Chapter 81: The Formal Break (Part 1)

  The next day, before dawn broke, Gao Yuan rose from the mansion and first rushed to Handan City outside, where he mobilized 20,000 soldiers in Yuan Xuan's military camp. Then, with this batch of soldiers, he immediately rushed to Li Mu's residence.

  At this time, Li Mu had just brought Zhao Xuan and Li Yinghong out, preparing to rush to the palace, seeing Gao Yuan had already led the soldiers to come, Li Mu could only sigh and let Gao Yuan lead the soldiers, following himself to rush to the palace.

  In fact, relying on only 20,000 soldiers to completely surround the palace is also quite difficult. Even if they managed to surround it, it would be a thin layer with little depth. However, surrounding the imperial palace does not require completely encircling it; simply guarding all of its gates can basically achieve the goal.

  But Li Mu and the others led the army to the front of the palace gate, only to see that the gate was closed, the drawbridge was lifted high, the city wall was filled with soldiers, swords and halberds were standing upright, bows and crossbows were strung, completely in a state of strict array.

  Gao Yuan took a look at the city wall and let out a sigh of relief. To be honest, before setting off, Gao Yuan was still very worried because once Li Mu entered the palace, things would no longer be under his control. The outcome would be hard to predict. Although he had deployed his troops in front of the palace, if Zhao Wangqian or Guo Kai insisted on killing Li Mu, even if he led a team to storm into the palace and kill Zhao Wangqian and Guo Kai, it would still be too late. And if Zhao Wangqian captured Li Mu as a hostage, the situation would become even more troublesome, possibly leading to a prolonged standoff.

  Now the palace is heavily guarded, it's clear that Zhao Wang has lost trust in Li Mu. In this situation, will Li Mu still insist on entering the palace to meet with Zhao Wang?

  Indeed, as soon as Li Mu saw this formation, his heart also sank. From his point of view, he did not want to rebel against Zhao at all, and there was still a hint of fantasy that he could meet with King Xiang of Zhao, explain the pros and cons, and show that what he had done was entirely for the benefit of Zhao. Then, he could dispel King Xiang's misunderstanding about him, give up Guo Kuo, and continue to defend Zhao with all his might. However, the palace's attitude, as if facing a great enemy, made Li Mu thoroughly understand that King Xiang had already chosen Guo Kuo and would no longer believe in himself.

  Li Mu urged on the war chariot and took a few more steps forward, shouting: "Who is leading the army on the city wall?"

  A general appeared at the city gate and shouted down, "I am Zhao She, the Marquis of Wu'an. The state of Zhao has treated you well, why do you want to betray Zhao?"

  Li Mu knew that Zhao Shuo was a member of the royal family of Zhao, currently serving as the Sima of the palace guards, responsible for defending the safety of the palace and loyal to Zhao. However, he was still relatively upright, so he said: "Zhao Sima, you say I betrayed Zhao, what evidence do you have?"

  Zhao She said: "Wu An Jun, you dispatched troops without reason yesterday and attacked the residence of Guo Xiangguo, killing or wounding more than 50 members of Zhao Cong's household. Isn't this a betrayal of the state of Zhao? And today, you again brought troops to intimidate the palace, what is this if not rebellion?"

  Gao Yuan, also unable to bear it, urged his horse forward and arrived at the side of Li Mu's chariot. He said loudly: "Zhao Shuo, do you know that there is already a food shortage in Handan City? Everyone is starving, and outside the city, there are hundreds of thousands of refugees waiting for food. We finally managed to buy back 300,000 stones of grain from Qi State, but they were all embezzled by Guo Kuo, who took advantage of the situation to raise grain prices and reap huge profits, without regard for the lives of the people of Handan. The general retrieved these grains from Guo Kuo's home, re-established fair grain prices, and did it all for the stability of Zhao State and the loyalty of Wu Anjun. This is known throughout the land. How can you also dare to falsely accuse Wu Anjun of treason? Is there any reason in this?"

  Zhao Shuo was also speechless for a moment, but in fact, he was very clear about the right and wrong of the matter. Li Mu had not betrayed Zhao at all, and this whole thing was entirely due to Guo Kai's wrongdoing. Of course, in reality, it was also King Zhao Xiang's fault, because Guo Kai had withheld grain, which must have been done with King Zhao Xiang's permission. Moreover, Li Mu's loyalty and righteousness were well-known throughout the land, and even Zhao Shuo himself did not believe that Li Mu would betray Zhao.

  But Zhao She was ordered to guard the palace, and his duty bound him not to let Li Mu enter the palace, so he had no choice but to say: "Since the Marquis of Wu'an has not rebelled against Zhao, why did he bring so many troops to the front of the palace? If the Marquis of Wu'an wants to enter the palace to see the king, please disperse his army and let him enter the palace alone. I will naturally open the palace gate and let him in."

  Gao Yuan sneered and said, "Zhao Shuo, at this point, do you think Wu Ankun will still enter the palace alone? If you want Wu Ankun to enter the palace, are you daring enough to come out as a hostage?"

  Zhao Shuo certainly did not dare to come out as a hostage, and was about to argue a few more sentences when Li Mu said: "General Zhao, please invite the king to the city head, and let me see him once, is it possible?"

  Although Li Mu was also loyal to the State of Zhao, he would not be foolishly loyal to the point of sacrificing himself. At this point, Li Mu understood that if he entered the palace alone, he would certainly die. Therefore, he requested King You of Zhou to meet him at the city gate, still hoping to say a few words to the king in person. Until this moment, Li Mu had not given up and, on the premise of ensuring his own safety, he wanted to make another attempt.

