that he did not trust Lord Xinling.This distrust is based on two aspects: one is his mediocrity and incompetence, and the other is Lord Xinling's ability and political integrity.It turned out that when the enemy was approaching, he might have shed two lines of tears for the reunion of his brothers; now that the situation has improved, and the coalition forces are approaching Hangu, he will inevitably feel jealous again, and become sensitive to those hearsay news. Just when these rumors were spreading, Qin State sent envoys to Wei State, and when they saw King Anxi of Wei, they put on a look of surprise and said a few perfunctory words casually.After returning to the hotel, I secretly asked the staff of the Wei State: "Hey, hasn't your country already established Lord Xinling as the king? Why is it still him!" The staff naturally reported these words to King Wei Anxi.King Wei Anxi couldn't hold his breath any longer, and he couldn't help but send someone to the front line to announce that Lord Xinling would be dismissed from the post of general, and he would send someone else to replace him. Lord Xinling sighed after receiving the order.He knew that being deprived of military power this time meant that he would never have a bright future. After returning to Daliang, he claimed that he was sick, and hid at home day and night drinking and having fun with his followers, indulging in alcoholic women.Four years passed like this, and finally he died of alcoholism. As for the multinational troops besieging Hangu Pass, since Lord Xinling was dismissed, they have lost their backbone.Not long after, they withdrew their troops and returned home.Meng Ao went out to pursue and quickly extinguished the uprising of the survivors of the Three Jin Dynasties in Taiyuan County, and put Taiyuan County under the control of Qin State again. It is particularly worth mentioning that when the Allied Army and the Qin Army were at loggerheads at Hangu Pass, in Wei Guopei County, the family named Liu mentioned earlier in this book gave birth to a baby boy named Liu Bang. At that time, the stories of Lord Xinling were widely circulated in the world, and Liu Bang grew up listening to these stories.After becoming the emperor, every time he passed Daliang City, he had to offer sacrifices to Lord Xinling himself.Since no descendants of Lord Xinling could be found, Liu Bang also specially appointed five families to guard the tomb for Lord Xinling, so that they could worship Lord Xinling on time throughout the year from generation to generation.This shows how deep Lord Xinling's influence on Liu Bang is. When Sima Qian wrote about the Four Gentlemen of the Warring States Period, he had a lot of complaints about the other three, but he was full of praise for Lord Xinling, saying that he was "famous among the princes and worthy of his ears", and he was a true hero who deserved his name in that era.