General Qin

Linzi, the capital of Qi, is at dusk.

Seen from a distance, the magnificent palace of King Qi has been plunged into the shadows, only a little fire shining in the dusk.

"My brother, today is the day of the decisive battle between Da Sima and the Qin army. Do you think Da Sima will win?"

Qi Wangjian took a sip of his wine, and when he put down the wine goblet, because of the shaking of his palm, the bronze goblet failed to stand firmly, and rolled down from the table, making a rattling sound.

The maid beside her hurriedly bent over to pick it up.

Qi Wangjian didn't care about this matter, his eyes were fixed on the next Tianjia.

Xiangbang Tianjia's face looked a little blue in the candlelight.

He squeezed out a smile: "Your Majesty, don't worry, Da Sima has defeated many Qin generals in the Qin Palace, even Zhao Tuo is not his opponent, and now he has 300,000 horses in his hands, so it is safe to fight more. Moreover, Your Majesty has also seen a thousand fighters trained by Da Sima, with such warriors, why should our army be invincible? Your Majesty just needs to wait for the good news from the front line."

"Yes, the martial arts of Da Sima's subordinates are indeed mighty and strong men, and I feel at ease."

Qi Wangjian laughed dryly, looked up at the door, and saw that the night outside the hall was getting darker.

The result of the battle in Zhencheng, they probably won't know until tomorrow.

Qi Wangjian whispered: "Great Sima, you will live up to me!"

...

"The minister bears the king!"

At dusk, Da Sima Tian Chong stood on the city wall of Zhencheng.

His body trembled, his eyes fixed on the scene below the city.

It was the scene of countless Qi troops disarming and surrendering to the Qin people. There were crying and howling everywhere outside the city.

This made Tian Chong feel sad in his heart, and couldn't help crying in a low voice.

In the Battle of Pushui, he suffered a disastrous defeat, and his army of 150,000 was completely defeated in one battle.

Fortunately, Tian Dan and Xiang Fuji and other cronies comforted and cheered him up, which made Tian Chong regain his spirits and galloped back to Zhencheng.

In Tian Chong's plan, as long as he can escape back to Zhencheng, he can gather up the defeated soldiers in Pushui and fight again with the whole army.

The army of 150,000 was defeated. Except for those who were captured and killed by the Qin people, most of the others would run towards Zhencheng. By then, he would be able to gain more or less 100,000 horses, right?

After collecting 100,000 routs, he recruited tens of thousands of soldiers from Ayi and other places, and relying on the city to defend it, he could continue to consume it with the Qin people.

Tian Chong learned a lot from his failure in the Battle of Pushui.

For example, this time, his 70,000 reserve soldiers were directly crushed by the defeated army on the front line without a fight. Although he didn't have much confidence in these reserve soldiers, he didn't expect such a bad result.

Weak beyond imagination.

"The 70,000 soldiers are unfit for a battle, all because they have not been trained. Apart from the agreement with Zhao Tuo, I shouldn't have such a hasty confrontation with the Qin people. The best way is to defend the city and fight against the Qin army. Consumption, and at the same time seize the time to train soldiers."

Tian Chong said to his subordinate generals: "After I gather up the defeated army this time, I will defend the city and strengthen the defense line at the same time. With my Qi people, I will definitely be able to block the Qin army."

"Although our army was defeated in this battle, the soldiers were also counted on the battlefield. With experience in military warfare, we will be able to perform better when we confront the Qin army next time on the battlefield. If the time is delayed, I will still have a chance !"

Seeing that Tian Chong quickly calmed down, he proposed a follow-up countermeasure.

Tian Dan, Xiang Fuji and others felt relieved, and felt that Da Sima's countermeasure was indeed a good one, and they all praised: "Great Sima has a good idea."

It's a pity that although Da Sima's plan was very good, Qin Jun didn't give him a chance to realize it.

After defeating the Qi army on the Pushui battlefield, Qin general Zhao Tuo did not withdraw his troops back to the camp, nor did he collect the corpses on the battlefield and count the gains, but resolutely sent troops to pursue them.

The soldiers of the Qin army ate cakes at noon, and they were full of strength. Even at dusk, they still had the strength to hunt down.

The people of Qi are on the contrary. Most of them have fought for a day or stood on the battlefield for a whole day. They only eat enough when they go out in the morning. sour.

Not to mention turning around and fighting Qin Jun again, he didn't even have much strength to escape, and he couldn't even escape the Qin people who were chasing after him.

After the Qin army caught up, they did not kill wantonly. Instead, some of the Qin army had already trained and shouted in Qi language.

"Drop your arms, those who surrender will not be killed, and those who resist will be beheaded."

Under the slogan of not killing the prisoners, many Qi soldiers saw that they could not run anymore and had no will to fight to the death. They simply threw away the weapons in their hands and squatted on the ground one by one, waiting to be captured by the Qin army.

As long as one person starts, the remaining Qi soldiers will not think too much about the issue of survival and death, and the Qi army surrendered to the chasing Qin army in pieces.

Under such circumstances, when Tian Chong and others ran back to Zhencheng, they did not gather many rout soldiers in a short period of time, but soon waited for the Qin army who took advantage of the victory to pursue them.

The Qin army was fierce, and the defeated soldiers who drove out the Qi army rushed straight to Zhencheng, and it seemed that they wanted to take the opportunity to seize the city.

"Close the city gate quickly!"

When Tian Chong was in crisis, he gave the correct order.

