General Qin

Twenty-five years of Qin Wangzheng (222 BC), late February.

Zhao Tuo led the Qin army to Ayi and joined forces with the Mengtian tribe here.

After exchanging pleasantries, Meng Tian immediately reported the latest military situation.

"General, according to reports from our army's scouts, there is no Qi army defending the Jishui line. The Qi people gathered all the soldiers from the cities on both sides of the Jishui River and stationed them in Linzi City."

"Gathering troops, this is to defend the city and wait for reinforcements from all over the place."

Zhao Tuo nodded slightly, this arrangement was within their expectations.

It seems that the Battle of Pushui has made the Qi army fully realize that they are not the opponents of the Qin army in field battles. They spread their forces in various cities and towns, just waiting to be broken by the Qin army separately, so they chose to shrink their troops to Linzi and rely on Jiancheng defense.

Zhao Tuo asked casually, "The Great Sima died for his country in Zhencheng, who will King Qi choose as his general this time?"

Meng Tian replied: "According to the captured Qi people, it seems to be the deputy general Tian Chong who escaped from Zhencheng and returned to Linzi."

In Zhao Tuo's mind, he recalled the big man from Qidi that he had seen outside Hangu Pass before.

"It's Tian Dan. It seems that he has learned a lot from Da Sima. It's a pity that the general trend of the world has been fixed, and stubborn resistance is nothing but a mantis' arm."

Zhao Tuo smiled and didn't care.

The overall situation is set, and no one can stop it.

After he ordered his soldiers to repair in Ayi for a day, he immediately led his army eastward along Jishui.

The Qin army's grain, fodder and supplies were loaded on the Jishui boat division collected by Meng Tian, ​​and they were supplied along the river.

The Qin army's infantry was divided into two groups.

A group led by Meng Tian crossed Jishui and marched along the south bank. Along the way, they captured Gucheng, Lucheng, Lixia, Gaowan and other places on the south side of Jishui.

Zhao Tuo led his army to walk along the north bank of Jishui, collected Luo (tà) Yin, Maiqiu and other places along the way, and went all the way to Dicheng, about 200 miles northwest of Linzi.

Dicheng is an important city and ferry to the north of Jishui. In the past, King Jian of Qi wanted to kill people from the four kingdoms under the pressure of Qin.

After crossing Jishui, Han Cheng, Zhang Liang and others wanted to go to Daidi from here, but they were besieged and killed by brothers Tian Dan, a tycoon in Dicheng, and Han Cheng, the king of Hengyang, was captured.

But now facing the arrival of Qin's army, the officials and common people of Dicheng are united in the city, and they have no intention of resisting.

"My Di Chengtian family, I would like to eat a pot of pulp to welcome the general."

The elder of the Tian clan in Dicheng, named Tian You, led a group of Tian clan members behind him, kneeling outside the city, begging for surrender from the Qin army.

Behind these members of the Tian family, there are still rich and powerful officials in the city, all of whom looked at this black armored army with respect and fear.

Standing on the chariot, Zhao Tuo was not surprised to see the surrendered figures in the distance.

He had watched such a scene countless times along the way.

In the battle of Zhencheng, the Qin army defeated the 300,000 Qi army led by Da Sima, Tian Chong committed suicide and died for the country, which completely broke the Qi people's fighting spirit. Zhao Tuo did not kill the captives who surrendered, and promised that after the war, the news of releasing the captives to return to their hometowns spread in Qi, further disintegrating the Qi people's will to resist.

The Qin army neither killed the surrendered city nor looted the property of the Qi people who surrendered, and let them continue to retain their power and wealth locally.

All these conditions have attracted the hearts of officials and rich people in Qidi.

If you can't fight and can't run, then you might as well surrender.

Therefore, the Qin army marched eastward all the way, and except for occasional sporadic resistance by some passionate rangers, they didn't even fight a siege battle.

It is true that all the cities and towns have been surrendered along the way, and the Qi people eat pots of pulp to welcome the Qin army.

Today, the surrender of the Di Chengtian family is a microcosm of it.

Zhao Tuo comforted the elder of the Tian family, and then handed over the specific comfort and acceptance to Li Shiqi.

He himself led the generals to go along the Jishui River to observe the geographical situation and at the same time prepare for the army's crossing of the river.

"General Zhao, you are truly a hero in the world, and people admire you. I have a woman under my knees, about fifteen years old, with fair appearance. I would like to serve as a pillow for General Zhao, and please recommend her to General Zhao."

Seeing Zhao Tuo leaving, Na Tianyou spoke to Li Shiqi with a shy face.

Li Shiqi was startled.

This means sending a daughter as a concubine to please the general.

This kind of thing is very common. The loser sends the women in the clan to the conqueror, which can preserve the wealth and status of his clan.

The conquistadors accepted the women of these rich families, not only could enjoy the service of beauties, but also stabilize the hearts of the local people, which can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.

It's just General Zhao.

Li Shiqi smiled. As the general's guest, he knew the general's intentions.

However, this Dichengtian family is a branch of the Qi royal family. If the Qin army attacked Linzi, if they wanted to stabilize the rear, they must be appeased.

He must handle this matter well, if it is not handled properly, if he refuses rashly, causing the other party's suspicion or other thoughts, then it will be bad.

"The elder's kindness, the next generation general appreciates it. There are some reasons for this matter. I need to discuss it with the elder in detail."

Li Shiqi opened his mouth to explain.

Tian You was stunned, and hurriedly said: "Since that's the case, I'm being rude, and I invite you, sir, to follow me into the city."

Li Shiqi nodded with a smile, and followed Tian You into the city.

