General Qin

"Chen Sheng is from Yangcheng, named She. Wu Guang is from Yangxia, named Shu..."

As soon as Yang Xia was mentioned, this sentence came to Zhao Tuo's mind immediately.

The so-called Yangxia is also known as Taikang.

It was the capital of Taikang, King of Xia, and the burial place of Taikang in the three generations of ancient times. It is ancient and long-standing, and it is an ancient city with a history of nearly 2,000 years.

The city of Yangxia originally belonged to the state of Chu, and Wang Ben captured it when he conquered Chu the year before last. As a result, Li Xin was defeated last year, the Qin army fled back to Wei, and Yangxia and several nearby cities fell into the hands of Chu people.

Now, the hundreds of thousands of troops led by Wang Jian had just set off from Chenliu, and he dispatched 20,000 soldiers from Zhao Tuo's department as the vanguard, intending to take Yangxia first, and fired the first shot to conquer Chu and destroy the country.

Twenty miles north of Yangxia, in the camp of the Qin army.

The generals were discussing matters, and the black-butt military marquis first laughed: "Haha, the general really has vision, and the credit for the vanguard was directly given to our general Zhao. We will follow General Zhao, and when the state of Chu is destroyed this time, the title will surely be restored. Go up a liter."

On the main seat, Zhao Tuo's face was calm, and he glanced at the generals in the tent, and saw that except for the black buttocks, the two captains, Shejian and Zhao Guang, all looked calm.

The other three newly appointed military officers, because they were not familiar with the general and their colleagues, stood stiffly in place without opening their mouths.

"Marquis Black Butt, what is the importance of Yangxia City, you can tell me."

Seeing that the black buttocks were quite active, Zhao Tuo asked.

Ever since Hei Hip was defeated as a school lieutenant, Hei Hip has been quite strenuous. During his trip eastward, he actually started to ask She Jian about the art of war.

Hearing this, Heibutt seemed to have been prepared, he walked to the map laid out on the table in two steps, pointed to a point on the map representing Yang Xia, and said with a smile: "I know, because Yang Xia is on the border On the border, our army has too many people, and we must rely on the boat division on the border to deliver food and fodder in order to maintain supplies."

"So we must first capture Yangxia on the edge of the gap. If we don't take it down, the Chu army here may harass the boat division of the gap. What is this called... By the way, it is called ensuring the safety of our food roads. "

Zhao Tuo gave him a look of approval.

In the past, Black Butt would have only said things like "Yang Xia is close, if you don't hit him, hit someone", but now he can say something about the importance of the city's geography, which is indeed an improvement. It seems that this kid Still have an upward heart.

"Hei Hiu is right. Yangxia is an important place. The army must take Yangxia first to protect the flanks and ensure the safety of the water transportation in the chasm. Since we have been ordered by the general, we must take this city as soon as possible."

"Lieutenant Shejian, your department dispatched scouts to investigate the situation around Yangxia overnight, as well as the deployment of troops in the city."

"only."

Shejian took the order immediately.

At this time, the black buttocked military marquis rolled his eyes and shouted: "General, I have a plan, maybe I can take Yang Xia quickly."

Zhao Tuo was stunned for a moment, this guy learned the art of war for a month or two on the way, could it be that he has made such great progress that he can offer advice on his own initiative.

He couldn't help being interested, and asked, "What's the best strategy for the black butt army marquis, let's hear it."

Heibutt picked his butt habitually, then poked the map with his hand, and said proudly: "We can raid and break the city!"

"Send an elite army to march overnight, rush to the foot of Yangxia City before dawn, and launch a surprise attack. The army will slowly catch up in the rear and respond."

"The Chu army in Yangxia City only knew that we were twenty miles away, such a long distance, they would not have thought that our army would have the idea of ​​a surprise attack, so they would be unprepared, and if they were unprepared, we could catch him by surprise. , might be able to defeat the city in one battle. This is what the Art of War says... what is meant by 'surprise surprise, attack surprise'."

"That's right, that's what it said!"

Hei Butt opened his mouth at this time to quote the Art of War, feeling that his speaking was of a high level, he couldn't help but be full of complacency, waiting for Zhao Tuo to praise him.

The corners of Zhao Tuo's mouth twitched, and when he saw two military officers who knew the art of war turned their faces away in the tent, he tried his best to hold back his smile. If it weren't for the fact that Hei Hip is General Zhao's confidant, they would have laughed out loud on the spot.

Zhao Tuo shook his head helplessly, then turned to look at Shejian and Zhao Guang.

"What do you two think of the black butt army waiting for this strategy?"

Zhao Guang said with a sullen face, "Our army has a large number of troops. If we attack the city according to the righteous law, we can achieve full success. There is no need to use surprise to win."

Compared with Zhao Guang's leeway, Shejian was not polite at all, he said coldly: "The general commanded an army of 600,000 to attack Chu, such news has already spread throughout Chu, the Chu army in Yangxia City must have already Take precautions. Surely you will patrol the city day and night, and the soldiers in the city will also sleep with their arms on their backs, so it is impossible to relax."

"According to the strategy of the black-butt army marshal to attack the city suddenly, I am afraid that the drums are already beating in the city, and the soldiers are defending on the wall. It is impossible to leave a loophole."

"At that time, our army's exhausted soldiers will not have enough equipment. How can we attack the city? Such actions will not only be useless, but will also waste the energy of the soldiers. If the enemy city guard is a bold person, send elites out of the city to attack and wait for work. Under the circumstances, maybe our army will be damaged in vain."

