Chapter 453 Bai Qi's Decision

Lian Po held the last Kanghou Pass, which allowed Gaoliu County to trade as usual. After discussing with the core members of the family, Hua Kai decided not to send more troops to Zhao. What Zhao lacked now was not the manpower, but the attitude of the noble families and Zhao Dan.

Despite this, Hua Kai decided to let Yuezhi send troops to Xiaoguan in the north of Qin. Even if it was just a show, it would be a good thing for other countries in the Central Plains to contain part of Qin's troops.

Although Yuezhi and Qin could not be compared, the Qin cavalry was much worse than Yuezhi cavalry. As long as they did not go deep into the hinterland of Qin, did not attack the city easily, and were not easily beheaded by Qin's foundation-building realm, it would be easy for Yuezhi to retreat.

Hua Kai asked Yuezhi to send troops, and he also needed to pay Yuezhi a certain amount of money. Yuezhi needed to arm 30,000 elite soldiers. Hua Kai could pay the reward with weapons, which was also a training for the remaining 30,000 elite cavalry of Yuezhi.

Everyone's eyes were on Zhao, watching how Qin would deal with the Zhao family problem. In fact, this was also what all the noble families in the world were concerned about.

If they can be given the rights they deserve, then there is nothing wrong with them joining the Qin State. It is nothing more than finding a more powerful backer!

August 14th was an ordinary day. Bai Qi was discussing the management of Zhao State with hundreds of representatives of the aristocratic families of Zhao State. Qin State could not produce a strong military force and stayed in Handan City. They were fighting with Chu State in Hanzhong County. If they did not return to help in time, the entire southern part of Qin State would probably be occupied by Chu State.

Bai Qi sat in the main seat of the conference hall. He looked coldly at the hundreds of aristocratic family representatives below. The scene in the conference hall was always very discordant.

"Wu'an Jun, our family has lived on this land for hundreds of years. Now Qin wants to take back everything. How can we survive?

If Qin wants to send officials, we will obey orders, but the industries in this city are our ancestral things. I'm afraid it's not possible to give them all to Qin. In addition, if Qin wants to take away the private soldiers of each family, that's too much!" As the only second-class family in Zhao, the head of the Wu family surrendered to Qin as soon as Zhao Dan escaped. He didn't expect Bai Qi to ask the Wu family to go to Xianyang City for all foundation-building people and hand over all military power, and the Wu family would lose all privileges.

"Qin has its own rules. All families are not allowed to store soldiers privately without the king's permission. Qin did not take away all the shops in Zhao, but made unified arrangements after statistics." Although Bai Qi was impatient, he still explained.

"If we hand over everything, even those in the foundation building stage will have to go to Xianyang City. Wouldn't all the lives and deaths of people be completely controlled by the Qin soldiers? Recently, the Qin soldiers have escorted hundreds of thousands of people to Xianyang City. When we hand over all the power in our hands, will we be slaughtered like those civilians?" A family head said so, and everyone couldn't help but agree. The civilians were all closely related to them.

"Do you think that Kang Hou is in the hands of Lian Po, so you think you have the strength to fight against Qin?" Bai Qi looked out the window and said.

"This is the voice of all the families in Zhao State. I hope Mr. Bai can understand. If we can't keep our families, then what is the point of us living in the foundation building stage? It's hard to obey the order to go to Xianyang City!" The head of the Wu family has obviously become the representative of all the families. He seems to be a little angry with Bai Qi because he can't see any hope.

"In this case, there is no need to talk anymore. Everyone think about it carefully. I'm waiting for someone to change at the post station. Let's stop here today!" Bai Qi said and got up and left.

The heads of the aristocratic families of Zhao State looked at each other with sorrow. If they wanted to retain the full strength of their aristocratic families, it was inevitable to confront Qin State. What they hoped for was to fight Qin State secretly without breaking the relationship. They felt that they had such strength now, and Qin State had no choice.

At night, Bai Qi was in his bedroom. He felt the jade pendant on his waist move slightly. He stretched out his hand and a piece of parchment slowly appeared in his hand. After Bai Qi read it, the parchment turned into ashes.

Bai Qi opened the window and looked at the bright moonlight outside the window. After a long time, he began to speak.

"Action!" Bai Qi seemed to be talking to the air. At this time, a figure in the yard jumped out of the courtyard wall of the post station. Bai Qi closed the window and the whole post station was quiet.

Many aristocratic family mansions in Handan City were inspected by Qin State's elite soldiers in the middle of the night. Many aristocratic families led by Qin State's Blood Dragon Guards could only let them check at will. After that, all members of the aristocratic family were taken together, and all members above Kaiyuan Realm were taken away.

The next day, Qin sent 40,000 elite soldiers to enter many noble families under the pretext of searching for the remnants of the Zhao family. Some noble families fought back, but they were all suppressed by the Qin soldiers. Gradually, the Qin soldiers searched more and more noble families. Most of the noble families that opposed Qin had been searched, and the main personnel were all detained by the Qin soldiers.

Many noble families found the Wu family and other noble families above the third rank, and everyone began to discuss ways to fight against the Qin soldiers, from disrupting Handan City to cutting off the living supplies of the Qin soldiers. They wanted to force Bai Qi to release people and bow to them.

