Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 403 Tuo Kingdom Invasion

In the Xianyang Palace, a messenger hurried into the hall, knelt on the ground, presented a bamboo slip with both hands, and said breathlessly: "Urgent news from the border!"

All the ministers were shocked. This must mean something big happened at the border, and they immediately looked at the bamboo slips.

Zhao Gao quickly stepped forward, took the bamboo slips, and brought them to Ying Zheng. Ying Zheng opened the bamboo slips and was shocked. He said dejectedly, "Read it out loud and let them hear it."

Zhao Gao took a look and was shocked. The bamboo slips almost fell to the ground. He trembled and read, "General Li Xin of Longxi has an urgent report. King Ashoka of Magadha has united with the western countries and dispatched an army of 8 million. They will invade our Great Qin soon. I hope Your Majesty will make plans early."

All the ministers were terrified when they heard this, and the whole court was in a panic. Now that Wang Ben was dead, Meng Tian was guarding Jiuyuan, Zhao Tuo was guarding southern Xinjiang, and Wei Liao was old. Even though there were generals such as Zhang Han and Meng Yi, they were unable to take on this task.

Magadha sent out an army of eight million, while the total strength of the Qin Dynasty was only eight hundred thousand. How could eight hundred thousand be able to resist eight million?

Namagadha is a holy place of Western Buddhism, and the Buddhist monks of Lingshan are comparable to the gods in heaven. If they were to go with the army, who could stop them? However, the Xiandao Academy and the famous monks from the Central Plains went on an expedition to the west and defeated the Nitian Sect, and Xu Shi and others were missing. The gap between them is like heaven and earth.

Coupled with the recent rumors of "Mars guarding the heart", everyone has an ominous premonition that the Qin Dynasty is on the verge of collapse.

Ying Zheng sat limply on the dragon chair, and said absentmindedly: "My dear ministers, do you have a way to crack this?"

Zhou Qingchen stepped forward and said, "This matter all started because of the rejection of the introduction of Buddhism by Srivijaya. If you agree to build temples, worship Buddhist monks, and spread Buddhism, then Ashoka might withdraw his troops."

Li Si retorted, "No, let's not talk about whether to withdraw the troops. Once Buddhism is introduced into the Qin Dynasty, it will seduce people's hearts and go against the iron laws of the Qin Dynasty. It will disrupt the government and be disloyal and unfilial. This is no different from destroying the Qin Dynasty."

Zhou Qingchen smiled and said, "Then does the Prime Minister have any plan to repel the enemy?"

Li Si was speechless. Faced with such a situation, he had no idea what to do.

Zhou Qingchen continued, "It's just building a few temples and offering some incense. Compared with the safety of the Qin Dynasty, which is more important? Therefore, I suggest that you take silk, jewels, etc., go west to Longxi, present them to Ashoka, and discuss peace."

Meng Yi cursed: "The people of the Great Qin are strong and unyielding. How can we be servile like you? Even if there is only one soldier left, we will die outside the Longxi Pass. The Great Qin has ten thousand powerful crossbows and three hundred thousand cavalry. What is there to fear from eight million yellow-haired people?"

Zhou Qingchen smiled coldly and said, "Doctor General is going to lead the army to the west?" He then said, "If you take away the 300,000 troops in the court, Xianyang will become an empty city. If the remnants of the six kingdoms take advantage of the situation and sneak in, who will protect Your Majesty? You are talking righteously, but you are putting the Qin Empire in danger. Which colleague wouldn't show off his ability?"

For a time, there were constant quarrels in the court, which was roughly divided into two factions, the peace faction and the war faction. Neither faction could win the argument with the other. Ying Zheng was in no mood to listen to the quarrels of the court officials, and he was tired of it. When faced with such a major event, they could only argue, but no one could resolve the crisis of the Qin Dynasty. At this moment, he felt unprecedented loneliness.

