General Qin

The bridge originally erected on Yingshui was burned and broken by the fleeing Chu people.

The Qin army used the captured boats as beams, with planks on top, to make a narrow and simple pontoon bridge for the more than 20,000 people occupying Huyi to cross the river.

Under Li Xin's command, there are many horses and chariots. When crossing the river for the first time, it seemed quite chaotic, people screamed and horses neighed, and it was a mess when you looked up. From time to time, a horse was frightened and fell into the river, or someone stepped off the pontoon bridge in the chaos.

Fortunately, the Chu army in Huyi had already been wiped out. With no enemies around, this Qin army could slowly cross the river. It took nearly two days for Li Xin's troops to cross the Yingshui.

Li Xin left five hundred men to guard Hu Yi.

Dozens of miles west of Huyi, Li You's infantry was escorting the food confiscated from the treasuries of Pingyu and Qiqiu. Although the food was not much, it was better than nothing. It can be useful at critical times.

In addition to Li You and Hu Yi's garrisons, Li Xin's troops suffered many casualties in the siege and field battle along the way. Now the actual number of people who have crossed to the east bank of Yingshui is only about 21,000. With more than 20,000 people, he will go straight to Chudu

Li Xin walked across the pontoon bridge and stood on a small hill on the east bank, watching the various units of the Qin Army crossing the Yingshui River begin to reorganize and count the number of people.

Just this morning, he has received a reply letter from Juyang.

"Zhaoping wants me to go to Juyang?"

Li Xin looked to the northeast where Ju Yang was, and frowned.

He needs rations.

Li Xin's idea of ​​using war to support war this time is not a problem in itself. The Qin army raided lightly, relying on siege and breaking towns, and moved food from the treasuries of various cities in Chu State to replenish military supplies. The army only carried a few days of rations in front, and Li You followed behind with the rations and supplies captured by the infantry escort. This configuration was enough to maintain the supply of rations for the Qin army for a long period of time.

But along the way, you will always encounter a few ruthless characters.

General Chu guarding Hu Yi is such a ruthless man. As an important city by the Yingshui River, Huyi has a large amount of Chu's military rations stored in the treasury, which is far more than the previous dormitory and peace storage. But it's a pity that the guard of Hu Yi saw that the Qin army was bound to break the city, so he was so cruel that he set fire to the treasury in the city and burned all the tens of thousands of stones of food to ashes.

Although Li Xin obtained some grain from the Chu people in the city afterwards, it was only enough to supply the 20,000 army for more than half a month. This time may be enough for him to raid the city of Shouchun, but if he can't win Shouchun in the first battle. If the Qin army stops outside Shouchun City, it will fall into a situation of shortage of military supplies.

Therefore, Li Xin needs a new source of military rations.

Zhaoping's reply letter was somewhat beyond Li Xin's expectation, which made Li Xin think deeply.

The cronies of the King of Chu came to Juyang City to supervise the army, and it was difficult for Zhaoping to leave the city to support the Qin army under his supervision. However, it can open the gate of Juyang City for Li Xin and assist the Qin army in capturing Juyang City. Once he succeeded in capturing the city, Li Xin would no longer be short of food and supplies, and he would be able to control Juyang, the great city of Chu.

This statement sounds reasonable at first glance, but the scene of that night outside Pingyu City always appeared in Li Xin's mind.

Zhao Tuo leaned on the ground, telling himself that Mr. Changping was very likely to reveal his surprise attack strategy, and that there might be traps waiting in the way ahead.

"Zhao Tuo...the trap..."

Li Xin closed his eyes, chewing these words in his mouth.

He, Li Xin, was born in the Li family in Longxi. He has been a general for generations. He has been familiar with military books and strategies since he was a child, and he has experienced fighting on the battlefield. Following Wang Jian all the way to destroy Zhao and Po Yan, he has experienced dozens of battles, and his ability to fight on the battlefield is considered to be at the forefront among Qin generals, otherwise he would not have been appointed by the Qin King to command the 200,000 army.

The reason why Li Xin chose the strategy of attacking Shouchun by surprise this time was because Qin had won consecutive battles. Li Xin was full of arrogance and conceit, and he didn't take the Chu army seriously. Secondly, Li Xin is good at riding and riding, and is good at surprise attacks. This surprise attack strategy is also his best strategy. Therefore, even though Li Xin's surprise attack strategy was refuted by Meng Wu, it does not mean that he is incompetent, on the contrary, he still has a high military quality.

