General Qin

In Qiyi, a large number of red-armored troops are coming from the north.

There are a large number of them, tens of thousands of people.

The wheels are rolling and the horseshoes are flying, which looks quite powerful.

But most of the Chu people in Qiyi who saw this scene were full of bitterness. Even if the army of Zuo Sima of Chu State came to chase the Qin army, they still didn't welcome it at all.

"Qi Gong, quickly enter the city to fetch food and fodder, our army will rest here in Qiyi."

"Boil water to make food, kill chickens and dogs, and let the soldiers have a full meal, and then lead the army to chase the Qin army heading east and rescue your son of Duke Qi."

Zuo Sima Zhaoping spoke, although his voice was flat, but full of an undeniable taste.

"Follow Sima Zuo's order."

Duke Qi nodded with a bitter face.

When he entered the city and saw the mess and chaos in Qiyi, his expression became more and more sad.

Although Duke Qi was rescued from the Qin army by Zuo Sima, he did not expect to receive the news that Qiyi had been captured by another Qin army with a larger number of people on the way before he returned to Qiyi.

Not only was the food, fodder and property in the city robbed, but even his own son, Dou Yuan, was taken away by the Qin army. According to the two Sima who escaped from Fulisai, Douyuan was even captured by the Qin people to defraud Fulisai.

"My son, you must be fine."

Duke Qi wailed, wiped away his tears, and went to gather his men in the city again, and began to confiscate the food stored by the Chu people in the city and the chickens, dogs and livestock raised by the Chu people in the city, and collected food for the army outside the city.

In Qiyi, there is a lot of chickens flying around.

Outside the city of Qiyi, the newly built camp of the Chu Army.

Zuo Sima Zhaoping sat at the head seat, looking at the second Sima of the Chu army standing bowed in the tent.

He asked coldly, "Are you sure it's more than 5,000 people?"

Ge Ying hurriedly said: "Going back to Zuo Sima, the official went to a high ground to look at it before leaving. Although it may not be accurate, the number of this Qin army is indeed more than 5,000, and they have more than ten carriages. , carrying some wounded and luggage on it. There are also nearly a hundred horses, and the soldiers are basically in armor, with spears as their weapons..."

After listening to Ge Ying's report on the situation of the Qin army.

Zhaoping nodded and said: "Well, you are very good, and you are quite astute. Since Fu Lisai was captured by the Qin army, you don't have to go back, just stay by my side and be a short soldier."

Hearing this, Ge Ying was instantly overjoyed.

Even if it is just a small soldier of the left Sima of Chu State, it is much more noble than the two Sima of Fu Lisai.

Ge Ying hurriedly kowtowed to the prime minister, then stepped back, and reported to the short soldier captain.

Watching Ge Ying walk out, Zhaoping couldn't help nodding.

The two Sima from Fu Lisai are quite talented.

When he saw the Qin army approaching the city and the general situation was gone, he did not rush to kill indiscriminately, nor did he run away and disappear. Instead, after observing the general situation of the Qin army, he brought his men on flying horses to look for him, and brought this A very critical piece of information.

This is the first time that Zhaoping clearly knows the information about the Qin army.

Although the other party made a big fuss in Huainan, they first used the heavy fog to raid Qu Ming and the five thousand Chu troops who were escorting the captives, then taunted and intimidated the King of Chu under Shouchun City, and finally made a wooden figurine on Bashan. Suspicious tactics, cover them and take the opportunity to escape eastward.

Zhaoping, who led the army back to aid, couldn't help but praise all these methods, and then he received the order from the king of Chu to hunt down and kill the Qin army.

Said it was a chase, but Zhaoping's eyes were actually darkened.

How many people are there in this Qin army?

Who is their leader?

What is their purpose of sneaking into Huainan?

Just to scare the king? Or do you want to take advantage of the situation to seize Shouchun and echo Li Xin's surprise army? Or do you want to wreak havoc in the hinterland of Chu and disrupt the deployment of the Chu army?

This Qin army is heading east, where is it going?

...

Zhaoping didn't know about all these problems, but based on his many years of military experience, he speculated that this Qin army probably only had a few thousand people, and the reason was similar to what Songyang Lord Jing Zhao said before.

Although I don't know what the other party's purpose of infiltrating into Huainan is, but now that Li Xin has been defeated, the Qin State's war against Chu has no possibility of victory. Naturally, this Qin army has no reason to stay in Huainan, and their only way out to the east , That is to cross Huaibei, pass through thousands of miles of Chu State, and return to Qin State!

This was Zhaoping's judgment, so instead of chasing after Huainan, he went north and took a shortcut to block the opponent in Qiyi.

The real situation is similar to what he judged.

Zhaoping could have taken the army to sit in Qiyi, waiting for the exhausted march of the Qin army to give the opponent a head-on blow.

Ten thousand to five thousand.

Waiting for work at leisure to fight long-distance marches.

He is absolutely sure to win in Zhaoping, and when he catches the black buttocks named by the chief general of the Qin army and the king, he can return to Shouchun to return to his life and make a small contribution.