However, in the face of the provocation of the noble families, Bai Qi was the most direct. Those who disturbed the order of Handan City were all suppressed and detained. He did not listen to the arguments of both sides and reflected in the prison.

As for those shops that suddenly closed their doors, the Qin army simply broke into them. If they found something that was not for sale, they would be arrested directly for disrupting the market order. For a while, Handan City was full of disputes between the noble families and the Qin army. Some noble families sent hundreds of people, and the Qin army sent hundreds of people. The number of people on both sides increased and soon they started fighting.

Handan City was in chaos, and there was no order in the city. There were noble families fighting with the Qin army everywhere.

At the beginning, the Zhao family had a slight advantage. They all attacked the prison in Handan City and rescued all the noble children who were captured by the Qin soldiers. The Qin soldiers suffered heavy losses, and some people were already shouting to break into the Zhao Palace.

At this critical moment, the Qin army ordered all the people to go home. Anyone who did not go home on the street was considered a rebellion. The Zhao family began to organize servants to fight against the Qin army in fierce street battles. Both sides won and lost.

In just three days, the whole city of Handan began to fall into chaos. Qin simply searched every household, and all adults above Kaiyuan level were taken away if there were weapons hidden in the house.

Qin established a special military camp in the west of Handan City, and they brought all these people here. The Zhao family was stronger than the Qin soldiers, but they were more than one level behind the Qin soldiers in terms of military coordination and fighting will. Every time they fought, Qin could capture a large number of family soldiers.

In this way, for a month, Qin's elite soldiers captured tens of thousands of people who made trouble from Handan City every day, but there were still supportive families coming from all over Zhao. Qin did not close the city, but arrested those who made trouble every day. After paying the price of tens of thousands of soldiers' lives, the whole city of Handan finally became much more orderly, and those who were disobedient were locked up outside the city!

Seeing that the noble families of Zhao State who were supposed to come to Handan City had almost arrived, and no one had made trouble for three days, and almost all the adult men in Handan City had been arrested, several major noble families of Zhao State finally came to Bai Qi to bow their heads. They were willing to go to Xianyang City, because facing the powerful Qin State, perhaps their families would be safer in Xianyang City.

In just one day, all the foundation-building realms of Zhao State had been sent to Xianyang City by Qin soldiers. When all the foundation-building realms left, a Qin general came to Bai Qi.

"General Bai, now that all the noble families have surrendered, what should we do with those imprisoned outside the city?" The general looked at Bai Qi and asked.

If they were all released, they might continue to make trouble and destroy the stability of Handan City. More importantly, some people might think that Qin State was weak, and these people were not easy to deal with.

"Kill them all!" Bai Qi said lightly.

"Kill them? There are still some defeated soldiers, rangers, and scholars of the Hundred Schools who are also imprisoned there. The total number of people is more than 300,000. If they are all killed, karma..." the general reminded Bai Qi.

"Then tie them all up and bury them alive!" Bai Qi said and left.

Hearing that Qin's elite soldiers buried 300,000 Zhao people alive, all the people in Handan City cried bitterly. Hua Kai was amazed by Bai Qi's courage when he heard that Bai Qi actually killed 300,000 Zhao people.

Bai Qi knew that Lian Po had established a foothold in the north, and it was very difficult for Qin to control the entire Zhao State because it was too far away from Zhao State. If he didn't kill the chicken to scare the monkey, many people in the entire Zhao State would definitely defect to Lian Po in the future. Moreover, if these 300,000 Zhao people were killed, the entire Handan City would have no ability to resist. Qin could easily control the entire Handan City without much manpower, and the entire Zhao State would soon be able to stabilize.

In this way, he could quickly withdraw his troops back to the country to deal with Chu. Lian Po had many elite cavalry in his hands, and his role in siege was not very large, so he stationed 15,000 Qin's elite soldiers in Shuo County and 10,000 Qin's elite soldiers in Handan City, and the entire Zhao State could be safely controlled by Qin.

Bai Qi's killing of 300,000 Zhao people this time has obvious disadvantages. Although these people were not killed by Bai Qi himself, some of the karma should be attributed to him. Bai Qi's reputation as a famous general was tarnished because of the killing of civilians, and there is no possibility of breakthrough in his cultivation in this life.

"Just like Qin Zheng, Bai Qi is really cruel. This step has cut off his future path. Maybe Qin Zheng will not dare to use him again in the future.

But Bai Qi fought for the stability of Zhao and Wei for Qin. Fifty thousand Qin soldiers brought more than 400,000 civilians, which immediately enriched the population of Qin's Guanzhong area." Hua Kai said softly while looking at the battle report.

Bai Qi's actions were also beneficial to the Hua family. He killed and transported away the young and strong men of Zhao State, which greatly reduced the regional strength of Zhao State and made it easier for Qin State to manage. However, it was impossible to send troops from Zhao State to attack nearby countries. There were no young and strong men to serve as auxiliary troops. In the next few years, due to the shortage of manpower, the grain production would inevitably decrease. There was also a key point. The foundation-building level of Handan City had all left, and there were no young and strong men left. How could they deal with the wild beasts attacking the city this winter? Was Qin State going to make Zhao State a hunting ground for wild beasts?