"Sir, there is no problem. You are welcome to see His Majesty!" A loud voice came from outside the palace.

When Ying Zheng heard the voice, his eyes were filled with tears and he said excitedly, "Sir, come and see me!" It was as if a lone boat sailing in the dark night saw a lighthouse.

Wuzhan walked into the hall with scars all over his face, causing the entire hall to immediately quiet down. Wuzhan's steps were steady and dignified, and his footsteps echoed throughout the hall. If anyone in the Qin Dynasty could lead the army to war after Bai Qi and Wang Jian, it would be Wuzhan.

In the north, he attacked the Huns, put down the siege of Mount Li, in the south he conquered the Minyue, and in the east he pacified the demons. Every time he did this, he was a master strategist and had great military exploits. The most important thing was that he was comparable to the national teacher Xu Shi. Even if there were Buddhist monks from the West joining the war, Wuzhan and his disciples had no fear.

Ying Zheng couldn't wait to ask: "Magadha's 8 million troops are invading our Qin State. Do you have any countermeasures?"

Wuzhan walked up to Ying Zheng, bowed and said, "I am here for this matter, and I have brought some bad news."

When the ministers heard this, they were shocked again.

Wuzhan said slowly, "Your Majesty and everyone else must have known about the strange phenomena in recent days. This indicates that a catastrophe will occur. That is, the heavens will have a holy war every 800 years, just like King Wu's conquest of King Zhou. Our lower world will be their battlefield. Combined with the recent emergence of the hermit masters in the famous families and the Western Ashoka's conquest of our Great Qin, we can conclude that this holy war is a battle of faith and a war to plunder the souls of the dead."

Everyone was terrified when they heard this. Although there was no detailed record in the historical materials about King Wu's conquest of King Zhou, they had heard some rumors and were half-believing and half-doubting. Now that Wuzhan had spoken of it, they were truly in a panic.

Ying Zheng said: "I have unified China, stopped the war, enforced the law, and brought peace to the country. What's wrong with that? Is it wrong not to promote Buddhism?" Wuzhan curved his lips and said: "Emperor Xin was definitely not a foolish and cruel king. The heavens have never let him go. Therefore, in this war, whether our Great Qin promotes Buddhism or Taoism, or offers peace, it will be useless."

"What should I do then? Will Heaven destroy my Great Qin?"

Wuzhan said righteously: "The world belongs to the Chinese people. I would like to ask Your Majesty, if you want to gamble your fate, end this unfair discrimination and plunder, and let the Chinese people become the masters of this land, do you dare to fight against the heavens?"

Ying Zheng was stunned for a long time, and said: "Even if my Great Qin is destroyed, as long as I am a Chinese citizen sitting in my position and making the country peaceful and the people safe, what difference is there between me and them? Moreover, even if I don't fight, can they let me go?"

Wuzhan said respectfully: "Your Majesty is wise and is a blessing to China. I, your humble servant, dare to ask for a drop of your ancestral dragon blood."

Ying Zheng wanted to ask why, but thinking it was just a drop of blood, he held out his hand, "Sir, just come and take it."

Wuzhan took out the jade bottle, came in front of Ying Zheng, and put the jade bottle on his wrist. In less than a moment, he put the bottle away and took a step back. The ministers didn't know what magic Wuzhan used, nor did they know whether he had succeeded or what it was for.

Wuzhan said: "I took this drop of blood to prevent your majesty's luck from falling into the hands of evil people. As long as your majesty's body is safe, this drop of blood will be useless."

In fact, the drop of blood that Wuzhan took away was the dragon's lair. Once Ying Zheng died, the Ancestral Dragon's Qi would leave and look for a body to carry the destiny. This destiny has been monitored by the Heavenly Court for a long time, and when the time is right, it will go to the lower world to fight for it. With this drop of blood, the Ancestral Dragon's Qi will look for the dragon's lair after leaving. In this way, Wuzhan will choose a virtuous king to become the master of the Ancestral Dragon's Qi. This is a secret method created by Wuzhan. No one knows the reason behind it, and Wuzhan will not spread this matter.

