Zhao Army General Xia said that he was indeed very deliberate to please his military supervisor Zhao Wu. Under his personal supervision, the solid camp built by the Zhao army soldiers at the west entrance of Jingxing had been completed, but the newly appointed military supervisor Zhao Wu just circled around the wall, but put forward the strict requirements of increasing the wall by eight feet and five feet thickening. As a result, Xia said that he did not even blink his eyelids and immediately followed the order, and forced the Zhao army soldiers to pick up various tools again, carry soil, stones, and thicken the camp, and did not dare to fight at all.

In response to this, the Zhao army soldiers who worked hard to build the walls certainly complained. Several intermediate generals of the Zhao army opposed it. They all said that the originally built walls of two and six feet high and ten and eight feet wide were enough, and there was no need to waste huge manpower and material resources to continue to strengthen and thicken. Xia Shuo in turn advised them to understand and said, "The Zhao army is also for our own good. It is a little tiring to continue to increase the walls, but if the Han thieves really come over, the higher the camps, the thicker the camps, the more beneficial it is to us."

In addition, in order to appease the Zhao army soldiers who worked hard to build the wall, Xia said that he also ordered the soldiers to add vegetables for several consecutive days, and finally ensured that the project was successfully completed.

However, even so, Zhao Wu was still not satisfied with what Xia said about his work. He also felt that the military discipline of the Zhao army in Jingxing was too dispersed and the training was not serious enough, so all of them must be strengthened. Xia said, who obeyed Zhao Jianjun, did not even dare to take a breath. He immediately called his military judge to scold him and forced him to strictly restrain his soldiers. He must not relax his supervision of the soldiers because he was not in a state of war. He personally took the important task of military training. Regardless of the continuous spring rain, he personally supervised the soldiers to strictly train every day. Often, his whole body was wet with rain and did not dare to be lazy. He set an example to encourage the Zhao army soldiers to practice their physique diligently.

Fortunately, Zhao Wu is not a particularly difficult military supervisor. Seeing that Xia said he was meticulously executing his orders, military discipline and training have indeed improved greatly, Zhao Wu did not pick any more of the bones. When he was still visiting the training of Zhao army soldiers, it was rare to praise the loyal and obedient general Xia said, "It is worthy of being General Xia. After grabbing the training of soldiers with his own hands, our army's training has indeed become much better. Don't worry, General, if you have the opportunity, I will definitely report this to Zhang Xiang. Please reward you with great importance."

"The General of the Third Army dared not." Xia said in a hurry and humble manner, saying flatteringly: "These are all the matters of the General of the Third Army, and it is all because Zhao Junjun strictly supervised and discovered hidden dangers in the army in time, which gave the General of the Third Army the opportunity to make up for the loss. The General of the Third Army was grateful to the General of the State and the General of the State was too late. How dare he greedy for the General of the State to praise Zhao Junjun and Zhang Xiangguo commended him?"

"General Xia doesn't need to be humble. These are all you deserve." Zhao Wu smiled and said, "Those who have meritorious people will be rewarded, and those who have mistakes will be punished. We, Zhang Xiang, have always been clear in rewards and punishments. How can we be compared to Chen Yu who istrayed the Lord and treason?"

When Zhao Wu mentioned his old boss, Xia said his eyelids moved slightly, and he nodded and said, "What Zhao Jun said is very true. Zhang's rewards and punishments are indeed a hundred times that of Chen Yu's husband. Mo was confused before and accused of tigers under Chen Yu's husband's tent, which almost led to a big mistake. Fortunately, Zhang's prime minister was generous and gave Mo General the opportunity to make meritorious contributions and atone for his sins. Even if he went through fire and water and was crushed to pieces, it would be difficult to repay Zhang's great kindness."

"It's all over, why do you still mention him?" Zhao Wu smiled and patted Xia's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, General Xia, as long as you sincerely use your life and serve the country with loyalty, our king and Zhang Xiang will never care about your previous affairs, and will never treat you badly."

When Xia Shu heard this, he was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed to Zhao Wu and swearing that he would be loyal to Zhao Xie and Zhang Er. However, at this moment, his personal captain suddenly ran close to him quickly and bowed with a very short look on his face, "Report to General Xia, we have returned from sending back to Jinyang to investigate the enemy situation, which has brought a very important news."

"What important news?" Xia said casually.

