General Qin

Under the agreement, the next thing is very simple.

Zhao Tuo directly drove the army to the open space around Zhongli City, and set up camp.

Several black flags were fluttering in the barracks. Although the flags were dirty and damaged after thousands of miles of travel, the appearance of the flags fluttering in the wind, combined with the watchful eyes of thousands of soldiers under the Qin flag, caused Zhongli people who saw this scene on the top of the city. enormous psychological pressure.

Although Zhongli is a big city nearby, its population is less than 10,000, and the number of young and strong people in the city is not even as large as that of the Qin army outside the city. Seeing these thousands of Qin troops in armor and holding spears, they are mighty and majestic, and the Chu people in the city are all scared. Trembling.

This is Qin Jun's show of force, telling Zhong Liren that if he dares to cheat on the contract, he can only repay it with blood.

The county magistrate Zhongli was startled and frightened, and immediately fulfilled the treaty made between the envoy Zhonglimei and the Qin army.

The county magistrate did not go out of the city, but opened one side of the city gate, and asked his county soldiers to organize young and strong generals in the city to transport grain and fodder to the military camp outside the city and hand it over to the Qin people.

"Marquis, the food that Zhongli brought out is enough to feed our army for ten days. There are also hundreds of pieces of clothes, which can be changed by the nobles."

At dusk, when the sun was setting, Shejian finished counting the supplies delivered by Zhongli City, and came to report to Zhao Tuo.

Zhao Tuo nodded. Ten days' food was already the limit they could carry, enough for them to find food in another city after crossing the Huai River.

"Is the food okay?"

"I picked some and let those Zhongli eat them. It seems that there is no problem."

"Um."

Zhao Tuo nodded. Thinking about it, the county magistrate Zhongli would not be so stupid as to tamper with the food. If Qin Jun really noticed it, the gain would outweigh the loss.

He looked sideways towards the Huai River in the distance.

Seeing that under the setting sun, more than a dozen boats had docked by the river bank, and from time to time there were people from Chu driving small boats from the upper and lower reaches of the Huai River. They presumably received orders from the county magistrate Zhongli to collect boats for the Qin army to cross the river.

After all, the Qin army has nearly 6,000 people, and they need a lot of ships to cross the Huai River. It takes a whole night to find the boats.

According to Zhao Tuo's calculations, the King of Chu in Shouchun City should be frightened by the 30,000 Qin army and wooden suspicious soldiers he left behind for a few days. They were sent to chase them, and it would be several days away from Qin Jun at night.

So Qin Jun still has time, even if he delays in Zhongli for a night, the danger is not too great.

Everything seemed to be going well, but Zhao Tuo still had a bad feeling in his heart.

This premonition came from the Chu man named "Zhong Limei".

"Here, tonight you and Zhao Guang will keep watch alternately. You should send more soldiers to patrol, and beware of any changes. We have already reached the edge of the Huai River. At this important moment, we must pay more attention."

Zhao Tuo issued an order that She Jian and Zhao Guang were the two most powerful generals under him, and this time the two kept vigil, which shows that he attaches great importance to this matter.

Shejian responded, feeling the worry in Zhao Tuo's words, and said with relief: "I think the county magistrate Zhongli should have sincerely surrendered, otherwise the strength of his troops in the city is not enough to pose a threat to our army. Especially our With the army on guard, even if he really dared to go out of the city to attack at night, he would only return in a disastrous defeat, and our army took advantage of the situation to seize the city, please be at ease, military officer."

"hope so."

Zhao Tuo nodded, looking at Zhongli city wall in the distance.

At dusk, there were a few dark shadows walking on the city wall, probably the Chu people guarding the city.

...

"The camps of the Qin army are arranged in an orderly manner, and the guard posts are closely patrolled. Even if we attack at night, we will only fail, and there will be no possibility of success."

Zhong Limei withdrew his gaze from looking at the Qin camp in the distance, and turned his head to speak to the expectant Zhongli county magistrate.

After the county magistrate Zhong Liran was disappointed, he said with worry: "If the night attack fails, then we can only do it when the Qin army crosses the Huai River tomorrow?"

"Hey, if the people of Qin find out that this operation fails, wouldn't my head be chopped off by the people of Qin in exchange for military merit?"

"Otherwise... shall we really surrender?"

