General Zilong of the Qi Army broke into Hanzhong and captured the Qin Army General Li Dingkun and his generals, with more than 60,000 soldiers. The Qin Army and the Dali Army went straight to Xianyang, the capital of Qin, which shocked the Qin State.
The news also spread quickly to all countries. The King of Qi was overjoyed when he heard the news and passed the decree to confer the title of Marquis of Wulong Shenwu on his son. All the troops under his command were given a one-month pay increase and the school officers were promoted to one level.
When King Chen got the news, he also received a letter from King Qin to urge troops. King Chen stood in front of the map and pondered for a long time.
After Zilong captured Hanzhong City, King Wuyou led the troops of Chu State to advance to Hanzhong and defend Hanzhong City.
The Qi army led by King Ping and the Yue army led by Huo Yuan have besieged Ancheng for more than a month. The food and grass in Ancheng are almost exhausted, and more than half of the tens of thousands of defenders have been killed or injured.
Prince Li Bi of the Qin Kingdom was ordered by the King of Qin to lead 30,000 Qin troops to Ancheng for reinforcements in an attempt to prevent King Ping's Qi army from joining the coalition forces of King Wuyou.
At this time, in the southeastern part of the Qin State, the Qin Army, the Qi Army, and the allied forces were at full-scale war. The flames of war were spreading, and mourning was everywhere. The people of Qin State either fled their homes and fled to the nearest city to avoid the fighting. If the soldiers guarding the city did not
If they were willing to let it go, those people would have no choice but to flee near the capital of Qin; some people were unwilling to leave their hometowns, and when the Qi army arrived, they surrendered to Qi.
As for those young men and women, they were forcibly recruited into military camps by the Qin army early to serve as soldiers and guard the city. In the land southeast of Qin, almost all the crops were burned by the war, and less than half of them could be harvested. Even this half of the food.
, a lot of it was harvested by the Qi army, and the rest was taken into the city by the Qin army to use as military food.
As a wedge for the Qin State to guard the southeastern territory, Ancheng was stuck in the middle of the two Qi armies, blocking the food routes of the Qi armies in Hanzhong. The Qin general guarding Ancheng was Qin General Yan Tai, who was over sixty years old.
He was a general in the same dynasty as the father of the King of Qin, and his military exploits were shining brightly. Yan Tai defended Ancheng, with less than 50,000 troops, withstood the two-sided attack of more than 100,000 Qi and Yue troops, and held on for more than a month without losing the city. This also shows that Yan Tai
The way of using troops is indeed extremely sophisticated.
Outside An City, there were more than 50,000 Qi troops led by King Ping, and 50,000 Yue troops divided by King Wuyou. The Yue army was not good at attacking cities, and the sieges for several days were organized by the Qi army, but the Qin army was
Under the leadership of Yan Tai, the guards were killed, and the Qi army's offensive was repeatedly frustrated.
King Ping and Huo Yuan also tried to lure the enemy out of the city, but Yan Tai just stood firm and never went out to fight. King Ping had no choice but to issue an order to siege the city and besieged An city tightly.
There are nearly 200,000 soldiers and civilians in An city, and a lot of food is lost every day. Although Yan Tai collected some food and grass before the Qi army attacked, many refugees came in from outside the city, and when the Qi army attacked, it was during the harvest season.
At harvest time, there was a war, and the crops outside the city could not be brought into the city.
Yan Tai is a veteran general, so he naturally knows the importance of food and grass for defending the city, so as soon as the war begins, he collects the food from the people's homes in the city, and then the soldiers gather to set up porridge sheds. All young and strong laborers will contribute to the military camp every day.
A coolie can get back a scoop of rice after one day's hard work. Those who do not have young workers in their families will not be given grain.
An city was besieged for a month. There were few young people in their families and no food to eat. At first they looked for some food to satisfy their hunger. But within half a month and twenty days, there was no food to eat, and many old, weak, sick and disabled people died of starvation.
common people.
Some people carried the corpses of the starving people to the military camp to beg for food. Yan Tai asked the soldiers to drive them away. Some generals could not bear it and persuaded Yan Tai to give some food to the people, but Yan Tai also scolded him. After a month of this, the city
Thousands of people starved to death. If people wanted to have something to eat, they could only obey the Qin army's orders, go to the city to help defend, or work as coolies in the army.