After the guards in Zhencheng killed dozens of rout soldiers who stormed the gate, they forcibly closed the gate of Zhencheng, avoiding the risk of being attacked by the Qin army in disorder.

But at the same time, they also imprisoned tens of thousands of Qi compatriots who ran desperately outside the city, leaving them all to the murderous Qin people.

At dusk, Qin General Zhao Tuo came to Zhencheng in person.

The scene he saw was in the open space outside Zhencheng, the weapons and armors put down by soldiers of the Qi army were piled up into a mountain.

"General, the Qi people closed the city gate in time, and our army has no chance to seize the city. However, the Qi army's rout outside the city has no fighting spirit. After our army surrendered, they had no intention of resisting. Tens of thousands of Qi troops surrendered!"

Zhao Guang was excited and reported the military situation here to Zhao Tuo.

Zhao Tuo nodded and looked forward.

Outside Zhencheng, the endless Qi army lined up in a long line. Under the watchful eyes of the Qi people at the top of the city, their heads were drooping, listless, and they were escorted away by the Qin army.

"I have heard that there is a saying in the law of war that the poor should not be forced. But now the general is doing the opposite, using the method of 'it is better to chase the poor with the remaining courage', chasing the Qi army relentlessly, and capturing the Qi army outside Zhencheng. Tens of thousands, and besieged Qi generals in the city. This big victory is contrary to what the art of war says, dare to ask the general, why is this?"

Li Shiqi's eyes showed curiosity. He also dabbled in the art of war, but this was not his main business after all, and he didn't specialize in it deeply. At this moment, he felt that Zhao Tuo's actions were different from the art of war, so he naturally wanted to inquire and study on the spot.

Zhao Tuo said with a smile: "The art of war is dead, but people are alive, so we must use the art of war according to the actual situation, instead of reading military books dead, and be manipulated by the art of war."

"In the art of war, it is said that you should not stop the army and do not force the poor. It also depends on the specific situation. If the Qi army has the fighting spirit and energy, the Qi general will have the courage. Our army will naturally suffer a tenacious counterattack even if we can win. There will also be a lot of losses. This is the principle of not chasing and not forcing."

Zhao Tuo's mind came up with the battle at the bank of Surabaya that year, which was a true portrayal of "don't stop when you return to the teacher, and don't force the poor".

He paused for a moment, and then said: "Now that the Qi army was defeated in the first battle, the people of Qi were frightened, and even after a day of fierce fighting, their stomachs were empty and their hands were soft. In addition, the generals of Qi had no courage to abandon the army and flee. It is impossible. Don’t use this art of war anymore.”

"Besides, my actions this time are not against the law of war. Don't you, sir, have you heard that Wu Sunzi also said: The disease of the rushing water, as for the boulders, is the force; the disease of the birds of prey, as for the broken, is the integrity. Therefore. Those who are good at fighting have dangerous momentum and short knots. Their momentum is like a crossbow, and their knots are like an engine. Therefore, the momentum of a good fighter is like turning a round stone around a thousand-foot mountain, and his momentum is also."

Li Shiqi's eyes were wide open, and he clapped his hands and praised: "I understand, the general's actions are like a boulder rolling down from a high mountain, with a ferocious aura, destroying everything, it is to defeat the enemy with the force of the army! The general's use of troops is really like a god, my lord." Extremely admired!"

Not only Li Shiqi, but even Zhao Guang who was on the side also showed reverence.

General Zhao used his troops as if Lord Wu An was still alive.

Zhao Tuo didn't know what Zhao Guang was thinking, otherwise he would sweat on his forehead and tremble in fear.

Seeing that Li Shiqi understood, he turned to look at Zhao Guang and asked, "According to your estimation, how many Qi troops are there in Zhencheng?"

Zhao Guanglue pondered for a while, and replied: "Our army is very fast, forcing Zhencheng to close the city gate ahead of time. The number of Qi troops in the city is not large. Including the original 10,000 guards, the total should be around 20,000 to 30,000. There are Qi army auxiliary soldiers, and these auxiliary soldiers will follow into the city, if they participate in the defense of the city, they should be able to exert a lot of combat power."

Zhao Tuo nodded, with a smile on the corner of his mouth.

Excluding the 20,000 soldiers along Ayi, Da Sima had as many as 160,000 available soldiers in Zhencheng.

Now after a great battle, only 10,000 to 20,000 people ran into the city, equivalent to the loss of more than 100,000 troops in the First World War. This kind of victory is enough to be called a shocking victory.

All this is really thanks to Zhao Tuo's decisive pursuit. Otherwise, if he took a slow step, Da Sima would gather more routs, and the follow-up would become a lot of trouble.

"20,000 to 30,000 soldiers, plus tens of thousands of auxiliary soldiers, it's not a big problem."

Zhao Tuo raised his head and looked at the city of Zhencheng in the distance.

Under the dim light, one could vaguely see a figure shaking on the top of the city.

On the top of the wall, Da Sima Tianchong woke up from his weeping.

He looked outside the city at the scene where the tens of thousands of Qi troops were disarmed and armored by the Qin people, and escorted away like livestock.

Tian Chong's eyes were already blood red.

"In the battle of gentlemen, when the winner is determined, everyone will return to their camp. How can there be a way to chase and kill to the end?"

"Zhao Tuo, you promised to have a battle of gentlemen, but you don't talk about martial ethics!"

At three o'clock tomorrow, I will finish writing the story of Da Sima in one go. According to the plan, we will be able to unify this month.

Thanks to book friends 20230217011427359 and book friend Huo Yi for their rewards, and all book friends for their votes, thank you!