The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"In September of the 21st year of the reign of Qin, the King of Qin appointed Wang Jian's son Wang Ben as a general and led an army of 100,000 to attack Chu."

When this news reached Anlu County in Nanjun and was known by the small pavilion chief Heifu, it was also spread to Xinzheng County in Yingchuan County, thousands of miles away, and was placed on the desk of a future great man.

Yingchuan County is the former site of Han. And Xinzheng is an ancient capital with a long history. From the ruins of Zhurong to the capital of Zheng and Han, it has always been the richest city in the Central Plains, on par with Luoyang and Daliang, with a population of more than 100,000.

Four years ago, Xinzheng surrendered without a fight under the coercion of Teng, the governor of Nanyang County in Qin. Except for the abduction and imprisonment of King Han An, the nobles and relatives in the city did not suffer too much trouble.

After all, the rule of Qin in the Central Plains was not stable, and Qin officials could not establish a strict system in Han like Guanzhong and Nanjun in a short period of time. For the time being, they could only borrow the hands of the old Korean nobles to collect huge city taxes in Xinzheng, and try every means to use the rich human resources and merchants of Korea for their own benefit.

The Zhang family, located in the east of Xinzheng, was one of the families that luckily retained their wealth in this delicate situation.

The Zhang family had produced two Korean prime ministers, and they were rich and powerful. The Wangshan-style courtyard gate was built very high, and at first glance, it had the style of a prime minister. Inside the pink walls and red tiles, pavilions and towers could be seen in a staggered manner. On the garden path, the gray-haired old servant respectfully led a guest and walked quickly towards the pavilion by the water.

The guest was eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a swordsman's uniform, eight feet and five inches tall, and he stood out wherever he went.

He looked around and saw that the more than three hundred servants in Zhang's house were all men. They each had their own duties, and without being told, everyone was quietly doing their own things. Some were pruning flowers and trees, and some were sweeping fallen leaves. There was no whispering, and no laughing or playing.

The guest nodded secretly.

"The rumors are true. Zhang's three hundred servants have all been trained and disciplined with military tactics. If these people can be used by Hengyang Jun, why worry about not accomplishing great things?"

Because of this, a huge house with hundreds of people living in it was extremely quiet, except for the small pavilion they were getting closer to, where a loud piano sound came from...

The pavilion has a four-cornered roof and is surrounded by flowers and bamboos. Now it is late autumn, the flowers are withered, and the bamboos are sparse, most of them have turned yellow, and tremble slightly in the piano sound...

The person playing the piano is a young man in white clothes with loose clothes and wide sleeves. He sits on a bamboo mat, with black hair scattered on his shoulders, looking casual. This person has slender fingers, beautiful appearance, eyes slightly closed, and a very focused expression.

The tune was plain at first, as if it was narrating the long history of this country, or like a gurgling stream, recounting the past glory of this family.

But slowly, all this turned into a sigh, the tune was mixed with the emotions of the player, and began to burst, the sound of the piano was sharp, mixed with anger, and turned into a fierce question:

"There is Chang Chu in the marsh, and its branches are trembling. The young man is ignorant!"

If someone who understands "Book of Songs" is here, he can hear that the gentleman in white is playing "Hui Feng. There is Chang Chu in the marsh", a local song in Xinzheng, which implies that the country is about to perish, but the monarch is not enlightened, and the country is doomed to fail...

Although the guest looks majestic and brave, and his behavior is a bit aristocratic, he is a rough man who does not understand poetry and books. He was stopped by the old servant from entering the pavilion, and he was already impatient. He had no time to listen to the connotation of the piano music. When the song was finished, he shouted loudly:

"Zifang, is this your way of entertaining guests?"

The clear piano music stopped immediately. The young man pressed the strings and looked at the uninvited guest. His face was calm, and his eyes were like the water in an ancient well, dark and deep.

"Gentleman." The old servant bowed and said, "Gongsun Xin is here to visit."

The gentleman in white stood up and said lightly, "It turns out that Zicheng is here. Please sit down and prepare hot soup."

"No need!"

Gongsun Xin strode into the pavilion, plucked the strings of the zither rudely, and scolded him, "Zifang, Zifang, all the sons of the nobles in the city have gathered together to discuss important matters, and you are the only one who can sit at home and play the zither! Do you know that Qin sent Wang Ben to attack Chu, and now Shangcai has been broken and Chen Ying has been besieged!"

The gentleman in white bowed to him and said softly, "Isn't all this as I expected? After defeating Zhao and Yan, the next step for the King of Qin is to destroy Wei. But before destroying Wei, he must first knock on Chu to eliminate the worries when besieging Daliang. I have told these things to Hengyang Jun, so there is no need to repeat them again."

"That's not important. What's important is, at this critical moment, what can we Han people do!"

Gongsun Xin's eyes were piercing: "Zifang, Qin may go to war with Wei and Chu at the same time. This war will definitely last for many years. The time for you and me to restore our country and take revenge has come!"

The gentleman in white shook his head: "Gongsun, I understand your intention, but please reply to Hengyang Jun that this war will not last too long. The time is not right. Zhang will not participate in this uprising."