The black buttock's ingenious plan was blocked by two school captains, and he blushed in embarrassment immediately. He muttered: "This won't work, that won't work, so what do you think should be done?"

Shejian said indifferently: "Yangxia City is small, far inferior to Huaiyang, Xiangcheng and other big towns. We only need to approach the city slowly, station outside the city, cut down trees to make siege equipment, and wait until After the equipment has been manufactured, it is time to attack the city. This is the right way to attack the city, so there is no need to take the risk of a surprise attack."

Zhao Tuo nodded slightly.

The kid with the black buttocks hasn't turned his head around yet, and he's still continuing the way they used to think about crossing Chudi with five thousand people. All he could think about was cheating the city, raiding and other means.

But he neglected that now Zhao Tuo's command is no longer 5,000 people, nor is it a lone army that goes deep into the enemy's territory without logistics, but a 20,000 army with complete transportation and supplies, a large number of artisans and civilians accompanying the army !

Facing the small city of Yangxia, there is no need to make a dangerous surprise attack. With an upright army approaching the city, it can be taken down in an upright manner.

Not to mention... Zhao Tuo thought of the metal parts that had already been built on the military trolley. At that time, he only needed to cut wood for the frame, and he would soon be able to assemble a siege cannon. .

Can the mere small town of Yangxia be able to fight against this thing?

...

Yangxia City, twenty miles south of the Qin Army camp.

On the city wall, Feng Houyi, the guard of the Chu army, looked to the north, worried.

Although it was summer, the sky was high and hot, and there was no cloud in the evening, but Feng Houyi always felt that there was a dark cloud gathering there, which made him breathless.

"The Qin army is coming."

As the first block on the Qin army's way to the south, the Chu army in Yangxia City has only 5,000 people.

It's not that Ling Yin Xiangyan doesn't pay much attention to this place, but because Chu State's mobilization ability is really poor.

Even when Wang Jian was swearing in the oath, the middlemen of Chu State sent back the news of the Qin army attacking Chu, and they had nearly two months to prepare.

But up to now, the state of Chu has only gathered about 150,000 soldiers and nearly 200,000 civilians. This is already the limit of the state of Chu.

The quasi-militarist system of the Qin State, with one order, the entire country runs as fast as a precision machine from top to bottom, with extremely high efficiency and without any delay.

Qin Wangzheng said that he needed 600,000 people, and there were 600,000 people. He said that he wanted five million shi of grain, so he had five million shi of grain.

In comparison, Chu's ancient system is very inefficient.

The standing army of the Chu State mainly consists of the "Left and Right Two Cantons" stationed in the capital of Chu, with about 20,000 people, similar to the "Neutral Army" of the Qin State.

The last time Li Xin attacked Chu, the king of Chu handed You Guang over to Xiang Yan to fight against the enemy on the front line, so there were only about 10,000 people left in Shouchun City. Later, he sent another 5,000 people to escort the captives. Unexpectedly, they were wiped out by Zhao Tuo on the way. However, there were only a few thousand soldiers left in Shouchun, which is why the king of Chu was so frightened that his soul trembled, and he hurriedly called Xiang Yan back to the army.

After the war, the frightened king of Chu hurriedly recruited more than 10,000 people to replenish the standing armies of the left and right Guangdong provinces, allowing Shouchun City to have 20,000 troops again.

This time when the Qin army attacked Chu, the king of Chu, out of fear, kept all of the 20,000 standing troops in Shouchun, and none of them were given to Xiang Yan.

Therefore, Xiang Yan could only think of another way.

In addition to the standing army in the capital of Chu, left and right, Guangdong and Guangxi, the standing army of Chu State also has county divisions in various counties, that is, local troops. There are generally hundreds to one thousand people in the cities and towns within the territory, and one thousand to two to three thousand people in the border areas. people. This time Xiang Yan recruited some county divisions to join the battle, but it was still not enough.

The main force of the Chu army mainly relied on the private soldiers of nobles from all over the country, those Chu people who were recruited by the emperor.

It's just that not everyone among these nobles wholeheartedly supports this battle. Some families send more troops, while others send less troops. As a result, not only the combat effectiveness of the Chu army was worrying, but also the number and logistics could not increase.

The huge state of Chu is not even comparable to the state of Zhao, which mobilized 400,000 to 500,000 troops during the Battle of Changping.

Under the circumstance that the military strength of the Chu State was obviously inferior to that of the Qin Army, Yin Xiangyan wisely shrunk his limited troops to Huaiyang and Pingyu. As for the small towns like Yangxia, he had no choice but to give up.

Therefore, Feng Houyi, who was the guard of Yangxia, was very worried. Facing the menacing attack of hundreds of thousands of Qin troops, he decided to abandon the city and flee.

But if he fled before fighting, even if he fled back, he would be dealt with by Ling Yin with military law and beheaded for public display.

But if he didn't escape, he couldn't raise his will to fight when he thought of the Qin army that was about to approach the city.

Fortunately, at this time of crisis, a group of special people came from the south and came to the city to ask for help, willing to help the Chu army defend the city.

Feng Houyi turned around and looked at the men on the city wall who were wearing coarse brown clothes and stepped on their feet (qí jué).

They are directing the craftsmen to place the special ballista from the Mohist on the city wall for defense arrangement.

"Mr. Deng Ling, with the help of Mr. You and all the Mohists, Feng Houyi feels at ease."