Chapter 388

"General Li, when the Emperor departed, he stated that all military affairs are to be handled by Prime Minister Zhuge Liang."

Xiao He nearby offered a reminder.

"I understand." Li Xin finally realized the situation.

When Ying Su went to attack the Xiongnu, he entrusted all matters, great and small, to Xiao He and Zhuge Liang.

Among them, Xiao He was mainly responsible for internal administration, while Zhuge Liang was in charge of military affairs.

Now that Zhuge Liang is not pursuing the fleeing nobles, he must have his own reasoning.

"Ahem, some matters do not need to be kept secret. Why not ask Prime Minister Zhuge Liang to explain the reasoning for not pursuing them?"

Ying Zheng said calmly from the side.

He understood Liang's idea in his heart, but still wanted to hear Zhuge Liang say it himself.

Additionally, he felt displeased.

Because when Ying Su left, he had not laid his cards on the table for him.

Speaking of it, this First Emperor was not as trustworthy in Ying Su's heart as Zhuge Liang.

"It is like this: the Emperor believes the nobles will surely rise in rebellion, but most people in the nobles' armies do not necessarily wish to follow them in rebellion; they are merely coerced by the nobles."

"To put it plainly, these soldiers possess no loyalty; anyone can control them."

"In that case, there is no need to wipe them out completely; instead, we must find a way to turn them into our own army."

Zhuge Liang spoke Su's idea, which was also his own idea.

On this point, he and Ying Su thought alike.

"Turn them into our own army? How is that done?" Li Xin felt confused.

The Great Qin army's discipline was severe; whoever did not obey orders faced a certain death.

Making those soldiers surrender was almost impossible.

"There are many specific methods; broadly speaking, first shake their morale, then divide and dismantle them."

"For those who refuse to surrender and fight to the end, eliminate them decisively."

"For those willing to surrender, promise them great profits to lure them."

"After killing a batch and persuading another batch to surrender, the remaining people, seeing the situation is lost, will also be willing to surrender."

Zhuge Liang said.

"Then how do we know who is willing to surrender and who absolutely will not?" someone nearby asked.

"This cannot be said." Zhuge Liang smiled slightly: "It is not that I do not trust you, but the rules are such."

Having finished speaking, he glanced at Ying Zheng, intentionally or unintentionally.

"The Prime Minister is right; such specific implementation methods belong to detail issues and can only be known by those executing them." Ying Zheng said calmly.

While he was still on the throne, he never interfered with his subordinates' specific methods of doing things.

On the other side, Wei Pao and others had already retreated into Huashan.

Here the mountains are high, the forests dense, and the terrain dangerous, easy to defend but hard to attack.

Stationing the main army here, there is absolutely no need to worry about safety.

Even if Li Yuanba came, he could not achieve much effect.

If we cannot fight, can we not run?

Here are caves and dense forests everywhere; simply drilling into any one of them, and Li Yuanba would simply not be able to find them.

On a flat-topped small hill, General Meng Tian, Wei Pao, and others gathered to discuss the next actions.

Everyone agreed that confronting Ying Su head-on was almost impossible.

Let alone Li Yuanba, even the army led by Fu Hao and Li Xin was not easy to deal with.

"It seems impossible to drive Ying Su from power," someone sighed.

"Yes, having lost this opportunity, there will never be another opportunity in the future," another person said.

"Their cannons are too powerful; I heard they can produce many cannonballs in a single day. The longer time drags on, the more cannons they will have, and we will be even less of a match for them."

"Let alone cannons, just Li Yuanba alone we cannot deal with!"

"Now is not the time to talk about these things, but to discuss what we should do next!" Wei Pao impatiently interrupted everyone's discussion.

"Please, Brother Wei, offer an idea," someone immediately said.

"In my view, we should stay here in Huashan! The terrain here is too favorable for defense; their cannons cannot achieve much effect here!" Wei Pao said.

"Stay here? Then what about our homes? What about our lands?" someone asked.

Wei Pao froze for a moment, then immediately lost his spirit.

They risked beheading to raise troops and attack Xianyang City, was it not just to pay less tax?

But if they do not even have land, what is there to talk about paying more or less tax?

"Even if we give up the land, we cannot stay here," Meng Tian said. "It is true that this place is good for defense, but where will the grain come from? Our grain is only enough for half a month; once the grain is gone, we cannot fight this war anymore!"

"There are animals in the mountains, and wild fruits to eat," a noble said.

"You can hunt animals? Do you know how many animals a mountain can hold? Even if you count the rats, it is not enough to fill the teeth of this army of hundreds of thousands!" Meng Tian said in a bad mood.

His mood was very bad right now.

Having been in contact with these nobles for a long time, he even suspected whether these nobles were fools.

How could each and every one of them ask so many stupid questions?

172. Preparing for Negotiations

"General Meng, you offer an idea; what should we do now?" Wei Pao asked.

The other nobles also looked at General Meng Tian eagerly.

"Negotiate with them," Meng Tian said.

"Negotiate?" Wei Pao was stunned.

"Yes, exactly negotiate, negotiate with Ying Su!" General Meng Tian said.

"Will he negotiate with us? Now the Xiongnu are basically annihilated, the north has stabilized, and Ying Su can finally turn his hands to dealing with us."

"With such a huge advantage, will he still negotiate with us?" Wei Pao asked.

"His advantage is indeed great, but we have advantages too! Our advantage is our lives!" General Meng Tian stood up.

"We still have nearly a million troops; although we cannot take Outside Xianyanggong, we can capture other places!"

"If pushed to the brink, we will attack other cities and kill them until not a single piece of armor remains!"

"By then, when most of the Great Qin people are killed, let's see how Ying Su can still be Emperor!"

General Meng Tian said with murderous intent.

Hearing him speak thus, Wei Pao and the others were stunned.

This Meng Tian is truly a ruthless man.

Is he preparing to perish together with Great Qin?

"This is our trump card; if Ying Su does not want to be a lone Emperor, he must negotiate with us and reduce our taxes!"

General Meng Tian added.

"I support General Meng's view."

"Although the worst scenario is terrifying, the possibility of actually reaching that point is very small, because Ying Su does not want that either."

"So it is highly likely he will agree to negotiate with us, thereby securing as many benefits for us as possible."

Wei Pao stated his position.

The others, upon hearing this, all agreed it made sense.

Even a dog will jump over a wall when cornered.

And they are nobles, nobles with money and armies.

If Ying Su truly pushes them to the brink of despair, then let everyone perish together!

What does it matter that Ying Su has a fierce general like Li Yuanba?

Can Li Yuanba alone surround these nearly a million troops?

The crushing defeat at the Battle of Xianyang was because the objective was to capture the city, so they had no choice but to engage Li Yuanba in one location.

But if the target is any uncertain city or even a mountain village, they can avoid fighting Li Yuanba.

"Prime Minister Feng, how about you go and negotiate with Zhuge Liang?" General Meng Tian's gaze fell on Feng Quji.

Now Ying Su has not yet returned; Xianyang City is managed by Zhuge Liang, and Feng Quji was formerly Prime Minister.

So in General Meng Tian's view, it is better for Feng Quji to go negotiate.