"After the Han thief, a decree of our king was suddenly announced." The captain of the personal soldiers replied truthfully: "The edict says that the Zhang Prime Minister of our Zhao State has successively joined forces, deceived the king and made power, colluded with the Western Chu thieves to rebel and become king. Our king borrowed troops from the Han State to attack the Zhang Prime Minister, and also asked our loyal ministers and righteous men of our Zhao State to do their best to help the Han thieves to attack our Zhang Prime Minister."

Before the captain of the personal soldiers finished speaking, Xia said and Zhao Wu had already opened their mouths together. Then Zhao Wu quickly asked, "Is there any original text of the edict?"

"Report to Zhao Jianjun, there is." Knowing that his boss was trying hard to please Zhao Wu, the captain of the personal soldiers who said Xia did not dare to neglect, so he quickly took out a document and explained: "The Han thieves used the list of documents to post our king's edict to the city gate and made it public. We secretly copied a copy of our detailed work and asked Zhao Jianjun to take a look."

Zhao Wu snatched the Zhao army's secret copying edict, and quickly started to take a closer look. Xia Shuo hurriedly came up to see it together, but he saw that Zhao Xie did issue an edict as King Zhao, and listed a number of crimes of Zhang Er deceiving the king and abusing power in the edict. He also invited the Han army to send troops to Zhao State to attack Zhang Er to help him regain power. In addition, he asked the loyal ministers and righteous men of Zhao State to raise troops to respond to the Han army, help the Han army to clean up Zhang Er and his followers, and to return the major policies to Zhao Xie.

Before the so-called edict was read, Zhang Er's absolute confidant Zhao Wu was almost furious and shouted: "Fake edict! The shameless false edict made by the thief of the Han Dynasty! How could we Zhang Xiang be such a person? How could our king issue such an edict to lead the wolf into the house?!"

"The Han thief is powerful, and you can even find such a high-sounding excuse to send troops." Xia Shuo praised in his heart, but he followed suit and said, "Yes, it is definitely a fake edict. How wise our king is, and how wise our Prime Minister Zhang is, how could the king issue such an edict? Needless to ask, this edict was definitely fabricated by the Han thief to discord our King and Prime Minister Zhang! We must not believe it!"

After clenching the so-called edict in his hand, he thought of it with a blue face, Zhao Wu suddenly remembered a big event and asked: "Did the Han thief say that they got this edict from where?!"

"Report to the Zhao Army Supervisor, I've said it." Xia Shushu's personal soldiers captain replied truthfully: "The Han thief claimed that it was our king who hid this edict secretly in a belt and handed it to a loyal minister of our Zhao State. The loyal minister of our Zhao State took advantage of the opportunity of the Han thief envoy Shusun Tong to go to Jingxing to secretly handed the edict to the Han thief envoy Shusun Tong!"

Before the captain of the personal soldiers had finished speaking, Xia Shuo was stunned and subconsciously went to see Zhao Wu quietly. Then, as Xia Shuo expected, Zhao Wu's sharp eyes had indeed turned to himself who was once a close confidant of Zhang Er's political enemy Chen Yu! Then, Xia Shuo, who was quite smart, immediately understood and said intimately: "Oh no, it must be the thief who knew that I was not Zhang Er's confidant, and he was once Chen Yu's confidant, so he deliberately put the shit on my head and used rumors to distract my relationship with Zhang Er!"

It was still good, Zhao Wu was still rational, and thought that this was probably the Han army deliberately disagreement, so he immediately said to Xia: "General Xia, don't worry, I am familiar with the shameless means of the Han thieves. I know that this must be their intentional disagreement and will never be fooled by them. I will definitely explain it to you on Zhang Xiang's side."

Xia Shuo nodded and thanked him hurriedly, and once again swears to be loyal to Zhang Er forever. Zhao Wuzhe thought for a moment and said quickly: "Since the Han thieves announced this forged shameless edict and completely broke up with us, it means that they will definitely send troops to Jingxing soon. General Xia, hurry up and organize our soldiers to prepare for the war. I will send a quick horse to report this matter to Zhang Xiangguo, and ask him to send reinforcements to you as soon as possible to help you resist the attack of the Han thieves!"

Xia Shuo agreed quickly, but before he could finish his words, another fast horse rushed into the Zhao army camp, rushed to him and Zhao Wu, and reported loudly that Uncle Zhou had personally led 30,000 Han troops eastward the day before yesterday, and was coming to Jingxing along the road left by Qin Shihuang! Xia Shuo and Zhao Wu were even more shocked when they heard this, and quickly acted separately. While organizing soldiers to prepare for the war, they sent fast horses to ask Zhang Er for help.

