Qin Official

"General, you are finally here. Qin Kou is really guilty of all kinds of evil..."

On the eighth day of November, in Yang'an Township, Langling County, Ruxi Region, Chu State, Jing Ju, a young aristocrat from Chu State, casually listened to the cries of the local elders and cursed secretly why he had found himself in such a difficult situation. Errands to run.

"It's all the fault of that little cavalryman named Zhong Lizhen!"

The matter has to start from three days ago. Jing Ju is a descendant of the Jing family. This family originated from King Chu Ping, because the complete posthumous title of King Chu Ping should be "King Chu Jingping". One of the sons took this as his surname. After three hundred years of reproduction, it has spread. Became one of the three major clans of Chu State.

Therefore, although Jing Ju was only in his early twenties, he was already a leader. He followed the army north to join Xiang Rong and besiege Shangcai.

Unexpectedly, just as they were marching to the edge of Ru River, a scout cavalryman named Zhongli Mei galloped back, hit by an arrow in his body and two arrows in his horse's butt. Zhong Lizhen was almost in a coma when he returned to the army, but he still used his last bit of consciousness to tell the general what he saw.

At the same time, their army of 5,000 men also received news from Xiang Rong's people, saying that there was a remnant Qin army in Linyang City, a hundred miles away in the northeast, or that they were heading towards Ru River. Run away, and if you find it, kill it...

Comparing the two, isn't this the Qin army disguised as Chu people that Zhongli Mei saw?

The general attached great importance to this, so he named Jing Ju and asked him to lead more than a thousand people to pursue the Qin army...

So Jingju was sent to Ruxi.

Zhongli Mei was seriously injured and was thrown into the chariot without knowing whether he was alive or dead. Jingju and the others were led by another scout who had escaped. When they arrived at the small ferry, they found that the Qin people had completely crossed over and took the ferry with them. All the ships were burned...

It was enough to burn one of them. Jingju and his men continued heading north along the east bank of Ru River, hoping to reach the next ferry. It turned out that the next two ferries were both burned down by the Qin people!

Jing Ju did not dare to swim for fear of being attacked by the Qin army halfway across the river, so they could only walk for another day. It was not until noon the next day that they sent scouts to the other side to confirm that the Qin army was indeed not there, so they found a few The boat took several hours to slowly ferry a thousand people across.

At this point, Jing Ju's troops were already half a day behind the Qin people.

At nightfall on the eighth day of the eleventh month, when he came to Yang'an Township, Jing Ju learned that the Qin people pretended to be Chu masters this morning and falsely opened the gate...

Yang'an Township is just a small town with less than 500 households. When Jing Ju arrived, there was no town owner to greet him. Only a few local elders were left crying to him about the "atrocities" of the Qin people.

"The Qin bandits were commanded by a black-faced man. They claimed to be soldiers of Duke Dougong of Hu County. But as soon as they entered the gate of the city, they showed their ferocity and captured the chief doctor of the city. Then they searched for doctors and medicine to give to the stinking wounded soldiers. . Then he occupied the mansion of the city lord, invited a sick man in the carriage, and ordered the people to boil water, kill dogs, chickens, and make rice. After a full meal, seeing that it was getting late, he robbed a lot more Carrying the grain on his shoulders, he also kidnapped the chief doctor of the city..."

The local elder's goatee twitched, obviously he was very frightened. Although Langling County is close to Qin State, because it is not an important transportation route, the Qin people were not very interested in this place when the two countries went to war in the past. Soldiers are passing through.

"How many hours have you been walking?"

"Left three hours ago."

After listening, Jing Ju made a judgment.

"Most of the food that the Qin people brought from Linyang was finished, so they took the risk to fraudulently leave this small town to replenish food on the spot and take a rest. Now they are only half a day's journey away."

At this time, a subordinate came over and said: "I heard from the cavalry officer Zhong Lizei that the Qin people brought many wounded soldiers, and the chariots and chariots were all abandoned on the east bank of Ru River due to lack of time. With so many wounded people, they must have They are not walking fast. In addition, those people were marching in the Chu region, fleeing all night, and traveling for hundreds of miles without stopping. They must be extremely tired and hungry. If we pursue them quickly, Jinggong will definitely defeat them!"