Yan Tai also preached to the people every day that the people were starving to death because of the Qi army's siege, causing the people to focus their resentment on the Qi army. At first, people were somewhat discriminating, but when they became hungry, they saw that every day
Those who were dead, injured, and starved were carried to mass graves and buried. The soldiers and civilians in Ancheng had blood-red eyes, and they all hated the Qi army besieging the city.
King Ping saw that Ancheng's attack was ineffective, but King Wuyou's side was making rapid progress. Zilong had already occupied Hanzhong, and the food problem for the army on the southern route had been solved, so he discussed with Huo Yuan and was no longer eager to capture Ancheng. He just gathered ten troops.
An army of ten thousand was besieged. Another elite Qi army was sent to sweep the surrounding Qin cities and completely isolate An city.
News came that Prince Qin Li Bi led his army to aid An City. The Qin army in An City was overjoyed when they heard the news and looked forward to the arrival of reinforcements. Prince Ping and Huo Yuan planned to let Li Bi's reinforcements enter the city, and then the Qin army continued
Besieged in Ancheng.
The battle between the Qin army and the Qi army was in full swing, and the Chen army had also assembled. Commanded by Generalissimo Chen Qi, they went out of Pingguan to fight the Xiang army in front of them. They sent troops all the way from Jincheng and marched to Ancheng with Li Bi's Qin army.
The intention was to break the siege of Ancheng and continue to divide the Qi army in the east and south.
King Ping was in the commander's tent, constantly sending scouting horses to learn about Prince Qin Li Bi's march. At the same time, he also paid close attention to the actions of Chen Guo's army and horses in Jincheng.
Huo Yuan and King Ping made a careful analysis: there were 40,000 Qin troops in Ancheng, and Li Bi led 30,000 Qin troops to help; Chen troops sent about 30,000 troops from Jincheng. If they were all put into Ancheng, there would be 100,000 Qin and Chen troops in the city.
At this time, Ancheng was besieged by 50,000 Qi troops led by King Ping and 50,000 Yue troops led by Huo Yuan. The two armies were equally matched, and it was a dilemma to win. The rest of the Qi army was garrisoned in the cities surrounding Ancheng.
Ancheng is just an isolated city. If the Qin army wants to hold on, it must ensure the connection between Ancheng and Xianyang.
Looking at the situation of the two armies on the map, Huo Yuan came up with a plan: Do not block the incoming Qin army and Chen army and let them enter the city. Then the Chu army under King Wuyou entered the rear of An city from Hanzhong and blocked it.
Cut off the road between Ancheng and Xianyang; Zhuge Qingyun of Lincheng mobilized a force from Lincheng to block the road between Ancheng and Jincheng. At the same time, additional troops from Qi and Shu were added to Ancheng to besiege the Qin army in Ancheng.
Due to lack of food, the defenders will inevitably break out of the encirclement over time, and the Qi army can take the opportunity to pursue and annihilate the Qin and Chen armies.
After hearing this, King Ping thought the plan was very good, so he sent a letter to King Wuyou and told King Wuyou the plan, asking him to mobilize the Chu army secretly, insert himself behind Li Bi's troops, drive Li Bi into Ancheng, and then
Cut off the road between Ancheng and Qin. Then mobilize the Qi army in Lincheng to cut off the road between Chen and Ancheng.
After King Wuyou saw the secret letter from King Ping, he sent an order, ordering Dongfang Yi to assemble the Chu army, march at night and hide in the day, penetrate the flank of the Qin army led by Li Bi, drive them into Ancheng, and then obey King Ping's orders.
He also ordered Zhuge Qingyun to take Jiaocheng first and hold back the Chen army in Jincheng, and then send troops to Ancheng to cut off the communication between Ancheng and Chen State.
Zhuge Qingyun received the secret letter from King Wuyou in Lincheng, and immediately mobilized 30,000 Qi troops from Lincheng and Hecheng to fight outside Jiaocheng.
At this time, Wang Tianyuan and Meng Qi were already in control of Jiao City. Although Pang Long's injuries improved, he was placed under house arrest in the General's Mansion by Wang Tianyuan and was not allowed to leave the house at will. Pang Long's cronies were all won over by Wang Tianyuan and given large sums of money.
With gold and silver, houses and land, wives and concubines, few of them go to the army. Now all the Chen troops in Jiaocheng have returned to Wang Tianyuan. In addition, Meng Qi also recruited the Qi troops in the name of the old Fengqiling troops.
Come over, there are nearly ten thousand Qi troops in the city.
