General Qin

On the south bank of the Huai River, in a gentle area between the marshes and swamps, there is a small city.

A large number of Chijia Chu troops set up camp outside the city, and everyone was in high spirits. Originally, due to the fall of Shouchun, the depressed mood brought about by the surrender of the king of Chu was swept away, and the eyes of every Chu soldier were shining with hope.

"Ling Yin is worthy of being a famous general of our Chu Kingdom, he uses soldiers like a god!"

"This raid by our army killed nearly a thousand people from the Qin army and captured more than two thousand people. Except for a part of the Qin army who broke through the original road and fled back, there were also a large number of Qin people who rushed into the water pools on both sides. How many casualties."

"Hehe, most Qin people don't know how to swim. If they enter the swamp, they just wait to feed the fish, turtles, and turtles. But the captives in front of us, what should we do? Do we have to feed them with food?"

Amidst the discussions of many Chu soldiers, in an open space outside Shandao City, more than two thousand Qin people who had been surrendered were crouching on the ground, their faces were full of terrified expressions, and they didn't know what kind of situation they were about to fall into. end.

From the victor who destroyed the people's society to the captive who was allowed to be slaughtered overnight, this contrast made many of them feel that they were in a dream.

This is the cruelty of war. No one can imagine when the butcher knife of death will fall on his head.

By the Huai River in the north of Shandao City, several figures stood.

"Ling Yin, although our army has plundered a lot of food from Huaibei and went south, it is only enough for our army to feed for several months. Keeping these Qin captives will only waste our army's food, it is better to slaughter them."

General Qu Mao spoke with a cold light in his eyes.

Xiang Yan turned her head and saw that Jing Tong on the side also echoed Qu Mao's proposal, and said with a smile: "In that case, kill it. Shouchun fell, and it happened to use the heads of these Qin people to pay homage. Cut off their heads, Find a place to pile up as a Jingguan, if Wang Jian can attack here, you can also see the gift I gave him."

"Okay, I'm going to chop off the heads of these Qin people and build a Jingguan, and let the world know the blood of my Jingchu man, and I will never lose to him Qin people."

Qu Mao said murderously, his Qu family's fiefs basically fell into the hands of the Qin people, and his relatives and relatives did not know where they were going. He had an incomparable hatred for the Qin people.

There are not a few people like him who have a deep hatred against the Qin army, and he is also the most staunch anti-Qin opponent in the Chu army.

Seeing that Qu Mao was about to leave, Xiang Yan said again: "By the way, those armors and weapons on the Qin army, pick out some intact ones, they may be useful in the future."

"only."

Seeing Qu Mao leave, Xiang Yan looked at the other side of the Huaihe River again, her deep gaze seemed to be able to see the Huaibei land opposite through the water of the Huaihe River hundreds of meters wide.

There, black Qin flags have been planted everywhere, and they no longer belong to their Chu country.

Jing Tong did not leave, but asked worriedly: "It is indeed a good strategy for Ling Yin to rely on this swamp to compete with the Qin people. Our army has this advantage. As long as the Qin army dares to come, they will never return. But I am worried, if Wang Jian wants to repeat the same tricks, like in the battle of Chen Ying, instead of launching an attack, but instead garrisoning troops to drag our army down, what will we do?"

Xiang Yan turned her head and saw Jing Tong was full of worry.

This gentleman of the Jing family in his twenties, after experiencing the battles of Surabaya and Suishui in succession, seems to be quite vicissitudes. It seems that he is in his thirties, and some people will believe it.

"Don't worry Zitong, Wang Jian will definitely attack this time."

Xiang Yan sneered and said, "Have you heard what these captives said, King Qin has already left the pass and is going to Chen Ying?"

"Hehe, it has been a year since the Qin State's war against Chu started last year. Now that the King of Qin is coming to the east, although he may not necessarily urge Wang Jian to attack immediately, the generals and soldiers under Wang Jian's command can't help it. , each of them would think in their hearts to defeat our army before the arrival of King Qin, to capture and kill the king and me, and to repay the merits of King Qin. Under this kind of competition for merit and profit, even if Wang Jian does not come, those generals of the Qin army will urge Follow him."

"Furthermore, Wang Jian used 600,000 troops to attack Chu for a year, which was a huge waste of manpower and material resources. If he dared to continue to station troops here, how much food and grass would he spend? Will the Qin people in Qin State allow it? And he has hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command. I have been away from home for a year, if I continue to waste time in vain, everyone will want to return, and the Qin army will be defeated without a fight!"

"Besides, Wang Jian is getting old, he can't wait long."

"He will definitely attack!"

At this point, Xiang Yan's voice was firm and full of affirmation.