Ying Zheng asked: "Now that the West is invading, do you have any good strategies?"

Wuzhan said: "Give me 100,000 cavalrymen and 200,000 horses, and ensure sufficient food and grass supplies, and we can drive the enemy back a thousand miles away."

As soon as these words were spoken, the court was in an uproar. It was simply a pipe dream to repel eight million with only 100,000 troops. Anyone who knew a little about military tactics would know that with such a huge disparity in strength, no matter what formations or tactics you used, it would be useless. You would just be like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth, and the entire army would be destroyed.

If it were feasible to gather 800,000 troops to defend Longxi, it would be ridiculous to use such a small force to fight the enemy thousands of miles away. Although Wuzhan had outstanding military achievements, he should not be so arrogant and speak such irrelevant nonsense.

Some people suspected that Wuzhan returned to the court deliberately to tease the officials, or that Wuzhan had gone crazy. Only a madman could make such a judgment.

However, due to Wuzhan's status, the officials in the court only talked about him but did not dare to insult him. If it were someone else, they would be drowned in the saliva of these people.

Ying Zheng was speechless for a long time after hearing this, "Sir..."

Although Meng Yi believed in Wuzhan, he felt that this was nonsense when he heard it.

Wuzha waited for the court to quiet down before continuing, "At present, the garrison in Xianyang is only 300,000, and the garrison in the border is only 500,000. Even if they are assembled, there are only 800,000. Once we go out to fight, if the barbarians and barbarians in other border areas invade, the Qin Dynasty will have no more troops to mobilize. How can we resist? However, mobilizing 800,000 to resist 8 million, the disparity between the enemy and us is too great, and it is difficult to win."

Meng Yi could not help but ask, "Since 800,000 troops cannot win, isn't it like an egg hitting a rock to fight a hundred thousand cavalrymen?"

Wuzhan's mouth twitched and he said, "Eight million troops, that's a huge army. Let's not talk about the consumption of food and grass. Such a huge army has a long distance between the front and the back, so the march will inevitably be constrained and difficult to dispatch and maneuver. If the Qin army sends out 800,000 troops, it will be the same situation. The formation is not low. Under the same situation, with a force ten times that of mine, it is easy to form a siege and swallow our army, and it will be difficult to win. But if we send out 100,000 cavalry and 200,000 horses, and use them in rotation, the raid will be very fast and we can come and go freely. Although the enemy army is large in number, the enemies participating in the battle are only what our army encounters, and the rest are all empty forces. In this way, we can use our strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses and turn disadvantages into advantages. Even if we suffer a lot, the enemy army is 80 times as large as mine. We can't afford to waste time, and retreat is just around the corner."

After this explanation, the court was filled with exclamations, and the haze was swept away. Everyone admired and praised, "What a good military strategy, what a good debate, it's really unexpected. Sir, the theory is profound, you are a rare genius, and an important minister of the country. Our Great Qin is saved. I second the motion, I second the motion,..."

Ying Zheng was overjoyed, "Sir, I agree."

He immediately ordered Meng Yi to be the General of the Western Expedition and Wuzhan to be the military advisor. Many issues were quickly coordinated and resolved in the court. One had to admit that the Qin Dynasty had the ability to coordinate. Within one day, 100,000 elite cavalry were dispatched, an additional 200,000 horses were added, and sufficient food and fodder were collected.

The next day, Ying Zheng sent off the Western Expedition Army at the west gate of Xianyang. One hundred thousand cavalrymen, each with two war horses, totaling three hundred thousand war horses, marched towards Longxi in a mighty force.

Ying Zheng and his ministers stood on the city wall, looking at the Western Expedition Army that carried the hope of the Qin Dynasty, until it disappeared from their sight, and they did not retreat for a long time.

(End of this chapter)