However, everything was ruined by the Qin army that suddenly appeared in Qiyi.

"Li Youzhu!"

Thinking of this, Zhaoping gritted his teeth with hatred.

The two thousand Qin troops were led by a military marshal named Li You, and they were all remnants of the remnant soldiers. Taking advantage of the unprepared Qiyi guards, they raided and broke through the city, and captured Duke Qi by the way.

This was nothing at all, but the timing of Li You's appearance was too coincidental, and Dou Yuan misjudged the number of Qin troops in a panic.

As a result, Zhaoping mistakenly believed that Li You and his men were the Qin army that was making trouble in Huainan, so he chased after them without hesitation for two days and two nights, and wiped them out in one fell swoop.

The Qin army under Li You's command had no combat effectiveness, and was easily defeated by Zhaoping, which also let him know that the one in front of him was a fake.

Zhaoping was angry and furious, and wanted to catch Li You and cut off his dog's head to vent his anger.

Unexpectedly, Li You was not good at fighting, but he was good at escaping. Even the cavalry of the Chu army who were chasing him all the way failed to catch him.

At this time, news of the Qin army attacking the city came from the direction of Qiyi. Zhaoping could only angrily kill all the five hundred Qin people who were captured.

After venting some of his anger, he gave up hunting down Li You and led his troops south.

Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived at the outskirts of Qiyi, they received news from Ge Ying that the Qin army had broken through Fulisai.

"Zuo Sima, the Qin army must have taken Fu Lisai by defrauding him, and they must have crossed Sui River from there, and then returned to Qin territory."

Jing Tong, who was also sitting in the tent, spoke, and he said with some joy: "The traces of the Qin army have been found, we just need to catch up, and we can block them sooner or later."

Zhaoping wanted to test him, so he said, "Since that's the case, where do you think this Qin army will go after crossing Sui River?"

Jing Tong pondered for a while, and said: "The Qin army has two routes after passing Suishui. One is to go northwest along Suishui, pass Zhuyi to Xiangyi, and then enter the Mangdang area of ​​Qin State after passing through Xiangyi. , to Suiyang."

"However, although this route is close, the Qin army already knows the existence of Zuo Sima, and our army is stationed in Xiangyi. If they dare to go there, they will definitely be destroyed. So they will choose the second route."

"After the Qin army passed through Pengcheng, they detoured through Liuyi and Peiyi, and from there entered the vicinity of Shanfu Changyi in Weidi. Although this road is farther away, except for my 3,000 garrison in Pengcheng, there are no other troops. Therefore, they I will definitely go to Pengcheng!"

clap clap...

"Children can be taught."

Zhaoping clapped his palms and smiled, this young man from the Jing family has really good aptitude, he followed him around the battlefield a few times, but he would draw inferences from one instance, and what he said was similar to his own judgment.

He nodded and said: "You're right, this Qin army will definitely go to Pengcheng, detour to Liu and Peieryi to return to Qin. So we have to intercept and kill them before then."

"There is a three-day distance between the Qin army and ours. If they cross the Sui River, they will definitely burn all the nearby ships. It will take another day for our army to cross the Sui River. This is a four-day journey. No matter how hard we chase, the opponent will arrive in Pengcheng before us."

When Zhaoping said this, not only did he not panic, but he said with a smile: "However, there are 3,000 garrison troops from Qu Song stationed in Pengcheng. I will send an envoy to drive the horse around the vicinity of Zhuyi, and gallop all night. My order has been sent to Pengcheng."

"Let Qu Song lead three thousand people to stop them!"

"Three thousand against five thousand, even if you can't beat it, it can always be delayed for a few days."

"Hehe, in this way, my army can come leisurely, catch up with that Qin army, and annihilate it in one fell swoop!"

Speaking of this, Zhaoping smiled coldly, turned his head to look in Pengcheng's direction, and whispered: "You can't escape, my little fish."

...

At this moment, there is a wide grassland more than 30 miles east of the Sui River.

The winter sun slanted and fell on people, feeling warm.

The exhausted Qin soldiers either leaned on each other, or lay directly on the ground to bask in the sun and rest.

In the big tent that was temporarily tied up.

The senior generals of this Qin army are discussing matters.

"There are 3,000 people in Pengcheng, blocking our way back. This is also the last pass for our army to return to Qin. As long as we pass Pengcheng, Liuyi and Peiyi can easily pass through, and you can go home. .”

"It's just the three thousand Chu troops in Pengcheng, how should we deal with it?"

Zhao Tuo asked.

All the generals including Xin Wu were a little silent.

Three thousand Chu troops.

This number is not many, it is more than two thousand less than them.

But it is by no means small, and it has the advantages of waiting for work at leisure and relying on the city, and it is by no means easy for them to win.

"Can you still swindle the city like before? Let that Fu Lisai Seventh Doctor go to swindle the city?"

Five Hundred Advocates He spoke cautiously.

Before Zhao Tuo could answer, Xin Wu shook his head and said: "Chu people will not be so stupid. Our army has already used it twice in Huaibei, and it is two hundred miles from Fuli to Pengcheng. Ma Chuanbao, most of them will receive the news in advance."