After Jing Tong was astonished, he said in a low voice: "Ling Yin, according to what you said, since Wang Jian can't afford to wait, the best way for us to deal with it should be to spend time with him instead of fighting with the Qin army. I It is better for the army to abandon Huaiyin, lead the army south, and lure the Qin army to go deep. As long as we are undefeated, sooner or later we will be able to drag the Qin people to exhaustion, and withdraw the army to return to the north. Then we can lead the army north to recover the homeland!"

Xiang Yan looked calm.

What Jing Tong said was never what he had thought before.

Relying on Huainan, Jiangdong, and even the land of Baiyue in the south, he and Wang Jian were consumed. After Wang Jian was killed, it was time for him to counterattack.

But now the situation is quite different from before.

Now that the Chu army is supporting the new king, it is the time when the morale of the army is soaring. If they retreat south without fighting and give up Huaiyin, Shandao and other places to the Qin people, it is bound to cool the hearts of many warriors in the Chu army. Unfavorable, it will also make some Huainan and Jiangdong lords who are still waiting to give up supporting them.

Secondly, it was because the Chu army managed to gather nearly 100,000 troops, many of whom were elite. But their grain and grass are only enough for a few months. If Xiang Yan chooses to go south and retreat, then not only the Qin army can't hold it, but also the Chu army can't hold it. When the food runs out in a few months, the 100,000 troops under his command will be separated due to lack of food.

It is easy for the army to disperse, but it is difficult to gather it again, especially in the current situation that most of the Chu State has fallen into the hands of the Qin army. Perhaps this will be the last time that Xiang Yan will control an army of 100,000.

Rather than waiting for the army to disperse, it is better to fight with Wang Jian while the troops are still there, and hope for a big victory.

Xiang Yan's eyes shone with excitement.

In addition to the reasons mentioned before, there is another more important factor that made him give up retreating southward and stay on the south bank of the Huai River to fight with Wang Jian.

Because he, Xiang Yan, is a nobleman of Chu State, and he is a well-known Jingchu man.

"Chen Ying's defeat was not due to my incompetence, but to the inferiority of the country and the restraint of the mediocre master."

"But today, you have an advantage in military strength, and I also have a favorable location to rely on. You have the trust of the King of Qin, and I also have the trust of King Shengming. In this way, you and I can fight openly and compete to see whose military skills are better! Come on!" A fair duel!"

Xiang Yan raised her head high and looked towards Huai Shui again.

He has sent out sentries, and mobilized Chu civilians along the coast to patrol along the Huai River day and night, monitoring Qin army ships that might appear at any time, and set up beacon fires at intervals.

If Wang Jian chose to use boats to carry soldiers across the Huaihe River and land from the rear of the Chu army, then as soon as the Qin army's ships appeared, the Chu people would immediately light up beacon fires to warn the surroundings, and then the nearby Chu army troops would rush there. The Qin army crossing the river attacked halfway.

Xiang Yan turned her head and looked to the south of Shandao.

If Wang Jian chooses to avoid the large swamps of Shandao and detour south to attack Huaiyin from Dongyang, that's fine.

Although the terrain in the south tends to be flat and the water pool is reduced, it is not suitable for the Chu army's water pool ambush tactics.

But if the Qin army chooses to detour southward, they will also lose the supply line of the Huai River.

That's nearly 200,000 Qin troops. They can only rely on civilian husbands to transport grain and fodder from the rear with oxen and horses, and the grain road will be very long. The Chu army doesn't even need to fight Wang Jian's main force, as long as they cut off the food road behind the Qin army, they can also win!

"So, Wang Jian, you can only attack from the front."

"I'm here waiting for you."

A smile appeared on the corner of Xiang Yan's mouth.

He and Wang Jian are fateful enemies.

...

In the wide area to the west of Shandao, with the arrival of Qin's army, there are endless camps.

In the main tent, Wang Jian sat high, and the generals were divided into left and right.

Standing in the tent, the general of Xingjun Meng Tian reported the military situation with a bitter face.

"With an army of 10,000, the loss of troops has reached as many as 5,000. Meng Tian, ​​Meng Tian, ​​do you really know how to fight?"

Qiang Li, who was the most irritable, opened his mouth, his eyes were wide open, and his face was full of displeasure.

Meng Tian blushed, facing the ridicule, he could only bow his head silently and endure the humiliation.

Zhao Tuo couldn't stand it, and argued, "I don't blame Xiaowei Meng for this matter. The terrain near the Shandao is complicated, and the water is contiguous. We Qin people have never been accustomed to water, let alone the depth of the water here, and it was used by the Chu people. Wei Dao's ambush is also normal. Not to mention Captain Meng, I am afraid that even a veteran leader of the army will not escape this defeat."

Meng Tian raised his head and gave Zhao Tuo a grateful look.

Qiang Li was furious: "Zhao Tuo, who are you talking about?"

Zhao Tuo smiled slightly, and said, "Of course I'm not talking about General Qiang Li. The general has always been resourceful. Faced with this predicament, he must have his own way."