He said that he could definitely trust Xia Shuo, but Zhao Wu was also quite familiar with military affairs. He knew that Uncle Zhou had led some of the main forces to suddenly advance eastward when he was not prepared enough. He was definitely not making a big bet with no chance of winning. He must have been a little sure enough to make such a heavy bet, so Zhao Wu did not dare to be careless. In order to prevent it, he had just returned to his military tent and immediately ordered his subordinates to stare at Xia.

The Han army was indeed making a big bet. Although the troops were suddenly sent and launched an attack before the Zhao army increased its troops, the Han army was not prepared for a large-scale eastern expedition, and there was no way to guarantee the food, grass and military needs. If we cannot quickly take down the important Jingxing area that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, we will definitely be forced to withdraw our troops in a few days. Uncle Zhou understood this truth, but Uncle Zhou had to take a bet, because once we could not seize the only opportunity discovered by accident, we could take Jingxing in one fell swoop, then when the reinforcements of the Zhao army arrived, the Han army would not know how much cost and time it would take to get Jingxing—it might not be absolutely certain.

Xia Shuo also understood this principle. He just found out that the Han army came lightly and could not last a few days with the military food and grass. Xia Shuo understood that the Han army bet on him, so Xia Shuo had to consider this question - should he turn against him decisively and take this opportunity to surrender to the Han army? Or should he continue to swallow his anger and always be a slave to Zhang Er and his son in exchange for the little leftovers they rewarded?

"The Han thief will definitely send someone to contact me!"

To Xia's expectations, during the difficult time crossing mountains and ridges in the Taihang Mountains, no envoys quietly came to contact Xia Shuo. On the contrary, when the Han army was still more than one day away from Jingxing, Zhao Wu suddenly came to meet him and said happily: "General Xia, good news, our reinforcements are about to arrive. Major General Zhang Ao, the son of our Prime Minister Zhang, led an army of 40,000 days and nights toward Jingxing. He will definitely be able to arrive at Jingxing within three days at the latest to reinforce us!"

"So quickly?" Xia Shi looked happy and asked in surprise: "We just received the news of the Han thieves sending troops on the day before yesterday. Our emergency messenger has just arrived at Julu at most? Why are our reinforcements coming so soon?"

"Our Prime Minister Zhang is far-sighted and knows that after the Han thieves took Jinyang, they may suddenly send troops to Jingxing at any time. In order to prevent it, they organized reinforcements to come and help us early." Zhao Wu said with a smile.

"Zhang Xianggao Ming, now the general will no longer have to worry." Xia Shuo smiled happily, his happy smile was definitely from the heart, and he secretly praised in his heart: "The thieves are really powerful. Even if they send troops for two days late, I will not have any chance to surrender!"

Zhao Wu also laughed happily and said, "General Xia, don't worry, when the major general arrives, I will report your performance during this period to him truthfully and ask him to reward you!"

Xia said he was very happy and thanked Zhao Wu again. Then he took the initiative to leave his military tent on his own, allowing Zhao Wu to read his Chinese account at will and ask his closest soldiers about the situation. However, when the water was released, the captain of the personal soldiers who accompanied him asked in surprise: "General, what's going on? Why did the Major General lead the army to reinforce us? Is it the Chief Zhao Jun who received the news first?"

"What are you doing so much?" Xia said with a blank expression, "I want to give you a piece of advice for your many years. Don't mention this matter in the future, let alone ask why, I'm for your own good."

The captain of the personal soldiers who Xia said was not too stupid. Hearing something in Xia's words, he quickly closed his mouth. When Xia said that after putting the water and tying his clothes, he suddenly remembered the robbery of the belt. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "Zhang Ao is here, it's time for me to hand over the military power. The consequences of his mistaken person were the ones."

More than a day passed quickly. In the afternoon of the next day, the 30,000 Han troops led by Uncle Zhou himself finally arrived near Jingxing. However, because Xia said that he chose to set up a camp at the intersection of Xiguan Road, blocked the Han army's road, making it impossible for the Han army to enter the Jingxing Basin, the Han army could only set up a camp ten miles away from the Zhao army camp. After receiving this news, Xia said that the critical moment that determines the future of his life was coming soon.

Zhao Wu also understood this truth, so from the early morning of this day, Zhao Wu used the excuse to help Xia Shuo handle military affairs. He never left Xia Shuo for a single step from morning to night. He kept his guard beside Xia Shuo, smiling and monitoring Xia Shuo all the actions. Xia Shuo knew the reason very well, but there was nothing he could do.