"Even if we cheat to open the city gate, it will be very difficult for our army to capture Pengcheng. Unless the three thousand Chu troops can catch their Chu generals on the spot and let them be in chaos, they will have a chance. Otherwise, it will be a hard fight if they are caught. Not only the 3,000 Chu troops, but tens of thousands of Chu people in the city, once they are mobilized to resist in the city, our army is by no means an opponent."

Xin Wu's words were very reasonable and made everyone silent.

Before that, they had repeatedly succeeded in defrauding the city. The main targets were small cities with few soldiers. Even Fulisai had only a thousand Chu troops in it. Annihilate the defenders in the city to win.

But Pengcheng, 3000 troops, is definitely not easy to deal with.

And there are tens of thousands of Chu people in the city. If they are fighting outside the city, these Chu people may not dare to go to the battlefield, but if the Qin army attacks the city, there will definitely be many bloody men holding swords and halberds to guard their hometown.

Therefore, even if the Qin army cheated and opened the city gate, there would be a hard and bloody battle afterwards. Even if they could win in the end, the casualties would not be known.

"Then let's go around Pengcheng, go through other small roads, don't bother to pay attention to them, even if there is no supply on the road, lack of food, the big deal will be the same as in Huainan, we will eat oranges... vomit... vomit..."

Halfway through the conversation, Heibutt couldn't help retching.

Others also feel inexplicably uncomfortable in the stomach.

Zhao Tuo shook his head and smiled wryly. In this day and age, cities cannot be bypassed if they can be bypassed.

In the Warring States Period, due to the scarcity of population, the degree of land development was very low.

At least before the unification of the Qin Dynasty and the overhaul of roads, the traffic conditions in various places were actually very poor. There was often only one road connecting one city to another.

This means that wars between countries must be based on pulling out points and pushing them flat.

It is necessary to follow the road, conquering one city after another. Even if there is a small road that can bypass this city, then your logistics supplies are basically finished, and the opponent can directly cut you off from behind, or chase from behind.

So even if Li Xin attacked Shouchun unexpectedly, it would only bypass Xiangcheng where the main force of the Chu army was located. The forward route still has to be pushed along the line of Pingyu, Sleeping Hill, and Huyi. The cities on these roads cannot be bypassed.

Like the route Zhao Tuo led his army to Shouchun, he had to conquer Xincai first, otherwise he would not be able to reach the Huai River. Although he finally reached Shouchun by walking through the Huai River no-man's land, it was at the cost of a lot of non-combat attrition and loss of supplies. If you are unlucky, the entire army may be wiped out on the road.

The strategy of bypassing Pengcheng mentioned by Hei Hip.

Maybe Qin Jun searched carefully and found a small road around Pengcheng from the local population, but the speed of taking the small road must be slower than taking the main road where Pengcheng is located.

If they don't have any pursuers behind them, they can go for a while, but now the 10,000 troops of Zuo Sima in Chu State may catch up at any time. Once Zhao Tuo takes the small road and Zuo Sima takes the main road, the opponent's speed will be faster than them, and they may directly attack them. Come to a go-ahead and intercept them on the front road.

Bypass Pengcheng, no.

Only fight!

The generals discussed for a long time, even the veteran Xin Wu couldn't think of a way to reduce the battle damage when they attacked Pengcheng.

"It's still a few days away from Pengcheng. Let's go down and rest first, and think of a way slowly on the way."

Zhao Tuo said softly, since he can't think of it for a while, it's useless to worry, it's better to let everyone have a good rest first.

After everyone left, Zhao Tuo also went outside the tent, staring at the red sun in the sky in a daze.

Pengcheng blocks the way, how to solve it?

After an unknown amount of time, there was a sudden sound of urgent footsteps behind him.

Zhao Tuo turned his head and saw Hei Hip running towards him in a hurry.

As soon as the black butt met him, he shouted: "Marquis, I have a solution!"

"oh."

Zhao Tuo responded perfunctorily.

The method of black buttocks is mostly thought of by patting the buttocks, just listen to it.

Hei Hip didn't care about Zhao Tuo's attitude, he walked over, stood on both feet, raised his chin and laughed.

"Didn't you say that the Chu general guarding Pengcheng is called Qu or something? I thought about it, isn't this man the same family as the Qu Ming we captured? I ran to ask Qu Ming if he recognized him. The guard of Pengcheng."

"In the end, Qu Ming said that he could help us take down Pengcheng, quack quack!"

The black butt laughed triumphantly.

Zhao Tuo was shocked.

Ever since they asked Qu Ming to swindle Qiyi, they never let him do anything again. After that, it was Dou Yuan who was sent to swindle Fu Lisai. It took a long time to travel all the way, and he almost forgot that there was Qu Ming among the prisoners.

Zhao Tuo glanced at Hei Hip approvingly.

This guy is pretty reliable sometimes.

Thanks to book friend Kun Linyuanshan and book friend №Moment of Eternity★ for their rewards, and all book friends for their votes, thank you!