Before the subordinate finished speaking, Jing Ju impatiently drove him away. He had heard that Hu Gong Douran, who was familiar with him, brought two thousand people and was killed by Qin who was less than one thousand in Linyang. The army was defeated and he became a prisoner. Jing Ju didn't want to follow in his footsteps.

It's okay if you win, but if you lose, you will not only embarrass the family, but you may even commit suicide under pressure... Why bother?

There is no harm in being cautious. Jing Ju does not seek merit, but seeks no faults.

He also said seriously: "The general also said, just expel this Qin bandit from the country and don't let them affect the army to besiege Shangcai. This is the most important thing!"

So, they simply rested in this small town and asked the local elders to boil water, kill dogs, chickens, and make rice again, and did what the Qin invaders had done again.

It wasn't until after a night's rest that Jing Ju picked his teeth, patted his full belly and left this unfortunate town with his soldiers, and continued to "pursue" the Qin army unhurriedly. However, in the eyes of others, he had already separated from the escort. No different.

In Jing Ju's view, the war has come to an end, and the Chu Kingdom is no longer in danger of subjugation. The major families can continue to rule the people in their territories, and there is no need to fight like General Xiang Yan.

Although he walked slowly and leisurely, on the ninth day of November, the rider Jing Ju arranged in front of him still caught up with the Qin people.

After hearing the news, Jing Ju took a light vehicle to the south bank of Zhuo River and saw that all the Qin people wearing Chu army uniforms and carrying the banner of Chu army had crossed this road that was no more than ten feet wide. The water flow has gone a long way.

This river is equivalent to the dividing line between Qin and Chu, and it still remains today. After crossing the river, there are the two cities of Wufang and Gaoyang that belong to the Qin State. Qin and Chu have once again faced each other on the line of Shangcai and Yangcheng. There are probably many soldiers stationed in both places.

The Qin people on the opposite side also saw them. Several Qin soldiers drinking water by the river immediately started shouting. One Han man even untied his belt and urinated into the river as a provocation.

However, Jing Ju did not feel dissatisfied. He asked the charioteer to turn the car around. After returning to the main force, he said to everyone with a smile on his face:

"This general has expelled the Qin people. Turn around immediately and return to Cai! Report your merits to General Xiang!"

…

At the same time, Heifu, who had already hidden his entire army in the bushes on the north bank of Qishui River, was ready to fight a half-crossing attack. He could only scratch his face when he saw that the Chu army on the opposite side gave up the pursuit across the river and retreated neatly. , somewhat resentful.

"Is this General Chu afraid of death or is he smart?"

Then he smiled at Dou Ran, who was tied in the chariot and sleeping with the bags of grain they snatched yesterday: "Dou Gong, it seems that not all the descendants of Emperor Gaoyang are as noble as you and take their lives lightly. "

Dou Ran snorted coldly and turned away. He had always ignored Hei Fu's inquiries. Therefore, Heifu didn't ask anything, and naturally he had no way of knowing who wrote the letter to Dou Ran about what happened in Anlu County.

"I don't believe you can still keep silent when you get to Qin."

Heifu didn't have time to torture Dou Ran, so he immediately asked him to arrange for Dongmen Bao and others to withdraw by the water, provoking the Chu people on the other side.

"Speed ​​up and head west. We'll try to spend the night in Wu's house!"

After seven or eight days and more than three hundred miles of walking, everyone's physical strength has reached its limit...

Fortunately, the end point is not far away.

…

In Wufang City (now Suiping County, Zhumadian), which is twenty miles west of where Heifu and the others crossed the river, the entire city was mobilized, as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

In the past few days, the war situation between Qin and Chu has undergone new changes: Li Xin, who had disappeared in Chu State, took his only 20,000 soldiers and made a large circle back to the Yangcheng area, and then Cooperating with Meng Tian, ​​he set up defense lines in Yangcheng and Shangcai, and defeated several attacks by the Chu army.

The Chu people did not dare to divide their troops at this time. Xiang Yan gave an order and a hundred thousand troops also concentrated on this line. The two sides faced off with the same force. The situation of Qin's steady retreat since Xiangcheng was greatly alleviated. As the weather gets colder and colder, the war has entered a delicate balance again...