Now that Zhao Tuo was warning, although Li Xin didn't quite believe Zhao Tuo's "scaremongering", but in the current situation, he couldn't help but consider this possibility in his heart.

Under the situation that there might be a trap ahead, Zhaoping suddenly changed his mind and invited him to lead an army to attack Juyang City. Based on Li Xin's years of battlefield experience, he smelled something unusual from it.

"Junhou... Zhaoping's vote for Qin State is the information given by Junhou. If what Zhao Tuo said is true, Junhou really..."

Li Xin narrowed his eyes.

A sense of danger rose in him.

"Let the messenger reply to Zhaoping, I will surprise Juyang in five days and let him cooperate to open the city gate."

Li Xin muttered, but his head turned to the southeast.

"Whether Juyang is a trap or not, I will not go there. I will take the opportunity to lead an army to attack Xiacai. I don't believe that Xiacai's Chu generals are as cruel as Hu Yi, who can burn all the food and grass. , I will forcibly confiscate the food stored in the homes of the Chu people there, so that it can last for a while."

"Crossing the Huai River from Xiacai is Shouchun!"

"As for Ju Yang, let them wait."

...

Four days later, Juyang City.

Xiang Yan and Zhaoping walked up to the top of the wall together.

"Zhaoping, the terrain in Juyang is really good, it's a good place for fishing."

Xiang Yan looked around, and a few miles to the east of Juyang was a vast dense forest, where the Chu people in the city gathered firewood and felled wood. More than ten miles to the west of Juyang is a Yingshui flowing from north to south. Relying on Lin Yishui, this city can be regarded as a treasure land of geomantic omen.

Zhaoping said with a smile: "Shangzhu Kingdom said yes. We will ambush ten thousand people in the forest, ambush ten thousand people in the city, and send another ten thousand people to detour. Just wait for the fish to come to the bait, and Shangzhu Kingdom will give an order. Thousands of people are killed, and ten thousand people are killed in the forest, and the ten thousand people who detour will attack from behind. Such a three-sided attack, the Qin army will be defeated, and all of them will run west. In this way, we can chase all the way to death Chase north and drive those Qin people into Yingshui."

Xiang Yan also said with a smile: "This fish swimming from Longxi is indeed beyond my expectation. If there is no reminder from that person, I am afraid that I will really be startled by his surprise attack strategy. But this fish is too naive. , show him some bait, and he will swim over to bite the bait foolishly, hehe."

While the two were chatting and laughing, they saw a few cavalrymen coming from a distance.

"Oh, the probing rangers have returned. Presumably they have discovered the Qin army who came to Juyang."

Zhaoping smiled, pointing at the cavalrymen who rode their horses into the city.

However, his smile didn't last long, because after hearing the news brought back by the Ranger, he turned into a cry of astonishment: "What! Didn't you find the Qin army on the road? Three days ago, Li Xin led the army to the direction of Xiacai went?"

"Damn it, didn't Li Xin say that he was going to come to Juyang? Why did he go to kill Cai!"

"Shuzi lied to me!"

Zhaoping's face twisted, and things changed beyond his expectation.

In his eyes, that foolish fish abandoned Ju Yang as the bait, and swam in another direction, and even gave him the illusion of biting the bait before leaving.

The fisherman was teased by the fish instead.

Xiang Yan looked astonished.

Then, he smiled: "Interesting, I thought it was a stupid fish, but I didn't expect it to be quite cunning, and I can see some clues. It seems that the selection of the king of Qin did not blindly choose a general with his eyes closed. It's something."

"Zhaoping, don't be angry. If the fish didn't come to bite our hook, didn't they also bite Shouchun's big hook?"

"Greedy fish cannot escape."

Speaking of this, a cold light flashed in Xiang Yan's eyes.

"Immediately regroup the army. After an hour, 30,000 soldiers will set off to the south!"

"If Li Xin doesn't come, we will chase after him. On the shore of the Huai River, we will peel off the scales and armor of this fish, and give it a good meal!"

...

The shore of the Huai River.

A Qin army that had marched hundreds of miles east along the Huai River also stopped.

Zhao Tuo stood on a gentle and wide river bank, looking at the opposite bank.

Behind him is a vast bamboo forest.

Ahead is the water of the Huaihe River hundreds of meters wide.

"It's here."

Zhao Tuo narrowed his eyes slightly. After walking all the way, he finally found a suitable place.

He wants to cross the Huai River!