Qin Shizhi's Confucian junior master

Chapter 483, Burning Company, the moment of decisive battle

The torch fell on the forage and a fire suddenly ignited. Ziyou threw a few more torches into the stable. Looking at the burning fire, Ziyou left with satisfaction.

The fire woke up the sleeping horses. Sensing the danger, the horses immediately became confused and made dangerous cries. A little spark fell on the back of a black horse. The black horse was frightened and jumped up with its front hooves, jumping directly from the stable. As the fire spread, more horses rushed out of the stables.

Without supervision and forced by the fire, two to three hundred army horses rushed out of the stable. By the time the patrolling soldiers discovered that the stable was on fire, the army horses were already scattered in the military camp.

For a moment, there were shouts of putting out the fire, the screams of frightened horses, and the sound of rebel soldiers being trampled by horses. Mo Di, who had just fallen asleep in the tent, was awakened. Hearing the chaotic shouts outside, Mo Di's first reaction was that the Qin army had attacked at night.

Mo Di pulled out his sword and rushed out of the military tent. Looking at the fire not far away and the panicked voices around him, he shouted loudly

"what happened?"

"Commander, there was a fire in the stable. The army horses rushed out of the stable. These army horses fled in all directions and killed many of our brothers. They also expanded the fire." A Mohist disciple said.

The Warring States Period lacked war horses. They had spent a lot of money to acquire these horses. If any one of them was injured or died, they would feel distressed for a long time. Moreover, Mo Di and Mo Li had said before that they could not let any losses occur to these war horses, so they rebelled. The soldiers did not dare to rush forward and subdue these frightened horses. But these war horses did not care about the soldiers. Under the frightened running of the war horses, they did not care about what was in front of them, and directly knocked away the rebel soldiers blocking the road. By the way, they trampled the torches and bonfires, flying everywhere, causing the fire to spread. .

"Why did Ma Peng catch fire!? The Qin army must have sent people to attack the camp." Mo Di exclaimed.

"But we didn't see anyone from the Qin army attacking the camp." said the Mohist disciple.

"Where are the soldiers guarding the horses?" Mo Di asked.

"I don't know, Ma Peng is already in a sea of ​​fire."

"Forget it for now, organize people to put out the fire immediately, and send people to control the horses at the same time. It won't be a problem if some of them are injured. We can't let the fire spread anymore." Mo Di said.

"promise."

Mo Di looked at the raging fire, and he was very sure that the Qin army was attacking the camp, because this was the Qin army's usual method. When Qin defeated the Xiongnu twice, they both used this trick first. They attacked the camp at night and set fire to the camp, which frightened the horses and started to flee. The galloping war horses are more lethal than the Qin soldiers, because the soldiers dare not kill the horses at will.

Mo Di looked at the fire spreading in front of him, and regardless of his status as a general, he grabbed the bucket from the soldiers on the side and rushed towards the sea of ​​​​fire.

While the rebel soldiers were putting out the fire, Ziyou had arrived outside the granary again. At this time, there were not many soldiers guarding the grain. In order to mobilize the soldiers guarding the granary, Ziyou set fires along the road in order to let the fire spread near the granary.

The remaining people guarding the food and grass were nervously watching the fire not far away, for fear that the fire would spread. Ziyou took advantage of their attention being attracted by the fire and slipped in.

In an uninhabited place, Ziyou poured some kerosene on the grain and grass, lit it with a flint, and then quickly moved to another uninhabited place and started lighting the fire repeatedly.

The moment the fire broke out in the granary, it was discovered by the soldiers guarding the grain and grass, and then the remaining soldiers began to put out the fire. Ziyou had already reached the farthest place from the fire place and lit the flame again.

Just like this, he was wandering around in the granary and setting fires everywhere, which made the guarding soldiers exhausted. They could only watch the fire in the granary gradually spread.

After the mission was completed, Ziyou quietly left the rebel camp.

On the top of Zibo City, Qi Wang Jian and Hou Sheng arrived again. They both came after hearing from people below that the rebel camp was on fire. Qi Wang Jianhe Hou Sheng looked at the burning rebel camp, his eyes filled with joy.

"The Qin army is worthy of being an army that has fought hundreds of battles. Even though they were tired on the road, they were able to attack the rebel camp at night. Burning the camp! Burning the camp!" Qi Wangjian said while looking at the fire below. At this time, Qi Wangjian I almost clapped my hands and applauded. For any monarch, the enemies of other countries are far more hated than the traitors of his own country.