This kind of confrontation will not last long. No matter the people of Qin or Chu, they were shivering in the cold wind and thinking: "When the first snow falls, it will probably be the time when the two countries stop fighting."

By then both sides will have a common enemy: winter. If we still go out with troops without scruples, more people may be killed by frostbite due to the cold winter than killed by war.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the scouts came to report that a small "Chu army" was crossing the Aishui River and heading north towards Wufang City!

After hearing the news, Wufang County Captain was shocked!

"Could it be that the real plan of the Chu army is to take a sideways approach and defeat Wu Fang first, then go north to Yingchuan, or attack Nanyang to the west?"

But it doesn't look like it, because the Chu army is too small. After the scouts repeatedly confirmed that the Chu army only had 700 or 800 people, and there were no reinforcements in the rear, the always bold Wufang County Lieutenant decided to take a thousand soldiers transferred from Nanyang County to go out of the city to attack the enemy!

Half an hour later, when I saw this "Chu Army" from a distance, they were marching along the Qishui River. Their formation was loose and they looked exhausted. After discovering the orderly formation of the Qin army in front, they did not stop the formation quickly. Instead, they looked happy and quickened their pace.

Moreover, several riders were sent over from the opposite side. They held high the black flag of Qin, ran out of the range of the arrows, and shouted: "Don't shoot arrows, we are Qin troops and Qin people!"

"Qin people?" The county captain was shocked, and then he saw a scene that he would never forget.

As if in response to this, the seven or eight hundred people walking by the seaside began to take off their armor in unison.

They took off the red Chu armor that was full of holes for arrows and swords, and threw them all into the gurgling water, letting the heavy leather armor sink to the cold bottom...

They took off their dirty Chu-colored clothes, which they had worn for seven or eight days, and threw them into the water, letting them drift down with the current...

In the howling cold wind, after taking off their armor and clothes, everyone wearing only thin summer clothes put down all the red flags of the Chu Army in their hands and replaced them with the black flag of the Qin State that had been hidden for many days but had been washed brand new...

The hands are trembling and the flag is flying.

Looking around, there is a flag of five hundred people and several small flags of hundreds of people, all of which are in high spirits. This is in sharp contrast to the people who took off their outer clothes and their teeth were chattering with the cold...

And a captain's tiger-bear-tooth flag was placed at the front, placed on a military vehicle. In the car lay a frail captain with a look of relief on his face. He asked the driver to drive forward and showed his captain to the county captain. Tiger Talisman.

"You are Captain Li You!"

The county captain's eyes widened. A lot of news came back from the front line. In the defeat of the Chu army, the Qin army lost many soldiers and generals. A total of eight captains died or disappeared in the battle. One of them was Li You, the king of Qin. Son-in-law, son of Tingwei...

Now, after disappearing for ten days, Li You finally appeared alive! This is big news that can shock the entire army.

And looking at the Chu armor and Chu clothes abandoned by these soldiers, as well as the Chu army flag they captured, Wufang County Lieutenant could almost guess what they had gone through.

"The fact that I came back alive is all the result of Hei Fu and all the soldiers!" Li You smiled weakly, raised his hand to the Wufang County Captain, and asked him to lead everyone into the city.

The Wufang county captain just woke up from a dream and shouted: "Quickly, arrange for the captain and the soldiers to enter the city, and then let the city prepare clothes and bedding, heat up the stove, and let these robes warm the body!"

Thousands of Nanyang County soldiers dispersed from the middle, making way for a path. They watched Li You's carriage pass by, and then looked sideways at their colleagues wearing only single clothes or even topless clothes passing by.

Although these people were shivering from the cold wind, they were in good spirits and held their heads high because they did not think that they were defeated soldiers. After turning defeat into victory, they fought three hundred miles behind enemy lines and finally won. Returning heroes and warriors!

However, the Dongmen Leopard walking in front of Heifu no longer had the arrogance he had when he urinated on the waterside and taunted the Chu people. He had a runny nose, sneezed and muttered: "Finally removed the armor." , this battle is finally over..."

Hei Fu was not that embarrassed. After he asked everyone to move forward, he stood at the end of the team and looked behind him, looking at the vast Chu land on the other side.

There are promises he made there, and there are many souls obeying his orders, waiting for him to take them home...

"wrong."

He whispered: "This war has just begun!"