The Tian clan members who came out of the city to beg for surrender and the rich and powerful in the city stood on both sides, looking at Li Shiqi with fawning expressions.

In order to show his closeness and get acquainted with these Tian clan members, Li Shiqi casually pointed to a Tian clan boy.

"I have learned some techniques of qi and facial expressions. This son has an extraordinary appearance. I think he will be promising in the future. I don't know what his name is?"

Tian You glanced at the young man, and said, "Sir, I asked you a question, and you haven't answered it quickly."

The young man stared at Li Shiqi with puffy eyes, and said in a low voice, "I am Tian Guang!"

"Tian Guang?"

Li Shiqi smiled and said, "Guang Zhe, Da Ye. It's a good name indeed. This boy might be able to do great things in the future."

Tian You hurriedly said: "Sir, you are absurd. A mere child in the clan can do great things in the future."

The two talked and laughed and walked towards the city.

The boy Tian Guang turned his head to Tian Heng who was standing behind him and said, "Uncle, this person said that I will be successful in the future and can do great things, is it true or not?"

Tian Heng sneered and said: "Your father is still in Linzi, and he might fight these Qin people and spill blood on the city. But you believe these Qin people's nonsense here, this person is just pretending to be close, how can you believe his words Say you have a future? Now that the Qi State is about to perish, the whole world will belong to the Qin people, and our Tian family is gone, so what else can you do? Could it be that you can re-establish the Qi State and become the king of Qi? No, hehehe..."

I heard Tian Heng's ridicule.

Tian Guang stared angrily at the back of Li Shiqi who was going away, gritted his teeth and said, "The people of Qin wag their lips and tongues and play tricks on me. They really deserve it."

...

"Mr. Tian wanted to give her a daughter to me? Then you pushed it to General Meng Tian? Hahaha, Li Sheng, you are a bit interesting."

Zhao Tuo learned about this from Li Shiqi that night, and couldn't help but laugh.

He had a marriage contract promised by the king, so naturally he didn't dare to think about it.

Since Meng Tian is the general who attacked Qi this time, and his ancestors were born in Qi, taking a woman from the Tian family as a concubine will be able to appease the heart of the Tian family in Dicheng.

As for Meng Tian's willingness to agree, Zhao Tuo thought that he was in Xianyang City and heard that there were many concubines in General Meng's house, so it didn't seem to be a big problem.

The Qin army rested in Dicheng for a day. On the second day, Zhao Tuo left a force to garrison here, and then led the army across Jishui.

At this time, Meng Tian's army on the south bank of Jishui also arrived at Bochang, north of Linzi, and joined Zhao Tuo's army here.

The so-called Bochang means that the Changshui River is flat and broad, so it is called Bochang.

The 120,000 Qin army gathered here, the banners covered the sky, and the soldiers pointed straight to Linzi, which was more than a hundred miles away.

In one day, the cavalry of the Qin Army could gallop under the city of Linzi.

...

"Qin Jun is here!"

When the Qin people captured Bochang and the news came back that they were about to approach Linzi.

In the city of Linzi, hundreds of thousands of Qi people were terrified.

This is the most dangerous thing that Qi has encountered for more than 50 years. It is a scene that this generation of Qi people who grew up in a comfortable environment have never imagined.

The war actually fell on them.

Tian Dan stood on the city wall, scanning the slightly frightened faces of the guards.

With his hands behind his back, facing the wind above the city, he looked to the north with his eyes.

After a while, Tian Rong strode up.

"Brother, there are soldiers from Anping entering the city today. In addition to the soldiers we gathered on both sides of the Jishui River and the people from Linzi, there are already 150,000 soldiers!"

"If we ask the king to forcefully recruit the young and strong men in Linzi City, we can get another 100,000 people! That's 250,000 troops! I heard that the Qin army went south this time, but there were only more than 100,000 soldiers. There are more soldiers defending the city than him, if he is dedicated to defending, how can he, Zhao Tuo, break the city?"

Tian Rong looked excited, without any fear on his face, and calculated to himself: "I have checked the treasury in the city. According to the officials in charge of food, the food accumulated in the city is enough for Linzi for a year. We can rely on the army to fortify us." City, fight with the people of Qin to the end, wait for the reinforcements from the cities of Qi to arrive, our country of Qi still has life!"

"Army fortified city?"

Tian Dan smiled helplessly.

When he was in Zhencheng before, Tian Rong left early under the order of Da Sima, and had never seen the power of the Qin army's cannon.

Although Linzi is strong, the number of defenders is also large, even twice that of the Qin army going south.

As long as the giant cannon is fired, even if the city walls don't collapse, the so-called 150,000 troops in the city will probably be demoralized on the spot. How can they persist for a year?

The hundreds of thousands of troops in the city are truly untrained soldiers, and they are not as good as the group in Zhencheng.

His heart was heavy, but Tian Dan didn't say much, he just looked at the hills in the north of the city.

In his mind was the news that Da Sima Tian Chong committed suicide in Zhencheng.

"The Great Sima surrendered the city to Qin, and then killed himself. This is not only doing a gentleman's work, but also showing the loyalty of a courtier."

"Zhencheng can be surrendered, but Linzi cannot be surrendered!"

"My Tian Dan shall live and die with Linzi!"

There was a flame burning in Tian Dan's eyes.

He stared angrily at a hill in the north of Linzi city.

There, black spots appeared from the north.

One by one.

The number is endless, as if a boundless black wave is coming from the north, about to engulf Linzi, the largest city in the world.

Qin Jun, here we come.

"Historical Records Biography of Li Sheng and Lu Jia": Qi Wang Tianguang heard that Han soldiers had arrived, and thought that Li Sheng had sold himself... Qi Wang then prospered Li Sheng.