Hou Sheng on the side also nodded and said, Zibo's defenders were already working very hard to defend the city, let alone attack the enemy camp at night. The soldiers and servants of Qi on the side watched their king and prime minister praising the army of other countries one after another, and that they might attack their country at any time, not to mention how they felt in their hearts.

King Qi won't take into account what the soldiers think about Jianhe and Hou Sheng. Both of them are die-hard surrenderers, and the Qin army is also fierce. The happier they are, only in this way will the opposition voices in the Qi court and clan become stronger. Small.

Soon there was a sound of armor clanging. King Jian of Qi and Hou Sheng looked at the steps of the city wall. The commander of the imperial guard led a group of soldiers and escorted a group of tied people towards the city wall.

"My lord, I would like to pay my respects to your Majesty, Prime Minister." The commander of the Imperial Guard saluted King Jianhe Housheng of Qi and said.

"What are you doing?" Qi Wangjian frowned and looked at the commander of the guards and the people who were tied up by Wuhua Da. He recognized all the people who were bound. Some of these people were members of the Qi clan, and some were confidants of the clan members.

"Your Majesty, these people are supporters of the rebels outside the city. It is because of them that there are rebels in our country of Qi." The commander of the guards said and asked the soldiers to take Tian Zhan up. "Young Master Tian Zhan is the leader of these people. , the rebels outside were also trained by him in Xue Ling City."

"What!?" Qi Wangjian looked at Tian Zhan in surprise.

Hou Sheng also looked at Tian Zhan in surprise. When the name Tian Zhan was first mentioned, Hou Sheng couldn't remember who it was. If the commander of the imperial guard hadn't mentioned Xue Lingcheng, he wouldn't have remembered it. Although Tian Zhan is a little transparent in the clan, he still has some reputation in Zibo City. He was the first clan son to be demoted in public.

Tian Zhan, who was trapped by the hemp rope, looked at the guard commander with anger and murderous intent in his eyes. His mouth was blocked by hemp cloth, but Tian Zhan still kept making whining sounds.

"Do you have evidence?" Qi Wangjian looked at the commander of the imperial guards and asked.

King Jian of Qi also knew Tian Zhan. In his impression, Tian Zhan had always been an outcast and was not welcomed wherever he went. Now he suddenly became the leader of the rebels who almost overthrew the Qi State, and he also Many clan members were his accomplices, which made Qi Wangjian a little unbelievable.

"These are the evidence." The commander of the imperial guards took out a stack of letters from his arms. "This letter was sent by Tian Zhan after the rebel Jixia battle. I knew that this person had evil intentions, so he Pretending to agree, he was actually acting as an intermediary, waiting until he relaxed his vigilance, and then caught him. Tonight, he came to find me alone, hoping that I could lead the imperial army to rebel, kill the prime minister, and control the king, but I am the king's minister. The king trusted me, so I gave the imperial army to me to manage. I must not betray the king's trust, so after finding out their accomplices, I arrested these people."

Wang Jian of Qi did not care about the loyalty of the imperial guard commander, but took these letters one by one and read them. Some of these letters were written by Zhao Guo, some were written by local county magistrates or county captains of Qi State, and some were written by Tian Zhan and the court. The correspondence between the central ministers and the clan, and the letter that surprised King Jian of Qi the most, was the letter between Tian Zhan and Zhang Liang.

Hou Sheng on the side took a look at these letters and then looked at the guards coldly. When Hou Sheng looked at them like this, the leader of the guards suddenly started to panic. His words might be fine if he deceived Qi Wangjian, but in front of the mature Hou Sheng, they were like childish nonsense.

Hou Sheng naturally understood what the commander of the Imperial Guard was thinking, and he also knew very well who this person was. If he was really a loyal and loyal minister as he said, then he, the prime minister, would not put Qi Qi under his command. Wang Jian was treated as a puppet. But Hou Sheng had no intention of pursuing what the commander of the guards said. No matter what the truth was, the commander of the guards caught Tian Zhan to show that he was on their side. "Your Majesty, there must be more than just these rebellious accomplices in Zibo City. The top priority now is to send people to arrest these people in the city. It would not be good if they discovered that Tian Zhan had been arrested and did anything crazy regardless of it." Katsu said.

After hearing Hou Sheng's words, Qi Wangjian also recovered from his shock.

"Your Majesty, don't hesitate any longer. This is the time to take advantage." Hou Sheng winked at Qi Wangjian and said.

Qi Wangjian immediately understood what Hou Sheng wanted to do. Hou Sheng wanted to use Tian Zhan's rebellion to arrest all those in the court who did not agree to surrender to Qin.

