The Qin Dynasty perished after only two generations? My Great Qin also needs an Emperor Taizong!

Outside the courtyard, Ma San and Ma Si led out the chestnut horse, saddled and bridled it, and waited for Han Shan to bring several jugs of rice wine that had been brewed long ago and hang them on the saddle. The young master mounted the horse and went straight out of the palace gate, heading straight for the Bai residence in the south of Xianyang City, where he met his master, Bai Zhong, who was also buried in books and documents.

The young master slowed his pace and sat down to the side. He expertly picked up two ceramic bowls from the table, poured in wine, and the aroma filled the air. Bai Zhong then stopped writing and said softly, "Why did you suddenly come back?"

Ying Mu smiled and said, "Master is about to go to war in Chu, so I've come back to see him off."

Upon hearing this, Bai Zhong, with his disheveled hair, shook his head and chuckled, "Then you'll have to come back next spring. The strategy has been finalized, and we'll be sending troops next February."

Ying Mu lay back nonchalantly to the side, thinking, "Fortunately, it's not far away."

"Indeed, then I'll be waiting for you to see me off." Bai Zhong laughed heartily a few times, then suddenly asked, "Are the two thousand soldiers in the camp ready for training?"

Ying Mu was surprised to hear this, but he didn't think much of it. He just turned over on the bed and sighed, "Father really didn't talk nonsense this time. Those fifty riders are really good. In just three months, that garrison commander Jia Le told me that these two thousand soldiers are ready to be deployed to the battlefield."

Bai Zhong chuckled, took a sip of his drink, and said, "This is just the beginning, what's the rush?"

Ying Mu echoed, "Master is right. We are still far from being able to train a hundred-battle elite army. After this battle, with spears and leather armor, I will definitely be able to train a unique army capable of dominating the world!" Ying Mu reclined on the couch, lost in thought about the future. After a moment, he suddenly came back to his senses, looked at Bai Zhong, and asked:

"Master, being in the imperial court, are you aware of the inside story of this great battle?"

"I have indeed heard about it."

"Master!" Ying Mu suddenly stood up and moved closer to Bai Zhong. "Master, please tell me about it?"

Bai Zhong tapped Ying Mu's brow and sighed a few times, then smiled and brought up another unrelated matter: "Court officials certainly wouldn't dare to have any problems, but you can forget about your leather armor. After all, right now, let alone two thousand suits of armor, even two pieces... would be difficult."

Ying Mu was filled with doubt and thought about it for a long time, but he still couldn't understand the key point.

Bai Zhong chuckled a few times and began to explain to his disciple, "This time, when we march south to attack Chu, each unit must not only have heavy armor and weapons, but also carry large arsenals. The battle is not about quick victory, but about a complete victory without leaving any future troubles. I won't hide it from you, the Qin court has already decided to wear down Chu's national strength."

"Does Master know the list of generals who participated in the battle?" Ying Mu then asked.

"This is definitely a military secret."

"Master smiled and said, 'What secret is there?'" Ying Mu quickly picked up the wine jar and refilled it for Bai Zhong. "Master, please tell your disciple. Mu'er is really curious."

Bai Zhong retorted, "Hearing this will come at a price. What, do you still want to hear it?"

Ying Mu hesitated for a moment, then nodded and uttered a single word: "Listen!"

"Aren't you afraid of hearing things you shouldn't?"

Ying Mu looked at Bai Zhong and asked, "What are you afraid of? It's just the two of us here, master and disciple. Anyway, I wouldn't harm myself. Would Master tell anyone?"

Bai Zhong sat up on the couch: "Since Mu'er is willing to listen, then this old man will give a brief explanation."

Upon hearing this, the young master quickly sat upright on the couch, pretending to listen attentively.

As expected, the imperial court was indeed in an uproar over how to deploy troops...

After the Qin state suffered a crushing defeat, it still had more than 100,000 soldiers remaining. Then, it recruited 200,000 new soldiers in the Guanzhong region. Across the country, except for Meng Tian's troops in Jiuyuan and Wang Ben's troops in Jicheng, which only drew 50,000 men, the other passes all drew 80% of their troops and deputy generals to guard the city, which barely managed to gather 600,000 soldiers.

And what followed was the preparation of ordnance, the assembly of soldiers, the supply of logistics, the training of the new army...

Perhaps it was because of the three-piece horse harness set he presented that, in order to continuously improve the standardization of horse harness equipment, the King of Qin had recently decided on a national policy to confiscate the private ironware ownership rights of various aristocratic families in Qin and change it to unified state allocation. What was even more insane than the reform policy was that the Qin court predicted the duration of this war to be at least one year!

Whether we look back two thousand years or forward two thousand years, assembling an army of 600,000 and sending it out for a year could easily lead to the collapse of the nation.

Now that things have come to this, what is there that Ying Mu doesn't understand?

The King of Qin has gone all in, and troops are being gathered from all over the country. Even the Neishi Commandery, which guards Xianyang, has drawn 80% of its troops. How could his two thousand strong and capable soldiers possibly escape?

Obviously it is impossible.

Ying Mu then realized, "So, after all this time, Father and Master were talking about the southward campaign against Chu?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Zhong, standing beside him, finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself: If you, the King of Qin, are too embarrassed to speak to your own son, how could I possibly speak to my own disciple? As the King of Qin, shouldn't you understand the principle of "Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you"?

Fortunately, Mu'er is clever and figured it out herself...

He rose and walked slowly to the window, his old eyes fixed on the bronze cauldron in the courtyard: "Since the Zhou dynasty lost its power, the states have been frequently at war, with hundreds of battles, large and small, occurring in just one year. The scale of this war is unprecedented and will likely remain so. To be able to participate in this war that ends war is truly the greatest joy of my life!"

Ying Mu nodded in agreement. Who wouldn't want to command a war involving millions of people? Win or lose, it would be something to brag about for a lifetime!

In essence, the war between Qin and Chu was a clash between two different systems.

Wang Jian's plan was simple: with a large army pressing in, as long as the disparity in troop strength wasn't too great, there was no rush to fight... This was because Qin had a unified voice to integrate national resources, and no matter how difficult the situation, there would always be a stable and continuous supply line; while Chu relied on various powerful families pooling their resources to fight, and in the short term, they could grit their teeth and take what they could get, even if they won, they could just take more spoils. But if the war dragged on...

Well, I'm sorry, even the landlord's family doesn't have any surplus grain.

Therefore, Wang Jian's underlying logic for war planning was to start with the loopholes in your system. It was simple and brutal, and the competition was about whose supply route would collapse first under their respective systems.

Having figured out the key point, Ying Mu couldn't help but exclaim, "That truly is an ancient wonder."

This master and apprentice truly lived up to their reputation. The old man and the young man smiled at each other, then sat down opposite each other, setting out wine jars and earthenware bowls... Just as Ying Mu often said, if something joyful happens, one should really have a big toast.

After drinking a pot of wine, Ying Mu was almost full. He lay back on the wooden couch and let out a burp.

On the couch, Bai Zhong gazed quietly at the young master's tender face. After a moment, he took out a stack of silk scrolls from his robes, each with several lines of neat Qin seal script on it, and handed them to Ying Mu, saying, "This is the handwriting of Lord Wu'an. Young master, please keep it. It will help ensure that the Bai family's great banner stands firmly and proudly in the future!"