No matter what should come, it is almost evening, the Zhao army's patrol officer came to Xia Shuo in person to report, saying that the Zhao army scout caught a suspicious man on the mountain road. Xia Shuo had no choice but to close his eyes when he heard this, but Zhao Wu next to him seemed to have been injected with chicken blood and couldn't wait to ask: "What did you ask?"

Just like Xia said he was worried, and as Zhao Wu expected, the Zhao army patrol officer showed a difficult face and hesitated not to answer immediately. It was only after Zhao Wu asked again that the patrol officer replied hesitantly: "Report to Zhao Jianjun, the suspicious man claimed to be your friend, said that there was an important matter and hoped to meet you. Our scout... also found a letter from him."

Xia said he opened his eyes in surprise, while Zhao Wu suspected that he had heard the wrong ears and asked in surprise: "Are you here to pay homage to me? You also found a letter from him? What letter?"

"Report to the general Zhao Jun, it was a letter written to you by the thief general Zhou of the Han Dynasty." The patrol officer took out a sealed letter written in a bamboo slip and said, "It says the words asked you to collect them personally, and the signature of the thief general Zhou of the Han Dynasty."

Zhao Wu jumped up in surprise and rushed to the patrol officer to grab the letter. The patrol officer quickly took a step back and avoided Zhao Wu's robbery. He said with a embarrassed expression: "Zhao Jianjun forgives his crime. According to the rules, this letter should be handed over to General Xia to deal with."

Zhao Wu was stunned. Xia Shuo, who had long hated him, showed a smile on the corner of his mouth, and then pretended to be polite and asked: "Zhao Jianjun, if it is inconvenient, why don't you see it first?"

Zhao Wu also bullied Xia and said it became a habit. After hearing what Xia said, he actually snatched the letter, opened the seal and looked carefully. Xia Shuo was secretly angry, but he was still calm. He just carefully observed Zhao Wu's expression and reaction. What surprised Xia Shuo was that he quickly looked at the letter written to him by Uncle Zhou. Zhao Wu's face turned from blue to white, and then turned from white to black. Finally, he simply smashed the bamboo slips and roared with blood red eyes: "Shameless thief! Despicable rats!"

"Judge Zhao, calm down." Xia said quickly to dissuade him and asked, "What did the letter say?"

"It's all shameless nonsense!" Zhao Wu shouted with red eyes: "Shameless rats, you dare to slander and say that the official betrayed Zhang Xiang and secretly colluded with the thieves!"

Xia Shuo smiled again at the corner of his mouth, and thought about it in a difficult manner, then whispered to his personal soldiers, pointing the target at the bamboo slips that were broken by Zhao Wu. Xia Shuo's personal soldiers understood and immediately went forward to pick up the bamboo slips. When Zhao Wu saw it, he blurted out and asked, "General Xia, can't you even believe me?"

"Zhao Jianjun forgives the crime." Xia Shu replied, "The Han thief General Zhou Shu has a letter to you. The general knows the situation clearly. If he doesn't read the content of the letter, he really can't explain to the king and Zhang."

Zhao Wu was speechless and could only let Xia Shuo's personal soldiers pick up the broken letters, take them to Xia Shuo and splice them again. Xia Shuo was so excited that he quickly read the contents of the letters carefully. However, he saw that Zhou Shuo strongly praised Zhao Wu's profound wisdom and righteousness on the letters. Shuntian responded to the people secretly asked the Han army to surrender, and provided the Han army with important military information of the Zhao army in Jingxing. He also said that the current situation was urgent. The Han army must take down Jingxing as soon as possible and open the road to the hinterland of Zhao State. He asked Zhao Wu to slander Xia Shuo as a military supervisor, take down Xia Shuo to take over Jingxing Zhao army, and then lead Jingxing Zhao army to surrender himself. He also said that he would deliberately send someone to contact Xia Shuo tonight, falsely claim that Xia Shuo rebelled, so that Zhao Wu could take Xia Shuo legitimately.

Finally, Uncle Zhou certainly had no choice but to make a promise and promised to be appointed as Quyang Marquis after the matter was completed, with a fief of thousands of households and a large number of gold, jade and jewelry.

After reading the letter, Xia said of course he was in deep thought, but Zhao Wu was so anxious that his eyes turned redder. He quickly said, "General Xia, you have to believe me. How loyal I am to Zhang Prime Minister, how could I do something secretly colluding with the thieves? You must believe me!"
Chapter completed!