"Do as the Prime Minister said. You are responsible for assisting the Prime Minister in arresting these people." Qi Wangjian looked at the commander of the imperial guards and said.

"promise!"

"Leave Tian Zhan here, I have something to say to him." Qi Wangjian looked at Tian Zhan and said.

"promise!"

After the commander of the imperial guard left four soldiers to guard Tian Zhan, he followed Hou Sheng to arrest him.

"Take the linen away from his mouth." Qi Wangjian said.

A soldier took away the linen cloth from Tian Zhan's mouth. After being able to speak, Tian Zhan immediately cursed at the back of the guard commander.

"Despicable villain!"

Tian Zhan never thought that he was almost able to control Qi, only to be captured by a villain like the commander of the Imperial Guard who was chasing Qin Muchu. Tian Zhan wanted to stabilize the guard commander at that time. As soon as he arrived at the house of the guard commander, he was caught by the ambushed soldiers. Then Tian Zhan could not speak, and the guard commander rushed in with the guards soldiers. Wherever the clan was located, a large-scale arrest of his accomplices began.

"Tian Zhan, if I remember correctly, you should be my cousin's child. You should call me uncle." Qi Wangjian looked at Tian Zhan and said.

"Your Majesty, the winner is the king and the loser is the culprit. Although I lost unjustly, I admit defeat!" Tian Zhan looked at Qi Wangjian and straightened his chest and said. Before, in order to hide himself, he always knelt down to everyone. Now He could finally straighten his chest in front of the king of Qi.

"Why launch a rebellion? Don't we treat the clan badly?" Qi Wangjian asked.

"The king treats the members of the clan like no other among the seven kingdoms." Tian Zhan said, "The king supports the clan so that we can have food and clothing without worries, but the king has forgotten that some people's pursuit is not to worry about food and clothing, but It’s to revive the majesty of Qi!”

"The Xiongwei of Qi, how long have you not heard these four words?" Qi Wangjian looked at Tian Zhan and said with emotion, "You said you wanted to revive the Xiongwei of Qi, but have you ever thought about it? No one in Qi is willing to fight now. It is no longer possible to compete with Qin."

"It all depends on human effort. How do you know if you don't try? Doing something you know you can't do is the behavior of a man." Tian Zhan said proudly.

"Then do you know how many people will die in that way? Do you know how many people in Qi will die?" Qi Wangjian said coldly.

"So what? Someone will inevitably die for Wang Tu's hegemony! If I just die and the Qi Kingdom regains its power, I am also willing!" Tian Zhan said.

Looking at Tian Zhan, Qi Wangjian knew that he couldn't explain to the other party. Tian Zhan appeared to be a man who served the country of Qi, but in fact he was just an ambitious man who even deceived himself.

"Take a look at your army. The Qin army attacked the military camp at night, and your rebels are already in chaos." Qi Wangjian said while looking at the unabated fire under the city.

Tian Zhan looked at the fire in the rebel camp outside the city, and felt a pain in his heart. These troops, which he had spent a lot of money and time to cultivate, now fell before victory.

"Youyou Cangtian, why can't you stand with me, Tian Zhan!" Tian Zhan said through gritted teeth.

"Drag it down and hand it over to the prime minister." Qi Wangjian said.

"promise!"

The next day, Mo Di and Mo Li looked at the camp that was burned to a state of disgrace by the fire with sad and miserable expressions.

"How are our casualties?" Mo Li asked.

"The casualties have not yet been calculated. Less than half of the war horses are left usable, and all the food has been burned. Hundreds of the elites in our hands have been killed or injured," Mo Di said, closing his eyes.

Mo Li sighed helplessly and turned to look at Zibo City, where the gate was still closed, with helplessness in his eyes. Mo Li didn't know that Tian Zhan had been arrested. He thought it was because the Qin army attacked their camp last night that Tian Zhan did not dare to act rashly and did not launch a rebellion in the city.

"The Qin army's attack ruined our plan!" Mo Li said.

"This is the scary thing about Ziyou. You never know what he is thinking. If you are his enemy, everything about you seems to be seen through. No matter what you do, he will see through it." Mo Li said. Mo Li had personally experienced the Battle of Guancheng, and he also knew the causes and consequences of the Battle of Guancheng, as well as Ziyou's role in it. It can be said that the reason why Master Xu and Yan Dan failed was all because of Zi You.

Before the two of them could express their feelings, a disgraced soldier stepped forward and reported that the Qin army was approaching them, led by Ziyou.

Mo Li and Mo Di looked at each other, knowing that the moment of decisive battle had come.

(End of this chapter)