  Zhao Shuo nodded and said: "Alright, I'll ask the King to see you later. I will send someone to meet with the King and present your request."

  Li Mu nodded and then turned back to their own camp with Gao Yuan, waiting temporarily.

  After a short while, Zhao She reappeared on the city wall and shouted: "Please ask Wu Anjun to answer in front of the formation."

  Li Mu listened and immediately drove his chariot forward. On Li Mu's chariot, apart from the driver, Zhao Xuan was also by Li Mu's side to protect him. This time, even Li Yinghong followed along, standing on either side of Gao Yuan, accompanying Li Mu's chariot.

  Because Li Mu thought that Zhao Wang Qian would appear on the city wall and talk to him, he also walked forward for more than 50-60 meters, near the moat. Li Mu looked up at the city wall and said: "Your Majesty is there."

  Zhao Shuo's expression was slightly awkward, and he said: "Wu Anjun, the king has an order. If Wu Anjun wants to see the king, he can only disperse his troops and enter the palace alone. The king will not meet with Wu Anjun on the city wall."

  Li Mu was stunned, he didn't expect Zhao Wangqian to refuse to meet him on the city wall, and insisted that he enter the palace, which means that the situation has already completely lost any room for recovery.

  At this time, Gao Yuan suddenly said: "Zhao Sima, is Guo Kai in the palace?"

  Zhao Shuo was taken aback for a moment, then finally nodded and said: "Guo Xiangguo entered the palace yesterday and has been staying in the palace ever since. He is still accompanying the king."

  Yesterday, Gaoyuan killed Guo Yun and had his head brought to Guo Kai, threatening him that he would be next. In reality, Gaoyuan was just trying to scare him, but Guo Kai was truly frightened, thinking that Gaoyuan would really kill him and enter the mansion. Therefore, he didn't dare stay in the mansion either, and immediately left with a small group of close family members for protection, hiding in the palace.

  Guo Kui had already planned that if Li Mu did not come to attack the palace, he would hide in the palace first. If Li Mu led an attack on the palace, he would take King Zhao of Zhao and escape from Handan. Now, no matter what, he must capture King Zhao of Zhao and hand him over to Qin, which would be considered a success even if he failed to eliminate Li Mu.

  Of course, in front of Zhao Wangqian, Guo Kai added vinegar to his words and spoke about Li Mu's intention to rebel. Zhao Wangqian originally did not believe it, but could not withstand Guo Kai's persuasion, so he also fabricated many lies, and some people were half-believing and half-doubting. At this time, Zhao Cong also entered the palace, of course, also saying that Li Mu was rebelling, so Zhao Wangqian had no choice but to believe it. Therefore, he immediately issued an order, instructing Zhao Shuo to gather troops to defend the palace. At the same time, he authorized Zhao Cong to lead troops out of the city at night to quell Li Mu's rebellion.

  When Zhao Shuo first received the order, he also did not believe that Li Mu would rebel against Zhao State, so he still spoke a few words in defense of Li Mu. However, after being severely reprimanded by King Jia of Zhao, he had no choice but to obey orders and command the troops in the city to guard the palace.

  At this time, nearly 100,000 troops were stationed inside and outside Handan City. Among them, there were 30,000 brought back by Yuan Xuan, originally to support the army in Handan. However, the Qin army did not arrive at Handan after all, so they also settled down outside Handan City. Another 5,000 people were brought back by Li Mu when he returned to Handan.

  In Handan City, there were 15,000 troops stationed, with 5,000 guarding the palace and 10,000 maintaining law and order in the city. Outside the city, another 40,000 to 50,000 troops were stationed. Although the number of Zhao's army was more than twice that of Li Mu's, Li Mu's soldiers were all border guards with extremely strong combat effectiveness. The troops stationed in Handan were mostly second-line troops of Zhao State, and most of them had not experienced battle, so their combat effectiveness was average. Zhao Shuo also knew the difference between the soldiers, so he gathered all the troops in the city to guard the palace, waiting for Zhao Cong to gather a large army to defeat Li Mu's troops.

  Li Mu asked Zhao Wang to move to the city head to meet himself, and Zhao Shuo reported to Zhao Wang as it was. From Zhao Shuo's heart, he hoped that Zhao Wang could come to the city head to see Li Mu, and it would be best if things could be clarified, after all, Zhao Guo still couldn't leave Li Mu for now.

  Actually, Zhao Wang was willing to meet Li Mu at the city head, but Guo Kai would not allow Zhao Wang and Li Mu to meet. Otherwise, his own lies would be exposed. So he spoke again to block it, saying that Li Mu wanted Zhao Wang to go up to the city building to meet him, which was not a good intention, wanting to find an opportunity to harm Zhao Wang, so Zhao Wang absolutely could not go to the city head to meet Li Mu.

  Zhao Wangqian was also soft-hearted and changed his mind after listening to Guo Kai's words. He then ordered Zhao Shuo that if Li Mu wanted to see him, he must disband his troops and enter the palace alone. Of course, Guo Kai had already made up his mind that as soon as Li Mu entered the palace alone, he would mobilize soldiers and kill Li Mu as soon as he stepped into the palace gate, and absolutely not let Li Mu see Zhao Wangqian.

  At this time, Li Mu would certainly not easily enter the palace alone, so the situation has already been irretrievable.

  Li Mu looked at the city wall and let out a soft sigh, saying: "Alright, let's go back."

  Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong both let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Li Mu did not insist on entering the palace alone. For Gao Yuan, the huge stone that had been hanging over his head finally fell to the ground, it seemed that he could change Li Mu's fate after all.

  At this moment, Gao Yuan suddenly felt a surge of heat in his chest, and the amulet that had been quiet for several months actually reacted again.