Hearing this, Zhong Limei rolled his eyes. The county magistrate was frightened by those thousands of Qin soldiers, and wanted to turn the fake surrender into a real surrender.

Zhong Limei explained: "Master, have you thought about what will happen to you if you really help the Qin army cross the Huai River this time without taking any action, and when the king sends troops to come?"

Zhong Liran trembled, he naturally knew that the monarch in Shouchun City was not a good person.

For the sake of power, he was able to kill his own brother to take over the throne, and within a year he killed many aristocratic families who opposed him. It can be said that his road to usurping the throne has already been stained red with blood. It would take only one day to kill him, a small county magistrate. There is no need to hesitate at all about waving hands.

Zhong Limei said indifferently: "At the beginning when the Qu clan's rebels led the troops to defraud the city, the reason why I asked the county magistrate to surrender and help the Qin army cross the Huai River was to avoid the disaster at that time. If I dared to say 'no' at that time, The county magistrate's head was probably hanging over the city, so he had to surrender to save his life."

"However, if you surrender, you can't really surrender. Otherwise, when the king investigates it, the county government will be guilty of treason, and you will not escape death."

"So if the county magistrate wants to survive, all he can do is to look for an opportunity to attack the Qin army after surrendering, and make a gesture of attacking the Qin army while protecting himself."

"Even if the matter fails, let the Qin army flee. But when the king wants to punish him afterwards, the county magistrate will have something to say. At that time, the county magistrate will use money to bribe some of the favorite ministers in front of the majesty, which is beautiful. If you think about it, you can turn the crisis into safety."

Zhong Liran's face was full of bitterness when he heard it, and he felt that he was really unlucky.

The Qin army is approaching the city, and if they do not surrender, they will die.

If you really surrender, you will die afterwards.

If he wanted to survive, he might have to feign surrender as Zhong Limei said.

Of course, this false surrender is also dangerous. If Qin Jun sees the clue, I am afraid he is also a dead word.

The Huai River is so long, why the god damn Qin Jun came to him.

Although he was sad in his heart, Zhong Liran knew that if he wanted to survive, he had to do what Zhong Limei said.

Take a gamble on this trick.

"For today's plan, that's the only way to go."

"Ah, your father is right. You are really smart, and you will be a hero in the future. If you hadn't been in the city to advise me, I really don't know what to do in the face of this situation. You Accept my gift."

As he said that, Zhong Liran bowed to the young man in front of him with a very sincere look.

Zhongli hurriedly avoided it, and said in his mouth: "The county magistrate, don't do this. Although he is a branch of Zhongli's family, he is also connected by blood, and the county magistrate and my father are also close friends. Such a relationship, in the face of In this crisis, I must do my best, and I dare not accept such a great gift from the county magistrate."

Although he didn't dare to accept the gift from the county magistrate Zhongli, Zhongli was still young after all, and he couldn't help but feel complacent when he saw a majestic county magistrate thanking him.

He said with a smile: "Master, you can watch it tomorrow. If the Qin army wants to cross the Huai River, they must send some people to explore the road first, and there will be at least one or two thousand people."

"The leader, Xin Wudang, will not board the ship until the vanguard has crossed the Huai River, so that they have troops on both sides of the river to ensure the safety of the first and last."

"And this is our chance!"

"When that Qin general, Xin Wu, crosses the Huai River, and the beacons in the city light up, we will send people to collect ships during the day and wait for the boat masters who were in ambush upstream, and we will receive the signal, and sail down the river to go straight to the Qin general. .”

"It has been seen that most of these thousands of Qin troops are land ducks who can't swim. On the shore, I, Zhong Lierlang, are no match for them."

"But as long as they enter the Huai River by boat, they will be fish and turtles in our net, and no one can escape! In this way, Qin general Xin Wu will definitely be captured!"

"When the chief general of the Qin army is captured, the remaining Qin army left on the south bank will surely be leaderless and fall into panic. At that time, the county magistrate may recruit young and strong men and send troops to attack them by surprise. Or close the gates of the city to prevent them from defending , using its chief general to threaten and delay time, thus waiting for reinforcements."

"At that time, half of the Qin army will be in Huaibei and half in Huainan, and their general will be in our hands again, hehehe..."

Saying that, Zhong Limei laughed triumphantly.