Faced with Zhao Tuo's sarcasm, Qiang Li laughed out loud instead, and snorted, "Forget that Zhao Tuo is right, I, Qiang Li, have a solution."

"Oh? General Qiang Yan really has a solution to the Chu army's ambush by using water and reeds?"

Not only Zhao Tuo was surprised, but the generals also turned their eyes away, and even Wang Jian on the chief seat looked at Qiang Li curiously.

Sensing everyone's surprised or curious eyes, Qiang Li, who became the center, said triumphantly: "The method is very simple, just burn all these reeds with a fire. There are no reeds along the way to block the view , Those Chu people could ambush our army, and they were probably thrown into the water by our army's crossbow arrows before they even approached."

fire attack?

The generals stared wide-eyed.

Wang Jian rolled his eyes.

He turned to look at Zhao Tuo.

"Zhao Tuo, what do you think of General Qiang Li's words?"

Zhao Tuo frowned, and replied: "To deal with the reeds blocking the way, the Chu army is in the middle. It is good to burn them all. But if you burn the reeds, in autumn and winter, when the fire goes down, it will be burned in pieces immediately." .”

"But now it's the turn of spring and summer. The reeds have their own moisture, and the weather is moist and humid, and there are all swampy depressions below. Even if it can really burn, it may be very slow, and you need to worry about the wind direction. It needs to be burned all over the place. This road that stretches for twenty or thirty miles is extremely difficult, and even if the Chu army does not come and disturb us all the way, it may take ten months."

"And even if our army burns all the way to Shandao City, what if the Chu army in the city retreats and continues to use this method to deal with us? There are nearly a hundred miles of water swamps between Shandao and Huaiyin. Burn all the way through , when will you get it?"

Hearing this, all the generals nodded one after another, Qiang Li blushed and said unconvinced: "You Zhao Tuo said that I can't set fire, so what should you do if you say it?"

Seeing the eyes of everyone looking at them, Zhao Tuo hesitated for a moment, and said: "The water here is difficult to attack, and it is really a dangerous place given by God. Rather than taking risks here and putting ourselves at a disadvantage against the enemy of the Chu army, it is better to avoid this dangerous place. , went south to Dongyang, and took a detour to attack Huaiyin."

"Hahaha, it's ridiculous. What you said is simple. If we take a detour, how will our army's logistics be guaranteed? How can we prevent the Chu army from attacking our grain road?" Qiang Yan immediately laughed.

Zhao Tuo turned his face away and didn't bother to pay attention to him, and cursed "barbarian" in his heart.

However, what Qiang Li said also made sense. Once the army detoured, logistics would be a problem.

But Zhao Tuo thought that even if he tried to find a way in terms of logistics and food, it would be better than fighting with the Chu people in this swampy land.

At this time, the generals also expressed their opinions. Among them, someone mentioned using the Qin army's fleet on the Huai River to transport soldiers to the rear of the Chu army, directly bypassing the kind Chu army, and killing them from behind.

But someone immediately said that the Chu army would definitely be prepared for this, and the number of ships transported at a time was small, so it was easy to be attacked by the Chu army halfway across, and they were defeated in vain.

The generals expressed their opinions, but they never found a perfect solution.

However, everyone unanimously did not mention the strategy of "using national power to kill the opponent".

Now that the king of Qin is about to rush to Chu, everyone wants to wipe out the false kings Xiong Qi and Xiang Yan as soon as possible, and present a great victory when the king arrives in Huaiyang. In that way, the rewards will be rich.

After discussing like this for a long time, everyone finally turned their attention to Wang Jian who was sitting in the main seat.

"I also ask the general to decide how we should defeat the enemy."

All the generals looked at Wang Jian with piercing eyes. This truly famous general in the world must have a high opinion in the face of the situation where the Chu army occupies a superior location.

Wang Jian smiled slightly and asked back: "Chu people have the advantage of terrain, so what advantage does our Qin army have over Chu people?"

The generals frowned, and someone replied: "Compared to the Chu army, our army is numerous."

"Of course, compared with the Chu people, our army's biggest advantage is the large number of people!"

Wang Jian laughed loudly. He stretched out his hand to stroke his white beard, looked around at the generals and said, "We are many but the enemy is few, so we should give full play to this manpower advantage."

"What you just said just now is burning reeds, detouring Dongyang, and shipping across the Huai River, all have advantages and disadvantages, but what if they are all combined?"

At this point, Wang Jian stood up and looked outside the tent.

His face was full of furrows like ravines, and the hair on his head was already gray, but those eyes were full of spirit and the light of wisdom.

"I want it all!"

"I want to use absolute force to suppress the Chu people from all sides!"

"I'll see how Xiang Yan resists!"

In the previous chapter, Zhao Tuo’s high-level discussion was about the word “waiting”. Although this word may seem ordinary, it actually involves judging the situation and the like, which many people cannot do.

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