"Zhang Liang!"

Gongsun Xin called him by name angrily: "Haven't you had enough of the rule of this tyrannical Qin? Among the six states in Shandong, Han was the first to perish. The king was captured and imprisoned. All the palaces and princes were moved to Xianyang and became slaves of the King of Qin. It is a great shame!"

"And those who are lucky enough to stay will either be the Qin people's hawks and dogs, helping them to poison the land of Han. Or their property will be gradually swallowed up. I don't think your life will be much better!"

He pointed at the servants outside and said, "I remember when I was a child, there were beautiful maids and slaves in the garden, but now? It's so poor! I don't believe you can endure this kind of life."

"Also, your grandfather was the prime minister of Han Zhaohou, Xuanhui Wang, and Xiangai Wang. Your father was the prime minister of Li Wang and Daohui Wang. Although you are young and have not served, the Zhang family has been the prime minister of Han for five generations. Have you forgotten everything?"

"How can you forget?"

Zhang Liang looked at the rippling water in the pond, and a trace of anger flashed in his eyes: "Gongsun Xin, you are the grandson of Han Xiangwang, so you are obsessed with restoring your country and taking revenge. Have I, Zhang Liang, forgotten all the hatred for the country and the family?"

"Why did I not bury my brother after his death and spend all my family wealth to hire a warrior? I just want to emulate the story of Prince Dan and Jing Ke. I worked hard to find the art of war and secretly trained 300 servants in my family. Why? Isn't it so that one day, I can start a rebellion to restore Han and avenge my country?"

Gongsun Xin was puzzled: "Then why don't you join the rebellion of Hengyang Jun this time? As long as each family sends out servants tomorrow, seize the arsenal, kill all the Qin officials, and mobilize all the Han people in the city to rescue the king together!"

"Otherwise, I'm afraid that by then, what we will wait for is the suppression of the Qin army and the king's head."

Gongsun Xin said angrily: "Zifang, how can you be so disrespectful to the king?"

"Just telling the truth." Zhang Liang's wisdom overwhelmed his anger again. He said calmly, "It's the same old saying. If the time is not right, it will not help the situation. It will only kill those Han people who are determined to restore their country."

"I know that in the past two years, Hengyang Jun has been running around among the countries, using the painful lessons of Han to try to contact Wei, Chu, and Qi to fight against Qin together. This is a good thing, but it's a pity that he didn't do it right."

"Qi Xiang Hou Sheng accepted bribes from Qin and asked Qi Wang Jian to close the country's borders. He was indifferent to the destruction of other countries. He can't be counted on."

"Since the death of Xinling Jun, Wei's backbone has been broken. The King of Wei has been singing and dancing all day long. He only knows how to please Qin and live one day at a time. He can't be trusted."

"Although Chu has the deepest hatred for Qin, the turmoil only occurred two years ago. Prince Fuchu killed King Ai of Chu and proclaimed himself king. The internal turmoil in Chu has not ended. Although General Xiang Yan is training troops in Huainan and preparing for war, and has sent many spies to various parts of Qin to gather information, the King of Chu has always believed that Qin will defeat Wei first, so he is not very vigilant."

"This time, Chu was attacked by King Ben of Qin. Within half a month, Shangcai fell. It seems that Chenying will also be lost. With such panic, people may soon negotiate peace with Qin and cede land. How can we talk about counterattack and long-term war? The people of Chu have always been like this. They are used to being loose. Unless they are forced into a desperate situation, they cannot work together. When the Qin army takes Chenying, it will cut off the gap between Chu and Wei. At that time, the three armies in the southeast and north will encircle Daliang. Wei will definitely perish within the next year!"

Zhang Liang's analysis was reasonable, and Gongsun Xin said quickly: "So Hengyang Jun also said that we, the Han people, must not wait any longer! If we sit back and watch Qin defeat Jingchu, and then turn back to destroy Wei, and separate Han from Qi and Chu, Han will never be able to restore its country!"

"Wrong, totally wrong!"

Zhang Liang angrily and helplessly rebuked: "At this time, the rebellion is just using the power that the Han people have accumulated with great difficulty to put out the fire! Restoring the country should be slow, not impatient, and not think about doing it all at once, but requires long-term planning. It must be possible to preserve ourselves if we fail in one blow, so as to accumulate strength again in the future. How can we be like gamblers and put everyone's lives on a single bet? Hengyang Jun has played Liubo too much!"

In Zhang Liang's view, only by acknowledging the strength of Qin can we know what can be done now and what cannot be done.

"I have already advised Lord Hengyang, but he insisted on doing it his own way. So I will not let Zhang get involved in this matter, and those three hundred servants will not appear on the streets of Xinzheng tomorrow with knives in their hands! Xin, I advise you to leave Xinzheng as soon as possible. This uprising will never succeed! Keep yourself useful and wait for the real opportunity to fight back against Qin!"

Gongsun Xin has been somewhat shaken: "If not now, then when?"

Zhang Liang's eyes are firm: "When Qin wants to fight to destroy Chu! That is the last chance for Han, the six countries, and the people of the world!"

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