As soon as Zhuge Qingyun's army arrived in Jiaocheng, Wang Tianyuan summoned the generals of the Chen army and said that he would join the Qi army. Those Chen generals looked at Wang Tianyuan's face and thought about his happy life now, and almost all agreed and were willing to follow him.
Together with General Wang, we will live and die together. Once the general surrenders, the troops will naturally follow suit.
Wang Tianyuan had long heard about Zilong's victory in Hanzhong, and he was eager to go to Xianyang, the capital of Qin, to join forces with Zilong. Zhuge Qingyun ordered Wang Tianyuan and Meng Qi to lead the more than ten thousand Chen troops who had returned from Jiaocheng.
He and 20,000 Qi troops inserted themselves behind the Chen army in Jincheng to reinforce Ancheng. Zhuge Qingyun himself led more than 20,000 Qi troops to station in Jiaocheng to contain the Chen army in Jincheng.
Jiaocheng rebelled, and deputy general Wang Tianyuan led his army to surrender to Qi. King Chen couldn't help being furious when he heard that, but he immediately realized that with Jiaocheng lost, Jincheng would be exposed to the Qi army. Jincheng and Fencheng were his foundation.
There was no room for failure. So the Chen army that King Chen had originally planned to send to Pingguan and to aid Xianyang had to be transferred to Jincheng to prevent the Qi army from attacking.
Prince Qin Li Bi led his army towards Wang An City in a hurry, completely unaware that the Chu army was following him. In Li Bi's view, the Qi army and the Yue army would do their best to prevent them from entering An city to join Yan Tai, but unexpectedly
Encountering only sporadic resistance along the way, they arrived outside Ancheng. Yan Tai in Ancheng heard that Li Bi had led his army outside the city, so he opened the city gate and sent out troops to greet him. The Qi army surrounding the city saw that the Qin army was joining forces inside and outside.
They all retreated to both sides, and Li Bi led the army into Ancheng.
Li Bi was about to meet Yan Tai when he entered the city. Yan Tai didn't have time to thank him for his hard work, so he hurriedly asked: "Your Highness, how much food and grass did you bring here?"
Li Bi felt a little unhappy after hearing this, but thinking that Ancheng had been besieged for more than a month and there was a shortage of food in the city, which was why Yan Tai asked so anxiously, he chuckled and said: "Don't worry, old general, I'm here to Ancheng to follow the army."
They also transported a lot of grain and fodder, enough to last my 30,000 troops for a month!"
Yan Tai was shocked when he heard this, and then asked: "Your Highness, are there reinforcements behind to escort the food and grass?"
Li Bi was stunned, frowned and asked: "Old general, what do you mean by asking this!"
Yan Tai saw that Li Bi's face was not good, and he also remembered that he had asked in a hurry, so he smiled and said: "Prince, don't be surprised, I asked in a hurry. You don't know, our Ancheng has now run out of food, and the city has no food supply."
The army and the people have no food to eat and are counting on the food and grass delivered by the prince to help them."
Li Bi nodded and said: "Old General is worried about the defense of Ancheng, and I understand. The food I brought here should be enough for us to hold on for half a month!"
Yan Tai shook his head and said: "If we only have the food the eldest prince mentioned, I'm afraid it won't last for ten days. Ancheng currently has 40,000 garrison troops and more than 100,000 civilians. Plus the eldest prince's 30,000 horses.
I'm afraid the food and grass you brought is only enough for ten days. If I have enough food and grass in Ancheng, I won't have to worry even if I stay until winter; if there is no food, no matter how many people and horses come, it will be useless!"
Li Bi listened and felt very angry in his heart. He did not avoid swordsmanship and led his troops to come for reinforcements. Yan Tai, an old man, only wanted food and grass, but he really didn't know the current affairs.
Li Bi said coldly: "Old General, you are overly worried. Now that I have arrived in Ancheng, we will join forces and we are not afraid of the Qi army. When the Chen army arrives, we can open the road from Xianyang to here. Our Qin army
The country still has plenty of food and grass, enough for your old general to eat!"
Yan Tai heard that Li Bi's tone was unkind, so he stopped talking and just laughed a few times. Then he ordered people to quickly prepare a banquet to welcome the eldest prince. However, Li Bi waved his hand and refused, saying: "There is a shortage of people in the city."
Why waste food and wine on food? Let’s go to the city first and have a look. We will send people out of the city tomorrow and then escort the food and grass to the old general!”